Chapter Text
It was weirdly cold; although he didn’t know why, he was just crushed to death. He didn’t want to open his eyes and—wait. Open his eyes? That isn’t possible. It shouldn’t be possible. He was dead…right?
He blinked open his eyes, bringing a hand up to his eyelid to brush away the crust that had formed there. What…? Where was he? He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
A hospital room?
The bed felt…soft. Weirdly soft. Nothing like the beds at the school.
He looked at his hands, they were shaking. They were shaking?!
His hands were crushed under the hydraulic press! Like everything else. How were they even here? How could he even hold them up, he—he shouldn’t be able to do this. This—whatever it is—isn’t real. It’s a dream, a trauma response maybe. It’s his brain making him think he’s safe but…
But his brain should be crushed too.
He gets up, his legs are also shaking, like he hasn’t walked on them in months. When had he last walked? Before he died? Before Kaito carried him to the hydraulic press? Is Kaito alive? Kokichi blinked.
Was he the only one alive? Or did they all survive that horrible experience..? Stop that! There’s no reason to be thinking that. Why would he be the only one to survive out of all of them? Ridiculous.
So, the only logical answer is…an afterlife? Of some sort? As he walks to the window, he muses on it more. An afterlife. How silly.
He glances around at his room, a closet in the corner, a counter with some cabinets over them, the bed, and…and that’s it.
He reaches the window, and pushes it open. And it opens a half inch, and then it just…stops.
Why has it stopped? Why won't it open more? Strange. He looks down at himself, he’s in a hospital gown. It’s a strange hospital gown, it’s the same colour as his other outfit…the one he wore wore in that awful game.
What was the point of all that?
He looked at the closet on the side, what does that have in it? If anything. He wobbles over to it, sliding the door open.
His outfit. The buttons all there, the straps he loved to fiddle with when he was alone, the strings on the back.
The bandanna .
He grabs it and looks all over it. Nothing had changed, it was all the same. One other outfit was in there, a school outfit. Was that something he wore before the games?
He puts on the Danganronpa clothing, sliding on the pants, putting on the jacket, sliding on the shoes. It was muscle memory. He had done this everyday for multiple days…for so long he had been stuck in that wretched game.
He stares at the bandanna. He grabs it and ties it on. Strangely, his hat and cape aren’t there. Just his normal attire.
He brushes it off and leaves the closet, walking to the door. He pushes it open and—it actually opens! He smiles slightly and walks out into the hallway, looking around. He sighs at the sight of flowers around a few doors. Tags on them, there all from his fellow classmates.
Can he even call them that?
He looks at the surroundings of his own door, Nothing. What did you expect? Why would anyone care for you? You don’t even know what this is, or if you're even alive. Kokichi continues on, walking to a door to look at the writing on it. A name.
The last name he doesn’t recognise, but he definitely recognises the first name! ‘Gonta’! Like Gonta Gokuhara? Is this real? “Kokichi? Like, the Kokichi?! What’s up man!” A voice calls out somewhere behind him; he turns around to face the owner of the voice. Kaito! Kaito Momota!
“Ah, uhm…Kaito. Hello.” He smiled weakly, bowing his head slightly. Kaito grinned, looking down at Kokichi. “So, you woke up! Took you long enough. Everyone’s awake except Ryoma and Tenko.” Kaito stated matter-of-factly. Kaito was different, his hair was shorter. His nails were painted too.
Kokichi frowned, tilting his head slightly, “Okay, so I’m the one of the last ones to wake up? From what? Aren’t I dead?” He asked, voice slightly trembling at the last part.
Kaito’s grin faltered, and he spoke again, this time a little quieter. “I don’t understand exactly what happened, and the others could probably explain much better. But you’re not dead, You are very much alive…and—I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what you had to do. And for punching you. And for putting you through that. I did get blamed for your murder, but it confused the mastermind even more. You did good.”
What? He did what? And he’s—god he’s alive?! Alive. Like, like not dead, and alive and he didn’t die? “How is that possible…?” He muttered under his breath, looking at Kaito like he’d just seen a ghost.
“Yeah, you lived. Although you lived through it physically, your mind still thought you died so…all the mental trauma you got was real.” He stated, putting a hand on Kokichi’s shoulder to comfort him.
Kokichi flinched away, still in thought. Kaito frowned, and opened his mouth to speak before Kokichi cut him off, “So, I am alive. We all are alive. And how? How is this possible? We saw them die—I saw them die. I…I saw everyone die. And—and the hydraulic press crushed me. So how are we alive, Kaito?” He questioned, trying to wrap his mind over this crazy thing.
How could they possibly have survived? When everyone found the bodies they were obviously dead. And the executions? And—and his own death…? There's no way they could have survived. It’s not possible in the least.
“I told you. I can’t really explain it, let alone comprehend it myself. You need to talk to the others, they can explain it to you. And plus, you’ll get to tell them the truth for once! Because you won't have to lie.” Kaito explained, smiling at Kokichi once again.
Kokichi sighed, remembering the things he said to everyone, and the stuff they said to him. “And what if my personality is the same? That could be a lie, you know.” He snickered, seeing how it felt on his tongue. It felt…strangely good to lie again, almost like a blanket of protection; yes, he should lie.
To protect himself.
If he lies again, and never changes then no one can take advantage of him. He’s done this a million times before, even before the killing game he lied! So this should be easy…
Right?
Kaito sighed, “Why are you still lying? This isn’t a game, Kokichi. There's no need to lie, no one to entertain. Just us, in this hallway.” Kaito scolded, glaring at Kokichi.
Kokichi sighed inwardly, lying is something he does comfortably. No real rhyme or reason, more like…a habit. A twisted one, sure. But a habit.
“Ah, you’re so uptight! Who knows, I could be lying right now.” He grinned, the game was easy to fall back into. It was easier to be like this…It was easier.
Kaito scoffed, obviously annoyed by the seemingly endless games Kokichi played. “Listen, I know you are still freaked out, but you need to stop lying. It’ll drive everyone crazy and no one will listen to you! Almost no one believed your story, and you need to somehow—if it’s even possible—redeem yourself. Make yourself likeable.” Kaito sneered, turning away from Kokichi.
Kaito walked away. He walked away and didn’t look back, obviously done with this conversation. That was no fun. He scoffed and turned around to walk away—and slammed into someone.
He fell to the ground with an ‘oof!’ He looked up to see a hand outstretched; he grabbed onto it and stood up. He looked at the person that helped him up to see— Shuichi?! — He gasped, looking into Shuichi’s eyes. He looked a little different, his hair longer and darker. And his eyes…they were sharper, less caring. His smile wasn’t soft, nothing like the one he knew, no—it was sinister.
“Ah, uhm...Shuichi.” He croaked out, surprised to see him here. Why are you surprised? You were gonna see him eventually. Stop being dramatic.
Shuichi giggled, finding his momentary panic funny. “Hello Kokichi. It’s nice seeing you up and walking, instead of in a hospital bed.” He joked, letting go of Kokichi’s hand. Kokichi nodded along, and— wait. In a hospital bed. That would mean Shuichi had visited him?
“You visited me? While I was asleep?” He asked, surprised by the idea that Shuichi, someone who very obviously hated him, visited him? No way. Not possible.
“Well, I felt guilty. Our last real conversation…I said something pretty messed up.” Shuichi nervously replied. What? What conversation the one where—
Oh.
Oh.
Where he said Kokichi was alone and always would be. How funny. How comical. Shuichi didn't seem to care about what he had said to him! But really, in real life he felt bad for what he had said! Kokichi started giggling, then started laughing. He wiped a fake tear from his eye, looking at Shuichi. “Oh! How amusing! You f-felt bad?” After he said that he went right back into a fit of laughter. After he had finished laughing, he looked at Shuichi again.
Shuichi wasn’t phased. In fact he was smiling! Wow this Shuichi was peculiar compared to his fake persona in the game. “Yes, I did feel quite bad. What I said was quite rude, don’t you think? Anyways, I wanted to apologise for how I treated you. I still don’t quite understand all of it, but I want to. I want to know you more, Kokichi.” Shuichi paused, then held out his hand.
“Let’s be friends?”