Hey, did you know that I'm really tired
Kaede's POV
I finished playing Clair de Lune and smiled at Shuichi. He smiled back and flipped his head towards the window. He stared outside in curiosity. I stood up and followed him, the February wind blowing my hair.
Was that Ouma down there? With a cape and hat on? There were 9 other people, all of them donning masks, following him. They disappeared into the building and 5 minutes later, we heard heavy footsteps and heard the doorbell ring multiple times. We could here other doorbells ringing as well.
I opened the door, Shuichi hiding behind my back. Since the attack, he was a lot more apprehensive when someone was at the door. I opened it and saw Ouma there. He was indeed, wearing a leader's hat and cloak. He also had a clown mask hanging loosely from his fingers.
"It's Akamatsu-Chan!" He exclaimed, nuzzling into me. I felt Shuichi tense up behind me. Ouma peeked up at him and grinned.
"Jealous are we now, Saihara-Chan?" Shuichi went red and waved his hands in front of his chest frantically in denial. Ouma let go of me and addressed both of us.
"Anyways, I have an announcement to make, so I need you all to come down into the apartment playground, including our newest addition to the group." Shuichi opened his mouth to ask why the playground but Ouma shushed him.
"Don't ask why! It's the only somewhat private place here, since there's no small kids here!" He yelled, waving his fists in front of him childishly.
'Except for you...' I thought to myself. His expression snapped into a smile and he turned away waving. We stood at the door in silence for a moment and turned to get our shoes on.
"What do you think this 'announcement' is about?" Shuichi asked as we walked down the stairs. This scene reminded me of our time in the academy, for some reason.
"Well, I think it definitely has something to do with those clown mask people..." I said, "You think they're part of D.I.C.E?"
__________________
We went into the playground and saw the 9 mysterious individuals in the masks, either sitting on the climbing frame or sitting on the floor. Ouma was hanging from a bar, waiting for us all to arrive. He saw us walk in and dropped down expertly.
"Ah, you're all here I see..." he muttered mostly to himself, his eyes peering at all of us and counting. His face lit up that we were all here and begun speaking.
"So. I know you're wondering who these mysterious people are." One of them scoffed at 'mysterious people' and Ouma pouted at him before continuing.
"And I will tell you these are the members of my prank organization, D.I.C.E."
(Note: the names are not canon, they do not have surnames and they will be introduced from left to right)
Ouma walked over to a giggly girl with long light-brown pigtails, her mask only covering her eyes.
"This is Hanako, and she just doesn't stop laughing." At this point, 'Hanako' cackled loudly, her rosy cheeks turning pink.
"Sorry!" She apologised between peals of laughter. "I just think you all look so- ahaha!- funny!" She burst into more laughter. He ignored her and walked to a tall and darker male, who's mask covered his whole face.
"This is Akitake, the politest of us all." I heard Gonta gasp lightly and turned to see a hopeful look in his eyes.
"I am pleased to meet you all. Kokichi has told us many things about you all." He chuckled, "Of course, many of those things could be lies." Ouma pouted again and punched his arm playfully.
"Meanie!" He remarked before moving on to a comically round man.
"He's Akifume and doesn't stop eating, hence his round stomach." He said dismissively, moving on before he could retort. He crouched down beside a small girl with flowing brown hair, who kind of reminded me of Miiko, hugging her knees on the floor.
"This is Hanae, who is really shy and a widdle bit depwessed." He said, squeezing her cheek with the last part. She slapped his hand away and rested her chin on her arm.
"Hi..." she whispered softly, her voice barely reaching my ears. This innocent sounding girl is part of a prank organization?
He walked over to a tall, slightly snobby sounding man. He was the one who scoffed at Ouma earlier.
"This is Fukuroi and he is a snobby douchebag." He smirked up at Fukuroi, and despite the fact he was wearing a mask, I could tell he wasn't pleased.
He reached out and squeezed Ouma's ear.
"Ah, aaah, aaAAH! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" He pleaded, rubbing his ear when Fukuroi flung his small body backwards.
We got introduced to the rest of them, named Akemi, Leiko, Yuuto and Asahi, all of their personalities differing. We all headed back to our apartments after the greetings.
Shuichi opened the door and I flopped onto the sofa.
"Wow, so many new people all at once!" I exhaled exaggeratedly. Shuichi giggled adorably and sat down by my head, stroking my hair absentmindedly.
"What did you think of them?" I asked.
He hummed and thought for a moment before speaking.
"Well, they were... unique?" I chuckled at his response. "But Leiko's a bit... you know."
"Yeah..." I knew what he was talking about. Leiko had an alarming amount a cleavage showing and kept trying to seduce all of the boys, including Shuichi. He had looked absolutely terrified and gently kept trying to tell her he had a girlfriend. At least I knew he would never cheat on me, not that I thought that anyway. She never actually succeeded at seducing any of them though, which I thought was quite funny.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, so Shuichi stood up to open it. I lazed around on the sofa, lazily. I heard the creak of the door and a loud splash, followed by a high pitched shriek. I shot up and saw Shuichi shivering in the doorway, drenched, with Hanako screaming with laughter, clutching a bucket in her hands.
"Yes! My first prank of this establishment was a success!" She squealed gleefully.
Leiko crossed the corridor, making a comment.
"Makes for some good fanservice too."
It was then Shuichi realised that his button up was now see through and he flushed red, slapping his hands across his chest. I sped over and put my arm around his soaked shoulders, guiding him away and slamming the door in the girl's mask covered faces.
I looked at Shuichi's small drenched form and couldn't help but snicker a little.
"I-It's not funny!" He cried, indignant tears in his eyes. He shivered, flicking his damp hair out of his red face.
I grabbed a towel and some dry clothes from our room and went back into him. I handed him the clothes and instructed him to get changed.
"I'll rub your hair dry when you come out." I said, his eyes lit up innocently. He liked having his hair rubbed dry and sped off into the bathroom to change.
I sat down on the sofa, waiting for him. I wondered if the others had been pranked yet. I was deep in thought when I heard a scream, followed by a string of curse words. I poked my head out the door and saw a drenched Miu yelling at two of the masked boys, one of whom was holding a bucket in front of their face in defence.
I giggled and went back in, noticing that Shuichi was sitting on the sofa, staring at me curiously.
"Miu got the bucket this time, it seems." I chuckled as I approached him with the towel. I rubbed his hair with the towel and he smiled contentedly.
"I thought so, judging by the amount of profanities being yelled." He joked as I brushed through his hair with a brush. We went silent for a while, the only sound being the brush working through his silky hair.
"We haven't had much time like this for a while, huh?" I wondered out loud. Shuichi blushed and grunted in response. I finished brushing his hair and threw it to the side as I suddenly fell into him and wrapped my arms around his small form tightly.
His face flushed, despite the fact that I've hugged him like that before.
"What do you wanna do tomorrow, after Miiko's lesson?" I asked, my eyes closed.
Wow this chapter is so late I'm very sorry