Entertaining a Small Thought

4th Arc Part 10: Cold Flame

"Well, look at that! You voted correctly! Congratulations, you guys!" Monokuma cheered. "Give yourselves a hand! Let me hear your joyful voices!" He neither got cheers, nor joyful voices. All he got was silence and quiet sobs from the group of students.

"Ah-hem! I said, let me hear your joyful voices!" Monokuma tried again, but again, he didn't get any kind of response that time either, making him sigh loudly. "Geez, they're all just moping around! They should be happy for themselves!"

"..." Monodam continued to stare blankly into the distance, neither agreeing with his father nor saying anything to comfort the survivors. And yet, his silence had its own air of sadness in it, one his father chose to ignore.

"Hey, Kokichi... I thought you said this would liven things up. I know you said you were planning on some kind of mercy kill or something like that, but I thought that was just another lie to trick everyone into believing you. So what gives?" Monokuma asked. "I even gave you that flashback light with the motive-the secret of the outside world in it to help you do that."

"Ah-haha, it's just like I told you. That was juuust a lie." Kokichi smirked playfully.

"Oh, so it was just a lie." Monokuma giggled.

"Why are you just laughing that off!?" Tenko shouted.

"Are you satisfied, Kokichi?" Shuichi asked pointedly. "I want you to tell us. What is the 'outside world'? Why exactly did you set all of this up?"

"Why don't you ask Rin about that?" Kokichi asked before tilting his head over to where Rin was and giving an even wider smirk. "Well, I guess you can't, considering that sad state he's in. Good job, by the way. Way to completely shatter his spirit."

"That wasn't Shuichi's fault!" Kaede immediately shouted, her face turning a shade of red as she yelled. "How dare you try to pin that on Shuichi! This is all your fault!"

"She's not wrong. You were the one who kickstarted this entire thing. If you hadn't manipulated Gonta and proceeded with that suicide plan of yours, none of this would have even happened." Rantaro frowned as he crossed his arms.

"Indeed. While Maki has been declared the blackened for this trial, you are just as at fault for these deaths." Kirumi added before her small frown deepened as she stole a glance at Rin, who was still just staring off at nothing as if still trying to process something in his mind. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say he was still trying to figure out how to deny it in his mind. "I must say, the fact that you will be unpunished despite your part in this mess is...particularly frustrating."

"Nee-heehee... Hate the game, not the player." Kokichi told her with a childish laugh that completely lacked any sort of remorse. "Well, I do plan to explain everything to you all, but it's more like, how do I say it...? You guys are just gonna assume it's a lie if you hear it from my cute lips."

"Then I'll explain my part in this mess first. I'd rather you not waste any time since these are my final moments." Maki sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh? Are you saying you aren't scared of your appending death, Maki-roll?" Kokichi asked with a smile. Maki immediately shot him a dirty glare when she heard what he said.

"Don't. EVER. Call me that." Maki growled in a voice that boarded on pure evil before the menacing aura disappeared completely as if Maki couldn't even be bothered to keep up the pressure at this point in time. "But no. I'm not. Not really. I was taught a long time ago that those that kill should always be prepared to be killed themselves. Terrible people like me, no matter what we do or how we try to change, just aren't meant to have peaceful, happy lives. That's why things ended up like this. It's just who I am as a person. It's only fair, I guess. A life of blood can only end bloody as well."