Being with me

Hey, you're going to lie about my existence, right?

(TW: extremely subtle implied self harm)

Kokichi crawled backwards away from the doll until his back reached the wall. The doll did not advance forward, it just continued to smile. "What's wrong? I'm you or at least the you that you wish to be." It spoke again, the smile spreading until it reached just it's ears. It looked sinister.

"W-who are you?" Kokichi asked and it froze. It looked at Kokichi. "I'm the ideal you according to you. I'm you, you nincompoop!" It snapped. "I know that! I mean w-what are you?" When Kokichi realized he raised his voice, his tone shifted to one of weakness, as if it were apologizing. "I'm the ultimate supreme leader if that's what you mean. Y'know, since you said that you wanted to be a natural born leader, right?" It replied, the tone sounding bored as it sat on his bed, crossing one leg over the over and resting a hand on it's artificial cheek like a prince. Kokichi nodded. "And you wished for strength, right?" It continued, looking at Kokichi straight in the eyes. Kokichi nervously shook his head again.

"Ah, I don't really see why, you seem so powerful." The doll said, the voice filled with mockery. "But of course that's a lie. you're pretty pathetic, you can't even speak back to me." It added before Kokichi could even get the chance to point out that he knew it was lying. He saw the sinister grin on it's face once again as his eyes looked down at the cowardly Kokichi as if he were prey. "I knew you were lying. B-because that's clearly far from the truth!" Kokichi finally managed to say. The grin on it's face grew to be pleased. "I knew it, you do have some liar blood in you. Enough to point out my lie." It said before it began to get up. It walked up to Kokichi and sat down on it's knees. Kokichi felt the ball jointed hand lift his chin to it's own face. "We really are the same." It said with a smile.

"B-but unlike you, I-I can't lie or I-I'll get punished.." Kokichi said as he felt a tear fall down his cheek. It raised an eyebrow. "Really?" It asked and without his permission, it took his hand and rolled up a sleeve of his school uniform. He felt the ball jointed hand run it's fingers on his skin, prodding at the bruises that were given by his classmates as well as self inflicted injuries. "You hide these, don't you? Hide them like a liar in order to have some strength, right?" It looked up at him to ask the question, another sinister grin on it's face yet the realistic glass eyes were filled with questioning and curiosity. Kokichi couldn't answer. "That's right. You lie about them and say you're fine. They may seldom ask if you're okay but when they do, you shake them off, don't you? Smiling like that, as if those bruises are nonexistent." It continued as it gestured to a picture of Kokichi smiling, it was lying there on the floor. "And you do it because you don't want to further seem weak, right?" It added once again.

Kokichi gave in to his questioning and nodded his head with tears now streaming down his cheeks. "I do! I do!" He cried out and another artificial pleased smile appeared on the doll's face. "See? We're the same. We're both liars. I've pretend to be the villain the whole time, scheming behind their backs while leaving everyone else on loose ends." It explained, the pleased smile still lingering on those fake lips,  it oddly seemed reassuring. It let go of Kokichi's hand, not bothering to roll the sleeve back down.

"W-what will I call you?" Kokichi asked, wiping away tears, not wanting to know his other self that we was beyond pathetic. It placed a hand on its chin. "Whatever you want really. Perhaps leader? Or the better you? Ah, I'm lying, I'm no better than you really. I'm just a better liar." It said with a mocking laugh but soon, it evolved to subtle sad laughter. Kokichi thought to himself, trying to ignore the mockery from his artificial self. After some time, Kokichi slowly raised a hesitant finger at the doll. "M-maybe I can call you.. um.. L-leader? Since you're the ultimate supreme leader.." he replied. The doll smiled genuinely. "Nishishi I was joking! You really are pathetic!" It said with a laugh.

Kokichi tried to push aside Leader Kokichi's teasing, he's been called worse afterall. The air lingered silently, Leader Kokichi still sitting in front of Kokichi. "Danganronpa.. What was it like..?" Kokichi finally managed to ask to break the silence. "I was wondering when you'd ask that." Leader Kokichi said with a small laugh.

"Well, Danganronpa was quite an experience, well more like my life since I was created just for it. If I can be honest, it was quite scary especially with the possibility of dying, let alone dying a meaningless death. So, I made sure that wouldn't happen. I also made sure not to show my fear. Yes, I lied to everyone. I pretended to be the mastermind and led everyone on. Ah, I got annoyed with how they trusted eachother so easily, acting as if everything was a team effort despite everyone dying before their eyes. Their 'friends' dead, because of a 'friend's' trust. So, I went my own path yet played villain at the same time. I went all my way to end the game to my ability, while acting like I was for the game. I remember how far I went for it. When someone tried to kill me, I got someone else to do it for me. I felt guilty, I really did but it was for the better, I would've died in vain and.. unloved.."

Leader Kokichi trailed off at the 'unloved' part. "So, considering that I woke up, how did you die and h-how long did you last?" Kokichi asked. He immediately wanted to take it back, what if he got angry? No, Leader was calm. "Ehe, I lasted long at least. When the game was almost at its climax, I wish I could've seen it. I really did want to see the identity of the real mastermind. But my death, it was worth it. My death was unexpected but at least I died with a legacy and that's all that matters. Do you wish to hear it?" Leader replied, his eyes looking straight into Kokichi's. Kokichi nodded hesitantly.

"Don't be hesitant, I don't mind at all. You see, someone really hated me. She hated me a lot. She wanted me dead. Especially after I revealed I was the 'mastermind'. She shot a poisonous arrow at me in order to kill me. Luckily some idiot saved me and took the shot. Well not exactly 'saved me' he just took the second shot. We were both poisoned and she grew guilty. She gave an antidote, I pretended to drink it, making her upset since she hated me. It was a lie of course, I gave it to the idiot. There I devised a plan. Flush my clothes down the toilet, hot wiring the hydraulic press, preparing a camera, recording the idiot getting 'crushed', and I wrote down my lines. Putting on his jacket, I allowed myself to be crushed. But it was not meaningless. I gave him my lines, told him to pretend he was me using a voice changer whilst being hidden in a machine. Ehe, it worked. It created an ultimate death. I fooled him." Leader pointed at the monokuma plushie on Kokichi's bed, a smirk on his face.

However, Kokichi was more fascinated in the amount of detail Leader put in his explanations, as if he were witnessing it. "W-what did you mean by 'f-fool him?'" Kokichi asked. "Yes, I made a case in which he did not know who was the blackened. He was just as unknowing as everyone else, isn't that fun?" Leader explained, ending it with a laugh. "I did not die meaninglessly, I proved a point that Monokuma can be proven wrong!" He added.

As Kokichi expected, he admired Leader. Of course he did, with his detailed explanations and his actions, it really shaped Kokichi's ideal self. "Any other questions?" Leader asked with a carefree smile. "No that's it.. t-thank you." Kokichi said with a bashful smile. Leader began to get up. "I would've liked to show you the scripts I wrote but they're not in here." Leader said with a sigh. Kokichi was surprised on how honest he was being, he genuinely seemed like a good person, despite having that villain aura and persona. Maybe he was right, maybe he really is just Kokichi if he were a better and braver liar.

Leader still had his back turned to Kokichi. Kokichi could see the black and white winding key slowly turning and turning. "Hey, you're going to lie about my existence, right?" Leader finally said as he turned his head to Kokichi. "Y-you mean as in t-telling my parents that you're not h-here?" Kokichi asked, fumbling with his bruised fingers. "Yes, just that." Leader simply responded.

"Y-yes! I-I have no choice!" Kokichi responsed. "Nishishi, I would have made the same choice." Leader said with a small laugh.