Eternal Starlight (Kaito x Maki)

Chapter 10: The Night of the Dance

As the blaring of a noisy alarm clock tore through his silent sleep, Kaito bolted up and yanked his phone from the bedside table to check it. To his disappointment, Maki had yet to respond to the texts he'd sent her the night prior. 

He'd just been so worried about her after what happened yesterday, he couldn't help messaging her a couple of times to check up on her. Maybe he'd gone a tad overboard, but he had a very fair reason to be as worried as he was. A cold shudder crept down his spine as he was forced to remember Kokichi's words from yesterday. Just thinking about it was enough to unsettle him, so he could only imagine how Maki was feeling.

The dance was this evening, but Kaito found it slightly amusing how excited he'd been for tonight only to feel so down at the moment. He stood up from the bed and made his way to the kitchen before beginning his normal morning routine. After a nice breakfast, he gathered up his things and headed off to school. 

As he was leaving the building, he encountered someone in the front lobby.

"Hey! Good mornin', Shuichi!" Kaito called, running over to the couch that Shuichi was sitting on. He looked up from the book he was reading and returned the greeting.

"Actually, I was waiting here for you," he explained as he tucked the black book into his backpack, "Do you think we could walk to school together?"

Kaito grinned at the request, "Sure!"

The detective hopped up from his seat and accompanied his friend out the door. As they walked, Kaito glanced over at Shuichi, who seemed to be lost in thought. 

"Did you wanna talk to me about somethin'?" he asked, snapping Shuichi back into the real world.

He nodded, "Yeah, I did. I figured that now would be a good time to tell you what Kizakura told me yesterday after you and Kaede left."

"Oh yeah, that'd be great," Kaito focused his attention on Shuichi as the detective started explaining what he'd learned.

"So, apparently, Kizakura, the headmaster, and most of the Hope's Peak staff already knew about the truth behind Maki's talent." he began while they continued down the sidewalk, "With the help of the headmaster, she took on the title of the Ultimate Child Caregiver. This was done to keep her from making enemies among her classmates, who might be concerned for their safety if they knew they were sitting a few feet away from a trained killer."

Kaito sighed as he let his gaze drop to the ground. She was completely in the right to be cautious about her secret. After all, one look at the faces of his classmates after Kokichi's "announcement", and all he could see was overwhelming suspicion and disgust.

"He made it clear to us that he didn't know where she'd received her training, and that she has always worked alone in her field." he continued. Kaito almost gasped, but managed to hold it in.

"Wait... she isn't workin' alone. That contradicts the meeting I overheard. But why would Kizakura lie about that?" he thought to himself, "It's not like I can correct him, though. Then Shuichi would question how I knew. Crap..."