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More murders... and another execution. Unbidden, Kokichi’s words from the second trial came to mind. “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” Punctuated, of course, by fake tears and howls of pretend agony, but the liar’s words rang true for you now.
Angie, Tenko, and Kiyo were dead. Angie had been creepy and a bit overbearing, but she wasn’t a bad person, and her unending optimism had cheered you up many times during this terrifying killing game. And sure, Tenko had suplexed you to the ground and given you a nasty bruise, but she meant well, and despite her proclaimed hatred for “degenerate males”, you were pretty sure she really did care about every one of the students. Kiyo... You couldn’t feel much sympathy for him. Murdering people for his long-dead sister... It was lunacy, plain and simple. But in his own twisted way, he did it for someone he cared about. Ultimately, the killing game caused all their deaths. Monokuma, and whoever was behind him: they were to blame.
You looked up and stopped short, as your musings had nearly sent you walking right past the dormitory. Shuffling your feet, you turned and struggled inside the school’s sleeping quarters. The stairs rose up in front of you, and you placed a foot on the first step. You felt exhausted, like a walking corpse, a feeling that had been getting stronger and stronger ever since you’d found Rantaro dead in the library.
Looking up, you saw your room door. Had you been walking without realizing it? Slowly, you shuffled in your pocket for the key. A frown covered your face as you searched, but could not locate the feeling of the key’s cold, etched surface. Frustrated, you pulled everything out of your pockets and dropped it on the ground, but unable to find anything besides dirty tissues, your Monopad, and a few remaining clues you’d picked up from the former investigation. It wasn’t there, and with your foggy memory, you had no idea where you had put it, or when to even start looking for it now. Shoulders shaking, you leaned against your door and slid down to the ground. You were so tired, mentally and physically, and now it looked like you might end up sleeping outside somewhere.
Tears began to swell up in the corners of your eyes. Everything was going wrong. Would this nightmare ever end? Would the game really go on until just two people were left? Was there even anything beyond the walls of the school worth living for? You almost wanted to be the next to die. Ryoma’s assertions that he had had no reason to live echoed in your mind. Maybe he was right, after all. What point was there in living like this? Maybe you should just k—
“Heeeeey!”
You jumped and looked up through the hair covering your eyes, but you already knew who the annoying voice belonged to. The purple-haired brat had entered the dormitory unnoticed and was now standing at the base of the steps, cupping one hand around his mouth like a megaphone. You cursed quietly, starting to think that your forgotten talent was the ability to receive the worst luck possible. Like hell you wanted to talk to Kokichi right now. His insanity was barely tolerable on a good day. Too fatigued to do anything else, you dropped your head again, praying to Atua that he’d take the hint and just leave.
No such luck. You heard the boy’s footsteps coming up the stairs and wearily looked up again, focusing all your remaining energy into the nastiest glare you could muster. But your eyes shot open in disbelief when you saw what Kokichi was twirling around his finger. At your shocked expression, Kokichi stopped on the stairs and his face split into a gleeful smile. “Heeey, Ultimate Nothing! I found something that belongs to yooou...” He stopped spinning the object and held it out for you to see. It was your room key, your name plainly written on the handle.
Dumbly, you reached out your hand for it, but Kokichi jumped back a step and pulled the key towards him. “Oooh, you want this?”
You were too frustrated to not respond. “Yes, give it to me, please!” You stood up and grabbed for the key, but the brat took another few backwards steps down the stairs, grinning maniacally. “Nee-hee hee... I’ll give it to you if you catch me!” Dumbfounded, you stared as he pointed at you, shouted, “You’re it!” and dashed down the stairs.
That little cretin! Kirumi wasn’t wrong when she’d said he was despicable. Exhaustion and the desire to get into your room clashed in your head, but it only took a second for you to start running down the stairs. Kokichi was standing at the dormitory doors, but as you came sprinting towards him, he shoved open the doors and ran out, laughing like a thrilled child. You felt like screaming at him, but you didn’t have the breath to do that and still run, so you put all your energy into chasing the boy down, retrieving your key, and maybe punching some sense into that brat’s face.
You saw him tear off to the right—damn, he was fast for someone so short—and run towards the courtyard. Your shaky legs pounded the ground as you followed him into the enclosure. He stopped in front of the Shrine of Judgement, taunting you briefly, before running around in a circle and dashing back up towards the school. Adrenaline and anger fueling your steps, you ran after him as fast as you could.
The subsequent chase led you all over the school grounds, from Miu’s lab (where you heard some very strange sounds that you ultimately decided were best to ignore), to the casino and back, and to the garden behind the school, where Gonta was apparently looking for bugs. He looked up in confusion as Kokichi raced past, laughing his ass off, and you tore after him with possible murder in your eyes.
“Hm... Gonta think friends playing game of tag. Gonta want to play, but bugs here. Bugs? Where are you?”
You’d been chasing the supreme demon for at least 10 minutes, and you were exhausted. You could feel your frantic pace starting to slow as your body just couldn’t keep up with your brain. Meanwhile, Kokichi seemed to be having the time of his life, easily staying ahead of you while giggling constantly. Evidently, this was a lot of fun for him, which only made you all the more enraged. He slowed down, looking back at you, and you put all your might into catching up to—
A dull thunk sounded as pain shot up your leg and you flipped right onto your stomach. Your hands barely came out fast enough to keep your face out of the grass, but the rest of your body wasn’t so lucky. You looked back and saw a large rock, stained with pink. Vaguely, you could feel a stinging pain and the gentle flow of blood coming from your left shin, but you simply collapsed onto the ground. You didn’t have the strength to get up, much less keep following Kokichi and playing that sick game of his. You were tired. Of course you weren’t winning his game; you were just entertainment for that sadistic teen who acted like he’d never gone through puberty.
Your heavy eyelids closed. Strangely, you didn’t feel the despair of wanting to die anymore, just exhausted, and wishing that you could wring Kokichi’s neck without getting executed for it. The gentle nighttime breeze flowed over your body, and unwilling to move, you tried to pass out right there in the grass.
“Whaaaat? You don’t want this anymore?” The brat’s innocent voice floated down to you. You could just imagine him grinning with his hands behind his head,
You hadn’t even heard him approach, but your response was instantaneous. “Fuck off,” you enunciated from the ground.
Kokichi’s tone turned whiny. “That’s meaaaan... I was only trying to help.” You heard and felt the grass crumple as the purple-haired boy sat down next to you. “Uh oh... You’re bleeeeding...” You heard a rustle of fabric, but ignored it. Kokichi was silent for a few seconds before exclaiming, “Well, come on! Roll over so I can fix your leg!”
What? You snuck a glance at Kokichi and found him holding his untied checkered scarf like a bandage. “Well? Don’t be so stubborn that you won’t let me help you!” He pouted.
“You’re lying again,” you said, deadpan.
Kokichi gasped. “What do you mean?! I hate liars! I just wanna help my friend!” Refusing to give him attention, you stayed silent. You heard him huff loudly. “Well, fine! If you won’t let me help you...” You suddenly felt weight on your legs and jerked violently, but he kept climbing over you. “Stop it!” he admonished. “Do you understand what kind of position I’m putting myself in for you??” You felt him stand over your left leg and start to wind his scarf around the cuts and scrapes. “I’m putting myself in danger for you! You could kick me in the dick right now, easy. So that’s why you should—“
You kicked him in the dick.
Kokichi screamed, an extremely unusual sound coming from the Ultimate Supreme Leader, and fell in a heap on your legs. Luckily, he didn’t weigh much more than a large dog. After a few seconds of hissing, he groaned. “Oww... Why would you do that?! I got blood on my only scarf, just for you, and this is how you repay me?”
You blinked, your knowledge contradicting his statement. “Only scarf? But we all have extra uniforms back in the—“
He laughed, but it sounded slightly strained. “Nee... hee hee... Yep, that was a lie.”
You swung your foot at him again, but this time he was out of range. “Man... It’s like you want to keep bleeding,” said Kokichi, apparently already recovered from his injury. You felt him turn around and rest his elbows on your back. “Hey, hey! Are you a masochist? Do you like it when you get cut?? That’s really naaastyyyy—”
“Fuck off!” you shouted louder. You used all your strength to sit up and shove the small boy off of you. You whirled on him and grabbed him by the shirt. “I don’t know why the hell you’re harassing me in particular, but leave me alone! Do you think I feel good? After what happened today??” You shook his small frame to make your point.
You were nearly screaming in Kokichi’s face, but he looked unperturbed aside from some minor sweating. “No. You weren’t feeling good. I knew that.”
You stopped at his... oddly serious tone. “What? What are you saying now?”
The boy’s mouth was set in a thin line as he looked at you. “I noticed you looked pretty depressed after the execution.” He tilted his head playfully, but his expression was hard. “You were thinking about giving up, right?”
Your face must have been super readable for him to guess that so easily. “And so what if I was?”
Kokichi’s face suddenly burst into an innocent grin. “Then I want you to let me kill you so I can kill everyone else and escape! C’mon! We’ll make the perfect crime, together! Not even the Ultimate Detective will be able to figure it out!”
You couldn’t believe he was serious. “I’d rather die for Miu!”
“Nee-hee hee... I know. That was a lie too!” He opened one violet eye and stared you down, resuming a serious expression. “Hey. You wanna know something that isn’t a lie?”
You did, but everything this kid said was extremely questionable. “...Yes?”
Kokichi focused his attention on his abnormally pale hand. “Y’know... I don’t actually want you to die. I don’t want any of us to die.” You blinked at him, waiting for the punchline, but he glanced back at you, and you couldn’t detect a hint of mockery or deceit in his eyes. Then again, you knew he was a talented actor. He was probably just hiding it from you. He kept looking at you, face blank. “This killing game... It’s despicable. Forcing teenagers into a death match just to create suffering.” His expression turned angry. “That’s why I’ll be super mad if you ever give up on living!!”
“Umm...” You were at a loss. Was this another elaborate performance, or was he being... truthful?
“I’m going to end this killing game, so if you let yourself die before that happens... You’ll have wasted your life for nothing, and you’ll have given the people behind this what they want.” Kokichi leveled his gaze at you, and you couldn’t look away. “That’s why I made you play this game, y’know? So you’d get mad at me instead of feeling sorry for yourself. To distract you from that despair you were feeling.”
“Distract me...?” you echoed weakly.
“Yea. It helped, right?” Kokichi finally averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his bare neck.
You stared at him. “...Is that really true? You wanted to... help?”
Kokichi stayed deathly silent for a moment. Then he laughed and grinned manically, somehow looking down at you despite his height disadvantage. “Juuuust kidding! Nee-hee hee... I’m the Ultimate Supreme Leader! Of course I wouldn’t try to help you! It’s just soooo much fun making you do what I want! Man, I can’t believe you fall for this every time!”
You felt your face grow hot as Kokichi mocked you. “Ugh... You’re so annoying.” Of course.
The supreme leader stood up and reached into his pants’ pocket, flipping something out. The key to your room landed in your lap. You looked up. Evidently, the game was over? “‘Kay, see ya!” Kokichi turned on his heel and walked away, concealing a slight limp. Without looking back at you, he called to you in a sing-songy voice. “You can keep the scarf! Byyee!” Stunned, you watched him walk away like he didn’t have a care in the world. Just before he got out of earshot, he yelled, “We’ll play more tomorrow!”
Huh. After his tiny figure disappeared behind the school, you looked down and saw Kokichi’s scarf tied around your leg. How had he done that without you noticing? You definitely hadn’t given him enough time to do it before kicking him. Slowly, you picked up your room key. What the hell just happened?
Even though he claimed to be lying... You had thought there was something real about what he had said to you...
...Nah. He was just messing with you, as always. Fuckin’ brat. You got up and started walking towards the dormitory.
When you finally made your way back to your room, you collapsed in bed, exhausted. You couldn’t keep your eyes open. As you succumbed to peaceful slumber, you felt... something blooming in your soul.
It felt like... hope.
But not because of him. Definitely not. He was just a liar, after all.