Chequered Scarfs and Detective hats.

ii

"Hey what took you so long?" Kaito asked, turning his gaze to Shuichi.

"I-uh," Shuichi tried to think of an excuse. There was nothing wrong with talking to Kokichi, but Kaito and Maki already disapproved of him, and he didn't want to lose his new friends already.

"It's chill man, I'm not gonna force you to tell me what you were doing. Privacy is private, and I respect that." Kaito said before smiling at Shuichi. Shuichi let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Thanks Kaito." Shuichi said, relieved that he didn't have to lie. Shuichi didn't like liars very much, it was difficult to understand them due to their lying nature.

"You're welcome sidekick! Anyway, I hope you're up for training." Kaito asked as they got to the training spot where Maki was waiting.

"What took you so long?" Maki asked rather stoically.

"Shuichi was busy so he had to quickly finish up." Kaito explained.

"Shuichi? Busy? Probably listening to My Chemical Romance." Maki said with a slight smirk.

"I- what's wrong with My Chemical Romance?" Shuichi asked, making Kaito laugh loudly. Maki laughed a bit too, although she would never admit it.

"Are we going to get on with this or not? I have better things to do." Maki said while staring at Katio.

"Okay okay, let's get started. One hundred sit ups!" Kaito instructed. Shuichi let out an ungodly noise as Maki just got on with it. Kaito however, still stood there.

"Aren't.. you.. going.. to.. do.. any?" Shuichi asked, his question separated by his heavy breathing.

"But you guys are doing so well!" Kaito said with a smile. After a few more seconds Maki sat up.

"You said you'd join in as well." The girl of the group said, giving Kaito the death stare.

"I get a free pass because I'm Kaito Momota, Luminary of the stars!" Kaito said, making a thumbs up with his hand.

"No you don't, now get down here and do your sit ups before Shuichi passes out from forgetting to breathe." Maki said as all eyes turned to Shuichi, who was going purple in the face.

"A hundred!" Shuichi shouted before collapsing to the floor, finally taking a deep breath.

"Shuichi you can breathe while doing sit ups you know?" Kaito said, looking at Shuichi strangely.

"I- I- hnngh." Shuichi attempted to make a sentence but almost passed out in the process.

"Damn Shuichi you're really unfit." Maki commented, watching Shuichi laying in the grass and trying to get his breathing back to normal.

"I know. Chasing Kokichi earlier took so much energy." Shuichi said, his breathing almost back to normal.

"Chasing Kokichi? The little kid with purple hair?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, he made me chase him around the entire school." Shuichi said, a faint smile on his face.

"Why?" Maki asked.

"He stole my hat and made me chase him to get it back." Shuichi explained.

"Damn rat." Maki mumbled.

"Maki that's not nice!" Kaito said, calling Maki out.

"I'm not nice." Maki replied, making Kaito frown.

"Of course you are, you're just wary of the people around you so you don't let your walls down yet." Shuichi said, with Kaito nodding in agreement.

"I thought I came here for training, not character analysis." Maki said, giving both boys the death stare.

"Oh sorry maki. Anyway I better go now, I'm super tired." Shuichi said before getting up and walking back to the dorms, leaving Kaito and Maki together.

"See you sidekick!" Kaito shouted as Shuichi walked off.

Once Shuichi reached the dorms, he went to his door and opened it. It was locked.

"What the- oh yeah." Shuichi mumbled, forgetting he gave Kokichi his keys. He looked around, trying to find Kokichi's dorm room. Once he found it he headed towards the door and knocked.

"Who is it and what do you want?" Kokichi yelled from the other side.

"Ah, it's me, Shuichi." Shuichi said, hoping his voice was loud enough to be heard through the other side.

"Oh, just a second!" Kokichi replied. Shuichi could hear the movement of boxes and a crash before the door opened, and Kokichi appeared at the door.

"Are you okay?" Shuichi asked as Kokichi rubbed his head.

"Does mister detective care about me? Awh you're making me blush!" The smaller boy said as he cheeks became dusted with a light pink.

"I- I just wanted to see if you were okay, you seemed hurt." Shuichi said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm fine! Now what brings Saihara-chan to my dorm?" Kokichi asked cheerfully.

"Uh, my dorm keys. You have my dorm keys." Shuichi explained.

"Oh yeah, silly me." Kokichi said before fiddling with his belt, separating Shuichi's dorm keys from the belt. Kokichi smiled at Shuichi before giving them back.

"Thanks Kokichi, have a good night!" Shuichi said before walking back to his dorm room. Shuichi collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep, worn out from the days events.