Second Chances || Saiouma

Chapter 4

Shuichi's heart was going a mile a minute, thumping erratically in his chest at Kokichi's words. Date? Was it a date? Kokichi shifted in his seat to look at Shuichi freak out more thoroughly.

"What?" Kokichi asked, bemused.

"It's not a date!" He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. It's not a date. Kaede just wanted to go out to dinner with him, nothing more. "Right?"

"Let me see what her text said." Kokichi leaned back against the cushions with his knees bent under him and held out his hand. Shuichi reached for his phone in his pocket, tapping probably too hard on the screen to get to Kaede's text, handing it over to Kokichi. "'Hi Shuichi! If you're not busy today would you like to get dinner with me at seven? I'll text you all the details' yep this sounds like a date."

Shuichi's head felt dizzy, had he really messed up and thought they were just hanging out? He didn't know the first thing about dating. Does this mean Kaede likes him? Does he like Kaede? Kaede is his best friend, but... he's never thought it was more than that.

He ran his hands through his hair tugging on it slightly. "What do I do? I've never been on a date."

Kokichi looked down at his phone. "Well I recommend getting ready, it's getting late."

Shuichi jumped up. "Shit!" he patted his pants not sure what he was looking for.

Kokichi flinched at Shuichi's voice. "Jeez, no need to have a conniption fit."

"Right, okay, I'll be in the shower."

The tiles of the shower were cold against Shuichi's hands but the spray of steaming water on his back warmed him. What do people even do on dates? Hold hands? Kiss? Shuichi gasped to himself as he shampooed. Would Kaede want to do that? He's not sure he's prepared for something like that.

He finished showering and hopped out, toweling himself off as quickly as he could, wiping the steam off the mirror with his hand. Little blue colored water droplets fell from his head, his hair was lightening with each wash and black roots were growing in. He needed to re-dye his hair soon. He stared at himself in the mirror, lifting his wet hair up to look at his face. There was a slight amount of acne on his forehead, but at least his hair would cover it.

He stepped out of the bathroom thirty minutes later, a towel wrapped around his waist, hair blow-dried, laying sleek and flat from the straight iron. Shuichi stopped where he was walking to the bedroom, realizing he had absolutely no clue what he was doing.

"Kokichi, what do you wear on a date?"

"Hm?" he hummed from the couch, where he was watching some random soap opera. He turned around eyes trailing over Shuichi's bare chest in appreciation. Shuichi failed to notice. "Just wear something fancy, like a suit if you can find one."

"Right, okay."

Finding something to wear was proving harder on Shuichi than expected, most of the clothing in the closet was gaudy and horrendously bright colors. On the opposite hand, the clothing in the drawers was compiled of dark-colored clothing, which wouldn't have been that bad if every one of them weren't some kind of lounge clothing.

But, at last, he had managed to throw something together. Black slacks with a white button-down that met his elbows, and a simple black vest with dark gray designs. He was currently fumbling around by his mirror trying desperately to tie his tie.

He let out a groan of frustration and threw himself back onto the bed, resigning himself to failure. Why was it so hard to tie a stupid tie? "Kokichi." Nothing no response, so he tried a little louder. "Kokichi!"