Entertaining a Small Thought

4th Arc Part 11: Severed

"Puhuhu! Surprised? What a twist, huh?" Monokuma laughed after the whole ordeal was over before he burst into tears. "E-Even I didn't see that coming! Now all my little cubs have been destroyed! Waaaaah! So sad! All that cuteness gone to waste!"

"What are you talking about!? You're the one responsible for this!" Keebo shouted angrily.

"Wh-Why would you do such a thing to your own children!?" Tenko cried out furiously.

"Cuz lately, Monodam has been pissing me off! He kept defying me and trying to help you guys. Blech!" Monokuma spat out. "Gah! I'm never gonna get the hang of this whole 'parenting' thing!"

"Th-That's...why?" Keebo tried to speak, but he was just too overwhelmed.

"That doesn't matter right now. Do we really have time to be bothering him about Monodam's death?" Rantaro asked as he crossed his arms with a frown.

"Anyway, I'm gonna walk away quietly and go mourn my dead kids! Later!"

And with that, Monokuma vanished, leaving all the rest of the students there in the trial grounds, completely devastated by what they had just gone through.

Kaede was on her knees sobbing, trying to stop the tears by covering her face with her hands, but nothing could stop her from crying. Shuichi was much the same, averting his eyes from anyone as tears spilled out of his eyes. Tenko was crying, too, and Keebo and Rantaro just looked defeated by it all. Kokichi's entire face was crestfallen as he stared at the ground with a mixture of sadness and pain, and Kirumi could only grit her teeth as her eyes remained on the screen that showed Maki's execution.

"Awful. This is just awful. Why did things have to turn out like this?" She asked with a sad frown.

Rin just stood there, staring at the screen, too. But he did not weep. He did not cry. He did not speak. He just stood there staring, as if none of it affected him.

Rantaro noticed this and just sighed. They can deal with Rin later. They had other things to focus on.

"Kokichi. I think it's high time you tell us about the motive you and Rin saw. Just what the hell is the secret of the outside world?" Rantaro asked. "If we don't know it, then we won't be able to understand or accept any of this."

"Th-That's right. I...can't accept this either, Kokichi!" Kaede yelled through her tears as she turned to the Supreme Leader. "Just what is the secret of the outside world?! What did you see that pushed you to try to kill all of us, including yourself?!

"..." Kokichi didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at the ground without a word, too lost in grief to even speak.

"Kokichi, please. Just tell us the truth." Kirumi pleaded with the boy. "If you really cared for Gonta, or Kaito, or even Maki... If you really want to keep the promise you made with her, you must explain yourself to everyone what–"

"I don't...want to..."

"You what?" Shuichi asked with a concerned look.

That's when Kokichi raised his head, revealing not a sad, tragic expression, but one filled with twisted joy and excitement and a wide, crooked smile.

"I don't want to, stupidhead!" He yelled happily.

"Kokichi!?" Shuichi tried to say something else, but Kokichi cut him off with abrupt laughter.

"Ah-hahahaha! Oh man, did you fall for all that fake crying!? You're so dumb! I would never cry for Maki, or stupid Kaito, and I most certainly would never cry for Gonta!"

"F-Fake...crying?" Tenko repeated as her broken expression slowly morphed into anger as she realized what Kokichi was saying.

"If I said the actual truth back there, Maki might have killed me before she was executed, y'know. She would have been reeeeeal mad!" Kokichi laughed hysterically. "That would've interfered with the game, so I simply lied to calm you all down." His smile then twisted even more as he continued cheerfully. "See? As long as you lie for a good purpose, lies are fine, right?"