Beneath a Liar (Oumasai) [Discontinued]

Part 27: Uncertainty

   (This part contains the chapter six trial and that's a looong one so I'm gonna skip over and/or summarize most of it)

   (Shuichi's POV)

   Unable to sleep, I got up early and went to breakfast before everybody else. Kokichi used to rush me so that we would get there first. He always wanted to get there before everyone else. I smile at the sweet memory but the smile fades when I look up and see that I'm alone.

   The rest of the group shows up with their electrohammers ready to storm the exisal hangar.

   We enter the hangar expecting to find Kokichi and Kaito but instead finding something much more terrifying. Inside the hydraulic press is an unidentifiable body, which is likely Kaito due to his sleeve hanging out of the side. And Kokichi is nowhere to be found. My brain knows what obvious connection it should make, but my heart refuses to connect the pieces. The thought echos through my mind anyway. Kokichi murdered Kaito. No! I refuse to believe that. The other possibility is that Kokichi was murdered and that's just as bad. My head hurts. I just want to curl into a ball and go to sleep. But I can't do that because I have to investigate...

   We investigate all the suspicious areas before heading to the class trial. To say I don't want to do this class trial is an understatement. We walk into the class trial and stand at our podiums. It feels too serious without Kokichi. We piece together little parts of the case before we're interrupted by an exisal entering the class trial. The voice is Kaito's. Does this mean Kaito murdered Kokichi? Right when it seems confirmed that the person in the exisal is Kaito, the exisal jumps over to Kokichi's podium and does his voice.  This is all so confusing. We go through the rest of the trial piecing together information and learning new things.

   "Hey Shuichi." Kaito says from the exisal.

   "Yes?"

   "Kokichi wanted me to give you this, he said that you would know how important it was to him and you would know what it meant or something." The exisal hands me a soft object with a checkered pattern. Kokichi's scarf. The edge of it is covered in blood. I don't even notice I'm crying until I see the fabric getting wet from my tears. I bunch the fabric up and hold it to my chest.

   We continue with the rest of the trial until I realize that it has to be Kaito in the exisal. "The person in that exisal must be none other than Kaito Momota!"

   Kaito goes silent in the exisal before finally speaking. "You're right, now none of you will get executed."

   "..." I stay silent.

   "Fuck it, I'm breaking the promise." Kaito says. Before I can question anything the exisal hatch opens up. Out steps none other than Kokichi Ouma.

   "Kokichi?!" I say shocked. Tears burst from my eyes. The emotions I'm feeling are all mixed up and I can't tell whether I'm happy or sad. The one thing I do know is that I want so badly to hug him and never let go. I can barely form words from all my confusion.

   "Shuichi come here." I walk over to his podium still sobbing. "I want to apologise right now in advance. I'm going to have to break our promise." I know your confused, but I want you to stay at this podium with me until I'm done explaini-" I rap my arms around him and probably suffocate him. "Shu-ichi!"

   "Sorry. You can explain now." The rest of the group is visibly confused by my big display of affection for Kokichi. Kokichi ignores them and explains.

   "You already know most of what happened but there's one part that was left out of your discussion, the conversation that Shuichi and I had last night. Believe it or not, that actually changed everything. In that conversation, I made a promise to Shuichi that I would stay alive no matter what. However, I planned to break this promise and have Kaito kill me. But after that conversation, Kaito told me me that he wouldn't let me break my promise."

   *Flashback Start*

   "He's gone, you can come out and resume the plan, Kaito."

   "No, you made a promise to Shuichi and I'm not letting you break it!"

   "What?"

   "You guys are... in a relationship.... I guess. And while we haven't gotten along, if my sidekick saw something in you then you must not be a completely bad person, and I just want him to be happy, so I won't let you break a promise with the one you love."

   *Flashback End*

   Naturally, everyone was shocked to learn that we were in a relationship but Kokichi kept going with his explanation. "He gave me the cure and we did everything exactly the same, except instead of my switching with him we just pressed play again. I went my room and got a new pair of clothes then his in the exisal. Unfortunately all this was in vain seeing as I'm going to die anyway when you all vote me as a killer and execute me."

   "Why did you tell us all this? You could have just said that Shuichi was correct then have all of us executed." Kiibo points out.

   "Do you really think I'd want the person closest to me to die while I stood by and watched?"

   "But what about you being a remnant of despair?" Himiko asked.

   "Maki asked me about something like that earlier and I still don't know what it means."

   "Perhaps you forgot you were a remnant of despair?" Tsumugi suggests.

   "I don't know anything about that but it doesn't matter seeing as I'm about to get executed."

   "Puhuhu, speaking of which, it's voting time!" Monokuma announces.

   I hold my hand shakily over the voting screen. I can't do it. I can't bring myself to vote for him. I stare at the screen. Everybody has already voted. They're just waiting for me now. I vote in silence. Finally, the results appear onscreen. Four votes for Kokichi, one vote for me. I knew it wouldn't make a difference but there was no way I could bring myself to vote for him.

   "Well, you were correct! Time to say your goodbyes!"