Rantaro stood idly near the bottom of the spiral stairs, his head tilted upwards as he stared intently at Kokichi, who was just standing in the hallway. He couldn't see Kokichi's face from where he was, so he couldn't tell what was going on in his head.

After what must have been a minute or so of standing around and waiting for Kokichi to move, the small boy finally started trudging forward. Once he's out of sight, Rantaro carefully makes his way up the stairs.

When he gets to the top, Kokichi's no longer in the hallway. A door is open.

But it's not the door to his bedroom.

Rantaro makes his way to the open door, peering inside.

The room Kokichi had wandered into was the office. No one really used it much, save for Rantaro himself, yet it was still spotless thanks to Fuyumisa's hard work. Kokichi was standing deathly still in the room. His back was facing Rantaro and his front was facing the small closet in the corner of the room. Kokichi took a step forward.

"Hey," Rantaro watched as Kokichi's shoulders tensed up slightly. "Thought you wanted to go change?" He leaned against the door frame, curious green eyes watching as Kokichi turned around. "What brings you in here? I'm not sure that closet back there has what you're looking for."

"My prince came to save me!" Kokichi winks, smoothly walking up to Rantaro. "How cute~! I knew you'd come back for me!"

"Why are you in here, though?" Rantaro asks again. He tried thinking of a reason why Kokichi would be in the office, but his mind drew a blank.

"To be honest..." Kokichi pressed his two pointer fingers together, twiddling them around. " I may or may not have gotten lost..."

Rantaro raised a brow. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe Kokichi. Although it sounded like a lie, his behavior throughout the day provided him with some doubts. "You got lost?"

"Yep~" Kokichi nodded. "And then I got totally sidetracked. Silly me!" He put a hand to his forehead, putting on a sudden look of exhaustion. "I've overworked myself, it seems..." He whimpered. "I'm sooooo disorientated I don't even know how to balance anymore! Catch me!" Without warning, he let himself fall backwards the ground, not giving Rantaro any more time to ponder about the validity of his statement.

Perhaps it's Rantaro's brotherly instincts that he picked up from spending time with his many sisters- or maybe it's the quick reaction time he's developed throughout the span of his numerous adventures- but in an instant, Rantaro's got his arms wrapped around Kokichi, leaning forward and keeping him from hitting the ground. He laughs slightly, pulling the both of them to stand upright. "If you wanted me to carry you, you could've just asked, y'know,"

"You know me so well~" Kokichi winked, booping Rantaro's nose with the tip of his finger.

Rantaro slid one of his arms down Kokichi's back to his legs, scooping him up with ease. "You're kind of light," He continued. "It's no trouble at all."

Kokichi pouted after hearing Rantaro's comment. "Are you calling me small?!" He whines. "I'll have you know I'm as big as Gokuhara-chan!"

Rantaro chuckled. "If you're as heavy as Gokuhara-kun, I might just drop you right here and now."

Kokichi stuck his tongue out. "You're no fun!" Rantaro watched as Kokichi suddenly winced. It was a slight movement, but he had a keen eye when it came to catching sight of those kinds of things.

"Sure, sure," Rantaro held Kokichi closer to him. "Whatever you say. Let's just bring you back to my room for now, okay?"

Kokichi let out a content hum as he nodded, closing his eyes and leaning his head against Rantaro's chest, allowing himself to be whisked away to the bedroom.

The soft breath against his neck sent a violent shiver down Rantaro's spine. His breath hitched in his throat as he held back a giggle from the ticklish sensation. Ignoring the intense feeling (accompanied by an equally intense blush on his face), Rantaro made his way back to his room, gingerly setting Kokichi down on his bed.

"Thank you~!" Kokichi sang, purple eyes fluttering open in an obnoxious manner. "Y'know, you should give me free rides more often!"

"And what benefit would I reap from that?" Rantaro walked over to his dresser, taking out some random clothes for Kokichi to wear. "It sounds like a parasitic relationship if you ask me."

Kokichi gasped. "Are you calling me a parasite?!" He held a hand up to his chest as he feigned hurt. "I'm at least a leech!" He tone was one of mock distress.

"Wow, you say that as if it's something to be proud of," Rantaro tossed the clothes in his hand to Kokichi, letting out a playful chuckle. "Go rest up for the remainder of the night, you leech." He made his way to the door, resting his hand on the door frame and craning his head back to look at Kokichi. "I'll come back up later tonight, okay?"

The skirt of the infamous princess dress Kokichi was still wearing hid his legs entirely now that he was sitting down, making him look smaller somehow. Rantaro found it cute. He watched with a fond gaze as Kokichi nodded. "Aye, sir!"

Rantaro smiled, turning his head back around and leaving Kokichi alone in his room. He closed the door behind him, his eyes wandering to the door directly across from him.

What was Kokichi doing in the office?

Had he genuinely forgot where his room was?

A sigh left Rantaro's lips. Just how hard had Kokichi stirred up his head? That was probably the last thing he'd need right about now- that concussion was probably still painful to deal with.

Deciding not to ponder on the issue furhter, Rantaro made his way down the stairs and back to his sisters, who were exactly the same as they were when Rantaro had first left.

Itsuki was the only one watching the movie, Hikari was scrolling through her phone, and Airi and Eri had dozed off next to one another.

Rantaro pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly glancing at the time before he pocketed his phone. "I'm gonna take Airi and Eri to their room." He told his other two sisters.

"Cool," Hikari hummed.

Itsuki merely nodded, not looking away from the movie.

"W-what? No..." Eri mumbled, starting to stir slightly. "I'm awake... I don't want to go back to my room, Taro-nii..." She rubbed her green eyes in a failed attempt to wake herself up.

"Do we have to, Ranty-nii?" Airi asked. "We were having so much fun with everyone..."

"Ouma-kun already went back to my room because he was tired as well." Rantaro told them.

"Really?" Airi tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You should listen to Rantaro-nii." Hikari chimed in, looking up from her phone. "It's not like we're going anywhere. We have plenty of time to hang out tomorrow or something."

A hum of agreement came from Itsuki. She paused the movie, turning to look at her two younger sisters.

"Fine..." Eri grumbled. "But on one condition..!" She tried to sound demanding but failed.

"What is it?" Rantaro asked, a gentle smile on his face.

"You have to... carry us..." Eri's voice trailed off at the end, her eyelids drooping.

"You guys are getting too big for me," Rantaro hadn't actually thought about until now, but they really had grown fast, huh? It was almost as if they were just born the other day. "I can't carry you both up there at the same time."

"Just take trips," Hikari was back on her phone, typing away. "It's not rocket science."

"Actually, you just gave me an idea, Hikari." Rantaro smirked slightly as he watched her thumbs stop. He heard Itsuki chuckle slightly- she probably knew what was coming. "How about you stop texting your girlfriend for a second and help me out?"

Hikari's face lit up in a bright red blush. "K-Kaiya-chan is not my girlfriend!" She exclaimed, sending a quick message before she set her phone down.

"Hm, that's strange..." Rantaro raised a finger to his lips. "I didn't even specify who I was talking about, yet you-"

"Airi-chan!!!" Hikari sang, shooting up from her seat and hurriedly making her way over to her little sister. "Let's go to your room now, okay?"

Airi nodded, giggling slightly along with Eri. Itsuki let out a small whistle, which made Hikari's blush deepen (Rantaro wasn't even sure that was possible in the first place).

Rantaro chuckled as well, turning around and kneeling so he could give Eri a piggyback ride.

As he turned around, he noticed something quickly pass around the corner. He presumed it was a shadow of sorts- he couldn't really tell since it was so brief. But who...?

Rantaro didn't think too much about it. It was probably just Fuyumisa, going about her routine. Eri clambered onto his back, and he made his way up the stairs alongside Hikari and Airi.

The two older siblings set the twins on their respective beds. After saying goodnight, Hikari was quick to leave, probably to go back to texting this so-called "Kaiya-chan" of hers.

Rantaro was a bit more relaxed with his pace, and as he was about to turn off the light, he was interrupted.

"Taro-nii?" Airi called out to her brother.

"Yeah?" He hummed, hand lingering over the light switch.

"Why did you call Koki-chan by his last name?" Airi asked.

"Yeah! Aren't you and Kichi-chan dating?"

Ah. That was right. Kokichi had lied to them and told them they were dating. He had forgot to break the news to them.

He paused for a moment before answering. "Did I?" He asked. Rantaro decided that now wasn't the time to correct them. "My bad. And yes, Kokichi-chan and I are dating. I guess it was just an old habit. Goodnight, girls."

A strange feeling took over Rantaro as he left the room. It felt strange saying Kokichi's first name for a change. The boy would probably never let him hear the end of it if he found out.

Rantaro glanced towards the direction of his bedroom. It was a nice kind of strange, the way his name rolled off of his tongue. A part of him hoped he'd be able to say his name more often.

He lingered for a moment, before shaking the thought from his head and making his way back downstairs to join Itsuki and Hikari and finish the movie.

~1.8k Words

For the fourth time, I'm sorry this chapter is out so late! D: I had 1k words written today, but I ultimately decided that I didn't really like the chapter and decided to rewrite it! On another note, I forgot to say this last time, but last chapter was the official half-way point! Or, official past halfway point. I plan to end this fic at 15 chapters! I'm a little sad it's going to send so soon, but I'm so excited to finish it! Also: Next chapter will be from Kokichi's point of view! I put some of the parts from this chapter's original draft into the next chapter, so I have a bit of a head start! I hope you're looking forward to it just as much as I am!