Souls In Hiding

Revealed

Kaede lead her vampire friend through the trees, talking about whatever crossed her mind without realising Shuichi wasn't paying attention to her. She continued with her story, whilst Shuichi continued to think about his. The witch dragged on and on before Shuichi interrupted her. "I'm going to fight Monokuma."

The girl stopped dead in her tracks, slowly turning her head towards Shuichi with terrified eyes. "What did you just say?"

"He can't continue what he's doing. If no one will stop him, I will."

"Great!" Kaede jumped in the air and grabbed Shuichi's shoulders. "I'll help!"

"No. You're not helping, you could get hurt!"

"I'm capable of taking care of myself. It's so sweet how much you care about me though!" Kaede swayed in place before running towards the cabin, excited to tell everybody of the news. Shuichi hurried to follow her, running close behind as the two burst through their home's wooden door. 

"Hey what the hell?!" Tenko yelled in surprise.

"Is everything alright you two?" Kirumi immediately stood from where she was playing cards with Tenko.

"Shuichi has a plan to stop Monokuma from killing everyone!" Kaede shouted. "Get everyone here as quickly as you can." She instructed everyone, the four of them splitting up to gather their supernatural friends.

▪️▫️◼️◻️⬛⬜💜⬜⬛◻️◼️▫️▪️

"Here's the plan I have already." Shuichi opened up the manuscript he'd drawn on, revealing his plan for all to see as they stood around the table. "Kaede and Himiko can work together to make an invisibility potion for everyone, that'll give us the upper hand before a magic charm wears it off inside Mors."

"As past knights, I think Maki and Ryoma should make a map as soon as you can. If you give us the layouts of the secret tunnels inside the castle and the town's defensive walls, we can use that to our advantage."

"At the gate, Miu can use her abilities to seduce the knights to leave their posts, allowing the rest of us to get in. Tsumugi, you'll back her up and pretend to be a knight if things go wrong."

"Kiibo should stay behind everyone. Use your abilities to watch over all of us and help anyone who needs it. The signal for help is a flare of some sort, such as Kirumi using a match to create a fire beacon, or Rantaro creating a large plant. Everyone will decide on their beacon and report it to Kiibo."

"Gonta, Tenko and I will use our strength to take down any guards on patrol around the wall. This means we'll go first and then the next group should follow, I'll go through the order of attack after everyone knows their roles."

"Korekiyo and Angie, you two are the lookouts. Angie, with your animal whispering abilities, I figured this was the best role for you. It'll allow you to act offence and defence. You might have to help Korekiyo but with the knowledge he has, he'll be able to help defeat any bandits or guards."

"Kirumi and Rantaro, since you two are fairies you can help everyone sneak inside. With the powers of fire and earth on your sides, I'm sure you two can do something that simple."

"Kokichi and Kaito, you two can turn into orbs to distract any knights, especially the one's who come for backup-" Kaito cut Shuichi off just as he finished informing everyone of their roles in their attack.

"Shuichi what do you mean 'turn into orbs?' Phantoms can't do that." The vampire's brows furrowed in confusion as he turned to glare at his oldest friend in the room.

"Kokichi, how come you can turn into an orb?"

"Are you okay in that tiny brain of yours? As the idiot said, phantoms can't turn into orbs, that's only a myth because of the phantom thief." Kokichi inspected his pale pink nails, annoyed with the turn that their meeting was taking.

"Hey, guys let's get back to the plan." Rantaro stepped in front of Kokichi as if to protect him from the inevitable verbal assault.

"No. Kokichi why would you lie to Shuichi about your abilities? Why do you have to be so damn annoying?" Maki questioned the childish boy before her.

"Just be normal for once! Stop ruining everything for everyone!" Kaito shouted, grabbing his fellow phantom by the collar of his shirt, lifting him off the ground. For the first time since he'd met the phantom, Kokichi's eyes overflowed with fear.

"I-I-" Kokichi stuttered, stumbling over his words like an inexperienced rock climber.

"You- You- What?!" Kaito shouted, throwing his opponent around like a ragdoll whilst mocking his stutter. "We want to live, so don't pull us away from that dream!" 

"I can't help what my parents did to me!" Kokichi fell to the ground with a bone-hurting thump. Rantaro hurried to the boy's side, pulling him back to his feet.

"So you are the phantom thief," Himiko spoke the words on everybody's mind. Kokichi said nothing as he stared at his feet. Not even the expert liar could squeeze his way out of this situation.

Miu took her turn at the boy, towering over him. "So you're the reason Monokuma keeps trying to kill us?! Maybe we should kill you for him, it'll save our asses!" Shuichi couldn't believe the horrid, selfish suggestion from the succubus.

"No that's not it. Monokuma's trying to obtain the strongest soul from each species. If Kokichi is the phantom thief, then he's the strongest phantom." Korekiyo's muffled voice calmed the room as they realised he was right.

"Let's get back to the plan, we can discuss the phantom thief issue later." Kirumi released a stronger, calmer aura than Korekiyo. Her suggestion refocused the group as they turned to the pale yellow drawing on the table. "Not to take over from you Shuichi, but I think Kokichi and Kaito should work together with their abilities to lure guards from their posts."

"That's what I was about to suggest actually." Shuichi leant on the table, leaning over the plan. "Does anyone have any problems with their roles? If there's something you think you should do instead then speak up." No voice sounded in the lantern-lit room. "Okay sounds good, we attack at nightfall."

▪️▫️◼️◻️⬛⬜💜⬜⬛◻️◼️▫️▪️

"That's the whole plan as far as we've been told. Everyone agrees with their roles so we can assume that's their strong points." The cloaked figure spoke to their king, who laughed in their face.

"I've never heard a plan as moronic as that." King Monokuma slumped back in his throne, cackling to himself.

"I have great news for you too, My Lord." The traitorous child bowed respectfully in front of the two-toned leader. King Monokuma hummed, encouraging his spy to continue. "Kokichi Ouma has revealed himself as the phantom thief. You were correct all along."

"You doubted me?" The King leant forward in his large, wooden and gold throne.

"Of course not My King."

"Good. Now, I want Kokichi brought to me alive by any means necessary. I don't care if he's on the brink of death, just as long as he's alive. Actually, why not bring me the vampire Shuichi as well? He might be useful to me." 

"Of course My King." They knelt yet again out of respect for the man before them.

"Remember, if you serve me well then I'll grant you freedom. You'll be given the freedom to live in the surrounding woods without fear of being hunted by my men."

"Thank you, My Lord. I promise not to fail you."