Why did he bother with all of these useless people?
And why did these useless people, in turn, bother with him?
Kokichi wondered this every time he tried to recruit someone. Don't be mistaken—hunting his target was his first priority, always. But whenever he reached an impasse in his investigations, or whenever he felt he needed a change of scenery, Kokichi used his cute looks to his advantage, and got into places teeming with naive youths, or people that could be swayed to his cause. He took his talents to the streets, a fisher with a net.
The first catch of the day was none other than Kaito Momota. Kokichi knew his name because his insider contact leaked him a comprehensive list of the party guests, but also because the guy kept plugging himself into every conversation possible. Even the shy people hiding in the corners of the rooms were assaulted by his lively energy, and Kokichi rolled his eyes every time he heard the words "Luminary of the Stars."
Kokichi sighed, and set his drink down on a nearby table. This party was a typical one: big house, lots of young people, alcohol and food to last a year. Not to mention the sort of convivial energy that could only exist when everyone collectively agreed to forget their actual responsibilities. In another time and another place, this kind of scene would be comforting to Kokichi.
Now, it only made him anxious, and he wasn't even the one in danger, here. "Momota, you're a real idiot."
Kaito turned around so fast, some of his drink jumped out of his cup and landed on the floor. At least it was hardwood, and not carpet, but his face still turned red as he reached for some napkins, and threw them down on the stain. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"
"I said you're an idiot," Kokichi reiterated, stone-faced. "Or are you deaf, in addition to being stupid?"
"You're the deaf one. I'm gonna be an astronaut, do you know how hard that is to—"
"On a technical level, yes, you're kinda smart, but that's pushing the damn envelope."
"Who even are you?!" Kaito was so loud, other party goers started looking in their direction. But also, Kaito was so loud, other party goers turned their gazes, too embarrassed to be bothered by his outburst. "Seriously, who the hell are you?"
"Wow, you say that to someone you went to highschool with? You really are stupid."
"You went to Hope's Peak?" Kaito squinted real hard, as if that helped him remember anything. "I would've remembered a little shit like you."
"For a semester," Kokichi explained. "Some shit happened and I had to fall out. I still got my GE in the end, though."
"Oh." Kaito swirled the remnants of his drink around, cautiously, before deciding to chug it down in one go. "What's your name, again?"
"Kokichi Ouma."
"Ouma. Go fuck yourself."
He smiled. "Fuck me yourself, you coward."
"Hey, Kaito." A sweet, melodious voice called out to him, preventing this argument from escalating any further. "Maki was asking for you, do you mind?" On closer look, this person was quite pretty—blonde, rosy-eyed, curvy and tall. She was definitely someone's ideal type back in the organization, Kokichi thought. Maybe Mizuki or Yoshitsugu. "Do you?"
"Nah, I'll go talk to her." Kaito prepared to take another swig of his drink, but groaned upon realizing it was empty. "Fuck this, man. Yo, don't invite Kokichi a second time, unless you want me to get my ass landed in prison."
"Prison?" Kokichi cut in. "Again?"
"I've never been to prison! Just shut the hell up and have a drink."
"There's not enough alcohol in the world to make me drunk enough to deal with you."
"Fuck you—"
"Kaito!" the stranger barked. "Maki, remember? Now."
He waved at her dismissively. "Yeah, yeah."
When he left, Kokichi found himself alone with the pretty blonde, but as soon as he spotted the music-note-shaped clip in her hair, he realized who he was talking to. "You're Kaede Akamatsu," he said. "In the flesh."
She smiled warmly, even if he was causing a scene just earlier. "That's me. I'm surprised you know me."
"Are you kidding?" Kokichi balked, and reached for another drink. The cup wasn't his, but he felt like alcohol would do him some good right about now. "There's not a soul in the country who doesn't know you, Miss Pianist Prodigy."
Her smile remained, but this time her brows peaked in a curious angle. "I know that."
"So then why—"
"What I don't know is why you, a stranger, are here at this private party, hosted by me."
He paused.
She continued. "Because I did help to organize, and while I obviously don't know everyone as well as I'd like to, I'm well aware of the guest list in full."
Any other person would start to sweat underneath her surprisingly observant gaze, but Kokichi kept calm as he took another sip. "Is that so?"
"Very much so."
"Okay, I'll level with you Kaede: I'm crashing this party."
"I figured as much."
"Yeah, but it's not for the reasons you think it is. See, I'm not here to steal some free food or drinks, or try to get heavy with any pretty faces."
Her radiant smile fell flat at his blunt words, but she hadn't gone into full-blow frown territory yet. "Okay? What's your point?"
He leaned in close, really close, to the point where he was sure she'd back away from him. Instead, she challenged his mettle, and copied his movements so well that their foreheads were seconds away from touching.
He grinned wide, wolfish. "I'm here to recruit people to my evil organization. I've got thousands of members and counting—some real active players on the scene. I've heard news about fresh, young, popular faces in this crowd, so I cast my line for a bite. Are you hooked, Kaede? Want in on some of the action?"
She blinked once, twice, then backed away. The caution and reservation from before increased tenfold. "Organization? Are you—are you a cult leader?"
"You know, even if I was, most cult leaders would deny the use of the word 'cult,' right?"
"Kokichi—"
"I'm serious. I'm not here to cause trouble, just the opposite of it. I should be asking you, Kaede Akamatsu, if you want to take part in a life-or-death game. A cat-and-mouse match that lasts for eternity." He stuck his hand out, ready for a handshake that would seal the sudden agreement. "What do you say?"
"Even if this organization you're talking about is real, I'd rather have nothing to do with it." She had a crystal glass full of wine, herself, and nervously took a sip from it. "I'm gonna say this: I don't mind you crashing the party, but if you seriously do something untoward, I'll call security."
Kokichi decided not to mention that one of the hired security guards was actually a member of his organization, as that'd steal her thunder entirely. Instead, he let her have her moment, and nodded obediently. "Fine, fine, you've got yourself a deal, Akamatsu. Cheers, to your success, and your keen eye."
She stared at his raised cup of alcohol and laughed, shaking her head. "No thanks, I wouldn't want to break the glass."
"But of course."
Then she melted into the crowd, another face in the faceless.
Kokichi tried to ignore the fact that his own cup was plastic, far from glass-breaking potential.
.
.
With no luck in recruiting a single person for his cause, Kokichi realized that it was time to jump ship. Just as he was about to fade into the crowd, however, someone's hand reached out and grabbed his right shoulder, propelling him backward. He stumbled along for a moment, before recovering enough to stand straight and face the perpetrator head on.
It was someone he'd never seen before. She seemed pretty, with long (like, really long) dark hair tied in twintails behind her. Her skin was clear and smooth, revealed in some places by a cute skirt and covered up in other places by a long-sleeved shirt. Not to mention her stature—she was taller than Kokichi (but then again, so were most other people) yet not necessarily imposing. It could be a practiced body movement, but she appeared so distant and far away, despite being less than an arm's length apart from his body.
Her eyes stood out the most. They were crimson red and long-lashed, but they wore an unreadable expression that the whole face had taken on. The only semblance of emotion came from her lips, which took on the barest form of a scowl. Suddenly, it looked as if she were trying to stomach the very sight of Kokichi, and he really couldn't blame her.
He had quite a few enemies, after all. She was probably one of them, although the public space of a party was too crowded to effectively take him out. Would she draw a gun from behind or back, or whisk out a dagger that was secretly strapped to her inner thigh? Would she wildly brandish a weapon for all onlookers to see, or carefully press it against his body so that only he was subject to the threat? The possibilities were endless, as were the solutions to the problems he currently faced. How could he get out of this unscathed? If he had caught his target and killed them already, then he would have no objections to dying where he stood. But given the current situation, that was far from the truth and in order to achieve his goals, Kokichi had to be very much alive and kicking.
For all the effort and strain it took to think these thoughts, the time spent processing everything was much quicker, and so Kokichi reacted accordingly. "You know, you could've just said 'hi' if you wanted my attention so badly."
She dismissed his jovial words, and continued to stare death into his eyes. He felt unnerved, truly, but masked the discomfort from view. After all, it was better to pretend that he was unbothered by her, even if that wasn't the truth."What, cat got your tongue? How come you just—"
"You're him, aren't you?" She finally spoke, a voice that was as stoic as the look in her eyes."What are you doing in a place like this?"
"Huh?" Did he know her from before? He doubted it, because he would remember someone as striking as she was. Not many people could incite genuine discomfort and fear into him with a single stare, and she was fantastically achieving the former, if not the latter. "What are you talking about, lady?"
"Don't play dumb," she admonished. "I know who you are. What I don't understand is why you're here. If you're planning on bothering Momota or anyone else, I'll make you regret it."
"Who would bother with that guy? He's an idiot," Kokichi reassured. "But seriously, I have noooo idea what you're going on about, so if you'll excuse me!" He tried to step past her, but she mirrored his movements so perfectly that he staggered. It wasn't going to be that easy, it seemed.
"Fine. You want me to say it, don't you? That's very like you, Kokichi Ouma." His name sounded like a curse on her tongue. And maybe she was cursing it. "There's no bloodsuckers here, if that's what you're concerned with."
Now he couldn't even pretend that he didn't understand her. After all, when it came to the supernatural monsters that seemed to coexist with humans, Kokichi was the closest thing to an expert there was. He spent years chasing after one vampire, only to amass a large cult following along the way. If some person or another indirectly found out about him, he couldn't just ignore it.
But he couldn't let them get their way, either. He kept a cool smile on his face, hands behind his head like he was relaxed and not at all worried about this strange (dangerous) girl. "Eh? So, you know about them, too? I thought I was just imagining them, but hey, it's not nice to call all these party people 'bloodsuckers.' I know they're so boring that it makes you wanna die, but you should really keep it to yourself!" Cue laughter, and Kokichi was confident that the ball was in his court now. There was no need to give this girl the satisfaction of a proper answer, after all.
"..." She was not amused, clearly. "I'm being serious, Ouma. There's no one like that here. So stay away from this place."
"Oh, so are you like a super fan or something?" He suddenly shouted, dismissing the stare or two he got from other partygoers. "Like, do you want my autograph? Not many people can see what I really do, so it makes me wonder! Wait, don't tell me—I've got one of your family members in my super-awesome-evil-and-secret-not-a-lie organization, right? Or better yet, you're actually a bloodsucker yourself, and one of my guys stabbed one of your guys in the eyes with a stake or something!" He was getting carried away again, but sometimes he had to lose himself in the lie.
Otherwise it became less convincing.
She almost growled—growled, of all things! "Neither of those stupid theories are correct, y'know. You make a lot of noise for someone whose organization is supposed to be secret." She stomped a bit on her right foot, crossing her arms and looking generally annoyed. But despite this assertive behavior, her eyes couldn't stay on him, and she looked elsewhere, embarrassed.
Odd.
"Oh, so you're just some passerby that knows about me, then? That won't do at all, you know I'm always looking for fresh faces to serve my army! If not, then I'll have to kill you, y'know? Can't have this knowledge leak out into the general public anymore than it should!" He said cheerfully, smiling widely like he was complimenting her and not threatening to kill her just now.
She was unafraid, but entirely riled up as pure hatred seeped from her bloody irises. Perhaps her patience was wearing thin, because she kept tapping her fingers along her side or stamping her foot. Any minute now, she would reveal her true intentions to him—she had to, otherwise this conversation would keep going nowhere.
Finally, she gave in. "No, it's not a random occurrence." She glanced around their surroundings to make sure that no one was really listening in to them. Once the coast was clear, she leaned in closer and said,. "Your kind saved an old friend of mine from an attack one day."
"Your friend?"
"She ended up dying in a car accident, anyway, but she never forgot what you did for her. And I won't, either. I don't trust you, Ouma, but I'm letting you know that I'm aware of what you're doing. And, so…" She searched for more words to say, but found none. In fact, every word up to now has been rather chunky, misplaced, and odd. Was she not used to talking to others?
"Sooo?" Kokichi echoed at her. "Soooo….so what?"
"So, I'm not obligated to you or anything. But I'm letting you know what I know. There's no one here worth looking into. Myself included, we're all...incredibly human." She sighed out, pleased at last that she was able to make a coherent sentence. Either she didn't like small talk, or she didn't like Kokichi. Maybe it was some awkward mix of the two. Still, she continued. "And I'm warning you right now, just stay away from the people here. They're all good folks, nothing like you, so just leave them alone. If you've got a problem, then you'll have to face me."
"Ha!" He giggled. "Ha, that's all? Come on, why're you so worked up over it? You make it out to be such a big deal, but you're a real softie, I can tell." Disregarding her nasty expression, Ouma continued. "But relax, relax. I hate lies and murder too, y'know. I'm not a bad guy here."
"That's…"
"A complete and total lie." He paused for a moment. "I was lying about being a bad guy, not that I hate lies and murder. Everyone hates something, right? Well, I really hate lies! Really, I do!"
"..."
"Okay, okay. I'll be honest, I was a little curious about this place. Any large gathering has potential to attract them. Not to mention that, like, since people go in and out of rooms constantly during parties, there's a greater chance of someone getting abducted between all the madness. Then the bloodsuckers do what their name says, and bam—" he claps his hands together, loud and smacking— "that person they just kidnapped? They're dead."
Silence again. He took this as consent to resume his end of the conversation.
"But, since you're so obsessed with everyone here, I don't think something as big as an abduction would go under your nose without difficulty! So, again, relax, lady."
"Stop calling me lady," she insisted. "I have a name."
"Yeah, which you didn't bother to tell me," Ouma reminded her. "But you know about me, so it's only fair that I know about you, right?"
"I was going to tell you anyway, so don't make this out to be so important when it's not," she said, meeting eyes with Kokichi once more. The raw malice disappeared from her expression, but she still withheld a look of utter contempt and distrust. "I'm Maki Harukawa. And don't be mistaken—we aren't friends."
To this, Kokichi simply laughed at Maki, making sure the sound resonated like some sort of death bell. Then he practically sang in her face. "I wouldn't dream of it!"
.
.
The party went on. Kokichi had three drinks for himself, but they were nothing compared to his tolerance level. He'd need three more parties like this just to feel buzzed.
But that was an aside.
He ended up with Maki, again, though the two of them weren't talking. They were simply vibing, backs against a wall, watching the rest of the people make fools of themselves. When Momota failed for the fourth time to land a hit in beer pong, Kokichi spoke up.
"Maki Roll, you know anyone with golden eyes?"
"Don't call me that," she hissed. "Why'd you even know—"
"Kaito's called you that five times in the last hour. Don't act like it's a secret when that idiot's out there announcing it like the second coming of Christ."
"You're screwed up." Maki grimaced, before leaning her head as far back as it would go. "Why do you wanna know? I'm not helping you hunt anyone."
"I'd never get a civilian involved in personal matters, y'know."
"No, actually, I don't know."
"Maki."
"Fine," she groaned. "I know one person who sounds like what you're talking about. I mean, I've never met anyone with eyes like his."
His. Kokichi's heart thrummed. A picture began to form in his mind. "Tell me."
"You, the leader of DICE, asking me for help?" Maki scoffed. "It's the end of all days."
"Tell me before I tell Momota that you like him back."
"That wouldn't work, first of all. It's not like I—"
"Maki Roll."
"Fuck you."
"Maki, if you're worried that this person's a vampire, that's already pretty telling in and of itself."
"I know for a fact he's not who you're looking for, so fine." She picked at her fingernails before answering. "His name is Saihara, and he's a...friend of mine, I guess you'd say. He was supposed to be here at the party, but he got sick at the last minute. Figure out the rest for yourself."
"I will, that's kind of what I do for a living." Kokichi stretched his arms and yawned, mouth curling into a gaping shape. "Anything else you want to so graciously explain to me, before I go out to the wolves?"
"No," she deadpanned. "I only cooperated this much as a form of repayment for my friend. After this, don't look for me anymore. I won't be your ally, Ouma."
"Idiot, I don't have to look for you. Nosy people like you have a habit of getting in the way, so I'm sure this isn't the last we'll see of each other."
"That's—"
"Until then, my people will call your people with a thank-you gift for your troubles. Try not to die, 'kay?" He laughed away his worries, blocking out her insults and complaints expertly.
In the end, only a single sentence managed to make it through his head.
"Don't call me Maki Roll!"
