Men of Shadows (Shuichi x Kokichi Fanfiction)

It's been ten years since he graduated high school, ten years since he officially started working as a detective, ten years since he let himself be placed above the regular civilians, and ten years since he became a merciless man that no one could get close to. Criminals fell through his hands and into the cages he left without nary a thought. It was always too late to escape the talons the detective squeezed with, sharp nails that dug and destroyed when they'd reached their target.

But under the cold guise he puts on, Shuichi has already gone against his ideals. He has a lie that he's carried on his shoulders for the last six months. He had made a choice that left him with unnecessary baggage, and yet, he cannot bear to let himself part with the madman in his life.

He rescued Kokichi Ouma, the former felon who'd served ten years for a heinous crime, the murder of Shuichi's classmate, Kaede Akamatsu. He was caught and tried swiftly, but has now fallen into a scuffle where more blood is spilled in the streets. Somehow, Kokichi is in the center of it all, but Shuichi can't bring himself to claim justice this time.

He doesn't know if it's the truth anymore.