Twelve Days

The First Hours

       Gonta Gokuhara, one of the youngest students on the island. . .which was. . .surprising due to his height and build, was currently sculpting a sloppy home for sand fleas out of wet silt. Being The Ultimate Entomologist, this was quite like him since. . .well, sand fleas weren't even insects at all. The particular specimen here was simply a crustacean, which of course made sense since the burly kid was seated on the shore of that main island every single one of them had woken up on. 

      Context is likely needed, isn't it? Well. . .Just hours ago, Gonta Gokuhara, along with (what he counted to be) forty seven other students his age had woken up along the shore of a once inhabited island. Now any sign of it being populated was out the window. No phone lines. No messages. No nothing. It was as if the entire population disappeared into thin air. Of course, Gonta had taken his time to half-heartedly check the island over. . .Islands, that is. There were five. Six if you wanted to count the small hunk of land he sat on the edge of now. Even in the pandemonium, though. . .The Ultimate Entomologist had found his peace here. Barefoot in the sand.

    Unbeknownst to the other, another student was crossing his way, diagonally, across the shoreline. Skipping every step or so and kicking sand up into some imaginary persons eyes. And as he harassed some made-up individual, Kokichi Ouma still pretended not to see anything in front of him. Being. . .the character he is. . .Kokichi decided he would test his limits. He would test others patience. He'd do his absolute best to upset the largest student trapped with him in the confinements of the six islands. 

Skipping one more step, Kokichi slammed his foot into the low-bearing wall of Gonta's sad little sand castle, snickering under a tense breath, "Oh nooooo~"

Gonta looked frantic for a second. Throwing up his arms dramatically as he watched the sand cave over the barely noticeable organisms. His sandcastle? Fine. He didn't care much about that. Perhaps it was upsetting to watch his effort go to waste. But picking on small creatures was unacceptable. Gonta stood up, easily overpowering Kokichi in height. He grabbed the student by the shoulders and picked him up off the ground. Using the force against each upper arm to keep him from slipping back down onto the pile of sand. 

"Kokichi hurt bugs! Gonta wants to hear that he's sorry!" His face twisted up into an expression of sour disappointment. He had overheard the name. . .So could only assume by the face that this was Kokichi Ouma!

Kokichi didn't personally seem phased since- Gonta was the easiest to manipulate and toy with so this shouldn't be too difficult a situation to get out of. But if he did decide to hurt him- well. . . He deserved it so he wouldn't complain. Besides, he had walked himself right into it. Kokichi slapped a startled expression onto his own face. 

 "Whaa..? What did I do..?" Ouma whined. Sung out in an achy and sorrow tone.

"Kokichi step on them! Say sorry!" He demanded, looking incredibly enraged. You see. . .Not much could piss Gonta off like this. But harming insects, if not any organism, was punishable by. . .well. . .not death. Maybe getting flung into the sea.

"For what? They didn't dieee, I don't think~" He replied dismissively. "Besides! Why would I step on bugs when I love them soooo much?" Kokichi added with an exaggerated frown.

Oh! Oh! That changed things a lot. Gonta abruptly dropped Kokichi in the sand, crouched over with his hands on his knees, and smiled at him.

"Kokichi like bugs? Gonta guess. . .Spiders! Kokichi likes spiders, right? Oh- Uhm- Gonta sorry for picking Kokichi up," He stood back up, looking in both directions and rubbing the nape of his neck. Yowch. How awkward. "Gonta got carried away."

"Y-Y-Ya think? You better be-" He croaked suddenly as he scrambled up to his feet. Kokichi brought up a frail hand, biting on his thumb nail and cowering in Gonta's shadow. Now putting up the act of a frightened child. "Y-You r-really scared m-me-. . .I-I thought you-"

"Gonta scared Kokichi!? Gonta is sorry! Gonta knows he is a big boy and can be rough. . .but Gonta is a good person! Gonta promise!"  Gokuhara seemed to plead with the frail-looking student. Even clasping his hands together by his knees to appear as innocent as he really was. "Gonta-"

"Nee-heehee~" A devious grin split Kokichi's features and he squeezed both his fists together in delight, bringing them up and bouncing up and down on his toes. "That was just a lie! I'm completely fine!" 

"H-Huh? Gonta thought- O-Okay. . .Gonta happy if Kokichi happy." Gonta pushed a smile until it became true, swaying on his feet as he glanced down at Kokichi. Who was extremely dwarfed in front of him. It was almost endearing knowing that Kokichi was alright enough with the height difference.

 Kokichi rocked on his heels. Raising a hand and cupping it across his mouth to muffle his devilish chuckle. "That's so sweet, Gonta."

"O-Oh. Think so? Thank you. . .That means a lot to Gonta." He went red in the face. Which wasn't that hard either. Compliments were always appreciated in the eyes of this boy. "Does Kokichi want t-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait~ I have a lot of things to do ya know- It's hard being a Supreme Leader of Evil.." He trailed off, acting as though he were deep in thought at Gonta's. . .well. . .it was barely even a sentence. Gonta couldn't even finish until he was interrupted.

"S-Supreme Leader of. . .Evil?" Gokuhara looked bewildered, wringing out his hands awkwardly. "What kind of evil?"

"Killing the innocent." Ouma replied simple as ever, his tone darkening completely as a sly grin slid across his face.

"K-Killing!? Kokichi kills people!?"

"Nahhh! I'm just messing with ya!" Kokichi's grin brightened up into something similar to a toddlers. Propping his arms behind his head again and swaying to and fro on his small-soled shoes. Which were now half full of sand and half full of small foot.

Gokuhara immediately sighed and melted into relaxation. "Oh good. Gonta knew he could trust Kokic-!"

"We torture then kill them." He replied, his expression dropping and his sly grin returning.

"W-WHAT!?"

"Kidding! Kidding! Geez, Gonta. With the amount of stress you've got, you're going to wrinkle soooo bad!"

"Wrinkle. . .? Gonta no does want to wrinkle. . .Gonta. . .no think that was very funny." Gonta rubbed the nape of his neck, making an uneasy face at his own comment. It was very, very difficult to understand Kokichi. . .Especially for Gonta. He just wasn't built for understanding these types of mental and emotional cyphers. "Kokichi should make happy jokes inst-. . .Oh? Who this?" He pointed over Kokichi's shoulder at an odd figure, who perched herself atop a stone just a few meters away. Gonta could have noticed Maki Harukawa sooner, if only she wasn't so still. 

"Ohhh! It's the scary bitch I met earlier." He grinned waving at Maki blissfully. Kokichi reaches up and tugs on Gonta's sleeve with one hand and holds an index finger to his pale lips with the other. "That right there is the Ultimate Assassin. I wouldn't get too close if I were you. . .For obvious reasons."

"Ultimate Assassin. . .? She no look scary." Gonta scratched his head. The muscled teenager took his barefooted paces forwards in the sand towards that brunette. Which ultimately took Kokichi, who clung to his cufflinks, in tow with him. 

"She doesn't look scary. . .But she most certainly is." Kokichi answered, all nonchalant. He was one of the unfortunate ones who had fallen onto her bad side. Except- he had been trying to be on almost everyone's bad side since minute zero.

"Ohhh. Well, Gonta no can know that for sure if he no does find out himself!" Really. . .This guy was just determined to keep the peace. While Kokichi on the other hand. . .It was honestly hard to tell most times.

"Then go talk to her!" He grinned, waiting for Gonta to move faster so he could drop behind him for protection. 

"Talk? Okay! Gonta will do that!" The practical giant of a boy stood up, and started walking gleefully towards Maki. Offering up a shout and an empathetic wave. He walked forwards until he was directly behind her. "Hello! Gonta thought he would stop by with Kokichi so he can introduce himself!"

Harukawa immediately stiffened. Gritting her teeth with such force, she spun around on the stone which seemed to ruffle and wrinkle her skirt. Maki politely pressed her knees together to keep the hem of her skirt down over her thighs. She had cleared her throat quite abruptly and narrowed her eyes in response. They were obviously around to say something and while she dreaded it, they might as well get it over with already. She was already unamused by the future interaction, seeing as Kokichi Ouma was clinging to Gonta's lower back and following in his wake. That rat had Gonta wrapped around his little finger already.

Gonta Gokuhara offered out an enthusiastic wave and a smile once more."Gonta is called Gonta, and this is Kokichi!" 

"Hellooo Maki!" Kokichi grinned, poking his head out from behind Gonta. Kokichi was practically hiding behind the tall boy. Which was understandable, since Maki would beat his ass after their. . .previous interactions. But to his dismay, Gonta grabbed him and held him under the arms towards Harukawa like he was some sort of prized and valuable trophy. "It's nice to come face to fa-"

Prized trophy? Sure. Maki would show Gonta what she did to prize trophies. After visiting Rocketpunch Market earlier in the morrow, she had picked up a handy survival knife she could use to her aide. Flicking it out from the hilt, she made contact with Kokichi Ouma's thigh. Maki made sure to avoid his femoral artery. In the case she hit it, she'd easily become the first blackened. The blade slipped in a few centimeters which was enough to split open muscle tissue. Upon hearing the yelp of agony from Ouma, she tugged it out. 

It would be such a shame if the Ultimate Supreme Leader bled out or got an infection. In that case, the turn of events would be his own damn fault.