Regrets, Restarts, and Forgiveness

Chapter 28

It was a bit more of a walk then I expected, but I finally was standing before Maki's research lab. It looked more intriguing then I remember, seeing the giant red doors stand proudly. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been inside her lab before. No wait, yes I have. It was only one time though, after Kirumi's trial in the first time line, we all looked inside of here. Doubt she'd let me inside though.

Despite that thought, I shrugged and knocked on the door. "Helloooo? Maki Roll? Space boy? You two making out in there?" I called. The opened a crack, and I could see one of Maki's beady red eyes glare through.

"Do you want to die?"

"No. But I do want to return this." I said, holding up her diary. Her eyes widened and she opened the door a bit wider, immediately snatching it from my hand.

"W-What? But how...." she said. "Turns out Monokuma was our thief. I simply took it back from him. And don't worry, he couldn't look inside thanks to that lock on your diary." I said. Maki looked at me surprised. "You brought this back....for me?" she said. 

"Yeah. Why else would I bring it back?" I asked. She looked at the book for a moment, eyes narrowing, then looked away from me. "Did you.....read from it?" she asked. 

"....no. I didn't, honest. I can be a bastard, but reading from a girl's diary is not exactly the coolest thing for anyone to do." I replied. Maki glanced up at me, then looked away with almost a pouty expression, messing with one of her pigtails. I blinked, puzzled by her actions. She looks like she wants to say something. She whispered something under her breath, a slight blush creeping on her face, and I tilted my head.

"Hmm? Say that again, Maki Roll? I didn't quite catch it~" I said, smirking slightly. I was expecting that to be some sort of insult she muttered. But instead, she blushed brighter and spoke up.

"I said thank you, Kokichi." 

I blinked, caught off guard by her gratitude. She looked down at the book, a smile spreading across her face. "I mean it....thank you." she said. Maki said thank you. She actually said thank you?! I thought she hated my guts or something. I guess I was wrong. I didn't realize she was waiting for me to respond until she glanced at me, and I cleared my throat.

"Oh well, um, no biggie. Don't make a big deal out of it." I replied, pretending to brush off dirt from my shoulders. 

"By the way....what made you think that Kaito and I were making out?" Maki asked. "Isn't that obvious? You guys are clearly crushing on each other, aren't ya?" I asked, wearing a smirk. Maki blushed even brighter, shooting a glare at me.

"Do you want to die?" she said.

"Haha! You do love him! Kaito and Maki, sitting in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-GAH!" she suddenly held me by my throat, but her grip wasn't enough to even choke me a little. Still, she sent me a deadly glare.

"You done?" she asked. 

"Yep." I said, scared shitless. She nodded and dropped me, making me sigh in relief. "Well, in any case, Kaito isn't even here right now." Maki replied. I perked up. "Hmm? He isn't? But Shuichi said you two hang out in here all the time." I said.

"We do. In fact, he was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. I'm not sure what's taking him so long." Maki said. "Oh, well if you want, I can go and find him. I got nothing else to do." I replied. It was true, I have literally no plans. So I can find the Ultimate Astronaut real quick. "You'd do that?" Maki said.

"Yep! Where did you see him last?" I asked.

"He said he was going to his lab to grab some space movie for us to watch." Maki said. I groaned. "Fuuuuuck, that means I gotta climb that long stair case! Ugh, whatever, I'll look up there first." I said. I turned on my heel and flashed Maki a smile.