"Took ya' long enough to wake up, ya' little shit!" Miu laughed as he sat down beside her at the dining-room table. "Usually you're up way earlier, but you were sleeping like a damn log out there! Wasn't he, Kiibo? I mean, I know you've only been here a few days, but I'll have you know that it's weird he was out there." She turned her attention back to him, "So… Why do ya' keep sleeping out there anyway? If Momota's snoring is bothering you, I can try to fix the—"

Kokichi laughed after taking a bite of his breakfast, "It's not Momota-chan, trust me, I'd make sure to complain about it plenty if it was. I told you before, it's just nice to have a change of scenery!"

The blonde scoffed, "Yeah right, only if that 'change of scenery' involves snogging Sai—"

"Hey, Kiiboy!" He grinned wide and interrupted the inventor before she could make her usual accusations. "Let's have a couple rounds of chess later, okay? I'm feeling pretty lucky today, so you better make sure to focus!"

The robot nodded affirmatively, "Of course, Ouma-kun! I am always prepared to further advance my knowledge!"

Most of the others had gathered at the dinner table, enjoying a big breakfast meal made by Kirumi, but when Kokichi looked around to figure out just who all was there, he realised that Shuichi was the only one not there. Kokichi hoped he was sleeping well; he probably wasn't used to staying up that late, especially two nights in a row.

Knowing Kirumi, she probably would make sure there was plenty enough food to heat up for Shuichi when the man eventually stumbled in looking for his usual mug of coffee.

Kokichi finished his breakfast last since he had been the last one to get there, but Miu and Kiibo had waited around for him, busy in a conversation about possibilities for Kiibo to have the ability to taste and digest food. ("See, I want you to taste it, but having to take shits every time you eat is not a likeable human function, y'know, so if I can figure out some way for that to be used for something… Otherwise, you're just gonna be a shitting robot, hah!")

The three of them ended up standing up to head for Miu's lab where the inventor planned on having them help her with more designs and ideas for the issue of Kiibo's hypothetical digestive system. As they were leaving, though, that's when Shuichi finally entered the room, still wearing his striped pyjamas and a tired look.

Kokichi only gave a teasing smile and small wave as they passed by each other. Shuichi returned the wave with a soft smile of his own before heading to the kitchen island to get his usual coffee.

When the three of them made it out of the dining area, Miu gave Kokichi an odd look, "Seriously? You just waved at him? You don't want to go talk to him or something?" She made it sound like he had straight up ignored the man instead of only giving a brief greeting.

He just shrugged, not really understanding what Miu's issue was. "I'll end up talking to him eventually. Aren't we going to go work on designs right now? I think that's a little bit more important than small talk, y'know."

Miu looked surprised, and Kokichi finally realised why that was. She was surprised that Kokichi was choosing to spend time with her and Kiibo. Of course, that was her biggest fear, wasn't it? The fear that people would leave her, choose others over her. Well, fortunately (or possibly, unfortunately) for her, Kokichi liked her company, so she wasn't ever getting rid of him completely.

After spending an hour or so going over designs and ideas for Kiibo, Miu decided on a few she would want to try making, drawing out some parts that she would need and handing the list to Kokichi.

"If you aren't sure if it's the same thing, just grab it anyway 'cause I'm sure I can find a use for most anything even if you grab some stuff that isn't what I'm looking for."

Kokichi grinned, grabbing one of Miu's pocket lined belts since he didn't have his cargo pants that day. "I know! C'mon, I've done this fetching job for you for forever, I know what to do!"

Miu laughed, "Yeah, whatever, doesn't change the fact you're absolutely terrible at it!" The lie was easy to spot, but Kokichi was pretty used to that by then. "Also, you hafta bring Shit-hara with ya' 'cause… y'know, having two idiots looking for a needle in a haystack is way more efficient than just one idiot!"

He gave her an odd look as he adjusted the belt around his waist, "Why Saihara-chan? You think he's good at looking for stuff just 'cause he's a detective or something? Ha, You better not be trying to replace me with him just 'cause of his talent, Iruma-chan."

She scoffed, "Well, yeah, he's probably good at that, but don't lie and say you don't want an excuse for alone time with him, hah!"

Kokichi had to admit… that was something that would be scarce with how they all lived. The only 'alone time' they had gotten was how they had hung around in the living area after everyone had gone to sleep, and also getting out of home base entirely. So, he was grateful, he supposed, for Miu's support despite any extra connotations there may have been behind it.

Wearing a big grin, he responded, "Oh, yeah! And I can call it our first date! Thanks, Iruma-chan!"

Miu looked a bit baffled by his response, clearly used to him denying anything that had to do with his feelings or relationship with Shuichi. "W-Well, yeah! You better thank me! But… Since when were you just… open about you two? Don't you usually tell me to, y'know… mind my own business or… whatever?"

He just hummed nonchalantly, "Is that what I usually do?" He finally had the belt on correctly, and then headed to leave. Stopping only when Miu continued talking to him.

"Yes, that's what you usually do! Don't tell me you're being like this 'cause…" She trailed off as it seemed to click in her head. "Holy shit— Don't tell me—" She kept cutting herself off, hesitating to admit it out loud.

Kokichi just grinned teasingly at her before turning around to open the door, the list of parts in his hand as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"You damn lucky bastard!" Was the last thing Kokichi heard Miu yell at him before the door was completely closed and he laughed at the statement. He was a pretty lucky bastard, wasn't he?

. . .

Already dressed for the day, wearing that slightly tatty trench coat he had been wearing the other day, Shuichi sat in an armchair reading a book. Kokichi hated to interrupt him when he looked so focused, but he came over and tapped the man on the shoulder to get his attention when his presence wasn't enough to do that.

Shuichi looked up at him, quickly saving his page and closing the book on his lap as a small smile formed on his face. "Ah, hey. Good to see you, Ouma-kun. Are you… Are you heading out or something?"

Kokichi grinned, showing Miu's list in his hand, "Iruma-chan specifically requested that you have to accompany me to fetch these parts. I know that the last thing you'd want to do is hang around with me, but, sorry! It's the inventor's orders!"

Joining the conversation from the chair nearest to Shuichi's, Kaito turned to the two of them and asked, "You two are going outside, right? I'll head out with ya' if you don't mind, I'm pretty sure I'm next on food duty…" Without waiting for any response, Kaito stood up with sudden purpose to head across the room.

Shuichi, setting the book down in his place, stood up as well, giving an awkward smile. "I guess we're waiting for him, huh? Or… Did the inventor's orders specify we go out on our own?"

"Oh? Saihara-chan wants alone time, does he?" Kokichi asked teasingly. He was a bit surprised at the man's clear intentions, but in no way was he against it. "Don't worry, we can just split up at the crossroads."

Kaito returned with his usual smile as well as with Maki in tow. The latter had her arms crossed and a resting frown (not too unlike Shuichi's when Kokichi realised it) on her face. Yet, despite outward appearance, she rarely complained about having to be security when others left, and that time wasn't any different.

After saying his quick goodbye to, as he called her, 'Harumaki,' outside the main entrance, Kaito gave the two of them a thumbs-up and announced, "Well, guess you two are my sidekicks today! It's good to be in the company of others even if you are on different missions, ha!"

Shuichi gave him an awkward, affirmative response as Kaito, naturally, took the lead.

As slightly annoying as Kaito was, Kokichi was glad knowing they'd eventually split up, and he was also glad that Kaito liked being a few paces ahead at all times, because it meant he didn't have to wait for one thing at least.

Kokichi gave Shuichi, who walked beside him, a quick teasing smile before taking the man's hand in his own and looking ahead as if it were the most normal thing ever. Their fingers interlaced as if it was something they had done a million times before instead of only the few times that they had. (Though, Kokichi found that he could easily imagine a future where the gesture was something automatic that didn't require any sort of question or thought beforehand.)

The feeling brought him drowsy memories of the night before, sitting opposite each other on the couch, with his hands placed in Shuichi's. Kokichi glanced up and over at Shuichi's face as they walked through the dimly-lit tunnels. All he could think of was that face slightly flushed under the fake moonlight.

Kaito was whistling an oddly familiar tune as he walked ahead of them. It echoed along the tunnels, both drowning the sound and exemplifying it. It wasn't too annoying, so Kokichi supposed he didn't mind at all.

"Are you thinking about it, too?" Shuichi asked in a hushed voice meant for only Kokichi to hear after a few moments of Kaito's slightly off-key whistle solo had passed. It didn't take much thinking to know what he was referring to while they walked hand-in-hand. What other than the confessions and moments they had the night before? No, Kokichi didn't think it was possible to think about much else.

"Can't stop thinking about me, huh?" Kokichi teased in response with a matching hush voice.

As much as he'd love to loudly embarrass Shuichi in front of an oblivious Kaito, he decided that it'd be much more fun to be subtle about whatever they had and wait for the idiot to slowly pick up on it himself. Though, Kokichi couldn't imagine that they would need to be more obvious than holding hands and having hushed conversations like they were, but Kaito could be pretty dense.

Predictably, Shuichi's cheeks turned pretty pink as he averted his gaze in response to Kokichi's teasing. It was a clear 'yes' before the man could even give his awkward response of, "I… I suppose that would be the case, heh."

Kokichi simply hummed, satisfied with that answer. He wanted to keep talking, maybe mess with Shuichi a bit, but they were still trailing behind Kaito, and… Kokichi couldn't even lie, he found the silence between them oddly comforting. As if… It didn't even matter so much if words were said, because the company was plenty enough.

The three of them finally emerged from the dark tunnels out into the better-lit alleys (though, it was still darker than home base). It was likely nearing noon with how the sun was nearly able to be seen in the strip of sky visible between the towering buildings around them.

It dawned upon Kokichi as the three of them walked down the familiar alleyway that they were in the same place with the same group of people as they had been when everything had started. In fact… Kokichi swore he recognised the swept aside pieces of a certain blown-to-bits bot that had nearly killed him only a week ago when they walked past.

He spared a discreet glance at Shuichi, a sense of disbelief settling over him as he then moved his eyes to their entwined hands. Only a week ago. A week ago Shuichi had had some worried thoughts about Kokichi's recklessness which had then developed into… this.

How many weeks had Kokichi spent silently pining? How many weeks had Kokichi spent trying to forget his feelings? How many weeks had passed just for Shuichi to fall for him in only one? Kokichi didn't even fully understand why the man had done that. Though, by then, it was an undeniable truth.

Kokichi's boots clinked with each step, a familiar noise he had always taken quite a liking to. Kaito's whistling continued softly, adding some ambiance to the often deathly silent maze of alleys they walked through. Though, eventually, they reached the crossroads where Kaito was meant to head toward the place where they got their food (they bought it off of scavenger bots who they had previously helped back before they had found home base).

Kaito stopped and turned to face them, asking, "We go left, right?"

Shuichi nodded, "Yeah. Um, but…" He looked over at Kokichi as if for confirmation before giving Kaito an awkward smile. "Ouma-kun says it would be best that we go the other way, so… I'll see you back at home base, Momota-kun."

He blinked in shock, looking between the two of them, "Wait, you're leaving me all alone?" He let out a small sigh, putting a hand on his side. "Alright… Just be careful out there, Shuichi! And…" He looked over at Kokichi before continuing, "Ouma, you better not do anything stupid that gets my sidekick into trouble, you got that?"

Kokichi grinned dramatically wide as he often did, responding childishly, "O-kay!"

Then, after giving Shuichi a final parting, Kaito turned around and headed left, leaving the other two to head straight down the alley.

"Well…" Kokichi started after a moment more of silence. "Now that I have your best man's blessing, all I need is Akamatsu-chan and Harukawa-chan's blessings, huh?"

Shuichi responded with an expected look of shock, questioning Kokichi's words. "'Blessings'? What are you talking about Ouma-kun?" He sighed a moment later when he seemed to partially understand, following up with, "Plus, Momota-kun didn't even seem to notice…"

"Whatever you say, Mr. Detective… I think he definitely noticed, though. I mean, there's already three others who know. Iruma-chan… Harukawa-chan… Amami-chan…" Kokichi noticed Shuichi's face light up with slight bewilderment at the names, so he grinned and explained, "Amami-chan and Iruma-chan figured it out on their own, both are apparently very nosy. Harukawa-chan… I'm simply guessing she's pretty capable of putting two and two together, y'know?"

The man nodded silently in understanding, looking around in thought as they walked down the narrow, stone path. A moment later, he let out a soft laugh, a small smile settling onto his lips. "It's still so unbelievable, I mean…" He let out a sigh of what Kokichi could only relate to some sort of wonder. "I never would've thought it'd turn out this way before, but… I'm glad it did."

Kokichi scoffed, not really knowing where the sentimental words came from all of a sudden. Though, the same thought was still in his mind. Disbelief, but… that same thought of being grateful it turned out that way too. Shuichi felt the same way he did. Funny how he was finding that out about more and more things.

"Sorry… Is that… Is that too much?" Of course Shuichi would take the embarrassed response the wrong way.

He let out a huff of laughter as he turned his head to face the man. "Not at all," He said truthfully, "I'm just… not used to it, yet."

Shuichi gave his hand a light squeeze of reassurance. "I feel the same. But still, I…" He stopped walking suddenly, looking ahead of them. Kokichi thought it was because of something in the alley at first, but realised the man had done it mindlessly when he quickly snapped from the brief daze with a, "Sorry, I– I didn't mean to stop." There was an unsaid 'but' at the end of his phrase, like he had more to say.

Kokichi, though a bit reluctantly, let go of Shuichi's hand and said, "Wellll, since we're stopped, we might as well search around the scrap here for some of those parts Iruma-chan wants." He pulled out the piece of paper Miu had given him with the different parts, trying to commit the shapes and little notes she had written about each piece to memory already.

The man let out a small sigh, "Alright… I guess that is what we came out here for…" There was unmistakable disappointment in his voice, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was he was disappointed about.

He wanted to scoff and roll his eyes, but he wasn't going to act like he wasn't also thinking about the same sort of things. So, before Shuichi could completely turn away, he stepped closer and quickly hoisted himself onto tip-toes with a hand on Shuichi's arm to place a small kiss on the man's lips.

Kokichi pulled back with a teasing smile at the other's shocked face. "No need to be all sad, Saihara-chan. Let's just get this job done and over with, right?"

After his initial shock had passed, Shuichi let out a small laugh, unable to hide his rosy cheeks nor the smile that had settled onto his soft lips. "Ah, of course. You're right, Ouma-kun."

He couldn't hold back his own smile either, Shuichi's was just too contagious. "Then come help me find these parts already, silly!"

Kokichi may have been stuck doing the same job he had been a week ago, and, maybe to the others, it would seem like nothing had changed, but that couldn't be further from the truth. No, other than Kiibo, maybe not a single thing had changed for many of the others, but…

In his eyes, everything was different now. Somehow, everything was just a bit brighter than it had been a week ago. And… A year ago? A year ago he never would've expected any of it.

It had been one year since Kokichi had died alone on that press in that game, but never would he have to be alone again. The thought felt strange to think so confidently, but… everyone kept reassuring that idea. It was getting more difficult to deny, so… he really wasn't alone and never had to be.

Kokichi was finally starting to believe it.

.

.

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