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A dating game show spinoff of the killing game had been an excellent choice in Tsumugi’s expert opinion, and in the audience’s as well! They were going wild for this fun new installment with everyone getting to play off each other! It was like the really good filler episodes of anime- not time wasting, but letting everyone’s lovely personalities shine! Not to mention, since it came right off the heels of that whole “we must end Danganronpa” ending, they had to do something real fanservicey to get everyone back on board! So, what could be better than rounding up the cast for an encore where no one would die!
But, something was missing. Some spark, some level of stakes. Sure, Monokuma had said if they didn’t manage to forge lasting bonds, they’d never leave the school, but that was too season finale a conflict! They needed something to shake up some drama during Sweeps Week, keep everyone excited during the mid-season so the ratings wouldn’t dip!
Luckily for a diehard fan like herself, Tsumugi knew that the official fan forums had something deep in the terms of conditions that anything posted on there could be used by Team Danganronpa without any legal repercussions. There’d been a few little spats about that in the early days of the fandom, like that time they adapted someone’s fanfiction into the script, but people didn’t seem to care much nowadays. It made the forums a great resource to look for ideas for new twists and turns!
It didn’t take long until she found a theories thread for the new series that looked promising. Some people were suggesting ways the motives could be used in this new format, not to motivate to kill, but to motivate them to get closer. Ooh, great idea, but what motives should she use? On such short notice, they couldn’t really get actors to play their loved ones for the hostage tapes, and it wasn’t like they could use anything like First Blood or reviving someone dead.
She scrolled a bit further. A message from user Natsusato47 caught her eye.
I wish they’d use the Despair Disease motive again! It’s been so long since they’ve used it, and it’s always soooo fun to see how their personalities change >_<
A smirk came to Tsumugi’s lips.
“Listen up, brats! Things aren’t quite spicy enough for the viewers at home, so we’ve got a new motive for you all to spice things up!” Monokuma barked at a far too early hour at a gymnasium filled with very tired Ultimates.
“Things aren’t spicy enough, huh?” Miu questioned. “Clearly, the cameras aren’t focusing on moi enough, I can give those shitty-ass lowlifes at home pleeeenty of spice!”
Monokuma glared. “Not that spice, ya weirdo! We need to keep our new timeslot, and censors are expensive, so don’t do anything the VFX team will have to blur out!”
Miu huffed, but Kaede piped up in her stead. “What… kind of spice do you mean, then?”
A cackle echoed throughout the gym. “Weeeeeell, turns out that Kaito’s Ultimate Lab contained a sample of an unknown pathogen from distant space!”
“What- no! It didn’t have anything like tha-” Kaito’s objection was silenced by Monotaro hopping up and hitting his back rather hard. Kaito winced as Keebo ran to try and make sure he was okay.
“Just go with the backstory, okay?” Monokuma insisted. “Anyways, long story short, four strains of a mysterious disease have been found at this very school, and four unlucky students will end up catching it! You know it, you love it- it’s our old friend Despair Disease! Don’t worry, it’s not deadly, but it’ll mess with your very personality!”
Confused glances were exchanged throughout the gym. “Huh- our personalities?” Shuichi questioned, stammering a bit. “Wh-what does that mean?”
“Weeell, say our lovely little Princess Pushing Pre-Watershed Guidelines caught it,” Monokuma suggested. Eyes turned to Miu, who still looked rather annoyed. “She might go from a pottymouth to someone who finds showing ankles scandalous! Or Spacey McPointyHair would start being quiet for once!”
Keebo looked rather annoyed. “Well, if that’s the case, how will you ensure only four people will catch it? I don’t believe that’s how viruses work- they spread from host to host. In an enclosed space, everyone will almost certainly come down with the disease!”
“Nah, we’re gonna choose who will carry the virus so only they’ll be afflicted!” Monokuma suddenly held up four syringes, color coded with four different stripes of tape. “It ain’t contagious, we’ll just poke ‘em into ya!”
A few people winced at the sight of the needles, but Gonta adjusted his glasses and tried to look closer at them. “Hm… colors look like Tenko’s bow on that one,” he noted.
Tenko let out a surprised yelp. “H-huuuuh? You’re gonna stick one of those in me? No way in hell I’ll let you do that!”
A television screen descended beside Monokuma, and he pulled out a stick to gesture at a name appearing on it.
3rd - Tenko Chabashira - 13%
“Aww, good job going out of order, Bug Boy!” Monokuma complained. “We let our viewers vote on who’d get the Despair Disease, see? And Kicky McMisandry got third! That means she wins the wonderful prize of one week’s unpaid vacation from being herself!”
“And why the hell would I agree to that?” Tenko questioned.
A sudden shout came from Himiko, who was being pinned down by Monophanie while Monosuke held a very, very large syringe up to her. “Don’t worry, brat, if your girlfriend won’t agree to it, then this will only hurt a lot!”
“F-fine…” Tenko stuttered out, clearly understanding the threat. “J-just promise you won’t let any degenerate men near me while I’m sick!”
“I promise!” Himiko hollered from across the gym as she fought off the Monokubz with that same syringe she’d wrestled from them. That seemed to ease Tenko’s worries a bit, as she relaxed a bit as Monokuma forced her up on the stage.
“Anyways, who we were supposed to announce before her, in fourth place!” Monokuma pointed below Tenko’s name on the screen as more text came up.
4th - Maki Harukawa - 11%
Maki huffed as she walked up to the stage. “Fine, fine. You don’t have to force me up- I’ll come quietly or whatever. Let’s make it fast.” She was clearly not at all happy with this outcome, but she stood beside Tenko with her arms crossed anyhow, just glaring down at everyone else.
Monokuma pointed at the screen again, above Tenko’s name this time. “Now, back on track! In second place, with sixteen percent of the vote, it’s our favorite man of mystery!”
2nd- Korekiyo Shinguji - 16%
Korekiyo didn’t seem as upset by it as the girls had been. He came up without fuss. “How fascinating- I’ve never encountered such an illness. It’ll be quite lovely to see its effects firsthand, don’t you think?”
“No, no one thinks that,” Maki deadpanned back at him.
It seemed a certain someone was finally awake enough to start being snarky, as Kokichi began booing. “Aww, boo, laaaaame! Why would so many people vote for him! It’s gotta be botted! Is it just because he’s pretty? Cause like, you can’t even see half of his face! For all you know he could-”
Kokichi was cut off by Monokuma pointing to the final name on his weird ranking list.
1st- Kokichi Ouma - 49%
The Supreme Leader tried hard to regain his composure quickly. “I mean, who wouldn’t vote for me, really? I’m the hottest bitch in this place! Who wouldn’t wanna see my sexy opposite side! I’m gonna be just as hot with a fever in my pajamas too, just you wait and see!”
He didn’t move an inch despite his grandstanding. Beads of sweat dripped down his face. Monodam began pushing him up towards the stage as Kokichi just awkwardly laughed.
This was going to be quite the ordeal.
Once the “winners” were infected, it was supposed to take some time for the effects to fully kick in. They were asked who they wanted to look after them while they were sick, and while most everyone gave expected answers, Kokichi’s was… a bit surprising to Shuichi, really.
“Shuichi. He’s the only one allowed to see me in such a state.”
He didn’t know Kokichi trusted him that completely yet. He’d expected him to ask Rantaro or Kirumi to help him, or maybe insist he didn’t need help like Maki had until Kaede wore her down. Really, he’d think the tricky leader would want him to see him ill the least, considering how many layers of lies he wore around him.
But, here Shuichi was, helping him get settled in his mess of a room while his cheeks turned flushed. Kokichi had changed into pajamas and looked more annoyed than upset by the whole thing at this point.
“Kokichi,” he started. “It’s okay if you’re scared. I promise, I won’t hold anything against you or think of you differently when this is over.”
He sighed. “Mm, actually, I’m nervous, but I’m not scared, because I know what this thing is gonna do,” Kokichi said, pulling a stuffed horse into his arms. “It’s actually pretty convenient, ya know?”
“I don’t know,” Shuichi admitted. “Are you already afflicted?”
Kokichi shrugged. “Maybe. But, once I got over the initial shock, I figured out why so many people had voted for me.”
That had seemed like a really high number… but of course, Kokichi would have figured out some meaning behind it. “Are you going to tell me?” Shuichi prompted as Kokichi began running his fingers through the horse plush’s mane.
“Well, there’s only one disease fit for a liar,” Kokichi almost trilled before weakly coughing. “...damn this acts fast. Already sorta feeling like shit. You got an ice pack, Mister Detective?”
Shuichi nodded and shook up the quick freeze one Kirumi had given him before placing it on Kokichi’s forehead. “A disease for a liar- so what, you think it’ll make you someone who only tells the truth?”
A weak smirk came from the boy almost buried in blankets. “So smaaart…” He cooed as he started trying to kick them all off. “That’s why I wanted to choose you. You’re so clever…”
“Ah- that’s certainly different…” Unrelenting and unironic praise was definitely a departure from Kokichi’s normal reactions to his deductions. “Are these your true thoughts? Or is that too intrusive to ask?”
“Hardly,” Kokichi assured him, eyes closed but still tossing and turning. “Ow… hope the painkillers kick in soon… That’s why I wanted you to be the one to see me like this. Like… it’s a test… to see if you like the real me.”
Shuichi tried to decode his thought process for a moment as he sat beside him on the bed. “You… want me to see the real you? Kokichi… I never thought I was seeing a fake you if that’s what you’re worried about- just because it’s a version of yourself you’re projecting doesn’t mean it’s more or less real than any other version of yourself. Everything is part of you. It’s like, are you familiar with dramaturgical theory?”
Despite his eyes being closed, Shuichi was still sure Kokichi was rolling his eyes. Possibly aided by the little wince. “You’re missing some nuance here, pretty boy. I want you to see all of me.”
He nodded before remembering Kokichi couldn’t see him doing so. “Of course. In that case, thank you for trusting me with that. I promise I won’t betray your trust!”
“I don’t think you’re quite getting it,” Kokichi mumbled. “Monokuma said this isn’t contagious, right? Lay down beside me.”
That sounded like a joke, but no one laughed, and Kokichi pulled down the covers. Shuichi found himself doing so, sighing a bit as Kokichi wrapped around him like he was cuddling a body pillow. He was warm, both in the feverish way and the sweet and reassuring way. Just… don’t think too much about a guy cuddling you in bed, right? Right.
Kokichi blearily opened his eyes, and started gently stroking Shuichi’s hair. He couldn’t at all maintain composure through that. He turned bright red, but he didn’t shrink away from the touch. It was gentle and nice and oh gosh, his thumb ran over his cheek and it was so soft and gentle. Nothing else in the world existed. Just Kokichi’s gentle touch.
“Mm… if you don’t get it now, I’ll have to rename you the Ultimate Dummy,” Kokichi mumbled. He closed one eye and stared intensely into Shuichi’s eyes with the other. He was red too, but it was hard to tell if he was blushing or just feverish.
Shuichi sighed. “Yeah, yeah… I mean… I get it…” He admitted. “This… is definitely some sort of flirting. Uh… one second… I need to like, process things, and that’s hard because being caressed is kinda short circuiting my brain?”
He pulled his hand away and looked away. “Ah… sorry… I should have asked first anyhow…” He trailed off into silence, and Shuichi closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the information being given.
“You want me to see all of you because you feel like you can’t be close to me unless I do,” Shuichi reasoned out. “Because you like me, as more than friends, and you’re worried that could be an obstacle in a potential relationship.” Shuichi opened his eyes to see Kokichi smiling at him sleepily. “Is that right?”
A little laugh from Kokichi confirmed his deduction. “Knew you had some brains in there, Sherlock Homo. It’s… scary, trying to take a further step. But, I know we’ve been getting close, and I want you to see me for what I am as we get closer. Also I wanna take a nap on your chest. That’s the other reason I wanted you to take care of me.”
So this was Kokichi’s way of saying he wanted to go further, to take steps closer to being in a relationship. Shuichi couldn’t find himself disagreeing with that. He gently put Kokichi’s hand back on his head where it had been before. He thought that would be a better answer for him than any sappy words he could piece together.
The hand on his head went slack after a moment. Shuichi pulled the sleeping Kokichi onto his chest and wrapped an arm around him. This felt comfortable, it felt right. There was a certain euphoria in being trusted like this, especially by someone like Kokichi. He hoped he would be able to share something as tender and meaningful with him in time as well.