A/N: Finally, an update! To tell you guys the truth, this should have been posted yesterday. (January 5, 2019)

Remember when I said that the next parts weren't going to be long? I lied! Sorta. My brain just didn't give me any chill while trying to brainstorm for some ideas for this fic. Often times, I even fell asleep while trying to make this only to be woken up by my brain, telling me that I need to finish this long ass chapter.

I think that I may have overdone it, which is why I have to turn to everyone's humble opinions. Please tell me what you guys think about the fic so far. I'm still kinda new to this and I need your opinions so I can find ways to improve my writing.

It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing; flowers are blooming - you get the point. The day sings another song for Kokichi to wake up and smell the peace wafting throughout the morning air in his room. There's just one thing that's disconcerting about this morning, it's too quiet-

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Ugh..." Kokichi angrily slammed his hand down on the digital alarm clock in his room to silence the heavy death metal that would never fail to wake him up every single day. He felt better than normal today and he didn't want to hear that loud noise that would otherwise ruin this perfect day. It looks like his prank on the other unfortunate sleeping Ultimates near his room backfired heavily today.

The supreme leader went about his usual morning routine with an unusual spring in his step to prepare for another school day that he's planning to ditch anyway. After he finished doing that, he locked the door to his room and twisted the doorknob to open it, only to find out that the door wasn't budging at all.

"No wait that's not right..." he thought to himself aloud as he frantically twisted and pulled on the door to get it to open. The supreme leader began to apply more force not only on the doorknob, but on the whole door itself. "Open up, you stupid door!" he shouted as he punched and kicked the vertical rectangle of a wall that's blocking him from the outside world.

He stopped trying to beat the door up and glanced at the digital alarm clock that was sitting on his bedside table. It was nearing the usual waking hours of his neighbors. What would an evil supreme leader do in this type of scenario? The cogs and gears in his brain started to turn as he thought of a more interesting way to make his morning even better. After some moments of musing to himself, the ends of his lips curved sharply upwards into a Cheshire cat smile upon the realization of a perfect plan to ruin the day of the other dumber Ultimates. He grabbed the doorknob, licked the dry crust of his lips, inhaled deeply through his nose...

...And shouted at the top of his lungs.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!"

Kokichi tried hard to fight back the giggle that was threatening to escape his lips. He had to keep this act as a trapped victim up. He shouted again and again while trying to twist the doorknob in a frenzy. In addition to this, the supreme leader used his free limbs to force the door open in childish aggression. He continued to shout and scream for fake help, hoping that some idiot out there would take the bait he casted. After a short amount of time, he heard the rapid tapping of sandals and metal on the hardwood floor that became more audible and louder which came after the sound of a door closing. Kokichi's smirk extended even further to impossible lengths as he knew exactly who those dunderheads were.

"IS SOMEBODY THERE?!! PLEASE HELP ME, I'M TRAPPED!!!" he shouted yet again to draw more attention. Tears came spilling out of his eyes not because he was genuinely scared, but because he was trying to fight back the laughter and used his tear ducts to do so. He forcefully clenched his teeth to prevent that laughter from being heard. It was incredibly difficult for Kokichi to not laugh at the thought of their angry faces once the plan actually works.

"Oi, what the hell's goin' on in there, Oma?!"

"Please calm down, Oma-kun! We're here!"

The two concerned voices belonged to both Kaito and Kiibo respectively. He hurried to his drawer to grab a bag of marbles that he had brought as a souvenir from his "evil" organization that consisted of over 10,000 members. He made sure to put the marbles on the area behind his position that was in front of the door.

"HELP ME! I CAN'T GET OUT CAUSE THE DOOR'S STUCK!"

"Stuck? Don't tell me this is another one of your lies!"

"I'M EFFING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW, KIIBOY!" Kokichi twisted and pulled on the doorknob. "SEE?! THE DOOR'S STUCK!"

"Are you sure you didn't just accidentally lock your door?"

"I'M NOT STUPID LIKE YOU, MOMOTA-CHAN! HOW 'BOUT Y'ALL JUST MOVE YER ASSES AND BREAK THE DOOR DOWN INSTEAD OF ANTAGONIZING ME?! I'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR OVER AN HOUR NOW!"

"Fine, fine! Just shut up, will ya?! Oi, Kiibo! We're up."

"Wait! Let's think about this logically before-"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO DO ROBOT STUFF LIKE CALCULATE OR THINK OF A LOGICAL RESPONSE! I JUST SAID I'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR OVER AN HOUR AND I'M NOT GONNA WAIT FOR ANOTHER DAMN MINUTE!"

"Look, let's just get this over with. I don't wanna put up with his shouting and screaming in my ear any longer..."

"V-Very well. On the count of three, we're going to bust through this door. It would be wise if you stepped away from the door, Oma-kun."

Kokichi let out a quiet giggle as he silently unlocked the door and readied his hand on the doorknob. "O-kay! Thanks, you two!"

"One."

"Two."

"Three!"

As soon as he heard the both of them roar out their battle cry, Kokichi twisted and pulled the doorknob in one swift motion. Since the two weren't fast enough to stop the momentum of their charge, their feet ran into the scattered marbles on the carpeted floor which caused both Kaito and Kiibo to do a somersault in the air. They both shouted in surprise from the sudden shift of friction on the floor mid flight. After a large thud on the ground, Kokichi immediately went for the exposed Good Night Button on the robot's neck and slammed his hand down on it like he was playing Whack-A-Mole with his hand. Before Kiibo could say anything, his voice decelerated and deepened into nothingness. Kaito let out a pained groan and tried to lift his body off the floor. Unfortunately for him, an immobile heavy hunk of metal was piled on top of the grounded astronaut. How ironic. An astronaut who was supposed to reach for the stars was squashed to the ground facing down thanks to Kiibo's heavy body. Such is the harsh reality of an astronaut...

"Nishishi... I can't believe you idiots fell for another lie!" the laughing supreme leader shouted to the groaning Kaito and quickly booked it to the next flight towards Nagito, not even bothering to close the door to his room. Didn't he make sure to hide any secret information that he had in his room before he went to sleep last night? Maybe. Maybe not. In truth, he doesn't remember anything past the point when he laid down on his bed. Well, at least he made double sure to bring his To Do List so that no one would find out his plans about Chiaki's party.

That could be a lie, however...

But if there's one thing that's really for certain, it's that Kokichi is a good liar. No one can nor will deny that no matter how good you are at lying to yourself.

It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing; flowers are blooming-

"If I may suggest, you need to stop hanging out with that filthy excuse of a symbol of hope, Nanami-san."

And if Nagito doesn't stop calling Hajime trash, worthless or whatever, Chiaki swears she's going to let him taste her Heaven-slaying Dragon Fist. He's already seen what happened to Teruteru when she used that move to protect Hiyoko; although, using that move would take up 100% of her current energy level. This time, she made sure to top it up. Even if she's at 100%, she's not afraid to unleash the full might of her Heaven-slaying Dragon Fist if the white-haired boy doesn't stop verbally harassing her best friend who was mercifully granted absence from this conversation and a one-time display of a gamer girl's hidden wrath.

No one deserves to be called trash or worthless. Not even Hajime nor Nagito.

Chiaki is a very patient and understanding person mostly because she believes that it feels good when people are willing to put up with your narcolepsy and constantly tired tone; so she thinks that others would feel the same if she returns the favor to them. That would make sense, right? Everyday, Chiaki would need to put up with the rowdiness of her classmates not only as a class rep, but as a friend. They would sometimes return the favor, by offering to cook her some delicious food, volunteering to fix her consoles if they ever break or by "offering their body", which she still doesn't understand what Mikan meant by that.

Really, how can someone offer their body in the first place? Wouldn't that mean they're sacrificing their current character stats to evolve into a higher star rating character card with better stats? Don't they also know that there's a 43.5% chance of success for that? Those are scary odds... she thinks.

Anyways, there were also some times when they aren't patient with her, like when she tried to play this multiplayer game called Basketball with her friends. Chiaki played the game on her video game consoles and some arcade machines, but not on "this" console. It didn't help that she had a hard time playing these kinds of utterly realistic HD games where she had complete control of her body, which includes coordination, skills, and... stamina. There are a lot of stats that are considered important in this game but the thing is, she hasn't leveled any of them up. Her stats were horrendously scaled for this kind of game, sacrificing a lot of the recommended stats, like power, agility, stamina and whatnot, for maxing her coordination and dexterity stat. She didn't know a good strategy to use for her stats, but the point of the game is to have fun, right? She had fun even though her team was on the losing end, but the others didn't. They said that she was the reason they lost. Kazuichi blamed her for not passing the ball fast enough and Akane blamed her for moving too slow with the ball, in which case, the shot clock timer ran out while she was still dribbling the ball at the backcourt. She basically granted the other team a free win. Chiaki did feel bad about failing her team - she always does, but she still tries her best to understand their frustrations and anger towards her; after all, no character is perfect... or so she thinks. That day was different however; she felt less enthusiastic about her meeting with Hajime after that game but at least he was always there to cheer her up and she will always be thankful for that.

Chiaki is fully aware as well that there are some people that take advantage of her leniency, like Hiyoko or Teruteru for example, and manipulate her into doing whatever they want her to do. She doesn't mind this. She always believes that there is good in people who appear or claim to be evil. Just as there are some bad parts about some people, there also some good parts to them... probably. Which is why she believes that Kokichi isn't the evil supreme leader he claims to be. Even with all his lies and deception, she knows that he's a good person who just has different ideas for fun. He can be a good friend to everyone, that is if he decides to unequip his "Deception" skill or change his "Trickster" class. Kokichi's lies can be very tiring for the sleepy gamer, both physically and mentally. She struggles to keep up with his logic since he always changes his stances on a whim by admitting to a lie, which could also be a lie on its own. It was just lies on top of lies decorated with more lies with another lie as the cherry on top. It was like a cake of lies. Not to mention that the cake itself could be a lie as well...

*yawn* "Even imagining those lies was exhausting..."

Case in point, Chiaki is very patient and understanding to everyone but even she has her limits. She knows what rage and anger can do to a person just from playing Asura's Wrath, which is why she tries to control her temper so that she can keep a good mental image for her classmates, but Nagito needs to stop if he knows what's best for both of them.

"Stop talking about Hinata-kun like that." she shot back at the white-haired boy. The two slowed their pace to make it easier for them to talk. "Just because he's talentless doesn't mean that he's a lesser human being. We've been over this already, Komaeda-kun... I think."

"Just as I thought..." he mumbled mindlessly to himself and stopped in his tracks. However, Chiaki didn't stop walking and simply pulled up her hood over her head, thinking that the pointy-eared attachment can cover her own ears. "...your hope has been infected with his filth. You must cleanse yourself from this impurity, Nanami-san! Your hope cannot shine even brighter if he-" he quickly stopped his rambling when Chiaki suddenly stomped her foot loudly in frustration on the pavement and froze in place.

Something snapped inside her. That must have been the last straw. She couldn't take another insult on her best friend. Hajime, impure? That remark was so wrong on so many levels that it could be enough to make a fully fleshed-out platformer game. Chiaki tried to completely hold in her anger but she clearly failed; however, at least she restrained herself enough so she wouldn't hurt Nagito with a Heaven-slaying Dragon Fist. She came close to using it the first time he started looking down and talking down on Hajime, but she didn't want to punch her friend in front of her best friend. The urge was stronger this time, since there's no Hajime around to hold her back, but she had to get a grip on her senses right now! She wasn't going to punch the white-haired boy but she just won't let that remark slide anymore. She needs to set his attitude straight if she's planning to bring Hajime to the party.

Chiaki turned around to give Nagito her most intimidating glare ever, which was a puffy face with deeply furrowed eyebrows. "Don't make me repeat myself, Komaeda-kun. I'm trying to resist the urge to use my special attack on you right now but I'm a lot stronger than that." She walked towards Nagito with a faster pace, stood on her tiptoes so their faces are level, and proceeded to spit her next words to his surprised face, all thoughts of personal space and distance thrown out the window. "But if you keep saying what you're saying about Hinata-kun, I'm banning you from participating and watching our class gaming sessions for a whole year. Got it?"

Nagito just continued to stare at her face with a look of utter nonplus plastered on his face. Critical Hit! Chiaki knew that her classmates would always look forward to their gaming sessions and whenever she did cancel some to make room for more time with Hajime, they would always look so disappointed. It was painful for her to do that but so was leaving Hajime hanging, so she had to make some hard decisions to spend time with everyone. She hasn't banned anyone before from her gaming sessions, much less for a year, and this would be the first time she's threatened someone.

It felt horrible to do this to Nagito, to act like the big bad final boss to her friend, but she had to get her point across somehow... probably.

The white haired boy knocked himself out of his dazed state and nodded sluggishly at her threat. "...That was surprising, Nanami-san. I never expected you to threaten me with that but..." he shifted his gaze towards his palm and gave another one of those smiles towards it. "...I am trash and trash should always learn their place."

Chiaki took a step back and sighed at his usual remarks about himself. He really needed to stop saying those things about himself... maybe. On the bright side, at least they came to a concession of sorts, right?

"...I'm gonna go on ahead now. Are you coming or not?" Chiaki asked the lucky student, reverting back to her relaxed and lethargic state.

"You shouldn't really bother with me." Nagito stated as nonchalantly as ever. "I've already aggravated you enough with my disgusting and putrid presence-"

"Are you coming or not?" she asked him again, not having any more of the other's disparaging remarks about himself. "I just want to know if you want to or not. Not if you should or shouldn't."

"You can just go on ahead, Nanami-san. I'll catch up with you after I stop by the vending machine for a drink." he stated with a casual wave of his hand. That's probably the closest she'll get to as an answer from the evasive boy so she simply shrugs.

Chiaki waved back at Nagito and exchanged their goodbyes with each other, then attempted to saunter towards the massive building. The already tired gamer wished she hadn't waste that much energy into threatening the lucky student. She was at a staggering 40% left just from that mentally draining conversation. Maybe she'll just power off at the classroom instead since she won't hold any class meetings for today...

Prob-

"...!" Chiaki felt a shiver up her spine and glanced at her left as she sensed someone or some thing pass by her. Her peripheral vision only saw a flash of white for a moment. She felt her heart beat faster so she took this moment to listen to Mikan's random advice to her one day and take some deep breaths while placing her hand over it to calm her heartbeat. She took one last exhale and thought back to that strange quick-time event. Was that a ghost just now?

Chiaki pondered on that question for a moment now, forgetting the fact that some of these questions were under a time limit like in those visual novels since she was usually fast in getting the answers. Must have been an illusion... or so she thinks. Looking back at it now, she must have forgotten to equip her anti-illusion cloak today to block off the strange sensations that would sometimes overcome her or the random visions she would see when she would enter the academy. She made a mental note to ask Gundham to give her some sort of protection for today... just to be safe.

What Chiaki didn't know, was that flash of white was actually the strap on Kokichi's suit fluttering by the very corner of her vision for a brief second when she looked to her left.

"I'm really impressed by how easily you can anger Nanami-chan. Even I couldn't do that as easily as you do, Komaeda-chan!" Kokichi said with an all-knowing smile on his face while sipping on a can of Panta from the vending machine. He had to admit that these were the stuff and anyone who says otherwise will be brought to the gallows.

"Didn't I already divulge my classmates' secrets and weaknesses to you yesterday?" Nagito asked with an annoyed expression on his face. "But if I were to be honest, It might've been because of my luck and my repugnance that angered Nanami-san."

"Nishishi... Though, it was pretty interesting how you got her to threaten you." the supreme leader jokingly commented. "I didn't think she'd be able to shut you up with such a petty threat."

"Like how you did to me yesterday, Oma-kun?" the other remarked with his arms crossed.

"Oh yeaaaah. I did shut you up, didn't I?"

The two continued to have their little break from the preparations and info gathering for a while; well, not so much for the latter since in a way, this could considered as gathering info. Making casual conversation can drop some pretty interesting stuff to pick up and considering how Kokichi's buddy is the Ultimate Lucky Student, he's certain that he would strike a gold mine of sorts.

Like that interesting tidbit about Hajime that the white-haired boy dropped so casually yesterday...

Information had power, and in some cases, they had more power than the most destructive weapons mankind can manufacture. One can always plant a bomb near a park during a kid's birthday party or one can take out a key member of society with a single bullet from afar, but information has the power to gain control over a person's life. Imagine a puppeteer masterminding the very actions that you thought were of your free will. With information, you can just force or discreetly manipulate a person's thoughts and actions. From something as petty and near-sighted as doxxing that anonymous cyberbully that harassed you over the past years to something as large and grand-scale as brainwashing society with news media; that all can happen when one gains access to pertinent information.

Kokichi gained information and because of that, he gained power and control over the lives of Chiaki's strange circle of friends. With this powerful tool at his disposal, he could end any of their sappy and cheesy friendships that had been forged over the course of their high school lives, or he could gain servants that would bend over their backs at his beck and call. The possibilities were endless for an evil supreme leader such as Kokichi.

"Nishishi... Maybe I should start recruiting some new members." he mumbled to himself as he finished the last drops of the sweet grape-y goodness of his beverage before he momentarily tossed it at a nearby trashcan behind him. His mind detoured back to what he heard about that talentless Reserve Course Student. There were rumors among the higher-ups of HPA that revolved around a secret project and some missing Reserve Course students. The smarter ones speculated that the two were connected. It would make sense to think that the school hid their disappearances in order to keep the project's existence a secret. Kokichi was actually planning to get more info on that but that was before he learned about the three secret parties. Now, he learned all that he needed to for the time being. Nagito somehow made a "lucky" guess about how Hajime was connected to this secret project. The supreme leader doubted if that was really true or not but he had a way to check.

There was a saying that revolves around the dark underbelly of society: "It takes a liar to know a liar."

And Kokichi's ability to detect lies is just as good as his ability to lie.

"Hmmmm, I guess I can easily anger Nanami-chan..."

"I'm curious. How so?"

"Oh, you'll see during the party..."

"About the party..."

"Ah right! I can't believe you distracted me with Panta, Komaeda-chan! Looks like I'm going to have to punish you!~"

"As expected of a man of your talent! You don't play nice and clean, do you, Oma-kun?"

Kokichi playfully chuckled at the white-haired boy's response. "Nishishi... don't worry, that's just a lie!" he said, winking at the other in a playfully exaggerated manner. "Oh, but let's make this snappy. Don't wanna have a repeat of yesterday's unfortunate events!"

It was Nagito's turn to chuckle. "Ah, so that's what happened yesterday after I left... I really should learn my place, shouldn't I?"

"Don't sweat it! At least I wasn't hit by a literal meteorite or anything, riiiiight?"

Nagito was silenced once again by the supreme leader's tactless remark and bored a hole at the other with his eyes.

"W-Woah! Don't glare at me like that! That was just a harmless joke, Komaeda-chan!"

...Besides, the worst hasn't even come yet.

After Kokichi's postponed meeting with Nagito, they both went to their respective classes. The white-haired boy planned to make it to his classes on-time today while the other planned to drag Gonta away from classes so they can finally set up the venue for "Nanami-chan's Minions"'s torture chamber. Well, he wouldn't tell that to the brute since unlike the evil supreme leader that Kokichi is, Gonta wouldn't set up a torture chamber for them. So why not just tell him a little lie? He would love to get some visitors to his Insect Exhibit, right?

As he slid the classroom door open with one forceful motion and made a dramatic pose in front of the class, he was immediately pinned to the wall by a very angry Maki. Kokichi instinctively clawed at the arm of the hand that was squeezing his windpipe mercilessly, trying to pry himself away from its crushing grip which only made that grip somehow stronger than it already is. It was a good thing he had some sort of a backup plan after his recent prank to both Kaito and Kiibo just in case Maki found out about what he did to her little high school crush.

"If I were you... Harukawa-chan... I'd put me down... or else..." Kokichi choked out a threat of his own with a pained smirk on his face.

"You... Do you want to die?!" Maki slowly stated with a very killer-like expression to her suffocating victim who seems to be enjoying this. She tightened her her vice-like hold on his short neck, which caused the other to let out a few weird sounds with his throat.

The others were all shocked by the fake caregiver's sudden murderous intent and tried to reason with her. What a bunch of naïve idiots! They should know that once someone has a very clear intention to kill, diplomacy should immediately be thrown out of the question for suitable choices! And as the supreme leader expected, she didn't listen to anybody, not even to their resident class rep and detective. He only hoped that Kaito would try to pull her away or else he'll drop the bomb on the whole class about her real Ultimate talent.

Kokichi strained his eyes, which were beginning to close from the lack of oxygen, to find a sign that Kaito was in this classroom. It seems that he wasn't here after all. Everything was falling to place for his big reveal to the people present. "Yeah... go on and... choke me to death right now..." the supreme leader said with eerie confidence. "...Show them... the monster that hides... inside you..."

After Maki listened to Kokichi's threatening words with a frustrated scoff at the end, she let go of the gasping and panting supreme leader. "I'm going to check on that idiot in the clinic." Her eyes flared with an intense and deep red as she addressed the others. "Don't even think about following me." she coldly stated to the others before turning her back and leaving the classroom.

After Maki's stunning farewell, the others shifted their gaze and glared at the grinning supreme leader who was still panting and coughing from his lack of oxygen. Kaede spoke up first. "Ah geez! We were just about to start checking attendance and now Harukawa-san walked out! What did you do to make her that angry, Oma-kun?!"

"Nishishi... don't you trust Saihara-chan to find out the truth? I could always lie to you, Akamatsu-chan..." he hoarsely replied, still grinning at his small victory against his attacker. "...or, better yet, why don't you ask the ones who were directly involved, hmmm?"

"Typical degenerate behavior! Always lying to protect their own skin; they're the worst of the worst!" Tenko commented while doing something with her hands that resembles a battle pose.

"Yeah, not cool..." Ryoma remarked with a deep voice while pulling down his beanie. "Just fess up and confess already. You're not making this situation any easier for yourself by lying constantly, you know..."

The others then joined forces with Kaede in scolding the "real victim" for making Maki leave. Kokichi was getting assaulted and bashed for, what, threatening a trained and "licensed" serial killer with blackmail?! He was a freaking evil supreme leader, for crying out loud! Why should he apologize for his evildoings? Well, in retrospect, they all didn't know who Maki really was. Since they all turned a blind eye towards the truth that Maki tried to strangle him for doing a harmless but funny prank on the two idiots, Kokichi figured that he should just confess already to put an end to this annoying farce, and he knew exactly how to do it.

The supreme leader began to tear up, readying his eyes to spill out a tsunami's worth of tears. "UWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! OK! OK! I'LL ADMIT IT ALREADY! I'M THE REASON WHY MOMOTA-CHAN IS IN THE CLINIC RIGHT NOW!" Kokichi cried out a literal cartoonish waterfall from his eyes. Even he had to admit that he was impressed by how much he can cry. "Whew, that's a relief. I feel so much better now that I've confessed to my sins!"

The room was shocked into silence by the sudden change of emotions. After a while, Rantaro simply laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "No matter how many times I try to get used to this emotional whiplash, I still end up getting surprised by it." he said trying to make a joke to lighten up the tension in this room.

"A-Are you forgetting the fact that Oma-kun basically injured one of our classmates?" remarked Tsumugi who was still shell-shocked from today's events. "I don't think my poor heart can handle another one of those near-death experiences after last night."

Shuichi sheepishly laughed and tried to butt in a comment of his own as well. "...I don't think Momota-kun's injury was that morbid, Shirogane-san."

"Yeah, Saihara-chan's right! He was just pinned by Kiibo's body! It's not like he was crushed by a hydraulic press or some boulder, right~?" Kokichi added with a childish beam of glee on his face.

"That's even worse! He would definitely die from that!" the blue-haired cosplayer shouted in a panicking voice.

Kaede slapped her forehead with her hand, seemingly annoyed by how quickly the mischievous supreme leader easily steered them all away from the questions that needed to be asked. "Look, we'll deal with this issue later. Right now, I'll excuse Harukawa-san from attendance since she volunteered to take care of Momota-kun's injuries."

The pianist then pulled out a notebook from her backpack and began to call out names to do her daily routine on checking everyone. Before she got to Gonta's name, Kokichi raised his voice to stop her for a bit. Kaede's annoyed expression came back as she turned to address whatever was on the supreme leader's mind. "What is it this time, Oma-kun?"

"Could you excuse Gonta and I for, say..." Kokichi looked at his nails in a manner that he was counting them instead of examining them in more detail. "...a whole day, Akamatsu-chan? Oh, and before you ask, it's something private that we agreed to discuss today; so don't go minding our business!"

Kaede narrowed her scrutinous gaze towards the possibly lying supreme leader before turning to ask Gonta if he really did agree to this in the first place. From her face, he could tell that she didn't trust Kokichi, so she turned to someone who is more trustworthy than him. What a typical reaction. Can't she just trust him as her "friend" for once?

"Is this true, Gonta-kun? Do the two of you really have something important to discuss today that you have to skip classes?" Kaede questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh? Gonta does not remember..." the gigantic entomologist replied. His expression quickly fell from scared to ashamed. "...sorry, Oma-kun."

Kokichi began to tear up again. It seems that in addition to being able to cry like a broken faucet that shoots water at your face, the reservoir replenishes almost instantaneously. "G-Gonta... How could you?! After all... we've been through together... UWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! HOW COULD YOU FORGET OUR PROMISE?! UWAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The husky entomologist began to tear up as well. "Gonta sorry... but he really doesn't remember! Gonta swears as a gentleman!"

Gonta tried to comfort the crying Kokichi but the latter just cried even harder, like a baby who didn't get what they wanted or when they were suddenly awakened from a peaceful slumber.

There was one thing that was on the minds of their other classmates as they witnessed the scene before them. It looks as if it was directly ripped from a cartoon comedy but with all the animated special effects being reproduced down to a T. It was unbelievable. If it really were from a cartoon, they'd laugh, but this was undeniably real - not fictional, but real.

And it was really stupid.

The whole class just groaned, sighed heavily, facepalmed or slammed their head down repeatedly on their desks from the overwhelming cringe that washed over them, with a few notable exceptions like Angie, Kiyo and Rantaro - who was just laughing as if he was already used to this or as if he had experience dealing with this childish behavior and was laughing at their misery of not knowing how to handle these kinds of situations. Both Kaede and Shuichi visibly looked as if they were just done with this whole ordeal.

"Saihara-kun... Please handle this. I think I'm going to the clinic as well because this is giving me an aneurysm..." the pianist said with a hand held up against the top of her head. She immediately stormed out of the classroom, not even sparing an eye nor an ear for the stammering detective's pleading face and complaints.

Rantaro walked up to the poor detective's downtrodden state and patted his back to reassure him. "Don't worry. At least she trusts with you with her responsibility. I'm sure you can handle this one."

Shuichi unenthusiastically let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know..." he stated before turning to look at the childish Kokichi who was now throwing a temper tantrum across the room for such an idiotic reason. There was no Kaito, Maki nor Kaede to help him handle this hell spawn of a troublemaker.

"Today's gonna be a long day, huh..."

"That's putting it lightly, Amami-kun..."

"...Heh, guess you're right."

Kokichi let out a relieved sigh as he was finally outside the classroom with Gonta. Things didn't go as planned but he didn't mind. The others got their retribution by having to deal with his "grand" antics all day and all afternoon. From a clarion of airhorn sounds to a fake fire alarm that he timed to activate during lunchtime; they were all running around in panic like headless chickens who were trying to find their heads, and he enjoyed watching them all scream in terror from the sidelines, cackling maniacally like a madman who just went on a killing spree. The real knee slapper was the fact that nobody caught on to what he did since the smarter ones were busy or being disturbed by some of the loud knuckleheads who were shouting like they were in a protest or something. For a lousy bunch of Ultimates, these people were pretty stupid and disorganized but they were always there to provide a good laugh to the sadistic supreme leader just in case he ever got bored.

He was already getting impatient waiting for the chaos he would unleash upon Chiaki's party but he didn't want to get too hasty. This plan needed to be perfect in order for it to be worth it in the end and he still had to account for all avenues for failure. With luck added into the equation, there will always be a chance and an opportunity that his plan could go awry, and he had to account for every single one of them, if not, maybe only the major ones.

The David and Goliath duo made a pleasant promenade towards their very own designated meeting place, which was at that enclosed place that was going to be used for the Insect Exhibit. It was a stroke of good luck that this place was near the auditorium where the fated party was going to take place, and it was the opposite for the fools who think they can celebrate a party without the Ultimate Partier. As Kokichi was following Gonta towards that place, he thought of the many scenarios that could happen during the party. First thing that came to mind was his arrival. It doesn't take a genius to think that he would be up to no good when he appears. He already expected that some of them would attempt to drag him out of their party, or maybe even strangle him again like how Maki did; so entering through the main entrances would be thrown out of the choices immediately. He needed to pop up unexpectedly during the party and induce some scare factor among the Ultimates to immobilize them psychologically. He already thought of an idea of how to do that during his meeting with Nagito. His intel about the party venue and details were becoming extremely handy already. Kokichi had his white-haired accomplice handle some of the extra work that made the improved plan impossible to carry out with one person. How he would handle that was a complete mystery to him; although, the cunning supreme leader had a few hunches. Eh, it doesn't matter anyways. Just in case the other failed to account for his own failures, he could always improvise on the spot by hijacking the lighting and sound system. Those were just additions for the scare factor of his entrance. It's a good thing he asked Miu to invent those disruptors that he was planning to use on Kiibo on the day of their own party as payment for assisting her in her questionable inventions. He will admit that the vulgar blondie had some golden brain cells in that noggin of hers...

...Golden and dirty like salty piss, that is. Well, at least he can have someone take the fall if he gets found out for the disruptors.

Second thing that was on the agenda was how he was going to knock everyone out. He already decided on a modified version of the laughing gas since the normal formula wouldn't be enough to knock them out. How he came up with the new formula was during a heist that he and his squad participated in prior to being scouted for Hope's Peak. Those were some pretty good times, indeed. He remembered that he still had the blueprints for it from that memorable heist in his room somewhere. The laughing gas, to his memory, wasn't that complex nor expensive to recreate. With this in mind, the supreme leader decided to spend the rest of his time making the gas after this.

On second thought, maybe he should bring Gonta along to shorten his workload.

Now that the gas itself has been taken care of, the problem of how he was going to administer it arises. Kokichi considered throwing gas grenades like how he did during that heist but he had to admit that it was getting repetitive. He chalked those off as a last resort if he couldn't find a way to release those gases, although that would be seriously doubtful. How could someone as cunning as he is fail to think of an innovative way to gas those guys? The auditorium wasn't a concentration camp that specializes in "gassing" or anything, so he had to be creative if he were to abandon the grenade idea.

Perhaps Kokichi wasn't that far off when comparing the auditorium to a concentration camp...

Sure, it was a very morbid and cruel joke to think that, but Kokichi wasn't going to cause mindless and discriminate genocide, right? That would already be a joke in poor taste if that were the case, and his tastes were akin to a world-renowned food critic for a five-star restaurant.

But boy was he so thankful to take some time and effort into paying attention to those boring lectures. Looks like taking up world history had some merits to this villainous scheme of his.

Not that he was planning to become a power-hungry tyrant in the not-so-distant dystopian future or anything...

Nope, he was planning nothing of the sort. Nada. Perish the thought.

Moving on, there's one more issue that needed to be considered - the Insect Exhibit itself. After the knocked out victims would wake up from the laughing gas, their first instinct would be to get the hell out of that place. Of course, when one sees a horde of insects surrounding them, it would be common sense to run as far away from them as possible unless they all wanted a million creepy crawlies over their bodies, which is highly unlikely to happen no matter how weird Chiaki's friends were. They needed to be restrained and locked from the outside and only Gonta has the key to the only entrance and exit to that place. Which means, he needed to be outside once the show began. No matter how much Kokichi wanted to see them scurry around much like the insects they're running away from, he needed to be outside because honestly, who else in the world would want those disgusting cretins all over their body parts and junk? Obviously, he didn't want that if it meant that he gets to be all close and personal on their terrified faces. Luckily for him, he had a means of resolving that. He was already planning to put up a hidden video recorder, complete with audio recording, to film the fruits of his labor. Which is why he brought it with him in the first place, duh.

Now that all possible means of escape have been accounted for, all that's left for now is how he was going to restrain the all 16 of them. Well, why not go for the old-fashioned way and bind them in groups of two or three with some strong and sturdy rope? He could always ask some fro-

"Oh wait, there's still the issue of Nekomaru's superhuman strength and Gundham's hamsters destroying that rope. Dang it."

Actually, now that he thought long and hard about it, would it even matter if they were able to get out of their restraints? They were strong, sure, but they wouldn't be able to break free from the rope instantly; at the very least, they wouldn't be able to until he said what he wanted to say to them. Even if they did break free eventually once he leaves the area, there was always Chiaki or Peko to make sure that the violent members of their group don't hurt the big guy. He knows that they would accuse the evil supreme leader for using Gonta's gullibility to his advantage, so why would they think it was justified to hurt another fellow victim? Besides, he was planning on having his gigantic captor untie them from the rope once he was ready for the nightmarish exhibit to start and the supreme leader would be safe and sound.

As for Kokichi's script...

Well, why not just do it impromptu? It was much more fun and interesting that way. The evil supreme leader had no need for some lame script to guide him on how to be evil to the fools in the first place.

It just comes naturally...

They already despise him anyways so why not just listen to the little devil that's speaking to you for once?

This is what they get for not taking his words seriously. It's all the same, really. They didn't believe him when he says that he is an evil person and they all get blindsided once he decides to act despite all the warnings he put up.

"Guess that's what I get for being a liar all the time, huh?" Kokichi thought aloud to himself with a distant expression on his face, yet Gonta didn't hear him. Good.

It's human nature to believe that there's good in one's heart, but it's human folly to make themselves vulnerable to the lies that mask that so called "good" in one's heart.

Maybe this plan would serve as a lesson to those ignorant people who think they can be friends while pretending that their "friends" didn't have secrets with them...

He had to hand it to Nagito for making his life so much easier. Those secrets would actually play a big role in this party and he didn't even realize it.

"What an idiot!"

Kokichi started to laugh a little from the dramatic irony of the situation at hand. He half-expected Nagito to catch on about what he was planning for the party. In fact, the white-haired boy came dangerously close by questioning if he was going to use these secrets as blackmail, but since the question was too general - not targeting anything specific at all, Kokichi was able to call his bluff and bat the question away with ease. The cunning lucky student was playing it safe and thought that with his luck, he could gather more details about what he was planning? That was unsurprisingly transparent of him. Kokichi had experience in these types of games and the other didn't. Nagito had moxie, but he can never be as sophistic as Kokichi.

That laughter gradually became loud enough for Gonta to hear but that didn't matter right now since they already arrived at their destination. Kokichi threw his arms high into the air and put on the best "smile" he could manage.

"Okay, Gonta! So here's what's gonna happen..."

Nighttime rolled in eventually like how a pachinko ball was destined to fall into one of the slots, guided by the protrusions of the machine's mainframe. Today was an incredibly long day filled with dastardly pranks and the usual hijinks in the daily life of Kokichi Oma and right now, he wanted some well-deserved RR for tomorrow.

Which would be the day when his masterpiece of a plan would finally come into motion.

He had everything prepared by now: Nagito and Gonta's cooperation, blackmail material, information about Chiaki's party, the laughing gas, the disruptors, a custom made gas mask that he got from his secret organization, some rope, and some extra stuff to help liven up the party.

Now that he thought about what he's doing right now, he put some gosh darned effort into this plan, didn't he? Even more so than their very own party. It was a cruel twist of fate, that's for sure. Was that why Kaede was asking for his opinion for the party the other day? If that was indeed the case, she must either be incredibly stupid or unsurprisingly confident to think that whatever idea that comes out of the devious leader's brain is considered a "great" idea for the party. Considering his track record, she should've just avoided taking any advice from him.

Well, either way, Kokichi will always find a way to convince their class rep to give in to his "great" ideas. He, too, had the charisma to compete against hers, only that his was the charisma of an evil supreme leader and hers was just the charisma of an optimistic pianist. It was a one-sided competition if he had to put it lightly.

If he goes through with this plan, there's no mistaking that he'll get reprimanded and punished severely by his schoolmates, but did that matter to Kokichi at all? Heck no. He likes to live life dangerously, taking every life-threatening opportunity by the horns and milking all the delicious thrills and excitement he could get from it. Anyone who walked a mile in his shoes would definitely agree with him that this daredevil lifestyle is more interesting than anyone else's. No matter how many times they would try to restrict him, he will always, always, find a way to come in like a gigantic wrecking ball to obliterate any sense of peace and harmony their meager efforts could forge.

Kokichi went inside his room - this time, remembering to lock the door - and pulled out a dossier that was titled "Nanami-chan's Minions" under the mattress of his bed. He decided it would be a good idea to update the specifics of the information he gathered about them before going to sleep. He mindlessly fumbled through the many pockets of his suit and fished out a box of crayons then began to scribble all over the files in the dossier.

An all-too-familiar smirk began to stretch and distort his face again. It was a good thing everyone was spared from the horrendous look on the supreme leader's face right now.

"Nishishi... I can't wait for tomorrow!"

A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter!