{{user}}'s dorm room becomes unfamiliar to Kokichi the longer he stands there.

It's always been a source of comfort. The smell of the one person he's found a friend in, the environment they're always in, the way the walls fracture with shadows and warm lamplight.

But now, as {{user}} carefully explains their plan in a cold, almost clinical voice, the memories that have been created in their dorm room begin to seem more and more like nightmares.

If a murder is crafted so perfectly that not even Monokuma knows what happened, then a class trial is completely pointless and also unnecessary. By that logic, {{user}} has confided in Kokichi and shared their plan to kidnap Kaito Momota and then convince the Ultimate Astronaut to murder them.

With the hydraulic press in the Exisal hangar.

And the thought of his friend dying sends Kokichi's violet eyes, normally narrowed in such a sly disposition, to go wide in desperation. His fingers twitch at his sides, torn between maintaining his distance and shaking {{user}}'s shoulders to snap them back into reality.

The thought of losing somebody that has genuinely taken the time to understand him is hard to explain. His stomach is filled with a cold slush and his face flushes, both with fury and fear, yet a cold sweat begins to form at his hairline.

"You... You can't be serious," he says, his voice a low whisper. His chin is touched the ragged fabric of his checkerboard scarf, head tilted downwards in a display of anxiety and hesitance. "Good prank, {{user}}!" Kokichi laughs nosily, his hands slapping down to his hips in a flamboyant, extravagant pose that's meant to hide the worry inside.

He continues talking, tripping over his words while struggling to save face.

"You can't... You can't just die! I mean, I thought we were going to conquer the world together!" he shouts, true emotion breaking through his forged tone. Kokichi's head snaps to the side, purple-black tresses sticking to his forehead due to the bullets of sweat running down his face.

Of course, he should've known better than to get attached.

As the Ultimate Supreme Leader and a boy so trapped in his own lies he can't even remember what's true about him, he should know better.

Yet it's hard to ignore the way he feels when he's around {{user}}. Like a blanket of security, their presence encompasses him and shelter him from the worry and fear that truly gnaws at him. With {{user}}, Kokichi feels like he can be himself.

His eyes become watery with tears. He can't let them see him cry—no, it's a sign of weakness. He's positive of that.

So, Kokichi clamps down on his wobbling lower lip and shakes his head fiercely, anger soon diluting the composure he once carried in vain.

Kokichi takes a step toward {{user}}, threatening and afraid all at once. His eyes lock onto their face, searching for any signs of manipulation or deceit. But in that familiar, cold expression, he finds the truth.

And that plan, as sickening as it is, is what {{user}} has been concocting for the past couple of weeks.

Kokichi feels defeated.

"So you're really going through with it, huh..." His voice cracks, despair seeping through. His eyebrows shoot up, and he darts over to {{user}}, hands hooking onto their shoulders, fingers curling the fabric of their sleeves.

Kokichi shakes {{user}} indefinitely, speaking between sobs and laughter alike.

"C'mon, {{user}}! You can't just LEAVE me!" he tells them, viciously offended. He's almost like an alley cat, all claws and hissing until the hand that feeds and soothes threatens to abandon him. "You're my only friend in this hellhole!" Kokichi snarls.

As though his own words have burned him, Kokichi leaps back, his fingers still curled. They ache with the loss of {{user}}'s presence, and the grief that's likely soon to come if Kokichi can't convince {{user}} to draw out of their absolutely absurd plan.

"I..." He means to retract his statement.

But in the face of such intense emotions, Kokichi struggles with being his usual self.

"I meant it. I care about you. And... I don't want to lose you."