Chapter Text
Shuichi Saihara had woken up on the floor of an unfamiliar classroom, dazed and bewildered as his vision came into focus on his surroundings, with a girl his age asking if he was alright.
After a basic introduction, together he and Kaede Akamatsu ventured around the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles meeting fourteen other Ultimates who were equally confused as to how they got there.
The whole ordeal was beyond strange.
However, the weirdest part about it… was the fact that for each person he came across and conversed with, there were these strong pre-existing sentiments he felt towards them.
For example…
Kaede’s optimism and kindness was comforting. Her presence alone provided him with a sense of reassurance that he’d be able to face anything if he just believed in himself… even though he remembered having the opposite mentality a few hours prior to his kidnapping.
Kaito Momota’s headstrong attitude and confident smiles caused him to feel as if he could always rely on him to have his back, despite having no rationale to support that belief.
Maki Harukawa’s distant demeanor and tense posture gave him the impression that she was… really fast, and strong… but in a manner that felt potentially dangerous, similar to a knife's blade. A disconcerting idea considering her talent as the Ultimate Child Caregiver.
His intuition told him that the calm and dignified maid, Kirumi Tojo, was the type of person who would go to any lengths if she was desperate enough. To do what? … He wasn’t sure.
Korekiyo Shinguji put him on edge. He couldn’t shake off the nervous energy inside his chest when he saw him chat briefly with Angie Yonaga, or when he stood near Tenko Chabashira as she talked to Himiko Yumeno.
Miu Iruma… Gonta Gokuhara… Keebo…
Tsumugi Shirogane… She especially set his nerves on fire. But… she was just a cosplayer, so…
Why?
What… was going on… ?
Although Rantaro Amami had caught his attention with the mystery of his forgotten talent, as well as how he possessed an air that suggested he’s used to being in an environment like this…
The person who made his mind swirl with questions that he felt he needed answers to… was Kokichi Ouma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader.
The way he introduced himself was cause enough for Shuichi’s curiosity to be peaked. His personality practically bounced off the walls, and the nature of his seemingly innocent smile contradicted the way he talked circles around and purposefully confused Kaede and Keebo.
When Kokichi said he was the leader of an evil secret organization made up of ten thousand members, at first Shuichi thought ‘But I’ve never heard of a group that large before… ’
Then, after he dodged Shuichi’s question regarding the name, his brain supplied him with ‘ … It does exist. His group is just smaller… ’
…
It exists.
Somehow, someway, no matter if he proclaimed himself as a liar… no matter if both Kaede and Keebo said that his words were nothing but lies… he knew that Kokichi wasn’t lying. At least, not fully.
The organization's name… was D.I.C.E. A non-violent gang of pranksters with a clown motif. There were… nine others, plus Kokichi himself. So ten in total. Not ten thousand.
It startled him how confident he was with that information, when he recalled no sources that provided him with those details.
It scared him how, when he looked into Kokichi’s eyes… he felt like he was being drawn in. As if there was a larger mystery surrounding his person that his brain was itching to figure out.
There were so many holes. Gaps in this phenomenon that left him longing to learn more.
He wanted to know so badly… why he had this burning desire to understand this guy… even though they had just met five minutes ago.
.
.
.
Monokuna got them to gather in the gym for an announcement. Apparently, they were in some “Love Observation Variety Show”, and in order to leave they needed to get together with someone.
… With the added pressure that the robotic bears that were keeping them there had mechs at their disposal, and… this was originally going to be some “killing game”, but the ‘plans changed’…
…
A killing game…
…
Why… does that sound so… familiar?
…
.
.
.
After everything was said and done, they didn’t have too much time left in the day so they went off to their assigned dorm rooms for the night.
The next morning Shuichi recalled the bizarreness of their circumstances but figured there was no use dwelling on it now. Thus, he went out to interact with the others. He hadn’t bothered putting on his cap, leaving it to sit on his nightstand without thinking as if he hadn’t been obsessively wearing it for the past couple of years.
He spent the first quarter of the day with Kaede, who was lovely to hang out with.
Learning just how far her talent as the Ultimate Pianist got her in life was amazing. Her passion for the art is truly worth admiring. It caused him to reflect on his own talent silently. Although… he didn’t feel as pitiful about it as normal…
Afterwards, he chatted some with Rantaro, pondering their capture.
They segwaed into trying to figure out his forgotten talent, and that’s how Shuichi learned that he liked to travel. Rantaro cut their time short once he nonchalantly alluded that he was a brother, leaving Shuichi alone and confused.
Shuichi decided to head to the casino for the rest of the evening. He would have never expected… that he already had tons of tokens in his name. Over ten million to be exact! He tried to get the Monokubs to explain how this was possible, but all they said was that he had ‘earned it’.
That was also when he found out he had lots of presents already purchased as well in storage. More than what he got from the monomono machine earlier, plus a little over half of what was offered at the prize booth. Feeling dizzy, Shuichi reluctantly bought what he came here for — date tickets — before heading back.
.
.
.
He was only able to get an hour's worth of sleep before he was jolted awake by a horrible nightmare.
There was blood. Everywhere. Twelve blurred out bodies laid about the academy, and…
One more that was crushed under a hydraulic press, evident by all of that… blood!
So much… it was all over him…
Tears streamed down his face as he hyperventilated, clutching his shirt.
It wasn’t real. It was just a dream…
So… why… ?
Shuichi felt nauseous all of a sudden, almost claustrophobic in his room. He ran out into the courtyard, desperate for some fresh air.
“Woah!”
Only to run directly into someone.
He winced in pain, shakily lifting his upper body off the person he landed on. His mind went blank when he realized who it was.
Kokichi looked up at him, his limbs sprawled out, wide eyes staring into his soul.
That’s when it happened. Shuichi gritted his teeth as a memory resurfaced.
At some point in time… he was the one on the ground, and Kokichi had been hovering over him. “Good morning. You’re finally awake. You’re such a sleepyhead, Shuichi.”
“Geeeez, what gives Shuichi?! Are you going to stay there all night?” Kokichi whined, a smile plastered on his face as if he was unbothered despite the drop of sweat rolling down the side of his forehead.
“Ah… Ah! I’m so sorry!” He quickly backed off. Standing, he reached his hand towards Kokichi to help him up, only for Kokichi to stare blankly at it. Kokichi didn’t push it away, nor did he take it. Instead, he got up on his own, brushing himself off.
“Wow, that surprised me!” Kokichi began, seemingly about to sweep everything under the rug. But then his expression changed, appearing frightened. “Could it be… ? D-Did you come to kill me?”
Kill?
“ … No… N-No! No, I would never!”
The word danced around in his head, taunting him. Pulling at him.
“ … Eh, you’re not? But you could be lying… Isn’t it possible that while we’re talking, you could be waiting for an opportunity while I’m distracted… ?”
“I swear, I’m not! Why would you even think that?!”
Kokichi grinned. “What a silly question to ask. You’re a stranger! And those bears said they scrapped the idea of some ‘killing game’, but that doesn’t mean everyone would want to play along nicely.”
The term being brought back sent a shot of dread through his heart.
“No… Nobody would do that. We were told that we just needed to get along… There’d be no reason to… kill… ”
Kokichi tilted his head. “It sounds to me like you’re not so sure about it yourself.”
Shuichi furrowed his brows. Was he sure?
“I am… We’re all just trying to wrap our minds around being in a place like this. None of us have any incentive to do something like… that.”
There was a pause between them. He could tell Kokichi was scanning his face, analyzing it perhaps. After what felt like forever, Kokichi shrugged. “If you say so.”
Shuichi let out a sigh of relief. “Anyway, what are you doing out here?”
“Ni-shi-shi. I could ask you the same thing! For you to randomly sprint out in the middle of the night, wouldn’t you say that’s strange?”
Shuichi ran his fingers through his hair, glancing away. “I’m sorry again… if I scared you. It’s just, I — ”
Blood. Everywhere.
“ — had a nightmare. It was really… scary, and I wanted to get out of my room to clear my head.”
Kokichi hummed, resting his head against his raised arms. “I see. Must have been really bad. Is it because you’re here, or do you normally make a habit of going for a jog when you’re spooked?”
“Ah, no, it’s not a regular occurrence. I don’t have nightmares often, so… maybe it is because of our location.” He mused softly.
Dealing with a lot of stress could affect the REM stage of sleep, potentially inducing night terrors, and being kidnapped and forced to stay at this weird academy definitely was upsetting… but he couldn’t imagine that alone would be enough to evoke such horrific imagery.
Kokichi nodded, raising his arms higher as he stretched before taking on a relaxed stance. “Make sense. Really, I’m amazed that more people aren’t reacting the same way.” Then, he turned his head slightly, looking up towards the sky. “But that’s a lie. It’s so relaxing here, don’t you think? There’s plenty of interesting attractions, and lots of opportunities to mess around with people! I don’t see what you’re so worked up about at all.”
Shuichi blinked a few times, taking in the way the moonlight illuminated Kokichi’s pale complexion as well as brightened his violet eyes. The stars swirled around in them. It was like staring into a galaxy.
He could have gotten lost in the sight if it wasn’t for the same nagging curiosity prodding at him like it did when they first met.
“So… Why are you out here?”
“Hmm?”
“You didn’t answer my question earlier. What are you doing out here?”
Kokichi looked back at him, expression unreadable. Shuichi couldn’t tell whether or not he was smiling, but that only caused him to feel sucked in all the more.
“Oh, you know… just taking in the scenery. Two days ago I was out living life as an evil supreme leader, conquering the world alongside my thousands of underlings. Now all of a sudden I’ve been told I have to ‘get along’ with a bunch of strangers. It’s sort of unfair.”
Shuichi rubbed the back of his neck, choosing to bite his tongue regarding the mention of his claimed ‘evil organization’. “It’s definitely what I’d consider unconventional to gather us all for this purpose.”
A small smile graced Kokichi’s lips, something that Shuichi had yet to see from him until this moment. But it didn’t last long, shifting into a smirk as he moved closer to Shuichi, barely leaving a few inches apart. “So then, what do you think Mister Detective? Would it be possible for us to fall in love within the walls of this so-called ‘academy’?”
“L-Love?” Shuichi’s face heated up. “I… I’m not sure… I-I mean, I wouldn’t be able to know in such a short amount of time… if something like that was possible.”
Kokichi laughed. Based on what he’s seen so far, Shuichi automatically thought it to be a laugh of mockery, or because he was about to tell some grand lie afterwards.
However, contrary to that expectation, he could tell in an instant that it was a different kind of laugh… It was as light as a feather.
It was… so nice.
“Well, it’s not like I can blame you. This rom-com crap isn’t to my taste either, so I’d absolutely refuse the idea that it’d be possible in, what, only nine more days? …… Although… standing next to you…… who knows? It’s like I already have a feeling that you’re an incredibly interesting person to be around.”
Shuichi’s eyes widened, a wave of electricity running up and down his spine. “W-What are you getting at?”
“I’m saying… I’ve decided! I’ll work hard and do my best to steal your heart, Shuichi.” Kokichi declared with a toothy grin.
“Huh?!”
“I stole your heart so now I’m satisfied. I don’t need to steal your life anymore.”
Shuichi’s face erupted into flames. “T-That’s — ! I — !”
Kokichi gave him a flirtatious smile before stepping away. “Ni-shi-shi. Just kidding! But I am serious about you seeming interesting. So… come find me tomorrow, if you want of course.” He turned to walk back towards the dormitory. “I’ll be looking forward to it! Night Shuichi!”
Once Kokichi was inside, Shuichi slowly pressed his hand against his chest. He would have fallen if he hadn’t caught his footing as he stumbled.
That voice in his head… was Kokichi’s, right? Like before, with that vivid memory of him…
His heart was pounding like crazy, but not from what he would’ve assumed to be the reason.
…
One thing was clear.
He sincerely wanted to spend more time getting to know Kokichi.
.
.
.