Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A sprinkle of cinnamon, some crumbled chocolate to pour in, and… a single strand of her hair. Himiko yelped a bit when she plucked a single piece of hair out of the roots of her scalp; into the brew it goes.

Using the manual in her book of potions that she found in her research lab, she’s making a love potion. It’s not that she loves anyone- that, she’s sure of- it’s that she wants someone to like her. Kokichi has been saying things to her from the start that she can only look at as bullying; insulting her appearance and calling her magic “lame tricks”.

She’s hoping that with this spell, the newly found love he’ll have for her will stop him from treating her illy; after all, who would ever bully the girl they like?

Finishing stirring up the brew, it gave a pink colour; that’s way too obscure of a colour for a drink. As she dips an empty bottle of water that she got from the kitchen into the pot, she wonders how she’s going to disguise it so Kokichi won’t figure things out.

. . .

The next day, it was time for breakfast. Himiko was early for someone like her, arriving right after Kirumi, Tenko, and Kaito.

Sitting on her seat tall and stiff, the girl looks like she’s about to set off a plan that’ll lead to murder.

It wasn’t complicated pouring the substance in; only a little is needed to be consumed for the potion to activate. Kirumi likes to prepare breakfasts in sets, and it wasn’t too hard for Himiko to figure out which set belongs to Kokichi since he eats stacks of pancakes with an unreasonable amount of whipped cream every morning. All she had to do was find that plate and the cup of milk right next to it and pour a bit of the potion into it.

But now as she sits and waits, she begins to have concerned thoughts, like that perhaps that cup of milk belonged to Shuichi, whose set is right next to Kokichi’s. Or maybe Kokichi got bored of pancakes and decided to switch his breakfast up this time, and Himiko poured her potion into who she believed to be the boy she’s after but ended up being for Angie. Or maybe right now, as everyone is here at the table, Kirumi gives them drinks from different sets, for, in the end, a cup of milk is a cup of milk, you don’t have to give people the exact one that you prepared.

Seeing a cup of milk get set down for Maki, the magician cringes.

Kokichi did get a cup of milk, and he drank from it right away- and spat it out right away. “Ew! What kind of milk is this, mommy?” he questions while wiping his mouth.

Himiko leans back against her seat, trying to hide her sweaty face and the way she shook; she never was good in hiding fear.

No one responds to his question, and he sighs, “What kind of milk is this, Kirumi?”

Kirumi smiles after hearing that. “It’s two per cent milk, the kind you like and request from me.”

For the rest of the breakfast, Kokichi kept on observing people, staring hard at them as if trying to stare into their soul. When he was staring at Kaito with piercing eyes, the astronaut nearly choked on his meal. “Dude, what the hell are you doing? I’m trying to eat!” Kaito shouts at him in annoyance.

Kokichi goes silent for a while and then asks, “...Did you poison my drink, Kaito?”

“Wha- I’d never poison someone’s drink, that’s messed up!”

“Yeah… Your stupidity is already intoxicating enough,” Kokichi teases with a taunting grin. Offended, Kaito jumps out of his seat, ready to punch the smirk off his face and being held back by Gonta who was telling him how “ungentlemanly” it is to punch someone.

Seeing that Kokichi was beginning to point fingers, Himiko sped up in eating her meal and quickly gets up with dishes in hand once she finished to put them in the sink, succeeding in her escape from the dining hall.

Now being three hours from breakfast, Himiko was beginning to believe that she messed up in creating the spell; probably didn’t pour enough spice.

She was feeding the doves in her lab when she heard a knock on the door; that better be someone tame out there like Ryoma or Shuichi because she doesn’t feel like dealing with people at the moment due to it being tiresome. Opening the door, she seriously didn’t know what she was looking at until she took a sniff and… “Flowers?”

Yes, a large bundle of flowers was stuffed at her face that it overtook her field of vision. A voice behind the pile of flowers spoke to her, “Surprise, surprise! Who do you think is here, Himiko? Take a guess.”

“That voice sounds… bothersome, so… Kokichi?” Himiko guessed, not knowing what was going on exactly but still knowing who that voice belongs to.

“Bothersome!? That’s so mean! And after I got you a bouquet of flowers, too!”

“A bouquet of flowers that’s stuffing my face,” Himiko pointed out. Suddenly, she was able to see the familiar hallway once more; Kokichi has thrown the flowers to the back of him. What a shame, she’s sure that they would’ve served useful for some of her magic… she’ll pick them up later on.

She pays attention to Kokichi and grows confused at his unfamiliar look. Squinting her eyes, she asks, “Who are you?”

“Huh? You just guessed who I am. Did you already forget, you silly goose?” Kokichi playfully knocks the side of her head, as if racking her brain back together.

He’s wearing a black suit with white gloves and his hair is gelled to the side; if the magician had to describe the way he looks right now in one word, it’ll be “butler”.

“...Have you been hanging out with Kirumi?” she asks.

“Of course I have, she’s my mom, after all. I wanted to tidy myself up and her lab has some nice looking suits, she even did my hair.”

“Why would you want that? You look like a butler.”

“I do? Well then, looks like I’m going to have to serve you,” without needing to hear an invite, Kokichi let himself into her lab. “Would you like me to clean your props? Or perform a little magic for you? I’m not that good with tricks, but I can spark up some magic in a special way,” he places his index finger against his lips and winks at her.

Himiko lets that statement fly around her head until it hits her. “Are- are you flirting with me!?”

“Yeah, why are you so surprised? With a face as cute as yours, how can I not?” he answers it casually with no falter in his expression.

‘Ah… the spell must have worked! I can’t believe it’s actually real! I mean- of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be?’ Himiko cheered in her head, forgetting about the boy’s presence until she felt his arm wrap around her waist, his other hand holding her chin to make her look up at him.

“How about it? You want me to show you my magic? You never rejected it,” Kokichi questioned, his eyes looking to be lost in a trance on to her own.

She quickly broke out into a nervous sweat with her face blushing as red as an apple, pushing him away from her. “N-no! I don’t! I- I- nyeh…” she stammers until she was unable to form a proper sentence and gave up, hiding her entire face with her hat to shield her lips.

“Wow~! Your reaction is so adorable, I don’t even feel hurt for being rejected!” Kokichi gleamed and let himself fall on her, bringing her into a hug, “I just wanna hold you until I squeeze all the air out of your lungs! Oh- hold on- that’s not the best thing to say in a killing game, huh?”

Himiko kept her hat held up to her face and leaned as far back from him as she could only to have him lean his own face as close to hers as possible. ‘He’s advancing way too fast! Did I put too much sugar in the potion or something!?’

“You feel so warm, Himiko. I’m really cold, so how about you share some of your warmth with me. Y’know, I have a love key so we could visit that love hotel that opened up… what’s the name, again? Eh, it was only a stupid pun.”

‘Did I put too much spice!?’ Himiko felt her body go tenser than it already was as she began screaming in her head.

With her unsettled thoughts swarming in her mind, she was able to dig out an idea. “A-as my butler, I order you to let go of me!”

Kokichi lets go of her and steps away with a face of surprise, Himiko not being able to tell if that surprise is from the fact that she thought of something he said that goes against him or that she doesn’t want him to be hugging her.

His look quickly shifted back into a smile as he complimented her, “You clever girl, you got me with that one. Is there anything else you’d like for me to do?”

“Yeah, stay at least five feet away from me.”

“O...kay,” although sounding disappointment, he kept his smile on and walked out of her lab, telling her before closing the door, “I’ll be sure to still send you my love, you adorable magician.”

Although having been completely flustered, she was still able to care about him calling her a ‘magician’ and correcting him, “I’m a mage!”

A whole hour has passed with Kokichi having left her alone, yet she still couldn’t get her mind off of him. His actions were simply too nerve racking and his arms were too tight around her for her to put aside. “Nyeh… Even when he’s not around, he’s still in my head, how annoying.”

Getting bored of doing tricks in her room without an audience to show them to and without her being able to focus, she grew bored and decided to go to her room.

Right at the door of her room, right where anyone who passes by could see, there are pastel pink flashcards with heart frames decorated all over it. Getting closer, she read some of the cards:

“Hello, my sweet... ‘mage’, as you call yourself. I just want you to know that I really, really love you.”

“Your magic tricks are so cool! Oh- cross that, I mean your real magic; the same magic you used to steal my heart.”

“I hope you’re having a good day today because just the thought of you makes my day wonderful.”

“I told you that I’ll send you my love, didn’t I? Here you go, my queen! XOXOXO”

Himiko groans, blushing with embarrassment as she takes off the notes one by one. “So cheesy… well, at least he’s being nice to me,” she mutters to herself and freezes when she hears a gasp behind her.

“A… a secret admirer!” Tsumugi gushes, seeming to be ready to geek out at whatever anime or manga she’s thinking that this reminds her of.

“It’s not a secret admirer, it’s-” Himiko stops herself, thinking that it’s best to not let her know.

“Do you know who it’s from? This is pretty romantic; of course, a plain girl like me won’t be able to receive a sweet gesture like this…” Tsumugi casually degrades herself as she reads the notes that are left on the door and not crumbled up in Himiko’s hands and pockets. “Is this from Korekiyo…? No, he seems to have his own special kind of lover… It could be Tenko, but… she denies having feelings for you, so I’m sure if she actually did like you, she won’t do something so flashy like this for all to see,” the cosplayer begins to knock down theories.

“It’s probably just a joke, don’t think about it too much!” Himiko tried to dismiss the topic as best as she could and saw Kirumi walking towards her, “Oh, look! Kirumi’s coming.”

The girls give their attention to the maid, who clears her throat and speaks, “I’m here to deliver you a telegram.”

She hands Himiko a folded lined paper, which Himiko takes cautiously and doesn’t trust opening it with those two around.

“Now, I shall sing you the song,” Kirumi takes a deep breath and sings in the tune ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’, “Himiko’s so precious to me, so precious to me, so precious to me; Himiko’s so precious to me, with cheeks that I make glow. I’ll follow her every single day, every single day, every single day; I’ll follow her every single day until she will be mines. ‘Himiko Oma’ is what her name will be, her name will be, her name will be; ‘Himiko Oma’ is what her name will be once she marries me.”

Kirumi finishes, waiting to hear Himiko’s feedback. “Your admirer is Kokichi…?” Tsumugi questions, Himiko trying to ignore her by clapping loudly for Kirumi. “Wow, Kirumi, you sing great! Your voice is wonderful!”

“I’m happy to hear that, Himiko. Now, what do you think about the song itself? Kokichi would like to hear your feedback,” Kirumi explains. Himiko tries to dodge the topic of him again by continuing to marvel at Kirumi’s voice, “Isn’t her singing amazing, Tsumugi?”

“Yeah,” Tsumugi agrees, “and what’s also amazing is the dedication Kokichi has for you.”

“No…! He doesn’t- he isn’t- he’s only joking! He's just trying to annoy me,” Himiko made up a lie, knowing very well that with that love potion he consumed, he’s not joking in the slightest.

“That makes sense, it does seem like something he’ll do…” Tsumugi ponders and thinks of something, sparkling, “Or, maybe this is a story where the liar teased his lover so much that when he actually grew feelings for her and tries to confess, she thinks that he’s lying! Sounds likely, right?”

“It sounds fictional!” Himiko objected.

“So, should I tell him how you think he’s joking?” Kirumi asks, still waiting for a response to give.

“No, tell him to stop bothering me and that, uh…” Himiko thinks of what would get him to listen and says, “Tell him that if he really loves me then he’ll leave me alone!”

“Alright, thank you for your cooperation and thank you both for liking my performance,” Kirumi thanks the two and walks off to wherever Kokichi could be.

Seeing Kirumi fully leave from her sight, Himiko opens the paper slowly and sees hearts drawn in all kinds of colours with crayon and words that read, “I found a way for us to hold hands without me getting close to you! I already touched this paper from all over, so no matter where you touch it, you’re second-hand holding my hand! That sure is a jumble of a sentence…”

The small girl can feel Tsumugi luring on the side of her, taking a peek at the letter. “It’s love…” she whispers to her.

“It’s not love, it’s a joke,” Himiko responds, getting annoyed at Tsumugi’s passion in all of this.

“Oh, of course. It fits Kokichi’s character more to be making all of this a joke, so I guess we should ignore everything he does until he gets bored and moves on…” Tsumugi suggests, backing away from Himiko with a grin.

“Yeah, we should,” Himiko agrees, not buying that Tsumugi believes it’s a joke.

“Yep, so I’m gonna go… discourage Kokichi…”

“Or you can not speak to him about this at all.”

“Or I can discourage him…” Tsumugi stops walking only to break out running. “Bye! I’m going to do some plain things that are too boring to tell!”

Himiko didn’t believe her one bit, but she still has papers to take down and crumble and she was too tired to deal with all of this to chase after her. She just wants to sleep in her comfortable, warm bed. She takes out another card and reads the writing: “I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, Himiko.”

‘Huh. There’s no lovey-dovey nonsense in this one…’ Himiko notes and reads another card that states, “I’ll protect you in my arms.”

She stares at that card and then the other one that she just read. ‘Well… I guess it doesn’t hurt to keep a few of these.’

Chapter Text

Himiko was glad that she never opened her door when the two girls were with her, for now that she steps inside, she sees rose petals on her floor and heart balloons flying on top of the ceiling and laying with the petals. Right on her bed was a large teddy bear about the same size as her with a red ribbon tied around its neck and a foldable card propped up next to it.

This is absolutely embarrassing, and even more so, creepy; how’d he manage to get into her room?

Opening up the card that’s sparkled in red, she reads: “Enjoy the surprise I set up for you, my love. I hope you’ll be thinking of me when you’re cuddling the bear to sleep.”

At this point, she found it necessary to go check with a doctor, for she’s been blushing too much in this one day that’s not even close to being done.

Being all too stressful, she plans to ignore this problem and deal with it after a good nap in her comfy pyjama. To her dismay, she found that she couldn’t escape from his obsessive love even in her closet, for she found a note taped to the bin that contains her undergarments and leggings.

“Old fashioned bloomers? I bet a girl like you would look absolutely adorable in these... Daahhh! I want to see if you’d look even cuter in a bloomer in real life than you do in my fantasies!”

The redhead had to read that note four times before understanding that the whole paper itself was real and not a hallucination of hers. “He- he saw my underwears!? Nyeh… He said he fantasizes about me, though…” Himiko, much to her guilt, actually felt happy in knowing that he has fantasies of her; it makes sense since she believes that no boy would want to do so much as kiss her lips because of her childish appearance. “Well… I shouldn’t get too happy, he’s only doing all of this because of the potion I made him drink…”

Catching herself feeling the tiniest bit of disappointment that all the affection he’s giving her isn’t real, she quickly dismissed the feeling by putting on her pyjama and going to sleep.

Himiko’s dream was something sweet, which is new from all the nightmares she’s been having since being imprisoned by a black and white bear. She’s in a place where the pavement has large Skittles and the hills are large cream puffs or creamed sundaes with cherries on top. Balloons flew from all directions into the sky yet never stopped coming, where they’re coming from being unknown. The sky was yellow and the grass was pink; everything looked so happy, and that effect went right to the girl. She felt completely safe in this world, safe and warm, very warm, like the wind itself was giving her a hug. Hold on… this isn’t the wind… Himiko wakes up and still feels herself being hugged, but this time making her feel flustered instead of safe.

“Kokichi!” She shouted out his name, waking him up from his slumber.

Kokichi opened his eyes in a confused daze, looking bothered at first until remembering where he was. With a newly brought smile, he chirps, “Good morning! Did you have a nice dream?”

She revolts away from his arms and sits up on her knees. “W-What are you doing on my bed!?”

“Well, I was cuddling you, but now I’m laying on it and feeling lonely…” he pouts.

“How’d you get into my room!?”

“I figured out the pattern for your lock and used a hairpin, it’s pretty easy. Is this an interrogation?”

“I thought I ordered you to stay away from me!”

“You did! But then I got bored with the butler act, so I quit the role.”

Now that he mentions it, Himiko notices that he’s back in his usual clothing and hairstyle.

He gets off the bed and puts his hands on the back of his head, very casual about the girl’s panic of how he broke into her room. “So, now that you threw some questions at me, I get to throw some questions at you,” he announced and looked her straight in the eyes. “Do you love me?”

“No!” she quickly denies.

“Why don’t you love me?”

“Cause you’re annoying…”

Kokichi puffs his cheeks and makes the sound of a whine, blowing out all the air he held in to shout while repeatedly thrusting his fists in the air, “Dang it! Why can’t I stop loving you!? Why do I love you so much!? It’s like you cast a spell on me or something! But that’s ridiculous because magic isn’t even real! What the heck can it be!?”

Himiko nervously sweats, turning her head completely away from him and answering, “I don’t know… It must be because I’m so cute.”

“That!” Kokichi points at her as if she mentioned something important, “I suddenly can’t deny how cute you are anymore! I can’t hide the fact that I love you and…!”

Kokichi stopped his whining only to grab a hold of her face and squeeze her cheeks. “You’re so amazing, damn it! Why does someone like you have to be stuck in a place like this?”

“‘A place like this’? Don’t you think it’s fun being here?” Himiko asks, trying to escape from his hold.

He explains, “I sure do! But that’s because I’m me and you’re you, you get it?”

She doesn’t get it, marking it as one of the many nonsensical things he says. “Can you let go of my face? You’re hurting me.”

Kokichi immediately lets go and apologizes, “Aww, I’m sorry, my love. I’ll make sure you never feel hurt anymore.”

“Yeah? Well, can you leave my room?” she tries to ask him as nicely as possible.

“Sure! Let’s go!” not having time to process his message, he grabs a hold of her hand and pulls her out with him.

“Nyeh! I didn’t mean to take me with you! Let go!” Himiko huffed and was surprised to see him listen right away, until realizing that he did so because Tenko is right in front of them. For once, Himiko is glad to see Tenko.

“What are you doing with Himiko, you degenerate!?” Tenko challenged.

“Keeping her from feeling lonely,” Kokichi answers without a flinch.

“It looks to me like you're forcing her to go along to wherever you’re going! I bet you’re bringing her to your room!”

“Why would I? Her room is lovely enough.”

Kokichi yelped when he saw a fist coming his way and hid behind Himiko. “Get away from her, coward! If you’re going to be a degenerate then you have to be ready for when justice is served!” Tenko barked, pulling his arm away from the magician.

‘Aw geez… This looks bad, and I feel guilty since I’m the reason why he’s like this… I should say something.’ Himiko stammered to Tenko, “H-hey, Tenko, it’s okay, really… You don’t have to do anything drastic.”

“Huh!? Is he holding a threat on you to protect him!?” Tenko accused, holding his arm tighter and getting a cry out of him.

Seeing that she’s only made things worse, Himiko groaned in her head.

“Alright, I get it; you want to protect her, I appreciate that,” Kokichi tried his best to talk smoothly, “But hey, do you ever picture how cute she’d look with a rabbit on her lap?”

‘What’s he doing? Does he want to get bruised?’ Himiko thought, thinking that she should try to step in again until she heard an ‘aww’ from Tenko.

“That’s so adorable! Imagine how cute she’ll look cuddling it!” Tenko gleamed, letting go of his arm. Himiko could only envision lots of question marks flying in her head.

“Yeah! And picture how she’d look dressed up as a princess!”

“Kyaaah! Princess Himiko! Imagine how she’d look sitting on a large queen throne!”

“She’d look so small and huggable!”

“Exactly!”

‘Oh no… They’re encouraging one another,’ Himiko watches their bond unfold in the background, completely disapproving it. “Hey, quit that out or I’m going back to my room.”

“S-sorry Himiko! Please don’t go back to your room! We can go swim in the pool!” Tenko suggested.

“That sounds like a pain…”

“No, I’m sure you two can have fun in the pool! You don’t have to swim, you could just lay on top of the water or on a seat,” Kokichi persuades her.

“Why do you want us to go? You’re trying to see us in our swimsuits, aren’t you!?” Tenko questions, throwing away the friendly demeanour they were having.

“Of course not, I’m not coming with you; I won’t ruin your fun,” Kokichi responds and before any of the girls could respond he started to walk away. “Enjoy yourselves.”

Both girls felt as if he was up to something at that moment yet found it best not to follow.

. . .

Half an hour of Himiko relaxing in a swimming tube as best as she can with Tenko moving the tube around and splashing water at her past when she decided it was about time to get out of the pool. In the locker room, however, she found a bit of a problem. “Nyeh… Where are my cloth?”

Tenko takes a look into her bag and finds that where her clothing was supposed to be has been replaced with an expensive looking red dress along with slippers and a princess tiara to match. “Oh my gosh… You’re a princess, Himiko!”

“What are you talking about?” Himiko groans at the girl’s excitement.

“Your clothing have magically disappeared with a princess outfit in its place! This is destiny!” Tenko gleamed, her eyes sparkling in excitement.

“It didn’t magically appear; the only thing here that’s magical is me. Someone must have come into the locker room and replaced my stuff,” Himiko thinks on how Kokichi is the only person she knows of who could pick a lock and that he was mentioning her in a princess dress just a while ago. ‘No way… he didn’t really…’ she shivered at the thought of him sneaking into the girls' locker room.

“Wow! Would you look at that!” Tsumugi suddenly popped up behind them, peering into the bag.

“Tsumugi, did you do this?” Himiko asked.

“No, I’m too plain to know a trick as flashy as lockpicking. But just look at that rich material; any girl would squeal at the sight of this,” the cosplayer softly nudges her on the arm.

“Where did my clothes go?”

“They’re with Kirumi, she was requested to replace your outfit by…” Tsumugi eyes Tenko who’s listening with full interest and chooses her words carefully, “...an anonymous individual.”

“You have to wear it, Himiko! You’ll be a princess!” Tenko encourages her.

“I'm not going to wear it! I’d rather walk in my swimsuit!” Himiko objects.

“You’re going to walk around in your wet and cold swimsuit in front of all the boys?” Tsumugi questions her decision. “There’s always a pretty dress for you to wear instead… that the Ultimate Cosplayer might have made.”

The consequences that Tsumugi mentioned dawned on Himiko, and she began to wonder how Angie can walk around in a bikini all the time. Walking in a wet swimsuit did seem uncomfortable not to mention embarrassing, maybe a pretty dress was for the best…

. . .

“Ah! Careful! You dropped your tiara,” Tsumugi picked the tiara off of the pavement and rubbed it clean, placing it back on Himiko’s head.

“I told you I don’t want the tiara! It’s not necessary! And I can’t believe my whole closet is empty!” Himiko stomped, trying to get away from Tsumugi and Tenko who have been following her around the whole time.

“You’ll get your clothing back once you meet your prince,” Tsumugi informed her, trying to cheer her up.

“Ah-ha! So you do know where my clothes are!”

“‘Prince’?” Tenko repeated. “What prince!?”

“Um…” Tsumugi sweats nervously and has an idea come to mind, gently holding Tenko’s hands as if to keep her calm. “Well… Tenko, lots of princesses have a prince, and as a knight, you should make sure that there are no dragons that’ll stop her from seeing her prince.”

“I’m her knight!? Wow!” Tenko took in the information in amazement. “Is there really a dragon in this place?”

“Remember that dragon statue in the hall?” Tsumugi mentioned, “I think I saw it blink.”

Tenko gasps, “Seriously!? Don’t worry, I’ll go check it out and take it down in order to not just protect Himiko, but all of you girls!” The Neo-Aikido master ran off, leaving dust in her tracks.

“Whoo… We got rid of her,” Tsumugi sighed in relief.

“Yeah, now I only have to hope that someone will get rid of you,” Himiko muttered.

“Aww… That’s fair, I guess I am pretty boring to be around. But that’s beside the point! We have to hurry before Tenko comes back!”

“Hurry for what?”

“To get to your prince!”

Seeing that Himiko wasn’t going to continue walking, Tsumugi adds, “And to your clothes.”

Tsumugi leads Himiko to the large Monokuma water fountain, where it has been decorated with a red rug and angel statues, the bushes covered with red roses. Right in the middle of the fountain was a chair that looks like it’s been painted and decorated to look like a royal throne, Kokichi sitting on that very throne with a prince outfit that looks like it came out of a children's picture book. He has one leg on top of the other as he played with a Rubix cube, looking as if he’s been sitting there for a while.

Himiko hears the sound of someone trying to make the noise of a horn and sees Angie jump beside her, clapping and cheering for her arrival. “Princess Himiko has arrived! Everyone, give her a hand!”

“Angie, what are you doing?” Himiko asks her, knowing that with a girl like Angie, she’s not going to get a proper answer.

Angie bubbles, “Atua told me that helping Kokichi with his love will help everyone grow stronger together and keep them happy. I created and decorated everything you’re seeing, by the way, all for better harmony!”

Himiko began to believe that all of the girls in this place has gone crazy at this point.

Kokichi, hearing the announcement about Himiko’s arrival, threw the Rubix cube he was randomly cranking away and jumped off of his throne, running up to the girl. “I’m so glad you came to see me, princess!”

“I was forced to come here,” Himiko deadpanned.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here anyway,” he grabs a hold of her hand and kisses her knuckles. She felt her eyes go in a spiral as she reaches for her mage hat to hide her face and only grasps in the air; oh, right, she doesn’t have her hat.

“The horse is ready for you, prince Kokichi!” Angie reported as if speaking to a sergeant.

“Horse? What horse?” Himiko puzzles, not knowing what to expect.

“It’s a special horse,” Kokichi winked. “It’s big and stupid but always does its job right.”

Kokichi walks her to the front centre where she finds Gonta on all fours. “Gonta’s the horse!?”

“Gonta’s a horse!?” Gonta asks the same question back as if the news was just hitting him as well.

“We already discussed this, you big dummy!” Kokichi scolds him in annoyance, “You’re not a real horse, you’re just pretending to be one.”

“Oh, right, Gonta gets it now,” the giant nods his head.

“Gonta, I told you that you don’t have to do this,” Tsumugi reminded him.

“It’s okay, Gonta wants to if it makes his friend happy!” Gonta responds with a bright smile.

Himiko takes back what she thought of all the girls going crazy: all of the guys seem to be going crazy too.

Kokichi gets on top of Gonta’s back and calls out to the small girl, “Come on, Himiko! Let's ride the horse!”

“I’m not going to ride on top of Gonta,” she objects.

“It’s not Gonta, it’s a horse,” Angie corrects her.

“No, it’s Gonta.”

“Come on, we’ll ride throughout the whole outside and wave to passersby; it’ll be fun!” he tries to convince her.

“No, it’ll be stupid! You know what’ll be fun for me? Finding a way to stop you from annoying me.”

Tsumugi held on to her shoulders and chirped, “Don’t be shy, Himiko. We all worked hard on this, you know. You should enjoy yourself.”

“Fine… I’ll go along with all of this if you guys stop bothering me for the rest of the week,” Himiko offers, to which everyone agrees to. She never found herself ever having to ride the back of Gonta as if he was a horse, but she also never found herself having to wrap her arms around Kokichi’s waist in order to not topple over.

Kokichi has been unusually quiet until asking, “...You enjoying the ride, Himiko?”

“As long as I don’t have to walk…” she replied.

The leader’s body swayed a bit as if he was happy about something and Himiko couldn’t tell what that something was.

Kokichi spotted Korekiyo and Ryoma and waved to them, “Hello, villagers! Don’t mind us, the lovely princess and I are just taking a stroll through the village.”

“Gonta’s taking a stroll, too!” Gonta chirped.

“Aww, how adorable, the horse is trying to speak to us.”

“Gonta is failing in speaking!?”

“There are multiple things that are inaccurate with their acts and I feel provoked to point them all out,” Korekiyo spoke to Ryoma. Ryoma shrugged in reply, “Let the kids have their fun while they still can.”

“I’m not having fun…” Himiko croaked under her breath as if a call for help and found herself lifting the top layer of her dress onto her face to cover it up from embarrassment, having to let go when she felt herself about to fall and quickly holding back on to Kokichi. The boy giggled at the feeling of her holding on to him once more.

“Tsumugi! Where are you? The dragon statue isn’t alive, so you don’t have to worry-” Tenko runs around calling for the cosplayer and stops on her tracks when she spots Himiko holding onto Kokichi in their silly getup. Kokichi quickly jumps off of Gonta and greets the girl, “H-hey, Tenko! How’s it going? Been protecting the princess well?”

“I’ll know if I have been…” Tenko holds up her hands and gets in a fighting stance, “once I see if I can save her from this menace right here!”

“Nishishi, looks like you better start running, Gonta!” Kokichi jokes and sees that Tenko is unfazed by it. “No? Okay, give me a five-second head start.”

Tenko begins to count down, “Five… four…”

“Bye, sweetheart; I’m sorry our time together has to be cut short,” Kokichi apologizes to Himiko and catches her off guard when he gives her a kiss on the forehead.

“I- I thought you were going for my hand!” Himiko held on to the spot where he kissed her, feeling herself steam.

Seeing this scene, Tenko counted down the rest quickly and shouted, “You better start running, degenerate!”

Kokichi screamed and took off running as she ran after him, leaving Himiko and Gonta by their self. “...Think you can piggyback ride me to my room, Gonta?”

“Of course!” Gonta happily fulfilled her request.

Laying in bed, she questions when she’ll get her clothes back, especially her pyjamas since sleeping in a large dress is really uncomfortable.

. . .

Waking up from a night’s sleep, Himiko finds her clothing all neatly put away in her closet, each having a violet smell to them. Kokichi must have requested Kirumi to clean her cloth and arrange them back to how they were before; that’s a pleasant surprise.

What came as even more of a pleasant surprise is that Kokichi is fulfilling his promise of not bothering her for the week; throughout the day so far, he hasn’t talked to her, hasn’t even stepped close to her.

In a way, it was creeping her out, as if he has something planned. Then again, she shouldn’t get herself so worked up on it; if he does having something planned, it can’t be as humiliating as what he set up for her yesterday.

Seeing him pass by her without a glance as they walked in a hallway left her feeling a bit upset, and so does the absence of his sweet talk. It’s not that she actually liked him being loving towards her- or so she tells herself- it’s that she now finds the time passing by a lot slower. She thinks about telling him a simple “hello” but is afraid that doing so would make him excited enough to break his promise and never revert back to it.

No one else who was helping Kokichi was bothering her either- but, of course, that doesn’t stop Tenko. “Himiko…” Tenko whispers, kneeling down to her ear and jotting her eyes from left to right at the empty hallway before continuing, “Have you been taking any birth pills? If you don’t know where to get any, I’m sure Monophanie has some.”

“What the heck-!?” Himiko blurts in shock and a bit of disgust, “No! Why would I!?”

“Y-you want a baby…?” Tenko stammers, quitting her whispers yet still speaking in a hushed tone.

“I’m not pregnant! Why would you think I am!?”

Tenko’s cheeks are completely burning red now as she sweats. “Poor little Himiko… You’re so innocent and pure… you haven’t even learnt how girls become pregnant…”

Himiko knows very well on how, and furthermore, she highly doubts that Tenko herself knows. Raising a brow, she challenged, “Okay Tenko, tell me, how do girls become pregnant?”

The blush on Tenko’s cheeks has flooded all over her face as she tried to speak, “H-how!? Well… a- a me-me-menace kisses you anywhere on the face and then the baby is made… So- and don’t freak out! But so yesterday w-when Kokichi kissed you… you got his baby.”

Himiko doesn’t believe she’s ever heard anything more stupid come out of a teenager’s mouth, having a moment of shock and coming to terms that the brunette wasn’t joking before asking, “Who taught you this…?”

“My master!” Tenko’s nervous state was thrown away and replaced by a more enthusiastic state when she answered.

Himiko wasn’t surprised in the slightest and knew that there was no point in telling her about reality. “Right. Let me assure you right now, Tenko, that Kokichi didn’t make me pregnant. In fact, he’s been doing a good job in leaving me alone, something that I think you should learn to do,” as Himiko says that, she opens the door to the outside and is meant not only with a display that’ll make her have to retract what she just stated, but gave her major déjà vu.

Her vision was covered by white flowers all around her, but her hearing made her come up with some kind of vision as to what she was blocked away from seeing at the moment. “Congratulations!” the voices of the people she’s been with all cheer in a union. Flowers falling to the ground, she saw white arcs with flowers around them and the pathway being decorated with petals, leading to an arc larger than the others where Kokichi stands under in a formal, white suit and gelled hair that keeps his bangs to the back. On the side of the path stands everyone but Maki.

“This… Tha- tha- this… hnngh…” Himiko can’t form a proper sentence with how flustered she’s become.

“What!? Is this a wedding!?” Tenko screamed, about to faint at any moment.

“Yep, we were planning it since yesterday and making sure you didn’t know about it, so… surprise?” Tsumugi admitted. The cosplayer gives a crooked smile at Tenko, and exactly when she did, Tenko fainted backwards. Gonta quickly ran up to her and scooped her unconscious body off the ground. “Do not worry about Tenko, Himiko, she is only sleepy. Gonta will put her to bed,” Gonta comforted her although she really wasn’t worried and walked off with the Neo-Aikido master in his arms.

Not being able to think straight, Himiko walks outside and follows the pathway. She notices that the wedding cake has plushie-looking figures of her and Kokichi holding hands on top of it; of course it does.

“Congratulations on your marriage! I guess even jerks like Kokichi can find love!” Kaito laughs, patting her on the back.

“Nyeh…?”

“I’m happy for you two. May you crazy kids have fun and not mess it up like I did…” Ryoma smiles at her, thinking back to his old life.

“Nyeh? Nyeh?”

“Congratulations, Himiko,” Korekiyo gets close to her and whispers, “Blink three times if he’s threatening you.”

Himiko could only stare at him with open, blank eyes as she continued to walk. She can hear Kiibo muttering about how having two robophobic people marry is most likely not going to end well for him.

Miu claps and teases, “Looks like the rat knew he had to get rid of standards if he wanted to avoid being single his whole life!”

“Nyeeeh…” although she still couldn’t process much of what anyone was saying, Himiko still knew that she had to feel offended for whatever Miu just said.

She finally makes it to Kokichi, to which Angie was standing next to him with an open book in hand. “Wow… Kokichi and Angie… Happy marriage you two…” Himiko croaked.

“Nyahahaha! You’re such a silly girl, Himiko! This is your wedding, not mines,” Angie laughed and explained what Himiko already knew but was denying.

“You sounded so sad when you congratulated us, you really shouldn’t upset yourself like that,” Kokichi advised, taking a hold of her hand. “I love you and only you, and that’s not a lie… or a joke… or whatever you might think it is.”

The way he locked his eyes at hers with his suddenly deep voice made her heart beat louder. She fell into a trance, not realizing that she was holding his hand back.

“Alright! It’s time for me to read the verse!” Angie snapped the magician out of her trance and freed her hands from his. “To thee who gives their love to one another, respecting Atua’s creation, must promise to never hurt one another…”

“What the heck is she reading?” Himiko asks.

“It’s from her own island about her own special little religion. I don’t know how they’re usual weddings are like, but that’s what makes it fun,” Kokichi answers.

“I said thee who loves must promise to never hurt one another!” Angie shouted, slamming the book closed and causing the two to jump.

“I promise to never hurt you, Himiko!” Kokichi promised quickly to please Angie.

“I promise to never hurt you, Kokichi!” Himiko thinks about what she promised and muttered, “…Unless you make me.”

“Very divine! Now you two must offer your blood so I can mix it together and give it to God, to which he’ll make it so you two are bound together,” Angie instructed.

“Excuse me, but when do we get to the part where we can object our marriage?” Himiko asks.

“You can’t object your marriage, only Atua can object that. Atua, do you object their marriage?” Angie pauses as if listening to someone speak and answers, “He said no, sorry.”

“That’s wonderful! That means that we’re bound to be together forever until one of us dies!” Kokichi cheered.

“Forever!?” Himiko felt as if everything was falling at her.

“Yes, forever! This is what you want, right? You want me? Because I really want you!” Kokichi grabs a hold of her hands once more and reels her closer to him.

“Nyeh…! N-no! I don’t want to be with you forever! I don’t even want to be with you for a second!” Himiko begins to speak without thinking. “I don’t want you! You’re bothersome and mean!”

“You’re sure you’re not lying?” Kokichi keeps smiling, unfazed by her objections.

“Yes, I’m sure! You’re the only liar here! Everything about you is a lie! Even your love is a lie!” Himiko won’t say she’s wrong about that considering that his love is only coming from a potion.

“I swear on my uncle’s grave that it’s not! I really do love you!”

“Well, that’s a shame because I don’t love you!”

“You don’t?”

“No, I hate you!”

“Oh…?” Kokichi lets go of her, his eyes showing a glum expression for a second before pouring out tears. “Waaah! Himiko hates me! I can’t believe she’s rejecting me at our wedding!”

“To be fair, you did force the whole thing on to her…” Shuichi spoke from the crowd.

“Shut up! How else do you expect someone like me to ever make it this far!? Himiko hates me!”

Although knowing that he’s doing his usual sobbing act, Himiko couldn’t help feeling a little guilty for telling him something that harsh.

“Gonta likes you, Kokichi!” Gonta says in an attempt to make him feel better.

“I don’t care if you do! I wanted-” Kokichi cuts his sentence with a frustrated screech. Once he stops screeching, he becomes a lot more calm, his tears coming to a stop. “Okay, alright, I get it. No one can love someone as terrible as me, right? Makes sense, I wouldn’t want to love me, either. It’s stupid that I can’t stop loving you despite all of that… despite that we’re in a killing game and I can’t stop focusing on you… Oh well! None of that matters! Why don’t we all go back to playing this fun game, yeah? I’m going to flood Ryoma’s lab, bye bye!”

“You’re gonna what?” Ryoma asks, not believing that he heard that last part right.

Kokichi runs off, ignoring everyone’s chaotic chatters.

“Hey… he’s not actually going to flood my lab, is he?” Ryoma questions.

“I’m sure he’s not, you know how Kokichi can be…” Shuichi thinks about him and adds, “But just in case, you should go check.”

Feeling tired of everything that’s happened, Himiko runs to her room while everyone was distracted in talking to one another. ‘This is all my fault, isn’t it? I’m the one who gave him the love potion… He must be feeling so bad right now, I’m terrible…’

Himiko presses on the pillow that she put on her face and an idea comes to mind. ‘I know, I’ll give him a reverse potion! If the love potion worked, then the reverse one should work too! Then he’ll go back to not liking me, and insulting me, and… then I’ll stop hurting him!’

Himiko gets off of her bed and goes to her lab, luckily only running into Kirumi who got the hint that she doesn’t want to talk at the moment.

. . .

It only took seven minutes to make the potion, yet Himiko didn’t find Kokichi at Ryoma’s lab like he said he would be at; of course, he lied.

Himiko pulls out the map on the Monopad and sees that he’s in his room. That seems like a good place to hand him the potion… Himiko felt embarrassed as she knocked on his door. From the inside, she can hear what sounds like lots of things being moved, making her question what he’s doing in there.

‘I’m going into a boy’s room… well, I shouldn’t feel nervous, he did go into my room… he even slept next to me in bed…’ she blushed at the thought.

The noises inside stopped and… “Who is it?” Kokichi chirped as if nothing bad happened to him a while ago.

“Nyeh… It’s Himiko…” Himiko answers, not being all too confident that he’ll open the door once knowing that it’s her. Silence ensues and then… “Himiko wants to visit me in my room!?”

She’s surprised that he’s in a good enough mood to tease her, or maybe he’s just putting up a happy act. Either way, it didn’t stop her face from burning. “No! I mean- yeah! I mean- I just want to see you!”

Kokichi opens the door and she sees that he’s changed back into his usual clothing. His hair looked like he tried to get it back to how he usually styles it yet the gel makes it look off. His room looks fairly clean, something that surprised her.

“You’re pretty cruel to be wanting to see me after rejecting me like that. Do you want me to feel worse?” He asks, letting her into his room.

“No! I’m here to make you feel better!” Himiko claims.

“Oh…” Kokichi jots his eyes to the bed and back to her and says as if flustered, “I- I didn’t know you were that kind of girl… Wow…”

“Nyeh!? What are you getting at!? I’m just going to give you a drink!” Himiko explains, holding up a small bottle filled with blue liquid.

“A drink…?” Kokichi takes the bottle from her and examines it. “How would a drink make me feel better?”

“Err… it's a special drink, it cures heartbreak,” Himiko answers, not being all too sure that telling him it’s a potion would make him drink it.

“Is it poison? Because death also cures heartbreak.”

“No! I would never kill someone!”

Kokichi looks at her dead in the eyes and smiles, “Yeah, that’s why you’re so great…”

Hearing his compliment makes her feel more guilty than she already was. “D-drink it already…”

Kokichi chugs the whole liquid down and licks his lips. “It tastes sweet.”

“Well…? Do you feel any different?” Himiko asks, waiting for the moment of truth.

“No, I feel the same… madly in love with you.”

Being far from the answer she wants to hear, she comforts herself with the thought that the spell book she used said that this potion could take one to four minutes to activate. Two minutes pass of Kokichi repeatedly asking if the drink worked despite him being the one who's supposed to tell if it did all for the sake of annoying her.

“Hey, Himiko…”

The magician thinks of ignoring him, believing that he’ll only repeat the same question he’s been asking her, but spoke anyway, “Yes?”

“I lied about that drink being sweet, it was actually terrible.”

“...Nice of you to drink the whole thing, then.”

Just two more minutes, once two more minutes pass, Kokichi will go back to normal, back to not liking her and not telling her sweet things that make her feel just the tiniest bit happy about herself…

“...How do you feel now?”

“Like I want to hug you.”

That’s been four minutes, and nothing has changed. “Y-you sure…?” she wants to hear him say he’s lying.

“...Yeah.”

Himiko gets it now, that potion was a curse. She ruined him, made him unable to function. The thought of that made her start tearing up. “Huh? Why are you crying?” Kokichi asked, leaning to the side to find her face that’s covered by her hair.

“Because it’s all my fault! I tricked you into drinking a love potion and now you can’t go back to normal!” Himiko cried, turning her face away from him.

He goes quiet for a while and then speaks, “It’s okay, I’ve been tricking you, too.”

“What…?” Himiko looks up at him and sees the most mischievous smirk she’s ever seen a person do, making her shoulders stiff and tears stop.

“I’ve been tricking you, that potion of yours never worked. Of course it didn’t; you’re a phoney.”

His mocking self returns just like that and she had to repeat what he said in her head to understand what’s happening. “It didn’t work…? You’ve been lying this whole time?” her low voice raises into a higher one, “So everything you said about loving me was a lie!?”

“Was it? I only said I tricked you into thinking that your potion worked. Was my feelings really a lie?”

Is he hinting at her? Himiko felt very flustered, especially since that’ll mean that he’s actually confessing to her. Everything he said and did would be genuine, his actual feelings to the bottom of his heart that no magic is affecting.

“Well- I guess you also have to consider if my feelings would be a lie if the potion did work, but maybe I’ve been lying about loving you without the potion, too. In the end, there’s a lot of lies to get through and one truth, do you want to try to figure me out?”

He’s making a whole puzzle for her, and although Himiko’s really good at puzzles, she finds herself being too tired and confused at the moment to figure him out. “I don’t have to figure you out… If you really do love me, then I’m sure you won’t be able to hide it forever.”

“You think I won’t be able to keep a secret like that? Trust me, if I really did like you, I’ll never tell you until the very end!” Kokichi claimed, feeling challenged.

“What even is ‘the very end’? Nyeh… Whatever, I seriously don’t care anymore. I can’t believe you’ve been giving me a hard time and got everyone to support you all for a big joke…” Himiko sighed. She felt kind of crushed that her magic turned out not to be real.

“Hey! My love for you isn’t a joke, Himiko!” Kokichi huffed.

“What…?” Himiko looks at him to see a cheeky grin on his face. “Stop messing with me!”

“Okay, from now on, I’ll stop messing with you; I love you.”

“What the- did you lie when you said you’ll stop messing with me!?”

“No, of course not! ...Nishishishi.”

“Ugh… For if you actually like me or not, in the end, it doesn’t matter since you’re annoying both ways,” Himiko groaned, walking towards the door.

“But you want me to like you, right?”

“No! Why would I want that?”

“Cause you like me! Why else would you make me drink a love potion?”

“That’s because- ah… Explaining things to you is a pain, I’m leaving!” Himiko walks out the door and closes it, hearing a “Goodbye, my lovely, dumb little monkey” from him before the door was completely closed.

As she goes to her own room, she thinks, ‘Does he actually like me? Why should I care if he does!? Why am I even thinking about it!? He’s a liar; every nice thing he says is a lie…’

She steps inside her room and looks at the big bear plush he gave her as a gift. ‘No… who would go through all that work and energy just to make a joke?’ she questions while squeezing the soft teddy bear into a hug. ‘He does love me!’ she giggles to herself at the thought.

Chapter Text

It has been a day since that whole fiasco between Himiko and Kokichi, and all of the silly, romantic antics he did with her stopped just like that. Shame, really, it was like a story from a shoujo manga. Well, it’s not like getting back on track would be a bad thing, Danganronpa will now continue with its main story. Tsumugi remembers hearing from the company that there would be bonus scenes that even she didn’t know about, and the one she just went through really was a pleasant surprise.

As she walks to her dorm, she wonders if any other bonus scenes will show up and how much it will affect the characters; how much did it affect Kokichi and Himiko? Kokichi seems to have gone more distant and Himiko seems a bit more happy of herself. Well- maybe- it’s hard to tell for Himiko since she’s not at the state where she shows more of her emotions yet.

Thinking about the bonus scenes made her a bit disappointed that she has to play a role that doesn’t get too close to any of the characters; although, she doesn’t think she’s doing all too good with that rule, especially considering the note she saw taped to her room door.

She didn’t think she’d get a bonus scene of her own other than the one between Rantaro and Kaede- who are both dead now- but she feels as if one has just been activated, one that’s making her heart race from excitement to the point where she squealed loud enough to attract the attention of others.

“Tsumugi, are you okay? What happened?” Shuichi worryingly asks as he sprints up to her.

“I have a secret admirer!” Tsumugi gushes, taking a hold of the card and showing it to Shuichi. “Ah, what a simple yet wonderful trope…”

Shuichi reads the pastel pink card that’s decorated with a ribbon frame printed on to it out loud, “You’re generic and plain, yet you still caught my eye; I’m surprised that someone as simple as you can light my world up like a firefly….”

The detective debates if he should tell her the mood he’s getting from the note and decides to tell her, “Honestly… this letter kind of sounds like an insult.”

Tsumugi tilts her head with confusion and asks, “What do you mean? Are you talking about how they called me plain? Because they’re right; there are a lot more fun people here to gain a crush on, I’m really plain.”

Taking note to how she naturally thinks of herself as plain and seems fine by it, Shuichi doesn’t worry about the idea of her being self-conscious. But now since he pointed it out, it has him wondering who would have a crush on Tsumugi and yet send her something that seems passive-aggressive. From the way Tsumugi’s eagerly staring at him as if she wants to ask for a favour, he feels as if he’s going to get his answer soon enough.

“Shuichi, would it be okay if you help me figure out who my secret admirer is?” Tsumugi requests.

“Sure thing. I’m kind of interested in this myself,” Shuichi accepts. Tsumugi suddenly gives him a focused glare that made him twitch until she broke her expression and states, “No, it can’t be you… If we were in an anime, I’d be one of the side characters while you’d be one of the main ones, so there’s no way it’s you.”

If Tsumugi was seriously going to single out her options through tropes, Shuichi doesn’t believe she’ll get much of a good result in the end. “Tell me if your secret admirer sends you anything else, okay?” Shuichi instructs, handing her back the card.

No matter how many times he goes through the list, the only person he could think of who would send her a note like that was Kokichi for a joke. However, Kokichi has already done a bigger joke to Himiko about something similar to this, so there’s no way that he's behind it... but just to be sure… “Kokichi, did you sent Tsumugi that note?”

“What note?” as expected, Kokichi responds to Shuichi’s question with another question.

If he really doesn't know then Shuichi finds it best not to tell him. “Nevermind, just tell me if you’ve been messing with Tsumugi.”

“What kind of messing? Like, a pranking kind of messing or that kind of messing or the kind of messing around that I’m doing to you?”

“...I mean the kind of messing that you did to Himiko.”

Kokichi stops his swaying that was making Shuichi’s eyes dizzy and stays still for a second only to break out into a dramatic act, “You think I was messing with Himiko? Do you think my love is a lie!? I’ll have you know, Himiko and I are going to have a romantic, magical life together and have a wedding where I carry her to a majestic horse and we ride off to our castle, and during our wedding, I’ll say something like, ‘Remember when we were younger and I forced you into a wedding only for it to go horribly wrong?’, and we’ll laugh about it together as we look forward to our new life with one another.”

Shuichi stares at the boy who basically made a romance story about him right there on the spot, being speechless. Kokichi drops the dramatic confidence on his face and laughs, “Nishishi, I’m only kidding… That’ll never happen…”

At this point, Shuichi finds himself not only questioning who Tsumugi’s secret admirer is, but also what’s Kokichi’s actual feelings for Himiko.

. . .

Finding a heart-shaped box next to her dorm room, Tsumugi tries to play it dense. “Wow, who’s this heart shaped box plainly sitting on the floor for? It can’t be for boring ol’ me, can it?” Tsumugi picks it up and sees her name signed right on the cover in blue pen, making her squeal under her breath. She opens it up and finds chocolates inside. Plopping one in her mouth, she feels like she’s the main character of a romance anime, although, that feeling was thrown out when the shock of disgust going all around her tastebuds hit her hard. Done by reflexes, she spits the chocolate out onto the floor.

Having the putrid taste still stuck in her mouth, she rushes to her room’s bathroom and brushes her teeth as if scrubbing out rust.

“My admirer is trying to kill me!” she hissed and thought in an attempt to make herself feel better, ‘Well, at least this means that he cooked these himself…’

She walks out of her room and spots Himiko. “Hey Himiko,” she calls out to her, “When Kokichi was being all lovey-dovey with you, did he ever give you any treats?”

“What do you mean ‘was’? He’s still being lovey-dovey to me right now,” Himiko claimed.

“He’s talking to you less than he did before that whole stunt.”

“Yeah, but that’s ‘cause he got shy. I can still feel his aura, it screams that he really likes me.”

Well, this is certainly giving Himiko some confidence, so Tsumugi decided not to push her on it.

Himiko continues, “Anyway, about the sweets thing… he gave me lots of sweets.”

“Lots of it?” Tsumugi asks, wanting her to clarify.

“Cookies, chocolates, macarons… I still have a lot in my room.”

“Can I try some chocolate?”

“Sure,” Himiko goes into her room and comes back out with a box of chocolates. Tsumugi pops one in her mouth and is immediately filled with sugary goodness. “This is simply good… There’s no other thing to it, it’s just plain good…” Tsumugi spoke to herself. She feels as if she was beginning to have more of an idea as to who her admirer is.

“Uh… yeah… I mean, Kirumi probably helped him make it… or probably made the whole thing,” Himiko guessed.

Shuichi made his way up to the two girls, asking Tsumugi right away, “Tsumugi, did your secret admirer give you anything else?”

“He gave me chocolate that only Mizuki Himeji could make…” Tsumugi answered.

“Who’s Mizuki?”

“Oh, you don’t get the reference. He basically gave me chocolate that tastes so bad that you’d feel like you’ve been poisoned.”

Shuichi takes in this new information and thanks Tsumugi for sharing, going back to interrogating.

“You have a secret admirer?” Himiko asks, having heard the conversation.

“Yep. Doesn’t it seem like something out of a story?” Tsumugi bubbled. “But… he’s really bad at giving things.”

“Nyeh, Kokichi was really great at giving me stuff; he filled up my whole room.”

“That’s sweet, but in the end, all that matters is the genuine affection they put into it, right?”

“I mean, I guess…” Himiko feels some of her confidence drop.

. . .

Kokichi was enjoying a grilled cod that Kirumi made for him when he heard the table be smacked and Shuichi shout, “You’re wrong!”

The leader felt his heart pop out of his chest and thought that he was going to be as dead as the fish he’s eating for a second. Once he calmed down, he put on a bright, perky smile and asked, “Wrong about what, my beloved Shuichi?”

“Okay- calling me that just further proves my point…” Shuichi sweats while still trying to keep a bad cop act. “You’re pulling a prank on Tsumugi! You always teasingly flirt with people, you just did it to me and you’ve done it to Himiko, too!”

“I told you already, what I did with Himiko wasn’t a prank,” Kokichi pushed his claim.

“If that’s true, then why haven’t you been giving her any attention?”

“I have been giving her attention… in spirit,” Kokichi answers in a hushed tone and breaks it with his laugh. “I’m just kidding, only someone weird like Kiyo would say that and actually mean it.”

Feeling as if they’re drifting from the point, Shuichi goes back on track, “Kokichi, you better tell Tsumugi now that you’ve been pulling a prank on her. She’s actually really excited about the idea of a secret admirer.”

“I’d be excited too if I was that unattractive,” Kokichi joked and asked when seeing Shuichi’s serious face, “Where’s your proof that I have anything to do with it, Mr Detective? Do you really think I’d spent my time focusing on someone as boring as Tsumugi?”

Shuichi shoots one word out as if it answers everything, “Chocolates!”

Growing confused, Kokichi asks, “What about them?”

“Tsumugi said that her admirer sent her chocolates that were beyond terrible, and anything that terrible can only be purposely made. Why would anyone purposely make horrible chocolates to give to someone? As a prank! And who is it from all of us who’s the only one who likes to pull lots of pranks? It’s you, Kokichi Oma!” Shuichi feels like he just broke one of the greatest cases when declaring that.

“What makes you think the chocolates were made as a prank? I say that they were made from a big idiot who doesn’t know how to cook. Now, who’s the biggest idiot here…?” Kokichi puts his fingers to his chin as if thinking about it, “Ah! I know! Kaito! It’s Kaito!”

“Why would it be Kaito? He barely ever speaks to Tsumugi.”

“Well, I just need you to know that it’s totally not me; only Himiko has the honour of getting pandered by me.”

Shuichi gives Kokichi a long stare and the shorter boy creeps up a devious smile, looking to his cod and saying, “What’s wrong, Shuichi? Do my claims seem… fishy to you?”

After that pun, Shuichi only wanted to step six feet away from him.

. . .

Tsumugi was beginning to feel very disappointed. With Himiko’s event, Kokichi was so passionate about it and everyone was in on it, so she feels as if hers is a lot more lacklustre.

Speaking of Himiko, the girl showed up to her with bottles as she had her in mind. “Tsumugi, I have a great idea! You make every guy drink a love potion!” Himiko suggested, displaying her bottles of pink liquid.

“Why? To be the main character of a reverse harem?” Tsumugi asks.

“No, to figure out who likes you. After they drink the love potions, every guy would change and shower you with lots of affection except for one, and that one wouldn’t change because he loved you from the start,” Himiko explained.

“Oooh… Is that how you think it is with Kokichi?”

“I know it is! He loved me from the start, that’s why it didn’t work!” Himiko hands Tsumugi the love potions and pauses before saying, “B-but if they don’t work, then it’s because I didn’t brew it good… not because I can’t do real magic… I can do real magic.”

Tsumugi ignores what Himiko’s saying as she counts the number of bottles twice. “Uh-huh… Hey, do you know that there are only six bottles?”

“Yeah?” Himiko responds, unsure as to why the cosplayer pointed it out.

“There are seven guys here…”

Himiko sweats a bit and stutters, “I- I mean… making enough potions for all seven guys would be a pain…”

Getting an idea as to why there’s one less of a potion, Tsumugi teased by being oblivious, “Well, I guess Ryoma would just have to miss out on it, then.”

“Nyeh! No!” Himiko shouts out and quickly shuts her mouth when she sees the smirk on Tsumugi’s face. “I’m- I’m seventy per cent sure that Ryoma’s your admirer, so you have to get him.”

“Alright then, I’ll skip out on Kokichi.”

“Yeah, tis' just how it’s gotta be.”

Tsumugi stifled in laughter from her response. “Are you sure you don’t have one extra potion?”

“Yep, not a single one.”

“Alright, just asking… because if you miss Kokichi’s pandering…”

“What? Why would I miss that? His pandering was annoying,” Himiko couldn’t tell if her statement was completely the truth. “Plus, it never worked on him, anyway, ‘cause he already likes me.”

“You’re still think that, huh…?” Tsumugi purposely asks a question that she knows would lower Himiko’s confidence.

“Of course I do… Why wouldn’t I?”

“You know, because Kokichi hasn’t been giving you any attention at all lately… and he’s a liar.” Tsumugi has a habit of bringing people’s hopes down, it’s a habit that she picked up on from watching a certain someone for so long.

“Nyeh… It’s because he’s gotten shy,” Himiko says, sounding like she’s speaking to herself.

“Kokichi being shy…? I guess…” Tsumugi shrugs and smiles once more at Himiko, thanking her before she walks off with the potions.

Himiko is sure that it’s because he’s shy, at least that’s what she kept on repeating to herself in her head.

Tsumugi stares at the potions, not knowing what to do with them. Obviously, they were fakes, but Himiko would be heavily upset if she rejected in taking them. As she thinks about it, she’s approached by Shuichi, who asks with curiosity, “What are those, Tsumugi?”

“They’re love potions made by Himiko,” Tsumugi chuckles.

“Why would she give you those?”

“So I can play an elimination game where the one who already loves me will stick out because nothing will change about him. Cute idea, really, but it won’t work. Magic simply isn’t real.”

“Yeah…” Shuichi nodded his head, sounding as if he’s in thought. “So what are you going to do with them?”

Tsumugi shrugs, “I don’t know… Maybe they taste good. Here, try one.”

Shuichi takes a bottle and looks at it quizzingly before taking a sip only to immediately cringe at the taste. “What the-!? This is so bad! I’m tasting a lot of spices in my mouth.”

Shuichi’s distress has caught the attention of Gonta, who quickly ran up to him and asked, “Is Shuichi okay!?”

“Yes…” Shuichi answers with a sigh, calming down after seeing that he’s gotten the entomologist worried. “I just need some water to wash the bad taste out.”

“Oh… What did Shuichi drink?”

“A love potion,” Tsumugi answers.

“A love potion?! But- but now Shuichi will be obsessed with Tsumugi like Kokichi was to Himiko,” Gonta says with worry.

Tsumugi stares at him in silence for a short while before answering, “Did no one tell you that Kokichi was faking it? The potions aren’t real, they don’t work.”

Gonta looks like he’s having a tough time understanding what she said but nonetheless says, “So… Kokichi’s love is real?”

“No, it was fake all to play a mean joke on Himiko,” Tsumugi explains, frowning at Kokichi’s actions.

“Sorry… Gonta not understand. He sure that Kokichi not faking.”

Hearing him say that, Tsumugi’s smile returns as she tells him in admiration, “You’re too nice to understand something so mean.”

“Thank you for thinking that Gonta’s nice! Gentleman must be nice!” Gonta thanks happily. “But is Tsumugi sad that potion not work?”

“No, I knew they wouldn’t work, so no harm done.”

“Some harm happened to my tastebuds…” Shuichi muttered, earning a snort from the cosplayer.

Gonta looked sorry for Tsumugi as if not understanding that she really doesn’t care. “You got the potions from Himiko, right? I’ll go tell Himiko that she needs to practice more,” he informs before walking off.

“Um- Gonta- never mind…” Shuichi tries to stop him but is unheard as the much larger man runs off. “Should we let him go like that…?”

“Yeah, why not? I’m plainly certain that Himiko would feel happy that someone is taking her magic seriously,” Tsumugi responds. She stares at the potions that are still in her arms and says, “I’m going to empty these out and put them in the trash.”

“I think that’s for the best,” Shuichi agrees.

. . .

Kokichi found the whole prank he pulled on Himiko incredibly fun to the point where he’s actually missing it. It was a good excuse for him to not focus on the killing game but instead on his love life. Selfish really, to be focusing on one’s love life instead of making plans to save everyone, but he found it as one of his only perfect chances, especially considering that without using the potion as an excuse, there’s no way he can naturally tell Himiko all those things he did.

Something about looking at her- about even thinking about her- makes him go into a nervous habit of lying. Well, he wouldn’t want her to get too attached to him anyway; they’re in a killing game, it would be terrible if something bad happens to him and she has to suffer from that outcome.

But now, as he sees empty glass bottles in Himiko’s handwriting labelled “love potion” in the classroom trash, there’s a part of him that wants to lie and act like he drank the potions just to have an excuse to be with her again. But he fights that urge because he shouldn’t build any strong relations such as love; he already exceeded the limit with leaving Himiko to think about if he really likes her or not. Besides, there’s no way that she’ll fall for the same trick twice.

This is fine, he shouldn’t be too upset; after all, he’s got some more pranks up his sleeves.

. . .

Shuichi wouldn’t call himself a great detective, but he’s so certain that he’s solved Tsumugi’s case at this moment. Especially now, when he’s looking at a lined paper taped to her door with Kokichi’s exact handwriting on it. There’s a whole passage of cursive writing on top that suddenly flips into typed writing belonging of the leader with no explanation.

The letter states in sloppy cursive, “I know it’s dumb, but I really love you, Tsumugi. I know I’m stupid, so, so stupid, but I really love you. Is ‘love’ too embarrassing of a word? Then I like you, really, really, really, ten times really like you. Did I fall in love with you too fast? Is it too early? I’m sorry if it is. I just think you’re really nice,” to then switch to typed writing, “Oh, and I hope you’re not into that boring detective. His detective skills? Through the roof. But his actual personality? Lame! Lame, lame, lame! You know who’s not lame? The person who’s not an emo boy like Shuichi, a person like me! And for a detective, the dude can’t even figure out who your secret admirer is which is sooooo obvious. Hurry up and figure out who I am, Tsumugi! Use that average IQ brain of yours!”

“Aww… That’s so sweet,” Tsumugi swoons from behind an annoyed Shuichi. “Well… I think it is. Maybe? I kind of feel like they were trying to insult me in the end, even though they’re only pointing out the truth.”

“Your ‘admirer’ called me ‘emo boy’. Do you know who’s the only person who calls me emo boy? Kokichi! He’s pranking you and he’s denying it!” Shuichi claims.

“Got to be plainly honest with you, Shuichi, I plainly call you emo boy under my breath, and I’m pretty sure that I’m plainly not the only one. It’s a pretty plain thing to know, though, so- uh- don’t think about it too much,” no matter how much “plain” Tsumugi could sprinkle into her rather insulting confession, it did not make Shuichi feel any less insulted.
“Well… Kokichi is the only one to outright say it, so…!” Shuichi awkwardly reasons. “Besides, this is his handwriting; I know after seeing the many letters he sent to Himiko.”

“I know, too…” a saddening voice is heard behind them, making them turn around to see Himiko with slanted eyebrows. “You shouldn’t get excited, Tsumugi, Kokichi is just pulling one of his cruel pranks.”

“Are you okay, Himiko…?” Shuichi asks in concern. He really wishes that she wasn’t in the same room as them to hear who Tsumugi’s so-called admirer is after seeing how upset she looks.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? Kokichi’s nothing but a lying jerk who likes to be a total pain. He doesn’t care at all about anyone’s feelings because he’s evil, as he’s stated so many times. I never fell for his stupid tricks for one second, and you shouldn’t, either,” she denounces the purple haired boy with no mercy, her sad expression quickly being wiped off with one of disgust. However, Shuichi catches the way her angered frown flinches, and he timidly mumbles her name only for her to quickly turn around and walk to her room without facing anything but the floor.

“Aw… Poor Himiko… Does that mean my secret admirer was nothing but a joke this whole time?” Tsumugi asks in disappointment. “I mean, I guess I can’t say that I’m surprised. A girl as plain as I could in no way get something as interesting as a secret admirer.”

Shuichi is feeling bad for both girls now. Kokichi has drawn the line, and he found it within him to make the boy apologize for messing around with people’s emotions.

He finds Kokichi in a classroom with Gonta, trying to explain something that the giant seems confused about.

“But Tsumugi tell me that love potions do not work, so how could it have worked on Kokichi?” Gonta asks.

Sounding like he’s been trying to explain his reasoning for the past minutes, Kokichi answers with a forced smile, “Because Kokichi’s weak. Kokichi’s so weak that he got affected by a potion that isn’t even real, got it? But that’s why Kokichi has someone as strong as Gonta, got it? Are we clear on that?”

Gonta nods his head to show that he finally understood.

Kokichi relaxes his shoulders and pats Gonta on the back. “Good. Now stop talking about this, we have a detective eavesdropping on us. What are you doing spying on us, Shuichi? I expected this kind of creepy behaviour from Korekiyo, not you.”

As the name was spoken, Korekiyo emerges through the shadows of the corners of the classroom as if he’s been summoned and justifies, “I don’t spy on people, I merely observe them without them noticing my presence.”

He walks out of the room without any further input, making everyone stare at him wide-eyed. “...How long has he been there?” Kokichi asked nervously.

“Um… Well… it doesn’t matter how long he’s been there, what matters is how much you’re going to mess with people until you reach your limit!” Shuichi shoots, trying to transition the awkward event that just happened into something more pressuring.

Kokichi lets out a surprised gasp, “Shuichi! Are you accusing me of something? After all those many times I saved your behind from the cops, this is what you do to me?”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“Oh yeah, it wasn’t you who I saved, it was Gonta.”

“Gonta was in trouble with cops!?” Gonta shouts in shock, believing Kokichi despite not recalling ever being in trouble with the police.

Shuichi tries to keep a serious mood going, stammering, “St-stop joking around, Kokichi! This is serious!”

“Why should I? You never stopped joking around after the many times I poured my heart out to you!” Kokichi sobs.

“Seriously… cut that out.”

“Okay,” Kokichi quickly shifts into an obedient state, stopping his fake sobs and looking at Shuichi intensely. Unfortunately, it was so intense that it made Shuichi lose some of his confidence. “Um… Yeah, so, I’m going to need you to stop your cruel pranks and apologise to the girls because you hurt their feelings, okay…?”

“Alright,” Kokichi gave in so easily that Shuichi thought he heard wrong till the boy continues, “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings, Shuichi.”

“What? Hey- you’re still joking around!”

“Stop getting mad at me for joking, it’s making you a complete hypocrite! I mean, that tough act you’re trying to pull is a huge joke!”

Shuichi was about to say something only to pause and say as calmly as he can, “Himiko’s crying, you know.”

“And I care… why?” Kokichi asks, looking at his palm as if it’s a lot more interesting than the conversation he’s having.

“Because you’re the reason why she’s crying.”

Kokichi stares straight into the detective’s eyes and smirks, “Liar. She’s not crying at all.”

Kokichi’s right, Shuichi is lying, lying in order to get him to care more. And with that thought, Shuichi continues to hold on to his lie, responding, “It sounds like you just don’t want to admit that you made Himiko cry.”

“No, I wouldn’t care if I did,” Kokichi denied.

“Yes, you would. You’re calling me a liar but you’re lying right now.”

Kokichi goes silent only to then let out a forced chuckle, “Nishi… I hate you, Shuichi. Fine, we’re both liars. The evil leader has a soft spot, what a big deal. What did I even do that could upset her?”

“You gave Tsumugi that love note. You’ve actually upset both Himiko and Tsumugi with your prank.”

“What? That note was only supposed to upset you!” Kokichi accidentally shouts in a voice too loud, causing Shuichi’s eyes to open wide in surprise.

“Me? How could that upset me?” Shuichi puzzles.

Gonta, after quietly listening to them for so long, finally speaks, “Gonta is confused; why did Kokichi send Tsumugi a love note? Does Kokichi love Tsumugi!? Why he help Gonta then!?”

Shuichi was confused about the last question Gonta asked, but before he could say anything about it, Kokichi yells impatiently at the entomologist, “It’s your love note, idiot!”

“Kokichi made Gonta a love note?!” Gonta asked in surprise, becoming more and more confused. Kokichi immediately facepalms at that response and huffs in order to calm himself down, instructing, “Shut up. Just shut up so I can explain everything, and that goes for the both of you.”

Shuichi was surprised at the sudden order but decided to obey nonetheless.

. . .

Tsumugi lays bored on her bed, listening to her thoughts. ‘This was a rather cruel bonus time event, Team Danganronpa could have at least given me a heads up… or maybe they did that so I could experience despair. I was silly to think that I, the plainest character in all of Danganronpa, could ever have something interesting going on. Why was I so excited about love, anyway? I should’ve known it was Kokichi this whole time. Danganronpa isn’t about love, it’s about hope and despair and the killings… When can we get back to the actual story?’

Her depressing thoughts get interrupted when she feels something tickle her arm. On quick reflexes, she brings her sleeves up and spots a bug, flinging her arm for the insect to fly off of it. She tries to go back to her thoughts only to feel another bug on her arm.

“What the…?” as she wonders what’s going on, she sees an insect fall out from her hair… and another… and about three more, and that’s when she finds it within herself to scream.

The cosplayer can notice them all so clearly now, insects crawling on her bed and whatever else she has in her room. “That’s it, I’m in a horror manga written by Junji Ito himself. I should just wait for a huge centipede to come crawling out of my head,” she attempts to joke to herself to calm herself down but doesn’t feel much more at ease.

Her eyes turn their attention over to the box on the floor full of chocolates, where bugs were coming out of like a generator. She runs up to it and whimpers at the stink bug that comes out of it before shutting it completely closed. “Seriously!? He left bugs in the box? I heard of chocolate bugs, but I never asked for bugs on chocolates! This is too mean even for Kokichi! How did he even get all these bugs in the box when he’s afraid of bugs?” she complains to herself and then pauses, thinking about the last thing she said. ‘He is afraid of bugs, he’d try to avoid them whenever he can… but… the person who always assists him isn’t…’

Tsumugi gets an idea in her head of what could be going on and takes out her Monopad, locating Gonta’s icon right next to Kokichi’s and Shuichi’s. With a huff, she makes sure to look tough and serious as she stomps over to the classroom that they’re at.

Although, before she could show off her irritated look, Kokichi opens the door and ignores her as he walks by with an even more irritated look, leaving her confused. She was hoping to speak to him and Gonta together, but nonetheless, she steps into the classroom and shouts Gonta’s name.

“Tsumugi? You shouldn’t disrupt the class during a lesson,” Gonta lectures, making the cosplayer’s anger get distracted with a puzzled look.

Thinking on where to start, Shuichi tries to explain to her, “Um… I figured everything out, Tsumugi; or rather, was straight up told.”
“Whatever you learned could wait for later, I just want to know why Gonta listened to Kokichi and put bugs in the chocolate box!” Tsumugi demands.

“Huh? Tsumugi not like her surprise friends? Aww, Kokichi was right! Gonta should have never put bugs in box!” Gonta pouts in regret.

“What? You mean Kokichi never told you to do that?” Tsumugi asks, feeling the idea in her mind of what’s going on slowly crumbling apart.

“No, Kokichi was helping Gonta but Gonta never listened!”

“Gonta, I’ve told you already, Kokichi wasn’t helping you, he was messing with you,” Shuichi corrects him. “Let me try to explain what has been happening: Gonta overheard you being excited when you thought that Himiko had a secret admirer, hearing you say something about being ‘too plain’ to have one yourself. Thinking that you were upset by that, he wanted to make you feel better by making you believe that you have a secret admirer. Kokichi caught on to what he had in mind and said that he’ll help him out when in actuality, he only wanted to pull a bunch of pranks on you. At some point, Kokichi noticed how certain I was about him being the admirer that he began to bring a lot more of his own personality into things and less of Gonta’s to the point where he wrote at the end of Gonta’s last letter things that he would say only to make me feel more frustrated over him not admitting to being the secret admirer.”

Shuichi felt like he just made a closing argument in a court when he finished explaining all of that.

“Really? So… I don’t actually have anyone liking me in the end?” Tsumugi asks, taking it all in.

Gonta quickly rejects, “No, that is not true! Gonta likes Tsumugi! Gonta was planning on telling Tsumugi directly, but he saw how happy she looked with the thought of having a secret admirer, so he thought that it would be better to tell her in that way.”

“Oh… oh. R-really!?” Tsumugi flusteredly blushed when she realized that the entomologist just confessed about liking her. Surprised about the whole thing, she tries to reason it in her head, ‘Wait, if he really likes me, then how can the story progress with his feelings for me being different? By the way the script was written, no one is supposed to love me; Gonta was only meant to be like a friend. Maybe they just added this relationship in and never told me? No way, this is way too big of a change for them to not tell me. Why does Gonta like me then? I mean, I do like him, he’s my favourite character and… I’m going to be upset when the time comes for him to get executed and… I’m wishing that he could be one of the survivors, but… he shouldn’t love me in the first place.’

“Gonta, I like you too, but…” Tsumugi tries to speak through her dizziness when she suddenly had her hands held by Gonta, who excitedly asked, “Really!? So you’ll be Gonta’s lady?”

Something to reset everyone’s emotions should happen now. Gonta shouldn’t be having an emotion that can heavily change the story; this is all just a bonus event, everyone should go back to normal as if nothing happened by now.

Getting the feeling that nothing was resetting, Tsumugi slips her hands away from Gonta, her face blushing read with nervous sweat as she stammers, “Hold on- I- I have to go… I have to check on something!”

Before she could see any of the boy's reactions, she rushed out of the room, not knowing where she wanted to run to exactly. The lair, she’ll go to the lair that no one knows about.

She runs into the girl’s bathroom and finds no one there to her luck, going into the stall that leads to a passageway to her hideout.

Once their, she turns on her laptop and checks Gonta’s character code. ‘This is something written into his character; he’s fictional, after all. Any kind of feelings anyone of them could have for one another would all be fictional in the end, fake. So… why can’t I find anything in the coding about Gonta falling in love? This whole event isn’t in the system, what’s going on? Did I somehow mess up the storyline? Did I hang out too much with Gonta? I couldn’t help it! He’s my favourite from everyone else! How could he have fallen for someone as plain as me? How could anyone be interested in someone as plain as me? I’m not special…’

Tsumugi was completely confused, lots of thoughts and emotions flooding her as she tried to understand things. It was easy for her to devote her life to Danganronpa because she didn’t believe she had anything more important to devote herself to; no one really grew an interest in her, everything was neutral. It was going to be easy for her to play by the story of the fifty-third season of Danganronpa- exciting even- but now she’s having trouble.

‘Why does Gonta have to be so nice? This shouldn’t be right, it’s all fictional, it’s all fake and coded, he can’t develop feelings that isn’t in the system!’

. . .

Kokichi stands in front of Himiko’s room door, not knowing what he planned on doing. ‘If I actually hurt her feelings, then that’s a good thing, right? Because then she won’t grow attached to me if I die. That’s what I want, so I should keep it that way…’

He says this yet stays where he’s at. ‘Geez, you’re so selfish! Why do you care so much about her knowing that you like her? You always hide your true emotions anyway, why not do that this one time where it’s necessary?’

Despite the persuasion he’s giving himself to turn away, he still remains still. ‘Alright then, just apologise to her. Just do it. Do it… but… I don’t want to…’

Kokichi groans at himself. He finds that he clearly doesn’t know what he wants.

His shoulders spring up in surprise when he hears someone suddenly narrating, “The liar stands in front of his lover’s door, arguing with his own thoughts. The door is the barrier that’s keeping the two so close to each other yet so far away. He could take that barrier down and have a great battle with his emotions as he tries to sort out his feelings to his lover, or he could bottle up all of his emotions and leave the barrier as is in order for no fight to break out, and with that, no true emotions.”

“What the heck are you doing, weirdo?” Kokichi gawks at Korekiyo who was standing behind him.

“Narrating,” Korekiyo answers in one word.

“Sounds like you’re narrating a made up story.”

“Hmm… Maybe I am. Maybe I thought I was thinking of a true story when I wasn’t. That happens with some stories, such as Robin Hood,” Korekiyo informs. “But if it is real, and you really do have feelings for Himiko, then I admire your love; I won’t go after her.”

Kokichi feels as if he doesn’t mean seduce her when he says “go after her”, make the boy feel unnerved as the anthropologist walked away. Feeling concerned about Himiko’s safety, he finally had all of the motivation to bring himself to knock on her door.

He hears a lazy groan and some shuffling before the door opens, Himiko giving him a “what do you want?” look.

The first thing he notices is that her eyes weren’t red, and he points it out right away, “Ha! You’re not crying! I knew Shuichi was lying.”

“Of course I’m not, I never was. I was only moping in bed, trying to fall asleep and failing,” Himiko informs in a monotone voice.

Kokichi puts his arm around the small girl’s shoulders and says, “Yeah, well, you can’t sleep, ‘cause Shuichi sent me here to apologize to you.”

Himiko looks at his arm in annoyance before responding back, “Uh-huh, then you leave me alone and never speak to me again, right?”

“Nnnnnn…” Kokichi holds in a syllable before finishing it, “no. Why are you upset over some lousy note, anyway? It was only a joke.”

“I know it was, it always is.”

There’s a heavy awkward silence before Kokichi teases, “What’s wrooong, Himiko? Want my love for you to not be a joke? Do you liiike meee?”

He squeezes her cheeks, messing with her frown till she pulls herself away and whines, “Stop it! I don’t care what you think of me, I just want you to stop messing with me.”

“But you’re cute when you get mad at me.”

Himiko groans and turns her back on him, trying to avoid having him see the upset look on her face. “I don’t know… There’s just something that felt good about the thought of you liking me. Imagine, someone like Kokichi Oma no longer being able to hide the fact that he has a heart because of a girl like me. You somehow can find the energy to make big setups for me and got everyone involved, and they all looked like they were having a good time. You somehow managed to make everyone enjoy themselves even in a place like this; but it was all a prank, and everything you put up was an act just so you can laugh at me and move on to the next victim, wasn’t it? You don’t really have a heart in the end…”

Kokichi felt tense at her upset tone, feeling something heavy in his throat. He’s not sure on what to do, but he’s deciding to ignore his emotions like he usually does because they’re screaming at him to comfort her and come clean. No, he needs to think logically, and the logical thing to do is to not let her grow attached to him, especially since there’s a high chance that he’ll die. Making her hate him would be the best outcome for her in the end.

“...Nishishi, you should have known from the start that an evil supreme leader wouldn’t have a heart. I don’t care how you people are feeling as long as I’m having fun,” he says mockingly, hating himself more than ever as he hears himself speak.

“Why do you keep saying things like that? Are you trying to get someone to kill you?” Himiko questions him, cranking her head around to stare straight into his eyes. He could tell that she’s trying to cover up any sadness with annoyance.

He asks something that he’s not sure that he should have, “Would anyone care if I was killed?”

Himiko’s shoulders slumped as she answered, “Anyone being murdered is terrible, no one deserves that…”

Kokichi doesn’t know how to respond to that and is pretty sure that he can’t speak at the moment, anyway. Right now, more than ever, he’s angry at the killing game. A girl as innocent as Himiko doesn’t deserve to be in this game, no one does. This isn’t fair, no one deserves to be forced to play this game. He can’t make her hate him, he doesn’t want her to. He wants to be in another place with her, a place where he doesn’t have to cover up any actual emotions of his as all an act, a place where he doesn’t have to use “magic” as an excuse to shower her in love.

“...We’re actually very similar, Himiko.”
. . .

Tsumugi is messing with the coding, not knowing what she’s aiming for exactly. She’s afraid that tampering with it too much would ruin this season of Danganronpa, but then again… ‘This isn’t fair, why would someone actually care for me now? Why in this world? Gonta wasn’t supposed to fall for me, and yet, he did… then again, I did the same… but I don’t want to ruin Danganronpa. Something different, I just want us to be in something different. Put me in an RPG dungeon game with him, a board game, a first-person shooter game, whatever; just not here, not here with his outcome.’

No one can ever be a fan of a girl as plain as Tsumugi, everything about her was supposed to be neutral, and that includes people’s views on her; but this man is not like everyone else, this man is a gentleman who actually took an interest in a simple girl like her. She doesn’t want that to slip away from her; yet, she doesn’t want the franchise of Danganronpa to slip away, either.

. . .

Monokuma’s voice speaks through the speakers, gaining everyone’s attention, “Attention, students! I have a big announcement to make!”

“Yeah! Father’s got a super big announcement!” Monotaro adds only to be shouted at by his father to move it.

“Don’t ruin my announcement! Come down to the gym to hear the crazy surprise, you might like it! Or not… upupupu!”

His anonymous tone made the teens believe that they were getting a motive until another voice spoke through the speakers- or more so, shouted, “Yeah! Get yer’ asses over here, bastards! We got a crazy big announcement!”

“Monokid, you weren’t supposed to speak! I should have kept you dead,” Monokuma grumbles before turning the microphone off.

Tsumugi barely knows what she has done as she steps away from her laptop, her hands feeling sweaty and her legs shaking, but she feels as if she’s done something big.

Kokichi and Himiko look at one another as if waiting to see the other ones move. “...You’re going to go?” Kokichi asks.

“I think Monokuma’s going to force me to if I don’t,” Himiko responds.

“Alright, great! Let’s go,” Kokichi takes her by the hand, catching her by surprise, and begins to drag her with him.

“We don’t have to go together, you know.”

“I know.”

Himiko thinks a bit about that response before letting it go.

Kokichi lets go of Himiko’s hand before they step into the gym, seeing that everyone was already there.

Monokuma stands on stage with all of his cubs behind him- every single one.

“You rebuilt your blue son? I was pretty happy to have him gone… things were quieter,” Ryoma sighed.

“Yeah, well he’s going to have to come back. Trust me when I say that I was happy, too,” Monokuma claims, getting a shocked cry from his son. “Anyway, due to budget cuts- I mean by what’s in demand! Totally changing things because of what’s in demand! I’m cancelling the killing game!”

A large cry of “What!?” cry from the students- well, most of them. Tsumugi is being attacked by her own anxiety, not being able to completely enjoy the moment.

“So we all get to leave!?” Tenko asks in excitement.

“Nope! Instead, you’re all trapped in a dating reality TV show!”

“We’re stuck in a stupid trashy reality TV show!? How the fuck is that in demand? Daytime television sucks!” Miu gawks.

“No it doesn’t, it broadcasts some really interesting shows!” Himiko defends. Kokichi doesn’t know why he feels like he should keep a note of the fact that she likes daytime television.

“No complaining!” Monokuma orders, shutting everyone up. “You children are so ungrateful! Just like my kids. Oh how I love my kids, my precious, adorable, ungrateful kids. I bet you guys will even be ungrateful when I mention that I’m bringing your deceased friends back! Or enemies, I don’t know how you guys viewed each other.”

“What are you talking about?” Maki challenged, getting tired of his unnecessary talk.

“I’m talking about bringing Kaede and Rantaro back with the Necronomicon!” Monokuma announces, showcasing a worn out book like it’s the greatest thing in existence. “We need to bring them back ‘cause they have fans. Eight attractive gals and eight attractive guys, it all works out… Well, I don’t really know if you guys are attractive; for all I know, you could all be really ugly. I can’t really tell since I’m a bear and am only attracted to other bears.”

“I think you’re all very pretty,” Monophanie intels.

“Monophanie, how could you be attracted to humans!? That’s sick!” Monokuma shouted and began to fake cry, “My own daughter, I can’t believe it! We’re going to have a serious talk, missy!”

“What do you mean you're going to bring them back to life? That’s impossible. Is this a cruel joke that I’m not getting?” Kiibo asks.

“It’s not a joke, I’m serious! You don’t believe that I could do it? Because I could do it! I could!” Monokuma shouts, feeling offended. “You all are going to be popping your eyes out once you see them!”

People like Shuichi don’t believe him, thinking that he’s only trying to bring them down, but people like Korekiyo don’t only just believe him, they’re also interested.

“Um… So no more killings?” Tsumugi asks. She wonders if everyone can believe that.

“Yep, no more killings!” Monokuma answers. “Now if you all want to escape, you gotta date! Make sure to create a lot of drama! Steaminess and heartbreaks and all the jazz.”

Angie bounces in joy and bubbles, “Whoo! I knew it! If we stay peacefully in this place, we’ll soon get a happy ending. Let’s see… eenie meenie miney mo , who does Atua say I should choose to date and go?”

“You’re not dating anyone until you score yourself some Date Tickets!” Monokuma instructs, smacking down her pointing hand.

“Awww…” Angie sighs in disappointment. “What are those?”

“They’re tickets that you could earn from da casino to go on dates. We have them to make things more interestin’ and to make ourselves more unique instead of bein’ the same like those other trashy datin’ shows,” Monosuke explains.

Most of the students were finding this big change hard to adjust to or to even believe, but Gonta walked straight up to Tsumugi and gleamed, “Isn’t this great, Tsumugi? Atua must have heard my wish; Angie’s right, he does make wishes come true! I’ll be sure to get a lot of Date Tickets to spend on you.”

“And we can leave together…” Tsumugi mutters, not knowing how to feel until deciding to let her happiness overtake her with, “and I could make you the suit and mask that you deserve!”

“You think Gonta is a gentleman enough to deserve a suit? And… mask?” Gonta asks, flattered yet confused about the mask part.

“Wow, get a load of those love birds! Get a room, you two!” Kokichi teases.

“Kokichi, you were gushing over Himiko just yesterday. You threw a wedding for her,” Korekiyo reminds him.

“Yeah, because she made me drink a love potion. I had no control over the matter,” Kokichi claims.

“I thought we already discussed that the love potion didn’t work. Besides, you never believe in my magic,” Himiko points out.

“I mean, I only did it to annoy Himiko,” Kokichi tries to defend himself once more.

“You kept on yapping about her even when she wasn’t in the room!” Kaito complained.

“Cause- cause- maybe that’s because I was trying to annoy you guys, too, ever thought of that?” Kokichi’s shoots back.

“Is that why you tricked Gonta into giving terrible things to me? Because that sure did annoy me,” Tsumugi stated bitterly.

“Kokichi was tricking me!?” Gonta asked in shock.

“Gonta… I went over this with you three times now,” Shuichi responds in disbelief.

Monokuma gets everyone’s attention by suddenly shouting, “Shut up! I still have to tell ya all the new rules! Geez, we really are in a high school gym.”

. . .

After hearing Monokuma speak about this whole new game, Kokichi was in his room, making up all new theories of what could be happening.

There’s a time limit to this game, but that won’t get him to participate so quickly.

If the time limit runs out without him having a partner by then, he’d be stuck in this place forever, but that still doesn’t get him participating.

Someone could be making a move on Himiko while he’s cooped up in his room, but- hold on, someone could be making a move on Himiko! Kokichi quickly gets out of his room and rushes around the place to find Himiko.

He spots her outside, looking like she’s too nervous to make a move on anyone.

Not noticing a certain boy having his attention on her, Himiko mutters to herself, “Someone will come to me… Someone will come to me… Don’t worry, Himiko, I bet all the boys want to date you… they’re just earning their Date Tickets right now… Someone will come...”

Kokichi jumped in front of her and cooed, “There you are, Himiko! I’ve been looking for you.”

“Oh God, not him!” that slipped out of Himiko’s mouth all too loudly for her liking.

Immediately, Kokichi’s crocodile tears came into the spotlight. He sobs, “How could you say that, Himiko? After I spent time running around to find you… How…how could you!?”

Ignoring his tears, Himiko responds, “If you’ve been looking for me, then you could’ve used the Monopad to see where I was at.”

“Um- yeah- I was in a rush, so I forgot.”

“Why were you in a rush?”

“To get to you. Uh- I was thinking that no one would want you and you’d cry for days over it,” Kokichi fibs.

“You're insulting me? I’m still upset at you, you know.”

“Seriously? You know that that letter was only to help Gonta, right? Well, not really. The point is that I wasn’t pranking Tsumugi into thinking that I like her, I was pranking Gonta into thinking that I’m giving him good love advice.”

“Hmm… You sound insincere,” Himiko responds, unmoved by his excuse.

He tries a different tactic, “Aw, come on, stop holding a grudge against me. I could be the only guy who feels sorry enough for you to go out with you, so you should take this opportunity.”

“Now you sound like a jerk.”

“Ugh… I’d only do a big prank about love to you…”

Himiko raises a brow, waiting for him to continue.

“Because I’m only comfortable with doing it to you…”

Having him admit that made Himiko’s heart skip a beat, having her break into a wide blush. “Nyeh…! I-it's okay… I get it now, you’re just a shy bully with a crush.”

“What? Shy? Me?” Kokichi asks in surprise. What he finds to be even more surprising is that he could feel a blush creep up on his cheeks.

“Yeah, you’re too shy to admit that you actually like me, so you hide it up with lies and acts.”

“I’m not shy, I can tell you right now that I like you!” Kokichi claims.

“Alright then, say that you love me,” Himiko challenges.

“...I said ‘like’.”

“And I said ‘love’.”

The two stare at each other in silence, Himiko waiting for Kokichi to say it and Kokichi having a hard time in saying it. ‘What’s wrong with me? I told her it a lot when I was pretending to be affected by magic,’ Kokichi finally stops speaking to himself in his head and says to her, “I can write it down for you.”

“Yeah, but can you say it?”

“I… I can have someone else say it.”

“But can you say it? Say it seriously without taking it back?”

Kokichi never realized how embarrassing it actually is to admit the truth to her. He’s wishing that he can still pretend to be under the effects of a potion. “I… I love you,” he says it like a statement more than a confession and then quickly tries to muster a confident look, boasting, “See? I could say it! I’m not shy!”

Himiko’s whole face is red now, but she manages to quickly calm herself down. Kokichi told her that he loves her a lot of times, but this time, she feels the most joy in hearing it. “Good job, I’m really proud of you! We could work together in getting rid of your shyness.”

“I’m not shy!” Kokichi claims.

“We’ll work together to get rid of your excessive lying, too. Sounds like a pain, but I’m sure that we can do it.”

“In that case, we’ll work together on getting rid of your laziness, too,” Kokichi smirks.

“Nyeh… You drive a hard bargain, but fair enough…” Himiko gives in and then giggles. “It’s a nice feeling, having someone actually like me with no magic involved. After all that happened, I can’t believe I actually fell for you… it feels nice.”

Kokichi wants to say something like “It’s because I’m irresistible” but can’t manage to say so (stupid shyness which he totally doesn’t have!).

“Maybe we’d have an actual wedding in the future and invite everyone…” Himiko is beginning to sound like she’s drifting off into a fantasy.

She’s pulled out of it once she hears Kokichi stutter, “Did- did I ever tell you that the love potion you gave me actually did work? It’s still in effect right now.”

The pathetically cute lie he told to disguise his pathetically cute blushing face made Himiko snort; his lies could actually be charming. “I didn’t have to use any magic to get you to fall for me, you liar.”