Chapter Text
Ouma Kokichi hated his trust issues. Hated them, from the bottom of his heart. He despised how he had to tell lies to distance himself from being hurt by the lies of others. Admittedly, a long time ago, when he was not yet that well-versed in the art of lying, he'd honestly enjoyed every lie he told. There was something exhilarating about lying, something marvelous about the vastness of lies, the possibilities to spin an entire universe of your own just to cover up that boring and way too forward truth. Not to mention the thrill of wondering if the other person had caught on already. So yeah, it wasn't like Ouma had taken on lying against his will. But after years of putting up walls, strengthening his defenses, pointing people to the door, getting people to dislike him on purpose and repeating that process every time he'd meet someone new, the thrill had gone. There was nothing exciting about lying about every little detail and never answering directly, just like you couldn't play the same prank over and over. Yes, even lying had now become kind of… boring. The frustrating thing was that Ouma needed to lie. He couldn't let people come close. People lied to protect, and he wasn't any different from that. So that's why. Ouma chose to spent his time alone.
Unfortunately, some of his classmates had other plans. It wasn't like Ouma was openly hated in the class, or like he didn't speak to anyone at all, but whenever there was an opportunity to chatter, it was a given that Ouma didn't end up in one of the small groups, happily blabbering away with friends. However, there were two people who came to check in on him every now and then, frequently enough to be notable. And well, Kaede tended to worriedly glance at him too, but that didn't really count. Anyhow, the two classmates; Gonta Gokuhara and Saihara Shuichi. Gonta was nice company and it wasn't like Ouma disliked having him around, but having Gonta as a companion wasn't really… special. Ouma knew he wasn't exactly in the position to be picky, and that it was already a miracle that people still tried talking to him, but it was a fact that Gonta would just about talk to anyone. So while Gonta was okay to spend time with, he was also undoubtedly lacking something. Shuichi, however… Ouma was kind of shocked the detective still cared about him. Sure, he was kind, but he wasn't like Gonta. Saihara actually had the brain cells to realize he could be way better off instead of talking to Ouma. So why Shuichi kept returning anyway… It was a mystery to Ouma. A very dangerous mystery, nonetheless. Shuichi seemed to awaken something in Ouma that he'd rather not have awakened. Something about the way that a small, without a doubt backstabbing and naive part of him said that Shuichi could be trusted. That it was worth it to lower his walls just a little. It frightened Ouma. Scared the shit out of him, actually. He didn't like feeling his control slip, didn't like the untrustworthy and hopeful part of act up, spouting nonsense about how he was overreacting and how he should just try to let people in. Walls weren't meant to be broken. That was what Ouma lived by. Hated trust issues or not, Ouma would despise it even more if he'd have to bear the brunt of his own stupidity. So that's why he promised himself to mentally distance himself even more. No getting attached to people he could lose. No secretly deeming people trustworthy. No staring at all that happy and carefree socializing. Ouma was going to lay down another layer of bricks upon his walls and that'd be the end of it. With a sigh, Ouma decided to try and distance himself even more from the boy he found himself thinking about the most.
"What's the matter, Saihara-kun?" A gentle voice disrupted Shuichi's thoughts. He had been staring at the only empty seat in the classroom. Ouma's seat. The purple-haired boy hadn't attended any classes that day. Their homeroom teacher had simply brushed it off by explaining that Ouma was down with a cold. The class had moved on as usual. Shuichi couldn't help but think about how it was a bit sad that there would be a small but obvious shift in the groups in their class if anyone else had been absent, but Ouma's absence had everyone carrying on. It wasn't unexpected, since Ouma didn't exactly do his best to include himself, but it was a tad bitter nonetheless. So that's how Shuichi started pondering a little about that mysterious evil leader, glancing at his empty seat. Until now. His friend Kaede looked at him, a worried glint in her eyes. "N-nothing," Shuichi stuttered, a bit shaken by the sudden interruption. "I was just thinking about how Ouma isn't here. I wonder what he's up to." He tried his best to sound casual about the matter. Ouma Kokichi was a bit of a difficult subject to talk about. Shuichi didn't know why, but his gut told him not to confide others in too much about his theories and thoughts about Ouma. "Are you perhaps worried? I'm sure there's no need for that. Ouma-kun seems like the kind of person who can take care of himself," Kaede advised. "You better fucking not worry", Kaito yelled from behind Shuichi. Another one of Shuichi's closest friends, and one that was even more unapproachable to talk about Ouma. Ever since their class had started school, Ouma and Kaito's clashing personalities had placed the two directly against each other. "I'm sure he's not even really sick anyway," Kaito complained. "He's probably just waiting for one of us to check in on him so he can go and tell us how it was just a prank and how stupid we are for believing him." There was no way that Shuichi could explain his predicament. He hadn't been worried, he had actually kind of missed Ouma. Sure, he was the biggest pain ever, but it didn't feel right either to be stuck staring at that empty seat. "You're probably right", Shuichi replied instead. "I was just thinking, that's all." Kaede flashed a sweet smile at him. "Nothing wrong with that, Saihara-kun. It's a nice thing to care about your classmates." At that point, their teacher asked for silence again and both Kaede en Kaito returned to their own work again.
At the end of the day, Shuichi still hadn't stopped pondering. As a detective, he'd solved many mysteries and at first unexplainable events, but Ouma was the biggest enigma he had encountered so far. What was the boy hiding? Was he even hiding something or was he just really lying and insulting for his own fun? What parts about him were real and what was fake? And most of all, why did Shuichi find himself so intrigued by Ouma? He knew from the start someone bearing the title of Ultimate Supreme Leader was trouble, and Ouma had exceeded all his expectations at that. So what about him was it that kept on luring Shuichi back? At that moment, he decided something. With a spark of steadfastness, Shuichi decided to definitely get closer to and unravel the mystery of Ouma Kokichi, the boy he found himself thinking about most of all.