different | pregame saiouma

6

the next day

i decided that i was going to let my friends know that i had a boyfriend now. hopefully they'd be excited for me!

walking into the schoolyard, i spotted them near the big fountain. i ran towards them, immediately appearing happy.

'what are you smiling about? did something big happen?' keebo asked, eager to figure it out. 'i have a boyfriend.' i whisper-yelled.

the two looked at each other, their eyebrows pretty much off their foreheads. 'is it who i think it is?' kaede squinted at me.

'i don't know. who are you thinking, kaede?' 'hmmmm....' she looked to the side, her hand on her chin. 'kokichi?' i nodded eagerly.

they stared at each other for a moment again. why weren't they excited for me?.... 'u-um..' i stuttered, my eyes fixated on the ground.

'why aren't you excited?' i couldn't see what they were doing because of where my eyes were looking, but there was silence for a few seconds.

then keebo said, 'we just have a bad feeling about him.' what was that supposed to mean? i was so confused. 'what do you have against him?!' i almost yelled.

this attracted a few people's attention. 'hey hey hey, calm down. um... it's just... the way he was in the past, we're not sure-'

mid-sentence, i walked away. i was tired of this. i needed to find out what was up with my boyfriend back then.

walking into my first class that hadn't started yet, i sat in the empty desk nearest to ouma. 'hey.' i greeted. he waved, seemingly glad to see me.

i'm glad someone was- i asked him, 'do you mind going to the washroom with me for a minute?' he blushed. 'u-um, i mean....'

i watched him get flustered whilst being confused before realising what the other male thought i meant. i shook my head. 'n-not like that.'

i grabbed his hand and he followed after me. i locked the door behind us and sat down on the floor. nasty, but that didn't matter right now.

'kokichi, what were you like back then?' his eyebrows furrowed as a response to my question. 'i was... sadder?'

'were you... mean?' he looked up at me when i asked this. 'sometimes.' he scratched the back of his head. 'what do you mean by "sometimes"?'

sighing, kokichi sat down too. 'there were rumours going around the school that my parents abused me. eventually, more people found out.'

'they tried to search the house to find anything that could lead to it, but didn't find anything. i got upset that everyone just thought of me as the "abused kid".'

'some of them made fun of my scars and bruises; thought it could've been done by me for attention. it wasn't. i was fed up with it so....'

'i started being rude back. even to people who didn't hurt me. there was this one boy, i think his name was... keebo?...'

wait a minute. what?

'i was especially a bully towards him because his reactions were just.... funnier than the others, i suppose. i really regret it, though.' he finished.

so this was why my friends didn't like this boy much. it was understandable, honestly, but kokichi had changed for the better.

'why do you ask?' ouma stood up again. i did the same. 'keebo is actually my friend.' his eyes widened.

'fuck. oh my. i'm so sorry- or no, please tell him i am; he never listened to me. and i'm sorry if you don't like me anymore-' i cut the worried boy off by kissing him.

'i still love you. maybe if you apologise to keebo with me around, you'll be forgiven by him.' this seemed like a good plan. if i was next to ouma whilst he did it, my friend could trust me.

but one thing made me really confused: why hadn't they told me kokichi had bullied him? there was really no logically explanation.

the purple-haired boy agreed and we headed back to class, waiting for break time. an hour later, that time came.

my boyfriend and i got up and went outside where kaede and keebo usually stood. their eyes widened when they saw who was behind me.

'hey guys,' i started, 'kokichi wants to say something.' he got in front of me. 'i'm... really sorry for what i did to you, keebo. i was going through a lot.'

the robot boy looked up at me, then back down at ouma, then over at kaede. 'it's-it's okay.' he eventually accepted the apology.

'you seem better now.' ouma looked extremely happy. he bowed, then got next to me instead of in front. 'good time to introduce you both to my boyfriend.' i chuckled.

they both waved at him. 'but why didn't you guys tell me that kokichi made fun of keebo last year?' i finally asked the big question.

'i had just figured out that he'd done it on the first day before you walked into the schoolyard. he said he didn't want us worrying about him, so he just said it was 'robophobia' instead of real bullying.'

'hey, robophobia is re-' keebo attempted to say before getting interrupted. 'anyway, he told me and we were about to tell you, but...'

'you told us about taking an interest in kokichi. you hadn't liked someone in a while, so we didn't wanna completely ruin it for you, so we just warned you.'

kaede finished explaining and it all made sense now. it was really generous of them to do such a thing just because i had a crush on him....

'ah, well, thank you.' i gave a light smile, and the both of them nodded. then the short boy came into my view from the side.

'so you liked me from the start.' he smirked. 'u-um.... well, maybe-....' i covered my mouth before i completely exposed myself, although there was no point now.

kokichi laughed, then hugged me. now that everything had been put into place, it was better now. everything was resolved and my boyfriend and friends could finally be happy!

the end