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Kokichi had been prepared for a lot of things to happen when he’d put on the VR headset.
Mostly, he’d been expecting Miu to try to kill him. That hadn’t ended up happening for some reason; instead he’d been pulled out of the digital world early, with no warning or explanation beyond a sudden flash of light and his avatar being sucked off the map.
Kokichi had been prepared for a lot of things, but waking up in Kaito Momota’s body hadn’t been one of them.
The first tip off were his hands. He reached to take off the headset and found his new fingers stretched so much further over it than they had before, easily touching the top and bottom of the device as he lifted it off his head.
And once he did, once he could see again, he looked at the headset in his hands and found his skin so much tanner than it used to be. And then he noticed the singular sleeve of the jacket he was half-wearing, and then the rest of Kaito’s outfit, and that’s when he’d put the pieces together.
It wasn’t long before the rest of them started waking up, each of his fellow ultimates rousing and taking off their headsets one by one. Gonta was one of the first to jump up, tugging at his unruly hair as he paced the room in hysterics.
“It’s not my fault! This isn’t what was supposed to happen!” His voice boomed around the room, carrying with a resonance bordering on deafening. “Even a girl genius makes mistakes sometimes, you know!!”
In her seat, Miu stared at her hands in shock. “Gonta doesn’t understand!” she shrieked. “What is happening? Why is Gonta walking around when Gonta is right here?”
Similar discoveries were happening around the room, with shouts of confusion and outrage emerging with each new person who awoke. Not everyone was distressed, though; Shuichi was blubbering through laughter, pinching at his tear-stained cheeks like the stretch of them was a natural wonder.
In the midst of all this confusion another body jumped out of his seat, rushing straight across the room in a single-minded pursuit. In seconds Kokichi's own violet eyes were staring up at him, face set in a desperate scowl.
“Tell me who you are. Now.”
Kokichi didn’t really know how to emote with Kaito’s face, no masks of his seeming appropriate for the body he was in. He decided to remain blank and expressionless for now, letting his eyes travel across the room so he wouldn’t have to look at the unnerving sight of his own face.
“Why should I tell you?”
Clicking his tongue, the body in front of him looked over his shoulder and studied the chaos around them momentarily before turning to face him again. “Got it, you’re Kokichi. Just my luck.”
It was weird, hearing his own voice say that. “You’re Kokichi.” Bizarre.
Other-Kokichi, who he could pretty easily guess was Kaito, grit his teeth and seemed to steel himself. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter; come with me.”
He grabbed at Kokichi’s arm and tried to pull him up out of his chair, but it was easy enough to sit back and use his weight to keep himself in place. “Why? Shouldn’t we stay with the others?”
“No, we can’t stay here,” Kaito gave another hard tug of the arm and Kokichi planted his feet on the floor to keep himself in place, “because we need to hurry up and leave so we can talk!”
“I’m pretty sure we can talk just fine here.”
It wasn’t exactly true; there was still a lot of yelling, and the room had devolved into general chaos. Kaito gave one more look over his shoulder, studying their surroundings before a plan seemed to click into place.
“If you won’t come willingly, I’ll just have to force you.”
Kokichi only had enough time to blink before a small fist had landed in his gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to crumple inward. This time when Kaito tugged him to his feet Kokichi was too weak to fight it, only able to stumble up and follow as Kaito dragged him out of the computer room.
“Kaito!”
Keebo’s voice barely carried over the din; Kaito paused only momentarily at the doorway, flashing the robot a thumbs up and a grin that fit too well on his new face.
“It’s fine, it’s my own body anyway!”
-
As soon as he stopped coughing up his lungs and managed to recover enough to focus on walking, the first thought that came to Kokichi was that the ground was really far away.
Not like he was looking off the edge of a tall building or something, but…far. Farther than it was supposed to be, given how tall he still felt he was. Kokichi had the urge to hunch over to make up for it, or maybe let his knees collapse down into his ankles so his whole body shifted lower to the ground. It was too surreal to adapt too, the world feeling entirely different from his higher vantage point, but he didn’t even have time to appreciate the view as Kaito kept tugging him down the hall.
“Where are we even going?”
“Somewhere private. I’ll know it when I see it.”
That time appeared to be Right That Second, when he tugged them both to a stop in front of a random door. Pushing it open revealed an overgrown classroom with desks scattered at random, almost like someone had been throwing the furniture around. Kaito sat down in one of the school chairs and finally released Kokichi’s arm, letting him straighten to his full height (which was, wow, even taller somehow).
Kokichi had planned to stay standing, but quickly realized he was feeling unexpectedly winded after their little stroll. Attributing it to the punch from earlier, he sat down on one of the desks and got comfortable.
“Well, we’re alone now. I’m sure this definitely won’t make both of us look suspicious when the others notice we’re gone.”
“We don’t have time to worry about that.”
Kokichi opened his mouth to ask what could possibly be more important than not casting suspicion on themselves during a killing game when Katio grabbed something out of his pocket and threw it over. Kokichi immediately moved to catch it, almost overshooting his reach before adjusting at the last second and grasping the small vial in his hand. “What’s this?”
“You tell me. It was on your chair when I woke up.”
Studying the bottle closely, Kokichi furrowed his brow in agitation. “Shit…”
“Is it yours? Did you bring that with you?”
Judging from the accusatory edge in his voice, Kaito had already identified that it was poison. Kokichi shook his head. “Someone planted it after I went into VR. I’m guessing Miu.”
“Miu?” Crossing his arms over his chest, Kaito doubtfully furrowed his now-thin brow.
“She had some kind of plot set up for me. I happened to take a peek at her workspace while she was out and realized she’d done something to my settings in the VR world, probably so she could take advantage of the environment and kill me.” Inspecting Kaito’s nails and finding them disgusting, Kokichi continued, “And since she was messing with my code, this morning I might have made some tweaks to hers.”
“...by messing with her code, do you mean everything she wrote? For the whole world?”
“Probably. It’s not like I’m the ultimate programmer or anything; I have no idea what I changed in there. All I know is that I changed it.”
“So you’re the reason we’re all like this!” Kaito’s voice rose to a shout, the anger sounding screechy with his voice. “This whole body swapping thing is probably your fault!”
“Whoops.” Kokichi shrugged, continuing to pick under his nails. What was this, dried blood? “Anyway, is this what you wanted to talk about? The poison?”
“No…but this is pretty bad. If you’re already being targeted, Miu might take advantage of the situation to finish the job.”
At first Kokichi assumed Kaito was pissed about being in danger while mistaken for him….but his tone didn’t make it sound like he was concerned for himself, and the more he thought the more that didn’t line up with how their exchange started. “What do you mean by that?”
“Haven’t you noticed already? You’re smart, I thought you would have figured it out by now.”
Kaito was accusing him of missing something obvious. It was almost like calling him stupid, which Kokichi refused to accept from someone who made decisions based on trust and ‘what he wanted to believe.’
The second he took a second to think about it, though, Kokichi was distracted by how shallow his breaths were coming in. How could he still be winded from one measly punch? Taking a concerted effort to draw a full lungful of air, he drew in a breath only for pain to stab through his throat and throw him into a coughing fit.
One cough seemed to lead into another, each irritating his throat more and causing new pain to restart the cycle. It almost felt like he was opening up wounds, like his throat was all cut up…
“Breathe slow and shallow. If you take in too much air, it’ll just get worse.”
Kokichi looked up through the tears forming in his eyes and found Kaito staring at him, his grim expression looking out of place on Kokichi’s face. Stuttering through another cough, he did his best to slow his breathing until the episode finally subsided.
When he managed to look up again, it was with a cheerless smile. “You’ve been managing to hide something this bad the entire time? That’s almost impressive!”
He tried for a laugh and only ended up coughing again, cursing himself for already managing to forget. Kaito watched him with tired eyes as Kokichi felt something rise up in his throat and momentarily choke him.
“There’s a wad of tissues in the back pocket of my pants.”
Kokichi immediately reached for them, grabbing up the crumpled tissues just in time for liquid to splash up onto the back of his tongue. He hurried to hack the rest of it from his throat, pressing the paper up against his mouth and turning his lungs inside out until it came away pink.
Seeing that, Kokichi almost laughed again before he cut the impulse early. “Is that normal?”
“The blood? …Yeah.” Kaito dragged a hand through his hair, mussing the thin purple strands at the back of his head. “This is what I needed to warn you about. You need to learn how to hide this from everyone…especially if you don’t want Miu thinking you’ve become an easy target.”
“You mean so everyone doesn’t notice you’re an easy target. Does anyone else know about this?” When Kaito immediately shook his head, Kokichi scoffed. “So much for trusting everyone. For good reason, though! This thing is falling apart on you. If Himiko knew she could take you out with a good shock from a magic trick, I bet even she’d be tempted to try for it.”
“That’s not what this is about!” His voice squeaked a bit on Kaito’s outrage, and Kokichi grimaced just hearing it. “I just…look, everyone would just worry if they knew, and it’s not their problem to deal with. I’m handling it!”
“Sure, you’re handling it. That’s why breathing feels terrible and I’m coughing up blood.”
Kaito averted his eyes, ducking his head down meekly. Kokichi hated seeing his body look like that, so shamed, so vulnerable; it almost made him regret saying anything.
Almost.
Reclining so his head could fall back, Kokichi let out an impatient little sigh and carefully suppressed the tickle it caused in his throat. “Soooo, you wanted to warn me so I would keep your secret and stop everyone from finding out you’re dying. How do I do that?”
“I’m not dying, I’m just…sick, or something.” It wasn’t very convincing; not even Kaito looked like he believed that lie. “Anyway…I’ll give you some tips, tell you what triggers the attacks and what kind of stuff to avoid. Then we’ll go back.”
What followed was an extensive explanation of all of Kaitos physical limitations, of which there were many. Kokichi had known Kaito was hiding something—it hadn’t exactly been subtle—but it was honestly surprising just how much Kaito managed to cover up every day. So often it felt like he was playing Mr. Invincible, but in reality a particularly strong breeze seemed like all it would take to put him out of commission.
“C’mon, it’s not that bad. I just…conserve my energy for when it matters. Get some chances to rest, and you’ll be fine.”
Kokichi nodded, looking distractedly at the door. They’d been talking far longer than he would have liked. “Are we done now? I want to see if Miu decided to murder anyone else during all the ruckus.”
“She couldn’t have done that, not with everyone around…” Sighing, Kaito slid out of his seat and stretched his arms over his head. “But you’re right, let’s head back. They’re probably worried.”
“And you’d rather die than worry your friends!” He tried for chipper and wound up running out of air, the tailend of the joke withering into another series of weak coughs. “Wow, how do you manage to project so much with your lungs this weak?”
“Practice.”
-
The walk back to the computer room was brisk, Kaito maybe taking a little too much enjoyment out of having a functioning body to ride around in. Kokichi took the time learning how fast he could walk without straining himself, landing on a pace that looked casual just as they came to the entrance of the room.
As soon as they opened the door heads rose up to meet them, everyone gathered around the supercomputer and a smaller set up that Gonta was typing at. Miu’s goggles were affixed atop his head as he leaned over the computer, and Kokichi noticed some of the others were sporting new accessories as well.
“There you two are!” Tsumugi pointed an assertive finger their way, Himiko’s mage hat perched on her blue hair. “Where were you?! We were worried sick!”
The pairing of ‘worried’ and ‘sick’ had Kokichi almost sniggering, but he stomped the urge down before it could get him in trouble. Most of the ways he was used to laughing seemed to irritate Kaito’s lungs. “Kaito here dragged me away and had me promise not to tell you guys about his tiny dick! Oops, guess I messed up already.”
Kaito immediately aimed an elbow at Kokichi’s side, though with their height difference he ended up knocking it into Kokichi’s hipbone. “Stop talking nonsense. I’ll punch you again, you know, don’t test me.”
“You’ll be the one dealing with the bruises once we switch back!” Tilting his head toward the others, Kokichi smiled and added, “We do have a way to switch back…right?”
The others turned back to Gonta with various levels of concern. The large man seemed rather intimidated by the pressure, giving a little squeal of worry at the sound of Kokichi lowering Kaito’s voice to a low, intimidating baritone.
“I-I’m working on it! Someone screwed with my code, so I’m still figuring out how to fix it!”
“I bet Monokuma did it! He must have messed something up when he put the new motive in the digital world!” Kokichi pumped his fists in front of him eagerly, ignoring the side-eye Kaito gave him as he lied.
“Gonta’s large fingers apparently make it very hard for her to type,” Shuichi supplied, his cadence a little more stilted and robotic than usual. “And they also seem to be distracting her…”
“You know what they say about guys with big hands,” Gonta muttered, pausing a moment to smile dreamily before skimming the code once again. The others huffed in quiet disappointment.
“Gonta is sorry that big hands making things take longer,” Miu said, looking a little depressed while she fiddled with the bug box in her hands. “If only Gonta smaller…”
“It’s okay, Gonta.” Keebo smiled at Miu warmly, though he almost tripped up while saying the name. “We all just have to be patient for a while, that’s all. I’m sure Miu is as anxious to fix this as the rest of us.”
“Of course I am! As great as these muscles are, nothing is more beautiful than my perfect body!" Looking up again with a scowl, Gonta added, “Now can you all leave me alone? You’re distracting me more than Big Dick’s big dick!”
“Clever.” Kokichi turned to the others, who were all standing up to leave. “Anything else we miss?”
“It was a lot of figuring out who’s who, mostly. We also decided to all wear something to make it easier to remember who we’re talking to.” Keebo gave a polite smile, before looking up into his bangs. “I’m going by my room after this to grab my old cap…though I don’t know if it will fit around this.”
Keebo touched a hand up to his hair…dongle…thingy, shifting it between his fingers like he was adjusting a radio antenna. “Keebo and I already traded dorm keys so we could access our own rooms. I think the next steps for everyone are just setting boundaries and thinking of what to do until Miu finds a solution.”
Kokichi and Kaito took a moment to look at each other, before Kokichi shrugged out of Kaito’s jacket and handed it over.
“Wear it around your shoulders like a cape or something. You’ll look like the comic hero you’re always pretending to be.”
“More like a child playing pretend.” Still, Kaito took the jacket and affixed it around his neck, tying the ends of the sleeves together. Then he looked at his own outfit before taking off the checked bandana and handing it over. “You’re lucky this thing is already oversized. You’d look ridiculous in anything else right now.”
“You don’t need my help making this body look ridiculous.” Tying the familiar fabric around his neck, Kokichi immediately felt a bit more like himself. “Well, we’re all spiffed up. And I’ve gathered our tincan has become a real boy and Shuichi’s been turned into a toaster…but what’s with you three?”
“We all swapped,” Maki said, sounding more chipper than strictly reasonable. “I’m Tsumugi, Maki is in Himiko, and Himiko is in me.”
“You can’t deplete all my mana stores,” mage-Tsumugi stressed in a way that implied it wasn’t her first time saying it. The shorter girl had one of Maki’s red scrunchies rolled onto her wrist, fiddling with it as she frowned . “I mean it!”
“I get it already. Not that I even know what that means…”
“Personally, I don’t mind however long we’re stuck like this!” Maki’s eyes shone with excitement, which was also weird for her. “Body-swapping is such a manga-like development! And I’m just plainly excited to dress Maki up in all sorts of cosplay!”
“You—what are you planning to do with my body?” Himiko glared darkly, although the usual intimidation of the death glare she was replicating was massively undercut by her new features.
The girls proceeded to squabble amongst themselves, something Kokichi was more than happy to tune out. “A~nyway, seems like we're about done here. I’m going to go have fun looking at the upper parts of shelving units.”
“Wait, Kokichi!”
Stopping mid-turn, Kokichi let Kaito press close against his side. Miu, Keebo and Shuichi's bodies had already started heading toward the dorms, while the girls had moved somewhere less disruptive to talk. Even then, when Kaito leaned in he still spoke at a whisper.
“We should trade room keys too. You might need to rest soon.”
“I fed my room key to one of the Monokubs a long time ago. Just give me my lock-picking tools; side pocket.”
Shooting Kokichi a concerned frown, he passed the kit over before taking the room key Kokichi handed back in exchange. “Anything else weird in these pockets I should know about?”
“Smoke bombs, firecrackers, trick gum…I’ll let you have fun with them. Go make the most of your new lungs and cause some trouble.”
Kaito shook his head ruefully, smiling with an edge of shame in his eyes. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Relax, I love playing games on nightmare mode. Dragging around your ramshackle bag of bones will be a breeze!”
-
Holy shit, this ramshackle bag of bones could not do anything.
How did Kaito live like this? Was he so used to suffering all the time that it didn’t bother him anymore? Because Kokichi couldn’t stop being bothered; especially when he found himself heading to his room only an hour later, his hands shaking so much he barely got the pick to work.
Pain sucked. Coughing up his lungs sucked. Everything about being Kaito sucked, and he wanted to say learning the guy’s secret had been worth the shitty luck of a body swap but it wasn’t. It just sucked.
Finally landing on his bed, Kokichi pulled the vial of poison from his pocket and rolled it between his fingers. He was glad Kaito had been too distracted by his secret to remember about it; Kokichi wanted more time to decide what he was going to do with this. Playing his cards too soon would just lose him the slim advantage he currently had over Miu.
Would Miu kill Kaito’s body, specifically to get her original target? Kokichi would guess if there were no other factors, the answer would be ‘yes’. However, there was a pretty large factor that made Kaito a really terrible target, even if all you were targeting was his body and not his mind: the detective that had basically single-handedly sent every last killer to their executions and the literal assassin were both high-key obsessed with the guy. Targeting Kaito was a death sentence.
Miu was an absolute idiot, but she wasn’t suicidal. Attacking Kokichi’s body would put Kaito in danger, which would send his lackies right after her, and targeting his body would very likely do the exact same thing.
Unless she was willing to change her target entirely? If not, her murder attempt would have to go on hold until the bodies were switched back, which gave Kokichi time to– “Hrg? Krr-gh– AUGH! K’rAUGH!”
His train of thought was entirely interrupted as, spurred by literally nothing, Kaito’s body decided to randomly send a shot of pain up his lungs and through his throat. Coughing so hard that he heard ringing in his ears, his vision, briefly, whited out. When the coughing subsided, his hands shaking in front of his mouth, Kokichi blinked a few times and tried to make his vision clear while he found his thoughts entirely scrambled. Like someone had rolled a damn bowling ball through his head. He… he had to focus on beating Miu, stopping her—
Another rip of backbending coughs ran through him. He made a truly gross gurgling noise, managed to spit, and a literal clump of blood landed into his palm.
…ew.
Blinking tiredly at the clump, Kokichi warily shook his hand and watched it flick off to land on the ground next to his bed. He stared at it, frowning, with his ears still ringing. Ew…
…why had he thrown it on the ground?
Getting in a clear breath, Kokichi suddenly remembered how Kaito had been absent during the last trial's entire investigation period. His contributions to the argument had basically been useless, the man listless and phased out and acting like an idiot…which Kokichi had always thought was laughable, considering he was a damn astronaut…
Oh god dammit, was this going to affect his thinking?
…shit. He might need help.
-
After a quick nap Kokichi woke up just as frustrated as when he went to sleep, though there was a brief, nice moment where his body felt fine. He felt floaty, comfortably numb…and then his leg twitched slightly and it was all back. Kokichi groaned as Kaito’s bullshit lungs started giving him a little warning ache.
Temporary reprieve done. Got it.
Feeling more clear headed, Kokichi sat up—why did he have so much torso? Did Kaito know his body was freakishly long?? It was like Kokichi was all three parts of the Human Centipede—and scoffed at what he had fallen asleep thinking about. Pulling the poison bottle out from under his pillow, he tucked it back into Kaito’s pocket, shaking his head. Asking for help? Seriously? Maybe that was why Kaito was always trying to sell his ‘believe in everyone’ kool aid. Kokichi had almost been tempted to lean on someone, feeling all weak and tired for a second there.
But now he was basically fine! Got some rest, ready to go! Ready to— “Kr-auugh! C’uff, sk! Ssssk! Nnng…”
Okay, he went to spit Kaito’s stupid blood into the sink, and now he was fine and ready to go! Ugh. He’d feel better after he got some food into him, prob… ably… uuuuh…
Stepping out into the dorm hall, he was only able to take in the sight before him as his thoughts ground to a halt.
“HAH HAH HAH HAH!”
“Haaaaa! Wheeee!!”
“Oh, Kaito, Keebo, do be careful! It’d be plain unfortunate if either of you broke a leg, it’d really disrupt things… oh. Hello, Kaito. Or…” Tsumugi, if Kokichi remembered right, shrugged, Maki’s long hair shifting behind her shoulders. “...Kokichi. No developments from Miu yet, if you were wondering.”
“Does being in your body just automatically make someone the most annoying, infuriating version of themselves?” Himiko– who was actually Maki– spat darkly, glaring at Kokichi before pointing at the top of the stairs. “Why is he like this?”
“Why is who… tch. You gotta be kidding me,” Kokichi grumbled.
Up on the second floor, both of them pulling themselves up onto the safety rails, Kaito gestured to Shuichi’s body, putting up three fingers as he shouted, “Alright, on my count! One—”
“Two, three, go!” Shuichi shouted, lurching his body forward and squealing in delight as his clothes slid him down the railing at lightning speeds.
“Cheater!” Kaito shouted, throwing himself down his railing too as once again that strange sound of Kokichi’s laugh, but wrong, filling the air. “HAH HAH HAH HAH! Oh shit catch me!”
Kokichi’s eyes widened, watching as his own small, thin body raced towards the ground. His back tensed up as his body was recklessly hurtled down the railing… but both women got into position like they’d done so countless times, Tsumugi catching Shuichi’s body at the bottom while the other girl caught Kokichi’s body mid-air with no apparent difficulty, Himiko’s weak frame apparently compensated by Maki’s knowledge of how to use what little muscles she had.
Kokichi watched his own face light up with joy, bright red and laughing breathlessly in Himiko’s bemused arms, and felt an itch building up in his throat that burned almost as much as the anger in his stomach did. “Kaito!”
“Eh?” Kaito, still giggling, looked over at Kokichi like he genuinely hadn't noticed him till just now. Something sheepish flushed through the boy’s beat red, widely grinning face as he shuffled out of Himiko’s arms and onto the ground. “Oh, uh, h-hey! Uh—”
Ignoring the fury in his stomach (which, wow, was actually burning hot? His anger didn’t usually feel like this. It was like slowly building molten, coursing through his veins) he threw a smile on his face that likely looked entirely wrong on Kaito’s frame. “Nee-heehee! Having all the fun without me? No faaaaair! You have to come with me, now, to make up for playing such a… fun… ” Kokichi grit his teeth, that weird, molten feeling flaring uneasily, “game without me!”
“...that’s so disturbing looking. Don’t do that. The whole…” Himiko scowled, gesturing vaguely to Kokichi’s whole deal, “routine in Kaito’s body. It’s unsettling.”
“It doesn’t look quite right, does it?” Maki agreed, before tilting her head curiously. “He seems angry and frustrated, doesn’t he? Do you suppose Kokichi might struggle to lie like this? That could be plain interesting to explore—”
“Alright, yeah, yeah, we’re all having fun with body swapping stuff, but let’s not fuck around with secrets, alright?” Kaito huffed, rubbing the back of his neck, before laughing a little. “Jeez, my neck’s sore from craning my head up all the time… anyway! Sorry man! Was just having some fun! But, yeah, let’s go, you look like you need a meal. Gotta keep that body of mine fit with regular food and exercise! Let’s go!” Kaito insisted, before basically skipping over to Kokichi, grinning up at him brightly. “Come on! I’ll walk ya!”
Kokichi could feel Kaito’s overly thick forehead twitch in irritation, though at least that molten feeling was easing a little. It was…weird, seeing how childish Kaito’s joy looked on Kokichi’s body. He liked to think that was something he put effort into. It didn’t sit right with him, that Kaito could just…do that.
Throwing on a bright smile that didn’t fit Kaito at all, like a man throwing on a kiddy voice, Kokichi smiled brightly and nodded. “Lead the way~”
-
Sitting across from Kaito at one of the dining hall tables, it felt like he was gazing into an absurd funhouse mirror: one where his reflection was entirely normal except it showed him gorging himself like he hadn’t had a proper meal in years.
“I just—” he paused around a slurp of noodles, spicy broth splattering onto his chin as he kept trying to talk around his new mouthful, “I haven’t gotten to eat anything spiced in so long, because of my throat—”
Kokichi stared down at his own plate, which Kaito had piled high with easy textured, bland foods for him. Staring at another version of himself eating so happily, it felt like a special kind of joke.
He was incredibly tempted to steal one of the fishcakes out of Kaito’s bowl, but decided it probably wasn’t worth expelling one of his lungs over. Resigned to his depressing meal of No Salt, No Spice, and No Fun, Kokichi brought a forkful of salad (not a vinaigrette, acids were also dangerous) up to his mouth and chewed around a thought.
There was too much to understand about this body; if he was left to fend for himself, he’d probably die before Miu even got to him. But rather than asking for help…maybe he could think of this as conscripting Kaito to be his temporary henchman.
He’d been planning to use Gonta that way in the VR world, but Kokichi had been transported away before he’d been able to show the big lug the flashback light. Kaito could be his replacement Miu-shield; it made perfect sense, if he thought about it.
Of course Kaito had to be his henchman: he already knew about the poison, and Kokichi was keeping a secret for him! Kaito couldn’t refuse him anything right now… and Kokichi would take advantage of that. Y’know, like a supreme leader.
Besides, it was Kaito’s body that was causing him so many problems in the first place. It was only right that Kaito take responsibility for it. He could even think of it as paying Kokichi back for the short reprieve from his Blood Coughing Death Disorder, if Kokichi had to resort to guilting tactics.
Not that Kaito had any right to refuse him. He was already apparently getting his fill of Kokichi’s body; even now as Kaito was eating, there was a blatant, eerily innocent joy on his face. Effortlessly happy, in a way that Kokichi had spent a considerable amount of time practicing in the mirror. He had had to practice it, because otherwise Kokichi had always felt like his face looked oddly distorted, without those inflections. Too wide eyes on a still too big head, narrow cheeks that pointed into too sharp corners over even a sharper tongue.
Kokichi had worked hard to make himself appear like a child when it was convenient, because he had always felt that otherwise everything that was wrong about him would be obvious to anyone that looked. That it was just etched there, in his skin…
But, nope! Apparently not! Because take the ‘Kokichi’ out of Kokichi’s body, and apparently he still looked like a twelve year old on a sugar high!
Whelp! That was annoying!
Swallowing down his first bite to Kaito’s hundredth, Kokichi threw a casual glance across the table. "Enjoying your food?"
"Mmfhmm!" He nodded around another mouthful of noodles, eyes twinkling with delight.
"And you had fun running around earlier?"
Kaito nodded again, though this time with a bit less vigor. Kokichi smiled, taking another bite of salad and letting Kaito stew in his growing suspicion while he finished chewing.
When he swallowed, Kokichi could feel how every bit of food pressed down against the cuts in his throat. "Having fun knowing your secret is safe, Kaito?"
Kaito's eyes had lost their glimmer, expression cool as he placed his chopsticks to the side. "I figured this might happen. What do you want?"
"Glad you're quick on the uptake." Kokichi attempted to lean back in his chair, but his stupidly long legs bonked against the underside of the table and had him wincing. Ugh. "I want you to protect me."
"Protect you?"
"Yeah, from Miu." Placing a single finger to his chin and feeling gross goatee there, he tilted his head and tried to come off coy. "I'm so weak and helpless in this sickly, broken body, and my head is all fogged up from needing to use your stupid, broken brain."
“Hey! Who’s brain are you calling broken!? That brain got me through the astronaut qualification exams, it’s top notch! A well oiled machine! You just must not be using it right.” Kaito grumbled, genuinely irritated…right up until he slurped on some more noodles. “Mmmm~ fuck , that’s good.”
Ignoring Kaito’s blatant fawning over food (which was becoming borderline orgasmic), Kokichi scoffed. Touching his fists together in a way that seemed right at the time and felt off immediately afterward, he continued, "I could ask someone else to help me, if you're too busy playing! I'd just need to mention all the things I'm having trouble with, but—"
"Alright, alright, I get it." Kaito sighed into his bowl of noodles, flavoring it with his surrender. "You've got yourself a bodyguard."
"Wow, my hero!" Sniggering (and ignoring the painful itch once again rearing its head and demanding his attention), Kokichi picked up his fork and went to stab into more of his food. "Though technically you're a villain now, since you're working under an evil leader."
"What do you even need me to do?"
Taking a moment to think (and using the opportunity to shove something new into his mouth), Kokichi tried to consider his options. "We need to figure out how to keep Miu from killing me once we go back into the VR world. That's probably when she'll strike, once we're all hooked in to get our bodies back."
"You think she'll really do that? Won't the timing be too suspicious?"
Would it? Planning a murder while introducing everyone to the digital world you designed was probably just as suspicious, if not more. "I don't think it'd deter her, but if she shifts tactics that's why you'll be around. We also don't know how her failure will change her plans, especially since she left evidence behind with her last attempt…"
Kokichi held his head, voice dying out. He'd run out of breath while talking…embarrassing. He had been joking about being weak and helpless, but at the moment that's exactly what he felt like.
Holding up a hand in front of his face, he realized it was shaking. Kaito noticed, too, and pushed Kokichi's plate closer.
"Eat; I'll talk."
Kokichi went at his food slower than felt natural, trying to retain his dignity and not tremble the food off his fork. Kaito cocked his head to the side as he started to think, the movement instantly familiar as his own physical mannerism.
"When you say evidence, you mean the poison, right? Since she left that on your chair, she probably knows that at least I've seen it…"
"And since you shot up and dragged me away to talk, she's probably at least nervous you told me too." Kokichi swallowed a mouthful of tofu before grabbing up another cube, almost astounded by how flavorless it managed to be.
Across from him, Kaito nodded. "Do you think she has any reason to suspect you know she's the one that planted it?"
"We planned a whole thing, back in the VR world. The two of us were gonna meet up." Swallowing down another piece, Kokichi interrupted, "why does eating make me tired?"
"Digestion is a process. My body doesn't like processes." Kaito tapped a finger to his chin in thought, tilting his head again. "Why don't we just tell the others what we know?"
Why not? Kokichi was sure there had been a reason, but he felt the gears in his brain beginning to slow. "...is honey allowed in this horrible diet of yours? I think some people put honey on tofu."
"Gross." Kaito picked up his chopsticks again, frowning into his bowl as if it might answer his question instead. "...Miu's busy fixing your mess, we got time. Let's just focus on eating, and then go from there."
Seeing no reason to argue, Kokichi once again set his sights on his plate. After a few uninspired seconds of assessing his choices, Kokichi's eyes drifted toward the honey at the end of the table.
Following his gaze, Kaito shook his head. "If your taste buds are still the same as mine, there's no way you'll like it. Don't even try."
Kokichi shoved another tasteless cube of tofu into his mouth, frowning.
-
There was always a worrying risk of stagnation, in the dome. While the motives were hassles that were meant to keep at least one of them always hurdling straight towards a murder, a side benefit of them was usually that it gave the rest of the group something to focus on and navigate.
Kokichi usually didn’t have to worry about the stagnation, even when no one else had anything to do but sit around waiting for Monokuma to provide new direction. Kokichi always had an ulterior goal to keep him busy and motivated, only delaying occasionally when Shuichi sought him out to randomly spend time together, or when Kaito was chasing him around to try to make speeches at him. But all of his research and experiments, at least for the day, had to be put on hold while he had his little bodyguard hovering around. Kaito was merely a minion, not an actual partner, and so he couldn’t be allowed in on the schemes Kokichi had going on in the background of this boring and repetitive killing game.
Which meant Kokichi didn’t have a lot to do beyond think about whatever Miu might be doing.
Not that he could let Kaito know that, as he responded to Kaito’s demands to know what they were doing for the third time now. “You’ll see it when you see it, Kaito! Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing you haven’t realized it already.” Kokichi huffed, raising a too thick eyebrow at him. “Are you not paying attention at all?”
Kaito pouted up at him—it was infuriatingly adorable—before looking around. He and Kokichi had been slowly walking the wall of the dome for maybe twenty-five minutes now, closing in on their second time around the perimeter. “...is it…” Kaito frowned, trying to guess, “...are we looking for more messages on the ground?”
“Ooooh, and his tiny little brain is starting to warm up…”
“Dude! It’s your tiny brain I’m using! Okay, so, like, if Miu’s trying to set you up for a murder, maybe she’s trying to exploit those messages Gonta keeps finding around the dome? Leaving behind misleading clues? Are we looking for stuff like that?” Kaito guessed, looking at the pathway beneath their feet. “Because there’s never anything else out here.”
“Neeheehee! That’s not all we’re doing, but you know what? I’ll give it to you, you figured out one part of it! Good job, Kaito!”
Kaito lit up, standing a little straighter and grinning with all his teeth. “Alright, easy enough! I’ll keep an eye out then… not that I can see much from down here.” He giggled —Kokichi twitched at the sound— before jumping up and down, laughing as he said between little hups! “Man, how do you– hup– see freaking – hup — anything from down here!? You got a mean jump though! – Hup, hup, hup– ”
Snapping his arm forward, Kokichi grasped the back of Kaito’s jacket.
“Hey!? What’s your deal man!?”
“Watching you is making me tired . Why can’t you keep still for five seconds? We’re just walking.” Kokichi grumbled, keeping his grip as Kaito squirmed, trying to pull out of it. “Ugh, your body sucks, by the way. I need a nap.”
“Look, if you told me what you’re trying to accomplish right now, I could just do it and you could go back to the dorms to rest,” Kaito pointed out, squirming some more before Kokichi finally let him go. Settling down as he looked up at Kokichi, he frowned a little at whatever he was seeing. “...man, I look kinda big from here.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. There’s nothing impressive about being tall; I’ve never felt less graceful in my life.” Kokichi whined, finally letting his hand fall with a huff. “I’m an awkward, gangly giant.”
“I wasn’t trying to flatter myself! But also, fuck you, I’m awesome, not awkward! You just gotta learn to walk in it! …puberty was rough .” Kaito admitted, grinning up at Kokichi, “I sprouted up all at once one summer when I was thirteen. I felt like I was walking around on stilts, and man, when I was back in class with the other kids, everyone started getting real aggressive with me…I realized I intimidated people, after a while. When you’re bigger than everyone else, ya gotta make an effort to be friendlier, ya know?”
“Uh huh, uh huh, fascinating. Whyyyyyy am I hearing about this?” Kokichi asked, feeling his throat start to itch some more. Ugh, don’t start again, the slow, easy walk had actually been helping.
“Thought you might want to know what puberty was like!” Kaito grinned, smirking a little, “Since you totally missed out on it, huh?”
“Hah!” Kokichi laughed incredulously, genuinely taken aback by the open dig—before an eruption of coughs suddenly ripped through his throat, the cuts bleeding inside not liking the unprepped-for laugh.
“Oof, my bad, my bad. Just breathe…” Kaito winced, reaching over to steady him and rub his back a little.
“ K’auugh, krf, ugh… get off me,” Kokichi grumbled, pushing Kaito back slightly...before raising an eyebrow as Kaito stumbled backwards, falling onto his butt with a thump!
“Ow! Shit, man, why’d you shove me!?”
“Shove you? I just pushed you! Learn to stand in my damn body already!”
“I was standing, and then you pushed me! ” Kaito shouted back, before grumbling as he slumped backwards onto the grass. “God, you’re an asshole in any body, you know that?”
“Oh, what, now you’re just going to lay down on the job? You’re easily the worst minion I’ve ever had. Would you get up already?” Kokichi insisted, kicking Kaito’s—uh, his own– leg. “Up! Up!”
“No, you come here. Sit down, man, you started coughing again. You’re gonna wanna just rest or it’s gonna get worse. Sit, lay down, enjoy the sun… if you can.” Kaito frowned, looking up at the blue sky, “...the sun never feels right here. Maybe the glass? I fell asleep out here the other day for, like, two hours, and when I woke up my skin hadn’t reddened even a little bit… that’s weird. Isn’t it? It’s like UV rays aren’t getting in at all.”
“...Did you actually let yourself collapse outside?”
“I was taking a nap!” Kaito barked, before reaching out to tug on the bottom of Kokichi’s pants leg. “Seriously, get down here. Maybe you’ll be able to understand the appeal once you try it.”
Barely suppressing a sigh, Kokichi lowered himself to the ground and carefully folded his long legs so he could sit. Then, only convinced to humor the idea because of the residual itch in his throat, he looked up at the sky.
“...This is boring.”
“It’s literally been two seconds!”
Two seconds too many to be doing something so pointless. Kokichi traced the curves of the dome’s birdcage bars with his eyes, only feeling more trapped the more attention he gave them. “Hey, why do you think Miu’s trying to kill? She hasn’t even seen the new motive yet.”
It was one of the things he’d been thinking about during their pointless walk. He didn’t understand what she was thinking; out of everyone, he thought Miu might have had the strongest basis for believing they could get out together. She’d helped him make all those gadgets, after all. Why put in all that work if she thought she needed to kill someone to escape?
What made her give up? And what made her decide to target him?
Unaware of the turbulent emotions starting to build up inside Kokichi, Kaito kept staring at the sky. “No clue. Did you do something to piss her off? …actually, it’s not worth bothering to ask that with you.”
Kokichi started to bite at his nail, before remembering that Kaito’s hands were gross and stopping himself. Once again he found himself more upset than he’d usually be, his emotions intense like they were boiling his blood. “Think about it harder. You like to believe you’re good at reading people, right?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. But, wait, you want me to tell you why Miu wants to kill you?” Kaito asked. Placing his arms behind his head, he cradled his face against his elbow—having to adjust in small ways, Kokichi’s elbows are sharp and bony, not great to lay on—as he looked over to face him. “Like, I’m not a mind reader. Honestly, I’d say the next step is asking her why she’s so pissed at you.”
“Right, great idea! I’ll just go up and ask to talk to her in private, ask her about her feelings…Hey, you know what this sounds a lot like? Her plan to kill me!” Wearing a grin with too many sharp edges, Kokichi craned his head around to look at Kaito’s awful stolen face. “Why do you even think she’s mad at me?”
“Because I can’t imagine what it’d take to try to kill someone you don’t hate?” Kaito mused… before saying softly, “Besides someone making you, I guess. Which could be where her head is at now? Maybe Miu’s feeling cornered…but somehow I don’t think that’s it. There’s a lot of easier targets than you, if she’s panicking. I can barely pin you down for a conversation, let alone a murder attempt.”
“D’aw, I never knew you thought so highly of me!”
“Yeah, man, of course! You’re small, you scurry around faster than I can even freaking see sometimes, and the way you disappear around corners? It’s like you’ve been bit by a radioactive roach!” Kaito grinned, a small light of mischief in his eyes. “Got all their creepy little roach powers! And everyone knows those fucks are unkillable!”
The unconventional praise had Kokichi feeling a bit uncomfortable, but he felt the storm raging inside him settle some. With his next inhale, he thought he breathed a little easier, too.
“You got that right. I’m going to win this killing game, so there’s no way I’m going to die here!”
“Aaaaaand there it is.” Kaito sighed, rolling onto his stomach and kicking his legs up lazily as he closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms. “If you wanted a reason? There you go. If she’s feeling cornered and trapped in this fucking killing game, man, she might be wanting to target literally the only other person who wants to bullshit that he’s playing .”
Why would she think he’s a threat? Obviously he was playing at being one literally all the time, but…Miu should know better. Why would he ask her to help arm everyone with electrohammers if he was trying to play the game by Monokuma’s rules?
“What about you, Kaito? If you’re such a good judge of character, do you think I’m a threat?”
“I think you’re an asshole,” Kaito said simply, eyes still closed. Looking for all intents and purposes like he was seriously considering taking a nap in the grass…and maybe that by itself saying something, as he yawned a little. “But mostly I think you’re just as freaked out as the rest of us….and just dealing with that in the shittiest way possible.”
Kaito seemed briefly content to leave it there, falling into a doze like he couldn’t imagine anything to be afraid of, before he suddenly popped up his head. Shuffling onto his elbows and glaring at Kokichi, he said, “And by the way, that’s not a fucking invitation for you to try to ‘prove’ you’re dangerous. You’re a lot bigger than me right now and you don’t know how to use those muscles. You’re little fucking sucker punches could actually damage me, you , if you don’t know how to hold back.”
“Care to remind me who’s been punching who today? Because I don’t think it was me.”
“Yeah, cause I know what your twig arms can do! You’re like a toddler handling heavy equipment right now, you’re a danger to everyone around you through sheer ignorance alone…alright, wait, I was half kidding, don’t fucking walk away man.”
“Who’s walking away? I’m going to go look for a tree… w’oof . Hold on…” Kokichi said, closing his eyes as he wobbled a little on his feet.
“Vertigo?” Kaito asked knowingly.
“Shut up, hold on… anyway! I’m driving a big, scary new machine, right? Well, if I wanna learn how to deal with my new super strength, then it’s time for a training montage! I’m gonna go break your hands open punching a tree.”
“Hey, stop , sit back down! …I mean, punching a tree does sound like a cool training exercise,” Kaito admitted, considering it as he sat up, “but I think we’d need hand wraps or something like that… anyway! I had a fucking point, man!”
“Yeah, I think I got it. That you’re big and strong and only dying a little bit and my usual puny self wouldn’t know how to handle your big massive muscles. Such a good point, don’t know how I’ve been surviving without your help so far.”
“My point is that, yes, you are dangerous.” Kaito said, Kokichi’s thin eyebrows pinching together sternly as he scowled, “when you’re trying to prove a point . You act big and loud and do that cackling ‘muwahahaha’ shit, and you do your absolute fucking best to scare the shit out of everyone around you, and you know what!? Maybe you did that before we got trapped here, too! Maybe that’s just how you’ve always handled bad situations, making yourself bigger and scarier and more threatening than everyone else around you. Fine… but we’re in a death game , man. I don’t care how good you were at it on the outside, every threat you throw around here? Is hitting way harder than I think you realize. You are way fucking scarier right now than I think you’re used to, and yeah, you’re ignorant to how people really act when something huge and scary comes along to threaten them. Because you’re not used to it . Because this is the first time you’ve suddenly become bigger and scarier overnight, and you haven’t figured out how to make yourself smaller, and you fucking know I’m not talking about the body swapping shit.
“ That’s my fucking point,” Kaito grumbled.
For a second, Kokichi let the words settle with the amount of dramatic weight they deserved. What a speech. Maybe those were the kinds of rousing talks he gave his sidekicks to make them kiss his dirty slippers and consider him so perfect and wise.
What a load of bullshit.
He wished he could laugh, long and loud and hard. Instead he stared into the bark of the tree he’d found, one of the few nearby ones the Exisals hadn’t seen fit to cut down and replace with a spontaneously-appearing building.
“You think the same doesn’t go for all of you, too? That I’m the only one who feels more threatening now?”
That molten feeling had come back, stronger in its resurgence and traveling through his veins like fire. “If there’s one thing this game has proven, it’s that anyone could kill you. There’ve been multiple experienced killers among us, trained fighters, big strong guys like Gonta… And sweet little Kaede. Prim and perfect Kirumi. Miu…
“You know what they all have in common, Kaito? They can lie, and be nice, and pretend to be your friend…”
Kaito, still sitting in the grass, swallowed slightly. Having the odd sensation of recognizing signs in his own body that, really, he had never actually seen in real time. But he could still recognize them. That little clicking bulge at the side of his jaw, thumping in irritation, the deep crease between his eyebrows that he sometimes had to make a specific effort to relax enough to flatten out. His knuckles going white for how tightly they were clenched versus how red the rest of his skin got, feeling the heat of the anger spread…
“Kokichi,” Kaito tried nervously, leaning back from him. Suddenly feeling small . “Calm down, man.”
“...And they’re all still bigger than me, and they can all still kill me!”
Kokichi hadn’t actually been planning to punch the tree. But the next thing he knew he was putting all the strength he had into his fist and throwing it into the thick trunk, teeth grit as something exploded inside of him.
There was a loud crunch that sounded at the impact, and it sure wasn’t from the wood breaking. Kaito flinched at the swing of the blow, but his relief that he hadn’t ended up the target was quickly dulled by nausea, knowing exactly what the sound had meant. In front of the tree, Kokichi fell to his knees and clutched his fist to his chest, instinctively cradling it, though he wasn’t conscious of much at the moment. Just finding himself incapable of keeping his breathing even as tears (from the pain, the pain and that was all) fell from his eyes.
“Shit!! What is going on?!”
Kaito swallowed down his nausea, finally scurrying up and hurrying over to Kokichi’s side. Kneeling down beside him, Kaito winced at the gnarled mixture of ruptured skin and oozing pink, bleeding into his shirt as Kokichi held his fist protectively against himself. “You’re fucking losing it on me is what’s happening. Hey, hey! ”
Kaito clenched his fists—small, but still fists—and tried to tap into what he’d need to reel back and knock some fucking sense into Kokichi…and found it harder than it usually was, looking for that endless stockpile of heat and coming up empty. Just sort of tired and freaked out instead. Cold…and with his heart not in it, he just grabbed Kokichi’s shoulder and shook it. “Pull it together! You have to fucking take a second and breathe, man!”
Kokichi took in a gasp of air and, to his horror, found it mutating into an angry sob.
“Shit!! Goddamn it!!” Kokichi screamed, and then he coughed and coughed and coughed. Pain had him curling inward, blood dribbling down his chin, and when he wiped at it with the back of his messed up hand he felt it mix with the bleeding from his torn up skin.
He felt so stupid and hysterical. Why couldn’t he just control himself? Kokichi was supposed to be in control. He didn’t crack, he didn’t break: no matter how shitty things were. No matter how bad it got.
But he’d effectively cracked and broken Kaito’s hand, so that ship had sailed. Strength seeping out of him, Kokichi let his forehead lower until it touched the ground. His coughs started to abate, and as the grass tickled the skin of his face Kokichi carefully slowed his breaths as fatigue made the feelings in him finally burn out.
Kaito was still there, watching him. He could feel it in the small hand on his back, but more tangible than that was the weight of those eyes on him, his own eyes watching the mess he had made of himself.
“...alright. I’m done.”
“I bet,” Kaito said, though there was no malice in it. Just keeping a steadying hand on Kokichi’s back, watching the rage and fury slowly bleed out as the illness did a better shutdown of the tantrum then Kaito or Kokichi could have. “Comes and goes fast, huh? I’ll be honest man, I kinda thought you had the same thing. I don’t know where all this energy of yours comes from, but it doesn’t feel the same. Kinda wild, huh… don’t really know how to use it, whatever it is you’ve got.”
Kaito was just talking by this point, waiting for the lingering shakes in Kokichi’s, uh, his own body to die down. Relaxing after something like that was always a process. And after that… “You’re gonna need to rest. We should probably get you back to the dorm. Also, geez ,” Kaito grinned crookedly, carefully reaching out to take Kokichi’s wrist from his chest and pulling it gently out so that he could get a better look at the hand, “What, my body wasn’t injured enough when you got it? Really had to bust me up even more just before giving it back? This is gonna suck, man. We should probably clean and wrap this…come on. I don’t know if I can lift you, but you can put some weight on me, I think.” Then, standing up and keeping his hand on Kokichi’s wrist, Kaito grabbed his bicep to try to help him to his feet.
Struggling up, Kokichi let out a weak laugh that quickly turned into an even weaker cough. When he spoke, his voice was raw: “They’re going to think I hurt you on purpose.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure you’ll spin it as some big step in some grand plan, you liar. I’ve got your number. Come on, we’ll figure it out later.”
-
They were silent for a little while.
They had gone back to Kaito’s dorm room, because Kaito said he had a first aid box under his bed. He said he got it from the storage facility, and Kokichi had tried to shut him down by saying he had, like, twelve in his own room, he was practically swimming in first aid kits, he had actually entirely replaced his bed’s box spring with first aid kits—
Kaito had sighed and said it wasn’t a fucking competition, he just had one, okay? And the two had gone to his room.
There wasn’t much in Kaito’s dorm room. A few items scattered about, mostly, all likely prizes from the slot machine. On the floor next to the bed was a bikini magazine that Kaito quickly kicked further under the bed, before reaching beside it and pulling out the first aid kit. It was already unlocked, and as Kaito brought out the supplies he gestured to the bathroom, indicating Kokichi should head in there.
Kaito’s sink was stained pink. There were pink flecks on the mirror, and the side of his toilet bowl was pink, too. There was more pink on the floor.
Kokichi thought about how he had, in a daze, flicked the glob of blood he had coughed up on the floor, and it hit him that this was something Kaito had been dealing with for a while. To the point where he had stopped cleaning it up, at least in his private spaces. Giving up on the constant upkeep and maintenance.
Kokichi watched as Kaito turned on the sink and placed his own smaller fingers beneath the faucet, waiting for the right temperature before stepping back. “Alright: little soap, little water, and once we’ve cleared the blood and applied some antibiotics and we’ll wrap! No sweat!”
“I don’t need you to walk me through all of this, Kaito, I know how to wash my hands.”
“Man, you really just make it painfully unrewarding to do anything with you,” Kaito sighed, leaning against the sink and absolutely not taking Kokichi’s hint to fuck off.
Kokichi decided to ignore him, carefully running his fingers and knuckles under the faucet. The water wasn’t hot, but it was warm, so after the initial wince-inducing flash of pain it wasn’t that bad. He cleared out some of the blood on his skin, though the dull ache of what was definitely chipped bones still thrummed through his wrists and up his arms. One more piece of pain competing with all the other sores and aches and pangs inside of him.
“Your assassin is going to break my hand in revenge the second our bodies are swapped back,” Kokichi complained, frowning as putting some soap on the torn flesh increased the sting briefly. “And then Miu might try to take advantage of it and pin my murder on her afterward.”
“Shut up, Makiroll’s not gonna break your hand, and Miu’s not gonna get the chance to take advantage of anything.” Kaito sighed, staring at himself in the mirror. Staring at Kokichi in the mirror, more accurately, inspecting himself in casual detail that would have made Kokichi incredibly uncomfortable had Kaito decided to stare at him so intently in his own body. Memorizing his eyes, his face, his hair, his gaze flicked about as he took in all the little details.
“Hey, Kaito. You ever hear of ‘take a picture, it’ll last longer?’”
“Yeah, but then everyone would know I have a picture of you, and that’d be weird,” Kaito said simply, not even having the decency to appear sheepish. “...We look a lot alike.”
“This is a terrible way of telling me that I’m apparently going blind.”
“It’s just in coloring, I guess. A little. I don’t know… I just see things I recognize.” Kaito shrugged. “Sit on the toilet, let’s wrap your hand.”
“You’re so assertive, Kaito! I have to tell you, if this is the way you are in the bedroom, you and I are not going to work out—”
“Shut up and let me wrap your hand, jackass!”
Kokichi snickered, before sitting down. Then he sighed somewhat in relief as he finally could let his body relax again, happy to not carry his own weight after exerting all that energy before.
Still grumbling and huffing to himself, Kaito pulled out the wrapping and started to turn it gently over Kokichi’s knuckles.
“...no one’s going to notice you messed up my hand,” Kaito said after a moment. “You don’t have to worry about vengeance or whatever.”
“Oh? Going to have Himiko cast a Cure All for you? Not sure if it’ll work in the state she’s in, but maybe Tsumugi has some spare mana to work with from all her magical girl cosplays.”
“No, jackass. They’re not going to notice cause I just won’t tell them. You’re literally in my body and you didn’t fucking notice either.”
“Huh? Notice what?”
“Look at your left hand.”
Kokichi frowned, before looking down at his, or Kaito’s, hand. His eyebrows furrowed at the twisted skin at the knuckles, folding and overlapping each other like buds of a flower, the skin reddened and raw… and Kokichi experimentally squeezed the hand, noticing that competing with all the other endless aches and pains in Kaito’s body was a sharp, aching sore…
“If you look in my closet, there’s a fucking crack in it the size of your head. Put it there, I don’t know, five days in… after Kaede’s execution, y’know? Just went in there and lost my mind, that day.” Kaito, shrugging as he wrapped Kokichi’s knuckles, shook his head. “Just had to leave the wrap on long enough for the bleeding to stop, and once you take it off? No one’s looking hard enough to notice. They didn’t last time, they won’t this time. It’ll be fine.”
“Yeesh, that’s intense.” Still staring at the hand, he flexed it one more time, an additional confirmation in the pangs of poorly healed injuries. “Maybe you’re the cockroach. It seems like no amount of damage is going to slow you down…you might be more unkillable than me.”
Kaito grinned, stretching Kokichi’s round cheeks like being compared to a roach was the best compliment he’d ever heard. “Right, I’m not going to lose to anything! We’ll both get out of this nightmare alive!”
“Me too? Don’t tell me I’m included in that bogus unconditional trust of your’s now.”
“You know what? Maybe you are.” Securing the last of the gauze in place, Kaito let go of Kokichi’s hand and looked up into his eyes. “I’ve decided: you’re definitely not a threat. You wouldn’t kill someone, Kokichi, and I won’t let anyone kill you, either.”
“Really? I scream a lot and punch a tree, and now I’m on your good side?”
“Obviously it’s not because of that. I just realized, there’s a lot you can’t know about a person unless you walk in their shoes. Uh, literally, I guess.” Stepping back, he took an awkward look down at his feet before lifting up another smile, bright and genuine and so fucking weird on his face . “After spending a day in your skin, I feel like I get you better. Like, I get why you feel the need to be so vigilant.”
“Kaito, if you think I’m wary of people just because you're all freakishly big, you should know that I actually used to be seven feet tall and got reductive surgery to make myself an even more efficient supervillain—”
“Dude, shut up, I’m just saying! I was intimidated, okay? Anyway, either way, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt more. We all have stuff we’re hiding. You, me, and everyone else. There are things that no one is going to understand just by looking at us…and y'know what? I’m sure Miu’s that way too.”
Pounding his tiny fists together, Kaito flashed a confident grin. “Whatever it is that’s getting to her, we’re gonna figure it out and get through this. Together.”
Kokichi was about to open his mouth and mock the corny bullshit Kaito took for an inspiring speech when there was a knock at the door, rapid series of taps that broke through their little moment.
“Coming!” Turning toward the door, Kaito rushed up to greet their visitor. Tsumugi stood there in her mage’s cap, eyes alight with obvious impatience.
“There you are! Miu just finished fixing the code, and she looks like she’s about to fall asleep so we need everyone to get their butts over there!” Peeking inside, Tsumigu adjusted her glasses and sized up Kokichi. “Oh, there’s two of you? Perfect, that means less running around.”
Soon enough they were all out the door, Tsumugi leading them to the computer lab to meet the others. During their walk Kokichi caught Tsumugi sneaking peeks at his freshly applied gauze, pretending not to be curious.
“You got hurt?”
Kokichi flapped his bandaged hand casually, suppressing the twinge of pain that threatened to creep into his expression. “I just tripped on this guy’s big noodle legs and scraped it up a little! Barely enough to void the warranty.”
“My body doesn’t have a warranty,” Kaito muttered, pushing his short legs to keep pace with their long ones.
“Right, that’s Kee-boy’s job!”
“No more talking,” Tsumugi breathed, holding onto her hat so it wouldn’t slide off. “This body doesn’t have enough latent mana to walk and talk.”
“You started it. And I doubt Tsumugi is as out of shape as you, Himiko.” Kokichi went to tuck his hands behind his head, only to abort the movement early when reminders of their injuries throbbed. “At this point, I think you might just be lazy.”
-
When they arrived at the computer room most of the others were already gathered, sitting in the VR chairs and listening to Gonta explain the fixes made to the code.
“...and if we all plug that cord into the headset of the person we’ve switched with, you’ll go back to your old body when you log out!” Turning over his shoulder, Gonta greeted them with tired, impatient eyes. “There you are! Get in your chairs, this pathetic body isn’t strong enough to do all-nighters!”
The three joined the others at the chairs, watching as the early-arrivers finished trading back their room keys and accessories. Conversations started up as well now that Gonta had finished talking, everyone naturally sharing their thoughts now that the whole fiasco was finally coming to an end.
“Gonta thinks Miu body very nice, but glad to go back soon.” Tugging at the very modest dress that looked like it had been borrowed from Tsumugi’s talent lab, Miu squirmed in her seat. “Gonta needs strength to protect his friends.”
“I wouldn’t mind playing around a little longer,” Maki said, still smiling the same unnerving way she had earlier that day. “I keep thinking of new outfits I wish I had tried on.”
“I admit, part of me wishes I could keep this body a little longer.” Shuichi smiled down sadly at his knees, smoothing his hands down where the pants’ fabric had gotten a little scuffed. “It was fun being human, and doing things I couldn’t do in my heavier body…”
“Speaking of, where is that tin can?”
Just then Keebo rushed into the room, Shuichi’s cap affixed onto his head and the weird hair antenna detached and held in his hand. “Guys, I think I learned something important about Keebo—and maybe this whole killing game!”
“Can it wait until after we switch back?! I need to finish running the program before this big lug falls asleep on me!” Jutting a thumb into his own chest, Gonta thrust a headset into Keebo’s hands. “Log in now, talk later! I’ll explain the process one more time, so listen up!”
Slipping his headset over Kaito’s obnoxious hair, Kokichi couldn’t even guess at what to expect this time. Maybe everything would betray his expectations just as they had before…but somehow, Kokichi had a feeling things would turn out alright.
Maybe that was merely an effect of this body’s inclination toward optimism. Even so, Kokichi decided to give in and let himself hesitantly trust in it…just this once.