Chapter Text
The first sense that came to Shuichi was pain.
A seething pain in his neck stunned Shuichi awake, and as Shuichi prodded his eyes open, another sense took over him. He had not even taken in the morning announcement, as this miserable sense engulfed his entire being.
The second was nausea.
He felt drowsy and dizzy, reality seemingly shifting around him. Though he felt the need to puke, he also felt the lulling sense of sleep help drift his consciousness away.
Yet, Shuichi felt that something was awry.
A gut instinct told Shuichi that there was something terribly amiss, aside from the sudden sore throat, and that he shouldn't let the drowsiness distract him. He couldn’t. Shuichi wanted, no.. he needed to find out what was wrong, urgently.
He became aware of the long purple locks that obscured his vision. Though it seemed weird that his hair color seemed to be a completely different hue, he brushed them aside, and pulled his tired body upright, fighting his urge to vomit as the sense nausea came back in the process.
Shuichi shifted his body, feeling that the bed seemed much.. Larger than before. And when he got to look around.. Well.. He didn't need to be the Ultimate detective to realize that something was definitely missing.
And filled with even more strange items.
Pieces of paper were scattered all across the room, filling up the boxes, which were also messily placed, stacking upon one another. But the most noteworthy thing in the room was the giant whiteboard filled with pictures of every single person in this killing game, with smeared marks on it.
Was this a prank? Has someone dragged Shuichi to their room? Or had they dragged all these belongings into his? Though strange, the realization that chilled Shuichi's spine was not that it happened, but that someone had the ability to break into his room and went through such efforts to complete this task all while he was asleep.
He hauled the blanket off of his body, and discovered yet another strange occurrence.
What he was wearing was not his own set of clothing, but Ouma’s. And though the Ultimate Supreme Leader had a smaller frame than him, oddly enough, the set of clothing fit Shuichi perfectly. The checkered scarf on top of the mock straightjacket was hiding the bruises that were likely on his aching neck.
As the dizziness wore off, Shuichi began piecing the puzzle together. Another bedroom, Kokichi’s clothing, purple strands of hair.. A horrible realization crept over him as he came to an answer he was not yet ready to accept.
Shuichi hastily rushed to the mirror, and as much as Shuichi would love for this guess to be proven wrong, as much as he prayed it would be, he was met with the horrible, unavoidable truth, as someone else’s reflection walked in the bathroom.
It was Kokichi’s.
_____
4:23 AM
Kokichi had awoken long before the others normally rose
After diminishing the possibility that he had a sudden 15 centimeter growth sprout overnight, it didn't take long to reach the conclusion that the body wasn't his.
Yet what surprised him was not that this body wasn't his own, but it was the body of his beloved Shumai as his gaze met with the mirror.
This day keeps getting better.
Kokichi had tried to apply the eyeliner sitting around Shuichi's bathroom, but when that went horribly wrong, he decided to go out for a walk instead.
Along the way, he picked his way into his own room and erased the marks on the whiteboard with his fingers, careful not to disturb… well, himself. Technically it was Shuichi's fingers he used to wipe the whiteboard. But he was the lucky owner of it now.
He guessed that someone else would wake up in his body, and it would be better if nobody saw the notes he had taken about them besides himself. Especially if that person was Shuichi, which was the optimal suspect for everything.
After the tiny detour, Kokichi went about, planning the delightful pranks he could pull in another person’s body. So here he was, walking around the academy of gifted Juveniles at 4am. At this time, the only ones awake were most likely to be maki and kiibo.
Kiibo being that his life battery charges faster than the average hours of sleep the others get, and maki because she was probably trained to sleep less, since she’s the Ultimate Assassin and all.
Speaking of Ultimate Assassins, they were planning to meet up in her laboratory to confirm his theory last night after Kirumi’s execution today.
Kirumi’s execution.
Kokichi’s stomach began twisting at the gruesome memory that was still fresh in his mind, and his feet took off at a faster pace. Though Kirumi most likely viewed him calling her his mom as a form of mockery, Kokichi viewed her as his mother figure in this killing game.
And now that mother figure was dead. Killed before his very eyes.
Kokichi stopped. He hadn't realized his vision was getting increasingly blurry. Shit. he wiped the tears forming in his eyes. He wasn’t about to cry this early in the morning.
Kokichi glanced up, his feet took him near the boiler room. Memories of their wasted time spent in the manhole flooded back to him, and the feeling of bitterness after the realization that it was impossible to escape flashed across him. The painful experience and hardships they had to go through, refusing to accept the very fact that escape was unachievable.
“Shuichi?” An unexpected voice rang from behind and called his attention. Kokichi retracted on reflex. The voice was Kiibo’s, or Robo Dick, as kokichi used to call him. But now, he’s in Shuichi's body. Kokichi had two choices to make this instant: he either could come out as himself, or play along as Shuichi.
Kokichi turned around to face the robot. “Ah.. Hi there, kiibo.”
Obviously, Kokichi picked the latter. If he was switching bodies, he was about to get the most out of it.
As Kokichi spoke, Kiibo's face wrenched, cringing. Can robots even manage to make faces like this?
“Shuichi.. Your eyeliner seems to look different today,” Kiibo tried his best not to show his revulsion in that statement, cautiously picking his way around words.
Though Kokichi already observed a slight change of pitch in his voice, he noticed the robot's unnatural ability to act just as a human does. But how does a human truly act? It does an impressive job in imitating their behavior..
Kokichi knew he had done a horrible job applying the eyeliner, but he thought he had wiped all the debris off before he began the walk. Now, it has turned into a hilarious form of entertainment, which he was planning to enjoy every second of this moment.
“Really..? I wanted to go for a new look today.” Kokichi paused, managing to look reclusive while resisting the urge to burst into laughter. “Are you sure it's not bad?” He asked shyly to Kiibo, who seemed to be gaping at him.
He hoped that Kiibo didn’t notice his quivering lips, as he was on the verge of a laughing fit.
“No, it’s amazing, if I do say so myself.” Kokichi could sense the evident lie as clear as day. “The eyeliner was unexpected, but very.. Unique.” Kiibo tried to force the last words out, straining his face. Are robots truly able to hold a conscience as humans? Maybe Kiibo may not be so different from the normal humans after all. Or… Kiibo always said something about another voice in his head. Perhaps there was more to it..
“Thanks Kiibo.” He graciously manipulated Shuichi's features into what seemed like a genuine smile in a few seconds. “It means alot.”
“So then, what are you doing at this time of the hour? Usually, you need several cups of coffee to properly function.” Back to the harsh, unempathetic robot.
“I just.. Couldn’t sleep that well. Not after…” Kokichi averted his eyes and tensed up shuichi’s body, knowing that even this robot may take certain social cues.
Sensing what Shuichi, or what he believed to be Shuichi, was emphasizing at, Kiibo’s expression grew solemn. “Oh dear! I am terribly sorry to have reminded you of such things.” Wow, he became much more trusting of him now that he was in another body. But Kiibo was probably the only individual in this killing game that might have come to believe him, besides from Gonta, which didn’t really count, reckoning that the idiot would believe in almost everyone.
Oh how Kokichi wished that he could have the same arrogance.
“I-It’s alright!” Kokichi responded, acting shy but chipper, and adding a bit of falter to it. “I’m sure that you didn’t mean anything by it.” He paused, letting that sink in, before awkwardly starting off another conversation. “Have you seen Maki?”
Perfect. He sounded exactly as Shuichi does. Keep more of this up and he'll be able to convince everyone.
Kiibo shook his metallic head in response. “Usually, Me, Kokichi, and Maki are the only ones awake at this time. Though I haven’t seen either of them today for some reason.” If only he knew. Though Kokichi didn't want to disclose this information until he obtained more, so he jumped to another conversation topic.
“Kokichi?” As he said his own name, Kokichi tilted his head with the false font of curiosity.
“Yes, he usually wakes up now, though I’ve never been able to catch a conversation with him.” Kiibo answered.
Wrong and wrong. The great Kokichi he was talking about hardly wakes up, because he hardly sleeps. And that Kokichi also actively tried to avoid talking this early in the morning, as he was usually in a horrible, sleep deprived state in the morning. Seriously, why is Kiibo so eager to socialize that early? Or maybe that was because he was a robot.
Of course robots don't have a sense of privacy.
Ignoring his thoughts, Kokichi gave an intrigued and thoughtful expression, hinting for Kiibo to continue. The robot graciously took that opportunity, and rattled on. Kokichi supposed he was trying to say they had a close relationship, though he didn’t have the mindfulness to pay attention. His mind was already running, and he couldn’t just ignore all the stream of thoughts that came pouring over his head now.
It felt weird having a conversation in another person’s body. The voice and physique were all so different. Every breath he took and all the movements felt odd.
How did this even happen? With Kiibo appearing, Kokichi would assume that nobody except him and Shuichi are switched. But then again, Kiibo was a robot, and he hadn’t seen maki yet.
Not that she’d want to see him either. It was better if they kept their distance for now, body swapped or not.
Was this a motive? But then what would be the goal here? If everyone got used to it, then they could live in each other’s bodies without feeling the need for murder. And how would monokuma swap their consciousness anyways? He had seriously underestimated the amount of power-
“-so I suggest you spend more time with him if you want to understand him.” Huh? Oh, Kiibo was giving him a lecture about himself.
Funny how kiibo was giving kokichi advice to shuichi, who always seemed to have understood him better. Funnier yet how kokichi was actually in his body, which makes any words of this pointless.
“Thank you kiibo.. I’ll keep that in mind.” It was a bit annoying how kokichi needed to act like shuichi though. He bowed a bit, which he would have never done so in his own body.
“Did you eat breakfast yet? I can take you to the dining hall.” So can Kokichi himself, but he accepted the offer and went anyway.
Along the trip, the two talked about various subjects. Kiibo’s tone seemed so different now that he was in Shuichi's body, though Kiibo wasn’t as hostile as the others near him. Perhaps wary, and confused, but Kokichi has not yet made Kiibo annoyed of his very existence.
Yet.
Kokichi was very good at doing it, intentionally or not. In fact, he could pride himself in his ability to somehow always come off as irritating to anyone that had the misfortune of meeting him. Though he did not know whether or not he would plan that, since he decided to act as shuichi for the time being.
_____
As they entered the dining hall, the various scents of the previous meals hit him. He realized that he needed to eat something to wash out the horrendous taste of coffee that seemed to have stuck to Shuichi’s mouth. Almost anything at all to get rid of it.
“So what do you want to eat? Kiru- I mean, I can try to make a dish for you. You’ve been drinking coffee as breakfast for the entirety of this situation, and..”
Kokichi had tried to listen in on the conversation, but he caught the stammer, and the name that Kiibo avoided using. His mind went back to Kirumi and her execution. It all still seemed so real. The screaming, the panic, the running…
..He could see the maid staring right into him, standing in front of him.
He scrambled back in haste; panic filling every inch of his body. Kirumi was standing right in front of him. Her empty figure and pale green eyes bored into his soul. He could see her. He could see her staring at him. He could see her he could see her he could-
Kiibo interrupted him again. “Shuichi? Are you alright?”
No, did he look alright to you? He just saw a glimpse of- Kokichi glanced from Kiibo back to Kirumi, and her figure vanished just as quickly. All the traces of her were gone.
“Y-yes.. I’m fine.” This might have been one of the worst, most see-through lies he had ever yet told. But he was in Shuichi’s body, and didn’t need to keep up the villainous persona of Kokichi Ouma. It was a fair exchange.
Just then, he realized how his body shook. His expression was completely blank; void of any emotions. This was how Kokichi would look in tense situations. He quickly changed that back to Shuichi’s nervous expression, which was seemingly his default expression.
“Sorry Kiibo.. I need to leave.” Was all he said, before walking out of the room. He didn’t give Kiibo a chance to reply, and ran back to the dorms. What time was it right now? He heard that it was about.. 6:45 from Kiibo in one of their conversations, meaning that Shuichi is about to wake up too. He had listened to the Kiibo ramble for hours.
He had memorized when everyone woke up, and he knows that Shuichi seemed to just get up at the morning announcement. If being in Kokichi’s body didn’t affect his waking up time, as did Kokichi, then he would be waking up at the same time normally as well.
_____
He arrived in front of his own room. At least, the room he assumed Shuichi slept in. He took a quick detour to check the outside of Maki’s room, and though he couldn’t confirm she was inside, he took an educated guess, as he didn’t see her anywhere during his walk with Kiibo.
Then again, the Ultimate Assassin has probably already mastered the art of stealth and secrecy. It wouldn’t be too hard for her to hide herself from all the others.
Kokichi looked at the clock on the wall. 7:59. The morning announcement is going to ring at about.. Now.
The Monokubs appeared on the monitors’ screens. Well, at least, the ones left, as the yellow one, Monosuke, got-
Wait, no. Stop thinking about that. Don’t think about what happened. What was he supposed to do? Oh right, check up on Shuichi, whom he assumed to be in his body. He leaned in against the door, and pondered what Shuichi’s reaction would be. Horrified, probably.
He almost snorted at the thought of that. Would Shuichi scream, or just stay silent in horror as he discovered what had happened? Surely, someone was occupying Kokichi’s body. He opted to not wonder about what happens to a body with no consciousness or brain keeping it alive.
As soon as that thought came into mind, he heard footsteps from the dorm. He was probably going to the bathroom to check up on what was wrong. Kokichi unlocked the door, and made his way into his bed as Shuichi was checking up on his- no, Kokichi’s reflection.
He heard a scream, and saw his body bolt out of the bathroom. He stopped in his tracks as they interlocked their gaze for a moment. A look of confusion and exasperation spread across his face
Yep, Shuichi was definitely in his body.