Beneath the Mask [Oumasai]

Chapter Fourteen

Kokichi's POV

We all thought the killing game would end if the mastermind died. But somehow, all of us managed to forget about one tiny issue: that only two of us gets to graduate. So there stood the six of us after the mastermind's execution, staring at the pool of her blood and the boulder that crushed her body. The execution was a mix of the previous ones, except for the giant piece of stone falling on her and Monokuma at the end. But sadly, that wasn't the end of the creepy robot bear, since he had spares.

I didn't pay full attention to the execution. I was thinking about what to do next, and also keeping my eyes on Shuichi. He obviously wasn't well. His face was as pale as Dracula's, and his eyes seemed unfocused. And I was pretty sure I didn't see him blink at all. He didn't react at all when I spoke to him either. Just kept staring out of his head.

So I stood in front of him and grabbed his shoulders firmly to get him to listen. "Hey, get it together already!"

"But I couldn't stop the killing game..." he muttered, dropping his gaze to the ground.

"So what? Monokuma might have won the battle, but he didn't win the war yet."

He lifted his head and raised his eyebrows."...the what?"

"That's right. There's still something we can do. And I'll need you to help."

Those words seemed to do the trick. The detecrive straightened his spine and his expression changed. He started to look more determinded than depressed. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

I whispered the plan into his ear. I didn't want to risk the Nanokumas capturing our conversation, because Monokuma would then know what we were up to, and that would mean failure before we could even begin.

First, he went to the warehouse to pick up some of the stuff I needed, while I searched in other places. I gathered some liquid products from my bathroom, the kitchen, and from Miu's lab. All of those were ordinary and harmless items themselves, but it's a completely different story when someone puts them together.

I met Shuichi in front of the inventor's lab, where he handed me the objects I asked for. Namely a bucket, a cooling bag, wires, batteries, a watch, and a walkie talkie. He had a walkie talkie himself, which he was going to give to Maki.

I was about to head back inside, but Shuichi lightly grabbed my shoulder to stop me. "You're about to do something dangerous, aren't you?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, you look a lot more anxious than usual."

In situations like those, I'd usually lie so the other person wouldn't be concerned. But Shuichi most likely figured out what I was up to, making it pointless to lie. So I forced a smile on my face to reassure him. "Oh, don't worry about me. I know better than do die so easily."

"...Alright." He stepped closer and swept my hair away from my forehead to plant a kiss on it. "Good luck," he said before walking off to go talk to the others. They were part of the plan too, in a way.

I returned to Miu's lab. I held the walkie-talkie to my ear and waited for the signal. Not long after, the device beeped, and I heard Maki's voice. "Done," she said curtly and hung up.

Her task was to destroy Motherkuma; a perfect job for an assassin. Since the footages recorded by the Nanokumas got sent to Monokuma through Motherkuma, deactivating the giant robot head made sure our supervisor no longer had the ability to know what everyone was doing. Which allowed me to work without being stopped by him.

The first thing I chose to create was the timer. It was the less stressful one after all. I remembered putting those together in the past for some advanced pranks and it didn't require a lot of skill, so I was done with it fairly soon.

Then, the second step, mixing together the chemicals. Now that was something that got me sweating bullets, since even the tiniest mistake could cost me my life. Plus, I didn't recall ever making that blend, I just had the faintest memory of the instructions. Though I had no idea why I would have that kind of knowledge.

My hands trembled violently, even after I was finished. But I felt relieved, because I didn't make any deadly mistake, even when there was more room for error than for success, especially for an amateur like me.

I put the bucket in the cooling bag and poured the substance into it. The cooling bag was supposed to create a steady temperature for the chemical so it won't explode too soon. That way, my life was in less danger. I could finally sit down for a few minutes to calm down and let the racing of my heart and the shaking of my body ease a little before moving on to the final step.

Then, with the bucket in my right hand and the timer in my left, I headed in the south-western direction, the furthest place from where my classmates were. It took me quite a while to reach the glass wall, and I felt slightly exhausted from the long walk.

When I reached my destination, I placed down the bucket full of the explosive stuff and put the long wire that stuck out from the detonator in it. When the timer went off, it would send a wave of electricity down the wire, thus triggering the bomb. I set the timer to five minutes and took off running as fast as I could.

I still felt the effects of the poisoned arrow, so much that I regretted giving myself only five minutes to get to the opposite side of our glass cage, where my classmates gathered. My body was still somewhat weak and unfit for running that fast.

Before storming into the academy's building, I warned Maki over the walkie talkie about the oncoming explosion and told her to cover her ears. When I reached the others, I yelled for them to do the same. They knew it was part of the plan from Shuichi, so they complied immediately.

The next moment, the bomb went off, it's deafening sound hurting my ears even though my hands and the walls blocked out most of it.

All of us began to high tail out of the building after the bomb went off. Himiko wasn't running though, she was carried by Keebo so she wouldn't fall behind.

Kaito's strenght only took him to the entrance of the academy, but fortunately for him, Maki joined our group there and gave him a ride on her back. To be honest, I gladly would have accepted a piggyback ride too if someone offered.

The explosive blew a gaping hole on the glass dome, allowing us to finally escape from the horrors of the killing game. The darkness that was visible from the outside suggested it was nighttime already.

We fled towards the new exit, but right before we could make our escape, the Exisals appeared out of nowhere, trying to block our way. My classmates halted and recoiled in fear. But I stood my ground, since I expected them to show up, and I knew exactly how to deal with them. I fished out the remote control from my pocket and commanded them to shut down.

With that we had every possible obstacle out of the way. As we got closer and closer to the outside world, my heart began to beat faster from excitement and joy.

After we passed through the opening, there was concrete under my feet instead of the soft grass of our prison. And some glass shards too. We ran for about half a mile before slowing down, thinking we got far enough. My feet gave away as soon as I halted, and I collapsed to the ground, both from exhaustion and the knee-weakening feeling of relief. But I made no effort to get back on my feet. I was enjoying the cool surface against my heated body, which felt like it was on fire.

Shuichi knelt down beside me, laying one hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

I nodded slowly. Then I propped up my body with what little strenght I had left, and threw my arms around the boy's neck, drawing him closer to my trembling body. "We made it," I breathed.

He stroked my back comfortingly. "Yeah. And it's all thanks to you."

(Holy shit I almost didn't get to finish this chapter because I almost drowned in a fucking lake when I was at a summer camp. Lucky me was swimming with my crush and I almost drowned him too when he helped me out. Oh well. This summer was lit.)