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The sun was already starting to set down and by this time, most of the students of the prestige school – Hopes Peak Academy – had already left the school to go to their homes or they were out with their friends. The school was entirely empty of life, except for the plants, class pets and … for one specific student who was working hard to master the title of Ultimate Detective.
This student was none other than Shuichi Saihara, a promising young man who had a very bright future ahead of him if he would successfully master his talent … and perhaps stat losing his shyness.
Saihara, like usual, had offered to be the one to clean homeroom and re-organize everything and in this very day he did not have the maid that always stayed behind with him to help things end faster. Apparently, Kaede Akamatsu, best friend of Shuichi, had a very high fever and was being currently being nursed back to health by the maid, Tojo Kirumi, who was also missing school that day.
If the day was like any other, he would have not been that incredibly sad.
Shuichi was sad that Kaede was sick but … he was a reserved person, he always kept to himself most things about his private life such as, favorite music genre, favorite style and even his long time crush … Kaede knew it all for she was the only friend that Shuichi felt the most comfortable speaking to and she respected his decision to not spread around things about the detective.
Shuichi was sad … he was sad because on this day, the seventh of September, was his birthday and he did not have the joy of being wished a happy birthday by his best friend.
The soon to be detective lived alone on the Academy, he had no one to share his room with and he would surely enjoy sharing it with the one he had fallen for, yet the courage to ask that person was nowhere to be found. He had received only one message on his phone wishing him a happy birthday, that message was from his uncle who loved him so much, Ken Saihara.
Finally having homeroom all cleaned up he sighed sadly, his one distraction from his depressed mind gone and now he was stuck with the thought he so much hated.
You’re terrible.
Disgusting.
Friends? Ah! Who wants you as a friend!
Not even Kaede texted you cuz you won’t even give her your number you stupid.
Why were you even born
You never try hard enough
Think he’d love you? Even move in with you? Please, you are sooo out of his league
Just go die in a corner
Shuichi had heard most of those thoughts in verbal form most of life … they had mainly come from his mother right after his father had passed away. And … in a way she was right. Who would love someone like him, shy, barely even speak, has a feminine voice … who would love a mistake like him?
If it were any day but this one Shuichi might’ve controlled himself better but after his day, the day of his birth, had gone by without one single verbal ‘Happy Birthday’ he felt like he couldn’t take anything else. He knew it was stupid to be so affected by something like that but … Shuichi was a person that enjoyed the small things. The refreshing feeling of a cold drink after a warm bath, the warm fuzzy feeling from when he got to see someone smile of true happiness, the feeling of accomplishment whenever a hard task had been solved, the rush of getting a rare unit on this phone game he played, and, of course, the joy of being wished a happy birthday.
Another sigh escaped him as he kept walking down to his own room.
Maybe, just maybe, today he would follow those thoughts on his head and finally off himself. Who would miss him? Kaito? Nah, he was basically friends with everyone and had Maki, why would he care for losing one person. Maki? Nope, she was cold to everyone, she wouldn’t care if Shuichi had kicked the bucket early. Tenko?? Hell no! She hated people who had a penis between their legs with an anger of one thousand suns, she would be over joyed if Shuichi kicked the bucket.
… Yet … there was a weak tiny voice doing its best while shouting at Shuichi, telling him that those were the lies that his despair was telling him. The voice went ignored.
Who would miss him … Korekiyo? No, he had others who he could ‘study’ for their humanity. Tsumugi? No, she would just cosplay away from everything or even go online for fanfictions to ease any pain. Kirumi? She was a maid, maids serve, they don’t care. Ryoma? He was depression itself, of course he wouldn’t care. Angie? If she weren’t high 24/7 she might’ve cared … too bad she was probably high right now. Rantaro?? Heck, he was the one selling the weed to Angie so of course he was high too.
That tiny voice grew stronger, trying to tell him that those were all lies, yet it did not come through.
No one would care, no one, no one, no one, no one!
Would his uncle care?? Of course not, it would be a blessing if Shuichi was out of his life. Would his mother care? She would be overjoyed. Would Kaede care? Probably not as she wouldn’t be seen with the quiet emo looking guy anymore. Would his crush care … would he care …
Shuichi stopped at his door. Eyes wide with tears running down, he had not even noticed he had started crying because of those awful thoughts until he was in front of his dorm’s door … fear began growing inside of him as all the doors were closed … except the door to his room. Sounds came from inside, meaning that someone had broken into his room and was doing stuff in there, his mind quickly went for the possible scenario, burglary.
Two options were presented to him.
A – run away and call for help
B – Face the danger head on
If it were any other day he would have picked option A, but today … he could no longer take shit from anyone. Shuichi knew it was dumb to go inside and face the robber but hey, maybe he would have the luck of stopping him or even have the luck of being stabbed in the abdomen and bleed to death.
Hurray, a choice with two happy endings for Shuichi. Either get something done well or get killed as his despicable mother wants him to.
He reached for the pepper spray he kept inside his backpack and also a switchblade that his uncle had given to him, he had told him that he had met many people that were not fond of his work always screwing them up and tried to attack them, therefore he wanted Shuichi to have that just to be able to intimidate a foe – that is if the young boy ever had one – and Shuichi found himself shaking harder once the blade was out.
With the spray on his left hand, finger ready to get the bottle to spray the person, and the knife on his right hand he slowly pushed the door open making sure to make the least amount of sound possible.
Shuichi didn’t take steps but he dragged his feet. That little voice of reason was whispering again and telling him that it would be better to catch the thief than to get stabbed and this time he had listened to that voice.
Reason hit him like a wave. Wasn’t he being rather pathetic feeling that depressed just because he had not received one verbal happy birthday, it was true that he loved the simple things but … was it worth getting killed over it?
As fast as his reason invaded him, so did that awful despair once again forcing all reason to die out and for him to proceed with his actions.
Slowly he kept dragging his feet, no sounds being made. His breathing also controlled as he got further and further in. Sounds came from the kitchen like area and he could see a body. Whoever that person was they were wearing brown shorts – a odd piece of clothing to wear while robbing someone’s house might he add – and sandals, it was still summer but … that outfit to rob a house … really?!
He moved as careful as he did while intruding on his own house. Slowly and carefully until the other person was within arm’s reach. Shuichi also noticed his skin, the robber was very pale … a … very familiar kind of pale.
He flinched as the figure was retreating himself from the plate closet. His left hand shot in front of him, ready to pepper spray the individual.
He removed himself entirely revealing a lilac t-shirt. The individual was small, not small as in Ryoma small, but small as in Himiko small. He had plum hair, spiky on the ends, and he smelled like … lavender?
He turned around and his eyes went a bit wide having the pepper spray right near his eyeballs. If Shuichi had not identified the male his finger would have automatically forced the bottle to spray everything on the stranger’s eyes.
“S-Saihara-chan, dear me, were you trying to scare me? Nishishi~”
“Scare you? I’m the one scared to the core, I thought you were a robber”
Ouma put his hands behind his head and smiled at Shuichi. Oh God how loved that smile of his.
Yes, Ouma Kokichi, biggest liar of the entire campus and also the one that had earned the title of ‘Most Annoying Brat’ in the span of three hours since they had been admitted into the school, was indeed the person that Shuichi had fallen head over heels for.
“Ooohh, I can see that my beloved was armed to the teeth, how rude of you when I was trying to surprise you”
“Ah” the spray bottle and knife were both shoved inside his bag and said bag thrown to his bed that stood perfectly opposite to an empty bed … the bed he wanted Ko… never mind “I didn’t mean, Ah, I mean I’m sorry but you were in here and I panicked but I didn’t want to hurt you or anything but I was scared that there was a robber in here yet that was no reason for me to ha-“ Ouma literally pressed his finger to Shuichi’s lips to silence him.
“Wow … aren’t you looking rather nervous and … is that a sad look I spot Shumai?” he had hit the nail. Whenever Shuichi grew nervous he couldn’t control how fast he talked or for how long and yet … he was still saddened by the previous action.
The grin that Ouma was wearing didn’t show any indication of breaking down “Hey Shumai, I have a surprise for you, would you mind turning around and close your eye, remember no peeking or else I’ll have my organization kill you in your sleep” he laughed at that. Shuichi had done some research and DICE was nothing but a group of ten – Kokichi included of course – that only did petty harmless pranks, but still he could use some sort of amusement in his life, therefore he complied.
With having his eyes closed he could only hear what was happening, he could have even sworn that he heard Ouma curse something under his breath … something among the lines “I was too slow” … but it could have been his imagination.
He heard a chair being dragged around and the sound some duct tape. After that he heard the sound of what seemed like a plate being placed on the table and then another plate with something in it due to the fact that the plate sounded heavier.
A sweet smell lingered on the room and then a burning one. The sound of the refrigerator being opened and the closed swiftly soon followed.
“Okay Saihara-chan, you can open your eyes and turn to me” time to see whatever it was that Kokichi had been scheming.
As he opened his eyes he noticed that there was a dim light coming from where Kokichi was. He breathed in, turned around and his eyes went wide. Shuichi couldn’t believe his eyes and he couldn’t believe he was actually feeling tears well up.
On the wall was a white banner written ‘Happy Birthday Saihara-chan!’. As his eyes kept scanning he noticed on the counter a plate with a decently sized chocolate cake with two candles and frosting reading ‘Happy 17th Birthday Shumai <3’
The detective blinked his eyes twice and then wiped them at his sleeves. That … could not be possible. His eyes finally fell on Kokichi and noticed the innocent look on his face plus how pink his cheeks were and … why did he had both hands behind his back?
Suddenly, Kokichi looked at him very angry “Why didn’t you tell me your birthday Shumai, how dare you make the Ultimate Supreme Leader use so much of his time to figure this out, not even piano blondie would tell me!” that was his reason?
His throat felt dry, it felt like Shuichi had spent an entire week with no water on a desert “Ouma-kun, I-I-I … why did I have to tell you something like that, it’s not like it’s important to you or anything”
“Yes it is!” he responded surprising Shuichi.
“If it wasn’t important do you think I would have annoyed Kirigiri-chan twenty-four seven until she gave me access to the school’s records?” Shuichi couldn’t … who was he kidding, of course he could believe Ouma had done that to Kyoko, that would also explain the constant headaches his senior had whenever Ouma was brought into the picture.
“B-But … Why?” he questioned again.
“Because …” amethyst eyes met golden “You deserve an happy birthday … I don’t think I’ve seen anyone wish you a happy birthday and … you looked so down today”
Silence fell between them. It was a rare occasion to see Ouma being nice like that and it was honestly a good change of pace but Shuichi couldn’t shake the feeling that Ouma had some ulterior. Why would, Kokichi Ouma, want to make someone as plain, boring, sad and depressed like Shuichi happy? It just screamed of one of the Leader’s plans … yet the expression the Leader was wearing told otherwise.
“Come here Shuichi, eat and drink, I made this cake for you and only you, I had to force Tojo-chan to teach me how to cook so … enjoy” he sat on a chair, arms still behind his back.
Not having proof that told that Ouma’s statements were a lie, he sat on a chair next to the Leader and went to grab the knife to cut the cake.
“Ah ah ah” he halted his movements “You have to blow out the candles first my beloved” oh yeah, that was a thing. Shuichi had forgotten that since he had stopped celebrating his birthday since he was eight … his mother refused to celebrate with him and his uncle was always busy, but unlike his mother, his uncle still wished him an happy birthday and always came home with a dessert for Shuichi on his birthday. If not for the man Shuichi felt like he would have been much sadder then what he was.
“Remember, make a wish” he warned again.
He breathed in and held his breath for a second. After thinking on something to wish for he blew out the two candles and Ouma placed in front of him a present wrapped in black and white checkered paper.
“Wha… What is this?”
“Nishishi, why silly, that’s your birthday present, now open up, I worked hard for it so I wanna see your face”
The purple ribbon was slowly undone, Shuichi wanted to keep it as undamaged as possible. A gift from Ouma was something to estimate.
Once the paper was off he opened the box and in there was a cellphone with a Dice checkered case, alongside a Dice checkered scarf.
“I … Ouma-kun I can’t accept this, this cellphone is one of the most recent ones, I can’t accept something this exp-“
“Are you going to reject my gift” tears formed at the corners of Ouma’s eyes “I worked so hard to get the money to buy this for you and you just … reject my gift … Saihara-cahn you’re … you’re … YOU’RE SO MEEEAAAAANNNN!!!!!” the tears shot out like a waterfall that had finally broke free from years of being held back.
“Ah … Ouma-kun, please don’t cry, I like the present I really do … don’t cry please … I’ll … um … I’ll take the present, there’s no need to cry” the crying ceased but he wasn’t in the clear yet.
“R-Really?”
“Yeah … really” the things he would do or accept for this boy …
“Yay! Saihara-chan took my gift and he liked it Nishishi” that happiness … Shuichi could tell it was true happiness “I couldn’t stand watching my Shumai with that oldass phone of yours, it won’t even catch wi-fi” still true to himself, Shuichi was a person of small things in life … and he didn’t want to bother his uncle by asking something as expensive as phone.
“T … Thank you Ouma-kun” the Leader’s expression changed to one somewhat more embarrassed after Shuichi smiled.
The detective grabbed the knife again and went to cut the cake.
“I … actually have one more gift for you …” he said in a whisper.
“Ouma-kun you don’t have to gi-“
“Close your eyes” Shuichi sighed and closed his eyes again.
Here he was again, stripped of the sense he used the most. Ouma carefully moved out of his chair and got close to Shuichi. The detective noticed all of it because Ouma wasn’t as silent as he had intended and he smelled a lot like lavender.
The detective waited and kept waiting, he was about to open his eyes but then decided against it as he wanted to stay truthful to his word. He felt heat on his face but … he wasn’t blushing??
As he was about to open his eyes to see what was Ouma doing he felt something soft at his lips. His eyes shot open to catch Kokichi Ouma, the crush of his life, connecting his lips to his own on a kiss.
Was that really happening?? It couldn’t be, it could only be Shuichi’s imagination, but the way Ouma kept kissing him and sucking on his lips only proved that thought to be wrong.
After a few second the Leader used his teeth to pull at Shuichi’s lower lip and then separated them both “Happy … birthday … Shumai” he said in between gasps, his face a red that Shuichi thought impossible for him.
“Ouma-kun … why did you …”
“I’ve known for a while you were into me and guess what, I’m into you too Shuichi, Nishishi” the sleuth was still stunned, his mind was having trouble to register what had happened.
“W-Well … it seems like my beloved Shumai is … deep in thought … I’m going to leave now” the Leader took two steps backwards, turned around and before he could dash away, Shuichi wrapped his arms around him.
“I … I love you Kokichi!” He shouted and felt the Leader tensing under his touch.
. . .
“…” he mumbled.
“What was that Kokichi?”
“… I love you too s-stupid” their eyes met once again and they shared a quick kiss.
Just like that, all the negativity, all the despair Shuichi was feeling was gone. The birthday he had expected to be his worst took a one eighty and became his best birthday ever and Shuichi couldn’t feel happier as he held the boy of his dreams on his arms.
... Today I had the best birthday ever