A Floral Punishment

| 5 | The Gorgeous Girl Genius

"Shuichi."

"Huh? What?"

Maki looks at me with slight worry. "You were spacing out.," she points out.

"Oh, sorry." I grab my fork and stab it into a piece of food on my plate.

"Is the detective work we dropped onto you too difficult, Shuichi?," Kaito asks, placing his hand on my shoulder. I shook my head.

"No, no, it isn't that."

My eyes subtly peer over to Kokichi. "I think I may have a lead, actually."

Kaito slams his hands on the table excitedly. "Really?," he shouts out loud, as he grinned brightly. I winced at how noisy he was.

"Well, I'm not sure yet."

"Oh.." Kaito sat back down sadly.

I scratched the back of head apologetically. "I might be able to give results soon although. I just need time." I toss a piece of food in my mouth. Kaito sighs, clearly impatient and wanting to get whoever had the disease justice.

Yet, he continued to smile his usual encouraging smile and spoke inspiringly, "Alright.. well, I believe in your ability to figure this out sidekick!" He palms his hand confidently. At the corner of my eye, I could see Maki crack a small smile.

Just as I saw that, Kokichi had finished his breakfast. He was much more quiet than usual today. I eyed him skeptically as he put his dishes in the kitchen and went back to dormitory.

Yesterday, Kokichi acted quite peculiar. He got a little jittery when I asked him the question.

Now that I think about it, he didn't really answer it, did he?

Truthfully, I thought Kokichi would brutally make fun of me for bringing up the topic. But he didn't. I mean, someone like Kokichi liking someone like me? It seems far from possible.

Still, I can't just overlook it just off of that. I peer over at Angie. Right, she was the one who had told me in the first place. She also told me something else, but let me recall it..

.

.

.

"Uhm, Angie.."

Angie peeks her head over her canvas in acknowledgment. "Yes, Shuichi?," she responds in a singy-songy voice.

"Earlier, during the discussion, I noticed that all the girls were staring at me. I didn't want to ask at the moment because I didn't want to seem like I was changing the topic.," I spoke timidly. ".. Do you happen to know why..?"

Angie pressed the bottom of her paintbrush towards her lips thoughtfully. "You didn't know?"

I frown, not knowing what she was insinuating. I didn't know.. what?

"Did I do or say something wrong? I hope I didn't anger anyone."

"No, no, Shuichi. You didn't anger anyone." Angie flaps her hand. "Hum.. it's was just something about Kokichi. But nothing too serious, haha!"

Kokichi?

Actually, now that I think about it, it did happen after Kaito mentioned Kokichi. What did he say again?