Exposure
"HEY!" yelled Kaito. He waved his arms around. Nothing. "HEEEEEEEEY!" he yelled again, jumping up and down. "COME ON YOU SICK BITCH!" he pulled the ultimate combination of jumping up and down while waving his hands.
"You look utterly ridiculous Mr. Momota." the woman's voice was cool as ever. Maybe people hysterically yelling at her was normal in her world.
"What the fuck are you people playing at!" Kaito yelled. "Seriously, this is getting sick. What is wrong with you?"
"You will have to clarify." the woman said. She almost sounded bored.
Kaito gritted his teeth. "Seriously? You're making two people work until they drop! You don't see anything wrong with that?"
"You're right. It's not ideal. I would prefer for there to be more than two."
Kaito's mouth fell open. "You sick bitch."
"I liked you more before, Mr. Momota. Where is the version of yourself that believed in us? The version who listened and obeyed like a good boy?"
"He opened his eyes and looked around." Kaito said, crossing his arms.
"How unfortunate. No matter, we have ways to making them close again."
"Are you threatening me?!"
"Of course. It didn't have to be this way." the woman said. Kaito could almost see her shaking her head. "But as you said, your eyes are open now, and your behavior suggests that you may be more difficult to handle."
"Because I don't like it when you mistreat people?!" Kaito felt like he was going to explode.
"Welcome to the real world, Mr. Momota. Welcome to war. Welcome to reality. The world is a very unsatisfactory place. Do you want to know the reality of your actions? Yes, you are a pawn. You are a fool, you are a piece for us to push. You can scream and rave and curse me, but that will not change the fact that we are in control. Now, run along and go fetch your fellow pawns." there was a click, and Kaito could tell that the woman had left.
Kaito wanted to scream. He wanted to punch and kick something, he wanted to tear his hair out, he wanted to do something-
"So, how'd that go?"
Kaito whirled and internally groaned. Kokichi was leaning against a hallway wall, arms crossed, looking as smug as ever. "How long have you been there for?"
"Long enough." he shrugged, then grinned. "I was right, wasn't I? Imagine that! The truth being exposed by a liar!" he laughed.
"This is funny to you?!" Kaito yelled. His rage had found a new target.
"No. It's not." Kokichi said, face darkening. "Pretty sure I'm taking this more seriously than any of you. But you heard it yourself. We're pawns." his face shifted back into a carefree smile. "It's a game! I like games! You can break the rules and win without anyone knowing!"
Kaito narrowed his eyes. Had it been anyone else, he would have dismissed them, but with Kokichi, everything seemed to have a double meaning. Was he really going to take a chance on a liar? Well, honestly he had a choice between two of them, and Kokichi seemed like the better bet. Kaito took a deep breath.
"That true? You're good at cheating?"
"Yes! Of course it's true." Kokichi said, nodding. Kaito noticed him jerk his head at a camera on the wall. Kaito was certain that it hadn't been on earlier. Now they were being watched.
"Oh yeah?!" Kaito scoffed. "I bet I could play against you and win."
Kokichi raised an eyebrow. "You think so, space boy?"
"Yeah, I know so." Kaito felt his confidence growing. This he could do. If he had another person to play off of, he could probably sell this.
"Well then, play a game with me!" Kokichi cheered, eyes sparkling with childlike innocence. "It's a fun game, I promise. We can even be on the same team! But after we play, be careful. I'm always the only winner."
Was the last part a warning? Kaito wouldn't put it past Kokichi to have plans after they potentially toppled their overseers. For a moment he wondered if he was helping to set a dictator on the throne.
"So, you wanna play?" Kokichi asked, holding his hand out. Kaito could have almost laughed. The lighthearted conversation playing over the serious stakes was almost comical.
Kaito took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, let's do it."
"Yay! Come on, we'll get started now!" with surprising strength Kokichi yanked Kaito by the hand down through the ship, only stopping when he got to his room. Kaito saw Kokichi lean down and type something onto the keypad on the door. Had he...given his room a password?"
"Are you a spy?" Kaito asked when they were both inside the room. Kokichi laughed.
"No silly! I'm a supreme leader! I've told you all a bajillion times!" Kaito wasn't sure if he was still acting or not.
"Oh by the by, there aren't any cameras in here. I look care of that. I made a loop of me doing non suspicious things." Kokichi said.
So this was also his natural personality? Kaito wasn't sure. He guessed that it had been bold of him to assume that Kokichi would be fully truthful with him about anything. Was this how it was going to be? Him constantly being pushed around by manipulators?
"Can I trust you?" Kaito asked, clenching his fists. He felt lost and alone.
"Of course not." Kokichi said. Again the cheerful persona dropped away. "But I'm all you got, so we're gonna put away our differences like good kids and work together."
"Wait!" Kaito yelled. "You literally just said I can't trust you! What's stopping me from walking away and getting, oh I don't know, Shuichi into this?"
"You really wanna include others in this mess?" Kokichi asked. "The way I see it, we want the same thing really. To end this bullshit and get everyone home safe."
"You actually care?" Kaito asked incredulously.
"Of course I do!" Kokichi snapped. "Are you done with the stupid questions?"
"So it's the two of us. And I can't trust you." Kaito said. "No, no more questions." he said sarcastically.
Kokichi sighed. "I really hate you. Fine. You can trust me. For now."
"Why do you treat trust like a bad thing?" Kaito asked.
"Because it is!" Kokichi yelled. "Nothing good ever comes from trusting anyone. So if you can't trust me, I don't have to trust you." he crossed his arms and pouted like a child, but Kaito was almost certain that there was real pain in his eyes.
Kaito felt like he was getting deja vu. Here he was again with a crewmate who he would have written off as just plain weird, only to find out that there was a lot more complexity than he could have ever imagined.
"Ok, ok, yeah I get it." Kaito said, even though he really didn't. "But you can trust me too, ok? Even after this is all over."
"Idiot." Kokichi sighed. "But fiiiiine. If you wanna pretend I trust you, go for it."
"Goo-DON'T CALL ME AN IDIOT!" Kaito yelled. "And you said you hated me? What the hell man?! Why didn't you go pick someone else?"
"Because there's something you don't know." Kokichi said sweetly. "Actually a lot of things, but I think that there might be a mole."
Kaito pictured a little digging creature. "How would a mole get in space?"
"No!" Kokichi snapped. "A traitor! A spy! Someone sent to keep an eye on us. Maybe more than one!"
"And what makes you sure it's not me?" Kaito asked, crossing his arms.
"Oh please, you're waaaaay too stupid to be a traitor. And besides, you're like the most emotional person ever. You could never dictate your feelings enough."
Kokichi did have a point. "And how do I know it's not you?"
"You don't." Kokichi shrugged. "That's actually an idea I had. Pretend to be the spy and fuck with the real one. Maybe piss em' off enough to reveal themself."
"Ok, so it's not you." Kaito said, rolling his eyes. "Who do you think it is?"
"Well, at first I thought anyone was fair game." Kokichi said, shifting aside some items on his desk, revealing something that looked suspiciously like something a serial killer would have in the movies. It was a board with pictures of his classmates. Some had red X's over their faces.
"What the hell is this? A hit list?"
"No!" Kokichi yelled. "I work through things better when I can visualize it. And chill, the crossed out ones are the ones who aren't the spy." Well that made the red X over Kaito's own face slightly less concerning.
"So, are you sure? That they aren't?" Kaito asked.
"Observe." Kokichi said, tapping the board. "Shuichi's not it. He doesn't have any prior knowledge of space stuff, so why send him?"
"How do you know?"
"I tripped an alarm saying the engine was gonna explode while he was alone and he practically passed out."
"Jesus!"
"Hey it worked. Besides, I'm leaving him out of this little operation. If anything goes wrong, we can leave him whatever we get out of it and hope that he can drive it home."
"So he's your backup plan."
"Obviously I have one." Kokichi said, rolling his eyes. "I've ruled out Kaede too. She's gotten waaaay too attached to everybody to betray them." he dragged his fingertip across the board. "And here's you, my little space muffin. After I saw your reaction I was certain it wasn't you."
"Space muffin?"
"No on Ryoma too." Kokichi said. "I did some digging, and his story checks out. No way he would work for the bad guys after what he's went through. For a little guy, he's scary."
"Said the little guy."
"Hey! I'm taller than him!" Kokichi snapped. "Tenko's out too. She's terrifying, but she doesn't have the recon skills. Same with Kiyo, which sucks. I was kinda sure it was him, but there's definitely something going on up here." Kokichi gestured to his head. "And I doubt they'd use a less than stable spy. That reminds me." He crossed off Angie's name.
"What did you do that for?"
"Can't be her. I heard your little exchange about them using her religion against her. She takes way too much pride in her beliefs. If she was a part of the other side, she wouldn't let them do that."
"So who do we have, me, you, Shuichi, Kaede, Ryoma, Tenko, Kiyo, Angie?" Kaito asked.
"Yup, that's half the list!" Kokichi said. "Gonta's also not it. There's not enough brain cells. The guy cuddled with a giant space bug. Totally not him."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Kaito said. "So that leaves...seven?"
Kokichi nodded. "Yeah, these are all the ones I could rule out indefinitely. My category ones! Next are my category twos. Ones I really don't think are the spy, but I can't prove that, and that's suspicious." he paused for a moment. "I need an acronym for that."
"Who's in there?" Kaito asked, looking at the pictures marked with a blue question mark.
"Himiko."
"HIMIKO?"
"Think about it! Did they seriously send someone as dumb as her into space!?" Kokichi asked. "Even Kaede has some use, but Himiko? She's completely useless! Come on, you know that's weird."
"Yeah. You're right." Kaito said slowly.
"Tsmugi's the only other category two. She's just too plain, you know? Like the world's lamest backstory."
"She's really sweet though." Kaito said, remembering how she'd clung to him while he and Maki rescued her.
"Remember, I haven't been able to prove that they aren't." Kokichi said. "That means something."
"True." Kaito said. "There's five others, right?"
"Yup, those are the category threes. The ones I haven't been able to prove are innocent, but they also do things that makes it even more suspicious."
"Who's in there?"
"Robo-boy for one."
"What? Why?"
"Think about it. How much do we really know about him? Who built him? What can he really do? Sure call me a robophobe or whatevs, but come on, a freaking android sent by the puppeteers themselves? We gotta be cautious."
Kaito nodded, feeling bad.
"Miu too. Sure, she's kind of a waste of space, but she's smart, and she does have skills, as shitty as they are."
"Yeah, I could see that." Kaito said slowly. He felt slimy. There he was, preaching about believing in everyone, and here he was now, accusing some of them of being traitors.
"And Kirumi. She's way too skilled for just a maid." Kokichi said. "Seriously, she reminds me of a black ops agent or something!"
"I can see that too." Kaito said. Kokichi seemed to have put a lot of thought into it.
"And then there's the lovely sweet sunshiney Maki."
"Maki?" Kaito asked. "It's not her."
"How do you know?" Kokichi asked, looking at him with interest. "I haven't been able to find anything out about her. Well, anything that proves her innocence..."
"Well, I don't know anything for sure...but I have a feeling."
"Oh, thank god, a feeling." Kokichi said, rolling his eyes. "She's a combat specialist, remember? And I asked her what her talent was. The Ultimate Child Caregiver. Does that sound like our Maki?"
"No." Kaito admitted. Crap, Kokichi was getting in his head.
"And finally, Rantaro."
"Rantaro?!" Kaito's eyes were wide. "No way. No freaking way. He's been there for me, he's my co captain, I trust him!" Kaito said desperately. With Maki there was room for suspicion, but Rantaro?"
"He knows something." Kokichi said. "He's too comfortable up here. He knows something we don't, and he never seems surprised when the lady throws something new at us."
"No way. No way." Kaito said, shaking his head. "It's not Rantaro or Maki."
"Well when you get me some proof, I'll believe it." Kokichi shrugged.
"Kokichi, it's not them." Kaito said.
Kokichi smirked. "Awww, upset I'm accusing your girlfriend and boyfriend?"
"Shut up! I don't want to accuse people I know are innocent!" Kaito snapped.
"It's all about the proof." Kokichi shrugged.
"Fine. I'll get some." Kaito heard his data pad ping, but he ignored it. He was already striding out of the room.
"Wait, Kaito look at thi-"
But Kaito was already running.
"Kaito? Are you ok?" Shuichi asked as Kaito ran by.
"Have you seen Maki?" Kaito yelled back.
"Yeah, she was in the weapons room but wait! What's wrong!" Kaito could hear Shuichi running after him. He didn't care. He trusted Shuichi. God, he felt sick. He was accusing his crewmates of treason. Not for long. He'd clear Maki and Rantaro's name at the very least.
Kaito flew into the weapons bay and yelped, holding his hands up. Maki had whirled the second he'd entered, pointing a rifle at his chest. "DON'T SHOOT!"
"Sorry." Maki said, lowering the gun. "You scared me."
"Sorry." Kaito said breathlessly. "Maki, what's your talent?"
"Child caregiver." Maki said automatically. "Why?"
"Are you sure?" Kaito panted.
"I think I'd know my own talent." Maki said coolly.
"Ok then. I believe you." Kaito said. Maki stared at him.
"Wait, why?"
"If you say that's your talent, than it's good enough for me." Kaito said, straightening. He looked at the gun and grinned. "I bet you're really good at protecting kids, huh?"
Maki stared at him dumbstruck. Before she could speak, Shuichi stumbled into the room.
"Easy there sidekick!" Kaito said, catching Shuichi before he could fall on his face.
"Sorry, I tripped." he mumbled, face burning, eyes on the ground.
"It happens." Kaito said good naturedly, patting him on the back. "Bro, you should see Maki handle a gun. I thought I was gonna pee myself."
Maki's cheeks reddened slightly. "Do you need something?"
"Yeah, I wanted to ask what your talent was." Kaito said.
"So you ran down here like your hair was on fire?" Maki asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Yeah, it was kind of an emergency, but it's ok now." Kaito said. "I believe you. I feel better now."
"Kaito, you shouldn't be so trusting." Maki said, lowering her eyes slightly.
"Why not? You're trustworthy." Kaito said. "Can you hit those targets way over there? I wanna see!"
"You're like a three year old." Maki said, placing the gun back on the wall. "Is that all you needed?"
"I mean, yeah. Unless you wanna hang out or something?"
"Hang out?" Maki asked blankly. "This is a high stakes mission."
"Yeah! And the food up here is really good!" Kaito said.
"Are you serious?" Maki looked unsure if she was going to laugh or punch him. Kaito feared the latter.
"Guys?" Shuichi asked quietly. "Look at this." he held out his datapad.
We extend this as a warning. We know more about you than you know about each other. If you fail to complete orders again, a secret will be exposed to the others. You know which one.
Kaito's stomach clenched. He certainly knew what secret they were talking about. Maki's face paled as she looked her own data pad. Shuichi looked more nervous than usual. These people. Kaito was furious again, but he put on his leader face.
"It's gonna be ok guys." Kaito said, trying to sound reassuring. "Whatever they have on us, it's not that bad."
Maki looked up with him wordlessly. She didn't need to say anything for Kaito to know how she felt. For the first time since he had met her, Maki looked terrified.
"We're fucked!" Miu yelled. "Fucked I say!"
"I don't even know which secret they're talking about for me." Kokichi mused.
"Gonta not have any secrets! Not polite to keep secrets." Gonta said, petting Blinky's head.
"Everyone calm down!" Kaito yelled. "Panicking isn't going to get us anywhere!" he looked towards the normally calm members of the crew. Ryoma's eyes were dark. Kiyo was weaving his fingers through his hair, slowly tightening his grip. Kaede was wrapping her arms around herself. And Rantaro...
Rantaro wasn't here. Kaito looked around. "Has anyone seen Rantaro?"
As soon as he asked, Rantaro came rushing into the lounge. "Sorry! I was taking a shower. Space shower. Wow, what a concept." his hair was damp, Kaito could see that much.
"You wanna share your deepest secret with us?" Kokichi asked.
"I beg your pardon?"
Kaito showed him the data pad. Rantaro read silently, brow furrowing. "Bastards."
"Yeah." Kaito said. He had a cold feeling in his stomach. Rantaro had barely reacted. Did he know this was coming?
"I think we should just tell our secrets." Kokichi said. "So they can't hold that against us-"
"No." Maki said. Several others nodded in agreement.
"I think he has a point." Ryoma said slowly. "We need to take away their power. Look guys, this might not mean much coming from me, but I personally promise to not see you guys differently no matter what your secret is."
Kaito felt his chest warm a little. Ryoma was a remarkable person.
"No, I'm sorry." Maki said, shaking her head. "I can't."
"We have to." Ryoma pushed. "I can go first."
"Ryoma you don't have to-" Kaito was cut off.
"So it's been made pretty clear that I'm a prisoner." Ryoma said. "But I'll tell you why. I went pro for a while in tennis. Traveled around, partied like an animal, got into some dumb stuff. I walked into something I shouldn't have. Turned out a certain tournament I was in had some ties with the mafia."
"I think I heard something like that." Tsmugi said softly.
"But you don't know how it ends." Ryoma said. "I decided to be a damn hero. I took em on myself. Used the only weapons I knew how to use. Racquet and balls. I hit em into their heads as hard as I could. I killed over twenty of them." he sighed heavily. "Most of them were younger than I was. Just people who went the wrong way in life. And I killed them." he grimaced. "Originally I was supposed to be a hero. But I refused that. I killed people. I begged them to arrest me, to treat me like any other killer. And they did. I've been in jail for two and a half years now, and I got the death penalty recently. Pretty sure that'll still be on when I get back." he fixed the group with a pained stare. "So there you go. You're traveling with a murderer."
"Ryoma..." Kaede said softly.
"Don't say anything." Ryoma said. "I made my choice. There's my secret. Do what you will." he shrugged.
"I think you might be the bravest out of all of us." Kaito said.
"If that was true, I wouldn't have resorted to killing in the first place." Ryoma said. He sighed heavily.
"Who's next?" Kokichi asked. No one spoke.
"Come on guys." Kaito said.
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not." Kiyo said.
Suddenly Blinky perked up. He raised his antennae.
"We are here." Gonta said.
Kaito felt a chill run down his spine. The crew made their way to the cockpit window.
The Hive was huge. It was a collection of large chunks of rock, each one slightly bigger than the moon. Ships connected the rocks together, transporting things back and forth. On the largest rock, a high walled building could be seen.
"It looks like a floating city." Tsmugi said.
"That was a whole planet once." Kiibo said. "It was destroyed. It was broken apart but they rebuilt."
"That means they're hard to kill." Kaito said, clenching his fists.
"How remarkable." Kiyo's eyes were shining. "Their resourcefulness is unmatched!"
"Who's side are you on?" Miu snapped.
"What now?" Kaede asked.
"You go in." the woman's cold voice made them all jump. "You have arrived at the homeworld. You will now move into position on an abandoned planet remnant. Kiibo has been given the coordinates."
Kiibo's eyes suddenly flashed. "Yes, I've received them." he moved over to the controls and typed the coordinates in.
Kaito felt himself sitting alone with Rantaro in the cockpit as he guided it towards the planet chunk. Kaito tried to act as normal as possible, but he couldn't resist sneaking a look at Rantaro every few minutes, as if he'd suddenly give himself up as the spy.
"So this is it." Rantaro said. "It's so big and organized. I don't know what I thought we were gonna find. Not this."
"Yeah, it's a lot." Kaito said. "What are we going to do about it?"
"I don't know." Rantaro shook his head. "Whatever we can I guess." Kaito noticed his hands were shaking.
"Hey, you ok?" Kaito asked.
Rantaro looked down at his hands and laughed weakly. "Damn, that always gives me away. I'm alright, just thinking..." he trailed off. "They really do know what buttons to push, huh?"
"What?"
"Those people at ground control." Rantaro said. "Shoulda known they would pull this."
"How do you know?" Kaito asked, before he could stop himself. "When they do things?"
"Because I've done it befo-" Rantaro seemed to catch himself. Kaito was stunned. Was this it? Had he caught the spy?
Rantaro groaned softly and slumped forward onto the dashboard, head in his hands. Kaito was suddenly nervous. He'd never seen Rantaro act like this. He was always the composed, caring one who supported everyone else.
Kaito never thought he'd see him crumple under that weight. He pushed all of his suspicions and paranoia aside, gently laying a hand on Rantaro's shoulder. "Hey, talk to me."
"I'll be fine." Rantaro said, sounding anything but. "Just gimme a sec to pull myself together."
"Hell no, you're not fine. Talk to me. Captains orders! Or I'll...flush you out an airlock."
Rantaro actually chuckled. "Fine. Damn, this is ironic. I thought I was gonna handle this whole damn mission myself. I'm trusting you, ok?"
Kaito nodded.
"There are two secrets they have on me, and I wasn't sure which they'd use. Now I know. They're secrets that'll tear us apart, like Ryoma being a murderer. So I know which one mine is." he looked at Kaito. Kaito was taken aback by how tired he looked. "This isn't my first mission. I lied when I said I haven't been to space before."
"That's the secret?" Kaito asked.
"Part of it. I was the leader of an exploration team. We were investigating some scout ships that were hanging around the imperial. I...I went against orders. I left my crew to look for something else." he let his face fall back into his hands.
"Hey." Kaito said gently. "It's ok."
"No it's not. They all died. They died because I left them. Torn apart." Rantaro said. "When I came back they were everywhe-" his voice broke and Kaito felt his shoulders shake slightly.
Here Kaito was again in an emotional situation. He found himself awkwardly rubbing Rantaro's back.
"I'm ok. I'm ok." Rantaro said. When he looked at Kaito, he had clearly already started pulling himself back together. "Some leader huh?"
"The fifty second official voyage." Kaito said slowly. "They said everyone died."
"Not everyone." Rantaro said. "But sometimes I wish-"
"Hell no, no you don't. You're here with us now." Kaito said firmly. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without you."
"So it's only a matter of time until I kill you all too."
"No!" Kaito said sharply, standing up. "That won't happen again. I promise. We're all getting back alive. You said you went to look for something. I'll help you find it."
Rantaro ducked his head again, and Kaito thought he saw him wipe at his eyes. When he looked up, he looked determined.
"You mean that?"
"Of course!" Kaito said. "I believe in every single one of you. You're my co-captain. I trust you."
"Oh my god." Rantaro sighed, taking a deep breath. He smoothed his hair back. "I'm a mess."
"I think we all are." Kaito laughed. "But hey, we're in this together."
"That we are." Rantaro nodded, standing up. "Guess we're gonna do whatever we have to, huh?"
"Yeah." Kaito said. "We're going to get home. We're going to save everyone."
"We're going to make those bastards at ground control pay." Rantaro said darkly.
"Woah!" Kaito said. "You're kinda scary, you know that right?"
"What? Sorry." Rantaro said sheepishly. "My sisters used to tell me that too. Apparently the day I scared a bully off, they weren't sure who was more scared. Him or them." he shook his head. "Guess I've gotten attached to you all. Having people I care about threatened brings out my scary side."
"Then I'm glad your on my side." Kaito laughed. He felt lighter. Rantaro wasn't the traitor.