The New Motive

The Visit

Shuichi woke up sometime around noon the next day. And he was actually feeling a lot better than he had the day before. He was still somewhat sick, but it bothered him significantly less now.

Kokichi had gone to school that morning and wouldn't return for a while, so he decided to get up and shower before grabbing something to eat. He'd figured that he didn't necessarily have to get dressed right away, so he just sat in the kitchen, eating his lunch with a towel draped around his waist, not thinking much about it.

That was, until he suddenly heard a knock at the door, making him choke on his food once he realised what he was wearing.

"Uh, just a minute," he called as he sprinted to the bedroom to throw some clothes on before running back to the other side of the house. It was still too early for the violette to be home, besides he had a key. So if he wanted in, he'd let himself in.

"Koki what are you doing back so ear-" he began, before cutting himself off as he opened the door. "Oh, Momota. What are you doing here?"

"Well, Ouma wanted to come, but one of the teachers got him in trouble again, said he can't go off campus today. So he asked me to stop by and check in on you. Make sure you were doin' alright."

"Oh, well . . . Thank you. Uh, do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure. Uh, I brought a guest though," he kinda muttered uneasily as he stepped aside to reveal who he was referring to. The detective had expected him to have brought Maki or one of the other guys, Rantaro maybe. So when he saw the shorter blonde girl standing before him he was at a loss for words.

"Hey, Saihara," she greeted him politely, still standing back. "This is a nice place you've got. Pretty big for one person though. Who lives with you?"

"I- um, Kokichi does. It's our house," he said quietly.

"Oh, that's sweet," she said awkwardly. Deep down she'd known all that, but she didn't know what else to say and now she was worried she made it wierd.

Kaito, seeing how awkward the situation was getting spoke up again asking, "so is it alright if we come in still?"

"Yeah," he decided, motioning for them to enter. "Make yourselves at home."

"Sorry," the astronaut whispered to him quietly as he walked in, careful not to let Kaede hear. "She overheard Ouma talking to me and she wouldn't shut up about coming along. I know it's wierd, I'll et her outta here as soon as possible."

He just nodded to show he understood.

"So, uh, how did Kokichi talk to you? Don't you go to the school down the street from us?"

"Same lunch period. I was gonna go try out that cafe we went to a few weeks ago, see what kinda stuff they had to eat and he saw me."

"Oh, okay. What about you?"

The pianist just looked down at the floor uncomfortably as she played with the hem of the skirt she was wearing.

"What is it?"

"Well, I was just sort of worried. I heard you got sick yesterday and when I heard Momota was coming to see you I wanted to tag along. I mean . . . I would've come by myself, but I didn't know where you lived. You and Ouma never told me and mom kept it a secret for obvious reasons."

"Right," he responded awkwardly. "So are either of you wanting anything? Tea? Something to eat real quick?"

"Nah, it's alright, man," Kaito insisted. "We just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright. No need to stay too long. But thanks anyways."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Well, . . . Anyways, I'd better get going. My break's gonna be over in a minute and I don't want to be late to biology. You know how he is about stuff like that," Kaede quickly excused herself.

"Oh, yeah," Shuichi replied, getting up to walk her out, Kaito following not far behind.

"It was nice seeing you. We should hang out at some point when you feel a bit better, kay?" the taller male smiled brightly.

"Yeah, definitely," he agreed. "Oh, before you go . . . would you mind taking something to Kokichi for me?"

"Sure, why not? I've got some time."

"Thanks," he said, quickly rushing to the kitchen to grab something, writing a quick note and wrapping it all up before handing a small bag to the people-haried astronaut. "He forgot his Panta. And I usually write him something and sneak it in his lunch, but I wasn't up when he left. And thank you again. I appreciate it."

"Of course. Anytime," he grinned happily, then he waved goodbye and left back the way he came.

Once he was out of sight, the bluette went back inside and got to work on his schoolwork from the day before. Just to keep himself busy until Kokichi got back.

. . .

"Honey, I'm home," the violette called out as he dropped his things dramatically by the door before heading to the kitchen where the detective was working.

"Was that a reference to something or did you actually call me 'honey'?" he asked looking up at him, blushing softly.

He just giggled quietly before sitting down with him and replying simply with, "Why can't it be both?" Then he took the tallers cheek in his hand, caressing his soft face and smiling lovingly at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I was."

"Aw, is it because of me?"

"Something like that," he smiled. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too. Things around that place were just so boring without your pretty face there."

"Yeah, right," he said as he pulled away to go back to his work.

"It's true," he insisted. "Everyone else is so dull and they all look just like every other basic bitch and no one ever does anything interesting."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. But not with you. You make everything so bright and colorful and . . . well, not-so-boring."

"I'm just gonna take that as a compliment," he smiled.

"Yuppers" he agreed happily. "Nothing's uninteresting when Shumai's around."