We're "Just Friends", Right? [Pregame Kiibouma]

Chapter 17: A Search

Shuichi came back up the stairs, carrying pancakes. "Tah dahh! I think my cooking is getting better, Kokichi. Here!" He handed Kokichi the food with a smile, after untying his hands. "I-I'm not r-really a f-fan of pancakes...." Kokichi stuttered. "Don't be shy! Here!" Shuichi grabbed the fork and attempted to feed Kokichi some of the pancake. Kokichi shoved it away, causing the fork to fall to the floor. His sudden movement also caused the plate to fall, making it shatter and get glass, pancake, and syrup everywhere.

Shuichi's smile fell. "Oh...." He bent down to start picking up the mess. "That's a shame...." Shuichi said, his expression and tone void of any emotion. Kokichi's eyes widened in fear. "There goes my plan of making him happy and letting me go...." Shuichi didn't utter a single word as he cleaned up the mess, and once he was done, he grabbed a few papers from a pile on his desk and started writing on them. "Is... he going to get mad at me...?" Kokichi wondered. The silence scared him a little, as Shuichi talked a lot.

Eventually, Shuichi got up, and brought a few of the papers to Kokichi. "Did your homework. Are you happy?" He asked, still emotionless. Kokichi nodded. "I mean... I'm not jumping for joy, I couldn't, not with me being all tied up... but I'm not mad that he did it." Shuichi smiled. "Great. I'll keep doing your homework, and you won't have to worry about it." Shuichi said. "O-oh... th-thank you...." Kokichi mumbled. "Of course. I've gotta keep you comfortable." Shuichi replied. "I-I'm g-going to s-sleep a bit... ok?" Kokichi said. Shuichi nodded. "Sleep tight." He said, his voice sickeningly sweet. Kokichi turned, and curled up. He could feel Shuichi's eyes on him. Eventually, he did pass out, and Shuichi left the room. He locked it from the outside, and headed downstairs. "Ok... I'll go mail these out, and get some food. No pancakes. Maybe Kokichi likes waffles...?"

Kiibo was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, waiting for Maki. He had spotted Kaede at a table, but thought it would be best to wait for her before approaching Kaede. While he was waiting, he was reading a book.  Maki came over. "Ok! I'm ready to find Kaede!" She exclaimed, a determined look on her face. Without looking up, Kiibo pointed over at Kaede. "You go talk to her... girls are good at talking to each other, right?" He asked.

"That's... an odd question." Maki thought. "Uh, yeah, I think. I'll go talk to her!" She declared, and marched over to where Kaede was.

"No, Rantaro. I don't want an autograph...." Kaede said. Maki tapped on her shoulder. Kaede ignored her, and continued eating her lunch while declining Rantaro's autographed pictures of himself. "Ahem! Kaede! I need to talk to you." Maki said. "Ugh...." Kaede turned around. "What." She snapped. "Um... I was wondering... do you have any idea where Shuichi is...?" Maki asked. "Kaede's a lot scarier than she looks...." She thought.

"No." Kaede said. "...really?" Maki asked. "No." Kaede repeated. "Oh. Well, if you find him-" Kaede interrupted. "I'm not going to keep an eye out for him. He's annoying, and I'm glad I'm finally getting a day were he isn't drooling over my shoulder while I watch Danganronpa." She snapped. Kaede turned back to her lunch, dropping the conversation. Maki headed back to Kiibo. "How'd it go?" He asked, his nose still in his book. "Not well... she doesn't know." Maki said, defeated. "Well then, we'll just have to go with Plan B." Kiibo stated. "Plan B...?" Maki questioned. "We'll go look at their apartments after school, and see if they're there." Kiibo explained. "Oh! Good idea!" Maki exclaimed. "I'll see you after school. I'm gonna go get lunch!" She headed off. Kiibo grunted as a response.

Shuichi had finished with his trip. He came back to his house, and re-locked the front door. Then, he came up the stairs. Kokichi had woken up awhile ago, and had been staring out the window. He heard a click, and the door swung open. "Kokichi! I'm baack!" Shuichi announced. "O-oh... w-what's in the b-bag?" Kokichi asked, getting away from the window. "I'm glad you asked!" Shuichi reached into the bag, and pulled out a sketchbook and a few bags of candy. "Here! It's for you." Shuichi said. "I wasn't sure what kind of food you like, so I just grabbed candy. Everyone likes candy, right?"

Kokichi took the sketchbook and a bag of candy. "Th-thanks...." He mumbled. "I guess this sketchbook will help pass the time while I wait for someone to notice that I'm gone." Shuichi flopped onto the bed, and sighed. "Man. Today has been really tiring." He said. Kokichi didn't respond, and just popped a peice of candy in his mouth.

"Kiibo! Over here!" Maki called, waving. Kiibo slowly lumbered over. It was the end of the school day, so him and Maki were going to meet. "Kiibo, are you ok? You're walking really slowly...." Maki asked, after Kiibo finally made it to where she was standing. "I like walking slowly. You get to see a lot more things." He replied. "Huh... anyways! Let's go!" She started towards Shuichi's house, with Kiibo following behind.

"Kiibo. While we're walking, can you call the cops?" She asked. "Huh? The cops?" Kiibo questioned. "Yeah! Shuichi needs to go to jail after stalking Kokichi." Maki exclaimed. "Not so loud. People are going to stare." Kiibo said. "Oh, sorry." Maki apologized. "Also, let's not call the cops yet. We don't actually have any evidence that it's Shuichi. He's... very good at what he does." He said. "Oh...."  Maki said.

Eventually, they arrived at Shuichi's house. Maki knocked while Kiibo stood behind her.

《________End of Chapter 17________》

[Words: 978]

[Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed! Please don't question the picture at the top :)  ]