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Ouma Kokichi is a simple man.Monokuma makes a motive, he breaks it.Not physically, though. That would get him killed. He can't be obvious when he does it, but the right word, precise action and delicate calculations were enough to send every motive back to the hell it came from and completely useless. Ouma didn't need anyone to sing his praises, he's doing a good enough job on his own. Not like anyone in this moronic class had caught on the the leader's actions. The game he's playing is delicate. A miscalculation could lead to dire concequences. Murder, most likely. He needs to avoid that outcome at all costs, no matter how taxing. Ouma's sanity isn't near worth that of a human life.With another fake grin plastered on his face, Ouma walked the halls of the school. Monokuma would soon announce the next motive, and the glorified teddy bear is obviously getting desprate for death. Ouma had even offhandedly cured Momota's sickness, using Saihara's poison expertise, Iruma's inventive skill, Toujou's maid prowess, and a few hints left behind. The astronaut stopped coughing yesterday, another accomplishment to celebrate by himself, as no one knew his involvement. It's better that way, better they see him as an enemy, a target. Like whoever planned this sick game wanted him to be. It feels good to be in the lead though.Ouma searched the halls for what Monokuma may be planning. He's not one to jump the gun, but with the bear being desprate, planning ahead for the unpredictability is a smart move on his part. The leader creeped about the empty hall, his footsteps quiet, yet the only thing audible in the empty space. Though, the feeling of being watched was crawling on his back more prominently than usual. Ouma turns to look behind him. Nothing. He turns back around to be met with a familiar bear, hands behind his back."Upupupupu! Look who we have here, wandering the halls alone!" Monokuma chirped. "Nishishi~! Hello headmaster, good to see you doing the same~!" Ouma replies, his smile tight. "Well well, snarky formalities aside, you're just the aspiring student I was looking for!" The bear tells him. "Looking for lil' ol' me~? My, what do you wish to waste your time on?" Ouma replies. Whatever Monokuma wants from him can't be good. "Oh, just a little talk, it should only take a small amount of your time. I just want one tiny little thing from you!" Monokuma explains. "And what would that be?" Ouma tilts his head.The next second, something is blinding his eyes.Ouma tries desprately to reawaken himself, shaking the flash out of his eyes and stumbling backward. Everything fuzzes as something large and glassy slams just in front of him. "Hold still you little-!" Monokuma growls, though Ouma's lost sight of him. One thing is for sure, he's doing anything but hold still. Again, he avoids the glass object attempting to trap him. Is that a giant jar?! He's not letting himself get humiliated like that! With full control of his legs returning, Ouma runs like a bat out of hell down the increasingly larger hallway. He finds himself outside the school, in a forest of grass. He can easily loose Monokuma here! The leader, who has come to realize he's been shrunk to a miniscule size, swerves and hides himself behind a large rock. Monokuma trudges right past him, still demanding he show himself. Ouma, on the other hand, heads to the dormatory building, in hopes to hide from the bear in his room. He gets there, the long trek taking more time than it would have at his normal height. Though, after crawling under the door, he realizes he can't climb the stairs to get to his room. That, and the he leader is too small to see the signs properly. But, Ouma realizes he's out in the open like this, so he can only hope for the best and pick a room at random.Sliding under another door with ease, Ouma is glad to see the room unoccupied at the moment. It was tidy, quite generic, and well kept. Quite the contrast from his own room, which is scattered with cardboard boxes and papers everywhere. The little leader marveled at the room's size. The bed looked like a mountain, desks and such towering over him... imagining the room's owner caused him to shudder, seeing as most students are much taller than the furniture. Ouma is tiny and vulnerable like this. How easily he could be stepped on, squashed like a bug under someone's thumb, how simple it would be to clean and hide his miniature remains...He can't let anyone see him like this.It would be a death wish. With how pathetically easy it could be for someone to get away with his murder, it would be too much of a risk. Get caught, and there's no escape. Only a crushing death waits for him that way. He has to hide. Ouma goes from admiring the room, to scramble around finding a place to hide. Everything is too big for him to hide, and nothing on ground level has the right potential for a good spot. This one option will have to do....Ouma dashes under the bed, and just in time too. The ground rumbles and shakes as low, exausted breathing reaches his ears. The lock on the door makes a loud click, a long creak indicated it had been opened. Curious to see who he's rooming with, Ouma peeks past the sheets. Sleek, black dress shoes that look to be the size of a house each and dark, slightly stripped pants towering past the frame of the bed meet his vision. Of all the people he could have crawled under the door for, this is both a blessing and a curse.On the bright side, he'd get to listen in on what his beloved Saihara-chan does when he's alone, closest he'll ever come to the detective. The bad news is, Saihara is a detective, and far more observant than he gives himself credit for. He's easily the one most likely to find Ouma no matter where he's hiding. The leader holds his breath, Saihara taking another few steps into the room, the ground rocking slightly with every one. Ouma could easily get caught under those dress shoes and be no more in the blink of an eye. But, it's still Saihara, the most interesting student in this school, so he doesn't know if this is a stroke of good or bad luck. He can only live with his choices now, and pray Saihara doesn't find him hiding under the bed...___________________________________________________________________________For three days, Ouma Kokichi had been missing. The school was tense at the fact. Despite everyone having at least some distaste for the leader, things were different and much too quiet without him around. Even those who full on hated every fiber of his being had joined in the search for Ouma, to no avail. They had checked his messy room, everywhere the leader would hang out, and even the cafeteria with untouched panta in them. Clearly, something was wrong. Saihara was on the case of the missing leader most often, his detective instincts kicking in as he searched high and low for Ouma. Monokuma gave no hints, and the possibility he had been murdered hung thick in the air, a dreaded situation not even the most hateful of Ouma would wish on him.Another dead end search lead Saihara back to his room at curfew. The detective sighed loudly and lied down on his bed. "Ouma-kun.... where are you?" He muttered, staring up at the ceiling. The darkness seemed to give no answer. The school was just too quiet without Ouma. A lot more tense too. Saihara admits to himself that the leader's usual tricks and pranks diffused a lot of situations. If only he had one hint, one clue to where Ouma dissappeared to...! But Saihara had found nothing. Ouma was missing in action with no trail to follow, and he's supposed to be the detective. He knew he was a failure, a pathetic, useless, no good failure of a dete-*achoo!!*A tiny sneeze ran through the room, cutting through Saihara's self-loathing. It was small, barely noticable. Only because it was so quiet in the room did Saihara hear it. Steeling himself, the detective traced the sound to the underside of his bed. Saihara peeks his head under the bed, to see a small shadow tense and run in the opposite direction. Moving swiftly, the detective turned to the other side of the bed and swung his hand under, wrapping his fingers around a warm, moving figure. Alive. Hoping it's not a mouse, Saihara pulls his hand out from under the bed, the figure squirming desprately in his grasp as he brought it up.His eyes widen as he sees a human-like form in his hands, thrashing and squirming against his grip. Saihara reaches for a light with his other hand, still in disbelief that he's holding a tiny person. The light flickers on, and the disbelief grows further and the answer to the disappearance of his classmate is revealed. It's obvious who this tiny, squirming person is."Ouma-kun?!"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Ouma knew he had made a mistake.He couldn't help it. Every time Saihara's large form crashed loudly into the bed above, a torrent of dust would fall. After this, Ouma would have to hold back sneezing until the detective left the room or fell deep asleep. He couldn't hold it back though tonight. Saihara again rocked the bed on impact, more dust falling directly on to the little leader and...*ACHOO!!*There was no doubt that Saihara's attention had been caught. The way the detective's breath hitched at the sound made it obvious. Not a moment later, the springs on the bed above whine once more, a pair of large golden eyes catching Ouma in thier sights. Ouma always thought of Saihara's eyes as his best physical aspect. Right now they terrify him. Instincts pulling him, he dashes in the opposite direction of the looming giant. More whining springs of the bed as the massive detective shifting above, more dust, and the next time he looked ahead it was far too late to get away.The large hand wraps around his middle easily, and Ouma can just barely free his arms as Saihara's grip locks him in place. For all he's worth, the tiny leader wiggles and squirms and pushes against the hand holding him, which swings upward out of the bed. Ouma snaps out of the slight vertigo, as Saihara's golden eyes examine him closer. Those eyes take up half his size at least! Saihara reaches for a light, Ouma again blinded by the sudden flash a moment as the detective goes silent, his hand tensing slightly before loosening with the shock of what he had found."Ouma-kun?"And then the leader knew it was over. Saihara's voice rumbles out of the detective's chest, hot wind from his breath blowing on Ouma. Clearly, the leader is outsized and has no chance to stop whatever Saihara might do to him. (Though he will admit the shocked look on his massive face is priceless) Saihara loosens his grip a bit more, tilting his head to the side as he looked Ouma up and down. The detective is still at a loss for words as he uses his other hand to gently pull Ouma's unkept hair out of his eyes. The leader had been under that dusty bed for three days, after all. He's definitely a mess."Ouma-kun..... you've been missing for three days..." Saihara says quietly. It doesn't stop Ouma from bracing himself against the warm, rumbling breath. He doesn't reply to Saihara. Much too scared. The larger lightly rubs his head with his pinkie finger, attempting to get the dust out of his hair, and Ouma sneezed again. "What... happened to you?" Saihara asks, Ouma still keeping his mouth shut and cowering, though his head getting rubbed felt nice, but he wouldn't admit it. Saihara was just too much for Ouma to take in. He's sitting in the detective's fist after all, and he could easily be crushed or eaten like it was no trouble."You're shaking.... am I scaring you?" Saihara's voice rumbled again. Ouma refused to speak still. Saihara loosens his grip further, careful not to drop the tiny leader. "I'm not going to hurt you, Ouma-kun. I just want to know what happened, so we can fix you..." pleads the larger to Ouma. "Monokuma...." he says weakly. "Eh?" Saihara hums in confusion. "Monokuma..... did this to me...." The tiny tells him, voice small and quiet. If it's Monokuma's fault, it may be a motive. Seeing how easy it would be for Saihara to do anything to the small form, it makes sense. If someone who truly hated Ouma got thier hands on the little guy, or someone wanting to badly escape... clearly Monokuma was getting inventive with these motives.Which means Saihara better keep Ouma in close care. He has no intention of doing anything to the tiny leader in his hands, though it's clear Ouma can't be sure of him. "Ouma-kun.... I promise I only want to help" Saihara swore. He opens his hand, seating the shaking leader on his palm. The fact that Ouma was sitting on his hand showed how delicate he was. Saihara moves his thumb to reassure the leader, rubbing Ouma's front. The leader wraps his arm around it and yawns. "Are you tired too?" The detective sighs. Ouma hugging his thumb like this was darn adorable, but he held back on commenting on it to keep the smaller's pride in tact. Saihara himself yawns, and he feels the tiny leader jump as he does so. Carefully, he lies back down on the bed, trying not to jostle Ouma more than he has already. He puts the leader against his chest, Ouma rising and falling with every breath, and uses a hand to secure him in place. Ouma himself still trembles a moment, before the pounding heartbeat and steady rhythm of breaths even out his own breathing. Calming down, the warmth of Saihara's hand being inviting, Ouma lets himself relax just this once. If Saihara was planning something, he can do it while Ouma's asleep for the first time in months.Saihara continues to run his thumb along the leader's back, stifling another yawn with his free hand. Ouma's little violet eyes begin to droop, slowly the shaking stops as well. After three days of worrying, Ouma was safe and sound, though tiny on the detective's chest. Something about Ouma's vulnerable size stirred a need to protect the tiny form Saihara held against his chest, and that's exactly what he'd do. Ouma is his responsibility until he returns to normal size, that's for certain. The last thing he needs is someone crushing him and starting the killing game, on purpose or not. He still had no idea what to tell the others when he woke, but tiny snores cut through his thouhts. Ouma had finally fallen asleep. The leader looked the most peaceful Saihara had ever seen him. He'd deal with the others tommorow, he decided to himself.With the reassurance Ouma was safe, Saihara drifted off to sleep as well.
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Ouma wakes to rising and falling, a warm breeze blowing over him.He hadn't been this comfortable in ages. The little leader is surrounded by warmth, as he slowly opens his eyes. He's met with Saihara's golden grey eyes further away from him, the detective still taking up most of his vision. He was on Saihara's chest, after all. It would probably take a good five minutes at least to walk his length, ten more likely. Ouma's smaller stride ensured it, just showing how futile it really is to run away at this point.Across the way, Saihara gives Ouma a timid smile. Ouma holds back a blush. Never had someone as pretty and interesting as Saihara smiled at him so sincerely before. It made him feel an unfamiliar fuzziness. Still, he has an image to uphold, so down goes the blush and in comes the grin. "Good morning, Saihara-chan~!" Ouma calls to him. It's like yelling to a friend across a football field. "Good morning, Ouma-kun. Did you sleep well?" And yet all Saihara had to do was whisper to send everything under Ouma rumbling, vocal chords and lungs pushing out the much larger, louder words. Ouma still nods at the detective, signature grin in place.Saihara rubs Ouma's back with his thumb, the soft motion admittedly calming the slightly jittery leader. He was quite gentle with the tiny leader, now that he had been found. A rumbling growl from below shook Ouma around again, and he saw Saihara blushing when he looked back up at the detective. "Sorry... guess I'm hungry. How about you?" Ouma's own stomach answers with a gurgle of its own. The detective chuckles, shaking the "ground" under Ouma slightly for a bit. "Let's go get breakfast" Saihara decides, sitting up as Ouma tumbles into his large hands and lands on his back."S-sorry..." The detective quickly apologizes, taking it a bit more carefully as the tiny leader recollects himself in Saihara's palms. Even his fingers dwarfed Ouma, showing how delicate his classmate is, and how much danger he could get into if left alone in the wrong place too long. Ouma stumbling around his hand also tickles a bit. Saihara cups the leader close to his chest and shields him with his other hand as he sits up. There has to be a better place for him.... the detective turns his eyes to his shirt pocket, and Ouma gives him a glare. "Don't you dare even think about it" he huffs. "Ouma-kun, I can't just carry you in my hands like this!" Saihara quietly protests. Ouma folds his arms and turns his back to the detective.A small dispute follows, but in the end Ouma begrudgingly agrees to go in the pocket.With that settled, Saihara heads out of his dorm, softly closing and locking it behind him. Ouma's tiny weight squirms and shifts in his pocket, and it's not the most pleasant feeling. "Ouma-kun, calm down. It's only for a little while" he whispers to the little leader, who grunts with annoyance. The detective decides to put up with the fidgeting form and heads to the cafeteria. Ouma himself is lest than pleased he's been basically demoted to keychain in the detective's pocket. It was dark and stuffy, and the key rubbing against his back was not the most comfortable thing. Every step Saihara makes throws him and the contents of the pocket forward, up and down all at the same time, so Ouma shifts to find some sweet spot where he can deal with it the least.The two reach the cafeteria, which is thankfully empty. Saihara grabs breakfast and takes the squirming leader out of his pocket and putting him on the table. Ouma rubs his stiff back and groans, happy to be free. He plucks some blueish black lint from his hair with a small sigh. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad, Ouma-kun" Saihara tells him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He huffs in response. Ouma marches over to the edge of Saihara's plate and pulls himself off some breakfast. Saihara himself works on the other side of the plate, not wanting to eat Ouma accidentally. That would be extremely unfortunate, sad and wrong. The two sit in silence as they eat thier meal, though the tension does calm a bit after a while."Hmm... Saihara-chan, I want some Panta!" Ouma pipes up, signature grin returning. Saihara nods at his tiny companion. "Grape flavored, right?" The detective quips, to Ouma's quick nodding. He gets up and thumps over to the fridge to receive the drink, Ouma left alone on the table. Though in that brief moment, another set of thumps begins to approach. Monokuma arrives with a trash bag and other cleaning supplies behind Ouma. "Upupupupu~! This table's a mess!" The bear declares, before taking a spray bottle full of soap out and squirting it, at Ouma specifically. "Aak! Saihara-chan, help!" But the detective is across the room, unable to hear even the squirting bottle over the roar of the fridge. Ouma gets knocked up, chased around, soap in his eyes and mowed down by a table cloth before being tossed in the trash bag. Saihara returns with a bottle of grape panta, but Ouma is no longer there. "Ouma-kun?"The detective becomes frantic, quickly searching the ground, the counters, anything for the little leader. Even the bottoms of his shoes are clean, so at least he didn't crush the tiny. "Ouma-kun? Ouma-kun?!" The detective calls out. "Shuuichi, he's still missin'" a disgruntled Momota chirps as he walks into the cafeteria. "No no no, Momota-kun, watch your step! I did find him but he's two inches tall! Now he's missing again!" Saihara quickly explains. "You can't be serious, man." Momota quips. "I am serious. Now he's gone again! Unless someone took him while my back was turned he can't have gotten-!""Upupupupu~! Looking for this?"Saihara and Momota turn to see Monokuma across the hall. He's holding a jar that has Ouma locked inside, the leader's shouts are silent due to the glass and he's pounding his fists on the jar walls. "Ouma-kun?!" Saihara exclaims. "Sorry sweetcakes, but leader boy is in time out until furthur notice due to malicious mischief that isn't mine and disobeying his elders way too much!" Monokuma shakes the jar, causing Ouma to topple over inside. "Ya want him back? You have to find him, but he ain't returning to normal size for a very long time!" "Saihara-chan!!" Ouma cries, unheard. Momota stands there in an angered shock and Saihara tenses. This is the real deal. The bear chuckles again. "I'd like to see you get in the way of the Super High School Level Supreme Leader's special treatment" Saiharan finds a glare crossing his face as the bear leaves with a cackle."IIIIIIIIIT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!!"