✧ Chapter 63 ✧
[ A Wonderful Dream ]
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[ Kokichi's PoV ]

"Wake up."

"Ouma! Wake up." this voice was stronger, and I felt a cold hand hold mine. The feeling was enough to make me stir slightly.

"Hey grape shota! Wake up already.. you've been asleep for ages!"

My eyes then shot open to see three people looking down at me. Sunlight beat down upon me as I raised a hand to block it.

A girl with soft blonde hair, knelt on my right side, wearing an easy smile and a small golden musical hairpin holding part of her fringe back.

A green haired boy with a friendly yet uneasy smile was kneeling beside the girl. His green eyes matched the leaves of a tree overhead, which rustled and moved as the gentle wind blew.

A long haired blonde with intense sky blue eyes and a frustrated look on her face knelt on my left. She had her arms folded across her chest, and a small pout on her face.

"About time.." the green haired boy sighed with a laugh, "We thought you'd never wake up.. come on! We have to get to class now."

What the heck was this?

"Who?" I managed to croak out, my voice breaking slightly as my throat felt parched. Ugh.. what's with this headache?

"You've been sleeping under the sun for ages, grape midget," the blonde girl with blue eyes huffed impatiently, "It must've fried your last two brain cells! Sorry Bakamatsu, Greenie, this beauty queen has to get back inside before I lose my own brain cells!"

With that being said, she gave me one last look of contempt and walked off.

Which left me and the other two people looking down at me, the bright sun shining behind them. Casing a glow over them like they were angels or something.

"Where am I? Who.." I sat up, running a hand through my hair to see purple strands falling to the front of my face. The girl then leaned over and gently brushed the hair away from my face, making me move backwards to avoid her touching me.

"Are you alright, Ouma?" she asked, "You seem very confused."

"I..I am.. what's happening?" I tried to think, but all I could think of was blank static. Just blankness and nothing else.

"I don't know.. who am I? What am I doing here?"

"Lying again, aren't you?" The green haired boy chuckled, reaching over and ruffling my hair. "I think Miu's right.. you fried your brains!"

"Rantaro.. that's not funny!" the girl chided, but she had a small smile on her face as the boy held up his hands with a laugh.

"Who are you guys?" I whispered, looking at my hands to see that they were covered with little bits of grass and dirt, "Where am I? Can you explain what's going on?"

I felt uncomfortable.. everything seemed so strange and unrealistic.

The girl blinked, as if processing my question, "Don't you remember us? We're your classmates! I'm Kaede and this is Rantaro! It's the second week of school and you've already forgotten about us, Ouma!"

Ouma..

"Is Ouma my name?" I asked, looking around the place to see a large building, towering up above and towards the sky. It barely touched the clouds, but overall, the whole structure looked impressive.

"Kokichi Ouma.." the boy, Rantaro, chuckled, "Ultimate Supreme Leader, unless you're lying about that too."

Ultimate Supreme Leader? Everything didn't make sense! Why wasn't anything making sense? I couldn't think about how I ended up here.

"Can you.. help me up?" I asked as a sudden coldness seemed to spread from my hands. I needed to see what's going on. "I think I'll feel better if I stand."

With hesitation, the girl smiled slightly and helped me up. The world tilted and shifted as I tried to regain my balance. The place was empty, except for a small water fountain in the distance, and a flash of a bird flying overhead.

"We should make our way back to class." Kaede spoke up, "Miss Chisa would be worried about us. Come on."

Miss Chisa? The more I thought about these unfamiliar names, the more wary I became with this strange world. The clouds I had seen earlier seemed to have faded away into wisps and the wind which had been filling the silence with its breath was now still.

I followed the couple, who were talking to each other, occasionally glancing at me as if they were expecting me to run off.

We entered through the double doors of the building; a long empty hallway greeting us.

Passing by tons of empty rooms, something else struck me. The whole place was deserted.. no other students besides the three of us, and that other blonde who ran off anyway.

...

Very strange. Our footsteps echoed through the place, as I looked at myself in the reflections of the glass cases I passed. A boy with tired purple eyes and slightly curled hair at the ends stared back at me. He looked confused.. bewildered as if he didn't have a place in this strange dimension.

Nothing clicked in my mind.. no familiar sounds, scenes or scents, everything seemed disturbing, to say the least. 

Both Kaede and Rantaro gestured to a door in front of them, standing to the side like guards would do. I paused. "What are you guys waiting for?" I questioned, feeling spooked but using humour to mask my fear; "Have you forgotten how to open a door?"

Rantaro gestured to it, "By all means, go ahead, Ouma," he chuckled, "We'll be right behind you."

I didn't like the sound of that, but I stepped forward anyway and slid the wooden door open; expecting to see a classroom.

But instead, bright white light greeted me, shining as brilliantly as the sun would. But unlike the giant star, it radiated no heat, no warmth. Just blinding, comforting brightness.

Something felt strange about it..

I wanted to step into the light, but also not. Because somehow, deep down in my bones, I knew that if I did, I would never return.

My eyes shifted to glance at Kaede and Rantaro, realising that their appearances had changed.. the blonde was now wearing a black hoodie, the side of her head covered with bright magenta blood.

I then turned to Rantaro, to see that he was wearing a black and white hoodie, which seemed to be fashioned after a type of bear. With little ears and two eyes, but one of them had a red slash across it. There was a bloodied knife embedded over the place where his heart would be.

I stepped backwards, away from the two; fear that they would suddenly attack. "You guys.. are dead aren't you?"

Silence greeted me, but Kaede's eyes softened to a gentler expression and Rantaro give me a wider smile.

"..." My mind struggled to comprehend the scenario before me. The white must mean death.. and the darkness behind me must mean life. Opposites, after all.

Death was warm and welcoming. It encourages you to step forward, to embrace it painlessly.

Life, on the other hand, was difficult, dark and cold, but full of memories I couldn't grasp.

I didn't have anything worth memorising did I?

I couldn't recall anything.. but why did I want to move closer to the darkness instead of Death's blinding, welcoming arms?

There was something I left behind..

That's the only logical explanation for it. It tugged at my heart, pulled at my arms and made me step backwards into the chilling darkness of Life.

How strange..

Why was I given this choice?

Was I even allowed to?

"I'll.. I'll see you guys later." I whispered to Rantaro and Kaede, who were still silent, regarding me with both empathy and a small smile on their faces.

I turned, running back the way I came. But this time, voices swept past; encouraging me to stop and turn around. With each step, my feet felt as though they were stabbed with sharpened glass shards.. but I pushed on.

And as I did, I could hear the beating of something faint in my mind.

Someone yelling my name.

Crying for me.

Who would cry for someone like me?

I steadied my breathing, and swept away the darkness with my arms. The pain in my feet making tears swim in my eyes; but I didn't dare to stop.

There, in front of me through the layers of blackness, was a single, grey door.

It swirled with dust and strings of cobwebs, but still, my fingers brushed against the material. The door felt like wood, yet cold as metal at the same time.

Taking a deep breath, I used all my strength to push it open.

I have to get back.

To whoever was waiting for me on the other side.

(A/N)
Just saying. I almost experienced Death before and was kinda in a hallucination where this really did happen. But that's a story for another time. (￣。￣ﾉ)ﾉ

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[ Flashback ]

"You zoned out again, Ouma-kun.." a familiar voice chuckled.

My eyes focused on a blue haired boy in front of me. Dressed in a simple pinstriped shirt and pants, black loafers, and a wide brimmed cap, he looked too well groomed to be seen hanging out in a park.

"Did you hear what I said?" he asked, looking up at the sky, which was painted with different hues of pink and orange. Autumn was nearly here.. the crisp brown, yellow-gold leaves swirling and fluttering to the ground.

"Nah, I wasn't listening," I lied, looking up at the clear sunset sky as well, "But of course, that was a lie. Don't look at me like that, Saihara-chan! You want me to help you with your newest project, am I right?"

Beside me, the boy nodded, holding a hand up to the sky. "I want a world without Love.. wouldn't that be nice? No heartbreaks. No divorces. Nothing to cause problems.." he sounded amused by the idea.

"But.. how would you pull off something like this? You need lots of technical abilities and don't get me wrong.. you're smart. But.. not so smart to change the world."

The boy scoffed, lowering his hand as he cast a dark look at me, "As long as I have an idea, I'll do anything to make it work! And besides, you like telling stories don't you?"

I felt a flicker of excitement spark within me, and I managed a tense smile, "Well duh! I love telling stories and untruths.. it makes the world interesting."

My friend beamed happily, brushing a strand of hair away from my face, making me freeze.

"Which is why I need your help with this.. only you can come up with the stories. I'll build the world. Together, we can create scenarios which never happened.. what do you say?"

He then removed his hand away from my hair and held it out.

I looked down at his outstretched hand. I did like the sound of creating fabricated memories. However, I wanted to fall in love..

But at the same time, wanted to keep Saihara-chan happy..

With the thought in mind, I shook his hand.

And so, the destruction of Love began. But what I didn't think.. was for me to fall deeply in love with my partner during the project.

The bitter irony..

And there we were, in the slowly rising Heartbreak Hospital. I always followed Shuichi Saihara as he pulled me along the project. Little did we know that we were creating a project which would come to bite us back.

When I first brought him the Reverse Serum, it's bright magenta colour glowing in the darkness, I didn't know what the outcome would be. All I focused on was that I just wanted to make him believe in his dream.

When I teased and invited him out for lunch, he was always so absorbed with his work.

I wanted to make him interested in me.. and only me.

I then gave him the second Regain Serum, a medicine to counter the first. A drug to recover stolen memories; a cure as bright as the blue sky would be. I swore to myself to kiss him the day I let my eyes stare into his. But he simply hugged me and told me to keep up the good work. I was left hanging.

And when the third golden-hued Revival Serum, the ability to bring someone back from the dead.. to cheat Death.. arrived in his hands.. he left without saying a goodbye. He used me, and afterwards, discarded me like some sort of trash.

And the day I watched him inject himself with the Reverse Serum.. behind that cursed glass. It tortured me to see him take his own memories and leave me at the cruelty of Junko Enoshima.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and join him. Erasing my memories of him and forgetting about his existence.

And that was the same day I raised the cold metal gun to Junko's head, and pulled the trigger with both hands on the weapon. The day I had to stop the project Shuichi left behind and clean his mess for him.

Because he wasn't worth it.

Shuichi used me, just to get his hands on the three serums.

But then again, maddened by grief and the blood of Enoshima and thousands of lives on my hands, I swore to fall in love if I ever meet the blue haired boy again..

And I did.

It was as though our lives were intertwined, unable to break no matter how many terrible things we've done.

Perhaps.. the correct term for it would be soulmates..

But of course, killing Junko didn't stop the Monokuma Traitors. They created Izuru Kamukura, and made him their leader..

However, after all that..

I continued to follow the darkness.

So I can somehow end up in Saihara's arms once more.

♥ End of Chapter Sixty-Three ♥