(may catch-all) the cool kids table, but rika's the only cool kid

[unsurely]

‣ WHO: Shuichi Saihara & a bunch of people!
‣ WHEN: All throughout May.
‣ WHERE: Various locations.
‣ WHAT: Catch-all for May starters.
‣ WARNINGS: Just mild NDRV3 & SDR2 spoilers so far, subject to change.

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Tfw neither you nor like half of everyone you have plans with top-level, so this happens. I'm using this to write starters for people based on stuff we discussed beforehand. No open prompts, but if you want something specific with me or Saihara during May, I'm still up for that and you're free to throw a starter in here!

Alternately, hit me up via Plurk at garlemald or contact me on Discord at Rina#8760 whenever to discuss.

Comments

[unsurely]

...

[ There's a really long moment where he just wants to leave, and he considers it to be honest, if only he hadn't been the one to kind of start this. Besides... at the end of all the nonsense, Ouma does tell him enough to quell that impulse -- for now at least. Thank God he doesn't have to keep thinking about the technicalities of being "senpai" for too long. ]

...That's what I thought.

[ It's that quiet, firmer voice Saihara employs without realizing when his suspicions are confirmed. ]

You couldn't get away from it either, which means naturally you also experienced the effects. But that left you feeling vulnerable... so you most likely must have spent that whole time in the crawlspaces or going between the locked rooms.

[ He's too tired to dance around it. The truth doesn't change form for anyone, even Ouma with all his lies. ]

[trialbyliar]

[His expression goes faintly uncomfortable for a moment, like just laying out his vulnerability and exact motivations left him feeling a little too exposed. But he quickly and smoothly morphs the face into something more akin to boredom, eyes cutting away from Shuichi.]

Yeah, yeah. You don't have to explain it to me, y'know. This isn't a trial where you've gotta spell it all out for the idiots in the room.

[It's just them here. Well, them and a body.]

[unsurely]

No. It just... wouldn't sit right with me if I didn't.

[ Like damn it, Ouma, maybe the "idiot in the room" is him. Believe it or not, this is helping Saihara understand the situation they're in. Or at least... what kind of direction he should take things, or what angle it might be okay to look at them from.

It makes it pretty clear... that a truce might be in order, at least for now. There's an order and a priority even to their outstanding issues. ]

After all... you haven't been sleeping, have you?

[trialbyliar]

[The instinct to brush it off with a lie is there. It'd be easy, too. Just play dumb and Shuichi would likely get exasperated and let it go whether or not he believes it, because he knows by now that it's silly to expect any kind of honesty or anything straightforward from Kokichi.

Something stops him, though. Maybe it's the exhaustion getting to him, making him too weary for even his own shit. Or maybe it's the fact that Shuichi is bringing it up at all. Why should he care? What does it matter to him whether or not Kokichi gets any rest?

Kokichi eyes the detective for just a moment before his eyebrows raise, the expression almost challenging.]

So?

[Completely unphased. Unbothered. He shrugs, returning his attention to the body. It's kind of an apt metaphor for the whole setting right now.]

As if any sane person is gonna rest easy in a place like this. Besides, my body doesn't require sleep. Obviously, such an ordinary thing is beneath the Ultimate Supreme Leader.

[...Okay, so he can't entirely resist lying. But the choice of where the lie sits matters, doesn't it?]