Brats & Brains (Shuichi x Kokichi)

10 - Special Is The New Normal

~ Shuichi

Kokichi and I cautiously walk back to the dorm rooms and go our separate ways. Miu was just doing maintenance on K1-B0... right? That's what he said when he followed Miu back into her lab—she is the Ultimate Inventor, and she has installed new functions in K1-B0 already, like the flashlights in his eyes, and the camera feature. So I'm sure she was just installing more features... Not anything else...

I shake those thoughts out of my head as I get undressed and crawl into bed. There's only eight of us left now... As the days go on, the chances of losing Kokichi grow higher and higher. After Kaede was executed, Kokichi is really all I have left. Sure, I have Kaito, but he has Maki—they've been spending a lot of time together lately. I can't lose Kokichi—and not because I'll have nobody left if he's gone, but because I'll have nothing left.

I try to fill my mind with hopeful thoughts to drown out the thoughts bringing me despair. As I drift to sleep, I think about Kokichi's cool touch and his violet eyes and his plum hair and his snow-white skin, and his troublesome smile that infects his face and mine. I think about his rare, genuine smile that floods my heart every time I see it, or even just think about it. Just thinking about his enthralling smile is bringing me joy right now. My memories with him—including the brief interludes of our past life—play on repeat in my head until my brain slips into a dream that I never want to wake from.
~
I wake up the next morning to the sound of the morning announcement, groggy and exhausted as per usual. I turn onto my other side and close my eyes and drift off, only to wake up again to Kokichi's face inches away from mine.

"Gah!" I gasp, sitting upright at lightning speed.

"Sorry," Kokichi says, followed by a giggle. "You slept in pretty late, so I wanted to make sure you're not dead. I wouldn't be able to survive in this hell without you."

I blush at his statement, feeling myself smile a little. But my smile fades away when Kokichi adds, "Because without a smart detective, we'd all be royally fucked!"

I bite the inside of my cheek as Kokichi laughs at his comment. He confuses me all the time; one moment, he's the sweetest boy I've ever met—he's like an angel—and the next, he wears his lying, malicious mask around me, the same one he wears to everyone else here.

"I'm not that smart," I say, hiding under my covers.

"Yes you are!" Kokichi says, pulling the blanket off of me slowly. "You're the smartest person here—except for me, of course."

I chuckle lightly, rubbing my tired eyes. "That's not true. Kaede was smart, Kirumi was smart, Korekiyo was... Korekiyo. Ryoma was smart, too, and so is Miu. I'm not special."

Kokichi's goofy expression morphs into a more solemn expression as I speak. "Yes you are Shuichi," he says, his childlike tone disappearing. "You're the Ultimate Detective!" The tone returns as if it never left.

I avoid looking at him, remembering the look that man gave me when I caught him on my first mission. "I don't deserve that title," I say. "I solved one case as an apprentice for my uncle before the police could, that's all I did. Everyone always praises me for that, but real detectives aren't ashamed of what they've done."

The tip of Kokichi's finger touches mine and it feels as if a bolt of electricity shoots through my body and I can't help but look at him into his dark purple eyes. He flashes me one of those small authentic smiles that I adore so much.

"Go on," he says, slipping his fingers through mine.

A smile creeps up on me and I continue, my smile fading again, "The guy I caught had killed a man who drove the culprit's relative to suicide—I don't blame him for what he did. But I knew I couldn't let him get away. I'll never forget the look he gave me as he was being hauled into the police car—his eyes were full of pure hatred. I've always struggled with looking people in the eyes ever since. That's why I always wore that hat."