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Kokichi Ouma pressed the button to the camera and hydraulic press at the same time, pausing both.Coming out from underneath the press was a coatless Kaito Momota. He coughed. Keeping it in while doing that must have been hard.Kaito looked sad, almost. Almost. Kokichi understood that. How could he be sympathetic to someone like him? He didn’t deserve that after what he’d done. He’d killed Miu, he’d killed Gonta, and now he was blackmailing the guy in front of him to kill him.His plan probably wasn’t even going to work, anyways. He knew Kaito well. He was an idiot. Shuichi was too good of a detective…The poison running through his veins were painful. So painful. He hardly had the energy to think.Before stepping into the press, he took off his shirt and his scarf. Kaito looked at him with a questioning look, but he was putting all his energy into moving.He lay on the coat under the press. He guessed Kaito would already be at the buttons.“Now,” he managed to wheeze out. Only barely, though.
Crush.
That was the end of Kokichi Ouma.But that was a lie.
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Kokichi Ouma was the embodiment of a lie.You could never tell what was a lie or the truth. Even he himself didn’t know.That’s why his death was also a lie, though he hadn’t realized it.He woke up on grass. Grass. Grass. Last time he checked, the only grass in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles wasn’t so long.He opened his eyes, and got up. He wasn’t in the Academy anymore. Where was he? It was sort of like Earth, but the colors were too wild; there weren’t any round, pink colored trees on his home planet, was there?He struggled to remember what happened. Then he realized.He was crushed by the hydraulic press. Kaito had killed him. He’d left behind a despairful killing game by dying. But where was he now?Looking around a bit more, he noticed he’d woken up beside a cave. He thought about going in, but decided not to. He didn’t want to get caught up in something he had no idea about. He decided to sit down, leaning against the rock to think over what had just happened.
Okay, now that I’m alive, will I be able to figure out the mastermind? It’s not Kaito, likely not Shuichi, Maki is unlikely, so that leaves Keebo, Himiko and-
His thoughts were cut off when he saw two strange creatures exit the cave. This put him off for a slight bit, but quickly changed his expression to neutral and curious. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen things like this.“So, where to next, pal- wait, who is that?”The voice sounded female. It was coming from this weird blue creature who sort of looked like a horse but standing upright.“I dunno, Syl, but he looks like he needs help!”The second voice was male. It came from an orange, furry creature that sort of looked like a spoon and was wearing a green hat with a star connecting the straps. He was sitting on the horse’s saddle, but soon came off of it after seeing Kokichi.“Howdy, fellow! Folks call me Wander, and this is my pal, Sylvia! May I kindly ask your name?”Wander sounded friendly. But Kokichi knew looks were deceiving. Even the most sweethearted people could turn to murder and betray you, so he took up his prankster act he had in the first moments in the killing game.“Kokichi Ouma, Ultimate Supreme Leader!” he boasted. “And what are you? Some kind of furry spoon?”“Well, actually, Sylvia and I travel the galaxy, helping folks who need help!”Wander hadn’t seemed to take offense to that remark, unlike a certain Ultimate Robot he knew. Sylvia seemed slightly annoyed at this, but she found interest in another statement of his. “Supreme leader of what, exactly?” she asked.Oh, how many times had he heard this question? He knew the answer was about fifteen, actually, but it was just so repetitive. He didn’t let his feelings show, though.“Just the leader of a secret evil organization, that’s all!” he answered like he had done many times before.“Evil organization?” they said in united disbelief.“You know, it’s pretty impressive! My organization has over ten thousand members!” he lied. “Or maybe it doesn’t. Who knows? I’m a liar, after all.”Sylvia breathed a sigh of relief. He had to be lying.“But I was telling the truth about my organization!”“Were you lying or not?” Sylvia groaned.“I’m not telling youuu!” Kokichi teased. Sylvia gave him memories of when he’d teased Kaede the exact same way- or, as a bitter joke he hated himself for making- Kaedead.“So, sir, is there anything we can help with?” Wander asked. “You look a bit lost!”Kokichi put a cheeky look on his face. “Oh? Do you really want to help an evil mastermind like me?”Sylvia sighed. “He helps anybody he finds needs help.” But she liked that part of him, though it got in the way a lot.Wander nodded in confirmation. Kokichi smiled. “Fine, if you want to be an idiot, I won’t stop you!”Inwardly he wondered whether he should tell them about the killing game. It could lead them to think he was the mastermind like he’d tricked the remaining participants, so if there was a huge threat he could stop it in the only way he knew.But he’d let them drop information first, and see if he really should.He needed to know if he could trust anyone. The only person he’d ever let his guard down with in the killing game was Shuichi, and he’d already hated him by the time he warmed up to him.Kokichi got himself standing up. It hurt less to move now that he’d been rid of the poison.The alien things seemed to invite him onto Sylvia’s back, so he reluctantly got on. “So, can you tell me what’s happened lately?” Kokichi asked.“You don’t know?” Sylvia sounded surprised. “Well, an evil tyrant known as Lord Dominator has been... destroying planets, you see. Usually it's just a few villains conquering them, but this time... she's decided to destroy them. Oh, how I'd love to give her a good beating and send her to where she belongs!"Wander cut in, pulling a banjo out from his hat. "You know, we could do with a nice song!" he started singing, playing his banjo. Sylvia had made a bubble around her, and they were leaving the planet they were onKokichi was deep in thought. Big evil. His persona would be useful for something, at least.Sylvia suddenly turned away and started running quickly. Wander had put away his banjo."Dominator!"
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Sylvia was racing away from the ship, while Kokichi had his back turned back to the planet they’d just left.He saw a drill, ever so slowly reaching the planet.Then, it was destroyed.If he wasn’t with the two aliens, he’d probably having a small breakdown. But he managed to keep his composure. After all, he’d seen lots of things lately…He turned his head slightly, keeping a neutral expression. Wander had his head drooped down.Another planet gone, just like that.After a while, Kokichi fully turned around, still sitting on Sylvia’s back. He put on a fake, happy demeanor.“Wow! That was super cool! I want to see that happen more!” he exclaimed. It was a lie, though.He didn’t see her face, but Sylvia seemed annoyed. “This one is hopeless,” she muttered.Wander put his head up. His hand reached under his hat, pulling out his banjo again.Shit, he’s going to sing again, isn’t he? Kokichi thought. He was right.He started singing, presumably to lighten the mood.Kokichi assumed that it was only for himself, since Sylvia didn’t seem to feel the effects.After a while, Sylvia slowed her pace. She was probably too tired to deal with this any longer. She kept walking, but she wasn’t looking ahead. Wander was still singing. Kokichi was thinking.He’d come up with a plan. Much better than anyone else here would, if they took so long.“Wait…” Sylvia stopped.Kokichi looked up. It was a skull. With rockets. Then a tongue came out, and they were swept inside.“Peepers! Who’s this?”A gruffy voice rang out in Kokichi’s ears. He looked up. What happened?Oh yeah. He saw a horse and a spoon. And, uh… a planet was destroyed too.Yeah.Um.What now?He was in a cell. So were Wander and Sylvia. They weren’t reacting much, though, as if they’d seen this a million times before.Then he saw a skeleton, as well as a creature with one eye. He guessed the one who was talking was the skeleton, and the eye was ‘Peepers’.“Ugh, Hater…” that was Sylvia.Wander suddenly smiled brightly. “Hatey! Hi there!” He was waving frantically.The Hater skeleton thing didn’t seem to care about Wander and Sylvia; he was focused on Kokichi.“You! Who are you? Has Wander found another ‘friend’?” he asked, but he was really just shouting.Kokichi smiled a fake smile.“Name’s Kokichi Ouma, Ultimate Supreme Leader! What’s your deal, big guy?” he answered. “I take it you’re supposed to be the biggest bad, right? Sorry, that’s already taken! Nee-hee!”“Grr…” Hater growled. “I’ll have you know that I am Lord Hater, the greatest in the galaxy!” Green lightning shot around him.“But he won’t exactly do anything himself…” Peepers grumbled quietly so that Hater couldn’t hear.“Oh really? You sure about that? I definitely have a way cooler place than you, you know!” Kokichi teased. “I can already tell I have a way better army! Did you know my organization has over 10,000 members?”“Peepers! Why didn’t you tell me about him?!”“I didn’t know about him, sir! He wasn’t on the leaderboard for the greatest villain in the galaxy, either!”“Aha!” Hater turned back to Kokichi. “If you’re the greatest in the galaxy, why aren’t you on the leaderboard?”“Because my organization’s a secret, silly! And now that you know about it…” he paused, doing a creepy smile. “I’m going to have to kill you.” Meanwhile, on Dominator’s ship…She was laughing in a villain-like way. “Haha! That was so fun! If only I could see some idiots get all sappy over that precious planet being destroyed.”She’d finished cleaning her guest bathroom, and headed over to her control room.“Oh, well, I’ll get to see them later.” She turned, her bots behind her and at her command.“Bot 13, locate the next easiest planet to destroy.”It showed her a planet.“Alright! I’d best get going then.” She laughed. This would be easy!She had her full suit on now, and was readying her ship for the next planet.
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Sylvia just looked at him. So did the Peepers thing. They were probably thinking, why did you say that?Oh well. Too late now. He had to keep that evil thing going.Hater paused for a bit, staring at him menacingly. “You can’t kill me! I’m the greatest, and I will conquer every planet in the universe!”“Really? Then what’s this about Dominator destroying everything?”Silence.Peepers looked at Hater, using his eyelid to make it look like he was raising an eyebrow. “Exactly why we need to start conquering planets again…” he mumbled.“Well, Dominator… can do that! Yeah! Since we’re dating! Yes, we’re totally dating!”Peepers and Sylvia eye-palmed. Somehow, Kokichi doubted that.“Oh, lovesick, are you?” he teased.“Shut up!” Hater cried.Wander walked in between them. “Now, fellas, let’s not get ahead of ourselves!” he said in his usual, cheerful tone. “You know what this calls for? The Greatest in the-”“I’m not doing that again! You beat me last time!” Hater interrupted.Wander put his hands behind his back innocently, swaying. “Now, come on, Hatey! It’s the only way to-”“Stop it!”“It’ll be fun!”“No, it won’t!”“Come on, you know it will!” he smiled greatly.Kokichi yawned. “Man, you two are boring. I wanna see him cower in fear! Come on, Hater! Get on the ground and beg like a dog!” he was about to add ‘and slit your stomach too’, but Hater was a skeleton and that wouldn’t actually work very well.“Beg for your life!” he pressed. Haha, get it? Press? Nevermind, I can’t make a funny joke for the life of me.“I don’t beg!” Hater protested. He was getting angry, green sparks flowing from him. A panicked Sylvia grabbed him and Wander, making a bubble around them. “Let’s skidaddle!” she said before racing out of the ship.In the distance, Kokichi could hear angry shouting coming from something that sounded somewhat like Spongebob Squarepants.Sylvia sighed. “Let’s get this out of the way- were you serious about killing us and all?”He put his arms behind his head, smiling casually. “Yep!”“And is there any way to save our lives…?”He seemed thoughtful. “There is one way…”“And…?”“You have to beat me in a game!” he said finally.“A… game…” She sighed. What was she going to do with this kid?“Well, I’ll gladly have a turn at this game!” Wander offered. Maybe, deep inside, he was just really insecure and lonely and needed someone to play with!Kokichi made a creepy smile.No Kokichi you’re scaring the children, don’t do that >:(“Alright, first, you need to play a Shadow Game! It’s time to du-du-du-du-duel!”Wander looked at him curiously, but unlike Shuichi, he didn’t look as unsure. He looked quite eager to start playing, in fact.“Hmhmhmhm…” he put a finger up to his mouth. “Yes, the loser will get sent to the Realm Shadow Realm! We each pull one card from this deck,” he pulled out a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, “and whoever has the largest number wins!”He put down the cards, and put a hand on them. “It’s my turn! I draw a card!”And, so Kokichi drew a card. A seven, like he’d expected. “...Hehehe, the power of the Heart of the Cards is strong within me. I drew the number 7! It is neither high nor low! The possibility of you winning drops to 50%!” He went through the exact same script he’d done with Shuichi.“Huhuhu... I end my turn. Now, it's your turn! Draw your card, and unleash your attack!”Wander drew a card. “Huh, a seven, just like you… I guess we’re really meant to be friends!” he beamed.Kokichi put on a shocked, bewildered expression, sweat coming down his forehead. “Wh-What!? How can this be!? You drew the Monster Reborn card!?” he said the exact same things as with Shuichi, once again. There was no need to differ the script now.“Nee-heeheehee... You truly are an amazing duelist, Shu-Wander. You aimed for a tie instead... You intrigue me.”…How did he slip up?Was he used to saying the names of his classmates so much?He shouldn’t have said that.But Wander didn’t seem to notice, and Sylvia hadn’t been listening.“But, this is the end for you! I'd let you live only if you had beaten me! You only have three events left in your life, so you better entertain me until then!” He played it cool, like it had never happened. “Nee-heehee…”Wander didn’t seem fazed at all. “Well, then! I’d love to get to know you better in those three events! I know it’ll be amazing!” He took his hat off, and tucked himself into it. “Well, I’d guess we better hit the hay! G’night.” He closed his eyes.Kokichi didn’t reply. He stayed up for a bit, then finally rested. Staying awake would do him no good. He had nothing to calculate …Dominator was heading towards the next planet that Bot 13 had recommended, and noticed a small bubble. Looking closer, she noticed those idiots that had been on her ship before- and someone unfamiliar.She shrugged.They’d been fun the first time around. She laughed as she thought of all the ways to emotionally destroy them.“Yeah… this will be great.”