Life's True Worth - A Kaimaki/Saimatsu Story

8 - A Twisted Invitation

A.N. - ....Remember what I said about a dark situation?

Buckle up, children.  :)

"You've covered everything you wanted to in your lessons, right? How did they go?"

"Honestly, it went better than I thought it would." Shuichi answered. "We're not supposed to help with the individual presentations, so I can't see for sure how well I performed until after the end of the project, but I think I did a good enough job."

Kyoko smiled, shaking her head a little. A strange expression donned her eyes but the younger detective didn't see why until she spoke.

"I'm glad to see you like this, Shuichi. I haven't seen you this happy since your uncle....."

"Thank you." he replied politely, but his voice was slightly strained by nostalgic longing.

He didn't like to admit it, but she was right to conclude he hadn't been himself for a while after his uncle, who was practically his only parental figure, left. Ever since the ravenette had to move back with his parents after all, being alone was the norm and he barely had a reason to smile. It was suffocating, especially to constantly come home to-

"You okay?" she asked. Shuichi sighed, shaking his head in a futile effort to forget, but a smile still graced his face.

"I'm glad to have this chance. Really." he assured.

"Oh?" she teased. "Because you've found yourself a little band of misfits?"

"H-Hey, you don't like them?"

"I never said that." Kyoko chuckled, to Shuichi's relief. "Your new friends are.. interesting, to say the least. Some of them may be a bit eccentric, but I've seen worse."

"You mean Kaito, right? I think his determination is admirable, especially since he's always looking out for us." Shuichi smiled. "He can be a little boisterous, yes, but we've always got someone like Maki to drag him back down to earth."

"Maki, huh? From what I've heard, you guys are the first people she started really spending time with." the senior said thoughtfully. "I wonder why that is.."

"Huh. Well, while I do think there was something up with her from the start, I'm glad she's making some progress. Not that she'd ever say it outright, of course, but I think she's finally taken a liking to us. She's a lot closer to Kaede now, who I suspect caused her empathetic change."

"I see... From that look on your face, can I safely assume Maki's not the only one who grew closer to her?"

"Yeah." he replied, not noticing the slight gleam in her eyes. "Kaede's just..."

The ravenette looked up as he spoke, but for some reason his voice trailed off. His blood seemed to warm up again at the mention of his musical friend. He felt like he had so much to say, but the words were lodged in his throat.

"Well? You were saying?"

His lily-haired friend raised an eyebrow as he opened his mouth again to answer. staring at him with a sly smile. It caused a slight flush to fill his cheeks, and he averted his gaze, muttering just loud enough for her to hear.

".....she's great."

"Oh? And does she know how great you think she is?"

"I-I don't think it matters.. I don't know..." he dismissed, wondering what had gotten into him all of a sudden. Before either of them could speak however, the corridors slowly filled with bustling students, all headed towards the cafeteria for breakfast.

"I'm supposed to meet Makoto." Kyoko smiled, mercifully dropping the subject as she patted his shoulder. "Are you gonna grab a bite to eat?"

"Already did." Shuichi grinned, closing his locker. "I'm gonna wait for them in class for now, so I'll see you later."