Chapter Text
Shuichi wasn’t sure how long it had been, but it certainly was enough. He was done.
Orange light was beginning to melt out of the slants above his bed, where the rising sun slowly rose itself up, breaking through his window. The light hit the wooden floor, lighting up the room a hint but it was enough for Shuichi to completely give up on attempting to sleep.
Shuichi clicked off his phone, darkening the room a bit yet his eyes adjusted rather quickly. He could see the light on his thin bedsheets, they weren’t comfortable in the slightest yet they helped him stay cool.
He was staying over at his grandparents' beach house for his grandmother's birthday at her request. Their family never saw each other much and because of that his grandmother wanted to get them all together for a few days leading up to the big day.
That included his own mother and a handful of cousins that Shuichi would rather only stay a couple hours with than a couple days.
Shuichi loved his grandmother, yet he had a sinking feeling that the trip would only lead to trouble. The day prior was already a mess consisting of unpacking and getting around, at least he had a whole room to himself.
He set his phone down onto the nightstand, swinging his legs around the bed frame pulling himself up. His head pounded, small spots appearing in his vision. The last time he saw his phone, it had been around five in the morning. That was a forgiving time to get up, at least he hoped for there was no possibility that he was going to fall asleep again.
On the opposing wall was a dresser filled with Shuichi’s clothes, while a mirror was propped up in the corner. He had left his door shut so that none of the rascal kids could bug him, the youngest was only eight and loved to be a bit of a prick.
Shuichi let out a sigh, pulling himself up out of bed. He walked over towards his door, turning its brass handle.
He was met with a hallway that led directly to the living room, painted in white with pictures of his grandparents, one being a rather old wedding photo of the two of them.
There was also a family photo of their children, two girls and a boy.
They were positioned in front of the beach house, with toothy grins and bright eyes. Shuichi paused at the photo, quickly finding his uncle located in the middle. He was a bit shorter than his sisters, once he became an adult he surpassed his younger sister yet not his older one, Shuichi’s mother. She almost seemed sweet in the photo.
Shuichi gritted his teeth, turning away from the photo. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if he had grown up under the care of his mother.
He reached the living room, where an ‘L’ shaped couch was aimed towards a massive flat screen TV mounted up on a fireplace that he had never seen used. The two large windows were covered up by heavy curtains that were blocking out the sun much better than his bedroom blinds.
Across was a dining area, with a large floating island facing the stovetop, sink, and oven, paintings were mounted up that if Shuichi could remember correctly were from a variety of artists his grandfather knew.
Shuichi stepped into the kitchen, hearing the tile crack underneath his feet while the refrigerator screamed as though it were at its final moments. He opened up the fridge, feeling its cold air blast against his face.
He glanced around, finding that there laid a bunch of food, cans of soda, and a half empty bottle of milk most likely due to his younger cousins. He reluctantly closed the fridge, walking towards the counter finding his grandparents black coffee machine.
Shuichi really, really, really, wanted coffee.
Yet he didn’t want to wake up the rest of his family, it was loud as shit anyways. The machine was almost laughing at him as he thought about his possible ideas which was rather hard on his half asleep brain, barely waking up. Caffeine would be lovely, yet the machine…
Is anything open?
Shuichi turned away from the coffee machine, quickly walking back to his room that was much darker than the dining room. He swiped up his phone, quickly clicking on the search bar for any coffee stores around the area.
One opened at seven.
Another at six.
Then seven once again.
Another at six.
Shuichi kept scrolling picking up the pace until he found himself looking up coffee shops that weren’t even in his grandparents town, forcing him to accept the awful truth. Nothing was open.
He let out a sigh, his mind running on the things he saw in the fridge. Shuichi really didn’t want soda at five in the morning, and having milk by itself felt as though it were a war crime.
Shuichi glanced down at his bed, but there was no way his body would ever let him sleep.
He wasn’t fond of it, but Shuichi would have to wait until one store opened, so he could always walk around the town. It was only for an hour, he would be alright. Even better, he could head down to the beach.
With the option in mind, Shuichi tucked his phone away and grabbed his wallet. He opened his dresser, pulling out a pair of socks. He had been to his grandparents' beach house a couple of times, yet the town was small enough that there wasn’t much to remember. It was mainly a retirement town for old people to hang closer to the beach.
Shuichi stepped out of his bedroom, closing the door.
Unfortunately he didn’t drive his car down, being stuck with his uncle’s old gray car that he refused to part with. He turned left, where more of the hallway was present, having more pictures.
He reached the end where his uncle was lucky enough to inhabit the last room away from everyone else, all to himself.
His uncle had no interest in marrying or having kids of his own, in fact he never wanted a relationship with anyone. When Shuichi was younger he thought it was odd, although he never gave it too much thought until he came out to his uncle. He had explained the various identities that were within the LGBT+ community and his uncle suddenly had commented that the aro/ace label fit him almost chillingly so.
It saddened Shuichi a little, knowing his uncle was left in the dark until he was in his late thirties yet at least he knew, rather than spending his whole life thinking he was weird.
Shuichi carefully placed his hand on the door handle, slowly turning it until the brass let out a click, to which he pushed the door slowly open. It let out a few creaking noises, causing him to wince. He could hear the fan above twirling around making white noise, his uncle a mere lump on the bed.
He slowly walked inside, locking his eyes on the dresser where he could see the car keys, some light reflecting off the metal.
Shuichi glanced down, making sure none of the wooden boards below him would creak as he tiptoed around the ones that seemed as though they would. Once he was close enough to the dresser, he reached out, slowly pulling up the keys.
They let out a loud clicking noise, causing Shuichi to freeze up as he felt all the blood in his body rush. He locked eyes with his uncle who appeared absolutely out of it, not even hearing the metal scraping against the dresser as it swung around. Shuichi quickly pulled them more in the air, making sure his uncle hadn’t moved.
He let out a sigh of relief, slowly backing out of the room while staring at the lump that was his uncle until he got into the hallway by some miracle, slowly closing the door. It let out a click, fully affirming Shuichi that he had successfully not been caught.
He felt a weird sense of nostalgia, remembering the times when he was thirteen sneaking out with his friends whenever they coaxed him enough. Every time he was filled with anxiety, constantly thinking about when his uncle would wake up, night. Fortunately, he never did. Yet there was always the idea of him waking up, and throwing Shuichi in a sort of prison.
Thankfully, Shuichi was almost eighteen. His uncle didn’t mind much on him going out of the house, if he ever did.
Shuichi headed down the hallway reaching the front door that was on the side of their living room, a beaten down mat set down with sprawls of shoes all around.
Shuichi fished out his own, sliding them on before he tied them, standing up. Shuichi opened up the front door, catching sight of the ever rising sun glowing orange and yellow while he could hear a few birds singing to one another.
The floorboards of the porch creaked underneath his shoes, they were stained white with plants sprinkled around sprouting in a beautiful array of colors. There were a few wicker chairs sprawled around in a beige color with dark pillows on them, a table in the center that was shaped in a similar manner from the chairs. A deck of white cards was stacked up in the center from the night previously, when Shuichi and the rest of his family watched as his grandfather absolutely destroyed his mother at a card game.
Shuichi stepped down the stairs, reaching the pavement that led to the driveway that housed a massive family van besides his uncle’s gray car.
The family van was owned by the youngest sister of his grandparents' kids, and her husband. Off the driveway on the road was a fancy red sports car that his mother owned somehow, he wasn’t even sure how she got that kind of money.
He clicked the car keys, hearing the small vehicle beep in response. Shuichi got into the driver's seat, turning the thing on. The engine coughed a few times, before it roared to life as the thing usually did.
It had been the first car Shuichi had driven in before one of his uncle’s co-workers gave him his old car that Shuichi could drive. He had nearly destroyed the front by scraping it along the curb of parking spots, way too scared that he was too far out from the spot. Some of the scrapes could still be seen on the front which Shuichi wasn’t too fond of seeing.
He peered into the review mirrors, catching sight of his mother’s stupid ass car once again. Shuichi prayed he wouldn’t hit it, his mother would kill him. He didn’t want to know how much it costed in damages.
Shuichi took a breath, pulling the clutch into reverse before he drove out of the driveway reaching the main road that was completely empty to no surprise. He doubted there was much activity going on at five in the morning.
The beach was only a few minutes away, usually it was filled to the brim with cars yet Shuichi was sure he would find a spot in the dead of morning.
As he suspected, the roads were next to empty with absolutely no one surrounding him as he slowed down in front of a red light, strung up by only a few wires. Shuichi caught sight of a lone old man walking a large white dog, turning the corner along the sidewalk.
Once he reached the beach, Shuichi found that the only other car in the parking lot was some black truck to which he parked far away from the thing.
The parking lot was in an alleyway that was all too narrow, Shuichi couldn’t imagine driving a van out of the road. He turned the car off, stepped out onto the concrete.
In front of him was a smaller wooden gate with an opening where he could see the beginnings of the yellowed sand running out, rushing water that came crashing down filling up his hearing. A stray seagull cawed in the distance.
Shuichi stepped through the gate, feeling his shoes sink down into the sand causing him to wince. He trudged towards the ocean line where he could see the waves crashing down into the water, birds flying about. The air was cooler, wind howling throughout the lone beach.
He nearly fell over a few times in the sand, yet it eventually leveled out to where he felt as though he were actually walking on something. Water pulled close to his rugged shoes, he made a mental note to dump all the sand out of them once he got back to his car.
Shuichi began walking along the shoreline, pulling out his phone, finding that the time was around five forty in the morning. A twenty minute stroll would be alright, he rarely worked out anyway. He glanced up, finding someone was running towards him with headphones placed on their head.
They smiled at Shuichi once they passed to which he returned the gesture, picking up his pace suddenly self conscious of how slow he was walking.
His family had gone to the beach that last evening to watch the sunset yet Shuichi was already appreciating being there, glancing up at the sunrise all by himself rather than with them. He usually didn’t see his aunt and mother much anyway, his grandparents made sure to visit him and his uncle at least once or twice a year. They came up for holidays or simply to visit, usually during New Years. His aunt’s family only was seen once a year at best, her job required them to move around the country a bunch and so she didn’t see them much.
His mother was a whole other story. Shuichi could only remember seeing her in person a few times. When he was thirteen, fifteen, and a few months back for her wedding. To make up for it, she would call him every year or two only to talk about herself endlessly. Shuichi had a feeling she didn’t even remember how old he was.
He hadn’t even seen his…step father? Step father and his children more than once, only seeing them during the wedding before they were thrown into the beach house. It didn’t feel right to call him that, he felt more like a stranger.
Someone else passed him, opening up his sight to more of the right that was the beach although Shuichi caught sight of a figure further up. They were standing on the sand, facing the ocean appearing to be in some sort of dream.
Shuichi picked up his pace, already wanting the inevitable awkward conversation to be over with, planning out his smile. He pulled out his phone, finding that it was five minutes to six. Hopefully the person wouldn’t still be there when he had to eventually come back.
Although as he kept walking, something about the person appeared so familiar. Shuichi wrinkled his nose, attempting to peer closer only to feel his stomach drop forcing him to screech into a halt.
Wait.
The person turned his head over towards him, the all too familiar violet eyes boring into his soul. His dark hair was being carried by the wind, the purple ends catching the rays of sunlight.
He tossed Shuichi a toothy grin, his eyes darkening while a flurry of feelings broke through Shuichi’s mind. He could never figure out what the man wanted with that grin.
“Kokichi?” Shuichi called out. What the fuck was he doing there?
Kokichi, even though his frame suggested otherwise, was a part of Shuichi’s high school. They were both in Hope’s Peak, among their other classmates. Hope’s Peak picked out talented kids from other high schools across the country and placed them in classes with fifteen other students, giving them titles for their talents to hone in and explore for their last two years of high school.
Kokichi’s title was the Ultimate Supreme Leader if that made any sense, whenever Shuichi asked during their last school year Kokichi would dodge the question by raising eight million new ones that confused the ever living shit out of him.
All nine months of knowing that Kokichi existed, Shuichi couldn’t make any sense of him. He formed friends that felt more as though they were pawns to him, pushed the buttons of Shuichi’s friends, and overall made everyone want to strangle his throat. Shuichi couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the peculiar mannerisms of him.
“Hi!” Kokichi exclaimed, waving at him.
“Hey?” Shuichi said, hesitantly walking up to him. What was he even supposed to say? He hadn’t even gotten ready for the day, did he appear as though he were a wreck? Most likely. He opened his mouth to ask Kokichi what the fuck he was even doing, yet all air quickly escaped out of his throat.
Kokichi’s grin widened as though he could read Shuichi’s frantic thoughts and took an amusement to them. “Isn’t it like, five? Why are you here so early?” He asked.
“Uh-“ Shuichi started, finding there to be absolutely no words to be found.
Kokichi simply watched, smiling up at him. Almost as though he were waiting for the perfect moment to make fun of him.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Shuichi managed to cough up. Did his breath smell bad? Hopefully not, there was no way to cover it at that point.
“Really?” Kokichi asked, raising his eyebrows. “That was a long pause.”
Shuichi gritted his teeth, nervously toying with his hands attempting to be somewhat smooth; although unfortunately he was terrible at that. “Sorry, I’m just tired.” Shuichi said. It was true. Sort of. In actuality, his mind seemed to be malfunctioning, going haywire.
He was unable to wrap his mind around the fact Kokichi was in the town, his own. The one that had his grandparents' beach house. The place that only old, retired people only inhabited. What was he doing there? Did he live there? That couldn’t be the case, Shuichi had seen literally no teens anywhere. Seeing not only someone familiar, yet someone like Kokichi threatened to give him a seizure.
“Obviously.” Kokichi said, letting out a snicker.
Shuichi almost immediately glanced down at his clothes, did they appear too wrinkled? Did he have dark circles underneath his eyes?
“You know I hate liars, right?” Kokichi asked. Of course he picked it up, Kokichi was a master at figuring out when people were lying, in stark contrast to his own lying mouth. It felt as though every word that came out of Kokichi’s mouth was a lie.
“What are you doing here?” Shuichi blurted, a bit rudely. He couldn’t bury his questions any longer in fear they would cause his mind to explode. Kokichi blinked, glancing around at Shuichi’s frame. He could only hope it didn’t appear all that noticeable that he had rolled out of bed.
“Isn’t it obvious!?” Kokichi asked. “I’m going to ransack this town!”
“What?” Shuichi asked.
“Yep! Me and my super evil organization are coming around stealing from every single person, including you!” Kokichi went on, sticking his pointer finger at Shuichi. His tone seemed as though he thought all that he was saying was completely normal and not the words of a crazy person. “Better sleep with one eye open tonight!”
“You’re lying, aren’t you?” Shuichi asked.
“What!?” Kokichi protested, placing a hand over his chest as though Shuichi accused him of committing a war crime. “Of course not! What kind of monster do you think I am!?”
Shuichi withheld the urge to let out a groan, most of the time conversations with Kokichi felt as though they were running in circles getting nowhere.
“I’m disappointed in you, Shuichi.” Kokichi went on, rolling his eyes.
“Sorry?” Shuichi muttered. “I was just curious.” What was even the point in asking, Kokichi was never going to give him a solid answer. He pulled out his phone, finding that the clock had reached six. At least he could escape, forever ingraining the weird interaction in his mind. Shuichi was deathly curious, yet he did not have the guts to continue asking. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later.”
“What, are you going to board up your house now?” Kokichi asked. “Are you scared?” He leaned closer to Shuichi who took a couple steps back, feeling his face immediately flare up.
“Not really.” Shuichi confessed, unable to meet Kokichi’s ever staring eyes.
“Lame.” Kokichi said dryly.
“Sorry.” Shuichi muttered, taking another step back.
“That was a lie.” Kokichi said.
“What was?” Shuichi asked, freezing up. Kokichi had spewed so much shit that he couldn’t even tell, that he was lame? He highly doubted Kokichi gave a shit about hurting his feelings. Was it about the whole stealing thing?
“DICE coming.” Kokichi muttered. That was new. When did Kokichi ever explain his lie? Unless he was lying about lying that his organization was coming to steal, but it was such an obvious lie. But did he somehow do something that would sound like a lie if he told someone? Or was Kokichi just fucking with him? Shuichi felt as though his mind was melting by each passing second.
“Well, that’s good.” Shuichi said, attempting to somewhat go along with it. “Then why are you actually here? Do you live here?” He asked in some hopes he would get an actual answer, although the more he thought, why was he even attempting? Kokichi was giving him the opportunity to continue asking, he couldn’t just not take it up.
“Why are you here?” Kokichi shot back. “Don’t you live near Hope’s Peak?”
“Yeah.” Shuichi said. “But I’m with my grandparents at the moment.” Perhaps if he answered Kokichi’s questions he could go on with his own question. “Are you with your family?”
Kokichi let out a laugh, tilting back as if Shuichi had said the funniest thing in the world. “Do you honestly think my family is rich enough to live here!?”
Shuichi opened his mouth to argue, yet Kokichi cut him off, going on to say,
“You’re hilarious!” Wiping one of his eyes as though there were tears present from his laughter.
“I just-I had a theory?” Shuichi said, stumbling over his words. “It was just off of the people I see in this town, you don’t often see teenagers.”
“Duh.” Kokichi said, flexing his fingernails towards himself examining them, as though Shuichi was making him die of boredom.
“Have you been here before?” Shuichi asked.
“Of course I have!” Kokichi answered. “Have you?”
“Yeah, my grandparents have a house here. I’ve been going there ever since I was five.” Shuichi replied.
“Wow! So you’re a veteran!” Kokichi exclaimed, dropping his hand. “Maybe you could show me around!”
“Wait-so you haven’t been here?” Shuichi asked.
“Obviously!” Kokichi answered.
“Wha- huh? ” Shuichi asked, furrowing his eyebrows feeling as though his mind was at the mere breaking point.
“What?” Kokichi said.
“I-“ Shuichi started, although he caught himself. Kokichi was absolutely never going to give him a straight answer to any question he shot at him. He just needed to go along with it.
“Alright, I guess then I could show you around if you want.”
Perhaps that way he could get more answers, although to what?
“Really?” Kokichi asked, his eyes lighting up as if Shuichi told him he was getting a million dollars. “You’re the best!”
“It’s really nothing.” Shuichi muttered, feeling his stomach twist. Kokichi was never going to verbally fess up, but perhaps his actions could, although why did he even give a shit?
“Here, give me your phone.” Kokichi said, holding out his hand.
“…why?” Shuichi said.
“You’ll see!” Kokichi said with a smile that Shuichi was unwilling to trust.
“Okay?” Shuichi said, reluctantly placing his phone into Kokichi’s awaiting hand. He quickly tapped his password, circling around so that he could see the screen.
Kokichi clicked on his contacts, pressing on the plus sign as he began tapping in numbers. His number? Was this his weird way of getting Shuichi’s number? He tapped on making the number a new contact, typing his name in. “There!” He chirped.
He slammed Shuichi’s phone in his chest, tossing him another grin. “Text me when you’re ready for that tour!” And with that he walked off. Fucking walked off.
“Wait, Kokichi!” Shuichi protested, stumbling forwards although it proved to be effortless. Kokichi didn’t respond, instead he kept walking with a weird skip to his pace.
Shuichi didn’t feel as though his mind could work, watching him go along with any sliver of an answer as to why. He glanced down at his phone, finding the gray contact laughing up at him.
Text?
It felt as though Shuichi had stepped inside a spinning wheel only to be spit back out as quickly as he was sucked in, leaving him dizzy and dumb stricken.
At least he had a way to get more answers from Kokichi, and a way to escape his family. Shuichi wasn’t exactly sure why he cared so much, yet it was going to be his first time completely alone with Kokichi. Perhaps he could get some more answers than simply what he was doing in his grandparents town.
Shuichi took a shaky breath, slowly turning back to his car. He had to recollect his thoughts before they drove him mad. Kids often were pulled from schools across the country, did Kokichi actually come from the town? But in such a town? Why couldn’t he have simply told Shuichi that? Because it’s Kokichi.
He didn’t think it was his organization stealing shit. That was too obvious of a lie, the only option was that he lived there. Unless there was something else he was missing. Perhaps once he got sick of his family he could text Kokichi about that tour and see how he reacted to the town.
For some reason, he found himself feeling excited rather than what he expected, that being terrified. He could redeem himself from the most likely horrible appearance he had that morning, although why did it matter? Shuichi shook the thought from his head. He needed to just figure out Kokichi, although for some reason it felt more promising that time.
He remembered during school being scared of Kokichi, he was wild and unpredictable. Although eventually he wanted to understand why he acted the way he did, which only went nowhere. Most of the time he felt more confused with an overwhelming amount of questions rather than answers.
Whenever Kokichi opened his mouth, it was as if more questions would just be stockpiled onto Shuichi’s ever growing mountain. He had simply regressed back to being scared, it was much easier on his brain anyway.
A few more runners passed, giving him smiles that he could barely give back, barely able to walk. It did feel as though he were right back at school, letting his mind jump back in the rabbit hole that was Kokichi.