Bound (A Shuichi Saihara x Kokichi Oma Fanfiction)

Chapter One: Second Worst Day Of All Time

    This was perhaps the worst day of Shuichi Saihara's life. Okay, maybe not quite, he suspected the day of the first trial would always run through the back of his mind for the rest of his life, so maybe that won the prize for "worst day." Regardless, today may become a solid runner up. He stared at the wooden box that stood on a pedestal in front of them, still trying to process the information the Monokubs had just given them.
    "You want us to do what?!" He asked. The red Monokub, Monotaro, let out an exasperated sigh.
    "It's really not that hard to understand, even I understood it!" Monotaro huffed.
    "And that's really sayin' somethin'!" The yellow one, Monosuke chuckled.
    "Maybe we could run through it again? It wouldn't hurt, maybe they just don't get it, if that's the case, then we should feel obligated to help!" The pink cub, Monophanie beamed.
    "THAT'S-VERY-CONSIDERATE-OF-YOU-MONOPHANIE!" The green robotic Monokub, Monodam praised. Monosuke glared at Monodam.
    "That's rich comin' from you brother killer!" An awkward silence swept through the gym as the two Monokubs engaged in a surprisingly violent staring contest.
    "Um... Anyway, fine, we'll go over this one more time, half of you are going to randomly pick out a piece of paper from this box, you will then be handcuffed to whoever's name is on that paper until another killing happens, that is the next motive!" Monotaro explained. Hearing it a second time definitely wasn't helping Shuichi comprehend the situation.
    "...Is that really our motive?" Maki spoke up, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the Monokubs.
    "Whaddaya mean 'is that really our motive'? Of course! We wouldn't have went though all this trouble for a joke! We're busy cubs y'know!" Monosuke finally ceased his aggresive staring, apparently offended by Maki's question. 
    "Compared to the last two, the first blood perk and the time limit, this one seems more... Childish, even for Monokuma," Maki thought out loud. 
    "Oh! That's because daddy didn't come up with this one! This one was our idea," Monophanie proudly declared, as if that were something to be proud of.
    "Father is a bit bummed out since he realized that now that Monokid is dead, we're down an exisal, so he put us in charge of creating the next motive to see if we could be useful in some other way that doesn't involve the exisals," Monotaro explained further.
    "That sounds... a bit cruel..." Tsumugi commented off handedly.
    "Daddy just wants us to be better! What's cruel about that?" Monophanie asked.
    "I fail to see how this will supposedly push us to murder," Kirumi hummed.
    "Havin' to be around someone for god knows how long? That's enough to drive anyone to murder! I mean, youse all had to live together, but youse had time to youselves at least, welp, youse can say goodbye to that! That much contact could make anyone snap! Ain't that right Monodam?" Monosuke growled a bit at the end of his sentence.
    "B-But... this is-"
    "-Let's just get started already! This sounds like it could get interesting!" Kokichi interrupted Shuichi, an excited grin on his face. Kaito let out an annoyed huff.
    "You would want to go through with this you psychopath."
    "Psychopath? Hm, believe it or not, that's a first," Kokichi chuckled.
    "Guess what? I don't believe it," Kaito replied.
    "Look, what would you rather have them do? Handcuff us all together, or something worse?" Kokichi's grin became sinister.
    "G-Good point I guess..." Kaito sighed, admitting defeat... for now.
    "Well then! Let's get into the rules regarding this motive! We'll randomly select who draws, if you want to switch papers with someone after finding out who you got, you're allowed to do so, but only once, so make sure you think it through, or not, really it'd be more convenient for us if you had the worst time possible," Monotaro smiled.
    "As for everything else regarding sleeping arrangements and stuff like that, that's up to you guys to fight about, oh and your cuffs will only come off in the event that you need to change clothes, since that's the only thing you probably can't maneuver, and remember,  those don't come off until someone dies!" Monophanie said in a tone much too innocent considering what she had just said.
    "NOW-THOSE-WHO-WILL-BE-PICKING-THE-PAPERS-WILL-BE-"
    "-The robot kid, detective guy over there, chick in the red who looks like she wants to kill me, prisoner complex in the front, girl power punchy lady, Tarzan but with bugs, and little miss totally not a cult leader," Monosuke decided to rob Monodam of the right to finish his sentence.
    "Nyeeeh... They have names you know..." Himiko grumbled.
    Keebo was the first to walk forward towards the box, albeit hesitantly. He reached his hand into the box, shaking as if something was going to bite him, then again considering their situation, Shuichi wouldn't have been surprised if something did bite the poor robot. With a relieved sigh, Keebo pulled out a folded up piece of white printer paper. After seeing there was no danger, the others followed suit, each picking out a piece of paper until the box was empty. Being the last one to do so, Shuichi felt a bit anxious for no real reason. They unfolded their papers simultaneously, each student reacting differently to the names. Angie seemed indifferent upon seeing she got Korekiyo, Gonta simply nodded as if to show respect towards Kirumi's very name, Tenko was shaking with pure excitement upon seeing Himiko's name written on her paper, Ryoma sneered as soon as he laid his eyes upon Miu's name, Maki hummed quietly to herself as she comtemplated what drawing Tsumugi's name would mean for her, Keebo seemed completely unresponsive, and Shuichi, upon seeing that he himself had drawn Kaito, immediately understood the robot's visible distress. The only person Keebo could have gotten was... Kokichi "loves to torture Keebo for no good reason" Oma.
    "Now that you all have your partners, we'll give you ten minutes to swap papers if you so wish!" Monophanie giggled. Honestly, Shuichi couldn't have been more relieved to have gotten Kaito. Kaito considered him his "sidekick" after all, and they got along well as a result. While having to be around him every second of the day was definitely going to be a pain, it was probably the best outcome for the both of them in the end. However, Shuichi couldn't help but feel bad for some of the others. He certainly wouldn't want to be in Angie's situation, Korekiyo gave off a seriously creepy vibe, but he supposed if anyone could handle Korekiyo's... eccentric behavior, it would be Angie. At first, Shuichi was surprised to see that Ryoma wasn't even trying to swap papers with anyone, especially since no one in their right mind would want to be THAT close to Miu, especially in a situation that involved handcuffs. Then again, knowing Ryoma, he was the type of person to just bear anything thrown at him, so perhaps it made sense when he even rejected Keebo's offer to switch. Keebo... now that... was more than a little unfortunate. No one there got along with Kokichi, but Keebo especially. Keebo had once even mentioned it being a nightmare of his to be stuck in the same room as the habitual liar. Watching the distressed robot beg everyone one by one to switch with him... was actually heart breaking. Keebo was one of the nicer members of their group, and had he picked anyone else, anyone would've been happy to swap with him. A pit slowly formed in Shuichi's heart as Keebo's pleas grew louder. Oh no... no no no no no no, he couldn't let his guilty conscience get the better of him. He was in a good position, he didn't need to mess this up for himself. Keebo... no... no Keebo please don't come over-
    "Shuichi I know this is too much to ask but-" Shuichi held his paper out to Keebo, mentally screaming at himself.
    "I... I'll trade with you Keebo," Shuichi let out a defeated sigh. Conscience: 1 Shuchi Saihara: 0.
    "You mean it?! Oh thank you Shuichi! I am forever indebted to you!" Keebo smiled. Had the robot been capable, Shuichi was pretty sure he'd be shedding tears of joy. Keebo took Shuichi's paper, and thus he felt his only chance of this going smoothly for him quite literally slip from his fingertips. He felt Keebo place the paper with Kokichi's name on it in his palm, and he felt as if Keebo had just handed him his own death certificate. Before Shuichi could reply with any sort of meek, "you're welcome." Monotaro's voice suddenly cut through the gym.
    "That's that then!" In the blink of an eye, everyone had been handcuffed to their partner without anyone so much as hearing the handcuffs click. In fact, no one had even seen the Monokubs move from their spot. They looked over the seven pairs they had just created with malicious smirks on their faces, before repeating their classic "so long bear well" phrase and vanishing. Silence hung in the air, and Shuichi was petrified when he finally locked eyes with the prince of lies himself, Kokichi Oma. Did he have to look so damn excited?