The Love Project (ShuichixKokichi)

Go Get Him!

Shuichi opens the gym door and quickly walks down the halls in search of Kokichi. It's then that he realizes he has no idea where the supreme leader could be. Anxiety swarms him as he thinks about all the possible places he could be, but he tries to ignore it. Now was the perfect time to put his detective skills to the test.

He decides to check their classroom first.

Shuichi hurriedly opens the door to the classroom. Inside, he finds Miu and Keebo working on their project with no Kokichi in sight.

"Hey it's pooichi!" Miu teases when she notices Shuichi standing in the doorway.

"Hello Shuichi," Keebo smiles.

"H-hey. Have you two seen Kokichi?" the detective asks.

"Why would I know where that little abortion is?" The inventor says with a laugh. Shuichi just sighs. Not now Mui!

"I saw him not too long ago," Keebo chimes in. "He was walking toward the exit,"

"Do you know where he was going?" Shuichi asks.

"No... I asked him if he was going to wait for you, but he just called me a romba and ran away. How robophobic!" Keebo says with robotic tears welling in his eyes. Mui pats him on the back.

"Thanks Keebo," the detective says with a smile. He turns to walk out the classroom with newfound inspiration.

"Shove your way to him Shuichi!" Mui yells as he starts toward the exit.

The detective walks toward the doors of the school. He open the doors and is about to sprint down the stairs when he slams into something. He falls to the ground with a hard thud.

"Nyeh!" A small voice gasps. Shuichi looks up to see Himiko on the ground with Tenko standing next to her.

"Watch it you degenerate! You hurt Himiko!" Tenko yells.

"Ah! Sorry Himiko!" Shuichi gasps, reaching out a hand to help the magician up.

"Nyeh. It's okay..," Himiko says, taking Shuichi's hand. "I put up a force field before you ran into me, so I'm unharmed!"

"Right..,"

"Why're you running around like a psychopath anyway?" Tenko asks angerly. "Your not planning anything evil are you?!"

"Wha- no! Um...I'm trying to find Kokichi! Have you seen him?" Shuichi scrambles. Tenko and Himiko exchange a look.

"Why are you looking for him huh?" The akito master asks.

"I... have something to tell him," the detective sighs. Tenko looks like she wants to ask more, but keeps quiet when Himiko tugs on her sleeve.

"I saw him go that way," she says, pointing behind Shuichi. Isn't that the way to the gas station?

"Thanks Tenko," he says gratefully. He runs down the stairs and turns in the direction of the gas station.

"Tell me if you need a love potion!" Himiko yells.

Shuichi makes his way to the gas station. Eventually, he arrives at the 11-7 him and Kokichi went to. Anxiously, he walks into the gas station. He recognizes the cashier standing at the register as the girl who tried to get Kokichi's number. He gives her a slight glare as he walks to the slushy section of the gas station, but it's to no avail. Kokichi isn't there either.

Shuichi sighs sadly. Now what? He was all out of leads. The detective couldn't think of any more places Kokichi could be and it wasn't like help was going to appear out of thin ai-

"Shuichi?" The detective turns to see Kaito and Maki standing behind him with slushees in their hands.

"Kaito? Maki? What're you doing here?" Shuichi says.

"We were on our way home and wanted some slushees," Maki says, taking a slip from her slushee. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm actually looking for Kokichi. Have you seen him?" Shuichi asks.

"Huh, that's convenient. He was leaving right when we got here," Kaito laughs. "Why're ya lookin' for him?"

"I need to tell him something. Did you see which way he went?"

"Hmm, I think I saw him turn in the direction of the mall," Kaito recalls. "What'd ya needa tell him?"

"I'll tell you later," Shuichi says quickly, already walking to the exit. "Thanks Kaito!"

"Hey wai-" Kaito yells, but Shuichi is already gone. "What was that about?"

"I think that detective side of him finally started working," Maki smirks. Kaito widens his eyes.

"No way... Go get him Shuichi!" He cheers, slamming his fists together. Maki smiles along with him.

Shuichi runs as fast as he can to the mall. By the time he gets there, the sun is already half way down. He hopes he can catch him before dark.

Hastily, he runs into the mall. He stops by the ice cream shop, the photo booth, and the various shops they had stopped at, but there's no sign of Kokichi. Finally, he stops by the fortune teller booth.

Standing outside was the long haired man who had told Shuichi his fortune. As he walks up to him, the clairvoyant's face lights up with recognition.

"Hey! You're the love dude right?! How's that goin' for ya!?" He says excitedly.

"I'm trying to figure that out right now. Have you seen my friend, Kokichi? He has purple hair and a checkered scarf?" Shuichi asks frantically.

"Oh, I know who you're talking about! I just saw him!" The fortune teller gasps.

"Did you see where he went?"

"Awe, sorry man. He just left," the clairvoyant sighs. "He went that way though. Maybe you can catch him!"

The man points in the direction of the exit the two had taken the day they left the mall. Shuichi gives a nod.

"Thank you!" He says, already turning toward the exit.

"Anytime dude! Go get your man!" The fortune teller shouts.

Shuichi leaves the mall and runs in the direction him and Kokichi has taken when they left the mall. This was his last option. If Kokichi wasn't around here, he didn't know where else to look.

Shuichi looks around the path desperately in search of Kokichi. As time passes, he begins to loose hope. The sky is almost completely painted in stars and there still isn't any trace of Kokichi.

Tiredly, he runs up the bridge and looks around for the supreme leader. That's when he sees him.

Across the bridge, Kokichi leans on the edge. The ledge was barley shorter than him, so he was able to rest against it. He had his head in one of his arms as he threw rocks over the edge... at ducks.

Was this really the person he loved?

"Kokichi..," Shuichi huffs, out of breath from running so much. The supreme leader lifts his head in surprise.

"Shuichi...?" he gasps. "How did ya know I was here?"

"I have to tell you something," the detective says.

Shuichi takes a deep breath as he prepares to tell Kokichi his feelings.