I'm basically just writing this to get into the swing of things again. It's been a while since I've written anything so I might as well get some reps in and start small. Anyways, enjoy this long one shot!
Keep in mind this is the first time I'm writing these characters so they might be slightly OOC.
[-x-]
"So… Saihara-kun, how exactly did this scenario play out?" His senior detective asked.
"O-Oh…! Uhh, I was on the terrace eating my lunch so I didn't catch the start of it. But I did catch Harukawa-san going toe to toe with Owari-senpai. Everyone was already starting to get out of the way when Ishimaru-san came in and started to worsen things."
"What did he do exactly?" She didn't look all too surprised by her classmate's intervention.
"At first he yelled at them, but when that didn't work, he jumped in and well…" The boy looked towards the broken glass and a fresh patch of grass split apart to show the dirt underneath. Big long footprints were also spotted right next to it.
"I heard that Ishimaru-kun is being taken care of by Tsumiki-senpai at the moment. He's still knocked out from the last update I've gotten from her. But, how exactly did all these happen?" Her eyes directed towards a series of holes in the ceiling and ketchup packets scattered across it. Not to mention the big human shaped hole on the tiles.
"T-That's where it kinda gets muddled, everyone's practically evacuated and I was occupied with contacting Tsumiki-senpai right next to Ishimaru-senpai. The only ones you can ask about that are the perpetrators themselves."
"I see. Now then, you can move on now, Saihara-kun. I'm going to interrogate Owari-senpai to see if I can get anything out of her, you do the same for your classmate. Inform me of her account as soon as you can." She flipped her hair backwards and walked towards the exit.
That left Shuichi alone in the cafeteria. Normally Tojo-san would already be cleaning but Naegiri-senpai demanded it be left alone for a couple of hours while she investigates.
There was nothing left to do but try to find the ever elusive "Child Caregiver" and he knew where exactly to look.
[-x-]
Sitting by herself and reading a novel with her left hand, the black haired girl locked eyes with the person who entered the room. She took a sip of her newly brewed tea and exhaled at the warmth it gave her.
"You knew I'd be here." Closing her book and placing it on the table.
"Well, there weren't really many places you could hide where no one would be. Plus, you avoid a total of 31 locations based on the fact that you can't really find peace there."
"No need to brag, Mr. Detective. What if I just happen to like staying at your lab?" She said with a straight face.
"Huh?! I didn't really think of that possibility, there's not really much logic that comes from liking this place over the Library or Kaede's lab. Any other places would be too loud, crowded or just off limits because you prefer not to be in the vicinity of other classes. On top of that, you really don't like doing anything in your dorm besides sleeping."
"Alright I've heard enough, you got me, Saihara, I just wanted some alone time and no one knows the password to this place besides me and Momota. And he doesn't come around here unless you're inside." The girl leaned back on the chesterfield sofa.
"Yeah, about that, I still haven't told him about the change of password from last month." He twiddled with his thumbs.
"So, he hasn't gotten in here since then?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yep, he's a great guy and all but sometimes I need my alone time back." 'Mainly so I can continue looking over private investigations. Yep. Definitely it.'
"Even better. Moving on, I know you came here to interrogate me, what do you want to know?" She crossed her legs.
"Well, just how it started." He sat down next to her and clicked his pen open. "I'm sorry if this is intrusive by the way… if only the cameras didn't malfunction from Oma and Enoshima-senpai's antics."
"Don't overthink it, it's your job. So, Owari-senpai was asking people to test her on arm wrestling. Of course everyone she asked refused, even I did at first but she snatched my lunch and said she won't give it back if I didn't try."
"So… did you win?"
"That's what you're focused on?" She deadpanned.
"I'm sorry… I-I was just curious." The boy scratched the back of his head.
Her lipped slightly perked up in response. "I'm kidding. I was on the brink of winning but she cheated and used her other hand and pulled on the table."
"Well, that's dirty."
"I said the same thing but she said it was fair, I was ready to leave it there but she challenged me to a fight. I was still slightly mad from the loss so I said yes."
"I'm surprised you even said yes in the first place."
"Listen, that purple bastard rat already outed me for my real talent. Might as well show that I can hold my own against the athletes. Especially that hulking coach, he wouldn't stop bothering me about training…" The assassin grimaced at the fact that she was being forced to train with them.
"Yeah, I'm still sorry for that botched investigation…"
"It wasn't your fault you got curious. Hell, me being good with kids didn't make sense from the outside."
"T-That's still my fault though! If it wasn't for me, no one would think you were a danger to anyone else!"
"Like Oma wasn't gonna look into this by himself. He just used you to speed things up."
"I shouldn't have fallen for his tricks regardless, I'm supposed to be a professional detective after all…"
"Fuc- listen Saihara, I don't blame you for it whatsoever and I'm supposed to be "victim" here. I didn't mind it then, I don't mind it now. It's been months and it hasn't really changed much of anything. On top of that, we literally have yakuza and gang members in the school. Hell, that's not even mentioning Ikusaba-senpai who's killed in the hundreds."
"But..!"
She grabbed his lips and shut it herself. Just looking at her reddish face, the detective could tell she was over it.
"No! Shut up, we've had this conversation like six damn times now. If you blame yourself one more time, I'm kicking you out of your own lab and you're not getting my testimony. Understand?"
He nodded and she finally let go.
She cleared her throat and proceeded, "We started throwing hands. She got up and tried to grapple me and I managed to escape it and hit a weak point. She dropped to her knees and I managed to back away."
"I'm assuming she got up and blitzed you?" Rocked up as he was about her shutting him up, he did his best to be as his usual "professional' sleuth.
"How observant, Saihara. Yes, she did. It wasn't a speed I couldn't handle but she was much faster than I anticipated."
"Was she faster than Ikusaba-senpai?"
"Nope, not even close. She was wasting a lot of movement, less precise and more predictable. So I waited until I could pounce and grapple around to her back. Once she was in the distance, I dodged her grab and gave her a chokehold from the back." She bit her tongue as she said those words.
"She just body slammed you into the ground didn't she?"
"Yep, it hurt a lot. But it was nothing I couldn't handle." The assassin seemed proud of her pain resistance.
"Was it then when Ishimaru-senpai tried to break you two off?"
"I think so, I was too focused on the fight to notice. You can't let your guard down against any athlete in this school or you're toast. She made that mistake so I accidentally drop kicked her in his direction and sent em both outside.
"That's the part where she got up and sprinted towards you again?"
"Yes. Why am I even here if you're just going to finish my sentence?"
"S-Sorry… I just gained a lot of context clues from the scene. Please continue."
"I aikido-tossed her to the ceiling, expecting her to be knocked out by the impact…"
'She probably learned that from Chabashira-san.' He noted in his head. "But…?"
"But she… I still can't fucking believe it, she barrel-rolled herself to land on her feet and dug in the cieling with HER. FEET. And starting sprinting around like a madwoman."
"WHAT?! HOW?!"
"Listen, I don't know either, I didn't even think a human is capable of that much. Our 77-B senpais are a different breed, even by Hope's Peak standard."
"So w-w-what did you do against it?"
"I couldn't reach her so I grabbed a bunch of ketchup packets and threw it towards her, trying to catch her off guard. And she somehow avoided all of them upside down."
"Only in Hope's Peak…" He uttered the overused motto.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing with my eyes so she caught me off guard, tackled me and pinned me to the ground."
"So the fight's over?"
"Nope, she forgot my legs were still free so I used to kick her crotch repeatedly until she let go."
"She had no balls to hit, though." He smirked.
She immediately facepalmed. "What has Kaito's influence done to you?"
"Being exposed to that kind of humor can rub it off on you." He tried to laugh it off.
She simply sighed. "It's not really a good influence is it?
"Doesn't have to be, he tells me 'it helps ya loosen up, you guys are too stiff'." he imitated the astronaut's voice.
"Whatever, at that point, I got up and just chopped the back of her head and knocked her out."
"Why didn't you do that in the first place?"
"I wanted to test her and she was still hyper aware at the start so I couldn't get a clear hit in. And once she knows about the move, she's gonna do her best to avoid it at all costs."
"Fair point."
"That's about the gist of what happened, you wanna ask anything else?" She met his eye.
"Nope, that's about all I need. Now, I just gotta give that info to Kirigiri-senpai before she closes the file." He closed his notepad and got up from the seat.
"When's the deadline?" She asked.
"She said ASAP so I suppose whenever I've gathered the information. Thanks a lot for your input, Harukawa-san." He bowed in her direction.
"Hey! There's no need for that!"
"H-Huh? You mean thank you for it?"
"No! I meant the bowing thing. Like, we've known each other for nearly a year now, you really shouldn't be doing that at all."
"Oh! You're right. I-I'm sorry, I'm still not too used to familiarity."
"It's fine. But you really have to know who you're friends with because I think this is going to repeat a lot."
"Hehe, you may be right. But, it's how I was raised so it's going to be hard to get rid of this habit. Especially since I work with a lot of senior detectives."
"Well, you're going to stay with me for 2 more years. So, you better start soon." She winked. A bead of sweat rolled down his face as she said those words. She got up and followed him to the door.
"B-Be right back." He turned towards her and tried not to break his smile.
"See you later, Shuichi." Her face was slowly turning red as she slowly tried to cover her face.
Curiosity almost got the best of him but he didn't want to pry. That was too out of character from the usual personality he was used to. "A-Alright. S-See you later."
At least he had much time to think about what just transpired.
[-x-]
"Thank you for your help, Saihara-kun, I'd see to it you're rewarded for your actions."
"H-Hehe, there's really no need for that, I was just doing my job. Y-You could've done all this by yourself with even more efficiency if you wanted to."
"Perhaps so, but you cannot underestimate your capabilities, you're a year behind me so it'll be a matter of time before you get to be my equal."
'T-There's no way she thinks that! Me?! Being equal to a Kirigiri?! I don't even think that'll happen in my lifetime."
"I sense that you doubt yourself but trust me, you really have the talent for it, Saihara-kun. You just have to manifest it into existence." She exited the library, most likely to report upstairs to her father.
He got up from his chair and headed towards the direction of his Research Lab. As much as he would like to focus on what his senior told him, he really couldn't get the blushing Harukawa-san from his mind.
He's never seen her act that weird before.
With him being a detective, it would be embarrassing for him to not notice certain changes to her demeanor the past month. She's been edging closer and closer to his bubble and it's been tricky to figure out how to react.
There was something in the air and he couldn't solve it for the life of him.
Thinking hard about it now. If Kaede is a great friend to him, Harukawa-san is his best friend. This friendship that only really sparked after her real talent got outed and he tried his best to make up for it.
To his dismay, none of his apologies and actions for forgiveness really worked and it seemed that time helped her best in the situation.
Or at least that's the logic he concluded on.
But as a side effect, they just started to hang out more and more.
It certainly helped that Kaito-kun was there to be the glue that held it all together. But somehow, his dynamic with the assassin wasn't the worst. They were both meek people that really didn't like to rock the boat. One would shrink if provoked, the other would retaliate as needed.
The awkwardness certainly permeated the atmosphere the first couple of weeks but after that, they were both smiling and hanging out even without the astronaut.
Recent developments have been happening constantly. They've been eating lunch more and more together. Half the time even alone in the same room without even chatting. Just doing their own work but being in close proximity.
She gives Shuichi a soothing atmosphere that helps him relax. Something he hasn't really been able to achieve in the past couple of months.
Case files stacking on top of each other, classmates doing nothing but nagging him to oblivion, stress piling up from trying to uphold the standard he works on and a lot of people to try and not disappoint.
Old him would've definitely been put into a coma already.
Once in a while, Harukawa-san would do something that would either put him in a trance or make him into a bumbling mess.
Though to be fair, the last one is pretty common whenever he gets put on the spot. But with her, it's ever so slightly different. One makes him really stuttery in a way that feels bad for not being able to hold himself, the other makes him feel… giddy? He doesn't know how to describe it, but he certainly wouldn't consider it bad.
So, why does she do it?
In his head, he thinks it's to signify their close bond as friends. He's finally making headway into the realm of socialization. Something he sorely missed his entire childhood and half of his teenage years. He wouldn't know the first thing on friendships work. Sad as it is, that's how his life was before getting inside Hope's Peak.
There was no one for him to connect with because he was too different. Too standout. Too "good" for anyone to hang out with and build proper connections. So, they all shunned him.
Ever since stepping foot into this school, he's finally been given the chance to make some meaningful connections with people in his age group and he couldn't be any happier about it.
And now there was a girl he was close to that he could tell anything in his mind and he wouldn't feel an ounce of judgment. She gave him advice, somehow laughed at his attempts at humor, and was there whenever he needed an extra hand.
Harukawa-san was without a doubt his closest friend ever.
But that doesn't blind him from the weird actions she's been doing the past month or two.
The most recent of which occurred 10 minutes ago. She called him by his first name without asking for permission. He definitely didn't mind it but it really took him aback because no one aside from Kaede calls him by his first name.
Say, they start calling each other by their first names. Their classmates would look at them weird at first but they would let it go. Some would have their suspicions but would only confront them one by one.
And the answer would be, "Oh, we just suddenly started calling each other by our given names."
He knows not a single person would believe that and that they'd pry even further only to be disappointed. They would then start paying close attention to him and Mak- Harukawa-san whenever they were together.
That is way too much spotlight for him which means he'd lock himself even more into his Research Lab.
And with Harukawa-san being the only other person to know the passcode, that would increase the rumors tenfold and then it wou-
He had to stop himself. He was thinking with Murphy's Law in mind. It's possible but there are also other paths this could take. Harukawa-san could've just made a mistake. But then why did she cover her face? Too many questions he won't find an answer to until he confronts her.
Why does he feel this embarrassed anyways? There was no reason to be. Him and her are nothing but friends. They were close friends. F. R. I. E. N. D. S.
A friend you always want in proximity because they help calm you down and make you feel all mushy whenever you get a little too adventurous with your conversations.
Unless…
Oh.
Shit.
He likes her.
Everything just suddenly clicked in his head.
He deleted that possibility in his head because c'mon now, there was no way someone as beautiful as Maki Harukawa would like a bumbling amateur detective like him. Reciprocation wasn't possible in any sort of sense.
He might like her but there's literally no shot in the heavens that she likes him back. No sirree, it's literally impossible. He LAUGHED at the thought that she would ever like him back.
And as much as he wanted to continue contemplating, he finally arrived in front of his lab's door. There was no other reason to delay it, he needed some answers or he'll fry his brain tonight.
[-x-x-]
~A couple minutes after Shuichi left~
WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE THINKING?!
Why in the hell would she try something on him?!
Where did this sudden boost of arrogance come from?!
All these questions and there wasn't really an easy answer she could come up with. Punching a wall really seems like a fun idea at the moment.
The girl had to scramble her head to just come up with an answer to herself and what she had to say to the boy she almost made a move on. She had to dice it up and ask herself different questions.
Does she like him? Maybe, but she could easily cover that up and pretend she doesn't. The evidence isn't enough for it to be a reliable answer.
Does she think he's cute? Yes, the way he shyly answers and his docile demeanor really gets to her. The way he cutely asks her a question whenever he gets in his curious mood really gets her skittish.
Is he the closest friend she's ever had? That's a definitive yes. There wasn't much competition, Kaito was too brutish and obnoxious to be treated seriously; Kaede was the last one on the race but that's not really that special when Kaede is friends with everybody in the school.
Was he the only one that was there to comfort her properly when she felt like her world was crumbling around her? Yes. The only one that was there time and time again because of the pain he felt for showing everyone her true colors.
Has anyone ever treated her that way? Nope, not even close.
Does she get jealous whenever Akamatsu or Yonaga get a little too close? Yes she fucking does.
Oh god, she has a massive crush on him.
To be fair… she's known this for a month now but everytime it pops up in her head. She just pushes it down in the depths of her mind only for it to resurface everytime she sees him smile.
"Fuck." That's not good. She's never had a crush on someone before. Much less the person she'd consider her best friend. "This isn't good." She was walking in circles around the room.
There was no way she could bury this now, they spend way too much time together nowadays and they had 2 more years in the same school and in the same class.
To be fair to her, she's been trying to give him more hints over the past month and he can't seem to take the damn hint. Everytime, 'Maybe he'll take the bait', she thinks to herself, but he always manages to squeak himself out of it.
So she's left frustrated and stumped on how to get this bumbling cute moron to like her without being so obvious he can't ignore it. If he doesn't already do that is. He has to take the hint at some point because she will fucking explode and just confess to him outright.
Maybe she should ask for help from one of the girls. Them knowing would be a tough pill to swallow because the secret is finally out but it's a last resort.
Who would she even tell? Kaede seems like the most viable option, she can keep a secret and be helpful since she's a really social person.
…Unless the pianist likes Shuichi too. Then, that would cause her a lot of trouble. For one, she just declared war on her rival.
Okay, she's out of the picture.
Next up is the bundle of Yonaga, Chabashira and Yumeno. Not a single one of those three can help her in any meaningful ways. One outright just hates men, the next one is too sleepy to care, and the last would say something about her god not allowing it. Just not even an option outright.
Shirogane would be viable… if she wasn't such a motormouth. This girl seems to know any and all rumors floating around the school and would beg anyone to ask her about it. And that includes the current rumors about her and Shuichi. Nothing will get in between the rumor mill and her tongue.
Iruma. No.
The last candidate would be Tojo-san. She's-
She heard the door unlock and that only means one thing.
Okay, she can't mess this up.
'Straighten yourself. You're able to kill people in cold blood but you can't confront your crush. Deep breaths.' She brushed herself off and inhaled.
The boy of the hour pushed the door open and greeted her with an awkward smile. It seemed that calling him by his first name really got to him. She's secretly hoping that some of her message finally pulled through.
"Hey…" She started.
"H-Hey…" He returned.
Yeah, it was either go now or suffer the silent awkwardness they were going to have until they went back to their dorms.
It's now or never.
"L-Listen Sai- I mean Shuichi. Can I call you that?" Maki said as if she wasn't already calling him that in her head prior.
"Y-YEs you can." His voice cracked but he looked determined. "C-Can I call you b-by your first name too?"
"Sure." She nodded and sat down.
Shuichi proceeded and sat down next to her. "S-So, hehe, w-we're on a first name basis now."
"Yep…" The girl fiddled with her pigtails and refused to look in his direction.
'Okay, that's that situation handled.' But how does she proceed afterwards? Talk about the weather? No, Probably something along the lines of the investigation earlier an-
"So, I-I've been meaning to ask, M-Maki-san…" Her thoughts were broken by his initiative.
"Maki, just Maki, no honorifics." Neither of them are still making eye contact.
The boy audibly swallowed his saliva and continued. "O-Okay, M-Maki, I've noticed a pattern."
'So he does notice my attempts.' She was impressed but confused that he only just acted upon it.
"W-What exactly are you trying to a-accomplish?"
She thought of a unique way of tackling this question. "You're a detective, why don't you try deducing it? Ask me some questions if you have to."
"O-Oh okay then." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. She recognized him turning on his detective mode. Something he only does whenever he needs to fully immerse himself in the job. He didn't need it earlier but now, she reckons he needs this extra boost of confidence by going full auto mode.
'It's kinda cut- NO, hold that thought for now, woman.'
He opened his eyes and looked steeled. He finally made eye contact. "Alright, it started on the 31st of December at the New Years Eve party. We were in the far left corner of the gym, you sat down next to me and asked if you could get a drink off my straw. Quite odd for you to do such a thing…"
"Well, maybe I just happen to like fruit punch." She shrugged but smiled internally. 'My turn to play the mouse.'
"I let you drink some but I don't think it was a good baseline. The punch was spiked by you know who so that influenced my decision at the moment. But it's a start. The next time you did anything was 1 and a half weeks later."
"And where was it?"
"In the school garden. The class was eating a picnic because the cafeteria got stink bombed earlier in the day. If I recall correctly, you were offering me a sandwich, though I still don't know why."
"I remember telling you I was full. C'mon now, don't miss the obvious." She grinned in secret.
"You couldn't be, I didn't see you get inside the cafeteria once that day. You were most definitely famished." He shook his head firmly.
"I lost my appetite then." She simply shrugged his analysis off.
"That would be the more likely scenario. I wasn't too hungry as well but I did take a bite of your half eaten sandwich."
'And you were really cute about it.' She really wanted to voice those thoughts out but they can wait for now. "You really didn't want to waste food." She pointed out but he ignored her.
"Next case, three days later. Rooftop, after school. You were training in secret for a mission you were assigned a couple days prior."
"Mission went super well too, not a single drop of blood went on my clothes."
"I should not have the grant to know these details." He said in a monotone voice.
"Shush, I basically told you nothing." Placing her index finger on his lips.
His face twitched ever so slightly and that was pleasing enough for her to not knock it off.
"Ahem… So, when I arrived there, you asked if I could be some sort of test dummy and I agreed."
"Yep, I definitely remember almost choking you to sleep. Maso…"
"What was that?" He gave her a squint.
"Didn't say anything." She gave him a straight face in response.
"You released me and chose to let me sit on your lap until I finally recovered some of my senses and jumped away."
"You seemed slightly disappointed about being up on your own feet too."
"I will neither confirm nor deny that." He was biting his upper lip, she was breaking into him. "Point being, you let me recover on your lap."
"And what's the problem with that? I wasn't going to let you put your head on solid concrete."
"...Fair point. You were simply being a good friend." The detective rationalized as he nodded to himself.
'Right. Friend. A friend would definitely let a boy lie on their lap almost knocked out.' This game was too fun, how does he not notice whatsoever?
"Moving on, a week later. In this exact room. We were doing some homework with Momota-kun when he got a call from his station that they needed him for the next day so he ran out to prepare for it, leaving us alone."
"That's all that happened that day?"
"No, you… Uh, leaned into me that day, claiming that gym period tired you out."
'I definitely wasn't tired that day, it was an okay excuse to go for something though.'
"Did it bother you?"
"No, I just… accepted it and let you be."
'Oooh, he's finally starting to lose his cool.'
"So, you didn't like it?"
"I definitely didn't mind it. It somehow made it easier to do some math with some weight on my side."
"I see, are you missing one more?"
"I was getting to that. Four days ago in Kaede's lab, you were trying a new piece on the piano and you needed another ear to gauge how you were doing."
"Yep, Kaede was dealing with some class rep meetings so you were the only one available at the time."
"I'm not as well versed as Kaede but I did know the piece you were playing."
"Clair de Lune. I was trying to do the first minute of it."
"And you were doing pretty well."
"But someone just had to ruin it." She rolled her eyes.
"Y-Yeah, sorry about that. I was simply trying to walk to the front of the piano but I tripped on my shoelaces and landed on you."
"Which I still can't figure out how… I haven't heard of anyone trip like that since kindergarten. And no, Komaeda-senpai doesn't count. I felt like you were trying to do something to me at the time."
"I didn't land on you on purpose I swear! I was trying to… uhh… nothing! I-I was just walking around..!"
Maki finally got to him and she didn't hesitate for a single second.
"Shuichi, you're going to tell me or else I'm going to make you." She grabbed both his hands and tied them together.
"W-Why are you doing this?!"
"Cuz I'm curious, you don't just get away with starting to say something that might be interesting." She gripped a little harder.
"This is evil!"
"No, it's not, I just want you to say the words you were kindly going to."
"F-Fine! You looked c-cute so I-I wanted a better view!" He covered his hands in embarrassment. His face was beet red and he looked like a bomb about to explode.
Her world stopped for a moment. This was it. She has been fiending for this moment for a full month. Nights of dreaming of him doing anything to show his own adoration for her. Her doubts of him not liking her back were silenced.
She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"S-So, you thought I-I looked cute?"
"I-I really don't wanna repeat myself, I-I might have a h-heart attack."
"Okay, fine… thank you." She gently smiled at him.
"N-No problem." He smiled back.
Another moment of silence falls between the two. One was obviously contemplating if he should just pass out while the other was silently humming in bliss.
"Do you want to finish this interview or not?"
"I-I don't see why not, there's only one day left. Earlier this afternoon, I was consulting you about your own account about the precarious situation at lunchtime."
"That you did. We can probably speed this up."
"Alright, you were seeing me to the door and before I went out, you called me by my first name."
"And that's what broke your denseness."
"I really had to take some time to think about it but it really couldn't be more obvious."
"So… what's your conclusion here, Mr. Detective?"
"You've… been flirting with me because… you like me?"
"Finally! You finally figured it out!" She clapped as she congratulated him. "It's pretty embarrassing to admit it, but yes, I do have a crush on you."
"I-I-I didn't r-really think anyone would even l-like me at all." His ever expressive cowlick looked as sheepish as his face did. "It's w-why I couldn't figure out why y-you were making your moves."
"That does make sense of your situation, but c'mon, some of my moves really made it obvious. Anyone other than you would've figured it out."
"T-That may be but they aren't me."
"That's true." She nodded. "But enough about my feelings, how do you feel?"
"I-I…" He looked pensive while being completely red. "I like you too."
"Thank god! I knew that you did but I had to confirm it. I needed to hear your voice say it."
"W-Well, I suppose we're d-dating now?"
"I-I guess? It's the obvious move. Is this how couples start out?"
"U-Uh, I don't actually know. I can ask Kirigiri-senpai about it if you'd like."
"I-I don't think we should tell anyone for a little while. Most of them are going to freak out and harass us, especially that purple rat."
"Y-You're right. Let's wait for a moment." He nodded and smiled. "We really went from first name basis to dating. I feel like we skipped a few steps."
"It doesn't feel that way to me."
"Given all the data I've gathered, I feel like you think this is long due."
"Astute observation. You wouldn't think a detective of your caliber would be that dense, but life can surprise you sometimes."
"Hey! I still managed to figure it out by the end!" He blew a raspberry.
"Aren't you a good detective?" She blew her own.
The conversation stopped there but it didn't feel very awkward at all. The complete opposite effect actually, she felt far more at ease at his presence that she's claimed him now. That sounds a little possessive but she couldn't help it.
She's finally dating the person she likes! She got through all the barriers that she's been chipping away at for a month. On top of that, he liked her back. That's an even bigger cause for celebration. She's finally dating Shuic-
Something laid on top of her hand. Her eyes glanced down to see her boyfriend's hand on top of hers. She couldn't help but blush and turn her hand to firmly grasp it.
[-x-]
[A/N]
I'M BACK TO WRITING WOOOOO!
Writing this proved to be a fkn nightmare to write. I got stuck so many times trying to figure out how these two would even flirt with each other. Hopefully it was enjoyable regardless.
Now to write my main series again…