Salty Petals (Kokichi Oma x Shuichi Saihara)

Chapter 7

“Maki?” Kokichi exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm not here to save you,” she clarified. “Shuichi was bound to hurt someone else, and I couldn't let that happen. If he killed you, so be it. I wouldn't care. Nobody would.”

“That's…” Kokichi muttered, feeling tears in his eyes. He remembered sobbing into the sunflowers. “That's not true! You may hate me, but there are so many people who care for me, Maki! Shuichi is my best friend, and I love him so much! Kaede is my other best friend and she's super sweet and puts up with so much from me! Rantaro always has my back, protects me, helps me, and can always put humor into a situation! Kiibo, he tries to protect me and make sure I'm in good health! Kirumi, she treats me so well, as if she's my mom. Gonta is super sweet to everyone, not just me! Miu, she--she hears my endless insults to her, and she's still willing to talk to me and help! So, you are wrong, Maki Harukawa! If I died, there are people out there who would so care, and grieve for my death! So what if you hate me? You're just one person who has no importance in my life. But if you're important to others, well, good for you! But you can't hurt me anymore!”

Maki dropped her frying pan. She looked shocked.

“Yeah!” Rantaro cheered.

Maki bent over, picked up the frying pan, and her eyes appeared to be glowing. “Lies…” she mumbled. “Those are all lies!!”

“Huh?” Kokichi said.

“Don't listen to her, Kokichi!” Kaede shouted.

Kokichi looked at Shuichi, unconscious on the floor.

“You...you have no clue what your saying!” Maki yelled. “You're just a relentless prevaricator!”

“Pre-vari-ca-tor?” Kokichi sounded out, confused.

“It means liar!” Maki shouted. “And I'm not the one wrong here, you are! Nobody cares about you, Kokichi! If you died, the world would be a better place, because you're a waste of space. All of those people you think 'care’ about you, that's just a facade! They're trying to trick you into trusting them, when in reality, they detest you! Me, I ain't a sissy like everyone else is. I'm not gonna try to conceal my hatred for you. You should just die, Kokichi. Nobody would be sad, anyway.”

Kokichi had tears in his eyes, but he smiled. “Y'know,” he said, choking back tears, “you say you hate me and you want to kill me, but you've never really tried, Maki. And the one time you did, the weapon was a toy. If you really wanted to kill me, I'd already be dead.”

“Shut up!!” Maki screamed. She grasped her frying pan tighter. “Everyone hates you and wants you dead! Oh, I am going to kill you. I'm just keeping you alive so you can suffer. Go through so much pain, and realize your life is going nowhere. Then I'll kill you.”

“Harukawa-san!” a mature voice exclaimed. A teacher walked over.

Maki stood up straight and hid the frying pan behind her back.

“What did you say?” the teacher asked, obviously not pleased.

Kokichi wiped his tears and said as casually as he could, “She said everyone hates me and wants me dead, and she wants me to suffer. She wants me to suffer through so much pain, and then she'll kill me.”

The teacher glared at Maki. “Is that true?”

“Well, yeah!” Maki answered. “The world would be better without Kokichi Oma. Nobody cares about him. I'm doing everyone a favor.”

“Give me the frying pan,” the teacher commanded.

Maki slowly handed him the frying pan.