"Puhuhu! Surprised? What a twist, huh?" Monokuma laughed after the whole ordeal was over before he burst into tears. "E-Even I didn't see that coming! Now all my little cubs have been destroyed! Waaaaah! So sad! All that cuteness gone to waste!"
"What are you talking about!? You're the one responsible for this!" Keebo shouted angrily.
"Wh-Why would you do such a thing to your own children!?" Tenko cried out furiously.
"Cuz lately, Monodam has been pissing me off! He kept defying me and trying to help you guys. Blech!" Monokuma spat out. "Gah! I'm never gonna get the hang of this whole 'parenting' thing!"
"Th-That's…why?" Keebo tried to speak, but he was just too overwhelmed.
"That doesn't matter right now. Do we really have time to be bothering him about Monodam's death?" Rantaro asked as he crossed his arms with a frown.
"Anyway, I'm gonna walk away quietly and go mourn my dead kids! Later!"
And with that, Monokuma vanished, leaving all the rest of the students there in the trial grounds, completely devastated by what they had just gone through. Kaede was on her knees sobbing, trying to stop the tears by covering her face with her hands, but nothing could stop her from crying. Shuichi was much the same, averting his eyes from anyone as tears spilled out of his eyes. Tenko was crying, too, and Keebo and Rantaro just looked defeated by it all. Kokichi's entire face was crestfallen as he stared at the ground with a mixture of sadness and pain, and Kirumi could only grit her teeth as her eyes remained on the screen that showed Maki's execution.
"Awful. This is just awful. Why did things have to turn out like this?" She asked with a sad frown.
Rin just stood there, staring at the screen, too. But he did not weep. He did not cry. He did not speak. He just stood there staring, as if none of it affected him.
Rantaro noticed this and just sighed. They can deal with Rin later. They had other things to focus on.
"Kokichi. I think it's high time you tell us about the motive you and Rin saw. Just what the hell is the secret of the outside world?" Rantaro asked. "If we don't know it, then we won't be able to understand or accept any of this."
"Th-That's right. I…can't accept this either, Kokichi!" Kaede yelled through her tears as she turned to the Supreme Leader. "Just what is the secret of the outside world?! What did you see that pushed you to try to kill all of us, including yourself?!
"..." Kokichi didn't respond. He just stood there, staring at the ground without a word, too lost in grief to even speak.
"Kokichi, please. Just tell us the truth." Kirumi pleaded with the boy. "If you really cared for Gonta, or Kaito, or even Maki… If you really want to keep the promise you made with her, you must explain yourself to everyone what–"
"I don't…want to…"
"You what?" Shuichi asked with a concerned look.
That's when Kokichi raised his head, revealing not a sad, tragic expression, but one filled with twisted joy and excitement and a wide, crooked smile.
"I don't want to, stupidhead!" He yelled happily.
"Kokichi!?" Shuichi tried to say something else, but Kokichi cut him off with abrupt laughter.
"Ah-hahahaha! Oh man, did you fall for all that fake crying!? You're so dumb! I would never cry for Maki, or stupid Kaito, and I most certainly would never cry for Gonta!"
"F-Fake…crying?" Tenko repeated as her broken expression slowly morphed into anger as she realized what Kokichi was saying.
"If I said the actual truth back there, Maki might have killed me before she was executed, y'know. She would have beenreeeeeal mad!" Kokichi laughed hysterically. "That would've interfered with the game, so I simply lied to calm you all down." His smile then twisted even more as he continued cheerfully. "See? As long as you lie for a good purpose, lies are fine, right?"
"What?!" Kaede shouted as her body began to shake from either anger or grief.
"What do you mean 'actual truth'? What really happened? Why did you force a situation where Gonta, Kaito, and Maki had to die!?" Rantaro yelled, anger now very clear in his voice and eyes.
"Obviously, so it wouldn't be boring!" Kokichi smiled.
"What are you…?" Shuichi stumbled with his words. He just couldn't process what Kokichi was doing. His reasoning, his motives, his goals. Shuichi couldn't figure them out for the life of him.
"I gave Gonta an incentive, cuz I thought it'd liven up the game. It wasn't like Rin was gonna go out and kill anyone with how bummed out he was. So I lured Kaito there to trick Gonta into killing him. It wasn't for some mercy kill! I was gonna out Gonta in the class trial! I mean, c'mon, think about it. If I really wanted a mercy kill to save everyone, it wouldn't have mattered if Gonta was the killer or not. I would have just let Maki win the trial! Death isn't nearly as cruel as surviving out in the outside world, so it would have been better revenge if I really wanted to die!"
"Th-Then…why did Gonta, Kaito, and Maki–"
"Nee-heehee…nee-heeheeheehee…" Kokichi began giggling before he threw his arms out with a demonic expression on his face. "Who cares about those idiots!? I wanna enjoy this game filled with suspicion and betrayal from the bottom of my heart!"
Kokichi gave them the worst of all of his creepy smiles, and when the others saw it, they finally saw Kokichi for what he really is.
Malice.
His entire body was nothing but raw, unfettered malice.
"I am the supreme leader of evil, so it's obvious my personality would be twisted. The more you suffer, the more I enjoy it." Kokichi noted. "There are people in this world who spread grief and misery for no reason than the thrill of it! And I'm one of those people. Nothing pleases me more than inflicting pain on others!"
"S-Seriously… Who the hell do you think you are?" Rantaro muttered as he clenched his fists.
"So…for your own entertainment, you sacrificed Kaito, Gonta, and Maki?" Kirumi questioned with just barely contained anger.
"Y-You…! I can't believe this! I can't believe I thought you actually were gonna try to change for the better! I can't believe I thought for once you were anything other than a degenerate!" Tenko yelled as she threw her arms down in a fit of rage, her face red with hatred and frustration.
"What's so bad about that? Maki killed Gonta only to satisfy her own rage, right Tenko?" Kokichi questioned as he threw his arms behind his head.
"Don't say my name! You have no right to speak so casually with me! Don't act like we're friends!" Tenko screamed, offended by just how casually Kokichi had acted with her.
"Nee-heehee… You look so much better with a scowl on your face, Tenko. You all do." Kokichi chuckled. "But hey, you guys are just waaay too trusting. If only you had suspected me more, then…" Kokichi trailed off before shadows began coating his face as he burst into more hysteric laughter filled with mania. "Ah-hahahaha! Maki, Gonta, and Kaito wouldn't have died such meaningless deaths!"
"M-Meaningless deaths?!" Kaede shrieked in fury, her voice cracking from how angry she was.
"That's right! Their deaths were meaningle–"
WHAM!
A dull thud resounded through everyone's skulls, cutting Kokichi off as he fell backward onto his back, his eyes wide as he raised his hand to his cheek before turning them back to the one who hit him.
Empty, sharp, cold crimson eyes stared back at him.
"I've been listening to you go on…and on…and on," Rin muttered as his fist shook ever so slightly. And then, the dam burst open. "Shut the hell up you FUCKING LYING PIECE OF SHIT!"
The harsh tone Rin used threw everyone off. He had never spoken like that before to any of them. But what came next absolutely horrified them all.
Rin pounced onto Kokichi and straddled him before grabbing his neck with both of his hands. And then, he tightened. Hard.
"You keep saying things like how you want to make the game exciting, how we're all idiots, and stupid things like that. Well, guess what? I'm done with your shit. I'm done dealing with you. As far as I'm concerned, you might as well have killed Gonta, Kaito, and Maki yourself, so you're no different from a blackened to me. So as I said before, I'm gonna kill you with my own hands." Rin said in a cold, empty tone as his snake-like eyes bore into Kokichi's choking face. "Tell me, Oma. Is the game exciting for you yet? I can make it more exciting if you want."
Rin tightened his grip on Kokichi's tiny neck when he said that, ignoring Kokichi's barely audible gasps for air. Kokichi tried pulling Rin off of him, but his tiny body did nothing to help him pull the bigger, strong man off of him. Fortunately for the Supreme Leader, Rin was doing this in front of everyone.
"Rin! What the hell are you doing!?" Rantaro yelled as he rushed over to pull Rin off of Kokichi.
"You're going to kill him!" Keebo shouted as he joined Rantaro.
The two of them together were enough to finally pull Rin off of Kokichi, leaving the small purple boy coughing on the ground and he held a hand softly to his now sore throat. But Rin wasn't done. Oma wasn't dead yet. He wouldn't accept anything less than that. So he struggled to get free to finish the job. He kick and screamed and bit as he tried to force his way back over to strangle Kokichi, not caring what the others thought of his display.
"Let go of me, you goddamn idiots! He needs to die for what he's done! He shouldn't be allowed to live after this!" Rin screamed as he trashed about in Rantaro and Keebo's grip.
"Get a hold of yourself, Rin! You'll become the blackened if you kill Kokichi!" Rantaro shouted.
"I don't care anymore! He needs to die! He killed three people! He shouldn't be allowed to live!" Rin shot back before returning his attention to Kokichi. "Do you hear me, Oma!? You're dead! I won't stop until you die, you motherfucker! I'm gonna make you suffer slowly through the most agonizing death you possibly imagine!"
Kokichi kept coughing for a few more seconds before he turned to Rin with a weird expression. It almost looked like he was hurt by what Rin had just done. Like he couldn't believe Rin actually just tried to kill him. He looked…betrayed, in a way. But that didn't stop him from laughing with his now raspy, sore voice.
"W-What? You think…that…scares me?" Kokichi asked through his coughs. "Look at you, Rin. You…look totally pathetic now. What happened…to that cool…calm demeanor you…always had?"
"Where do you get off on calling me pathetic? Take a close look at yourself and those around you, Oma!" Rin screamed as his eyes burned with cold, red fire. "I just tried to kill you, yet no one is stepping up to help you! No one cares if you're hurt or not! They only care if I become the blackened! No one is willing to stand by your side now after this! You're alone, Oma. And you always will be!"
Kokichi flinched a bit, but laughter soon spilled out of his sore throat like it was nothing.
"Ah-haha! You're talking…about friends? Friends don't make this game more entert–" Kokichi then stopped, pausing for just a moment as he stared at Rin's cold glare before seemingly changing his mind about something. "Nevermind. Geez, how boring. I'm no longer interested in any of this. I don't care anymore…but I will tell you this… The one who will win this game…is me!"
And then Kokichi left, leaving everyone else behind. It was only after he entered the elevator and the doors closed did Rantaro and Keebo let go of Rin. Rin just scoffed as he yanked his arms out of their grip and scowled at them.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Amami? You too, K1." Rin snarled.
"What do we-? What do you think you're doing!?" Rantaro shouted angrily.
"Are you out of your mind!?" Kirumi yelled as she stomped over to Rin. "I know you're upset, but do you even realize what you were trying to do?"
"Yeah. What of it, Tojo?" Rin spat out as he turned to glare at her, his cold eyes never changing. "It's not like any of you care about him, so what's it matter if he's dead or not?"
"Y-You…You actually were trying to kill him. It wasn't just that you were angry. You…really just tried to kill him." Kaede blinked many times, trying to come to grips with what she was seeing. "Rin…what… Why would you–?"
"Because I'm done with all of this." Rin cut her off. "I'm done with Oma, and I'm done with you, Akamatsu. I'm done with all of you."
"What do you mean by that, Rin?" Shuichi questioned, his tone boarding on confusion and caution.
"It means I'm finished sticking my neck out for you useless fucks!" Rin explained.
"Hey! Don't call us that! You don't call friends that!" Tenko shouted.
"We aren't friends!" Rin yelled, silencing everyone. "We were never friends. Like I said before when Harukawa was about to die, friends don't hurt each other like this. They don't lie, betray, and murder each other!"
"But we haven't–"
"You might as well have!" Rin screamed, cutting Keebo off. "I keep trying to tell you all to listen to me, but you all NEVER LISTEN! You just go on as if nothing happened, and, what do you know? Another murder happens! And then you all gasp like it's a shocking thing for you, like you never saw it as a possibility, even when I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!"
"You're blaming us for this now!?" Tenko shouted back. "How is any of this our fault!?"
"You're taking your anger out of on, Rin. Look, I get it, but just calm down for a moment." Rantaro tried to tell him, but Rin just threw his arms down.
"Calm down!? You expect me to calm down!?" Rin screamed. "There are only 8 of us left! Why would I 'calm down'?! I've been trying to keep you idiots ALIVE, and because you won't listen to me, half of you are DEAD now!"
"Listen to you?! What, are we back when you were the leader of the student council?" Kaede shot back with angry eyes. "You want us to just keep quiet while you tell us what to do now? Remember how well that went?!"
"That was because you all wouldn't listen to me like the student council!" Rin yelled back. "You wouldn't listen during the Insect Meet and Greet. You wouldn't listen to the student council! Everything that's happened so far is because of EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!"
"I cannot believe this. Do you honestly believe everything you're saying, Rin?" Kirumi asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You do realize that you've been wrong before, don't you?" Keebo questioned. "You aren't perfect, and you're plans aren't flawless! You can't expect to suddenly say we're all the reason this suffering has happened."
"Shut up shut up! I don't want to hear anything from you all anymore!" Rin screamed. "Face it! This killing game wouldn't be happening right now if you all didn't want to play! But look what's happened so far! Four trials. Four executions! Four killers! And nine deaths! There's a pattern here, don't you see? And it's because all of you keep PLAYING THE GAME! That's why I'm through with you all!"
That's when Rin began stomping away from the group.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rantaro asked with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.
"Away from here, and away from all of you," Rin growled as he made it to the elevator. "Don't bother me. Don't talk to me. I want nothing to do with you future murderers. I'm going to survive this killing game, even if I'm the only one to get out. If you all want to play the game, then be my guest. Just don't go expecting my help when you get someone else killed. Leave me out of your messes!"
And with that, Rin shut the elevator doors and left. Everyone just stood there, shocked by what their friend…what Rin had told them. His words hurt. So much so that most of them didn't know what to do.
"...We should just…leave him be for a while. Maybe after he cools off, he'll come to his senses again." Rantaro suggested with a tired sigh.
"R-Right. I suppose we all have our limits. This must have been Rin's." Kaede frowned as she bit her lip.
"Yeah. He was most likely stressed by what just happened. Maki's confession hurt him greatly after all." Kirumi said while averting her eyes.
"That doesn't give him the right to hurt us like that! To accuse us of being the problem when he's just as at fault as us! Urgh! I can't believe Rin said all of that!" Tenko shouted as he shook with anger.
"..." Shuichi only remained silent as he stared at the elevator, a mixture of emotions stuck on his face.
Why..? Why…did it end up like this? He thought… Shuichi thought he could help everyone… He wanted them all to survive… and he wanted it so damn bad, he kept fighting for it, fighting for the truth… Even against Rin and Maki. And this is what he got for that!?
Rin was right in a way. By trying to survive, they were just playing the stupid game.
…Just like Kokichi.
"...Damn it!"
Just what the hell were they supposed to do now!? What…was he supposed to do now?
"...It's almost time," Kokichi smirked as he walked off, away from the trial grounds with nothing but a smirk on his face. "Yeah, it's almost time. This should be enough… I'll end it."
"Now is the time… I'll end this killing game."
And so he left, leaving the spot where the hidden message Gonta had discovered was, having added the last few parts of the message.
This world is mine. Kokichi Oma.
The moment the elevator doors opened at ground level, Rin stomped out and left the Shine of Judgement. He walked a good distance away from the shrine and the dorms before finding himself in the middle of the academy by himself. He looked up at the ceiling in silence for a good while before he finally moved.
WHAM!
"FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUUUUUCK!"
Rin screamed as he punched the nearest wall, and with each curse he screamed, he punched the wall again. He kept screaming and punching for a good while before finally stopping. His fist was now completely bloodied, and the wall was stained with crimson speks. He couldn't feel his hand anymore, but he hardly cared about that.
What was more important at the moment was the flurry of emotions in his head.
Nothing was making sense to him. He was so angry at everything and everyone! It was their fault, not his! But he also felt torn up inside. How could he yell at them like that? Blame them for others' mistakes and his? Weren't they friends? No! They weren't! Not anymore! Not after everything that happened with Mak-Harukawa! She was his friend, and for such a STUPID REASON she killed Gonta. Gonta.
No…Gon-Gokuhara wasn't completely innocent either. He was working with Oma. Oma…This was all his fault. He set everything up. He wanted Kaito to die. He just wanted to make the game more exciting. He was going to keep doing things like that because the others wouldn't let him kill the bastard!
It was going to happen again. God, it was going to happen again, wasn't it? No…he couldn't do it again. Not again! Please, not again! He couldn't do it. Four times was enough for him. He wouldn't be able to stand the thought of a fifth. But with how the others were never proactive in fighting the killing game, it would repeat itself. It was a cycle. They didn't even realize they were caught in it. They just kept living on, thinking the previous deaths would be the last, ignorant that they should always remain vigilant against the game, else they get caught in it. They refused to throw away their freedoms and rights and 'sweet, precious ideals' never realizing that it's that weakness that causes the next death to happen.
Rin was the only one fighting it. The only one who understood how the game was played and attempted to stop it. Everyone else was just a distraction or an enemy. They all were in his way.
No…He was just angry, wasn't he? Just angry that Harukawa and Oma's actions had killed two of his close friends. He was just angry that three more people were now dead. He was just angry that he could have prevented it all by not getting everyone to trust Harukawa way back when.
Naive fool. That's what he was. And now he was tired. Tired of it all. Tired of everyone.
He just… He just needed a moment alone to think. His mind was a jumbled mess, and his heart was even worse off with what had just happened, but he'd fix it. He'd fix everything and find the perfect solution. That was his job after all. Always having to babysit everyone cause they couldn't fucking do it themselves!
No matter. He'd fix it. Fix everything. But how? How would he? He had no idea what his next course of action would be. His head still hurt, and he was tired and just wanted to stop. What did it matter? Did he even want to stop the game at this point? Could he? No, shut up! He could stop it, and he would because that was his job! It was the entire reason he was here! And most importantly, it was the right thing to do. Let the others do whatever they want. He'd stop this game by himself if he had to. He'd find the answer. The truth of what was going on.
Truth…
That's when Rin remembered what he had been doing before the bodies had been discovered.
"Within an unfamiliar world lies the key, hidden within a fractured chain of memories. Then, after gazing upon the stars, walk through the gate of demons and angles to find the way." Rin repeated as he tightened his broken hand into a fist. "Alright then. Here I come, 'truth'."
And so he walked off, searching for the 'truth'.
And he was determined to find it. No matter what kind of truth awaited him, he would uncover it.
And then he would dismantle this entire killing game.
He would do it, for everyone and himself. Because it was the right thing to do. Because no one else would.
Because no one else could.
This killing game would come to an end…even if he had to destroy everything in sight to do it.
He had nothing to lose anymore, after all.
So let it all burn. Burn the game and all of his bridges. None of it mattered anymore.
"Soon. Soon I'll be free again." Rin muttered to himself as he walked. "So just wait for me. I'm going to put an end to everything. No. Matter. What."
4th Arc: Truths Are Cruel, So Lies Must Be Kind
END
Remaining Students: 8
A/N: So just a fun fact I thought I'd drop on you guys. I was saving this for a Q&A after I finished the story, but I'm gonna share it now.
Someone asked a while back what Rin's name was when spelled with kanji, and I had known this when I first made Rin, but it had been so long that I had forgotten, so I looked it back up, and here's what I found. Please forgive me if I'm using Kanji wrong since I'm a stupid American and don't understand how to use Kanji in an English sentence. I also got this information from Behind the Name, so I don't know if it's completely accurate.
So the Kanji of Rin's name is something like this: 凛 和久理 (Rin Wakuri) or 和久理 凛 (Wakuri Rin)
凛 (rin) meaning "dignified, severe, cold";
和久理 (wakuri)
和 (wa) meaning "harmony, Japan, Japanese style, peace, soften"
久 (ku) meaning "long time, old story"
理 (ri) meaning "arrangement, justice, logic, reason, truth"
So the literal definition in my mind when I first see this stuff would be 'A peaceful old story of justice, logic, and truth that's cold and severe', though the actual literal definition might be something else.
Why am I bringing this up now? No reason… No reason at all…