#koharu ouma

[the-ouma-mansion]

Meet The Ouma Family!

We welcome all you guests who traveled through the forest into our hidden mansion halls, where the children of the deceased Machirin Ouma and Kankou Ouma now reside in. A strange bunch of quadruplets, but one we hope you will enjoy greatly. Ranging from oldest to youngest, they'll all be very pleased to make your acquaintance.

Kouchi Ouma

The oldest of only a few minutes, Kouchi Ouma tends to be rather quiet and reserved. Being raised in a church after the sudden and tragic death of their father Kankou months after the death of their mother has taught Kouchi a lot about patience and kindness. Serving as the Ultimate Preacher, Kouchi makes time for everyone and would do anything to protect the innocent. A family person through and through, their biggest concern and care is always the safety of their family.

When not reading or advising others, one can often find Kouchi gazing at the stars, tracing constellations and telling the stories of how the constellations came to be! They also enjoy other hobbies like sewing, knife collecting, and intellectual debate. While they do their best to seem presentable at all times, being a romantic at heart means they cannot help but let that mask slip a bit when around their crush Gundham, easily swayed into games of dramatics. He also takes a lot of night time walks.

Kouchi may seem quiet and responsible if a bit repressed, he's still got that Ouma humor and mischief in him if you give him a tempting enough opening. With a bit of a temper when pushed past his admittedly quite long patience, Kouchi can be a greater force to be reckoned with then one would have ever guessed, though endlessly loyal and perhaps a bit blind to those he manages grow fond of. With so much turmoil in his heart, is he really as unworthy as he thinks he is? (He/They)

"When it is your job to speak, and to speak with fervor, you must learn to press on even if it feels like choking."

Kokichi Ouma

The one everyone knows the best, a clever leader and quick with his tongue. Kokichi after the death of his parents has taken on the role of leader of the house, as he shelters both his family and the many people he's picked up for his organization. With more going on behind the scenes then anyone could ever know, the Ultimate Supreme Leader refuses to let his family suffer like they used to any longer.

With a love of mayhem and a wide protective streak of their youngest brother Kimochi, Kokichi always does what he thinks is best, unless it would be really really funny. The self proclaimed good twin to their youngest brother, Kokichi's strict moral compass keeps the more questionable habits of his siblings in check. Don't let any of that fool you though, he's an evil leader with eyes on big things capable of making the hard choices and you would be wise to not forget it.

Kokichi might be a prankster with his fingers in far more pies then anyone realizes, but he's a good friend and a beloved leader, though his siblings make sure he never gets too big of an ego. Get on his bad side though, and he'll be the only one protecting you from the more protective sides of his family. With such risks around each corner, is really as much of an unreasonable liar as he seems? (He/Him)

"Guess which idiot managed to get himself sick while on a top secret mission! It’s a tough job being such a generous supreme leader. I had to allocate staff to nursing him back to health, how wasteful!"

Koharu Ouma

Having to be the brightest star in any room despite being the smallest Ouma, Koharu is by far the flashiest and most fashionable of the family. Acting sweet and nice to the other reserve course students Koharu has quickly shot up as one of the most popular kids at school as he twists every detail of himself in public to be more palatable and praise worthy. Though he acts warm and sweet, he projects an air of almost godly presence and confidence. If you get blinded by his light and complicated vocabulary, you'll never see into his fiery core. Though peek behind his curtain at one's own risk, Koharu will not take kindly to challengers for his crown.

While one would assume most of his passion would lie in fashion, math, and makeup, his true interest lies in the animals around him that forms his largest obsession. Having a fascination with them since a young age and finding comfort in their simple easy to please natures, Koharu can often be found taking care of the local strays when he has free time. He's wildly protective of animals and hates those who takes advantage of them, seeing it as pointless cruelty, almost demonic in nature, that he cannot abide.

Koharu may see the world differently and less emotionally then most people, but that doesn't mean hes not the most loyal companion you can find if you manage to get his attention, let alone even a smidgen of trust. Is his heart truly as purely analytical as he makes it seem? (He/They)

"Find what you do effortlessly, then put effort into it!"

Kimochi Ouma

The evil twin to Kokichi's good twin, Kimochi is a bit of an odd one. Quiet and almost always smiling an empty smile when he's not pretending to be Kokichi, Kimochi may seem unassuming but a few incidents hard Kokichi pulling him out of formal schooling for safety reasons. As the body double for Kokichi and main protector of the secret organization, there is no line he won't cross or act he won't do if it's to protect those under his hand from any harm as long as Kokichi doesn't order him to stay out of it. Endlessly obedient to his leader, he doesn't often get to protect his brothers best he likes.

Despite this though, he does hold a kind playful side to those that he likes that don't hurt his family. Quick to judge someone, it's hard to change his mind from the more black and white views he quickly forms on people he meet. Despite this colder nature and constant mimicking of his brother, he's actually the clingiest member of the household, craving physical affection constantly when he can get away with it. With a love language of mimicry, Kimochi may be a bit greedier then most would believe.

Kimochi may seem cold and dangerous to outsiders, those who get close to him seem to get incredibly protective of him. Despite this though Kimochi prefers to settle his own problems alone, and to not worry or slow down those around him even to his own detriment. Can he really be summed up as just the evil side to Kokichi's good side? (He/Him?)

"The fight’s over and nothing hurts too badly. I’m okay."

---------

Muns: Welcome to the mansion! We hope you all enjoy the family we've created for Kokichi, with secrets and truths lying dormant, there's many things to learn, and many things you may wish you never did. With other characters to find in the area, and questions of what's good and what's not, can you discover everything there is to learn?

Asks are open!

[non-sequitur-ocs]

Surviving the fall of society isn't so bad when you have a little brother who insists on stopping and petting every single dog he sees

[reddowind]

I am back with Pokeronpa stuff of course

Pokemon Horizons just released their new ending version, so I decided to do this since the protagonists share so many similarities with these 3 (along with their Ace pokemon) from genders and personality wise. ((And to celebrate my 2 months semester holiday :3))

When I saw the ending, I thought it was silly but seconds later I fell in love with their cuteness ((especially with how Fuecoco dance 😂❤️))

Yes, yes I know the papas are being silly and out of character but I just wanted to draw them like that lmao

[77ngiez-archive]

irouma divorce spawn <3

EDIT: it seems i was more tired than i thought while designing her and wrote "legs" instead of "leg". i’d like to note that koharu does have use of one leg.

[refresh321]

me when my favorite tv show goes all wrong

[itsa-lie]

The Birth Of A Liar Part One

||Part One||Part Two||Part Three||Part Four||Part Five||

A drabble talking about how I imagine Kokichi’s backstory would be like. It’s gonna be pretty long but I hope you all enjoy it. Might introduce a new verse too.

Trigger warnings: blood, death, murder, and lying to yourself.

A three-year-old boy held his parents hands as they walk along the busy Tokyo streets. He could talk a little, but he was still shy. Very shy. He couldn’t even talk to strangers without hiding behind his mother or father’s legs. He was a small boy, chubby face, beautiful black hair, in fact it was so black it almost looked purple or blue. His parents looked a lot like him, especially his father with his long purple locks of hair that went down to his back and tied up in a ponytail. His mother was also beautiful, her skin as white as snow, and had a gorgeous smile. Every time the boy saw that smile he felt safe and sound.

The boy’s name is Kokichi Ouma. The son of a wealthy business man, at least that’s what his mother told him. And tonight, even if it was way past his bedtime, was the night that his father would meet one of his clients. He usually goes to meet the client alone, sometimes he’s come back all battered up and his mother would have to fix him up. How going to a meeting could be that dangerous the young Kokichi didn’t know, but what he did know is that his mother would be very sad and cry when he came home like that. Tonight was one of those nights. His mother got his father all wrapped up and placed Kokichi in his favorite grape purple sweater and pants, before putting on his boots and walking out together in the cold, snowy, Tokyo streets.

It was freezing but Kokichi didn’t mind, he was with his parents and where ever they go he knew he will be okay. He had no clue things were going to get much worse for the poor child. Blocking the way to the cab they were going to was a group of thugs, towering over the three as they get closer. Kokichi hid behind his parents, they gave him a sense of comfort when he was feeling scared.

“Go home...wanna...go home...”

“Shhh...it’s okay darling...mommy won’t let anything happen to you...” his mother cooed, rubbing his violet locks. The toddler snuggles up close to his mother, relaxing a bit in her warmth as he snuggles close. One of the thugs smirked at the sight, slamming his baseball bat against his palm.

“Ohoho Isamu has a little boy, huh? Looks just like you. Can’t wait to see the look on your little lying face when we mess him up.” The thug, a fat man with a large scar over his eye, snarled as he comes close. Kokichi’s mother shielded him as his father quickly got in front of the two, knife in hand.

“I suggest you leave them alone. It’s me you want. Leave them be.”

“Isamu!”

“It’s fine, Koharu! Take Kokichi and run.”

His mother, Koharu Ouma, holds the shivering child in her arms as her long black hair covers her crying face. She couldn’t leave her husband that she loved so much, and she very well couldn’t stay and get her son in danger. Kokichi’s sobs and cries get louder, the woman’s mind spiraling on what to do. 

“I’ll come back for you!” Koharu shouts before running as fast as she could trying to find some place to hide her darling baby boy. 

“Daddy! Daaaaddy!” Kokichi’s cries were hard for her to handle. The poor baby was born into a horrible world. A world full of gangs and Yakuza. Her shoes made crunching sounds underneath her, trying her best to cover her tracks so the rival gang would not find them. Finally she gets to an alleyway, a big hole in one wall could hold a small child until everything was safe. Gently she places the sniffling boy into the hole, his arms reaching out for her as she did.

“Mama! Maaaama!”

Koharu wipes the stray hair from her face and smiles at her son weakly, reaching her hand slowly to wipe the young child’s tear stained cheeks. “I’ll be back, Koko...and your father will leave this horrible life behind. No more meetings, no more late night traveling, we’ll only b-be with you...Koko...”

Kokichi sniffles, his eyes closing. They were starting to hurt from crying too much. Koharu caresses her little boy’s face before kissing his forehead. “We love you, Kokichi, with all our hearts.” She then got up, wiped the snow from her dress, and ran back to where her husband was. The child crawls out of the hole in the wall watching the figure of his mother disapear into the winter cold.

“Mama!” Kokichi cried, holding his arms out in front of him.  Where was she going? Should he follow her? He was afraid, sure he was, but he loved his parents and wanted to be with them. His little toddler legs ran as fast as they could, falling a few times from slipping on the snow. It took forever for him to get to his parents, but he finally got there, faceplanting onto the ground. He whines as he gets back up, trying to run back to his mother and father.

“The brat’s back I see. He tryin’ to be a little hero, eh?” Another thug, a skinny one with an eye-patch chuckled. “Well too bad, cuz’ deez two are gunna be dead meat for messin’ with us.” Isamu’s voice was stern and angry. “I told you that they have nothing to do with this. I was in your gang, I’m the one who refused to kill, so leave them alone!”

This made the buffest of the three thugs laugh as he grabs a pistol from his right hand pocket, holding it forward towards young Kokichi. “You know what you were getting into when you agreed to work with us. You refuse to kill? We kill you and everyone you love.”

Noticing the pistol quickly, Isamu takes his knife and knocks it out of his hand making pink liquid float in the air and down to the ground. The pistol shot into the air making a loud booming noise, in turn scaring Kokichi. The buff thug stares in silence as he examines his hand, a deep gash across the wrist to his forearm. He had heard Isamu was good, he just never realized how good. “You son of a bitch! Look what you did!” Before he could react, the fat one hit Isamu as hard as he could with his baseball bat. 

“Isamu!!” 

“Daddy!”

There was nothing they could do, Isamu was gone. He fell to the ground as blood gushed onto the concrete bellow. 

“Now all that’s left is you, sweet cheeks!” Eye-patch spat out turning around. Koharu couldn’t stop crying. At this moment she had given up. She didn’t care what happened to her as long as her child was safe.

“Kokichi! Run!”

That was the last thing she said before eye-patch picked up the bloody pistol and shot her dead. Kokichi was terrified! Didn’t she promise him that they would have a better life? That his father will have no more job meetings? Did she lie to him? Even if she did lie to him, when he believed that he at least felt better. But now, in the present, he hated knowing that they were dead. And he was all alone...

“MAMA! DADA!” The child screams, trying to run to his parents. “Well woud’ja look at that. Like sheep to a slaughter. Jus’ came right to us.” Eye-patch readied his weapon, about to hit Kokichi when he wasn’t looking. However a loud sound rang into the air, almost like his toy police truck he has at home only much louder. And that light...it was scary! Was it a monster? If only his mother and father were here to save him from it! Kokichi turns around and runs to where his mother originally took him, to the small hole in that abandoned building in an alleyway.

“Oh shit, it’s the cops!” The fat one stated looking at his colleagues in utter horror. Kokichi didn’t stay there long to deal with the police officers, he curled into a ball and lay on the concrete floor of the abandoned house sobbing to himself silently. From where he lay he could see feet of adults run by the hole, three pairs of them looking like the three people who took his parents away from him. No...no his parents weren’t away...they were coming back. Just like they promised. For sure his mom and dad will walk into this hole pick him up and take him back home, maybe get him a Happy Meal along the way.

It’s a lie, of course.

But it made him feel better.

[our-happygirl500-fan]

You mentioned Kichi’s parental issues... Could you expand upon that, even if it is just headcanon?

Well there’s the general headcanon of abuse but my idea for Kokichi’s backstory isn’t actually my own but from a fic I read on AO3, I can’t remember the name of it, I think it might have literally been called Dysphoria or something similar and not a lot of people read it and the author took it down like a month after finishing it because it touched upon some really sensitive and frankly uncomfortable stuff and I had only clicked on the story because the notes made an Umineko reference but the story despite its content was actually really well written and always kind of stuck with me. It’s very much like a WoH backstory and considering I always felt a similarity to Kotoko and Kokichi it kind of just stuck in my head.

I’ll put a read more, to sum up, what I remember of the story but tw for mentions or, rape, abuse, suicide attempts, and gender identity and confusion.

So the story was actually really well written and is from Kokichi’s POV from childhood to his time in the killing game to death and there is this reveal where you learn about Koharu along with Kokichi though I’m not sure if it counts as a big reveal because there are a lot of hints in the bits leading up to it but I’m not entirely sure how to do that with a summary.

The story kind of starts out from a woman’s point of view where she married an older man straight out of high school living in a small house, the man is abusive and often drinks but the woman has convinced herself that he loves her and their three-year-old daughter. She’s at the park trying to keep the other park patrons from noticing her daughters bruises worrying that her daughter will make trouble for her husband; she then notices another child with bruises, a boy who other mothers coo at and make comments about how boys always get up to mischief and roughhouse. The mother seems to have a realization and when she goes home she throws out all her daughters dresses and cuts the child's hair.

The story then jumps to a six to seven year old Kokichi’s POV where he’s making up some kind of story about a black eye that he has the other kids in his class ignore him a tell him that no one believes his lies anymore, a teacher who is implied to be new at the school later asks him if everything is alright at home and Kokichi remembers people coming by the house to check on his parents which led to his parents yelling and hitting each other and him so he starts spewing nonsense and annoying the teacher until the teacher doesn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Then there are a couple of scenes about Kokichi avoiding home and some thoughts about his parents, he wonders why his mother tries so hard to lie to everyone to pretend they’re a normal family and then wonders if none of the families are normal and everyone is just lying. 

When he finally does get home his mother is at work and his father is drunk, things get slightly violent and then there is what is very much implied to be a rape scene.

Later Kokichi tries to tell his mother what happened and his mother suddenly goes very quiet and calls him a liar, the mother gets more and more hysterical and starts hitting and beating Kokichi until he passes out calling him a liar the entire time.

He later wakes up with him mother repeatedly dunking his head into ice water so that his face doesn’t bruise telling him that they’ll all call her a bad mother if he goes into school like that. Later there is another implied rape scene and afterward, Kokichi decides not to tell his mother.

The story jumps to Kokichi being 8 or 9 in the middle of what is implied to be another rape scene by Kokichi’s father only for his mother to walk in and get into a fight with the father over what she saw, things get violent and the father ends up accidentally killing the mother right in front of Kokichi. The father horrified at what he’s done runs out of the house in a panic leaving Kokichi frozen in shock still on the bed staring at his mother’s corpse.

A neighbor walks into the house when she notices the front door left open and screams at the sight of the dead woman and child naked on the bed.

Police get involved and take Kokichi into custody and he has to explain while still implied to be in shock what happened, the police start calling social services and Kokichi hears two officers angrily talking about Kokichi’s dead disgusted that he raped his daughter and murdered his wife, the first part confuses Kokichi. Hospital scenes are then described with social services uncovering all the abuse and x-raying all the parts of his body. One of the doctors calls him a brave girl and Kokichi corrects him saying he’s a boy and the doctor suddenly goes quiet.

An investigation reveals Kokichi’s mother’s diary where she decided to raise her daughter as a boy because bruises are less noticeable on a boy and even expected than they are on a girl, some social workers try to explain this to Kokichi and even show him his birth certificate that says Koharu Ouma instead of Kokichi Ouma like he expected but it’s shown that he can’t really comprehend what they’re saying and thinks they’re lying.

They catch Kokichi’s father and he’s put on trial, Kokichi’s father insists repeatedly that he did not kill the mother and Kokichi notes the obvious lie because he saw it happen, Kokichi is brought in as a witness and describes what happens only for his father to angrily interrupt him and call him a liar. Kokichi is removed from the courtroom because he’s getting upset but he hears his father still yelling saying Kokichi is lying even as he’s led through the halls of the courthouse. Later Kokichi is told that his father committed suicide in his cell.

Kokichi ends up at what is implied to be Maki’s orphanage where he’s suddenly forced to wear girls clothes, placed in the girl groups and called Koharu. Kokichi tries to explain that he’s a boy and his name is Kokichi but every time he does the adults give him pitying looks and explain that he’s a girl and his name is Koharu. One of the older girls is put in charge of him and she grows very attached and possessive of him, she tells him about her best friend implied to be Maki who used to be so good at taking care of all the kids but left the orphanage suddenly one day. It’s shown that she misses Maki a lot and Kokichi literally thinks that she’s trying to use him to fill the hole that Maki left. Time passes and Kokichi’s hair grows longer and he starts looking like a girl. The girl who takes care of him will often do his hair and dress him up in dresses and tell him what a pretty girl he’s growing up to be and he will internally think that he’s a boy.

By age 11 Kokichi has started to comprehend what his parents did and starts thinking about how his identity as Kokichi is a lie but being Koharu feels more like a lie to him than being Kokichi and he mourns the fact that the truth feels like a lie and the lie feels like the truth. He walks to a bridge in the rain and contemplates jumping and ending it all, the girl who takes care of him suddenly appears and stops him but she ends up losing her footing and falling instead. She ends up drowning and the caretakers at the orphanage think that they were playing around and it was an accident but that she ended up saving Kokichi. Kokichi is horrified that his actions caused a death and feels no better than his father. Later Kokichi steals a pair of scissors and some boys clothes cuts his hair and runs away from the orphanage.

Kokichi lives on the streets for a while and ends up meeting another slightly older boy with hair covering one of his eyes who is working on something to earn food and cash. Kokichi wants in but the other boy looks at him doubtfully and says that a kid wouldn’t really help him Kokichi decides to lie about his age and say that he’s 13 instead of 11 to be taken more seriously. The two boys introduce themselves to each other and Kokichi uses the name Kokichi Ouma for the first time in a long time.

It then goes on about Kokichi picking up more people who are described to be the future members of DICE and Kokichi notes that he’s making his own family, one his mother would never have approved of but a family no less. He then notices that his chest is growing and panics not wanting DICE to ‘know about Koharu’ he starts skipping lunch and binding his chest, he doesn’t miss the meal since he couldn’t taste it anyway. Kokichi then panics again when he gets his first period, he then reads that anorexia can stop girls from receiving periods and he stops eating dinner. He deals with the hunger pains by drinking liquids his favorite being carbonated drinks like panta. He starts wearing white to ‘play the game on hard mode’ to put more pressure on him to stop his periods because if blood appears on white clothes he won’t be able to hide it. DICE member notice Kokichi is eating less but they think he’s reorganizing food to give them more to eat and note that their leader cares more about them than his own health Kokichi lets them think that and feels guilty for lying to the people he cares about and he begins thinking that any admiration they have for him is based on his lies to ‘keep Koharu a secret’.

He feels like a terrible person for lying to the people he’s close to and then starts thinking he must be a terrible person because of all the shit that life has thrown at him and it must have all been because he deserved it and this causes him to start thinking of himself in a more villain like persona.

Then the killing game starts and that goes about the same as most fics describe, he actually likes Tenko calling him a degenerate male. He has complicated feelings about his attraction to guys and whether that means he’s really Koharu or Kokichi but decides to lean into it sort of like a whole ‘I’m so comfortable in my own masculinity I can flirt with guys’ but that means he slightly overdoes it. He feels slightly uncomfortable if not angry at Momota and his idea’s of masculinity. He recognizes Maki as the girl who left the orphanage and a lot of the anger he directs at her stems from his own guilt over the death he feels he caused.

The hanger happens and Kokichi takes off his shirt and Kaito notices his bindings but doesn’t seem to know what they mean, instead asking Kokichi if he’s hurt or something. Kokichi waves off Kaito’s concern but is releaved that he’ll die as Kokichi Ouma instead of Koharu Ouma.

He says his final speech to Kaito on the fact that he’ll do anything to end the killing game and says ‘I had to lie to myself to keep myself sane’ and there’s a flashback of Kokichi’s mother calling him a liar for telling her that his father raped him, ‘I had to lie to myself to stay alive’ and there’s a flashback to him lying to teachers asking if things were alright at home and his parents arguments. 

He then finishes his speech and watches the press lower, he wonders what would happen if the first lie the lie that he was Kokichi Ouma had never been told and wonders what he would have been like if he had been raised as Koharu and if he would have been an honest person that anyone could like and get along with, he then decides it doesn’t matter because even if it was a lie being Kokichi Ouma was who he was and he was a liar afterall and it makes sense that his existence was a lie in and of itself.

I did a really poor job describing the fic because it was seriously well written and it’s deleted now so this is only from memory it was really emotional and I’m crying just remembering it but I really liked it so part of me always feels like this is Kokichi’s backstory. I also like the idea that he’s so thin because he’s deliberatley starving himself and the idea that he lied about his age and is tecnically younger than everyone.

[dangan-love-children]

Meet the love children!

16 ultimate students, each with well known parents, meet them here!

Natsuki Nanami- son of Chiaki Nanami and Ryoma Hoshi. He is the ultimate Football star, and has a kind, caring, selfless personality.

Taniko Hoshi- Taniko is the daughter of Ryoma and Chiaki. She is the ultimate game devolper, and is Natsuki's younger, yet brighter sister. She is shy, but really friendly, although she thinks lowly of herself.

Chouko + Itsuki Tanaka- Chouko and Itsuki are male identical twins of Gonta and Gundam. Chouko is the ultimate Animal Whisperer, and Itsuki is the ultimate Animal caretaker. Both are loud, yet very helpful, strong males.

Miko Oogami- Miko is Aoi and Sakuras eldest son, and he is the ultimate diver. He is loud, yet kind and charming.

Sato Oogami- Sato is also sakura and aois son, but he younger, bolder, and more protective. He is the ultimate body guard.

Himaro Saihara- shy, yet kind and friendly, Himaro is the daughter of Shuichi and Kokichi, and is the ultimate forensic scientist.

Koharu Ouma- the ultimate manipulator, Koharu is Himaro's elder brother, he is a big liar, and is very untrustworthy.

Mei Toujou- Mei is a charming, selfless young man, and he is known as the ultimate butler. He is Kirumi and Kaede's son.

Nanami Akamatsu- Kaede and Kirumi's daughter, Nanami is a leader like, friendly, slightly bossy ultimate violinist.

Riku Shinguji- Obsessive and unapproachable, Riku is the dangerous son of Rantaro and Korekiyo, and is the ultimate biologist.

Sora Shinguji- the more friendly, curious one of the shinguuji family, Sora is the ultimate Hiker, and Riku's younger brother.

Hoshiko fukawa- shy, yet friendly Ultimate Author, Hoshiko is Komaru and Touko's eldest daughter, and the more upbeat one.

Haruto Naegi- The ultimate hope is he, a kind, leaderlike, selfless boy he is. He is Komaru and Touko's youngest, and the one with split personality, his other personality whom he calls 'Despairing Haturo'.

Taekio Hinata- a young, charming woman, Taekio is Hajime and Nagito's youngest daughter. She is kind, selfless, and sometimes self hating, and is the ultimate???.

Kami Komaeda- a shy, self hating, selfless ultimate Luck bringer, Kami thinks she is absolute trash, and is Hajime and Nagito's Eldest daughter.

I don't have designs for them as of yet, and I can't draw lmao, but you can ask them any question you want, have fun!

[the-ouma-mansion]

No one Has To Has Know

Kokichi and Kimochi always thought they were twins, but when Hope's Peak reveals several more siblings that were lost to the past, the duo who previously thought they were twins must come to terms with the fact that they were actually, in fact, quintuplets.

[Kimochi & Kokichi, Kimochi & Kouchi, Kimochi &Koharu, Kimochi & Kanade] [Non Despair, Hope's Peak Academy, Long Lost Siblings, Family Bonding, First Meetings]

Follow up to this.

Kimochi thought the first few years of his life might have been a dream. He remembered feeling warm and crowded by things, until slowly they all peeled away one by one and it was just him holding onto Kokichi so tightly that no one could ever take him away, too.

He remembered dreaming of himself standing in front of their house, Kokichi laid out safely on the ground beside him, as the place went up in flames. He remembers a hand on his head, leaning down to whisper in his own ear, "No one has to know." He remembers staring at the fire and thinking, "I did this," until he and Kokichi were picked up and rushed off to a hospital.

Kokichi didn't remember it though, so even when Kimochi did, he knew that it had to be a dream. Just like all the other dreams of being warm and crowded.

Kimochi continued to believe this until Kokichi came home one day and asked him, "Did you know that we have another brother?"

"No, that was a dream," he replied immediately. He looked up from his book and they both stared at each other as the words sank in between them.

"You dreamed about us having a brother?" Kokichi questioned.

Kimochi closed his book slowly. "We... have... another brother?"

Kokichi nodded, moving to sit on the arm of his chair. "His name is Kouchi. I thought I'd made him up but I ran into him today."

"Oh." He wonders what that means for his dreams, but he doesn't ask. "Do you like him?" Kimochi asked, because if Kokichi does, that probably puts him on borrowed time. He's always been the evil twin, if Kokichi has other options...

Kokichi sees through this question of course. He glares at Kimochi, flicking him in the middle of his forehead. "Don't be stupid."

OoOoOoOo

Kimochi doesn't meet their new triplet right away. He didn't go to Hope's Peak, or to school at all, so it was easy not to run into him. Made even easier when he stopped wandering at night and started tucking himself into more and more secluded corners of their base to read. He wouldn't have called it hiding, but he wouldn't deny the increasing number of "Where's Mochi?" questions that he didn't answer when he heard them.

Two weeks later it didn't matter, because Kouchi showed up anyway. He had fallen asleep in the armchair that had long been designated as "his" and woke up to a face with a dark pink scarf mask hovering over him, brushing his hair. Kimochi would have startled at an intruder if it weren't for the fact he was staring at his own hair and eyes even with the mask covering most of the face. The eyes were crinkled, in a way that reminded Kimochi of how Kokichi's eyes looked when he smiled. However instead of the cryptic things he remembered from his dream, it simply said "Good morning."

Kimochi's eyes darted around until he spotted Kokichi right beside them, then he gave his own face a smile. "Is this always how you greet long lost siblings?"

"Only when they are my adorable baby siblings," Kouchi replied.

Well, Kimochi didn't hate that.

Kouchi was an enjoyable presence to be around. He joined Kimochi when he was reading, only bringing with him the soft sounds of classical music. It wasn't really to Kimochi's taste, but he didn't mind it and he began to associate the sound with his brother's presence. He would admit to being starry eyed in Kouchi's presence.  He and Kokichi were together so often that Kimochi often considered them to be the same (when he didn't think of himself as being much worse), so it was odd to feel like he had an older brother. They were the same, but they also very much were not.

Kimochi soon had two very different sets of stories from Hope's Peak. The chaotic wildness that he was used to from Kokichi, and the more sedate stories offered to him by Kouchi. He found himself actively watching Kouchi, mirroring him, studying him as he never had to do with Kokichi. Kokichi just made sense to Kimochi. Kouchi didn't. Not quite, at least.

"You don't have to do that," Kouchi told him one day.

"Do what?" Kimochi asked. 

Kouchi’s eyes softened like he knew a secret Kimochi didn't. It felt odd to be on the receiving end of such a look. "Copy me. You can be yourself around me."

Kimochi smiled in turn, adding a teasing tone to his voice as he asked, "Oh? And what if I'm awful?"

Kouchi met his eyes as he answered, "I won't mind."

Kimochi didn't believe him, but he liked the thought. He remembered the last time he'd gone to school, Kokichi worriedly wrapping himself around Kimochi and whispering that he loved him even though he knew that Kimochi was broken. He didn't think Kouchi would do that, but even if he did, he didn't want his new brother to think that he was a monster.

OoOoOoOo

Hope's Peak must have some kind of obsession with Oumas, because they kept collecting siblings that Kimochi didn't remember having. 

He saw Koharu the least of all his new siblings. Koharu seemed to always be busy and most days, Kimochi saw him more in passing or heard of him from whispers and rumors. He saw Kouchi dragging him to put ice onto a black eye, heard Dice members praising his helpfulness or his smile, and listened to Kokichi calling him a liar. Kimochi was rarely ever alone with Koharu, rarely ever even in the same room. 

Despite that, Koharu became a fixture in their home frightfully quickly. One day, he was watching Kokichi throw himself on the bed and tell him about their new sibling and the next Koharu was bringing in boxes of things for "Safe keeping."

Well, Kimochi no longer had to worry about being the worst twin, at least. Every few days Kokichi had a new complaint to launch against Koharu and new whispers to listen to from Dice. Kimochi absorbed all this as he always did, writing down every new bit of information that he could.

Kokichi called Koharu a liar with the small purse of his lips that meant he was offended. Kouchi called Koharu a liar in the voice of someone that was highly amused. It was only when he talked to Koharu himself that he realized what they meant. Koharu smiled with empty eyes, cried with hollow tears, and spoke in a vacant voice. Kimochi got the sense that there was nothing inside him.

Well, no one told lies without a truth to hide and Kimochi could admit to being curious.

He went to Hope’s Peak and asked Kokichi where Koharu's class was. His brother looked at him with surprised eyes. "Why?"

"I want to spend time with him," he answered honestly.

"At school?"

"I don't see him anywhere else."

Kokichi blinked at him a few times before writing down directions and handing it to him. "Knock yourself out, I guess. He's completely insufferable though. Trust me."

Kimochi just smiled at him and set out to find Koharu's classroom. The reserve course was in a different building than the talented students. There were less recognizable faces the longer he went on. It was a little astounding how big Hope's Peak actually was. He wondered if they could have gone their whole high school lives without ever meeting their lost siblings.

"Koharu, what are you wearing?" Kimochi turned to face the girl that spoke. She was looking at him with a bemused expression, like she wanted to help him but wasn't yet sure what he needed.

"Ah, you know Koharu then." He smiled at her and she seemed to relax, as if her entire world made sense again. "I was looking for him, but I've never been to this building before."

"Oh, that's fine. I'll take you there." She made small talk on the way and Kimochi indulged her easily. The girl seemed to have a favorable enough opinion of Koharu, as did Dice. Curious that.

It was easy to spot Koharu in his classroom with his carefully combed hair and glasses that Kimochi suspected to not be more than aesthetic. He was the center of attention, with soft words and bright smiles and an air of helplessness that Kimochi hadn't seen the few times they had met before. It was a bit odd to watch the class hover around him as if they were the planets to his sun but the role of the bright center of the universe seemed perfectly at home on Koharu’s shoulders.The girl moved to call out to him and Kimochi stopped her. "I don't want to interrupt him, don't worry."

It was a few minutes until Koharu noticed him, getting to his feet immediately. Strange how he seemed to direct his entire attention to Kimochi, as if the rest of his classmates ceased to exist. "What are you doing here Kimochi? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," he answered as Koharu reached him. "I just decided to spend time with you."

"Oh?" Kimochi wasn't sure what the look in Koharu's gaze meant. Koharu seemed to be made of air currents and turning gears, fast moving and too ephemeral for him to grasp. "Well, class will be starting soon, so..."

"That's alright," Kimochi said. He took a seat behind where Koharu had been sitting and smiled at him.

Koharu's smile wavered. "Kimochi, you can't just invite yourself to class."

"I won't disturb you," he told him. "It'll be fine."

Koharu looked like he wanted to argue more but then the teacher arrived and he decided to just take his seat. No one bothered him, so he assumed whoever's seat he was in must have been free.

"Oh, do we have a new student?" The teacher questioned.

Kimochi stood and bowed. "Please continue with the lesson. I'd hate to hold everyone up." The class clamor that followed, consisting of whispers and coos as to how he was "just as sweet as Koharu" and "so well mannered" had more to do with the teacher's eagerness to let him pass than anything else, but that was fine. Kimochi hadn't intended to be denied, so it was nice that Koharu's apparent reputation enabled that.

Koharu ignored him for most of the day. Kimochi made it easy to do, remaining observant and quiet, watching his brother and mostly only speaking when spoken to. Koharu was oddly attentive to his classmates, helping those that needed help, demuring from compliments, and flashing nonstop smiles. It might not have been strange at all if it wasn't for the lack of attention he gave Kimochi. He mostly only paid attention to Kimochi when his classmates said something to prompt it and there was a lingering question in his eyes when he did so.

It was only after school, when Koharu was walking Kimochi out that he questioned, "What was that about?"

"I told you, I wanted to spend time with you," Kimochi answered. The reserve class was a lot calmer than the times he had sat in on Kokichi's class. Boring, but predictable. Normal. He'd have to bring a book if he wanted to do it again.

He was suddenly stopped by Koharu crowding him against a wall, staring into his eyes as if he could burn away any hints of artifice that Kimochi might show. "What do you expect to gain here?"

"Knowledge."

"What?"

"I never see you. I want to get you to know you," he told him. He smiled when the look on Koharu's face remained as intense and mildly uncomprehending as it began. "I promise it's not that complicated. I don't know anything about you, Koharu. I want to."

Koharu moved away from him. "Hmm. There are easier ways to accomplish that."

"No, I don't think there are," Kimochi replied. "Everyone has something different to say about you and the only thing our siblings agree on is that you're a liar. That doesn't tell me anything about what the lie might be or what else you are."

"And you're doing this out of what exactly?"

"Curiosity."

"I don't understand you," Koharu admitted.

He laughed. "Well, we just met. Takes more than a day to understand someone. At least, it does if they're interesting." There were people in Kokichi's class that he had understood in five minutes flat. People like that weren't as much fun though.

OoOoOoOo

Kokichi found him an hour after he'd gotten home, tossing himself onto Kimochi's lap and planting himself right on the book that he was reading. "So what were you doing with Koharu earlier, huh?" 

Kimochi pushed him onto the floor, ignoring Kokichi's complaints as he checked his book. "You bent the page."

"You bent my bottom," Kokichi replied from the floor.

He rolled his eyes, smiling at Kokichi's pout. He closed his book, tucking it away beside him as he gave his brother his full attention. "Shall I help you up or do you want to stay there and pout longer?"

Kokichi ignored that to jump to his feet, climbing onto the arm of the chair as he should have done from the start, and resting his arms on Kimochi's head. He sunk down on the cushion slightly to make it easier. "Tell me about your search for Koharu!"

"I was just watching him," he shrugged.

"While he was in class?" When Kimochi only shrugged again, Kokichi laughed. "Wow, Kimchi, you're such a stalker."

"If I am, it's your fault Chichi. You're the one that's told me all these vague things about Koharu. What kind of twin would I be if I didn't investigate?"

"One that wasn't nosy as shit," Kokichi answered.

"Unrealistic."

Kokichi giggled, making himself comfortable by folding his arms on Kimochi's head and laying on them. "Read to me from the book that I broke."

He rolled his eyes, but pulled out his book anyway. By the time he finished the chapter, Kokichi had fallen asleep on him and there were three Dice members crowded around his feet. He closed his book, smiling as he leaned into Kokichi. 

OoOoOoOo

The third day that he followed Koharu to school he got into a fight. Three fights, to be exact. It turns out that the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader had a short fuse and he took exception to Koharu accidentally bumping into him, and Kimochi took exception to him punching his brother in the face. This went on until the Ultimate Moral Compass commanded them to stop and they were all hustled away to the nurse’s office.

The second fight wasn't his fault at all. It turned out that the Ultimate Gymnast was quick to jump to conclusions, so when she walked in to find the Ultimate Nurse in a compromising position (that she put herself in) she blamed the boys in the room and attacked with no questions asked. Kimochi left them to it after a while to check on Koharu and make sure he was okay, the other two not really noticing that he had excused himself from the fight and Ultimate Nurse apologizing profusely.

Then he ran into Maki, who he assumed was looking for Kokichi. Her finding Kokichi was undoubtedly the worst option, but Kimochi was in a rather bad mood at this point and her picking him up by his shirt didn't do her any favors. He bit her hand, which seemed to shock both her and Koharu. They were late for class at this point, so he didn't want to give her any more of his time. She dropped him in surprise. He landed on his feet then he took Koharu's hand and they walked back to class.

Koharu was watching him most of the walk back, but that ended the moment they crossed the threshold of the classroom and everyone crowded around them asking Koharu if he was okay. Kimochi left him to it, taking the seat he'd claimed as his own and reading a book until the end of class.

"Why did you interfere?" Koharu asked once they left the classroom.

Kimochi gave him a confused look. "Because I didn't want you to get hurt."

Before either of them could say anything else, Kimochi found himself being caught up by Kokichi. Entering the room with the usual flourish, the crowd of students all quickly started to whisper between themselves again. Someone seemed to have recognized Kokichi, and in moments the entire class knew he was the Ultimate Supreme Leader. All eyes were on his brother, some were the normal curious expressions, other more alarming expressions immediately put the bearers on the didn’t like list. It was a bit strange they hadn’t associated Kimochi with the title, alarming even. However, as Kokichi walked over to him and Koharu, he pushed the thought from his mind.

“I heard the surprising news that I was in a fight today,” Kokichi told him, gazing at his nails in a fake nonchalance. “More than one, even!”

“Impressive pressive of you,” Kimochi said. He didn’t think word would travel quite so quickly.

Kokichi gave them both a subtle once over as he pretended to look at his nails. He must have been worried to come and find him and the reason why was revealed quickly. “In fact, I heard that I bit Harukawa.”

Kimochi glared at the mention of her and his response was nearly instant. “I bet she deserved it.”

“I don't doubt it.” Kokichi was still trying to appraise them, so Kimochi gave his brother a smile.

“I’m fine, Chichi.”

Kokichi pointed at Koharu. “Hey, don’t go getting Mochi to fight your battles for you! What do you think he is, some kind of henchmen? Wrong!”

“Dice are the henchmen,” Kimochi joked quickly, receiving the flash of a smile from Kokichi.

“He involved himself, I didn’t ask him to do that,” Koharu replied.

“Then don’t be a damsel in distress so that he won’t have to save you,” Kokichi told him. And there lay the seeds of Kokichi worrying about their new brother. Neither of them fully knew what he was like and Kokichi hated it when people got hurt. At least, he hated it if it wasn’t funny. 

“I’m fine, Chichi,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to him, you don't have to worry.”

Kokichi sighed and pet Mochi’s head. “Yeah, I know. Anyway, come on you two. I’m going to escort you home so that you don’t get into any more trouble.” He didn’t object, so the three of them walked home together while Kokichi pretended that he wasn’t fussing over them both.

OoOoOoOo

Being the only one not going to Hope's Peak made it easier to get away with what he did, too. Of course, if his siblings talked to each other, the process of elimination would root him out. Kimochi felt pretty confident that the chances of all his siblings successfully talking to each other was pretty small. 

He explained it to Kanade once, his head in her lap and her back against a gravestone, "I think there are three languages among the four of us. I might be the only one that understands all of them."

She blew rings of cigarette smoke into the air. Her voice was always flat and steady, her expression mostly blank. It added a weight to her words, he found. "Does that even count if you aren't talking to them either?"

He frowned at her. "I talk to them."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sure you tell them about your nightmares and shit everyday. Kichi gives you the lighters and knives you play with and Kou doesn't think you're scared of him and Ru isn't worried his sibling is stalking him or whatever," she drawled.

"None of that is true." 

Kimochi supposed that she made a decent point. Kimochi thought he understood his siblings, but he wasn't doing any better at communicating than they were. Kokichi was spending his days trying to find time for two extra siblings and Kimochi felt like the leftovers. He didn't want to say that though. He knew that Kokichi still loved him and that he wasn't even the worst liked. That should be enough. 

Kokichi had Kouchi to confide in and Koharu to prank and to hate and... Kimochi couldn't expect to be Kokichi's favorite anymore. The thought shouldn't leave a sour taste on his tongue. It was completely ungrateful and selfish. Kokichi would be ashamed of him, surely. It made him feel even more sick and twisted to think that the warm and crowded feeling he'd been remembering could be bad instead of the comfortable safety net that he wanted it to be.

He pulled Kanade's hand down to his lips until he could take a few puffs from her cigarette. "It'll stunt your growth," she told him. 

"I'm already short. Not much left to stunt."

"What if you go backwards, Mochi. Can you afford that?"

He laughed, but it was watery and he was on the verge of choking on his own feelings. "If I shrink, will you hold me up to reach things on the top shelf?"

"No, I wanna watch you struggle," she answered immediately. The drawl in her voice rarely changed, but he always knew when she was joking or serious anyway. "I'd put even more things higher."

"What a terrible girlfriend you'd make," he told her.

She leaned down, lifting her hand out of his grasp to take a puff of her cigarette and blow smoke in his face. "You're no trophy wife yourself."

"You wish that you could wife me up."

She smirked at him as she sat back up, fingers combing through his hair. He considered talking to them, the strangers that wore his face, the dreams that he loved and tried his best to mirror. He stole Kanade's cigarette to distract himself from the sour taste that refused to leave his mouth.

OoOoOoOo

Kimochi decided to stay home the next day, not the least of which because Kouchi seemed worried about him and he didn't want to trouble him. It wasn't like he didn't have other things to occupy him anyway. He had articles to write and books to read and Dice members to attend to. 

Kimochi was surprised a few days later when Koharu sought him out.

"Come with me," Koharu said. Kimochi wasn't sure if it was a demand or a request, but he excused himself from the conversation that he was in and followed Koharu anyway.

The outing consisted of Koharu taking him to a place, starting a conversation, pulling Kimochi into it, leaving him alone for five to ten minutes, and then returning to politely wrap up the interaction. Koharu did this about five times, returning each time with more than he’d left with. Kimochi ended the day with a Snickers, a phone charm, and a popsicle. 

Kimochi thought he had a pretty good idea of what Koharu was like and why his siblings didn't like it. Koharu wasn't empty, he was just a mask. 

As they walked home together, Koharu with notably fuller pockets and Kimochi with a popsicle in his mouth, he said, "My favorite flavor is strawberry."

Koharu looked at him for longer than was polite before he nodded. "Noted," Koharu said.

They didn't talk about it and when Kimochi retreated to his chair to read, Koharu decided to join him.

OoOoOoOo

Kouchi was the best choice to talk to. They already spent dedicated chunks of time together and as the Ultimate Preacher, he was used to others confessing to him. Kimochi decided it was easiest to forgo asking permission or providing a lead in. Instead, he just looked up from his book and asked, "Do you think I'm the worst one?"

Kouchi didn't even look up from his book. "How could I think that when Koharu is right there?"

Kimochi frowned. "Koharu's not that bad."

Kouchi did look up then. "Is that so?" 

"Well, he likes all of us," Kimochi shrugged. "That matters."

Kouchi closed his book. It was odd how foreboding that felt. "Is there something on your mind, Kimochi?"

"I just said it."

"Something more?"

He pulled his legs up to his chest. "Do you love all of us?"

Kouchi raised an eyebrow at that. "Of course?"

"Would it be bad not to?"

Kouchi was quiet for a moment. He could see Kouchi studying him, trying to pull back his layers and find whatever writhing thing was living underneath his skin and poisoning him so that he could kill it.

"You can't kill it just by looking," Kimochi said softly. "It's burrowed too deeply."

"I see." Kouchi moved his knees, sitting right in front of Kimochi. "Kokichi loves you. I do, too. Nothing could ever make me stop."

"I believe you."

"You don't." Kouchi said it with so much conviction that it shocked Kimochi into sitting up straight. "You think there's a line. Kokichi has a line he doesn't want you to cross and you think he'll stop loving you if you do." He took Kimochi's hand. "I don't have a line, Kimochi. Nothing you do will be too much or too far."

He tilted his head, staring at the conviction in his brother's eyes and the serious expression on his face. If this was Kokichi, he would believe him. Kokichi didn't lie to him, not in ways that mattered. But this wasn't Kokichi so he felt the need to test it. To be sure. Kimochi threaded their fingers together so that Kouchi couldn't pull away and whispered, "Did you set the fire?"

There was an unshielded shock in Kouchi's eyes for a moment, but he covered it with confusion quickly. Just like he tried to cover the small way he jerked back by squeezing Kimochi's hand. "What fire?"

It didn't hurt that Kouchi would lie to him. It would only hurt if this was a lie. If there was a line and he was trying to trick him into tripping over it. "I thought I dreamed it," he confessed. "Staring at myself in front of the fire the day that he died."

"How could it have been me?" Kouchi asked. 

Kimochi closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees. He didn't let go of Kouchi's hand. "That's it then. There is a line and if I cross it, you'll hate me. I'm asking questions and you already hate it."

"I didn't say--"

"I have eyes, Kou. You didn't like it. It's not the same line as Kokichi's, but it's a line. It's not fair to let me trip over it when I'd stop if you just asked."

"I did."

Kimochi opened his eyes. Kouchi was much closer than he expected. Also much more determined and honest looking. 

"So what now?" 

Kimochi looked at their hands, wondering if he was imagining the slight tremble there. "Now nothing. I didn't ask to be conditional. I just asked so that I'd know. I want to know what the rules are. That's all."

"You never told Kokichi about that, did you?"

"You told me not to."

Kouchi relaxed, he could tell. He pulled Kimochi into a hug. ‘Conditional’ popped into his head again, but he ignored it in favor of enjoying his embrace. "You can tell me anything, Kimochi. I promise you that."

"What if I hated you?" Kimochi asked. "You and the others, for taking Kokichi away from me." He didn't, but it was uncomfortably close to his feelings.

"Well, you have had him to yourself for a long time. It's only to be expected that you would hate us." Kouchi smiled at him. "I don't reciprocate that hate, though. I love you and Kokichi both."

"I like all of you," Kimochi told him. "I don't actually hate any of you."

"You are my precious baby brother. Even if you make a mistake, I'll forgive you. And you can tell me anything and no one has to know."

No one has to know. The promise he remembered from so long ago. This time, it didn't feel conditional.

[the-ouma-mansion]

Likes and Dislikes

Kokichi Ouma

Talent: Ultimate Supreme Leader Likes: Pranks, Lies, Games Dislikes: Killjoys, Corrupt Adults Fun Fact: Has tea parties with Sonia

Kouchi Ouma

Talent: Ultimate Preacher Likes: Stargazing, Reading, Knives Dislikes: Scum, Sweets Fun Fact: Knows how to bind books

Koharu Ouma

Talent: Animal Handling + Math, Reserve Course Likes: Animals, Fancy Things, Hedonism Dislikes: Fools, Boring People, Clichés Fun Fact: Has a weakness for cheap gummy fruit snacks

Kimochi Ouma

Talent: Ultimate Twin Likes: Reading, His Siblings, Sweets Dislikes: People that hurt Kokichi, Lying Fun Fact: Likes to stare at people

[non-sequitur-ocs]

local seven year old very upset he looks like a raspberry because his big brother/guardian angel insists he needs to dress warmly because its winter or whatever

[non-sequitur-ocs]

Ignore all the flaws im not practiced with sprite editing in awhile

[non-sequitur-ocs]

Kouchi: say the fanciest convoluted thing you can

Koharu: did you mean to ensorcell me with this anfractuous yet concinnitas demand? Am I mere chanticleer to you? You are lucky I do not comminate this request especially as I have been given douceur for my time. Do you believe I to have gasconade about my vocabulary? That it was simply insulse with no habile? That I would swither? I am quite adept to handle at a feeble attempt at logomachy. Truly this nugacity shows the cacoethes of your mind at times brother! The divagate this has put into our conversation is impassible to gain an eucatastrophe from. This endeavor has truly posited itself as a floccinaucinihilipilification.

Kouchi: how are you making that sound with your mouth

[non-sequitur-ocs]

Homestuck crime time

[the-ouma-mansion]

Sleepover

Kimochi and Koharu have a sleepover for the first time.

[Kimochi & Koharu] [Sibling bonding, Koharo POV, Unreliable Narrator]

It was a rare moment that left them alone. They had, of course, indulged in each other's company before, but they were never alone. Never without eyes on them. Be they the ever watchful eyes of their siblings always seeking to poke where they need not be, the crowding eyes of Dice, or the unworthy gazes of the masses, Koharu was never alone. Never felt as if he was alone. Even the few stolen moments of peace and companionship had not allowed Koharu to release his guard too much. Not when his watchers, his enemies, were always right around the corner.

This night, however, was different. His enthusiast imp of a brother had gathered his group and disappeared for the night on some vapid quest or another, not to return likely until dawn, and the shepherd had excused himself to pastures unknown. Thus it was only the two of them, him and the Little Prince.

"It'll be like a sleepover," Kimochi declared, excited and starry eyed as seemed to be his default. The idealism washed off of him in waves, lapping at Koharu's feet as his younger brother circled him. Kimochi had proved himself easy enough to appease, to indulge, compared to the rest of his blood. If he had but time enough he was certain he could sway the little prince's thinking, yet time had not been afforded to such an endeavor. Even in moments like these, which seemed ripe for capturing such a malleable mind, there was something giving him pause.

In this case, it was the utterly incomprehensible words his brother insisted on throwing at him. "A sleepover," he repeated.

"You've never had one?"

He hadn't. It hadn't seemed prudent. Had, in fact, seemed antithetical to his goals to invite strangers into a personal sanctum of his. He rejected the idea of stating this outright, of course.

"I suppose I can indulge you," he said instead.

Kimochi smiled at him. Shining, bright, burning with the power to sway or swallow whole anyone that might stand in his path if he learned to hone the skill. Koharu returned the smile as a teaching exercise. It went wildly underappreciated.

"We can tell stories and braid each other's hair and-" Koharu stopped listening as Kimochi grabbed his hand. It was a... disconcerting habit of his youngest blood, this... physicality. Most often employed to move Koharu between locations, he had noticed. A strange posturing that Koharu should put a stop to before Kimochi began to believe he could haul Koharu anywhere with such a tactic. It was rather bold of him to attempt tricking Koharu into complacency, admirable almost. Koharu wouldn't be fooled though.

The time spent was surprisingly enjoyable, if unproductive. Kimochi's excited chatter fluttered around him like a song as he pruned and plucked at Koharu's hair. When applicable he made commentary to show that he was still engaged, regardless of the truth of his wandering mind. It was soothing. Knowing that he was unwatched for once allowed him to let his guard down more than even what he usually allowed his family to see.

So of course he did the one thing he had always trained himself not to do. He allowed his tongue to slip.

"The solitude is appreciated," he said softly.

Kimochi laughed. "Yeah. Kokichi hasn't left me alone since I stopped going to school. Though, I suppose I'm not really alone if you're here."

"You make acceptable company," he admitted. "All of you do. If I could keep you all to myself, I would." Koharu paused, panic from how he had let such words fall carelessly from his lips slowly rising within. Disgust joined panic when he felt his heart begin to race in such a crude, almost mortal, distress. Still, he had to keep control as he reapplied his glamor, to show nothing on his face towards the slip, not even a small grimace at the disgustingly nearly human response his body had. Not for the first time, he cursed the weakness of his body, unable to truly hold the divine soul that rested within. Truly to make such a mistake, especially to his Little Prince who was so close to being properly guided, was not just disgrace but sacrilege towards all Koharu knew to be fact. Even as he knew later on he would have to discipline his body for betraying him, he had to fix things. He opened his mouth to say more, to cover his mistake somehow, but Kimochi was speaking before he got the chance.

Kimochi laughed, too soft and too sad to be any sort of falsehood. "Me too." His voice dropped even lower, to the point Koharu had to strain to hear. "I'd devour every bit of you if I could."

Was it... relief or fear that was coursing through him at this moment? Was he supposed to rejoice in this... shared sentiment... or run from it? Should he flee from the thought of his brother beholding some guarded part of himself or...

Kimochi leaned his forehead against Koharu's back. "Just this once, you're all mine, Koharu."

Kimochi had never caused him to feel so chilled... or so cherished. It was... odd.

Surely, it should be nothing for a god to be desired by the lower masses. It was natural even. Everyone should seek out his company, his approval. Everyone should harbor the utmost respect and fear and love for him.

Kimochi wasn't "everyone" though. He wasn't one of Koharu's sycophants. The Little Prince was his blood, his chosen lineage. It was... For once, Koharu could admit that he didn't know what it was. What did it mean for Kimochi to say such a thing? To feel similar, if not the same, things as Koharu? His body had become very still but his mind was racing. Racing with possibilities and potential and puzzles with pieces missing that just needed to be placed--

Then Kimochi pulled his hair. He laughed a bit awkwardly, something Koharu had never heard his charismatic brother do before. "Haha, sorry. My hand must have... must have slipped."

His hand. How... transparent. He knew Kimochi could lie better than that. 

As ever, it was up to him to offer the kindness his siblings so desperately craved. He reached behind him to pet Kimochi's hair, smiling magnanimously at him. "I will not hold such a slip against you."

[the-ouma-mansion]

The Birdseed Monologue

Kimochi listens to his new brother share his philosophy on life and learns more than Koharu thinks he will.

[Kimochi & Koharu] [Sibling Bonding, Kimochi POV, Introspection, Character Study]

Kimochi had already been outside when Koharu found him. He had learned very early on that he could rarely tell what Koharu wanted from him based on invitation. Unlike Kouchi, who phrased his overtures like a request, Koharu's was always a demand. He would bid that you come with him and sometimes start walking away before you'd even given your answer, so assured that he knew what response he was likely to receive. It could be that he wanted to spend time with you, needed a favor, or wanted to use you in one of his schemes and he would approach them all in the same way. 

Though with Koharu, he supposed that they all amounted to the same thing. He was the most esoteric of Kimochi's siblings. Koharu had been poorly trained by the rest of his siblings, so he rarely said what he meant. 

Kimochi never turned Koharu down. He never had to, as Koharu had never asked for his time when he was particularly occupied. He suspected that Koharu hadn't worked out how much Kimochi liked him and didn't want to put it to the test just yet. He didn't look forward to when Koharu felt comfortable enough to test Kimochi's placement of him. The thought made him squirm in discomfort, but he was also fairly sure that it was inevitable. That's just how Koharu was. If Kimochi looked closely enough, he was fairly sure he could peel back the layers of his brother and find strings of code where there should be flesh and blood.

He was pretty sure that, on some level, Koharu thought that, too.

Today seemed to be one of the rare days that Koharu was having a human experience. Kimochi didn't know why Koharu picked him as a companion for the day, but he was pleased by it. Koharu seemed happy. Kimochi liked that.

They were nestled in a secluded area of the park. Koharu enjoyed seclusion for his human moments, though there was always a moment when he first followed Koharu into an isolated area that he wondered if Koharu would kill him. Kimochi had made this observation out loud once and Koharu had been offended at the thought that he would waste their blood so fruitlessly. Kokichi had been annoyed by the sentiment when he'd overheard it, but Kimochi had held it close to his heart like a treasure. It had done the job it was meant to, reassuring Kimochi that he was valuable in the way Koharu cared to measure such things.

Koharu was often gravely misunderstood by their siblings, but sometimes he was rightly seen and harshly judged for it. Kimochi didn't want to do that to Koharu. He had enough people to scold him and not enough to love him in a way that he understood. So Kimochi was trying and soft moments like this made him think that he was succeeding.

Koharu was standing particularly still, a handful of seeds being offered to the open air. It would make a nice picture for Kokichi to draw if he ever saw it. After a few moments of this stillness a bird had perched on Koharu's palm, accepting the offering of seeds and picking at them. Koharu smiled, something between smug and genuinely pleased.

Kimochi himself was sitting down a few steps away, hand brushing over the fur of a small black cat that had followed them here. His eyes were mostly on Koharu, watching as his brother emerged from the cloak of coldness that he often wrapped himself, peeking out from behind the mask to talk to Kimochi.

"--of course, it will take time for them to trust you like this, but it is very simple to get to this point. They know what they want, they just need some repetition to learn you are the embodiment of it."

Kimochi enjoyed moments like this, where Koharu let himself seep out unfiltered. It was like seeing Kokichi's soft smile or the expression Kouchi wore when he pulled back someone's shell and helped them. Small, private, and true. Kimochi wanted to swallow these moments whole and hoarded them in his chest like a vault.

"So simple in craving affection, craving food, truly easy to understand and easy to bring to hand."

Kimochi smiled at Koharu, laughing quietly. Kimochi didn't understand how his siblings could misunderstand Koharu sometimes, when he always said what he was thinking so clearly. Though perhaps some weight should be given to the fact that they just disliked the thinking and not that they misunderstood it. (Though they did misunderstand, that could not be understated.)

"It'd be easy to abuse this," Koharu went on. "To coax a bird into your hand just to suddenly squeeze and never let go. Easy to bring them close and pluck those feathers that would mean they would never fly off."

"You would never do that," Kimochi said softly. "Because you don't want to hurt them."

Koharu looked at him then, meeting his eyes and holding the look for longer than Kimochi thought was necessary. Kimochi let him though. He had no problem being watched, being stared at, like some people did. Koharu frowned at him, just a bit. "Wouldn't it be better for them? Comfort, safety, all under the watchful gaze of a kind and generous superior predator? All they would need to lose is something small but dangerous."

Kimochi thought of saying, "You're not superior," as Kokichi might, but it would be an unproductive sentiment. He thought of trying to explain how that might hurt them, as Kouchi might, but Koharu would think the ends justify the means. None of those sentiments were his own though. Just the echoes of his siblings that he knew well enough to have absorbed, to predict, to pluck out of the air between them because he couldn't pull the right answer out of Koharu himself. 

He thought the right answer might be to debate and define the meaning of comfort and safety, but Kimochi didn't have any interest in that. That was an argument for Kouchi and Koharu. Kimochi wasn't interested in trying to take a hammer to Koharu's mentality. Kimochi wasn't a hammer.

Kimochi's silence emboldened Koharu and he smiled like he thought he was winning. Perhaps that’s what silence meant when it came from others. He looked puffed up and proud when he continued. "Really, they should be thankful that I'm satisfied with these small moments. They owe us their very lives every time they leave unharmed. It would be completely in our rights to bring our teeth and claws down on them like any other predator."

Kimochi thought, when his siblings feared Koharu, this was probably what they saw. Someone waiting to consume them, to feast on their weakness and swallow them whole. They weren't wrong to fear it, Kimochi knew that. But he understood Koharu in a way that Koharu could never understand himself, because Kimochi was like that, too. He devoured pieces of their siblings all the time; softly, slowly, he had stored every part of them away inside him. The two of them were greedy, they were just greedy for different things.

The others didn't know that if Koharu could love them the way that they wanted him to, he'd be more dangerous, not less.

"It is only our mercy that spares them," Koharu said. "Is it so wrong to ask for recognition?"

"I recognize you, Ruru," Kimochi said.

Koharu's tongue seemed to trip over the air as his mouth opened and words failed to come out. He didn't do anything so obvious as sputter, but the way his eyes subtly did a double take over Kimochi amounted to the same thing, he thought.

Kimochi watched as Koharu took his words and whatever thoughts they inspired, and shoved them out of the way. They didn't fit the narrative, so there was no room for them now. Kimochi wondered where they went. If Koharu put them in his pocket for later or if they were crushed outright. Would he pull them out later and study them from all sides or would they just evaporate, unneeded and unused?

Koharu was no longer looking at him as he asked, "If some stroking is the cost for food and safety, why not take it? Animals understand there is always a cost, something to appease, and do not hesitate. Simple and effective."

There were more birds in Koharu's hand now. Even as he spoke, he kept himself mostly still and the birds remained settled. Kimochi wondered, if he held out his hand and a bird came to him, would that ruin the metaphor or prove Koharu right?

This time when Kimochi stayed quiet, he didn't think Koharu was taking it as a victory so much as permission. Permission to take a rest, perhaps. Even when he relaxed around their siblings, Koharu spent a fair amount of time biting his tongue. He wasn't doing that now. Koharu wore so many masks, Kimochi didn't think he could ever learn just how many, but here he was slipping another one off. Taking off another layer and letting a neglected part of himself breathe. Kimochi wondered if this was how Kouchi felt when someone finally let out something they were bursting to confess.

"People need to learn it, too. How to bow their heads and take what is so generously offered, to learn they could be stronger in the hands of someone that knows how to bring out their full potential." Koharu was gently stroking the birds and they preened beneath the attention. His face softened as well and his words were smooth like silk as he continued speaking. "They fall so easily into the same repetition. An animal will happily admit that you are their better so they may reap the rewards you give, but people recoil and lash out. Even if they would be better under the thumb of one smarter, one who could bring out their best selves, they bite and claw for dominance they cannot possibly earn nor do they even want. Then they dare pout when the hand holding them drops them back into the dark. As if everything gained wasn't a gift that they had rejected."

Kimochi crawled closer to Koharu, leaning against his legs and pulling the cat in his lap close enough to cuddle. His brother was in so much pain and he didn't even know. So wounded from the rejection of his siblings that he was poised to lash out and smother them all for their own good. Did Koharu realize that he was ready to pop? That the pressure of his own mindstate could snap if he kept stretching it so thin?

"I accept the gifts you give me," Kimochi told him. "And I won't bite you for doing your best."

Trembling. Koharu was trembling. Kimochi could tell by the way he became stiffer, stood straighter, that he was anything but. The same way that Kokichi's face went blank when you caught him off guard, Koharu became still when he was off balance. It was an assumption on Kimochi's part, but he felt confident in making it. Confident in the way that Koharu refused to look at him, that there must be something loose in his eyes. Some expression that would tell Kimochi what he wanted to know if only Koharu would let him see it.

He never would if he could help it. Kimochi knew that. He wouldn't prey on his brother by trying.

Koharu let out a heavy breath. "Better to keep such confused and anxious creatures ignorant and dazed of what you truly want. Better to hide the hand they rest in. Never realizing the debt your mercy has given them, ignorant to the gift of not being hunted and devoured. So content and pliant that they'll never even notice how you tug them along to repay the debt." 

Kimochi watched as Koharu pulled himself together in real time. Forcing his shoulder to relax, adjusting his stance, picking out a smile. Kimochi watched his brother pick up a mask and put it on his face before looking down at him, and Kimochi admired it, just a bit. He wished could draw a map of all the ways that Koharu was so very weak and so incredibly strong, but Koharu would see that as an attack or a betrayal, so the beauty of what he was seeing had to remain only in his mind. He smiled at his brother, even though Koharu would never understand what a smile meant from him.

"It's the kind thing to do, for someone superior to take charge and think for them," Koharu explained. "Why do they need to know anything? This sparrow doesn't. That cat doesn't. They are happy, so why should a human be any different? The sooner you understand what you want, Little Prince, the sooner you can also move seamlessly through the anxious masses, bringing hope and peace to those lost and cold souls practically begging for someone to take the hard choices out of their hands. No matter how much they think they want that choice. So if they're going to put their life on your shoulders, rely on you to think for them, then it's only right that you get to decide what is best for that life. What that life can give you. It's simply natural to take what is given. Whether it be birdseed or the right to exist. If they didn’t want to do the things I ask for in return for this aid, they could simply try to take their lives back. They never do though, and they never will."

Kimochi placed the cat on the ground as he got to his feet. His rise startled the birds out of Koharu's hand, but the way his eyes remained on Kimochi, he didn't think Koharu is too upset about that. Kimochi decided early on that the easiest way to deal with Koharu was on his terms, so he would do just that now and become the hand that guides him. Just for a moment. Koharu would never let himself be led for long, but Kimochi thought he would benefit from a rest in someone else's palm for once.

"Would you like to get a pet, Ruru?" Kimochi poses it as a question because Koharu would bristle at an order. And he smiles because his brother thinks he understands those, even though he does not.

Koharu looked at him strangely, but Kimochi didn't bother trying to puzzle it out. Koharu's thoughts didn't really matter right now, because Kimiochi had already decided that they were going to go to the pet store and Koharu was going to be happy and that was all there was to it.

"I... suppose that we can."

Kimochi took his hand as he led the way. 

Koharu was terrible at holding hands. He's stiff and his pace falters as Kimochi tugs him along. Normally, Kimochi would match his pace to that of his companions, but if Kimochi stopped moving right now, he's fairly sure that Koharu wouldn't take another step. He didn't mind so much that his palm was sweaty. Koharu probably didn't do this often and everyone was nervous the first time they held hands. That was okay. Kimochi laced their fingers together and Koharu's twitched like he wanted to pull away. But he didn't and Kimochi considers that a victory.

There was a long moment of silence between them that was peaceful for Kimochi but he suspected it might be awkwardness or confusion for Koharu. Eventually, Koharu cleared his throat and spoke. "I did not think you wanted a pet."

Kimochi didn't know if it was meant to be a statement or a leading question. 

"Ruru should have a pet," he answered. "I think it will make him happy."

Koharu didn't say anything more the rest of the walk.