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"Let's go in the freezer."
It's an innocuous enough suggestion, spoken by Shuichi, as he stands in front of the walk-in freezer door. He doesn't mean anything by it. He's just curious about what might be in there; Kirumi's been cooking full-course meals for them, three times a day, so it must be well-stocked. But why stock a kitchen so well for a week-long dating show? Maybe it's not the biggest or most important mystery in the world, but Shuichi might as well take a look, as long as they're in the kitchen anyway.
Kaito joins him in considering the freezer, his hand stroking his goatee in an imitation of the way Shuichi's hand is covering his own chin.
"Did you know...in astronaut training, you have to be able to survive in subzero temperatures?" Kaito asks.
Is there anything astronauts don't have to train for? Shuichi wonders, shaking his head. Kaito's really something...
Then Kaito grins suddenly and punches a fist into his open hand, which is Shuichi's first indication that things are about to go off the rails.
"So if it's a competition to see who can hold out the longest, I won't lose!" Kaito declares, grinning sideways down at Shuichi. "The loser has to say how many girls he's had a crush on!"
Shuichi stares back up blankly.
"A...competition?" he parrots. He's just...going to leave the last part of what Kaito said unaddressed. He doesn't even know where to begin with it. "Umm, that's not really what I..."
"What, scared you'll lose?" Kaito taunts, with a challenging smirk on his face. Shuichi's not really used to seeing Kaito grin like that, taunting and playful rather than warm and encouraging, and the sight of it briefly unbalances him.
"That's not..." he eventually starts to protest, vaguely aware he's pouting.
"Well, of course you would!" Kaito continues, challenging grin turning good-natured. "I've trained for this, after all. You wouldn't stand a chance!"
Shuichi stares at Kaito for a long moment, expression going unreadably blank. Kaito's grin fades, and he looks back at Shuichi inquisitively.
"Fine," Shuichi says suddenly, surprising both of them. "You're on, Kaito."
It's really not like him to rise to someone else's bait like this; Shuichi doesn't pride himself on many things, but he could at least say he's levelheaded, when his anxiety doesn't get the better of him. But something about Kaito's breezy assertion that Shuichi doesn't stand a chance really chafes. Shuichi likes—really likes, like, likes more than he probably should—Kaito, and appreciates all the time Kaito's spent with him while they've all been trapped here, building his confidence and helping him get stronger. But Kaito, it seems, is always better than him at everything: exercising, socializing, languages, science and technology, looks. Some of his claims might be empty boasts (and a lot of his stories are certainly bald-faced lies), but there's no doubting he's seriously multitalented. Maybe Shuichi's a better detective than him, but it's not like that's been particularly relevant while they've been on this dating show. Even then, at this point, it would barely shock him if Kaito said something like "Actually, in order to be an astronaut, you have to be able to solve murders!", and then went on to tell a story about how he cracked an unsolvable case.
So maybe Shuichi just wants to prove Kaito wrong. Another part of him wants so badly to impress Kaito, too, and prove to him he's not just a weak, mousey sidekick. And if the thought of Kaito's admiration and Kaito's approval and Kaito grinning and telling him "Good job, Shuichi!" kind of sends butterflies through his stomach, that's—not relevant.
Kaito masks his shock at Shuichi's reply quickly, although Shuichi definitely sees his eyes widen and his mouth pop open a little. His expression melts instead into childish glee, and he pumps his fist.
"Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Kaito grabs the handle and swings the door open so violently Shuichi has to jump out of the way to avoid getting clobbered. A plume of icy air rolls out of the freezer, spreading over the kitchen floor ominously. "I'm not gonna take it easy on you just 'cause you're my sidekick, though, got it?!"
"Good," Shuichi says firmly, and he ducks under Kaito's arm to slip into the freezer before Kaito can.
The moment his feet pass the threshold of the door, Shuichi thinks: Ah, this was a bad idea. The moment Kaito closes the door behind them, and the cold of the freezer completely surrounds him, he thinks: Oh, this was a terrible idea. His tolerance for cold has never been great, even at the best of times, and it is so much colder in here than Shuichi had been expecting.
"Alright!" Kaito booms, apparently not sharing Shuichi's moment of regret. He circles around in front of Shuichi, hands on his hips, looking around like he's surveying a newly-conquered land. The freezer is large—maybe twenty square feet or so total, Shuichi thinks, and lined wall-to-wall with various frozen meats, vegetables, and other foodstuffs, the packages of which are covered in too much frost to ascertain the identity of.
"Huh. I thought so," Shuichi mumbles, brows furrowing.
"Thought what?" Kaito asks curiously.
"This is way too much food for a week-long dating show," Shuichi states, eyes scanning the shelves. "Even with 16 people..."
"So, what?" Kaito prompts, head tilted. "Were they expecting more people or something?"
"That, or they were expecting us to be here for longer..." Shuichi murmurs. "16 is already a lot of people for a reality TV show, right? So it's more likely a question of time, not people."
"Man, that's a good point," Kaito says. "Heh! You really are the Ultimate Detective, huh?"
Shuichi's face flushes, and he quickly looks away. "That's, ah," he mumbles, not sure how to refute that properly. "I-I mean, it's just a guess..."
"Don't sell yourself short! Anyway, we're not here to do inventory," Kaito says. "We're here to compete! How're you feeling, sidekick?"
Awful, Shuichi thinks. The cold is already starting to seep past his outer layers; his fingers are turning pink, and he's sure his ears must be doing the same. He really wishes he still had his hat right about now.
"Fine," Shuichi lies. "How about you, Kaito?"
"This is nothing!" Kaito booms, thumping his chest for manly emphasis. "Man, the stuff they put us through in astronaut training is way more intense. Lemme tell you all about it!"
Shuichi settles in near the wall (not against the metal, ice-coated wall; God no) across from Kaito, and watches with the barest hint of an amused smile as Kaito launches into a long-winded, dubiously-credible story about a trek across the peaks of the Himalayas. As Kaito talks, Shuichi tries to subtly slip his hands into his pockets, hoping Kaito won't notice. If he does, hopefully at least he won't notice the way Shuichi's arms are starting to shake.
---
This was, in fact, a terrible idea.
Shuichi struggles to focus on Kaito's words now; the cold biting at his extremities is being given a much higher priority in his brain. Even inside his pockets, his hands feel like they're frozen. His ears went numb a long time ago, and now his entire face is starting to follow suit. He sniffs obnoxiously, trying to keep the snot clogging up his nose from escaping. He feels miserable.
Kaito, meanwhile, seems completely unaffected by the cold, in a way that's almost unbelievable to Shuichi. His shirt and jacket are still unbuttoned, and he's been gesturing with his hands bare and exposed this entire time. Kaito was right: Shuichi really didn't stand a chance against him.
At the sniff, Kaito stops mid-sentence, and his usual storytelling grin drops off his face. He gives Shuichi a searching look, which Shuichi instinctively averts his eyes from.
"You doing alright over there?" Kaito asks, head tilted.
"F-F-Fine," Shuichi mutters, a lie he's sure isn't convincing. "I can keep g-g-going."
Kaito's concerned expression remains for a moment longer; then, he smiles, and snaps his fingers like he's just thought of a great idea.
"You know what'll keep us warm?" he asks.
Leaving? Shuichi thinks.
"Exercise!" Kaito says instead. "Let's move our bodies and get our blood flowing. But don't think this means you can slack off during training tonight!"
"T-Th-That's a good idea," Shuichi chatters, because it is. As much as he'd like to curl up into a ball right now, some physical activity would warm him up. He might've suggested it earlier, if he wasn't so afraid of seeming weak. "Ah, but the floor in here is slippery, so running might not be a good idea...and putting our bare hands against the floor probably isn't the best move, either, for staying warm, so no push-ups..."
"Hmm. Those are all good points," Kaito says, nodding. "So what should we do, sidekick?"
"Sit-ups should be fine," Shuichi suggests, miraculously managing not to stutter. He has a feeling Kaito teed that question up for him deliberately, but his cheeks still flush with precious, precious warmth when Kaito grins at him proudly.
"Sounds good! Let's do 60, then see how we feel!"
"Sure," Shuichi agrees, fully expecting Kaito to do maybe half that.
The second he sits on the ground, he feels immense regret, as the thermal conductivity of the stainless steel floor sends all the cold of the freezer straight to his ass. He almost yelps, but bites his lip and manages to keep it together. He chances a sidelong glance at Kaito, and notes with just the smallest bit of relief that Kaito's also wincing as he settles onto the ground. Shuichi reluctantly pulls his hands out of the safety of his pockets, curls his arms behind his head, and starts doing his sit-ups, counting under his breath.
As he approaches 60, he does feel warmer, but if anything, it's just highlighting how unnervingly cold some parts of his body still feel. His hands, exposed behind his head, feel numb and tingly, and he still can't feel his ears at all. He pauses at 50 and rubs his hands vigorously against his ears, trying to restore some feeling to either body part.
"Hey, that was only 50," Kaito points out, frowning.
Shuichi glances at Kaito, and immediately deduces from Kaito's relaxed posture that Kaito's sit-up count is sitting at a cool zero .
"Have you d-done yours, K-K-Kaito?" Shuichi asks, the cold making him a bit more irritable than usual.
"Ah, well, I don't really need 'em," Kaito says, shrugging. The unspoken fact is obvious: you do.
Shuichi squints at Kaito, and impulsively looks him over head to toe. As far as he can tell, Kaito isn't shaking, but now that he's really looking at Kaito instead of focusing so much on himself, there are some obvious signs of discomfort. He's sitting just slightly curled-up, like he's trying to keep warm but stopping himself from going all the way, and his hands and ears are almost as red as Shuichi's. Shuichi brings a hand to his mouth and thinks.
"You should do them too, though," Shuichi says, after a moment. "It, ah...w-w-wouldn't be setting a very good example for me if you were slacking off, r-r-right?"
Kaito gawks at him for a second, as though outraged by the audacity of Shuichi to accuse him of something like that.
"I'm not slacking off!" Kaito protests. "I-I'm just conserving my energy! So I can win this competition!"
"D-Didn't you say exercise was how you would k-k-keep warm, though? I-I-If you really wanted to win, you'd be d-doing sit-ups t-t-too."
Despite the cold-induced shake in his voice, he feels remarkably confident in what he's trying to do. Kaito is an enigma at times, an unassailable heroic ideal Shuichi can't quite reach, but more and more, Shuichi's been understanding how he ticks—and one of the most obvious gears in his clockwork is that he never backs down from a challenge.
Kaito tches loudly, and for a second Shuichi's afraid he's overstepped and made Kaito genuinely angry. But then Kaito drops to the ground, curls his hands behind his head, and starts furiously doing sit-ups, faster than Shuichi has ever seen him do them before. Shuichi watches for a moment, genuinely impressed, before he remembers he still has ten to go; he drops back into position and does them quickly, then another five for good measure.
Shuichi sighs, satisfied and feeling the burn, and drops onto his back to relax. He quickly jolts up, though, as the cold from the floor bites through his jacket into his back. He wraps his arms around his legs, trying to hold himself upright, but even as he curls into himself, he can feel the fleeting body heat generated by his exercise already starting to seep out of him. He cranes his neck to rub one of his numb ears against his shoulder furiously. There's no frostbite, right? Kaito would tell him if his ears were turning black, wouldn't he?
Shuichi's ridiculous ministrations provide some temporary relief, a flood of pins and needles into his ears that reassures him he's not going to lose them anytime soon. Then he looks up and finds Kaito staring at him again, watching him rub his ear against his shoulder like a dog trying to scratch itself. He flushes down his neck.
"Ah, I just..." He flounders for an explanation.
"Still cold?" Kaito guesses.
"I guess I k-k-kind of wish I brought my hat," Shuichi admits, laughing a little.
"You good to keep going?" Kaito asks, genuine concern in his tone. "It's good to test your limits, but it's important to know when to back off, y'know? We can stop anytime."
Damn it. He really wants to take Kaito up on that, but he...he can't, right? If he backs down now, Kaito will think he's weak. And he knows Kaito won't judge him for that—he never has—but still, Shuichi doesn't want that. He shakes his head vigorously.
"No. I'm fine," he insists. "I-I-I mean, I'm cold, o-o-obviously, but the whole point of this is that it's a challenge, right?" Even as he puts on a brave face, he can't resist the urge to vigorously rub his hands against his ears again.
Kaito blinks, clearly not expecting that answer. He doesn't get fired up in the way Shuichi was hoping, though.
"Alright," he says instead, levelly, and looks away. Shuichi looks away, too, and they lapse into silence.
Minutes tick by. Sitting in silence without doing anything isn't a problem for Shuichi, in itself. He's an only child with less-than-attentive parents; he's gotten very good at occupying his mind, staving off boredom by memorizing the details of the things around him and conjuring up elaborate mysteries in his head. You know. Normal things. Kaito, however, sees silence as something to be filled, a problem to be fixed, so the fact that he isn't talking at all concerns Shuichi. Rather than retreating into his head, the detective finds himself glancing over at Kaito, wondering what's going on with him.
Kaito looks...tense, in a weird way. He keeps drumming his fingers on his knee, worrying his lip between his teeth, and he keeps looking at Shuichi, too, in a way that makes it incredibly obvious both that he's looking and that he's trying to not be obvious about looking.
Finally, just before Shuichi can bring himself to ask what's wrong, Kaito shakes his head and rises to his feet.
"I think you win this round, sidekick," he says, and he starts for the door.
"H-Huh?" Shuichi sputters. Wait, is Kaito really just...giving up? Just like that? There's no way he felt worse than Shuichi, unless he was really that good at hiding it.
"Yeah, I'm tapping out," Kaito says cheerfully. "Thought my astronaut training would win the day, but turns out you detectives are made of tough stuff!"
The gears turn in Shuichi's head. As Kaito's hand lands on the door handle, he speaks up.
"I th-th-thought you said you w-weren't going to t-t-take it easy on me," Shuichi stammers through clenched teeth.
Kaito freezes. He looks back at Shuichi wide-eyed, like he's been caught.
"I'm not!" he insists. "Hey, look, this was a pretty dumb idea anyway. We're hero and sidekick, right? We already know each other's hearts and limits. We don't have to prove anything to each other."
"W-W-We know each other's what?" Shuichi squawks.
"It's just an expression," Kaito says, waving a hand dismissively. "Anyway, maybe I have a better tolerance for cold than you, but I'm tired of just sitting in here doing nothing. So you win. Let's go enjoy the sun while there's still daylight, yeah?"
As Kaito speaks, he gives Shuichi a reassuring grin that—despite his offense at Kaito's pity—warms his heart like the rays of a distant, brilliant star. Then he pushes on the handle.
Nothing happens.
Kaito frowns, looks at the door, and pushes it again, obviously putting more effort into it this time. The door barely budges.
"...Umm," Shuichi says, eyes wide.
"H-Hey, don't worry, alright?" Kaito says, with a weaker smile. "I've got this. It's, uhh, probably just a little ornery, that's all—"
He pushes again, with significantly more panic this time. Then he pulls. The door remains unmoved.
"I-Is it locked or something?" Shuichi asks, horror dripping into his gut.
"N-No, I mean..." Kaito checks the handle for some kind of locking mechanism, but Shuichi can see even from the other side of the freezer that there isn't one. "Why the hell would you need to lock a freezer?"
"Is it jammed, then?" Shuichi wonders. Despite the fear running through his veins, the prospect of a mystery to solve dulls his panic. "Maybe there's something outside blocking it?"
"In that case, we just need to push harder, yeah?" Kaito says. "Shuichi! Gimme a hand here!"
"Right," Shuichi mutters, getting to his feet. He crosses the freezer and, alongside Kaito, pushes as hard as he can. But the floor is slick. Pushing against the door without slipping is hard even for Shuichi, who's wearing proper footwear; for Kaito, still clad in his slippers, it's almost impossible. They keep trying for a couple minutes, but the door remains shut.
"Ah, well," Shuichi pants, looking up at the ceiling. "This is… a problem, huh?"
"N-Nah, it's no big deal," Kaito stammers unconvincingly. "Look, someone'll notice we're gone eventually, right? And then I'm sure they'll come find us!"
"Right. Or Kirumi will c-c-come in here to prepare dinner..." Shuichi reasons.
"Yeah, good point! Kirumi'll bail us out for sure!" Kaito says, obviously cheered by that. "We just gotta sit tight until help arrives!"
What time did we get here, though? Shuichi wonders. He can't remember exactly, but he does remember lunch wasn't that long ago. If that's the case, then...
"Dammit, though!" Kaito curses, jolting Shuichi out of his thoughts. "Who the hell t-t-trapped us in here?!"
That's assuming someone did trap us in here on purpose...this could just be some kind of accident. Shuichi frowns, thinking. Kokichi's the only suspect I can think of, but this seems awfully mean-spirited even for him. Maybe this is one of Monokuma's…
Shuichi stops. He's thinking about the wrong thing. The culprit doesn't matter right now; what matters is figuring a way out of this freezer, or a way to hold out until help arrives.
Hang on a second. Shouldn't there be a... Shuichi's golden eyes flick back and forth, scanning the length of the freezer. He finds what he's looking for a few seconds later: a radial dial, right next to the door. The thing is barely a foot away from him and Kaito, but with how small and unlabeled it is, it's no wonder they hadn't noticed it at first. Shuichi sidesteps around Kaito to the dial (the latter watching him with curiosity) and turns it as high as it'll go. The ambient humming of the coolers stops, and Shuichi sighs in relief.
"D-Did you turn the freezer off?" Kaito asks. "Nice going, s-s-sidekick!"
Shuichi finds himself torn between embarrassment at the undeserved praise and worry that Kaito's voice has suddenly started shaking nearly as badly as his. Just how well was he hiding how cold he was before? Kaito...
"It's just a t-t-temperature control. I don't see a way to switch the freezer off completely, but I turned it up to its m-m-maximum temperature, which is...ah, z-z-zero degrees Celsius. So not ideal, but at least it won't get any colder while we're in here."
"Y-Yeah! As long as it only stays this cold, we'll be t-t-totally fine!" Kaito stammers out.
"Maybe there is a way to switch the f-f-freezer off if we look around?" Shuichi suggests. He's begun subtly shifting from one foot to the other, trying to keep moving so the cold can't settle on him too much.
"Good thinking!" Kaito praises, giving Shuichi a thumbs-up. "And moving around will help us s-s-stay warm!"
A plan in mind, the two of them scour opposite sides of the freezer. Unfortunately, their search turns up empty; all Shuichi finds are steel plates and meat packages, and judging from Kaito's frustrated groans, he's not having much more luck.
"Isn't this some kinda safety violation?" Kaito gripes. He's on the floor, looking under the shelves, which—okay, Shuichi can't fault him for thoroughness, but he kind of doubts they're going to find an off switch under there. "N-N-Not being able to t-t-turn the damn thing off from the inside..."
"We're literally being forced to participate in this dating show. I think a walk-in freezer is the least of the p-p-problems with this whole thing," Shuichi points out. He picks up a bag of frozen spinach and turns it over, like he's going to find the answers he's looking for in the nutrition facts or something. Seriously, why is there so much of this stuff? he wonders, lifting his eyes to the rows and rows of frozen vegetables still on the shelves.
"Still, man. There's, like, b-b-building codes and stuff you gotta follow, at least." Kaito huffs and rises to his feet, dusting off his pants in what must be a habitual motion.
"Mmn." Shuichi puts the spinach back. With no task to occupy him anymore, the cold feels even more oppressive; he hunches his shoulders, rubs his cherry-red hands together, and blows hot air into them forcefully.
Kaito is unusually quiet—or maybe this is the new usual for him, given how many times that's happened in the last hour. When Shuichi looks up, having made his hands maybe a fraction of a degree warmer, Kaito is just...staring at him. Intensely. He'd blush, if all his blood in his body wasn't currently being used to keep his fingers from falling off.
"What?" he asks. He presses his hands against his chest, cradling them like a vulnerable newborn baby.
Kaito stares at him a moment longer, unresponsive; then he grins, and Shuichi wonders just what plan he's come up with this time.
"I've got a great idea! It's real basic survival stuff, y'know? The kind of thing they t-t-teach you in astronaut training."
"What is?" Shuichi asks, voice still trembling from the cold.
"Sharing body heat!" Kaito declares, a little too loudly. "Now that we're not competing anymore, it's the perfect time to deploy it!"
"I...hang on, what," Shuichi starts to say, but Kaito is already advancing on him. Shuichi instinctively backs himself into the wall, before hissing a breath through his teeth and stepping forward again when he remembers wall steel, steel cold, cold bad. By the time he's regained his bearings, Kaito's hand is already wrapped firmly around his forearm, and he's yanked unceremoniously forward.
Shuichi braces his hands in front of him reflexively, where they plant onto Kaito's ribs, keeping just a few precious inches of distance between them. Shuichi's eyes widen at the warmth that explodes through his fingertips, the heat radiating through the thin layer of Kaito's shirt. His fingers clench reflexively, trying to soak every drop of it in.
Then Kaito yelps like a startled dog, and Shuichi almost flinches away.
"S-Sorry, did I h—"
"Y-Your hands are God-damned ice, man!" Kaito bursts out.
Shuichi cringes. "Ah, sorry," he repeats in an embarrassed mutter. With great sorrow, he starts to pull his hands away, but then Kaito's hands come down on top of them and force them back against his side.
"Nah, bro, you need to warm those up," Kaito chides, although Shuichi can tell from the way Kaito's ribs instinctively jump away that he's really forcing himself to do this. "I'll be fine! You need all your fingers for detective work!"
"A-Are you sure?" Shuichi asks. He struggles to keep his voice steady. The cold is making his voice shake, sure, but also, he's maybe two and a half inches away from Kaito, with his hands on him, feeling the warmth he desperately needs radiating through his clothes, and Kaito's hands are on top of his, squeezing his own cold hands with an uncharacteristic gentleness and care, and oh my God Kaito's hands are freezing too, what?
"Don't you need to w-w-warm up your hands, Kaito?" Shuichi points out, frowning.
"Nah. Like I said, I'll be fine. Astronaut training," Kaito says dismissively, as though 'astronaut training' is a silver bullet against literally any concern Shuichi can lodge against him.
Shuichi frowns down at Kaito's hands, thinking. I don't think he's going to listen to me if I keep trying to tell him he needs to warm his hands up. He has too much pride for that. But they're seriously cold...maybe I could—
Before he can overthink it, Shuichi leans forward, closing the last few inches of distance between their bodies. He folds his arms against Kaito as he goes, sandwiching both his and Kaito's hands between the two of them. He's not quite pressed flush against Kaito—his arms are preventing that—but he's very close, close enough to feel Kaito's body heat even where he's not touching him. The position is awkward, but slightly warmer—and much warmer for Kaito's hands, Shuichi suspects, which are now resting against Shuichi's stomach.
"...This is what you meant by sharing body heat, right?" Shuichi asks. It'd be seriously embarrassing if it wasn't...
"Uhh," Kaito says, and Shuichi looks up. Kaito's face is flushed red. Their eyes meet for a microsecond before Kaito glances away. "Y-Yeah! Yeah, you got it."
…Wasn't this your idea, Kaito? Shuichi wonders, frowning at Kaito's clear discomfort. "Are you sure? We d-d-don't have to—"
"Positive!" Kaito barks, like he's offended Shuichi has to ask. Then, in a softer voice: "Hey, what's important is that we're helping each other out, right?"
Helping each other out. Shuichi's lips curl up, and something warm and bubbly blooms inside his chest.
"Yeah," he murmurs, smiling and looking bashfully downwards. "I guess that is important…"
They stand there another moment. Subtly, Shuichi shifts closer to Kaito, trying to escape the cold that's still biting at his back. This position is fine for warming their hands, but not especially great at warming their bodies, Shuichi notes.
"You're still shaking," Kaito points out.
"Y-Yeah," Shuichi mutters, wondering if saying I'm still cold would just be explaining the obvious. Or complaining. Kaito hates complaining, so Shuichi would rather keep a stiff upper lip if he can.
Wordlessly, Kaito disentangles his hands from Shuichi's and slowly wraps his arms around Shuichi, hooking his hands together around the small of his back. Shuichi's pulled closer, just slightly; his own hands are still in the way.
"Here. Put your arms around my back," Kaito suggests. Shuichi blinks, but follows Kaito's lead: he also puts his arms around Kaito, hands brushing against the inner lining of his jacket as he locks them into place.
Oh my God, this is so much better, Shuichi thinks, before he can stop himself. The effect is almost instantaneous: warmth floods into Shuichi's whole body, from his neck all the way down to his thighs, as he presses into Kaito. He's amazed at how comfortably their bodies seem to fit together, like they were...made for this. But that's ridiculous. He's...probably just desperate for warmth. Or Kaito's really good at giving hugs.
Come to think of it, Kaito has never hugged him before. (When's the last time anyone's hugged him besides his aunt and uncle? Ah, well, maybe better not to dwell on that right now.) All of their touches up to this point have been casual, brief: an arm around the shoulder in the dining hall, a hand on Shuichi's arm correcting his posture during training. By comparison, this is overwhelming.
Shuichi rests his head against Kaito's chest before he can think better of it. He wonders a half-second later if that's too much, too close, but he's too warm and comfortable to pull away. Kaito doesn't say anything, at least, which makes him feel like maybe it's alright, just for now.
What Kaito does do is let out a barely-audible sigh, too quiet to discern any intention from, and Shuichi wonders if this is warmer for Kaito, too. He's sure he doesn't run as warm as Kaito does, but he's still a person, and probably at least a little warmer than a freezer.
"Heh. How's that, sidekick?" Kaito asks.
"It's, umm," Shuichi stammers. 'Incredible'? I don't think that's an acceptable response in this situation... "It's nice. Definitely warmer. How're you feeling, Kaito?"
"Terrific!" Kaito declares. Shuichi's not sure what other answer he expected. He doesn't really want to question it; he can't even see Kaito's face to determine if he's lying or not.
A silence settles over the two of them, interrupted only by the ambient hum of the coolers finally kicking on again (which: God damn it). The more time Shuichi spends like this, in Kaito's arms, his cheek pressed against his chest, the more...aware he becomes of how weird it is. He can feel the rise and fall of Kaito's chest, slow and gentle; he can hear his heartbeat, inches away from his ear, as strong and steady as Shuichi might've guessed it to be. He tries to focus on other things, like remembering exactly when lunch was and what the odds are of anyone else checking the freezer, but he can't really tear his focus away from Kaito. He's still a little cold—the freezer air continues to sink into the back of his jacket, exposed and with only Kaito's arms wrapped around it for warmth, not to mention his legs—but Kaito's embrace is lulling him into something like comfort. It's...kind of peaceful. His eyelids flutter shut, and he adjusts his grip around Kaito's back.
This will all end soon, Shuichi thinks. Not just this, whenever someone finds them and lets them out of the freezer, but...all of this. The dating show. All the times he's spent getting to know all the students here will come to an end, and so will his training sessions with Kaito. Would his friendship end with Kaito, too? It's entirely possible. Kaito seems like...the kind of guy who has a lot of friends. Surely he's got other people to get back to, people more important than Shuichi, people he's known longer than a week. He might even have a girlfriend? He's good-looking enough to.
"Hey, stay awake down there," Kaito interjects. He jostles his arms a bit, shaking Shuichi out of his thoughts and into opening his eyes again. "You don't wanna fall asleep in this kind of situation. You need to stay alert and keep your blood pumping, y'know?"
"Right," Shuichi mutters. Keeping his eyes open is a little awkward, when pretty much all he can see is Kaito's shirt, but he tries to.
"We could talk about something! That'll keep us both awake. Plus, it's a good distraction."
"Ah, sure." Shuichi bites his lip, a possibility already rolling around in the corners of his mind. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Shoot! I'm an open book!"
"...How many girls have you had crushes on, Kaito?"
"Wh-What?" Kaito sputters, looking down at Shuichi in alarm.
"I mean, you lost, right?" Shuichi says, glancing up with a little half-smile. "Didn't the loser have to say how many?"
Shuichi's just trying to lighten the mood—and maybe do a little digging, for reasons—but he can feel the way Kaito's entire body stiffens, and feel his insincere laugh as he painfully forces it out of his chest.
"Y-Yeah, I did say that, huh? B-B-But I haven't lost yet. W-We're still in here, after all!"
"I-I was just curious. Is it really that embarrassing?" Shuichi wonders. I mean, it's just a number...
Kaito goes quiet. Without any conversation to occupy him, Shuichi's brain ticks away, wondering what number could be so embarrassing that Kaito wouldn't want to say it. It'd have to either be an incredibly high number, or else...
"What about you?" Kaito asks, and Shuichi's almost impressed by how bald-faced the attempt to deflect the question is. He allows it, though. He's not trying to interrogate Kaito or anything; if Kaito doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to.
So Shuichi laughs weakly, noise muffled by Kaito's torso. "You'll, umm, have to give me a second to..." he mumbles. "Ah, actually, I think I...lost count at some point..."
Kaito laughs, full and genuine, and then wolf-whistles for good measure. "Real go-getter, huh? That's good! You should never let your heart be constrained by what's possible!"
Yeah, that's...that kind of sums it up . "Yeah, I had crushes on a lot of...people during middle school especially. A new person every week, sometimes. It's pretty embarrassing..."
Shuichi laughs awkwardly again, but Kaito doesn't laugh with him.
"'People'?" Kaito says instead, after a moment, and Shuichi's body locks up with nervousness. Freezes with it, one could say.
...Well, he had to find out about this eventually, right? "Er, yeah. I'm..." Saying I'm bisexual feels so clinical and blunt; Shuichi dances around the word pointlessly. "...into both guys and girls, I guess. I've, ah, had crushes on both, I mean. I-I've never dated a guy. Or a girl."
"Huh," is all Kaito has to say in response to that.
Shuichi squirms. In any other situation, he would've stepped back from Kaito immediately, but he honestly doesn't think he can bring himself to brave the cold again. Kaito probably wouldn't let him, anyway.
"Sorry," Shuichi says compulsively. "To tell you at such a weird time, I mean."
"Man, what? Don't apologize," Kaito scoffs. "I mean, you could've told me sooner, but...why should you be sorry to me about being...bi or whatever?"
Well, some guys would definitely...freak out if they were in a position like this with a guy who wasn't straight... Shuichi thinks.
"Being in this position with you doesn't bother me, if that's what you're worried about!" Kaito insists. "This is just necessity, y'know? It's not weird or anything!"
Shuichi's making it weird, though, is the problem. Kaito's heartbeat continues to thump steadily against him, a strangely comforting audio backdrop. His body is warm, so warm, and his grip is so secure, Shuichi feels like nothing could harm him while he's in it. He feels safe. Even the fabric of his shirt is soft and comforting, and—
Hang on. He's not really still standing here with his outer shirt unbuttoned, is he? Shuichi pulls back to check, incredulous, but sure enough, his white shirt really is still hanging loosely open over his low-cut, red-patterned T-shirt.
Without really thinking, Shuichi pulls back just far enough to work his arms between their bodies, and he starts doing the buttons up one by one, brow furrowed. Kaito looks down at him, frowning.
"Uhh, Shuichi?"
"I'm sure you'll be at least a little warmer with this buttoned up," Shuichi mutters. He's vaguely aware he sounds like a nagging mother, but there's no way he can just leave it like that. He goes one at a time all the way up to the second-to-last button, then stops there.
"You're like my grandmother," Kaito jokes, smirking down at Shuichi.
"Kaito, this is a serious situation," Shuichi points out, knowing full well he's not helping his case vis-a-vis being like a grandmother. "We should really be doing everything we can to stay warm…"
Shuichi realizes something.
"...Kaito, are you really still wearing your jacket like that, too?" Shuichi asks disbelievingly. "Isn't your arm cold?"
"Man, since when are you this much of a critic?" Kaito shoots back, eyebrows raised.
Shuichi's about to reiterate all his previous points—serious situation, hypothermia, blah blah —but Kaito moves before he can. To Shuichi's distress, what he does is take his other jacket arm off as well, so the entire jacket is just hanging off his shoulders in bold defiance of gravity. Ignoring Shuichi's incredulous expression, Kaito's hands move to Shuichi's back, and he begins buttoning the jacket up so it wraps around both of them.
"Oh. That's...pretty smart, actually," Shuichi admits.
"Don't sound so surprised!" Kaito shoots back indignantly.
"I'm not, just…" Shuichi sighs, then smirks sheepishly. "I really expected you to be more stubborn…"
Kaito huffs and doesn't respond to that. As Kaito finishes doing the buttons up, Shuichi breathes out a sigh of contentment. Kaito's warm, sure, but having something wrapped around the both of them makes that warmth much more...stable. The air feels like it's getting slowly warmer. Shuichi shudders a little as his back begins to heat up, and he feels Kaito's body twitch in response.
With the jacket fully on, the only parts left exposed of Shuichi are the top of his head and his legs, still sticking out below the safety of the jacket. Kaito's head is still fully out of the jacket, of course, and Shuichi can't help but look up to check how Kaito's doing. He seems fine—he tosses Shuichi an encouraging grin downwards when he realizes Shuichi's looking, which makes him blush and look away—but his ears are still so red. Shuichi's ears are finally starting to feel a bit better, as tucked into the jacket as he is, and seeing Kaito's like that makes him feel...guilty.
Shuichi wishes he could do something for Kaito in this situation, too. Like...put his hands on Kaito's ears, or take his jacket off and wrap it around Kaito's head, or something. (Or maybe wrap it around his feet? Those slippers can't possibly be very warm.) But he has a feeling Kaito wouldn't be amenable to either of those things, and Shuichi...kind of needs his jacket. Kaito's warm, but without two layers on, Shuichi's pretty sure he'd go right back to suffering.
So once again, it's Kaito bailing Shuichi out, it's Kaito giving Shuichi the support, it's Kaito's stupid jacket and Kaito's ridiculous body heat saving Shuichi from freezing to death. Shuichi had walked into this freezer hoping to impress Kaito, to show him he could keep pace with him instead of just following behind him everywhere, and now Kaito's saving him again. The outcome is so...predictable. Shuichi huffs a sigh, hoping Kaito won't notice, but he's sighing directly into Kaito's shirt, so of course Kaito notices.
"Something on your mind?" he asks. "Unless you're just sighing about this whole situation in general."
Well, yes and no. Shuichi sighs again, turning over the possibility of responding truthfully or not. These are his own insecurities; he doesn't need to burden Kaito with them. In fact, burdening Kaito with them would just be more proof that he's not on Kaito's level, and he never will be.
"Man, I'm not a mind reader," Kaito points out. He squeezes Shuichi a little tighter, a reassuring gesture that catches the detective off-guard. "If you don't tell me what's up, I can't help you."
"It's just…" Shuichi struggles to find the words for a moment. After debating through a few tactful and careful ways to speak his mind, he opens his mouth, and his brain decides to just blurt out his innermost insecurities instead. "Kaito, don't you ever get tired of me?"
"What? No," Kaito responds, with an immediacy that's honestly rather reassuring. "What're you talking about, Shuichi?"
"I mean you're always the one supporting me," Shuichi says, his shoulders hunching up uncomfortably. His hands bunch up the back of Kaito's shirt, and he buries his face deeper into Kaito's chest to avoid looking at him. "Part of the reason I agreed to this challenge was because I...I wanted to show you I could keep up with you. Do something...umm, cool. But I wasn't able to beat you, you just took pity on me—and now that we're stuck here, you're just the one supporting me and keeping me warm by letting me under your jacket, and that's—that's not how I want things to be. I want—"
"Hey—" Kaito interjects, sounding mildly alarmed, but Shuichi keeps going.
"It's not that I don't appreciate your support and your friendship," Shuichi continues. "In fact, it means the world to me. You're so kind, and sincere...you're the reason I was able to come out of my shell and enjoy myself during this whole stupid dating show. Without you by my side, I would've just hidden in my room all day, waiting for everything to end. You gave me that strength, and that confidence, but—what have I given you? What can I give you? You're so good at everything, and so confident, and—and—"
"Shuichi, which one of us found the temperature dial?"
Shuichi stops. "What?"
"Shuichi," Kaito repeats, in a patient tone of voice, "was I the one who figured out you could turn the temperature up in here?"
"I…" Shuichi hesitates, like he's afraid it's a trick question. "Umm, no, that...that was me. I mean, I'm sure eventually you would've—"
"Who's the one who suggested we do sit-ups? Who was still trying to solve the mystery of this dating show by pointing out the food stockpile or whatever, while I was just trying to mess around and have fun with my sidekick?"
"I mean, that's," Shuichi stammers, floundering. "I don't know how helpful either of those—"
"Bro, just answer the question. Who was it?"
"That's, umm. Me," Shuichi manages. He's blushing to his ears, never mind the fact that his ears are still red in the first place from the cold.
"Right! And who's the one who noticed my shirt was still unbuttoned? And which one of us kept the other one of us calm by pointing out that Kirumi would come to save us?"
"...Me," Shuichi says, slowly. Wait, that kept Kaito calm?
"That's right! That was all you, man." Kaito lifts one of his hands up and ruffles Shuichi's hair lightly. "Sure, I've been supporting you, because that's what a hero does with his sidekicks. But sidekicks support the hero, too, y'know? And you've been supporting me this whole time. I mean, even…"
Kaito trails off, but Shuichi's entire body burns with curiosity. He needs to know what Kaito was about to say.
"...Even what?" Shuichi asks, quietly.
"...Listen, it's not like I haven't been a little stressed about this whole dating show thing. Not majorly stressed!" he continues quickly, as though Shuichi was going to comment on that. "I mean, an astronaut's gotta deal with high-stress situations with a cool head, obviously. But, man...I need to get back to my training, so I can get to space as fast as I can. And the longer I'm stuck here…"
Kaito trails off again. This time, Shuichi doesn't feel the need to press the issue. He gets it. For an adventurer like Kaito, being stuck in a single building must be akin to psychological torture. Shuichi feels stupid for not realizing that sooner.
"Anyway, having you here has made things a lot easier to deal with, is all," Kaito continues.
His voice is cheerful, but a little...wrong, too. Strained. Shuichi pulls back so he can look upwards at Kaito's face; he's looking at the wall, and his brows are furrowed. He's anxious, maybe, and trying not to show it.
"I know you feel like you haven't done enough for me, but you've actually done a lot for me without even realizing," Kaito says softly. "Being around you...I don't know what it is, but you always know the right things to say, and the right stuff to do to cheer me up. When I'm with you, it's like any worries I have about this whole thing just...fade away."
"Kaito…" Shuichi murmurs disbelievingly. But if Kaito's words weren't proof enough, the flush on his cheeks and the way he's averted his eyes from Shuichi's tells him he's not lying. "I...don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything," Kaito says, shaking his head. "It's weird of me to say stuff like that, huh? Let's just drop it."
No, that's… Shuichi swallows, feeling determination burn in his gut. I can't just leave things like that, can I? At the very least, I should...
"...Thank you," Shuichi finally says, and he smiles, small and fragile but genuine. "Thank you for...telling me that. I feel a lot better now."
Kaito looks back down at Shuichi, and his lips quirk up in a tiny smile. They stay like that for a moment, holding each other's gaze.
"...Did you mean what you said earlier?" Kaito asks quietly. "About how much I've helped you?"
Shuichi blinks. Kaito's eyes have softened at the edges, into an expression Shuichi has never seen on him before. He looks vulnerable.
"Yeah. Of course I meant that, Kaito," Shuichi says softly. "I know we haven't known each other long, but...you've been such a good friend to me. Even if nothing else good comes out of this whole thing, I'm glad I met you."
Kaito swallows. Something about the energy has changed. Shuichi finds himself spellbound by Kaito's eyes, pinned down by his intense expression. He tilts his head up further, slowly lifts the arches of his feet, drawn by some inexplicable force closer to Kaito. Kaito leans down, too, millimeter by millimeter, until their noses are almost touching and their breaths are mingling. They hold there a moment, just...watching. Waiting. Shuichi can see the flecks of lighter color in Kaito's lilac irises, and has the strange, dreamy thought that it looks like the stars in the night sky. Then Kaito closes his eyes, and—
—and the door to the freezer swings wide open, smashing into the wall with a terrific crash. In the doorway stands Angie, hands on her hips, looking incredibly proud of herself.
"Yoo-hoo!" Angie says cheerfully. "Wow, Atua was right! There were people in trouble here!"
Shuichi, frozen in absolute terror, manages to look past Angie into the kitchen. Behind her is a long, thick plank of wood that's been discarded on the floor. He puts the pieces together quickly: someone (Shuichi is convinced it was Monokuma at this point) had jammed the door with the plank by angling it against the wall behind Angie, and that had clued Angie in that something was wrong.
Kaito, too, is too shocked to speak for a moment. Then he laughs, in a very strained, high-pitched voice, and quickly lifts his jacket up and disentangles himself from Shuichi.
"Hm, hm? Did I interrupt something?" Angie asks, tapping a paintbrush handle against her lip and frowning. "You didn't lock yourselves in here on purpose, did you? For some sort of mysterious...bonding ritual?"
"Nope!" Kaito says, very loudly. With the jacket gone, Shuichi's already feeling the cold set in, so he's a little grateful when Kaito wraps an arm around his back and more or less forces him to walk forward out of the freezer. Angie steps out of the way, although she's still staring at the two of them curiously.
"Is that so? You do seem a lot closer now, though," Angie points out.
"Th-Thank you for saving us, Angie," Shuichi stammers out, hoping she won't pursue that line of questioning any further. He's shivering all over from the sweet, blessed warmth of the kitchen hitting his nerves, so the gratitude really isn't fake. "I-I don't know what we would've done if you hadn't come along…"
"Yeah! You really bailed us out of a tough spot," Kaito agrees, giving her a thumbs-up. His other arm is still wrapped around Shuichi's back, and doesn't seem to be moving anytime soon.
"It was nothing! Nooooo problem!" Angie singsongs. "If you really want to show your appreciation, would you be willing to give a small offering of blood to your savior, Atua?"
"I don't know about that, but I do have a couple of Art Manikins I got from the MonoMono Machine the other day," Shuichi offers, with an awkward smile.
Angie claps her hands together, her eyes lighting up in obvious glee. "Atua says that is an acceptable substitute!" she declares, and Shuichi breathes an internal sigh of relief.
"Anyway, we should get going," Kaito says, eying the window. "Daylight's wasting. You should get out and enjoy it too, Angie!"
"Okay!" Angie says cheerfully. "Have a blessed day, both of you! Good luck on your future bonding activities! Nyahaha!"
Shuichi's not sure he likes the way Angie emphasized bonding activities, but Kaito's sweeping him away before he can really dwell on it too much. As they get out to the dining hall, the last moments of their time in the freezer spring back into Shuichi's memory: Kaito's face so close to his, the way Kaito had closed his eyes as though he'd been expecting something to happen.
I wonder if we're going to talk about any of that, Shuichi thinks. As unbelievable as it is, I'm sure I'm not misreading what happened there. Kaito...Kaito was about to k—
"So I'm thinkin' three laps around the school, 50 push-ups, and then 100 sit-ups, to start things out," Kaito interjects.
"W-We already did 50 sit-ups in the freezer!" Shuichi protests.
"Didn't I tell you that didn't mean you were gonna get to slack off during training today?" Kaito points out.
Shuichi pouts as he recalls that, yes, Kaito did, and Shuichi had probably even agreed with him. He's not actually that upset about what Kaito's saying, though; the prospect of getting out in the sun and working up a sweat actually sounds kind of great right now. Shuichi will never take the sun for granted ever again, honestly.
"Ah, fine," Shuichi concedes. He shoots Kaito a mischievous little smile as he adds: "You'd better actually do the sit-ups, though."
"I did the sit-ups in the freezer!" Kaito snaps back, and his grip tightens on Shuichi's waist as though in protest. Kaito's arm still being around him like that...probably merits some discussion too, doesn't it? Hm.
Well, there's...time to talk about these things, Shuichi supposes. Now, or after they escape the school. For the time being, he's just glad to have Kaito by his side.