ɪ ꜱᴛᴏʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, ꜱᴏ ɴᴏᴡ ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴀᴛɪꜱꜰɪᴇᴅ || SAIOUMA

Chapter 8 - Kaede's family

Before I went home, I decided to stop off at my uncle's apartment. I opened the door to see him in his armchair, watching something on tv.

'Hey Shuichi,' he said without looking away.

'Uh, hey Uncle...' I said nervously, taking a seat on the couch, 'How are you?'

'I'm good, but don't bother about that,' he replied, still staring at the tv.

'Okay...?'

I looked at what he's watching on the tv, some weird show about people trying to kill each other while locked up in a school. It actually looked kind of interesting.

My uncle spoke up again, eyes still locked forwards. 'So... Are you dating anyone yet?'

'Well...' Better to tell him sooner than later... 'Yes.'

He looked away from the tv and stared me in shock. 'You... What?'

'Yes, I have a girlfriend... Kaede.'

'Oh, and what happened to you both focusing on your work?'

'Well, we both have stable jobs now...' I muttered, staring down, 'So I thought... yeah...'

'So, when can I meet her?'

'I'll have to ask her,' I sighed.

*Timeskip to a week later*

'So... This is my boyfriend, Shuichi.'

I nervously waved at the two people in the room, an older man who I presumed was her dad, and a person who looked almost identical to Kaede, except for their hair, which was cut short to their jaw..

'Heh, hi..?'

The younger person jumped up and practically ran towards me. 'Hi Shuichi! I've been wanting Kaede to get a boyfriend forever! It took her long enough.'

Kaede smiled. 'This is my sister, Aika. She's my identical twin.'

The man stood up. 'It's nice to meet you. Would you like a drink? We have tea and coffee.'

'Ah, coffee please,' I say awkwardly, 'Thanks...'

*****

After an hour at Kaede's house, my phone rang. 'Ah, I'm sorry, can I step outside for a second?'

After a nod of confirmation from Kaede, I stepped out of the room and answered. Kirigiri's voice came onto the phone. 'Saihara. Can you come over to the detective agency? It's an emergency.'

'Wait, what happened? I'm at Kaede's house at the moment so it might take a while to get there.'

'Just get here as soon as you can. We've made a breakthrough on the Phantom Thief case.'

I felt multiple things at Kirigiri's words. In a way, I'm glad for this to all be over, but at the same time... something feels wrong.

I stepped back into the room. 'It's been really nice seeing you all, but I have to go. There's an emergency at work.'

Kaede's dad nodded. 'It was nice having you here. Come back any time.'

'Yeah, you should!' Aika said, 'Just make sure to let me know beforehand so I can come over.'

As I walked towards the doorway, I felt both pairs of eyes looking at me and Kaede. I knew what they wanted me to do.

Regretting all my life choices, I quickly kissed Kaede and left before anyone could say anything.

Kokichi Pov

Shuichi... kissed Kaede...

I knew I shouldn't have followed him here. I'm not a stalker, right?

Anyway, me and Shuichi... we're just a criminal and the detective trying to catch him, that's all.

Then... why does it hurt so much seeing him kiss someone?

Sitting on a roof, I came to the conclusion that I'd done the very thing I'd sworn not to do.

I'd fallen in love with Shuichi Saihara.