Chapter Text
It was the morning after Gonta Gokuhara's Trial.
Everyone (well, almost everyone) had reunited in the dining area.
Shuichi was just sitting at the table, staring blankly at the wall, maybe regretting solving the trial.
Kaito was trying to cheer up everyone, supressing his own grief.
Maki was standing next to door, arms crossed, probably waiting for Kokichi to arrive so she could try to strangle him once again.
Himiko was crying, while Keebo and Tsumugi were trying to comfort her, she had big red puffy eyes since she'd been crying all night and barely got a wink of sleep.
Hours passed, and soon it wasn't morning anymore, and the night announcement would sound in an hour.
"Where the hell is Kokichi?!" Kaito screamed, unable to contain himself anymore. "I swear to God, if he isn't in his room repenting for what he's done, i'm gonna.." He stopped before he could say anything else, specifically the word 'kill'. He knew that no matter what, killing was surely not the answer. Before anyone else could start insulting Kokichi again,
Himiko spoke: "I'm gonna go to bed.. Sniff.. Im so tired.." And just like that, she walked away, back to the dorms. Tsumugi and Keebo followed her, just in case.
Now, only Maki, Kaito and Shuichi were left in the dining area.
"Could it be something's happened to him?" Shuichi said. After a long moment of silence, Maki sat down at the table, afterall she'd been standing for the whole day.
"It's more possible that the little rascal has rather done something than anything else." She had that murderous look in her eyes that made even Kaito shiver.
"What he did.." Kaito gulped. "He did that with no empathy at all.. Who says he might not do it a second time..?"
Maki nodded alongside him. "I agree. We might be in serious danger."
It looked like Shuichi wasn't having it though. "Still.." He took a deep breath. "We don't know yet. What if.. What if the mastermind killed him, or something? We don't actually know—"
Maki slammed her fist on the table. "Shuichi, I don't know if you just can't tell, but he probably is the mastermind!" She kept her head down as if not to face Shuichi. "We've all seen how he is, his true nature, he didn't even try to feel sorry for what he did to Gonta! Why are you seriously defending him?"
Shuichi stood up so fast the chair almost fell. "I'm not defending him! I'm just saying that it's better for a 'killer' to be roaming around, than have the killing game start again!" He continued, this time looking both Maki and Kaito im the face. "Or do you prefer we have another trial, and see another one of our friends die?!"
Silence filled the room. And then, the door clicked. But it wasn't who they were expecting
"Toodle-o my dear participants!" Oh God not Monokuma. "I see you're all having a fine day? Upupu! I bet you wanna kill Kokichi soooooooo bad.."
"Monokuma?" Kaito was startles by his certainly unwelcoming presence. "What the hell do you want?"
"Puhuhu! I see that someone's missing! What could have possibly happened I wonder? Was he kidnapped? .. Or worse, killed? Ohoh, I'm so thrilled!"
They all just stared at Monokuma blankly. (like everytime he said something like this) "You know something, don't you?" Maki demanded. "Just tell us!"
“Oh but that would just ruin the fun, Puhuhu! Or should I say— ‘Nishishi’?” At the familiar remark, Maki’s head snapped to where Monokuma was standing, looking him in his ‘eyes’.
“He’s the mastermind, right?” She took a dagger out of her pocket.
After some seconds of silence, Monokuma spoke “It’s not like i’m responsible for what you think, so see you soon!~”
They all hoped that that ‘soon’ would never come.
After a while in that tension-filled room, Shuichi left and went to his dorm.
He stared at Kokichi’s dorm room for a while.
‘I’m sure he’s not dead. He’s surely scheming something.’ Are the words he kept repeating his head.
But still, anxiety took over his head and he began ringing the doorbell.
No response at all.
Just as he was about to turn away, he heard a faint sneeze: “Etchu-!”
“Kokichi?” He called out with a worried voice. “Are you.. okay?”
A barely audible voice spoke up: “I’m totally fine etchu!, don’t worry about me! Etchu!”
Shuichi wasn’t the type of persone who got sick very often, but when he did get sick there wouldn’t usually be his mom or dad to take care of him properly.
“Take this cold rag and put it on your head. If your fever rises just take some medicine, me and your dad have to go to work. We can’t afford to take care of you. Sorry sweetie, see you soon.” His mom had said to him when he was 11 years old with a 38ish °C fever. (100.4ish farenheit)
So he had just learnt to take care of himself without needing help from others. But sometimes, when he was sick, he’d wish his mom or his dad would be there next to him, maybe to sing him a lullaby and make him sleep, or read a bedtime story, or just to help him out.
So when he heard Kokichi in there sneezing the hell out of himself, he begged to let him in.
“Kokichi come on, i’m not gonna hurt you! I’m just gonna check your temperature, okay?”
After a few times, it seemed like it worked and Kokichi ended up letting him in.
Saying he looked sloppy was an understatement. His hair was all messy, his checkered scarf was on the bed, he had eye bags that looked weeks old, and after opening the door he had slumped over his chair, thermomether in hand.
He stretched out the hand that was holding the thermomether and with a “Here.” Passed it to Shuichi.
“Where did you even get this?” Shuichi asked, confused. There weren’t any thermomethers in his room, could it be he just didn’t geti t?
“Monokuma gave it to me.” Kokichi answered, his voice basically a raspy whisper.
“Was he the one who made you sick?” It was the first thing that came to Shuichi’s mind, seeing how Monokuma had acted when he showed up in the dining area earlier.
“I.. don’t know. I woke up like this.” Kokichi said and then pointed to a square shaped sticky note on his desk. “When I woke up, I found the thermomether there, next to the note.”
The note clearly read:
‘Upupu! It seems you’re in a teensy eensy little bit of trouble! You might need a thermomether :P’ With a sloppy Monokuma drawn next to it.
“In any way- just leave me alone. I know how to handle a cold.” Kokichi remarked.
“A ‘cold ’? Kokichi, you have a 39 °C (102.2 farenheit) fever. There is no way I’m letting you deal with that alone.” Shuichi bit back.
“You’re so.. annoying.. Shumai—” Then a thump! Kokichi fainted headfirst onto the floor, maybe because of the fever, or something more?
“Kokichi!” Shuichi called his name, but Kokichi’s vision was becoming more blurry by the second.
‘I feel so cold.’ Was all he could think about.