Needle and Thread - Oumasai

Beginner's Luck

Kokichi let out a loud gasp; He couldn't take his eyes off of the sight. Shuichi kept his hat down to cover his eyes, not wanting to look at the other.

"W-What..?" Ouma struggled for the right words, he never expected to see this level of damage, "...d-did..your relative do this?"

Saihara remained silent as his eyes started to water.

"Why did they do this to you?"

"..."

"Shuichi.."

"...."

"Shuichi.." Ouma repeated himself.

"...I know how horrible they look. They're d-disgusting... I-I.. I'm sorry.."

"They're burn marks.. who would burn their own.." In truth, his arms looked horrific, but Kokichi knew that it was best to lie. The shorter male tilted his head as he looked up at Shuichi. He snatched his hat off to reveal his face, "They don't look so bad.. Wait, Shuichi ....why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything."

Shuichi pulled his sleeves back down quickly, attempting to move out of Kokichi's way, but the individual refused to move. "W-wait..let me...bandage you," he muttered, "Sit down on my bed."

The navy-haired male followed the instructions and walked over, sitting on the bed, fidgeting with his hands. He kept looking at Kokichi, who was gathering the bandages and left the room only to come back with another item.

"What's that?"

"It's a type of cream to help the pain, but mostly to prevent infections," he explained as he gave Saihara a warm smile. The smaller individual sat down on the bed and faced Shuichi, a somewhat forced grin on his face as he tried to lighten the mood, "Put your arm out~"

He gave his arm to Kokichi, keeping quiet for a few minutes before speaking, "D-Don't you.. w-want.. to.. as-k?"

"Well, it's not my business, is it? Sooo I wouldn't want to pressure you for details."

A few more moments of silence passed before Shuichi spoke up again, this time even more nervously, "C-Can.. I.. I think I.. need to tell s-omeone.."

Kokichi's gaze moved up to meet Shuichi's, but he pretended to not be as surprised as he was, "Of course~"

"Well.. t-o answer.. your q-question.. it's my uncle.. t-the famous detective that I mentioned before.. h-he.. has strict rules. I-If my rank goes below 2.. then this.. he g-ets a candle or a l-lighter a-and..." Shuichi trailed off, glancing down at the burn marks.

Ouma didn't realize that his hands were trembling as he was applying the cream onto Saihara's arm. To keep the taller male distracted from the pain, he kept talking, "Why does he care so much about what your rank is?"

"I-I don't know...but I-It's all h-he cares about.."

"Ohhh, that's why you study so much?"

"Y-Yeah.. that's why it's so excessive.."

Kokichi began to bandage up his arm once he was done with the cream, "...Shuichi.. we're um...friends right?~"

A weak smile formed on Shuichi's face as he heard the words escape Kokichi's mouth, "Y-Yeah.. I-I hope s-so.."

Ouma looked up and smiled back at him, opening his mouth to say something, but ended up taking it back and stayed quiet. He finished bandaging Shuichi up and sat next to him, "We're still going to the beach...right?~"

"D-Do you still want to go w-ith me? Now that y-you've seen.."

"Of course~ If anything, you need a break like this. Don't you trust me?~"