In Gentle Tones of Warmest White | Oumami

Chapter 8

"That's because this whole time I've been lying to you about my talent!" Kokichi rose to the tips of his toes, spinning smoothly in place. (It was as if he had practiced the spin before; it looked too good to be something just anyone could do.) "I'm actually the Ultimate Princess!"

Rantaro snorted. "The only thing princess-like about you is that you're a royal pain in m-"

Bonk!

Okay, maybe he deserved that. "My bad," Rantaro rubbed the spot on his head where Kokichi had hit him with the princess wand that came with the dress. Wait, didn't they leave that with the others? How did Kokichi even sneak it in without him noticing?

He never got his question answered, but it didn't bother him too much. "That's no way to talk to a princess!" Kokichi huffed.

Rantaro cleared his throat. "My sincerest apologies, princess."

A strange noise came out of Kokichi's mouth- one that was quickly disguised by a laugh. Rantaro failed to notice it. "Better! Now let's go!" He waltzed to the door, a wide grin on his face. "Don't wanna keep your sisters waiting now, do you?"

"You know, for someone so distraught about being forced to wear the dress earlier, you seem rather eager to reintroduce yourself." Rantaro chimed in, following Kokichi to the door.

"Yeah, yeah. That was so five minutes ago. Plus, if I'm going to do this, I might as well do it right; unlike someone," Kokichi took a moment to glare back at Rantaro. "In particular who I'm not going to name out of the kindness of my princess heart." Rantaro chuckled at Kokichi's comment, and the two exited the room. Rantaro walked with a lax pace, hands in his pockets and a lazy smile on his face. Kokichi, however, had a little bit of cheer in his step, bouncing down the hall with a smile on his face. "Oh! One more thing!" He stopped right in front of the stairs, promptly turning around to face Rantaro.

"Hm?" Rantaro hummed, raising a brow.

Kokichi had a big smile on his face. "If you tell anyone about this... I'll be sure to sick my evil organization on you and make sure you never see the light of day again~!" He giggled, turning back around and making his way down the stairs.

Rantaro cringed slightly at his malicious (and kind of overly-cliche and cringy) words and how badly they contrasted against his cheerful demeanor. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me telling anyone," He assured, following Kokichi down the stairs.

The sound of a camera shutter went off as soon as Kokichi's foot lifted up from the last step.

Standing near the stairs and leaning against a wall was none other than Hikari, phone in her hand and a smirk on her face.

"It's Hikari you should be worried about." Rantaro finished, stifling a chuckle.

He watched as Hikari suddenly bolted away towards the kitchen, cackling loudly.

"Get back here, missy!" Kokichi yelled in an overly snobbish and shrill voice. Rantaro was unable to hold back his laughter this time around, watching as Kokichi picked up the skirt of the dress and ran after Hikari. "That is in no way, shape, or form to treat princess Kokichi-chan!" The others heard the commotion and came over to check it out.

It was all so random and silly- it almost felt unreal to Rantaro, like a fever dream of sorts. Never in a million years would he have guessed that Kokichi of all people would get along so great with his family; yet here they were, Airi and Eri cheering on Kokichi, Itsuki silently rooting for Hikari, and Hikari laughing as she ran in circles away from Kokichi through the kitchen, then the dining room, back past the stairs, and so on.

Kokichi fit in perfectly- it was as if he were the final piece to a puzzle. It brought a smile to Rantaro's face and a strange warmth to his heart.

After a few minutes of the wild goose chase, Rantaro cut between Hikari and Kokichi, claiming that the latter would get a headache if he kept it up. (He also wanted Hikari to keep that photo she took of Kokichi. Perhaps she could send it to him if he asked nicely.) Hikari let out a victory yell as Kokichi pouted.

He didn't even get the chance to suggest more lowkey activities before Airi and Eri were dragging Kokichi away to the family room, eagerly chatting about how they were going to make him pretty by painting his nails and his hair.

Nothing of importance happened over the next few hours. Airi and Eri painted Kokichi's nails (they didn't do too well, but Itsuki was glad to fix it up for them), did his hair (once again, it could've been better, but with Hikari's help it looked much more presentable), and tried applying makeup to him (their idea of makeup was just lipstick- a ton of it, too. Rantaro had a wipe ready, however, cleaning off the excess). They were very pleased with their results, claiming Kokichi looked like a true princess.

In truth, Kokichi looked like he was in pain. Rantaro noticed he was very fidgety the entire time; from the way his hands twitched when Airi and Eri would get nail polish on his skin to the way it looked like he was resisting the urge to take the wipe from Rantaro and wipe off all of the lipstick when Rantaro was fixing him up earlier- was he perhaps not enjoying it? Maybe he was just fidgety when it came to this sort of stuff; when Rantaro first started wearing nail polish his body would love to suddenly become itchy at any given chance, and it proved very hard for him to resist the urge to scratch himself right then and there as opposed to waiting until his nails dried.

Rantaro assumed it was the latter- but then again, this was Kokichi he was concerned about- a master of hiding his true feelings at all times. Perhaps he was just hoping he'd have something to get back at Kokichi from when he was brutally tickled earlier.

Deciding he'd ask Kokichi later, Rantaro suggested they all watch a movie, to which everyone agreed to. They picked some movie adaptation to a book Itsuki had read recently, and watched the film in a comfortable silence.

...Well, some of them did. In truth, Itsuki was probably the only one paying full attention. Hikari was on her phone, Airi and Eri were cuddled together next to Hikari, dozing off against one another, and Rantaro was chilling on a loveseat next to Kokichi, the former's hands resting atop the latter's legs that were laid on his lap.

Rantaro was watching the movie for the most part- it was pretty good- but every once in a blue moon he'd turn his attention to Kokichi. It looked as if he were watching the movie- but at the same time it looked as if he were thinking about something.

Halfway through the film, Kokichi swung his legs off of Rantaro's lap. "I can't believe you were able to wear this dress for so long- it's getting really itchy," He whispered to Rantaro. "I'm gonna head back up to your room and change out of this thing while the others are distracted. Try not to miss me too much while I'm gone. Toodles~!" He winked, blowing a kiss at Rantaro before slipping away.

Rantaro watched intently as Kokichi disappeared around a corner. He caught sight of the expression Kokichi wore as he turned- it was only in sight for a second before he disappeared entirely, but there was no mistaking the furrowed brow and the slight frown on his face.

He pursed his lips together in a worried look before taking a moment to glance around the room. True to Kokichi's word, his sisters had been too caught up in their own thing to notice him sneak away.

Murmuring a quick "excuse me," Rantaro rose from his seat, following Kokichi up the stairs to check on him.

~2k Words

For the third time, I'm sorry this chapter is out so late in the day! I actually had 1k words written before today, so it wasn't as if I did all of this in one night (LOL). I've had a lot more homework because I'm dissecting a cat in anatomy class, so I've been getting less sleep than I should be, if I'm being honest. I suppose the drowsiness caught up to me at the worst time possible, and I fell asleep for a few hours... And to think I thought I was gonna publish this at a decent time, too. Man! But hey, we're starting to get to the good stuff! Can't wait for next chapter!