Trapped (Pregame Ouma x Ingame Shuichi) {COMPLETED!}

six

Kaede stood there, stunned. "Y-You mean..?"

She glanced over to Himiko's room and shivered.

She peeked around my shoulder, and I followed her gaze. She was looking at Kokichi, who was holding his hands behind his back, blinking away tears. She gasped and ran over to him. "Kokichi?! Are you okay?!"

"A-Ah! Sorry!" Kokichi yelped. He hid behind his arms as if he were shielding himself from Kaede. Kaede frowned and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. He just whimpered.

"Hey, it's okay Kokichi! I'm not going to do anything to you," she explained. "Trust me."

He glanced behind her and looked at me, almost looking like he wanted permission to do something. Permission for what, and why?

I simply shrugged, not really knowing what else to do, and he hugged her tightly. She carefully hugged him back.

"Kaede!!! Don't tell me you have a thing for the little shit too!" Miu whined. "Jeez, what do you guys see in him?" she asked, glancing at me and Kaede.

"Jesus, Miu," Kaede groaned. "Just because I'm trying to comfort him doesn't mean I like him! Plus, I already like someone else.." she said, blushing.

"Cool it, Miu," Kaito told her. "I hate Kokichi as much as you, but leave Kaede be."

Miu whined and went into her room. Kaede waved a small goodbye to all of us and left too.

Left was Kokichi, Kaito and I. Kokichi turned his heel and went into his room, but stopping midway and looking at me pleadingly again. I nodded, still confused about the whole situation. He shut the door.

"What the hell just happened?" Kaito asked me, confused. I sighed and explained the situation, as he nodded along like he understood. "So just be gentle with him, okay?" I said, as I finished my sentence.

"Uh, okay. But I still have one question," he said.

"Shoot."

"He seemed really reliant on you, don't you think?" he said. "He grabbed onto your shirt when you started to leave him, and he kept looking at you like he wanted approval,"

"Yeah, I was confused about that too, actually," I said, suddenly remembering why I was mostly confused about the situation. "Do you think it has to do with his memories?"

"Maybe. But why would you be in his memories? Didn't we all come from different places and backgrounds?"

"That, I'm not sure. I might have to get it out of him somehow," I explained, peering at his door. This might take a while.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

For the next few days, Kokichi didn't come out of his room. I was almost worried he would starve. Kirumi kept trying to make him food, but he kept refusing. "G-Go away!" he'd said, right through the door. It was almost as if he were sitting right on the other side.

Kaede was especially worried. She loved everyone here, after all. She always wanted me to tell her what was going on with him, even though I didn't know. It was always hard explaining that to her.

She was very angry at Himiko, too. She didn't think he deserved what she gave him. "It's awful, Himiko!" she said, interrupting my thoughts. "He's a whole different person! You completely erased everything he had!" she cried, wiping away tears. I didn't think she cared about him that much...

"He needs to learn his lesson," Himiko explained calmly, but hastily.

"He doesn't even remember what he did! How can he learn his lesson when he doesn't know what lesson he's learning?!"

I tried to sit in the cafe and just eat my food, but over all the yelling it was hard to clear my head. I dumped my plate and headed to my room.

I walked down the hallway and passed Kokichi's room without a second thought, but stopped when I heard sniffling. Was someone crying...?

When I investigated a bit more, it was clear that it was coming from Kokichi's room. I sighed and knocked on his door.

The crying stopped almost immediately, and the door gradually opened. Kokichi was standing there, wiping tears off of his face. He was extremely skinny and pale, almost worryingly so. When he looked up at me, he revealed dark bags under his eyes, too. He really wasn't healthy.

I kneeled down and took his face in my hands. He let a single tear drop from his eye.

"Kokichi, you're not okay," I said. "What's going on?" He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and kept silent. I sighed and tapped his nose, hoping to make him smile. He giggled and... genuinely looked happy for the first time since he'd gotten his memories back. But he stopped after only a few seconds, with a look of guilt on his face. He looked down and said, "I-I'm sorry..."

"You're sorry? Sorry for what?"

"I-I..."

"See? There's nothing to be sorry about. You're just fine," I assured him.

He nodded and smiled faintly, just as he had a few days ago when Maki comforted him. It was....

Cute.

It was almost hard not to pull him into the tightest hug you could imagine, but considering his current state, I might even hurt him. "Cmon," I said. "We need to get you some food."

"But-"

"No buts. You need to eat, Kokichi," I explained calmly.

He started to protest, but I began to go down the hallway back down to the cafe, so he ran and caught up to me. He grabbed my sleeve and stayed that way the entire way there.