Being with me

We're both the boy who's story is woven in tragedy

(A/N: Self harm and suicide mention TW)

A day passed after Kokichi's attempt. Kokichi sighed as he hid Leader's case once again, his words echoing into him.

Right, he's right. Kokichi didn't want to prove everyone right, he still did want to live even if it's hell. He looked back at the mess of his hands and wrists, seeing all of those ugly cuts on his wrists and the rope burns and cuts on his fingers from the attempt. Just now, he began to realize how self-destructive he had become. How did he allow himself to do this?! What really came over him?!

Kokichi's mind was preoccupied. That night was all he could think of and the sudden realizations kept hitting him over and over again. Kokichi didn't even care what happened, he didn't care how many more names were hurled at him or the many more beatings he got, he was somewhere else.

When Kokichi got home, he ran to the kitchen cabinets and grabbed the first aid kit that was hidden. He took off his shirt and looked at himself. He looked down at his stomach where he was repeatedly punched that day. Kokichi went to the freezer and dug out an ice pack. He realized that this whole time, he had let himself stay injured, how he had forgotten to even treat himself. Kokichi kept maintaining up this weak persona without even realizing it, there was no way in hell that was actually him. Leader even said it wasn't. So why did he accept such a false truth?

After placing the ice pack, Kokichi got some band aids and started to patch up his self inflicted scars and his rope damaged fingers. He looked down in dedication as he continued to wrap up every single sign of weakness. As he did this, he took a deep breath and made an oath to himself.

"I'll stop doing this to myself." He said to himself quietly. Then he heard footsteps come down the stairs.

"Ah Leader, you came home in time." Kokichi said as he turned to face the figure standing at the last stair. Leader didn't respond. Instead, the artificial eyes looked at Kokichi patching himself up. "What are you doing there~?" He said with a teasing smile. Kokichi looked at him dead in the eyes. "One day, I'll get them to stop hurting me. But for now, I'm just going to be my own nurse. You're right, if I'm going to lie about my scars, I shouldn't be careless." Kokichi answered, his eyes moving to the layered bandages on his wrists.

Kokichi dug through drawers to find rubbing alcohol. He applied it to his fingers, wincing at the pain. He looked over to Leader. "Have you ever.. physically hurt a person before..? Has someone physically hurt you before..?" He asked. "Well one time, that idiot punched me in the face. I punched him back, nishishi~." Leader replied. Kokichi smiled. "Did it feel good to get revenge..?" He asked. "Eh? Revenge is a strong word. It was more like a 'hah! You thought you could overpower me?' Besides it was only once. I usually ran away from him while grinning." Leader said with a shrug of his shoulders. Leader then began to twist his face into one of those menacing grins. "Gee, you really changed today~ Normally you'd be all weak and cry as soon as you got home but here you are, patching yourself up while being surrounded by your hatred!" Leader said with a almost mocking tone. "Well, it cant be helped. The world wants you to wallow in despair, so you grow to hate it." Kokichi simply replied. Kokichi then looked at Leader. "Why else did I sign up for Danganronpa? I wanted to run away from the despair of the real world and live with the hope of becoming a stronger person." Kokichi explained.

Leader's face looked serious. "You're right. Despair really is everywhere, no matter where you go. The real world, Danganronpa, everywhere. Yet, you'd prefer fake despair by watching Danganronpa without truly realizing anything until I came here. But it's fine, everyone is selfish in their own ways." Leader responded. Kokichi nodded. "Have you ever done something truly selfless?" Leader then asked. Kokichi thought for a moment. "Well.. I once talked someone out of suicide.." Kokichi answered. "Did you sacrifice anything to do that?" Leader asked. Kokichi nodded. "I sacrificed her trust. She hated me after that because no one was supposed to know." Kokichi replied. "I sacrificed something similar. I sacrificed everyone's trust and love just to end the killing game. Then again, both were also pretty selfish. You stopped her suicide because you wanted to be a kind person while I sacrificed my likability so I can satisfy my paranoia." Leader responded.

Kokichi smiled. "You really are me." He said. "In what sense?" Leader asked. "I'm unloved, you died unloved." Kokichi answered. Leader walked closer and put his finger under Kokichi's chin. He grinned at him. "It's true,

We're both the boy who's story is woven in tragedy." Kokichi and Leader said in unison as Kokichi started to imitate the same grin on Leader's face.

(A/N: a new chapter of wingman is in the works! I just wanted to do smth for Kokichi's birthday! So what's better than some suffering lol.)