Stolen Goods

by taitofan

Rated T

Disclaimer: I don't own NDRv3 or its characters.

Author's Note: Oumami was my first NDRv3 ship, when all we had was that one beautiful piece of promo art. So I decided to come up with some Prison-Mode nonsense to explain why Kokichi still might have that statue even outside of the main game.

If you have any CC, please share and I'll listen. Please read, review, and enjoy! Finished 01-24-17

The first odd thing had been Angie making the statues in the first place. Upon questioning, she'd smiled brightly and explained she'd made them as a precaution—if one of her precious friends died, she could perform a ritual to bring them back. Rantarou had decided not to question her or why she thought he'd die, instead just accepting that she was running on her own logic.

The second odd thing was when she'd run up to him days later and tearfully informed him that he had been stolen. Or rather, his statue, and only his. That was very strange, but he hadn't thought too much about it. After all, what in the world would someone do with it? He assumed someone had bumped into it, broke it, and disposed of it before Angie could find out. That was fine with him, and he pushed the incident out of his mind.

Or, at least, he did until a week passed and he found himself at Kokichi's door. He wasn't exactly sure why he was the one there, when it had been Kiibo and Shuuichi he'd heard discussing Kokichi's absence all day long. They'd just both sounded so concerned despite how much Kokichi bothered them, and he'd felt as if he should investigate on their behalf. There certainly wasn't any personal interest in Kokichi's wellbeing! Not that he was willing to admit, anyway.

Now he was questioning his judgment. How was he going to explain this if he did find Kokichi safe and sound? 'Hey Ouma, sorry to bother you, but the two boys you have the hots for were worried about you and I just so happened to volunteer to find you and make sure you weren't bleeding out somewhere!' Yes, surely that wouldn't raise any red flags!

With a resigned sigh, he knocked on Kokichi's door, but there was no answer. He tried again, harder, but still nothing.

"Ouma?" he called out, wondering if Kokichi was even in his room in the first place. Was he wasting his time? "Are you there?"

Not a peep. Either he wasn't there, this was a big prank and he was behind the door trying not to giggle, he was deeply asleep, or he was dead. Knowing Kokichi, that entire spectrum was plausible. Still, as much as Kokichi was a manipulative brat with a questionable sense of humor, Rantarou felt himself fill with dread at the idea of opening the door and finding his corpse. But that was unlikely, right? No one disliked Kokichi enough to kill him, surely!

He stood there a moment longer before grabbing the handle and twisting it, finding that it opened without a fight. He quickly stepped in, and he was immediately put to ease. Kokichi was curled up on his bed, snoring softy. Alive. It even looked like he was drooling a little. It was a little scary how innocent he looked while he was asleep.

Rantarou tore his eyes away from the sleeping boy and shut the door behind him, looking around his room. It was a mess—papers and books were strewn across the floor, along with empty Panta bottles. Was that a rubber horse head mask? Rantarou wasn't sure he even wanted to know. Regardless, it was easy to see that he'd stayed up late doing something, thus why he was still sleeping so late into the afternoon. So there was his answer—Kokichi was fine, so he could just leave and—

Rantarou's eyes finally hit the statue hanging upside down beside Kokichi's bed. The statue of him. He was suddenly filled with more concerns than before.

"What the hell?"

At the sound of the question, Kokichi let out a sleepy groan and began to stir. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and he sat up with a confused frown on his face once he saw he wasn't along.

"Huh? Amami?" He yawned and rubbed at his eyes. It wasn't cute. Really. "What are you doing in my room? Are you here to kill me?"

"Don't joke about that," he snapped, not in the mood for Kokichi's games. His uncharacteristic tone made Kokichi look a little bit more awake and more than a bit perplexed. "I came to make sure you were okay. Kiibo and Saihara mentioned that they hadn't seen you all day."

It could be hard to tell when Kokichi was being sincere, but Rantarou had a difficult time believing that his little smile at the admission was anything but. Kokichi was awfully fond of the other two boys, so he supposed that made sense.

If Angie had already made statues of them, would Kokichi still have taken his? He wasn't very proud of the little pang of jealousy that filled him as he realized the answer was probably no. Liking someone like Kokichi was a bad idea, he knew, but how could he not being interested in such a cute firecracker? Kokichi and his methods were such a mystery, but Rantarou supposed he had to finally admit that he liked what he saw. If Kokichi liked him, he certainly wouldn't object to giving things a shot.

…Though that statue really had to go, no matter what.

"Aw, was Amami worried about me? That's sweet!" He smiled that charming little smile of his when he wanted to get his way. "But as you can see, I'm fine, and you're trespassing!"

"And you're a thief."

Kokichi froze, his eyes darting over to the statue. He definitely looked awake now. He turned his attention back to the real Rantarou, a wide, obviously fake grin on his face.

"Oh, you mean this ugly thing?" he asked with a giggle. "I thought it would be funny to take it and make everyone wonder if there was a criminal among us."

Rantarou wondered if Kokichi was still exhausted—that lie wasn't even remotely believable.

"And you chose me over Akamatsu or Toujou? You wouldn't rather have a cute girl by your bed to look at while you cause trouble?" Kokichi's eyes narrowed; Rantarou smiled. "Just kidding. I don't think anyone has any delusions about you and girls with the way you act around Kiibo and Saihara. Though I had no idea you felt that way about me too."

Kokichi was good at acting the fool when it suited him, so Rantarou felt very proud of himself when Kokichi was unable to keep his face from flushing. He looked so flustered, and Rantarou wanted to see more.

"Don't flatter yourself," he muttered, his gaze falling down to the blankets rather than looking Rantarou in the eyes. "I said it's ugly, didn't I? I can like boys and not like you."

"You're lying again." Kokichi opened his mouth—no doubt to lie about lying—and Rantarou decided to bet everything on his hunch. Trusting his instincts seemed to work out for him, so he reached down and gently ran the back of his hand over Kokichi's burning cheek. "What if I said I'm glad you like me as much as Saihara and Kiibo?"

"I'd say you're the liar," he mumbled, but he didn't pull away when Rantarou gently grabbed his chin and tilted his head up. "Amami, you're so cruel. You caught me and now you're teasing me. You're terrible."

The wetness that sprang to Kokichi's eyes were no doubt crocodile tears—Kokichi's favorite way to mess with people—but Rantarou still didn't like seeing such an expression on his face. With his free hand, he gently brushed them away.

"Ouma, if I kiss you, will you tell me the truth?" Kokichi paused, a curious look in his eyes, as if trying to size up how serious the question was. After a moment, he nodded. "Wonderful."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to Kokichi's. He kept it short and light, not wanting to overstep boundaries that they hadn't had the opportunity to set. When he pulled away, Kokichi still looked dazed, even with as innocent as the kiss had been.

"Did you enjoy that as much as I did?" Kokichi nodded without hesitation. "And you don't think I'm ugly?"

"Of course I don't, you dummy. I wouldn't take your statue if I didn't like looking at you." He frowned, though in a more pouty manner than before. "But I was telling the truth about why I took it. I just wanted to give everyone a mystery. You just happened to be the best one available. I haven't done anything weird with it."

Thank god for small miracles, Rantarou thought.

"Well, I think for being so cute and honest, I should reward you." He grabbed Kokichi's hands and pulled him off the bed. Kokichi didn't resist. "Follow me and I'll buy you Panta."

He chuckled as Kokichi's face lit up.

"Amami is so kind!"

"Then when everyone is asleep tonight, I'm coming back to take the statue back to Angie's workshop."

Kokichi was back to pouting in an instant, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Fine, whatever. I guess I don't need the dumb statue if I have the real Amami." He glanced down at their hands, fingers entwined, then lifted his gaze back to Rantarou's with a serious expression. "But you'd better come back to my room when you're done and keep me company!"

With a fond chuckle, Rantarou led Kokichi out of the room, pleased with not only solving the mystery of the missing statue, but also for starting to understand the mystery that was Kokichi Ouma just a little bit more.

All in all, he'd call the day a success.