× || Gaining Confidence !

hi its pie

“How did you die?”

“Wait, you’re dead?”

“I heard your voice.”

“So, can you move things?”

“What’s it like? Being dead?”

“Can you stop hiding my stuff?”

“How long have you been dead?”

“Oh, great, now I’m seeing things.”

“…Are you my sleep paralysis demon?”

“Do you have any family around… alive?”

“I know I’m not alone in here, I heard you.”

“So, how long have you been… stuck here?”

“What kind of… ghostly abilities do you have?”

“Do you want to communicate? I want to listen.”

“I want to help you. I want to help you move on.”

“If there’s a spirit in here, please give me a sign.”

“No, you’re not real… things like you aren’t real…”

“I told them you were real. They didn’t believe me.”

“You’ve been haunting this dump a long time, huh?”

“Oh my god! Who are you and why are you floating??”

“Was that you turning off the lights or did the power go out?”

“Please stop flickering the lights already, I’m trying to sleep.”

“I’m not scared… I’m not scared of you. Get out of my house.”

“Is there a message you want me to pass along to the living?”

“I’m not trying to be disrespectful, please don’t go Poltergeist on me.”

“I thought you were just an imaginary friend, but all this time, you’ve…”

“Over a hundred years?” he asked, in surprise. Regardless of whether that’s the norm for ghosts or not, that sounded like an extremely long time. The way the other’s hand reached out to touch the back of his head didn’t escape his notice, nor did the way he turned away for a moment. Murdered….

“…That’s not the kind of thing someone should pressure you to talk about just because they’re curious,” he gently told the other, slowly shaking his head. “Forgive me. I might have made it sound like I’m just curious about your ‘ghost story’ earlier, as some people put it. If you’d like to talk about it, I’m willing to listen, but only if you’re okay with that. Talking about the incident of your own murder can’t be easy, not when it’s something that shackled you for more than a hundred years.”

Moving to finally close the door he’d left open, he turned back to the ghost with a soft smile. “You’re not some sort of attraction, you know. I’d like to know more about you, as a person. You can tell me about the incident if you’re comfortable with that, or we can talk about something else. I want to know what you prefer, Shuichi.”

"Ah... have no worries, Cain: I know you did not mean it like that." Because frankly, the more a person would try to pry, the less likely he'd want to tell them about his past in the first place... "If would only give vague details if someone was trying to pry too much, anyway." Or just scare them off, but he really would rather not go along with any rumors that he's some 'terrifying' spirit haunting the school..

As he watches Cain close the door, he thinks silently for a moment. He's never really had a chance to tell someone the full story. Having to bottle up this guilt and regret for so long only contributed to being unable to leave this building. Maybe it'd do good to confide in someone about it. Someone like Cain, who doesn't treat like a monster or attraction... "...You truly are so kind, Cain. Thank you. But... I think I am willing to talk about it with you. Maybe... talking about it, could help, honestly.. Though I apologize in advanced for dark it is."

He first goes to sit on top of a desk. He rests his hands on his lap and intertwines his own hands together. "...To begin..." He softly exhales. "Back in my time, I used to be a detective who worked under my uncle, who owned his own detective agency. The cases we did were nothing too drastic or big, mostly small ones like finding pets, background checks, that soft of thing... along with infidelity cases. From what I can remember..." Since it's been so long.... "My client was a woman, who suspected her husband of cheating. Her suspicions had been correct: we caught him with the woman he was cheating on her with. My client, when she saw that... It broke her. She flew into a rage and attempted to kill them both. While the mistress survived... it was only because the man sacrificed himself to save her. I remember how much I hated for myself for how everything played out."

Even after so long, he can still envision the grizzly sight of the husband's body on the ground, covered in blood and stab wounds. How horrified he looked while the client was taken away by the police. Everyday he wondered what he could have done to prevent it all.... "And then... fast forward to when the daughter of the client and deceased husband found out what happened... and that I was the detective behind that case. I... cannot remember the full conversation word for word, but I still remember clear as day... how much hatred and anguish were in her eyes. How rightfully angry at me she was for how horribly the case turned out. I mean, after all: her mother was in jail and her father, dead! It was natural she would hate me! And then...a-and then..."

He hugs his arms and darts his eyes away. "She...attacked me. I tried to escape, but to no avail. It felt like everything happened so fast... how I suddenly found myself on the ground, when she, I believe, threw a chair at me. Then as she got on top of me, those eyes, brimming with even more malice and hatred, were the last thing I saw before my vision was caked in red. And this indescribable pain being bashed into the back of my head by a bludgeoning weapon: over....and over........and........over......"

He purses his lips. That look in the girl's eyes still haunt him to this day... "And alas... that is how I died. In this very school, all those years ago......all because of my incompetence as a detective. Leaving behind my poor uncle and aunt, who must have been so devastated when my body was discovered. Even in death, I couldn't forgive myself. And so... I still find myself here, to this day: wallowing in self pity and regret. ...I'm the worst, right? All because I didn't react fast enough to stop that woman from murdering her husband. Then everything that transpired, would have never happened. Hahaha...."

"N'awww, Shumai thinks that i'm such a troublemaker for deserving a pair of wings and a halo~ Well, well, Mr. Detective... do you think that I need to sharpen up my target practice and aim my arrow at you, ooor... were you hoping to take me as your fallen prisoner and try getting me to talk? Huh? Well? Shu-i-chi, you know that no matter what you choose... i'll always be on your mind, huh?"

He smirks and, with a quick nudge up of his feet, reaches to hold his face in his hands.

Or was it? No matter if he meant to or not, this one does occupy his brain a lot! Most of the time, wondering or worrying if he got himself into some kind of trouble, but still.. "A-Also, no matter what I choose, you probably would still-!!"

A surprised gasp cuts himself off when Kokichi goes to cup his face. Even if he wanted to, he can't dart his eyes away, now..! "...P-Purposely do whatever to drive me crazy... but hey, don't pin the blame on me!"

It's as Shuichi said: It didn't seem like he hated it. In fact, from picking up the very faint noise of purring in addition to the touch behind the ear, the supreme leader felt a sudden jump somewhere from within him.

Happiness? Joy? A form of bonding moment with his beloved vampire guardian that, maybe in some situation later on, would find this somehow soothing. If it was affecting Shuichi so much, then why was Kokichi also feeling pleased by this?

A moment later, he felt a warm nudge of his hand and Kokichi easily felt his lips tick into a satisfied smile. Repeating the motion and gliding his hand overtop of the feline's furry little head once more.

"It looks like I found your 'reset button', Shu-mai~! You see, you're not putting up a fight at all. In fact, you said so yourself. You're enjoying it, like a good creature of the night should."

His tone adding a little know-it-all to it, he simply ends the tender little moment with moving his hand down and giving Shuichi's cat form a tempting 'chin scritch'.

"See, I can be generous... but I wonder if it works the same way on your human form. It's good to know if i'm going to be responsible for you, you know."

It almost made him sound like he's being clingy or something! Like a cat..... But surely, the vampire wasn't, right? He wonders, as if the chin scritches Kokichi starts giving him didn't feel super nice and immediately wants more of that, too.. Even if he tried to hide the purring, that'd be impossible with how much his body was vibrating and how louder he was..

"Y-Yes, thank you... And, um...." Would this feel just as nice in his human form? Then again... it's not like anyone's ever gave him chin scritches or rubbed his head in that form.... That'd probably feel just as nice as it does in his cat one.. But there was no way in the world he'd ever say that out loud; he'd die a thousand deaths before that happens! So instead, he continues his sentence with:

"Wh-Who can say...? It's not like I've really, um... received this kind of affection in my human form; just this particular form whenever someone approaches me, thinking I am just some random 'stray' cat..."

"I was told doing this would 'assert dominance'."