Kokichi and Shuichi walked to school together, as usual. The two were childhood best friends. They had spent most of their life with each other. Sure, arguments started quite often, with all of the lies and such, but they'd always be friends again within an hour. As time went on, the two started to have feelings for one another, which led to them becoming a couple. A year had past and everyone was shocked they hadn't broken up once. Little did they know, the couple almost did multiple times.
During this year, Kokichi had got into a game/anime series called Danganronpa. He would go on for hours about hope and despair, executions, death making the characters better, etc. While he was totally fascinated with the Danganronpa world, Shuichi, on the other hand, didn't see the appeal. He never handled death well, even if it wasn't real. In fact, some of their fights were about Kokichi pretending to be dead. Shuichi never found it amusing.
But the fake deaths weren't the problem. It was his obsession. Shuichi claimed it changed Kokichi. The short teen went from a harmless prankster, to something sadistic. Kokichi reassured the emo looking teen that it was all an act. But having known Kokichi almost all his life, Shuichi saw through the lie. And it worried him.
Kokichi tried to act as normal as possible while he put his plan to action. He thought of a way to make Danganronpa ten times better and more realistic. Make a real life Danganronpa game! When he brought up the idea online, he was immediately met with support. It wasn't easy, but he eventually got the chance to make his dream a reality. Some rich girl named Tsumugi offered to pay and help with it. In exchange, she wanted to be the mastermind. He agreed.
Now all he needed was fourteen students. He opened auditions for it. Everyone was picking such great talents, he didn't know what to pick for himself. He decided to ask Shuichi, but had to be sneaky about it. Though Shuichi hated it, he would still engage in conversation about it. Kokichi decided to go about this in a hypothetical way.
"So, Saihara-chan, what do you think my talent would be if I were in Danganronpa," Kokichi asked cheerfully. Shuichi shrugged.
"Ultimate fanboy," Shuichi joked. Kokichi playfully punched his arm.
"I'm serious."
"Well I don't know. Ultimate panta lord?"
"That's not a thing!" The two laughed.
"Okay, fine. Ultimate supreme leader!"
"Oooh that sounds like a great ultimate! Everyone will fear me!" The two continued to laugh as Kokichi pulled up the camera on his phone.
"Why were you asking?"
"Just curious. Never wondered what your talent would be?" Shuichi went to say something, but stopped. He pondered it.
Kokichi started recording himself as he said "I am Kokichi Ouma, ultimate supreme leader! And this-" he moved the camera to Shuichi's face. "-is my boyfriend, Shuichi Saihara-"
"Ultimate detective," Shuichi continued for him. "Who know, I might just be the mastermind." Kokichi laughed at the idea of it. Shuichi couldn't hurt a fly, let alone set up a killing game.
"You going to kill a lot of people?"
"Yep! They'll never see a detective coming." The two continued to joke around a bit more before finally stopping the recording.
"We both know you would be the first to die."
"Heh, yeah."
"Ultimate detective, huh?" Kokichi got a scary look on his face as he pondered something.
"Yep..." Shuichi tried to ignore how much Kokichi was creeping him out. This had been happening a lot lately.
They continued to walk in silence the rest of the way. Though, Kokichi mind was anything but. I'll take that as an audition, Kokichi thought to himself. He wouldn't dare let Shuichi die, by maybe this was an opportunity for him to finally see just how great the killing games are. Maybe he'd even give into despair. The thoughts excited Kokichi. The only problem was that Shuichi would have to forget everything. Including Kokichi. No matter, Kokichi thought, I'll just return the memories after it's over.
And so, he made Shuichi Saihara a part of his killing game.
...
They all, Kokichi, Shuichi, Tsumugi, and 13 other student, were standing in the gym. Kokichi made sure not to let Shuichi spot him. No one had been given their first memory yet. He knew that if Shuichi saw him, things could get bad. Shuichi was quick to suspect Kokichi for everything. Fortunately, he was too freaked out to notice.
The monokubs came and gave everyone their new memories. While everyone else was excited, Shuichi was in complete terror.
...
Time had gone by fast. People died. Many went after Shuichi, but Kokichi made sure to show up before anything could happen. If not, then Monokuma would. Before Kokichi knew it, they were already on chapter five. He had this whole thing planned for it. One problem, Shuichi. Despite what he thinks, he was way off on who he thought the mastermind was. But that wasn't the problem. It was how it changed him. It was obvious Shuichi had fallen for Kaede. Minor complication. Then she died, which really affected Shuichi. Could be fixed? But then Shuichi started to hate Kokichi. Not remembering growing up with the small liar, he found him quite an annoyance. That was a problem. Though Kokichi tried to befriend Shuichi countless times, nothing worked.
And then something happened. During chapter three, as an old joke, Kokichi pretended to be dead. Of course Shuichi wasn't amused. But something weird happened. The fake death triggered a memory. Slowly, Shuichi kept getting little flashbacks. They came and left within seconds. But it was enough to make him suspicious of Kokichi. Though, Shuichi decided to focus more on the mastermind, which he didn't believe Kokichi was.
He was determined to find the truth. Checking the whole perimeter once more, he eventually ended up in front of the bathrooms. After checking the guy's one, he debated on whether he was actually going to go into the girl's one or not. After contemplating on it for a couple minutes, he finally just went in.
He pushed and moved everything he could. Just as he was about to move on to a different area, he found something. Pushing on part of the wall, he found a secret passageway. It was a dark, long hallway. At the end of it was a room with a weird monokuma. It wasn't that it was just a head or called itself 'motherkuma' that weirded him out. No, it was that it told him where another passage way was. He was skeptical but tried it anyways. He pushed a button and a wall moved to reveal a staircase.
Cautiously, he walked down it. There was an underground tunnel that let to a door. He paused before opening it, unsure of what he would find. It was a dark room with a throne, car, and a bunch of other weird stuff. He walked further in, examining stuff. Just as he was about to go find the other, he heard the door close and lock. Quickly turning to see who it was, he saw Kokichi holding a key.
"You're a terrible detective," Kokichi sighed. "Then again, it's to be expected. Seriously, though, I literally spelled it out for you and yet you were suspecting Kiibo?" Shuichi starred in both confusion and fear. "Though, I guess you weren't that bad. You did solve all those murders."
Kokichi walked towards Shuichi, making Shuichi back up. This amused Kokichi so he continued to do it till Shuichi was up against the wall.
"Are you going to kill me," Shuichi asked, trying to hide his fear.
"Of course not," Kokichi replied too cheerfully.
"That's a lie."
"No, it's the truth." Kokichi suddenly got serious. "You remember, don't you?"
"Remember?"
"You got little pieces of your memory back, correct? And I'm in all of them." Shuichi went to protest, but stopped. He realized Kokichi was right. "Figured. Accidentally triggered that."
"In them... we were friends."
"Not just friends..." Before Shuichi could react, Kokichi pulled him into a kiss. It was quick but left Shuichi speechless.
"H-how... I don't understand."
"Guess I'll explain. Everything you learned was a lie. Everyone here was a normal high school student brainwashed to think they were ultimates from Hope's Peak Academy. Including us."
"What? But... why?"
"Danganronpa was a popular game that a lot of people and I were obsessed with. So we decided to take it to reality! Everyone here auditioned for it."
Kokichi walked over to a big screen and pushed a button. On the screen appeared Himiko. She said her name, what talent she wanted, and why she should be picked. Next was Tenko. She did the same. Then appeared Kaito. He was saying stuff that the Kaito Shuichi knew would never said. After that, it showed Kaede. That was when the tears came.
"How could anyone sign up for this," Shuichi cried. "How could I sign up for this?"
"Weelll, you didn't, exactly," Kokichi said, skipping some videos. "But I accepted it anyways." He stopped on a video of the two walking together. Their relationship was way different then it was now. Shuichi couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"W-why!?"
"Thought it'd make you love Danganronpa as much as me. Or maybe even fall into despair! I guess in the end, we both did. Didn't know re-befriending you would be so hard."
Shuichi fell to the ground, crying. Kokichi tried to hug him, but was just pushed away. Shuichi wiped away his tears and gave Kokichi an angry look.
"So what now," he asked.
"Now, I ask you to join me," Kokichi replied.
"Why would I ever join you!? I hate you!"
"Pfft- you could never hate me! You just need your memories back."
Kokichi placed something on Shuichi's head and pressed a button. All the forgotten memories came back. When it was finally done, Shuichi was curled up in a ball. Everything Kokichi and him had done came back to him. Kokichi wasn't always like this. He use to be a funny, harmless prankster. The thought of blood would make him faint. When Shuichi cried, he immediately got serious. He was all talk and wouldn't dare ever hurt someone. This Koichi was nice and Shuichi's best friend. But the Kokichi in front of Shuichi now was different. And yet, the feelings he once had came rushing back.
"Now," Kokichi continued, an innocent smile on his face. "Will you join me? We will continue this game till the end!"
"B-but, my friends," Shuichi whispered.
"Who needs them when you got me. You've known me all your life, but them only a month. You don't even know who they truly are." Shuichi thought about it. "Come on! It'd be a shame to have to kill you after going through all the trouble of saving you."
"W-what?"
"Just kidding! I'd never kill you!" Kokichi laughed, and strangely enough, Shuichi did as well. "There's the Shuichi I know and love!" He held out his hand. Shuichi let him help him up. "Lets go! People will get suspicious of your disappearance."
Life went on as 'normal'. Kokichi made it a very eventful chapter five. Even faked his own death. Eventually, the last class trial came. Shuichi, though it pained him, made everyone vote for Tsumugi. It was both wrong and right, so they came up with a reason to kill them anyways. Shuichi played his part until Kiibo started destroying the school. Kokichi and Shuichi were the only survivors. Shuichi didn't know how he could ever live with himself. Kokichi, on the other hand, was proud of what he did.
The two went back to the real world. They were constantly praised by fans, but Shuichi ignored them. Kokichi took notice of this and tried to always take his mind off it. Which for the most part worked. The two tried to live their lives normally, but Shuichi felt haunted by the killing game. And it didn't help that Kokichi obviously had bloodlust. The urge to kill was creeping up on him. And Shuichi, knowing he couldn't stop him, let him kill whoever he wanted. But despite all of this, Shuichi still couldn't help loving him. Which was truly despairing.
___
🌿I enjoyed wiriting this much more than I should have. I surprisenly wanted to just stick to the cute stuff for once. That's never happened before. Anyways, the rest of the one-shots probably won't be this long. I don't own the pic above. I tried finding who made it but nothing came up. If u know who made it, please tell me so I can give credit. 🌿