Souls In Hiding

Let's End This

"Are you two sure this plan will work? I mean it's the exact same as before and that completely fucked us." Miu expressed the entire room's concern.

"Yes." Shuichi and Kokichi agreed in unison.

"How are we supposed to believe you after you've lied to us about your identity this entire time?" Kaito mumbled, not intending everyone to hear him.

"You can trust me, right?" Kaito nodded in response to Shuichi's question. "Listen, this time we have the element of surprise on our side. If we attack so suddenly, Monokuma won't know what hit him." 

"Shuichi... We understand your need for revenge but Atua says this isn't the way-" 

The vampire cut Angie's sentence short. "It's not about Kaede, it's about the entirety of every supernatural species. Now, Ryoma, are you going to be alright with your role this time? No matter what you can not hesitate to kill a guard." Shuichi glared at the small knight, providing no room for argument. Due to his recent aggression, none around him wanted to anger Shuichi, so no one would disagree with him anyway.

"Yeah, I can do it," was all Ryoma said. "Although, can you Kokichi? You haven't been able to walk for a few days."

"I can float instead! I'll be perfectly fine Ryoma, don't worry your precious little head!" Kokichi sang, doing a backflip in the air as he floated in place beside Shuichi.

"Alright, everyone's dismissed. We attack just before midnight so prepare. I'll come around to you all and check everything's going fine." Shuichi waved everyone off, pushing off from his position where he leaned his palms on the table. He watched in suspicion as many possible traitors left the cabin with Shuichi, Kaito and Kokichi staying for a few moments more.

"You're becoming quite the sidekick, Shuichi. I'm proud of you!" Kaito grinned and slapped Shuichi's back before marching out into the soft, cool breeze in the fresh forest.

"I can't believe those dumbasses fell for it." Kokichi chuckled, crossing his legs as he floated in place.

"They trust me a lot, so they seem to trust anything I say." Shuichi's grin spread across his face as he approached his new partner in crime. "Did you do what we agreed on?"

"Sure thing Shu!" Kokichi pecked a kiss on Shuichi's forehead, causing him to hide behind his bangs as the phantom rummaged through a bag at his feet. "Here ya go, all inspired by our little meeting!" Handing a roll labelled ' Tsumugi' to Shuichi, he opened the manuscript to see... Nothing?

"Kokichi, you haven't done anything?" 

"Nishishi~ Of course I did!" Kokichi flew behind Shuichi and leant on his shoulders, reaching over the boy to grab the manuscript in his hands. "I just need to do this first!" The moment Kokichi's fingertips made contact with the linen, scratchy words appeared across the manuscript.

"How-"

"Did I do that? Simple, I can create some ectoplasm that has so many uses." Kokichi grinned, the words fading away as he removed his hand from the paper. "In this case, I used it to make the words invisible so the traitor wouldn't catch on. Before you ask, no, Kaito can't do this. I guess I'm just that much better than him." The sassy phantom investigated his nails.

"Alright, let's go make the rounds." Kokichi hefted the bag over his shoulder, allowing Shuichi to worry about his cloak. "Also Kokichi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, it's my fault you can't walk."

"Shut up." Kokichi flew in front of Shuichi's face and frowned. "If you don't stop apologising for worthless shit that wasn't your fault, I'll have to kiss you. Now let's go!" He sped out of the cabin, leaving the vampire to catch up to him. "Hey," the phantom exclaimed, knowing Shuichi was right behind him. "It's Gonta, Angie and Rantaro."

"Let's go to them first." The two nodded, casually strolling up towards the trio.

"Shuichi, Kokichi! Hello! Gonta happy to see you two!"

"Hi, Gonta, we have something for you guys to look at. Kokichi, if you please?" Shuichi turned to the phantom who presented three manuscripts. Handing the rolls to each person, Kokichi tapped a finger to each one, somehow managing to hold every single one as Gonta, Rantaro and Angie carefully analysed them.

"So... the plan changed?" Rantaro wondered.

"Technically no, because of the traitor, we pretended that we'd go with the original plan but tell everyone else the real plan," Shuichi explained.

"Does Shuichi and Kokichi know who traitor is? Why not tell us?" Gonta queried.

"We don't know if there's one or multiple traitors. It's easier this way, so just trust us!" Kokichi shot out a thumbs up. "Anyway, these need to be burned now. Have you guys committed this all to memory?" The three nodded, prompting Kokichi to snatch the linen from their hands and throw the crumbled balls into his bag. 

"Thank you guys, I hope you understand why we're doing this." Shuichi awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, not happy with the fact he had to hide such important information from his friends. "We should move on to the others now, remember not to tell anyone else about the change of plans okay? You might tell the wrong person."

All three of the confused outsiders nodded in understanding whilst the vampire and phantom thief retreated from the group, making their way to each and every one of the members of their criminal group. Including the traitor.

▪️▫️◼️◻️⬛⬜💜⬜⬛◻️◼️▫️▪️

Kokichi reached into his bag and pulled out a crumpled ball of linen, throwing it into the small fire Shuichi created. "Hey, Shuichi, do you think they bought it?"

"Who?"

"The traitor." Kokichi hesitated before speaking, careful not to identify the traitor in case someone was listening in on their conversation.

"We can only hope they didn't. I think it'd be pretty obvious anyway considering we didn't give them a manuscript." Shuichi answered, adding the fake information as a precaution. Both of them felt anxious over the possibility that the traitor decided to eavesdrop, so they decided to throw around some fake information between them as a precaution since they both knew lies from the truth. 

Both creatures knew they'd given the traitor their own orders with only one difference being that their personal manuscript detailed no differences in the plan. Shuichi sighed as Kokichi threw the last manuscript into the fire, "time to capture Monokuma... It'll all be over soon."