Beneath a Liar (Oumasai) [Discontinued]

Part 20: Painful Memories

(Shuichi's POV)

We enter the class trial and start the debate.

"I think Kokichi killed Angie," Himiko says.

"Hmm? Why so?" Kokichi asks.

"You were able to pick the lock and sneak into her lab."

"Maybe, but I have a pretty solid alibi all the way from around ten o'clock to sometime around this morning," Kokichi explains. "Right Shuichi?"

"Yes. I remember I left to go to training around ten o'clock and when I came back I decided to check on Kokichi-"

"Why were you checking on Kokichi?" Kaito asks confused.

"B-Because I was hanging out with him earlier so I just wanted to see if he was okay. Anyways, I walked in and he was passed out on the ground."

"Couldn't he have been faking it? He was earlier." Maki asks.

"He was definitely asleep," I say.

"Why was he passed out?" Tsumugi asks.

I look at Kokichi. He laughs. "Well I wasn't feeling quite well, I guess I just passed out."

"What about after that? Wheres the rest of his alibi?" Himiko asks.

"W-Well, he wasn't feeling too good so I-I decided to stay the night with him," I say flustered.

"Ha! They toooootally fucked." Miu laughs.

"It wasn't like that." I blush.

"Yeah, besides, if I did it with Shuichi you would hear it." He jokes.

"Um, Gonta doesn't quite understand." Gonta is clearly confused.

"It's better that you don't," Kaito says.

"Well, I-I guess you have an alibi," Himiko says.

As we talk, we discover that Tenko was killed by Korekiyo using a seesaw, of all things. We fight over whether we should just vote for Korekiyo or investigate Angie's death. Eventually, we come to the conclusion that someone else could have killed Angie. But after further investigation, we find out Korekiyo really did kill Angie. He surprises us by telling us about how he and his deceased sister who apparently lives on through him had a relationship and he has to kill one hundred girls to give her friends.

(That last sentence is the weirdest sentence I have ever written.)

Monokuma drags Korekiyo into his execution. He ties Korekiyo up and spins him around. The rope that had been holding him up gets cut as the floor opens up. Korekiyo drops into a pot of boiling water. As Korekiyo boils alive his eyes start to bleed. In all the chaos Monodam runs into the fire and dies. Korekiyo's ghost rises to meet another ghost who appears to be his sister. Monokuma and Korekiyo's sister's ghost throw salt onto him melting his ghost. With that, the execution ends.

After watching another one of our friends die, we leave the trial grounds. Kokichi and I head to my room and sit together in silence. Finally, Kokichi speaks. "God, we're all idiots."

"Why so?"

He sighs. "Well, every time we promise not to kill each other but we end up doing it anyway."

"I guess you're right." I agree. "It's because of Monokuma's motives."

"No. Monokuma's motive's are just something we use to justify our selfish actions..." He trails off. We stay silent for a while. Kokichi starts fidgeting with his scarf.

"Do you like your scarf?" I ask.

"Well, that's kind of a weird question. Yeah, why?"

"Well, you fidget with it all the time and tear at it so I thought maybe you didn't like it."

He laughs. "Always the detective." I stay silent. He looks away. "Well, My scarf is more like a symbol." I look at him hoping for further explanation. "Hmm, how do I explain it? It's kind of like a symbol that I have survived all the shit life's thrown my way."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

He removes his scarf with a blank expression. Cuts, Bandages, and Bruises cover his neck and shoulders. "Oh my god, Kokichi, what happened to you?"

He laughs but he doesn't seem happy. "Shit happened to me, that's what."

"Kokichi, you can tell me."

After a long period of silence, he speaks again. "It was always the same people." He traces some of the marks on his neck as if remembering how he got them. "Some people don't take too kindly to people like me. Most would just laugh and mock me but some absolutely hated me. I became a sort of punching bag for whoever felt like hurting someone. I couldn't stay home from school either because they would come to my house and give me an even worse beating. It was always that way. If I tried to fight back they would make sure I never did it again. The first time I fought back, they stabbed me. The second time, they locked me in a storage closet for days." A tear slides down his face.

I hug him for a while before speaking. "How did you get out?"

"It was probably sometime late after school when I got rescued. After struggling for so long I passed out, but I woke up to hear a group of people talking. I don't remember exactly what they were saying but I heard a loud noise before the doors opened. I saw a group of people in the closet. They told me that they had heard a noise coming from the storage room and they wanted to check it out. That's how they found me. They told me later that I passed out while they were talking. They brought me to a house where they talked to me about what had happened. They had all had similar experiences of being mistreated. We kept in contact and became very good friends. One day we decided to form a group where we played pranks on people for fun. They decided that I should be the leader. We called it D.I.C.E. When I was with them It was harder for people to bully me. It never really stopped though. They were my best friends. They saved me..." I hug the small boy even tighter. He sniffles. "I really miss them." After a while, he calms down a little bit.

"I'm going to go to training, is that okay?" I ask not wanting to leave him in his sad state.

"Of course, I can't tell you what you can and can' t do. I think I'm going to go to sleep anyway." He says.

"Okay." I leave to go to training. Once done, I return to my room and fall asleep next to Kokichi.