Kyoko won't be held back!

Kyoko had barely taken one bounding step forward before she felt new resistance restraining her. Particuarly, someone had grabbed onto the back of her skirt, which was only marginally better than being yanked by the hair, considering that skirt was nearly all she was wearing. She let out a yelp of surprise, then tried to turn around, half-expecting to see Nagito had somehow teleported behind her.

To her surprise, the person behind her turned with her rotation. This allowed the person the ability to get her arms behind her back, and with the wrists locked together, he then proceeded to handcuff the wrists in that position. When she turned around again, feeling like a dog chasing its tail, she saw it was Shuichi, who had followed her from downstairs... Hastily, it seemed, as he was still pantsless and displaying his dark, monochrome-patterned boxers. In spite of that, Shuichi couldn't help but smile, although his face was bright red. "I decided it's better to disable you than have us linked together. Give it up, Kyoko! You're finally coming with me!"

"Seriously? Again?!" Kyoko cursed. Part of her wanted to fuss at Shuichi for mixing up priorities; part of her wanted to apologize for dragging him into this situation; a third part simply wanted to freeze up like a nearly naked young woman facing a half-naked young man in the lobby of their school building.

Instead, Kyoko didn't do any of that. She knew if she wasted even a second dealing with Shuichi, then the real mastermind, Nagito, would get away. In spite of everything, she still saw bringing her out-of-control classmate to justice as the top priority. She couldn't let him escape.

So, Kyoko didn't stop, and she didn't engage with Shuichi at all. Heedless of her nakedness, she simply rushed towards him, then easily shouldered him out of the way, summoning her frantic conviction against Shuichi's moment of shock.

The male detective wasn't giving up, either. Gritting his teeth while still mid-spin, Shuichi reached out and grabbed Kyoko's skirt again in a last-ditch effort to hold her. All this did was leave him falling on his face, a painful thud joined by a telltale ripping.

Shuichi raised his dizzy head from the floor, licking to make sure his teeth were all there and wiping his bloody nose. This put him just in time to see Kyoko's pale body, bare-naked besides her gloves and her new pair of cuffs, turning the corner to keep her trail from going cold. He struggled to his feet. "C'mon... if you'd just wait a minute, Komaru's coming up with your clothes! Kyoko!!" he shouted, sure he wasn't being heard. He clicked his teeth, shifting with antsy energy as his head moved between the stairwell door and the corner Kyoko had disappeared behind. "Really... I'm really doing this? Okay, what the heck. I guess this is what it takes to be an Ultimate Detective!"

Without waiting for the young woman who was probably on her way up the stairs with an armful of soggy clothing, Shuichi became a third person in the mad chase, moving as fast as his pale, skinny legs would carry him.