✧ Chapter 30 ✧
[ And Now While Medicated Even ]
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"First of all," Shuichi looked at the loaf of bread in front of him, "That's my bread! And secondly, there's no way we're playing such a dangerous game as this, Ouma."

Kokichi just leaned away from the knife, looking right at him, "Reallly?" he pouted, "Fine.. then we can keep moping around and being sad all the time. It seems like you got rid of your emo hat, Saihara-chan."

Shuichi blinked, confused by the sudden change of topic. Out of habit, he reached up to his head to straighten his hat but of course, it wasn't there. He played off the embarrassing move by tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear.

"I must say, your eyes look soooo much better when you don't hide them in the shadows of your hair." Kokichi looked at his fingernails.

"Uh.. Ouma?" Kaede piped up, "Are you just going to keep talking to us?" the blonde asked. She looked slightly uncomfortable because of the knife which was still embedded in the loaf of bread.

"Sure I am. I'm going to annoy the heck out of you two till you play the game." he replied simply, "And it's not a lie!"

"He's pretty annoying," Keebo stated, finally prying the knife out of  the bread and taking a bite out of the food. "No offence, Ouma."

Kokichi waved the scientist's comment away as Shuichi looked like he couldn't decide if he should play the game or not. "I mean, don't get me wrong," Kokichi continued, "You know that I can just sit here and talk all day.. but that would waste my time since I dislike hanging around with you and piano girl." he lied. "I'm only around because both of you seem to be the only ones who won't hit me if I annoy the heck out of-."

"Fine," Shuichi groaned, rubbing his head, "Your constant pestering is giving me a huge headache.. let's just play this game.."

"Yay!" Kokichi grinned, clapping his hands together. His first part of the plan worked perfectly.! Now all he had to do was... keep planning ahead.

The best plans were always the ones thought on whim. No matter how crazy the plan, all he had to do was to believe that everything would run smoothly.

"Alright Saihara-chan and Akamatsu-chan," he began, "Who would like to have the honour of going first?"

Keebo heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that he didn't need to play the game. "Don't relax yet, Keeboy," Kokichi smirked at him, "You'll get your chance to play after we finish up."

Keebo turned pale, the glasses perched on his head slipping down slightly. "Jussssst kidding," the purple haired student giggled, "That was a lie."

"I'm so confused by you, Ouma.." The scientist mumbled as Shuichi looked at Kaede, some sort of understanding passed between them. "Shuichi-." Kaede started to say when the blue haired boy shook his head, fixing his warm grey eyes on Ouma's purple ones.

"I'll give it a try first, Ouma." he said slowly, as Kokichi uncrossed his fingers from behind his back. Of course Shuichi would volunteer to go first, he was always such a gentleman.

"Alrighty then," the trickster smiled widely and plucked the knife from Keebo's hand. "Go ahead, Mister Detective," he waved the handle of the utensil towards him. "Rules are simple. Your hand on the table..."

Kokichi grabbed Shuichi's hand, and before he could lose his nerve, he placed it on the center of the table. The blue haired boy's hand was slightly sweaty but oh well. He kinda wished he could actually hold the detective's hand... someday.

"You have... hmmm.. since you're a newbie, you have half a minute instead of a full one." Kokichi continued, moving his hand away from the other male's who was still looking down at the table.

"You use the knife and stabby stab in between your fingers.. easy. Simple! Even a goof like Gonta-chan can play it."

"Don't insult Gonta like that, Ouma.." Kaede looked mildly annoyed by the purple prankster's words, "Shuichi, are you sure about this?" The boy was looking at the table, silent and still as if he were lost in thought.

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[ Shuichi ]

Did he really want Ouma to leave? The mischievous leader did distract him from the many problems he had. And somehow, Shuichi felt like Kaito was a faint memory in his mind.

Sure, he still thought about the guy, but at least he wasn't as depressed as he was the last time. He was eating again. He was finally getting back on his feet after almost a two years have gone past. Ouma distracted him from the pain of losing a close friend.

He actually wanted to let Ouma stay.. damnit. His thoughts were confusing as always.

"Shuichi!"

He flinched, the knife nearly nicking his finger. He looked at Kaede, who had called him in the first place. "Sorry, what were you saying?" he asked as the girl just sighed. "Don't apologise.. this is dangerous." she looked at Ouma, who was watching them talk. "It's not worth a risk."

Shuichi just gripped the knife tightly as Kokichi held up his handbook, setting a timer with the application installed. "If you win, I'll shut up and leave you two alone," the purple haired boy reminded, "But if you lose, I'll have a turn and when I win, you have to spend an entire day with me."

"Ooooh.." Keebo murmured as the three looked at him. "Sorry."

Shuichi took a deep breath as he heard Ouma say, "Ready.. set. Go!"

Since he hadn't played the knife game before, he was still rather hesitant. After all, who would want to stab their own finger? Miu would do that, if she were here... his hand nearly slipped, almost nicking the side of his index finger. He heard Kaede take a sharp breath when he did so.

Why was he doing this? Shuichi wondered. He forced himself not to look at Kokichi's amused expression as he concentrated on the knife. Did he want to prove himself to the purple haired student? But why? So many questions and thoughts.. Shuichi felt his heart beating wildly as he thought about how would Ouma react if he lost.

"Fifteen more seconds." Kokichi announced, sounding impressed. Shuichi concentrated, suddenly wondering if he should.. lose on purpose. No- why was he thinking this way? He wanted Kokichi to leave him alone. But did he really want to?

Over the sounds of the other students in the cafeteria, there were dull sounds of metal hitting plastic. The knife hitting the surface of the table.. and Shuichi's nervous breathing. If he hurt himself, how would Ouma react? Would he be concerned? Or would he not care at all? Shuichi felt the knife slip, cutting the side of his index finger but he stifled a gasp.

Hopefully, no one saw that.

"Time's up!" the purple haired boy announced as Kaede heaved a sigh of relief. "Wow.. I've never been so tensed up before... the last time I was tense was when I played Chopin's "Etude in G# minor.."

"As per usual, Piano Freak," Kokichi placed the handbook on the table, "We dont understand what you're rambling about."

Shuichi put the knife on the table, examining his hand for any injures, obviously having that one cut, but he disregarded it. "Well Ouma," he dropped his hand, "I won.. can you leave us alone?"

Kokichi hesitated, his gaze fixed on Shuichi's. Did.. he pick up on his lie? Ouma turned away, and raised an eyebrow, "I suppose I can't exactly refuse you.. after all, a deal's a deal." He picked up the knife, "However, I'm bored.. there's no one else to talk to."

"I'm right here," Keebo said, sounding slightly hurt. Shuichi saw Kokichi look down at the knife in his hand. "Hmmm.. I just wanted to spend time with people who I actually considered as friends." he heard the shorter boy mumble to himself.

Shuichi didn't know if he should believe what the smaller male said, but he seemed pretty genuine. After all, the liar was.. a liar. Nothing Ouma says should be taken seriously.. there's no way anyone could change that.

"Hey Ouma.." Shuichi began, hoping to catch the boy's attention. "Why don't you just.. hang out with us? We didn't have to play the knife game. It was all for nothing, you know?"

Kokichi turned to him, a sudden wide grin on his face, "What? You're willing to hang out with boring ol' me?" he twirled the knife around his hand. "Then I accept! Thank you, Saihara-chan!"

"Uh.." Shuichi froze as Kaede facepalmed herself. "Next time," she muttered to him, "Choose your words carefully."

"Alrighty," Kokichi sang as he placed a hand on the table, "Since Saihara-chan went first, I wanna try a hand with this.."

Before any of them could react, Kokichi grinned and started to play the Knife Game. Kokichi was actually really good, much to his surprise. He thought that Ouma was lying at how good he was but no way... he has never seen anyone move a knife that fast.

"Ouma.." Keebo started to say as he lifted his glass of milk off the shaking table, "Aren't you worried you might stab your finger?"

"Who cares?" the other boy replied with a laugh, humming a song as he continued stabbing the knife in between his fingers, "No one's ever going to care about me anyway."

Somehow, those words hit Shuichi hard. How could Ouma think of himself in such a way? Of course he had people who cared about him. He saw the thin lines around Ouma's wrists... remembering that it was his fault that the purple haired boy had gotten them.

Everything was starting to become Shuichi's fault. If he had payed closer attention, incidents might've been avoided.

"Uh, Ouma," he heard Keebo speak up again, "How long are you going to do this? It's been more than a minute."

"Eh?" Kokichi stopped humming the song, but he didn't stop stabbing the table with his knife, "Hmm.. till I get tired. Or bored. Maybe it'll be fun if I try more complicated ways." he started to switch the movements of the knife, experimenting.

Shuichi wanted to stop him before the boy injured himself. After all, this was dangerous! "Ouma.." he started to say when he heard a laugh and a loud thud.

And the cafeteria went dead quiet.

♥ End of Chapter Thirty ♥