Chapter Text
“Okay, you got the plan memorized?”
“How could I forget? You went over it four times.”
“Just act natural!”
“You’re one to talk,”
“What? Hey, I’m one-hundred-percent natural! I’m A natural !”
Maki smiled a small smile. “Whatever you say.”
“Here they come!” Kaito slammed his hands together in a thunderous clap. The clap served two purposes: blatant spurring hype, and to alert his friends that he had spotted them from inside the crowds.
Shuichi offered a small wave when he noticed him. Behind him, Kaede trailed along as inconspicously as she could. She had her own plan up her sleeve and she was determined not to fail. She just had to think of the right word in the right place, and her own plan would set into motion.
“Hey there,” Shuichi said after he closed the distance between himself and Kaito. “I hope you two weren’t waiting long,” he smiled. Kaede copied his smile with a toothy grin.
“Nah, it wasn’t long at all! We got here a little late!” Kaito said triumphantly. He himself hoped that Shuichi and Kaede would have been there early, and that he and Maki delaying arrival would give Shuichi a bit of a push- the feeling that maybe he was on a date with Kaede.
Unfortunately, they were all late- for some reason. Kaito didn’t think much of it. He’s done the math, but he figured that luck couldn’t be helped. Shuichi and Kaede exchanged glances- this was going to be harder than Kaede thought.
“Oh, I’m starving , why don’t we grab some food first!” Kaede said excitedly.
“Before roller coasters?” Shuichi gave her an odd look.
“I didn’t want to ride the big one anyway, we’ll have plenty of time for food to settle waiting in line…” Kaede fidgeted with a strand of her hair.
Maki stared at Kaede. She could see the increased heart rate, the sweat bead forming on her brow, and her rosy cheeks. She squinted.
Kaede was desperately trying to hold it together. She laughed a little when there wasn’t an immediate response.
“Food sounds great!” Kaito spoke, much louder than necessary. They could have roasted marshmallows on the fire bursting from his energy. His fists were clenched, his spirit ablaze, and-
“That little burger stand by the haunted house is good,” Shuichi said, as if he didn’t know about Kaito’s fear of ghosts.
Kaito fizzled. His shoulders sunk. He gave Shuichi a pathetic look. All of his residual energy was transferred in space to Kaede, who was now excited by the prospect of Kaito getting scared in the burger line. If she placed herself strategically, Kaito would only be able to rely on one person: Maki .
Maki was becoming even more suspicious. Shuichi knew it was only a matter of time before she figured things out if they spoke about it for too long.
Maki let out a thoughtful “hmm,” about it. If Kaito freaked out, that would be too much of a distraction- it would completely ruin the mood they were trying to set. She looked to her companion and sighed.
“You know, I’m not really feeling burgers at the moment…” she said wistfully. She was still looking at Kaito, but he was somewhere else far-off mentally: still thinking about the haunted house. He looked pathetic.
“You’re not..?” Shuichi seemed a little disappointed. “Kaede was really wanting that burger…” he looked to Kaede, who in turn started to look as pleading as possible. She clasped her hands together and stared with big eyes.
Maki smiled. This was perfect. “How about we grab something else and meet you guys at a table?” She asked.
The opposing team’s faces lit up. It wasn't what they had planned, but it seemed like a good compromise. “Good idea!” Shuichi nodded.
“Come on, Come on,” Maki pushed Kaito since his legs wouldn’t move on their own. Towards the tables that were set up for food, there were two small food stands to choose from. She waved politely at her friends as they walked towards the burger stand- it was about a block away, so the haunted house was well out of sight.
Maki looked at the two food stalls and considered the plan again as Kaito recovered. She stood close in case he still felt faint. She would not let him fall.
“Hungry?” She asked plainly.
“Eh, I can always eat,” he said. He shook one of his hands midair.
“French fries?” She asked, quietly, almost as if she didn’t want to admit that she wanted to eat them.
“Just get something for you, I’ll scrounge- I’m too focused on the mission to think of anything else!”
“Right, the mission…” she placed her chin in her hands as she stepped in line for one of the eateries “It's good that Shuichi is considering her feelings, even above ours- that means something…”
“Yeah! This operation will be a piece of cake!”
“There’s just… Kaede seemed… off, she might be worried about something…” Maki bit the end of her thumb. It was a bad habit and she’d yet to break it.
“Maybe she’s just feeling the mood or something.”
“You’re right, she could be nervous… but even we can tell they’re into each other, it’s not like she should be afraid of… you know,” Maki lightly shrugged her shoulders.
“What do I know?” Kaito leaned in. He assumed there was some sort of secret here, but he wasn’t sure what it could be: nobody kept secrets from him, but he admittedly didn’t know Kaede as well as his sidekick. Maybe it was a Kaede thing.
Maki hesitated. A heartstring or two tugged in the wrong direction. She was already regretting bringing it up, but she had taken too many steps to not just speak it. “...Unrequited Love,” she said quietly, disappointingly. She said it as if it was a curse- a great burden- and it was.
It was her burden.
But he wouldn’t know that.
He thought about it for a second. Why wouldn’t he know anything about that? He gave her a cockeyed look for only a moment before he brushed it away and instead jumped to the positives that he was ready to dish out: “They might just need more alone time for her to work up the courage! Let her lead him a bit and then wham !” He slammed his fists together, making a passerby flinch. “He makes a move ,” he added, in as smooth of a voice as he could muster.
A block away at the burger stand Kaede and Shuichi were trying to also crack some sort of game plan together.
Kaede ran her hands up and down her arms, “Well, I suppose this works,” she said, cheerfully, but it still managed to fall flat. “Did Maki seem mad to you?” she asked, worried.
“I think she’s onto us,” Shuichi stared at the menu. “Not mad,” he added, just to make sure it was clear.
“We need to do something to get the spark going…” Kaede bounced a little in place.
“Oh, Do you think we could trick them into going on to a couples ride?” he asked.
“ We might have to ride one for that to happen…” she said slyly. She rubbed her heel in the dirt.
As soon as she pointed that out, he could feel the pinpricks of goosebumps running up the back of his neck. He didn’t think about it like that at first, and he was afraid she would feel it was forced. “That might not be necessary!” he yipped, a little bit highly, and a bit too flustered.
Kaede would not notice that part, only the part where he seemed to not want to ride one with her. She rubbed her heel in the dirt a little harder. Shuichi hid his face by looking away and trying to act casual about it.
“Well I’d be willing ,” she mumbled grumpily.
Shuichi crossed his arms. Why was she so upset about it? She must really not want to . He was a little downput by it, but maybe she’d go with him if he made a more convincing argument.
Kaede took a step forward and ordered food for both of them. He took a step to the side and leaned against the side of the haunted house. He watched Kaede carefully.
He liked her.
A lot.
Maybe there was a chance that whatever went down that day would also allow the opportunity… no , he shook his head. He had something to focus on, he couldn't let his own feelings make him waver. Shuichi’s arms uncrossed. He tapped the side of the haunted house rhythmically. He thought about Clair De Lune. A tune like that was something that often reminded him of her, and the feeling of that melody always tugged him- each and every part of it was another feeling- another piece. Every time he heard it he thought of all the time they had together- but he also felt the yearning for more.
He shook his head again. He needed to focus! He needed to focus! He took a deep breath. Pieces- parts of a whole- he needed the perfect melody to push his two best friends together. The perfect combination of pulling and pushing… he turned and looked at the haunted house behind him. The ugly images of poorly drawn ghosts made their way up the side like a funeral procession for bad graphic design.
He smiled. “I have an idea!” he exclaimed.
The two teams soon met up with each other again, all in good spirits with unhealthy park-food in their hands, waiting to raid them with grease and calories.
They basked in the shade of the noon. Maki looked up to the sky for a moment and then tilted her head back down. The other two had brought a meal of champions, at least in portion sizes, and she only had a measly fry-basket that was going to likely be half-eaten.
Polite conversation tried to advance, but it was a bit awkward and smalltalk-like. They were all very focused on their mission at this point- oblivious to the other team’s intent.
Kaito pilfered a few fries from Maki’s basket, and Kaede wanted to scream. They were sharing food . She was excited to see them like that.
Kaito caught Kaede’s weird look. He figured Shuichi did her a good one- that burger really did seem to be her thing.
Convenient for the opposing teams, they felt that the game was already set in their favor.
Shuichi was already done with his food and wiping his hands off on his shorts. Kaito and Maki were nearly to the end of their fry basket. And Kaede was lagging behind with a bit more food. She felt like she was forcing it down too much, but she couldn’t go against her lie- she had to appear hungry!
Kaede took a fast bite- too fast- faster than the rest of her could keep up. And then it happened: hiccups.
Shuichi paused when he heard the first hic . A devious smile started to curl onto his face. Kaede covered her mouth, but all eyes were already on her. She gulped and then another hiccup escaped her. What did this mean? Was she being too much of a distraction?
Kaito noticed Shuichi’s devious look. The time to make a move had to be soon- his sidekick should know to ride the wave. If Kaede was happy with her burger- despite the hiccups- then it was a good time for good feelings to flow. “You guys sure do know how to put it away!” he said.
Maki gave him a weak look. Was that supposed to be a compliment? She took a sip of her water and stared out and away to avoid saying anything too mean. “They did say they were hungry,” she added.
Kaede hiccupped again. Shuichi put a hand on her back. “Oh no, hiccups are the worst,” he said softly. Shuichi shook his head and then looked at Kaito, who he knew would be the quickest to buy a lie.
Kaede’s face turned dark- furiously dark. “I need to be rid of these,” she said in a low voice before another light and girly hiccup made her jump in her seat and squeak.
Shuichi very much acted like he was very obviously thinking, just to hammer it home that he was pretending to come up with an idea. “Hmmm,” he patted Kaede twice on the back. “How could we get rid of these?” he pretended to wonder aloud.
Maki squinted.
“Oh, how about we scare them out of you!” Shuichi said in a high voice. He almost choked on the last word. His lying was starting to sound like Kokichi’s. He cleared his throat.
Kaito’s face started to dim- he knew where this was going.
“How about you guys go on a ride together while I take Kaede back to the haunted house?” Shuichi smiled. Since when had he gotten so terrible at lying? He gulped.
Kaito was too leery of the haunted house to say anything about that. He nodded. “That’s fine!” he said, a few octaves higher than his voice should have been. He turned his attention to his unfinished drink and took a long sip to avoid talking any further.
Maki nodded as well. “Sounds good,” she agreed.
Shuichi grabbed Kaede by the hand and yanked her away from the table like a ragdoll. They sped off towards the haunted house without even looking back to wave.
Maki and Kaito exchanged another glance.
“They’re even holding hands, could this get any easier?”
“It could.”
“They’re just doing our work for us! This is almost disgraceful!”
“Something’s up, but I can’t figure out what…”
“Well what are we gonna do, follow them?”
Maki looked upwards once more to one of the taller attractions. “We gain a vantage point and resume our planning from there,” She pointed to the top of a ferris wheel. It was the tallest structure for miles, and she would be able to pick them out of a crowd the moment they were done in the haunted house- given, if it took them five to fifteen minutes to complete it.
“Great idea Harumaki,” he exclaimed cheerily. He shook the cup that was still in his hand to shuffle the ice around. With his other hand, he placed it on her head and gave her a little tussle.
Maki smacked his hand away and patted her hair back into place. She pretended she was insulted and annoyed, but she was happy. That was the first time he’d called her that all day. She fidgeted with her hair while he cleaned up the table.