Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 For many, the town of Mystic Falls was quiet. The type of small town girls dreamed of escaping in hopes adventure. 

But those who fall under that category are grimly mistaken: trouble was brewing in their beloved town, and it made no signs of leaving. 

That trouble happened to come in the form of two boys: Rantaro Amami and Kokichi Ouma. 

"You can't do this, Kokichi." Rantaro looks pissed as he speaks, files he stole from Sheriff Saihara clenched in his fist.

"What makes you so sure it was me?" Kokichi feigns innocence. Typical. 

"Then explain these." Rantaro sighs, shoving the papers into Kokichi's hands. 

"Hm…" Kokichi studies them. "So what? There were a couple animal attacks! You can't pin everything on me. Do I look like an animal? I demand a lawyer!"

Rantaro narrows his eyes. "Three animal attacks since our arrival. The bites are from a creature with prominent fangs. All of the bites were on the victim's wrists, and you happen to be the only vampire I've met who's too short to reach necks."

"And none of the victims seem to remember the details of the event..." Rantaro could go on for ages. "Shall I continue?" 

“Okay, okay. I get your point! It's a little suspicious. But nobody believes in vampires! And they're already perfectly content with writing it off as an animal attack,” Kokichi attempts to persuade, shrugging off his actions to purposefully irritate Rantaro.

“This isn't a joke, Kokichi. This is the one town I can't get banned from,” Rantaro pleads; Mystic Falls was his eternal home. 

"What'd you expect when you brought me here?" Kokichi points out.

"Just name your price," Rantaro lets out another sigh. He didn't feel like arguing anymore.

"Let me go to school." Kokichi doesn't miss a beat; this little negotiation had been his plan all along. 

“Not a chance," Rantaro quickly shuts down the thought. In no world could he trust Kokichi to keep the fact that they were vampires a secret in a building full of a couple hundred teenagers, all of which Kokichi saw as walking blood bags. Or at least Rantaro imagined he did. 

"Oh, but Rat! School would keep me busy as a bee. And then I wouldn't be so bored all the time." Now that part of his argument, Rantaro could ignore. But what came next… "And when I'm bored, I get hungry-"

The implication was clear. If Rantaro didn't suddenly change his mind and let Kokichi infest the school, the so-called animal attacks would never stop. Or worse: they would start leading to bodies. 

Rantaro paused. It didn't seem like he had much of a choice in the matter. Nor the time to think up a backup plan. 

“Fine. But there are rules,” Rantaro relents, not having much of a choice in the matter. "Non-negotiable ones." 

“You can't tell anyone you're a vampire, even if you don't think they'll believe it,” He starts, looking Kokichi in the eye to show his seriousness.

“Yeah, yeah. Got it.” Kokichi mumbles, not fond of Rantaro's serious tone. Would it kill 'em to lighten up? 

“No drinking blood on school grounds,” He adds, earning an eye roll from the other.

“And no compelling,”  Rantaro finishes. “If there's no way around it, I'll do it.”

“Come on!” Kokichi complains. That's my favorite part. Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Fine, but that means you've gotta let me be a junior! If I have to repeat sophomore year, I'm going to kill myself. And I've already died, so I know how sucky it is.” Ouma demands.

“... It does make sense, since you turned during junior year. And it will let me keep a better eye on you if we're in the same class,” Rantaro accepts, before warning. “That means no shenanigans. You can't ruin anything I'm doing.”

“Me? Shenanigans?” Kokichi repeats with a gasp, as if the concept of him being a troublemaker was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. “Never ever!”

Amami didn't bother calling him out on his bullshit, he was tired of playing babysitter. Even his 12 sisters never gave him this much of a headache growing up. 

He had to rely on the hope that Kokichi wouldn't purposefully ruin everything for him just to get through it. Rantaro wasn't used to being the uptight one, and he was beginning to miss having fun. 

Now that he had gotten the go ahead, Kokichi was excited .

Normally, he hated the nightmare that was high school. (Who wouldn't?) But when you knew your future was an eternity, finishing homework didn't mean shit, and you could snap the neck of any annoying classmate in the blink of an eye, it was so, so worth it. A perfect playground for someone like him to raise Hell.

As long as he found loopholes in Rantaro's rules that is. 

“Junior year here I come.” He announces to the world, eager as ever.

 “Shu... How hard would it be for Rantaro to learn basic human manners?” Kaede grumbles, hugging Shuichi's arm so tightly he could hardly move it,entirely preventing him from finishing his essay. 

That's what best friends were for, after all: saving oneself from literary distress to talk about boys.

With a sigh, he closed his laptop. He didn't want to write the essay anyways, he supposed. Putting it off a little longer wouldn't hurt.

“What makes you ask that?" Shuichi prompts, giving her an incentive to explain her question. 

"Have you noticed that when I talk to him, he always changes topic? And he never makes eye contact." Kaede begins her tangent. "And that's not even the worst of it! Did you know he sits in chairs backwards? Backwards ! Who does that? Don't even get me started on his sexy, mysterious smirk-"  

"Ah,” Shuichi concludes, giving her a look. "You like him."

Kaede lightly hit Shuichi on the shoulder, going for denial. “No I-”

She then paused, biting her tongue. It wasn't worth denying; Shuichi could read her like a book. And besides, there's not much arguing you can do when you let the buzzwords sexy and mysterious slip out. 

“You don't always have to be right, you know,” She complains, staring up at the ceiling.

He rolled his eyes at that, a faint smile forming on his lips. 

Shuichi almost didn't hear it, but Kaede then let out a simple, yet catastrophic, phrase: "Who knew I had a thing for green eyes? Grey's always been my color." 

It was a weird thing to say. She had to have known that.

The time they dated was something they didn't talk about. Shuichi assumed it was off-limits to bring up so nonchalantly. But here she was, referencing it in broad daylight. 

…But it wasn't as tense as he anticipated.

They had only dated because everyone expected them to. Shuichi had never even thought about their relationship in a romantic way, but still they persisted in the facade for six whole months. 

And when Shuichi's parents skipped town and ditched him for dreams of fame, everything became difficult, and they broke up.

Neither regretted trying to date, but they were better off as friends, and they both knew it. It had gotten to the point where there was no benefit in pretending otherwise. 

"I wonder what mine is," Shuichi adds in a joking manner, but it doesn't quite come out that way. Almost like there was too much truth to the dilemma.

Chapter Text

Being the small town that it was, everyone was still buzzing about the new kid Rantaro Amami a week after his arrival. No one could seem to figure him out. 

That's why Shuichi dubbed it as a phenomenon when a second new student appeared. He noticed him the second he walked into class. His purple hair could be seen from a mile away. 

Sure, in many other schools it might be commonplace to have several new kids in a short amount of time, especially midway through the year. But in the small town of Mystic Falls, that never happened. Not even once in a blue moon. 

And so it wasn't surprising when Shuichi, the Sheriff's nephew, became fixated on the purple-haired boy that reeked of grape soda on his first day of school. 

“Class, settle down. We have another new student!” The teacher, Ms. Monophanie, cheers, motioning to him once the bell rings. “Why don't you introduce yourself?”

Managing to increase Shuichi's suspicions, the boy, rather than introducing himself right away, began mumbling something along the lines of, “Oh, come on! I haven't decided yet…”

Decided what?

He then takes a step forward, clears  his throat, and announces, “Fine, fine. Ladies and Gentlemen of this... quaint town, I am Kokichi Ouma.”

“Go ahead and tell them something about yourself,” Ms. Monophanie prompts, flashing an encouraging smile.

At that, he gives a wild grin, staring straight at Rantaro, the other newbie, and opens his mouth in a monotone expression. “I like b-”

“Rollerblading!” Rantaro interrupts, a slight amount of hidden fear in his voice as he stands up in his chair. 

Now that, Shuichi found odd enough to note. Not only did Rantaro seem like the quiet type from Kaede's description, but it also proved a building theory he had: Rantaro and Kokichi were connected in some way. He just didn't know how. 

They couldn't be siblings; they were too different for that. But how else…? 

“I-” Kokichi protests, glaring at Rantaro.

“He likes rollerblading,” Rantaro continues, his voice evening out, the frantic tone he disappearing almost completely.  “But he's really bad at it.”

“Hmph,” Kokichi sighs. “I was going to say boys. But rollerblading works too.”

“Oh! You must already know Kokichi. Did you two go to the same school?” Ms. Monophanie asks, motioning between the two.

That would be too coincidental for Shuichi to accept.

“A-actually…” Rantaro began, stalling for a moment, before finishing his sentence. “We're cousins.”

Cousins. Well, it made sense in theory, Shuichi conceded, but why was there a pause?

“...Cousins?” Kokichi repeats, before sighing. “I thought we weren't going to tell them, Rat. You're a big meanie .”

And so the pieces of the puzzle lined up. It was clear that they didn't have the best relationship with their constant bickering, so it wasn't unusual for them to want to get a fresh start in their new town without being associated with one another. But as all hidden familial relations, it was exposed. You can't hide blood.

“Didn't I tell you to stop calling me Rat?" Rantaro protests, just to have Kokichi stick his tongue out at him.

Despite the fact that the mystery of the new students had been revealed, Shuichi wasn't fully prepared to drop their case just yet. 

He needed to make sure Kaede wasn't falling for someone with bad intentions. And if Rantaro and Kokichi were cousins, that meant investigating Kokichi as well. 

“I didn't know he had a gay cousin,” Kaede says the second she gets the chance. In other words, the moment they were released for lunch. “Do you think this will give me the chance to get to know Rantaro more?" 

“It's likely,” Shuichi nods. "Although…I can't quite read Kokichi yet." 

"Playing detective, I see.” She teases. "I just wish it wasn't so hard to get to know a little bit about someone-" 

“Know about who?” Kaito asks, walking up to the two of them, Maki trailing silently behind, as she tended to do.

"The love of her life,” Shuichi clarifies.

“Shut up,” She says playfully, before addressing Kaito. “I just want to get to know Rantaro.”

At that, Kaito shot Shuichi an uneasy look, probably thinking that Shuichi was hung up on Kaede still.

Shuichi gave his own look in return, reassuring Kaito that he wasn't into Kaede like that, and he could support her crush.

“Be careful,” Tenko, who was followed by Himiko, warns. “I don't want another guy to stomp on your heart.”

“It's okay Tenko. I know what I'm getting myself into,” Kaede says with a smile. “Besides, the last guy couldn't hurt me even if he tried. He can't even win a thumb war.”

“It's true,” Shuichi mumbled his agreeance. 

“I admit that Shuichi is one of the least degenerate of males here,” Tenko affirms.

“But Himiko says she has a bad feeling about the new ones." With no hesitation, she adds. "And she isn't usually wrong about these kinds of things.”

The wary look on Himiko's face was enough proof of Tenko's words. 

“Okay,” Kaede relents, always trusting her friends. “I'll keep that in mind.”

“I'll have your back if anything happens,” Tenko pledges. “I hope for your sake he's a good guy.”

With a final nod, both Tenko and Himiko left for the cafeteria.

“Well. What are you waiting for?” Kaito asks, with his usual explanatory voice. 

"But Tenko said-" Kaede pauses, her face conflicted. It was clear she wanted to follow Kaito's advice and go talk to him right away, but she didn't want to make light of a warning. 

"You won't know his intentions unless you talk," Kaito points out. 

Kaede looked nervous at first, but then Shuichi shot her a thumbs up, and even Maki nodded slightly in agreement. 

“Wish me luck,” Kaede says, before leaving on her mission to find Rantaro, a newly formed smile on her face.

Chapter Text

"I don't want to be your cousin,” Kokichi whines, watching Rantaro retrieve a bag of chips from the vending machine the boring way.

“Too bad,” Rantaro says. “I had to think on my feet. You were too busy making a fool out of yourself to notice the Sheriff’s nephew staring at us.”

“He could have just been staring at me,” Kokichi interjects with a wink. “I have that effect on people.”

“You're going to get us killed,” Rantaro says with a sigh, opening up his bag of Sunchips. "You have to be more careful than that." 

“We're already dead. Might as well go out with a bang second time around,” Kokichi shrugs, stealing a chip out of the bag.

“As if you didn't go out with a bang the first time,” Rantaro reminds, rolling his eyes. “I should lock you up for that stunt you nearly pulled this morning.”

“Nishishi~” Ouma snickers, recalling his introduction. “The look on your face when you thought I was going to say I liked blood in front of the class was epic. I should've snagged a pic for the memory books.”

“That's because you were going to say it.”

“What can I say? It's in my nature. And I don't mean human nature! You're to thank for that,” Kokichi flaunts, clearly here to do whatever he wanted.

“Quiet,” Rantaro warns with a glare. “Someone could hear you.”

“Who cares! You could just compel them. Duh,” Kokichi exclaims. “You're supposed to be the vampire expert, dummy.”

“And what if they're on vervain ?” Rantaro asks. “I don't know how much this town knows. That's why we have to be careful.”

At that, Kokichi fakes a yawn. “You're boooring.”

“I'm cautious,” Rantaro disagrees, throwing away his chips, no longer having an appetite for human food.

That was the real effect Kokichi had on people. “I've already started befriending the sheriff's nephew's best friend. That should get us an in.”

“Why not go straight for the sheriff's nephew?” Kokichi challenges. “It would make waaay more sense. And save us time.”

“Shuichi is too cautious for that. But Kaede seems like the type of girl to fall for the mysterious type,” Rantaro explains. "And I can fit the bill." 

“Ooh! Idea.” Kokichi offers, wanting something to do. “I could be his friend.”

“No, no, and no ,” Rantaro automatically declines, knowing he can't trust the other with that task. “This is too important to have you in the middle of. I need to know what this town knows.”

“No fair!” Kokichi whines.

“Don't talk to him unless he talks to you,” Rantaro continues, setting even more guidelines. “You're a normal kid, got it?”

“Perfect,” Kokichi grins. “I'll act exactly like I did when I was a human.”

"Try to act like a nice, normal, human high schooler,” Rantaro corrects himself. If Kokichi acted like his human self, they'd be found out in a day. Even before he was turned, Kokichi always seemed like he was hiding a secret, and not in the mysterious bad boy way that Amami was hoping to pull off. 

"Nice!" Ouma repeats, exasperated. "You want me to act nice?" 

"It won't kill you," Rantaro reassures, needing Kokichi to agree. 

“Only if you let me figure out what happened to his parents.” Kokichi negotiates out of the blue.

“Huh?”

"Shuichi's," Kokichi explains. "He lives with his uncle, which means there's obviously something up with his parents. And he's still got the eyes of a haunted kid, which means whatever happened was recent. I just can't decide if he was orphaned or ditched." 

He shrugs. "What's your bet?" 

“I'm not betting on either of those,” Rantaro says, slightly impressed and slightly appalled. “But it's a deal. As long as you don't use any vampire tricks in the meantime."

“Look at who's being the loud one now!” Kokichi mocks, pointing behind Rantaro, where Kaede was approaching them from. “Someone could have overheard you~”

“Touche,” He mumbles, leaning against the vending machine to initiate his mysterious persona.

“Oh, Rantaro?” Kaede says, her face brightening as soon as she sees him. “Fancy seeing you here."

“...Kaede, was it?” Rantaro fake remembers, his way of seeming disinterested whilst trying to flirt.

Kokichi could barely keep a straight face at the sight. It was pathetic. 

The only reason Kokichi wasn't dying of laughter was because he was focusing on activating nice mode, which he still wasn't too sure he had.

And for some godforsaken reason, Rantaro's act worked on Kaede.

“Mhm,” She nods, glad he remembered. “See? I told you you'd get used to this school in no time! You're already learning names.”

“Because it's oh so hard to remember a name,” Kokichi mumbles under his breath, earning a glare from his so-called cousin.

...Oops. He hadn't meant for that to slip out, but oh well. What's done is done. 

“And this-” Rantaro says, motioning towards Kokichi with gritted teeth. “-is Kokichi. My cousin.”

In response, Kaede, being the doll she is, gives him a grand smile. “And I'm Kaede Akamatsu, it's a pleasure to meet you!”

“Rat, er, Rantaro, told me he had made a friend, but I never imagined it'd be someone as pretty as you,” Kokichi flatters, only slightly misstepping in the beginning. But who could blame him? He was a beginner. And old habits die hard.

And just as anticipated, the compliment makes her giggle, her eyes shining at the thought of Rantaro having mentioned her.

“I don't know about you, but I'm starving,” Kokichi mentions, willing Kaede fall for his subliminal message. 

“Me too,” She admits, looking at both of them. “Hey, I have an idea. Maybe you two could sit at my lunch table with a few of my friends?”

Too easy.

“We'd love to!” Kokichi exclaims at the same time Rantaro answers with a “We'll think about it.”

When she laughs at their opposing answers, her head does the classic, endearing tilt, and Kokichi notices a smile erupt on Rantaro's lips because of it-- one that he tries to hide. 

But one can never hide the truth from the master of lies. 

Kokichi was so going to tease him about the meaning behind it when she leaves. 

“If you ever decide, you're free to find me!” She announces, waving a temporary goodbye to them. “I hope I'll be seeing you~”

And with that, Kaede was gone.

“You like her,” Kokichi accuses the second she's out of earshot.

“That's ridiculous,” Rantaro deflects, with a defensive demeanor.

“You totally do,” Kokichi disagrees, a mischievous (as always) grin immersing his face.

“That's not even practical,” Amami enlightens, refusing to look the other in the eye. Normally, he was fairly good at lying, but against Kokichi? He stood no chance. “I'm way too old for her.”

“How noble! Swearing off dating forever because no one will be able to match your billion trillion years of life,” Kokichi teases, showing Rantaro how ridiculous that excuse was.

“I'm not that old,” He objects.

“You're a few lifetimes older than me,” Kokichi shrugs. "I don't see anything wrong with you K-I-S-S-I-N-G a dumb blonde teenager every once in a while.”

“No one's K-I-S-S-ing anyone. And she's not dumb.”

“But we are sitting at her table, riiiight?” Kokichi questions, narrowing his eyes at the other.

“I'm sitting there. Don't know where you'll be off to,” Rantaro contradicts.

“Fine. I'll just go off campus for a nice tasty snack~” Kokichi reasons, licking his lips for the intended effect, clearly implying there’d be another body if Rantaro didn't let him.

“...” Rantaro ponders, trying to find a way around it, to no avail. “Okay. We'll sit there. But you better be on your damned best behavior.”

“Yaaay!” Kokichi cheers.

A sweet, sweet victory.

Chapter Text

“Rat.” Kokichi demands, looking at him expectantly.

“...” Rantaro stalls. It had all just been in theory before, but now that they had an invitation to sit with Shuichi, the real work began. And somehow, Kokichi had weaseled his way into the job, and showed no signs of backing off.  He was losing control of the situation, and needed a way to ensure Kokichi's cooperation. But that, it seemed, was impossible. 

“There's no way I'm missing lunch. Speed up your internal monologue, or whatever you're doing,” he continues. “You promised we could sit with them, and I won't stand idly by and let you break that promise.”

Rantaro opened his mouth to concede, when Kokichi grabbed his arm and started dragging him into the cafeteria.

“It looks like an authentic entrance as far as our characters go~” Kokichi explains himself, pulling harder than necessary. Rantaro made a mental note of that for future times in which he was debating on kicking Kokichi's ass or not.

“Sorry we took so long!” Kokichi exclaims, closing in on Kaede's lunch table. “Somebody thinks it's cool to skip meals.”

He then made his point by giving a long look to Rantaro.  

It took Rantaro a bit longer than necessary to realize that that was his cue to speak. He could handle putting on an act on his own, but keeping up with Kokichi was entirely new. 

“It's not skipping if you eat something,” Rantaro argues. "I had SunChips." 

“That's just like you,” Kokichi disapproves, shaking his head at the lackluster meal. "Chips aren't a meal!" 

Rantaro paused again, focused more on the seating arrangement than on the conversation: you see, there were two seats open at the table. One next to Kaede, and one next to Shuichi. 

And he knew it would be suspicious if he skipped out on sitting by Kaede, which means he has no choice but to let Kokichi sit by Shuichi.

“Oh yeah? Then what are you having?” Rantaro challenges. At home, Kokichi splurged on Panta, chips, and sweets. He shouldn't be talking.

“You know I always pack a nutritious lunch,” Ouma states, pulling out a Paw Patrol lunch box, flashing Rantaro a mischievous grin after unpacking his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a Kool-Aid Jammer, and a banana.

When did he have the time to get that stuff?

Rantaro couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed by how prepared Kokichi was.

“Well, how about I treat you to lunch,” Kaede offers, standing up. “I can show you how the cafeteria line works here. It'll be fun.”

And that was what one called a sticky situation.

 On one hand, it meant he got to spend more time with Kaede. But on the other… it meant he was leaving Kokichi alone at a table with the Sheriff's nephew. And Kaito and Maki. 

But who was he to refuse when Kaede was already so excited to do so?

Flashing one last look of warning to Kokichi, he let Kaede guide him through the cafeteria, and to the nearly empty cafeteria line-- gotta love the perks of small towns.

She proceeded to name off every single option, paired with a recollection of a time she tried each item, and her recommendations. 

It didn't take much to spark a memory within her, and so she rambled on.

But Amami didn't mind it at all.

Seeing her eyes light up at the littlest of things reminded him of his sisters. Of when he was human.

He felt a pang in his chest at the thought.

That's what kept him going back to high school, even after all these years.

Once Rantaro and Kaede were out of (human) earshot, Shuichi looked over to Kokichi, and whispered, "Thank you for talking Rantaro into sitting with us. It means a lot to Kaede." 

Technically, since Shuichi spoke first, Kokichi had free reign to say whatever he wanted to him.

But , as much as he wanted to wreak havoc, he refrained for the time being.

“Of course,” Kokichi replies, playing the nice character he had sadly agreed to becoming.

“It's no secret that Kaede likes him,” Another person at the table, Kaito, adds. “But she really does just want to help him- and you- ease into this school. She's a genuine person." 

“And as his cousin, you know Rantaro best. Is there... anything we should know about him?” Shuichi continues, getting to the meat of the conversation. "Or be wary about?" 

“...” Kokichi pauses with a sigh. This was his moment to ruin everything Rantaro had done so far. He could create bullshit stories about how terrible Rantaro was, and how he took advantage of girls, sat backwards in chairs, and kicked puppies. They already knew one of those things to be true, so it wouldn't be that hard to convince them of the rest.

But of course, Kokichi did the right thing, like some kind of softie. "We… fight a lot. But he's a good person deep down. He tries to seem all cool and mysterious, but that's all it is: an act. He needs a place where he can fit in is all." 

Shuichi, Kaito, and even the quiet girl Maki seemed to believe every word of it, so he continued. “We've moved a lot growing up, but we're getting sick of it. We're hoping Mystic Falls can be our final destination... It would only make sense, after all.”

“I was wondering about that. Amami is the name of one of the founding families,” Shuichi reveals, supporting Kokichi's story. 

“Mhm,” Kokichi plays along, as if he had known that from the beginning. “And we inherited some big house when his dad disappeared.”

Ouma hoped Rantaro didn't mind him ending his dad's legacy that way, it was for science. (And not the boring kind.)

Kokichi watched as Shuichi's eyes flashed at the last statement, and knew he had found his answer: Shuichi's parents were a couple of deadbeats that ditched him, but weren't dead.

A pity.

“So that's where you're living. The Amami Mansion,” Kaito says, having an aha moment of his own. “It's been empty our whole life- I was starting to wonder if it was abandoned.”

“We're back!” Kaede exclaims, motioning to Rantaro's cafeteria tray with a satisfied smile. 

It contained a somewhat slimy piece of pizza, cold fries, a cardboard container of chocolate milk, and applesauce.

Truth be told, none of it looked at all appetizing. But what'd you expect? It's a public school.

That would be fine and dandy if it weren't for the way Rantaro and Kaede were looking at one another.

The lovey-dovey eyes they were giving each other was a whole new form of pitiful. Making out would've been less PDA.

They proceeded to sit down, and Kokichi debated sticking a wooden stake in Rantaro's heart for good measures.

The worst part of the whole ordeal was that neither of the two noticed that the feelings were reciprocated. 

If Rantaro was still this bad in the romance department, Kokichi didn't even want to picture how much of a shitshow it was when he was human.

He probably even believed in love at first sight and other senseless things like that.

Thankfully, the bell rang, putting an end to that torture, just to push him straight into another. 

You see, that bell meant he had to go to science class next, the worst of all for Ouma.

He had hated the subject when he was human, but now that he was a vampire, he knew that it was also pointless.

Science had no explanation as to why the sun made his skin burn. Or that the only way of getting around that fact was wearing a bewitched Daylight ring on his finger. This alone was enough to conclude that science isn't the answer to anything, magic is.

Chapter Text

“Woah. You really do have it bad, loverboy,” Kokichi remarks to Rantaro as they make their way to the class of doom.

… he was still working on the nickname.

“What?” He asks in response, oblivious to the unsaid topic at hand.

“First you smile when Kaede tilts her head, then you only think twice about leaving me alone with the Sheriff's nephew and his friends,” Ouma begins his observation. Usually, Rantaro thought it through at least eighteen times, and even after didn't let him remain unsupervised. “And now you're staring off into space daydreaming about her when you could be spending quality time talking to me. It’s obvious: you're in love .”

“You're overthinking,” Rantaro tries to argue, but Kokichi isn't having it. 

“I didn't think I was in charge of telling you all of your emotions, but geez. L-O-V-E love,” He explains with an eye roll. “You're like a character in a Telenovela: a dumbass who falls in love easily.”

“I would suggest being kinder to me,” Amami provides, sighing at Kokichi's jab. “I'm stronger than you.”

“Let's say we do fight, and you maybe even off me. Then what? You're going to explain to Kaede how your adorable and charming cousin disappeared? Not a chance. The boy in blue would be onto you in no time.” Kokichi guesses, his theory confirmed by Rantaro's expression.

“Exactly. Oh, and by boy in blue I don't mean the cops. I mean Shuichi, especially after what I told him at lunch,” He continues, sticking his tongue out, purposefully egging Rantaro on.

If it was a joke, Rantaro didn't find it funny.

Pulling Kokichi to the side in hopes of being out of earshot, Rantaro uses a low voice, “What did you tell him?”

“Don't get your fangs in a twist. I just told him about how dear old Uncle Amami disappeared, leaving us all alone to inherit an ugly mansion,” Kokichi explains, dramatizing every word. “I really sold it too. Poor Shuichi looked like his parents were ditching him all over again.”

“ Ah . So you used the time to figure that out,” Rantaro takes a deep breath, regaining his composure. “But I'll have you know that's my childhood home you're insulting.”

“How was the lunchline with Amami?” Shuichi asks Kaede on their way to science class. 

The detective was a fan it, especially when they delved into forensics. That's when he started having fun with it.

“Perfect,” Kaede answers, her eyes lighting up in response to the reminder of Rantaro. “Sure, sometimes he's all standoffish and secretive... but he's a really great listener.”

“What happened to careful?” Maki questions, recalling their conversation with Tenko and Himiko from earlier.

“Let her have this,” Kaito pleads with her, arguing on Kaede's side for once.

“It's rude and naive to ignore warnings from people who are looking out for you,” Maki states, not backing down. It seemed she didn't buy the sob story Kokichi provided after all. 

Before Shuichi could say anything in her defense, Kaede stepped in, addressing Maki's criticism. “You're absolutely right. I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to get to know him better before I automatically write him off as good. We haven't even hung out outside of school yet.”

“That is a good point,” Kaito admits. “So get to know him. Then there'll be no problem.”

“I have the perfect idea for that!” Kaede announces, a hopeful smile forming on her face as she turns to Shuichi. “But… I'll need my detective's assistance.”

Sadly, the time ran out for Kokichi to pester Rantaro, and the nightmare hour began. Oh, how he yearned to compel his way out of it, or even skip the class the old fashioned way, but Mr. Meanie Pants Amami said no to both.

But what made the class even worse was that their next assignment was a take home lab. With partners the teacher chose. 

“Are they even allowed to do that?” Kokichi asks, his befuddled expression evident on his face. Screw being the nice, perfect person he had been for the past few hours around his peers. School sucked, and not in the cool vampire way.

“Everyone's house is in walking distance,” Kiibo, one of Kokichi’s partners, explains. “So teachers figure that it's not too much of an inconvenience.”

“It's a bunch of fuckin' horseshit,” Miu argues. “What if I don't want to go to Kiibo's house?”

“You were there two days ago-”

“Shut it. All I'm saying is that school should remain in school,” Miu determines. “Besides, we could get kidnapped by some maniac on our way home. It's a safety hazard.”

“The likelihood of that is close to zero,” Kiibo enlightens, but Miu doesn't care.

“Either way, my house is off limits,” Miu announces. “I don't allow schoolwork anywhere near it. All that work kills my inspiration.”

Now, Kokichi could lay low and wait for Kiibo to offer his up like Rantaro would want him to do, or...

“If it's absolutely necessary, mine is available,” He declares, and when Kiibo says that if it's more convenient to do at his, Kokichi shushes him.

Kokichi blamed Rantaro for making him go to this class, even if Kokichi was the one to beg to go to school in the first place,aso inviting a couple of humans over would be payback enough.

This plan was much easier than accepting responsibility for his dumb decision of going back to school.

“Then it's settled. Your place, 6 o'clock,” Miu summarizes, giving a wink that mirrored Kokichi's legendary winks that only had the purposes of making people uncomfortable and sending them into a romantic crisis. 

It both infuriated him and impressed him.  

“Come on. You can do better than that,” Kokichi criticizes. “Don't settle for decent, add emotion, twirl your hair. Have fun with it, that's what really makes your target all hot and bothered.”

“I- uh-” She stutters, caught off guard by his commentary. Aw, what a shame. She was all bark and no bite.

“You what ?” Rantaro exclaims once Kokichi finally bothered to tell him the news.

“It's not my fault, it's the small town public school system's. We should protest,” Kokichi deflects. "I'm thinking posters, ad campaigns-" 

“I'll tell Kaede and Shuichi something came up and I can't do the project,” Rantaro interrupts, working out a game plan in his head. “And I'll make sure nothing goes wrong. Yeah, that'll work.”

“You got paired with them?” Ouma gasps, seemingly offended. “No fair! I got a walking dictionary and a malfunctioning Walmart knock-off girl version of me.”

“None of that matters,” Rantaro sighs, knowing that there was nothing he could say to get through to him. “We have blood bags in our fridge, Kokichi. They can't come here. What if they find something and figure out what we are?”

“Then I'll use my mystical vampire powers and compel them,” Kokichi shrugs.

“It's not that simple-”

“What's not that simple?” Kaede asks, walking up to them with Shuichi at her side.

“...” Rantaro blanks, unsure of what to cover his tracks with.

“The science project,” Kokichi bullshits. That was, in a way, what they had been talking about, so it wasn't much of a lie. “Rantaro's a little worried about it.”

That little shit always has to know what he's doing, doesn't he? 

Rantaro glares at Ouma's comment to stay in character, but shoots him a grateful glance when the others look away.

“It's whatever,” He mumbles to them, faking embarrassment in his tone.

But the soft look on Kaede's face as she tilts her head makes even his staged personality feel like everything's right in the world, and her light giggle made his head spin.

And shit. Kokichi was right yet again. 

Every movement of hers made his throat tighten up and trip over his thoughts. 

Stupid vampire emotions, intensifying everything.

He really did like her.

He just hoped it didn't complicated anything. 

And so, with those thoughts in mind, when Kaede asked her next question, his answer spilled out of his mouth before he got the chance to properly comprehend it. 

“So… I was wondering if you guys wanted to hang out after we're all done on the project?” She proposes, talking to both Rantaro and Kokichi. “I was thinking rollerblading?”

“Absolutely,” Rantaro automatically says, before reminding himself to be subtle. “I-I mean… we'll see. That night's kinda busy.”

… Real smooth.

“Oh, that sounds amazing!” Kokichi agrees, adding the amount of fluff in his words a stereotypical gay best friend would. “I love rollerblading, so this is perfect. It's a date .”

Rantaro could barely fight the urge to punch him for emphasizing his last word.

Chapter Text

“Is your idea of getting rid of all vampire evidence in the house really just spring cleaning?” Kokichi groans as he's instructed to sweep the floor. “This is a science project, not a house inspection .”

“Is your idea of a conversation complaining?” Rantaro combats, feeling as though this was how every encounter of theirs went, despite them living together for several months.

“Every time I do so, just remember that you're the only reason I'm not dead in a ditch,” Kokichi reminds, dropping the broom out of boredom. “You could've left me for dead. But you wanted to do the right thing, and look where that got you.”

“You're trying to make me feel bad for saving your life?” Amami sighs, the very motion becoming his catchphrase as he buried the blood bags in the back of the fridge, covered by human food.

"Well, duh." He admits, letting the broom clang on the floor, signaling the completion of his first task. "And technically , you didn't save me. You tried to. And failed. And now I'm an immortal, bloodsucking monster. So thanks for that."

"You're acting like I'm the one that killed you,"Rantaro raises his arms up in defeat.

"What do you expect when you won't tell me who did?" Kokichi mumbles under his breath. 

And before Rantaro can explain himself, the sound of footsteps meets their ears.

“They're here,” Rantaro says, putting an end to their conversation.

“Pity,” Kokichi mumbles, before waltzing to the door, letting their guests in. So far, they were the only people at the school he wasn't being fake around only time will tell when that'll change. 

“You fucks live here?” Miu asks, admiring their mansion the second she walks in. “What, are you, like, millionaires?”

“Miu, you're being rude,” Kiibo tries to stop her, but stopping Miu from doing anything was a struggle.

“I know, isn't it great? But if you like this piece of junk, you should have seen where I lived before-” Kokichi indulges.

“Tell me about it, fucker,” She says, picking up some ‘vintage’ item Kokichi didn't even know the identity of.  

Audibly sighing, Rantaro smuggled the item, which turned out to be a vase, out of the girls hands and frantically placed it back where it came from.

Not looking too bothered by the fact, Miu refocuses her attention on Kokichi, awaiting his answer.

“Oh? It was the street," he shrugs.

“H-huh?” She sputters out, not quite sure if he was joking or not.

“Kokichi,” Rantaro scolds him, shaking his head.

“What? I have to relieve all my childhood trauma one way or another,” Ouma insists, taking the bag of supplies Kiibo was holding.

“Shoot, I have to go,” Rantaro regretfully announces after checking the time on his phone. He then turns to the rest of the group, looking like a frantic mom giving a babysitter directions. "There's snacks in the fridge, try not to break anything, and Kokichi has my number if you need to reach me."

"Does that mean no starting fires either, mom?" Kokichi teases, letting out one of his famous laughs. "We'll be fine! The project isn't dangerous, all we're doing is building roller coasters."

"Actually, the project is to determine the velo-" Kiibo attempts to inform, before being shut down by a particular loud mouthed blonde.  

"Exactly, guacamole boy. It's like playing with hot wheels, so don't get all hot and bothered about it. Besides, this busty blonde genius will get it done in no time!" Miu announces, in her typical Miu fashion which proved to Rantaro that this was a bad idea.

"Guacamole boy?" He repeats, nearly frozen in place with the disbelief that Kokichi was paired with someone like that. If it wasn't for the other boy, it surely would have been considered the team from his worst nightmares.

"I definitely need to use that one," Ouma enthuses, writing it down on his stereotypically pale arm to save for a later date.

Amami wasn't about to change plans with Kaede and Shuichi at such short notice, but oh how he yearned to call them and cancel just so he could keep an eye on the gremlin he forced to live with him.

Rubbing his temple, he sighed once more, and turned to Kiibo. "Try to keep them in line, will you?"

"I will try my best," Kiibo promises, which is enough for Rantaro as he races out the door.

"Is your cousin always so…" Iruma questions, making a gagging motion with her hand.

"Oh yeah. He's the worst. It's always Kokichi that could kill you, Kokichi stop lying, Kokichi don't ki-" Ouma starts his ramble, as emotional as ever, his hands flying every which way, before it dawned on him that his third bullet point was not one he should share.

No, Kokichi. Do not tell them Rantaro has to remind you not to kill anyone.

Biting his lip at his almost slip up, he instead dramatically exclaims, "Who cares! He's not here now. Let's eat ice cream!"

With that, he not so gently throws the bag of supplies Kiibo had brought, ready to discard the project entirely for the sweet release of an ice cream break.

"Hell yeah!" Miu announces, skipping towards the fridge, and Kokichi would never admit it, but his heart skipped a beat of worry when she almost opened the fridge instead of the freezer.

Now this really was the worst! He was turning into Rantaro! Always worrying about nothing! They had hidden the blood bags, so even if she had opened the fridge, everything would have been fine. Rantaro was brainwashing him, that had to be it. 

"I'm not supposed to have dairy-" Kiibo shyly admits, as Iruma pulls out a bucket of Cookies n Cream ice cream.

"Let's feast!" Ouma disregards the poor boy next to him, eager to forget all of his troubles, and maybe even break an ancient vase or two for good measure.

It'll be fine, Rantaro attempts to convince himself.

You'll only be gone a few hours. Kokichi wont do anything rash in that time.

Taking one last deep breath, Rantaro knocks on Shuichi's door, giving up any last possibility of turning around.

It didn't take long for Kaede to open the door, her face instantly being showered in a smile at the mere sight of him.

"Kaede," He greets, matching her smile.

That is, until he had a realization: he couldn't come in unless Shuichi invited him in. And if Kaede was the one who answered the door…

He swallowed, not knowing how he was going to explain to her why he wasn't coming in.

This had the potential of being very, very bad.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up," She says, shading him for being a few minutes later than when he was supposed to get there.

His reflexes told him to apologize immediately, but the act he was putting on reminded him to play it cool. Or at least, as cool as he could manage (not very). 

"I got held up," He vaguely replies in place of a more suitable apology. 

Small talk was good in a situation like this, it kept the focus off of him not entering the house sooner, but his mysterious bad boy persona limited his speech to short, not at all descriptive phrases.

In response to his statement, Kaede gives a small frown, before covering it up with another grin, "I almost forgot! I have something to show you," She cheers, racing out of the doors view to fetch something, leaving the door open, insinuating that he should follow her.

But of course, the forces of nature would not allow it, and he was stranded outside until a miracle happened.

Which, thankfully enough, quickly occurred in the form of Shuichi Saihara himself, who walked over to the door, and asked, "Kaede ran off after barely remembering to greet you, didn't she? Well, come on in. Everything's set up in the living room."

With those words, the boundary was lifted, and with a sigh of relief, Rantaro could now step inside without hesitation.

"She gets like that when she's nervous," Shuichi continues to explain as they walk into the living room. "All scatter-brained."

"Nervous?" Rantaro curiously asks, "Why is she nervous."

"I thought it was obvious," Shuichi quietly mumbles to himself, before looking back up at Rantaro. "Well, because you're here."

"Oh," Amami realizes, the heat of teen romance flooding his cheeks. 

Of course she was nervous: he was too.

Now that Shuichi had brought it up, more than ever. 

"Ah, Rantaro! There you are," Kaede returns, quite obviously hiding something behind her back. The signs of nervousness were all there: her slightly shaky hands, the quickness in which she talked…

"Look!" She announces, showcasing the items that had previously been out of sight. They were beautifully white rollerblades with a light pink accent color. And brand new, by the look of them.

"When Shuichi and I were buying the supplies for the project, we were passing by an aisle when they caught my eye! They'll be perfect for tonight," Kaede rambles on and on, her smile never fading. 

And once again, Rantaro didn't mind watching her talk and talk. He quite preferred it. 

But then she stopped speaking, and his perfect world came crashing down. 

He spent so much time watching her talk that he hadn't thought about what he'd say at all, and she was looking at him, eagerly awaiting his reaction.

God Dammit. How does Kokichi do this? 

All he wanted to do was smile, and tell her how much he couldn't wait, but that was out of character. 

Was 'cool' too harsh? Was he taking too long?

Finally, he settled on a dumb smirk with an even dumber, "I've got a black pair just like 'em." Which was dumb of course, because he did not have such rollerblades, and was lying his ass off like a fool. 

Like Kokichi. But worse. 

What the hell was he thinking? How was he going to get one by dark?

"That makes them even more perfect!" Kaede enthuses, unaware of the predicament Rantaro had just put himself in.

The only way he was going to get out of this with a clear mind was if he could find some way to blame Kokichi for his screwup. 

Chapter Text

"Bye!" Kokichi waved his company out without a second thought, not in the mood for pleasantries. 

"Thank you for-" Kiibo attempts to get his pleasantries out, before Kokichi politely slammed the door on his and Miu's faces. 

He knew it was his fault the project took so long for taking an ice cream break before they even started, but either way! No one should ever have to go through the torture that is a science project. And those miscreants were just an unwelcome reminder of it. 

He needed a drink to calm him down. No project had the right to get him this riled up. 

He checked his phone for a text from Rantaro on his way back into the kitchen, but there was nothing.

K: where r u??? 

Kokichi eloquently typed, setting his phone on the counter whilst he retrieved one of the hidden blood bags from their fridge. 

Impatiently, he waited for an answer. Rantaro better not have gone rollerblading without him, that's for sure. Kaede invited him fair and square! 

R: Omw. Was at store. 

Kokichi scrunched his nose up after reading Rantaro's response. He had no business being at any store, as far as Kokichi was concerned. 

In the end, Kokichi didn't really care, so he shrugged, and took a sip out of the blood bag as he typed. 

K: waiting is so boooring. hurry up 

Thanks to Rantaro's bogus morals, Kokichi knew not to expect another response, because Rantaro was convinced texting and driving was a sin worse than all ten commandments, or something. Which, for a mortal, makes at least a lick of sense, but c'mon ! Rantaro was a vampire.

If he actually happened to hit anyone, he would heal right up. And he could have a tasty snack, too, if the other person died! A win-win.  

Or perhaps Kokichi's hot take was a tad overzealous and merely attributed to bitterness, since he couldn't technically legally drive. But to be fair, dying kind of got in his way. That, and the only person who could have taught him was the Drivers Ed teacher at his old school. And she was super creepy! 

Either way, Rantaro showed up 10 minutes later haphazardly holding a pair of brand new rollerblades. 

"You panicked, didn't you?" Kokichi asks pointedly. 

"I don't want to talk about it," Rantaro sheepishly admits. "Let's just go before we're late." 

"Fine. I call shotgun!" 

"Isn't… that where you would have sat either way?" Rantaro asks, a confused expression on his face.

"Don't ruin the sentiment," Kokichi dismisses with a shake of the head as the two board into the car. 

Rantaro was too busy internally worrying to talk on the way there, so Kokichi took on the burden of making conversation. 

"So… vampires on skates?" He was clearly good at it. "A double threat."

"Anything we do is vampires doing it." Rantaro states, unwavering. 

"Boo." Kokichi scrunched up his nose. "You're no fun... Kaede has a sucky taste in men." 

Rantaro, despite his proud safe driving stance, risked crashing to hit Kokichi on the shoulder. 

Kokichi threatened to report him to the Moms Against Dangerous Driving facebook group. 

…earning him another smack, of course. 

Soon enough, they were there, at some off-brand Great Skate that reeked of who knows what.

Kaede and Shuichi were already inside waiting for them. 

"Woah!" Kaede exclaims, running up to them, with Shuichi walking behind. "Our skates look perfect together!" 

She was glowing with excitement like a fairy. 

Kokichi refrained from rolling his eyes at the unfiltered optimism.  

Shuichi jumped into the conversation, by saying, "I'm going to go rent my skates, care to join?" 

"Anything to get me away from that," Kokichi motions to Rantaro, who had the dumbest smile on his face as he talked to Kaede. 

Shuichi shakes his head at the comment as they head to the counter. "I think it's cute." 

"If you like Hallmark movies and long walks on the beach, maybe." Kokichi mumbles, gaining a muffled laugh from Shuichi that he didn't expect. 

Which, despite not being Kokichi's initial intention, was a total score. 

"You have a point. But out of everyone, Kaede deserves that kind of story." He shrugs, before turning his attention to the man at the counter, who seemed a little too high to be at work, not that Kokichi could blame him. "One pair of inline skates, please." 

Kokichi heard the shoe size of course, but decided that it was extremely impolite to run and tell such personal information. 

When it was Kokichi's turn to order, he blanked. 

"Dude. Quads or Inline?" The cashier asks. 

You see, that was the problem. Mathematically speaking, everyone else had inlines, which meant getting quads would totally make him the odd one out, and give Rat ammunition to tease him for the rest of eternity. But logically speaking, he really, really sucked at rollerblading. 

"Inlines." He answers, in honor of following the new Amami Ouma tradition of making royally bad decisions. 

Shuichi and Kokichi sat on a nearby bench to put on their skates, which Kaede and Rantaro were doing from across the room. 

"I like giving them their space." Shuichi comments after finishing one of his skates, making sure to tie it tight. "Kaede always wants to include me, but in doing so she forgets to leave time for herself."

"You must really care about her," Kokichi teases, scrunching his nose as he looks at his own overwhelmingly untied skates. 

"It's not like that." Shuichi objects in the calmest way, ready to explain. "We tried dating a couple years back, but-"

"Wait, wait. Hold up. You two dated!?" Kokichi exclaims, attempting to bunny-ear his right skate, and failing miserably. 

Thankfully (?), the two lovebirds were too interested in whatever dumb conversation they were having to overhear his sad attempt at starting drama. 

"Crazy, huh?" Shuichi shrugs absentmindedly. At this point, his other skate was laced up as well, and he was trying his best not to watch as Kokichi not so successfully attempted to accomplish the same feat. "We were always better as friends. That will never change." 

"Would…" Shuichi pauses, slight hesitation in his words, not wanting to come off as rude. "Would you… like some help?" 

Now, if it was easy for vampires to blush from embarrassment, Kokichi's face would have been red as can be right about then. So, uh. Yay for the whole being dead thing. 

"I know how to tie shoes," Kokichi defended himself, talking some big talk for someone that had spent the last five minutes twiddling his thumbs. 

No way was he going to let this pitiful kid embara-

"I know," Shuichi simply added, quiet as can be. It was like he breathed the words into existence, more than actually saying them. 

And

Oh. 

Kokichi's heart skipped a beat. 

He didn't know what he expected Shuichi to respond with,

But not that , a phrase delivered so carefully as to imply that Shuichi wanted nothing more than to do it for him. 

So, Kokichi slowly nodded, and murmured, "Okay." 

And that's how Kokichi found himself with one of his legs on Shuichi's lap, with nowhere for him to look but Shuichi's eyes. 

He tried to stick his nose up in the air, with crossed arms to establish some sense of superiority, but the motion faltered as he got a whiff of Shuichi's scent. 

He smelled like goddamn lavender. And dryer sheets. 

And whilst that should have told Kokichi that the sheriff's nephew was a fucking loser, the thought didn't cross his mind. Because Kokichi was no longer looking at the sheriff's nephew, whom he vowed to use for information. 

No. He was looking at Shuichi Saihara. A different person entirely. 

And, as it turned out, Kokichi very much so liked the smell of lavender. 

"You've lived here all your life, haven't you?" Kokichi asked, needing an excuse to stop thinking.

"More or less," Shuichi nodded. "My uncle's always lived here, but…"

"Ah, could you lift your other leg up?" Shuichi requested, pausing his story to bring Kokichi's attention to the fact that Shuichi had finished tying one of his skates. 

"As you wish~" Kokichi complied. 

"My parents lived a couple towns over. And I did, too, until I was 5 or 6. Even then, I came here every summer," Shuichi continued, his voice growing quiet as he carefully chose his words. "Or every time they needed a break from being parents."

Kokichi didn't like the way his eyebrows furrowed as he spoke like a camouflaged sadness. 

"I don't remember what my parents look like," Kokichi blurted out without thinking, catching Shuichi's attention.

Kokichi bit his lip, hesitant to continue. He usually went with lies when the subject came up. 

But he wanted to tell Shuichi the truth. Or, as much of the truth as he could, without foiling his and Rantaro's whole personas. 

"Not really, at least. I think my mom had purple hair, like me. I was never really told what happened to them. Or maybe I was, and tiny kid me just forgot. I just remember knowing that they weren't coming back." Kokichi mumbled, watching Shuichi meticulously loop his laces as a distraction. "They're probably dead." 

All of a sudden, Shuichi stopped. 

So Kokichi looked up at Shuichi, to see what in the hell was going on, just to see Shuichi staring back at him, with an innocent, understanding look on his face. 

Like someone who cared. 

A thought that shook Kokichi to his core. 

No one gave a shit about him in his old town.

But there Shuichi was, acting like Kokichi was someone. 

And it kind of freaked him out. 

Waving his hands in the air, Kokichi took back control, shoving any and all emotions that were trying to dredge up far, far back down into the abyss. "But who knows? I could've just made all of that up to make you feel bad for me."

There was a beat, then:

"Did you?" 

"No…" For once in his life, Kokichi couldn't bring himself to lie. 

Shuichi nodded to himself, before resuming his earlier task of double-knotting Kokichi's skate. It only took him a couple of seconds, since he had already laced them. 

It could have been the potent scent of lavender overwhelming his better judgement, but it was around then that Kokichi realized that Shuichi was kind of cute. 

In a quiet, nerdy sort of way. 

"There you are!" Kaede exclaims, rollerblading over to them, with Rantaro by her side. "Come on, let's skate. I requested some music!" 

Kokichi used this as his opportunity to pull on Rantaro's arm to stand up, causing him to flail.  

"Woah!" Kaede was quick to help him regain his balance. 

Rantaro shot a glare at Kokichi, before thanking Kaede. 

But Kokichi didn't apologize; if anything, all he had done was become the best wingman ever by giving Rantaro an excuse to swoon over Kaede. 

With that, the gang began making their way inside the rink. However, the second Kokichi tried to move, he began to notice how wobbly he truly was. 

He was going to fall for sure at some point in the night. 

So he stuck to his tried and true method of hanging onto the wall for dear life! 

And of course, Shuichi, who was apparently a master rollerblader, noticed. Rantaro did too, but Kokichi didn't care about Rantaro. Rantaro already knew he was terrible at rollerblading, which is why they were there in the first place. 

"You can hang onto my arm," Shuichi offers, holding his hand out to Kokichi. "I can teach you how to balance. I-If you want to learn, I mean- Sorry." 

God, Kokichi hated people like Shuichi.

So pathetic and selfless, he could hardly say no to them. 

And so he let go of the wall and clung to Shuichi's poor arm instead. 

"It's okay…" Shuichi steadied him. "It took me awhile to learn too. Do you trust me?" 

Ha! Trust? 

Kokichi Ouma trusted no one. Not Rantaro, not himself, and most definitely not the sheriff's nephew. (Yes, they were back to that. The moment from earlier had passed.) 

...but perhaps he could make an exception just for the night. 

"Good," Shuichi's face lightened as a gentler tone was adopted to his voice. "Start by standing up straighter."

Kokichi complied, taking a deep breath.

He wanted to trust Shuichi, at least with something as innocent as rollerblading, but his pesky little brain wouldn't let him stop thinking about all of those movies where the parents taught their kids how to ride a bike without training wheels, and in every single one of them, the parent let go at some point, despite pinky promising otherwise.  "Okay. But you better not let go, or I'll feed you to the wolves!" 

"I won't," Shuichi confidently reassured, demonstrating his teachings. "Next… position your feet a shoulders width apart like this-" 

Kokichi tried to copy Shuichi's stance, but when he did...

He looked like a frickin' starfish. 

"Er… bring them in just a little bit." Kokichi genuinely did not know how Shuichi had made it that far into the night without making fun of him. He must've had superpowers. 

"There you go." Shuichi encouraged, with a smile. 

Kokichi was perfectly balanced now. 

Or at least balanced enough to stand on his own, which was still a big win. 

But even so, Shuichi didn't let go of Kokichi's hand, just like he promised. 

It was nice. So Kokichi had to ruin it by returning to their less than cheery conversation. Even he was regretful of that. 

"Do you think about them a lot?" Kokichi always went for the gut. 

"Who?" He asked in return, but tensed up, squeezing Kokichi's hand in the process. Shuichi knew what this was about. 

"Your parents." It wasn't as much of a stab as Shuichi anticipated. 

"Only when I want to spiral," He answers. "You?" 

It had been a while since anyone had asked Kokichi that. 

"Nope," Kokichi responds. "Fuck 'em."

And he meant it. 

Shuichi only nodded. 

They didn't do much skating after that, saving it for a part two that would hopefully take place. 

It didn't take long for the two groups to say their goodbyes. 

Soon after, Rantaro and Kokichi were on the road to home. 

"She's perfect," Rantaro gushed. 

"No one's perfect," Kokichi argues. A partial truth; Kokichi did exist, after all. 

"I don't know about that…"

"Ask her out already," Kokichi groans preemptively. 

"..." Rantaro paused, a slight hum accompanying his thought process. "Okay." 

"Just like that?" Kokichi was expecting a punch, not an actual answer. " Seriously?"

"I don't know. I like her, and... it shouldn't get in the way of what we're doing here, if I'm careful." Rantaro shrugs, his eyes clouded with loverboy syndrome. "And you haven't screwed anything up lately, so- " 

"Fine, but if you're asking her out, then I'm asking Shuichi out," he meant it as a joke. That should've been obvious. But the reaction on Rantaro's face was evident that it wasn't taken that way. 

"No!" Rantaro was snapped into reality, like waking up from a bad dream. "You aren't going to do that."

"That was a joke!" Kokichi defends, rolling his eyes. Rantaro was always so dramatic. "I wasn't serious."

The more he repeated it in his head, the less he believed it. 

"You actually like him, though." Rantaro states. He was sure of it. 

"..." Kokichi wanted to argue, but some small part of him wasn't sure Rantaro was wrong. "Hmph." 

"This is bad." Rantaro started panicking. "This could get in the way of everything. He'll figure us out." 

"And dating Kaede won't?" Ouma counters. The two were a package deal. 

Rantaro grumbled, mumbling something about how that was different. He was being entirely biased. 

"Plus, thinking Shuichi is slightly attractive does not translate to him finding out about us-" 

If time had been willing, they could argue back and forth on the matter for the rest of eternity. And they would have, too, if it weren't for a more pressing matter greeting them at the door.

It came in the form of a note that read:

Two little guests walk home alone. 

If their absence is disheartening, 

Come to the place that damns your soul.  

Yours truly, 

Kamukura

Rantaro's eyes landed on the signature, reading and rereading the line in horror "Kokichi?" 

"Hm?" 

"...Are you ready to meet your murderer?"

And the world started to spin.

Chapter Text

If there was ever a point in history that deserved the use of expletives, it would definitely be this one, because holy fucking shit piss cuck.  

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, rat boy." Kokichi narrowed his eyes, as if Rantaro had just revealed the fact that his murderer left a sketchy note on their door. 

Oh, wait! He did. 

Pardon Kokichi for being a little taken aback. 

Rantaro took a deep breath. "His name is Izuru Kamukura."

"So what? Did you exchange names while he was killing me ?" Kokichi knew this was the one time Rantaro would allow him to be this bitter, so he was going to milk it for all it's worth. 

Instead of having an easy explanation, Rantaro shifted, looking anywhere and everywhere except at Kokichi. 

Kokichi sighed. It was becoming glaringly obvious Rantaro had baggage with the fool with how weird he was acting. 

After what felt like eons of watching Rantaro fidgeting around and diverting eye contact, Kokichi cut him a break.

"Let me guess: you knew each other." 

Rantaro nodded his head solemnly. "I've known him since my human life. He was like a brother to me. But after we turned into vampires, he… changed. Kokichi, if this drudge's up anything for you, you can talk to me about it. You know that, right?" 

"Seems like a real partier, from what I remember." Sarcasm always was the greatest fallback. And so was ignoring Rantaro's comments. 

Kokichi closed his eyes, trying to visualize that day again. 

But like always, it was all so damn fuzzy. 

Shit, shit, shit. 

"Izuru--- no, Kamukura fell off the deep end." Rantaro bit his lip, as if he didn't know how much he should say. "And now he brings chaos with him everywhere he goes…" 

As much as Kokichi wanted to watch Rantaro devolve into an emo mess as he recounted his past or divulge his own emotions, there really were more pressing matters. 

Such as, yknow, that super ominous threatening note stapled to their door. 

"Look," Kokichi points to the first line of the note. "Two little guests walk home alone."

Kokichi didn't know about Rantaro, but that sounded pretty kidnappy to him. 

"Two little guests?" Rantaro repeats to himself, before his eyes widen. "D-do you think he means Kaede and Shuichi?" 

Kokichi thought about it, but that conclusion didn't sit right with him. 

It would be pretty sucky if that were the case, but Kokichi and Rantaro had only parted ways with the two a few moments ago. And, sure, this Izuru guy could've gone all super vampire speed on them, but still…  

The timing seemed off. 

And plus Kokichi really didn't want to deal with having to rescue Shuichi from a murderous bastard mere minutes after realizing that there was a chance he might have accidentally started catching feelings for him. 

Okay, fine . That was a selfish reason and definitely not a logical one, but there was a sentence one of his idiot science partners said echoing in his head that drew him to another conclusion:

“Besides, we could get kidnapped by some maniac on our way home."

Because of fucking course. 

Even though that seemed like bogus bullshit foreshadowing, it did help Kokichi make sense of the strange wording in the note. 

"No way. It specifies guests," Kokichi watched as relief flooded Rantaro's expression. "There's only been two people in our house--- Miu and Kiibo. He must've watched them leave earlier." 

"Okay," Rantaro agrees, finally able to breath again. "So we save them."

That much required no thought. 

But of course, the how of the matter would be much more difficult. They needed to find them, first. 

"Come to the place that damns your soul," Kokichi repeats, racking his brain for a location. 

The place that damns your soul… 

"The church," Rantaro announces, shuffling to grab his car keys. The shaking of his hands slowed him down. "Kamukura's at the church," 

And then, quietly, " ...just like last time."

Just like last time…  

Kokichi's breathing hitched as he repeated the words in his head like a recurring nightmare. 

He remembered now. 

Lying in the church parking lot. 

Trying to get up. To run. Begging any muscle in his body to get the hell out of there. 

But he couldn't. He couldn't move. No matter how many times he tried to. 

He knew now that he had been compelled to stay there. Destined to never move again. 

And the pain. God, the pain. 

Everyone was screaming. 

He could feel the heat of fire from a close distance. It was screaming, too. 

Just left thinking, wow, what an annoying way it was to die. Bleeding out in front of the church he refused to attend. 

"Kokichi?" Rantaro's voice cut in, disrupting his flashback right on cue. 

How rude! He was just getting to the part where Rantaro tried to save him… 

Oh well. 

Kokichi shook the imagery out of his head. Remembering didn't do shit for him, except bring back pesky emotions he'd rather not touch with a ten foot pole! 

So, he moved on with his day in true Kokichi fashion: by sticking his tongue out at Rantaro, and racing him to the car. 

Of course, that reaction made Rantaro sigh as he, too, climbed into the vehicle. "And here I was starting to worry about you-" 

"Worry about yourself." 

Rantaro rolled his eyes, but didn't bite back. "I saw the way you looked when I mentioned the church. Like you were reliving it." 

"Yeah, I was having the greatest time ever thinking about how I died, when you interrupted! The audacity , honestly~" With a huff, Kokichi looked out the window. "It was just getting to the good part." 

The scenery wasn't as pretty at night. The trees looked dead, and the crickets annoyed the crap out of him. 

Or maybe Kokichi was just having a hard time finding the good in anything at the moment. 

"You don't have to put on your act around me. I never fall for it." Rantaro hesitates. "Dying sucks. You can admit that." 

Eh. Maybe it wasn't the crickets that were annoying him. 

"Never's a generous word…" Kokichi mutters, but of course, that alone wasn't enough for the great Kokichi Ouma. He had to add something with a bit of a flare to it. "Why do you keep doing this, anyway? Trying to make me talk about feelings, like I'm some sort of psych ward patient? Well, listen here, it's not gonna happen!" 

" Because- " Rantaro's grip on the steering wheel skyrocketed, as if letting go would mean the end of the world. 

If he'd gripped it any harder, it surely would've been ripped from its hinges. 

"Oh, so there is a reason? Come on, spit it out, dirtbag. No time like the present!" Kokichi wasn't sure what nerve he hit, but he knew he needed to hit it again. "You're all about expressing your feelings. Don't be a hypocrite." 

Kokichi was being an asshole. He knew it, too. But that didn't stop him. It never did. 

"Because I'm trying to find sympathy for you!" Rantaro exclaims. "If you want to know the truth so bad, there it is. I thought that if I could find any sort of sign that you still had a bit of humanity, then… then that would mean you weren't a total monster." 

Rantaro's words cut through the air like a shuriken. 

And more than anything, Kokichi wanted to take it personally. To finally blow up and have an all out brawl with Rantaro. 

But there was something about the way he said it that didn't sit right with Kokichi. God, being overly intuitive sucked. 

It may have been the way Rantaro refused to make eye contact as he said it.

Or the fact that no matter how hard Kokichi tried, he couldn't hear spite coming from Rantaro. Just frustration. 

And holy shit.

The dots connected in Kokichi's mind. 

"Maybe that's true. But you haven't been  poking and prodding because you think I'm that foul." Kokichi turned towards Rantaro. "It's because you feel like it's your fault I died." 

Rantaro briefly locked eyes with Kokichi, before looking away again. 

"Am I right?" Kokichi asks for confirmation. 

"Not that you died…" Rantaro mumbles in return, his eyes fixated on the road. "Do you not miss it? Being human?" 

They were getting close, even with Rantaro taking the long way. Mystic Falls truly was too small of a town. 

"..." Kokichi paused to collect his thoughts. "Honestly? No. I used to be human, now I'm not. That's all there is to it."

"But you do." He adds. That's what this had all been about. Rantaro misses being human. 

From the look on Rantaro's face, Kokichi knew that conclusion was correct.

With dreadful timing, too, because as soon as he said it, Rantaro turned into the church parking lot, and Kokichi could make out three silhouettes standing before them. 

"Ready to kick some vampire ass?" Kokichi turned towards Rantaro, trying not to shit his pants. 

He was sure all Hell was about to break loose. 

Chapter Text

"He's going to try to get inside your head. Don't let him." Rantaro warns. 

"I could have told you that." Kokichi retorts, trying to open the passenger door, not realizing it was locked. 

"I may not know what his plan is." Rantaro admits. "But whatever it is, our main goal is to get Kiibo and Miu out alive. And survive. Violence is our last resort. I need you to promise me that you understand."

Kokichi groaned, flicking Rantaro's shoulder. "There's a homicidal maniac right in front of us, and your plan is to talk it out?" 

"Izuru is calculated. He does everything for a reason. Even if it's a sick, twisted reason." Rantaro explains, not letting up. "I'm betting he set this whole situation up to send a message, not to kill us. That being said, if we leave this car guns blazing, he has no problem returning the favor. And even if we're willing to risk ourselves, he's got leverage. We can't risk human lives." 

"...fine. Have it your way." Kokichi reluctantly murmured. "We'll have a nice conversation with my murderer , and politely ask him to pretty please not kill these poor, useless teenagers out of the kindness of his cruel, dead heart. Promise." 

Rantaro gave a sigh of relief, probably giving Kokichi way too much credit. "Thank you."

With that, he unlocked the car door, and the real test began. 

"Follow my lead, and don't do anything rash." Rantaro advises as the two approach, assessing the situation. 

Izuru was silently looming in front of Miu and Kiibo, who were tied to one of the church's  lamp posts, illuminated only by it's faint light. 

Miu was trying her best to cuss Izuru out through the duct tape over her mouth, to no avail, whilst Kiibo sat in silence, most likely compelled not to make a fuss. 

It wasn't especially eccentric for a kidnapping. Tame, even. 

Unsettlingly so. 

Kokichi bit his lip, staring at Izuru, whose eyes were barely visible from behind his shadowy mess of hair. 

And then, in one swift movement, Izuru's head jolted ever so slightly, revealing his cold, dead eyes staring back at Kokichi, paired with a sly smirk. 

Kokichi yelped, instantly averting eye contact. He had never met someone who oozed such pure, unadulterated evil before. 

He wasn't the first red-eyed person Kokichi had seen. But none of the others glowed the way Izuru's did. 

And if Kokichi were being completely frank, it gave him a serious case of the heebie jeebies. 

"I see…" Izuru's voice sounded out throughout the parking lot, low and croaky. 

It sent shivers down Kokichi's spine. 

" This is the human you managed to save." He continued, tonelessly. "How disappointing."

Kokichi's gut wrenched. He was sure of it now. This was a trap. He didn't know how, or why. But it most definitely was. 

At least, he was, like, 90% sure.  

Rantaro, on the other hand, was standing tall and calm next to Kokichi, seemingly unaffected by the lads horrific aura. 

The only thing assuring Kokichi that Rantaro was on the same plane of existence as him was the slow, building edge in Rantaro's stance. 

It seemed Kokichi's dear old rat boy was starting to get angry. 

"How can you speak so carelessly, Izuru?" Rantaro demands, unafraid of meeting the devil's gaze. "I shouldn't have had to save anyone."

"These are real, human lives you're messing with." Rantaro accuses, motioning towards his captives. "What is this to you? A game?"

"Not quite." Izuru responded, not caring to elaborate. 

"So it's worse, then." Rantaro shakes his head, baffled by Izuru's unshakeable pride. It made him sick. "Another one of your twisted plans." 

… 

Kokichi had to admit that he hadn't actually been paying much attention to what the two had been saying up until this point. Not that he hadn't been dying to hear Rantaro drone on and on about his moral superiority for the umpteenth time, or anything like that.

But based off of Rantaro's change in stance, and the pure, visceral look of disgust that sewed it's way onto his face, the words that were about to come out of Izuru's mouth were most despicable of all. 

" Not my plan," Izuru hummed his disapproval of Rantaro's assertion. " Hers ." 

And with the mention of some mysterious inherently devilish woman, Kokichi considered his interest officially piqued. 

He even planned on making his grand entrance into the conversation with some witty comment that he hadn't exactly thought of yet, when Rantaro dismissed all of his teachings, and charged at Izuru with full on vampiric speed, pinning him against the lamp post, right next to Miu and Kiibo. 

Kiibo looked like he was going to have a heart attack. 

Kokichi had to roll his eyes at that. Because of course Rantaro would all of a sudden become a show off just to upstage him. With a sigh, he walked towards the lamp post like any normal human would do, as to make sure that they didn't totally have this potentially life-ending conversation without him. 

The worst part of the whole ordeal was that Izuru didn't have an ounce of fear for his life. 

Even with a relatively angry Rantaro at his throat, his disturbing sense of elegance remained. 

"Touch me, and the blonde dies." He warns, completely expressionless. 

Kokichi expected that to be the end of it. For Rantaro to snap his fingers, and "Aw, man" his way out of it like some cartoon fox. 

But Rantaro hesitated. 

He stayed there, clutching the fabric of Izuru's suit with shaky hands, baring his fangs. 

And Kokichi was no longer sure he was going to let go. 

If it was just some random human, maybe Kokichi wouldn't have said anything. 

But Kokichi couldn't let Rantaro be responsible for killing Miu. Even if she was like t h a t.  

It didn't feel right. 

"Rantaro…" Kokichi spoke carefully, biting his lip. 

"Rantaro, let go of him." Kokichi demanded, with urgency in his voice. "Before you do something you regret."

Rantaro was breathing heavily, the conflict evident in his eyes. 

" We can't risk human lives ," Kokichi begrudgingly threw Rantaro's own words back at him. 

Doing so must have felt like a smack in the face for him, because as soon as the words went in Rantaro's ears, he let Izuru's jacket slip through his fingers as he stumbled back, collapsing to his knees, like a switch flipped in his head, and he realized what he'd almost done. 

Kokichi's mouth was left with a sour taste, knowing that Rantaro had just lectured him the same way mere minutes beforehand. God, he really hoped Rantaro would come to his senses after this so Kokichi never had to do that again. 

"Congratulations," Izuru mocked, fixing his cuff links, and patting the newly formed wrinkles off of his suit. "You bought her 22 hours." 

And with that, he vanished into the night, leaving Kokichi to clean up the mess in front of him. 

"22 hours? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kokichi groaned, moving his gaze over to Miu. "I thought saving people meant they weren't going to die."  

Rantaro was too busy staring at his shaky hands, with furrowed eyebrows to respond. Jeez, tough crowd. 

"Oh, come on. We don't have time for you to be broody. We have two people tied up over there. Get up." 

"I… I almost let her die, Kokichi." Rantaro squeaks out. Now, Rantaro was always pathetic, but Kokichi had never seen him this much so. 

"No you didn't." Kokichi firmly states. 

"Huh?" Rantaro asks, confused entirely. 

"Did you lay a finger on her? No? Didn't think so," Kokichi waved away his concerns, just like that. "All you tried to do was hurt the bad guy. Last time I checked, that's what we're supposed to do." 

"But he said-" 

"Doesn't matter." Ouma declared, shutting Rantaro up once again. 

"..." Rantaro paused, before nodding. "Okay. You're right. We need to focus on Miu and Kiibo." 

"Phew! The old Rantaro's back!" Kokichi cheers, plastering an obscenely large grin onto his face. "Being the only competent one was a lot of work." 

Rantaro rolled his eyes. "First, we need to untie them, bring them home, and then compel them into thinking they were working on the science project with you and lost track of time. That should sort it out." 

"We?" Kokichi's eyes lit up, hyperfocusing on that singular, miniscule syllable. 

"Yes. We ." Rantaro reluctantly allows, vowing to step in if anything went sideways. "Just this once." 

"Then what are we waiting for!" Kokichi buzzes, grabbing onto Rantaro's arm, dragging him towards the two. "Let's get these losers home!" 

"Lord have mercy," Rantaro mumbles, rubbing his forehead. 

"Who the hell was that lousy discount Hot Topic fucktard!?" Miu exclaims the second Kokichi ripped the duct tape off of her mouth. "I tried to tell him I wasn't into this BDSM type shit." 

Kokichi immediately regretted untying her. 

"We'll explain everything on the way." Rantaro reassures, despite knowing that the plan is to erase their memories of the whole affair once they come back to the Amami mansion. 

Kiibo was much quieter, and way easier to handle, since he was mostly mentally freaking the fuck out, rather than outwardly. 

The car ride was interesting, to say the least, with Miu rattling off question after question. 

"Who's that bitch goth face mentioned earlier? Is she, like, an ex of yours or something?" Miu wondered, poking the back of Rantaro's seat in hopes of getting him to answer. "And where'd you get those ugly dollar store fangs from? Halloween called, it-" 

"Shut up," Kokichi groaned, turning the radio on, not wanting to hear her any longer. 

"Ow," Miu winced, clutching her ears at the sudden sound. "Can you turn that shit down?" 

"I know grandma's that listen to music louder than this," Kokichi rolled his eyes.

"Your mom listens to music louder than this," Miu lazily retorts, giving the back of his seat a nice kick. 

"I'm an orphan, jackass," Kokichi mumbles in response, flicking her hand, which was still resting on Rantaro's seat. 

"Pissface."

"Squid-breath."

"Urgh," Miu gave up, redirecting her energy. "Fine. At least tell me who that guy is and why he snatched me and Kiibo like it was nothin'." 

"His name is Izuru Kamukura. And he kidnapped you, because he saw you leave our house." Rantaro calmly butted in. 

"And why does he care about you twats?" She continued, clearly still baffled by the whole ordeal. 

"We have history." Rantaro plainly answered, figuring it best not to delve into the nitty gritty, since in a mere matter of minutes, she'd forget all of this. 

"He killed me," Kokichi adds, making his rightful grudge evident. 

"But you're alive." Kiibo speaks up for the first time the whole ride. 

"We've got Rantaro's dollar store fangs to thank for that." 

"I'm not quite sure I know what you mean," Kiibo pressed, a strained look of confusion on his face. 

"Don't," Rantaro warned Kokichi, barring him from answering the question. 

"Don't what ?" Miu blurted out, with a big sigh. "I'm getting real sick of your ominous voodoo bullshit."

"Sorry!" Kokichi feigned innocence. "My lips are sealed." 

"As looong as Rantaro tells me who the elusive 'she' is." He grinned. Either way, he'd get something he wanted. 

To that, Rantaro gulped, stuck at a crossroads, before sighing. "Fine. You can tell them."

"Boo, you whore." Kokichi frowned, slight disappointment in his voice. He was really looking forward to figuring out whoever that girl was! Oh well. 

Grinning, he turned to Kiibo and Miu. "By the way, we're totally vampires."

Miu visibly blinked, looking at Rantaro. "I did not get kidnapped just for dick for brains to pull this bullshit."

"I'm not lying," Kokichi scowled, with a muted, "for once. Tell 'em, Rantaro." 

"You're on your own." Rantaro shook his head. 

"Next thing you're gonna say is that you aren't actually cousins," Miu rolled her eyes, trying to prove how ridiculous the vampire charade was. 

"Well… we aren't." Rantaro admitted. Kokichi found it real convenient that Rantaro was all of a sudden dedicated to honesty again. 

"No fuckin' way," She cursed, throwing caution to the wind. "Sweet Jesus, please tell me I'm on an acid trip, and this buffoonery is just part of the ride." 

"Wow! Buffoonery. Such a big word for a pea-brain like yourself," Kokichi congratulated. 

"Well, this busty blonde genius uses a kinds of big words, ya slimy little abortion-"

"Didn't I tell you what that meant last week?" Kiibo innocently asks, much to Miu's frustration. 

"Shut up! You weren't supposed to tell him that," Miu groans, furrowing her eyebrows. "Either way, you two need to quit fuckin' with us, or else. Back me up, Kiibs." 

Kiibo looked like a deer in the headlights, being put on the spot like that. So, he merely supplied a, "Vampires aren't real." 

"Rantaro, speed up and get us home so I can finally show these losers that we're the real deal." Kokichi nagged. "Kiibo's trying to bring science into this, so the unfriendly banters not fun anymore." 

"Are you kidding me?" Rantaro asks, the most serious of serious looks on his face. 

"What?" Kokichi saw no problem with his demand. Science, logic, and reasoning were all very boring, and he couldn't wait to metaphorically shit on them in front of one of the biggest nerds in all the land. 

"Kokichi. We are here. We've literally been in the driveway for the past five minutes, but you were too busy arguing with Miu to notice." Rantaro pointed out, but in Kokichi's defense-

No, wait. Rantaro was right. That was pretty embarrassing of Kokichi. If this was a game, cool points would definitely get deducted. 

"Oh," was the only route of submission Ouma could take, as he awkwardly stepped out of the car, the rest following his lead.  

"So, we're here. What's this big bad 'proof' you've got?" Miu teased, clearly not expecting anything out of him. 

"Let's head inside, first." Rantaro sighs, rubbing his forehead, knowing how humans tend to take in the information. "At least that way, you'll already be sitting down." 

And that's how Kokichi found himself sitting at the kitchen table, across from his science partners, who were snacking on off-brand Doritos, with a knife in his hand. 

"How's holding a knife supposed to show us anything?" Miu wondered, rubbing her gums, which were not taking well to the crunchiness of the chips. 

"Just shut it and watch," Kokichi warned, holding his hand other hand out in front of him, readying the blade, before slicing the back of his palm. 

"W-what'd you do that for?" Kiibo's eyes widened, as he watched the blood pool up, and…

the wound close? 

"As you can see, Kokichi was telling the truth." Rantaro revealed his fangs to them once more, to put the icing on the cake of their revelation. 

"We've got fangs, supernatural healing abilities, compulsion, the whole shebang," Kokichi summed it up, lazily throwing the knife with his drying blood into the sink, and sitting down. 

"But so does Izuru, the guy that we helped you escape from. And he's not afraid to use his abilities against humans. Which is why we need your help-" Rantaro begins to explain. 

"Wait you mean we get to help kick some vampire ass? Hells yeah!" Miu grinned, pumping her fist in the air. 

"Answering questions." He finishes his thought, and the enthusiasm immediately drains from Miu's face. 

Kiibo, on the other hand, was still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing, simply repeating the words, "You're vampires," a few dozen times. 

"Yeah, yeah. We've been over this." Kokichi waves his hand in dismissal. "I've gotta say, I actually agree with Miu. Sitting and talking is waaay more boring than kicking Izuru's vampire ass."

"This is important," Rantaro disagrees. "Knowing his plan will help us figure out what he's thinking. Kiibo, Miu… do you remember him mentioning anything?" 

"Nah. Just that Jun-cock girl, or whatever her name is. I was blacked out for most of it." Miu shrugged, complaining about her teeth once again. 

Kokichi noticed Rantaro tense up once more, at the mention of this girl. Not knowing anything about her was really starting to get on his nerves. But he figured there was a time and place.

"We still haven't figured out what that 22 hour expiration date he put on Miu was about," Kokichi figured he'd mention it, since it seemed Rantaro had forgotten all about it.

"Wait," Rantaro's face froze, as pieces of a puzzle began connecting in his head.  

22 hours… blacking out, sensitive ears, and throbbing teeth…

"No, no, no. Not again." Rantaro frantically shot up from his seat. "Kokichi, compel her to do something right now." 

Kokichi was very lost, but he vowed never to pass up on a good old opportunity for some compulsion. So he cleared his throat, looked Miu dead in the eye, and said. "You want nothing more than to punch yourself in the face right now." 

To which Miu looked at Kokichi like he was crazy, and punched him in the face. 

"Ow! That was not supposed to happen!" Kokichi overdramatically cradled his nose.

"Miu, you didn't just black out." Rantaro held his breath. "Izuru killed you."

Chapter Text

"..." Miu completely and utterly blanked, unable to properly filter her first round of thoughts. Which, go figure… finding out you didn't just take a fun little power nap, and are actually, you know… dead is a little bit of an eye opener. Not that Kokichi could relate. He had totally taken it all in stride; scouts honor. 

"You've really done it now, rat boy…" Kokichi shook his head towards Rantaro. Don't get him wrong, the new development threw him off too, but his years of lying were useless if he couldn't manage to put on a facade for a minute or two before he actually had a grasp on the situation. 

And, of course, Rantaro chose the valiant path of ignoring Kokichi for the time being. Which was a wise choice, really. Ouma pretty much existed for the sole purpose of stirring the pot. 

"I know it's a lot to take in, Miu…" Rantaro prompted as carefully as he could. Kokichi knew the words well. Rantaro used the same old washed up speech when he realized Kokichi turned. 

"It's no surprise you still suck at this," Rolling his eyes, Kokichi persisted, before turning his attention to Miu. Whether he had anticipated one of his science partners getting turned into a vampire or not, he was not about to sit idly by and let Rantaro bore her to death for the second time. Personally, Kokichi thought dying was better as a one time thing. Twice was a little redundant. 

"Okay, so basically, you have two options," Kokichi held two fingers up as he got straight to the point. "Wait 22 hours and die a human, or-" 

"Not that one," Miu hastily decided, without giving it a thought. "I don't know what the hell else you're gonna say, but I'm not about to lay down and die like a tasteless virgin."

"Perfect," Kokichi couldn't help but smirk as he retrieved one of the perfectly hidden blood bags from inside the fridge, and lightly tossed it in front of Miu. "Then all you have to do is drink this." 

"Huh?" Miu chimed, raising an eyebrow as she poked the bag, watching the deep red liquid move under her finger. 

"Is that blood?" Kiibo managed to choke out his first words since the new information had arisen. 

"Duh," Ouma lazily nodded. "That's how this goes. You either refuse and die, or drink that, and become like us. Don't worry, you learn to like the taste." 

"So, all I've gotta do is drink that, and I won't die?" 

"Wait," Rantaro cuts in. Kokichi may not have thought that this decision was a big deal, but Rantaro sure as hell did, and wasn't about to let Miu make it haphazardly. "It's not that simple. You're already dead. There's no taking that back. Drinking that won't let you live the same way you used to, it'll just turn you into a vampire. You won't be human anymore. It's not… it's not the same as living." 

Rantaro's words were laced with a heaviness Kokichi could only associate with regret. Ouma knew how Rantaro missed being human... but his words in this moment started to make Kokichi wonder just how miserable Amami was straddling the lines between life and death like this. Something that had never even crossed Kokichi's mind. 

"She won't be human?" Kiibo repeated, almost to himself. Even if Kokichi didn't have enhanced hearing, he would've been able to hear Kiibo swallow. An understandable response, Kokichi supposed. The guy's whole world had been flipped upside down, and now he wasn't sure if he'd be able to look at his closest friend the same way ever again. 

…

It didn't matter that no one at Kokichi's old school had known the truth of what happened to him. None of them would have had that look Kiibo had in his eyes--- the confusion and fear, sure. But not the heavy-eyed acceptance that flashed on Kiibo's face after he said those words. Knowing that whatever happened, no matter how terrifying, he'd stick by her. 

Without further ado, or any of that self-reflective bullshit the rest of them were doing, Miu shrugged, ripped open the top of the blood bag, and took a swig. 

There was a dribble of blood that trailed down Miu's mouth as she drank, in the same way a toddler couldn't properly drink from a cup without some kind of mess, and by the time she stopped drinking, the blood bag was half empty.

And, well… that was that. 

She was a vampire. No big spectacle, or anything. 

Wait, wait. Scratch that. 

A couple seconds after having her first batch of human blood, she almost knocked herself off of her chair as she wretched in pain one last time as her fangs officially grew in, but Kokichi barely counted it. 

"Holy fuck and crackers," Miu proceeded to poke her newfound fangs in a sense of awe and curiosity. "It really happened." 

Rantaro nodded hesitantly after the transformation took place, just in hopes of acknowledging it.

It was all so… boring. 

"Damn," Kokichi hung his head in a fabricated sense of disappointment. "Was it that uneventful when I changed too?" 

It wasn't a complete lie. He really had been hoping for more pizazz. 

"I wouldn't exactly say uneventful," Amami shook his head. Because, oh, right. Rantaro was still being broody about being a vampire.

Rolling his eyes, Kokichi set out to advance the plot, by pointing the finger at Kiibo. "What are we going to do with him?" 

"What do you mean?" Miu, still distracted by how pointy her new teeth were, didn't seem to pick up on the implications Kokichi was trying to give. 

"Huh?" Kiibo stepped back, eyes widening as he looked at Kokichi with frantic eyes. He clearly was not as blockheaded as Miu. "You're not going to kill me, are you?" 

"What? No, we're not going to kill you," Rantaro immediately reassured, really not into the idea of playing Kokichi's games. "But… it's dangerous knowing about vampires. Especially with Izuru in town. There's a good chance that you won't be able to live a normal life now that you know about us. Unless… you want us to compel you. Then you can forget any of this happened." 

"Oh," Kiibo began to soften, realizing that Rantaro didn't have any nefarious intentions. "You're letting me choose?" 

"It's not something I'd usually offer, but considering Miu's situation… your life is going to change either way. In order to go back to a normal human life and forget the existence of the supernatural, you might have to give up knowing Miu entirely," Rantaro explains. "But-"

"What's it gonna be?" Kokichi interrupted, as if he was physically incapable of letting Rantaro finish a thought. "Ditch the bitch and live a stupid boring life, orrrr dedicate your life to the supernatural, and I don't know, punch a vampire or two." 

To which the great Amami sighed. "Don't...say that. No one is punching vampires." 

"I…" Kiibo hesitantly began, looking towards Miu, who was still seemingly distracted by the rush of changes that came with being a vampire. 

"Oooh. You're totally gonna ask to forget her, aren't you?" Kokichi egged on, enjoying the drama of it all a bit too much for everyone's good. 

"I want to learn about the supernatural," Kiibo muttered instead, before confidently continuing. "I don't know how any of this is possible, but I want to learn. And I want to help you stop Izuru."

His gaze went back to Miu as he finished his statement. "It's not much of a choice, anyways. I can't… I won't abandon a friend, even if I'm scared." 

Ouma had to fight the urge to pretend to hurl. Come on. First he was riddled with Amami's insufferable telenovela bullcrap, and here Kiibo was, dropping the cheesiest protag line he could manage. And now he'd have to wait for who knows how long to compel someone, too, which was suuuper unfair. 

Before Kokichi could come up with a reason to blame it all on Rantaro (again,) Rantaro nodded in response to Kiibo's decision, before saying, "In that case… I have a phone call to make." 

Chapter Text

"Phone call?" Kokichi remarked, with narrowed eyes. Nothing about the situation made Kokichi think,

Hey! You know what would be super cool and warranted right now? Calling everyone I know and telling them about the new vampire in town!

Okay, okay. That was a lie. A little part of Kokichi wanted to do exactly that. It was big news, and the first time he'd ever seen someone else turn into a vampire. But he had self-control! And Rantaro had more sense than that. Or so he was told.

Which begged the question once more: why did Rantaro need to make a phone call? 

Usually, Kokichi would just do the sensible thing, and eavesdrop on Rantaro's conversation, to figure it out in an instant, which he totally still tried to do, but for some reason he could only hear Rantaro's voice, and not the one that came from the other side of the phone. 

Which was weird. His vampire hearing should've been able to hear everything. 

And out of what he did hear, he couldn't piece much together, since it was super vague, and it physically pained him to listen to Rantaro for that long. 

"Rantaaaaro," Kokichi complained the second Rantaro hung up the phone. "Who the hell was that? You weren't calling your girlfriend at a time like this, were you? That'd be suuuper irresponsible. Miu turned into a freak, and all you're doing-" 

"Freak!? Into freaky shit, maybe, but if I'm a freak then so are you ya little fuck, or did'ya forget that we're both vampires now?" Miu pushed back. 

"Shut up, whore. I'm not talking to you," Kokichi muttered back, still trying to get Rantaro to explain himself. "Go get killed by Izuru again or something."

"He killed you, too, piss-ant!" Miu reminded him, flipping him off in the process. "Suck my dick."

"The bickering is unnecessary. I'm going to tell all of you what that call was about," Rantaro cut in, with tired eyes. He didn't need sleep, vampires were mostly fine without it, but what he did need was a break. One he wouldn't get. "You're going to find out soon enough, either way, and it's not much of a secret." 

"I'm assuming it was important, though." Kiibo noted, perhaps the only other one taking their circumstances seriously. 

"You would be correct." Rantaro nodded. "Kokichi is already going to know what this means, but I called an old friend of mine, Celestia. She-"

"Called it!" Kokichi childishly declared, despite definitely not totally calling it. He had honestly not even thought about how that was a thing they had to do. "Your little witchy friend is coming over to pawn off more tacky jewelry." 

That at least explained why he couldn't hear the other side of the phone call, since she was very partial to cloaking and stealth spells. Said it was best when enemies and friends alike don't know your next move.

Now, Kiibo had been minding his own business and drinking a cup of water when this new information dropped, so, naturally, he nearly choked on it. "Did- did you say witch?" 

"Fuckin' hell. There's witches, too?" Miu pushed her hair back. "So we're not the only supernatural bitches running around? Is there anything else I need to know?" 

"I'd recommend staying away from werewolves," Kokichi offered. "I've only ever met one, but Rantaro says they can majorly suck." 

"Right, right. So vampires, witches, and werewolves. Great. This is great." Kiibo mumbled to himself, with an uneasy expression. 

"Reconsidering the whole keeping your memory thing? 'Cause I could totally still compel you." Kokichi reminded Kiibo a little too enthusiastically. 

"No!" Kiibo immediately rejected the suggestion, before returning to a calmer state. "No. I'm just taking it all in."

The look on his face screamed, Hey! I may be totally freaking out right now, but please don't wipe my memory! So Kokichi figured he'd let the topic pass for now out of courtesy to his lab partner. 

"She won't be arriving until the morning. So, until then, stay inside and away from windows. The sunlight will kill a vampire without proper precautions." Rantaro decided to let the conversation off on a high note. 

After the dismissal, everyone was left with a lot to think about. Before today, Kiibo and Miu were entirely unaware of the supernatural, and now… well, Miu had a pair of fangs of her own. The day had left them all exhausted, both mentally and physically, and it was all thanks to Izuru. 

That just made it incredibly easy for Kokichi to lull himself into a sleep for the night, except for the fact that he was woken up at 4 in the frickin' morning. 

"Kokichi… hey, wake up," Rantaro's familiar voice shook his shoulders. It wasn't as though vampires actually needed sleep to regain energy, so not much was lost, but it still aggravated Kokichi. He threw one of his pillows at Rantaro as revenge. It didn't do much of anything, but it still made him feel better. 

"She's here," Rantaro provided his explanation for waking Kokichi up at such an ungodly hour. 

And with that, Kokichi was dragged along to the kitchen, where Miu, Kiibo, and Celeste were waiting. 

Despite the fact that he was upset at being woken up, he was even more put off by the fact that he was the last one there. "You woke the freaking human up before me?"

"A-actually, I couldn't sleep." Kiibo spoke up. The stress of the situation was starting to show on his face. 

"Unsurprisingly so." Celestia remarked. She looked exactly like she had the last time Kokichi met her, dressed like a goth lolita, with calculating eyes. She had a teacup in her hands, pressed close to her chest. She'd never admit it, but she liked the warmth. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miu countered against the witches' cryptic claims. 

"The poor thing is at his wit's end," Celeste spoke of Kiibo as if he were a pet. "You know, it's a shame he wasn't the one to turn. I could make great use of him as a servant. Instead, he's stuck here with his human mind blown wide open. Pity."

"Asshole," Miu murmurs with a scowl. "I don't know where you are getting this stupid ass witch-vampire supremacy from, but human or not, there's nothin' wrong with Kiibo! He-" 

"Don't take my bluntness as an attack. I am an honest witch, but not a harsh soul." Celeste adjusts her hair with her free hand, before placing it back onto her teacup, before turning her attention to Kiibo and addressing him directly. "Truly, it is an arduous task for a human to cope with living with the supernatural. That's why most opt to bury their memories like cowards. But if you are choosing to take this path, and live amongst us, that is an honorable decision." 

"Urgh," Miu releases her previous frustration into the empty air to calm herself, as she realizes that Celeste wasn't intending to antagonize them. 

"Heed my words, vampire and human alike," Ludenberg laments, addressing both Kiibo and Miu this time. "Adaptability is survivability. That is the key. If you can not adapt to your new way of life, the only thing that you are left to do is die . Even if you have perished once, fledgling, the second time is nothing to scoff at. This time, if you die, there is no coming back."

To this, Rantaro nods. "As a vampire, you may have gained many skills and abilities you didn't have before: enhanced healing, compulsion, heightened senses and emotions, and many others, but there is a lot that you have lost, too. The things that drove you as a human are turned on its head. Sleeping and eating aren't the same anymore. You can't enter a home owned by a human without permission. And more importantly, the Sun burns vampire skin. If you let it touch you, your body will catch fire." 

Hearing Rantaro tack on a wordy speech of his own made Kokichi realize how Celeste and Rantaro could be friends, despite how different they appeared to be. Rantaro and Celeste may have been completely different people, but they spoke with the same cryptic poetics that made Kokichi gag. He could appreciate Celeste's self-serving motivations and propensity to win, but sometimes listening to her and Rantaro was a total yawn-fest. 

"Unless you are fortunate enough to have one of these," Celestia Ludenberg sets her teacup down, and in its place, a box appears. After opening the box to reveal a set of rings that donned beautiful deep indigo gemstones, much like the ones that Kokichi and Rantaro have. "These are Daylight Rings, enchanted by yours truly. The lapis lazuli they have is a stone that has protected countless vampires such as yourself. Typically, there is a price one must pay to be given one of these, but fortunately for you, Iruma, your tab has been forgiven. You have Rantaro to thank for your freedom." 

"So, do I just like. Pick one, or?" Miu awkwardly asks, pulling on the end of her hair. 

"..." With a sigh, Celeste nods, temporarily giving up her sophisticated, long-winded manner. "Essentially."

Miu touched just about every single one of them in her search for the perfect specimen to put on her finger. They all looked just about the same, with minute differences, but even Kokichi had to admit that he wouldn't pick just any. When it had been his turn, he felt drawn to one, like it was supposed to be his. He wondered if Miu felt the same way as she took hers, with a satisfied grin. 

"When you said they typically have a 'price'.... what did you mean by that?" Kiibo once again was in the habit of asking important questions. 

Of course, Kokichi cut himself into the conversation before Celeste could explain herself. 

" Basically , if Rantaro hadn't been the one to call her up, she would've made you pinky promise to be her servant for a whole decade in exchange for one of these bad boys," Kokichi decided to cut to the chase, holding up his hand that donned his ring for proof of what he was saying.

"Wait, so you were being serious about that weirdo bullshit you were talking about wanting to make Kiibo your servant?" Miu exclaimed in exasperation. Kiibo himself seemed a little thrown off by the answer to make a comment of his own, so for the moment, Miu was his mouth. 

In response, Celeste simply shrugged, sipping her tea. "Naturally. A wise witch doesn't do charity work for free. What's a decade off of eternity? For these vampires, ten years of servitude is nothing in exchange for being able to live an eternity in the sunlight. The truth is, even if they don't like my deal, I'm one of the only witches willing to work with vampires. Most think they're monsters. Untouchables. A stain on life itself. So I'm the only choice most of these vampires have." 

"Something still don't seem right about that. What the hell d'ya need them for, anyways?" Miu remarks, "If you can poof yourself anywhere, or whatever the hell else, what do you need vampire servants for?" 

"Your conundrum has a far simpler answer than you have considered. You see, ever since I was a little girl, it was my dream to live in a castle, where I would be waited on hand and foot by the creatures of the night." Celestia picked up her teacup again, and sipped. Despite the fact that shs had been there a while now, steam was still pouring from the cup. Kokichi wondered if she had used magic, even on something so simple. "It may seem childish to you, but that has always been my dream, and I intend to live it out. You can't help what the heart yearns for. You can simply satiate your cravings, and make them a reality."

"Apologies for the personal interlude. Back to the matter at hand: As long as you wear that ring, you possess an ability many vampires do not: the ability to be in the sunlight. Since you are newly turned, you may not know the weight of this privilege. Many go hundreds of years as a slave to the night." Celeste continues on with her explanation, unafraid of the dramatics. "If you shall lose this ring, or the finger it's on, your skin will burn from the mere touch of sunlight. Your flesh will catch fire in seconds, burning you until there is nothing left."

"That's… reassuring," Miu mumbles, trying to hide her nervous expression as she shoves the Daylight Ring onto her finger. 

"If it helps, it took nearly a full minute before I started to catch on fire when I didn't have a ring," Kokichi nonchalantly supplies. 

A comment that seemed to spark Kiibo's re-entrance into the conversation, as he looked rather curious. "So, you've actually tested the limit of sunlight you can withstand?" 

"I guess you can say that," Rantaro sighs, thinking back to when Kokichi was a new vampire. "I warned him of the risks, but he thought I was exaggerating, and walked into the sunlight anyway. I had to save him." 

"How was I supposed to know that I'd burst into actual flames?" Kokichi defended himself. When he had been human, he had spontaneously combusted approximately zero times. 

"Because I told you!" Rantaro argues back, trying to bust out facts and logic like a fool. 

"Yeah, but you knew I wasn't going to listen to you! Honestly, if you really think about it, it's kinda your fault-" Kokichi successfully  flipped the script. He honestly tried to do that about anytime he could put blame onto Rantaro. It offered him endless enjoyment. 

"Grape juice has a point," Miu concurs, debating whether she should bite her new ring like a gas station ring pop or use self control for the first time in her life. "Every time you tell me somethin', I kinda wanna do the opposite. He really can't be blamed here." 

"Regardless, I do encourage you to pick a better way to die if you shall perish a second time. I have been burned at the stake more times than I can count, and honestly, it is never a pleasant experience." Celeste takes control of the conversation again. 

"You've been what?" Kiibo chokes out. They really weren't going easy on him, saying things like that. 

"Wait, wouldn't that make you, like, dead?" Miu adds on her own concerns. It wasn't fair. She hadn't even realized it when she had died!

"Of course not. The attempts were unsuccessful. I simply adapted to the flames." Celeste proclaims, as if it was that easy. "Humans are so simple. They scream witch, yet set traps that could only work on their kind. Burn me, drown me, hang me, and I will simply adapt. I'm a born witch, after all. That is what I am made to do." 

Kiibo, of course, hung onto the witches' words with care, as he learned more about what it meant to be a witch. Miu, however, was not that impressed with Celeste essentially saying she was built different, and met her gaze with a hollow scowl. 

With that, Celeste glanced at the clock on the of Rantaro's fancy microwave, and sighed. "It seems that is all of the time I have to spare. If you value your lives, I hope you heed my words for as long as they prove useful. If you choose to go to war with Izuru, be warned: he is as old a friend of mine as Rantaro is. My allegiances are my own; I will continue to serve my own interests, no matter the path you choose." 

After making her final declaration, Celestia stood up, straightened out the skirt of her dress, and turned to Rantaro. "Before I make my leave, however, I must speak to you alone, dear friend."