Chapter Text
Saihara honestly didn't care about what Ouma did unless it was directly affecting the rest of them; the liar was hard to understand and incredibly difficult to deal with so it had become the general consensus of the group to only deal with the supreme leader when they had to. Saihara was pretty sure that Gonta was the only person that willingly spent time with Ouma and even then he was sure that was only because Gonta was too nice not to spend time with someone when they asked or in Ouma's case ‘ordered'. The only other person Saihara could name off the top of his head that ever really chose to spend time with Ouma was himself when his curiosity as a detective got the better of him and he tried to see if he could figure the liar out.
Those encounters usually just left him tired and confused though.
Since encounters with the Supreme leader were usually so draining Saihara usually avoided them and as long as it wasn't directly affecting him or the others Saihara didn't really care what Ouma did in fact it seemed preferable for everyone to just leave the liar alone so Saihara didn't really care what Ouma did or how he lived. It didn't really concern him unless Ouma *made* it concern him.
That was why when he had visited Ouma's room when this whole mess started and the other boy had lost his memories while Saihara had noticed the cluttered mess that was Ouma Kokichi's room he honestly couldn't really say he had thought to care. If Ouma wanted to live in a cluttered room that was the liars business.
Now however as he sorted through the endless supply of papers and stacked boxes Saihara was really hit with how messy Ouma's room was despite obvious efforts to clean it up and organize some of the madness.
"Jesus Ouma why do you even have so much stuff?" Momota exclaimed stacking another box, Saihara was glad that the astronaut was here because he honestly did not think that he or Ouma could really lift some of the piles of junk in the room. The detective also didn't really want to be alone with Ouma despite the other boys easier to deal with state so having Momota there was also comforting.
"I'm not… really sure," Ouma mumbled hesitantly as he went through another stack of papers inspecting each one as if it would tell him something. With his memory loss, this room was the only real clue Ouma really had to tell him what he was really like before, sure he could always ask one of them but the smaller boy had probably figured out by now that he wouldn't get a positive response.
In a way, both Saihara and this new Ouma were trying to use this room to figure out the Super High School Level Supreme Leader.
"Maybe I just really liked drawing?" Ouma joked half-heartedly as he picked up another picture and seemed to perk up at the sight of it, "look this one's of Kiibo!" Ouma exclaimed excitedly showing the others in the room with him a childish during of the robot, which had an arrows pointing Kiibo saying the words ‘weird' and ‘strange'.
"That's pretty good," Yumeno compliment which seemed to make Ouma beam slightly and examine the picture again. Saihara had been a bit surprised that Yumeno had come with them, Momota was understandable since the astronaut had claimed it was a hero's job to help but he thought for sure that Yumeno would complain that something like this was too much of a pain. Even Saihara thought this was too much of a pain at the moment.
It just went to show that Yumeno really might be putting in an effort to grow, though since they had started the small magician hadn't been much help simply sitting in a corner close to Ouma and helping the smaller boy look through Ouma's childish doodles.
"You think?" Ouma asked still looking at his drawing of Kiibo, "Maybe I should show it to him?" Ouma wondered aloud innocently before he would have thought that Ouma would have wanted to tease the robot with the insults that were written on the picture but the short amount of time that Saihara had been spending with the amnesiac liar made him think that the smaller boy may just want to show someone his drawing.
This Ouma felt a lot more…earnest than before it was honestly kind of refreshing.
"Um, I don't think that's a good idea," Saihara said trying to hide a slight smile behind his hands.
"Nyeh, maybe you should draw him a new picture?" Yumeno suggests raising a finger thoughtfully "he'd probably like a picture drawn by the nice you better anyway". Yumeno continued not noticing that she had caused Ouma to look down suddenly as he began to put the picture away in the pile of papers that had already been looked at.
"Hey, you could draw a picture of me too!" Yumeno exclaimed excitedly as Ouma laughed nervously at the idea looking back at the drawing of Kiibo sitting on the top the pile it had just been put in before reaching to look at another piece of paper, a slightly uncomfortable energy radiating from him.
Saihara felt as though he should say something but he wasn't sure what and it would probably be awkward to try and shift the conversation elsewhere but it felt weird to see Ouma like this, it was probably the closest to guilt that he'd ever see on the liars face. Ouma probably deserved to feel uncomfortable for his past actions but was it really right to hold someone accountable for something that they didn't remember?
Not really knowing what to do he found himself subconsciously turning towards Momota for a sense of direction only to find the astronaut with his fists together staring at them thoughtfully a faint frown on his face.
At seeing his friends' thoughtful expression Saihara was about to open his mouth and ask Momota if anything was wrong when the luminary suddenly went to pick something up from the piles of boxes he had been helping to stack.
"Hey, Ouma did you steal a chess set?" Momota asked loudly holding up the boxed game as he did so as if in a demonstration. Ouma seemed to perk up at being addressed getting up and walking over to where Momota was to inspect the chess set.
"I hope not, maybe I borrowed it?" Ouma suggested hopefully catching Saihara's attention.
"Is borrowing better?" Saihara found himself asking and he swore that Ouma jumped slightly at being addressed before the smaller boy nodded hesitantly.
"Well… I mean yes…it, it is I guess. Borrowing means, it means you plan to return it right? And I think… I think it would be a shame to keep the game for yourself" Ouma muttered nervously under his gaze looking pointedly at the chess set "games are… they're meant to be played with other people and you need at least two people to play chess." Ouma stated as Saihara put a hand to his mouth to wonder about Ouma's words.
"What about playing against the computer? That's kind of like one person chess," Momota suggested causing Ouma to look up at him in surprise before immediately looking down and fidgeting nervously.
"Oh, I guess you could do that… but I meant… I was talking about chess outside of a computer…" Ouma muttered awkwardly and Saihara couldn't help the slight laugh that escaped him. Ouma turned to him looking surprised before quickly looking away suddenly seeming very interested in his scarf. Saihara decided that maybe it would be better to pretend as though he didn't notice the tips of the smaller boys ears turning red.
"I wonder if I liked playing chess before," Ouma muttered still examining his scarf, it was true that Ouma's scarf did have a chess board pattern though Saihara had never really thought about linking it with the game of chess but thinking of Ouma with the liars love of mind games and trickery he could see him like a game of strategy like chess.
"I think it's safe to assume that you probably did, you did bring the chess set here after all," Saihara said thoughtfully as he noticed Momota seemed to be looking slightly thoughtful as well.
"Hey Ouma right now, what do you think of chess?" Momota asked suddenly catching Ouma's attention, the smaller boy looked thoughtful for a minute and began opening up the chess set and examining the pieces.
"I… I think I do like it, I mean… it sounds fun and when I think of playing… I, I feel excited? I guess…" Ouma trailed off as if he wasn't sure how to put into words what he wanted to say seeming thoughtful again only to have whatever train of thought he was having suddenly broken when Momota brought his fists together and looked excited.
"All right it's decided you and Shuichi should play a game of chess against each other!"
Ouma looked as taken aback by Momota's sudden declaration as Saihara felt, it was weird feeling as though he was on the same page as Ouma but this was a different Ouma. Though different or not Ouma still seemed to be able to recover faster them him or at least process the situation faster than he did so that was familiar at least.
"What!? No… I don't think playing with me would be very fun and besides he'd probably have a better time playing with you, and um-" Ouma began to ramble as Momota just gave both Ouma and Saihara a reassuring smile before clearing a space to set up the chessboard.
"Nah, trust me knowing you, you'll probably be great at it and besides I can't go first a hero's got to let his sidekick fight some battles sometimes before they swoop in right?" Momota reassured and Saihara almost felt a slight eye twitch at that before smiling fondly at the astronauts positive outlook and sighing he resigned himself to his fate taking a seat on one side of the board.
Ouma looked hesitant for a few moments before he awkwardly sat down as well and the two began to play. He lost the first game. However, Saihara didn't really mind his loss couldn't help but smile at the excited look in Ouma's eyes. Usually, any excited look in the supreme leader's eyes should be met with dread or dismay at any of his actions that he was planning or had just committed however there was no devious glint in this Ouma's eyes just simple honest enjoyment.
He couldn't help but feel as though it would probably be a lot easier to be Ouma's friend if he had a look like that in his eyes more often.
"Do you want to play again?" Saihara asked softly in a more patient voice than he'd ever thought he would use with Ouma and smiled when Ouma gave a hesitant but excited nod.
"Are you really sure you want to play again?" Ouma asked looking a bit surprised as though he didn't really believe it as they were both setting up the chess pieces again for their second game.
Saihara found himself giving his own reassuring smile and while it probably wasn't as good as Momota's he hoped that it would do its job in easing the smaller boy's fears. He could understand Ouma's hesitance, after all, Saihara wondered if he were bothering someone or taking up their time all the time he never imagined Ouma feeling like that though the liar from before usually not caring if he was bothering someone or even reveling in his annoyance. However, this Ouma was different, easier to read, easier to understand and more honest.
Saihara could honestly say that he liked the Ouma better.
While as a detective he was supposed to like mysteries he liked seeing a clear correspondence between motive and actions more, it was easier to tell why this Ouma did what he did than the other. Honestly the nervousness of not knowing who you were and only having unfortunate stories about yourself and a messy room as clues were understandable. Saihara liked being able to understand someone's motives he felt as though that was one of his few strong suites as a detective, despite how tragic it was he could understand the motives of the murders and even Angie's motive with her student council but with Ouma despite his best efforts he could never understand the motives of the Ouma before, with this Ouma he could.
The thought was honestly a little exciting and a bit relieving.
"Yeah I need to make my comeback somehow," Saihara joked answering Ouma's question getting a slight laugh out of Momota and Yumeno who had taken to watching their game.
"Yeah make sure you get your revenge!" Yumeno encouraged as the next game started.
Saihara lost the second game as well, however, Ouma didn't seem as excited in this game a frown deepening on his face with every one of Saihara's pieces that he took and Saihara couldn't help but mirror his own concerned from as well.
"Um… do you… do you want to play one more time?" Ouma asked hesitantly not looking up at him, eyes fixed onto the chessboard.
"Ah, sure," Saihara said awkwardly as they began playing their third game but as they started it was clear that something was wrong Ouma seemed to be paying more attention to the board and thinking more carefully about his moves but it was almost as if he were restricting himself and letting Saihara take his pieces.
Saihara won the third game.
"That's my sidekick! I guess third times the charm right Shuichi?" Momota congratulated patting him on the back though Saihara was still staring at the chess board it almost felt as though Ouma had led him to the victory it was a familiar feeling from the class trials that he sometimes felt but now it was stronger, more apparent.
"Don't feel bad Ouma two out of three isn't bad" Yumeno said sympathetically patting Ouma on the back while the small boy let out a half-hearted laugh and a slightly strained smile.
"Well, it was bound to happen eventually… um, maybe we should stop for today?" Ouma suggested moving to pack up the pieces as everything about that final game seemed to fit into place in the detective's mind.
"Ouma-kun you let me win that game didn't you?"
Ouma froze at Saihara's question, which was all the confirmation that the detective needed. The smaller boy looked away, refusing to meet his eyes but Ouma's hands seemed to be trembling slightly.
"Huh? No!... I, I didn't… why would I lose on purpose?" Ouma asked but being familiar with the Ouma from before who was a master of lies and deception made this Ouma's attempt at lying look feeble and obvious in comparison.
"Ouma-kun, why did you let me win?" Saihara asked keeping his voice soft part of him wanted to be suspicious because he was dealing with Ouma but he couldn't help not being angry because it was a different Ouma.
"I… I thought that you wouldn't have any fun if you kept loosing…. And you wouldn't want to play anymore… I'm sorry" Ouma muttered still not looking up at him, his voice breaking slightly as he talked almost as if in guilt.
"Ouma-kun-" Saihara began only to be interrupted as Ouma stood up.
"I'm sorry!" Ouma blurted out before running out the before anyone had a chance to stop him.