(Complete) Taking Her Place (Saiouma/Oumasai)

On The Hunt

Chapter 3: on the hunt

Miu's POV

Immediately as I saw Kaede, I ran and tackled her. Kinda like what Angie did to Kokichi at the airport earlier but without her actually touching the ground.

"Iruma!" Kaede beamed.
"Akamatsu! I've missed you so much!" I hugged her tightly.
"I've missed you too! It's been so long! I heard you and Ouma are living together, how's that?"
"Oh! My little buddy!" I stopped for a second to look around, Kokichi was talking to Momota. I tend to get a bit worried when I can't see him around me. For some reason seeing Kaede made me completely forget about Kokichi for a bit.

"Sorry, I'm like a panicked mother, I need to know where he is at all times. We even have a Life360 account just for us two."
"I understand, I get protective over my significant others too-"
"Me and Cockitchy?! HA! That's gold!" I slapped my knee and laughed so hard some people looked at me.

"Are you saying you and Ouma aren't dating?" She looked at me confused.
"No way! We're like... friends with benefits, by no means are we dating. He has a crush on this guy anyways."
"Ouma's gay?" She looked even more confused now.
"HAHA NOW THATS REALLY A GOOD ONE!" I slapped my knee once again.

"Huh?"
"Are you kidding me?! You were the protagonist Kaede! Shouldn't you be able to pick up on obvious things like that?!"
"Is it really that obvious? I guess I've never thought about Ouma's sexuality before."
"It's super obvious, it's also super obvious who he likes and yet here we are." I put my hand on my forehead to show my pain.

"Who does he like?"
"Oh god I've said too much! Forget I said anything!" I sat down in the nearest pew.
"I'll let that's slide for now." Kaede said as she sat next to me. I made sure to leave a spot next to me for Kokichi.

It's been awhile since I last saw Kokichi. Where is he? The weddings going to start soon. I looked back to see Momota and Harukawa sitting near me, Kokichi no where to be seen. This is when the panic started to settle in.
"Akamatsu" I whispered, "I don't see Kokichi anywhere, do you?"
"Hmm..." she looked around for a bit, "nope. Now that you say that though, I don't see Shuichi or the bride anywhere either. We should go look for them." She whispered back. The whole building was really quiet, too quiet. It didn't sound like Kokichi was in the building at all.

Kaede and I got up and rushed out of the large room.
"The whole building is far too quiet for Kokichi to be in here, we should check outside."
"You think?" She asked me.
"Oh yeah, let's go!" I grabbed her hand and ran outside.

As soon as I got out there I saw a really nice car driving away. Maybe someone forgot something and needed to go get it. Maybe the car wasn't even someone from the wedding at all for all I know. There was a cigarette on the ground, I looked like someone stepped in it but it wasn't nearly finished. I know Kokichi smoked but he also cared a lot for the planet, this could very well be him but I can't imagine he would've flicked it in the ground, especially since it wasn't finished.

"Do you see either of them?" Kaede asked.
"No, maybe they actually are inside." I looked to her.
"We can go back inside, for all we know Shuichi was just running late and we're missing the wedding."
"You're right we should head inside."

Kaede and I ran back into the building to see the weddings till hadn't started. People were looking around at each other. It seemed like everyone was wondering what was going on. I was thinking the same. Where was Shuichi? Oh no... did Kokichi do something? I have no way of finding him. I'm extremely worried. If only I could track him somehow!

"Hey! You two! Have either of you seen Shuichi Saihara?" A girl in a beautiful white dress pointed to us.
"No. We're looking for him too."
"Oh are you two on his side of the family? It's so nice to meet you!" She walked over and pulled us into a group hug, "I would love to introduce myself but I feel as though now really isn't the time."
"We'll help you look for him!" Kaede beamed. I guess looking for Kokichi will just have to wait. I hope he's ok. I really really do. I care about him, of course I'd never tell him that. But I really do. I'll text him just to be sure.

Shuichi's POV

I've been driving for a while. Probably a couple hours. I can't stop thinking about whether or not I should've stayed. Maybe I shouldn't have left. What if being with her really would have made me happy? It was far too late for that now.

Kokichi fell asleep in the passenger seat of my car. He looked oddly peaceful. He had his phone in the passenger seat cup holder. It seemed to be blowing up. As though someone was spamming him. Maybe he didn't tell anyone he was leaving either. Someone must be worried about him. I tried to read the name over the text but it just said "cum slut" and I wasn't going to question it.

I pulled into the parking lot of a small motel. I figured for one night this would be fine. God I can't believe I'm doing this. I got out of the car and paid for the room but Kokichi was still asleep. Should I wake him up? I don't want to disturb him. I walked back out to my car and opened the passenger side door. I decided to carry him to the room so I didn't have to wake him up but he didn't have to stay out in the car. As soon as I got into the room I set him down on the bed. There was only one bed in the whole room so I let him have it.

I wanted to get something for us to eat so I decided to leave the room again and go stop somewhere. I found some paper and wrote a note so if Kokichi woke up while I was gone he wouldn't freak out. I set the note next to him and set off.

I'm definitely hungry but I'm not sure what for. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a small flash going on and off again. It was Kokichi's phone, I guess I forgot to put it in the room with him. I picked it up curiously. I'm not normally a nosy person but for some reason curiosity got the better of me.

Immediately I was treated with hundreds of texts from the same person as before. Surprisingly he didn't have a password on his phone and it was easy to open. I went to his texts first which was still being flooded. There was a picture next to the person which made it obvious it was Miu. Most of the texts were her asking where he was and if he was ok. I left the messages app and looked through the rest of his phone. His wallpaper was a selfie of him and Miu at a beach. There was water behind them and it looked like Rantaro was there as well.

I looked around for anything that could give me information so I wouldn't have to ask him so many questions later. I found a tracking app called Life360 in his phone but it seemed like only Miu was connected to it. Odd, Miu keeps asking where he is but they track each other? She must be as ditzy as she was in high school. Looks like she's still at the hotel.

A long text appeared which peaked my interests. It was from Miu and it read:

Listen I know you're probably mad I forced you to come to this wedding when all you wanted was to not have to see Shuichi get married but he didn't even show up! So it's ok!!!! Can you tell me where you are? I'll stop spam texting you now... I'm really worried about you! You always tell me where you are! Why is now any different?? I hope you're safe- I take that back- you better be safe! If you're not I might just have to kick your ass!!! Ok I'll leave you alone now... I better see you soon. Pleasee 💞

She must really miss him... I feel bad but I don't think I have the right to pretend to be him on his phone. I shouldn't be on his phone at all. I wonder what she meant but he didn't want to see me get married? I guess he did tell me that he only came because of Miu. I can't help but feel there's something more than that though...

There was one more thing I wanted to check out before I put his phone down. I tried my best to find his photos app and when I opened it I was greeted to a camera roll of over 2,000 photos. I just wanted to look around a bit while I had the chance. He had a ton of screenshots of texts and a couple selfies sprinkled in everywhere.

Lots of his pictures were with Miu. One of them looks as though he didn't have a shirt on while Miu was behind him and who also didn't have a shirt on... that probably should stay in his hidden. In one he held an empty bottle of wine in front of a puking Miu. What an interesting camera roll. None of this really answered the question I was looking for. Although maybe it did... Miu and him seem awfully close. She even sent a heart emoji in the text she sent to him. And although her name was "cum slut" in his phone it still had a heart next to it.

I should probably go get some food. I hope he likes pizza, that seems like a universally liked thing right? I'll get cheese just in case. With that I started up my car and headed out.