✧ Chapter 66 ✧
[ No Matter the Cost ]
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[ Kokichi's PoV ]

Trusting that all of the bodies would be unconscious, I took no chances and unslung my bag. My hands shook as I brought out vials of colourless liquid. The Removal serum..

All Shuichi and I had to do was take the Reverse serum's recipe and tweak it slightly. And of course, if it wasn't for Seiko Kimura's notes, I never would've discovered the technicalities of making the serums in the first place..

I ignored the constant buzzing from my phone, focusing on each and every person I had to bring back.

Everyone seemed to be accounted for.. those which were killed by Monokuma's hands (or, paws), those killed by the Hospital.. and so many more.

The machine was the object which created us all anyway.. don't ask me the technicalities, since I've got no time for that. Let's just say it takes random characteristics and piles them together and BAM. One modified human at your service.

"Shuichi better be grateful.." I muttered to myself, double checking and making sure that I had everyone back. Some were familiar faces, and some were not. I had to move them out of the building, but that was a problem for later.

After I was satisfied that every person was around, I started injecting each and every one of the bodies in turn. They had to have the Removal serum, in case they kept their old memories.. I wasn't taking any chances.

"Is that every guard?" Kaito's strained voice called out from behind me as soon as I finished injecting the last unconscious person's arm.

I straightened up, glancing over at my friends.

"Seems like it.." Nikei called, climbing down from the catwalk with Teruya in tow. Blood spilled to the floor as they walked.

The merchant's arm seemed to have been grazed by a bullet, while Nikei had a cut on his cheek. But overall, they seemed pleased with themselves.

"Are you done?" Teruya asked as he wrapped the bandage tightly around his arm, wincing as he did so. "'Cause we have to go in about forty minutes.."

"The Removal serum should take effect in exactly thirty-eight minutes." Kaito reported, brushing a strand of his gelled hair away from his face. "And.. we might've killed too many guards."

"The more the merrier." I smirked, making Nikei smack my head. Ouch.

"Not funny. But then again, we have to destroy the machine don't we? We can't have people taking it and creating themselves an army.."

At the word 'army' we all knew who exactly he was referring to. Sure, people can create Junko again but the machine couldn't create something out of nothing.

And when I had shot Junko in the head all those years ago, I made sure to crush her body with a hydraulic press nearby. Leaving nothing but a splatter of pink blood trailing down the sides.

I made sure all her possessions were crushed with her, so that no one could ever recreate her with the Creator's machine.

And.. the journalist had a point.. we had to destroy it in case people somehow manages to find a way to recover Junko.

"But first." Teruya spoke, rummaging through his bag to bring out.. a purple permanent marker and a phonebook? The marker was the kind you could get at a stationary store, but the book was stuffed with small notes and bookmarks.

"What's that supposed to do?" Kaito scoffed, folding his arms as his multi coloured eyes flickered again, "Write down addresses?"

"My thoughts exactly, astroboy." The green haired teenager grinned as Kaito looked annoyed at the nickname, "Now start writing the addresses on their arms, and when they wake up, they should walk back home on their own."

"And.. what if they don't?" I questioned, putting a finger to my chin, "What if they decide to be all: 'Hey. This alleyway looks fun to live in. Why not I just stay here for the rest of my life?' Have you thought about that?"

"Oh." Teruya looked stumped as we stood around in silence. And well, the stench of blood was getting to me, since there were corpses strewn everywhere from the gunfight. I could almost hear the sound of everyone's brains working, to try and figure out how to get these bodies home-.

"I got it!" I snapped my fingers, "It's stupidly obvious, but why not we just write down Hope's Peak's address and when they wake up, they would make their way to school."

"Yeah.. no." Nikei frowned, "I think it'll be safer if everyone started fresh. Like, I'd wake up in my home, and get to school.. with my family.. you said we had to start with a clean slate don't we?"

Technically, Shuichi said that, but I wondered how he knew. Perhaps I forgot to turn off the speaker for my phone again or maybe he was poking his nose into my business. Like Tsumugi, (and countless other fangirls and fanboys) they loved to ship Shuichi and I.

I shrugged. "Fine. But if one of our friends don't turn up for school tomorrow, we have to check the alleyways."

"Deal." Kaito said, taking the marker from Teruya as my phone beeped twice. Twenty more minutes..

I sighed to myself, watching Nikei, Teruya and Kaito move the rest of the bodies outside, where they would be safe. "Estos cuerpos son pesados.." he complained in what sounded like a different language.

"Oh quit complaining, you're such a weakling.." Nikei muttered to him, making the merchant nearly drop a body and launch into what sounded like rapid fire Spanish.

I almost forgot that the merchant traveled around the world a long time ago and could pick up languages like nobody's business. Though sometimes no one could understand him.

Looking down at the control panels, I pressed a hand against the surface and swiped up.

Names of the the people I've recently 'created' scrolled past. After what seemed to be minutes of scrolling, there, at the very bottom, was the name 'Shuichi Saihara' from eighteen years ago. And near his name.. was mine.

"Soulmates, huh." I smiled to myself. Seems like we were 'created' around the same time. Well, looks like this was the end of the line.. people were allowed to love again, as soon as the next day began. They were free to do whatever they wanted.. and that was enough.

I wanted to leave my old memories in the deepest place in my mind.. buried so deep, I never wanted to remember them.

Taking out the poker card from my jacket, I flipped it over, remembering the day we played that game of 'trust'. His hand touching mine and our eyes meeting.

Holding the card close to my chest,  I looked down at the red 'Destruct' button. After a series of passwords and puzzles I had to go through, I was granted access to finally destroy the machine..

"Let's hope everything goes back to normal.." I muttered under my breath, before my hand hit-

bang

—!

"Kokichi!" Kaito shouted but I staggered backwards, falling against the railing behind me. Blood spilled from my shoulder wound, making me immediately use my other hand to try and stem the blood flow.

"What happened?!" Nikei's voice called out as Kaito, dragged me away from another burst of gunshot, the bullet nearly hitting us.

"Someone, standing up at those platforms." Teruya reported, looking up through the metal beams as I tried not to cry out from the pain. Sure, I had been beaten up a few times, bruised here and there, but a gunshot? Totally new. The merchant muttered something, "Al diablo con las sorpresas. It's a weirdo-."

"Oh stop saying incomprehensible things in Spanish we don't know, you weirdo." Nikei interrupted him instead and raised his gun up to the figure.

"You actually thought I wouldn't avenge my sister?" an unfamiliar voice called out, cold and serious. "I was so close to bringing her back.. if it wasn't for your meddling.."

A figure leapt down from the platform they were standing on and onto the floor. Any average human would instantly break their ankles but the person landed perfectly, the barrel of a gun pointed straight at my eyes.

Her choppy black hair swept past one pale purple eye, with freckles and a grin expression. She wore a simple soldier's uniform, green and grimy from travel. She looked like she had gone through a lot of trouble to end up here. Of course..

"I should have known that Junko wouldn't have written you off so easily, Mukuro.." I muttered, trying to stand but Kaito held me steady.

"My death was an obvious fake.." the soldier told us, her finger pulling on the trigger just the slightest, "It was a shame that my sister's was real.. because of you, Ouma." she muttered my name like she were describing something disgusting.

"Thanks to you four, the guards were killed and now I have clear entry to the Creator's Machine.. it was difficult to even step foot into the building without being taken down. So, I thank you."

"Now, step aside and let me bring my sister back or you'll have to explain to Shuichi Saihara why his dear boyfriend is dead."

"Wait!" I raised my arms, the wound in my shoulder flaring with pain but I ignored it the best I could, "Just.. give us a minute.."

A plan. A distraction. I knew the four of us couldn't take her down all by ourselves. She was the Ultimate Soilder after all; nearly impossible to kill, and if I was right, that first shot to the shoulder was just a warning.

The edge of Mukuro's mouth twitched, "Saying your last words? How touching. Since my dear Junko is going to come back from the dead, I'm feeling generous.. so, go ahead."

I turned away from the girl and looked at my friends, whose attention focused on my shoulder wound. "People, focus." I snapped my fingers the best I could, "How much time do we have left for the serum to take effect?"

"Umm.." Kaito tore his eyes away from my shoulder and then to Mukuro, who was aiming her gun at me, several feet away, "About fifteen minutes." he muttered but I didn't have time..

Even if I had to sacrifice-

"Are all the bodies outside?" I asked in an undertone to my friends, who nodded. Nikei's eyes were fixed on mine, almost as if he could tell what I was thinking..

"Everyone's. Kokichi, señor, I don't like the look in your eyes- why are you asking this?" Teruya whispered, his eyes wide as Mukuro called out:

"It's been one minute.. now step aside and surrender Ouma."

"Wait!" I said again as Mukuro looked impatient.

"What now?" she spat, her finger on the trigger twitched slightly, as if she were trying her best to control her temper. But then I realised something as well. She was refraining from shooting me because she might only have one chance..

"Do you want my friends to surrender me," I started to grin, toying with her, "Or do you want me to surrender myself? Because you said, 'Surrender Ouma.' is that with a comma, or not?"

She looked obviously confused, as if processing my words. Due to the brainpower of her twin, well, she could take some time to figure out what I just said. "I said- you should surrender yourself before I kill you!" she sounded unsure this time.

I turned to Kaito, who was looking very confused as he tried to follow our conversation but it was just as I expected from him, "Call Shuichi." I fixed my friend with my biggest smirk I could muster, "And tell him I love him."

"What? That's weird for me to say that to your boyfriend-!" Kaito argued but with one quick swipe, I grabbed the gun from his hand and aimed at Mukuro, pulling the trigger.

"Just run!" I shouted to my friends as Nikei grabbed both Teruya and Kaito's hands. I fired the shot at the girl, whose eyes were wide with surprise. She dodged quickly, before shooting wildly. I stumbled back, but she didn't hit me.

"You little-!" she cursed, throwing away her gun and unsheathing a hunting knife, it's edge jagged and glinting silver. I knew that if she hit me, it would be hell to remove the weapon.

She lunged at me, her eyes wild with fury but I dodged the knife as much as I could, making sure my friends made it out safely. Pushing away from the railing I had hit, my hand slammed against the destruct button which enough force to destroy the panel; glass fragments sticking to my palms as the lights changed from ocean blue to crimson red.

However, before I knew it, Mukuro had caught up to me. Quickly, I passed the gun from my left to my right. She grabbed my injured left arm and twisted it, slamming me against the control panels. My back against the metal and Mukuro glaring down at me.

"You're quite a fighter, Kokichi Ouma. That's one of the highest honours I have ever given to anyone.." she smiled triumphantly, as I clenched my fist, the pain making me nearly pass out but I had to do this. I have to do this for my friends' futures..

"Well, I'm so glad." I told her sarcastically, my vision starting to blur, "Do you want an autograph from me? Or a photo? I can settle for a dying photo of you and I before-."

"Stop with your useless talk, Ouma.. you killed my sister and now you have to pay the price-." Above me, the lights flashed red and I gave the soldier one last charming smile.

"Before you say that, have you ever heard of a 'distraction'? It's pretty useful in a fight." I said back to the girl, who turned to look at the broken screen of the Creator's Machine. 100%.

"It was fun playing this game with you." I pointed Kaito's gun at her head and fired. And at the same time, a loud click from within the machine sounded.

And everything was engulfed in flames.

I held a hand to my mouth as the thick dark smoke clouded my vision. I dropped the blood covered gun to the floor and kicked Mukuro to the flames. She was dead, her body crumbling into the flames and the bullet through her head just as I did to her sister.

It seemed like a fitting way to go, since she loved that crazed lunatic.

My eyes scanned the room. No escape out of here.. just me in a room full of burning metal and a ring of fire where the now broken machine was. My shoulder was bleeding profusely, as I shakily pulled out my phone, looking at the cracked screen.

Of course.. over a hundred messages from Shuichi and a climbing number of phone calls as well. But one message caught my eye: "I called Kaito as soon as I could- maybe-." but the rest of the message was cut off.

I didn't deserve a guy like him. Now with the machine destroyed, and the Removal serum taking effect in five minutes.. I was as good as dead.

Because no one would remember me as soon as the clock hit twelve on a new day.

I smiled to myself.

Well.. one thing's for sure, I was going to get one nasty burn. My eyes then turned to the ceiling, where there was the full moon shining down on me. The glass panels around its edges were broken, and besides I was unable to reach the ceiling.

"I love you Shuichi.." I whispered to myself, breathing in the smell of the smoke; clutching my broken phone to my chest as my fingers trembled.

And I closed my eyes.

This was one life..

I think I lived well.

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[ ??? // Roof of The Warehouse ]

He landed on the roof of the burning warehouse, grabbing hold of the tiles to steady himself as he peered into the smoking room. The gadget in his hand read: [ 3:08 ]

And right there surrounded in a shrinking circle of flames was Kokichi, his eyes closed and pale face strewn with ash; the body relaxed as if he had accepted his fate.

He hoped he wasn't too late..

Fastening a grappling hook onto the roof, he slung himself down and dropped beside the unconscious boy, the flames creeping towards them. Carefully picking Ouma up from the ground and carrying him on his back, the figure climbed back up to the roof.

This was no easy task if he were his old self, but thanks to his newfound friend and teacher.. his life had changed. His muscles no longer burned with pain and thanks to his new modified eye, he could see better than ever.

He carefully dropped down from the roof and landed on the ground, his metal boots crunching against the gravel as he carefully brought Ouma to a nearby abandoned building. The boy was clearly out cold, not dead, as his pulse was weak.

It was a good thing he was scouting around earlier or else he would never have discovered a place to bring him to.

He then set the unconscious boy on the floor, and quickly pulled the chain which turned on the light, illuminating the small room with its weak orange rays. He then grabbed a bottle of water from his bag; all the while hoping Kokichi would not wake up..

He didn't need to see him like this.

He then stared at the water longingly before sighing and using it to damp a cloth to wipe the spots of blood and soot off Ouma's face.

The boy stirred slightly, opening his dazed purple eyes and gazing at him. He looked confused, but his eyes started to become misty with tears as soon as he recognised the person before him.

"..."

"Keebo.?"

♥ End of Chapter Sixty-Six ♥
[ End of Hospital Journey ]