✧ Chapter 18 ✧
[ With the Hole In My Own Heart ]
✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

The blue haired boy sighed, shouldering his backpack and heading to the library. Once again, Kokichi had asked him to meet there.

"I found something super important Saihara-chan! Meet me at our usual timing, same place!" the shorter boy had whispered rather breathlessly before dashing off for Chemistry.

Whatever it was, Shuichi hoped it was something useful for the whole mystery of Hope's Peak Academy. He had seen Kokichi wander around the place, mumbling about names and something about a random bunch of numbers..

The blue haired boy pushed the glass doors open once more and seeing Mahiru, Hiyoko and Mikan. It seemed like the three girls were arguing, or rather, Mahiru was watching as Hiyoko argued with Mikan.

Shuichi looked at his student handbook, checking the time and realising that he was a little earlier than usual. He didn't want to get into any petty girl fights so he stayed clear from the three of them.

Might as well meet Ouma and get it over and done with.

As Shuichi climbed the steps to the second floor, he realised how much time had actually passed. It was almost the end of their third year at Hope's Peak.

It's been almost two years ever since Kaito had been taken away.

Where had he gone.?

Why wasn't he returning?

But then again, both Nagito and Hajime hadn't returned even after three years had passed.. right? Ugh, the numbers were so confusing, it was giving Shuichi a headache.

Things have changed ever since he hung around with Kokichi.. to be honest. He found himself spending less and less time moping about Kaito. He was grateful for the purple haired prankster's many distractions.

Sure, he missed Kaito a lot.. there were times when he lay asleep at night, thinking about him. When he couldn't get up from bed without the help of Kaito's morning encouragements. When he just wanted to sleep forever and somehow maybe see his best friend again.

It's been two years. Maybe it was finally time to move on.

He was never going to forget about Kaito, but he was going to cherish whatever memories he had made with him in the school.

Shuichi walked over to the empty desk where he and Kokichi always sat together and took his usual seat. The chair opposite him was empty, since he was half an hour early.

One thing he noticed about Kokichi was that he always arrived just in time. Never late, never early. Maybe it was just a habit.

Shuichi pulled at his school tie, feeling uncomfortable despite the air conditioning. Why was he being so nervous? It was a meeting as per usual. So there was no reason to be so tense.

"Oh hey, Shuichi.."

He blinked, looking up to see a familiar shade of green hair. Rantaro stood beside the chair, holding it. "Mind if I sit?" he asked, giving him his usual gorgeous smile.

"Oh no no, I don't mind." Shuichi replied, feeling his face heat up as Rantaro sat on the chair.

"Thanks.." he laughed a little humbly, placing his hand on the table, "It's a coincidence that I always see you here, isn't it? It seems that we always just happen to run into each other."

"Yeah," Shuichi chuckled as well, hearing himself sound as awkward as usual. Damnit.

Why was he always such a fool whenever Amami was around? Maybe it was his dazzling smile and his politeness..

"Who are you waiting for?" Rantaro asked, tilting his head slightly as he twirled a pencil around with the fingers.

"Ouma.. we needed to meet each other again. That's all."

As soon as Shuichi mentioned Kokichi's name, Rantaro smiled even wider, looking away. "Oh, of course. Heh, I always see you two together, it's actually cute."

"W-What? No, it's nothing like that," Shuichi felt a little shocked, "I know the rules well enough and I assure you, there's nothing between us at all."

Rantaro just smiled at his words, still looking down at the table. "Whatever it is, I support you two. Alright?" he played around with the pencil, "I promise I can keep a secret."

Shuichi watched as he tapped the pencil against the table. He didn't know why but he gradually relaxed at Rantaro's calming, genuine words.

"Thanks Amami, but I assure you, Ouma and I are just friends."

"- A shame, really."

Shuichi flinched when he heard a voice speak up from behind him.

"Oh hey, Ouma." Rantaro gave Kokichi a polite smile and waved. Shuichi turned to see a frown on the purple haired boy's face. Whatever it was, he was clearly pissed off. Something seemed wrong with Kokichi today. He didn't seem to want to look at Shuichi.

"Hey avocado," the purple haired boy said quietly before clearing his throat, "If you don't mind," he smiled, "That's my seat."

"Kokichi.. don't be so rude with Rantaro, he's just talking-." Shuichi started to say before the green haired boy chuckled, "It's perfectly fine, Saihara. I promise. We can always talk more afterwards."

He stood up, holding the chair out for Kokichi. The shorter boy gave him a little huff and then threw his things down onto the polished wooden table. "Thanks avocado. Now if you'd excuse us, Saihara-chan and I have things to talk about."

Rantaro gave Kokichi a little nod. "Alright then, I'll leave you two to it. I have to complete my History homework after all." he raised a hand and walked off, holding his books to his chest.

Shuichi watched as he walked away. He had a rather model-like figure. He was the Ultimate Adventurer, and of course he would be super fit. Not as obvious as Nekomaru or Sakura but he was obviously agile and strong.

Shuichi finally turned his attention to Kokichi, who was silently
- and rather impatiently- spreading papers apart and still throwing things out from his bag. He watched as the latter threw pieces of paper, a box of colour pencils and a keychain with a little Panta bottle sculpture. Weird. But strangely charming.

"Uh.." Shuichi hesitated before finally asking, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nice of you to finally notice me." Kokichi replied in a rather haughty tone, keeping his head down. "Wanna continue chatting with Amami and leave me?"

"Wha- Ouma. I came here because you asked me to-."

"Let's just talk about this new clue I found, alright?" he interrupted Shuichi, looking right at him. Shuichi froze.

That's when he leapt forward and grabbed Ouma's wrist, stopping him from moving. "OW! Saihara-chan!" the other boy yelped, nearly jumping out of his chair, "Why did you do that for?" he turned his head away.

"Look at me."

"Wh-what?!"

"I said look at me!" Shuichi demanded, as Kokichi squeezed his eyes shut. He had never seen the boy look so shocked and actually terrified. He wasn't sure if he was pretending. However, Shuichi could tell that the fear was genuine.

Shuichi felt his grip loosen as soon as Kokichi turned to face him again.

"Why didn't you tell me that they were still hitting you.?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.

Kokichi's left eye was squeezed shut and his cheek had a cut over one of the massive bruises. It was a wonder how he could still see. "Because that's not fun! Why should we talk about something as boring as that?"

"You're so stubborn." Shuichi scolded him, "We have to get you to the nurse's office."

"Nah, there's nothing you can do. I'll just use Keeboy's bandaids later and patch myself up. It's going to be alright, Saihara-chan. Now let go of my hand."

Shuichi hesitated before dropping Ouma's wrist. The boy other took a deep breath before reaching out and spreading more papers around. He gave Shuichi a big smile.

"Anyway," Kokichi smiled wider, his voice sounding slightly strained, "I've found evidence that something bad happened to space boy!" he gestured to the papers.

Even though Kokichi seemed to be focused on the task — which, honestly, Shuichi was surprised to see him do — the blue haired boy could tell that the other boy's mind was wandering, thinking about everything besides being in the library.

"Ouma.. if you need to rest-."

"I said I'm fine." he interrupted stubbornly, suddenly losing his enthusiasm slightly, "Just shut up already and let me concentrate."

Shuichi sighed, leaning back in his chair as he watched Kokichi shuffle the papers. "Before you rudely interrupt me again," Kokichi looked at him, "I found clues that he's alive. I'll only continue if you want to listen."

"..." Shuichi nodded, folding his arms. "Then go ahead." This was it. He was finally going to get some clues about the disappearance of Kaito. But did he really want to?

♥ End of Chapter Eighteen ♥

(I know what I said about A/N) but still! A/N (I lied) Lmao.

First of all. I absolutely love your theories for this book. It's really fun to see you guys try to figure out who the mastermind is. :) And the traitors. And the mysterious people 😹 I'm so sorry if this book doesn't make sense sometimes. Or it's boring. Whoops. Uh.. anyway.

This is the time for you to voice out what you don't really understand, cause. Huh. XD Sometimes even I don't understand myself.

Secondly, yes, I drew that Shuichi up there because I was bored. And thank you so much for the support for this book 💖 EEEEEEEE. I love you guys and thank you for commenting and voting- YOU GUYS GIVE ME THE INSPIRATION.

Anndddd that's all I wanna say for now so ciao ciao.