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When Gonta approached Kokichi in the rec room that evening, he was almost sure it was to beat him up. He had manipulated him into taking the fall so Miu wouldn’t kill him first, and honestly? If it were Kokichi in that situation he would do the same.
But Gonta wasn’t like Kokichi.
He walked up to Kokichi, all alone watching television, and asked to talk.
“To talk?” Kokichi repeated.
“Yes. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do,” Gonta replied. He sat on the couch beside Kokichi. “Gonta knows Kokichi’s been sad lately.”
Kokichi hummed ambiguously.
“So Gonta thought he might need a friend!”
“A friend? I don’t need friends, I’m fine on my own.”
“Gonta doesn’t need Shuichi to know that’s a lie.”
The two of them sat in silence for a bit.
“Gonta forgives you, Kokichi.”
“What?” Kokichi’s head turned to look at the gentleman.
“Gonta knows it must be hard being lonely in the game. Kokichi acted like that to keep feelings from getting hurt.”
Kokichi felt something catch in his throat.
“So you don’t need me to make it up to you somehow?”
“Oh. Actually, Gonta was just gonna get to that.”
“Oh. You came to me to tell me you forgive me and then asked for a favor because my emotions are screwy? Maybe you’re not as dumb as you were in the game.” Kokichi elbowed Gonta playfully. He knew it was a low blow. He just really didn’t want to get attached to anyone else. Especially with his guilty conscience.
Gonta laughed nervously. “Kokichi’s funny. But that’s not it. Gonta came to his friend to ask for a bedtime story?”
“A bedtime story? Why me?”
“Kokichi seems… creative. If he can lie that good in every sentence, maybe he can make up good story on the spot.” Gonta smiled down at the smaller boy.
Kokichi considered declining, but what did he have to lose? He knew his loneliness and his guilt were weighing down pretty heavily on him.
“Deal. When did you want one?”
“Um… right now, if it’s not too much for Gonta to ask.”
“Sure thing, just take me to your room,” Kokichi smiled, a very genuine looking fake smile, and followed Gonta.
It took a little bit to get to Gonta’s room. He was in a hallway pretty far from Kokichi’s room, so he was pretty lost. He didn’t like leaving it in case someone would cause a stink.
Gonta’s room was nestled between Kaede’s and Shuichi’s. A pretty positive spot.
Shuichi.
He hadn’t made any attempt to talk to Kokichi, but from what Kokichi gathered, he didn’t talk to anyone anyway. He kinda missed talking to Shuichi. He was the only person he trusted in the game.
He was the only person who made an effort to talk to him, too.
He missed Shuichi. But right now was about making it up to Gonta. He followed Gonta into his room and clicked the door shut.
Gonta took off his glasses, settled into bed, and hugged a little teddy bear. It was pretty adorable.
Kokichi took a seat at the end of his bed, with his back to the door.
“Alright, Gonta. What kind of story do you want?”
“Anything, please. Whatever Kokichi wants to say, just not super sad.”
Kokichi thought for a moment. He looked out of the window and at the night sky. He took a deep breath and started:
Once upon a time, there was a little boy. He didn’t have anyone to love him, and in turn loved nobody back.
One day, he decided that he would make everyone love him, and began to work to make himself king of the world.
He would do anything it took to put himself in a powerful position like that; lie, cheat, steal. Maybe he felt bad at first. He doesn’t anymore.
One person after another, the boy climbed on the shoulders of others to become a prince. He climbed and climbed until suddenly he was among the stars.
But that wasn’t good enough for him, he needed more. He didn’t want to just be among stars, he wanted to be the first to turn into one.
He bartered with the nearest star, telling it of the admirers it’d have if it swapped with him. It laughed in his face.
“Even if we swapped, you would have nobody to stand on, you would surely fall.”
“No I won’t, if I prove you wrong, you must join me,” the boy replied.
“Deal,” the star said, and to its amazement, the boy took its place effortlessly.
The boy then turned to the next star. He struck a deal with it. Again and again, the boy climbed until every star in the night sky was under his command.
He was the prince of the stars.
But still, he wanted more. He talked to the planets, danced with nebulae, struck deals with the cosmos until the entire universe was his.
Every celestial being listened to his every word, acted on his every whim. They wouldn’t question him once.
And yet, despite his infinite power, he found himself irreparably lonely.
He no longer enjoyed telling his stars to put on an act for his amusement, or having a night on the town with Saturn’s rings. He really just wanted a friend. He decided he’d demand for his subjects to fulfill his commands.
“You, star, you’re now my friend.”
“Yes, my liege,” the star bowed. “How would you like me to be your friend?”
“You must make me laugh every day until I grow tired and leave you.”
And so the star did. For a while, the boy was perfectly content watching the star jest for him, but its acts were becoming old.
“I’ve decided I no longer need you to be my friend. You may return to being my subject.”
The star nodded and left.
The prince quickly grew bored and called forth another being.
“Nebula! You will be my friend.”
“And what may I do to become your friend?”
“You will play games with me until I’m bored.”
The nebula obliged, but it didn’t take very long for the prince to become tired of the games. Without so much as a warning, he moved onto the next.
“You! You will be my friend.”
“Yes, sire,” the planet replied. “How may I befriend you?”
“You will let me tell you my secrets until I’ve grown tired of you.”
The planet nodded. The prince confided everything about his loneliness to the planet until he felt empty.
“I’ve grown bored, run along.”
The planet moved away.
“Star?” The prince called. “I’d like you to be my friend.”
A star responded. “And how would you like me to be your friend?”
“Kill the planet, but amuse me while doing so.”
So the star collapsed in on itself and imploded, and the prince laughed.
But he was still so lonely.
Having grown bored of his stars, the prince descended from his celestial throne to take a walk in the sky.
He strolled through the universe until he reached a tiny, barely familiar blue planet. He descended from on high to mingle with the commoners.
He landed in a city, with many tall buildings. People hurried down the streets. The prince looked at the people he used to be like.
“You!” He shouted, pointing at a girl. “You will be my friend.”
She gave him a weird look before running off.
Okay, the prince thought, let’s try again. “You!” He pointed at another person. “I demand you to entertain me.”
The person didn’t even look at him.
And the prince, once again, felt insignificant.
He found a hidden spot between some skyscrapers and began to weep. He wept and wept and wept, yet nobody came to entertain him.
He caught sight of his tears on the ground, and was appalled to see their utterly normal appearance. He was supposed to be a prince of the stars, why weren’t his tears diamond or silver? He wept more.
Until a boy came up to him.
“Hello,” the boy said.
The prince sniffled.
“May I sit next to you?”
“No, I don’t want your pity,” the prince snapped.
The boy sat down next to him.
“Have you been having a rough day?”
“Ruling over the universe is hard work. Now go, before I tell your planet that it should explode.”
“Ruling the universe?”
“No, swimming in a tub of mayo. I wasn’t kidding about the planet thing.” The prince dried his eyes to glare at the boy, who was starting to pull something out of a bag he was carrying.
“I have some leftover lunch, if you’d like to share. Eating makes me feel better, sometimes.”
The prince eyed the container suspiciously. “And what’s in that box?”
“My uncle’s homemade shumai. They’re really good,” the boy offered again. The prince scoffed until he looked at the food.
It looked positively plain compared to what he feasted on each night, but it looked delicious too. He grabbed a dumpling with his hand and ate it.
It was mediocre compared to his divine food, but that didn’t stop him from grabbing another one.
He felt the boy’s judging eyes stare into him as he ate the second shumai, but when he glanced to look, the boy was staring at a paper. He must be sensing that I’m looking, the prince thought.
“The food was mediocre at best, and unless you can think of a way to entertain me tomorrow, I will destroy the planet. How can I find you?” The prince said.
The boy ignored the first part of his sentence, instead answering, “if you come to this alley at the same time tomorrow, I’ll be here.”
The prince nodded. He stayed on the ground until the boy finally left though.
He traveled back to his kingdom and ordered them to make him some of this shumai.
It was the most delicious thing he’d tasted, but for some reason he craved the one from before.
The next day, the prince arrived at the spot after the boy.
The boy didn’t see him suddenly appear on the planet’s surface, though, he landed on the alley beside this one.
When the prince rounded the corner, the boy’s eyes lit up.
He smiled and gestured for him to sit beside him.
“Okay, I brought a deck of cards. What do you want to play?”
“What is that again?”
“A deck of cards? Four suits, two jokers, one to ten and jack to king?”
The prince nodded and remembered a few card games from when he was first making his way to the stars.
“Oh,” the prince hummed. “Poker?”
“Damn. I’m no good at poker. Anything else?”
“You dare defy my orders?”
“Yeah. Because I’m bad at poker. I’m okay at blackjack though, if you want gambling games. Might have to refresh me on the rules, though.”
The prince was taken aback that anyone would defy him. He played blackjack anyway, betting the life of the boy in front of him each time.
And each time, he found himself losing.
“Guess I’m better than I remember,” the boy grinned, cleaning up the cards and putting them back into the packet, “I brought something this time, so you need to bring something next time, alright?”
The prince found himself mindlessly agreeing.
He spent the next day busily finding something to play, but in the end came up with nothing.
He arrived at the boy’s planet the next day empty handed.
“I thought you were supposed to bring something,” the boy sighed, “anyway, my uncle’s on a trip for a bit. We could walk to my place for something to do?”
“Your place? You mean palace?”
“Not much of a palace, but sure.” The boy laughed. It was a very nice laugh. “C’mon.”
So the prince of the stars, ruler of the universe, followed the boy home.
They talked for a bit, with everything the prince said confusing the boy, but the boy trying to understand anyway.
They made it to the boy’s house and played games until the wee hours of the morning.
“You should just stay over at this point, my uncle won’t be back for a while,” the boy said.
“But I need to take care of my kingdom.”
“Alright, but next time you gotta stay over. We can have a party, just the two of us. If you want.”
The prince thought for a moment and nodded eagerly. “Sounds dumb. I’ll pass. I much prefer blowing up your planet.”
The boy laughed a bit and the prince found it even more enthralling than the last time.
“See you around,” the boy called out as the prince left the house.
When the prince returned to his kingdom that night, he fell asleep immediately. All he could dream of was the boy and his planet.
The next day, the prince arrived at the boy’s house instead. The boy showed up a little late, though.
As soon as the boy saw the prince, he ran up.
“Where were you? I spent forever looking around the alley for you. Can’t trust you to follow simple plans, like blowing up my planet, can I?”
The prince grinned back and shamelessly apologized. “Sorry I tried to make it more convenient for you.”
“Sorry I was worried about my friend,” the boy retorted and the prince froze.
Friend?
Is this what friendship is?
The prince beamed and tackled the boy in a hug.
The routine went on for weeks, with a few sleepovers between. Each time, the prince and the boy learned about friendship, until eventually, for the prince at least, it grew past that.
The prince even decided he might give up his celestial royalty if it meant he could stay with the boy every day.
But before he could, the boy and he had a fight over something silly and small, and the prince jetted back to his kingdom.
That night, the prince died from the poison a star snuck into his shumai. And he never got to know whether or not the boy knew about his death or felt the same.
Kokichi finished the ending in one breath before looking over at Gonta to make sure he was still asleep. When Kokichi was positive he was, he wiped the tears from his eyes and steadied his breathing.
When he knew he looked okay, Kokichi stood up and opened the door-
-only to have Shuichi fall into the room.
“Kokichi! I’m so-“
Kokichi cut him off with a sharp “shh!” and pointing his thumb back at Gonta.
Shuichi nodded and dragged him outside before quietly closing the door.
“Kokichi, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I could hear when I was walking by and-“
“How much did you hear?” Kokichi asked. He looked nonchalant but he was panicking a bit inside.
“From… basically from beginning to end.”
“Oh.” Kokichi ran a hand through his hair. “Well, uh, I hope you enjoyed my show, voyeur, but I’m a bit tired, so I’m gonna go now.”
Kokichi had almost made it out of the hall but Shuichi called his name again.
“Kokichi,” Shuichi wasn’t making eye contact, choosing to stare at the floor. “I think... I think the boy figured out the prince died by himself, and he wasn’t sure of his feelings back when they were hanging out. But, uh, when he met the prince again, he knew.” Shuichi’s voice got quieter with every word.
Kokichi felt his breath catch. It wouldn’t be noticeable if he wasn’t in his own body.
“I don’t think so. How would you ask the boy?”
Shuichi was silent for a moment before striding over to Kokichi and wrapping him in a tight hug.
It was an infinitely better ending for the boy and the prince than the prince himself could ever imagine.