Disguised Feelings | Kokichi Oma x Reader

5 | Finale

((Temporarily off of hiatus, just wanted to get this out since it's the last chapter.))
When Saihara met me after school, something unexpected happened - I listened to him. We were sitting on a bench in the local park after school. I didn't pick at the peeling pine paint; it reminded me too much of how I behaved around Kokichi. I still couldn't wrap my head around why he'd keep lying to me. Before he kissed me I was a puppet on a string for him. So why did someone as logical as him have to ruin what could have been? Maybe it was for the best: maybe it was a toxic relationship all along.
"Y/N, I... understand that this may be a difficult task for you."
"I'm listening."
"I've had a word with my boss and he agreed that it would be best to tell you flat out rather than be so ambiguous. So, I hope you'r ready to listen."
"I am."
"Good."
He took a deep breath, closing his petrol blue eyes.
"Kokichi Oma has been the subject of conversation in a lot of my conversations with Kirigiri and Hinata as of late. We've found evidence of him murdering DICE."
I shivered from how to-the-point his tone was.
"G-Go on." I hiccuped, trying to hold his gaze,
"Kirigiri and I tracked down his base, and Hinata has constructed a plan on how to capture Kokichi if he is the culprit... but..."
"But what?"
"I... believe that Kokichi wouldn't have killed DICE. I needed to sneak into his base and record his behaviour so that I could find something, anything, that could defend his case. That's where you came in."
I opened my mouth before closing it again. If he didn't know about my feelings for Kokichi, then he couldn't exploit them, and by extension me, for whatever he was planning.
"Kokichi has a room filled to the brim with clown costumes, which he also conveniently has what I figured is a board of plans. I needed a clown costume so that I could blend in."
I gave it a second to sink in, to let these ideologies settle and wrap around my mind.
"So?" Was all I managed to say.
"So, I need your assistance one last time - help me prove Oma's innocence." He held out his hand for me to shake.
"No tricks? You genuinely want to prove Oma's innocence."
"No tricks. No actors. Are you willing to work with me?"

Y/N had been making a conscious effort to avoid me. Weird, I thought that after my bold move she'd be all over me. I was walking to DICE's base and sat alone in the gloom.
I sighed. A long, dramatic sigh.
"Kokichi."
I heard a voice from down the corridor.
"Kokichi."
Why was it getting louder?
"Kokcihi!"
"What?" I yelled back, propping myself upright as I stopped leaning my back against the wall.
"I want a confession right now."
Anxiously, I backed towards the upstairs. Why I didn't up and bolt it out the door is beyond me, but I recognised the voice.
"Kokichi Oma, I said I want a confession. Why did you kill DICE?"
I recognised the bright and dazzling e/c eyes that pierced - no, studded - the darkness, through the eye-slits of a mask. "I won't ask nicely again."
The silver of a knife sliced through the dark.
"Y/N? Wait, no no no, you must be mistaken, I—"
Footsteps sped up towards me, and I felt the backs of my wrists hit the cold aged wall. Usually I was able to squirm out of tough situations like this one (both in a literal and metaphorical sense). Something cold, something sharp, was against my neck.
"Answer me."
I was shaking so much. I didn't cry, though, I never cried unless it was for a guilt trip. I swallowed my answer thickly and continued to squirm. She switched her mask as if by magic. And again. And again. She was like all of DICE in one person, switching between personas.
"Good God, you're stubborn!" The figure that I refused to accept the identity of pushed me against the wall, and the back of my head started to hurt. Finally, her actual mask was the one staring at me.
I tried so hard to laugh it off, but the heartbeat that was pulsating in my throat drowned out my chuckle. "Y/N, or whoever the hell made you do this, I want you to know something about me. If you want something from me," While I distracted her with my (admittedly) fabulous violet gaze, I wriggled free. "You have to come and get it!"
And with that, the chase began.

It was like something straight out of a chasing horror game - I flew through the corridors, trying to find the short student, even pulling out the torch on my phone to try and spot him better (since the lights didn't work too well). This sadly just gave him an indication of where I was, so he could run to the other side of the apartment block, until I realised that I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Why was he making this even more difficult for me? Why couldn't he just trust me? After his emotional manipulation, it was the least I deserved. I heard breathing as I passed a door, the numbers four-zero-four proudly marking it in metal.
I pushed it open, and it creaked with weak protest. I saw Kokichi crouched over a box, the same metallic box that I'd had the audacity to peek in, and was staring blankly at some of the polaroids.
"Kokichi," I sighed, on the verge of breaking this facade I'd created for myself. "Kokichi... t-tell me you didn't kill DICE. If you just confess you'll be safe from the police."
"I don't care about being safe."
"Please... please!" I was practically begging on my knees at this point, on the verge of tears. "I know that you don't love me and you only used emotion to manipulate me. It worked and I don't want you to be framed for murder! Please, Kokichi, prove to me that D-DICE is alive!"
"Slow down." He crouched down to my level and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I have a number of things I want to say but... this is my priority."
Slowly, the supreme leader kissed me on the cheek, not breaking eye contact after we parted.
"Kokichi, I've already been played into your hands. Why must you keep manipulating me like this?!"
"I'm not lying when I say I love you, Y/N. That is why I'll confess to you right now. Saihara, you come too."
Kokichi glanced towards the corner of the room, where shallow shaky breaths were erupting from the dusty cabinet.
The boy dressed in black sighed and busted out of the cabinet, trudging up the stairs behind us.
He took me to my old work room, and I found myself staring intently at him. We were partners in 'crime', partners in general. Well, I wanted to be his other half, but I still couldn't tell if he was lying just to get me wrapped around his finger.
Hauling a heavy metal case out of the corner of his room, rubbing his finger across the lock.
"No dust."
Confused, Saihara asked him to elaborate.
"I hadn't touched this box in years, so dust collected on the lock. When somebody clumsily opened it, it left traces of dust missing and an estimate for how large the hand that touched it was. See?"
He placed one of his pale, small, dainty hands in a handprint that was just beginning to collect dust again.
"I knew that it was your hands, Y/N. For the Ultimate Disguise Artist, you sure are clumsy. So, I know you think DICE and I have been close for years."
Slowly, shakily, I nodded.
"Well, it's a lie. DICE doesn't exist."
A pause. A thick, ugly pause.
"What?" I whispered.
"I commissioned Angie to draw lifelike sketches of who... who I wanted to lead." He licked his index finger and smeared the colours of the 'photograph'.
"If I get Angie's alibi, it's partial evidence." Shuichi confirmed aloud. He flicked his gaze to Kokichi. "Then why did you ask Y/N to join DICE if it wasn't real?"
"You snitched on me Y/N?" Kokichi didn't sound hurt - merely amused.
"Y-Yes..."
"Well, I said I'd always wanted to lead DICE. I loved the way you did your costumes, and made some excuse about needed disguises. I just wanted you to be my partner in all of this."
"He could be lying." Saihara warned, though it sounded like he was just filtering his skeptical thoughts aloud.
Kokichi lifted my chin up and kissed me. I blushed bright red, before pulling away.
The purple haired boy turned to Shuichi. "Enough proof for you?"
"No, that could be an empty action... but it does seem to fit with your story. Also, it makes sense that you wouldn't kill your closest allies." Decisively holding the end of his hat bill, Saihara stood up and turned to leave. "Well, thanks for... almost immediately compromising."
And with that, the SHSL Detective had what he needed to defend Kokichi.
Meanwhile, Kokichi was smirking at me in a dark room.
"Do you believe that I'm not lying?"
"Kiss me one more time and I'll believe it.

The end.

Word count - 1573.