Chapter Text
As soon as he wakes up, Kaito is itching to get out of the house full of gods, even if he did catch a pretty decent sleep while there.
After the conflicts revolving around stumbling into a yakuza hideout and stolen spears and guns being pointed at various friends of his had settled, the gods were actually…mostly pretty nice. True to what she’d said last night, Peko had filled the truck up with gas, and when he approaches the driver’s seat barely past the ass-crack of dawn he finds her already there, though she only lingers a moment longer before exiting the seat gracefully and looking up at him with a small smile.
Huh. Kaito’s actually a good deal taller than her. He sort of didn’t think it was possible to feel big compared to any of the gods.
“The gas tank is full. So long as you drive responsibly, you should have no issues reaching your destination. I assume you all will be leaving soon, so I thought I might double check once more, and warm it up in preparation for the drive.”
He’s also sort of surprised she’s bothering with something as…mild-mannered as that. Surprise notwithstanding, the smile he returns to Peko is genuine. “This is all really nice of you. Thanks.”
Peko just nods, looking across the hood of the truck and back up towards the winding driveway, the house that still manages to look pretty huge, even from down here.
“Have you eaten breakfast, Kaito?” Hearing a goddess say his name is weird. The only other gods he really knows are Hajime and Nagito, and despite being pretty odd guys, they mostly just strike him as normal. He sort of just registers them as human, same as him, most of the time.
This feels different. Something hazy and strange radiates off of all the other gods he’s met so far. But he’s also forgotten to answer for way too long, because now Peko’s looking at him weirdly. “Uh! Nah, I didn’t, actually. Mostly just hurried so I could claim the driver’s side before Maki Roll could.”
She raises a thin, silver eyebrow in response — Kaito’s not sure what it is he’s said that prompts it, but he struggles not to fidget under the weight of her expression anyway. Jutting a thumb towards the seat she’d just vacated, he offers another smile before plopping himself unceremoniously down. “Look at that, mission accomplished!”
It earns him a laugh, and he glows just a little under the reaction. Man, gods are weird.
“In that case, I will send down something for you to eat with one of the others. If I do not see you again before you leave — good luck. I believe in you, but you all could…certainly use some good fortune, no?”
Kaito laughs this time, and he shoots her one last grin and a two-finger salute. “Thanks, ma’am. Don’t worry about us too much though — between you an’ me, we totally got this. You just focus on keepin’ the gods from going crazy before our time’s up, and the Demi Squad will handle the rest!”
Peko grins back at him, and it’s the most human he thinks he’s seen her look. “You have my word. Good luck.”
She shuts the door behind Kaito, and with that she’s gone, disappearing back up towards the house and leaving him alone for…a good few minutes, actually.
Though he’d made sure to check that no one was sleeping in late before he’d retreated to the truck, the others sure do seem to drag their feet in actually getting out of here. For gods, at least Peko is actually pretty nice — though Kaito certainly still has some hangups about Fuyuhiko, God of Crime, apparently Maki’s family. But though they’ve got three entire days left to get where it is they’re going and save the world, and the distance between them and their casino destination isn’t nearly that far of a drive from what he’d gleaned off Maki…he’d still really like to leave.
It’s Gonta that arrives soonest after Kaito does, and he’s got a paper bag of breakfast for him, so it’s a no-brainer to invite him into the passenger’s seat for the upcoming stint of driving. Gonta’s huge, after all — it’s a service both to himself and the others to give the guy a little more legroom. Next is Kaede and Kokichi a few minutes after that, and he makes no effort to contain his snort as he watches her drag the purple brat by the strap of his backpack through the rearview mirror.
The left-hand backseat door is pulled open, and in tumbles Kokichi, the sound of his voice as he cries out a lot louder and a lot more annoying now that there isn’t a car door between them to muffle it. Kaede huffs, remaining outside the car, before tossing him another one of those paper bags.
“You are so obnoxious.” She doesn’t even sound that pissed — just weary. “Stay here. Don’t move. I already called the back seat, and after that there is no way I’m sharing with you!”
Without giving anyone a second to react, she slams the door shut, but by the time she’s turned and headed back up to the house, Kokichi’s decided to stop being a crybaby.
He really doubts it’ll last.
“Oooh, Kaito!” He’s no sooner pulled out the contents of his bagged breakfast when suddenly Kokichi’s in his ear, squishing himself into the space above the center console that isn’t occupied by Kaito and Gonta’s arms and shoulders. One of his arms is trapped underneath him, but with the other he flails around his own paper bag. “You get anything good? Wanna trade?”
Kokichi’s already being annoying. But Kaito’s also admittedly a little intrigued. Despite the hassle it is, and how much Kokichi tries to haggle over a swapped sandwich and an energy drink, it works out for him in the end, and he even gets a chance to eat most of what he’s scored before the others finally hurry their asses up and climb into the truck.
Neither of the gods from last night reappear, and it actually doesn’t take long at all for everyone to get situated and for Kaito to get them out onto the road, finally. Once on the expressway and cruising at a respectable speed, he spares brief glances through the rearview mirror to take stock of the state of his team.
True to her word earlier, Kaede’s dibs on the back seat held strong, and she’s back there chatting quietly with Maki, too quiet over the thrumming of the car for him to hear from his spot up front. Gonta kept his passenger seat privileges during the brief shuffle before they’d taken off, and for the last little while he’s been humming quietly to himself, eyes trained out the window. And forced into the unfortunate middle seat situation is Kiibo, Shuuichi, and Kokichi. Also unfortunate, it’s been looking for the last little while like Kokichi’s been rubbing off on Kiibo, because they’ve been bickering back and forth between themselves basically since Kiibo scooted into the car after Shuuichi.
And Shuuichi. His poor sidekick’s stuck right in the middle of whatever bullshit they’re arguing about, looking a little green at the prolonged period spent between the two of them when they’re like that. Kaito feels bad, he does, his buddy doesn’t deserve the irritating morning he’s got to be having, so he shoots him encouraging winks whenever they catch eyes through the mirror. But…though he hasn’t known him that long, he’s more than confident that he’ll be able to manage. And honestly, he’d much rather Shuuichi be caught up in that mess than himself.
Kaito chose early-morning driving duty for a reason.
Well, a few reasons, actually, not just those revolving around avoiding Kokichi’s antics.
Since moving to Camp Hope’s Peak full-time a little less than a year ago, there have been some growing pains, obviously. Some are more obvious, and some don’t really bug him at all, but one of the aspects of camp that he still hasn’t quite gotten used to is the immobility. It’s pretty big, and there really isn’t a shortage of things for him to do, but he’s stuck on his own two legs except for the rare occasion they get out for a field trip, or he argues his way into a shopping run with Nagito alongside Kaede.
Back when he was still living with his grandparents, in real rural Japan, Kaito liked driving his grandfather’s car around. It wasn’t technically legal, but the whole town was so old anyway, even the cops didn’t care if they saw him on the main roads, though he liked to stick to backroads, anyway. Or highways. He just likes being able to move, being able to put his mind to going somewhere and getting there no matter the distance.
He just likes driving, and it’s been ages since he’s gotten the chance. His first bout driving, the night they left that creepy nurse’s place, had been more than enough to shake off any nerves at getting behind the wheel again after months spent away. Now he’s comfortable, loving it, upbeat beneath the early morning sun as he coasts them towards their destination.
Kaito gets a solid few hours of relatively uninterrupted driving, actually. Conversation piques his attention here and there, and when he’s not involved he’ll listen if there’s anything interesting being said, but he’s mostly just content to lose himself in going through the motions, getting more driving hours under his belt — all the better for his real ambitions.
But all that stuff can come later. Right now he’s on the world-saving team with some of his best friends in the whole world — and Kokichi — and they have got their work cut out for them. Luckily for their whole group, Kaito’s been keeping an eye on everyone as best he can when they’re not actively fighting off freaky god crap, and more and more he’s witnessing the collective confidence of the gang heading steadily upward.
And honestly, they’ve god damn earned it. They’re officially only on the morning of their fourth day of their quest, but already they have ass-kicked their way out of a ton more stuff than even Kaito would’ve thought possible before getting thrown right into the middle of it. Scary foreign soldiers with death orders, shapeshifting bear monsters, explosions (that only singed his hair a little!), demon nurses, gang members — it’s been a non-stop deluge of admittedly grim circumstances, but by all accounts the seven of them are doing pretty damn good!
Speaking of things they’ve earned — they’re well enough into the morning now, sun high and bright where it streams in through the windshield, that it feels acceptable to finally turn on the radio. There’s still some idle chatter going on over his shoulder, but it’s not nearly loud enough for him to hear, and even as much as he loves driving, he’s been going at it without any auditory stimuli for a while now, and it’s gonna drive him a little nuts if it carries on too long. So as great a conversationalist as Gonta is, he decides to click on the truck's stereo, messing with the knobs until he’s found a suitable music station before turning it up for the rest of the car to hear.
Gonta blinks over at Kaito at the sound of the song spilling through the speakers, and from the back Kaede begins bopping her head, and ultimately no one complains, so he leaves it at that for a little while, whistling lowly along with the radio.
It’s pretty fun, actually, humming lyrics under his breath when he knows the words and just following the medley when he doesn’t. But as he’s apt to do, Kokichi does his best to screw it up, kicking obnoxiously at the back of his seat and then leaning forward to chirp a snide comment into his ear when that fails to get a rise out of him.
Whatever. As annoying as Kokichi can be, Kaito can be even more stubborn. For the first time in a while, his fingers find the stereo dials, turning the volume up a few clicks and shooting the back of the car a grin.
“Hey, this song’s pretty good! Everyone knows the words, right?”
No one joins him as he starts to croon along a little louder. Resisting the stubborn urge to pout, he instead raises an eyebrow as he glances back at the group again. “C’mon, somebody’s gotta join me!”
“Sorry, Kaito,” Kaede calls apologetically from the back, shrugging her shoulders, “you know I’m out.”
Well, uh. He can’t really argue with her on that one. He’d prefer not to freeze up and crash the car, thank you! “I gotcha. What about you, Maki Roll? Shuuichi?”
“Obviously not,” Maki replies immediately, and now Kaito does pout, just a little. “You’ve already missed half the song by talking about this.”
Shuuichi merely gives him a thumbs down when he glances back through the rearview mirror again, then pulls the visor of his hat down over his eyes, and Kaito groans. There’s no way Gonta knows the words, so a duet with his front-seat buddy is a no-go, too.
It’s Kiibo that brightens his mood, actually, and when Kaito hears their voice singing the chorus, he grins and turns the volume up a little louder, getting back into the swing of singing along himself. And it’s great!
Until, of course, Kokichi begins yelling the lyrics too, clearly trying to drown the both of them out. Kaito probably eggs it on a little longer than he should, not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction of screwing him out of a decent car ride. But eventually Kiibo gets louder too, and at that volume it becomes pretty clear how not meant for pop-stardom they are. Before long they’re both screaming over each other — and over Shuuichi, who’s got both hands clamped miserably over his ears.
It’s also starting to give Kaito a headache, so before Maki can open her mouth and make things worse, he clicks the radio off with a huff, mumbling curses under his breath about what brats both of them are.
The car once again lapses into silence, though it takes a few minutes for his ears to stop ringing and for Kaito to be able to hear properly again. He’s only just barely adjusted to the low noise level when suddenly Kokichi’s popping halfway over the center console again, gasping shrilly in Kaito’s ear as he points at something through the windshield.
“Look at that!”
As Kaito swats him away, Shuuichi ignores whatever bullshit he’s playing at. “Kokichi, please put your seatbelt back on.”
“The hell do you even want me to look at, anyway?” He’s successfully gotten Kokichi to retreat back to his proper spot in the car, leaving Shuuichi to deal with getting him out of his space and wrangling his seatbelt back on.
If they weren’t cruising down the expressway still, Kaito might be tempted to brake check him. Just for a second. That’d teach him to keep his ass planted in his seat.
“Are you blind? It’s been plastered all over the past three signs!”
Kaito squints out the windshield, assessing. The only thing that really catches his eye is— “Huh? The ‘Museum of Japanese Mythology’?”
“Duh!”
“You really wanna waste time on a field trip right now? We just went on one, too!”
Kokichi exaggeratedly scoffs from behind him. “This isn’t a trip of pleasure, a leisure activity, Kaito! Really, must I spell it out for you?”
“Please just get to the point,” Kiibo interjects wryly, and Kaito hears someone blow a raspberry in response. He has a pretty good idea who it is.
“The point is that there’s a whole building full of information about the gods smack dab in the middle of our whole save-the-world roadtrip! We might even get lucky, find some legitimate stuff from the gods! C’mon, it’ll make things so much easier!”
“Are you suggesting a museum heist?” Shuuichi’s voice is a hiss, as if he’s afraid someone might hear. From the way Kokichi cackles, he probably gets the same impression.
“Of course not! We can’t plan a heist unless we know if there’s something worth pilfering though, right? Sooo…ooh, how convenient! We can get there off the next three exit ramps!”
“I’m not really sure about this…” Kaede pipes in from the way back, and when Kaito looks he can see the apprehension on her face. “It seems a little far-fetched, doesn’t it? Even if there is something useful, it just seems really risky.”
“And a waste of time,” Kiibo adds anxiously. They’ll be coming upon the first of the three exits soon.
“We are so totally fine for time, don’t you remember? Or were you too busy shitting your britches to listen to the instructions the yakuza were giving us?”
“Rude.” That’s Shuuichi complaining, now. Kiibo also squeaks out a protest as Kaito cruises past the first off-ramp. “Also, even if that’s technically true…why do we, ah, need anything belonging to the gods, when we’re just going to talk to…the one we’re headed towards?”
Second exit’s coming up, and the group is still arguing. Kaito is…a little curious. They really are pretty well off for time, and even if they don’t do something as dumb as heisting or whatever from the museum, it could be a worthwhile side quest.
And, admittedly, a chance to stretch his legs would be nice.
“Decision time, team! What’re we doing?”
“I really don’t know about this,” Kiibo insists, “Fuyuhiko and Peko gave us very specific instructions to not waste time or gas on the trip to the Underworld’s entrance!”
Kokichi blows another raspberry in response. “Taking orders from the Kuzuryuu clan, and you’re not even on payroll. What is this, amateur hour? Ow! Hair pulling, really?!”
Kaito snorts as he watches the display through his mirror. Unfortunately, the brief moment he indulges to watch Maki yank his head back pretty effectively distracts him long enough that they pass the second exit that’ll take them to the museum.
“Last call on the detour, guys!” He has to sort of yell a bit to break over Kokichi’s shrill wailing; Gonta cringes back, and as an apology Kaito briefly claps a hand on his shoulder.
“Gonta pretty sure we still have lots of time, right?”
“I guess that’s true…”
“But Kaede, should we really, ah, push our luck with this?”
They’re not that far from the final exit, and still no one’s made a definitive decision. Regardless, there’s still a lot of chirping going on. “You learned about the gods like a week ago, New Kid! If anything, we’ll be at a disadvantage if we don’t go, ‘cause you’re totally clueless.”
“I fall asleep in Hajime’s class one time, and nobody ever lets me hear the end of it…!”
“Well, according to Hajime, it was definitely more than onc—”
Whatever Kaede’s saying is abruptly cut off as Kaito makes the decision for the group and takes them onto the final off-ramp towards the museum, in what proves to be not his smoothest lane change of all time.
He’s kind of anticipating the way Kokichi begins to jitter-kick the back of his car seat — next time he drives he’s getting shoved in the way back — and he ignores the multiple verbal complaints to reach an arm behind him and swat at Kokichi.
“I’m doing what you wanted, asshole! Quit kicking me!”
“Oh, huh, guess you did!”
“For no reason.” Yeowch! He can feel Maki’s annoyance from the front seat.
Once they’re back onto a main road, Kaito immediately catches another street sign pointing the way towards the museum. “No one was givin’ me a straight answer! Listen, there’s no harm in driving over and checking it out from the front. If it looks legit, we go in and investigate, and if it looks like some scammy bullshit, we’ll just leave!”
“Kaito is…not wrong.” When he catches Kiibo’s gaze through the mirror, he shoots them a wink. “I suppose a quick look can’t hurt.”
Though the trepidation in the car is still pretty thick, Kiibo’s sentiment keeps the car at ease until they’re actually pulling up to the damn thing. He’s not exactly a museum kinda guy by trade — Kaito’s ambitions are to make history, not just read about those that made it before him — but from what he can tell…well, it doesn’t look like a shitty cash-grab sort of joint.
It’s a nice building, if a little nondescript save for the words MUSEUM OF JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY emblazoned above its double-door entrance. At least two, if not three stories, and the bronze statues framing the front of the building seem…pretty legit.
And he’s getting the distinct feeling he’s not the only one developing that impression; there are multiple sets of wide eyes trained out the right hand side window to get a better look. No one objects when he turns into the decently sized parking lot attached to the museum, nor when he shuts the car off and turns towards the back of the car for the first time in hours.
“So, what are we thinking?”
“It is…pretty impressive-looking, honestly.” Kiibo’s been glancing out the window for a while.
Kaede jabs a finger against the glass she’d been glued to since they pulled into the lot. “Look at the statues! Is that Kirumi’s mom?”
“…And is that Hajime?” Maki squints.
“That’s so weird!” Kokichi cries, shoving Kiibo’s head down to get a look himself. They make a high-pitched noise in reaction. “I’m totally snapping a picture to rub in his face. Yeesh, Big Five gods and their big ass egos!”
“So does that mean we’re goin’ in?”
He turns to Shuuichi as he asks his question, and most everyone follows his lead to look at him as well. It is his quest, after all.
Though he doesn’t sound or look particularly confident — yet — he does make a decision faster than Kaito anticipates, and it leaves him grinning. “It…can’t hurt, right?”
“Woohoo! Oooh, I wonder what difficulty level this boss battle is gonna be!”
Maki glares openly at Kokichi. “If you make a scene, I will let you get arrested.”
“Oh, please, it wouldn’t be the first time!”
“We are not letting Kokichi wander off by himself,” Kaede says firmly before deflating a little, huffing a sigh. “I guess I’ll babysit him this time. And we should probably split up to cover more ground, right? What’re the other teams?”
“Gonta, you can cover a floor with me.”
“Understood, Maki!”
Kaito grins back at his two remaining friends. “And then me, Shuuichi, and Kiibo as the last group! Hell yeah!”
They both return the fist bump he initiates, and when he pulls back he kicks his door open with a groan as he finally stretches his legs. “C’mon, no time to waste! Holy shit, I’ve been sittin’ way too long!”
Following his lead, the others make their way out of the truck, and then towards the main entrance he’d snagged a parking spot not too far from. Apparently not lying for once, Kokichi does in fact take a picture of the Hajime statue on their way inside. He can’t really blame him — seeing one of the dudes who runs his summer camp and is, like, technically his guardian is weird.
Gods are weird.
The thought is knocked from the front of his brain for the time being as a quiet argument breaks out among a few of the group once Maki and Kaede catch sight of the ticket prices. Kaito never carries cash and can’t use his card, and therefore is pretty useless on this debate. So he lets those with a real stake in the game hash it out as he glances around the museum’s lobby area.
He’s not really a museum guy. Nothing jumps out at him except the directory sign, pointing out the highlights of each floor. It’s also apparently being used to further Kokichi’s point.
“Look at the stuff they’ve got here! This place is real legit, and totally worth forking over a little cash for! As long as we’re frugal until it’s time to buy our bus tickets on the final stretch, we’ll be fine.” He makes a face — one that usually indicates he’s about to be an asshole.
“Hey, your godfather’s a yakuza, you know? How come he didn’t give you any cash? There’s no way he doesn’t have all kinds of ill-gotten money lying around!”
“Will you shut the hell up?”
“Oh, gods above, we’re going in. Shuuichi thinks it’s a good idea, and I trust Shuuichi.” Kaede glares reproachfully down at Kokichi, who makes kissing faces at her in response. “Let’s hurry so we can split up for a little while.”
“Wow, Kaede really wants to explore with me, hu—”
Before he can finish, he’s snatched by his wrist and forcefully pulled towards what Kaito assumes is one of the ticket purchasing lines. Maki leads Gonta over to the one farthest away from Kokichi, and Kaito just rolls his eyes before following after Shuuichi and Kiibo towards the last free lane.
Shuuichi’s visibly anxious as he hands over a decent chunk of cash to the ticket-lady, and from the brief peek he gets into his wallet before he stows it back in his pocket, he can guess why. For someone who’s guardians are apparently loaded — seriously, God of Wealth! — he’s much shorter on pocket change than Kaito would expect on face.
Still, the three of them end up with day passes to the museum, along with a free drink coupon each to the attached cafe. Kaito thanks the woman behind the desk heartily before following after his friends, and by the time he’s joining them by the elevator, only Kiibo and Shuuichi are left, the others having already gone off to the other floors.
“Third floor duty, huh?” He scratches the back of his neck as the elevator doors shut behind them, trying not to come off as too disappointed. This was the floor he was interested in the least. “I bet there’s gotta be something interesting up here!”
There is not. At least, not really. True to the sign he’d read near the entrance, most of the third floor is occupied by an old as hell library. Kiibo and Shuuichi seem content enough to go searching through the stacks for something useful, but that’s so not his thing, so Kaito offers to cover the other side of the floor, where there’s less books and more proper exhibits.
Signs dotting the walls tell the origins of the library, which is more interesting than most of what he’s actually seen in it so far. The books contained in it apparently belonged at some point to the Goddess of Literature, a collection that spans thousands and is very dense, including with writings of many of the other gods. There are a few exhibits the signs point out that intrigue him, actually, so once the narrative ends he begins wandering through them, stopping first in front of the Goddess of Literature herself.
Or at least, a statue of her. Though it’s propped up on its own platform along with a metal engraving of her name — Touko Fukawa — it still comes across as rather small. From what Kaito can tell it’s some sort of gilded metal, the gold shiny and bright in the warm glow a floor-fastened spotlight casts on it. Its posture is hunched, curled almost protectively around a book, as if trying to shield it from something. Though its face is subdued, even submissive considering its cowering pose, the eyes on it are intense, packed with emotion that’s honestly pretty damn impressive for a metal sculpture.
Unless he thinks too hard about the way the eyes seem to follow him, even as he shifts around the statue to look at different angles. To an almost creepy extent. But as he continues to admire the craftsmanship, the thought loses importance in his brain as his mind instead wanders to the goddess herself.
Kaito’s got no idea who his godly parent could be, he has no real way of finding out unless they decide they want to claim him, but it’s not something that bugs him — in eight months of knowing the gods are real, it never really has. He grew up and into the man he is today without any of this god stuff as an influence in his life, and his grandparents get a ton of credit for helping shape the guy he’s come to be. It hardly keeps him up at night, but imagining the possibilities and trying to crack the code can be a fun mental exercise on occasion.
Touko Fukawa, literature goddess, huh? Kiyo’s godly parent, and Kaito looks nothing like them, so probably not. Still, it could be sort of cool to be a descendant of hers; even if it’s not likely to be true, he’s certainly got the brains to be related to the Goddess of Literature! And maybe that could be his special ability, the ones most of the other demigods have got — super smarts.
…Well, probably not. He doesn’t linger on the thought for much longer.
It’d be nice to know who his godly parent is, in the same way it’d be nice if they hadn’t refused to claim him thus far. What’s done is done. No use wasting time crying over things that haven’t bugged him all his life, and he certainly isn’t gonna start on the heels of his grandparents’ deaths.
They’ll always be his real parents, when it comes down to it. Not even the best excuse for the radio silence from his godly parent would ever shake that reality for him. His grandparents raised him, loved him, and Kaito just simply wouldn’t be what he considers an all around pretty good guy if it weren’t for their influence. They weren’t perfect, but they were family. The grief is still fresh, and he has no qualms admitting that he misses them.
Maybe it’s all the talk of family on this quest that’s got him getting so sentimental right now. Heading off in the first place to save Shuuichi’s brother, the genuine confidence and pride Kiibo’s mom has in being their mom, even Maki’s godfather, though he shows his concern in…dangerous ways. None of it’s perfect, but they’re family, and it has Kaito missing that connection with his grandparents extra hard.
The question of his godly parent’s identity isn’t one that will leave him dying unfulfilled, should he never find an answer. It would be nice if he at least got a name, and even better if they had a good reason for not coming forward when his grandparents died. But he’s not resting any of his hopes or aspirations on where he came from.
Godly parent or not, demigod or not, Kaito’s had his eyes on the prize from the beginning: being the world’s greatest astronaut. He’s never accepted the idea of living in anyone’s shadow, and even if half of his DNA is from a literal god, that’s still not going to stop him from making a name for himself. And besides, why would he care about a single god on just one planet when he has all of the universe awaiting him beyond the earth’s atmosphere?
He is Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! Nothing is gonna keep him chained down to Earth — not even the gods themselves. Kaito would like to see them try.
“Ah…Kaito?”
Shuuichi’s voice startles him way more than it should, especially when he’s so damn quiet; man, he must’ve been really daydreaming for a minute. “Yo, Shuuichi. What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing! You’ve just been kind of…staring, for a while.” He narrows his eyes slightly, assessing. It almost reads as concern; he’s a softie enough that that’s probably what it is.
“I’m all good, don’t worry. Just thinking — godly parent kinda stuff.”
That piques his interest immediately, and his gaze turns back towards the statue. “Oh, about Touko?”
“Kinda. Not really,” Kaito clarifies. “I was thinking it’d be kinda cool to be related to the Goddess of Literature. But she’s Kiyo’s mom, right?”
He gets a nod in response. “Yeah. Hey…” When Shuuichi trails off, Kaito raises an eyebrow to urge him to continue.
“She’s actually kind of my aunt. Technically. Which makes seeing this specific statue so weird. Rantarou’s parents are my legal guardians now, and his other dad Makoto has a sister named Komaru. And she’s married to Touko. I’ve only met Komaru, though.”
Kaito chuckles, throwing an arm loosely around Shuuichi’s shoulders. He tenses, but doesn’t pull away — from his somewhat skittish sidekick, definitely a success. “Y’know, if she was my mom, that’d make you and I family too, right? How sick would that be?”
Shuuichi’s answering laugh leaves Kaito grinning, and it sticks as Kiibo joins them by the statue just as he’s turning them both around to move on.
“Find anything heist-worthy?” Elbowing him in the side, Shuuichi does duck out of Kaito’s loose hold now, though Kaito’s answering snicker is louder than his actual question had been. Kiibo rolls their eyes at him.
“No. I did, however, find something I thought was quite interesting. Follow me!”
Obediently they do, trailing behind Kiibo as they lead the three of them back through the library slightly, where there’s a small alcove in the midst of a much more modern set of bookshelves. Encased in glass and on a small pedestal is…some sort of scroll, illuminated by small lights inside of the display. When Kaito steps closer to get a better look, he finds no matter how hard he squints, the writing is just too small to make out.
“This stuff belongs to the Goddess of Knowledge?”
“That is correct! Chihiro Fujisaki. We saw a statue of her outside earlier.”
“Kirumi’s mom, right?” Kaito’s still squinting down into the glass, trying to figure out if it’s even in a language he can read. He seriously can’t tell.
Kiibo hums their affirmation. “Also correct. I suppose the last time she was able to visit was before you got to camp, Kaito! She’s very kind — I see quite a bit of her in Kirumi, which I mean in only the most positive sense!” Their eyes sparkle a little, which is weird, considering they’re a robot. “She was also very interested in me!”
Shuuichi takes up the job for the time being of entertaining Kiibo’s fun facts about the various exhibits they move through, but Kaito listens along and even learns some stuff he didn’t know while they explore. Kiibo’s maybe-but-also-not? dad Kazuichi has an invention displayed that they give a long spiel about, which he kind of mostly tunes out — he’s heard this one before. But apparently Mahiru, the Goddess of Art — who they pass a portrait of, painted alongside her wife, Hiyoko — had a child who attended camp and was notoriously troublesome to Nagito and Hajime.
When Kaito decides to join back in, it’s after they’ve stopped in front of a book that according to the placard used to belong to Kiibo’s mom herself. Now their eyes really are shining.
“As her namesake would suggest, Sonia is incredibly talented in her wielding of various types of magic! Spellcasting is a particular skill of hers, however, as evidenced by this book! Oh, I would love to read it properly.”
“I’ll pass,” Kaito says warily, uninterested in lingering. If gods are weird, then magic and the dark arts are extra freaky. He means it as a joke, but immediately Kiibo’s hands are on their hips.
“Why? That’s a little rude, you know!”
“Hey, chill out! Magic is just…” Kaito gesticulates broadly. “…Creepy occult crap.”
Uh oh, now he’s pissed the robot off. “Now that is very rude, Kaito! I’ll have you know that I’m here today because of her magic! She created from her raw magical essence a soul for me! That’s not creepy, or occult-ish, or…or crappy!”
Kaito shows his palms, hands up. “It’s nothing personal, cross my heart. Just personally freaks me the hell out. So does any stuff with death or ghosts. And, uh…the big guy downstairs.”
“I don’t think a fight is really necessary,” Shuuichi cuts in with a laugh, presumably saving him from an accusation of robophobia. Best sidekick ever. “I just got a text from Kokichi — if we’re done here, everyone’s meeting up in the cafe.”
Despite some stuff being interesting, none of it is particularly useful when it comes to helping them to save the world, so off to the cafe they go with news that the third floor is kind of a dud. The three of them are the last to arrive and cash in their free drink coupons, and are also the ones with the least interesting findings to report. He’d been super right when he called from the jump that the third floor would be the lamest. Maki and Kaede’s teams had infinitely more success, and he listens attentively once he’s snagged himself that free energy drink and dragged a chair over to join the rest of the group.
“We discussed this before you guys got here, but we only really found one thing that could be useful.”
“Kaede, how very unlike you to lie! Is the hokey protagonist coming for my role as the dashingly handsome, silver-tongued phantom thief?”
The whole table laughs at him, but of course Kaito’s the only one who receives a kick beneath the table. Patting his own self-restraint on the back, he refuses to rise to the bait.
“Seriously, I don’t know what you mean when you say all that weird…crap!” Huffily, she crosses her arms, then turns her gaze broadly to the rest of the group. “What Kokichi is going to suggest is dumb.”
“I don’t even need to hear it to know that that is true.”
Kokichi appears to think better of kicking Kiibo. “It’s at least worth discussing, though, riiiiight? You guys are almost as bad as Nagito is. Just talking about stealing his stuff isn’t gonna cause us all to burst into flames, y’know!”
“You are not actually suggesting trying our luck at stealing from the God of Luck,” Kiibo deadpans flatly, eyes narrowed.
“Was that supposed to be a joke?” Kokichi cocks his head to the side, gaze just as intent on them as Kiibo’s is on him. “Man, you’re suuuper dedicated to the cause of proving that robots really aren’t funny, huh?”
“No, Kiibo being serious,” Gonta interjects, stopping whatever retort Kiibo was working to push out while red in the face. “Gonta also think messing with Mr. Komaeda’s luck is a bad idea.”
“Are you implying that you’re fine stealing other stuff, Gonts?”
“N-No!”
Maki huffs, leaning her head down against her arms, crossed on top of the table. “I’m not dealing with a lifetime of bad luck because of one idiot’s sticky fingers. And like Kaede said, I found something that’ll be way more useful to us than anything of Nagito’s.”
“Ah, and that would be…?” Shuuichi’s been hiding under his hat for a while now, as disinterested as Kaito is in whatever bitch fight Kokichi is trying to engage them all in.
“A helmet.”
There’s a long pause, where he expects Maki to elaborate but she doesn’t. It’s almost a little awkward until he tentatively asks, “Uh, and…what about it?”
Her expression quickly sours, and against the table she turns her head to look away from them all. With a small sigh, Kaede picks up the slack. “It belongs to her godly parent — or it did, ages ago. It’s pretty old, but it’ll make the wearer invisible indefinitely.”
It’s about then that Kaito’s interest is really piqued, and about then that everyone starts being a lot more hush-hush as they start discussing a game plan.
“Is it even possible to take?” Kiibo asks, looking especially anxious. He’s honestly a little surprised when it’s Gonta that answers their question.
“Maki and Gonta saw up close. Just behind some glass.”
“For how expensive this stupid place is, the safeguards are pretty bad.” There’s a smirk in her voice. “Items that belonged to the gods are only separated from the rest of the world by a locked glass box.”
“But,” Kaede interjects, casting a glance over her shoulder, “it’s still way too risky to try and do anything when this place is crawling with visitors and security.”
Crawling with is a bit of a stretch, in Kaito’s humble opinion. But she’s got a point. “Way too much of a spectacle. This time of day, it’d probably end up in a street chase, and we sure as hell don’t have the gas reserves for that.”
“Nope!” Kokichi’s kept himself quiet for the minute by draining most of his soda, but he punctuates the pop! on the ‘p’ in his reply by slamming the empty bottle down in front of him. “So I vote we kill some time ‘til this place closes, and do it then. I think on weekdays it’s five o’clock.”
“But that’s still…at minimum, four hours off the road,” Shuuichi murmurs, checking the time on his phone, “and we still have to find a place to sleep tonight. Can we afford to waste that much time on a risky maybe?”
“I think so,” is Kaede’s eventual answer, a fist pressed against her cheek as she considers. “We’re really not as far as we think from the bus station, and from there it’s a straight shot to Celeste’s casino. Four hours isn’t going to make much of a difference, especially when we’re only barely past the halfway point on his time limit.”
Kaito’s down, but for the sake of Shuuichi’s observable lack of surety, he decides to play devil’s advocate for the minute. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. But Maki Roll can turn invisible anyway, right? Is it even worth the hassle?”
At her name, she finally lifts her head, taking a long pull from her water. “I’m not thrilled, either. But the more I think about it, the more I think we could use all the help we can get.” True to her word, Maki’s clearly not all that happy at the prospect. “My ability is limited. But more importantly…”
She looks significantly at Shuuichi, and then the whole table is. “If things go wrong once we get to the Underworld, it might save your ass to have an auto ‘off’ switch while facing off against the Big Five god who wants you dead.”
“Dead?!” Shuuichi hisses, ducking as if the guy is actually about to come crashing down on him.
“Though I assume she is exaggerating,” interjects Kiibo, casting a glance at Maki before looking back at Shuuichi, “Maki is not wrong. I also assume you have some kind of plan in mind?”
Maki shrugs. “Wait out the security. Pick a lock. Lift a case. Leave with the helmet.”
“Ah…Gonta think that sounds a little bit vague.”
“That's your complaint? Not the heisting?” Kokichi almost seems a little intrigued, but before he can be an even worse influence on Gonta, Kaito stops fighting the urge to kick him under the table, earning an even harder one back. Dick.
“Shut up already. Are we doin’ this or not?”
Once again, all eyes turn to Shuuichi, but he shrinks back a little less now. “Am I the only holdout?”
The following silence speaks for itself. “Okay. I…I trust you guys. If you think we can pull it off, and that it will tangibly help our end goal…let’s do it.”
A tentative agreement made, the conversation turns to how to spend the next few hours. Since they’ve got day-passes, they’re not locked into the museum itself, but they all commit to being back in the museum and searching for a hiding spot by 4 o’clock. They’re in a fairly metropolitan area, so their subsequent agreement not to waste gas by using the truck isn’t as big of an issue as it could be.
Still, they should stay grouped together for a whole host of good reasons, so they also hash that out before breaking. Kiibo and Gonta are content to actually stick around the museum and explore, and when prompted they agree to scout potential hiding spots for when the time comes. He’s not surprised when Maki takes the lead on planning the actual ‘heist’ itself, but he is a little shocked when she — begrudgingly, but still — insists that Kokichi join her and Kaede somewhere off the museum premises. Something about him being a better lockpick than her, though Kaito’s not really sure it’s worth it.
Again, Kaito is left with Shuuichi for company, and again, he’s more than happy to hang with his sidekick. After promising to have her godfather ‘pull some strings’ in order to secure sleeping accommodations for later that night, Maki leaves with Kaede and Kokichi close behind. And then both Kiibo and Gonta make their way back into the museum, leaving just the two of them to figure out how to kill some time.
Shuuichi’s not particularly passionate about their location — which is a little disappointing, but whatever — so he’s agreeable enough when Kaito guides them out of the museum, and doesn’t put up a fight when Kaito points out a McDonalds a fair distance down the main road. It’s hardly a difficult walk — though he does wish he sprung for a water as his free drink — but once they’re pushing into the joint proper, Shuuichi still makes a point to quickly excuse himself to the men’s room, leaving behind his wallet so Kaito can “get whatever he’d like” on Shuuichi’s dollar.
Frankly, he’s got no interest in rooting around in his friend’s wallet even if it is an opportunity to grab a bite to eat. Besides, he’d feel like shit if he overspent — even if it is a McDonald’s, hardly the pinnacle of fine dining — what little cash reserves he’s got left. So Kaito contents himself with instead snagging them a booth to sit in and trying to guess what Shuuichi’s order is gonna be before he comes back out.
Not that he’s feeling impatient, because they’ve got more than enough time that’s just itching to be wasted until it’s time for the real next stage of their quest to begin, but. Shuuichi does take quite a lot longer than Kaito expects. Long enough to peg down what he guesses his buddy is gonna order, and figures out what he’s gonna get himself, whenever Shuuichi shows back up. Long enough for Kaito to lament his phone’s dead battery and therefore lack of something to do while he waits.
But not quite long enough for Kaito to actually get up and check on him, though he’s considering it when the bathroom door opens and out walks Shuuichi, looking a lot less sweaty and miserable than he had when he’d disappeared inside ages ago. When Kaito waves him over, Shuuichi’s eyes widen, almost seeming a little alarmed to see him.
“You didn’t want anything?”
“I could definitely eat. Just wanted to wait for you — I’d rather have some company while I do, anyway! You ready?”
Kaito pushes himself out of the booth, though before he can head off towards the line to order, the embarrassment he catches on Shuuichi’s face gives him pause. “Everything alright?”
“Ah, yeah,” he replies, though he shies away under his hat again, “I just feel kind of bad that you waited for me. You really didn’t have to. Sorry.”
“Oi.” Though he seems a little surprised when Kaito takes him by the shoulders to walk them over to the counter, Shuuichi doesn’t duck out. “Like I said, I was happy to wait. You don’t need to apologize so much, y’know.”
Before he’s given a chance to respond, Kaito's stepping them up to the counter, though he releases his hold once a cashier catches sight of them. He can’t help his laugh when Shuuichi does order the exact thing he expected — seriously, right down to the size of the nugget meal — but he saves his explanation until after they’re sat back down. As he’s coming to expect, the attention seems to fluster Shuuichi, but an off-hand comment about the predictability of his own choice fixes things well enough as they tuck into their meals.
He’s still hiding under that damn hat, though. Makes it real hard to make eye contact sometimes, which he’d guess is the point. Kaito knows a crutch when he sees one; he just can’t figure out why. Shuuichi’s plenty smart, more than capable of holding his own physically — for someone as scrawny as him to make it out of the shit they have mostly unscathed, he has to be — and from what Kaito’s observed the past several days, a pretty awesome guy all around. Other than his insecurity and the issues that stem from it, Kaito can’t breathe a bad word about him.
Before he’s quite thought it through, he’s opening his mouth. “I’ve been thinkin’, Shuuichi.”
“Oh? About our…plans later?”
“Nah. About you, mostly.”
Like clockwork, the brim of his hat tips down over his eyes as soon as he notices Kaito’s got his full attention on him. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Not at all. I just think it’d do you some good to stop hiding under your hat, is all.”
Shuuichi doesn’t respond, eyes on the table. He’d expected that. “I don’t wanna assume or anything. You’re one of my best buddies, but even I can’t figure someone out this soon into knowing ‘em. However, from what I do know, in who-knows-how-many days we’ve been friends, is that there’s nothin’ about you that’s worthy of obscuring from the world. From what I can tell, Shuuichi Saihara’s a pretty great guy. It’s a shame he doesn’t let the rest of the world see it.”
He’s content to leave it there — at least for now — but before he can do more than take a bite of his burger, Shuuichi’s looking at him head-on again. Now it’s him that has Shuuichi’s full attention.
“Do you…” Kaito can practically see the neurons firing off in his brain. “Do you believe that about yourself, too?”
“‘Course I do,” he answers easily, taking a pull off his water before continuing. “I choose every day to be the person I want to be. For sure I screw it up sometimes, but I know I’m a good guy, ‘cause I won’t let myself be anything but. And that takes work, so…why let the effort it takes to be the best I can go to waste by not lettin’ everyone else see it?”
Kaito’s not usually the type to get philosophical over food — he’d rather eat while it’s still hot, frankly — but he indulges, because it seems to be doing his friend some good. It takes Shuuichi several more bites of food before he follows up the answer Kaito has left hanging.
“…How?” And speaking of getting philosophical. He takes another drink to consider his answer.
“No point in me bullshittin’ you by saying it’s easy. It’s not. There’s no perfect formula for waking up one morning with confidence. Some people say ‘fake it until you make it’ but…I feel like that attitude’s already sellin’ yourself short. Don’t fake it — believe in yourself, and once you do, you’ll start being more confident, too. I’m confident because I believe in myself, because I believe that I’m confident, y’know?”
He said the words believe and confident enough times to leave himself a little dizzy, but Shuuichi seems to get what he’s saying well enough, looking as though he’s digesting Kaito’s sentiments just as he is his food.
Well, maybe ‘digest’ is a stretch. Kaito’s already kind of regretting his burger.
“And I also believe in you, Shuuichi. You’re not my sidekick for no reason, y’know?” The grin Kaito flashes him is returned by a somewhat shaky smile. “We’re halfway across the country, on the run from the gods for a world-saving mission, and you’ve been carryin’ our asses more times than I can count this whole quest. We only got a shot at making it because we’ve got you on our team.”
The gears are turning in his head, Kaito can all but hear it. He continues before Shuuichi can spin some sort of retort. “You wanna know how I dance through life like I do? I wake up every morning as the protagonist of my own story, and I can’t just not play my part, y’know? It doesn’t even take a huge amount of confidence to get into that mindset, by framing yourself as the main character. You just gotta act like one, and once you start really believing that you’re the protagonist, you’ll get the confidence of one, too. What good does it do for the protagonist to hide himself away, you know what I mean?”
It’s a pretty poetic note to end on, in his own humble opinion, so he leaves it there and lets them both finish the last few bites of their meal with the sentiment lingering between them. He tries not to make a spectacle of watching him process what Kaito’s said, and he must succeed — he’s not sure Shuuichi would tip the visor of his hat up like he does if he knew the extent of his eagle eyes. From what he can tell, Shuuichi’s enjoyed his food just about as much as he did; Kaito used to be pretty good at putting fast food away, but almost a year without it’ll leave him unaccustomed, he supposes. And Shuuichi seems the type not to be a big fan of it in the first place, anyway.
All together, they’ve only burned through a little more than an hour of their unexpected free time, and the prospect of dithering the rest of it away in this restaurant is not the most appealing. Once they pack up their trash and toss it out, Kaito gives his friend’s arm a nudge before he speaks. “Hey. You wanna hang outside for a while?”
Again, Shuuichi’s agreeable, so the two of them step back out into the early afternoon with their drinks in hand. He spots a park entrance just a little further down the road, and soon enough they’re stretching out on a relatively uncrowded stretch of grass to soak up some sun. Kaito sprawls comfortably as soon as he’s picked them a good spot, and he wordlessly cheers when Shuuichi settles to lie down next to him. Well, kinda — when he turns his head to the left Shuuichi’s face is a few feet away, though from this angle he’s upside-down, torso and legs flipped in the opposite direction of Kaito’s.
He’s still got the hat on, but as they settle into a warm, companionable silence, Kaito watches from the corner of his eye as he pushes it back enough that the crown is resting against the ground. It’s not like he’s hiding; from the way Kaito’s got to squint over at him, it looks like all he’s trying to do is shield his eyes from the bright sun.
Progress.
Kaito’s not usually one to let the quiet linger — more the proactive, happy-to-chat kind of guy, he is — but the one that settles down in the park’s soft grass alongside them is cozy, almost. Or maybe he’s crashing from both those energy drinks earlier.
Regardless, the silence does last a while, and with his eyes shut against the bright sun he’s feeling sort of peaceful.
Nothing quite breaks it, but he’s still aware of his surroundings and the ambient noise around him to the point that it keeps him from conking out entirely. The breeze is strong enough that he can hear the leaves of a nearby tree rustling each time it blows past. He can also hear a bird crowing from nearby, probably in that same tree. Occasionally a car will drive past on the road that’s a little ways away from where they’re at, and a little less often the soft sounds of passing conversation will drift over him.
It’s nice. He hopes Shuuichi’s getting as much out of this as he is. At the very least, he hopes he’s having a nice time just chilling with him. For all of the rough-and-tumble, exciting action of their quest so far, a small reprieve like this before jumping right back into world-saving is something he thinks they both need.
So much so that he’s content to just stay like this. Until he hears his name.
“Hm? What’s up?”
When he adjusts his eyes to the sun again and glances over, Shuuichi’s not looking at him, and the hat’s still over his eyes but he fidgets with the brim. Crossing his arms behind his head, Kaito props himself up so he can look at him a little easier.
“What you said earlier. I’ve been thinking about it.”
Though he can’t see it, Kaito grins over at him. “Good, that’s the point. What’s goin’ on in that head of yours?”
“I’ve never felt like the protagonist in my life. Before all of this happened, Rantarou getting taken and the spear and everything…my life wasn’t normal, you know? It was more normal than all of this, obviously, but even when I was the odd one out…I always faded into the scenery. Tried to, at least. Rantarou was ‘protagonist’ enough for the both of us.
“Which has been fine for me so far, I think. It’s not that I’m ashamed of who I am, or my background, or anything like that. The people that know me, or at least make the effort to…they’re not ashamed, either. But I still hide anyway. Maybe it’s because if I don’t, it feels like people might discover some…terrible, awful truth about me, I guess.”
“Do you have a terrible, awful truth?”
Shuuichi huffs a weak laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Then why be afraid?”
“That’s the funny thing,” he says softly. “I don’t know.”
It takes a minute for Shuuichi to continue. “I just…am. I’m afraid now, even though I know I have no reason to be. You don’t scare me.”
Kaito hums, considering. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. You’re also way more self-aware than you have any friggin’ right to be.” A snort, to keep things lighthearted. “And because of that, I believe that you can assess whether or not that terrible, awful truth is real or not. According to you, it’s not. And I trust you. So, if there’s nothin’ to hide — then there’s nothin’ to worry about, right?
“I’m not worried, at least,” Kaito adds, leaning back more on his arms to give his neck a break from craning over to watch his friend. “You’re Shuuichi Saihara. A good guy, according to my excellent judge of character. And I happen to like that guy. That’s all that matters to me.”
Quiet, for a little while. He’s almost convinced this is another one of those occasions where his wisdom’s just gonna linger, but Shuuichi surprises him. “Hey, Kaito?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t have a terrible, awful truth. But I was still hiding from you, earlier. Before we ate.” Another long pause; he hasn’t shifted to look back at Shuuichi yet, but something in his gut encourages him to wait. “Can I tell you why?”
“I’m all ears,” Kaito replies, honest. That last question was a little shakier than the bulk of everything else he’s said. He hopes his answer — and the fact he makes a point not to watch Shuuichi while he works himself up to it — makes the hint of fear go away.
“I’m trans. It’s not terrible, or awful. Just the truth.” He pauses, then: “After the stress of what we’re going to do, and the heat, and the walk over here, it was just hard for me to breathe for a bit. I had to take my binder off to, ah…chill out.”
There’s something like a laugh in his voice, and when Kaito finally looks over, Shuuichi’s already watching him, expression wary, hat clasped in his hands atop his chest. Kaito raises an eyebrow. “You’re all good now, right?”
It’s clearly not what Shuuichi expects; nevertheless he nods. Kaito flashes him another smile, and though it’s not his sunniest, it’s certainly genuine. “Good. I’m glad you’re feelin’ better. Though I’m sure that damn food can’t have helped much.”
Shuuichi chuckles, seeming more at ease than he was, but there’s something that itches at Kaito until he opens his mouth again.
“I don’t wanna, like, take away that that was probably pretty hard to say by bein’ all casual. Kinda scared to fuck this up, honestly. Just…it means a lot that you trust me with that. And, for the record,” he continues, making purposeful eye contact with Shuuichi, “nothing’s changed, obviously. You’re not hiding right now, and you’re still the same friend I trust and believe in. Actually, no, you’re better than I thought — funny how that happens, when I get to know you more. No awful, terrible truths. Just Shuuichi, my friend.”
When it becomes obvious he’s choking back tears, Kaito turns his head away, staring up into the wide blue sky above them. After Shuuichi’s taken time to collect himself, he hears a quiet, “Thank you.”
“‘Course. Like I said from the start, Shuuichi. It’s a shame to see you hiding away from the spotlight in your own story. Maybe some of the stuff beneath the surface doesn’t need to be shouted from the rooftops, privacy and all that. But none of it’s worth hiding. The spectacular life and times of Shuuichi Saihara definitely deserves to see the light of day.”
He receives a hum in response, and he’s content with that for a little while. Once again, he’s happy to leave things there entirely for the time being, and he does until Shuuichi speaks up again.
“Hey. Can I still be a protagonist while being your sidekick?”
The laugh Kaito lets out is full-bellied, and over it he hears Shuuichi’s laughter, too. Once recovered, he glances back over at him again with a grin. “Duh.”
Before they can do much more than laugh again, the quiet chime of a text tone spills into the air between them. Kaito turns his eyes back to the sky, ruminating on his own grandiose life and times as he lets Shuuichi do his thing. He hears more than sees Shuuichi sit up, and he tips his head over to watch him curiously.
“Somethin’ up?”
“Nothing bad. It’s a little after three, though, and Kaede wants those of us not still in the museum to meet up and discuss the game plan before we head in and split.”
Good idea. With a groan Kaito pushes himself into a sit as well, rolling his shoulders and using it as an excuse to glance back at Shuuichi upside-down. “The McDonald’s might be easiest, right?”
“That’s what I was thinking.” He spends a few more moments tapping on his phone, holding his hat above his head with his free hand to shield his screen from the glare. “Kaede says they can be there in ten. You ready to go?”
Kaito tries not to watch too closely, but Shuuichi seems much better off on the walk back than he was before. As Kaito holds the door open for them once they arrive, Shuuichi takes his hat off once they’re out of the sun, and he doesn’t put it back on; instead he rests it on the table in front of him, leaving him nothing to hide with.
Despite the greasy food settling in their guts, Kaito’s in high spirits — and from the genuine smile Shuuichi sends him before their other friends walk in, he gets the feeling he is, too.