Being with me

Goodbye Leader, I'll be back

As they talked rather emptily, Kokichi noticed Leader's key slowly starting to slow down and he seemed to be sluggish. "Ah, Leader, d-do you need to be rewinded?" Kokichi asked but the artificial being just shook his head. "No, I'm suuuper energetic! Nishi that's a lie. But really, it's sort of late so just rewind me in the morning or when you come back." Leader replied, casually attempting to put his hands behind his back.

The ball joints that were moving so smoothly and effortlessly were now slow and jerky. "D-don't push yourself! Um.. a-are you going to sleep in your case?" Kokichi said as he held one of Leader's arms. "Probably." He simply responded, his eyes starting to close.

Suddenly, Kokichi tensed as he heard a door unlocking. Leader smirked. "It's your time to shine, liar." He whispered smugly with a smirk. "C-can you walk to y-your case?" Kokichi asked, ignoring the mockery. He had no time. He just prayed internally that it wasn't his step father. Leader observed the footsteps and slowly nodded, his neck movements being fitful. Nonetheless, Kokichi still helped him into the case, urging him in as quickly as he could. As he was about to close the case, he saw a smile creep on Leader's face but it was clear that he was unable to speak and his eyes became completely shut.

Kokichi quickly closed the case and began to shove it in the closet. He quickly muttered a apology and hoped that he didn't disturb or crack Leader due to how harsh he was being. Kokichi then checked to see that his door was closed, to his relief it was. He began to strip out of his school uniform, changing into home clothing. He'll just make an excuse that he just woke up after taking a nap. After he was changed, Kokichi went to his neatly made bed and began to rustle up the blanket and sheets. He even threw the monokuma plushie to the side of his bed. When the footsteps grew closer, Kokichi jumped into the bed. No one knew how to knock, which scared Kokichi to no end.

Luckily, it was his mother. She slammed open the door to see Kokichi "waking up from a nap." "Kokichi you lazy child! Get up this once!" She snapped and Kokichi faked a yawn. "S..sorry.." He said softly, fear still reflected in his eyes. At least it was better than hearing his stepdad screaming "KOKICHI YOU LAZY SON OF A BITCH!" Kokichi got up from his bed and looked at himself. He had forgotten to put his pajama pants on, revealing fresh bruises on his legs. His mother looked horrified. "Kokichi! Explain this at once! Don't tell me that you've been messing with dangerous people again!" She snapped. Kokichi shook his head.

"No mom, I fell on the sidewalk when I was walking home from school today." He replied with a nervous laugh. His mother scrunched her nose. "How dare you be so irresponsible! I can't believe I got worried for such a useless child for a moment!" She said with hostile disappointment. "You better have done your homework!" She called out as she stormed off, leaving the door wide open. From the lie he told, all he could hear was Leader's words.

"You hide these, don't you? Hide them like a liar in order to have some strength, right?"

"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."

He was right. Kokichi looked down at his bruised legs in self reflection. The cruel shovings and beatings, the cruel words that would follow, all within blue and purple marks. Yet he lied and said the sidewalk hurt him. He felt weak, he felt so vulnerable that he felt himself about to cry again. He shuffled his feet and then focused on the desk. Maybe, he should just please his mother by doing schoolwork and then sleep for real. It wasn't like Kokichi was a bad student to begin with. His grades were excellent and he had a lot of academic potential but of course it was doubted by his parents, especially his mother. His mother would push him to get As on everything yet refuses to acknowledge Kokichi's well deserved grades. He hated it, he hated her.

When he had finished, he rushed down to eat the poor excuse of a dinner. Of course, his family wasn't well off and his mother wasn't that great of a cook. Kokichi wondered if they would be better off if his step father actually worked. Kokichi had little to no memory about his actual father, but he had been presumed to be dead. He wondered if he was a better person than his stepdad or even his mom. Or if his mom was a better person when he was alive. Kokichi picked at his food before starting to eat it, wanting to get back to his room quickly.

As he went to his bed to sleep, he stared at the closet. He wondered how Leader was doing in there. Did he mind being shoved in a closet filled with unfolded and tossed aside clothes? Kokichi felt bad, he could've prepared a separate futon for Leader, he could only imagine feeling the discomfort of sleeping in a box stuffed in some kids closet. Well, at least he was safe in his well protective case.

For a moment, Kokichi smiled to himself. He was able to act natural, act as if Leader wasn't in his closet, let alone the house. He lied successfully. Kokichi began to close his eyes, wondering if for once, he can dream peacefully.

In the morning, Kokichi began to get ready for school. He dreadfully put on his uniform and lugged his backpack out of his room. Before he left, he gave one last glance at the closet Leader was in. He just wanted to get the day over with and just hope that none of his parents would be home after he came back. He really did want to talk to Leader again.

"Goodbye Leader, I'll be back." Kokichi whispered to the closet and left his room and out the house.