Kokichi's voice trailed off as he stared down at the body below. He felt his legs wobble underneath him as his vision began to blur. He grabbed onto the railing, closing his eyes in some sort of way to steady himself.

T-There had to be a way, that body wasn't him.. right? Kokichi was pleading that Shuichi had survived.. or that the whole thing was some sort of ploy to trap the mastermind of the game. Although, Shuichi had never said who the mastermind was, he liar was definitely sure that there was one..

But Shuichi had jumped by choice.. he had seen him jump.. and fall.. and heard him land, crashing down onto the ground below.

He broke out of his trance and shook his head, finally choosing to run down to the ground to check for himself.. to confirm what he was dreading to find..

Kokichi shakily took ahold of the door handle of the roof and opened it, stumbling with every step; he kept missing his footing on the steps but he carried on nethertheless. The purple haired male slowly edged into the courtyard, preparing to walk out and see nothing. No body, no anything.

Even he knew that that was probably extremely unlikely.. he had seen Shuichi fall.. but that little bit of hope.. that little strand of hope tethering him to the situation, one of the many things that Shuichi had taught him.. it was the only thing keeping him able to carry on.

Hope is a funny little thing. One part of it helps you to strive for the only better alternative.. or the lighter path forward. It helps you put one foot in front of another with each day that passes and continue on and never give in. The other side of hope is much darker than the lighter side. It drowns out all sense of purpose and it fills your head with darkness and extreme doubt. It grasps onto your limbs and starts to twist. With every ongoing second, you become distorted and irregular, your soul being dragged through the deepest depths of hell, like it's being scraped and coated in black, thick tar.

That is what hope can do.

A dagger through the heart. That's what it felt like to see the detective's body sprawled out across the floor, his body close to pailing completely. He stumbled over in his direction, his clumsy walk turning into a high paced run.

"Shuichi.. no.. SHUICHI!" He called out, still sprinting towards the limp body in front of him. As he got closer and closer, he spied the Ultimate Assassin also run towards Shuichi's body with what looked to be fear coating her expression.

~

Kokichi crashed down onto his knees, staring blankly, but intently at the body. He carefully placed his hand on to Shuichi's forehead, just in a last minute attempt to check whether he really was.. alive and breathing.

Artistmysterious did this one and the two after it, you'll see them further down! His face is just completely perfect along with the style and the whole scene.. it's just.. ah! I love it! So go follow them and check out their story, the cover is their own artwork!

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He was undoubtedly stone cold.

"S..Shuichi.." Kokichi's voice was meek and quiet. His stare was blank.. almost emotionless. It was the biggest lie that he had had to try and convince himself of, that he needed to make himself believe.

'Shuichi is dead.. a-and that's f-fine..'

He couldn't let his guard down now.

'It's f-fine..'

He looked back down at the body, his resolve starting to crack. "I..It's f-fine!" His pained voice was covered up by a quiet bundle of laughter which slowly mutated into large bellows of loving agony.

Maki looked across at him, her own face pale. It was clear to see that laughter.. joking, lying even was the smaller boy's defence mechanism. And after what he had seen, it was obvious why he was acting like this.

The assassin had witnessed the entire thing with her own two eyes. Maki had been waiting for Kaito for their nightly training together.. when she heard the screams from the top of the rooftop.

All she could do in that moment was nothing. She was an assassin, h-how was she frozen when her friend, a person who trusted her deeply, was about to die? If anything, she had let him down because she let him fall. Yes, an assassin's job was to kill without emotions but, with Shuichi, she should have acted.

She gently looked down at the body, placing her warm hand to Shuichi's face. 'I'll protect Kokichi from anything and anyone who may try and hurt him.' She made a promise that she was not going to break.

Kokichi's laughter slowly trailed off as he noticed the assassin's hand on the detective's cheek, his expression darkening. "Y-You.. Y-You.. YOU SAW THE WHOLE DAMN THING, DIDN'T YOU?" A dark shadow formed over his eyes as he shouted, "Y-YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!"

Maki flinched, hearing his voice being absorbed by so much pain and hatred. "Kokichi.. there was nothing I could of d-"

She was cut off by laughter. Not sain laughter.. but an unhinged guffaw of sounds. His eyes were twirling with grey circles, round and round like a carousel. He took one more look down at Shuichi's body, tears now forming along with the cackles.

The whole scene was difficult to watch. Kokichi had completely lost control. It was the grief that had overpowered him now; taken over his entire body. This was what a supreme leader was meant to look like.

Deranged and unhinged. A crooked smile laced with malice attached loosely with a pale face and empty black eyes.

Maki stood up swiftly and grabbed him up by his scarf, firmly holding him there. She raised her hand to him and slapped him around the face stiffly. "KOKICHI, SNAP OUT OF IT! DO YOU THINK SHUICHI WOULD APPRECIATE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS?!"

His reply came along with a heavy smirk. "Like you'd know. You never saw him in a friendly light Maki!~ You saw him as an obligation, don't try and take the high ground now!" He started to taunt her with his words, almost making a rhyme out of them.

She brought her hand down onto his face again, her own expression filled with anger. "I said, snap out of it." Maki's instruction was firm and direct, "Are you really that blind to think that Shuichi would do this to himself?"

Kokichi remained smiling, his expression not faltering. For now, he would have to keep his pain on the inside, like he should have done since the beginning. "Look at you, already replacing him as a detective!~"

Maki shook her head, huffed then let Kokichi go, his body slumping back down onto the ground. "I'm going to see whether I can find the bear. You do you, I suppose."

She turned away from him and sprinted off towards the school building, leaving the liar and the detective alone together.

Kokichi turned to Shuichi's body, his smile flickering. He reached over and placed his hand on Shuichi's, focusing on the detective's beautiful features on last ti-

Wait a moment.

What was that?

That shouldn't be there.

Kokichi's eyes transfixed on something underneath Shuichi's body, between his head and his lower back. He gently shifted Shuichi to one side to see what it was.

"M-Monomi..?!"

The rabbit twitched, "The assassin girl couldn't see me.. but you can. I couldn't let him sacrifice himself like that!"

Kokichi's eyes widened as his gaze snapped back to Shuichi, quickly checking his pulse.

There was a heartbeat. It was extremely weak and fragile, but it was there. It was extremely surprising that he actually was alive, especially due to his ghost like face.

The smaller boy took a shaky exhale in relief, cursing himself for not checking earlier. It was like, just seeing his body hit the floor, he knew that he was dead. Kokichi knew that Shuichi was strong but it never crossed his mind that he actually survived the fall..

"Wait a minute.. Monomi.. what did you say?~"

The rabbit tilted her head in confusion. "Could you narrow it down a little bit?"

"Did you said 'sacrifice'?"