Needle and Thread - Oumasai

Better off alone

Shuichi was using his phone as a flashlight to see his textbook in the dark. He noticed the time when his phone lit up, showing that he had a notification, "Oh.. no, no, no.. 9 already?" 

He clumsily gathered all of his books up and slumped them into his backpack in an unorganised fashion before throwing it across his shoulder and running out of the park. Saihara crashed through the front door of his house, out of breath. He lived 40 minutes away from the school and normally got a train there so he never ran anywhere at all.

He pulled his hat further down onto his face as he started to walk towards the kitchen. If he was going to stay up all night again, he needed as much coffee as he could possibly make.

~~

Shuichi's body felt weaker as his eyes struggled to stay open, but he forced himself

to stay awake. He left his room for a study break since he had been working non-stop for hours.

1am.

"Shuichi?" He heard a knock on the kitchen door, "What are you doing still awake?"

Saihara's shoulders tensed up as he glanced over his shoulder, "I-I'm...thirsty.. I was just getting a drink, that's all."

"Well, I just received an email from your school informing me of your achievements. It is very impressive, I'm proud of you."

"...thanks," the blue-haired individual muttered in response.

"Get some sleep after you have something to drink, goodnight Shuichi."

Shuichi listened until his uncle's footsteps faded completely before his shoulders dropped. He tiredly walked back to his room with three cups of coffee. Shuichi set all of them down on his desk and turned off his light for a few minutes, just to be sure that he was in the safe before turning it back on and returning to studying.

If school started at 8am and it was 1am currently, then he could keep revising for another 3 hours and still manage to stay awake during school. He had the deadlines for the next set of tests and he had to maintain his rank.

No matter what.

~~

"Shuichi?"

"SHUICHI?" He snapped awake to the feeling of someone shaking him, "You have 10 minutes to get ready for school."

The exhausted individual sat up and rubbed his eyes, "T-Ten.. m..minutes?"

"Don't be late. If you feel like you won't be able to make it on time, I can give you a lift if you need one."

Shuichi shook his head as he scanned his eyes around the room, wanting to locate the parts of his uniform that he needed. "No, really, I'll be fine."

His uncle shrugged, "If you say so. There's a high chance that I won't be home until around 11pm, so I trust that you will get all of your schoolwork done by then."

Saihara nodded and proceeded to take out his high rank uniform from his bureau.

~~

Kokichi walked into the school, pretending that every single step he took wasn't pure agony and trying his best not to limp. He kept a smirk on his face, faking a look of confidence and hiding his hunger as he walked down the hallways.

Ouma caught a glimpse of a high rank student walking directly towards him with a furious expression.

"I'll put you in your place, you piece of shit," the individual swung a fist at Kokichi, but he just barely dodged it.

"R-Rantaro, wait!" Shuichi used his low energy to catch up to his friend, panting once he reached him,"D-Don't..."

"Why not? Kaito's in the fucking hospital getting stitches because of him."

"W-Well.. Kaito did hurt him too.."

"Are you defending this low life?" Amami asked, giving the blue-haired student a cold stare and lifting Kokichi up by his shirt's collar.

"His life isn't worth any less.." Shuichi paused, looking at Rantaro's almost horrified expression, "..p-please just let him go."

The pissed off male let his gaze switch from Shuichi to Kokichi a few times, ".....fine." He let go of the short individual and let him fall to the ground, "You're lucky that I let things slide better than Kaito does."

Shuichi let out a relieved sigh, but was caught off guard as Rantaro got up in his face, "I'm telling Kaito about this." As Amami walked away from them, Shuichi awkwardly glanced at the smaller, purple-haired male.

"S-Sorry about th-"

"You should get new friends," Ouma muttered before turning his back on him.

"I-I.. I hope that you're o-okay. No-one should be treated like.. I'm s-sorry.."

Kokichi let those words sink in for a few moments and decided to face the other; His eyes showed hints of curiosity and interest. He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his words last minute, "I'm fine."

"A-Alright. J-Just if you need anything.. I.." Shuichi's sentence got quieter and quieter as he spoke. The short low rank began walking away as the other male talked, blocking out everything he was saying. The taller boy cut himself off before he had finished his sentence, well aware that he was talking to no-one.

Panic took over his emotions as he heard the bell ring for class, telling him that he was late. He started to run as if his life depended on it, keeping one hand on his hat and making sure that it didn't come up off his head.

Every student in the room turned their heads to look at the individual that ran into the room. The teacher spoke in a strict and disappointed tone, "Shuichi Saihara, you're late."

"I.. I'm sorry, I didn't notice the first bell had rung."

"...I'll let it slide this time, however, if you're late again, I'll send you to detention."

Shuichi attempted not to react to the words 'detention' and simply nodded. He nervously sat in his seat, knowing that his uncle had very strict rules about his studies.

He couldn't be late again.

He couldn't get a detention.

~~

Ouma on the other hand was aware of the time, but he didn't care about how late he was to class. It wasn't like his mom would care about his attendance records. He turned a corner and froze, anger building up inside him as soon as he saw him.

"Keebo! What the hell?!"

The white-haired male turned around and greeted Ouma with a fake wave and a lying smile.

"Ah, Kokichi, I-"

"You've been ignoring me for weeks! What the fuck are you doing?"

Kokichi gazed down at the individual, starting to piece the puzzle together. Keebo was sitting on the floor with a bunch of textbooks around him.

"I'm just-"

"Tired of being a low rank?" Kokichi scoffed in disbelief, "So now you're trying to become one of them? I thought you hated those high ranks! They humiliated you, remember?!"

"But you hate being a low rank. They beat you up every day."

"....."

Something about the other student's words caused Kokichi to snap, completely changing his attitude, "Nishishi~ Wow Keebo, how are you going to become a high rank when your brain is so dense?~"

Before the student could respond, the purple-haired male stepped on his textbook and dug his foot into it, "Good luck~"

Ouma turned his body away and walked down the hall as if nothing happened.

Nothing did happen.

He didn't just lose his only friend.

He wasn't alone.

He wasn't lying.