Chapter Text
Kaito won’t remember it later, but— once again— he’s injected by the cubs before being taken to the hotel and —once again— he’s deposited into the love suite to wait for Kokichi.
Kaito’s not confused. He knows where he is. He’s waiting for his rival to show up. That guy makes his blood boil and his competitive spirit soar. They’re going to do their last race together. His rival is on the smaller side, but that sure as fuck hasn’t slowed him down when it comes to street-car racing, ship-racing, and now they were plane-racing. Kaito had won half of his races, Kokichi the other half. Today was the tie breaker.
When Kokichi arrives, Kaito gives him an earnest grin and a speech he prepared. He’s not sure what the bag in Kokichi’s hand is but he’s sure his rival will explain himself in a moment. For now, all Kaito can think about is how he feels when he looks at Kokichi. Affection running through him like a flame. Affection that Kaito has long suspected might be more than the flames of competition, as Kokichi asks him to sit down.
Kaito chuckled a little self-consciously, sitting on the bed as Kokichi dug through his bag, “Geez, man, we have a race soon, we don’t… have time for anything else, I think. Man, though… if there was anyone in the world who could convince me to sit still. To stay…”
“I know.” Kokichi said, pulling out a stethoscope, “If you were going to stay for anyone, it’d be me. But I’d hate to tie you down like that, Kaito. You’re a man for the stars.”
“I…” Kaito gave him an adoring grin, “Yeah. I am. Of course you’d get that, you have your own dreams to follow too. I couldn’t tie you down either. But… you ever think about what you want to do after we achieve our dreams? When they’re finished? The sort of life you’d want for a victory lap?”
Kaito only looks briefly confused when Kokichi places the scope against his chest, listening. But he blushes after a moment, concerned about the care his rival is showing him. “Man, if you heard about my cold, I swear, I got it checked out. I’m racing you at 100 percent, I’d never give you anything less.”
“It does sound better.” Kokichi said, a tad uncertainty in his voice. Kokichi is not an ultimate doctor.
But he’s not someone who can just not do things either, so he puts the scope down and raises a tissue to Kaito’s mouth and says, “Cough.”
Kaito frowned, “Kokichi, I’m fi—”
“I don’t want anyone to say I beat you at less than your best, Kai-chan.” Kokichi said brightly, “Cough, and prove it to the world.”
So Kaito forces himself to cough. And that starts an actual sputtering of coughing, struggling to breathe through rasping breaths as Kokichi covered his mouth with the tissue.
A little bit of blood. Nothing even close to what it used to be, but a little.
“See?” Kaito rasped, still lost in the dream as he gave Kokichi a weak, proud thumbs up, “One hundred percent.”
“Yeah.” Kokichi said, going to put his items away, “Kai-chan is ready to go lose in his big race!”
“Ha! You wish! I’m gonna kick your ass! And, hey?” Kaito grinned, standing up shakily, heading to the door, “When I win? I’ve got something important to tell you, okay? So meet me at the finish line!”
“Sure, Kaito,” Kokichi said over his shoulder, closing the bag, “I’ll wait for you there!”
Kaito laughed, his body warm with love, and he left.
-
The next day, Kaito’s tired and his chest is sore in the morning.
He checks his body for new marks and doesn’t find bruises out of the ordinary this time.
He doesn’t remember the injection, but he knows about the Love Suite. It scares the hell out of him, sometimes, when he lets himself think about it. The trick is to not let yourself think about it. He can’t make it stop anyway. He had learned over the last few months since the game ended that nothing was ever going to stop.
He checks himself over one more time and wonders what Kokichi did with him. He only indulges this thought for a moment, before pushing it from his mind.
It doesn’t matter.
-
Kaito sat at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall. Every now and again he looked up at it, the endless swirling staircase, and thought to himself ‘maybe I could make it’.
But then the memory of the last time he had tried hits him with a nauseas swirl in the bottom of his stomach and a painful tightening in his chest. The feeling sets off another fit. Kaito tries feebly to suppress the coughs as they rip through his lungs. No. No. He can’t do that to himself again. He had been stuck halfway up the stairs for too long, unable to move forward, unable to even get back down, and it had only been Monokuma that had gotten him back to his room, Kaito once again picked up and trapped in the claws of an exisal.
…at least it hadn’t been Kokichi that had found him. Things weren’t as heated as they used to be, but that was just because Kaito didn’t have the energy for it anymore. He was tired…
There was a small alarm from his watch, which he had picked out from the storage facility. His warning alarm going off. He needed to go take his medicine.
…he didn’t feel like dealing with the monokubs today.
The nausea hits again. He forces himself to his feet and starts the long walk back to the dorms.
-
Kaito’s so tired.
He’s so tired.
He hasn’t seen Kokichi in days. It occurs to him that the little supreme leader of fuck all might be dead, and Kaito wonders idly how he’d feel about it. Was it alarming? Maybe. It might be. He makes himself some easy ramen in the kitchen and he goes outside to sit by the graves. He’s gonna talk out his thoughts with Maki and Shuichi. That usually helped him sort out his feelings.
The grave markers were things Kaito had found in their ultimate labs. For Maki he put a stick in the ground and hung that red hooded robe of hers. The color reminded Kaito of her eyes and the cape the length her hair. A knife might have meant more to her, but Kaito just hadn’t wanted to do it. Besides, the weapons were gone now.
Kaito had, meticulously, one random day, taken out every single weapon Maki had and had put them in a pile in front of Kokichi’s room. He had made several trips. It had taken all day. At one point Kokichi just opened the door and watched him add to the pile. As the pile had grown larger than Kokichi was, he had finally asked Kaito what he was doing.
Kaito had shrugged in response. An honest answer. He didn’t know what he was doing. He was just doing it.
Kaito had run out of weapons and had gone to bed after admiring the pile, larger than Kokichi’s door, for a while. Kaito barricading Kokichi in his room with weapons. It had felt right to Kaito. It had made him happy. He went to bed, and when he woke up all the weapons were gone, missing. Kaito hadn’t seen them since.
“Think Kokichi’s finally just taken one of them and shot himself in the head, bro?” Kaito asked Shuichi’s grave between bites.
He doesn’t know if Shuichi would have wanted this, but Kaito had put down a stick on his grave and put his sidekicks hat onto it. Kaito doesn’t really know what the hat symbolized— he wishes he did— but it had seemed important to Shuichi once. Besides, the hat reminded Kaito of him. And in some ways, the graves were for Kaito’s comfort more than anything else.
Kaito had seen Kokichi staring at the graves once. Kaito had chased him off, a sudden terror filling him seeing Kokichi eye them. Kaito didn’t ask for much out of this new life Kokichi had so violently made for them, but he didn’t want anything to happen to the graves. He had worked hard on those, man. Show respect for the dead.
“I guess it’d get kinda lonely if he was dead… maybe?” Kaito mused, sipping at the broth a bit before shrugging, “I mean, let’s be honest, it’s already lonely. Not that you guys don’t make great company, but, ya know… you don’t. Being graves and all. No offense, I just… haven’t gone crazy enough to assume otherwise. Again, no offense.”
Kaito puts down his empty bowl of noodles and stops and prays a bit. He doesn’t think he believes in god. He was raised too and he thinks he might have, before all of this. But this is the sort of thing that tests ones faith, and it wasn’t like his faith was all that intense to begin with. Kaito had believed in people, before all else.
Now the only person around was Kokichi, and maybe Monokuma and the cubs, and either way, that didn’t leave Kaito with anyone to believe in. He certainly didn’t believe in himself.
-
It occurs to Kaito that he doesn’t have to fear weird bruises or exhaustion or feeling paranoid over all his aches and pains and missing memories if Kokichi is dead.
-
Kokichi isn’t dead though, and Kaito finds this out wandering into the casino to play games, sighing as he hears the ringing bells of a jackpot go off as soon as he walks in.
Following the noise, Kaito watched Kokichi dryly as the supreme leader of bullshit collects the coins from the ground into a tray. Kokichi knows he’s there, Kaito’s sure, and he doesn’t bother to announce his presence. He looks at all the coins Kokichi’s collected and knows there’s only one item you need to build that much coin up for.
“Could you not?” Kaito suddenly finds himself asking. So tired. Genuinely exhausted. “Aren’t you bored of that, yet?”
Kokichi glances up, his expression indecipherable, before smiling brightly, “Give up a romantic night with my beloved Kai-chan? What on earth would ever make me give that up? Look at yourself? That chest on you! Outpacing all the girls by a mile! I’m addicted!” Kokichi tilted his head, smiling brightly at Kaito’s unamused, unshocked expression, “How is that chest of yours, these days? Still coughing blood?”
“Fuck off, like you care.”
Kokichi giggled, though his gaze never wavered from the game. Earning more coins as he said, “I noticed you’ve only been making ramen packets lately. I would have thought an astronaut wannabee would know better. You’re never going to get well eating nothing but crap, Kai-chan.”
“That’s really none of your business.” Kaito muttered, twitching as Kokichi earned another handful of coins. More coins for that damn key… Kaito thought of trying to argue this more, trying to convince Kokichi to just leave him the fuck alone already but… to what end? He couldn’t make Kokichi stop. Even if Kaito wasn’t as weak as he was these days, Monokuma and his army of sadist children always sided with Kokichi on stuff like this. If Kaito tried to steal the coins, he’d just end up in the grip of an exisal again.
He was tired of that. That metal grip hurt. Kaito always felt like his bones were going to break under the pressure. The massive bruises they left behind made him feel soft and weak. Kaito would do a lot, these days, to avoid being touched by the exisals.
And just talking to Kokichi never led to anything. Kokichi was never going to just decide to stop. Kaito could only be grateful he couldn’t remember what happened in the suites. He didn’t want to know personally how depraved the sick bastard was.
So he just gave Kokichi a mildly disgusted look before, turning with an indifference that would have impressed his Maki-Roll, he said, “Whatever. Just don’t wake me up. The last thing I want is to know what the inside of that shitty hotel looks like.”
“Is that a last request?” Kokichi called to Kaito. That caused Kaito to hesitate… no. Don’t give into the bait. He just wanted to scare him. Besides, Kokichi could kill Kaito any time. Kaito had fought Kokichi too many times since the end of the game to delude himself of that fact now, Kaito’s body was too run down to protect itself, not if Kokichi really meant to kill him. Kaito sleepwalking didn’t make it any easier.
It didn’t matter.
Ignoring Kokichi and his own spike of fear, Kaito headed out.
-
Kaito had been happily waiting in the love suit for a minute now. He was waiting for his rival. They were having a big, final race that day, and Kaito had finally convinced himself to confess to his rival his feelings… soon! After the race was finished. He’d have the courage by then.
His rival was taking his time with it. Kaito reached up to rub the back of his neck and he winced, immediately lowering his hand after feeling the sting. Must have slept on his neck wrong…
“Kokichi!” Kaito greeted cheerfully, as his rival entered the room with… a platter of warm food? Giving the man a curious look, Kaito asked, “Eating a big meal before the big race?”
“Sharing a big meal before the big race. And don’t you dare say no, Kai-chan, I went to a lot of effort to make this mysel…” Kokichi’s voice trailed off, staring at Kaito’s neck “Uuuuuh, Monokuma~?”
“Who?” Kaito asked.
Behind him, Monokuma popped into existence. “Puu-huu-huuu, it’s dangerous to call me in here. Don’t you know you could wake him up?”
Kokichi glanced over at Kaito, who was giving the bear a baffled look… but didn’t look any more or less outraged, as he heard Kaito whisper to himself, “Maybe the race’s mascot?”
“Kaito’s got a strong imagination, he’ll be fine.” Kokichi hoped, fixing Monokuma with a glassy smile as he said, “Hey, Monokuma, what did you do to his neck? That ugly swelling is ruining my immersion.”
“Oh, is it?” The bear giggled, looking over at the nasty, large bruised lump that definitely hadn’t been there earlier that day, when Kokichi had seen Kaito talking to the graves again. “Look, Kaito hadn’t gone to sleep by the time we got around to picking him up, and my cubs may have gotten a little impatient. It’s boring sneaking around all the time! So, there was a small fight, and we just ended up using the execution leash to drag him out of the dorm before giving him the injection.”
Kokichi gave Monokuma a blank smile, “…so Kaito will remember being kidnapped this time?”
“So? He’s always known it was happening. You’re not exactly subtle.”
“Kidnapped?” Kaito murmured, looking around with an increasingly bleary look on his face. Sweat starting to build on his forehead, “…kidnapped to the race?”
Kokichi’s smile twisted tightly at the ends, “You’ve never injured him bringing him here before. You want me to believe Kaito’s always gone to bed on time before this? Nee-heehee, what a shitty lie!”
“Kokichi?” Kaito said, starting to rasp, putting his hand on his chest as he said shakily, “…I think there’s something wrong. My chest…”
“Sit down, Kaito, I want you at your best for the race.” Kokichi told him flippantly, heading over to Monokuma. Kokichi knew he wasn’t exactly an imposing size, but Monokuma wasn’t hard to loom over as he sneered down at him, “So, what is this? Why did you injure Kaito bringing him here?”
“Does it bother you?” Monokuma asked, tilting his head curiously, “Why? He doesn’t exactly need to keep his looks. We’ve given you a thousand chances and you never enjoy the goods anywa—”
“Ha-ha ha ha ha ha!!” Kokichi spat at Monokuma, gritting his teeth at him, “I fucking knew this was coming someday. What, you’re bored? Wanted a show? Well, t~oooo bad Monokuma! That’s not the rules! I get the key, I get another student all hypnotized and pliable to play with, and I get to do whatever I want with him! And if I don’t want to fuck him, guess what!? That’s none of your damn business! You still have to follow the rules!”
Monokuma glared at him, “You put a whoooole lot of trust in this idea that I ‘have’ to follow the rules, Kokichi. I might lose my patience with it someday… but! Not today! You’re right, all of that is true. But there’s nothing in the rules against the trip being a little rough on Kaito. Which, ya know, from now on? It might be! My cubs are just soooo clumsy these days! And, like I said, it’s not like we have to preserve his looks for anything fun anyway . Unless we do~?”
Kokichi briefly considered if a lie for at least one more easy trip would be worth it… and the thought died as Kaito suddenly erupted into coughs. Whimpering slightly as Kaito whispered to himself, “Oh shit… I’m bleeding… why now?”
One more easy trip wasn’t going to help Kaito. Regular visits were the only thing that was going to force the depressed astronaut to eat and drink water and actually keep Kokichi up to date on his health. Kokichi couldn’t start compromising, trying to invent and sustain lies that would be too easy to knock down. He just had to navigate the new normal.
So Kokichi just smirked at Monokuma, putting his hands behind his head and shrugging, “You don’t. I just wanted to make certain you remembered the rules, Monokuma. That is my prize, after all. Now, shoo! Shoo! It’s time for me to have my way with Kai-chan!”
“Aw, if only that were true. Have fun being boring, Kokichi. Good luck getting him to eat anything with his neck all fucked up like that!”
And with cackling laughter, Monokuma disappeared.
“Nee-heehee, I hate that knock-off furby.” Kokichi hissed between cackling teeth, before sighing. Taking the platter of food, Kokichi put it down next to Kaito, beaming at him as he said, “Look, I think we need to delay the race—”
“What!? No! I can still race, I feel fine, I—”
“—for an hour! Because I wanna eat, and we’re putting an ice pack on that neck of yours before that ugly lump becomes a second head!”
“Shut up man. Is it that bad?” Kaito tried to touch the lump, wincing again at the immediate sharp pain, “Yeah, maybe an ice pack before the race isn’t a bad idea… hey, what was all of that about… kidnapping and—?”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a publicity event thing my agents are doing. Part of my Supreme Leader of Evil shtick. Just so you’re aware, you’ve totally been kidnapped by DICE right now, and when we race you’re racing for your freedom and life! Nee-heeheehee!”
“Ha,” Kaito grinned, looking at him with open adoration as he said, “That’s why you inspire me so much man… you really put your all into all aspects of these events. The showmanship, the determination! It’s really amazing… ya know, I don’t think you really know what you do to me—”
“Eat your food, Kaito,” Kokichi said, passing him another sandwich, watching as Kaito forced the food down despite it no doubt burning his throat the entire way down. Lost in the dream where nothing was wrong, and eating wasn’t a trial. “You can tell me about it after I win the race.”
“Ha!” Kaito laughed, nudging him, “You’re on!”
-
…oh fuck, his neck.
Kaito woke up with a whine, shuddering as he tried to touch his neck before pulling his hand back from it like it had burned him. Fuck, fuck, what had… right. He had gotten into a fight with the monokubs. ‘Fight’, it had just been Kaito screaming at them and backing up into a corner when he had seen they arrived, hoping the dorm room and door was too small for an exisal to come fetch him.
It hadn’t mattered. An exisal had never arrived, but in its place was a long metal wire with a metal collar, shooting out through the door and towards Kaito’s neck like it was a snake striking. It had dragged Kaito out of the dorm and out of the building, throwing his thrashing body out onto the courtyard with ease. Like Kaito was a toy some child had gotten tired of and thrown across the room.
He had thought his neck was going to break. He was shocked it hadn’t, actually. That had been terrifying.
Is that what Kaede’s last moments had been like?
… fuck Kokichi.
Kaito grit his teeth, holding his pillow in a strangle, burying his face into its sides. He buried himself under the covers, like there was any safety there, and felt his anger and frustration rise as a sob felt like it ripped his insides apart on its way out. Rattling his bruised chest, burning his swollen throat, the taste of iron already coating his tongue before that sob triggered another series of coughs.
His watch told him it was time to take his meds.
The medication he had ‘won’ by being one of the last two survivors. Trapped in the hangar bathroom, resting against the side of a toilet that had made Kaito feel like he was going to tilt to the side and fall off of, barely strong enough to keep himself on it. He had felt so stupid. He had felt so fucking helpless.
And then Monokuma had shown up, announcing him one of the winners. Kaito finding out his sidekicks had chosen to abandon him… even Maki-roll, choosing to die with the others, rather than to stay and fight…
They had left him.
Left him with no one but the mastermind…
Or at least the dumbass who had played the role right up until it had killed all of Kaito’s friends.
Cause right after that, Kokichi had stormed into the bathroom and beaten the shit out of Kaito before Kaito had even managed to stand up and attack him first. Screaming about Kaito being the mastermind, screaming at him to tell Kokichi who the show was for. Screamed that he knew about the nano sized Monokuma cameramen, knew the rules had to be for someone, knew there was an audience.
And now everyone else was dead. So who had Kaito put on the show for!?
Kaito had barely said anything. Hadn’t had the chance to. He had mostly just bled and drooled onto the floor until Kokichi had gotten tired of kicking him. The hope— and the fight with it— drained out of him as Kaito heard they were the last survivors. That Maki-roll and Shuichi were dead. And it wasn’t like he had any answers to give Kokichi anyway. Kaito was pretty sure at some point he had ended up laughing at him, which had earned him another kick to the ribs.
Kaito was the mastermind?
Kaito had been specifically gaslit into insecurities and arguments with his friends before watching a man he respected get burned alive, sobbing at how sorry he was to have failed them as he died. Then Kaito— after seeing the end of the world for himself— had been kidnapped and left sick and dying on his own, locked in a bathroom, worried about his friends and trying to cope with his own despair of how hopeless everything suddenly was. Alone, with no world to escape too and no ends in sight.
Then all of said friends had just killed themselves in despair before Kaito could get the chance to repair the relationships. The last thing he had ever said to Shuichi angry and painfully insecure. The last thing he said to Maki-roll ignoring her attempts to fix them.
And now the person who had done that to him— not even made him participate in this killing game, but had done those specific horrifying things to him— had the audacity to look at Kaito like Kokichi had been betrayed.
Sorry your ‘terrorize everyone into giving up’ plan hadn’t worked, Supreme Leader of Fuckups. Congratulations on winning the game.
You idiot.
But Kaito hadn’t had a chance to say any of that. He was too broken. He had barely been conscious when Monokuma had finally explained to Kokichi that killing the mastermind didn’t end the game, but being the last two survivors did!
What about the audience?
What audience?
What about the cameras!?
Don’t worry about it.
…what happens now?
“Puu-huu-huuu… like you said, ‘mastermind’,” Monokuma had giggled, malice radiating from those black and red eyes, “Whatever you want.”
Kaito had been named Ultimate Survivor and been given medication for his illness as his reward. Kokichi had been named Ultimate Blackened cause “Let’s be honest, you earned it, champ!” and had been given control over the school as his reward. ‘Control’ basically meaning Kokichi now had all the keys to all the rooms and could lock or open them as he saw fit, and he could change the rules as he saw fit.
Kokichi had taken away all the rules that could get them killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had taken away the rule about not attacking the headmaster. In the end, it hadn’t changed much. Kaito had wondered why Kokichi didn’t make it a rule that he could have a love suite key whenever he wanted too, rather than having to win them, but he hadn’t bothered to ask.
Kaito didn’t speak to Kokichi if he could help it.
There was another rule. Kaito had to take his medication. Kokichi had added it to the rulebook three days in, when Kaito again refused to tell him if he was taking the medicine or not. It was so far the only rule Kokichi had made that forced Kaito to do something, and when he didn’t…
“…”
Kaito felt Monodams presence more than anything. He curled into his bed more, still frustrated by the night before.
He heard a pour of water, and felt a bounce on his bed. “…DO. NOT. MAKE. ME. MAKE. YOU.” The cub said, poking at Kaito from atop the blanket, “IT. WILL. BE. A. BAD. TIME. FOR. US. BOTH.”
“…fine.” Kaito rasped, reaching out and taking the glass of water, Monodam putting the pills in his other hand, “Sure. Whatever.”
And with that done, Kaito went back to bed. He didn’t come out of his room for another two days.
-
On the third day, Kaito was hungry.
He missed his friends.
He wished he wasn’t here anymore.
-
Kokichi headed to the hotel room, carrying his bag of tools, a bag of sandwiches, and some water bottles. The food Kokichi knows is helpful, but the bag of medical tools always makes him feel a little stupid and insane. Kokichi’s not a doctor, and he’s struggling through the medical books that he can find in the academy, frustrated with knowing that even keeping track of Kaito’s symptoms wasn’t particularly helpful to anyone.
Kokichi just felt like he needed to do something, and this was the only way he could. Kaito refused to tell him how he was doing, during the days. He dodges every question Kokichi has whenever Kokichi manages to find him. Not even the love suite helps with that, as the trainee astronaut literally couldn’t explain how he was really feeling, lost in whatever hypno-drug bullshit Monokuma does to him before dropping him off in the room for Kokichi to rape.
Kokichi has to do something, but there’s so little he can do. But this was the situation he had created for himself. On accident, sure, but he had still done it. He… really hadn’t thought they would all… it had been an accident. But this was just how things were now, and honestly, Kokichi’s controlling tendencies couldn’t bring him to leave the only other living person left in existence to his own devices. Kokichi had to do something.
So Kokichi does his best with the resources he has. He checks Kaito’s symptoms here, in the room, while Kaito rants and rambles about a race that was never going to happen. Checking Kaito’s breathing, his chest, his lungs, sometimes convincing Kaito to take off his clothes so Kokichi can keep track of the discoloration on his skin and the bruises that blossomed, because again, Kokichi was making it up as he went.
Kaito always looks shockingly sweet and shy, when he’s got his clothes off. Brainwashed and drugged, waiting eagerly for Kokichi to rape him.
Kokichi’s never done it, despite what Kaito thinks. But knowing he’s expected too sometimes makes him more upset than he really wants to admit too. Kokichi’s a villain, certainly, but he’s not that type of villain. And every time he walks into the love hotel, Kaito looks so excited to see him, eyes lighting up as if Kokichi is the best thing he’s seen all day.
Kokichi wonders if any of Kaito’s ‘friends’ ever walked into the hotel suite, saw Kaito excited to race them, and pushed him back onto the bed…
Kokichi wonders if anyone did anything like that to himself and usually stops those thoughts as soon as they come up. They were all dead and Kaito couldn’t get one of these keys if he even wanted to. Shockingly, Kaito’s luck somehow not improving after literally everyone he knew and cared about decided to kill themselves rather than try and survive with him. It was a spit in the face of probability, honestly. You’d think things would improve after that, if only because the universe would have to take mercy on the poor space idiot at some point.
But it doesn’t. Kaito’s sickness evens out, but it never gets cured and it seems it’s not going too. Kaito stops taking care of himself, and his body gets weaker. His body gets weaker, and Kaito’s depression worsens. And all Kokichi can do is watch from the sidelines, because Kaito hates Kokichi’s guts and would literally rather die than accept Kokichi’s help. His own survival not even a mercy.
And apparently the universe isn’t extending its mercy this time either, as Kokichi walks into the room and says brightly, “Hey Kai-chan! You ready for the big race? But before we start, I brought a—”
“O-oh thank god,” Kaito whispered, looking up from where he was slumped over on the edge of the bed, his head lifting from where his hands had been cradling it with a shocked, tearful expression, “You came back for me.”
“…wha?” Kokichi just had time to say, before Kaito shot off the bed. If Kaito had been any faster, Kokichi would have dodged him on instinct. But Kaito’s rise and movement was so pathetically slow and shaky that Kokichi could only watch him dumbfounded as Kaito staggered forward, wrapping his arms around him and holding him tight as he slumped against him.
“Fuck… fuck. I had nearly given up hope. W-wow, man, you really know how to keep a guy w-waiting.”
And that was all Kaito could get out before his throat suddenly closed up with a heartbroken sob. Crying against Kokichi’s shoulder.
Kokichi, after a moment, patted Kaito on the back— pat-pat-pat— before saying, “Well, of course I came back, Kaito. Are you… injured?”
“No, I… maybe?” Kaito said, allowing himself to be pushed off of Kokichi, wavering on his feet a little as Kokichi, wordlessly, coaxed Kaito back to the bed. Kaito sat back down shakily, still looking at Kokichi like he couldn’t believe he was there as he said, “C-cards on the table, Kokichi? I’m not feeling my best. I think the mastermind’s been poisoning me… I really don’t feel very good, most days.”
“Oh?” Kokichi said, looking around the room like he was almost expecting even the setting to change right in front of him. Had the rules changed? This was meant to be Kaito’s ideal scenario. Kaito at his happiest. So… why was he dreaming about the death game? “Do you know who the mastermind is, then?”
Kaito tsked, looking frustrated, “Still some coward hiding behind Monokuma. I mean, we all knew the mastermind wasn’t one of us before you guys made your escape, but I really thought the fucker wouldn’t bother to keep hiding once it was obvious with everyone else being gone, ya know? With just me here? But nope. It’s all still the ‘pu-huu-huu I’m a bear’ bullshit… fucker.”
Kokichi nodded mutely. The big escape huh… “We escaped and left without you…”
Kaito grinned brightly, looking so happy as he said, “Aw, don’t say it like that man. Sure, you kept me waiting, but I trusted you guys. You promised you’d come back for me, if I acted as the distraction, and look! Here you are! Fuck, I’m so relieved… I was starting to lose hope…”
“Yeah, you said.” Kokichi murmured, putting down his bag of sandwiches and water bottles and opening his bag of equipment, taking out the stethoscope.
So. The fantasy could change.
Kaito’s ideal wasn’t a rival who inspired him. Not anymore. Now Kaito’s ideal was someone rescuing him from this place. One of his long gone ‘friends’ returning to take him home. Kokichi was a little surprised this hadn’t happened sooner, than. He wondered if his own fantasy would be this pathetically relevant.
Kaito thought he was being rescued right now… that it was all over…
Kokichi smiled brightly at him, “Of course we were going to come back for our resident space-jock! Are you kidding? Maki-roll and Shumai have been basically hollering we need to come back for you since we left. They were soooo jealous that I was going to be the first one to see you, but they were needed for other parts of the plan.”
“Right, right,” Kaito laughed, a relieved look coming over his face, “Of course they were. My brave sidekicks, off being the heroes of their own stories. Plan? We should go then, we should help—”
“Not so quick. Part of the plan requires us to wait here a few minutes, and then we’ll have our opening. And because we have time, I brought some food and water, and some medical stuff to look you over with, clear up any boo-boo’s before we do your epic escape.”
“I’m really fine, and to get out of this place? Fuck, Kokichi, I’d run on a broken leg—”
“I believe you. But we have the time anyway, so we might as well. Come on, Kaede made me go through the effort of bringing the damn doctor bag, let me use it! Justify my suffering!”
“Kaede…” Kaito’s eyes flickered, perhaps Kaede being alive just enough to make him question the fantasy… before he grinned, refocusing, “Yeah, she would think of something like that. Alright, sure. Look me over, Evil Supreme Doctor of Evil.”
Kokichi giggled, “Well, if you’re polite enough to use my full title like that, how could I refuse?”
…this new fantasy was cruel. But only in an abstract sort of way. Kaito wouldn’t remember being fooled by the delusion. And for a little bit, tonight? He was going to walk out that door, believing his friends were alive. That he was escaping. That Kokichi, of all people, had rescued him, and Kaito had been happy to see him.
The reality was cruel, but the lie was kind. Kokichi enjoyed it, as he put some medicine on and bandaged the new, cut open bruise across the side of Kaito’s face that the monokubs had given him, bringing him to the suite this time. “What’s the first thing you want to do, when we’re out of here and you’re a free man?” Kokichi asked, laying out the bandage.
“Cry?” Kaito answered, before chuckling sheepishly, “Just kidding. I… I don’t know. I want to hug everyone. I missed you guys so much. I… don’t… don’t tell them I said this, I don’t want to worry them, but…” Kaito reached up, putting his hand gently against Kokichi’s wrist, “…it’s been hard here, Kokichi. I’ve been really scared…”
Kokichi refused to let the hand on his wrist affect him, continuing to work on the bandage as he asked dismissively, “Scared? Whatever for? The tiny bear dolls or the massive murder robots they control? Don’t you know it’s unmanly to be scared of giant monsters that can kill you, Kai-chan? Don’t you have any self-respect?”
Kaito laughed, giving Kokichi a weak smirk, “You’re such a jackass. But hell, that’s how I know I can talk to you about stuff like this… it’s kinda easier to let your guard down, around someone who’s so quick to call you out on bullshit anyway… you’re really observant, when it comes to people, Kokichi.”
“Oh yeah?” Kokichi asked, not sure how much he liked this aspect of this fantasy, as he handed Kaito a sandwich— subtly hoping to shut him up a little— as he said, “Finally admitting that I’m a genius, Kai-chan? Or are you accusing me of being a mindreader!? Just so you know, I could tell you if you’re right or not, but then I’d have to kill you…”
“Shut up,” Kaito said, rolling his eyes, keeping still as Kokichi took the stethoscope and listened to his chest, “You’re great at reading people, but man, I wish you’d put half as much energy into trying to understand them as you do trying to outsmart them. Then I could call you a genius, jackass. You don’t get points for reciting facts, you actually gotta understand the material.”
“…” Kokichi had been about to argue, but…
Everyone had died.
The plan had succeeded.
And everyone died.
“Kaito,” Kokichi said, putting the scope away and just sitting next to him, watching Kaito devour the sandwiches and water, realizing he was ravenous after the first few bites. “While we’re waiting for your friends—”
“Our friends.” Kaito corrected him, mouth full of sandwich.
“…while we’re waiting, I wanna ask you a hypothetical. It’s important to me, okay, so don’t give a dumb answer, however tempted your idiot brain is.”
“If you weren’t literally in the middle of rescuing me, I’d tell you to fuck off and not answer just for that. But!” Kaito grinned at Kokichi, gaze full of affection, “You’ve caught me in a great mood. So, sure, shoot. I’ll do my best.”
“… Say you found out, during the killing game, that there was no escape. That the world was gone, and everyone you knew was dead, and literally all we had was everyone and everything in this dome…”
“Depressing.” Kaito muttered, “Go on.”
“And… everything else about the game is still true. There’s still a killing game going on, and everyone keeps—” Kokichi paused. In this fantasy, Kaede was alive, “Everyone gave into their fears and hopes to escape, even though there’s nothing to escape too— and only you know that, by this point— and you can’t make the murderbears stop murderbearing, no matter what you do… and you suspect maybe it’s all a show and that if you can convince everyone to give up the show might get too boring and stop on its own—”
“That’s pretty elaborate.” Kaito said, sipping on some water, wincing as it burned his still badly damaged throat, “You’re asking if the killing game had happened the way Monokuma hoped it would, and if I found out there really was no escaping it, how I’d get everyone else to stop playing?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I prove there’s no escape? Like, one hundred percent?”
“…Yes.”
Kaito sipped at the water, thinking about it… “I’d have shown everyone the evidence as a group, and trusted them to support each other. If there was really no escape? And all we had was each other? Then by that point that’s really the only thing you can do, isn’t it? Just… rely on your friends, and make certain they knew they could rely on you too. Deal with the meltdowns and freakouts as they come. Get through it together… what else could you do?”
“I had a few ideas,” Kokichi muttered, “Nothing that panned out. And I don’t think that idea would work either. I think everyone would kill themselves.”
“Kill themselves? Why?” Kaito asked, sounding baffled, “We’d have had each other! And we would have still had our lives ahead of us. Everything would have been bad, sure, but we could have found new reasons to live, if given enough time! Formed new relationships! Set goals for ourselves! Started families! Miu’s a tech genius and I’m an astronaut, and we’re only kids still, together me and her could have started work on getting us to another planet, someday! We’d have had our whole lives to work on it! And everyone else could have filled this dome with beautiful things! Kaede’s a brilliant composer, she could have written music and taught the rest of us to play! Korekiyo could of organized and written down everything he knew about human history, preserving it forever!”
Kokichi chuckled grimly, “Gonta could have made a bunch more creepy bugs.”
“Dude, Gonta probably knew all the best bugs to keep our plant system healthy and thriving, and he’d have been invaluable in helping figure out any new planet's ecosystem we landed on! He’d have been essential!” Kaito shouted, eyes suddenly widening with passion as he continued, “Kirumi seemed skilled at a lot of things, but she absolutely could have taught the rest of us how to cook, and could have helped figure out what was safe to eat on a new planet. Himiko knew complicated engineering from learning her tricks, and she would have brought magic into our lives, Tenko could fight and protect us, Angie could make breathtaking pieces to invigorate us! Kiibo was a robot, which would have been incredibly helpful in situations in space where oxygen was an issue, Shuichi was exceptional at puzzles and could have helped with all sorts of problem solving—”
“And me?” Kokichi asked softly.
“…you’re brilliant.” Kaito said softly, squeezing his water bottle tensely. All the enthusiasm gone from his face as he shrugged, “…if you were just willing to let other people help you? You probably could have done anything you set your mind to.”
“…”
“…”
“You started referring to everyone in the past tense pretty early there.” Kokichi whispered.
“… I guess I did, yeah.” Kaito said, tensely sipping the last of the water, before tossing the bottle aside. “So?”
“…” Kokichi shrugged, “Funny enough? After all this time being ignored by you? I don’t know what to say.”
“We’re waiting for rescue, right?” Kaito growled, standing up, wiping the crumbs from his sandwiches off of his shirt, “Well, I’ve always hated waiting. I’m just gonna go out there and meet them halfway. You can do whatever you want, Kokichi… just know? My way would have worked. I didn’t fail to keep my friends together. You sabotaged me.”
Kaito shot Kokichi a final frustrated glare, before heading to the door.
“…what if I asked for your support now?”
Kaito hesitated, hand on the doorknob. He grit his teeth, squeezing at it. Fuck him. Fuck him. Just walk out. You don’t owe him anything. Walk out and go back to your room and be thankful you didn’t wake up to something worse—
“Kaito.” Kokichi said, “Help me. Please. The world ended and we’re the only ones left. We have our whole futures in front of us and no escape in sight. I need your support. I can’t do this alone.”
“…you asshole.” Kaito muttered. “God I fucking hate you.”
And then he went back to sit down with Kokichi. Determined to see his own plan succeed.