Hollow Lies (Danganronpa)

Chapter 11 ~ Playing Their Part

Everyone stood at their podiums, not daring to speak or look at anyone. The only voice that could be heard was Monokuma repeating his usual dialogue. Anger seethed from the students, hoping that this time it would be Monokuma that a Monokub would kill. But that wouldn't be till later, when someone would be executed. Shuichi began to feel sick, wanting to see anything but another person die. Miu's body flashed through his mind. Her ghostly pale face forever frozen in a look of terror as her hands clawed at her neck for air. There was no doubt that she was dead. And now, they would have to find the culprit who caused this.

Kokichi could feel all eyes on him. Especially Kiibo's. It made sense. This had been what he wanted from the start. No one trusted him and he didn't trust them. But it couldn't work like that now. He needed them to believe him. Then again, it wouldn't be so bad if they did vote wrong. Then everyone would get what Kokichi felt they deserved. He'd laugh as they all began to die, causing him to chuckle out loud back in reality. This caused a look of fear from some of the students, as if this behavior was new to them.

Shuichi gave a look of annoyance before clearing his throat, getting everyone's attention. "Let's get this over with."

...

Gonta stared at the flashlight Kokichi held in his hand, blinking a couple times as he came back to reality. He could have sworn Kokichi had been smirking for a split second, but all he saw was a worried expression.

"What is it," Kokichi asked. "What did you see?"

"F-Fire," Gonta mumbled, obviously having troubles forming words. "G-Gonta saw... s-saw..." He fell onto this knees, staring at the ground with a horrified look.

"What? Tell me!"

"Gonta can't... Friends should not know what Gonta has seen."

Kokichi struggled to stop his on coming smirk, walking closer to Gonta. "What do you mean? It showed you the outside world, right?"

Gonta suddenly looked up. "Outside bad!"

"B... Bad?" He pretended to be clueless, knowing Gonta wouldn't think twice.

"Bad..." Tears made their way down Gonta's face. "Friends were wrong. No leaving the academy. It bad." He began to sob. "It bad everywhere!"

If Kokichi was being honest, part of him felt bad for Gonta. Though he knew what Gonta saw wasn't true, he couldn't tell the truth. It would ruin everything. And yet, he couldn't help but quickly hug him. Kokichi wanted to stay like that in hope that everything would be alright in the end. But he knew what had to be done, soon pushing Gonta away.

"Okay," Kokichi started, wiping away a few tears that had escaped. "What do we do now? Should we tell everyone?"

"No," Gonta yelled. "Kokichi tell no one what Gonta saw!"

Just as planned, Kokichi thought. "Then, what do we do?"

Gonta was silent for a second. His eyes showed complete and utter despair. "What is... point of living... if everything bad?" He barely managed to choke out those words, looking away from Kokichi.

Kokichi knew this was it. This was going to be the final push. He held back a laugh, approaching Gonta once again. "Maybe... we shouldn't live..."

...

That had done it. Just like that, Gonta agreed to murder Miu. Kokichi told Gonta about the secret Miu was keeping and how they could work out the perfect murder. The second Miu stepped onto the roof top, they attacked. All Gonta had to do was wrap some toilet paper around Miu's neck and squeeze. Miu fell to the ground, dead. That's when Kokichi left Gonta to clear up the mess while he distracted the others. But he hadn't counted on Gonta failing at hiding the evidence, leading the others finding it in plain sight on the other side of the barrier. From there, it was only a matter of minutes before the detective uncovered the truth.

"And that is why the blackened is you," Shuichi shouted with a pained expression. "Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate Entomologist."

Everyone stared at Gonta in shocked and disbelief, waiting- no, hoping he would refute the claim. But there was nothing to deny. Everything Shuichi had said was true. Gonta looked over at Kokichi, beginning to plea for an explanation. He wanted to hear it from Kokichi himself. However, instead of an answer, Kokichi slightly started to cry. This changed everyone's attention to himself. He fell to the ground, gripping onto the podium as if his life depended on it.

No one but Kokichi knew what was happening. It was another memory. One that seemed more painful then all the others. He was climbing up a tree, voices yelling from behind him, taunts being thrown his way. Once safely in the tree, he looked down at the two people who probably scared him more than anyone else in the school. Well, one could be at a close second.

Shuichi and a girl he recently met. If his memory was right, her name was Miu and she was the biggest slut in school. Only made sense for Shuichi to know her. But this meant bad news for Kokichi. The two had teamed up to kidnap Kokichi and try out a few new toys Miu bought online. They attempted to grab him while he was on his way home but he managed to make a run for it. Miu tried to claw her way up the tree but failed miserably. Shuichi, on the other hand, got up there with little to know problems.

Kokichi screamed despite knowing it was no use. No one would come to his rescue. As Shuichi crawled closer, Kokichi scooted back, soon reaching the end of the tree branch.

"Kokichi," Shuichi cooed. "You're going to hurt yourself. Come on. Let's get down from here."

He reached out to Kokichi, who screamed in response.

Before anyone could react, someone grabbed Shuichi by his leg and pulled him down. Miu screamed before running off, soon being followed by Shuichi. Kokichi stared in shock as he looked down, seeing a tall, muscular male staring back at him. The male had long, messy brown hair and wore glasses. Next to him was a girl Kokichi recognized. Her name was Tenko. She was the only friend Kokichi had at this school, seeming to always show up in time to save him.

"Thanks, Gonta," Tenko said before looking up at Kokichi and smiling.

"No problem," Gonta said. "Are you okay?" He grabbed Kokichi from the tree and gently got him down.

Despite Gonta's friendly behavior, Kokichi screamed in fear. He knew it wouldn't take much for Gonta to snap him in half, striking absolute fear into him.

"Kokichi, calm down," Tenko said. "Gonta is on our side."

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🌿Finally changed the cover. What do y'all think of it?🌿