If there were two things Kokichi loved more than lying, it was getting information from people that he wasn't supposed to have and keeping it to himself. But even the often unreasonable prankster knew that the beans must be spilled eventually, at the right time, at the right place for the maximum amount of enjoyment. Over the last couple of months, Kokichi had actually funded the church of Atua, despite having never actually been to a sermon. This changed at the behest of Kirumi, who thought that giving money to a group of people he knew little of was unwise. He described the sermon as 'sinister but in a cool way', but there was something else that bothered him a bit. There was something familiar about that girl with the stupid bow who often stood in the back while Angie spoke, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Might have just been a dream.
"Kokichi has been excited all day for this. He enjoys the company of both of you." Kirumi said to the couple they had invited.
Angie smiled. "Atua always likes it when people are happier because of the spreading of his ways!" she said. Korekiyo wasn't as thrilled, but if Angie was happy with it then it didn't matter too much.
The maid led the two into the house and up the stairs where the neatly set up dinner table was. The work seemed to be somewhat undone by Kokichi, who irreverently laid his feet on the table, leaning back on his chair. "About time my two favorite cultists got here." he said, grinning. "I actually have some matters to discuss this time around, I guarantee you'll like it as much as I will."
Korekiyo was already annoyed that he suggested that this was a cult and not a religion, but it probably wasn't going to matter for much longer as long as the dinner was nice. "How have you been lately?" Angie asked Kokichi.
"Meh. Same old, same old. Just organizing ridiculously illegal shit. The fact that I'm not in solitary confinement shocks me." he said, all with a straight face.
Angie could tell he was lying, he almost always was. It was a charm she liked about him, although she obviously didn't like him as much as she did Korekiyo. "Hey, funny question, have either of you ever been betrayed before?" Kokichi asked, genuine sounding curiosity in his voice.
"Thankfully, I haven't. Why would you ask such a question?" Korekiyo asked back.
The smaller boy shrugged. "I don't know. Just popped in my head, thought it would be a good talking point. How about you, Angie?" he asked.
"If I was about to be betrayed, Atua would either tell me before or let me find out on my own. Atua is all-knowing, but he doesn't believe I should know everything yet." she said confidently.
After a few minutes, Kirumi arrived again with a fancy pasta dinner for the three. "You should sit down with us, mother. I'd like that." Kokichi said, looking at Kirumi closely.
She sighed. "I'd love to, but I have other tasks of yours and for all of DICE that I have to get done so I don't think I'll have the time for this right now."
"Well, now you have a new task that prioritizes your others, and that's eating dinner with me and my cultist friends."
"Kokichi, I-"
"Sit down, slut."
Kokichi's insults didn't mean anything to her anymore, they'd known each other for most of their lives and she knew him too well. She actually had a theory that whenever he used insulted her, it meant that he maybe liked her. But she did know that whenever he busted them out that he was getting serious. "Alright, I guess I should. Best not to starve myself for my own work." she said, pulling a chair next to Kokichi out from under the table.
The four didn't say anything for a while, choosing rather to eat the pasta instead. "You know, now that I think about it, I did have a reason to ask that question earlier." said Kokichi, mouth full of spaghetti. "But I'm a dumbass! I forgot about it."
Kirumi glared at DICE's supreme leader, while Angie and Korekiyo simply looked at each other in confusion. Kirumi knew he was bullshitting with them, she knew exactly what he wanted to get out and she wanted him to get it out as soon as possible. Kokichi just wanted maximum enjoyment out of this. "Oh yeah! I remember now! Nothing big, I just heard from an anonymous source that there could be a traitor who comes to your sermons every week. Someone who doesn't actually believe in Atua and actively tries to get people to stop you and your religion. Something like that."
Angie and Korekiyo looked at each other again, this time in an angry sort of shock. "Why? Why would someone do this?" Angie asked, surprisingly aggressively.
"Wait, you aren't lying, right? After all, you are Kokichi Oma." Korekiyo asked, still hesitant.
Kokichi put his hands on his chest. "Me? Lie? What are you trying to imply?" he whined.
"He's not lying this time. He's serious. In fact, it's probably the only reason this dinner is happening at all." said Kirumi, hoping to settle the temporary conflict.
"Goddammit, mom! It's not as fun for me when you tell them what's real and what's fake. But whatever, I understand." Kokichi said, continuing to eat more of the spaghetti.
Angie was more upset than anyone. Her way of living had already been stopped once before, but it took the deaths of hundreds via natural disaster to have it happen. No one ever wanted to defy Atua, and those who did got what was coming to them. "So, who is it? Who betrayed us?" she asked.
"Well, I think it should be obvious. It's you, Angie!" Kokichi yelled, getting much of his body on the table and pointing at her. "You created a religion, made up some bullshit explanation about how people on some island that doesn't exist practiced it just so you could get yourself more power and influence! But now you realize it's too much to handle, and you want to stop it yourself, but you've gotten too many people involved so you have to get people with more power and influence. This is all to feed your massive ego! For shaaaame!"
He then took a small handful of spaghetti from his plate and threw it at her exposed chest. Angie, knowing it was not true, laughed it off. Korekiyo wasn't as happy. "Why would you even imply something that cruel?!" the masked man yelled.
"Don't worry about it, Kiyo! I know that's a joke." said Angie. Korekiyo nodded but was still unsure of what Kokichi's intentions were.
Even Kirumi smiled at Kokichi's over the top explanation on why Angie was the real traitor. But Kokichi wanted to keep up the act. "No no no, listen to me. Have any of you noticed that there are cameras almost everywhere here?" he asked.
Angie and Korekiyo shook their heads. "Good. They're supposed to be well hidden, that means I'm doing my job well. I do this to rewatch some of my best work, but this is no joke. One night somewhere around three am, Angie came into this godforsaken house and woke me up asking me to help stop the Atua religion with her. And I have that footage right here!" he continued, pulling a remote control and pointing to a CRT tv with a VHS player mounted on the wall. He clicked a button and there the footage was. But once again, Kokichi was lying. That wasn't Angie at all.
That was Tenko.
Tenko was the traitor.
Everyone watched the footage as Tenko begged Kokichi to help her get out of the church, only for him to refuse and grab her breasts. After the footage ended with Tenko leaving, he clicked another button. "Wait, guys. That's not the right footage." he said after the second button click.
For the first time in a long while, Angie felt hurt. She hadn't felt hurt like this since high school, where she was often picked on for believing in what the other students called a fake god. Tenko was one of her only friends then. Now, she was nothing to her. She was a traitor. She was a sinner.
"H-how long have you had that footage?" she asked, choking up.
"About a year. I just like holding on to the good stuff for myself, you know? But all good secrets have to be revealed." Kokichi said, a small smirk present on his childlike face.
Even though he thought she was suspicious since the beginning, Korekiyo thought that Tenko had been handled and converted. But now he could tell that he had been wrong as well. "So, what do we do now?" he asked.
Angie was now deep in conversation with Atua, almost phasing out of consciousness entirely, not listening to anyone. One could tell by the looks on her face that she was beginning to feel better already. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. "Atua knows what we should do. Kokichi, could we borrow some members of DICE for tomorrow's sermon?" she asked.
"Gladly. I'll attend as well to supervise whatever you need them for." said Kokichi.
"Korekiyo, I'll tell you what we're going to do when we get back home. I think it's best we leave now." said Angie, getting up from her chair and wiping off the spaghetti that Kokichi threw at her, which was still on her lap.
Korekiyo got up too and took Angie's hand. "I'll clean all of this up for you guys. That's what I'm always tasked to do." said Kirumi.
"Great. See you guys tomorrow, bye-onara!" Angie yelled, her and her lover leaving.
After they left, Kirumi began to clean up. She let out a small laugh as she cleaned up the dinner table. "I've never seen such a peculiar yet funny way to organize what could possibly be the death of someone." she said to Kokichi.
"Well, that's just the natural charisma and charm that oozes off me at every waking moment. Someday you're gonna fall for me because of that."
The two rushed back to the church and immediately ran into their bedroom. Angie was surprisingly energetic and happy. "Your mood sure has shifted." said Korekiyo.
"Atua has told me what we must do. Everything will be okay with us. But, I have something... important to tell you." she said, softly.
Korekiyo looked at her curiously. "I've meant to tell you this for several months now, but Atua hasn't let me until now. I've said that I want something more and that something is... is..." she tried to say. Angie started feeling really nervous. Her face began to turn red. What if he said no to her offer? Everything she had wanted would have been messed up. She took a deep breath as she finally let out what she wanted to say.
"A family! I want to have a child with you, Korekiyo! Atua finally feels I'm ready for this responsibility! I love you love you love you!"
Korekiyo's eyes widened, his face beginning to turn red as well. He thought that this was going to be about what to do with Tenko, but this was now much more personal. "A-are you sure you're ready for that? Because you're also running the church, and-" he tried to say.
"Yes! Yes, I am! Atua tells me I can raise a child and run the church at the same time perfectly fine." she exclaimed. "So what do you think?"
The masked man began to get nervous, too. He'd thought about the question before but didn't think he or Angie would ask it this early. But the more he thought of it, the more appealing it sounded. "Yes. I'll gladly have a child with you." he said.
Even if she had just learned the news that one of her closest friends was nothing more than a traitor, she felt overjoyed by this. If Atua had allowed her to ask earlier, she still would've been scared to ask the question. "But what about Tenko?" Korekiyo asked.
Angie sighed. Of course, he had to say that. "Tenko must die. Sinners deserve no mercy. Atua says she must be killed at tomorrow's sermon in a ritual. I'll tell you more about that later." she said, a much more serious tone in her voice than what Korekiyo was used to.
He nodded. "One of the things that Atua told me is that this ritual requires someone to tie up Tenko's body with a sort of rope or some other type of tool, and He says that is something you can do. Is he right, and would you mind testing this on me?" she asked.
A devious grin was made present underneath the mask. "Kehehe! I know more about tying people up than you'd ever know! I'd love to test it on you..."
The next morning, two hours before the sermon, Angie and Korekiyo make their final preparations. The last night had been filled with the latter boy meticulously tying up Angie with the rope he kept for what reason to see if it was ready to be used for the ritual, and it seemed to be just fine. Angie had explained the ritual to him multiple times so they could get it exactly right in the one shot they had. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Angie asked him one final time.
He nodded. "As ready as I can possibly be. I'm surprised you aren't as sad about Tenko as I thought you'd be."
"Sinners deserve no sympathy. I've known Tenko for years, but knowing what I know now, she means nothing from me. Her death will be a lesson to all who think to disrespect Him."
That was an answer that Korekiyo liked. "I'm glad after these years that I was right about her." he said.
"I am, too! Who knows what would have happened if Kokichi didn't show this info to us?" Angie asked.
"I doubt that she would actually be able to do much if we didn't learn. If she's been trying for at least a year, then nothing would happen, and if it did it wouldn't be for a long time." Korekiyo said, grabbing the rope from the nightstand next to their bed. "I think now would be a good time to prepare her."
"There's no better time than the present!" Angie yelled enthusiastically. This was going to be a fun sermon.
Although they didn't know it, Tenko had heard the whole thing. Every once in awhile, she would exercise by running around the church, usually up and down the stairs and around her room and Angie's. Usually, when she heard her and Korekiyo talking, she made nothing of it. But when she heard her name mentioned, she chose to eavesdrop. It was nothing short of surreal and terrifying to hear her own death be organized. Somehow, she was able to keep her cool and continue to listen until Korekiyo asked to go 'prepare' her. Under normal circumstances, she would have run right the hell out of there, but there was another problem she wanted to address. She had one final opportunity to get Himiko out of there. She still cared, even if the other girl didn't care back.
As soon as she heard that they were ready for her, she ran to her room, slammed the door and locked it. On the room's bed was Himiko, who was lying down on top of it with her arms and legs out. The loud slam woke her up a bit. "Himiko. We need to talk. Now." said Tenko, concern clearly in her face.
She rubbed her eyes, obviously not in the state Tenko wanted. "Nyeh? What do you need right now?." she asked.
"This is important! You don't understand, listen. Angie is going to kill me! I heard her and Korekiyo talking about it! I'm finally leaving and I'm taking you with me!" Tenko yelled, grabbing Himiko's hand.
When Tenko tried to move her, however, she didn't budge. "What? Why does she want to do this?" the smaller girl asked, still half asleep.
"Because she knows of my nonfaith, and knows that I've wanted to take the religion down! Please, Himiko, I can get you out of this trance!" Tenko yelled, her eyes beginning to well up with tears.
Himiko was now mostly awake. "You... you don't believe in Atua?"
"No! I'm sorry but I don't! If he causes me nothing but pain and misfortune, then he can't be a real god at all! He's a false idol!"
Himiko's face began to turn red. "B-but Atua says that sinners sho-"
"I don't care what Atua has to say! I want to hear what Himiko has to say!"
The doorknob began to rattle. Tenko extended her hand to Himiko as her tears hit the floor. "It's either me or Atua. If you don't choose, I'm going to have to make the decision for you."