Chapter Text
This was a horrendously dumb idea.
But alas, there Shuichi was. Standing outside the abandoned mansion at the edge of town, bordering on the edge of a forest, waiting for his friends from school to meet him. The meeting was NOT Shuichi's idea. If he had his way he would be at home in his bedroom reading or helping his uncle with whatever case his agency was working at the moment.
The idea was his friend Kaito's, and this wasn't the first time he had been in a situation like this. He had a moderately popular YouTube channel, mainly due to his brand as an 'exorcist' who was absolutely scared outta his mind of ghosts.
Personally? Shuichi wasn't exactly clear if the exorcist thing was a bit or not. If it WAS a bit, Kaito was very committed. Yes, he had wondered if Kaito was delusional MANY times, but he didn't have many other friends. So when Kaito asked him to be his cameraman slash 'Sidekick' he couldn't make himself say no.
Along with Kaito came Maki, his partner on the channel. From the beginning, Shuichi had always gotten the impression she was dragged into this like he was, but that didn't stop them from becoming friendly. Maki never made any proclamation about being an 'exorcist', but she didn't use any of her typical tough-love honesty to tell Kaito he was crazy when he said it. Was it suspicious? Kinda. Did Shuichi really care all that much? No...
"Hey Shuichi! You're here early!" Shuichi jumped at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.
Turning to look behind him, he was met with the arrival of Kaito, Maki trailing behind.
"Ah- hey," Shuichi smiled. "Hello Maki," He waved past Kaito, where he was met by a nod. “It's 3:15, Weren’t we supposed to meet at three..?” he asked, slightly confused at Kaitos assertion he was “early”.
Maybe it was just his own worries about being late, but he assumed his prompt arrival could have been interpreted as “early” by anyone who was typically fashionably late.
“Don’t concern yourself with him. He made us late because he didn’t want to come.” Maki spoke calmly, taking a chunk of her hair in her hands to fidget with.
“That’s not true at all-!” Kaito began, turning to face Maki.
It was around this point that Shuichi began to tune their conversation out, adjusting his bag that had been draped over his shoulder. It wasn't uncommon for the pair to get into short debates over things. He would admit, Maki was usually right. Kaito had his heart in the right place usually, but then again the day they had met he had hit him, so sometimes he didn’t express his feelings properly.
To be fair, I’m the one who didn’t separate myself from the situation. That's a bit of a me problem isn’t it? He’s a nice guy, so it worked out for me didn’t it?
He mused silently to himself, staring absently down at his hands until-
"Okay, enough wasting time, we should just go inside-!" Kaito clapped his hands together, snapping Shuichi back to reality as he turned to face him.
"There's no need to be scared sidekick, we can get this done fast!"
"Tell that to yourself, we’ve been ready this whole time." Maki stated, annoyance in her tone as she walked to the door of the house.
"Ah-!? Wait up Harumaki!" Kaito ran ahead to catch up with Maki, as Shuichi adjusted the lens on his camera, turning it on.
Walking briskly after the pair, he stopped at the door. His two friends were already inside, but it felt like there was some kind of invisible barrier he'd be crossing if he stepped over that threshold.
A bit weird, especially because Shuichi didn’t particularly believe in the supernatural. If he did, he would’ve said that there was something bad waiting behind this door. It was almost like-
"Sidekick! Hurry up, Harumaki and I wanna get this done ASAP." Kaito shouted from inside the front room. He could practically feel Maki roll her eyes from where he was.
"Oh- sorry...!" Steeling his nerves, Shuichi stepped inside the home, letting a rush of cool air come over him.
As soon as he stepped inside, he saw a blur in his peripheral vision. Flipping his head around, he saw nothing except the door slowly creaking shut behind him. While that was... quite strange, he did have a 'job' he was meant to be doing here. So he pushed the possible supernatural sighting that went against all his personal beliefs out of mind and quickly caught up to Maki and Kaito.
"Is there anything you wanna look at or-" Kaito stammered, his fear clearly visible to anyone.
Shuichi wasn't aware of if Kaito knew about how scared he looked, but he really didn't have the heart to bring it up.
That was Maki's job.
"We just got inside, there's nothing to freak out over yet. Let's just get this over with, I have work to do." Maki frowned, pressing ahead through the house.
"Isn't there anything you need to say about this house in your video."
"Oh-! Yeah uh...! There's this rumor that anyone who goes to the top floor of this house dies and comes back as a... uh..!" Kaito shuddered, going pale in the face at the thought.
"A ghost...?" Shuichi attempted to finish the sentence for him.
"WHERE!?!" Kaito flipped around so fast he was sure he had gotten some kind of whiplash. He had to suppress a laugh at his horror.
“You’re an exorcist aren’t you? Man up.” Maki sighed, turning to Shuichi, and technically the camera by default. “Shuichi, I’m going upstairs to make sure there's nobody hiding up there before you two come up.”
“Alright, be careful…” He gave her a smile. Maki was a lot more confident than him, that was for sure.
Shuichi had his fair share of irrational fears. Which definitely led him to question why he decided to help his friend on his ghost hunting endeavors. But then again, with so few close friends he truly did want to please the ones he had. Not that he thought Kaito or Maki would be mad if he said he didn’t want to do this, he was just a people pleaser.
“H..hey Shuichi, lets get some footage down here while Harumaki makes sure the next floor is clear…!” Kaito interjected into his thoughts, suppressing a fearful stutter.
“Yeah, okay.” He walked over, careful to keep the camera in his hands steady.
It wasn't a cheap camera after all, and Shuichi had always been pretty particular about keeping his things in good shape. Not because of a lack of money, he probably had enough money from his parents' futile attempts to buy his affection saved in his account that he could get a new one. But he was also kinda sentimental about this camera. So he was gonna keep it around until it broke, which hopefully wouldn’t be any time soon.
He also did have a bit of a hidden petty side, mainly directed at his parents. It was a bit embarrassing but it was okay just on this one thing.
“So rumor has it that anyone who’s dared to go up to the third floor is killed.” Kaito mumbled, uncharacteristically quiet for a guy whose volume is typically cranked up to eleven. Luckily for Shuichi, his lav picked up what he was saying. “I could show that damn killer who’s boss around here. I mean c’mon I’m Kaito Momota…”
As Kaito trailed off, Shuichi took the time to look around the house. While he didn’t know much about architecture, he could tell this house had been beautiful in its prime. Where arches of wood used to stand tall as entrance ways to rooms, now planks rotted and splintered.
How could the wall have been destroyed like this? I don't understand how someone would destroy something this beautiful...
The first floor seemed to contain a front room, a small living space, that was sparsely furnished with an old couch and tube television, a bathroom, and an expansive kitchen. As he ducked through a torn out section of the wall, a loud crash rang from behind him.
"WHAT WAS THAT-!” Kaito shouted, scrambling over to Shuichi and taking hold of his arm tightly.
“Gah-! Kaito!?” He jerked his arm away, the sudden pressure having freaked him out just a little bit more than it should’ve.
And heavy, awkward silence fell over the room.
"Shit- my bad man I didn't mean to freak you out." Kaito released his arm and cleared his throat.
Shuichi tugged on his sleeve, readjusting it.
"No, it's my fault. I'm sorry for shouting, I'm gonna go see what that was, alright?"
Kaito nodded, motioning him to go
Peaking around the corner out of the kitchen, Kaito lingering not far behind, Shuichi saw a familiar blur of motion in his field of view. He stumbled backwards, taking hold of the exposed planks in the wall with his free hand as the source of the crash came into focus.
An intricate chandelier had come loose from the ceiling, and had fallen in a heap in the center of the front sitting room. It looked pretty expensive, twisted gold arms crusted with clear crystals.
Which wasn't exactly relevant to why it had fallen, but it did make him feel sad for whoever had spent the money to get it installed in this home.
Though I could’ve sworn it was tightly adhered to the roof when I passed under it earlier…
He shuddered at the thought that he could’ve been unlucky enough to have been under it when it fell if he had lagged behind Kaito.
“Is everything alright i..in there Shuichi?” Shaking off that momentary guilt, he turned the corner and nodded at Kaito.
“Yeah, it was just a fixture that fell out of the ceiling. Nothing supernatural, I promise.” He assured, smiling at him with confidence.
He was almost sure he heard Kaito let out a short sigh of relief
“Psh- duh, I was just testing to see if you’d lie to me! You passed, great job Shuichi! Gold star!" he grinned with mock confidence that rivaled any he’d seen before.
Shuichi gave him a smaller smile in return, and walked back over, readjusting the camera on his hand. He was definitely going to have to cut some of this in post-production. Kaito wasn't going to like being portrayed as a total scaredy-cat on his own personal account. Maybe he could make a cut content video?
“Upstairs is clear, let's go.” A voice spoke behind them, causing both Kaito and Shuichi to jump. Shuichi turned quickly on his heel to face the noise, free hand clasped over his chest nervously. Somehow, without either of them noticing, Maki had managed to make her way back downstairs. She stood unbothered behind them.
“Oh.. Maki it's you... are you ready to go Kaito?”
Kaito turned at the mention of Maki's name, seeming to lose his nervous edge and nodding.
“Who else would I be… Pull yourselves together.” She muttered. He had to assume she didn't fully understand how terrifying her silent appearance was…
Though to be fair, his heart was beating just a lot faster than he thought it would be.
“Yeah! It's just Harumaki, no need to freak out!” Kaito flashed him a confident grin and a thumbs up. Maki stared at Kaito, giving him a slightly judgy look before he continued ahead.
“Let's go up then! Try and keep up Sidekicks!”
Giving him a look of exasperation, Maki turned, following next to Kaito with Shuichi not far behind.
Absentmindedly adjusting the lens on his camera, he must have lost focus, because next he knew, Shuichi felt a tap on his shoulder as he idled on the steps of the stairs.
“You're being left behind.”
Did I really stop moving? I gotta stay focused...
"Ah-! S..sorry Ma- uh…?”
As he began to reply, he paused. The voice didn’t sound like Maki… It wasn't feminine and flat toned, and it definitely wasn't Kaito. It didn’t have that “motivational speaker” dialect he did. Whoever had tapped him sounded, for lack of a better word, dramatic. Not Kaito or Maki.
But if it's not Maki or Kaito...
Nervously, he turned around, trying to get a look at his mystery companion, where he saw…
Nothing.
“W..what the-?” he stammered, frantically looking everywhere around him.
This wasn't possible. He knew he felt something on his skin, the seam on his sleeve was still folded where the finger had pressed in on it. This was just like what happened when Kaito grabbed his arm. Maki turned around from the top of the stairs to face him.
“Who are you talk-” She paused, looking him up and down carefully. “Are you okay? You look paler than normal.”
Her words fell on deaf ears as he spiraled deeper into his thoughts. Shuichi could deal with little figures running past his vision. The chandelier had freaked him out a bit, but there's a logical explanation for a falling object in an aging home. But this was different. He hadn’t just felt this one, he had heard their voice. Panic welled up in his chest as his breathing grew more ragged and anxious.
“Shuichi.” Maki grabbed him by his hand, untangling it from his hair. Since when was his hand in his hair?
She must have walked down while he wasn’t paying attention, her touch made him yelp.
“What's wrong? That idiot is already upstairs, you’re being unusually slow.” She released him from her tight grip, with an uncharacteristic look of concern on her face.
Maki wasn’t exactly one to show much emotion in Shuichi’s experience. She hadn’t gone into intricate detail, but he knew she had a vexed past, and didn’t have all that much experience with people. So for her to look even this concerned at his state of panic? He must've looked pretty ragged.
“It's ah- It's nothing, I’m sorry…” Shuichi smiled, in a weak attempt to reassure her that he hadn’t almost gone into a panic of massive proportions.
She glared at him, as he averted his eyes, tugging a section of his bangs over his face.
“Fine. If nothings wrong you should stop acting so weird. You know how that guy gets when he sees you acting nervous.” She huffed, turning around and making her way back up the stairs, as he followed beside her.
"Wh–what took you two so long? Cmon!” Kaito called from across the second floor.
“I’ve already checked most of these rooms and there's nothing here. But uh! You should check too y'know? Ghosts are too scared to come out of hiding in front of the world's best exorcist!" He laughed arrogantly.
"Shuichi thought he saw something, it's not my fault you’re too scared of ghosts to comfort your ‘sidekick’ when he’s worried.” She sighed, lifting her hands to do air quotes around his nickname.
Maki was never a huge fan of those. Except, for some reason she always tolerated Harumaki from Kaito. The one time Shuichi had attempted to pry about this, she hadn’t spoken to him for the next 24 hours. He hadn't tried again after that, although it did help him realize how much he had come to rely on her as a friend.
Don’t get it wrong, he was close with Kaito as well. Kaito was the second person to approach him at school, and he was eternally grateful, but Maki kept him grounded in reality in a way Kaito couldn’t. That was quite useful when your main after school activity was filming ghost hunting videos. Much appreciated.
“Shuichi, I’ve already explored this whole floor so how about you get some uh. Whatever the background footage is called!” This time Kaito spoke directly to his camera. He grinned, giving him a thumbs up.
“Do you mean B roll?” He laughed nervously, readjusting his hand around the video camera.
“Yeah, the background stuff, we’re burning light so we should probably get outta here soon.”
“You’re only saying that because you have an irrational fear of-”
“Good luck sidekick!” Kaito put his hand on Maki’s shoulder as he blatantly ignored her comment. She looked up at him, shooting daggers with her glare, which he seemed to not notice.
Walking off towards the first door, Shuichi wouldn’t admit that he was actually a bit excited to investigate these rooms. He had picked up certain case files from his uncle’s private investigator agency, and despite… certain past mishaps, he truly did enjoy solving mysteries. Though recently he did tend to stick with what he was good at; runaways and missing pets, with the occasional infidelity case thrown in for a bit of excitement. Even if he had really wanted to, he knew that after the last time his uncle wouldn’t be letting him near a crime scene like that one any time soon.
As he glanced around the room his eyes were immediately drawn to the unusual presence of a pile of new clothing on the floor. Placing his camera carefully on the rotted mattress that sat atop an older, detailed bed frame. Upon further glance, the clothes all had rips or shoe prints on them. Maybe someone had dumped their old clothing here?
Putting that aside, nothing else in the room really stood out to him. Grabbing his camera, he wandered out of the room, and into the adjacent room.
“Hey, Shuichi.” Maki abruptly grabbed onto the back of his shirt, stopping him in his tracks.
“Wha-? Uh,” he quickly composed himself before speaking. “What is it Maki?”
Releasing his collar, she spoke in a hushed tone.
“There's nothing here, despite how freaked out that idiot is, we should probably put something in your video to spark interest.”
“You mean… clickbait?”
“Whatever,” She rolled her eyes. “How can you use the inherent creepiness in this house to your advantage?”
Mind drawing a blank, he put his hand up to his face in thought, chewing on his nail.
(It wasn’t the best habit to have, yeah, but he had latched onto seeing his mother do it in their minimal interaction during his childhood. Regretfully, he had picked it up, and nothing he seemed to try made him stop.)
“Well, I could knock something off the wall…? Maybe that would be scary?” He suggested awkwardly, moving balance back and forth between his feet.
“Have you seen a single horror movie in your life?” Maki balked, a disappointed look on her face.
“Ah- no..? They make me nervous…” He chuckled, trying to break the momentary silence enveloping them.
"Alright well, you're smart enough, you can think of something. I’ll bring him over in a few minutes."
Sighing, Maki walked away, returning to Kaito a few doors down.
Looking up at the ceiling, he fell into deep thought
What does she want from me? I don't think Kaito would exactly enjoy this, but it isn't my call...
He paced around the room, taking off his bag and grabbing his tripod. As he set his camera up, he muttered under his breath,
“Maybe I’ll just… shout or something. that’ll get Kaito at least..?”
“Have you ever played a prank before? That's suuuper boring,” Shuichi stiffened, as he felt a hand place itself on both of his shoulders.
Why are so many people touching my arms today? Ah-! Hold on, is that...?
It was the same voice. The voice from the hallway that had terrified him. That eerie dramatic voice that couldn't be Kaito or Maki. And yet it almost was like he had heard it before this too… He recognized the voice from somewhere.
As he turned his head he felt like everything was going too fast, but also… too slow. It seemed like time had stopped and he was the only one moving at all. Finally facing his mystery companion he saw-
“Boo.”
A boy. Smaller than Shuichi by a few inches at least, with a mess of purple hair in a… was that a straightjacket?
"You’re—!" he gasped
“I’m-!” The boy mimicked, widening his eyes in a manner he assumed must've mirrored his own.
Letting go of his arms, the boy backed up flashing him a mischievous smile, and… were his shoes not touching the ground?
“AAH-!” His shout was muffled by a cold hand clamping over his mouth.
“Shhh! Geez you’re jumpy arentcha... Can you quiet down pwetty pwease~?” He cooed, staring at him with his playful violet eyes.
Shuichi nodded vigorously, desperate to be freed from his (albeit loose) grip.
“Good, that's muuuch better isn’t it? We’re all friends here.” The hand fell from his face.
This couldn’t be happening, could it? It must be his brain playing tricks on him. There is no way there is an honest to god ghost here right now. This has to be Maki and Kaito playing a prank on me, right? Was this boy from the theater club?
Though yes it may seem cliché to think, it was all that was running through his head as he stared dumbfounded at the person standing in front of him.
“Y’know, I was thinking of scaring that other guy, but you're really spooked! Score one to me, nishishi~.” The boy teased, pacing around him in a circle slowly.
“Who- Who are you?” He stammered in response, weakly lifting his hand to point at him.
“You don't recognize me Shuichi? I'm so hurt!” Tears welled in the boy's eyes as he spoke, clasping his hand over his chest.
All the color drained from Shuichi’s skin. He reached his hand out to him, mouth open in shock.
“I'm sorry, where do I know you from…! Can you please remind me??" As he attempted to navigate the situation properly and not upset him further the boy in front of him... started laughing.
Laughing and wiping away his tears as if he hadn't just begun crying a minute ago.
“Huh-?”
“Nishishi~ yes, we were lovers in a past life of course! I was an evil overlord and you were my personal servant~!”
Shuichi stared ahead at him.
Is he messing with me? There's no way that's true...
"But who knows, I do lie a lot y'know? It's kinda my thing."
He grinned, placing his hands behind his head and tilting back on his heels.
"Your name is Shuichi, right? That's what the girl here with you called you. Is she your girlfriend or something~?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. It had been months of following Kaito and Maki around with a camera and they had never once seen a ghost. Never once had he dealt with supernatural visions or experiences, but now it was undeniable. His two friends were off doing who knows what waiting for him and he was standing here talking to a ghost. A real ghost, standing in front of him.
The room seemed to spin as a day's worth of stress and confusion hit him like a ton of bricks. Backing up until he hit the old bed, Shuichi slid to the floor, clenching his hands into fists. His nails dug into his palms as he attempted (and failed) to get ahold of himself and respond to the person in front of him.
"Woah, are you seriously crying? I... I was lying, I'm just messing with you. What did you wanna know? My name?"
Biting back a sob and ignoring his words, Shuichi released his grip on his own palms and put his face into his hands, unsure of what to say. It was pathetic. Crying infront of some poor guy he doesn't know.
He’s dead, he has enough problems already… he doesn't need to deal with me crying.
"Hey Shuichi! Is everything alright in there?"
Breaking him out of his own head, Kaito shouted from the other room.
But Kaito is terrified of ghosts... I need to keep him out until I can get this one out. But I don't know how! He doesn't seem malevolent but he's a GHOST. I don't deal with ghosts!
“Sidekick?”
Loud footsteps came down the hallway as Shuichi attempted to get to his feet and fix himself up before-
“What's going on-! Woah man, are you crying..?” Kaito burst through the door, Maki seemingly absent, and pointed at the boy in front of them. ”Who the hell is that guy?!”
The purple-eyed boy’s jaw dropped as he turned pointedly to Shuichi with a fearful look on his face.
“Crap- you have an exorcist with you? You didn’t tell me he’d be able to see me Shuichi!”
At the mention of an “exorcist”, Kaito’s eyes went wide.
“Is… is he-”
“A ghost?”
“A GHOST?!” Kaito quickly scrambled back by the rotted bed with Shuichi, sliding behind him almost as if to use him as a shield.
“Sh–Shuichi, can you see him?” He stammered, leaning against the bed for support. “You never told me you were an ex–exorcist Sidekick!”
It was hard to tell how Kaito was feeling. There seemed to be a mix between disbelief, fear, and excitement in his tone. He was an enigma to say the least. Before he could respond to Kaito, a figure entered the room, and a slam rang out throughout the small space.
“Ghk-!”
Unbeknownst to Shuichi and Kaito, Maki had come into the room, grabbing the ghost by the neck with her left hand and shoving him against the wall next to them. She held a golden hunting knife to his face with her right hand, pink tinted blood dripping down the boy’s jaw where it connected.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He tilted his head away from her knife, giving her a cocky grin as if he wasn’t bleeding and choking for air.
“What am I doing? Talking to my dear friend Shuichi of course, right Shuichi? Tell your girlfriend I’m a good guy!”
“I-I.. Huh?” He stuttered, pulling his hair over his eyes.
"Girlfriend!" Kaito shouted indignantly.
Where did Maki even get that knife from? Did she have that hidden in her pockets this whole time?
As he silently pondered, Kaito pushed him aside, tentatively walking over towards Maki,
“Hey Harumaki, slow down a bit, maybe he–”
“Shut up and go stand with Shuichi. I can take care of him.” Maki stared at him, speaking forcefully. Kaito gratefully obliged, taking refuge from the ghost and Maki behind Shuichi.
“W–woah there killer girl,” The ghost began, raising his hands up by his head, “How about we talk this out-”
“You're not the one asking the questions.” She put the knife up to his chin, releasing him from her grasp. “Who are you, what are you doing here?”
“Ngh- finee… My name is Kokichi, this is my evil lair, and you’re all intruding on my afterlife.” He groaned, lowering his hands and fidgeting with his sleeves.
“Your evil lair?” She raised an eyebrow at the statement, repeating his words.
“Yeah, my evil lair, I’m a world famous evil supreme leader, and I could have your head for this y’know? My armies still exist in the near shore.”
“If you’re a self admitted evil spirit, then I’ll exorcize you right now.” She lowered her knife down his throat, pushing inward slightly.
“E–exorcize?” Shuichi stammered, “Are… are you seriously an exorcist?”
Maki turned her head, glaring at Shuichi with murderous rage. He shuddered, averting his eyes and shrinking from her gaze.
“That moron has been saying it this whole time.” Kaito squawked in protest at her use of moron, but Maki ignored him, continuing. “I don’t blame you for not believing him, Shuichi. I shouldn’t have left you alone in this room.”
As she began to return her gaze to Kokichi, he pushed her arm away and slipped past her side.
“Thanks for the distraction Shuichi! You’re awfully useful!” He grinned, making a run for the door. Kaito, emboldened by the days worth of snide comments and insults, pushed Shuichi aside, and shouting,
“You’re not getting outta this supernatural!”
He ran after Kokichi, who failed to dodge his attack as Kaito grabbed him by his arm and slammed him down into the floor.
“A–aghhh.. Ouch ouch ouch- Dammit…” He groaned, face pressed against the ground by Kaito’s knee as Maki walked over with her blade.
“Send this evil spirit to the afterlife so we can get outta here Harumaki!”
This wasn't right. It wasn't fair, and it was gonna be Shuichi’s fault if they exorcized him in an attempt to “protect” him. Watching Maki bring her knife down to Kokichi's neck, he felt his heart lurch. In a moment of agreement with himself for the first time all day, Shuichi ran over, grabbing Maki by her arm and pulling the knife away.
“Hold on-!”
As he spoke, Maki wrestled her arm free, pointing the knife at Shuichi as he yelped and backed away.
“Maki-!”
“Do you wanna die?”
“H–huh!?! Maki please!” Shuichi pleaded, looking between Kaito and Maki, both of which were staring at him like he had two heads.
“Why are you doing this man? He was gonna attack you before I showed up?” Kaito frowned, pressing Kokichi harder on the floor as he whined in protest.
“Attacking?!”
“He wasn't attacking me, he's not an actual evil spirit, he said he was just lying about that before you got here.” Shuichi attempted not to get too emotional, but his attempt was in vain as he practically begged Maki.
“Please just stop… Do you really need to exorcize him?”
“You have no idea what you're doing Shuichi.” Maki growled, lowering her knife. “It doesn't matter if he's evil or not, he's a spirit. An exorcist's job is to eliminate spirits.
“Hold on Harumaki…” Kaito raised his knee slightly from Kokichi’s back. “Isn’t it protocol to check what they’re still doing here? Their unfinished business matters,"
Kokichi dug at the floorboards with his nails, pulling himself forward slightly in an attempt to escape before Maki stepped hard on his hand.
“Escape isn’t an option. Stay still, or I’ll throw this knife into your skull.”
“Aaagh-! Ow ow okay I’m sorry I’m sorry-!” He groaned, going limp against the floor.
“What would you know about protocol, you’ve never even exorcized a spirit.” Maki hissed, turning to look at Kaito. “You don’t have seniority on this matter, you’re only here because you forced your way in. And now look what's happened.”
She pointed at Shuichi,
“You dragged Shuichi into this, and he could've been attacked by an actual evil spirit, not just that one.”
Kokichi let out a meek whimper in protest, as Maki wiped at her eyes.
Was she crying? Maki never cries.
“You don’t even understand what this means, do you?”
“Maki-” Shuichi cautiously spoke up, moving to stand next to her. When she didn’t point her knife at him, he continued, “I understand- well… No. I don’t understand what you’re feeling right now, but he didn’t hurt me. I’m okay.” He smiled weakly, pointing down at the boy on the floor, still trapped under Kaito, who gave him a nod to continue talking.
“If there's a reason he’s still in this house after he died, wouldn’t it be the fair thing to do to find out why?”
“Life isn't fair.” Maki grimaced, looking him in the eyes as she spoke.
“I-I’m not alive… if that counts for anything!” Kokichi quipped, raising his unrestrained hand.
“He’s also an asshole, and I don’t want to deal with whatever his unfinished business is.” Maki frowned, as if his last comment has proven her point.
“You should at least give it a shot, Harumaki!” Kaito smiled, “Maybe if we finish his unfinished business we’ll all be less freaked out by ghosts!”
“All?” Shuichi gave him a questioning look.
“...fine.” Maki grumbled, putting her knife in a sheath from her pocket and securing it on her belt. Kaito grinned at her, as she waved him off of the boy on the floor.
“If you do anything to disrupt my life, or anyone else's lives, I will eliminate you.”
“Mmm... yeah yeah, “ get it. You’ll kill me with your big scary knife, whatever,”
Kokichi glared at her, standing up and brushing off his clothes. He twisted to look at the back of his jacket.
“You got your dirty footprints all over my jacket. Honestly, exorcists are such animals.” He glared at Kaito indignantly.
“Who cares about your jacket man, just tell us why you’re hanging around the near shore.” Kaito groaned, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I care Kaito. I’ll mail you my dry cleaning bill,” Rolling his eyes, Kokichi turned to Shuichi, strolling over to him and leaning up to his face.
“You’re pretty reliable Shuichi, how about you ditch these jerks and be my friend instead!”
Shuichi slid back, putting his hands up,
“I don’t know anything about you Kokichi…”
“That's the best part!” He grinned, placing his hands out at his sides. “You don’t know anything about me! That means I could tell you that I actually died in a mechanical accident and you would BELIEVE me!”
“Hey! Shuichi isn’t stupid, why would you be here if you died in a mechanical accident, dumbass!” Kaito complained. Kokichi rolled his eyes.
“Because I like the aesthetic?”
“How did you die, Kokichi?” Shuichi interrupted their conversation before it could descend into an argument. There was more important information to be found, and if he knew-
“Dunno.” He shrugged. “I was walking to rehearsal for the play at my school and I lost consciousness. Woke up here and I was dead.”
“Which school? Do you have any memories after passing out?” Maki asked coldly, joining in Shuichi’s interrogation.
Kokichi looked between the two of them and whined, placing his hands over his ears.
“Lalalala~ I’m not listening! Enough questions for today, you guys are giving me a headache!”
“You’re insufferable, that was two questions and this isn't your-”
“Hey, it's getting late anyways, how about we come back here tomorrow after school and finish our investigation then! I’m sure Shuichi will think of some good interrogation questions for us!” Kaito placed his hand on Maki’s head, causing her to get silent fast, before pushing it off, and grabbing a chunk of her hair to fidget with.
“Whatever… We shouldn’t force all the investigation on Shuichi. He isn’t going to be any help in a possible murder investigation.”
“Ah… yeah…”
While wounded by her words, Shuichi did agree slightly with Maki’s sentiment. He wanted to see the truth behind what happened. But why would it matter if they found Kokichi’s killer if he was already dead? What if he found the wrong person and they got convicted? It would just be a nuisance to everyone around him, and Kokichi wouldn’t get the benefit.
He also doesn't know Kokichi. So why was this case drawing him in so much? Why was part of his brain desperate to know what happened to him?
“Don’t underestimate yourself Shuichi!” Kaito frowned, maintaining eye contact with him. “You’re a great detective! Who cares if you may make mistakes, or whatever happened last time you solved a case. Isn’t the fact you solved it what matters?”
“What if-”
“No what if’s. We're gonna solve this case.” Kaito brought his hand down onto Shuichi’s shoulder. “And, I’m gonna teach you how to do all the cool exorcist stuff me and Harumaki do!”
“What-!” He choked on a gasp.
“I mean, you can see ghosts! You must be an exorcist too right?”
Maki stiffened at Kaito’s words, looking down at her shoes.
“Don’t be so reckless. There's… probably a reason he isn’t already doing what we do.”
“Nonsense!” He grinned. “Even if he isn’t the best at it, the impossible is possible! I’m gonna get you into shape Shuichi!”
“Get me into shape…?” He laughed nervously. “Like…you're gonna make me work out?”
“Me you and Harumaki are gonna come back here after school to train you as an exorcist, and solve Kokichi’s murder! How does that sound Ko-” Kaito paused, looking around the room. “Huh. He’s sneaky… He must've left the room…”
“I’m right here…” Kokichi spoke, putting his head on Kaito’s shoulder. Kaito practically jumped out of his skin.
“GOD!! You CAN’T do that shit... Freakin’ me the hell out.”
Kokichi grinned,
“Nishishi~ Awee… but it's super fun!”
Moving away from Kaito, Kokichi stood again facing Shuichi.
“So, you’re gonna be back tomorrow?”
“Ah, yeah.” He nodded. “Are you alright with that?”
“Wellll~ Y’see there's this curse I got placed on me that dooms anyone who lays eyes on me twice to fall madly in love with me! So if you’re alright with that, you can totally come back!”
“Bullshit! Shuichi would never fall in love with you!” Kaito shouted, walking towards the doorway, Maki not far behind.
“Rude… I was just lying anyway, but he totally might!” Kokichi pouted.
Shuichi walked towards the door as well. Waving behind him.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Kokichi, I promise.”
“Sweet! Bye Bye Shumai~”
“Wha-? Shumai?” Shuichi sputtered.
“Who the hell is Shumai?!” Kaito exclaimed, staring back at them, as Kokichi broke into maniacal giggles.
“Nishishi~ See ya!”
Shuichi walked out of the room, following behind Maki and Kaito while fumbling with his camera in an attempt to turn it off.
Was he recording that whole interaction? He’d have to check on his computer at home… Suddenly realizing what he had just agreed to do, one thought entered his mind;
What should he tell his uncle he’s doing tomorrow?
He absolutely couldn't know Shuichi was investigating another murder. Maybe he could ask if he knew of any missing teenager cases around town lately? Could those tie into Kokichi’s murder? He definitely hadn’t heard about it before today. Also– was he somehow an exorcist without his knowledge? He had a lot of pieces to put together in this puzzle.
Waving to Kaito and Maki as they left the house after reaffirming their plans for tomorrow, he began his walk home.
Tomorrow was important, his investigation and exorcist training were starting, and there was a lot to do to prepare.