Never Really There

Chapter One: The Liar in the Room

The Ultimate Academy destroyed, 13 students gone. The remaining 3 crawling out from the rubble to see what the world is really like. As the 3 students, Shuichi Saihara, Himiko Yumeno and Maki Harukawa left the Academy they were met with a bright light, the sun. After being a bit blinded, they took in the image of a busy city. "It's... not destroyed?" Maki's eyes were still trying to process everything, they were told there was nothing left of the real world, but as it seems, that was a lie. "I'm starting to remember things... Where I live and where I come from, everything," it felt like waking up from a terrible dream to Shuichi, but there were some things missing... The rest of the class had passed during the killing game, either murdered or executed. There were a couple people each survivor had particularly missed, for Himiko, that was Tenko Chabashira and Angie Yonaga, for Maki, that was Kaito Momota, and for Shuichi, that was Kaede Akamatsu, Kaito Momota and Kokichi Ouma. Kokichi wasn't the most popular person in the game due to the fact that he was cocky, childish, and told lies, many, many lies, but despite that, Shuichi still wanted to get to know him... But it was too late, and he felt guilty not only for Kokichi's death, but everyone's death, after all, he was the detective who sent half of them to execution, despite not wanting to. "We should go home, I'm sure there are people worried about us," Maki was right, there was probably worried family or friends. "Let's exchange numbers so we can still talk," Shuichi and the rest took out a piece of paper they conveniently had and exchanged numbers. "I'll use my magic to make sure everyone stays safe from now on!" Himiko started waving her hands in an odd pattern, as if casting a spell. Shuichi returned to his apartment and opened the door to see someone who... Should be dead? "Took you long enough!" The voice belonged to a short, purple haired liar, he was sitting on the kitchen counter. "Aren't you supposed to be dead? How did you come in? How long were you here?" Shuichi had many questions swirling in his head, and Kokichi answered all of them. "It was a VR simulator, I stole your keys since I woke up before you and I've been waiting here for about a couple days," days? Kokichi was here for days!? "But... We weren't told it was a VR simulator and if it was, I'd remember that!" Shuichi couldn't process this, none of it. "Maybe Shumai is just forgetful? No one told you it was VR when you woke up since you were survivors, it was to make it more realistic," That can't be true, Kokichi is a liar, he should be dead, yet here he was."Does that mean everyone else is alive?" Shuichi had a little hope that they were, Kokichi said they were, but everyone woke up and left at different times so they didn't exchange numbers, so they couldn't communicate. Shuichi felt better though, at least they were alive. "Why'd you come here? Why not go home?" Shuichi regretted asking that because Kokichi's expression changed and he looked sad... "I don't have anywhere to go, so I lied and said I lived here..." Kokichi said that very quietly, Shuichi couldn't just leave the boy on the streets, so he offered to let Kokichi stay. That was the right thing to do, after all. Of course, Kokichi took the offer, and they were basically roommates. Shuichi looked at the time, 5:00pm. "Do you want anything to eat?" Kokichi shook his head and said he wasn't hungry, which was clearly a lie. Shuichi heard Kokichi's stomach growl, and tried to get him to eat. He had prepared two bowls of soup, Shuichi started eating but Kokichi just stared. "You need to eat!" Shuichi was now trying to get the spoon in Kokichi's mouth, like he was trying to feed a toddler. Kokichi kept protesting until Shuichi finally gave up. "By the way, we have school tomorrow, it's Sunday," Shuichi didn't want to go to school, he didn't even know what school everyone else went to. After everything that happened in the killing game, the last thing he wanted to do was hear a lecture from a teacher about useless knowledge. Shuichi goes to Hope's Peak Academy, and he didn't like it there, he didn't have many friends and he got bullied for being "emo". Shuichi simply shrugged and checked to see how much Kokichi ate, the bowl still full. "Kokichi, please eat," Shuichi was worried about the shorter boy, but he insisted he was fine. Kokichi didn't look like he weighed a lot, so Shuichi popped the question "How much do you weigh?"