☆ opposites attract | saiouma fic ☆

twelve | backstory

☆

"He's pretty fluffy, isn't he?" Shuichi chuckled, cradling Kokichi's purring cat in his arms.

"Yup! I'm actually more wowed at the fact that he seems to like you... usually he won't associate with people if it's not me or my mom." Kokichi said, standing next to him and watching as he pet the animal.

"Speaking of that... is it really just you and your mom that live here? This is a pretty huge place." Shuichi inquired, taking his eyes off of the cat and beginning to glance more at his surroundings.

Kokichi's house looked very intricate and sophisticated. Shuichi felt so out of place just standing in it, he felt as if he had to be extra cautious touching any piece of furniture or decor out of fear of messing it up. Although, Celeste did seem like the expensive type, so he wasn't all that shocked.

"Yeah, it seems like a shit ton of space for just two people, right? I mean, my mom likes going all out, and she has plenty of money to spend... partly because she was an ultimate, and partly because she married a rich man and stole all of his assets!" Kokichi explained.

Taken aback, Shuichi paused. "Why would she do that?"

"Don't sweat it! Old man was an abusive deadbeat anyways, I could care less about him." Kokichi shrugged, talking about it as if he wasn't bothered.

Okay, Shuichi definitely wasn't going to say this out loud, but Kokichi almost seemed tragic. He's a rich, troubled teenager with an abusive father? It seemed like the typical character backstory that he saw in all of the movies... he was beginning to feel even more worried about his well-being.

Maybe that was disrespectful to think, though.

He quickly shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts, trying to come up with something to say in response. It felt a bit awkward.

"Oh, okay, um... are you alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I never said I didn't fight him back. He's gone for a reason." Kokichi stated calmly, having a seat on the couch. "But anyways, you're a detective in training, right? I've been wanting to ask you about that more. What kind of things do you handle?"

Shuichi stared worryingly at Kokichi for a moment. He was extremely tempted to ask him what he meant by that thing with his father, but out of fear that the answer would be something disturbing, he decided to just protect his peace and keep quiet. He started to answer the other question instead. 

"It's a lot of stuff, really. Cases can range from something like infidelity, to just flat out murder... usually my mom handles a lot of the gore, but I pitch in from time to time if it's necessary." Shuichi explained. 

"Oh yeah! Your mom was the ultimate detective, right? Then that means your grandpa is the headmaster of Hope's Peak?" Kokichi tilted his head, and then began to furrow his eyebrows as if he was thinking. "Actually, that's weird. Shouldn't that be like, free admission into the school then? Why are you at normal school with the losers?"

"I don't think I'd be good enough, I'm not even a real detective yet... besides, I guess I never really liked the idea of putting talent on a pedestal? It's not that I have anything against the school, but..." Shuichi trailed off, letting out a soft sigh. "I don't know. I wouldn't want to leave my friends behind either."

"Oh, so like a friendship is magic kinda thing? That's lame." Kokichi teased. "Speaking of your friends though, how did you even meet them all? You're a group of six people, that's pretty huge."

Shuichi tensed up a bit hearing that. He always got slightly sentimental talking about how he met his friends. Nonetheless, he began to explain.

"Ah... well, I guess it started in second grade? I was really quiet and I had anxiety attacks often, so that kinda made me a target for bullying. Kaede was in my class at the time, and she noticed once at recess that they'd been throwing things at me, so she beat them up. She got in a lot of trouble for it, but she didn't necessarily care. I felt as if I owed her, so whenever she needed something, I'd always help. Especially if it involved having to search for a lost item."

"So you've known her for the longest, right? That makes a lot of sense... you guys do seem like you're super close." Kokichi said, leaning forward. He was clearly getting a bit intrigued. 

Shuichi nodded. "Yeah, we're definitely pretty close... we've been through a lot together." 

Actually, he and Kaede had dated for a while in middle school, but they both ended up having no attraction to the opposite gender. He decided not to bring that up though, since he had a hunch that Kokichi would make some sort of snide comment about it. 

Putting that aside, he continued to explain. 

"About a year after that ordeal with Kaede happened, Maki was a new student at our school. People were scared, because just like you, they were spreading a lot of rumors about her. Kaede and I ignored that, and we started talking to her anyways. They'd make fun of her a lot for her red eyes, they'd accuse her of being a murderer or even a robot, a lot of far-fetched things were said..." 

Shuichi paused. He let out a small sigh, sitting next to Kokichi on the couch. Kokichi hadn't said a word, he was being pretty silent and attentive to what was being said. Recalling the things that were said about Maki definitely brought Shuichi's spirits down a little, and it was obvious.

"...So she became close to Kaede and I very quick. Kaito, who was in a separate class at the time, saw these people bullying her as well. He soon became our friend too, and gave Maki chocolates that coming valentines day. After that, we became a pretty close-knit group. Not everyone liked us, so we were always protecting each other. Even though Kaito was super sick at the time, he'd do everything to help." Shuichi explained, beginning to pet the cat again subconsciously. It was kind of just being done to soothe himself.

Kokichi nodded. "Got it. So when did the green boys come into play, then?" He asked, referring to Rantaro and Korekiyo.

"Right, we didn't meet them up until our first year of highschool... Kaito, Kaede, Maki, and I were sitting in the garden one day after school, and they happened to walk in on us because they enjoyed the music we were playing. It turned out we actually had a lot in common, so we began to hang out more as a group from there."

"I see, I see..." Kokichi muttered. "So you, space guy, angry woman, and Kaede have been friends since elementary school? Then the green power rangers came in later?"

Disregarding those weird nicknames, Shuichi nodded. "That's right."

Kokichi crossed his arms. "Well, now that I have all of this information, I guess it kinda makes sense why Maki keeps coming for my throat, she has a reason to be protective of you... still, it's weird that she knows how it feels to have rumors spread, yet she won't cut me any slack. I gotta talk to her. Can you give me her phone number?"

"...I don't think that's a good idea."

"C'mon, trust me on this!"

"..."