Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day was new as Shuichi woke up in the same room, in the same school, in the same killing game. He sighed.. and Kaede was gone.. It still felt like she had died mere minutes ago, no matter how much time would pass, he wasn't able to shake the feeling of despair he felt. He was about to put on his hat when the speakers blared.

"All students please make it to the gym immediately!" Monokuma shouted from the speakers, Shuichi standing up to get to the gym for whatever was going to happen, a new motive, perhaps? No matter what it was, Shuichi was curious as he left his room, hat gone, walking towards the gym. He stepped into the gym, the others already there as Monokuma stood on the stage, soon speaking up using the mic on the podium. "Now that all you brats are here, I have an announcement! Upupupu!" Monokuma cackled, all the students in the gym had their eyes on the bi-colored bear as Monokuma continued. "Anyway, I have a new motive for you brats so that you can keep killing each other! Upupupu!" Monokuma snickered. "What is it this time you piece of shit?!" Kaito started, angry about the fact that Monokuma barely gave them time to grieve and was already throwing another motive at them. "Shaddup! Anyways~ The new motive is.." A drumroll sound effect happened as Monokuma threw his hands up as if excited. "Two of you brats are getting your memories back!~" Monokuma cheered. "I thought motives were supposed to start another murder, Monokuma? This is merely for our benefit, what gives? I wanted something more.. Exciting." Kokichi pouted, sounding almost upset. "Don't jinx us, you little abortion!" Miu shouted, Kokichi letting out fake tears before stopping to listen to Monokuma. "Upupupu! I just wanted to make this killing game more exciting that's all! Now, before you brats ask, we'll be deciding by vote!" Monokuma exclaimed, two boxes appearing with pens for everyone and ballots inside one so they could vote. "Write the name of who you want to get their memories back on those ballots and make sure you choose wisely!~" Monokuma shouted.

Shuichi looked around nervously, he wasn't sure who he would vote for.. He thought it would be best to vote for the most mysterious and problematic of them all, Kokichi. Shuichi was curious, and he was sure the others were too, so he grabbed his ballot and filled in Kokichi's name, slipping it in the box as he waited for Monokuma to announce the results. A few minutes later, after everyone had voted, Monokuma started once more, "Voting is over and the results are in! The duo getting their memories back shall be.." Monokuma added a drumroll sound effect once more. "Kokichi Ouma and Shuichi Saihara!~" Monokuma cheered loudly. "U-uh, what?' Shuichi said, confused. "Youuu heard me! You and the other brat Kokichi will be getting your memories back! How fun! Upupupu!~" Monokuma repeated. "I.. okay." Shuichi agreed, well he couldn't disagree anyway.. He was still processing what he heard. "Now, both of you brats get up here! You have some memories to regain!" Monokuma continued. Kokichi was the first to walk up, well, less of a walk, more like a jolly skip. he skipped up to the stage excitedly as Shuichi followed, walking quickly and nervously. "Can we start now Monokuma? Please please pleaseeeeeeee?" Kokichi said excitedly, grinning like a child. "Quiet you brat! Anyway, we'll be right back!" Monokuma said, pressing a remote as the curtains closed.

Monokuma looked at them both, sitting them down in some chairs brought out by the Monokubs before pulling out two syringes, both filled with a strange liquid (lets say the flashback lights aren't enough for that amount of memories to be brought back quick enough so after some science stuff the serum was born.) After some painful injecting and lots of screaming, the curtains reopened.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN THERE?!" Kaito exclaimed, balling his fist up as if it was a threat. "They got their memories back, idiot." Maki said, annoyed. "I- HEY IM NOT AN IDIOT-" Kaito started, aggravated at that point. "SHADDUP YOU BRATS! Anyway, meet your new classmates, same people, new personalities!~ Upupupu!" Monokuma said, letting Shuichi and Kokichi down from the stage. Kokichi was... different, he was.. silent as he looked around, nervousness painted on his face. "..Who are you? Where are we? Do you know, Saihara Senpai?" Kokichi asked, looking around, then looking at Shuichi. "..I don't know, Ouma cha- kun.." Shuichi scratched the back of his head sheepishly at his mistake, just as nervous as Kokichi. They were being extremely formal for no particular reason, probably to feel less nervous as they looked around their unfamiliar environment. The others were quite concerned, they appeared to have known each other, apparently going to the same school from how Ouma used senpai. Kirumi stepped up to them, quickly explaining as Shuichi and Kokichi processed what they just heard.

"So.." Kokichi stared at Shuichi, his leader instincts kicking in as he whispered at a level the others couldn't hear. "If we're stuck here until we find out how to stop this.. Killing game, we stick together, okay? We're capable, we can do this, got it?" Kokichi whispered firmly. "Of course, Ouma Kun." Shuichi replied. "Hey! What did you two degenerates just say? Are you degenerates planning to kill us all?!" Tenko said, panicked as she stood in a defensive position, ready to attack. "We were just thinking of our plan, that's all, if we were going to kill you all we known we wouldn't be able to take you all on, would we..?" Shuichi said firmly, he was quite serious, and so was Kokichi. "We just want to escape, you all probably want to as well, we'll help you. I get if you don't trust us, but we'll be here." Kokichi said. "If you decide to try and murder us, you'll receive a pleasant surprise." Kokichi smiled, gesturing for him and Shuichi to leave with him as they walked together and out of the gym. 

The others were still speechless, those two were dangerous.. They had made a mistake bringing them into this killing game. They could be useful allies or dangerous enemies, they had to make the right choices or they would be on their bad side, The bad side of a.. 

Dangerous duo.

Chapter Text

Shuichi and Kokichi walked through the halls of the academy together, the pair occasionally brushing hands, resulting in a lot of blushing and sorries, sure they were smart and etc, but they were still really awkward teens. Soon, Kokichi and Shuichi found the sleek, cylindrical room with all of their rooms and entered Shuichi’s room, gesturing for him to follow. Shuichi nodded and followed Kokichi as they closed the door so that they could talk.

"So.. Shuichi. Wait I shouldn't call you that-" Kokichi started, soon turning into a panicking mess when he addressed Shuichi wrong. "No, no, it's fine. you can call me Shuichi, we're friends, right?" Shuichi chuckled. "Okay then, so.. Shuichi, we need to think of a plan. Let's just say ideas and write down ones we stick to, since that's usually what we do to get plans, especially after we had that late art project.." Kokichi said, chuckling as he reminisced about that project for a second, soon snapping back to what was happening currently.

"..So, we can.. actually try to work together with everyone.." Shuichi suggested, looking down at his notepad, pen in hand.

"That's risky, we should be wary, we give out slivers of trust to the people we can trust." Kokichi replied, jotting it down in his notepad as Shuichi did the same. nodding his head in agreement. "Who can we trust..?" Shuichi asked, chewing on the clicky thing on the tip of a pen (it's a personal habit of mine and I headcanon that both Shuichis and Kokichis do this.)

"The question is who can we not trust." Kokichi added, also starting to chew the tip of his pen."..I don't trust that blue-haired girl with the glasses, Smoothie? Tugi?.. I think her name was Tsumugi. I don't like her, she acted way too normal, everybody else looked tense based on their body language, she was more relaxed, if you're going to ask how I know, Sai- Shuichi, I take criminal psychology and psychology in general." Kokichi continued, writing it down in his notepad.

"You have a point, considering this context she shouldn't be so relaxed.." Shuichi agreed, also writing it down."..Also, I don't like that Angler girl.. Wait her name wasn't Angler it was Angie.. I'm not sure if it's because she looked really happy or if it's because of her outfit, it made me feel like a perv when I looked at her." Kokichi shuddered. "...Okay I can agree to that a lot." Shuichi replied, also shuddering as he thought about it.

"The others I'm not so sure, I don't like that one guy with the weird gravity defying hair, what was his name? Cheeto? Mojito? Keto? No wait- It was Kaito! Yeah.. Wait is his "hair" even hair? What if it's a wig? IS HE BALD?!" Kokichi panicked."...Wait is he bald though? I'm confused now?!" Shuichi replied, joining in on the panic. After they stopped panicking with the conclusion that Kaito was probably bald, they went back to sharing ideas."Okay, so Kaito, whatever his name was, looks like a creepy weirdo who follows children at Disneyland, also was he in our class once?" Kokichi asked."Yeah, we sat next to him at an assembly, he also beat you up that one time because you didn't do his homework for him and got him suspended." Shuichi added. "..Oh yeah, I forgot about that, I don't like him, we should be wary of him." Kokichi said, writing it down, flipping the page to the next one with Shuichi nodding.

"So, our current plan is to hand out trust in small amounts and to not trust Tsumugi, Kaito and maybe that Angie girl?" Shuichi said. "Yep!" Kokichi chirped, slightly happier now that they had an actual plan, they needed a plan in the first place because they were the literal definition of a sheep in wolf's clothing. Sure they had that threat, but they weren't so sure about actually injuring people. Sure, Shuichi had stabbed somebody like two times, but they were accidents- definitely! 

Kokichi hadn't injured anybody severely before, he only used it for self defense, he punched somebody like one time. O n e t i m e. Since they weren't sure about injuring other people, they had to hope somebody wasn't going to attempt to murder one of them. They decided to watch each other's backs, there was no way they were going to let people get killed, and they weren't going to let themselves get killed either. Like that one saying in that popular indie game published in 2010 or something with a title neither of them could remember, "It's kill or be killed." They chatted for a while, time flying by, and soon..

*DING DONG, BING BONG...*

"Hm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 PM, as such, it is officially Nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited! .. Okay then, sweet dreams everyone, good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs biiite!" Monokuma announced, the announcement soon ending.

"..Well, I should head back to my room, make sure to lock everything real well Shuichi! Night!" Kokichi waved, leaving the room. Shuichi got up and he attempted to lock his door, the door not even locking one bit. He looked at his lock, confused.

It was broken.

Somebody tampered with his lock. Somebody was going to kill him and it was only his first night. Shuichi knew he was being paranoid, maybe his lock was always like this? But that couldn’t be a coincidence- He looked around, soon leaving his room and knocking on the door of Kokichi’s “..Who is it.” Kokichi’s muffled voice came through the door. “Kokichi- it’s me, Shuichi, somebody tampered with my lock, please let me in!..” Shuichi said, looking around frantically in the dark for any trace of a person behind him. He heard Kokichi’s door crack open and he was pulled in. 

Kokichi swiftly redid his locks as he pulled Shuichi in. “What do you mean somebody tampered with your lock!?” Kokichi whisper-yelled. “I’m being serious Kokichi, my lock was broken! Somebody was going to kill me tonight!” Shuichi whisper yelled back. Kokichi looked at him, “Your room isn’t safe anymore, from now on you’re sleeping here.” Kokichi stated. Shuichi opened his mouth to speak, "No buts, I don't want you dying on me." Kokichi stated firmly. The two heard a loud rattling sound, Kokichi's door was being shook, from the outside. "What the fuck?!" Kokichi whisper yelled. 

This was some horror movie style shit. Kokichi and Shuichi stared at eachother, they heard the rattling stop as they sighed in relief. "..Like I was saying, you're sleeping here from now on, if the lock originally in your door is broken there're a lot of problems with that, and I want you to stay alive." Kokichi said. "Now, my bed is big enough for the both of us, I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, it'd be disrespectful and I'd feel bad." Kokichi added. "I- uh, I-I'm fine with sleeping on the floor- I don't want it to be awkward-" Shuichi started, slightly red from the idea Kokichi suggested. "It's fine Shuichi, I don't mind and you shouldn't mind either, purely platonic and we have socks on, plus we can get you a sleeping bag tomorrow." Kokichi added. 

"..Okay then, it's not like I should be staying up anyway.." Shuichi agreed, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "You can sleep first, I'm staying up so I can do some things." Kokichi said as he pulled out his plan notepad.

Haha timeskip to when Shuichi's already asleep go brr.

It was around 2 AM, Kokichi was pulling an all nighter, he was making a plan, a fool-proof plan, AKA a Saihara-Chan-and-him-proof plan, not that Shuichi was a fool, not at all! He just made it just in case important info is revealed because of something awkward. Kokichi heard his lock rattle once more, it was back, whatever it was, whoever it was. Kokichi stared at his door, he wasn't sure if the door was being shook or if the lock was being picked. He watched the door crack open slightly "..What the fuck.." Kokichi whispered, he pushed a chair in his room under the doorknob. The door was pushed back by the chair, and the last thing he saw for the night was one blue eye in the crack of his door before it closed.

Kokichi slumped back down in his swivel desk chair, he was exhausted from pushing that chair. He looked back at the door and redid the lock, planning to ask Kirumi for some locks tomorrow, it being apparent that he needed more than one. Surviving was going to be harder than he thought..

He stayed up until 4 am, eventually falling asleep in his swivel desk chair. 

Chapter Text

Shuichi woke up to see a chair in front of the door and Kokichi sleeping in a swivel chair, he got up and walked over to Kokichi, shaking him slightly.

"GAH- WHO ARE YOU- ARE YOU HERE TO KILL M-.. Oh, it's just you Shuichi." Kokichi said, yawning and soon getting up. "Sorry for yelling at you, I thought the person from last night was back." Kokichi yawned. "Oh, it's fine Kokichi-.. Wait, PERSON FROM LAST NIGHT?" Shuichi said, alarmed. "Oh, yeah, somebody came and tried to kill us last night, there's a reason that chair's in front of the door, I think you witnessed them rattle the doorknob." Kokichi said, pointing to the chair. "Do you have any idea who it was? Any evidence?" Shuichi asked. "I saw one blue eye when I had to push the chair in front of the door." Kokichi said. "Also, unrelated, but why are we calling each other our last names if we're friends? We're supposed to be calling eachother our first names right? Does that mean we screwed up how we addressed eachother in the gym?" Kokichi said.

"..Wait, you're right.." Shuichi said, "We're getting off topic-.. Uh- Ouma-kun? Or should I keep calling you Kokichi?" Shuichi said, getting more confused by the second. "Call me either, now keep going." Kokichi said, sitting back down and spinning in his swivel chair. "So, uh, who has blue eyes?" Shuichi asked. "..I didn't get a good look at everyone's eyes, but that Miu girl has some along with Tsumugi, there're probably more people out there." Kokichi said, spinning around in his swivel chair once more.

"We should go find everyone then, we'll see who has blue eyes and we narrow it down from there." Shuichi suggested.

"Great idea, Shuichi." Kokichi said. 

"Let's go?" Shuichi said, waiting for Kokichi's response.

"Sure." Kokichi said, getting up and stretching tiredly.

The duo emerged from Shuichi's room as they walked around the school, eventually finding everyone in the dining room.

"Morning." Kokichi yawned, sitting down at a table with Shuichi.

Kokichi looked around, he knew Tsumugi and Miu had blue eyes but who else? He spotted Angie talking with Tenko and Himiko, he glanced at them and noticed that Tenko and Angie both had blue eyes, other than that he didn't see anyone else. He looked back over to Shuichi, "Tenko and Angie also have blue eyes, we have four suspects, I didn't see anyone else." Kokichi said. 

"Okay, so, we just need to be cautious of those 4, right?" Shuichi said, fiddling with his fingers, any of them could've been their potential murderers. "Yep." Kokichi said, popping the p as he looked at Shuichi, who had a nervous look on his face. "Don't be worried, if we're careful and on high alert while we avoid them we'll be fine!" Kokichi said, he was nervous too, but he didn't want to admit it. They noticed Maki and Kaito heading towards them, the Kokichi and Shuichi looking at eachother before Kokichi spoke up,

"..I think we should go." Kokichi said.

"...I agree." Shuichi said, making it out of the dining hall with Kokichi before Kaito and Maki could catch up to them.

They decided to just hang out in the courtyard instead. 

Kokichi pulled out his plan notepad again,

"So, Miu, Angie, Tenko, and Tsumugi. We should be more careful around them, not like I'm saying we shouldn't be careful around the others, just around those four." Kokichi said, scribbling down fun doodles along with his notes.  

"Yeah, we should hang out with people one at a time, three people wouldn't leave us alone and we'd be.. sort of safe." Shuici agreed, Kokichi scribbling more notes down.  

"So, we've got our plan of action with extra procedures, we should be fine, right?" Shuichi asked.

"Yep, we should be a-okay!" Kokichi grinned.

"We should focus on getting that sleeping bag for you and those locks." Kokichi said, getting up to go find Kirumi.

"Okay." Shuichi said, not having any other ideas as he walked with Kokichi.

They walked along through the school, Kokichi striking up conversation.

"Have you ever thought about how you're basically not my senpai since we're the same age, but I just said it because you're taller than me?" Kokichi asked.

"..Well, no- and.. Wait what?" Shuichi said.

"I called you senpai on accident, now I can't forget it, I hate using these damn honorificsss..." Kokichi pouted. 

"I almost called you chan one time, so, we're in the same boat." Shuichi chuckled.

"I- Am I really that feminine to the point my basically best friend almost called me chan?" Kokichi pouted, he was supposed to be intimidating, not petite or something!

"Well, yeah." Shuichi said, chuckling.

"Why do you have to be so tallll.. Lend me some of your height, will you? Sure you're like 5' something but it's better than 5'1!" Kokichi asked.

"I would if I could."

"Damn.. We're here though!" Kokichi said, standing in front of the dining room, Kirumi cleaning inside.

Kokichi and Shuichi opened the doors to the dining hall, both of them walking over to KIrumi as she turned around. 

"Heyy, Kirumi, do you know where the locks and sleeping bags are?" Kokichi asked.

"Hm, they should be in a storage closet, if we have one, I can fetch one for you if you'd like." Kirumi said.

"Nah, we'll be fine, thaaaanks!" Kokichi waved walking out of the dining room with Shuichi as they went to go search for that storage closet. Kokichi and Shuichi walked in silence, they weren't sure where they were going or where in the school they were. It had been around 30 minutes of walking around and looking for the storage closet when Kokichi spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

"Ohh! There it is!" Kokichi said, prying open the closet doors as he rummaged through it, finding a few locks and taking them with him (along with a few extras) and a blue sleeping bag for Shuichi.

"Great! We have our stuff!" Kokichi grinned, deciding it would be a good idea to drop the locks into the sleeping bag so that it could be used as a literal.. Bag. Kokichi brought it back to his dorm and ventured out to go get more stuff for Shuichi to make his time spent in his room at least decent. After that they went to get something to drink, Kokichi settling on Grape Panta and Shuichi picking out some plain water. 

"So, we should be careful of Every-.."

They heard footsteps as Tsumugi entered the Dining Hall. Kokichi and Shuichi eyed her cautiously,

"on-..Oh heeyy, Tsumugi!" Kokichi waved, he was actually quite uncomfortable, he just did this automatically, Shuichi just warily smiled and waved.

"Hey, you two!" Tsumugi waved, sitting down with them.

"..Uh, how're you Tsumugi?" Shuichi asked awkwardly.

"I'm doing.. Fine, I'm still trying to cope with being in a killing game and all.." Tsumugi said.

"What about you two?" Tsumugi said.

"Me and Shumai are doing juust fine!" Kokichi grinned.

"What he said." Shuichi agreed.

They chatted for around an hour about different anime and manga series, Kokichi and Shuichi agreeing to cosplay with Tsumugi sometime soon. Kokichi let out a sigh of relief as Tsumugi left, her footsteps fading as she got farther away.

"..That was a close one." Kokichi said.

"Yeah.." Shuichi sighed.

"It's getting late, we should go back." Kokichi said, gesturing to the window of the dining hall, revealing a dark blue starry sky (A/N: They got there after lunch so they missed everyone.)

"..You're right." Shuichi said, standing up and walking with Kokichi as they walked back, it was nearing 10 PM as Shuichi and Kokichi made it back to Kokichi's dorm, Kokichi setting up the locks and Shuichi's sleeping bag, sacrificing one of his two pillows for Shuichi.

"Thanks for this, Kokichi." Shuichi smiled.

"No problem, Shumai!" Kokichi grinned, sitting in his signature swivel chair as he and Shuichi got ready for bed, Kokichi sitting back down as he took out his pencil.

"Another all nighter?" Shuichi yawned.

"Y-" Kokichi started

*DING DONG, BING BONG...*

"Hm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 PM, as such, it is officially Nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited! .. Okay then, sweet dreams everyone, good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs biiite!" Monokuma announced, the familiar silence following afterwards.

"As I was saying before I was RUDELY INTERRUPTED, yeah, another all nighter. Sorry Shumai." Kokichi said.

"Okay.. Just make sure to get some sleep." Shuichi said, falling asleep in his sleeping bag a Kokichi switched his table lamp on. 

"Promise!" Kokichi said, stretching as he got to work.

Kokichi yawned as he thought of plans and scenarios throughout the night, eventually just falling asleep as his head hit the cold, hard face of the table.

Chapter Text

Kokichi woke up to the cold surface of the table in his face, a sigh refusing to leave his lips as he made no effort to move. He soon tiredly sat up in his chair, arms stretching as he got out of his chair, a small squeak! coming from the chair. He turned around and noticed Shuichi fast asleep. He sighed as he walked over to the bathroom, the door creaking open as he walked in and brushed his teeth and everything before emerging.

”Heyy.. Shuichi! wakey-wakey! It’s time-“

”Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Rise and shine! Get ready to greet another bee-yutiful day!” Monokuma announced.

“- to wake up!” Kokichi continued, albeit a bit frustrated.

”Hm?..” Shuichi sat up tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he slowly got out of his sleeping bag.

”Like Monokuma announced, it’s 7 a.m.! It’s best if you got ready and we go get breakfast when the dining hall opens up! We won’t be able to focus if we don’t get any energy.” Kokichi said, grabbing Shuichi’s wrist and helping in pulling him up.

”Okay, okay. I’m up.” Shuichi chuckled, heading over to the bathroom as Kokichi sat back at his desk and continued writing out his plan.

”I’m ready, we should get going.” Shuichi said, undoing the locks and opening the door as Kokichi followed.

They entered the dining room as usual and got breakfast from Kirumi, sitting down as they started to chat.

”I spent alllll night making a good plan.” Kokichi yawned.

”Oh really? Well, what’s our backup?”

”We fight back or we kill, the other will collaborate to make an unsolvable murder!..” Kokichi said, somewhat quiet so nobody would hear.

”Unsolvable?” Shuichi asked.

”Yeah, I doubt they could solve those mysteries without us anyways, although we haven’t been in a class trial yet.” Kokichi said, eating more of his breakfast.

”Would it be like on those crime shows where the victim is mistaken for the murderer?” Shuichi inquired, his breakfast near finished.

”Yeah! How’d you know?” Kokichi asked.

”You told me you take Criminal Psychology and etc, remember? Those were used as an assignment one time for extra examination credits.” Shuichi answered, the final spoonful of his breakfast finished.

”Oh yeeahh.. they were..” Kokichi replied, his breakfast soon finished as well.

”Plus, I did that extra credit assignment too..” Shuichi chuckled, grabbing his and Kokichi’s plates and walking into the kitchen, discarding them into the sink so that Kirumi wouldn’t need to work as hard before walking back to Kokichi.

Shuichi looked back again at Kokichi, “..Do we really have to.. Y’know, hurt someone?” 

Kokichi frowned, “We have to if we want to survive, we don’t have a choice, remember?” 

“I guess you’re right.” Shuichi sighed.

”It all depends on luck anyway, get on someone’s bad side and it’s bad luck for us.” Kokichi added, in an attempt to comfort Shuichi.

”We need to start talking to people.. Connections would be useful, and maybe it’d all feel a bit better..” Shuichi said, looking around.

”Yeah.. Who do we start with?” Kokichi asked.

”Maybe.. Gonta? He seems like a nice guy, remember when he “commanded” a butterfly back when the talent show was still running?” Shuichi asked.

”Yeah, it freaked me out but it was kinda cool.. Sad that the talent show stopped though..” Kokichi said.

”Well, I guess it’s settled, we’ll talk to Gonta first..” Shuichi said. 

The two of them were about to get up before seeing Kirumi walk up to their seats,

”Where’re your dishes?” Kirumi asked, plates in hand.

”I.. I put ours in the sink so you’d have a little bit easier time..” Shuichi admitted.

”Thank you, Shuichi. I appreciate it.” Kirumi smiled.

”No problem.” Shuichi smiled back.

”Look at you, Shuichi, talking to people like they’re a mirror before a big speech, nishishi!” Kokichi congratulated, snickering.

”Thaank you..?” Shuichi thanked, albeit a bit awkward.

”No problem! We’ll make our way over to Gonta later! He’ll probably be outside..” Kokichi said.

”Makes sense.” Shuichi agreed.

”Now, let’s go down to the basement, I wanna see if they have any crime shows or the Master Attorney anime!” Kokichi said excitedly.

”We’d be able to get an idea of the space down in the basement as well..” Shuichi said, also somewhat interested in what kinds of media the AV room had.

They walked out of the dining hall and down to the basement and the AV room, walking in as they noticed a good amount of media. Kokichi looked through the shelves with Shuichi,

”Oo.. Astronaut Bebop, My Vigilante Academy, Killing Classroom.. Samurai Shampoo.. Ku-Gi-Oh..” Kokichi stopped on one particular case, “They do have Master Attorney!” Kokichi cheered, grabbing the case and looking at it, “The original version too!” Kokichi grinned, placing it into the DVD player and sitting down, Shuichi sitting down soon after.

”Master Attorney used to be a game, right? By.. Mapcom?” Shuichi asked as the intro played, he wanted to see how this anime made courtroom cases more interesting. 

“Yeah! I had all the games when I was a kid and the anime was really cool to me!” Kokichi said as the opening finished, revealing Finch Wrong, a lawyer.

They managed to finish the first few episodes before putting the disc back into the case and putting the case back as Shuichi turned off the TV.

”It should be a bit later now, maybe we’ll catch Gonta in the courtyard.” Shuichi said, heading out and up the stairs with Kokichi in tow.

They finally made their way out to the courtyard, looking around until they found Gonta looking through the grass, presumably for bugs.

”Hey, Gonta.” Shuichi greeted.

”Hello! What do Shuichi and Kokichi need?” Gonta asked, standing up.

”We were wondering if you wanted to hang out and be friends with us..” Shuichi asked, a bit intimidated by the friendly giant in front of him.

”Gonta would love to hang out!” Gonta accepted, a small smile on his face.

"I saw a bug documentary downstairs in the AV room, how about we watch it?" Shuichi suggested, Gonta beaming.

"Gonta thinks that's a great idea!" Gonta replied, following Shuichi and Kokichi down to the AV room as he and Kokichi sat on the couch, Shuichi finding the documentary and placing it in.

The documentary was around an hour and 30 minutes long, at the end Kokichi seemed a bit.. Shaken (probably due to the zoom-ins of bees and the like). 

"Gonta had fun! Thank you Shuichi and Kokichi for hanging out with Gonta!" Gonta smiled, getting up and leaving.

"No problem, Gonta." Shuichi said, a small smile on his face.

"Yeah.. no problem." Kokichi said, still horrified from those bug close-ups.

"Well.. That was a good use of our time, don't you think?" Shuichi said, still smiling.

"Mhm, definitely.. It was worth enduring the bugs for one possible ally.." Kokichi said, getting up and stretching.

"I'm gonna go get some Panta from the kitchen, I'll be in the dorm if you need anything, I'll request for Monokuma to fix your lock later." Kokichi waved.

"'Kay, see you later." Shuichi waved back, getting up after Kokichi left and stretching as well.

Chapter Text

Kokichi walked through the halls of the academy, stopping at the door to the courtyard as he stepped outside, walking towards what he remembered as one of those picnic areas at parks, sitting down and fiddling with the cap of his Panta (fresh from the fridge and very cold as well, the optimal condition for drinking.), the satisfying crack of the cap opening caused a sigh of relief as Kokichi immediately started to drink it, soon he placed it down, although by then he had already drank a third of the soda inside.

He tapped the table, bored, he never thought nobody would be outside.. He was expecting some sort of big villain with a cape and a thing on his head that said "BIG, EVIL MASTERMIND!!!!!" and on his back there was a switch he would press that would explode the mastermind so that he and Shuichi were their saviors (even though Shuichi wasn't there at the moment)..

If only..

Kokichi perked his head up as he heard footsteps and somebody sitting down across from him, he looked at the person across from him, what was his name?.. Kiibo?..

"Greetings, Ouma, I am K1B0, but you may call me Kiibo I'm here to introduce myself." Kiibo said, a slight smile(?) on his face.

"..Nice to meet you Kiibo, you look.. more robot-y than when I last saw you." Ouma said warily.

"When you last saw me? What do you mean? Do you mean back in the gym?.." Kiibo said, confused, his ahoge turning into a question mark as he chose to ignore that robot remark.

"No?.. Do you not remember that time we worked on a project together in math and you got more than half of it done in a few days?" Ouma said, confused and slightly bewildered.  

"I do not, I apologize." Kiibo sighed, double-checking his memory bank.

”It’s fine, maybe your robot memories are different from your human ones? Like a file cabinet or something..” Ouma pondered, silently chuckling at the thought of Kiibo turning into a filing cabinet and spitting out files.

”I am not a filing cabinet.” Kiibo corrected.

”But you also aren’t human.” Ouma added, Kiibo gasping.

”That was a robophobic remark! I shall let it slide this time but 3 more times and you’re getting taken to court!” Kiibo replied, offended.

”..How will you take me to court if we’re trapped here?” Ouma asked.

”That.. is a good point, I must admit, but I believe we will be able to make it out of here with most of us alive.” Kiibo said.

”You’re optimistic for a robot.” Ouma said.

”Strike 2! That is a robophobic remark!" Kiibo said frustratedly.

”Sorry, anyway! Are you sure you don’t remember me? You took a few classes with me..” Ouma said. 

“Again, I do not remember you from before all of this, I’m sorry.” Kiibo sighed.

“It’s fine I guess, maybe your storage is full.” Ouma finished.

Kiibo sighed in frustration before Kokichi spoke up again,

”Is there anything you wanna try? Like dueling with the Shadow Game?” Ouma asked.

”Dueling?” Kiibo said in curiosity.

”Yeah? Wanna try?” Ouma asked.

”..Sure, Ouma.” Kiibo agreed.

”It’s time to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-duel!” Kokichi cheered, Kiibo analyzing what this “Shadow Game” was as Ouma explained the rules.

Ouma placed the cards down in the middle, drawing one.

”..Heheh, the power of the Heart of the cards is within me! 7! Neither high nor low! Your chances of winning drop to 50% Nishishi!” Ouma chuckled, seeming to be really into the game as he ended his turn.

Kiibo drew a card, 

“..6..” Kiibo sighed.

”Looks like I have the upper hand!” Ouma grinned, they played for a while, Ouma eventually winning as he cheered, Kiibo having gotten an experience from it as well.

”Congratulations Ouma, that was quite enjoyable, perhaps we can play again some other time?” Kiibo asked.

”Sure! Nobody’s ever asked to play the Shadow Game with me willingly! See ya next time Kiibo!” Ouma said, leaving.

Kokichi smiled, throwing his empty Panta bottle in the nearest garbage can as he walked away. He had no idea where he was going, probably back to the dorms, but he wondered what Shiuichi was doing..

Eventually, he made it back to the dorms, shutting the door and locking the locks as he flopped onto the bed, bored, he should’ve asked Kiibo for another round of the Shadow Game..

”I wonder why he didn’t remember me..” he thought out loud, everybody was so.. different, except for Shuichi of course.

It was strange.. all of this was strange. He wished he could understand the situation better, but right now, he was at a loss.. He sighed in frustration as he called for Monokuma after he left the dorm, said bear appearing in front of him.

“Yes? What do you need from your all-powerful headmaster?” Monokuma asked, that same annoying grin on his robotic face.

”Shuichi needs the locks on his dorm repaired, can you get that done?” Kokichi said, an infinitely straight face on his features.

“Of course! It won’t take that long, I, your reliable, amazing headmaster guarantee it!” Monokuma said, a hard hat appearing on his head.

”Let Shuichi know when you’re done!” Kokichi said, heading back into his dorm as he flopped back down onto his bed.

He had known so many of these people, yet they didn’t even remember simple projects.. Maybe it was for the better? Either way everything was just.. weird, like something from a novel or a particularly interesting manga.

It wasn’t strange seeing Kiibo like that, he was actually pretty accurate to how he was before, which was weird considering everybody else being nearly completely changed.. 

Kokichi groaned in frustration, he didn’t get it, why them, why specifically the 16 of them!?

”This sucks..” he said to himself, which was obvious, since they were stuck in a killing game.. 

He sighed in frustration, screaming into a pillow he grabbed. Not even a fraction of his frustrations were let out, but it was a good try.