The Mastermind's Lies | Mastermind Shuichi AU

Chapter 11 - Confusion

"S-Shuichi! P-Please tell me this is j-just a sick joke!" shouted Keebo, trembling.

"Nope! It's not! I'm the one behind the whoooooole entire thing!~"

He sat down on the throne and crossed his legs.

"It was..."

Maki's eyes were burning with rage.

"It was all a lie?! All the times we spent together, all the times you laughed with Kaito and I, all the times you helped us solve mysteries and pumped up the group- you... it- it was all a lie?!"

The room's atmosphere darkened as everyone was probably reminded of the rest of the game.

Shuichi was a friend to most of them. He helped with the class trials, he was the kindest person ever and helped everyone else. He even spent his free time with all of us, instead of doing anything for himself.

All the times he spent with me too... was it all a lie? Was it all fake?

Shuichi's piercing demonic laughter shattered the room's silence.

"Bingo! All fake! I don't give a shit about any of you!"

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Kaito stand up suddenly. His fists were clenched and he gritted his teeth.

"Everything was a lie! This whole world that was created was a lie!"

"W-what do you mean?!" asked Himiko, who'd started crying, held closely by Tsumugi.

He snapped his fingers pretentiously.

Screens descended from the roof, showing multiple faces.

"W-what is this?!" shouted Tenko.

Sentences started flowing through the air of the trial room. I saw most of them talk about Shuichi and his "reveal".

Shuichi grinned and cupped his face with his hands.

"It's all a game! You are killing each other for the entertainment of the outside world! There is no apocalypse out there, the world is rather calm actually! Too calm! So this show was invented, to disturb the peace! All of this is just a measly reality TV show made for everyone at home to watch!"

"N-No way!" shouted Keebo.

Shuichi's laughter once again pierced the silence.

"Yes way! Oh! And you're all fictional characters too! When you auditioned for this show, all of your old memories were replaced by fabricated memories made by the production! In other words, all you know about yourself is a lie! Everything's fake, you're just an artificial intruder in a stranger's body!"

...

Excuse me?

"What the fuckin' hell is this?!" shouted Miu.

"No way, I won't believe this! This piece of shit of a degenerate is telling all lies!" shouted Tenko.

"I refuse to believe this as well, it seems very unlikely." said Korekiyo, with a hint of worry.

"Gonta's not sure to understand... does this mean Gonta isn't actually Gonta?"

"Atua is telling me that this is complete bullshit!"

As Maki and the others were asking Shuichi questions, the entire room was bursting into incomprehensible shouting and panicking.

As for me... well... I really don't think this is a lie.

It actually makes complete sense.

It explains these weird flashbacks I've been having recently. Some of them included myself with three purple haired kids, others showed me and a taller purple haired woman and some of them even showed a... mysterious person. I couldn't see their face, my memories were all hazy and blurry whenever it came to their face. I could only see their neat black suit, accompanied by a blue striped tie.

Shuichi further explained how most of our "in game" personalities were actually improved versions of our real personalities, meaning they were actually pretty similar.

I still have a hard time acknowledging all I knew didn't actually exist. My D.I.C.E. friends... they really didn't exist. I felt my heart squeeze a little, before I took a deep breath and stared at the television again. There seemed to be a conflict between Shuichi and the others. And after a few minutes, the screens slowly started to shut down all around them.

But, as soon as all of it shut down completely, the screen went black for a few seconds, before it glitched to another view.

This was still Keebo's point of view, but now, he was destroying everything around him. His lasers shot at everything, not leaving a speck of what the academy used to be behind.

"Go off Keebo baby!" shouted Miu. "Use these motherfuckin' lazers to their full extent!"

As if he heard Miu, he powered up an attack at the academy building. It made a huge explosion.

Then, as he got to the front of the building, he stopped in front of something.

It was Shuichi.

And he was...

Smiling.

A genuine smile.

The smile I'd grown to adore over the last few weeks.

A smile I thought was filled with happiness and trust, but now...

I can't help but see the lies hiding behind it.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the screen became black and all audio was cut off.

"Show is over!" shouted the woman. "How'd you like the ending? Didn't expect your cute shy and adorable detective to turn out like this huh?"

"You guys... y-you did something to him!" shouted Kaito.

"Calm down Kaito..."

We all turned around to the origin of the voice.

Besides the Team Danganronpa doors, Keebo, who looked a lot different, Maki, Tsumugi and Himiko stood there.

Kaito launched himself at Maki and hugged her as hard as he could. Maki hugged him back instantly, her eyes filling with tears.

"Aw, that's so cute I might start crying!" I said, faking a sniff.

Maki opened her eyes and glared at me.

"You're alive." she said.

"Duh! I don't die that easily Maki Roll!"

"Shut up, don't call me that you stupid gremlin." she snapped back.

I giggled as she let out a sigh.

"Back to the subject at hand-" said the woman. "Shuichi's brain, unlike you all, wasn't tampered with! This is his true self, in and out of the game!"

"Shuichi's... like this normally?" asked Ryoma, seeming horrified.

"Exactly! His shy persona was just an act!"

An act...

A lie...

...

"Talking about your little detective, here he is!"