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Kokichi didn't know if he should laugh or cry. Not that he'd give the people in front of him the satisfaction of seeing either reaction, of course. Sure, he'd just been told that the whole reason they've been trapped in a bugged simulation was that the woman in front of them had chosen to leave the bug in there, but he didn't mind that at all! Not one bit!
He snuck a glance at Maki next to him, tears silently streaming down her face. Who was he kidding - that was a lie, of course. He could taste bitterness as thick as ash on his tongue as he looked back at the woman in front of them, the woman who'd happily orchestrated their fates, smiling without a hint of guilt on her face.
They'd been trapped in not just one killing game, but stuck in there over and over, accumulating more and more trauma that lingered within them even as their memories were wiped for the next loop. Even as their numbers went down, more students surviving and escaping the simulation, Kokichi had been stuck in there. And even the ones who escaped had to watch their friends suffer as Tsumugi brought yet another killing game to pass, either not knowing how to save them or forced to excuse it for a chance to bring a true end to Danganronpa.
And in the end, it didn't even have to happen. The woman in front of them, the leader of this horrible enterprise, had known about the line of code Tsumugi had inserted, and left it in anyway. And when Shuichi had decided to pretend the code didn't work, desperately buying time, she'd chosen not to intervene, enjoying her vacation instead. No, she'd told everyone in the Danganronpa team to not intervene, dangling the hope of success over Shuichi, even though they could've easily entered the offices and handled the situation themselves.
Hah. What a joke. That they could get away with this—
Hold on. Kokichi's eyes narrowed, and he began flipping through the tall sheaf of papers in front of him.
"What are you doing?" The woman asked curiously, but he didn't bother answering. His entire focus was aimed at the text in front of them, the contract laying out the terms of whatever Team Danganronpa could do to them, signing over their images and their bodies and their minds and practically everything else for the duration of the killing game.
For the duration of the killing game.
"Huh, that's strange," Kokichi leaned back on his chair, hands up behind his head, a purposefully relaxed smile on his face. He couldn't help his eyes from straying to the flashback light lying innocuously on a table to the side, intended to restore their original personalities, but he forced them back to the front. He couldn't afford to show any weakness right now.
"What is?" The woman took the bait. She still didn't seem to be taking him seriously, but he had to at least try to make this gamble. Sure, the chances of him actually convincing her were pretty low, but he's always lived his life on a knives' edge. Or, well, his simulated life.
"Weeell, the thing is, I'm pretty sure this contract doesn't say that you can just keep throwing us in killing games forever? It lays out the terms for one killing game. One. And then you're supposed to give our memories back. But hey, maybe I'm missing something! Where's the 'we're going to throw you into a time loop clause', mister?!" Kokichi pointed at a random staff member for dramatic effect, who anxiously looked side to side as if someone would come to save to him. Lucky for him, his boss did.
"The contract says that we aren't liable for potential risks or damages from faults in our simulation." The woman's smile was almost pitying, in the sense one might be while watching a small animal desperately but futilely lunge for something out of reach.
"Oh? But I'm pretty sure you just told me that it wasn't a fault. That it was your weird employee who threw us in, that you saw it and just decided to leave it in, and that you all could've come in and changed it, but you didn't." Kokichi examined his nails as he spoke, pretending to show disinterest, but he was cataloging the expressions of the people in the room. Some of the staff members looked uncomfortable or anxious, but the woman in front of him didn't show any signs of worry. Not a good sign.
"Well, I did tell you. But that's not something we'll be telling anyone on the outside, of course. And soon enough, you'll be none the wiser. Not that it'd really matter - if I told any one of you after we'd restored your memories that you'd ended up in a few extra killing games, you'd probably all cheer." Jeez, talk about a villain monologue. Who actually admitted to things like that? And gloating about the fact it wouldn't matter anyway? Kokichi tried to hide how much it was shaking him.
"You...you're seriously admitting it?" Kokichi had almost forgotten Maki was still in the room with how silent she had been, but it was impossible to not pay attention with how much violence her tone promised. Her face was covered in anger in a way that almost made Kokichi want to scoot away, still remembering how hostile she'd been to him before. He was glad it wasn't directed towards him this time, and equally glad that some of the staff members looked to be paling under the force of her wrath. They weren't scared enough, in Kokichi's eyes.
He reached under the table to grab onto Maki's hand covertly, giving it a comforting squeeze. Maki didn't look at him, but he could see the tension in her shoulders relax a bit.
"Well, why not? I believe in the spirit of honesty. And it's fun seeing your reactions to the things I reveal!" The woman just seemed to be enjoying this turn of events, if anything.
"Wow. Pretty damning stuff! So I'm sure you won't mind if this gets broadcast everywhere, riiight?" Time to play his trump card. Kokichi slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small device, and felt the temperature in the room drop about 10 degrees.
It wasn't obvious what the improvised device in Kokichi's hands were, but his words made it clear: it was a recording device. He held on to it tightly, knowing that this was probably his only chance. How he managed to play this would determine the fate of his classmates. Saihara, who'd been trying so hard; Maki, who he'd finally made peace with somehow; Kaito, his beloved spaceman, who was waiting for him. Kokichi hadn't really believed they had a chance, and he still didn't, not exactly, but...for the sake of everyone who'd pushed him into trying, he owed them this. His ultimate performance as a liar.
The staff members were now shifting anxiously, some of them pale, and others looking towards the door. Even the woman finally looked to be taking this seriously, staring at his hand with a suspicious expression. And then her eyes caught on Maki. Maki, who was looking at Kokichi with just as much confusion as everyone else in the room.
"I'm impressed! You really are a good liar. Of course, I designed you that way, but I didn't expect you to almost fool me!" The woman laughed, breaking the tension in the room.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kokichi played innocent as best he could.
"Come on. Maki practically gave it away. Besides, I don't know what that is, but if you'd really built something, my employees would've seen." She laughed again, but this time there was an air of satisfaction in it.
Kokichi's blood froze. It took him a moment to process her words, and their implications. Her employees would've seen...?
"What do you mean? They couldn't see what we were doing in there." Maki'd finally caught up to what Kokichi was planning, and she crossed her arms on the table, defending him defiantly. Even she'd caught onto the strangeness behind those words, though.
"Really? You know, all of you tend to forget that Kiibo is a robot." Wait...did she mean...? "We were pretty excited to realize we had not just one, but two working cameras inside your little hideaway - one Kiibo in the simulation, sending us all that lovely audio and video, and another showing us what you were doing in the simulation pod room, all sent directly here. We kept a close watch over all of you."
They'd been watching...everything? And they'd probably enjoyed it, too. All the deaths, all their unscripted suffering, and all their private moments of joy - they'd all just become new entertainment for the vultures in this room.
Kokichi felt like he was going to be ill. Maki looked it, too.
"So I know you're just bluffing. There's no records of what we've been saying, and once this conversation's over, your memories will be, too." The woman smiled, self-satisfied, as if the conversation had already come to a conclusion. Kokichi hated it: hated her, and hated this whole messed up game. This whole messed up society, that let them be treated like this. It made him sick, so sick that he couldn't stand it.
"So I know you're just bluffing..." Kokichi clicked the button on the device in his hand again, face emptied of all emotion. He didn't need it: after all, the fear on the faces of the people in front of him was enough to make up for it. It made him feel good, in a twisted sort of way, seeing the same sort of pain on the staff members' faces that they'd enjoyed seeing on all of Kokichi's classmates.
"How did you..." The woman's voice trailed off.
"Miu built it, with scraps from the computer. Obviously, she didn't want to mess it up and break the simulation, but she could pull out the audio component, no problem. Kiibo probably wasn't watching that part, huh? Or maybe none of you were paying attention." Kokichi shrugged, but he kept his hand firm on the device. They all knew the balance of power in this room had shifted.
Kokichi saw one of the staff members glance towards the flashback light, so he put a pin in it quick.
"Ah, and before you get any stupid ideas...Miu rigged this up to upload somewhere online, so that if we don't check it every now and then, it'll post everywhere. And no one wants that, do we? After all, I'm sure you'll all get in preeetty big legal trouble, and that's gonna put a damper on season 54, right?" Kokichi put on his best evil smile, and he could feel half the staff members in front of him shudder. But he could also feel Maki's hand squeezing his other one under the table, supportive.
"Danganronpa is big enough that something like this won't matter. And besides, we were just going along with Shuichi." The woman's voice sounded decisive, but Kokichi knew better. If she really believed what she was saying, no one in the room would look so worried.
"Mm, maybe not for Danganronpa! But I'm pretty sure it'd be bad for you to be caught saying that you were gonna erase our memories to hide the evidence! That might be a crime, in fact! And playing along with a 'fictional character'," Kokichi made air quotes, "isn't enough to excuse that. Our wishes right now don't matter one bit, right? It's only the real versions who do, right?"
Kokichi sneered at his last words, keeping his eyes locked on the woman in front of him, waiting for her response. She looked visibly irritated now, teeth gritted as she searched for a response. But nothing seemed to be coming.
"But, hey! I'll offer you a piece of advice!" Kokichi cheerfully added. The woman didn't exactly look in the mood for his advice, face stormy, but he continued anyway, his face dropping into another dark expression. "If you want someone to keep a secret for you, you'd better make sure they have something to lose too."
There. He'd planted the seeds, now he just had to hope they'd sprout.
"What are you suggesting?" The woman asked, voice hard.
"Hmm...nothing much?" Kokichi pretended to think. "Just what Maki and I said when we came in! Let us out with our memories and don't call the cops, and we'll handle it from there! And if we even think of leaking anything, you could reveal the truth and ruin our lives in a heartbeat, way worse than yours. Pretty good leverage, riiight?"
He bit down on the side of his cheek so hard that he thought it was bleeding, watching the woman think it over. He'd already convinced some of the staff members, he knew, from the way they'd slowly started nodding along and were now looking at her with concern in their eyes. He could see a few expressions of anger and frustration, too, where it was hard to tell where they'd fall. They didn't really matter, though. Everyone knew the real power in the room was the woman, and no matter what he said, it didn't matter unless she agreed.
"Don't expect us to give you any help." The woman finally responded coldly. Kokichi could barely breathe from anticipation. Did that really mean...?
"Go let them out. Make sure they don't do anything stupid." She pointed at one man, who nodded. "The rest of you, let's go."
Everyone else stood up, filing their way out of the room. The woman was the last one out, looking at Kokichi with a look of absolute hatred.
"I'd better never hear from or of you again." She hissed.
"Don't worry, I promise!" Kokichi lied to her cheerfully. With one last look, the woman exited the room.
"Come on," The remaining staff member told them, leading them towards the back room. Kokichi and Maki trailed behind.
"I didn't think we'd be able to do it," Maki admitted, turning away and tugging at a pigtail. "...I'm sorry, Kokichi."
"You already apologized, silly!" Kokichi responded playfully. Unless she was apologizing for not believing in him, in which case - he couldn't blame her. He hadn't thought he could do it either, this whole time. He hadn't thought there was a way out.
But this stupid piece of junk he'd had Miu put together had been the key. He'd have to thank her later, huh? Not now, though. Now that he knew they were being monitored, he didn't want to risk anything being revealed.
Especially not the fact that what he was clutching like a lifeline was just a simple recorder, no broadcasting capabilities to be found. Miu had built it from computer parts, after all - pulling out the microphone was easy, stealing more complicated stuff could break the whole thing. But if they found out all they needed to do was steal it from Kokichi, he was pretty sure they'd all be completely, one hundred percent screwed.
But his lying had worked. And now they'd all be going free, nothing to their name but at least each other and their intact memories to strengthen him. Sure, it'd probably be pretty hard out there, but with all their talents, they'd probably be able to put something together. Especially if what they'd been told about their secret, real families out there was true.
And once they were settled, that was when Kokichi could leak the tapes. He had warned the team, after all! Make sure they have something to lose...they just hadn't figured out the 'enough' of something. Everyone here had put themselves at risk to destabilize Danganronpa. Now that they had a smoking bullet in hand, something that probably wouldn't ruin Danganronpa but could maybe mess it up enough that they could, Kokichi doubted any of them would back off from using it.
But that was for the future. For now, they'd have to leave this place, and find their way out into the world. And it'd probably be difficult, and scary, and messy, but still...
Kokichi thought of Kaito again. His stupid, lovable boyfriend. The person who'd been by him loop after loop, supposedly - the person who was waiting anxiously for good news. Kokichi was glad he could bring it to him.
"I'm glad we did it," Maki said softly, startling Kokichi out of his thoughts. He didn't turn to look at her, but he did reach for her hand again, grabbing onto it and squeezing it for comfort.
"Yeah. Me too."