The young detective knew that he was completely out of his depth. He had only overseen interrogations a couple of times and he had only truly attempted to interrogate someone once, and that did not end well at all.

He didn't even know anything about the case.. well, apart from the vague details that he had overheard in passing conversations or when Kyoko was complaining about how perplexing the leader of the gang was.. who he was now facing.

"I.. c-can't interrogate you.. t-this isn't even my case.." Shuichi stood awkwardly around the middle of the room, avoiding eye contact completely.

The suspect's smirk widened, "That's part of the fun! You interrogate me and I'll interrogate you!~ It's an even trade!"

Ah, so that's what the leader wanted out of this.

Shuichi slowly edged forward, his fingers finally wrapping around the top of the metal chair on the opposite side of the table from the suspected criminal. Even if this ended catastrophically and he got scoulded, suspended even.. this experience was a once in a life time opportunity, as if he was interviewing someone special.

He took a deep breath and sat down, the chair legs scraping as he sat, creating a sound similar to nails against a chalk board. The criminal flinched melodramatically, contorting his face to over dramatise his features. "Hey! You can't interrogate me if I'm deaf!"

Shuichi sighed and readied himself, not warranting a response to Kokichi's previous complaint. He rested his hands on the table, imitating how detectives normally acted in TV shows since he didn't know exactly what he wasdoing. He didn't have a plan, nor any experience so he was effectively being thrown into the deep end.

Therefore, he asked a very basic question. "W-What.. w-what's your name?"

The suspect tilted his head to the side with the same smile on his face, observing how the young detective was acting.

"Really? That's the first question you ask?~ You could have asked me anything in the entire world and you ask me that?" He pushed himself further towards Shuichi, another crooked smile gracing his lips. He chuckled lightly before answering, "You can call me your Ultimate Supreme Leader, the one, the only, Kokichi Ouma!~"

Shuichi shifted anxiously in his seat, more than slightly intimidated by the suspect's confidence. "R-Right.. is that really your name?"

Kokichi burst out in a single bout of laughs before finishing it off with a snicker. "What reason would I have to lie? Hm?~ Plus you probs have that in the records soooo.."

Shuichi gave him a partly apologetic smile, fidgeting with his hands. The last time he interrogated.. the last suspect.. what that resulted in still haunted him. "S-Supreme L-Leader.. is that gang r-related?"

The liar's eyes widened as the sound of those words, happy that the detective he was talking to wasn't completely ignorant, like the last one. It was clear to him that the male he was talking to didn't have much faith in his abilities, neither did he opt for the usual tactics for the interrogation.

"A-And.. how old a-are you?" Shuichi managed to say, before his nervousness took ahold of him again.

This question caught Kokichi off guard, not completely of course, yet still made him reconsider his stance on how clever and strategic Shuichi really was, "Hey! You're meant to be asking me questions about the gang, not personal stuff!~"

Shuichi shifted anxiously, "S-Sorry, I'm not used to t-this.."

A detective.. apologising to a criminal? This was most definitely strange.. but Kokichi couldn't let this get the better of him; if anything, now the game he was playing had become more interesting. "Soooooo, what's your name?~ I heard it earlier but I can't quite remember it!" He was lying, obviously.

Unlike Shuichi, Kokichi had formulated a seemless plan upon the other entering the room, even down to the smallest detail of intricay, including a contingency plan in case things went in an unexpected direction, but Kokichi doubted that. He needed to trap the detective in a false sense of security, and if that meant using his insecurities to manipulate him, he would gladly do it.

For some reason, that answer didn't seem right, maybe the rings of the sentence was too childish, maybe it sounded too sweet. Shuichi tried to remember back to earlier, when Kyoko had shouted at him to shut up.. she definitely said his name then.

No, he had to remember that the person sitting opposite him was dangerous, a gang leader and a possible murderer.. he needed to put his detective persona on and not let Kokichi get the better of him. "You already know my n-name.. besides, t-this isn't to do with the c-case. Didn't.. you s-say.. no personal information..?"

The leader raised an eyebrow at this statement, annoyed that the detective had just proved himself to be at least slightly intelligent, "Oh, you do have some brain cells then, don't you, Shuichi?~"

The navy haired boy flinched at the sound of his name being said trailing off the tongue of the criminal, as if intoxicating the name with a venomous quality. "Why did you ask me for my name if you knew it in the first place??"

"Ooo~ You didn't stutter this time, well done you! Nishishi~"

Now the true game was being set in motion, Kokichi was being cocky, arrogant yet truly confident, skills which would be needed to be a true gang leader.. taking insecurities and exposing them; a clear power move.

How should he play this? Fake confidence? No, that was a horrible idea, he would see straight through that. What about if he changed the subject? No, that idea was even worse..

Then, the idea hit him. If he pretended to be useless, incompetent, that might just give him an edge. "..S-Sorry, I told you I'm not good at this.. I know I s-stutter.."

If he wanted to see a weakness, he'd hand it to him and pretend that it was his naivety or inexperience. Partially it was, of course, but if Shuichi even had the chance at an upper hand, no matter how slight, he would grasp it.

Shuichi noticed the corners of the criminal's mouth upturn into some sort of crooked smile, it was barely noticeable but it was most certainly there.

He rested his head on the table, hoping that he would look more vulnerable this way, "I-I'm.. wasting your t-time.."

Kokichi couldn't help but smile more. God this detective was weak.. time to have a little fun. "Who was that girl detective, Kyoko?~ It looked like you two were having a little debate over little old me earlier!~ Ooo, so many people want to get their hands on me!"

Shuichi shifted anxiously, the criminal was clearly avoiding the topic of the gang.. but why would he bring up her right now..?

"We weren't."

"Oh ho ho, no need to get all defensive on me, I won't mess with her, I don't know where she's been."

He decided to remain quiet, unnerved by the sudden shift in the tone of the conversation. That only secured on fact in his mind; this boy was undoubtedly dangerous and had the complete capacity to hurt someone.. or do something worse.

"You seem shaken up! Don't worry, nishishi, that was only a lie! Hurt someone? No, I would never!~"

"W-What's your name..?" Shuichi asked again, feeling the anxiety hit him once again. The suspect looked bored and rolled his eyes at such a stupid question. "Kokichi Ouma, duh! You've already asked me that! Maaaaaan, you really are a terrible detective!"

"Sorry.. I'm sorry.. to even a-ask this.. but could you w-write it down?" He awkwardly grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and handed it to him, along with a pen. Kokichi snatched it, huffing loudly and scrubbing down his name, pronouncing every letter individually. "There, you see it now dumbass? God, how did you ever become a detective? Uhghhh!"

Shuichi sighed in a disheartened fashion, taking the piece of paper back from him, "I-I.. how old are y-you..?"

"I'm legal, if that's what your asking, nishishi~" He pulled closer to him, deciding to joke around with the incompetent detective, knowing that he wasn't going to catch him out, "What about you, you're pretty androgynous, that intentional?~"

The raven haired boy's face turned an awkward, blushing shade of red as he realised that he was unable to come up with any more words..

"Ooo!~ You get so flustered sooo easily, that's useful to know."

"Running a gang at that age is v-very impressive.. how many members does it h-have?" Shuichi spoke quickly, avoiding eye contact to stop the smaller of the both of them from suspecting anything.

"Over 10,000. Not many gangs have ever got that in just three months! And it's all down to me! I own this country!"

The detective froze, a wave of shock and relief flooding over him. He pushed his chair away from the desk and stood up, anxiously starting to walk over to the now confirmed gang leader. Kokichi turned to him with a smirk, "Wanted to get a closer look did we?"

But Shuichi didn't stop, instead he only walked further, "You'll be transferred to a-a prison cell now."

Kokichi burst out laughing, not believing what the taller male had just said. "Nishishi! God you don't even know how this is meant to work, well, lemme spell it out for ya. You need my signed confession pluuuuuss I also need to verbally confess, that means talk, I'm dumbing it down for you~"

Shuichi nodded, "You've given me both of those.. s-so I can arrest you.. since I d-do have basic understanding of the law."

The purple haired boy smirked in confusion, retracing through the events of what had happened. When he spaced out, did he say something by accident? He admitted that that was probably what he did.. but without the confession, the junior detective couldn't do anything to him.

The blue haired male almost gained more confidence, knowing that he was actually right this time and picked up the piece of paper from before, and showed it to the criminal. "You signed your name right there, you even spoke it o-out loud as you signed it.." Sure enough there it was, the confession document signed 'Kokichi Ouma' on the dotted line.

Kokichi's eyes widened at the sight. How did this inexperienced.. junior detective nobody get the better of him?! He attempted to grab at the paper to rip it up, but the handcuffs around his wrists stopped him, making that attempt completely void. Shuichi staggered backwards as he saw Kokichi lunge at him, suddenly seeing the change from the childish persona from before.. there was something there, maybe it was a survival instinct, but it was undeniably animalistic, like a predator lunging at its prey.

Shuichi fell to the ground with a loud bang, earning a loud cackle of laughter from the smaller male, "Oh my, you.. you actually fell down!"

His pulse was absolutely racing now, not enjoying how the purple haired male was loving every moment of this. At that exact moment, the door swung open again, creaking on its hinges and two people entered.

One was Kyoko. The other however, was a tall man in his fifties. He had jet black hair and dark eyes, but they were contrasted with the nicest and most genuine smile that Shuichi had ever seen him wear. The man was dressed in a professional black suit but his posture was relaxed and natural.

His attention quickly turned to Shuichi, who shot up from the floor as soon as he noticed that he was in the room.

"Shuichi, what are you doing in the interrogation room? You know that you do not have permission to be in here." The man lowly growled moving closer into the room and pointing towards the door, "Please exit now, and after the interrogation is completed, I need to discuss the department hierarchy with you again."

He tried to protest but was instantly shot down.

"But Sir!"

"No. This small case has turned into something more major than I first anticipated so I am stepping in to assure results. I cannot take idiotic risks on having someone inexperienced and juvenile carry out this interrogation. Out."