Chapter Text
Shuichi had gotten used to the routine of his class in the few months since he started at Hope’s Peak. While it was true that there were a lot of outlandish personalities in his class, there were a few things that he could expect and count on. Kirumi always arrived early to do the cleaning, Kaede and Kiibo as class reps always tried to keep things calm (though whether or not they succeeded was a dice roll) and Kokichi always showed up in time to cause a bit more chaos to his morning.
Shuichi wouldn’t call the Ultimate Supreme Leader predictable by any means, but even he had some routine to his behavior. He always came into the classroom with a bang. Either literally by slamming the door open or by being as loud as possible in his greetings to the class. His first victim of the day was whoever responded to his entrance and on the very rare chance that everyone ignored him or were too busy to respond, he seemed to default to bugging Kiibo more than anyone else.
This day was mostly the same with Kokichi barging into the room late, loudly greeting the class, and rushing off to his seat to bicker with Miu from across the room.
Nothing was really unusual about the day until the bell rang for break. As had become the pattern for the week, Kokichi ran out of the room with barely a parting taunt to the class. Shuichi wouldn’t have thought too much of it if it wasn’t for the way that Kiibo stood up to watch their mischievous classmate as he left.
“Kokichi’s been very well behaved lately, don’t you think?” Kiibo asked, a frown on his face.
Shuichi thought it was far too early to call Kokichi “well behaved” based on a week of him leaving class on breaks rather than staying to tease them. Kokichi could easily be planning a prank or running errands, but Shuichi didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about. Why not just enjoy the peace while they had it?
"Maybe he's busy jacking off," Miu suggested before loudly laughing at her own joke.
"Perhaps this is the eye before the storm," Kirekiyo suggested.
"It's suspicious, is what it is," Kaito said. "What's that brat planning?"
Maki sighed, seeing the same warning signs that Shuichi himself was seeing. "Don't get involved with his schemes, Kaito."
"I must agree with Harukawa," Kirumi said. "It really isn't any of our business what Ouma does in his free time, especially when it is not bothering us for once."
Shuichi knew that regret was on the horizon when Kaito tossed an arm over his shoulder. "This seems like a job for my sidekick!"
"I... would rather not," he said quietly. Not that he thought Kaito would listen, but it was worth a try.
"Wha?" Kaito looked at him with slack jawed surprise. "Come on, we can't just let him get away with whatever he's planning. I can't do this without you!"
Shuichi hung his head and sighed. Kaede rubbed his back in sympathy, able to read the writing on Shuichi's crumbling backbone. "Fine."
"Alright!"
"Break's almost over," Kaede told them. "Maybe wait until lunch?"
"Alright!" Kaito cheered. "We'll start today and continue tomorrow! That little menace will never be able to hide from my sidekick!"
Shuichi wished he could crawl in a hole instead.
Kokichi slid back into the room right as the bell was ringing. They all returned to their seats and Kaito gave him a thumbs up that only made him feel worse.
Kokichi ran out the door as soon as the lunch bell rang and Kaito was pulling Shuichi out the door on his heels. "Hurry up, before we lose him."
"I don't think this is really a good idea," Shuichi said again.
"Don't you want to know what he's up to?" Kaito questioned.
Shuichi couldn't deny a curiosity at Kokichi's odd behavior, but it wasn't so much that he thought they should stalk him about it. Not that Kaito was willing to listen to him. Kaito could be very single minded when he set his sights on something. His determination was sometimes really admirable, but other times it did little else but get Shuichi into more trouble than he wanted to deal with.
Kokichi was running through the school quickly. It was hard to keep up and also keep out of sight. Harder for him than for Kaito, but Kaito was pulling him along the entire time and refusing to let him fall too far behind.
"Why the hell is he going to the reserve building?" Kaito questioned as he pulled Shuichi out of the main building.
Shuichi didn't have the breath to offer any speculation, not that he had any. He didn't think Kokichi would bother with the reserve course students, but he couldn't think of any reason the Supreme Leader would come here unless it was for a prank.
They followed Kokichi through the reserve course building until he accosted and kidnapped someone in a giant sweater.
"The hell is he doing?" Kaito questioned too loudly.
Shuichi pulled on Kaito's arm before he could march over to them both. "Kaito, please calm down. Let's wait and see what's going on first," he said quietly. He wished he wasn’t surrounded by such quick tempered people.
Kaito looked displeased, but calmed down as they moved close enough to hear what they were saying.
"Unusual for you to seek me out," the sweater guy said. His expression was a bit distant and there was a faint hint of impatience about him, but there was enough familiarity between them that Shuichi could confidently say that they knew each other.
"Nishishi! You shouldn't put anything past your Supreme Leader."
"Yes, well, I'm quite busy so-"
"Not so fast!" Kokichi said, striking a pose as he stood in the guy's path before he could turn away. "You forgot something very important today."
"Oh?" The guy pushed his glasses up and raised his eyebrows. "What might that be?"
Kokichi pulled out a lunch box, presenting it to the guy with a huge smile. "Tadah! Courtesy of your amazing second in command!"
Surprise lit the guy's face as he stepped forward to accept the lunchbox. "Kimochi made me lunch?"
Kokichi placed his hands on his hips, looking far more smug than the situation called for in Shuichi's opinion. "You underestimate the consideration of the King of Dice."
"Well... give him my thanks."
"Nope!" Kokichi grabbed the guy's arm. "We're eating lunch together with Kouchi."
"I..."
"Nope, no objections," Kokichi said as he tugged him along. "Don't drag your feet, Koharu!"
He and Kaito watched them walk away before Shuichi spoke. "Well, they know each other, at least."
"Yeah, but how?" Kaito wondered. "How does he know some reserve course student?" Kaito wondered.
"Found you!"
Shuichi jumped and Kaito screamed as Kokichi suddenly popped up between them. Kokichi laughed, though it wasn't his usual theatrical laugh. It sounded... off somehow.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Kaito yelled.
Kokichi stuck out his tongue. "That's what you get for following me," he said in a teasing tone. Then his face turned dark all of sudden as he glared at Kaito and Shuichi realized they had made a very big mistake. "You weren't planning to cause trouble for me, were you?"
"K-Kimochi!" Shuichi exclaimed before he could think better of it.
The dark expression cleared instantly as he smiled at Shuichi. "Hey, you got it! Silver star for you, Shuichi!"
"Ah, of course," the sweater guy, Koharu, said as he approached them. "I thought it was a bit odd for Kokichi to be inviting me to lunch."
Kimochi smiled brightly at him. "Kokichi's busy right now, so I'm filling in for him! I'm so good at being Kokichi that you didn't notice even when he was acting weird, right?" He skipped back to Koharu's side and now that Shuichi was looking more closely, the two looked... really similar.
"How the hell do you know someone from the reserve course?" Kaito questioned.
Kimochi glared and Kaito actually took a step back. "I don't think that's any of your business." Then his face cleared as he grabbed hold of Koharu's sweater. "Now, let's go meet Kouchi!"
Shuichi watched them leave again before turning back to Kaito. "So can we leave now?"
"What? Are you kidding me?" Kaito asked. "They said they're going to meet someone. We can't give up now."
Shuichi gave his friend a flat look. "Kaito."
"Just a little longer, Shuichi! We've almost figured something out, I'm sure of it!"
Shuichi had figured something out, but he wasn't sure the same could be said for Kaito. Still, he let himself be dragged back to the main building, to the cafeteria, until they found the table that Kimochi was at. At the table was Koharu and one other person who, despite hiding half his face, still had a strong resemblance to the other two. "Oh no," Shuichi said softly.
"What the hell!" Kaito exclaimed, making Shuichi facepalm. "Why do you all look so similar?"
The eyes of the new third person immediately snapped to them, face unreadable from the mask. “Cursed by a witch actually, dreadful experience. I’m hideous now.” The stranger spoke with a dry, steady tone. It was very unlike the voices of Kokichi or Kimochi, which were always energetic even when being scary, or even Koharu’s which seemed controlled and poised. Yet despite the lack of much intonation, the words had completely captured Shuichi’s attention. He felt like he had seen him before, perhaps around Kirigiri?
“Are you guys still following us?” Kimochi asked with an eye roll. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“I wish,” Shuichi sighed.
Kaito talked over him. “I want to know what the hell you’re up to!”
Koharu raised an eyebrow. “I would think that to be obvious by now.”
Kimochi put his elbow on the table and gave them a dismissive look, the kind he had seen Kokichi wear more than once. “It’s called ‘lunch.’ Is your head too full of space rocks to remember something as simple as that?”
Kaito growled. “What you say to me?”
“Don’t be too upset Kimochi, it’s only natural to be curious about you and Kokichi after all. You both do lend yourself to quite an air of mystery, I doubt they meant harm in their curiosity,” the stranger soothed, leaning a bit towards Kimochi, “My name is Kouchi, the Ultimate Preacher, it is nice to meet you two.”
“Oh, that’s why I recognized you,” Shuichi muttered. “You’re in Kirigiri’s class.”
Kaito looked at Shuichi with surprise. “What? You recognize this guy?”
Kimochi smiles again, the bright one that Shuichi was starting to suspect was his normal expression. “You can sit us with us if you really want, Shuichi, but only if you ditch the spaceman.”
Shuichi shrunk away from the offer, trying to subtly pull on Kaito’s arm. “Um, no, I think we’ll just…”
“Hold on a minute,” Kaito said, shrugging off Shuichi’s hold. “I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”
Kimochi looked at Shuichi. “You’re not an idiot, so you already get it, right?”
Shuichi sighed again. He hated being put in the position of having to explain things, even if he was a detective. Actually, that was probably why he was such a bad one. “They’re related, Kaito.”
Kaito’s eyes widened as he looked at them all. “No way there are more of them! And these two are so… normal!”
Koharu raised an eyebrow at that, but before he could interject Kouchi spoke up once more, pointing to each of them in turn, “We are Kokich’s siblings; Kimochi Ouma, Koharu Ouma, and Kouchi Ouma. It is nice to make the acquaintance of two of his classmates even if under some understandable confusion. Perhaps it is a bit hard to imagine a classmate suddenly having more surprise siblings, but it is the truth of the matter. I hope we can get along, oh also while I’m thinking about it, I do love your eyeliner.”
Staring now directly at Shuichi, Koharu narrowed his eyes, evaluating his makeup before speaking up as well, “Good eye, that eyeliner does work very well with his whole… is emo aesthetic the right word? Could use a bit more contour though he’s a bit of a confusing middle ground between cute and aloof. I could give you some pointers if you want later, or at least clean up your nails.”
Shuichi pulled his hat down further and took a step back from them. “That’s alright. I… think we were just leaving, actually. It was, um, nice to meet you.”
And then finally, finally, he was able to drag Kaito away. Kaito still seemed to be in a state of shock over what they had just learned. “They’re multiplying, Shuichi! Before long we’ll be overrun with them.”
“They seemed nice enough,” he said. “Can we eat lunch now? We wasted a lot of time and I’d like to actually eat before we go back to class.”
Kaito frowned at him. “Shuichi, I feel like you aren’t taking this seriously.”
“I think I’m taking this exactly as seriously as I should. I’m going to go eat now.”
Kaito followed him as he went to the lunch line.
It was after they’d gotten their lunch and were looking for a table that they came across what had to be the real Kokichi, talking to a tall girl that they didn’t recognize. The scene looked bad at first, with Kokichi standing between the girl and two other people and a lunch tray on the ground. So of course, Kaito took the scene at face value and decided to step in.
“What’s going on here?” Kaito asked, looking at them all with a stern expression.
One of the two, a girl dressed in a gothic lolita outfit, placed her hand in front of her face as she spoke. “Just a simple misunderstanding, nothing more.”
“Some people need to just watch where they’re going,” the other girl said in a haughty voice, and even someone that kept to themselves as much as Shuichi liked to could recognize someone as popular as Junko Enoshima.
“Sure, an accident,” Kokichi said. Looking more closely, Shuichi could see the tall girl was hiding behind Kokichi a bit and he was standing before her protectively.
Shuichi was used to Kaito jumping to conclusions, so it was a surprise when he stepped between the group of four and looked at the two girls. “If it was an accident, no harm no foul, right?”
The gothic girl smiled brightly at them. “Of course, we had no intention of causing any trouble.”
“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with giving advice, is there?” Junko asked. “Surely someone like the Ultimate Bodyguard should be a bit more aware of their own limbs and surroundings. Some might call it absurd that she could be so utterly clumsy and uncoordinated.
“Some might call it absurd that you’re picking on someone that could crush your head like a grape,” Kokichi replied. “But I guess being popular doesn’t mean you’re also smart.”
“Oh ho! You have the nerve to criticize me?”
“Hey, no need for things to get out of hand, right?” Kaito said, rubbing the back of his head. “Kokichi, you should apologize.”
“What? No way!” Kokichi said immediately.
Kaito looked at Junko with a serious expression. “And you should apologize too. It’s not good to pick on those weaker than you.”
Junko’s entire demeanor changed, going from haughty to gloomy almost instantly as she looked away from them, tugging on the ends of her hair. “To see you look at me with such hateful eyes… it fills me with such despair.”
“Well, I see no reason to let this drag out any longer,” the other girl said. “Let us be on our way, Junko.”
Junko bounced back to normal like she’d never been down at all. “Whatever you say!”
The two walked off and Kaito yelled after them. “Hey! You haven't apologized yet!”
Shuichi sighed. “I don’t think they have any intention of apologizing for anything, Kaito.”
Kaito glared. “People like that really piss me off. Who makes such a big deal out of something they know nis an accident.”
“Really sorry, Aniki,” the tall girl was saying quietly. “I didn’t mean to get you involved.”
“Are you kidding? I get involved in things all the time!” Kokichi said, hand resting on the girl's arm comfortingly. It was odd to see Kokichi being so openly kind to someone. The only other person he could recall getting this treatment was Kimochi.
Thinking that, Shuichi looked at her more closely. It wasn’t as obvious as Kimochi, especially with how tall she was, but they did seem to share similarities in their face. After earlier, it seemed both obvious and ridiculous to come to the conclusion that he was, but…
“Um.” Both Kokichi and the girl looked at him immediately and he tugged his hat down before continuing. “Are you, by any chance, related?”
Kokichi smiled at him. “Wow! Another brilliant deduction from my darling detective!”
The girl seemed to shrink a bit behind Kokichi, but she smiled at them. It looked… a little forced, but the strength and enthusiasm of her voice made him second guess that reading. “I’m Karinkutaki Ouma, nice to meet you!”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Kaito groaned. “A sister now? This one isn’t even short!”
Kokichi glared. “How dare you! I’ll have you know, my sister could juggle you with one hand behind her back. She could throw you into space and make you a real spaceman, so you better watch what you say!”
Karin looked back and forth between them. “Um… do you not like this guy, Aniki?”
Kokichi patted his sister’s arm. “Don’t worry about that right now. Now let’s go. I said that I was going to make you eat today and I meant it.”
“But I–”
“No buts!” Kokichi said, pushing her toward the lunch line. “This is an order from your overlord of evil!”
Shuichi turned to look at Kaito. “Are you happy now? Did you get the answers that you wanted?”
Kaito scratched the back of his head. “Honestly? I think maybe you were right and I should have stayed out of it. Knowing there are this many Ouma’s at the school feels more like a loss than a victory.”
Shuichi resisted the urge to say ‘I told you so’ but it was a near thing.
“Guys, bad news!” Kaito said as soon as he entered the classroom. Several of their classmates had already returned, but there were still a few missing. Those who were there looked up at Kaito’s loud arrival. Maki sighed and Kaede looked curious.
“What bad news? Can’t get it up?” Miu asked with a laugh.
Kaito just gave her an exasperated look and ignored her. “It’s about Kokichi.”
“Did something happen to him?” Kaede asked.
“Yeah, he fucking multiplied!”
“Huh?”
Kaito began gesturing wildly to try and get his point across. “There are more of him! It’s not just Kimochi! There are three others, at least! One of ‘em is even tall!”
There was a pause, followed by a few words of confusion before Kirumi spoke up. She paused in her sweeping of the classroom floor to look at Kaito. “Yes, I am well aware. Was that all?”
“Wha? You knew!” Kaito yelled. Shuichi moved away from Kaito to slip into his seat, hoping to save his ears from any more loud outbursts.
Kirumi just nodded, returning her attention to cleaning the floor. “Indeed. Kimochi sometimes requests that I make lunches or sweets for his brothers. One of them is particularly pleasant to deal with.”
Kaito stared at her with a betrayed look. “And you didn’t tell us?”
“I didn’t see how it was relevant to anyone else,” she answered.
“Kehehe, indeed. I have exchanged words with the Ultimate Preacher. He is quite fascinating to speak to,” Kirekiyo offered.
“Nya ha ha! Angie also knew! That deviant brother of Kimochi’s likes to doubt Atua, but no worries, she’ll make him see the light soon!”
“You all knew?” Kaito asked with slack jawed surprise.
“Not everyone knew,” Rantaro said. “Oh, but I have seen their Reserve Course brother. He asked about my skills with nails, once. I guess Kimochi told him about me.”
“Wha? Did anyone else know?”
“Tenko recently learned that the degenerate has a sister, so his entire bloodline can’t be bad!” Tenko spoke up. “She’s really strong. I caught her sparring with the Ultimate Martial Artist.”
“Did anyone else know what?” Himiko asked as she shuffled into the classroom and laid her head on her desk.
“That Kokichi has more siblings,” Shuichi said.
“Nyeh? He does?”
“Oh, Gonta know!” Gonta exclaimed as he walked into the classroom. Kokichi, or Kimochi Shuichi couldn’t be sure, was sitting on his shoulders. He grinned at them all from his perch on Gonta’s shoulders. “Kokichi told Gonta about them. Did classmates not know?”
“The spaceman is just too slow as usual,” Kokichi said. “Embarrassing for you that you needed to stalk me to find out what the rest of the class already knew.”
Kaito growled. “Why the hell didn’t you just tell us?”
“Why would I tell a space idiot like you anything?” Kokichi asked.
“Why are you always so secretive?”
“Why are you always so nosy?”
“We’re your damn classmates!”
“So what? Besides, I told Gonta. And half the rest of the class had no trouble finding out.”
Kaito stomped up to Gonta, pointing at Kokichi and yelling twice as loudly. “You’re a goddamn headache, you know that!”
“You want me so much it makes you look stupid,” Kokichi replied flatly.
“Wha!”
“Nyeh, could you guys quiet down? You’re giving me a headache,” Himiko said.
Tenko slammed her hands on the table as she stood up. “You heard her, degenerate males! Quiet down.”
“You’re being just as loud as they were, Tenko,” Kaede sighed.
“To make such a fuss over learning the familiar relations of a classmate,” Korekiyo mused calmly. “I’m sure that most of us have family that we haven’t spoken about at length and yet it is only Ouma to get this treatment from Momota. Perhaps there is some truth to Ouma’s claim of Momota’s interest. If that is the case, humanity truly is beautiful with its girth of mating rituals.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kaito questioned, spinning around to glare at Korekiyo. “I’m not into that little punk! I’m straight!”
“So’s a noodle until it gets wet,” Kokichi mumbled.
“Shut up!”
“You did get decide to involve yourself rather quickly, Kaito,” Kaede said with a small smile.
“You too?”
“Enough of this,” Kirumi said firmly. “It is none of our business, but even if it was, it’s inconsiderate to try and force others out of the closet.”
Kaito ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Ugh, don’t defend me like that! That’s even worse!”
Gonta put Kokichi down as Kaito argued with the class. The Supreme Leader skipped over to him, smiling and speaking lowly enough that Kaito wouldn’t be able to hear under his own yelling. “Next time you want to play with me or my brother, make sure to leave Kaito behind, kay?”
Shuichi peered at him closely. “Kimochi?”
Kimochi winked at him. “Got it again! That guy really gets on my nerves, so I thought I’d punish him.”
“That’s… not very nice of you.”
“Stalking isn’t very nice of him, either,” Kimochi said. Shuichi couldn’t really dispute that. “Anyway, I mean it! No Kaito or Maki allowed the next time you want to play with me.”
Shuichi wasn’t sure that he liked the wording of that, but arguing probably wouldn’t do him any favors. Instead, he just nodded. “Ah, alright.”
“Good!” Kimoichi smiled widely, shooting a quick finger gun at Angie who smiled at him, and then skipping over to the classroom door. Without anyone else seeming to notice, Kimochi slipped out the door and Kokichi slipped in. Shuichi wondered just how often those were switching places without them noticing.
Kaito’s arguing with the class continued long after the bell rang.