☆ opposites attract | saiouma fic ☆

four | exchange

☆

"Hey, am I the only one struggling with this right now?" Kaito grumbled, erasing and rewriting things on his paper over and over.

"Yes. Although, we already anticipated that something like this would be far beyond your understanding. It's fine. Class is almost over anyways." Korekiyo shrugged, already on the last math problem.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Kaito frowned.

"What he's trying to say is that you're not very bright. Frankly, I agree with him." Maki stated, stifling a smile. She obviously just wanted to get a reaction out of her boyfriend.

Shuichi, also clearly trying not to laugh, shook his head. "Cut him some slack.. Kaito, if you want to, we can study together after school today. How does that sound?"

Kaito let out a sigh of relief, leaning back in his chair. "For real? Thanks, man. You're too nice.."

Shuichi nodded, beginning to pack up his things. "It's no problem. Besides, the class after this is gym, right? I'm sure you'll do well, Kaito."

"Yup. I'm gonna kick your asses, just watch!" Kaito boasted, confidently pointing towards Korekiyo and Maki.

"In your dreams." Maki scoffed.

After about an hours worth of learning useless equations, the first class of the day had finally come to an end. Shuichi never really loved nor hated math class, it was always just there to him. He did get good grades and all of that, but the process and occasional stress was never really all that fun. There was a lot of other stuff he'd rather spend his time doing.

As the bell went off, everybody stood up.

Knowing he'd have to depart with them again, Shuichi looked at his friends. "Guys, I might not be able to walk to class with you again, is that okay? I told Kokichi I'd go with him after this one ended."

Kaede tilted her head. "Huh? Yeah, that's fine! We're all going to see each other again after school either way, right? I don't see why it matters if you hang with him for today."

Rantaro nodded. "Mhm, what Kaede said. If anything, it's good that you're trying to give him a chance, yeah?"

"Right, thank you," Shuichi smiled, waving goodbye to them before going off to find Kokichi.

Although, thanks to his painfully radiant energy, he wasn't all that difficult to spot. He was standing near the doorway, obviously waiting for Shuichi.

"Kiri!" He shouted, jumping up and down and waving his hands around in the air.

"I see you, Kokichi.." Shuichi spoke under his breath, awkwardly waving back as he made his way over to him. "Kiri? Is that your nickname for me?"

He nodded, extremely proud of the nickname he came up with. "Yup! Cute, right?"

Shuichi couldn't deny that he did love nicknames. He hadn't heard anyone call him Kiri before, so it was definitely winning his heart over just a teeny tiny bit. "Yeah, it is," He smiled. "Let's get to class, okay?"

"Mkay!" Kokichi nodded, walking out of the classroom and leading the way. "..So, just by chance, I happened to hear my name come up a couple of times when you were with your friends. What did you talk about?"

Caught off guard, Shuichi softly gasped. "Ah- you were listening to us?!"

"Hm, well, just a little bit! I was focusing on that weird robot kid for most of the time, so I didn't hear everything that was said." He shrugged, looking back at Shuichi. "Why are you so shocked? Were you trash talking or something?"

"No, that's not it! They just might've said some things that are slightly distasteful, and I didn't want you to hear that.."

"I've heard every insult in the book, I won't be offended. Just tell me."

Shuichi sighed, quickly admitting defeat. "Okay.. they don't see you as somebody very trustworthy, so they just wanted to know what you were like. That's all."

"Ah, so they basically don't want you to hang out with me because of my reputation, right?"

"..Something like that. But I promise, they're really kind and they don't mean any harm. They're just concerned." Shuichi said. He knew that Maki was essentially the only one that was super concerned, but he didn't want to tell Kokichi that. He had a superstition that if he did, it'd definitely cause some sort of altercation in the future.

"Alright, I get it.. but if that's the case, why are you hanging with me anyways? Wouldn't the wiser option be to listen to your friends?" Kokichi asked.

"That's probably true, but it'd be unfair if I didn't give you a chance all because of some rumors."

"Hmmmm.. in that case, what if I turn out to be a horrible person like the rumors claim? What would you do then?"

"I guess I wouldn't do anything.. but being your friend is at least worth an attempt, isn't it? Right now, I enjoy your company."

For a moment, there was a silence between the two.

"Geez, Kirigiri! That was corny of you.." Kokichi snickered. Of course, he appreciated the sentiment, but he didn't want that to be obvious to Shuichi.

"Ah, sorry..?" Shuichi muttered, his face going a bit pink.

"It's fine. It was kinda cute." He shrugged, making his way to the doors of the gym and opening them. This was the first time he was really getting a good look of the gym at this school, so for a moment, his face looked rather perplexed. "Woah, cool? I think this is the biggest gym I've seen yet!" He said, immediately running inside.

"Really?" Shuichi followed in behind him, finding it a bit amusing that Kokichi was so surprised by this gym that he had already been used to for years.

"Yup.. where's the teacher?" Kokichi asked, scanning the room for a teacher, to no avail.

"Now that you mention it, he isn't here.. I guess he's running late? Thank God.." Shuichi muttered.

"Huh? Why thank God? Is the teacher a dick or something?" Kokichi tilted his head.

Shuichi hesitantly nodded. "Uh.. I wouldn't use that word, but a little bit, yes. I need to check my phone now, or I won't be able to for the rest of the class." He sighed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Usually, he had it on do not disturb when he was at school, so he didn't hear notifications when he received them.

There were a few texts from his dad, but they were just him checking up on Shuichi. His dad typically sent those all of the time whenever he was at school. Shuichi didn't find them bothersome at all though, in fact, they always made him smile.

Kokichi suddenly perked up, as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh! Speaking of phones, that totally reminds me, can I get your number? You seem like the only one who's gonna tolerate me, so I wanna talk more outside of this stinky place."

"Huh? Of course, I don't mind."

"Great! Thank you, Shuichi."