My Dearest, Saihara-Chan

Chapter Eleven: Keep Your Guard Up

"Plain...face?"

"Can you see how many guards are inside?" Kyoko stood on her tip toes and peeked into the room.

"One. And..." Kyoko's voice trailed off.

"And...?"

"Saihara-kun..." Kokichi flinched, his mind coming up with over a million things his beloved must've gone through during the one week he's been gone-

"It's open!" Kokichi whispered. Kyoko came up to the door and kicked it open. Damn. Kokichi leaped through the door, seeing the buff looking bodyguard inside. He put on a sly smile. "Hello friend!" He greeted them brightly. The bodyguard growled and leaped towards Kokichi quicker than he'd thought they could. Kokichi quickly jumped out of the way, trying to think of a way he could get rid of this dude without just straight up shooting them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kyoko run to his beloved Shumai's side. From that glimpse, Kokichi could see that Saihara-chan isn't doing too hot. (Though he still looked pretty hot- Wait, what?) Kokichi jumped out of the way of another punch from the bodyguard.

"Excuse me, Mr.Phantom Thief, I- I can't get the ropes off-" He heard Kyoko exclaim, a note of panic in her voice, which differed from her usual tonelessness.

"Get this stupid freaking bodyguard off of me and I'll get him!" Kokichi exclaimed, breathing heavily as he jumped out of the way of another punch. Kyoko nodded and smacked the back of the bodyguard's head. Seriously?? Well, at least it worked. Kyoko dashed away from the room.

"Hey! Intruder, get back over here!" The bodyguard yelled, chasing after Kyoko. Kokichi breathed a sigh of relief, sliding down the wall slightly. That... was... not the way that was supposed to go. Usually his heists are in and out, no chasing necessary. Kokichi's eyes snapped open at the sound of Shuichi's ragged breathing.

"W...who..." Kokichi's heart broke in half at the sound of Shuichi's hoarse and broken voice.

"Nishishi! Don't worry Sh- M-mr. Detective!" Kokichi giggled, trying to keep up his showbiz voice, reaching up to tighten his ponytail. "I'm here to save you~" Kokichi stood up straight and walked over to Shuichi. His entire body was slumped and shaking violently, his breathing simultaneously panicked and tired at the same time. There were ropes binding Shuichi to the chair, his sleeve rolled up showing multiple red dots. Shots? To inject some sort of drug that put him into this state, isn't it. Kokichi thought scathingly. Some sort of stupid drug in addition to how terrified he must be. Kokichi's eyes landed on a briefcase on a table in the corner of the room. He quickly walked over to the briefcase and opened it, revealing rows of syringes. One must be... one must be... one... Kokichi pulled out one that was full of light green chemicals. He rushed up to Shuichi's side.

"Hey, sorry about this buddy-" Kokichi murmured quietly, carefully rolling up Shuichi's other sleeve. Shuichi flinched, trying to move away. "Sorry Shumai-" Kokichi whispered, injecting the syringe. In the distance, there were rapid footsteps, slowly getting closer. Crap.

Phantom. The guards are coming back, what's the situation? Kyoko's voice crackled over the earpiece. Kokichi lifted a hand to the earpiece to speak.

Ah, you know! Everything's good, yanno, Saihara-chan's half dead and I've only just injected him with what I'm assuming to be medicine to whatever drug he was on-

Drug?? Makoto's voice cut in.

Aw geez, this wasn't part of the plan- Kaede's frantic voice sounded.

Don't panic. Medicine usually takes thirty minutes at least to fully take effect. Kyoko's annoyingly rational voice said, interrupted by the occasional sound of running feet. Phantom, I'll try to keep the guards away for at least 15 minutes.

"Let's just hope the medicine works enough so my beloved Shumai can actually react to my words-" Kokichi muttered under his breath. He looked around, looking for ways he could stall for time. The door. Kokichi rushed over and slammed the door shut, locking it. As he looked through the window, he saw Kyoko dash by, a flash of purple, followed by the thundering footsteps of black suited bodyguards. Thank goodness the three other detectives agreed to put on some sort of mask to hide their identities. Kokichi giggled quietly to himself. The very people who were trying to capture him were acting like his goons! How amusing~

~~~

Ten minutes. Kokichi paced around the room, biting his thumb anxiously. Ten minutes was so long when you're waiting for a certain good looking detective to regain his senses. Kokichi stopped pacing and went to observe Shuichi again. His eyes were closed, he appeared to be sleeping. Maybe sleeping will help speed up the god damn freaking process-

Phantom, come in. Kyoko's cold voice sent chills running down Kokichi's spine. Something went wrong, didn't it?

Mmmmmm, talk to me! Kokichi replied, keeping up his playful and snarky act, though a bit breathless from all the running.

There are guards coming. I hope you can handle them. Kokichi groaned, face palming himself. Guards? How many? Kokichi didn't want to shoot anyone in front of his beloved, it's just gonna scare him more...

Course! You know exactly who I am~ Kokichi responded confidently. I got this! How many?

Just one. Kyoko said tonelessly. I'll be making my escape.

WHAT?? Kokichi flinched at Kaede's sudden interjection. Y-You can't be serious! You're leaving this to the fricking Thief?? Without warning, something started pounding on the door. Kokichi quickly shoved his hand into the inside of his jacket, fingering the handle of the gun and knife he had. Kokichi giggled to himself, bouncing up and down excitedly. Hand to hand combat~ how fun! The door slammed open with a loud BANG! Revealing a buff looking tux wearing bodyguard.

"Hey! Step away from the captive!" The bodyguard yelled. Kokichi heaved a big sigh, pulling out a thin bladed knife that was mostly used to cut away rope or stuff like that, not combat but hey. Good for bluffing?

"I'm afraid I can't do that~" Kokichi snickered. He held out the knife, it's dull purple handle decorated with a checkered pattern the signature look of the Dice Phantom Thief glinting in the low light. "You see here, this little detective here is an important player to my game, it would be a shame if he just up and died here~"

"You're the infamous Phantom Thief aren't you?" The bodyguard growled. Kokichi rolled his eyes from behind the see-through black cloth covering the mask's eyeholes.

"Geez, wonder what gave you that idea." He scoffed. "Was it the clothes? Or was it the knife?"

"You are wanted for stealing from the big boss earlier last month!" The bodyguard shouted, running forward, fists raised. Kokichi couldn't even come up with a witty remark as he ducked to avoid a flying punch from the bodyguard. Leaping out of the reach of the bodyguard, Kokichi tried to think of a way to get out of this situation, landing on the table, sending the briefcase and the contents inside flying. Kokichi swiped at the bodyguard with his knife randomly, trying to keep them back. Soon, the bodyguard would be able to tell that Kokichi has no idea what he's doing... but as of right now, he should be ok. Hopefully. Kokichi leaped off of the table, and ran to behind Shuichi. With a quick swipe of Kokichi's knife, the ropes that tied Shuichi to the chair dropped around the chair.

"Nishishi! There we go~" Kokichi chuckled to himself. Suddenly, a flash of pain exploded at the side of Kokichi's face, stars appearing in his vision. Kokichi fell to the floor, his head hit the ground with a sickening crack.

"Not so smug now, huh?" The bodyguard sneered. A ringing filled Kokichi's head, pain throbbing through his mind. Ugh... how irritating. Kokichi reached up to rub his head, when his hands grasped empty air where something else was supposed to be. His heart dropped as he looked around frantically. Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! Kokichi's hand dropped the knife instinctively, darting into his pocket to pull out his gun, and without hesitation, Kokichi turned around, took aim and BANG! BANG! BANG!