#and maki would have to stomach that even though he killed kaito

[thatstroubling]

hello and thank you everyone for voting so far! I am genuinelly so positively surprised by the sheer number of votes AND ALSO the interesting results! All the answers have been picked at least once, which to me shows just how cool the writing of this trial really is and how much space for interpretation it offers. But there's also been a clear winner so far. I love how much appreciation for both Kokichi and Kaito as characters hides in that choice. tbh I simply wanted to gush over this iconic trial a bit and get an idea of where the fandom's consesus on it is, and so this has been delightful to see :) thank you again, excited to see more takes, hope you have a good one

I'm just really curious about how people view this aspect of the trial because (to my knowledge) it has never been addressed in the game directly.

More detailed versions of the answers are below:

Kokichi thought his spinal injury was too serious for him to stay alive and sharp until the class trial even with the antidote having gotten rid of the poisonous part

Kokichi (correctly) assumed that Kaito wouldn't trust him enough to believe that he wouldn't seriously try to get everybody killed to end the killing game. He thought Kaito would refuse to get crushed as to not let him do whatever he wanted in the class trial.

Kokichi wanted to be the mysterious enigma 'till the very end. He didn't want others to know his true intentions to such an extent that he chose dying before having to explain that he wasn't actually the mastermind and he also apparently wasn't even that evil (awkward :S)

Kokichi wanted to give Kaito a chance to prove he is truly "not boring" and so he forced him in a position where Kaito had to abandon his morals and lie to his friends in order to make Kokichi's death not completely in vain

Kokichi became a bit delusional at the end (the stress of the killing game plus poison in the bloodstream) and really started to believe that he, the big bad guy, should be the one to be mercilessly murdered, for whatever unhealthy reason

Kokichi had been planning on being the victim of the unsolvable case for sooo looong and didn't want the amazing detailed script he wrote to go to waste (yes, reminds me of Korekiyo's seesaw trick)

Kokichi somehow knew Kaito was seriously sick and he wanted to give Kaito the chance to achieve being the first blackened who technically wasn't executed by Monokuma (another "fuck you" to the killing game)

Kokichi didn't actually want to sacrifice everyone to end the game: he knew very well that Kaito would fold in in last minute but he also understood that the Luminary's heroic exit would inspire the others to fight the killing game and succeed in ending it somewhere down the road. He had realized that with the image he had made for himself, his own execution could never have such a positive impact on the group and therefore couldn't be used in bringing the whole game down anyway (this is my personal favorite tbh)

[spontaneousglitterbees]

🔪For Kokichi??

[For this ask meme]

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence

Kokichi isn't afraid to fight. We know this from canon; he's punched Kaito at least twice. I do think, though, that those were very likely the only two swings he took in the killing game, each exclusively as theater: to make a point to the other people watching (the class post-Ch. 4, Maki). Outside desperate circumstances, in my mind Kokichi will bend over backwards to avoid physical confrontation and make an active effort to never initiate.

That does not, however, put him beyond posturing. He threatens Shuichi even with a massive crush on him during FTEs, and drops them so casually it reeks of time spent desensitizing himself to the idea of cruelty and injury. Something he hates, possibly couldn't even stomach the thought of at one point, and decided to seek out (in a book-learning sense) to make sure he would never be caught fully off-guard. If not for his own sake, then certainly for DICE. He will 200% throw himself into harm’s way before willfully drawing (someone else's) blood.

I think on one occasion he's bitten Kaito, only because he'd needed to blow off steam and fully expected Kaito to move out of the way before they'd actually make contact. He was totally fine, more confused than anything, but the looks between them were incredibly awkward. So were each of their respective realizations that "he really left his guard down around me?" and "wait, did I genuinely catch him by surprise?"

TAPP!Kokichi prefers a good mind game to conflict, but has much thinner patience post-game. His default coping tactic of "just leave" isn't always viable, forcing him to try and mask his frustration for longer until he's out of sight. It's a challenge, especially on jacket days. Though Class 79 knows (to varying degrees, only the survivors and Kaito initially aware of DICE's stances but all of them knowing Ouma is Ouma) what's up, the other classes have a much more aggressive impression of him than he could ever uphold; before really interacting with him, a lot of them anticipate he's a purple Fuyuhiko. 

Kokichi does not go out of his way to correct them. (It always was easier to push people away. He can tell everyone else how to talk to one another and get what they want, it's what he's good at, but putting any of it into practice personally? Well....)

Then there's this comic, which, besides being the first one I did, seems a little incongruent with "not escalating to violence," but it isn't. In my mind Kokichi just chased him around for a bit with his lockpicks until he had to stop and breathe.

Kokichi feels like he has to make a demonstration every once in a while to discourage the other classes from seeing him as an easy target. It's a sort of pre-emptive strike. He picked Komaeda so he could blame his luck cycle for always failing to hurt him, rather than revealing he never actually wants to hurt him in the first place. I think Nagito's figured it out and lets him.

[k0kichiimagines]

Idk if you'll do this because its about suicide but can you do the kokichi, shuichi, Junko, and izuru reaction to the reader hanging them self:’)?

i do do sensitive topics so yes i will do! i did this quickly because i try to do topics like this faster then others, i hope youre doing okay nonnie <3

some of these endings are vague as to if you survive or not, because it is possible to survive a hanging, or survive but with permanent damage

- mod kokichi

kokichi, shuichi, junko & izuru x reader

-> hanging themselves

cws: suicide, hangings, depression, various trigger warnings apply to this!!

kokichi :

he didn't think you'd do it. was it his way of reassuring himself, or did he honestly believe it? he was never sure. but he told himself you wouldn't. he knew you struggled with your mental health, of course he did, but you still smiled at his jokes, you seemed happy at times, you wouldn't actually kill yourself, right?

and you'd been getting better! you'd suddenly wanted to do everything and see everything, you'd told him you loved him, that he was amazing, you giggled sweetly when he said the same.

it was almost like... it was like someone who suspected their death was soon. but you wouldn't kill yourself, so you didn't suspect it. right?

you'd just left, and he couldn't explain the sinking fear in his stomach. well he could, but you would never do that, so it was illogical. you'd been even sweeter because you were trying to get better. this wasnt a goodbye. you'd said good night, and see you later. you hadnt been bittersweet. you wouldn't lie to him like that.

your coat! you'd left your coat! he could use it as an excuse to check on you and calm his silly nerves. he ignored that it only proved how distracted you had been, he told himself you were sleeping when you didn't pick up the phone (it was late afterall).

he only suddenly started running when his messages were still not read because it was cold, and he wanted to heat up. his hands weren't shaking as he knocked on the door, his blood didn't run cold when you didn't reply, hid heart didn't hammer against his chest like crazy when he used the key you gave him to open the door.

the silence in the house wasn't terrifying. he wasn't scared. because he knew you wouldn't actually do it.

he was silent now. you would have thought he would scream or cry, but he didnt, because you definitely weren't dead. he struggled to get you down, your body was still warm, surely that meant you were still here? you weren't cooling quickly, your heart beat was just low, his voice didn't break when he called the ambulance.

this wasn't funny anymore. if you were pranking him then it wasn't funny. it didn't even work, because he'd worked out it was a prank. because you wouldn't do this. so why didnt you say so? you'd heard him call the ambulance, would you take it that far? hadn't you at least felt his shaking fingers tapping you, didn't you notice the damp tears on your cheeks, can't you hear his nervous muttering? how had you kept your eyes open this long?

your letter said you wanted him to be happy. he wasn't happy. he's not going to be happy. he's fucking furious. he's angry, he's so angry, and he snaps at everyone, but even miu and kaito don't do anything. kaito tried though, he tries a pep talk, tries to tell him you wouldn't have wanted him to become like this, but kokichi snaps at him to shut up the second your name falls from his mouth.

hes angry at you. hes angry you thought no one would miss you or care, he's angry you lied, he's angry you broke your promise of staying, he's angry you left, he's angry you didn't say anything.

hes angry at himself. hes so angry. hes trying to blame the world, hes trying to be angry at you.

but his anger is just guilt. hes angry at himself. he blames himself. he regrets ever letting you go home, he regrets not leaving sooner. and people come to see him, shuichi, kaede, even maki, they all come, they push him to leave, to see someone, they try stop him shut everyone out.

but for years he does nothing. he isn't aware of days or time really. if someone needs him he helps, he cares for dice. but hes silent, hes serious. he doesn't smile anymore. it took months for it to settle really, for him to fully cry and admit you're dead.

perhaps in five years or ten, he'll smile at your memory with an aching heart. perhaps he'll be able to laugh again, even if he missed you.

but not now. now he justs lies under his bed sheets and reads old messages with a blurred vision and shaking hands.

shuichi :

"hey."

"hm?"

"stay the night?"

you only shook your head in reply. "sorry i cant tonight, i need to do something at home."

"may i ask what?"

"something."

he sighed. "im not... i have a horrible feeling at what that something is. please, i dont want to leave you alone. can i come with you?"

"whatever you think, you're wrong. ill be fine, i just have something to clean, ive been meaning to and i really cant put it off much longer. i love you, goodnight." you kissed his cheek, and then his lips and waved him goodbye with a wide smile. he hesitated in his reply, looking nervous. " ill text you when i get home, okay? "

"alright. be safe."

"goodnight!"

"no." he grabbed your hands and stared into your eyes. "be safe. promise me you'll be safe."

you swallowed nervously, pausing for a moment before you forced a laugh. he didn't smile. "i promise. dont worry so much, darling."

"i love you. and i care about you, and im more then happy to spend every second with you and listen to all your issues. if there is anything going on, please tell me." your heart dropped, he looked so desperate for you to tell him the truth, and for a second you felt compelled to. for a moment you wanted to fall into arms and sob, you imagined everything feeling better like in books.

but you firmly smiled. "and same for you. now i have to go, or I'll miss the bus. i love you..!" he dropped your hands, and kissed you again. he turned to grab his coats and shoes, telling you he'd at least walk you to the station, and you nodded.

you walked hand in hand. a few people were about, so your goodbye and his goodnight was a quick peck only. and then you got on the bus. and stared at the other through the window. he looked so... desolate. he looked regretful. you waved cheerily.

he waited for the next bus. he'd wanted to run after the bus the second the doors closed, but he knew it would be no used, and may even pressure you into doing it sooner so he couldn't catch up to you. he was so sure of your plan, and it terrified him.

he rushed onto the next bus, he stood next to the doors and tumbled out the second they opened, he ran down the street with a racing heart. he didn't even bother knocking, he just opened your door hurriedly and ran in, looking through every room until he reached your room.

you were still awake. you were so close to fainting you didn't seem aware of him, perhaps you thought his rush to get you down was a dream, because you passed out in his stressed arms near seconds after. he rambled and almost yelled into the phone, he whispered at you and held you close to him. he sobbed as the ambulance rushed in (he'd left the door open in his own panic), but quickly handed you to them, and followed them into the ambulance.

it was terrifying. it was horrible. he didn't remember anything beyond sobbing into his hands while a nurse rubbed his back at one point. he didnt remember how he got into the hospital, or out of the waiting room into your room, but here he was. hand over yours, staring at your barely survived body. machines strapped to you, needles in your hands, sleeping and no one knew when or if you would wake again, or what the damage was.

junko:

he wished he never let you go home alone. he stays as long as they let him with you, he brings you flowers and notes (and he only sobs harder when he reads yours). everyday hes there.

if you ever wake, he'll have no words, he just hugs you and cries, and apologises and apologises.

but thats still an if.

izuru:

a/n - this isnt despair junko, its basically just her as a normal girl who was the shsl fashioninsta, because ultimate despair junko would be broken but just enjoy the despair from it all.

she'd clutched your hands with a bright smile, telling you that you could always speak to her about your issues. she was so bright, yet held a serious undertone to her words, and you could only look down at her red tipped hands, the gold bracelets around her wrists now against yours, cold. you shook your head and smiled, but thanked her for the offer.

her face dropped a bit, she looked confused, but said she wouldn't force the matter. she had assumed it was just a rough week for you, that you'd bounce right back to how you always were. but now she was suspicious.

she was so bright. you felt sure she'd move on after your death, you hoped she would, that she wouldn't lose her smile. you kissed her cheek, and told her you had to go now. and she hugged you tightly as usual, and kissed you about thirty times, before she let you go.

"see you later, honey!"

"goodbye, junko!" your felt yourself choke up slightly at that. but you ignored it and left anyway, unaware of the girl that followed you about ten minutes later.

she had the key, so she let herself in, quickly stepping over to your room. in her rush, she didn't remove her shoes, so you heard the clicking of heels and panicked, already standing on the chair. everything was ready before you left, but you'd wanted to see her one last time, you did instantly before you could back out.

"love?" she opened the door, her face dropping the second she saw you. there was silence, no rush since you were still standing. her hands were over her mouth, and she stepped towards you slowly, nervously, shakingly. "you're..? no way..."

you pulled yourself out, and got down quietly. she reached over and pulled you into her arms, and soon her tears fell, and you just clutched onto her. embarrassed. afraid. sobbing.

she ensured from then on you got help, and she checked on you often. it really shook her up.

he never remembered you. but his heart raced a little (usual), so he assumed you had been important. therefore he kept you around, he protected you while the world fell apart around you both.

did he love you? he wasn't sure. he knew that, even if he could guess you every word, even if you never suprised him, he didn't find you boring... most of the time. you were pleasant enough.

he was aware you were suicidal. of course he was. he informed you that he did not want you to kill yourself, to stay strong and keep going. but he knew you didn't listen. he was the ultimate therapist, and although he tried to push the idea, you stubbornly refused to open up much.

you got worse. he wondered if it was the environment, the dead bodies. so he tried to take you to a place he'd cleaned up a bit, but the unnerving silence bar the two of you dampened your mood anyway.

he suspected you would try. he was busy, and by the time he got back you were kicking down a chair, letting yourself hang. he grabbed you, lifting you up to allow you to breath. you only stared down at him.

he was crying. he never showed emotions. he didn't expect to cry. and yet, he was. it was a weird feeling, the only other time he recalled crying was at the death of chiaki. he never cried.

"dont."

now you were crying. sobbing as he freed you and held you. no need for any doctors, because he held that talent as well. he would care for you as best he could - minor breathing blockage shouldn't be too serious, but it can result in issues, so he'll keep an eye on you.

his emotions where limited, but he knew he wished to protect you and care for you. perhaps this was love, but only his way for experiencing and showing it.

he decided then and there, that he loved you.

[hopes-peak-postal-company]

Mod akane can we get one with Maki who falls for a male reader who during the killing game hung out with her before she was revealed as an assassin and even after she was revealed unlike anyone else that found out in her past still wanted to hang put with her. He talks with her about her pasts and is sympathetic but also makes sure not to push or make her uncomfortable but still tries to get her to have fun while their trapped. I'd like them to survive the killing game cause there's already enough agnst in danganronpa

This may be very cliche especially towards the end, so beware of that.

Maki Harukawa who falls for a male reader during the killing game:

* It was really hard to get Maki to hang out with you at first because every time you tried to talk to her she would disappear not wanting to interact with anyone

* She even said “Do you want to die?” The first time you popped out on her asking for the two of you to hang out with each other

* It wasn’t until you shared some of your food with her when you heard her stomach rumbling and it was something she never got to try growing up and she really enjoyed it, so she had to talk to you the next day for what the name of the food was and you wouldn’t give it to her unless she hung out with you, your first hang out session then became multiple more

* Even though she had started to hang out with you, Maki was still keeping her guard up

* During your hang outs the two of you would play different games since there isn’t much to do in a killing game, you did games such as word games

* They may sound boring, but Maki actually enjoyed playing them with you after she got used to it because at first she would usually ignore the idea completely or give really simple answers to end the game quicker, but since it’s a childish and simple game she never got a chance to experience when she was younger she really appreciates finally getting the opportunity to experience it

* If the two of you weren’t playing games you were chatting about your lives Maki always kept her life vague and you never pried deeper than what she told you

* You did try at first by asking follow up questions, but you could tell Maki was annoyed by this and not wanting to lose her you decided to stop doing it

* Overtime your hangouts were very regular with Shuichi and Kaito joining the two of you occasionally

* Maki eventually starts to feel clammy and blush more often when she’s around you

* Wanting to know what this means she tries to subtly ask the other girls for answers and when they figure out she’s talking about herself they say she has a crush on you, but she denies it

* With a little bit of coaxing from the girls and self searching she finally admitted her crush to herself, but she was never going to tell you since she didn’t want to face the rejection

* Well, Miu ended up blabbing to you about Maki’s little crush and you told her you liked her back

* After a lot of convincing Maki finally felt reassured enough to start a relationship with you and when things were going good and her past was long forgotten, since she is now focusing on her relationship with you, Kokichi exposes her secret

* After the events that occur you find Maki sitting on the roof top and go up to talk to her, since you don’t blame her for hiding it and you still like her the same as you always have

* She tries to not face you and actually threatens you somewhat wanting you to stay away from her, but you have none of that and much to her surprise you stay

* Now you reassure her that your not going to leave and that you are willing to listen to her story

* This causes Maki to blush and face away from you she decides to open up a little and tells you a bit about her past she doesn’t look at you the whole time and plays with her hair when talking about the more intense memories she has experienced

* She is glad that you don’t push her to say more than she wants to, since she doesn’t want to lose you like everyone else and that might happen if she tells you the full truth

* After that chat the two of you just sit in silence with you holding her hand which you grabbed somewhere during the talk and Maki did not let go

* The next day you treat Maki how you usually would and she may act a little awkward when you do your usual games making them extra fun for her since she is still in shock that you aren’t leaving her yet

* Hearing about Maki’s past yesterday you decide to incorporate some childish games, such as skipping you even somehow convinced the monokubs to get you a rope all, so she can experience what it is like to have a real childhood that she missed out on

* You continued doing this all the way up to the final part of the killing game where it finally came to an end

* Maki pulled you up from underneath the rubble and had a small smile present on her face

* She has lost a lot of people in her life and she was, so sure she was going to lose you too, but the universe was on her side for once and you both made it out together

* The two of you have a long way to go in terms of recovery from the trauma of the killing game and some of Maki’s still unresolved issues from the past, but the two of you have each other for support, so none got up Sheba to do this alone

* And Maki is going to try her very best to give you the same amount of care and support that you have given her throughout the time you have been her friend and boyfriend as well.

[its-nebula]

V3 Boys x Pregnant S/O in the Killing Game

Warning: DRV3 Spoilers

“S/O is what?!”

He panics and freaks out.

Calms down as soon as you tell him that you’ll get through it with him. It’s just all the more reason to survive.

“But Gonta… no can put child in this hell!”

He has a fire in his eyes that you honestly wouldn’t expect from him. You have to try your hardest to convince him not to fight Monokuma, out of fear of him being punished.

“Gonta will try to survive…for Gonta and S/O’s kid.”

He carries you everywhere from now on, not wanting you to strain yourself. If you ask, he puts you down, but will hold you and keep you close by.

During Class Trials, he immediately shuts any suspicion down.

“S/O can’t be culprit! Was with Gonta!”

You tell him to be wary of Kokichi, as you think Kokichi doesn’t have good intentions with your boyfriend. He just gives you a smile.

“Kokichi wants to end killing game just as much as Gonta!”

When all of you go in the simulation, Gonta makes sure you’re okay and that the baby’s okay. You don’t exactly look pregnant in the simulation, but he still makes sure. After that, he goes off to watch Kokichi, and you’re left to explore on your own.

To make a long story short, when Miu was killed, you noticed Kokichi giving you the side-eye, but didn’t say anything to him. You could tell he knew something that you didn’t.

During the Class Trial, the “Killing Game Busters” were revealed. You didn’t want to believe it was Gonta. You really didn’t. He would never hurt someone like that without a purpose…

“S/O, take care of Gonta’s baby. Gonta will be watching over you and baby!”

You sobbed as you watched his execution. The father of your child was burned alive, and he was never coming back.

Instantly, you unleashed all your rage onto Kokichi and his crocodile tears. Several people had to pull you off of him, claiming that the stress wouldn’t be good for the baby.

Besides, you could hit Kokichi with all the punches in the world, but nothing would bring him back…

 Laughs when you tell him about it.

Laughs the second time you tell him about it.

“It is even funnier the second time!”

Doesn’t laugh the third time.

“Wait a minute. You can’t be serious-?!”

Hope you valued your alone time while it lasted, because that is now a thing of the past!

MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!

Lets everyone know that they’re not even allowed near you. He keeps you in his room at all times, you barely even get to sleep in your own bed anymore.

He only really lets you out during Class Trials, and even then he convinces Monokuma to put his podium next to yours.

Constantly talks about how happy he is that he’s going to be a father, to the point everybody knows. Even the Monokubs are a little bit annoyed.  So much for keeping it a secret.

“Hmm, nope! It can’t be me, sorry! I was too busy spending time with my child and my girlfriend~”

His logic is that since you’re pregnant, maybe nobody would kill you because they would feel too bad, so he doesn’t really mind screaming it to the world.

The longer the game goes on, though, the more fucked up things he feels compelled to do, in his efforts to try and stop the killing game.

You practically scream at him when he pretends to be dead.

“Aw, don’t worry your pretty little head! I’m alright, aren’t I?”

Maki keeps sending her threats for him to you.

“If you want to raise the child with a stable 2-Parent family, I suggest you calm your boyfriend down.”

During the fifth trial, things are very tense. Either way, your boyfriend was either dead or going to die. You knew it was all a part of his scheme, but you still thought this was a step too far.

When Kaito was revealed in the Exisal, you bawled your eyes out.

Even as Shuichi explained Kokichi’s thought process, it made nothing better.

You didn’t even get to say goodbye…

And your child would never meet his father.

Wait, you’re what?

Oh no.

In a killing game?!

Oh no.

And he’s the father???

Oh NO.

You’re surprised that he doesn’t faint, by the way he’s acting.

“S/O, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, really!”

You tell him that it’s okay, because you know he’ll make a great parent. You’ve made him a little more confident, but not by a lot.

“We should probably keep this a secret for now. You can never really be too careful in these circumstances.”

Everyone can tell something’s off with him, because he gets really bad Couvade syndrome.

He still tries to help you as much as he can. If you’re craving something he brings you it almost immediately.

If your stomach moves even a tiny bit, he assumes the baby is coming even though he knows better. You have to tell him that it’s only a kick and he needs to take it down a couple of notches.

“Heh…sorry.”

His anxiety is through the ROOF.

Still tries to work on it. He’s got to be strong for you.

Trains with Kaito to help him become stronger, and brings you along with him.

“Hey Shuichi, don’t you think S/O might want to train with us?”

“It’s okay Kaito, S/O gets really sleepy during this time.”

Tries his hardest during class trials. He can’t afford to take shit from anybody and risk getting you killed. Hits the killers with the hard facts and evidence.

Investigates with you by his side.

“Now the baby can see his father in action!”

At the 6th Trial, he reveals your pregnancy, even though Tsumugi already knew.

Nobody else did. How? Guess they weren’t paying attention to your ever-increasing stomach.

When everyone ducks under rocks, Shuichi shields you with his body for extra protection. After the two of you make it out alive, along with Maki and Himiko, the 4 of you go off to start a new life together.

“WHAAAATTTT?!”

Thinks you cheated on him.

He’s very hurt.

You spend almost an hour convincing him that he’s the only one you’ve ever been with. He still doesn’t really believe it, but there’s only one thing to do.

The two of you consult Miu to figure out what in the hell is going on.

“Miu! I never wanted to actually have sperm and be able to create life! Now our child is going to be born in such horrible conditions!”

“Well, be more fuckin’ clear next time, and wrap it up when you get your dick wet, why don’t you?!”

Looks on the bright side.

He was able to get you pregnant, something no other robot was able to do before! That’s a complete win!

You’re still stuck in this school, though, and this was no place to raise a child.

“Robots aren’t allowed to hurt humans, and I can’t risk you killing someone and losing the trial…”

He helps you the best that he can. He gives you any medicine that he can find, and he lets you use him as a heating pad.

Scans daily to see your state of health. Sometimes more than necessary…

“I just did this scan 5 minutes ago? Oh, I hadn’t noticed…”

Takes pictures of your stomach every day to monitor your growth.

Kokichi always makes fun of the two of you.

“Well, I guess that answers my question! Robots do have dicks! Hey S/O, was it all cold and metallic?”

“…that’s not funny.”

When it was revealed during the 6th Trial about Danganronpa, he was conflicted.

The voices in his head– the audience– told him all different things. He was tired, he just wanted to be free. He didn’t want your child to grow up in a world like this.

“S/O, if this continues, and the kid we created joins a future season, I’d never forgive myself. It’s time to end this. Please, when you see them, let them know their father loves them so.”

He sacrificed himself by blowing up the school. As he saw his friends and his significant other huddled beneath a rock, he grinned, knowing they were going to be okay.

Scoffs.

“Well, that’s just my luck that I would cause you to have to bring a new life into this horrible world.”

He’s honestly pretty upset over the whole thing for at least a couple days.

But then he realizes it; he can raise them to be better than he ever was or had a chance at being. He can teach them to do better.

This makes him happy, and he apologizes for being so stand-offish.

“Looks like… we’ve still got a ways to go.”

When the two of you lay down together, he always lays down in a way that his ear is directly pressed against you stomach.

He talks to the child a lot.

“Don’t worry, little one. We’ll get you and everyone else out of here and to safety. I love you so much.”

Truth be told, he’s a little scared that he’s a  threat to the kid. After what happened in his past, what happened to his family, what happened to his lover…

You tell him to try to not think about it, and you know that he’s learned from the past.

The two of you only tell a couple people that you trust; namely, Shuichi and Kirumi. They’re both really happy for you!

Kirumi helps out a lot by getting you whatever you need for the day. She doesn’t get at all bothered by your morning sickness, and even offers to clean.

After the motive videos come out, Ryoma watches his and though he’s a little hurt, it doesn’t stop his determination to leave.

While she’s cleaning Ryoma’s room, Ryoma confides in her for advice.

“I feel like…I won’t be enough for our kid. Look at me now, I’m nothing more than an empty shell. I just… want to be enough for our family.”

SLAM!

Ryoma fell to the ground with a light thud, and that was the last anybody ever heard from him.

Crying out as you saw the piranhas tear away his flesh, you fainted on the spot.

You didn’t even have time to investigate, because the Class Trial had started.

You appreciated how seriously Kirumi was taking this trial. She kept making glances at you, but you assumed it was because she felt bad that your child would have to be without a father.

Until…

No, it couldn’t be. She’d gained your trust, only to betray you in the end? What kind of sick joke was this?!

As she was executed, you looked down at your stomach, rubbing it.

“Looks like we’ve still got a ways to go, kid…”

Wildly switching between happy, sad, and terrified.

On the one hand, he’s happy to be a father to your child. You were the love of his life, and he wanted to do his part and take care of the kid.

On the other hand, when you tell him the news, he paces back and forth, trying to find a way to get you to be as safe as possible. He already survived one killing game, how hard could it be to let the two of you be the last survivors again?

He asked Monokuma to see if you could have the easy way out.

“Monokuma, I know you probably want me to still participate, but my girlfriend, she’s pregnant now, so can you please just-”

“Puhuhuhu~! All applications made are final, buddy! It looks like we may just have another member in a short 9 months! Well, the more the merrier!”

Shit.

After that “lovely” conversation, Rantaro was more determined than ever to find a way out of the game.

He’d already lost his sisters, and he wouldn’t dream of losing you and the child too.

When the countdown motive for the first murder is introduced, he parts with you for just a few minutes, to record the videos that you and your other classmates would later find. He wanders in the library in order to do something, but he’s distracted when a shot put ball falls behind him. As he goes to pick it up, he’s struck in the back of the head.

Finding his body, you wanted to throw up, and not from morning sickness. 

Nobody knew of your pregnancy yet, so nobody really knew how deep into despair you’d fallen.

Though, they still felt sorry for you, because it was obvious the two of you were together.

You didn’t feel right being angry at Kaede when she was revealed as the culprit, especially as she showed deep remorse.

“I didn’t mean it, S/O. I’m so sorry…”

Tears pricked your eyes as she was snatched back by the chains.

You forgive her.

Over the moon at first.

Yes, that’s a pun. Shut up, I know it’s bad.

This man is DANCING while he’s celebrating.

“WOO! I”M GONNA BE A FATHER!”

He’s loud enough that everyone knows within 10 minutes of you telling him.

Well.

When he has some alone time, he frowns to himself. He’s sick, What if he doesn’t live long enough to see their smiling face for the first time? Hear their first laugh?

These invasive thoughts clouded his mind, as he started to cough up blood.

“D-Damn it…”

Kaito decided not to tell you, not just because he’s an idiot, but he doesn’t want you to stress and possibly cause damage to the child.

He talks to your stomach everyday.

“What’s up, my little star!”

He’s extremely proud and isn’t afraid to show you off.

The more ill he gets, the more hope he has that you’ll be just fine. You have to be!

After he’s locked in the bathroom, he tries to find a way out. Any way out, he needed to make sure you were safe. Kokichi couldn’t keep him locked up forever! 

When he and Kokichi make their deal, he does it in your interest.

“If Monokuma can’t solve the murder, I’ll finally get to walk out of here and start my family! Right?!”

But their plan failed. As you watched his execution, you screamed, pounding on the screen, begging Monokuma to let him go, please. You’d do anything! Soon, his coughing got worse, and he was soon on the ground, pink all around him. He’d died of his own accord.

You smiled happily at the bittersweet moment. He died of his own accord, no longer a part of Monokuma’s twisted game.

You knew he was above, watching you from the stars.

“Did you say you’re pregnant…? My, what an interesting turn of events!”

Did this man just say it was interesting?

You told him that this was serious, and that you needed to find a way out of here now.

“Keheehee... you don’t really think I’d let anything happen to you, do you? It’s clear Monokuma won’t let us go, even under these circumstances. Besides, I have my own kin developing inside your body, you need extra attention now!”

He will literally give you a tsunami of compliments everyday about how your body seems to be handling the pregnancy.

“S/O, your body is just so radiant today!”

Tells you stories about motherhood in other cultures.

Knows the best herbal remedies to calm symptoms such as headaches or nausea.

Nervous that you keep having to go to the bathroom, guides you there and back.

You really don’t know why he completely lost his shit by killing Angie and Tenko.

You convinced yourself that it was because of the oppressive student council, but why Tenko?

As he revealed his true self, you were horrified. He...was a serial killer?

The Korekiyo you came to love was a serial killer?

You were thrown into despair as you came to terms with his true colors. Nothing made sense anymore. Not only was your boyfriend and father of your first-born child dead, but he’d been batshit insane this entire time?

Maybe the next time you see red rope and hear a promise of “pleasure like you’ve never experienced”, you’ll politely decline.

[elyvorg]

What if Shuichi had figured out during the investigation where the survivor was hiding?

[mini-fic under the readmore]

---

Shuichi couldn’t bear this twisted knot of anxious uncertainty that had been building in his stomach this whole time. He still believed that Kaito had to be alive somehow, even though nobody had been able to find the survivor anywhere. (But why? Why wouldn’t Kaito—?) Yet, nothing was conclusive; he had to find something more. He wanted – needed – to just know.

He scanned the hangar yet again, desperate for some new piece of evidence that he hadn’t already examined countless times. Maki was there, still refusing to look at him, and it stung. Not for Shuichi’s own sake, but for Kaito’s. Why was she so certain he was dead?

…There was something. A chance, at least. One single place in the hangar where Shuichi hadn’t yet investigated. Somewhere that could hold the incontrovertible, conclusive evidence he’d been looking for this whole time. It was a long shot, but it might just blow this whole case wide open.

The four Electrohammers were lying there on the ground near the hangar’s entrance, dropped and forgotten in the shock of discovering the body. They were the key he needed.

Shuichi almost hesitated as he moved to pick one up. (Wouldn’t it—?)

No. He was the Ultimate Detective. He had to check.

Electrohammer in hand, Shuichi headed towards the stationary Exisal, the one with the closed red cockpit, firmly keeping his mind empty. There was no need to speculate; he’d know soon enough.

As he got close, the mecha suddenly sprang to life with a loud whirr of machinery, leaping forwards, taking on a threatening stance. Shuichi jumped back, heart pounding – he’d been right, someone was in there! – and then the Exisal spoke, in the taunting, infuriating tone of the last voice Shuichi ever wanted to hear again.

“Uh, uh, uh! Careful, now! I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Shuichi.”

It was Kokichi.

The tension in Shuichi’s stomach plummeted into a bottomless abyss. He was falling, with nothing to hold onto, hating the truth more than ever, hating the fact that he wasn’t even surprised.

Kokichi was the one who was alive. And… that meant… Kaito was…

Standing limp with shock, Shuichi felt the Electrohammer wrench itself from his grip as a red blur suddenly darted past him, towards the Exisal, smashing the hammer into the hood. In an instant, Maki was up at the cockpit, forcing it open, eyes flashing, knife glinting—

“Maki Roll, stop!”

Wait, that voice, that’s—

—and Maki froze completely, her knife quivering inches from Kaito’s chest.

A heavy, stunned silence fell over the hangar. Shuichi stared, blinking, his mind reorienting itself as he tried to process what he was seeing.

Kaito was, just, there in the Exisal, alive as ever as if nothing made more sense. His body was tensed, pressed back into the seat, arms raised (one of them bleeding, just like the sleeve—) in a pacifying gesture. Opposite him, Maki stared in utter disbelief, her knife still hanging between them like she’d forgotten she was holding it. If she’d stopped just a second later…

An awkward chuckle from Kaito broke the silence. He put up a grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. For once, he seemed lost for words.

“K… Kaito…” Maki mumbled, that desperate edge to her voice that Shuichi had only heard brief snatches of before, when Kaito had coughed up blood, when he’d been grabbed by Kokichi. “You’re alive…? But I… I saw Kokichi drink the antidote. I killed you. How…?”

Shuichi’s mind reeled, unable to keep up. What antidote? Maki… killed…?

Kaito’s posture relaxed a little. “Heh, didn’t I tell you?” he said, his carefree tone jarringly familiar in this alien situation. “No way I’m gonna die that easily!”

“Shut up!” Maki snapped, screwing her eyes shut. “How can you act like that when I… I could have just…”

The knife in her hand shook; she flung it aside like it was burning hot. Grimacing, she hunched in on herself, her shoulders shuddering, breaths hitching. It took Shuichi a moment to realise… she was crying. He’d seen most of his classmates cry at one point or another throughout this killing game, even Kaito – but never Maki, before now.

Gently, Kaito reached out his injured arm to put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Maki Roll, it’s okay.” He gave a reassuring grin, tilting his head to try and let her see him. “I’m okay, look! You didn’t kill me!” As Maki looked back up at him, he added, with a determined fervour, “You didn’t kill anyone last night.”

Maki covered Kaito’s hand with her own, leaning into it with quiet sobs, clinging tightly like she was afraid he’d disappear for good if she let go. Kaito watched her with a mix of sympathy and pride, then turned and gave a strained grin to Shuichi, too, like some sort of awkward greeting. Shuichi had so many questions; he could tell there was a lot Kaito wasn’t saying yet behind that smile. But just for this one moment, he didn’t want to let any of that matter.

Kaito was alive. He was here. It wasn’t him under that press after all.

And yet… if the victim wasn’t Kaito, then… Shuichi looked over at the press, at the huge pool of blood that was still very starkly there. Who—?

Kaito sighed. “Yeah, I guess there’s no point hiding it any more, huh?”

Maki shifted, looking up at him, alarm creeping onto her face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything,” Kaito went on. “But before all that, the first thing you gotta know…”

He glanced at the press for just a second and grimaced. With a long breath to steel himself, Kaito looked both Maki and then Shuichi in the eye to say with firm conviction: “I’m the one who killed Kokichi. I’m the culprit of this case.”

“No…!” Maki protested instantly, her grip on Kaito’s hand tightening. “That… that’s not possible… You… can’t have…”

Shuichi wanted to protest, too, but he couldn’t find the words. He knew nothing he said would change the truth. He could tell that Kaito wasn’t lying, wouldn’t lie to them about this. (Why did this always happen…?)

Kaito suddenly turned to Shuichi, beaming at him with his biggest, proudest grin. (Why? How? Why were they both like this?)

“But damn, Shuichi, that was awesome! I knew you’d solve this whole thing in the end, but even I didn’t think you’d figure it out this fast! Heh, that’s my sidekick for you! You really are something else!”

[prompt-master]

THIS BITCH FUCKING DYING XD XD X'D

This is a lighthearted comedy fic, but I’m going to give a warning for mention/talks of suicide and death.

Now this may be a shocking sentiment to share; but being in a killing game fucking sucked, even if you were Momota Kaito. As ludicrous as that statement appears, heroes had a tough time in tragedy too. Kaito found himself feeling disappointed more often than he would like at the sight of his companions distrusting each other. How were they supposed to work together and escape if people were “scared” that they would be “murdered”?! Kaito believed in trust to the bitter end and he would see that philosophy through. To point the finger at others and accuse them of murder is simply what the mastermind wanted him to do, and if Kaito was anything he was not a loser.

But that’s part of what made his sidekick so incredible! No hero was complete without his supporting role! Of course, Shuichi was much more than a supporting role. In many ways he was the protagonist of his own world (Kaito is still the hero of this story, make no mistake). Even though Shuichi relied on the motivation of others to see himself through, he was probably one of the most capable men he’d ever met. His intinution and detective skills were essential to each trial when his thoughts weren’t fogged up by mental recoil. And despite his reclusive demeanor, he was a good friend to have that everyone wanted the best for. Shuichi was Kaito’s sidekick and it showed! For his sidekick had to stand on his own as one of the best!

...Well, maybe sometimes Shuichi didn’t have a leg to stand on because he didn’t look so dependable laying face-down on the ground. 

“Shuichi! Are you- what are you doing?” 

Shuichi was down on the ground in front of his Ultimate Lab with his foot stuck propping the door open. He didn’t lift his head up when Kaito called out his name, instead opting for a string of gibberish and raising one hand off the ground. 

“No, seriously. What are you doing?” Kaito propped the dizzy detective up against the wall, catching him as he nearly swayed back down to the floor in response. Kaito took note of his flushed face and unfocused demeanor. There wasn’t...booze in this killing game right? That would suck. A killing game and booze wouldn’t mix well. Although some may disagree and say a pint is just the pick me up after watching one of your friends be slaughtered.

“M-Momota-kun…” it seemed Shuichi was gathering his bearings again. He braced himself against Kaito by gripping his sleeves. 

“Alright, c’mon Shuichi. Let’s get you to the others. I’m sure they can help us out somehow!”

“Ah but...first things first…” Shuichi looked up at Kaito with a determined resolve in his eyes typically reserved for class trials. 

“If I die, it’s a suicide.”

Huh?

Huh?

HUH?!

WHAT?!

“Shuichi?!” Kaito shook Shuichi by the shoulders until he looked ready to pass out and keel over for good, “Why would you do that?! You have so much to live for!”

And Shuichi had the damn nerve to look exasperated by the panic, “Ack- Momota-kun please calm down it was an accident!”

“How do you accidentally kill yourself?!”

“Well it happens all the time really but-”

“That’s not reassuring coming from you! Just-” Kaito took a deep breath to steady his frustrations, “why the hell are you dying?”

“It’s- haha, well uhm, it’s a bit of a funny story you see-” Shuichi stopped his ramblings at Kaito’s unimpressed glare, Shuichi sighed and slumped over with a sense of shame and embarrassment, “I was in my lab familiarizing myself with the various poisons in case anyone tried to use one, but ended up dropping a bottle of powder on the floor and inhaling quite a bit.”

“T-that sounds pretty serious…” Kaito mumbled. “How do you treat a toxic inhalant?...How do I help you..? Just say the word and I’ll be there, sidekick!”

Shuichi closed his eyes and rested against the door. After a moment he said “At this rate, people will assume you killed me since you were with me all this time. So, to prove that it was a suicide-”

“Shuichi I asked how to save you not how to solve your murder.”

Shuichi tilted his head with a fog of puzzlement in his eyes, “...but solving murders is what I do?”

“Well don’t do it right now! I’m trying to prevent your death!”

“Hm.” Shuichi seemed to have to rethink his evaluation, but the situation hadn’t changed. “This is a killing game, Momota-kun. I don’t think surviving or saving is on par with the course of action the mastermind planned out.”

“W-well if there’s a poison, there’s an antidote right?”

Shuichi shook his head, “No, there’s probably enough materials to make one, but... I’m not a chemist.”

“Let’s ask Iruma to make one then!”

“She’s not a chemist either.” Not to mention Shuichi didn’t trust any sort of edible concoction Miu put together. He wasn’t sure what she would create, but he did know it would make him want to die even faster.

“Ok then, let’s ask Harumaki!”

“Wh- Momota-kun, Harukawa-san kills people!”

“Yeah, so maybe she knows how to unkill people too! I’m pretty sure she can do basically anything.”

Shuichi, with his head now in his hands, decided that it would be easier to simply go along with Kaito’s antics. His body felt weak and gross and his head was splitting, which was a shame because in all honesty that powder had smelt nice. If only it didn’t leave his lab in need of a quarantine. It could’ve been a good candle scent. Or perhaps Shuichi was just veering into delirium. Dying will do that to you. 

He was definitely veering into delirium because one moment he was staring down at his hands and the next he was being carried by Kaito. The worst part of it all was that it didn’t match his daydreams of being romantically carried bridal style by his crush. Instead he was a heavy sack of dead weight plopped against Kaito’s back trying to keep his nausea down as Kaito descended a set of stairs.

“Wh-what’re you doing?” Shuichi mumbled upon realizing that he couldn’t remember Kaito’s plan. If he had one.

“We’re going to get you help!” Shuichi thought it was a pretty bad idea. It would just make the trial even more confusing and he wouldn’t be able to clarify since corpses don’t make for good witnesses. Even if he wanted to voice that though, he ended up in a nasty coughing fit that left him gasping for air.

“Dammit!” Kaito hissed out, “If only Tojo was still here!”

That Shuichi agreed with. If Kirumi was here she would somehow manage to create a cure even though that was absolutely not in the job description of a maid. Her backstory concerned Shuichi quite a bit.

“There he is!” Kaito yelled out, picking up his pace from a light jog to a full run.

“We’re...w-w’re going to ask him for help...?” Shuichi mumbled, before letting out a loud groan, “no, that’s okay...j-just let me die then.”

“Oi Monokuma!” If it weren’t for the imminent danger that would result from it, Kaito would be throttling Monokuma until something broke. “You have to help Shuichi, dammit! Give him a cure or some shit!”

Monokuma tilted his head, looking up at Kaito with pseudo-innocence, “are you stupid or something?”

“Wh-” Kaito nearly lost his anger in confusion, only for it to come back tenfold, “you have to help him!”

“No I don’t, lol.” Monokuma shrugged, “I think the bastard dropping dead would be great! Honestly any of you mistakes would do, he’s not special or anything.”

“He’s our detective!”

“Yeah, you lot are screwed without him, huh?” Monokuma let out a cackle, curled in on his stomach like Shuichi dying was the highlight of his day. “Sounds so beary hopeless to be without a protag, huh! Man we’ve lost two protags in one show, that’s a new record! Someone write that down, I want a medal!”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about…” Kaito shifted Shuichi higher up on his back, ignoring the mumbles in his ear of what evidence to use in the trial, “but don’t start planning yet! Shuichi isn’t dying on my watch!”

Monokuma nodded, “yeah, you are stupid.”

“Fine then I’m going to Harumaki! She was my first plan anyway since you’re so useless!”

“Useless?” Monokuma’s voice wobbled, his head tilted down like a child being told to apologize for wrong doing, “and after all I’ve done for you too...I don’t have to provide you lot with food and shelter, you know.”

“Ahh shut up! We don’t have time for your weird feelings!” 

The world became another dizzying blur as Kaito ran off yet again. “Don’t worry Shuichi! I’m taking you to Harumaki! She’ll have everything figured out!”

---

“You inhaled a toxic powder from your lab?”

Shuichi nodded.

“And you’ve gotten no treatment this entire time?”

Shuichi nodded.

“How are you not dead already?”

Shuichi shrugged.

Maki sighed and pinched her nose, wondering how the hell these two idiots got themselves into such a mess, “Saihara, I always thought if you were going to die it would be from murder and not from some bullshit like this.”

Which was a fair assumption really. Being the detective among them, the group learned to rely on Shuichi’s deductions to solve the murders. Without him, there would be a lot of chaos that the killer could use to trick everyone. Wait. Why has no one tried to kill Shuichi again? Shuchi couldn’t tell if he was a lucky man or not, but considering he was currently dying on his crush’s back it’s safe to say he leaned towards unlucky.

Maki turned to Kaito, glaring at him in a way that said she wanted to help but the situation sucked to do anything, “what exactly do you want me to do about this?”

“Save him, of course!” “I’m not a doctor. I’m the opposite. I kill people.” 

Shuichi wished desperately that he could say “I told you so”

“Look Harumaki, we can’t just let him die like this! We’re his friends so we have to do whatever we can to help him! Not just for us, but for Akamatsu too! She wanted him to live!”

Harukawa’s steel glare seemed to melt a little at that.

“So we need a plan!” Kaito said, “and the plan is to save Shuichi!”

“That’s not a plan, that’s a goal. And it’s a stupidly impossible goal too.”

“Nothing is impossible!”

Shuichi wondered if he could just close his eyes and die to avoid all the yelling he’s had to endure today. 

Another voice joined the conversation with a loud cry of “what’s impossible!?” It was none other than Iruma Miu, confidently placing herself into the scene when no one asked her to. Kiibo was with her, following at a much slower pace with an expression that screamed second-hand embarrassment. With her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face, she ensured all parties had their eyes on her before speaking again.

“Because this hard-headed freak is right! Nothing is impossible with my beautiful plump brain around! What is it you’re looking for? A new way to pull off a fictional r18 move? I knew you three were depraved, but don’t worry Mama Miu has got it covered-”

“No, you idiot.” Maki cut her off without a drop of sympathy. Shuichi didn’t have any sympathy either though, so really it was just relatable. “Saihara is dying.”

“Eh? What?” Miu’s voice fell into a submissive whimper. She curled in on herself and fiddled her hands together. “That doesn’t sound good…”

“Yes dying is usually not good.”

Kiibo worriedly hovered near Kaito, trying to get a good look at Shuichi, “is he ok?”

“No. Because he is dying.”

Miu seemed to have panic in her eyes, “he can’t die! Not yet anyway! Who killed him huh?! Who’s trying to escape?!”

“Iruma!” Kaito ignored her questions, “you can save him, right?! He was poisoned, and you always say that you can do anything!”

“I-I mean yeah I can but… but I don’t know anything about biocompatibility... I honestly just put things in the body and hope it works…I would need more time...”

“Then what about you Kiibo?! Maybe you can...I don’t know- analyze the poison and come up with a cure!”

“My algorithm doesn’t do that...I could do a Google search if we were given WIFI access though...”

“Dammit does anyone have an idea to save Shuichi?!”

“Oh! Oh!” Miu raised her hand, “I’ve seen people induce vomiting in movies to stop poison! That’ll work, yeah?!”

Maki, realizing that this conversation was going to draw out far longer than to her liking, pulled out a chair and sat in it, “first of all: do not do that. Second of all it was an inhalant. I don’t think that will stop his lungs from shutting down any time soon.”

“I know!” Kiibo turned to Miu with a determined look, “Iruma-san! Repurpose my wiring so that my hands function as a defibrillator!”

“Did you not hear what I just said?” Maki asked.

“Well it might stop Saihara-kun from dying if his heart stopped!”

“There’s nothing we can do.” Maki stressed, “we just have to lay him down, monitor him,, and hope he lives” 

“Harumaki that’s the same as giving up!”

“Hey hey!” No. God dammit. Sure, let’s keep complicating the dialogue. Shuichi was having a very bad day. Could this poison just finish him off already instead of leaving him on death’s doorstep? Fucking rude. Ouma Kokichi, hearing the glorious sounds of frantic arguing, skipped over to the group with a peachy look on his face.

 “What’s wrong with you all? You’re acting like somebody died.” Kokichi did a dramatic gasp, covering his mouth with his hands, “did someone die?! Did someone finally kill Keeboy?!” 

Kiibo stopped debating with Miu to give Kokichi an unimpressed look, “seriously?”

“Nishishi- yeah, I guess that would be too lucky.”

“Can you take something seriously for once in your life?” Maki glared, “because somebody will die if we can’t figure this out. Saihara inhaled a toxic powder and we aren’t sure how much time we have left to save him.”

“Ehh?” Kokichi’s face turned from confusion to worry. He’d clearly thought Maki was messing with him until he saw Shuichi’s half conscious body draped over Kaito looking very much like a victim of poison. Just as quickly as his expression changed it turned into an over exaggerated ploy they’d all seen a million times. His eyes filled with tears, his lip quivered, his nose started to sniffle. With a hiccup in his voice he began to whimper, “one of you guys is trying to kill my Saihara-chan?! I thought you all were preaching about friendship and trust and ending the killing game!”

Kokichi tilted his head back as he fell into a full on sob. A loud childish ear-breaking wail resounded as tears poured from his eyes with practiced ease. “You guys are so awful!” he yelled in between his sobs, “how could you do this?! Saihara-chan can’t die!”

“Would you shut the fuck up, flat ass!’ Miu yelled. 

And just like that Kokichi’s sobs had turned off. A complete 180 from his previous demeanor. It was like he hadn’t cried at all. His eyes weren’t red and puffy, his nose was dry, and his body was relaxed and poised. He stared camly down at his fingernails, examining them as though this situation was nothing more than a slight inconvenience to his day. “I’m serious, you know. I would never joke or lie. Saihara-chan can’t die, this game wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Kaito nearly asked Kokichi what he meant. Did he care about Shuichi? Did he care about their survival? Was he finally coming around? 

“Oi Monokuma!” Kokichi yelled. Monokuma bounced into the scene as though he was on Kokichi’s beck and call. “Hey did you know that Saihara-chan is dying? Like right now? And we’re all just watching that?”

Okay. Maybe he wasn’t starting his redemption arc then. Maybe he’s still the same piece of shit Kokichi.

“Ouma, what are-”

“Of course I know! It’s pretty funny, huh Ouma-kun?”

Kokichi laughed along with Monokuma, as though they were cut from the same tree. But then suddenly he was back to that semi-disappointed demeanor. “Yeah. Saihara-chan is dying. And doesn’t that really suck? This game is going to sooo be terrible without him. In his trial I bet we’re all going to die because these morons can’t think without him. You know that too, don’t you, Monokuma? WIthout Saihara-chan your show is going to be cut off in this most annoying and unentertaining way. Ahhh I can’t believe this is how the game ends. After all that build up too. I don’t think I even want to be a part of this any more honestly. I’d much rather pig breath die.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

 Monokuma seemed taken aback by Kokichi’s analysis. He pondered it for a moment, nervously looking around and imagining all the lovely executions that would go to waste if Shuichi died right now. With a sigh he pulled out a very suspicious bottle from-...actually where did he pull that bottle from? Not important. What was important was that there was finally a cure in front of them, the one they’d been asking for all this time.

“Give him this and the brat should be good as new!” and with that Monokuma popped away.

Kokichi, holding the vial, smiled brightly at the others, “Here you go! Don’t let Saihara-chan die again okay! I don’t care if any of you others do but Saihara-chan is very special m’kay?”

…

…

...

“So you mean…I really could have asked Monokuma for a cure?! The bastard was just lying to me!?”

[paipayaseeds]

Grabbing onto K1B0’s hand was hard enough but also standing up? Her legs were noodles and didn’t seem to be able to properly support her body, in fact, her first attempt nearly resulted in her falling flat on her face. Thankfully, K1B0’s supporting hand was enough to ensure that only her hand grazed the hard floor. After this, she remained kneeling for longer, not trusting herself to stand quite so soon.

Her difficulty breathing only exacerbated her balance issues, just trying to get enough oxygen was a chore in itself and it took a good minute before she could even take an actual breath. Even then, her breathing was labored and noisy and she felt a keen sense of embarrassment that everyone was seeing her like this.

She was no stranger to these episodes, they had become almost commonplace after their involuntary imprisonment and ranged in duration from few minutes to a good half hour. Usually, though, she was fortunate enough to have them occur when she was well away from the prying eyes of her peers. Now though, she was having an attack out in the open and everyone could see just how weak she really was.

After a bit, she finally took a proper breath of air and was finally able to pull herself up on shaky legs. She was still trembling slightly and could feel moisture on her cheeks. She grimaced and swiped them away impatiently before turning towards K1B0.

“I’m fine. Uh, thank you,” she murmured, directing her gaze everywhere except his face. She really wasn’t in the mood to see the contempt or even worse, the pity that might have been etched there.

She let out a long exhale and closed her eyes for a moment before trusting herself to look at Kokichi. His attention seemed to be on a small device he now held in his hand and he was waving it around with energized abandon. After a moment, she heard a loud sound and her blood froze in her veins. Her stomach twisted as she slowly turned and saw the long menacing shadows that announced the appearance of the Exisals.

It didn’t take long for her to figure out that the device in Kokichi’s hand was the control. Clenching her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her skin, she tried to understand what this all meant. Shuichi had said something about the Ultimate Leader lying to them. Lying about what? Whatever it was, Kokichi seemed to believe that showing them the Exisals would prove his point. No, not just showing the the Exisals but showing them who CONTROLLED them. But wouldn’t that just prove that he was...no. No, it couldn’t be true. How could it be? It was impossible. Right? Impossible, impossible, impossible...

Apparently, she hadn’t recovered completely. As she tried to organize her thoughts and try to have some semblance of a theory, her stomach gave a sudden sickening lurch and she doubled over before expelling the contents of her stomach all over the floor.

Kokichi flinched and found himself phasing out of his persona for a second; it was troubling, no doubt about it. So Kokichi, being the genius he was, said the most insensitive shit a guy could say when someone just puked; “Damn, I didn't know you guys would have such a strong reaction to me being the mastermind! Nishishi, well it certainly isn't boring! Oh, but I'm not cleaning that up." 'Seriously, Kokichi, just shut up. Shut the fuck up.' he chanted in his head.

The truth was, he didn't know that she didn't hear him 'admit' to be being the mastermind; so he just casually threw it out, as if it hadn't mind-breaking confusing and just disarraying news.

Kaito's wide and frantic eyes flickered between S/o and the Exisals, confused on what to say first. "What the hell is this shit you're pulling, K- Kokichi!? Just... Just stop already!" Kaito's voice rose in volume as he almost desperately cried out for him to stop, damn it.

Shuichi on the other hand tried to keep composed as his brain tried to make sense of everything. "How are you... controlling them? I thought only the Monokubs could control them?" Shuichi felt cold sweat running down his neck; no matter how hard he tried to remain calm, everything had practically just hit him — honestly, S/o's reaction was far more realistic and reasonable than his.

But he was a detective, he had no choice but to stay composed in situations like this; no matter how hard he wanted to crawl into a hole and rot there.

Kokichi's grin only widened at the question — ignoring Kaito's angry statement — as if it couldn't get any worse, he proved further his point that he was indeed, the mastermind. "Well since I'm the mastermind, of course, I can control them! All thanks to this little old master remote I have right here!"

Maki pursed her lips, before speaking up to confirm the 'truth' for herself. "So you really are the mastermind?" She looked upset, probably beyond upset; but there was another emotion that couldn't be read that lay evident on her face.

"Yup!" What a strange word to use when confirming that you are truly the blood-thirsty mastermind for a gruesome, twisted and fucked-up killing game.

[some-dr-writings]

Shuichi x Kaede: Kaede helps her boyfriend Shuichi cope with his trauma through music

·       How. How did this happen!? Why was this happening!? Kaede’s mind was but a blur as she heard another gunshot ring, Shuichi collapsing to the ground, blood pouring from his face. How did it turn out like this!? They were just out on a date, so why?

·       Their date.

·       It all started out as an average day. Keade had gotten back to Japan from doing a tour in Europe. To celebrate, her and Shuichi decided to have a day long date. They didn’t have a plan for the day, so they simply wandered around town. They missed one another and just wanted to be together, it didn’t matter what they did, as long as they were at one another’s side.

·       “Hey, Shuichi, let’s do some karaoke!” Pulling on Shuichi’s arm she pointed towards the building with a message board out front reading karaoke sessions rooms were on sale. “Well… I’ve never really sung before, sorry if it’s awful.” “Nonsense, I’m sure you’ll be great! Let’s go!” Hand in hand they eagerly skipped into the establishment.

·       As they entered their karaoke room, they didn’t notice the pair of eyes that trailed behind them, glaring deadly daggers. The door to their room had a window in it and the television was across from it, so when their backs were turned being preoccupied with the television…

·       A loud bang rang out as Shuichi suddenly fell forward, collapsing onto the table. He managed to flip around to see what the hell was happening. “Kaede!” Another shot rang out as Shuichi tackled Kaede to the ground.

·       They couldn’t stay here, they needed to escape. The only exit was being blocked by the attacker though. Didn’t matter, Shuichi could disarm the criminal. It was going to be okay. It was going to be okay. That’s what he kept telling himself as he charged for the door. “Huh!?” It was locked!? They didn’t lock the do-

·       He collapsed to the ground; face completely bloodied. “Shuichi!” She couldn’t just sit around, Kaede had to do something! Grabbing a stool, she smashed it through the window, chucking it with all her might. It managed to knock the assailant to the ground and some workers arrived trying to restrain the man.

·       “Shuichi!? Are you alright!?” Blood just poured from his eye as if it were a fountain. “Shuichi!” Placing her ear to his chest she could feel his heart rate quickly fading. “k… kae… de.” His face had already paled so quickly. “Shuichi! Don’t talk. You need to keep your strength!” She tried to be calm, to not sound so scared and panicked, she needed to be strong for Shuichi right now. It all happened so quickly, she didn’t know what even happened. One moment they were happy, now she sat beside Shuichi feeling so lost and terrified, not knowing what to do.

·       Wait.

·       No, there was something she could do!

·       Whipping out her phone she immediately called the police for help. Even as she spoke, she squeezed Shuichi’s hand, letting him know she was still there.

·       The moment the call ended Kaede dropped the phone. “Hey, hey, Shuichi, you can still hear me, right? Don’t talk, just please, squeeze my hand, blink, something.”

·       It killed Kaede to not be in the ambulance with Shuichi, but she understood.

·       Shuichi died, just for a moment. Defibrillators had to be used on him on the way to the hospital. He was sent straight to the emergency care unit for surgery.

·       Kaito and Maki were by Kaede’s side as she had to wait those three suspenseful days before Shuichi was in stable enough condition to have visitors. Now that the incident was over and Kaede could really let it sink in what had happened, she bawled her eyes out. It was all just so messed up and all she could think of was wishing Shuichi would be alright and why all this even happened.

·       To her surprise, she did get an answer.

·       Kaito and Maki stayed behind to give Kaede a chance to be alone with Shuichi. The moment Shuichi saw her, he broke down into sobs, saying everything was his fault. Kaede silently listened to his explanation on how he recognized the man, it was the culprit from that case that got him the title of ‘ultimate detective’. Shuichi was an absolute wreck. It wasn’t even a planned revenge, they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time after the guy had escaped prison.

·       Kaede gently gripped his hand, trying to keep him grounded while his mind reeled from the events that led to this.

·       Shuichi laid there crying and hugging himself. He just absolutely blamed himself for everything. Normally Kaede would refute him and get him back to his senses, but he didn’t need that right now. He was completely exhausted, he just needed comfort.

·       She placed a hand on his cheek, wiping away those tears with her thumb, she gently tilted him to face her a little. Her stomach churned seeing how where his second eye used to be was wrapped in bandages and just… sunk in. “Hey… I never got to show you the recordings of my concerts. Want to watch some now?” Slowly he nodded. She took out her phone and played the first recording. The first song she played was Clair De Lune. Shuichi tried to just focus on the music and nothing else.

·       Shuichi was not the same after the incident, even after leaving the hospital. All the confidence he had gained through the support and training with Kaede, Kaito and Maki just shriveled away. He was a shell of the person they first met. He tried easing into his detective work but… he just couldn’t do it. Every time he tried, this overwhelming terror and dread consumed him. It was so bad he’d often get panic attacks. He also got those attacks when in locked or small rooms. No matter where he was, he needed to know where a quick escape exit was. With the help of therapy, he was able to get better, but he still couldn’t bring himself to go back to work anymore.

·       Kaito tried training with Shuichi again, hoping it would help. They ended up fighting on several occasions and though it wasn’t the best for Shuichi’s mental health, it at least came from a place of care and genuine love. Kaito tried his best to get the message he wanted out without getting into fights.

·       It seems the only thing that could ever ease his emotions was hearing Kaede play the piano. Whenever she played, he was able to just focus on nothing but the music. After Shuichi quit being a detective Kaede began to teach Shuichi the piano. They had already started these lessons long ago, but now they could do it in earnest dedicating all their time to it.

·       Shuichi actually got pretty good at it, but… he like hearing Kaede play. He wanted to do more than just follow her lead all the time. He wanted to contribute something to her. Yes, there are piano duets, but Shuichi felt like he’d just be holding her back. He wanted to truly play WITH her.

·       He started to practice playing the cello.

·       Though in the beginning he only knew scales and the most basic of basic songs Kaede would start playing the piano while he practiced, making up a melody to surround his keeping of tempo. It made practice rather fun. With Kaede making up the melody they never played the same song twice together even if Shuichi was playing the scales for the ten-thousandth time.

·       Once Shuichi was better at playing the cello than he was at piano, him and Kaede began to look up more complicated duets to play together as practice.

·       Shuichi would follow Kaede wherever she went for concerts, them playing a duet together before her show. Doing this always calmed her nerves no matter what song they played.

·       Once Kaede was going to perform with an orchestra, but one of their leading cellist suddenly fell ill. “Oh, Shuichi can take their place!” “W-what!? No I can’t, I’m just a novice.” Taking his hand, she gently dragged him towards the conductor. “He’s just being modest! Shuichi is amazing! I’m sure he can fill in the role, easily, just give him a day or two to practice the song and he’ll be good to go!”

·       Somehow, she did manage to convince the conductor to give Shuichi a chance and so the next few days were spent practicing nonstop. When the day finally came the conductor thought Shuichi had been practicing the song for years, they were so impressed.

·       It was a… very strange experience for Shuichi. He didn’t want to think about it, but hearing the conductor’s words Shuichi was confronted with the fact that he had used his skills as a detective. The reason why he was able to pick up songs so quickly was because his mind still worked like that of a detective, those skills were warped and transferred to playing the music. He was able to quickly memorize the pieces and pick up on patterns that even the most experienced of musicians may have missed. He… didn’t know how to feel about this.

·       When they were alone, Kaede tried encouraging Shuichi telling him that even if he had gained those critical thinking skills as a detective, they didn’t have to only be applied and associated with that. He could use those skills to make new happy memories.

·       Shuichi was absolutely enamored on the day of the concert, playing with everyone in harmony. Hearing Kaede on the piano, how her, his own, and everyone else’s melodies filled the air. How to him, there was simply nothing but the beautiful music.

·       Through this Shuichi ended up making connections and wound up being the only cellist in another concert. On Kaede’s excited insistence he accepted the offer of being part of it.

·       Quickly he began to play more and more, though… him and Kaede were going down different paths. Sometimes they’d get to play together but most of the time they ended up in different countries. Soon after this began both Kaede and Shuichi announced they were taking a short break from their careers. During the break they ended up practicing the piano together again, and Shuichi started teaching Kaede the cello.

·       About a year or so later they returned to the stage. A single concert for the Hope’s Peak High School class reunion, Shuichi on piano and Kaede on cello. It was a fun night, getting to see everyone again. And, most importantly, it was a carefree night. Starting that night there were many days where Shuichi’s past seemed to not plague him. He was so full of life and vitality some of their classmates asked if he was even the same person.

·       They played one other time before going on a world tour as a duo, and that was for their wedding.

[princesskokichi]

kokichi comforting kaede after shuichi’s death

ahh ~ i stan the idea of a mindbroke kaede following kokichi around and just doing whatever he asks without question because she genuinely does not care. kokichi, who acts as if he’s the protag now, fighting against maki and kaito - mod kokichi

- this,, this wasn't the plan

- this wasn't supposed to end like this

- tsumugi knew that the moment she accidentally took out shuichi instead of kaede

- kaede came running in unexpectantly, screaming for shuichi

- shuichi, shuichi, SHU-

- she stopped calling his name, her happiness shattering into a million pieces

- oh god, there was so much blood

- there was so much,, so,,, so much,,,

- tears bubbled up in kaede's eyes, running down her face and dropping onto the hardwood floor of the library

- she was just a few minutes too late

- she was supposed to have met him today at the library to discuss the mastermind

- without realizing it, her legs gave out on her, and she dropped to her knees

- she wanted to hold onto shuichi, to check for a pulse, to do SOMETHING

- but there was so much blood everywhere

- she was bent all the way down, as if she were praying or begging for forgiveness, her forehead touching the floor

- kaede : " sh-shuichi,, shuichi,,, "

- she recited his name over and over like a mantra

- it was the only thing she could think of

- kokichi just / happened / to be walking by

- he had found himself bored with hanging out with the rest of the students, so he went to check the school out on his own

- and he heard a female crying, so he went to investigate

- immediately upon entering the library, he could smell the blood in the air

- kokichi : " kaede ? what are you doing over there ? "

- if she heard him, she never answered, crying profusely onto the floor below her

- the body discovery announcement played, scaring the crap out of everyone

- but kaede seemed dead to the world

- she sat there and cried through the whole investigation

- it,, it wasn't like her,,

- everyone had grim faces as they walked around her to investigate the body

- no one wanted to admit that their strong leader was now shrivelled up into nothing because her lover died

- she only got up for the trial, and barely answered any questions, having become sick to her stomach suddenly

- kokichi took over the trial, answer questions, rebutting, and dismantling arguments

- there was no one else to listen to, so they all just followed his lead through the trial

- they came to the assumably correct conclusion that rantaro was the killer ( it's just like chap. 01 where kaede had plans to murder and it had been assumed she killed the wrong person until later when it's revealed that tsumugi did it. rantaro is in kaede's place )

- and he was promptly executed

- kaede returned to her room immediately after the trial, ignoring kaito's pleas for her to go back to her normal self

- it was almost seven in the morning, and all she had done was cry

- she got no sleep in, and no food

- all she did all night was cry

- before she knew it, the morning announcement played

- knock, knock, knock

- hopefully, it would go away if she ignored it

- knock, knock, knock

- just close your eyes, kaede. ignore it

- knock, knock, knock

- there was a little bit of rustling, and the door opened on it's own

- she didn't particularly care how they got into her room

- if they wanted to kill her, now would be perfect

- she didn't care about these fucking class trials, the people around her, these rules. nothing.

- she had no faith in humanity anymore

- kokichi sat down on her bed, silent

- kokichi : " you can't cry forever. tears eventually run out, you know. "

- there was more silence, and kokichi looked around her room

- kokichi : " this is your room ? it's nice. mine is a little messier than this. even though i just had it for a few days. "

- maybe talking wasn't the way to do this,, he wouldn't know, he's never had to comfort someone a day in his life

- at least, not that he really remembers much about that

- he was hesitant to put a hand on her, but he slowly gathered the balls to gently rub her back

- the crying that had just been gentle streams of silent tears now rushed up again, forcing her to hiccup and lose air from her system

- they sat there for at least an hour, kokichi just rubbing her back while she cried

- after what felt like forever, she picked herself up, at least sitting up in her bed

- kokichi : " are you ready to come get some food with me, now ? i think everyone's already gone. it'll just be me and you. i hope you won't take it as a date or anything. i'm not particularly keen about dating. but who knows ? i'm a liar. "

- she still wouldn't speak, but at least she was up, and staring at her hands

- and most importantly, she stopped crying

- kokichi : " i think you could be really useful to me, kaede. you know, to stop this killing game and everything. "

- she glanced towards him, not making eye contact

- kokichi : " ,, also i brought you something. "

- he reached down beside the bed, pulling out one of shuichi's hats from his room

- kokichi : " consider it a gift. from shuichi, of course. "

- was that hat originally for him ? yeah.

- was he going to tell kaede that ? no. no, he wasn't.

- it may have been too early to show her the hat, because she gripped it with such weak strength and pulled it closer to her chest

- but she didn't cry.

- kokichi : " i can't have my partner in crime getting sick from eating. let's get some food, yeah ? "

- kaede did another glance at him, her hands still on the hat

- kaede : " yeah, let's get some food. "

- kokichi smiled, clapping his hands softly

- kokichi : " perfect,,, "

- he stood up first, but let kaede leave the room first

- he almost felt like skipping, his plan working perfectly so far

- god, this was too good.

[monomonomagines]

V3 boys (plz include Amami and Hoshi; don’t wanna leave them out) their s/o willingly joining Angie’s “Student Council” for their own personal gain/reasons and (though they still love each other) now they have to deal with being on opposing sides of them until the group later disbands?

Oh anon, you couldn't find a way to ever make me not include Amami or Hoshi. They're both amazing characters and fun to write to boot however, I did struggle a bit. I had to write it where anyone could have killed Angie each time and also wrote this where each boy isn't a part of the council in their segment so I hope that you like it still. As with everything else though, feel free to tell me if you don't.

Rantaro

Rantaro and you had bonded ever since the killing games started.

You fed off of each other you with his calmness and him with your rationality which is why what you did next came as a total surprise.

You two had started dating only shortly before Angie assembled the Student Council but Rantaro still felt a little betrayed by you joining.

He's a rational guy so he'd try to pull you aside and ask why you joined.

He'd try his hardest just to talk to you civilly and wouldn't try to force you out of the Student Council. He'd just wanted to be able to talk but you wouldn't give him the time of day.

He was thinking it was as though you were never going to talk to him again when the body announcement played its sickening tone. "A body has been discovered!"

He knew that the Student Council couldn't prevent any worries but he couldn't help but still feel sick to his stomach.

Even with all the effort that you and other members put in, they couldn't prevent the murder of Angie. No one could but they could at least bring her murderer to justice and he would be able to find out the other mystery earing away at him too.

It wouldn't be until after the case when he'd ask if you both could talk in his room. He wouldn't push or anything but he'd still be pretty adamant in needing to see you right then and as soon as you would agree he wouldn't beat around the bush.

"S/o, I know that you always were a rational person so I need to ask once again. Why did you join Angie's Student Council?"

He'd try to be calm as usual but he was itching to know.

"I wanted to try to protect everyone else in the student council. They might have banded together but they were going to get themselves killed. I thought if I said it aloud that they'd be onto me. I'm... I'm sorry Rantaro."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. You were too kind of a person. You couldn't protect everyone but you still tried so hard.

After hearing your reasoning he'd simply wrap his arms around you, trying to comfort you for the night.

Ryoma

Ryoma was used to you staying by his side. You two had started dating thanks to your own persistence to break his barriers but he assumed that it wouldn't last long.

Someone like him didn't deserve someone as great as you.

He thought it over and over but he still didn't expect that you'd leave so quickly.

It was like as soon as you got a chance to go to the student council you just did without looking back.

Guess he should have seen it coming though. No one should stick around a guy like him.

Or at least that's what he said but even if he wouldn't approach you he'd always keep his eyes glued to you. His mind was still stuck on you and how you treated him before this whole damn student council started.

He'd work up the initiative to finally ask you about it though only after the whole thing came crashing down.

Like Rantaro he can wait until there's an appropriate time but he wouldn't be able to restrain himself asking at one point in the class trial.

"S/o, why did you join the student council in the first place?"

Normally, Ryoma never even seemed to suspect you but that trial would be relentless. He doesn't do anything that gets them off point or further from discovering the culprit but there is definitely some weird tension the whole time.

And that tension wouldn't dissipate until you blurted out, "I thought that by joining them I could make sure none of them would target you if they betrayed us. It wasn't right but I wanted to make sure you were safe. You don't deserve to suffer anymore Ryoma!"

Then it's his turn to feel cornered.

"S/o......we'll talk about this later but...thanks. Thanks for not giving up on a guy like me. Let's find this killer together yeah?"

Korekiyo

Kiyo thought that the student council idea was foolish from the start.

He was used to you believing in him and his tales of Gods but Atua now too?

He just couldn't wrap his head around you leaving him for that.

You were the one that pursued him in a romantic endeavor and now you were tossing him aside?

He wouldn't let that slide as easily as the others.

He would be meticulous but he isn't going to pull any punches either.

Similar to Ryoma he'd end up cornering you, trying to force you to spill the beans while exposing Angie's murderer and he wouldn't let up the entire trial.

Not until you told him that you thought you'd protect him. "You corrected Angie plenty of times on how Gods typically acted so I thought she might try to target you. I just wanted to keep you safe, Kiyo."

That's when it's his turn to be shocked.

Why were you so adorably foolish at times?

"Oh S/o, I'll forgive you but that was quite the foolish thought."

Kokichi

Do you think this boy would just let you run off to join the student council after you won his heart?

Well, you're right.

Kokichi doesn't trust most people let alone show that he cares for them so he wouldn't bat at an eye at you suddenly cutting him out.

He'd just treat you pretty badly going out of his way to be more of a nuisance and in less of an endearing way and more of an annoying way.

He doesn't want to hear what you have to say, he just wants you to know that it's not bugging him at all. Although, that's the biggest lie he's told yet.

He's miserable without you and wants to know why you'd join Angie of all people.

He was normally so great at reading people and here he was stumped by his own lover, or ex-lover as he assumed.

It really wouldn't occur to him why you were in the student council until he'd hear you during the trial.

"So you were in the Council to try to protect everyone else? That's pretty stupid but I might be able to forgive you then. Unless that's a lie that is...."

He'll be lying about never forgiving you but you'd see him go back to his usual chipper and childish self around you soon after that.

Kaito

Kaito is one of the most vehement in getting someone to rely on him.

If you suddenly stopped talking to him to go run off with the Student Council, there's no way he'd let it slide.

He unlike, the others wouldn't wait at all before pushing you back against the wall and confronting you.

It pissed him off more than anything for you to be ignoring him but he'd have to soon accept that he couldn't make you speak.

He liked you and your strong personality from the start, it's why you started dating, but god was it pissing him off now.

As soon as the Body Discovery played the very same day that he had cornered you to try to interrogate you he'd still feel his stomach drop even if he claimed he was angry with you.

He had to know you were safe and would come running pulling you to him like Gonta.

"That's it S/o, you're going to tell me right here and now why you were in Angie's bullshit Student Council!"

He wouldn't care if he was inconveniencing your own investigation, holding onto you and not letting go until you'd tell him point-blank that you wanted to protect him.

"You're always running headfirst into things so I thought that the curfew would be better for you. Nearly everyone knew how you would go to train with Shuichi and Maki, what if something happened to you?"

That's when Kaito lets out a laugh as he lets go of you.

"Nothing could happen to me. I'm Kaito Momota, luminary of the stars! So...you know don't worry. I'd...never leave you, you know."

Kiibo

This is one boy that spent his whole life wanting to love.

Now that he got to feel that though, you decided to introduce him to the equally powerful feeling of heartbreak.

He couldn't fathom why you'd stop talking to him only to join Angie's Council.

He thought it might've been his fault but it all just felt so illogical. Illogical and heart-wrenching at the same time.

He'd try on multiple occasions to get you to talk to him and yet you wouldn't even give him a moment.

Why? What did he do?

He pondered on and on what he could've done to get you to dislike him so much suddenly when a certain familiar tone snapped him out of his thoughts.

Was that what he thought it was?

He'd come rushing immediately, pushing himself to get to you and check that you're safe.

When he sees that you are he's so relieved but why are you talking to him now?

"S/o I know that time is imperative but I need to know, why were you ignoring me?"

"I'm sorry Kiibo, I was worried that Angie would realize that I was trying to get her to stop saying that robots wouldn't come with us to paradise and I just....went too far. I went way too far and I'm sorry"

"S/o I’ll, we can talk about this later but thank you. Thank you for caring so much for me and teaching me so many things whenever we’re together. I learned what heartbreak was and though I didn’t particularly enjoy it I promise that I'll still always be with you."

Shuichi

Shuichi as most know lacks confidence.

He thought he had finally found some when you decided that you yourself would cease speaking to him removing yourself from his company to instead go with the Student Council.

Like Gonta or Rantaro, he'd try to question you but you'd brush him off only insisting that he listens to the Council's decisions.

He didn't understand it. He wanted to find out why you joined Angie so suddenly but it wouldn't be until the trial that he'd place the pieces together.

"S/o didn't you join because you suspected someone within the Council would make an attempt on Angie's life?"

"I...I guess I don't need to hide it anymore. You're right Shuichi, I didn't care about anything other than trying to prevent the murder of Angie."

He was so glad once he realized what it was. He'd talk with you later but for now, he had to tell you one thing.

"I knew it. There was no way you'd cut me out so suddenly for some other reason. You might not have been able to prevent Angie's death but we can still expose the one behind her murder. Let's do this S/o!"

Gonta

You don't need to be told twice that Gonta is a sweetheart but....he is!

He'd be in love with you for your kindness so he wouldn't even bat an eye at the notion of dating in a killing game.

"Love works in mysterious ways." Is how the saying goes, not that he'd ever really use it to describe your situation.

He thought it wasn't that unusual. What he thought was unusual was when you'd suddenly stop talking to him altogether only to run over to the Student Council's side.

He'd try to ask you why you joined, mostly worried when you'd snub the poor baby.

He felt as though he did something wrong. He'd try to apologize to you one day but on his way to see you he heard the usual sickening announcement.

"A body has been found!"

He had to find you! He quickly tears through the halls and immediately pulls you into him when he sees you're safe and sound.

And now you were talking to him too! It was a miracle but he still wanted to know what was up.

"S/o why you join Student Council in first place?"

"I had a bad dream that something would happen to you, I thought that if I joined I'd be able to stop something like this from happening."

He couldn't believe his ears but would quickly forgive you. He loves you after all.

[jitterbugperson]

Talentswap Au Pologue: Part 3

This isn’t getting much attention, but I’m still working on it! I really hope more people see this soon, I’m working hard on it and it’s a real passion of mine. Also sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I didn’t read this over before posting this, I wanted to get it out quickly.

Kaede looks at the list in her hands, and goes through it quickly, not dwelling too long on anyone in particular. Each person got pointed to as she went through the list, allowing Kaito a few seconds to try and memorize and match names to appearances.

Kirumi Tojo, Ultimate Martial Artist- Light green long hair tied up with a ribbon, wearing a  short button up and tie with a few colored bandaids on her arms.

Himiko Yumeno, Ultimate Pop Sensation- Short bob of red hair, wearing a frilly light red and pink dress with several bracelets on her arms and pins in her hair. The one currently putting the colored band-aids on Kirumi’s arms.

Angie Yonaga, Ultimate Clairvoyant - White hair cut straight and short, wearing a  purple cloak, several piercings, scattered tattoos on her exposed skin of her arms, legs, and stomach. Currently talking to Rantaro.

Rantaro Amami, Ultimate Gambler- Short green hair, wearing a vest and bowtie, sleeve of tattoos. Currently listening to Angie ramble.

Gonta Gokuhara, Ultimate Moral Compass- Long green hair in a loose ponytail, very muscular, wearing a school uniform. Trying to get Ryoma to stop smoking

Ryoma Hoshi, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader- Very short, wearing a beanie and leather jacket, carries a pack of cigarettes. Currently smoking and being worried over by Gonta.

Tsumugi Shirogane, Ultimate Swimming Pro- Long blue hair in a high ponytail, wearing a baggy jacket and athletic shorts. Currently talking to Tenko.

Tenko Chabashira, Ultimate Softball Player- Dark green hair in a braid, wearing a star covered ballcap and a jean jacket with pins on it over a t-shirt and pants with holes in them. Currently talking to Tsumugi.

Kiibo Iidabashi, Ultimate Programmer- White hair, wearing a green and grey hoodie and headphones. Currently standing away from the others with his headphones on.

Korekiyo Shinguji, Ultimate Writing Prodigy- Long straight blue hair, round glasses, a small black mask over his mouth, wearing a sweater and jeans. Currently standing next to Kiibo, also away from the main group.

After going through the names, Kaede looks at him with a small smile.

“Got it alright?” She asks, still holding the list. Despite not fully memorizing the people, names, and talents in such a small window of time, he nods. 

“Yup.” He’s lying, but she doesn’t seem to catch on, simply folding the paper and putting it back into her pocket.

Kaito lets his eyes wander, gazing over the grouped up people. For the situation they were all in, they seemed surprisingly put together. At least no one was freaking out, so that’s a good sign. They were all ultimates though, so that is to be expected.

He cleared his throat, turning to Kaede.

“So, what now? None of us know how we got here, the windows are closed off, I’m assuming there’s no exit. And there’s no teachers, from what I’ve seen.” He questioned, almost into thin air as Kaede had no answers for him.

Thankfully, there was someone who could answer his question for him. As soon as he asked the question, an annoyingly high pitched voice called out.

“Ahem! Ahem! Mic check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system!

It rang out throughout the room, followed by a loud chime.

Ding dong, bing bong

Everyone turned their heads to the noise, and saw a monitor at the front of the room spark to life. Through static, a small, bear shaped silhouette could be seen.

“Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then, to all incoming students, I would like to begin the entrance ceremony! We’ll be starting at about… right now! Please make your way to the gym at your earliest convenience. That’s all! I’ll be waiting~”

After the sing-songy voice cut off, everyone stood silent for a few moments.

What the hell?

“What the hell?!” Someone shouted out, speaking what everyone was thinking. Kaito turned to the voice, seeing Miu still staring at the monitor, her face one of confused shock. At her comment, everyone else looked around nervously, unsure what to do,

“Hey now, let’s just stay calm. This is probably just to get us excited for the entrance ceremony, that’s all.” The green haired guy in the vest and bowtie stepped forward, a calm smile on his face. Rantaro, Kaito reminded himself.

“A-Are you sure? This all seems too strange to be normal for a school, but I don’t know.” The kid with the headphones replied nervously, his headphones now dangling at the sides of his neck.

“I’m sure we’ll be okay Kiibo, I mean, we’re all okay now, right?” Himiko smiles at the taller student, who looked away, avoiding eye contact, and instead stared at the ground. 

“Yeah, alright.” Kiibo nods, and Himiko grabs his hand in a comforting gesture. 

As soon as she does that, there’s a scoff from the front of the entrance hall. Facing the noise, Kaito notices it’s the purple haired kid from earlier, looking at the scene with a small sneer.

Without saying a word, he turns around and walks out of the room, heading down the hall and towards the gymnasium, leaving everyone else behind.

Tenko and Tsumugi exchanged looks.

“What’s his deal?” The girl haired girl commented, snarky and obviously not a fan of his attitude.

“I’m not sure, but he does seem to have the right idea. If the entrance ceremony is starting, wouldn’t it be a good idea to head to the gym?” Tsumugi adds, talking to no one in particular. The others look around, before unanimously deciding that heading to the gym would be the best idea at the moment.

The group of 15 split into smaller groups as they walked down the halls, similar to the groups in the entrance hall. Maki and Shuichi, Tsumugi and Korekiyo, Gonta and Kirumi, Angie, Ryoma, and Rantaro, Tenko, Himiko, and Kiibo, and Kaito, Miu, and Kaede. Together they headed to the gym, the purple haired kid already there waiting for them. 

Next to Kaito, he heard Kaede speak up to both him and Miu.

“Don’t you think it’s odd we didn’t see any other students on our way here?”

Now that he thought about it, yeah that did seem pretty weird. Judging by the look on Miu’s face, she thought so too.

“Hey, you’re right. Where the hell is everyone?” Miu shouts out, a little louder than necessary.

The response she got was similar to Kaito’s in the Entrance Hall, replied to by the same high pitched voice.

“Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here?”

Without waiting for anyone to answer, they continued.

“Good! Then, let’s get things rolling!”

As soon as those words were spoken, a small, animatronic teddy bear popped out from behind the podium on the stage, its body split into a half of black and a half of white. No one dared to move or speak for a few seconds, trying to take it in.

“Is that… a stuffed bear?” Korekiyo asked out loud, voice quiet and full of disbelief.

“I am not a stuffed bear!” The bear cried out, angry at that notion.

“I am Monokuma! This school’s headmaster.”

Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any weirder.

The bear stepped down from the podium and walked closer to the students, and the knot of anxiety that’d slowly been accumulating in Kaito’s stomach turned to outright dread as he realized how absolutely screwed they were. This was definitely not a normal school, much too weird for Hope’s Peak, and certainly not a school that made the tiniest bit of sense.

“Nice to meet you all!” 

After Monokuma finished his introduction, everyone stood still and quiet, just staring at the bear.

“Um, is anyone else seeing and hearing the same thing? I’m not hallucinating this?” Tsumugi asked, looking at the other for confirmation.

“I am not a stuffed bear!! How many times do I have to tell you!” He yelled out angrily, jumping out at her and causing her to flinch back.

“Eeeeek! Get away from me!!” She yelled, putting her hands in front of her face. Quickly, Tenko, who’d been standing next to Tsumugi, jumped in front of her, hands out wide.

“Back up little dude.” The green-haired girl hissed out, glaring at the bear.

“Stop it, both of you!! It’s not like it can do anything to you, even if it can… walk and talk, for some reason.” Kaede tried to reason, not wanting people to get worked up for no reason.

“No no, little miss jumpy over here has the right idea. I could kill you if I wanted!” The bear chuckled, causing a few people to exchange looks.

“Well, anyway, do you happen to know why we’re here, mister...Monokuma?” Gonta speaks up, ignoring the potential death threat in favor of getting some answers.

“Ah, yes! Of course, that is why I brought you all here!” Monokuma exclaims, and a few students relaxed a bit at the notion that their questions would soon be addressed.

Kaito wasn’t one of those. He wasn’t sure why, but he just felt…off. Something wasn't right here, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Monokuma cleared his throat(?).

“Now, continuing with the entrance ceremony! First, we should address what your school life will be like here! Yes, this should be the first thing to talk about since you’ll be living the rest of your lives out here.”

He said it so calmly, yet Kaito felt his heart stop. Looking around at everyone else, they seem to have heard it too, all wearing similar expressions

“Yes yes, you students are the hope of this world! You will all spend the rest of your life designated only to the grounds of this school, protected from the outside world!”

“H-Huh? That’s not… you’re not serious are you?” Kaito spoke, now hoping that this was all an extremely elaborate prank like he’d thought in the beginning.

“I am one hundred percent serious, my little luckster! But do not worry, we have quite the budget, so your life here will be quite comfortable! You will be more than accommodated for here at the academy.”

“Wait, so we’re stuck here? With no way out?!” Tenko shouts, her eyes wide with fear.

“Yup! You’re all completely cut off from the outside world! You can call for help all you want, but you’re stuck within these walls for the rest of your life!”

The room was silent, everyone quietly panicking at the news that they’re stuck in here forever. What about their f”milies? Their friends on the outside? Their lives on the outside?

“Aww, why do you all look so glum! You all came here of your own free will, didn’t you?”

Well, he isn’t entirely wrong.

“I guess you’ll all be happy to hear, there is something I forgot to mention. There is one way out, and only one.”

Everyone perked their heads up at that, some skeptic, others willing to listen.

“I’ve created a special rule, allowing those who wish to leave the ability to do so! With some conditions of course.”

“Spit it out already, we’re tired of waiting.” Ryoma grumbled, looking heavily annoyed at all this stalling and back and forths.

“Hold your horses, I’m getting to that!” The bear shouted, angry.

“Now then, what I was trying to say is that this school has what is called a Graduation Clause. The lifestyle you all will have here is one of order, but should someone interrupt said order, they and they alone would be allowed to leave.”

Kaito quirked an eyebrow.

“Interrupt the order? What does that mean?”

“Ah, curious one, aren’t you. What I mean by that is, in order to leave, someone needs to commit a crime most unspeakable, one that would truly disrupt the natural order. Murder, to be more specific.”

At that, everyone’s face paled a good few shades.

“Asphyxiation, blood loss, snapping of the neck, cutting off all blood flow to the brain, get creative! It doesn’t matter the process, all that matters is someone’s heart stops beating! That is the only way to escape this school.”

Katio could feel his breath picking up, panic becoming the leading emotion in his head. Kill someone to leave? That’s insane!! He was losing his grip, heart beating out of his chest and his hands gripping the sleeves of the others absurdly tight. A hand dropped to his soldier, surprisingly calm. He looked up and saw the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, lips in a taut line as she stared at the black and white bear.

“What makes you think we’ll just go along with this? Do you forget we’re children? The chances of us getting the nerve to kill someone is absolutely absurd, and this is considering you’re telling the truth. Chances are, this is some trick, a prank of some sort. Why someone would go through this much trouble to prank us, I don’t know, but there is no way you would be allowed to do this, considering some of our home lives.” Kaede spoke with such confidence and authority, the kind Kaito likes to pretend to have but could never amount to. A kind of confidence bread by experience, one she could only get in the kind of life she lives.

The bear quirked his little head.

“You all keep acting like this isn’t real. What is it gonna take to convince you that you’re stuck here forever? Because this isn’t a joke you know.”

As soon as Monokuma finished his sentence, there was a short rustling sound, a blur of motion, and suddenly, Monokuma was being held in the air. Holding him up in a death grip was the short purple haired kid, an ice glare on his face.

“I don’t know what your game is, or what psycho decided it would be a fun idea to mess with us. Whatever your reason, I’m not a fan, so I’m giving you about ten seconds to cut this shit out before I destroy your little toy.”

“A-Ah! This is certainly unexpected!”

“10.”

“Hold on now! You have no idea what I’m capable of little boy-” The grip on the bear’s face tightened.

“9.”

“You don’t want to do this, trust me.”

“8.”

���Alright, if this is what you want!”

“8.” An autonomous voice joined in with the smaller boy’s counting.

“7.”

“7.” 

“Hey, m-maybe you should put it down.” Himiko stepped forward towards the boy and the robot.

“Stay out of this!” The boy snapped, causing Himiko to yank her hand back.

“6.”

“6.”

“She has a point, I feel like you should let go of the-” Kirumi tried to reason, but was interrupted.

“5.”

“5.”

There were some metal clanging noises.

“What the hell is that?” Kaito shouted out.

“4.”

“4.”

“Seriously man, put the damn thing down!” Ryoma shouted, but he was ignored as well.”

“3.”

“3.”

“2.”

“2.”

The metal clanging got louder, and Kaito moved before he could think, his panic fueled adrenaline making him do something he normally wouldn’t.

“1.” 

As soon as he spoke the last number, Kaito pushed the bear out of his hands, stopping him from destroying it. The boy turned to the much taller one, the icy glare now directed to him.

“What the he-!” He was cut off as metal spikes sprung out of the belly of Monokuma, shooting straight up and out to the spot the kid previously stood, and still would have if he had still been holding the bear. The spikes pierced through the air, ripping through the fabric on the short kid’s shirt sleeve and the side of Kaito’s sweater, cutting through the skin with the tips of the metal. Both let out a surprised cry of pain, and Monokuma dropped on the floor with a small CLANG.

Kaito gripped his side with his opposite hand, a pained grimace on his face as he stared at the bear. He heard a few startled cries from behind him, and soon felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. Turning around, his face met a worried Miu’s, with Kaede soon behind him.

“Holy shit, you alright dude?” 

Breathing heavily, Kaito nodded.

“Yeah...yeah I’m okay.”

No one had time to move much before the metal spikes returned to the belly of the robot, sinking back in and being covered up as though they weren’t even there in the first place. Monokuma sprung up with a hearty chuckle.

“Looks like you got saved before I could skewer you! Well, at least now you know that I am serious about this! If that nosy kid hadn’t saved your ass, you’d be good as a shish-kebab!”

He laughed again.

“Now, it’s important to know that violence against the headmaster is strictly against the rules! I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but anyone else who disobeys the rules won’t be let off that easily.”

Everyone was silent, the gravity of the situation finally dawning on those who’d been skeptical before.

“I’m not unfair though! I’ll be giving you all fully digital e-Handbooks so that you know the rules of the school and what not to do! Remember, there are surveillance cameras all over the school, so don’t even think about getting away with anything naughty.”

Dread settled over the entire gym, everyone staring down at the handbooks being held to them as Monokuma went down the line. Once all were handed out, Monokuma straightened out.

“Well then, that’s the end of the entrance ceremony! I hope you all have a wonderfully depressing school life here at the school, and I look forward to what kind of murders you decide to come up with!”

He gave us a small wave, his unnerving half-smile still plastering on his face.

“See ya!”

And like that, he was gone, leaving us all to our own devices.

“Well, shit.”

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story: Chapter 1, deadly life

Note of the author: The scrum debate was a pain in the ass to write. There, I said it.

Also don’t worry, things are gonna get more interesting soon. I’m gonna bitch-slap your feelings like Hina bitch-slapped Byakuya in chapter 4 of THH. Consider this a threat and a promise.

Chapter 1: Pledge your allegiance to me - Deadly life

...

To say Shuichi was shocked was an understatement. He took a few steps back, hands on his mouth. He had never been exposed to a dead body before, and even though a part of him expected to see someone dying soon, he was not mentally prepared.

Rantaro noticed him, asking what was wrong, even though he, deep down, knew what was the problem.

The others joined him and saw their friend’s dead body, and the music on the monitors stopped.

The body discovery announcement went off.

“Ding dong, dong ding!”

“A body has been discovered!”

“Everyone, please gather at the warehouse!”

About a minute later, everyone was there. Monokuma showed up, happy that someone was murdered on time and said that everything was fine because the culprit just had to raise their hand and take the first blood perk.

But nobody did.

Monokuma was satisfied anyway, and announced the beginning of the investigation. He also told them the Monokuma files were available on their monopads.

Monokuma file #1

The victim is Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate zoologist.

The body was discovered in the warehouse.

The estimated time of death is unknown.

The victim was stabbed several times in both the chest and the stomach, resulting in an internal bleeding.

The victim died almost immediately from his injuries.

No other injuries were noted on the victim’s body.

Obtained truth bullet! Monokuma file #1

The others started investigating.

Rantaro examined his body, by taking Gonta’s shirt off, to which Miu was about to do a dirty comment but Kaito told her not to.

He concluded the Monokuma file was saying the truth, since the injuries looked fresh, and it was definitely not a mannequin nor a fake body.

After taking a good look at the stab wounds, he also concluded that, out of the 8 stab wounds, 2 looked like they were really deep and the other 6 looked like quick stabs.

Obtained truth bullet! Rantaro’s examination

Unfortunately for them, the murder weapon was nowhere to be seen.

After looking around the warehouse, they didn’t notice anything that could look like a weapon, nor any other hints.

Shuichi, feeling already sick of this, decided to leave the warehouse. He took a quick glance at Rantaro who was still investigating the body carefully, somehow keeping a cool head. But that was to be expected from a war medic.

Outside, he noticed Kokichi and Himiko arguing. Himiko seemed to encourage him with the investigation, saying that if they work together they will surpass this. Kokichi seemed to be panicking, and wanted Himiko to leave him alone because “he only brings bad luck to the others, and doesn’t want the blackened to suffer more than they already will”.

Shuichi preferred not to interfere and decided to look for what could be a murder weapon.

He went to the kitchen, since one of the obvious choices would be a knife. One knife was missing, according to Kirumi, who had just came in and knew exactly how many knives were there.

Obtained truth bullet! Missing knife

A few seconds later, they found Maki who was heading back to the warehouse, but Shuichi interrupted her to ask if anything was wrong.

She responded that it was probably nothing, but one of her Japanese scissors went missing this morning, but thought it was probably lost in all the fabric in her lab.

Obtained truth bullet! Missing scissors

Kirumi asked if she could perhaps take a look around.

Maki was a bit uncomfortable showing her lab like that, but she decided to let it slide because of the investigation.

Her lab was a mess to say the least, but according to her, things were normal. Kirumi asked her if she wanted it to be cleaned, but Maki was fine with the mess.

The three went back to the warehouse, to see if they had anything new to say.

Rantaro said he didn’t find much more on the body, just that the murder weapon was about the size of a knife, or as Maki suggested, Japanese scissors.

Obtained truth bullet! Stab wounds

Angie was examining Gonta’s shirt, who was, apart from the stab holes, ripped around the shoulder.

Obtained truth bullet! Ripped shirt

Maki seemed surprise by this fact, because she remembered Gonta coming to her the previous day, asking if she could repair his shirt because it had the hole in it, but it looked like it was ripped again.

Obtained truth bullet! Maki��s account

They decided to do a recap what everyone was doing before the body discovery announcement.

According to Angie; the people in the library right before the announcement were Ryoma, Kirumi, Maki, Kaede, Kaito, Miu and herself.

Obtained truth bullet! Angie’s account

According to Himiko; Kokichi, Tsumugi, Korekiyo and herself were in the game room.

Obtained truth bullet! Himiko’s account

Tsumugi noticed a box that looked slightly opened and out of place in the shelves. After reaching out to it she discovered a blood-stained sheet.

Obtained truth bullet! Stained sheet

Just as the two were about to inform the others about the sheet, they noticed Tenko stepping on what looked like a piece of duct tape, just peeking from under one of the shelves. She realized almost instantly and took it off. The three looked at what it exactly was, for it to turn out to have blood on the sticky surface. It looked like it had been used.

Obtained truth bullet! Bloody duct tape

Not long after that, the same jingle ringed once again through the other’s ears. Monokuma was asking them to go to the shrine of judgement for the trial.

They all went there, not knowing whether they were going to come out of this alive or not.

The elevator ride felt so long, and the door opened to reveal the giant trial court with the 16 podiums. They all placed themselves to different spots.

No one really dared to say anything as Monokuma explained the rules.

Everyone seemed to show their nervousness differently, Kokichi was trying to make himself smaller, Maki was tugging on her own hair and Angie was unable to stay in place. To his surprise however, some others looked confident, or at least not affected by their situation at all. That was the case of Kirumi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, Korekiyo, Ryoma and Keebo.

They didn’t really know where to start, so the obvious was to talk about the murder weapon. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found.

Rantaro had concluded earlier that either the missing knife or the scissors could have been weapons.

Tsumugi made a point saying that Monokuma didn’t give a specific timing for the investigation, so it was most likely they collected all the evidence that could lead to a fair class trial.

In conclusion, the murder weapon not being on the Monokuma file, there was a high chance it was one of the two, and not something else.

Monokuma started arguing that he could stop the investigation whenever he wanted, and didn’t have to be scolded by some stupid teenagers.

They ignored the comment and continued debating on the time the weapons went missing.

According to Maki, her scissors went missing by the morning, but they were in her lab the night before. So someone went between 10PM and 9AM to get them.

Kirumi said that the knife was not missing at lunch this day, but was when they checked during the investigation, so it was between 1 PM and 9 PM, which was a very large period of time.

Ryoma noted that since the time frames were way too large to be investigated, so they should focus on something else.

Shuichi decided to speak about the time of death.

According to Rantaro, the death occurred about an hour before the body discovery announcement at most, but couldn’t say exactly when.

Unfortunately a lot of them went back and forth the warehouse, if not all of them. Besides, the warehouse was huge, and Gonta was in the back when Shuichi found him. So there was a possibility someone went to there without realizing there was a dead body in the room.

Which meant anyone who went there could have been a suspect.

Miu was already visibly annoyed that they couldn’t identify anything, to which Rantaro suggested they calm down and think about something else, such as how Gonta was killed.

Since no bloodstains were visible on the floor away from him, it was most likely he was killed on the spot, and with the Monokuma file suggesting he didn’t have any other injuries, he and the killer didn’t fight.

Himiko argued that they saw Gonta fighting Tenko the day before, and that he had enough physical force to knock any of them if he wanted. He would most likely fight back.

Shuichi responded there were no external injuries, and that Rantaro confirmed there were no trace of physical fight that weren’t from the day before.

That situation became a mystery, and no one was really sure what to think.

“Unless..”

Everyone turned to Korekiyo, who had a finger on his chin.

“... He got into this situation by himself.”

The words of the therapist felt heavy on the others’ minds. Kaito decided to speak up, asking if he suggested a suicide.

However a lot of evidence showed that it wasn’t the case. The murder weapon was nowhere to be seen, and he died on the spot. Besides, the evidence was scattered around, such as the bloody duct tape and the stained sheet found in different places.

Korekiyo was suggesting an assisted murder, and that Gonta agreed to die.

Kokichi thought he was manipulated into doing so, because even though Gonta was strong, he was pretty naive, so the mastermind behind the murder knew about this.

Tenko argued, saying that Gonta, even though he was pretty naive, would never agree to die for no reason.

Keebo reminded her of the motive, the time limit. So it was possible he had agreed in advance if they didn’t find a way to get through the door, nor stop the killing game.

Kaede was puzzled. Even if someone agreed to do this murder, why didn’t they take the first blood perk?

Kokichi wanted to say something, but was very hesitant in doing so. Himiko noticed it and encouraged him to say it, because she knows he isn’t stupid.

He suggested that perhaps Gonta never agreed to anything at all and all of this was a scene orchestrated by Monokuma to begin the killing game and blame one of them for it. After all the timing was perfect for him.

Monokuma chimed in, angry at the accusations, and denied this fact.

Tenko exclaimed that maybe it was the Monokubs, from the strange way they disposed of the evidence.

Some of the monokubs started arguing as well, saying that there was no way they could have touched anyone since they had no power. They couldn’t even resurrect the one and only Monokuma, how would they do anything?

Tsumugi practically jumped at the quote.

“Monokuma can’t resurrect himself? Are you saying someone else other than you did so?”

The others went silent.

“The door in the library wasn’t for you then, it was…”

“There is a mastermind behind this killing game, and they’re one of us.”

It was Kirumi, declaring this in a monotone voice.

They all looked at the maid. Monokuma was visibly pissed.

They all had relied on each other not knowing one of them was an accomplice to this game. Which meant that when Angie and Shuichi told everyone about the door, they informed the mastermind as well.

Monokuma broke the silence, saying that they should go back to the investigation this instant.

Now they were sure that Gonta had asked someone to kill him, which was the reason he didn’t fight back.

Tsumugi suggested the piece of duct tape was used so that Gonta wouldn’t scream in pain and alert the others, and the stained sheet was a cover for the killer not to spill blood on them.

Rantaro also concluded that there was a possibility the rapid stab wounds were to kill him faster, not to let him suffer.

Shuichi and the others seemed to agree on that, as hard as it was to accept the truth.

The question of the murder weapon was brought up once again. The opinions were split up, some thinking the killer used the knife, others the scissors.

But as everyone started debating on which was the more logical between the two, Shuichi sighed. “It looks like we’re split in two…”

“... Split!? Did you just say split!?”

The group turned to Monokuma once again, who presented the “morphenomal trail grounds” as he puts it.

(BGM)

The podiums started levitating to form two teams facing each other, divided by their opinions.

Which one was the murder weapon?

On the left, Keebo, Ryoma, Korekiyo, Maki, Angie, Kokichi, Himiko and Kaito The murder weapon was the pair of scissors!

On the right, Shuichi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, Kaede, Tenko, Miu and Kirumi. The murder weapon was the knife!

Scrum debate, start!

Korekiyo: The killer probably bet we wouldn’t realize the scissors went missing.

Shuichi: Monokuma didn’t interrupt the investigation until we found enough evidence. He would have continued until we realized they were missing.

Himiko: The wounds on Gonta’s body match the scissors!

Tsumugi: They also match the knife. We can’t rule out that possibility.

Kokichi: Scissors can be used for killing...

Rantaro: If the killer wanted to kill Gonta quickly they would have to use something sharper than scissors.

Ryoma: We know the killer prepared their plan in advance, the knife could have been taken by someone in a rush.

Kirumi: If the killer did plan on killing in advance, they could have taken both to confuse us.

Maki: If my lab was entered at night it was most likely to get a weapon without me realizing.

Kaede: Perhaps the killer didn’t think you would use your lab today?

Angie: The killer prepared their plan early, they would obviously use the weapon they took in advance!

Tenko: In advance can also mean this afternoon!

Kaito: We were all in the basement for something, we would have noticed someone leaving to take a knife!

Miu: Everyone was busy trying to open the door, they had plenty of time to take the knife without being noticed!

Keebo: Are you saying the scissors had another use?

Shuichi: Japanese scissors aren’t for killing, there could have been another use for them!

After that the podiums slowly got back to normal.

“Another use” wasn’t something they anticipated, but that was the only option. Kaede asked Maki what the scissors looked like.

Kirumi and Rantaro didn’t miss the dirty comment Miu made under her breath about the two girls.

Maki explained that she uses those scissors to make small cuts. She didn’t use those very often, but she had to this morning, hence why she realized they went missing.

Tenko asked what kind of thing they would even try to do with this.

Shuichi thought about it, and remembered Gonta’s ripped shirt. According to Maki, Gonta asked her to repair it. But when they checked the body, the shirt was ripped again.

Kaito was confused as to why the killer would cut it again - what would they benefit from this?

Tsumugi glanced at everyone in the trial, but Shuichi paid no attention to it.

But that question was important. Why would they even risk stealing scissors, just to cut Gonta’s shirt?

Miu was septic of Maki, since it was her lab, she could easily blame someone else for stealing the scissors.

Korekiyo quickly turned this option off, because it would be too dangerous for Maki to even talk about the scissors.

Himiko suggested they perhaps missed a detail on the scene, that there was more to this.

That’s what Shuichi had been thinking, but he didn’t seem to find the answer.

Kirumi asked the others to describe how they found the shirt.

Angie explained that other than the original rip, there were no damages to the shirt.

Maki seemed to have a flash, and asked to see the shirt. She observed it and traced carefully the cut on the shoulder with her finger.

“The thread I used to repair it is missing. There’s no doubt that the person stole it.”

Shuichi blinked. To steal a thread?

Tenko was confused as well. “Why not just use the knife to cut it? It would have been easier than to steal the scissors from Maki’s lab.”

Maki explained that a knife wasn’t made for this. A tailor could probably do it with a knife without damaging it much, but someone not experimented would prefer to use scissors instead, if they really wanted the thread intact that much.

Keebo being a robot, didn’t know what that could even be used for.

Shuichi didn’t know much, aside from sewing back clothes he didn’t know what else that could have been used for.

Korekiyo felt like they were missing something.

Ryoma shrugged it off saying that most of the times he saw threads it was on someone’s skin, but that theory was probably false.

Angie thought they were searching too far, and that it was probably to repair their own clothes.

Tenko argued saying they didn’t fight, so what would they even have to repair?

Tsumugi seemed to have been thinking for a while before finally speaking up. “What if it was something else entirely?”

Tenko looked at her. From Shuichi’s point of view, she seemed worried. “What do you mean?”

Tsumugi stared back for a few seconds before turning to Monokuma. “Don’t you find this strange that Monokuma asked for the trial to start without us finding neither the knife, nor the scissors?”

Shuichi looked down.

Korekiyo seemed to understand her reasoning. “Are you saying the killer actually has their weapon on themselves?”

She nodded. “The killer and Gonta were accomplices, yes? So Gonta ripped his shirt on purpose to get Maki to repair it. That way the killer had a thread available and didn’t have to steal it from Maki’s lab, because she would have noticed it too easily. The killer then modified their own clothes to create a pocket and carry the tools, so no one would find them.”

That explanation seemed far fetched, but Shuichi needed one last thing to confirm the theory.

The culprit would need to use a needle to sew an improvised pocket.

Maki said that the threads were attached to a sewing machine, and she would have noticed if they were cut off. However she had plenty of needles and pins in the drawers. So the culprit could have stolen one without her realizing.

Keebo still seemed septic of Tsumugi’s explanations. “Do you have any idea about who the culprit could be?”

Of course it had to be with clothes thick enough to create the pocket without needing fabric, so some of them were out of the question, like Miu and Keebo.

Shuichi looked down.

She faintly smiled, but quickly dropped it. She turned to Shuichi. “You’ve been leading the debate… I think you know the answer, right?”

Shuichi looked down. The evidence was in front of his eyes from the beginning. He could have just said so, but… Was it worth it?

“Tenko…”

He paused.

“I heard some things clinging around your waist. Like metal tools.”

Tenko looked at him with sad eyes, and then smiled.

After a long silence, Kaede spoke up. “That’s… That’s a joke right?”

Tenko looked at her with watery eyes.

“I’m sorry… Everyone.”

Shuichi felt guilty for accusing her. “I think… I should recap what happened-”

“No.” Tenko interrupted him. “You shouldn't have to do more. I’ll...” She took a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”

“When the time limit was announced… I couldn’t just sit there. And I wasn’t the only one thinking that. I talked to Gonta in private about it, and we established the plan together.”

“We had to decide who would be the victim and who would be the murderer. So we decided to set a match the same afternoon.”

She chuckled. “Yes, when you all came, it was pretty much to watch a death match.”

“Gonta pretended to have his shirt ripped so Maki would repair it. He was in her lab for a good amount of time, so he got to know where the scissors and needles were. That night I stole them from Maki’s lab after Gonta explained to me where they were.”

“Whether I would kill him with a knife or with the scissors was actually not decided in the plan. I told him I would use a knife because it was more efficient. But I didn’t know if I had the time to take it. Thankfully I did.”

“When the time came, we knew everyone was panicking, and that no one really paid attention about who got out of the room or who came in.”

“So we both went to the warehouse at different intervals, and I… I killed him with the knife. I decided to spread the evidence as an excuse to frame the kubs and see what they would say in the trial.”

“I didn’t want to take the first blood perk. My objective… Was to get as much information as we could during the trial.”

She smiled. “And it turned out to be a huge success!”

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Perhaps I- we took the selfish route by putting you all through a trial, but I thought it was better than you all continuing this game without any hints on the situation.”

The silence felt heavy. When they all entered the room they thought it was a merciless killer, but Tenko’s intentions were more than that.

Monokuma started laughing. The trial came to an end, and it was time to vote. Himiko yelled that he was not going to kill her. Kaede joined in as a desperate attempt. Kirumi was unsure but said she would not let some robotic bear dictate what she wanted to do or not.

Kokichi panicked and tried to reach out to Himiko but backed out before touching her shoulder. He tried to tell her that Monokuma still had the exisals by his side, but she wasn’t listening.

Tenko yelled to get the attention of the others. Reassuring them that it was okay, this was what she deserved.

Monokuma laughed, and announced the voting time open.

Shuichi reluctantly voted, like the others.

Tenko was glad to see all the votes for her. She smiled with tears rolling down her face.

“I’m glad I was able to meet you all, even if it was just for a couple of days.”

“But hey, if everyone was cooperating to get through the door, I’m sure you’ll be able to stop this game!”

“I know you can. Anyone could have taken the first blood perk but you didn’t. I’m sure you can do this.”

“Now you have more info to continue, and even if someone among us is a traitor, I’m sure you’ll all be able to corner them.”

“I’m counting on you.”

A majority of the others seemed in denial, they refused to believe that Tenko had killed Gonta, that she was slowly approaching her death with a smile on her face.

But it was a death she accepted the second she made the deal with Gonta.

It was a death she was walking to with honor, not trying to run away.

“Hey Monokuma.”

“Let’s get this over with.”

Himiko yelled and ran towards Tenko.

Monokuma laughed as he used a toy hammer to press the bright red button in front of him.

GAME OVER

Tenko has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

(BGM)

Before Himiko could reach her, Tenko’s neck was grabbed by a metal claw, and dragged her away to the elevator.

The elevator closed and instead of going up, it went straight underground. She was holding onto the walls to keep balance, but stumbled onto the floor when the elevator brutally stopped.

She slowly got up when all the walls of the elevator fell down. She couldn’t see anything that was further than a few meters away because of the darkness, but she could clearly see that the floor was covered by thousands of mannequins.

She took only a few steps away from the elevator when what looked like hundreds of pair of pink glowing eyes lightened up to stare at her, but she couldn’t see the rest of their bodies.

The closest pair of eyes slowly approached to reveal a mannequin made to look like Gonta, with several holes in its body, filled with a blood colored paint.

The other mannequins revealed themselves, each looking like the rest of the group, also with “blood” filled holes in them.

Enemy of the harmonious world Ultimate judoka Tenko Chabashira’s execution: Executed

The first mannequins started jumping on her, and all she could do was to fight them. They were not hard to throw away, but there were way too many for her to handle.

The Maki-shaped ones were throwing needles, the Rantaro-shaped ones were throwing scalpels, some of them were physically fighting her with punches or were just trying to grab her.

As the hundreds of mannequins attacked in different ways, with different weapons, Tenko was starting to get exhausted, and even more injured, with countless cuts on her body.

She had stopped counting how many of them she had thrown away when she collapsed on the floor.

The mannequins stopped attacking. Tenko raised her head to see that they were moving out of someone’s way.

A Gonta shaped mannequin, towering above her, looking at her with soulless pink eyes.

A lever-rope appeared next to him, and the puppet pulled it.

Countless blades appeared one by one from the floor, stabbing all the other mannequins… And the final one, impaling her in the chest.

Tenko Chabashira, the ultimate judoka, was dead.

This felt unreal. Shuichi watched with fearful eyes the scene that just unrolled in front of his eyes.

They had lost two friends today and learned that one of them was orchestrating the whole thing.

No one dared to say anything.

Monokuma rubbed it in their faces, saying that despair was the most wonderful feeling in this world. He told them to rest because the killing game would continue very soon.

The ride in the elevator was silent. Shuichi looked at the spot Tenko was when they went to the trial room, now empty. He didn’t know her well, but that was not a reason not to feel bad for sending her to her death. A painful one, that is.

Some looked almost indifferent, but perhaps it was not to show their weakness.

A majority of the group decided to go straight to bed, but Shuichi decided to walk for a while, to get some fresh air.

After some time he laid on the ground, staring at the sky beyond the giant iron cage. He almost felt like sleeping here but knew this was a bad idea. He was lost in thoughts until a familiar voice talked to him.

“Can’t sleep?”

Shuichi turned around. It was Kaito. Both sat down next to each other.

“I just wanted some fresh air.”

“I get you.”

They went silent for a while, but it was fine. Perhaps just the other’s presence was enough.

“The game’s already started, huh?”

Kaito didn’t even expect an answer. That was more of a statement than a question.

“Tenko… Has faith in us. She told us we were strong but…” the smaller boy’s voice trailed off.

“You can’t help but think this isn’t over?” the taller one finished the sentence.

“Yeah. I don’t think Monokuma is gonna give us a time limit again, but I know things aren’t gonna get better.”

Kaito couldn’t even argue with him. He got up and offered his hand to Shuichi. “I know this whole situation sucks, but perhaps we should stick together for now, yeah?”

Shuichi looked at him, surprised by this change of attitude and took the other’s hand to get up. “Alright. Thanks a lot Kaito.”

They both returned to their dorms. They saw Kokichi and Himiko sitting further away in the courtyard. Unlike the other times Shuichi saw them, it looked like Kokichi was trying to reassure Himiko, who was feeling down, even though he tried to keep a distance between them.

Tomorrow would be another day.

[lynneshobbydomain]

Stories Left Behind Chapter 1 (Momoharu Week Day 4)

Bloodied Lips

Prompt: Blood

Rated: T

Summary: The Luminary of the Stars, the final bow he took, and the sidekick he left behind.

Next

You can read it under the cut or here at my AO3

Kaito was familiar with death. He didn’t want to admit that to anyone, especially not Shuichi and Maki, but...he was familiar with it. Death to him was a constant companion, always watching in the background, but it was easy to guess when he was going to show up again. Sometimes, it was at a car accident taking away his mother’s and father’s lives, and sometimes it was a hand on his shoulder as his body racked with coughs and blood gushed from his lungs to his hand. Blood that he knew would scare his two closest and cherished friends if they knew what he was going through. 

Shuichi had lost enough, so Kaito was bound and determined to stay silent for his sake mostly. Besides, he was the Luminary of the Stars, he could face down death by his lonesome if he needed to. Maki...Maki had seen enough blood in her lifetime, and this wasn’t something he was willing to impart on her. This wasn’t something that he wanted her to see. Blood was...always on her hands, and Death weighed down her shoulders until she was small and delicate. Not that he’d ever said that to her face, she was strong...Kaito just wished that she didn’t have to be that strong. To see that much Death, to feel that much blood.

When he first knew that he got sick, he was angry. Livid. He was throwing things in his room, grateful for the soundproofing because no one dared to show up if they heard. He bloodied his knuckles and his lungs bloodied his lips when he finally overextended himself and couldn’t keep up with his anger. He had wanted to do so much. Kaito wasn’t naive, he knew that him surviving the killing game was going to be a shot in the dark. Of course no one would want to go up against a man like him, but...he wouldn’t past Korekiyo for thinking that he could be an easy target, or Kokichi for thinking that his easy prey for pranks could be an easy prey for something much worse. 

Killing games made people more suspicious than they should be. Kokichi outing Maki as an assassin should’ve alienated her to everyone, but Kaito couldn’t let that be the case. He couldn’t let it slide. He dragged her, kicking and screaming, to try to be friends with Shuichi because god knew that he wouldn’t be around for that. He wouldn’t be around to protect his sidekick and sidekicks needed to stick together. 

Anger turned into denial. For a while there, it was just a once in a while cough. A cough that disappeared until he did something like tried to exercise more than he should, or chase Kokichi around the school again for him doing something stupid. At first, Kaito was certain that he wasn’t given a death sentence, it was just a minor inconvenience. That was easier to handle. That was...that was easier to hide. Just get out of the killing game, go to the doctor, everything would be fine. His two sidekicks never needed to know.

He felt like Maki had her suspicions though. There were times where he swore that she would get done early, just to face him for a second before leaving. Cold as ice, and not warming up. Kaito knew that people like Maki took time. He was tossing her into an ocean and forcing her to swim. He could be patient with her and toss her a lifeboat of letting her go when she was done. He did try to coax her to stay every once in a while, an offer for a chat, an offer for something. Maki didn’t usually take these offers.

So he pleaded, much like he pleaded with death and the sickness as things started to turn for the worst. As more blood was easy to cough up than not. When he was starting to feel weaker and weaker and trying to keep up with anything was a chore. His body ached, his chest burned with the lack of oxygen and pooling with too much blood. His stomach twisted into knots and lumps, it was hard to even have an appetite when everything tasted like metal and copper.

He pleaded with her to try. To try to sit. To try and talk. Whether it was the blood that she still felt on her hands or in her nightmares. Whether she wanted to talk about some pleasant memory or a fear that she held deep in the corners of her mind, he was willing to listen. Slowly, just like a flower that was finally ready for spring, she was starting to blossom. Shuichi was receptive to it as well, and soon...Kaito had two full-fledged sidekicks who were starting to become close.

Unlikely friends. Kaito was good at making those. He wished he could have dragged Ryoma. He wished he could drag Kokichi. He wished that Himiko wasn’t so lazy, or that Tsumugi didn’t talk about cosplay so much. He wished that he could extend his hand to any of these people, but...Ryoma was gone and dead. Kokichi was….Kokichi wasn’t a friend but Katio couldn’t exactly call him a foe either. That was too easy and it felt way too simple. Tsumugi was just...hard to reach and Himiko...well...Tenko had been the better fit. Even when Korekiyo decided that the better fit was...better left dead.

Kaito couldn’t exactly tell when he decided to accept his fate. When he got poisoned with the arrow and was indebted to Kokichi for saving his life, or when Maki was trying to do everything that she could to try to save him, even when he knew it was fruitless. He kind of wondered what would’ve happened if he had just told Kokichi that saving a dead man from dying was...a little stupid in so many ways. He wondered if that’s why Kokichi picked him to begin with. 

Maybe it was before all then, when Maki once woke him up during the night and they had a late night stroll with no one around. Maki had flourished her petals and she spoke about all of the blood that she shed. Every victim. Every life. She spoke about her childhood friend and the car accident that took her life. Kaito, in turn, spoke of the blood Death took. His parents are inside of a wrecked car and he was too small to remember a thing besides always living at his grandparent’s house. He spoke of how he grew up to believe that the stars were souls in the sky and that his parents were stars, and that if he became an astronaut maybe...just maybe he’d be able to see them again.

He never told Shuichi this story. He made something up, too afraid to let his wounds show. Too scared to be too open. Being open with Shuichi was a ticking time bomb, especially when Death was in his shadow. He couldn’t bear to impart those kinds of words on his friend, and have Shuichi watch  him die. At the same time, it was cruel of him to do the same to Maki, who had stared Death and become Death for other people. Who knew the cold touch more intimately than he ever would. 

Now...now he was inside a spaceship that he wasn’t going to survive in. A complete, and total mockery of what the Luminary of the Stars was about. Blood gurgled in his chest and he coughed violently, splatting the window, his hand and feeling it drip down his chin to his shirt. He remembered Maki’s tearful goodbye, and her fearful expression at seeing blood. 

For all of her acceptance of “it is what it is”, she had been fervently in denial of this death. Kaito was pleased that he meant so much to her, but he hoped that his death didn’t end her own way of living.

He hoped that she really, truly did begin to learn to love herself. That made him smile. Maki the strong. Maki the resilient. The mastermind of this killing game didn’t know what they got themselves into, didn’t they?

[murdertrialimagines]

V3 Boys finding their S/O Dead

“hello! i saw your request were open~ first i’d like to say your writing (so far) is great! if it’s not too much trouble, can you please do V3 boys finding their S/O dead. Their reaction, mood during the class trial and even their reaction to who murdered their S/O. ik this is a wild request but if it isn’t too much i’d be very happy if you can do so. if not i fully understand. thanks in advanced 💖 “

Of Course! This is such a good prompt, I’m glad you requested it! I hope you enjoy~ Full story under the tag

Imagine: V3 Boys Finding their S/O dead

Shuichi Saihara

Shuichi had been solving murders since they got trapped here

But he has been solving them with you

So when he went to the kitchen and found you on the floor, having bled out from a stab wound, he didn’t think he could do it

How was he supposed to go on without his best friend, his S/O, the only person he truly knew understood how he felt?

But he had to solve it for you

He wasted no time starting the investigation, choking back tears every time he had to examine your body

Letting a few slip as his fingers grazed over the wound on your chest, knowing he would never feel this heartbeat as he laid on you after a stressful day again

No one bothered him, knowing his silence would be broken if they asked how he was

The class trial came by swiftly, and everyone felt the air grow thick as they waited for Shuichi to start speaking

When he didn’t, Maki started for him

He stayed quite with everyone’s words, solving the mystery within his own mind.

When he finally pieced it all together, the words spilled out of his mouth, same with the tears in his eyes

He explained the whole scenario intensely, not letting anyone refute his words, voice raising when the culprit tried

Finally, voting time came around, and for the first time, he didn’t feel sad to push the button, sending the culprit to their doom.

He watched as Kaito was led to his doom, stone faced the whole time.

He immediately went to his room afterwards, crying as soon as the door closed

Everything still smelled of you

Kaito Momota

He didn’t expect to find you in your room, considering you liked to be around others more

Maybe that was what got you killed

He found you in the gym after a few minutes of searching, face down and your neck laced with rope

He immediately ran over, flipping you over and screaming

“Y/N! WAKE UP! PLEASE, WAKE UP!”

His screaming alerted others nearby, and soon the body discovery alarm was going off.

He started punching the floor, pleading for you to wake up as Gonta and Tenko dragged him away

He was crying the whole investigation, but trying his best to help

He couldn’t stand to help with the body, seeing you made the waterworks resume tenfold

When the trial started, he immediately began to yell for the culprit to give themselves up

When they didn’t, his yelling only became louder

He really tried his best to help, he really did

But his mind was so clouded up with thoughts of you and all the things he wanted to do with you

Shuichi carried the trial, exposing the culprit like he always does

When it became clear who it was, everyone expected Kaito to go into hysterics

It scared them even more when his voice rang out, low and soft

“Kirumi...why?”

As Kirumi began to explain, Kaito got angrier with every word

“Cut the crap! You could’ve picked anyone, and you picked her! Why did you pick her?! You should’ve picked me!”

Kaito charged towards her, but Maki held him back

“Y/n wouldn’t have wanted this, Kaito.”

Everyone could see Kaito physically restrain himself from pulling away from Maki and giving Kirumi what she deserved.

“Fine, let’s just get on with the voting.”

“Kaito, I apolo-”

“I said we’re voting!”

The execution went by quick, Kaito walking away before anyone could stop him

He skipped training that night, sitting in the courtyard, watching the stars through their metal prison

Oh, how he would’ve traded every star in the galaxy to have you sitting with him tonight.

Ryoma Hoshi

Ryoma knew your plans for that day consisted of working in your ultimate lab, he knew how excited you were when it was unlocked.

He was happy for you, you were the one who brought him to embrace living, after all

After spending the day playing tennis with himself in his lab, he opened his locker to put his racket away, when something came tumbling out

You laid there, wrapped in a tennis net with a slit throat

Ryoma felt sick to his stomach the moment he saw your dull eyes, wondering what your last moments of life saw.

He sat there for a moment, looking at you

He wanted to untie you, but knew that tampering with evidence would make him the prime suspect

He began to chuckle

Of course his luck led him to this! The world wanted him to have nothing

It still didn’t need to take you though.

After waiting for what felt like hours, he left his room to go alert the others

No one believed him at first, Miu telling him to “Cut that depressing crap!”

Gonta, being the sweetheart he is, still wanted to check on you

When everyone found you, they couldn’t believe it

Who wanted to hurt Y/n? Did someone have it out for Ryoma?

Once everyone started investigating, they kept some distance from him

He knew it was either due to pity or fear that he committed this crime

But he didn’t need their pity nor their fear

As Shuichi covered alibis and the murder weapon, it became clear that he wasn’t the culprit.

After all, you were there for at least half a day, and Ryoma was helping Kirumi with preparing lunch when it would have happened

Why wasn’t he suspicious when you didn’t show up for that? Was this his fault for not checking up on you?

When the trial started, Ryoma treated it just as the first trial that had happened.

First Rantaro, now his Y/n

The topic soon came to alibis around lunch time, and he started to notice holes in someones words

“Kiibo, you say you were in the gym, but Himiko was in her lab all day with her door open and never once saw you go in, nor did she see you leave.”

Kiibo let out a stutter of an answer, which was quickly refuted by Shuichi and his evidence

It quickly became clear, and voting time came silently.

Tsumugi was the one who asked him of his motives

“I-I’m sorry...I cannot say.”

Ryoma gave a hollow laugh.

“I guess that’s all we’ll get. Let’s get this over with.”

After they all saw Kiibo be executed, Ryoma spoke up first

“Let’s go, I plan on getting you all out of here.”

He left to his dorm, re-becoming the recluse he was before he met you

and he never stepped back in his lab again.

Rantaro Amami

Rantaro wanted to get all of you out of this sick game

He knew the door the mastermind had used, and planned to use it to his advantage.

But he wanted you out of the plan, he couldn’t stand to see you get hurt because of his actions

But his work was in vain

He wanted to find you before he carried out his plan, to either say his goodbyes or just make it seem like a regular day

As regular as you can get in a killing game

But when he found your door open slightly, he immediately tensed up.

He threw the door open to find you

You, laying on the floor, knife lodged in your chest with a note attached

He ripped it off, reading it

‘I warned her to stay out of this’

He crumpled the note, stuffing it in his pocket

He sat next to you, stroking your hair

“I’m so sorry Y/n, this is all my fault...”

‘But it’s not,’ he thought, ‘It’s the mastermind.’

Around dinner time Angie came for him, finding him with your lifeless body

She nearly passed out at the sight alone

After everyone came in and started investigating, he slunk to the corner

He watched the scene before him play out, Shuichi and Kaede discovering clues

He scanned everyone, wondering who could have possibly been on his trail enough to have to do this

‘The mastermind, that’s who’

The trial started, the first trial

And hopefully the last.

Throughout the trial he, Shuichi and Kaede refuted evidence thrown around, and made a clear path towards the answers he wanted

When someone accused him of possibly doing it, they almost died from fear from his glare alone.

Kaede calmed him down, telling him that she was sure something else would tell them the truth, and that whoever Y/n caught committing a crime would be found

That’s when he went pale, and asked Kaede how she knew that

She stuttered and gave a stunted answer

After berating her with facts and evidence, she caved

“She caught me setting up a trap, and threatened to tell everyone I was the mastermind! I wanted all of us to get out, but she wouldn’t listen!”

Shuichi and her had a one on one debate, Shuichi refusing to believe the undeniable evidence that had been laid before him

Rantaro cut in

“I hate to stop your conversation, but can we please vote now? I don’t want a murderer among us anymore.”

He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw Kaede flinch, but knew that what was coming was inevitable.

They all voted, and Kaede gave them an inspirational speech about getting out.

‘Why should she be giving this? She let one of the few good people here die.’

Rantaro left right after the execution, already planning out the next step of his plan to reveal the mastermind

But this time, he had nothing to lose.

Gonta Gokuhara

When the body discovery announcement went off, Gonta ran to the library with everyone else

Surprisingly, he seemed to be the last one there, and by the time he got there a circle was already formed around the body

He made himself known and went to look when Himiko grabbed his arm

“Hey...Gonta...why don’t you go and help Maki get alibis...outside of the room?”

He allowed himself to be dragged out of the library, helping Maki take down people’s alibis of where they were

Where’s Y/n?

He kept trying to see where Y/n was in the library, waiting for when he got to hear her alibi, when he saw the body

Y/n, laid on the floor, he could tell by her hair

He ran in before anyone could stop him, pushing Shuichi away from her

She laid, sprawled out on the floor, blindfold over her eyes and butterfly wings spray painted on the floor around her shoulders.

She looked almost angelic

He wanted to tell himself that she was sleeping, but he knew from the announcement and Monokuma’s laugh that he was wrong

He started sobbing, holding her body against his, hoping that she would somehow, someway, come back

“Please! Y/n! Come back!”

Shuichi had already finished with the body, so he let Gonta stay with her

It was the least they could do for him

As everyone shuffled out, Gonta laid Y/n back down, looking down at her wings

Angel wings would fit her so much better

He heard the body discovery go off again, and became confused

He already knew who died, why is it going off again?

He stayed with Y/n, saying his goodbyes to her before Himiko came in, crying, telling him that it was time to go to the trial

When he got there, he immediately noticed Y/n’s spot, a smiling picture of her crossed out by bug nets

He then noticed Tenko’s photo a few slots down

The trial began, but he didn’t do much to help

He felt bad, but he didn’t want to get in the way.

Every time someone was accused, he felt his heart sink

One of their friends killed two of the nicest people here?

Then it was revealed how it happened

A long promise to someone long gone

They voted, and Gonta looked at the culprit

“Korekiyo...why? Why kill Y/n?!”

After Korekiyo explained his motive, Gonta wept

And he continued to weep until the execution was over and Kaito had helped him to his dorm

He sat on the floor, looking at all of the photos of himself and Y/n, taken by the instant cameras in the warehouse

His favorite? The one where they bug hunted together, ending with them taking a nap in the sun

How he wished he could take more

Kokichi Oma

Kokichi refused to let anyone know any of his feelings, especially when they were involved romantically

So when Y/n came into his life, he kept their relationship very hush hush

He still clung onto her though, so everyone assumed she was his favorite to torment

So when the body discovery announcement rang, Kokichi gleefully strolled to the AV room, ready to make a big entrance with some witty one liner

But when he came in and saw Y/n’s body on the couch, the room a mess and a crossbow on the floor, he forced himself to smile

“So, the idiot finally got herself killed huh? Took long enough!”

He stayed in the corner liked he usually did, but this time he was hyper-fixated on his surroundings

A fight obviously happened here, so Y/n must have struggled. Who had a crossbow and could have had a motive to kill Y/n, here?

He already knew who it was, but he didn’t know how it happened

He had to know how it happened

When the trial started, he put on his facade and let everyone banter about the crime

He put in a few remarks here and there, but he never pointed them at Y/n

After he had enough, he made it known who it was

“Who else here has a crossbow besides Maki? I think this was a sloppy attempt at committing a crime.”

To everyone’s surprise, she didn’t deny it

What made him more angry, though, was when she told everyone what really happened

“Y/n, she tried to kill me. She wanted out and stole a crossbow from my room when her and Kaito visited a few nights ago. I didn’t want to kill her, but she left me no choice”

As Kaito and Maki talked, Kokichi resigned to his own mind

If he cried, they’d see it as fake tears, right?

He let his tears flow, when someone asked why he was crying he childishly blamed Kaito and Maki’s romantic final goodbye

Kokichi spaced out during Maki’s execution

As he left the trial grounds, he decided

If Y/n wasn’t getting out, then no one was.

Kiibo

Kiibo was sure he short circuited when he found you

Who wouldn’t panic, finding a lifeless body hanging in a classroom?

But this was Y/n

His Y/n

He didn’t know it was possible for a robot to feel human emotions, but when he met Y/n he realized that it was

He alerted everyone to the crime and helped as much as he could with the investigation, wanting to find out who did this

Gonta gently released the body from the ceiling, laying her down on the floor

Kiibo took everything in; the rope burn on her neck, the fallen chair, the hook on the ceiling that was placed specifically to kill his Y/n

When the trial started, he demanded the culprit to come clean immediately

When they didn’t, Shuichi started listing all the possibilities

They debated, clearing each suspect

Once the three prime suspects were cleared with strong alibis, Shuichi said the most likely answer

Kiibo lost it at his words

“Y/n would never commit suicide! She wanted us to get out of here! She wanted to get out of here!”

But the evidence was all there

Everything but the note

‘Why didn’t she leave a note?’

After the trial ended, executionless, Kiibo left to Y/n’s room

He needed to get away from Kokichi’s taunts

He let himself into her room with the key she had given him days prior

He sat on her bed, looking at everything she had

The poster on the wall, her closet, the shelf full of books on her ultimate talent

That’s when he noticed the note on the back of her door

He went over and gently took the tack out of the wall, reading the note. “Dear fellow classmates, I am sorry to have to be writing you this note. I was hopeful to get out of here with all of you, but when Tenko and Angie were taken from us, I couldn’t take it anymore. I am sorry that I am giving up at a time like this, and I hope no one was blamed for my decision to take my life. Kiibo, I am so sorry that you had to find my note like this. At least, I hope you found it first. I will miss you so much, and I hope that you get out of here, along with everyone else who still alive. I love you all, and I hope that you can work together and stop the mastermind!” ~Y/n

Kiibo held the letter tightly, crushing it slightly in his hand

‘Why?’ That was the only thing running through his head

‘Why did you do this, Y/n? we were gonna get out together!’

He wished he could cry

You may have taught him the feeling of love, but you also taught him despair.

________________________________________________________________

Ahh, I really hope this is how you wanted it! I’m sorry if it’s not, and thank you for requesting!

[elyvorg]

The Ultimate Talent Development Plan AU is the one canon AU in which everything is thoroughly good and despair-free and everyone lives happily ever after. …Except for Maki, potentially, because this is also the one AU in which her assassin cult is actually real and she might have to just go back to killing people once she graduates. This is Unacceptable and needs to have something done about it, because Maki deserves a happy life even more than anyone else after what she’s been through.

One of the possible ways of dealing with this is that Shuichi would fix things for her using his detective skills, like he offers to do in her last FTE in canon. He wouldn’t directly take down the assassin cult himself, but he could amass enough evidence of its awful deeds to pass on to some kind of government authority which could then move in and arrest all of its members and take the kids somewhere safe.

One time while I was thinking about this, though, a thought occurred to me: what if the assassin cult got wind of the fact that Shuichi was investigating them? What would they do then?

Imagine Maki going back to her work after graduation while clinging to the thought that it won’t be long now, that this new name on her hit list might just be the last person she’ll ever have to kill before it’s over and she’s free… only to see the name Shuichi Saihara.

And, well, that thought sure wouldn’t get out of my head and blossomed into an entire story. It would take me too long to write this as an actual fic, so instead, here’s just all of the ideas I had for how things would go, essentially telling the story right here in bullet-point form.

Part 1: how we got there

Let’s assume Hope’s Peak privileges meant that Maki didn’t have to work as an assassin while she was attending. So she’d begun to get used to having a relatively normal, non-murdery life for the three years she was there, especially with everything Kaito did to help her start facing her issues and feel more like a normal girl than a murderer.

Perhaps Maki had begun to hope, after Kaito had helped her admit that she never wanted to kill anyone, that Hope’s Peak’s supposed privilege of making its graduates “set for life” could mean that she wouldn’t have to be an assassin any more. Like, the Academy would pull some strings with the assassin cult to just completely cut her ties with it and let her live freely without the fear of those kids starving if she didn’t do what she was ordered to.

Towards the end of the three years, Kaito and Shuichi start to worry about what’ll happen to Maki once she graduates and ask her if they can do anything, but Maki tells them that she expects Hope’s Peak will do something like that for her and she’ll be fine. (She’s not completely sure they will, but she doesn’t want her friends to worry.)

…Except, that doesn’t happen. Turns out what Hope’s Peak meant by “set for life” in Maki’s case is that she’ll get to be an assassin for life. In one of her FTEs, Maki vaguely alludes to the fact that assassins in her cult are killed off once they’ve outlived their usefulness – like, perhaps, when they reach adulthood and are old enough to possibly start thinking for themselves. All Hope’s Peak did by pulling strings was make it so that that won’t happen to Maki, so that she’s trapped in her life of killing people forever! How nice of them!!!

When she learns this, Maki probably doesn’t even want to tell Kaito and Shuichi, because she doesn’t want to worry them and anyway there’s nothing they can do about it (right?). Kaito, of course, notices her acting off and distant and prods the truth out of her. Even then, Maki insists that it’s not a big deal, she’ll be able to handle it now that Kaito’s helped her feel like she’s more than just a killer; she can just live a double-life between horrible murderer and normal person and be fine, right?

Kaito and Shuichi both try to tell her that would not be remotely okay, but she insists that she doesn’t want them doing anything reckless for her sake. Besides, at least this means that she’ll never have to be replaced, meaning that as long as she’s alive and killing people, none of the other kids from her orphanage (those kids that Kaede played piano for, and that Himiko’s arranged to do a magic show for soon!) will ever have to go through what she did. That’s worth it to her.

(Kaito and Shuichi are still not okay with this, but they don’t push the topic for now.)

 At Himiko’s orphanage magic show, everything is generally adorable and lovely, and Maki uses this to firmly remind herself that these kids’ smiles are what she’s being a murderer for, that it’s fine and she can handle this and nothing needs to change.

But while she’s there for the show, Maki happens to get talking with one of the kids, a girl of around ten or so, and gets the most horrifying pit in her stomach as she realises that the men who recruit assassins have been visiting, and they have their eye on this girl.

They’re replacing Maki anyway. She’s not saving anyone by continuing to be a murderer. Nothing she does as an assassin, not even as the Hope’s Peak-approved Ultimate Assassin, is ever going to make a difference to this cycle of misery.

And, that’s it. That’s the last straw. Maki manages to keep herself together long enough for the magic show to end and Himiko to remain unaware of anything weird, but as soon as they’re alone, she turns to Kaito and Shuichi and begs them to help her end this. She doesn’t want this any more, not for herself or for any of those other kids. Hope’s Peak has shown itself to not give a fuck, so Kaito and Shuichi are the only people she can turn to. She has no idea how they can do something about this – it barely seems possible at all – but that… that’s never stopped Kaito, right!?

As it turns out, Kaito and Shuichi have already been having discussions about how they can help Maki while she wasn’t around (because they knew if they brought it up in front of her she’d just shut them down), so Shuichi has already been thinking about investigating the assassin cult and taking it down that way.

Kaito was still planning on bringing this up to Maki soon and persuading her to let Shuichi help. But he’s so incredibly proud that Maki realised on her own that she didn’t want this anymore and has made the decision to try and change her fate and claw her way towards something that seems impossible! (Of course, she’d never have been able to reach that mindset without everything Kaito’s done for her, but because he didn’t have to push her to take that final step, Kaito probably doesn’t quite realise just how completely thanks to him this is.)

Part 2: the ickiest job

So now we’re basically at the point I described in the beginning of this post. As soon as they graduate from Hope’s Peak, Shuichi gets underway with investigating the assassin cult to prove what it really does and who its members are. Maki has to go back to reporting to them and acting like she works for them for the time being, but she knows it won’t be long until Shuichi ends this.

Kaito put his astronaut training on hold for now just so that he can keep an eye on them both. He has Shuichi keep him updated about the progress of his investigation, and he keeps talking to Maki as often as he can to make sure she’s feeling okay about being suddenly thrust back into that world that she’d almost escaped from. She’s mostly doing fine, but that’s only because she hasn’t received any new hit requests yet.

Until she does. Maki tells herself that this new order is going to be the last one ever, that she’ll only have to kill one more person before Shuichi can save her… and then she sees Shuichi’s name, and everything falls apart.

She can’t refuse the order. She just can’t. The cult is still fully functional and in control of her orphanage – who knows what they would do to those kids (and to that one girl they’ve already got their eye on!) if she refuses. The kids have always been why she’s doing this. She would do anything to keep them safe; she made that promise to herself long ago.

She also knows perfectly well why the cult gave this job to her rather than any of their other assassins with no connection to Shuichi. They wanted to see if she was still capable of doing it, because if she wasn’t, then she’d be compromised and of no use to them any more. If she refused, they’d probably kill her off anyway, despite their agreement with Hope’s Peak.

It’s not like that would even save Shuichi, either – they’d just pass the job onto another of their assassins. And not all of them specialise in painless deaths. Shuichi was already doomed from the moment the cult realised what he was doing and decided he had to die. Surely Maki being the one to do it, as quickly and kindly as she can, is the best way for it to happen?

Who was she kidding thinking she could ever get out of this, anyway? Assassins are always necessary. Her being an assassin has always been necessary. It doesn’t matter what she wants or how she feels. It never mattered. The impossible is just impossible; she should never have allowed herself the luxury of believing any of Kaito’s idealistic nonsense.

Kaito, who reached out to her and still believed in her even after learning the truth about her, and now she’s going to repay that kindness by murdering his best friend. He never should have got close to her and made the mistake of caring about her in the first place, and then Shuichi wouldn’t have put himself in the cult’s way and the two of them could have been just fine without her. She’s just a murderer who only ever hurts people. She never deserved them.

So, as she’s sinking into a pit of utter despair (and I am not using that word lightly here), Maki prepares herself to break into Shuichi’s house at night and kill him in his sleep. That way, at least he’ll never know that his “friend” betrayed him.

Meanwhile, Kaito heard from one of Shuichi’s recent check-ins that at one point he worried his cover might have been blown, but things seem to have been okay for the past few days, so, eh, probably not?

Except… that night, Maki suddenly doesn’t show up to Kaito’s regular mini training sessions to check on how she’s doing. She doesn’t answer his texts or calls when he tries to ask her where she is, either. He might have brushed it off as simply something having come up and her having forgotten to tell him, and also forgotten to charge her phone… but Maki doesn’t forget things like that. Then Kaito remembers what Shuichi told him the other day, and he pieces it together.

and, no, no no no no no, this can’t happen. He won’t let this happen. He’s meant to be their hero, he has to be able to do something about this, he has to.

So Kaito drops everything and just fucking sprints to Shuichi’s house in the middle of the night, his heart in his mouth, begging the stars and the universe and every force of good in the world to let him not be too late.

Maki stands over a sleeping, oblivious Shuichi, trying to convince herself that her hand holding the knife isn’t shaking, that she never had a choice, that she’s just a heartless killer who doesn’t care – only to be snapped out of it by Kaito’s voice yelling her name at the top of his lungs. Not just her name, her nickname: Maki Roll! He knows why she’s here, but she doesn’t want to do this!

And Maki, knowing that she should just finish the job right now and escape out the window before Kaito has to see her do it, finds herself frozen. Shuichi’s awake now, staring at her in bewilderment and fear, no longer blissfully oblivious… and Kaito’s right. She doesn’t want to do this. It shouldn’t matter, but he’s right.

Moments later, Kaito makes it into Shuichi’s bedroom and immediately puts himself between Maki and Shuichi. (Shuichi, having only just woken up, is not only frightened but also extremely confused and is quite happy to just stay behind Kaito where it feels safer for the moment until he can get his brain to process what the hell is going on.)

Kaito makes it very clear that if Maki’s going to kill Shuichi, she’s going to have to kill him, too. He’s not letting either of his sidekicks get hurt.

Maki’s assassin mask is not on so tightly that she can’t realise what Kaito means by those words. He’s not only protecting Shuichi from being killed; he’s trying to protect her from carrying out the act by making it as difficult for her as possible. He still cares about her, even though she was moments away from murdering his best friend. He still believes that she won’t kill him despite what she was about to do to Shuichi. How can he be such an idiot?

But of course Kaito still believes in her; Maki Roll’s his sidekick! – and Maki snaps at him to stop calling her that! She’s not a normal girl; she’s never going to get to be one. He’s doing that thing he does, where he makes her believe that she deserves to be happy, that the impossible can be possible, and maybe it is for him, but it’s not for her; it never was.

This whole time, she’s still brandishing her knife, but it’s like in those sprites of hers – she’s not pointing it at Kaito or Shuichi; she’s just holding it out like some kind of barrier, like she can stop Kaito’s words getting through to her. She can’t falter here, because those kids, that girl – who knows what’d happen to them? And it’d be all her fault, because she was selfish, because she let herself care too much, because Kaito brought that out of her like he never should have done.

But Kaito just smiles and tells her that hey, sure the impossible’s possible for her as well, they’ve just gotta work together to make it so! There’s gotta be a way out of this, too, right, Shuichi?

(because Kaito doesn’t have a goddamn clue how to actually fix this situation beyond putting himself between Maki and Shuichi in this moment so she won’t be able to go through with it, but Shuichi should know a proper way out of this, right? Shuichi always knows what to do.)

Shuichi, having more or less managed to calm his panic enough to understand what’s going on by now, tells her that he’s almost finished with his investigation. He’s pretty sure he only needs a few more days’ work to have everything he needs to take it to the authorities and take down the cult. Then those kids will be safe and Maki won’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do any more. She just needs to trust him and believe that it’s possible.

While he’s telling her this, Shuichi moves out from behind Kaito, a silent show of the fact that he still trusts her despite what he knows she almost did. He believes just like Kaito does that Maki doesn’t want to do this, that so long as she knows that there is a way out of this, then she’ll be brave enough to take that risk and let him help her.

It works. Maki had already admitted that she didn’t want this life any more before getting the hit request on Shuichi; her mask was hanging on by a thread the whole time she was here and it can’t withstand this. She kind of just breaks and begins to cry – the first time that Kaito and Shuichi have ever seen her do so. Kaito goes to hug her, partly as an excuse to gently take the knife from her, but mostly just because she really, really needs it. She doesn’t resist.

Kaito spends the hug telling her that everything’s going to be okay, not like it’s a reassurance but just like it’s fact, and in that Kaito way he has, he manages to get her to just about believe it herself.

 Part 3: on the run

After Maki’s done sobbing into Kaito’s shoulder, she pulls herself together and gets down to business. The cult will be expecting her to report in that she’s completed the job soon, possibly as early as tomorrow. As soon as they realise she hasn’t and has gone rogue, they’ll send in other assassins to kill both her and Shuichi, so they can’t stay there.

(She’s still worried about what’ll happen to the kids, but Shuichi reassures her that they won’t be able to risk doing anything drastic to them for now, not when they know Shuichi’s onto them and looking for evidence of shady activity. Now of all times is when they’d want to keep pretending to be a perfectly normal orphanage that takes care of its kids. If they’re going to hurt the kids, it’ll happen later, and Shuichi’s going to make sure there won’t be a later for those assholes.)

For the time being, though, Shuichi and Maki are going to have to go into hiding. Shuichi will continue to investigate as best he can from there and Maki can use her knowledge of assassin methods to predict the ways in which the other assassins will be looking for them and keep them both safe.

And Kaito? …Technically he has nothing to do with this; the cult has no reason to want him dead and possibly doesn’t even know he has any connection to Maki or Shuichi beyond Hope’s Peak. He could just walk away from this right here and be safe.

When Maki tries to point this out to him, Kaito just stares at her and says, “Are you stupid or something?” and that’s the end of that.

(Of course she knew he’d be too stubborn to even consider leaving them like this, but she still couldn’t help but try and get him to do so, just because then at least he’d definitely get out of this alive and unhurt.)

So the three of them get the hell out of there, cut all communication with everyone else they know for the time being for their safety, and go into hiding.

(Maki makes Kaito ditch the hairstyle before they leave because it’s way too eye-catching when they need to lay low. He pretends to be indignant at first – surely there’s gotta be some kinda downside to doing that! – but then dutifully sticks his head under Shuichi’s shower for a couple of minutes without complaint.)

Kaito may not have much skill in terms of investigating or physically protecting them, but he’s here for moral support. Which isn’t just a trite excuse to make himself feel important – his friends genuinely need that more than ever.

After all, Shuichi and Maki are both kind of terrified and barely holding it together. Shuichi’s never been in a situation this dangerous before, and he’s anxious enough at the best of times. And Maki’s afraid not just for the three of them but also for the kids – if they don’t succeed, those kids will suffer the consequences too and it’ll be all her fault. So having Kaito there, somehow still managing to be his usual optimistic self, means the world to them right now.

(Kaito is equally terrified, of course. He’s just better than either of them at hiding it, and determined to do so because he knows that they need him to be strong for them, and that this is the only thing he can really do for them in this situation at all.)

Maki is quietly impressed by how strong Kaito’s managing to be for them. She’s always seen him as – well, sure, the friend who changed her life and inspired her to believe things could be better, but also as just a carefree ridiculous idiot who’d never had to go through the kind of horrors from her world. She was never entirely sure whether he’d really be able to stay that optimistic if he experienced anything close to as serious as what she’d been through – not that she ever wanted to have to find that out, of course.

Yet here Kaito is, in this life-or-death situation, still managing to make this seem like it’s just a big adventure where the good guys are obviously going to win, because that’s just how things work!

(And Maki knows full well that there’s no way Kaito’s really that oblivious to how serious the situation is, that he’s doing this on purpose to help them, and that’s… kind of incredible, actually?)

Shuichi’s much less surprised to see Kaito like this, because he’d always been under the impression that Kaito really is this strong. He’d never exactly imagined they’d ever be in this kind of situation, obviously, but even so, it just feels natural somehow that Kaito would be able to do this for them.

Kaito, on his end, is so proud to see how well his sidekicks are holding up. It’s such an incredible sign of Maki’s growth that she’s able to bring herself to fight against the cult and try and escape the reality she’d resigned herself to for so long.

And meanwhile, Kaito never realised Shuichi would be so good in a crisis. Sure, he still seems to be scared, but despite that, he’s able to focus on his task and Get Shit Done in a way that Kaito himself feels utterly lost with right now. This is the first time in this universe that Kaito has really found himself not only being proud of Shuichi, but almost… looking up to him?

(Oh you poor innocent UTDP Kaito, you have no idea.)

Being Kaito, he is also significantly underestimating the extent to which Maki and Shuichi are only able to be this strong because he’s there supporting them, despite the fact he’s very deliberately trying to do that for them and knows that it’s the only thing he’s really contributing here.

I’m not sure precisely how things go while they’re on the run, because the exact plot logistics of how Shuichi can investigate the assassin cult are not a thing I’m great at figuring out. (This is part of the reason why I won’t actually write this as a fic, aside from just not having the time.)

I’m here for the character stuff, so I’ve mostly been thinking about the quiet moments in between the detective espionage where the three of them are relatively safe together in whatever hideout they’re using. Kaito would, of course, still insist on training sessions each night – at least as much as is possible while they’re trying to stay inconspicuous and keep an eye out for enemies – and they’d be able to use those as moments to collect their thoughts and reflect on the situation.

Maki would feel awful for the fact that Kaito and Shuichi are putting themselves in this much danger just to help her. When Kaito notices she seems bothered about something that isn’t just the situation itself and prods this out of her, she’d try to insist that it’d have been better if they’d never met her and befriended her in the first place, and then they wouldn’t even know or care that child assassins like her are suffering because nobody was ever supposed to know or care.

Kaito scoffs at that idea completely. He’s a hero! Obviously he’s here to save people who are weak and suffering, so of course he should have befriended Maki in order to be able to help her and those kids like they’re doing now. What kind of idiot is she being to think he wouldn’t have wanted to do this from the start!?

Shuichi, being rather more realistic about things, admits that of course he’s really scared right now and a part of him wishes he hadn’t got wrapped up in this. But still, Kaito (and Kaede, and others) helped him realise during their time at Hope’s Peak how much he cares about helping people, and that he can use his detective skills to do that – so he’s really proud that he’s able to use his detective skills right now to literally save lives, both for Maki and those other kids. So yes, he’s scared… but he doesn’t have any regrets either.

Maki is also still hung up on and feeling awful about the part where she nearly murdered Shuichi. She can’t stop thinking that she might have actually gone through with it if Kaito hadn’t got there in time.

Shuichi hesitantly tells her that he doesn’t think she would have done – at least, he doesn’t want to think so. He saw the look in her eyes as she was standing over him when Kaito’s voice woke him up, and thinking on it now, he’s pretty sure that wasn’t the look of someone who could have done it.

(Shuichi doesn’t consider, however, that that was after Kaito’s voice woke him up, and Kaito’s voice was what started to take Maki’s mask down, too.)

Kaito insists it just doesn’t matter. He did get there in time, and she didn’t kill Shuichi because she didn’t truly want to, and so there’s no point getting worked up about possibilities when they’re not what actually happened and are never going to happen now.

(He wants to tell himself that he believes Maki still wouldn’t have done it anyway, that her better nature would have broken through and stopped her without his help. But, then again, would he really have run so desperately to Shuichi’s place like he had if he’d truly believed that? Kaito doesn’t voice that thought.)

Maki then brings up the fact that there’s always the possibility she could still kill Shuichi right now and potentially get herself and the kids out of this situation safely. How on earth can either of them truly trust that she won’t after she almost did so before?

Kaito’s answer is simple – because he wants to! He wants to believe that she’s stronger than that, that she can believe Shuichi will save them and isn’t going to give up and take the coward’s way out. After all, she’s his sidekick, and of course a sidekick of his is capable of facing something like this with courage! She already showed that when she stopped herself before!

Shuichi agrees that he wants to believe in Maki – because she’s his friend. He knows that he wouldn’t want to kill his friends if he were in Maki’s shoes, and would try as hard as he could to find some other way out, so he wants to believe that Maki feels the same way.

Maki relents and accepts that they really mean that and really aren’t scared of her in this situation at all. After all, she wants to believe that she’s stronger than that, too – and if they believe in her that much, despite everything, then maybe she really is that strong after all.

They are friends. That’s the core of this whole story – these three friends who are so scared of losing each other and of losing themselves, just desperately holding onto each other and protecting each other through this terrifying situation. Shuichi’s detective skills are necessary to take down the cult and end this; Maki’s assassin skills are necessary to protect them while he’s doing this; Kaito’s luminary skills are necessary because without his support Shuichi and Maki would both fall apart. (And without Kaito’s friendship over their time at Hope’s Peak, neither of them would have even dreamed of trying to do this, that it was even possible to take down the cult and give Maki a happy ending in the first place.) They need each other and they are FRIENDS and I love them so much.

Part 4: the end

I’m not quite sure precisely how things would end, because aaaa plot logistics again. But one way or another, they succeed in taking down the cult and get out alive. One universe in which even one of these friends dies is more than enough and I’m not about to make another.

Maybe during some kind of final showdown, Kaito makes an unthinking reckless leap to protect Maki, which succeeds, but he ends up getting shot in his left arm because of it. I dunno, I just think the parallel to what happens to him in canon would be neat.

While everyone is otherwise fine, Maki feels guilty that they didn’t all get out unhurt. Now Kaito’s going to have to postpone starting his astronaut training for several months while his injury heals and it’s all because of her. Kaito literally could not care less, though; this is the most insignificant price to pay for Maki and Shuichi and those kids being safe.

Maki keeps insisting that it’s not okay, that he shouldn’t have got hurt on her account, and in Kaito’s increasingly fervent attempts to get her to drop it, he kind of accidentally blurts out that this is nothing because he was ready to die for them if he needed to.

When Shuichi and Maki press him on that, he clams up and doesn’t elaborate. He meant what he said, but that’s all there is to it, stop talking about it, guys.

(Kaito spent enough time while on the run thinking about how he couldn’t bear to lose Shuichi and Maki, such that he realised he would rather die trying to protect them than live knowing that he’d failed to do so. He has no regrets about having decided that, but… he’s kind of shaken up by the thought of it. It’s the first time in his life he’s really properly thought about his own mortality, not just in the sense that life is short and you never know what might happen (guess who lost his parents to a car crash), but in terms of being genuinely prepared to die if it should ever become necessary. He’s always been so fiercely determined to live his life to the fullest; it’s… weird to know that he would have willingly cut it short. That he’d have been the one to prevent himself from ever making it into space.)

(Oh you poor innocent UTDP Kaito, you have no idea, again.)

Long story short, they’re all safe and free to live out the rest of their lives now, but they’re also just a liiiiittle bit traumatised by this.

Kaito would of course try to hide the fact that any of this got to him, just like he hid how scared he was while it was actually happening, because they need him to help with their trauma and how could he do that if they knew he was struggling too?

Kaito’s outburst about being ready to die for them and the way he was uncomfortable and cagey about it afterwards would give Shuichi and Maki an inroad to realise that something’s up with him, though. So one way or another, with enough prodding and reassurance, they’d eventually be able to get through to him and make him realise that it’s okay to show weakness to them and it doesn’t make him any less inspiring of a hero. 

(Yes, it’s me; I couldn’t resist finding a way to put that outcome in this AU too. Kaito deserves to get over his issues and learn not to be an idiot about this no matter what universe he’s in.)

So they’ll all be okay in the end. Even Kaito.

Regardless of their newfound issues that they’re having to work through, both Kaito and Shuichi firmly agree that it was worth it. They’d have taken twice this amount of pain if that was the only way they could save Maki and all those kids like her from ever having to go through even worse trauma ever again.

Kaito’s a hero, after all! – and this whole thing has made Shuichi realise more than ever, after Kaito points it out to him, that maybe he can be a hero too.

(Alternatively, instead of this ending described here, maybe Kaito has a considerably worse time than just getting shot in the arm.)