So, here's the next chapter. Also, for those who reviewed and said if I needed more time to take it - I already have the next 4 chapters written and waiting to be posted. I was just asking. I can't seem to write long chapters, so I'm able to update faster (I tend to unconsciously end chapters at around the 2,000 word or 3,000 word mark).
And daily chapters won by a landslide~ So long as I have time to write and the motivation to do so, I'll try to keep on top of this story. If I run out of chapters to post, I'll put an authors note saying so.
As a side note, my mind is really fucked up right now and I can't remember when I updated this story or even what day it is without checking my phone. There's apparently a magical thing called sleep. I'll let you know if I ever find it.
Shinichi didn't want to admit it, but he'd been having fun. After lunch, they'd just decided to walk around the island and visit some of the old battlegrounds or just enjoy the scenery. Kaito had attempted to make up stories to go along with each place they visited. Saguru, having gotten better at watching what he said around the blue eyed teen, had started backing him up when he teased the other two.
As the day went on, Shinichi found it easier to relax. He still wasn't sure if it was a good idea to completely let his guard down around them, but maybe they could be like Ran and Sonoko – not knowing everything, but still his friends.
"And now for the reason I brought you all to Tokashiki island!" Kaito spread his arms out with a wide smile before spinning and pointing dramatically towards the direction multiple people were gathering. "Tokashiki's annual festival!"
Shinichi's stomach dropped. He hated festivals. There were always too many people, crowing and pushing and shoving, kids running around screaming, running into him, and smearing their sticky hands and fingers everywhere. While the blue eyed teen normally didn't mind children, when it came to festivals or amusement parks he'd rather not have to deal with them. And that was just the live crowd. Ghosts were everywhere as well.
Unfortunately, Kaito grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the growing crowd. He kept his gaze lowered, letting the magician lead. "What do you want to do first?" Shinichi wanted to say leave, but the other three seemed really excited about the festival. Instead he just shrugged slightly, keeping closer to them while attempting to avoid everyone else.
"Food!" The Osakan declared. "I'm gonna get some food." Saguru rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
Kaito raised his hand that wasn't gripping onto Shinichi's. "I want some candy floss! And a candy apple!" He smiled at the blue eyed teen. "Do you want anything Shin-chan?" He just shook his head. With the way his stomach was churning, he didn't think he'd be able to eat.
The dark skinned teenager nodded and said he'd meet up with them later after he'd gotten the food, leaving the other three and vanishing in the crowd. Saguru looked around and pointed towards the stall nearby. "Since we're here, why not try that game?"
Shinichi looked at the game. It was the ring toss game where if you got the ring around the prize, you'd get said prize. Kaito grinned and pulled him over, letting go of his hand as he laid some coins on the wooden surface. The blond stood on the magician's other side and laid down his own coins. Shinichi stayed out of the way and attempted to become one with the stall as he was left to deal with the press of the crowd by himself.
He didn't pay attention to the two playing the game – more focused on the failing task of trying to keep people from touching him. Closing his eyes, he wondered if he could last for the entire festival. They'd barely been there for five minutes and he was already ready to leave. He jerked back slightly when something touched his cheek, opening his eyes and staring down at the candy apple in front of his face.
Blinking, he looked up and found Heiji standing nearby, arms loaded with food and candy. "I know ya said ya didn't want anything," He said, "But I got ya somethin' anyway." Shinichi slowly took the offered treat and ate a small bite. The Osakan chuckled and leaned up against the stall to watch their other two friends compete to see who could win something first. "Ya look like a little kid right now." The blue eyed teen ignored him and took another bite. "Is it good?"
Shinichi nodded slightly. He hadn't had a candy apple in a long time. If he remembered correctly, the last time he'd had one had been at the last festival he'd gone to back in elementary school. It was only after his third bite of the sweet treat that he realized people weren't bumping into him anymore. Looking up again, he saw that when Heiji had leaned against the stall, he'd casually created a small barrier between him and the rest of the people.
"Thank you." His words were quiet, and Shinichi wasn't sure the dark skinned teen had heard him over the crowd.
He was surprised for the second time when the Osakan glanced down at him with a small smile. "If ya don't like somethin', ya gotta say so. Otherwise dat idiot will do whatever he wants." Shinichi nodded again before turning his gaze to the ground once more, continuing to munch on his treat. The blue eyed teen paused with his treat near his mouth when his hood was suddenly lifted.
He looked up once more and blinked when he found Saguru and Kaito had rejoined them. The magician had his phone out and snapped a photo, causing Shinichi to glare at him and smack Heiji's hand away from his hood, pulling it back down. He ignored the other threes laughter and took a large bite out of his treat.
The magician turned to the Osakan and held out his hands. Heiji handed him a large candy floss. "Where's my candy apple?" The indigo eyed teen asked.
The dark skinned teen grinned and jabbed his thumb towards Shinichi. "I gave it ta him." Kaito looked horrified, causing Heiji to laugh. "Ya don't need any more sugar."
"Shin-chan~" Kaito whined, "Can I have a bite?" Shinichi simply turned his back to the whining teen and took another bite.
"Did ya let Hakuba win?" The Osakan caught sight of something plush in the blonds' arms.
The magician huffed. "He only won because my ring hit his."
Saguru rolled his eyes with a snort and held the plush out to Shinichi. "Here. An apology for essentially kidnapping you this morning." He shrugged a little. "And earlier this week."
Kaito crossed his arms as best he could while holding his own fluffy treat. "I was gonna give it to Shin-chan," He muttered, take a bite of the pink fluff. Shinichi took the offered plush and smiled slightly. It was a large stuffed soccer ball, nearly as big as he head was.
"Thank you."
"Shin-chan~" Kaito held out a piece of his candy floss. "Say ah~" The blue eyed teen gave the magician a flat stare and kept his mouth shut. "Please? I'm the only one who hasn't given Shin-chan something~"
He opened his mouth to say Kaito had given him the jacket he was wearing, but the magician took the opportunity to shove the pink fluff into his mouth instead. His eyes widened in surprise as it began dissolving in his mouth, unintentionally making a small noise of surprise.
He flushed a little under the three stares. "Kudo-kun…" Saguru said slowly, "Is this your first time eating candy floss?" He turned his head away, his flush growing darker. His parents had only allowed him one sweet treat at the last – which thinking back had been his first – festival, and he'd chosen the candy apple. Even when Ran and Sonoko dragged him to the amusement parks, they tended to get ice cream rather than the fluffy treat. So while he'd seen it multiple times, he'd never actually eaten it before.
Kaito seemed to think of something and asked, "Shin-chan, how many festivals have you been to before?"
The blue eyed teen kept his gaze on the ground as he muttered, "One."
The magician grinned and grabbed his hand – while suitably taking the half eaten candy apple at the same time – and pulled him forward slightly. "Then we're going to have to make up for lost time! We'll play every game before it ends! And to start," He eagerly pointed towards their left and across the crowd, "The classic yo-yo tsuri!"
Shinichi wasn't excited to have to go back into the crowd, but Kaito was already pulling him forward. He looked up as two hands landed on either of his shoulders and found Heiji on one side of him and Saguru on the other. He smiled slightly as he realized they were using their bodies to shield him from the crowd while they made their way through it.
Coming to a stop in front of the stall that held a bunch of water balloons in a small pool, Kaito quickly paid for the four of them. He handed Shinichi one of the strings with a hook and quickly showed him how it was done – easily scooping up one of the balloons. The blue eyed teen couldn't bring himself to say he'd played the game before. Shaking his head slightly, he carefully hooked the small rubber band tied to the water balloon and started to lift it up.
He blinked in surprise when the band broke and the balloon splashed back into the water. The magician chuckled and handed over the yo-yo water balloon he'd won. "You can have mine Shin-chan." The blue eyed teen took the offered prize with a small smile, watching as Heiji pulled too hard and snapped the band as well while Saguru managed to pull his own out.
By the time the four were ready to leave the festival, Shinichi's stomach hurt from all the different types of sweets he'd been made to try while his arms were loaded with prizes either won himself or given to him by the other three.
With the three keeping the crowd from bumping into him or invading his space, and with Kaito continuously drawing his attention somewhere else, Shinichi found that he'd actually had a good time, and for the first time in a long time hadn't even noticed the ghosts or dark shadows.
They'd opted to watch the fireworks from somewhere near their inn after they dropped all their things off and were currently on their way to do just that. Shinichi was trailing slightly behind the others, rather exhausted from the full day. Movement to his right caused him to glance over and frown. The man he'd seen from the beach was headed towards the small patch of trees, the shadow from earlier darker than before.
He bit the inside of his cheek as his gut clenched. He had no idea someone was waiting to kill him.
The blue eyed teen didn't realize he'd stopped walking until the others called his name. "Somethin' wrong?" Heiji asked, following his gaze to the stumbling man.
Shinichi clutched his armful a little tighter and looked towards the ground. "Feeling," He muttered, barely loud enough for the others to hear. "Bad feeling." That put the other three on their guard, remembering the last time he'd told them about his bad feelings.
Kaito put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Hattori and I will make sure he gets somewhere safe tonight. You go to the inn with Hakuba." Before he could say anything, the two were off, trailing the drunken man as he headed deeper into the trees.
Saguru put his hand on Shinichi's back and gently pushed him forward. "Come on. Those two will make sure nothing happens." The blue eyed teen kept his gaze on the ground as he reluctantly started walking again. He hoped they didn't get hurt because of this. The blond seemed to know what he was thinking and smiled slightly. "Don't worry. They'll look after each other. Neither will get hurt, and they won't let that man get hurt either."
There was nothing Shinichi could do but nod and hope the other teen was right.
Kaito sighed as he opened the door to their room for the night. Shinichi's bad feeling had proven to be right. He and Heiji had shadowed the drunk fairly easily as he met up with someone in the small patch of woods he'd wandered into. When the drunk had turned his back, Kaito had seen the flash of steel and quickly thrown a nearby rock at the attacker. It hadn't hit, but had distracted them enough for Heiji to tackle them and wrestle the knife from their grasp.
They'd used the rope Kaito had been planning on using earlier to tie the attacker up before dragging both him and the confused drunk to the police where they'd had to stay for questioning for the next half hour. Because of that, they'd missed the fireworks.
Making his way inside, he gratefully fell onto the nearest bed. He ignored Saguru's surprised grunt as he was rudely awakened by the magician falling on top of him. "Kuroba," He sighed tiredly. "You two took a while."
"Shin-chan's bad feeling was spot on," He explained. "Someone tried to kill the drunken man, so we stopped him and then had to haul them both over to the police. After that we were questioned for nearly half an hour before they finally let us go." He sighed heavily. "I'm tired~"
Heiji's chuckle caused him to sit up and look over to the other bed where Shinichi was sleeping. He hadn't taken off the jacket or even gotten under the covers and was curled up while lightly holding the soccer ball plush Saguru had given him. "He's really like a child," The Osakan commented.
Saguru yawned and smiled a little. "He was worried about you two and tried to stay up until you got back, but we were both exhausted and wound up falling asleep."
The dark skinned teenager happily snapped a few photos with mutterings of finally having blackmail before carefully maneuvering the sleeping teen under the blankets. Kaito stretched and stood up, but before he could make his way over to Shinichi's bed the blond pulled him back down. "Hattori will share with Kudo-kun."
"Eh~? But I wanna sleep with Shin-chan~"
"I don't care. I don't want him to wake up and claim we allowed you to molest him in his sleep or something." Heiji choked out a laugh before yawning.
"Just get some sleep Kuroba. We're leaving in da morning."
Shinichi's so cute~
Anyway, if you feel like Shinichi's personality is different here than normal, let me remind you that he's been tossed out of his comfort zone and done things he normally wouldn't do all day. Not to mention he's still having a mental war about how much to let the three in and whether or not he should be trying to push them away. He's finally having some fun - which he's believed he couldn't have because he thinks he's cursed with not only being able to see death but also with people dying around him a lot. So he doesn't ever really let himself relax or have fun while out and about, meaning this is essentially a new experience for him.
Also, Kaito's enjoying the way he's been able to make Shinichi blush - and is basically ecstatic that he's discovered a new 'cute' side to the normally extremely anti-social teen.
For his way of sleeping - I remember reading somewhere that people who sleep more curled into a ball feel safer like that? Or something like that anyway. And as to why he's sleeping with the plush - it's the first time someone's given him something that they've won. (Ran gives them to Sonoko and vice versa and his dad doesn't tend to play games like that while his mother happily keeps them to herself). So he's unconsciously keeping it close because it made him happy.
And I didn't ignore Heiji seeing ghosts when carrying Shinichi, but I have 4 reasons for not including it.
1) Heiji is a nice person and would have still tried to keep his hands from touching Shinichi's bare legs - so while carrying him he held a little higher where the shorts were (and Kaito wears long shorts, so they would reach to at least Shinichi's knees, so Heiji didn't actually touch him much)
2) They walked to the bus, then to the ferry, and then the beach, so most of the time Shinichi was sitting in a seat next to them rather than being carried the entire way
3) Heiji wouldn't have known they were ghosts he was seeing unless they passed through objects or people. He doesn't believe in ghosts, and would have been more worried about following Kaito to their destination and making sure he didn't drop Shinichi than noticing the slightly floating people.
4) There aren't always ghosts around. But I'll explain why ghosts hang around in another chapter.
So, even though Heiji carried Shinichi, he was still trying to be nice about Shinichi's not liking to be touched, and he wouldn't have noticed ghosts because he doesn't believe in them would have just assumed they were ordinary people.
Heiji finally gets blackmail material (but will he ever use it?) as revenge for the way Shinichi keeps twisting his words and getting him flustered. Kaito is denied the right to sleep in the same bed as Shinichi - will Hakuba and/or Heiji be punished for it? (I'm not exactly sure)
Anyway, this chapter definitely turned out differently than I expected. Honestly, I was more expecting to make it at least a partial reveal, but the only thing that really happened was some bonding and another appearance of Shinichi's bad feelings from chapter 1. I have now lost my idea for the reveal of powers, but worry not. I will eventually think of something.
On another note, this story is already a lot longer than I originally expected it to be. You all will tell me if I'm getting away from my main plot, right? I feel like it's getting further and further away and I don't want to rush it and HOLY SHIT I JUST GOT A GOOD IDEA FOR THE WHOLE REVEL THING NEVER MIND I THINK I CAN DO THIS!
Let me know what you thought~
CHAPTERS LEFT: 4
