It All Started By One Single Tear (Rantaro x reader x YandereMastermind Kokichi)

Chapter 5 Part 21: Long Kept Secrets Exposed

Rantaro's POV:

    I opened the door that led to the common area of the Dormitory. I walked out of my dorm room, with a serious expression plastered on my face. For a moment, I looked around the dormitory, spotting (y/n)'s dorm room door. I recalled always coming to get her for breakfast everyday for most of the time we were here. It was like I didn't even realize how much I would miss her after Kokichi took her.
I knew I made a mistake...telling (y/n) that I couldn't trust her, causing her to relapse... I felt genuine guilt and the urge to lose all motivation and not act. I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that when (y/n) was constantly risking her own safety to protect the others.
I walked out of the dormitory, taking the route I usually took with (y/n) to get to the dining hall. I had no idea who was going to be there. After what was found out yesterday it was obvious that some people would decide to stay in their rooms to mentally process what was going on. I could've been one of those people, but I decided not to be.
I was such an idiot for what I did. Before it felt like all of the time I spent with her was her using me, but I was an idiot to think that. I wouldn't be lying if I wasn't nervous about what the others would now think of me for the stunt I pulled. I had no idea if it was my choice or if someone wanted me to make the choice.
Right now, that didn't matter to me. Saving (y/n) was what mattered to me. I quickened my pace to the dining hall despite looking exhausted. It didn't even take too long to walk there. Only a minute or two at best.
As soon as I walked up to the outside eating area that held a door that was used as an outside entrance to the dining hall, I walked in. As soon as I walked in, I noticed the faces of Kirumi, Kaede, Ryoma, Angie, Maki, and Miu. Those six including myself were the only ones who were at the dining hall as of now, and it felt like it was no surprise on why.
"I can't believe everything is out in the open now..." Kaede muttered, "I wondered how everyone was somehow being saved, but I never guessed it was (y/n)..."
"That was because we were told not to tell anyone," Kirumi replied, "she didn't want the mastermind to find out, so she tried to limit this to the people that she saved."
"I see..." Kaede muttered, "I honestly do have a lot to thank her for. I mean... she gave me confidence after I thought my plan succeeded in killing Rantaro. She went out of her way to tell me that it wasn't me... that he saw the shot put ball drop close to him..."
"You do forget that something happened between (y/n) and Craptaro, right?" Miu asked, "even if he didn't mean it, he's still a fuckin' asshole for doing that to her! She obviously took it out on herself!"
    "I think that was obvious considering she tried to hide it..." Maki stated bluntly in response.
    It was as if the discussion going on made it so the other people in the dining hall didn't notice I was in here. And Miu with her personality certainly would be cursing like this because of my actions. It was like she somehow hated me for that. The same could be said about Maki, but in a different way. Maki however showed her anger in silent glares that were somehow burning and frozen at the same time. I was silent, seemingly waiting for the others to notice me.
    "I am upset at Rantaro for his actions..." Kirumi muttered, "but there is a good chance he was somehow manipulated into that choice. As long as that's a possibility, I can't fully disdain him."
   "Kirumi, you may be acting indifferent to this situation, I know you're fuckin' pissed on the inside!"
    "Miu, stop arguing!" Kaede shouted, "even if we're upset with him, Rantaro has to be upset with himself too—"
    As the words flew from Kaede's mouth, I saw that she was cut off. The reason being she turned her head and noticed I was there, and that I heard everything. She was silent as we made direct contact. The other people in the dining hall noticed her silent gaze and in turn they looked over at me. I saw the shocked looks of everyone, aside from Ryoma and Maki.
    "G-Good morning Rantaro!" Kaede exclaimed, obviously trying to change the subject.
    As Kaede said those words, Maki's expression contorted into a glare on her face as her eyes looked directly into mine. In response to Maki's death stare, I put my hands up in slight defense, letting out a nervous chuckle. Sweat was visible on my face as I did this.
   "Hey now, there's no need to glare at me like that," I said, "I already heard the stuff you guys said."
    My expression went from a nervous smile to a more serious frown. I crossed my arms as my gaze went from the others to hitting the floor. As I was thinking before, I couldn't blame them for being upset with me. I was upset enough with myself.
    "I honestly can't blame you all for feeling that way about me," I spoke, "I even hate the way I acted. Some boyfriend I'm supposed to be, huh?"
    "I honestly thought you'd be in your room due to the immense guilt, but I'm surprised you aren't," Maki stated nonchalantly, "I highly doubt you're the type to avoid someone you care about, so something must've caused it. Am I wrong?"
    'Very straight to the point, huh...?' I thought.
    If I was going go trust the others, I had to tell them what happened. Maki was definitely someone who cut to the chase in situations like this. She wanted to know exactly what was going on. I couldn't avoid keeping my talent a secret.
"No, I don't think you're wrong," I replied.
"Nyahahaha!" Angie chimed in, "of course Maki isn't wrong! You do recall that stupid thing I did, right? I mean if you didn't care about (y/n), then why would you stop an attempted murder? What a miraculous mystery!"
"I wouldn't call that a mystery," I replied, "but why don't I tell you why I made my outright stupid decision. I know I'm not the most trusting person, but since Kokichi is the mastermind, he is the one I shouldn't be trusting."
"I'm actually interested in what happened," Ryoma stated, "it must be about your talent, right? After all your lab was unlocked, and there could've been something to hint at that said talent."
"We should probably let Rantaro speak," Kirumi stated, "Miu, I know you aren't happy right now, but we do need to get all sides of the story."
"Tch...whatever..." Miu spat out in response to Kirumi.
After those words left Miu's mouth, her gaze went directly at me. She was glaring at me which was expected. Everyone in the dining hall was silent, waiting for me to speak. I was constantly conflicted on who I could trust. I didn't even know if I could trust myself from the beginning. The only way I could move forward now was to put my trust in others. This was a different situation. Everyone was still alive because of (y/n), and I still thought of myself as an idiot for what I did.
"I'm just going to get to the point in explaining this," I explained, "to start this story out, my lab was unlocked and we investigated it with everyone in our group. I decided to do some investigating on my own the same night because of the combination vault that held a puzzle to a secret in my lab...a puzzle that was meant for *me* to solve. I was able to solve the puzzle for one particular reason, but I'll explain that after."
"If you're going to tell your side of the story, explain everything in order," Maki stated, "just explain how you solved it so we don't take up more time than we need to."
"Alright, alright, fine," I replied, "you guys recall the first courtyard message that popped up after the trial that was supposed to be for my death, yeah?"
"You're talking about what the message at first read, right?" Kaede asked, "wasn't it *horse a*?"
"That's right," I replied, "to connect that bit to the puzzle I had, there were two vaults marked A and B. Vault A had animals from the Chinese Zodiac, while Vault B had signs from the astrology zodiac. It's more than obvious that the first part of the courtyard message was to solve the puzzle in my lab. All I had to do was guess for the second vault, which happened to be Gemini."
"So you were able to solve that vault because of a connection to the courtyard message, it does become more likely that Kokichi *wanted* to leave that hint," Kirumi speculated, "it makes sense that he would know the code to that vault. He is the mastermind after all. I do wonder if he did leave another hint somewhere..."
"We should probably discuss that possibility later," Ryoma stated, "we need to let Rantaro finish with his take on what happened. After that we can discuss everything else."
"Alrighty then," I spoke, "once I solved the puzzle in my lab, I saw a flash drive with a Monokuma look to it. Since there was a laptop in my lab, I plugged in that flash drive. There was only one thing on that flash drive. It was a video recorded before I lost whatever memories I had. I was wearing the same outfit as I am now, so chances are... this happened before my memories were lost."
"What type of memories...?" Kirumi's asked.
"To put it in short, the video mentioned perks I received because of the talent I forgot," I explained, "turns out, I am a survivor of a precious killing game, and I received that video and a separate Monopad that are listed as that perk. The perk is called the *Survivor Perk*, hence the talent I am...the Ultimate Survivor... the video felt like a warning to myself not to trust anyone. With my perk as a slight advantage, it's obvious why. In turn, that's what the video told me to do... to avoid everyone because if they found out who I was, they'd come for me."
It felt hard for me to force the information out. It was hard for me to be able to tell everyone this. Being a survivor of a previous killing game...yet still no memory of it. I was probably a different person before my memories were erased, but the skepticism remained. The skepticism towards others and myself.
"When I saw that video, it was a warning to me," I explained, "I had no idea how to feel about myself or about everyone here, including (y/n). That video made me somehow believe that (y/n) was just getting closer to me to target me. What an idiotic thought that was..."
Everyone was silent as I was explaining everything from my point of view. My gaze hit the floor once more, a serious expression forming on my face. My cautious nature... knowing the true person behind our situation. It made me more likely to trust the others, and that was such a weird feeling to have.
"(y/n) saved my life that day, and yet I still doubted her," I explained, "you have every right to be upset with me, but when I saw the bandages around her arm... it made me realize how much of a low coward I really am. I shouldn't have trusted the me that was in that video. I shouldn't acted the way I did towards her... that ultimately caused her to relapse. All I want to do is make it up to her, even if she hates me after this... because of her trusting nature...I'm trying to take to her example to an extent. That's why I'm telling you all of this."
    It was silent for a moment after I spoke. Everyone was staring at me with uncertain looks as if they were conflicted on how to feel about the situation. I told them what caused me to avoid everyone, and I told them about how I felt after what happened yesterday. It was hard for me to even tell them all of this, but now it was done and over with.
    "So your actions were caused from a video message from yourself..." Maki muttered, "I think I get it now."
    "I'm not sure how I would react if I received a video like that..." Kirumi explained, but there is a good chance I would've done the same thing to an extent."
    "I'm pretty sure a lot of us would probably do that..." Ryoma muttered, "it's natural to be suspicious after seeing a video like Rantaro did. We don't even know what he saw, and chances are... there's a rule for him not to."
    "You are right," I replied to Ryoma, "if I try to show this video to anyone... Monokuma will to get any person I would try to show this to to go away. If I can't show you the video I saw, then I should at least tell you about it."
I still had the serious expression on my face as I explained that. I knew that watching my own video wouldn't excuse what I did, but at least now...now they knew. At least the group of people who (y/n) was able to save including Kaede and Maki. I was hoping they would somewhat understand, but that wasn't a get out of jail free card for my actions.
"I understand why you acted the way you did..." Kaede muttered, "maybe if you found a way to tell (y/n) about it, she might understand."
"But right now (y/n) is being held hostage by Kokichi," Maki stated, "we need to be able to find a time where that bastard isn't watching her."
I noticed Maki was biting her thumb as she said those words. It was obvious that she was upset. Maki knew very well that if (y/n) didn't push Kaito out of the way, it would be him being held hostage by Kokichi. Another fact was that Maki was a part of a nighttime training routine with Shuichi, Kaito, (y/n), and Ryoma who joined more recently. Maki must've gotten closer to (y/n) during that time, so it made sense why she would be upset.
    "Well about that topic..." I muttered, "I actually wanted to ask you guys for help."
    Once again, everyone was silent while I spoke. After that however they had a questioning look on their faces. It was as if they weren't expecting me to ask them for help. I guess it would be better to explain myself once more.
    "I tried to end this killing game in the beginning, and I almost died in the process..." I explained, "it's obvious to me that I can't even think to try and save (y/n) on my own. I'll admit...I'm normally not the type to ask for help... I know that... that's why...I'm asking for your help..."
    "I get that you want us to help..." Maki muttered, "not that I'm not going to agree, but what would be in it for the rest of us?"
    It was as if in this very moment...it felt like Maki was testing me with her words. In the course of two sentences, her words gave off the feeling that she was testing whatever resolve I had. Somehow, I did feel more of my resolve solidifying in both my mind and body. I knew what I had to say at this moment. There was no doubt that everyone in here wanted to hear what I had to say.
"Like me, most of you were saved by her," I explained, "not only was her secret exposed to everyone who didn't know, but she was also taken hostage by Kokichi. To be frank, her situation is dire. I'm sure you guys including myself feel gratitude for the second chance at life, so why would we stand around and let Kokichi do what he pleases with her? Kaede, (y/n) and I agreed to keep her ability a secret, but she still told you the truth that I told her about what happened in the library so she could help you regain your confidence, right?"
    "You are right about that..." Kaede replied, "if it weren't for her, I would still believe that I hurt one of my friends..."
    "Exactly," I replied, "Ryoma, you do remember how (y/n) felt when before she brought you back? I mean she did tell you that..."
"From what I remember, she felt useless because she felt she couldn't do anything, why?"
"Well, she was able to find a way to save you," I replied, "she never gave up on you or any of us who almost lost their lives at the expense of this game. Angie, you tried to kill (y/n) and she still saved you. What does that tell you about her character?"
"Oh, oh, I know!" Angie exclaimed in response, "(y/n) is kind and selfless! She's a goddess to me because she saved me!"
"I don't know if that would make her some sort of god though..." Maki muttered, "but continue, Rantaro..."
     "My point is that a lot of us feel like we owe (y/n) for saving our lives even though she told us not to," I explained, "I don't know what Kokichi is doing to (y/n) now, but I want save her before things get worse. We can't let him take her life. So, are you guys going to help or not?"
     I brought up multiple points to multiple people about the good deeds (y/n) has done for everyone. What I was telling everyone wasn't a lie in any way, and I knew that. Truth is, she helped people that had a lesser chance on deserving that help. She always put others before herself. Despite those facts, I had to remain waiting for whatever everyone in the dining hall would say about helping me save (y/n).
    "Rantaro wasn't lying about anything that he said based on the responses of the others..." Kaede muttered, "I want to help save (y/n). I can't let Kokichi do whatever he wants to her."
    "Like I said before..." Maki decided to chime in, "I never said I wasn't going to help you. I just wanted to test you to see if you had any ulterior motive for asking us for help. Seeing that you don't makes my choice a lot easier to trust your words."
    "My personal opinion is that I'm still fuckin' pissed of!" Miu shouted, "that psychotic bastard used me as some sort of experiment to expose (y/n) and the fact that he almost got Gonta to kill me fuckin' pissed me off to hell. I want to take that bastard's ego down a peg, so I will help too."
    "I think a lot of us would want to deal a blow to Kokichi's ego..." Ryoma stated with a sigh, "but even if I couldn't do that, I'm still agreeing to help."
    "I think a good amount of us wanted to save (y/n) from the beginning," Kirumi explained, "so I'm too going to help."
    "Nyahahaha!" Angie laughed, "I want to help too!"
    It was starting to look to me like the others wanted to help now. I felt relieved because of that. Knowing I couldn't do something on my own... asking for help... it felt like it was all worth it now. Hopefully, we could come up with a plan to help save her.
    "So if we're all in agreement on helping, what should our first move be?" Ryoma asked.
    "I personally think it should be surveillance..." Maki stated, "none of have been in the Exisal hanger since (y/n) was taken hostage. I recommend that I sneak around to gain an understanding on the guard situation, or we can have Miu make something for that."
    "I'm pretty fuckin' sure we need a way to speak privately without that bastard watching!" Miu shouted, "I gave (y/n) a prototype white noise machine that cancels out camera wavelengths, but she got kidnapped. I'm probably gonna have to make another fuckin' machine...."
    "So observing the situation is going to be our first step..." I muttered, "I like that idea..."
"Obviously that's the best idea moving forward," Maki replied, "observing the enemy...finding the best time and chance to strike and catch them off guard... lucky for you, I'm an expert at that..."
"That definitely would be advantages you have as the Ultimate Assassin, y'know?" Ryoma asked, "in this situation however, we need someone to observe Kokichi."
Ryoma was right about that. Having a way to observe Kokichi was important in order to find a way to rescue (y/n). Maki was defiantly someone who could quietly observe a situation. It was part of her talent after all, even if I didn't know how she became an assassin.
"I will observe Kokichi," Maki stated, "but if I have to kill him to get her back safely... I will do that..."
Maki's tone grew bitter as the words flew from her mouth. Her eyes held a deadly glare as she told everyone that she would kill him if she had to. She said she if she had to do that, it'd be for her safety. I knew there was another reason for that. It was anger not worry.
"I'm not sure if that will work..." Kaede muttered, "you remember what happened when I tried to devise a plan to kill the mastermind. Rantaro got caught in the crossfire. Since Kokichi is the mastermind, he tried to frame me for killing Rantaro somehow. I still don't know all of the details sadly, but it's not a good idea..."
"But think about it," Maki stated, "we know who who the mastermind of this killing game is. It's Kokichi Oma. Knowing that, I can exclusively target that bastard. If he dies, the game is over. It's as simple as that."
"But (y/n) wants everyone to survive—" Kaede tried to say before...
"Don't be an idiot," Maki stated, interrupting Kaede, "it doesn't matter if (y/n) wants everyone to survive anymore. There is one person who is forcing us to do this... it's Kokichi. If he doesn't die, then there's a good chance more of us will die. Him having (y/n) as a hostage means that she won't be able to save anyone who could fall victim. It's better if he dies... if he dies then we can end this killing game. Even if we are trapped in this school, at least we will be safe."
Maki did have a point. It was my goal to end the killing game by taking out the mastermind when I could. I wasn't the only one who came to that conclusion. I knew (y/n) wanted everyone to survive, but if she even tries to spare the life of the mastermind... I couldn't let that happen. In order to end this killing game, Kokichi had to go. He was the one I needed to target back then, but I didn't even know that. He was exposed but at what cost?
It didn't matter. If Kokichi had to die in order to save her...to save everyone...then so be it. Leaving that to Maki was a good idea to me, but what was that idea to everyone else...?

Hello all! I am back in class and switching out POV's for this update. To clarify the switch in the point of view for characters, this conversation in the dining hall is taking place at the same time as Kokichi and reader. It's just a switch between locations, and to move things along, multiple point of views are important.

Everyone probably knows that Rantaro wanted to  end the killing game, but in this story he managed to survive because of an op ability I thought of. I would think that it would be obvious that he would agree with what Maki would say because he was trying to end the killing game. Let me know if I'm wrong ^^

Also I'm in my cake decorating class. I have images of a fake iced cake I made, and the video is on my tiktok because I was proud of it. Don't be asking for a slice if you see it because it's styrofoam! Styrofoam with fondant on it...

All things aside, I have different point of views coming with the next updates. I actually followed one of you guys on tiktok, and to put it short, they were very happy. They tagged me in a video they made and what they wrote in the video really moved my heart.

I normally don't get sentimental on my author notes any more, but sometimes I don't think I deserve recognition from others. Sometimes I don't think my writing has an everlasting effect on other people. But it does. It makes me happy that some of you found comfort in reading this. It makes me happy that I can be seen as a writer that can relate to feelings of other people.

I appreciate all of you guys, and I normally get flustered when people are excited to see me draw on tiktok lives or comment here about how excited they were for for the update. Thank you all for your time and patience with me as I wrote this fanfiction when I was going through serious things. I grew, and in tern, some of you grew along with me while I was and *am* still writing it.

I'm not going to call out the person's tiktok profile because I wasn't given permission to do so. To the person you are, thank you so much for making something that made my day. And thank all of you for your support through the years. Anyway, enough with the settlement talk. I need to publish this now or else I'm gonna continue procrastinating on doing so. Ciao for now all you amazing people!- yuki_no_fuyu