☆ opposites attract | saiouma fic ☆

forty-one | amends

☆

Entering the classroom, Shuichi quickly noticed that Maki was sitting at a table alone. That was kind of unusual now that he thought about it, right? Usually Kaito was at least there, but he seemed to either be late or absent. Maki's eyes looked a little hazy, it was as if she hadn't slept. It was a clear cause for concern.

Worried, Shuichi let go of Kokichi's hand for a brief second just to go see what was wrong with her. He walked up to her table, quietly having a seat in an empty chair next to her.

"Are you okay?" Shuichi questioned, his tone soft.

Maki slowly glanced up at him, lazily tapping her pencil against the table. "Fine... Just tired."

"Oh, how come?"

"A certain idiot of mine kept me up all night yesterday trying to give me a pep talk." She sighed, "I guess it worked, but I'm not sure how I should take the first step."

Shuichi raised an eyebrow. "Kaito, right? What does he want you to do this time?"

"He's... been urging me to make up with Kokichi. He said he's tired of watching me hold a grudge against him, and I'm tired of holding the grudge, obviously, but... I don't know. I guess I'm just afraid of swallowing my pride and telling him why I don't like him."

"You shouldn't be afraid, Maki. I'm almost positive that Kokichi would be willing to listen to you without judgment."

Maki crossed her arms. "How do you figure that? I've lost my cool with him multiple times and literally beat him up."

"I just know. I know him, and I know that he'll give you a chance. It might not seem like it at first glance, I understand that, but Kokichi is so much more than some disruptive boy. He's so sweet, he thinks about people, and I know for a fact that he's had his fair share of struggles, so put your trust in him, okay?"

"Do you even know how pink your face looks right now? You're so head over heels..." Maki joked, cracking a small smile once Shuichi immediately covered his face up.

"Huh? Is it? Sorry, I can't help it..." Shuichi mumbled, embarrassed.

"Okay, but seriously, what do you see in him? Why are you so in love?" Maki raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Kokichi.

Kokichi was seated next to Kaede on the other side of the room. Kaede was trying to convince him to get started on his work, but he kept trying to distract her by showing her funny cat videos on his phone, and it was working, because she kept getting side-tracked by how cute they looked. Kokichi and Kaede definitely only shared one braincell between themselves.

In regards to Maki's question, Shuichi awkwardly stared down at the table. "Would you like to hear the short version, or the long one?"

"Seriously? You have a long one?"

"Yes. I really like him, okay?"

"Yeah, I can tell... I've never seen you this flustered over a person before. Anyways, give me the short one."

Shuichi nodded. "Other than the fact that he's just incredibly sweet and pretty, I really love how different he is from everybody else. Despite being so playful and outgoing, he isn't really the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, you know? So you have to work just a little bit harder to see a more genuine side of him. When you do get to that genuine side though, everything just feels worth it. He's added so much light into my life that I didn't even realize I was missing out on until now. Everything he says and does makes my heart flutter... I just get drawn in more and more with the passing day."

Maki hummed in acknowledgment. "Right. I guess I understand a little bit more after hearing that... your feelings sound really genuine."

"What about you, Maki? Are you ready to tell me why you dislike him?"

"I guess so. There's no point in dragging it on any longer, right?" Maki sighed, trying to gather her thoughts. "Well, at first, it was just about him hitting Kaito. I was really stressed at the time because of how much Kaito was slipping in and out of the hospital, and I couldn't handle it. The stress just kept building up more and more, so every little thing that Kokichi did after that would just... make me mad. Especially when he'd try teasing me or making me angry on purpose, even if I did kind of deserve it for hurting him. Whenever he started getting closer to you and Kaede... I felt really jealous, I'll admit that. I just hated the fact that someone I already didn't like was able to get closer to my own friends so easily."

Surprised, Shuichi could only manage to utter a few words. "...Maki, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault at all, Shuichi. Don't apologize."