Chapter Text
“..he played another prank again, huh.”
Today, the sky was a beautiful blue, and the weather felt nice and breezy, like something good was about to happen. It was a refreshing break from the summer heat that was especially rampant in August. Even though it was a small thing, it motivated Shuichi a little, and he got dressed with more energy than usual. He thought it would be nice if everyone could eat in the courtyard together today, since it had been a while (due to the heat and the summer break.) Feeling refreshed, he adjusted his hair, grabbed his bag and set off to homeroom.
Yeah, today will be good, he thought to himself, stuffing his back into his locker. However, before he could even enter the classroom, he heard a commotion coming from the inside.
“Yeah, looks like it…”
“Ahh, seriously! You should-“
“I could help shut him up,”
“Y-you mustn’t! Besides, it’s-“
“Nyeh… even me…”
Shuichi could only make out so much, and looking through the glass pane, it seemed a small crowd formed around Kaede and Miu. Shuichi, worried and curious, hurriedly made his way to the door, opening it quickly. He preferred opening the door on the left, because less attention would be drawn as it was at the back. Also, the people sitting at the back were calm people like Ryoma and Korekiyo, so that was also reassuring.
As a result, the commotion was always at the front, in front of the blackboard and teachers stand. After exchanging casual good mornings with the two, he made his way towards the commotion, wondering what it was today.
90% of the time, Kokichi was in the centre of it, so Shuichi instinctively scanned for his presence.
…Huh, that was strange. He didn’t appear to be a part of it at all, and had likely not arrived to class yet. Relief washed over Shuichi; he was worried he would have to deal with Kokichi’s antics first thing in the morning again, which, although a little (a little) fun at times, was incredibly draining. Another problem was the issue of his pranks— but he had heard of and experienced none so far. Then again, it had only been a few days since school had opened again, so it would inevitably come.
Well, perhaps Shuichi had been too relaxed, because he had jinxed himself hard. Before he could greet the others, Miu yelled out, “GAAAAHHHHHH!! Let’s chop off Ouma’s balls or something!!!!! I can’t sit still anymore!!”
Oh. Ok.
Shuichi sighed. So Ouma-kun did have something to do with it, after all. So much for a peaceful morning.
“I-Iruma-san! I agree he deserves punishment, but don’t yell out such crude things!” Tenko shouted in return, hands firmly gripping Himiko, as if to protect her from Miu’s inappropriate remarks. Yet Himiko looked unfazed, even agreeing.
“Nyeh… I’m with Iruma on this… he deserves punishment. I’ll use my magic, so it’s no big deal…”
“H-Himiko-san!!”
“G-guys, really… let’s calm down a little…” Kaede spoke up, smiling awkwardly, before spotting Shuichi. “Oh, Saihara-kun! Good morning. Ah, sorry you had to walk into something so weird.” She gave him another apologetic smile.
Shuichi smiled politely in return, and said, “Ah, it’s okay… I’m used to it at this point, but, what happened? Did Ouma-kun do something?”
“Yeah… looks like I got pranked. Same goes for Himiko-san and Maki-chan. As for Iruma-san, she… Well, she got riled up by him like usual, so there’s no need to worry about that.”
“Hah?! Idiot, there’s lots to worry about!”
“..he played another prank again, huh.”
Shuichi suddenly felt a little bit guilty, like he had jinxed this. Well, he would just help out and lecture Kokichi later, as it usually went. “So, um, what were these pranks…?”
“He rearranged my piano sheets in all the wrong sections.”
“He put a fake spider in my hat.. Tenko screamed, and I was so startled that I fell on my butt.”
“…” Maki was hesitant, but began, “he sent me an obviously fake love letter.”
“Nyeh… how come you didn’t show it to us, though?”
Maki looked a little flustered before answering, “B-because I threw it away.” The way she turned and averted her eyes, combined with the pink tint growing on her cheeks, made it easy for Shuichi to deduce what kind of fake love letter it had been. It was probably written to sound like Kaito, and then signed off with, “It’s a lie!,” huh… matter of fact, he had heard Ouma-kun printing out something the other day.
He probably typed it out and printed it so that Harukawa-san wouldn’t notice straight away from the handwriting. Seriously, the effort he went to for pranks… Harukawa-san throwing it away was probably a lie too. She definitely ripped it into pieces.
Keebo joined in too, explaining Miu’s case. “And last night, he watched Iruma-san work on me, feigning the idea that he was impressed before hurling multiple insults at her. Well, of course, Iruma-san had her usual, um… interesting response.” Shuichi didn’t need to ask to know what he meant, as it was quite the everyday occurrence…
“E-even though it’s pretty refreshing—”
Maki glared. “Don’t.”
“I need to get my revenge! It’s not fair that only I get hot and bothered!” Miu stares longingly at the wall, gripping her palms together, “Hey, let’s embarrass Ouma, or somethin’! Get him all red! It’s not fair that he’s never the one getting flustered!”
“Fluster Ouma-kun…? You want us to fluster Ouma-kun?” Shuichi looked at her, unable to tell if she was serious. It seemed pretty ridiculous. “I-I’m serious! Let’s do it! You know, I have just the right tool-”
“No. No, definitely not, don’t finish that sentence.”
Kaede had an inquisitive look on her face, her finger on her lips, “Fluster Ouma-kun, huh… it’d be pretty cute, but I don’t want to do anything cruel.”
Maki sighed, “Ouma is already cruel, it’s fine. Plus, whatever embarrasses him or flusters can be used as leverage against him. Once he has a taste of his own medicine, maybe he’ll stop doing embarrassing pranks.” Yeah, Harukawa-san was definitely plotting something.
Kaede perked up, a knowing look dawning on her face, "Embarrassing? Maki-chan, don’t tell me on that letter was—”
“B-be quiet. It was nothing.”
“Hehe… okay, okay.” She smiled mischievously, before turning to Kirumi, “Kirumi-san, what do you think? Let Iruma-san hear your voice of reason— eh? Kirumi-san?”
Shuichi hadn’t even noticed Kirumi, who was at the side, near the wall. She looked a bit unfocused, and had bags under her eyes. “Ahem, my apologies. I had zoned out a bit. It turned out, last night, all the laundry had been mixed up, so I spent quite a while fixing it.”
…
Yeah, no doubt that was the work of Ouma-kun again.
“See?!? It’s only been the third day since the break finished, and the bastard’s terrorizing everyone! I wanna make him squirm!”
“Okay, okay fine. I’ll join you, Iruma-san, but only to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t take it too far!”
“That’s a relief. Please keep an eye on her, Akamatsu-san.” Keebo sighed.
“I never imagined I’d say this, but I’ll gladly help you this once. I need to get back at him.” Maki had said the last part a bit more quietly.
It was a bit relieving that Kaito hadn’t arrived yet, as he would without a doubt be curious about this love letter. He’d probably realize Harukawa-san was embarrassed and tease her as to why, which would probably be responded with a slap to the face. Yeah, I can imagine it playing out all too well…
Miu then explained this plan to the others who came in before Kokichi.
“Haha, I guess that kind of thing would be interesting,” Rantaro was as casual as ever.
“Huh? Why would you waste your time doing something silly like that?” Kaito was rather, and reasonably, confused, “Hey, matter of fact, how come Maki Roll is so into — ooughhf!!!”
Until, finally, Kokichi himself arrived at class, Gonta following closely behind.
“Good morning~ oh, what are the girls doing here huddled together? Plus Saihara-chan.” He had entered the door at the front, where the commotion was.
“N-none of your business! Right, guys!?”
Iruma-san couldn’t be any more obvious…
It didn’t take Kokichi long to clock something was happening, his smile turning wider, “Ohh~? What’s Iruma-chan scheming with the others! Hey! Tell me! Ah, I see, it’s about my birthday, isn’t it? E-everyone… you remembered…!! WAAAAaaaaaAAAAhhhhh…!!!!!!”
Crocodile tears… so early in the morning… Shuichi clutched his head.
Besides, no one knew Ouma-kun’s birthday, because he always lied about it.
“A-actually, Ouma-kun! My friend from another school likes you!” Kaede sprung into action so quickly that everyone was shocked, “H-her name is Kaori Togawa!!!! Um… she wanted to give me this letter to give you… at lunch.”
Silence.
Kaede wasn’t the best liar, because of her earnest personality, and she could lie when it… came down to it, but would Kokichi believe such a lie…? He always seemed to see through everyone so easily.
Maki stepped up.
“It’s really true. Take responsibility for once. It was supposed to be a secret, but whatever…”
Five seconds passed, before Kokichi burst into laughter. Figures.
“Ahahahaha! Oh man, seriously?! I can’t even entertain such an obvious lie!” He wiped tears from his eyes, “I don’t have to see it to know such a letter would definitely be forged! Could this be my punishment?! Everyone is retaliating against me?!”
“I-it’s not a lie!”
“Sure, if it’s not a lie, bring the real… ‘Kaori Togawa’ to me at lunch! Whew, what a laugh!” He then turned to the door, “Well, I only came to drop my bag off and check in on the commotion, so I’ll be going off to get a drink~ Have fun~ maybe you should learn how to lie while I’m gone, Akamatsu-chan!”
He left.
What a bust.
Shuichi turned to Kaede, as if, what to do now? Give up? But she looked strangely fired up… probably because Kokichi relentlessly humiliated her just now.
“Tsumugi-san, you can cosplay, can’t you?!” Huh??? Huh????? So she really was going there!!!
“H-huh?? Well… I don’t cosplay real people though…”
“It’s fine! That person was made up! I just picked the names of some anime characters who play the piano!” How very Akamatsu-san like… “Why don’t you cosplay a character and confess to Ouma-kun!”
“Ohhh, I like how you’re thinkin’, Akamatsu! You and your flat chest aren’t to be taken lightly, huh!”
“H-huh?! But what if he were to recognize the character…”
“Huh? Ouma-kun doesn’t seem to be an otaku, though… in fact, he teases you for it, Tsumugi-san. Why don’t you cosplay a highschooler from those ero mangas you read, then?”
“Hah! The fucker might read those, too!”
“Sh-she’s right! H-he IS a degenerate male…”
“Um… I could try cosplaying a side character from a BL… it’s from a pretty niche Pixiv doujinshi, so I think it should be fine.”
“Then that settles it!”
Seriously, what was this situation…?
“But we should try other things too. Throughout the day, as a backup.”
“Seriously Maki roll, you’re really into it this time!” Kaito laughed.
“Do you want to die?”
“Wh-why?!???”
And so, the day began.
They tried multiple things.
A few of the girls tried playing the I Love You game with him, saying it was practice for when he would date the girl who likes him. It was a total failure. Either Kokichi or one of the girls would end up laughing, especially Kaede… at least she was having a good time, Shuichi supposed.
Miu confidently declared a game of pocky with him which was certainly a bad idea from the get go, because there was really no doubt she would break first. Anyway, Kokichi degraded her harshly, stole the pocky, and essentially won as Miu was already …hot and…. bothered, from his insults. Seriously, what a sight.
They had Rantaro stare at him intensely in class, to startle or scare him or at least freak him out a little. He ended up just looking like a stern brother, so that didn’t work, either.
They were pretty desperate to get some sort of genuine reaction out of Kokichi at this point, even asking Shuichi to do something, since Kokichi always bothered him, but he refused profusely.
Lunch began, and the letter, then Tsumugi, or, Kaori, was ready. The letter was filled top to bottom with romantic sayings and compliments, that even Shuichi began to feel flustered and embarrassed whilst proofreading it.
Everyone was working hard to poke Kokichi’s poker face. Shuichi never imagined his time at Hope’s Peak would be like a slice of life manga or anthology…
Finally, the confession in the courtyard came. They hid, using Miu’s binoculars. Upon reading the letter, he had no reaction, and when “Kaori” came to confess, he watched her with a blank face as she professed her love, in an intense but natural way. Tsumugi really had great acting skills, now that Shuichi thought about it. But Kokichi saw through it too! In fact, it seemed he knew from the beginning…
“Ahahaha! I knew it was you from the start, Shirogane-chan, but you were so totally embarrassing yourself that I had to let you finish! Cosplaying a character, seriously? Well, at least this isn’t boring!”
“A-ah! Wait! Ouma-kun… you’re horri- ah, wait..? How did you know this cosp-”
He snapped a photo of the bewildered Tsumugi, and ran off.
Maki, Kaede, Miu and Shuichi reconvened in the classroom, dejected (well, Shuichi not really.)
“This was a waste of time… it’s embarrassing for me to have even been so pumped up.” Shuichi actually thought it was nice that Maki was able to act like this now. Like… a highschooler. A teenager. Someone her age. Maki’s stare turned deadly and ice cold. “Well, whatever, I’ll just see him later… personally… myself.” HARUKAWA-SAN, NO!!! As Shuichi calmed her down, Miu let out an unsatisfied groan. “Nothin worked at all!!! What a waste!!!”
Kaede, finding the positive, smiled and said, “But we all had fun, right? It was kind of exhilarati—”
“No!! I’m definitely not satisfied!!! Lamehara, you’re up!”
Lamehara… oh right, me.
“Ah, u-um, me…?!” Unintentionally, Shuichi sounded more startled than he wanted to.
“Yeah, that’s right! He’s always tellin’ you he loves you and stuff!
“But… he does that with most guys. It’s a common way of teasing the same sex.”
“Yeah, but he pesters you the most because you’re so submissive and easy to stir! Like that pathetic yelp when I called you just now!”
Shuichi blushed. He was hoping that embarrassing noise would go unmentioned.
“You never seriously scold him! Come on, look him in the eye and tell him you love him! He would be totally off guard if it’s from you!!” N-no way!!!
“I… don’t like how you’re saying it, but I guess you have a point,” Akamatsu-san too!!?? “It would be totally unexpected for Saihara-kun to retaliate! He might be a little shocked!”
Even Maki was looking at him with expectation now. Dammnit, what to do…?!
This whole situation is… I kind of want to get it over with. If I did this, whether it works or not, surely this would be over with.
I… am a little curious to what Ouma-kun would look like a little red. Just a little. But even so, he doesn’t even like me like that. I-I think… maybe? He does tease me the most with flirts and such, but like Iruma-san said, I’m easy to provoke with that stuff… but it’d be interesting to know if I am capable of flustering Ouma-kun… ah, what am I saying?! There’s no reason to be curious about that! But maybe I can..? Ah! No! If anything, he means he’d date me last, because Ouma-kun is a liar…
“There’s truth in my lies, you know!”
…it’s so confusing. The truth and the lies.
“Um, so what do you say, Saihara-kun? Don’t force yourself.”
…
“…Yeah...”
“HAHA! Yes! Just—“
“Yeah, I’ll have to decline.”
“W-WHAT…?”
There was a small smile on his face.
“Sorry… I just don’t think I can do it. Ouma-kun always sees through my lies in a heartbeat, so… plus, after watching Shirogane-san, I’m… kind of scared.”
“I see… Well, it’s fine! As long as we continue to be friends with Ouma-kun, we’ll see all sides of him one day!”
“Yeah.”
“Hnnnghhhh…. Okay….”
“Sigh… so I really did waste my time. I’m going to go eat something.” Maki left the room swiftly, muttering something under her breath. Shuichi vaguely heard the sound of her bumping into someone, but then Kaede mentioned something that actually was strange.
“Um… Iruma-san. You hate admitting defeat… and to Ouma-kun no less. Yet, you seem to be pretty calm right now…?”
That’s right. Her behavior had done a total 360. She had a serious expression on her face. Even though he probably shouldn’t have, Shuichi felt a little guilty, because Kokichi did torment Miu, “U-um, Iruma-san… I’m so-”
“Huh? I was just thinking.”
“…thinking?”
“Yeah.”
Her face suddenly turned pink and sweaty, and she clutched her hands together. “Y-yeah… when Bakamatsu said ‘all sides of Ouma’… somethin’ in me totally awoke and invention ideas are flowin—”
“Miu. No. Stop. Stop now.”
All the concerns I had immediately disappeared. At least using her given name was enough for Akamatsu-san to silence her.
It was now the end of the day, and everyone was packing up to leave. Shuichi was positioned next to Maki in this particular class, and he noticed she looked unusually… pleased. As they packed their things, he took the opportunity to ask her about it. Her eyes darted to the side, and she played with her hair. Okay, Kaito definitely has something to do with this.
“Well… I bumped into Kaito after I left the classroom at lunch. Apparently he had been looking for me. He looked pretty serious. He noticed how bothered I was this morning and went around asking our classmates about it…. How embarrassing.” She barely looked displeased, though… “Anyway, Hoshi disclosed that some sort of prank had occurred. He said he immediately rushed over to find me. He looked pretty serious, so I was actually taken aback… I started opening up a little, saying Ouma sent me a fake love letter. He said something about it being uncool to toy with a girl's feelings like that, and that he would lecture Ouma later. He remarked I didn’t seem the type to be so shaken up by it… so he got concerned and asked what was on the letter, if it was something cruel or blackmail about… well, my talent. I couldn’t avoid it and ended up confessing it was a love letter designed to be from him.”
“I’m assuming he took it well?”
“Well, kinda. It was unbearably quiet for a second. Then he started laughing and said it was pretty embarrassing. Seriously, the nerve.” Yeah, Kaito was standing on thin ice there. “He then said… he would never confess in such a cowardly way. That when the time comes, he’d… do it head on.” Maki turned red, and Shuichi froze in shock! “Kaito said that?? Really?? W-woah…” W-way to go, Kaito!
“Y-yeah… then he quickly changed the subject and said he’d buy me lunch. What… an idiot.” Her voice lacked the usual bite it had when she said that. “So Ouma’s prank ended up… not being so bad after all.”
“Ah… does that mean you’ve forgiven him?”
“No, I still want to kill him.”
“A-ah, yeah… okay. I thought so…” Well, she was probably joking, so…
“Saihara-chan! Accompany me to the dorms!”
Huh?
As if on cue, Kokichi appeared, smiling his usual toothy grin, hands on the back of his head.
“Oh, so you have the nerve to show yourself to me?” Maki’s expression was the complete opposite, her usual, terrifying glare that you could only get used to by spending a large amount of time with her. Or if you were like Kaito.
“Nishishi… Harukawa-chan is scary~ but! I need to chat with Saihara-chan!”
“What, so you can prank him next?”
“Ahahaha~ maybe~?”
“Um, Harukawa-san… it’s okay. I’ll… hear him out.” Shuichi said that, but he was definitely a little nervous. A personal chat with Kokichi… after the chaotic events of today… Maybe it really was a revenge prank. “Um, see you later?”
“Great! Let’s go, Saihara-chan!” He put his arm around Shuichi’s, and dragged him away.
“Um… do you think Saihara-kun’s gonna get in trouble with Ouma-kun?” Kaede had witnessed the event, initially wanting to invite Shuichi to hangout with Miu, Rantaro, and herself.
“Huh? Who cares?”
“I-Iruma-san! Take a little responsibility! What if he heard our earlier conversation, and went to confront Saihara-kun!”
“Can we go eat some cake—”
“Amami-kun, sorry! We’ll be right back!” Kaede grabbed Miu’s hand despite her resistance, following closely behind the two.
“Haaah~ well, today was totally weird, wasn’t it, Saihara-chan? I’m wiped~”
“Ah, um, yeah…”
“Nishishi, it definitely wasn’t boring though. You and the others were trying totally hard to get a weird reaction out of me, huh? Sorry I couldn’t comply!”
You’re not sorry at all…
“Yeah… sorry. I ended up getting swept along…”
“Yeah! It would’ve been even more interesting if Saihara-chan had gone through with that fake confession!”
…
“I-I… see. So you were eavesdropping after all. W-Well, I wouldn’t put it past you.” Damnit, even though I had rejected the proposal, this is still super embarrassing!
“Yeah… I just couldn’t go that far.”
“Mmmm! I heard it already! But I want to know the full reason. Hey, why else did you reject the fake confession?”
Ah. Of course he would have realized… Shuichi wasn’t entirely truthful with his reasoning. Well, there was no point in not saying it.
“Because… even if I was capable of drawing such a reaction out of Ouma-kun, doing it in a way like that, a prank, wouldn’t be satisfying at all.”
“Hmm?”
The truth and lies…
“You’re definitely a proud person, Ouma-kun. That much I can tell. Which is why I’d rather see your more vulnerable sides naturally and gradually. You’re still my classmate, so… I’d like to get to know you. There’s no way I can force something like that, right? I can’t deny I want to know what’s true and what’s not true about you. Ah, but not that I think the fake confession would have worked… you’d definitely see through it or I’d get rejected, haha… like you like to say, Ouma-kun, you’re definitely not a boring person.”
They stopped walking.
Shuichi had gazed off into space, the words coming out naturally. Once he returned to his senses, he realized Kokichi had turned away. He seemed to have his hands over his mouth… oh no. He was definitely about to be laughed at. Or worse, pranked! Like the time Kokichi turned around and suddenly turned back around, hitting him with a water balloon!
“U-um, I-I got a little carried away, but please don’t splash me this time!”
“Ahahaha! Saihara-chan, well said! There’s no way some mushy words from you could do so much as *rattle* me! I’m a supreme leader, you know?”
“A-ah… yeah… the confession was a bad idea.”
There’s no way some mushy words from you could do so much as *rattle* me…?
Shuichi suddenly felt a little disappointed, though he had expected it.
…
His expectation was very wrong.
Behind him was a very… very, very red classmate.
“How could he say something like that so casually…?!”
“It didn’t seem like a lie at all!”
“It’s even more embarrassing than a confession!”
“I don’t think anyone’s said that to me before.”
“Ghk… he caught me completely off guard. I never knew I could actually blush so hard… I feel the heat radiating off my face… I’ve gotta calm down, before he noti—”
It was then Kokichi noticed Kaede and Miu in front of him. Not too far at all. Close enough to notice his blush. Which Kaede must’ve done, her mouth was wide open. He was so lucky Miu wasn’t paying attention, but… this meant…
“Iruma-san!! MIU!! L-look!!! He's flustered!!!”
That definitely caught the attention of both Miu and Shuichi.
Kokichi immediately turned away, the blush fading now, but enough for Shuichi to notice a slight pink. No… no way…??? Could this mean…?
“HUH?? Where! Hey, I don’t see a thing! Are you messin 'with me?!”
“Y-you missed it… um…” Kaede realized what she had blurted out, and immediately tried to remedy it, “yeah, sorry! I imagined it! I-I’m pretty tired! Let’s go back to Amami-kun now!”
“Geez! Talk about another letdown! Whatever, let’s get cake! It’s on you for deceiving me!”
Deceiving…
Well, at least Kaede had tried to preserve Kokichi’s dignity a little. But to Shuichi, the damage had been done. He definitely didn’t imagine it. He was pink.
“So that’s why Iruma-chan and Akamatsu-chan were there? You were… lying to me, Saihara-chan? Ahahaha, I can’t believe I was fooled by you!”
It looked like he was about to cover it up, but Shuichi really meant what he said, and didn’t mean to say it to toy with him at all!
“Ou-Ouma-kun! That’s definitely wrong! I meant what I-”
“Well, I’m just lying! I’m not hurt at all, and it’s not like I have special feelings for Saihara-chan. O-or… maybe I do…? Saihara-chan, you’re cruel!! WaAAAAAAaaaaAaauuuuughhhHhhh…!!!!!!” With an exaggerated cry, tears exploded from Kokichi, but Shuichi felt they might have been genuine… “Well, I’m bored now. Congrats on taking me aback? Or did you? Ahahaha, bye~!” He skipped off to the dorms before Shuichi could do anything.
“No… it wasn’t a scheme… it wasn’t a lie…”
But it was much too late to say that.
A horrible misunderstanding had occurred, and Shuichi was worried he had made Kokichi an even more guarded person, when he wanted Kokichi to rely on everyone more.
Ah, what a mess… there’s no way Kokichi would address it. What does he do…? Does he give him space, or it will this just resolve itself..? Actually, did Shuichi just imagine the entire thing????
He felt terribly guilty, a heavy feeling residing in his chest…
But also a little something else.
He shouldn’t have been, but… he felt a little happy.
So Kokichi had really blushed because of his words, even when he didn’t mean anything explicitly romantic by them…
He felt satisfied and shy with that. Like he received chocolates on Valentine’s Day that weren’t gratitude chocolates.
But then… there was no way Kokichi liked him, was there..?
That’s right… he might have just been embarrassed in a… friendly way.
Wait, which way does Ouma-kun even swing?
Meanwhile, somebody screamed into their pillow.