Danganronpa/D4DJ One-Shots

5 Perjuries, 1 Truth Bullet

"Didja get them?" Kurumi demanded, bouncing up and down, tiny hands clenched into even tinier fists as she stared up at Kokichi with fierce, narrowed eyes. By contrast, Kokichi's were closed, and there was a casual, amicable smile on his face as he sauntered over to her.

"I don't know," he said, shrugging innocently. "It depends on whether or not you trust what's in this box!" He reached behind himself slowly, then he whipped out a wrapped container of Christmas cookies. Kurumi's narrow eyes widened.

"Then that means... we did it! 'Kichi, we did it!" Her tiny fists shot up. Obviously, as any little girl, she loved cookies, but for her in particular, even sweeter than the treats were the tricks. Kokichi may have been the one to actively swipe the box from the family kitchens, but Kurumi helped design the plan he executed. That, in fact, was the true goal of the holiday heist. It wasn't just the extra Christmas gift, it was testing Kurumi's cleverness and cunning. Could she live up to her big brother's legacy of lies?

The Prince of Pranks and Thieves jokingly bowed as he presented Kurumi with the box. She took it from him, brown eyes glittering.

"Shall we open it together?" Her voice was soft and sweet. She set the box on the ground between them and sat down, gesturing for him to take the other side and lean over it just as far as she was.

Clever girl, Kokichi grinned. Although, he thought, as toy snakes lunged at his and Kurumi's face, it WAS a rather elementary trick...

The grin on his face stayed pleasant, light, and amused, and he fought hard to keep it that way. "Not bad, kiddo," he said, picking up a cookie, cracking it in half, and giving her one as he bit into the other. Kurumi beamed, chomping into the cookie. A second later, it came back up and Kokichi nearly did the same, but while Kurumi was disgusted, he was in hysterics.

"Oatmeal raisin?!"

...but there was a REASON it was elementary! Oh, sis, I love how hard you try, but you're still a long way from the Princess of Pranks!

ooo

"LIES! THAT'S ALL IT IS! LIES AND SCANDAL! You know how the tabloids are!"

"But even if the stories are lies, the tests..."

"Were tampered with, I'm telling you!"

Complete opposites to their parents, Kurumi and Kokichi sat in different rooms, dead silent, and on different pages. Their parents were fighting, but at least they could agree that they were enemies. Much more despairfully, only one of the two children saw the other as "an enemy".

Oh, 'Kichi... Kurumi sat on her bed, arms wrapped around her legs. She pulled them even tighter against her chest. That was how she knew it was bad. The only time she ever called him "'Kichi" was as a very young child, when his full name was too hard for her to say. She was older than that now, though, much older, in middle school! No longer a toddler, and yet...

She couldn't bring herself to admit it, even to herself, but she certainly felt like one. The only difference, she had even less of a family than ever before. At birth, her brother was distant, and her parents tumultuous, but it was never this bad before—not just the fighting, but the distance between Kurumi and Kokichi.

It's... like... something... out of one of those stupid movies I'm always hearing Mom complain about, or Kokichi laugh at! Kurumi thought bitterly, biting her lip in a failed at stifling her sobs. They still ripped free. All she was doing was leaving painful bitemarks around her lips, but half of her mind didn't care, and the other half considered the pain well-deserved.

Even though it was beyond her control, that didn't make the cliché, tragic tale of infidelity any less intolerable. In the days to come, as the family slowly fell apart from pressures inside and out, Kurumi would never forget the haunted look that came across Kokichi's face during dinner one night. He gave an unhinged, unsettling laugh.