"Tojo-chan."

"Ouma-san."

Kokichi stood in the fading light, staring down the maid like it was high noon in a cowboy movie. "I have three words for you."

"Oh?" Kirumi asked, eyebrow raised. "I don't have time for this, I promised I would be helping Chabashira-san and Yumeno-san with their magic show for tomorrow, and the gym is off limits after 10PM."

"Right. Nighttime. No pool access either- boo hoo. Still, got some magic words, if you're willing to listen."

"So, Ouma-san? What are these magical three words?"

" Tag, you're it ." Kokichi said with a grin, slapping Kirumi on the shoulder, hoping to eventually pickpocket her in the confusion.

He never got her pad. Three short, and well after the nighttime announcement, Kokichi finally resigned himself to going up to Gonta's lab to at least show everyone what pads he did find. Maybe one of these really was a bigger deal than he thought. It was worth a shot, at least.

Kokichi flung open the door with a grin, to see the horrified looks of his classmates, only to realize a key fact: not only was Kirumi not present, but Miu, Ryoma, and Maki weren't either. So much for joint alibi and accountability. Just three people missing, and there was no way to track a murderer, two and no way to prevent a murder, but, barring some strange extenuating circumstances like a premeditated death trap…

Kokichi bit his lower lip and flipped his persona on in full force, opening his bag and dropping a mess of motive pads- even his own- on the floor in front of the group. He'd thank Gonta later, except…

Except fucking K1-b0.

Who yanked on the side of his face and played back an offhand comment about his utter distaste of bugs from earlier. Kokichi didn't even remember when he said it, or if he had been serious. It wasn't a lie- Kokichi wasn't really a fan of things that had more limbs than he did- but he also wasn't the type to go around squishing spiders or ants for the hell of it either.

Of course, any tenuous friendship he'd built with Gonta shattered with K1-b0's recording playback. The other students took it as an opportunity to flee, while Kokichi took the full force of a swarm insects, seemingly incensed via Gonta's own rage of betrayal.

Kokichi was too busy dealing with sting of wasp and sling of insult (Gonta didn't have a foul mouth so his choices were… creative at the very least) to even notice that Shuichi had made off with all the motive pads. Every last one.

Bruised and beaten, not just his body but also his pride, Kokichi eventually limped back to the dorms.

But not before passing Maki's lab… and curiosity getting the better of Kokichi, he tested the door. It actually budged.

Whatever Maki had been using to bar it from inside was gone. It was well, well past midnight, Kokichi mused, so she probably took a few moments to leave her hidey-hole, use the bathroom, maybe grab packaged food from the warehouse or the school store, since the cafeteria, like the gym and the pool, were off limits after 10 PM on fear of death.

Unless… she was the reason Kirumi was worried.

Either way, Kokichi probably had minutes at best- the food and women's bathrooms were thankfully a floor down and on the other side of the school, so he quickly slipped inside.

He expected the room to be some kind of lab relating to her talent, that was for certain. So, when he saw not a playroom, or dolls like in Kirumi's lab, but a goddamn armory, he bit his lower lip to keep his mouth shut.

' Aaaand… that's probably why we didn't see this place beforehand, someone might have vaguely remembered she wasn't the Ultimate Nanny,' Daisuke tapped nervously. ' Let's bolt before she finds us .'

' What the fuck ?' Kokichi replied back as he slipped out as quietly as he entered, running fast away from the second floor.

' Ultimate Hitman or something ?' Daisuke replied. ' I mean, your actual talent and who you say you are aren't the same either .'

' Yeah, if this is what Kirumi saw… maybe it wasn't a motive video at all. That room might have scared her into doing something …'

' Drastic ?'

' Preemptive .' Kokichi screeched to a halt at the entrance to the school, and flopped down on the steps in the courtyard.

' Just because her talent is something deadly doesn't mean she'll kill. I mean, Ryoma's actually murdered people by tennis but you're not worried about him .' Daisuke countered, exhausted and drowsy.

' He's remorseful .' Kokichi replied forcefully.

' And Tenko? She's already sent most of the guys flying. Gonta included. What makes Maki different? Hell, Tenko doesn't even need a weapon, if she wanted to kill someone. She could probably snap us in half in her sleep .' Daisuke reminded Kokichi.

Kokichi just rubbed a temple with his left hand.

' We should go to bed. Monokuma's probably going to drag us up and ask if we want to go bang a classmate ,' he finally replied, before creakily standing up in the crisp night air, cracking his back and shuffling to the dorms.

Strangely… Monokuma didn't jolt him awake that night, despite an overflowing desk drawer of hotel keys.

That probably should have been the first sign that he'd failed them all.

Again.

Kokichi rapped softly on the door, before remembering they were soundproof.

He inhaled sharply, goaded on by Daisuke tapping his side, and then pressed the bell.

"Who there?" demanded the gruff but gentle booming sound from the intercom on the other side.

"An asshole."

"Give Gonta few minutes. Can't find glasses."

"I can wait," Kokichi replied.

"Gonta sorry for yesterday," came a hollow reply after a few moments.

Kokichi narrowed his eyes, not that Gonta could see through the door.

"Nishishishi…" Kokichi snickered at the intercom, not even sure if it was still on.

"What funny?" Gonta asked with a loud grunt, before Kokichi vaguely heard the sound of a camera flash through the doorbell speaker. Kokichi only guessed it was his memory light in the bathroom, but there wasn't any way to confirm.

At least he wasn't alone on that front, and for some reason, Daisuke had been fairly cagey up until that point as to who Gonta really was other than "try and be nice to him".

"What so funny?" Gonta repeated, sincerely, as he finally opened the door, fully dressed and glasses crooked on his nose.

"Why do you think I knocked on your door before the morning announcement even started?" Kokichi replied, with a bit of annoyance. It was really hard to tell when Gonta was brilliant and when he was absolutely obtuse. Kokichi assumed it was a difference between observing and interacting. Observing, Gonta was by far more brilliant than anyone here, his own self included. Interacting? The man didn't have any real sense of social norms.

"To ask for apology for what Gonta did last night. Gonta snapped in anger, and that is very ungentlemanly."

"I… oof, you dolt, no," Kokichi hissed. "Everyone snaps sometimes. Even gentlemen can get mad." Kokichi scuffed the floor with his shoe.

"Even gentleman?"

"I mean, yeah, anger is normal. Though I don't know of any gentlemen who lash out with a swarm of wasps, yeesh." Kokichi, with Daisuke's help, undid his neckerchief to show a wonderful multicolored haze of purple and red lumps from where he'd been stung the night before. "If you've got anything that'll numb it, I'm all ears."

"You not upset, Ouma-kun?"

"Oh, I'm wickedly upset. So sad," Kokichi replied, putting on fake tears for a moment before grinning again. "But I can't be a leader of an evil organization as big as mine if all I do is hold grudges. I mean, evil, right? Everyone I know's done shit to each other. We just laugh it off and move on."

Gonta stood in the doorway considering Kokichi's words for a moment. "Gonta has bite remedy. It smell terrible, but work."

Kokichi stood in the doorway, waiting for Gonta to bring it to him, before realizing. "Oh, you're inviting me inside."

"Yes. Gonta make sure bug didn't lay eggs on Ouma-kun. Or… in Ouma-kun."

Kokichi shuddered.

"Why Ouma-kun lie? Say he hate bug?"

"I don't… well I don't hate bugs, that was hyperbol… yeowch!" Kokichi cried, as he sat on an ottoman Gonta had in his room, trying to keep still while Gonta poked and prodded his neck with tweezers. "Hyperbole. Exaggerating. Saying something way worse than I meant for comedic effect," Kokichi added.

"Gonta know what hyperbole mean," Gonta replied, sighing, poking again with the tweezers. "But that mean Ouma-kun at least not like bug."

"It's less hate or not like and more… just waaaaaay too many legs. I dunno… the way bugs move freaks me out a little." Kokichi scrunched his nose.

Gonta was silent for a good five minutes, before roughly smearing the back of Kokichi's neck with something creamy, cold, and absolutely putrid smelling. The itch disappeared almost immediately.

"Gonta show less surprising bug then. And one at a time. No swarm."

"I… Gokuhara-chan, why the hell are you so intent on getting people to like bugs?"

"Is passion. Want to share with everyone. Like how Akamatsu-chan wanted to share her music, and Yumeno-san is going to share her magic today. But Ouma-kun's talent… hard to share."

"I can teach you how to be a better liar," Kokichi supplied, with a smirk as he slid his uniform shirt back on, then the neckerchief.

"Gentlemen do not lie."

"Okay, so if someone has an absolutely atrocious outfit on, and you're going to a formal ball with them, what do you do if they ask you if they look nice? Do you tell them they look like shit?"

"No- Gonta not do that… oh. What should Gonta say?"

"You tell them, 'Hey. That looks great, but you think that might be hard to dance in? Let's go raid your closet and find something that'll clear the floor, yeah?'. It's called a kind lie , Gokuhara-chan. Doesn't hurt people's feelings. And in this case, telling them exactly how you feel would be a bigger dick move."

"Ouma-kun… not wrong."

"Right? Now you… no offense big guy, but you suck at lying. So deflect to something else, like…" Kokichi puffed his chest out and attempted to mimic Gonta's voice. "Gonta impressed, choosing purple, red, and hot pink together is very bold color choice. Everyone stop to see…" Kokichi faltered, trying to think who the 'she' was that Gonta would be dating in this hypothetical scenario. "stop to see Iruma-chan's choice."

"You think Gonta go to ball with Iruma-chan?" Gonta asked incredulously.

"Hey, her manners suck as much as mine," Kokichi replied with a shrug. "But you get the point. I wasn't even lying there, just deflecting the question to something else. Being 100% truthful 100% of the time gets you nowhere fast."

Gonta frowned. "Ouma-kun right. Being gentleman also mean being considerate of other people's feelings. Ouma-kun teach Gonta to be better liar, and Gonta introduce Ouma-kun to bug."

"Partners, then?" Kokichi asked, eyebrow raised, holding out a hand.

"Gonta think so," he replied, accepting Kokichi's handshake.

"Then I'll just say this: sorry for ruining last night. I should have told you I was also stealing the motive pads for a watch party."

"Next time, if Ouma-kun has scheme, Ouma-kun tell Gonta whole scheme. Gonta can decide," Gonta chided.

"I've already got like ten ideas, but yeah. I won't withhold details from you next time I rope you into something, fair?"

"Fair."

"Do you want to know what was on yours?" Kokichi asked.

"No, but Gonta think Ouma-kun will say anyway."

"Only if you want to hear it. And you had Angie's."

"Gonta did, still does."

Gonta pointed to the pad on his desk.

"Great, the bears put all of them back," Kokichi muttered. But that meant… they'd been put back to the rooms they were originally dropped off in, not the rooms of the person who should have gotten the motive in the first place.

Which, in turn, meant… only he got his own motive video, of those he knew, and Maki, Kirumi, and Ryoma might have gotten their own or one of the other two. Kirumi had to have gotten Maki's- there wasn't any other logical explanation for her behavior.

Which meant Maki had gotten Ryoma's and Ryoma Kirumi's, or Maki got Kirumi's and Ryoma got his own, like Kokichi did.

Either way, it didn't matter which video Maki had gotten; that wouldn't matter at all. Just that Kirumi found out about her.

Kokichi inhaled sharply. He'd either have to protect Kirumi from Maki, or the other way around. That was the only viable situation. The bears had set this up to deliberately force a murder of one of the women on the other.

Kokichi glowered. That was entrapment; weren't the bears supposed to not actually interviene?

"Ouma-san, okay?" Gonta asked. Kokichi had almost forgotten he was still in the bigger man's room.

"I think there might be a murder. If not today, soon," he replied. "Those motive videos don't matter. At least most of them don't."

"They… no matter?"

"I need to make sure Tojo-chan is safe," Kokichi finally said, sharply. "I think she's in danger."

Gonta looked alarmed. "When Ouma-kun last see Tojo-chan?"

"After 10. I was trying to steal her motive pad. I really wish I did get it, but I suck," he said gravely.

"Gonta thought Ouma-kun say pad no matter."

"Most don't matter. Hers did."

"Is Tojo-chan in trouble?"

"Yeah, I think she might be. Wanna go check?"

"Tojo-san go set up magic show for morning, yes? We go to show, if Tojo-san there, all is good, yes?"

"I… fine. Let's go see that show."

Kokichi breathed a giant internal sigh of relief to see Kirumi waiting with everyone else for the gym to open that morning. Maki wasn't there, which was worrying, but as soon as the show was over Kokichi could run up to her hit-lab and offer to bring her some packaged food or something, if only to hear her voice from the other side of the door.

Between the two of them, if he was being honest with himself, he was far more worried about Kirumi's safety, anyway.

So, of course, when Himiko's magic trick went awry…

…and Ryoma's body mysteriously appearing in the tank at the end of the show…

… and the piranhas… didn't piranhas actually not eat people because they were too large?...

Kokichi was left nothing less than stunned.

"Gokuhara-chan!" he boomed, half in anger in failing again to save a classmate, half in utter shock that all his planning blew up in his face. "We need to drain that tank fast. Th-throw K1-b0!" Kokichi demanded without really thinking.

Gonta, likely pumped up for their partnership, quickly hefted the 100-kilo robot and hurled him at the glass. The poor robot screamed as he flung through the air, crashing into the reinforced glass and shattered it, draining the tank all over the gym floor and covering everyone's shoes in a pinkish sludge. Piranha flopped on the laminated wood as Kokichi braved a closer look. All that was left of Ryoma was his clothing, his bones…

And whatever remaining churn of his organs, now staining his shoes.

CHARACTER Name HOSHI Ryoma

SUBJECT Name SATO Jun

SUBJECT ID 53-04

CHARACTER Skill TENNIS PLAYER

METHOD OF INDUCTION: Memory light C.164-3

REASON FOR STUDY: Observation of forced depression in otherwise neurotypical youth

NOTES: SATO was made aware that he would be tested for forced depression and ideation tendencies prior to start of experiment. SATO's mental health, physical health, and all other exams came back as a perfectly healthy neurotypical teenager, despite dwarfism. Subject reported no bullying, a positive home life, a small but reliable friend circle, and a love of hobbies, including working at Osaka Aquarium.

Purpose of forcing severely negative personality traits was designed to test to what extent human brain would accept neurodivergent influence, given the already existing difficulties of induction and high rejection rates of memory light.

SATO, knowing and consenting in advance to said traits, only barely accepted them. One of the last to be fully induced (a full seven inductions before signs of personality HOSHI began appearing) along with IRUMA personality (see 53-08), we can conclude that it is difficult to give harsh and alien traits, namely mental illness, in neurotypical subject; even those that are willing for sake of science. Additional tests in this matter will only be performed with full advanced agreement by subject and full extended family, with [REDACTED]

TEST TERMINATED: Death of character (drowning)