It All Started By One Single Tear (Rantaro x reader x YandereMastermind Kokichi)

Chapter 5 Part 5: Kaito Momota's Ultimate Lab

Your POV:

   "So, (y/n)," Rantaro said with a chuckle, "what was that about being able to go up a long flight of stairs by yourself~?"

Those words rang though my head as I continued to pant heavily on my knees as my sense of hearing just registered what I just heard. Everyone was already up the stairs. Shuichi seemed to be panting slightly too, but he wasn't as drained as I was from this.
Despite that, my boyfriend was taunting me in the state I was in. All I wanted to do was prove him wrong for once. I wanted to prove that I could do things on my own. He always seemed to tease me when he won.
I closed my eyes as I continued the process of slowing my breathing down. I knew I lost. My state now was basically like admitting defeat. For a few moments, the room was silent as I steadied my breathing. As soon as I steadied my breathing. As soon as I felt my heart rate slow down, I opened my eyes with a slightly defeated look in them.
"Sh-Shut up..." I muttered with a slight pout.
After saying that, I decided that I had enough time on the floor. I slowly got myself up, trying to keep my knees from buckling in on themselves. It took a few moments for me to get my footing, but I was standing soon enough.
"Rantaro, I may have been on my knees, but you forget one thing," I muttered, "you made this into a race. Whether you like it or not, I still made it up the long flight of stairs. That's more of a victory for me, is it not?"
I had a slight smirk on my face as I told Rantaro that. I fought this hard to win. Even if I was defeated, I was t going to give up on this battle. Rantaro wasn't the only one who could use certain wording in his favor. I could do it too. If he was going to tease me, I was going to tease him back.
"Ah-haha, what's with the smirk, princess?" Rantaro asked, "you don't do that much unless you're either serious or you're in your stubborn brat mood."
My eyes widened slightly in response to that line. Rantaro was obviously trying to tease me more, but there was something new about this teasing. He was calling me a brat... was it possible that Rantaro had some sort of recognition of what happened in the love suite?
I could feel my face turn bright red again. It wasn't caused by the running anymore. This was caused by Rantaro himself. He always gained satisfaction from making me flustered. This was no different than how he was usually. I just wondered what triggered this new form of teasing.
(Kinda spitballing XD)
"Why do you always have to come up with new ways to tease me!?" I exclaimed, "come on Rantaro... we need to focus..."
Rantaro seemed to chuckle lightly in response to that. I knew very well what we needed to do right now. I was so distracted that I wasn't taking in any of my surroundings. I had no idea what I was lead to. That's why we needed to focus on investigating the new areas of the school. That's why I was up here.
    "Hate to admit it, but you're right," Rantaro told me, "we should see what new area this is."
    "Finally!" Tenko exclaimed, "I was getting tired of seeing that degenerate with the sweet and lovable (y/n)!"
    Rantaro gazed over at Tenko when she said those words. I couldn't help but feel like Tenko still hated Rantaro. I didn't know why she hated boys, but not all of them were bad. Rantaro was one of those boys.
    "What does that have to do with anything..." Maki asked, "if you don't have anything nice to say about their relationship, then just leave..."
    I noticed Maki glaring at Tenko as she stood up for Rantaro. I knew Maki wasn't a very loud spoken person, but I knew she was nice. That was why we were friends... Tenko seemed to look to the side, puffing her cheeks. She was obviously trying to keep her mouth shut, so she didn't have to leave.
    "T-Thank you Maki..." I muttered nervously.
    "I should be the one thanking her," Rantaro replied, "after all, Tenko was insulting me. Not a beloved princess such as yourself."
I could feel my face start to heat up again in response to his words. Why was Rantaro always so sappy? Rantaro always made it known that he cared about me. It was very nice. That made up for all of the teasing he's done.
"While I may be defending you guys, there is still more important things to do," Maki stated, "so try to keep the PDA down until we are done investigating."
I nodded in response to that. I had to focus, and I knew that. Everyone in my group started making their way down the hall that was to the right. The feels of the hallway was like technological advancement level stuff. The hallway was glowing red, the metal showing some wires and pipes radiating red throughout the hallway. Every portion of this school gave a different vibe. The floors were a prime example of that.
In the distance, I saw a door. In retrospect, it wasn't that far away. It was only ten or twenty feet away. The door in question had a painted rocket ship cascading as the theme around the door. There were stars surrounding that ship as well. Three visible circular windows were on the door. It was like the windows sectioned off the parts of the painted ship.
I knew who's lab this was. Unlike Rantaro's lab, this one was pretty obvious. The only one here who had a thing for rockets and stars was the impressive Kaito himself. This had to be his lab.
    Kaito seemed to proudly walk over to the door, with a smile on his face. My guess was that Kaito figured out that this was his lab. It was obvious to me, and chances are it was obvious to everyone who was looking at the door as well.
    "Finally, it looks like this is my research lab!" Kaito exclaimed.
     "Kaito!?" Shuichi exclaimed.
     "Nyeeeh..." Himiko muttered, "those stairs were long and such a pain. I'm tired... Someone give me a piggyback ride."
    I defiantly related to Himiko's words at this moment. Those stairs were brutal to climb, and my legs were still slightly sore from having to climb up those stairs. I didn't even want to ask anyone for a piggyback ride. If Rantaro even heard me ask for a ride once, he knew I would be admitting defeat. Himiko however carried no shame in asking for a ride.
    "Don't worry my sweet Himiko!" Tenko exclaimed, "I'll give you a piggyback ride!"
    I watched Tenko as she knelt over so Himiko could get on her back. Himiko jumped up onto Tenko, her arms wrapping around her neck. Tenko stood up after that, smiling very brightly. She seemed to be very happy that she was able to help Himiko.
    "I can't believe they made us climb all these stairs just for the Ultimate Astronaut's lab..." Maki muttered as she bit her thumbnail.
    "What do you mean *just*?" Kaito asked, "this is the main stage, and it's finally been revealed!"
    "You say that, but is it true?" Maki asked, "anyway, let's go inside. There might be something useful in here... probably."
    "What do you mean *probably*!?" Kaito exclaimed, "it's gotta be full of super important stuff!"
     "Hopefully that is the case," Kirumi stated, "I mean, we did climb a rather long staircase just to get up here. Hopefully we do find something useful."
    "I agree," Kaede replied, "we should probably go in now."
    "I agree, Kaede," I told her.
    "Alright, let's go inside then..." Shuichi muttered.
     One by one, everyone in our investigation group slowly went inside of Kaito's Ultimate Lab. When I made it in there, I decided that it would be a good idea to look at what this lab had. I honestly had no idea what to expect for Kaito's Lab.
    When I started looking around, I noticed that I was inside of an area that looked like the inside of a rocket. About ten feet forward of where I was standing right now was what looked like a spaceship cockpit. I saw two large openings on both sides of this rocket model, and Maki was standing on the left, and Himiko and Tenko on the right. It looked like they were standing on red sand, giving a direct correlation to Mars. The ceiling was painted up as stars. Even though I knew they weren't real... I found myself leaning out of the opening to look at the painted stars some more. I knew I needed to investigate, so I knew I needed to start with the cockpit.
I knew very well I was starting with the closest area to investigate first. Rantaro stood next to me as I looked over at Kaito, who was near the cockpit. Kaito was averting his gaze from me still. I had no idea why this was happening. I had no idea why Kaito was ignoring me. It was awkward to say the least. Either way, I knew I had to stay strong.
I walked over to the cockpit, taking a look at the glowing screens and buttons of the cockpit. I noticed Rantaro and Shuichi looking around the cockpit too, taking in the features of the mechanics in this area.
"This looks like the actual cockpit for a rocket!" I exclaimed, "I've seen them in anime having to do with space travel!"
"(y/n) is right," Shuichi replied, "this looks like an actual cockpit of a spaceship."
"It's pretty cool!" Kaito chimed in, "perfect for my research lab!"
"In my opinion, this cockpit is probably just a simulator," Kirumi explained, "as you can see, my lab, Ryoma's lab, Tenko's lab, and finally this lab would probably have simulation elements. My lab has dummies that I can practice my maid work with. Ryoma has a tennis ball shooter, and this lab has a cockpit simulator."
"Who cares, Kirumi?" Kaito asked, "I may not have ever worked with this machine before, but I have worked with something like it... well, I guess it'll all work out!"
"What reckless confidence..." Himiko muttered, "I don't ever wanna be in any vehicle you're driving."
"I agree, Himiko!" Tenko exclaimed, "that degenerate is way too reckless!"
In all honesty, I felt like this was some sort of simulator, but for some reason, it felt way more elaborate than just a simulator. In other words, it felt way more real than it was probably meant to be. There was a lot here for a simulator, and I found myself questioning on whether this was actually a simulator or not. Kaito seemed to think this looked pretty elaborate for a simulator as well. Kaito seemed to shrug off his thought though. He didn't know what this would operate, and I knew he was right about that.
It seemed that at that moment, something happened. Before any of us could say another word, she walked up to our group in the cockpit. Maki had a very serious look on her face as she walked up to us. I could tell there was something she needed to say.
"Hey, come look at this," Maki said.
"Is there something wrong, Maki?" Kaede asked in response.
"I found this in the back..." Maki muttered.
As Maki said that, she presented an item in her hands. It was a piece of paper, looking like some sort of file. That piece of paper was labeled as "The Gofer Project". I could feel my mind start to spin as I heard the shocked voices of everyone in our group.
    I remembered the image of the meteorites falling from the sky, creating chaos and destruction wherever they fell. Countries worked together to create a plan to defend themselves from the meteorites. In other words, a defense plan. I couldn't remember any of the details for that. All I knew was the meteorites were causing destruction.
    Himiko and Tenko seemed to be very adamant on someone reading it. They both were asking about the contents of the paper. I was told along with Shuichi to read it, so that's what I had to do. I found myself leaning over Shuichi's shoulder as I read the paper.