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[ Welcome to hell! Welcome to hell!

Which is to say, welcome to the morning after Ouma and Shuichi's game went a little further than it probably should have. Ouma had ended up killing even more time in the tacky love hotel by giving it another, more thorough investigative sweep -- not that he found anything particularly useful, but it's good to know the layout of the place and what exactly can all be found in there item-wise. Who knows what might end up being useful or relevant in this mutual killing game fiasco. Although he lowkey hopes some of the shit he found never ends up being relevant -- but knowing Miu, it's possible.

So Ouma's a little sleep deprived, between staying out that much later and...the general exhaustion...plus his inability to stop thinking about it. Even though he'll act like he slept like an absolute baby, 'cause he's a liar. He's even dragged himself to the cafeteria for breakfast, because that's how utterly unaffected he is. Plus, he is hungry.

Thankfully (but also annoyingly, because now he's gotta go see what they're up to right now), most of the ~*~student council~*~ of Angie's, aka the brainwashed idiots, aren't really around right now. That leaves...Korekiyo, Maki, Miu, and Kaito. What a wack group. Although one of the others might show up later...or altogether, since they're teaming up. No Shuichi either, which is interesting.

But not unsurprising, he supposes.

He doubts anything would've happened to him, but there's a paranoid part of him that kind of wonders.

He's almost considering just nabbing some snacks and taking them up to his room right now, because this is pretty uninteresting!! No fights breaking out or anything. Plus, the meal quality around here has really taken a nosedive since Kirumi's death. Oh, well...

The Monokubs will probably show up to say something inane, so he should stick around. ]

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[All that does finally get Shuichi to look up at Ouma, and there's probably about twenty different emotions going on on his face at the same time. Bewilderment, frustration, confusion. A hint of irritation over this obvious attempt trip him up when Ouma was the one who swore him to silence in the first place. A bit of hurt, maybe.

His mouth presses together into a thin line in his attempt to battle all that back down and he averts his gaze. He makes himself busy finally reaching to gather himself some breakfast from an assortment of foods someone had set out on the table, pointedly keeping his eyes on his task.]

We already broke it for training.

[He's not that much of a goody-two-shoes. Does Ouma even know about their training sessions? Shuichi hasn't mentioned it himself, and he highly doubts Kaito or Maki have, but Ouma always seems to know more than he should about everything going on.]

[ The look on Shuichi's face says so much at once, and Ouma can tell he's already having a time with this. But it's best if it's Ouma that's the one interrogating him, right? If he slipped up somewhere else, from someone else, that'd just be terrible. He's kind of curious if Shuichi has even thought about a cover story yet, and how good it is. In a sense, he's also checking that.

So he knows if he needs to fix it or something. So...helpful... Sure.

This whole situation is immediately made more exciting with Kaito's presence right here, and Ouma is speaking to Shuichi as much as he's speaking to him. Although he doubts Kaito will notice. He wants him to notice though, so... ]

Oh? How'd that go?

[ Ouma looks directly at Kaito, and then at Shuichi, making it apparent he pretty much knows who Shuichi trains with.

Like he would miss something like that -- how buddy-buddy Shuichi's been with Kaito and Maki lately. It's interesting. Especially since Maki is kind of an outlier here. ]

It was fine.

[It wasn't fine, and there's definitely a bit of lingering tension over the whole thing with some of the "student council". Maybe he'd even be content to talk to Ouma about it normally. That sounds like a potentially decent conversation; a good way to pick Ouma's brain about this recent nonsense and maybe bond a little with someone who's still only sorta-kinda-maybe a friend.

But Ouma's being a dick right now and Shuichi doesn't know why, so forgive him if he's being a little curt. He frowns slightly, filling up his plate and silently willing the subject to die.

Life hates him, though, and the only things that die here are students and Monokubs, so of course Kaito suddenly diverts his attention to his "sidekick", slinging an arm around Shuichi's shoulders.]

So where'd you go last night? You weren't answering your door, we were starting to get worried when you were late for breakfast!

[Kaito's all smiles, clearly not too worried about it anymore, but under his arm Shuichi is stiff, staring hard at his plate and trying to think of a decent excuse quick. He'd already said he couldn't sleep so he can't say he'd passed out early in case Kaito had heard that, but he runs the risk of being caught in a lie if he claims to have been somewhere and someone contradicts him...]

Uh...

[He's hesitating just a bit too long. Fuck, he's too tired for this right now.]

[ Ouma's about to take another bite, clearly just minding his own business (sure) as Kaito starts speaking to Shuichi, anticipating whatever Shuichi's response is going to be here.

Except he doesn't have one. That's...not surprising, unfortunately. Ouma would sigh or something at how bad Shuichi is at this, but with Kaito right there he just smiles amicably, lowering his fork again as he answers Shuichi's question for him without blinking: ]

Saihara-chan was with me last night!

[ He wonders what Kaito will think of that, honestly.

Ouma might be legitimately having a little fun with this situation, oops. ]

[ give him a break he is a good honest boy!!

Shuichi nearly chokes on his first bite of breakfast over Ouma's interruption, but luckily the sound is drowned out by Kaito's disbeliving scoff. Jesus christ, is Ouma trying to make his life harder?

What kind of question is that? Of course he is.

Shuichi shoot Ouma an uneasy look, but for once maybe it's easy to sorta go along with it than throw him under the bus. It'd probably be easy and believeable to brush it off as a lie, but Ouma has definitely proven to be a bit spiteful sometimes when pissed off.]

We, uh...we were watching a movie from the A/V room in Ouma's dorm. I didn't realize how late it had gotten...

[He couldn't risk claiming to be somewhere in the school, but the chances of anyone stopping by Ouma's room seems pretty low. That's a little sad to consider, but he'll take advantage of it right now.

Kaito, at least, looks skeptical but not disbelieving. Probably more doubtful over the "why" than the truthfulness of that claim.]

[ Ouma nods along to Shuichi's statements with a confident smile, which...isn't really something anyone wants when giving their testimony, because Ouma is more of a discreditor than anything.

He notes all the little things that he's probably only caught so far -- Shuichi's tense reactions and uncertainty. But it's Kaito's look that spurs Ouma to butt in again with his own tangent. ]

Mmhm, that's right! Saihara-chan even picked out this totally awful movie that nearly bored me to tears...

[ A believable lie!!! Maybe. Ouma has yet to watch a movie with Shuichi or have him pick one. He kind of wants this now, but it'll be an event that happened in their web of lies, at least...that's almost good enough for Ouma in itself.

He trails off on his interruption to take a quick bite of his food, and he speaks in a somewhat muffled way with his mouth full as he tacks on all too cheerfully -- ]

...Oh yeah, then we ended up having sex!

[Remember when I said "nearly chokes" before? Because there's no "nearly" this time. Shuichi gags and coughs violently, dropping his fork to reach for Kaito's glass of water. Kaito, fortunately, is a bro who does not mind and just thumps Shuichi on the back while grandly rolling his eyes at Ouma.]

W-we didn't--!

[...do that specifically, anyway. They didn't really get quite that far. Shuichi's face is bright red, either over the reminder or Ouma's claim, and he takes his continued coughing as an excuse to cover as much of it as possible with his hand. Kaito gives him another smack on the back, more bro-ish reassurance than help with the choking at this point but it does serve to get the last bit of food out of his throat so thanks, Kaito.]

I know, relax! Christ, Ouma, learn where to draw the line! Does everything have to be a joke to you?

[That would be super reassuring to hear, but it looks like his sudden choking fit and Kaito's scolding attracted everyone else's attention and Shuichi would really like to die right now.]

[ Shuichi this isn't the kind of thing to get pedantic over. Ouma just snickers at the reaction he gets, already moving to take another bite like what he just said wasn't completely outrageous and uncalled for. Totally normal breakfast!

At least it wasn't boring anymore. Ouma shrugs at Kaito's lecturing, looking about as fazed as usual by it. ]

Ehhhh? But aren't you the only joke here, Momota-chan?

[ He's not joking he's telling the truth, okay. Sort of. This is the response he expected and was fishing for, anyway.

Call it a white lie. Even if it seems mighty dickish right now, because he sure is presenting it in such a manner. But that's the point. ]

I guess someone has to be, since our other resident lame-brains have split off and formed their own little faction. I wonder what's gonna happen now...

[ There he goes, probably making people wish he hadn't shown up to breakfast.

At least he's switched off the Shuichi topic, so there's that. ]

[By some miracle, even Miu doesn't jump on Ouma's less-nonsensical-than-usual nonsense. Small blessings. Or maybe everyone just more tense than they were letting on at first over this whole student council thing, given how quick they are to pick up that subject and start discussing it.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Shuichi is content to fall silent and let everyone talk over him. Being pretty plain is handy sometimes. His eyebrows knit together uncertainly and he gives Ouma a quiet, questioning look across the table. Was that all meant to just...get the possibility dismissed quickly and the subject diverted? Surely Ouma knows no one would believe something like that coming from him, so...was that help, in Ouma's weird way? Shuichi would like to think so. But it feels depressingly just as possible that Ouma had been trying to trip him up, either to see if he'd let anything slip or just to watch him get flustered.

He doesn't know. How can he, when Ouma makes such a point of being unreadable and unpredictable? In a better moment he might find it intriguing, but right now he's just frustrated.

So maybe he's being a teensy bit petty when he kicks at Ouma's legs under the table. Gently, of course, but. Y'know. Still.]

[ It's so great, how they all easily enough followed the hook he threw out at them. Not that he expected any differently, given the track record with how these group talks always go, but it's comforting to know he can lowkey lead them around like this even in a now-smaller group. With the conversation in the room stimulating and seemingly going somewhere, Ouma's gone to paying attention to that more than anything -- although he does catch the look Shuichi gives him out of the corner of his eye, and Ouma bets he's racking his brain over what just happened.

The thought of that pleases him a little.

It's not until Shuichi actually kicks at his legs that he turns his head to fully make eye contact with him for a few seconds. Ah, was he bothered by all that earlier talk? It's what Ouma garners from Shuichi's expression, and that's just amusing to Ouma. He reaches for his glass of soda, which he really shouldn't be pairing with breakfast, but nobody can stop him.

While he's taking a sip, he's going to kick back at Shuichi's knees, because this kind of shit is 100% on his level of behavior. ]

[Realistically, he knows this isn't actually accomplishing anything, because they definitely can't have a conversation about this right here and now even if Ouma were to actually cooperate, and he's pretty sure his soul would evacuate his body on the spot if Ouma actually tried.

But he's frustrated and he can't parse any kind of meaning behind the returned kick, so he just...kicks Ouma again. Very mature.

He's so distracted by this train of thought and clearly very effective kicking strategy that he doesn't notice Kaito's talking to him until the astronaut jostles him abruptly with a vaguely concerned ribbing. Shuichi startles, looking back to his friend a bit guiltily and definitely slightly pink, as if anyone could tell what he was doing on what was on his mind.]

Ah...sorry. I'm just a little tired.

[Right. Stop worrying about Ouma for a few minutes. Just eat and blend in.]

[ Ouma (who is keeping close tabs on the whole conversation in the room right now) had noticed Kaito talking to Shuichi, as well as the fact that Shuichi had forgone paying attention to kick him back -- so it only brings a grin to Ouma's face when Kaito snaps Shuichi back and he gets that self-conscious look on his face, complete with that piss poor excuse. It's pretty satisfying, having snared Shuichi's attention like that.

He snickers quietly about it, enough so that Shuichi can hear him before he moves to fixate his attention on finishing off whatever he's eating.

The conversation in the room ultimately seems to die out as the others nearly finish their breakfast too, and it doesn't seem like the Monokubs will be making an appearance today. There's vague talk about stopping Angie and her cult, but no solid plans from these guys (of course), and some of them are just plain disinterested in the whole thing because breakfast has apparently turned into "the group of standoffish loners" -- excluding Kaito. Which probably explains why the conversation never got too crazy...

Spoon still in hand, Ouma stretches his arms up and out all of a sudden with a loud sigh. ]

Welp, I'm all satisfied. I'm soooo glad I came to this total waste-of-time gathering!

[Ouma's snickering feels ominous, but the rest of breakfast passes quietly enough and for his part, Shuichi is grateful. He's not not worried about the student council business and the killing game and everything, same as everyone else, but there's so little energy amongst the group this morning despite Kaito's best efforts, and he really can't bring himself to complain. He needs...well, not more time to think, he had plenty of that last night and got nowhere with it. But the relative peace is soothing. He can just exist on autopilot, eating quietly and giving brief bits of input when prodded for it.

It's definitely good to have a reputation for quiet, sometimes. People bother you less.

But of course, Ouma can't just let the meal end without getting at least one snide comment in. Shuichi frowns up at him over the last remnants of his own meal, eyebrows knitting together in some odd frustration over that attitude.]

It's just breakfast. It's not like we were gathering for a meeting or something.

[He can hear his own voice coming out just faintly defensive and he hates it. Ugh. He's probably just...a little sensitive where Ouma is concerned right now. It's probably better to just let him leave and get some space to breathe freely.

That's kind of a depressing thought, though. He doesn't want to think he might spend the rest of their time here avoiding Ouma because of what happened. They weren't exactly close to begin with, but it still feels like potentially losing a friend over something that, in hindsight, was just stupid.]

[ Somebody's gotta be on their worst behavior around here!! Ouma expected a retort somewhere, and that it ends up being from Shuichi makes it all the more entertaining. Ouma scoffs at Shuichi's explanation, bringing his arms back down as he deposits his spoon into his own now empty bowl. ]

A meeting would be even worse...talk about boring! Especially with you guys.

[ Even though he would totally whine if they had a meeting without him and would eavesdrop in on it, anyway.

Ouma mannerlessly settles his elbow on the table, places the side of his face in his hand as he uses his other hand to grab the glass with the remainder of his soda. ]

So yeah, I'm actually not satisfied at all! Just what am I gonna do about that?!

[ He says this before tossing back the rest of his drink.

As he does this, he definitely moves his foot to kick Shuichi's leg again -- although he doesn't immediately withdraw this time, instead using Shuichi's leg as a guide so that he can casually trail his foot further up along the inside of Shuichi's leg. Slowly.

Not that he gets very far, because his legs do not have enough length in them to keep this shit up comfortably, so he'll move it away just in time to set his glass down and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. There's a smirk hidden there as his hand is against his mouth. ]

[Shuichi doesn't bother answering that question. He really doesn't need to with the way the rest of the table all chimes in to protest, from Maki's unrestrained scoff to Miu's more vulgar take on "who cares?" Instead he just stares Ouma down, frowning and frustrated and more than a little uncertain. What exactly in Ouma even trying to accomplish right now? If there's anything he's figured out so far, it's that there's usually a method to the madness.

It's while he's musing on that point that he feels the foot running up his leg and the train of thought comes to an abrupt, screeching halt. He stiffens, face going bright red so quickly it's frankly a miracle nothing burst in the process. For a long few moments he remains still, in disbelief and barely able to process current events let alone react properly, and fortunately the foot pulls away before pushing things into really risque territory.

Not that that really helps.

All at once, Shuichi's senses return to him, and he pushes away from the table to stand very suddenly. It's not at all a subtle movement and his chair scrapes against the floor loudly enough to draw attention back from the general ire at Ouma. Which, of course, does not help with his current redness issue. Distantly, he registers Kaito asking him what's up, and he shakes his head as he steps away from the table.]

S-sorry. I'm just...not feeling good. I'm just gonna go back to my room to lay down...

[He hears the general assent and murmurs of concern from everyone as if through a pane of glass, unable to focus on any of them in his sudden urge to evactuate. He can't even bring himself to look at Ouma before he turns to flee the room.

Of course. When he'd been thinking maybe Ouma was trying to help him out in a way, too. But that's been the theme of his life since last night, hasn't it? Ouma keeps giving him reasons to hope, little gestures that can read as kind when he thinks about them, only to unceremoniously step on those hopes the moments Shuichi's convinced himself of a more positive interpretation of things. It'd be exhausting even if he wasn't already so tired.]

[ Ouma almost seems to bask in the negative attention he's garnering, evidently unbothered as he picks at a few cubes of ice in his glass and acts like he's been minding his own business this whole time or something. As Shuichi abruptly pushes away from the table and stands up, Ouma will look at him just as everyone else is doing. Not that Shuichi is looking back at him, which is a little disappointing, but his face sure is red as he spins around to leave.

Ouma watches him go, probably the only one looking unconcerned about it (he knows it's a lie, anyway) as he keeps playing with his ice for a few more seconds. Eventually, he pushes his empty glass out of the way, apparently bored with that as he excuses himself from the table to leave himself.

...And now he's torn, because while the prospect of finding Shuichi again sounds fascinating, he has priorities that involve checking around the school for what's been going on with Angie and her minion group's behavior (even though he'll act like he doesn't care at all what's been going on with them, because they're idiots), as well as whatever the robotic bears are up to. He has a few pet projects floating around too, but he doubts he needs to check in on Miu yet for those. Ultimately, he chooses to forego finding Shuichi. It's not like he doesn't know where to find Shuichi, anyway. Shuichi isn't dumb enough to make a lie like that then screw it up by being caught hanging around the school grounds.

So it's at some a little later in the day, when Ouma's headed to his own room to compile his gatherings and overall line of thought, that he hesitates in the foyer of the dorm rooms. He debates with himself whether or not he should (does it make him seem too invested?? when he's totally not??), but it's not like that's ever stopped him before. He can lie his way out of most people's interpretations of what he's doing, anyway.

He knocks on Shuichi's door. ]

[He wasn't lying, at least. Shuichi really did go straight back to his room and attempt to just sleep (after a period of trying to smother himself with a pillow, anyway). It didn't work, really, beyond a very unsatisfying bit of dozing that only seemed to last a few minutes at a time, but he is doing what he said he would.

But he's not surprised to hear the knock on the door after a few hours. He did kinda hightail it out of there abruptly this morning looking distinctly unwell, he doesn't doubt that he worried at least a few of the others. It's probably Kaito just checking up on him like a good bro. Shuichi drags himself out of bed just for that, unwilling to leave his friend hanging, and answers the door.

It is very much Not Kaito.

Shuichi stands in the open doorway for an admirably long few seconds, face flat, before attempting to close the door in Ouma's face.]

[ Ouma was greeting Shuichi with a bright grin, but then he's gotta go and be like that. ]

Hey, hey, wait--!!

[ He blurts out, throwing his hands on the door frame as he pushes one of his elbows against the door itself to keep Shuichi from closing it -- not that Ouma is exactly number one in the strength department, but he's heavily betting on the chance that Shuichi might not be mean enough to crush his hands in the doorway.

Considering this is the same guy that flipped out about it when he got a little cut... Unless Ouma's fantastically pissed him off enough, but he's kind of here to figure that one out. ]

Don't be rude! I came all this way to check on you, y'know! Sick people should be grateful for visitors!!

[Unfortunately for Shuichi, Ouma is 100% right. Shuichi leans on the door to press it closed as much as possible, pointedly unwelcoming, but he doesn't have it in him to slam the door on Ouma's finger's. That's just too mean, even if Ouma's been an asshole.

So he's left giving the other boy a distinctly displeased and unimpressed look through the gap in the door, frowning.]

You know I'm not actually sick.

[ sick of ouma's shit, maybe. ]

Ehhh? So you're being rude and lying now? I can't believe anyone would wanna act like that...

[ Har har.

Ouma tries wedging his foot in where the door frame is now, just for backup -- there's way less of a risk of his fingers getting crushed now, but he doubts it'll happen if it hasn't already.

It's good that he can at least trust Shuichi's benevolence to more or less stable. But is Shuichi himself stable? That's still up in the air. It's hard to imagine him as a bad guy at all, though. ]

C'mon, let me in already! You wouldn't want anyone to see me crying outside your door, right?

[Shuichi closes his eyes, heaving a deeply exasperated sigh. He refuses to get drawn into a nonsense argument over something Ouma clearly knows is hypocritical bullshit. He does almost point out that no one is likely to take a crying Ouma seriously at this point besides Gonta, but that's a meaningless and distracting tangent too.

He's too tired to follow along with Ouma's roundabout games right now. Drawing a steadying breath, he gives the other boy a skeptical look through the gap and cuts straight to the main issue.]

Why do you even want to come in?

[He'd love to believe Ouma's here to talk seriously. But after breakfast, he can't help but suspect it's just going to be more of the same.]

[ You're always gonna get drawn into his nonsense somehow Shuichi you might as well just accept your fate...

Ouma cocks his head to the side, playing confused at Shuichi's question. ]

Hmmm...? I need a reason for wanting to see my beloved Saihara-chan?

[ Ouma suddenly grins, removing himself from Shuichi's doorframe and shrugging his arms out like he's giving up or something. ]

Maaan, I didn't think that far ahead. I kind of thought you had something you really wanted to say, since you were kicking me and stuff earlier... My bad!

[ ...Alright, he's admittedly trying to bait Shuichi here, but if Shuichi's fine with leaving things like this -- that's fine too, he supposes. Maybe. He's still figuring out how to deal with all of this himself.

So he'll turn on his heel with a small wave, like he's going to leave Shuichi alone now or whatever. ]

[This is bait. This is obviously bait. He knows this is bait.

But he still ends up stammering indignantly at Ouma's back before getting actual words out, absolutely falling for that bait out of pure frustration.]

You told me to stay quiet about everything and then brought it up to everyone!

[Just to give him a hard time. Christ. He knows even this is just more of the same, that he's falling into yet another trap here, but he can't resist the urge to lay out that injustice, cheeks going a little pink with emotion as he leans out the half-open door a little.]

[ Ouma feels his heart skip a beat when he hears Shuichi actually take the bait, maybe a little enthused about it because this is the outcome he definitely preferred. He stops in his tracks, throwing his hands behind his head nonchalantly as he turns back around to face Shuichi with a smile. ]

Yeeeeah, but I never said I'd stay quiet!

[ Even though that was inherently insinuated... ]

Maybe I just wanted to handle things myself, y'know? Is that so bad?

You were't "handling" it, you were messing with me.

[There it is, all laid out. Well, not all. He could definitely say a lot about how deliberately rollercoaster-esque it all feels, getting lead through the ups and downs of sweet gestures and being teased and pushed away, how he can't help but wonder if the entire incident last night was just to set this situation up to fuck with him like this, how much he really doesn't appreciate it when he's pretty sensitive about the whole thing to begin with because he's honestly kind of a romantic and never anticipated his first anything going down so unceremoniously and Ouma is really just pouring salt in the wound...

Yeah. He could say a lot. And for a long few moments there's a lot going on on his face as he tries to think of how to communicate any of it. But eventually he just frowns deeply and clenches his eyes shut, heaving a sigh through his nose and leaning his forehead against the doorframe.]

I really don't have the energy for this...

[Y'know. Because someone stole his first kiss and handjob virginity last night and then kept him awake by being a confusing fuck about it.]

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casually just adopts a kaito muse because why not

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