Beneath the Mask [Oumasai]

Chapter Six

Kokichi's POV

I felt like my legs could barely hold me anymore, they were shaking so much. Gonta was gone. He had to suffer through a brutal execution, despite how innocent he was. And it was my fault. It was all my damn fault...!

The others kept asking me to tell them what the "secret of the outside world" was, but I ignored them. Until Shuichi spoke up.

He stepped closer to me.  "Kokichi...just tell us already," he pleaded. "There's no point in keeping quiet about it now."

"No...I don't want to," I muttered as I turned my head away. I couldn't look him in the eye. Not after what I've done. The guilt I felt was almost unbearable.

Kaito also raised his voice. "Hey, if you really cared about Gonta, you should-"

My hands balled into fists and I drew in a sharp breath. "Are you deaf? I said I don't want to!"

Shuichi took a step back in surprise, his eyes widening. He probably didn't expect me to react like the way I did.

"I never cared about that idiot!" I shouted. "Man, did you really fall for all that fake crying?"

Around me, my classmates had different expressions painted on their faces. Confusion, anger, even fear. Though, one of them managed to keep their same emotionless stare, no other than the Ultimate Assasin herself. "...Why did you make him kill Miu?" she asked with an indifferent tone.

"To make this game more exciting, obviously. He only agreed to my plan because I told him that he'd be saving everyone. But that was just a lie!"

Shuichi shook his head in disbelief. "Kokichi...why are you doing this...?"

My mouth curved into a wide, malicious smile. "I told you already. The game was getting reaaally boring, so I livened it up a little!" I paused to look around at the remaining students. "After all, watching you suffer is the best thing in this game!"

"But w-why? I...I thought we were friends," the detective stuttered.

"Aww, really? Why would I wanna be friends with you idiots? Besides, getting all buddy-buddy with the people that could kill you or die anytime isn't such a good idea...But I thought you'd learned this by now."

"S-shut up already!" Kaito yelled, moving toward me hastily, as if he wanted to punch me. But before he could get close enough, a fit of coughing made him halt abruptly. He fell to his knees as his coughs got more and more violent, and eventually, little splotches of blood started to appear on the fist he held to his mouth.

"Kaito!" Maki cried out. She rushed over to his side and placed her hand on his shoulder, peering at his face anxiously.

"Get it together, Kaito! Would be a shame if a participant died of some sickness, you know," I mocked him.

Maki snapped her head up, her crimson eyes blazing with fury. "I'll slit your throat if you don't shut up!" she threatened.

"Just ignore him." By now, the detective was beside his friend too.

The others also went to help the astronaut. Despite him telling them all over that he was fine, they wouldn't stop fussing over him.

"Well, this is getting reallly boring, so I'll just leave," I exclaimed loudly. But to my surprise, no one even looked my way as I said those words. Except Shuichi.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Good... Nobody will miss you." There was a hint of sadness behind his cold tone.

His words stung, but I just shrugged as I turned on my heels to leave the trial grounds.

My plan seemed to be working well so far, but there were still stuff to do in order to achive my goal. I knew I had to keep going, no matter what. Otherwise Miu's and Gonta's deaths and making everyone hate me would have been completely meaningless.

Night had already fallen when I got back to the surface of the courtyard. Above my head, bright stars dotted the dark blue sky. I stood still for a moment with my eyes closed, letting the fresh air surge into my lungs. Then I kept walking, searching for the rock with smooth surface that was lying around somewhere in the grass.

Luckily, it didn't take much time to find it. I crouched down in front of it. My hand reached into my pocket, pulling out a black marker. I started scribbling new letters on it, until they formed a sentence. Originally, the stone had "horse a" written on it. I had no idea what that meant. After every trial, I snuck out and added other characters to it. And now, as I lifted my hand up with satisfaction, the former letters were completed with new ones, giving them a new meaning.

"This world is mine.
           -Kokichi Ouma"

I got up and took one last glance on my work before heading to the dormitory. I was exhausted. Thanks to that, I'd fell asleep the moment I lay down on my bed, giving me no time to think about today's events.

The next day passed by without anything significant happening. I spent most of it hiding from my classmates, as I didn't want to cross paths with them for a few reasons. Other than that, I gathered together some weapons Miu made a while ago. The next step of my plan would be to present those to the others and giving them a hint about where to use them. If I managed to get them to that place, everything would be a piece of cake by then. Except dealing with the mastermind. I wasn't completely sure how to do that yet.

The second morning after the class trial, I woke up before the announcement could tear me out of my dreams. Since I was up early, I decided to go and grab some food before the others got there. I still preferred to keep out of their sight.

When I finished my breakfast, I was about to return to my room when I heard the footsteps of multiple people, growing louder. So I just hid under the table, hoping they wouldn't be staying for long.