Motive: Identity (Kyoko Kirigiri TF)

“*Ahem, this is a school announcement. Night time is fast approaching, but before it arrives, could all students please gather in the gym immediately? Emergency! Emergency!*”

As the school announcement ended, the monitor in the room shut off, and the room’s occupant got out of bed with a sigh. Said occupant was a boy named Makoto Naegi, an average high school student who’d been accepted into a not-so-average school; Hope’s Peak Academy. Normally students needed to possess some sort of amazing talent for the school to accept them, but Makoto was a special case; his name had been drawn in a random lottery, and he got accepted through luck alone. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, and instead of attending Hope’s Peak, Makoto and 14 other students had found themselves trapped inside the school, and told the only way out was to kill someone. Not the most ideal school life, to be sure.

The figure who’d shown up on the monitor was none other than Monokuma, some kind of remote-controlled teddy bear that was used by the mastermind behind all of this as a way of communicating with the students. If he was calling the students to the gym right before night time like this, Makoto could only think of one reason; he wanted to give the students a motive. It had been a few days since the last trial, after all. Makoto didn’t really want to go see what Monokuma had in store for them, but he knew he didn’t really have a choice, and left his room to head over to the gym.

“I wonder what he’s planning this time,” Makoto thought to himself, somewhat dreading what Monokuma might do next to try and spur everyone into killing each other. “Whatever it is, it’s probably not good.” Regardless of Monokuma’s attempts, Makoto had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t kill anyone, that he wouldn’t play right into the mastermind’s hands, but that hadn’t stopped others from responding to the motives they’d been given.

Makoto wasn’t the last to the gym, but the others who had yet to arrive filed in not long after him, not allowing much time for conversation to get started. Once everyone had arrived, a familiar voice rang out throughout the gym. “Well now, well now, well now, well now, you all got here fast.” The familiar black-and-white body of Monokuma suddenly jumped up from behind a desk, which he sat down upon. “You guys must be really eager to find out what I’ve got in store for you. If only you’d show as much enthusiasm when it came to killing each other.”

“Just get to the point,” said Byakuya, one of the other students inside the school. He was clearly not in the mood for Monokuma’s comedy act, or perhaps he was just eager to find out what the motive for the next stage of the “game” would be.

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Monokuma continued, his cheerful tone not fitting the atmosphere of the school at all. “It’s been too long since the last murder and I’m getting bored! So, I figured I should give you guys a little push in the right direction.”

Murmuring began to rise amongst the students, as fear of what he might mean sprang forth, but one voice rose above the rest. “You want to give us another motive?” This time it was Kyoko, a girl surrounded by an aura of mystery. She had remained oddly calm throughout the whole ordeal, and she refused to tell anyone what her ultimate talent was.

“Well, I guess you could put it like that. Now hold still for a second.” Before anyone could question what Monokuma was talking about, a bright flash of light suddenly engulfed the gym. Shouts out surprise and pain erupted from the students, and they rushed to cover their eyes from the light. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the light suddenly vanished, leaving the gym exactly as it had been before the flash, save for the students trying to get their eyes to adjust to the lighting again.

“What was that?” Makoto asked aloud, assuming this was likely Monokuma’s doing.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out soon enough. Now, if you don’t mind, it’s almost night time, and I need my beauty sleep.” As he said that, Monokuma turned around, ready to duck back behind the desk and disappear from sight as he usually did.

“Wait, what about the motive?” Makoto called out. While he was glad that his friends hadn’t been given another reason to kill each other, it was awfully suspicious that Monokuma was simply ready to leave without doing anything.

“Ugh, you’ve got no patience, you know that? I said you’ll figure it out soon enough! Bye bye!” Before anyone could argue more, Monokuma jumped behind the desk, and vanished, leaving a confused group of students standing in the gym.

“What was that about?” Makoto said, voicing his confusion, a sentiment shared by the rest of the students.

“Hmph, what a waste of time.” Byakuya turned to leave the gym, but before he could get anywhere, the sound of a bell suddenly rang throughout the school, and the monitors flickered to life.

“*Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10PM. As such, it is officially night time. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams everyone! Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite…*”

By the time the announcement finished, Byakuya had already left. Next to speak up was the ever-calm Kyoko. “Whatever Monokuma did, it doesn’t seem to have any immediate effects. For the time being, it’s probably for the best if we try not to think about it and get some rest. We can investigate further in the morning.” As confused as everyone was over Monokuma’s odd behaviour, the other students seemed to agree with Kyoko’s suggestion. They had made an agreement to not leave their rooms after night time, after all. With confusion clouding their minds, the group disbanded, heading back to their individual rooms for the night.

Makoto sighed as he laid back down on his bed, the events of the night playing back over and over in his head. There had to be more to it. There was no way Monokuma would let them off so easily. He wouldn’t just call everyone to the gym and then let them go without doing anything, right? Had that flash of light done something to them without them knowing? Maybe the point was just to unnerve the students, to put them on edge as they thought about what might have happened, when nothing actually did. If that was the case, then he had certainly succeeded, because Makoto was losing sleep just thinking about it.

“I guess I should take Kyoko’s advice and just not think about it too much,” Makoto thought to himself, as he rolled over, and closed his eyes. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” And with that, Makoto drifted off into an uneasy sleep. He had expected that to be the end of it until morning.

Of course, the flash of light wasn’t as pointless as Makoto had hoped. During the middle of the night, he started restlessly rolling around in bed, as if in the middle of a nightmare that he was unable to wake up from. In reality though, nothing of the sort was happening within his mind. Rather, his body was beginning to undergo some rather drastic changes, but whatever was causing it, it seemed to refuse to let Makoto wake up while it was happening.

First, all the hair on his body, save for that on his head, receded back inside of him. His skin was left soft and smooth, taking on a much paler tone as it did so. He was left free of any blemishes, save for his hands. His hands felt like they were on fire, as scars and burn marks etched themselves into his skin. The bones in his hands crunched together as his hands shrunk a little, while his fingers grew longer and slimmer, giving his hands a more feminine look. This change continued up his arms, which shortened and slimmed down a bit. Some of the fat in his arms was converted to muscle; not enough to really become visible, but just enough to top Makoto’s rather average strength.

At the same time, changes were going on in his feet as well. They underwent a similar transformation to his hands, shrinking a bit as they took on a more feminine appearance. His legs shortened similarly, but rather than slimming down, what fat resided in his legs redistributed itself, becoming much shapelier as more of it moved up to his thighs. With an audible crack that would have woken him up under normal circumstances, Makoto’s hips suddenly jutted apart, adding to the feminine figure his legs had already started. His rear inflated a bit to match the new proportions of his lower body, causing him to roll onto his side from the discomfort it caused.

A tugging sensation suddenly arose in Makoto’s pelvis, not that he was conscious enough to be aware of it. It felt as if his genitals might simply retreat back inside his body. Of course, that’s exactly what ended up happening. Makoto’s genitals sunk back inside of him, leaving a slit on his pelvis that lead to his new reproductive system that was developing inside his body. Without even giving a moment’s pause, the transformation continued up his body, his shoulders scrunching inwards while his waist collapse in on itself. Without a doubt, Makoto now possessed an undeniably feminine figure, save for a certain something lacking from his chest. It wouldn’t be lacking for much longer, however, as the mass that seemed to have vanished from his waist suddenly reappeared at his chest, building up into a pair of breasts. They weren’t particularly large, but they were large enough that they would have been noticeable had Makoto been awake.

The only part of Makoto’s body that still looked like himself was his head, but that unfortunately wouldn’t last much longer, as the transformation continued to persist. His throat slimmed down, his vocal chords rearranging to give him a new, feminine-sounding voice. His face reshaped, his jawline softening and his cheekbones rising. His nose shrunk a little, while his eyes grew a little larger. His irises turned a deep lavender, while his eyelashes grew darker and longer. His eyebrows thinned down, while his hair grew much longer draping all the way down his back. It turned a pale purple colour, looking almost like silver, while a few locks braided themselves together on the left side of his head.

With that, Makoto’s transformation had finished. He no longer looked like Makoto Naegi. He now resembled Kyoko Kirigiri, one of the other students trapped inside Hope’s Peak, the ultimate who had yet to tell anyone what her ultimate talent was. Of course, Makoto was not yet aware of this fact, seeing as he had somehow remained asleep during the entire ordeal. With the transformation having ended, he finally stopped writhing around in his sleep, and remained there peacefully until morning.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

“*Good morning, everyone! It is now 7AM and night time is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!*”

The morning announcement roused Makoto from his sleep. He felt… off. He couldn’t quite put it into words, but something didn’t quite feel right. Still groggy from his restless night, he slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He opened his eyes. What he saw woke him up quicker than Monokuma’s announcement ever could.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Makoto screamed, his sleepy state preventing him from noticing that the scream didn’t sound like him at all. The first things he saw upon opening his eyes were his hands, riddled with scars and burns. “Wh-?” Makoto was certain he didn’t have any scars on his hands before he went to sleep, so when and how did they get here? Did that bright flash in the gym have something to do with it?

However, the more he looked, the more Makoto realised that his hands didn’t even look like they were his. They seemed too… feminine. With this realisation, the odd feelings coming from the rest of his body suddenly started to make sense, although he wasn’t sure he wanted them to. His gaze slowly followed his arms, which were currently hidden behind the sleeves of his jacket, down towards his body. The two lumps on his chest sticking out underneath his jacket was proof enough that his theory was correct; his body was not his own anymore.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!” He screamed again, this time clearly hearing what his voice sounded like. “My voice… It’s sounds like-” Makoto cut himself off, and reached around behind him at the long hair hanging from his head. He saw the colour, and the braid on the left side of his head. He knew who he was now, but he didn’t want to accept it.

He shot out of bed and rushed to the bathroom, briefly forgetting the trick to opening the door as he held up his pants to prevent them from falling. Once inside, he immediately rushed to the mirror. What he saw there wasn’t what he wanted to see, but it was what exactly what he was expecting. It was not his own reflection, but the reflection of Kyoko Kirigiri.

“I’m… Kyoko?” Makoto mumbled to himself. The girl in the reflection certainly looked like Kyoko, but she was wearing Makoto’s clothes. Looking down, he couldn’t deny that the reflection matched reality; there was no trick. “But… how?” As far as Makoto was aware, something like this shouldn’t be possible. How could he suddenly be in Kyoko’s body? Clearly the mastermind had something to do with his, but how did they do it? How did they turn him into Kyoko? Maybe he’d always been Kyoko, but the mastermind messed with his memories to make him think he was Makoto? That didn’t seem to make sense either, since he’d still woken up in his own room and his own clothes.

*Ding dong*

Before he could do anything else, Makoto heard the doorbell ring. Considering his current situation, he wasn’t sure he wanted to answer the door. How was he supposed to explain why he looked like Kyoko right now?

*Ding dong*

The doorbell rang again. It was clear whoever was at the door wasn’t going to take no for an answer. With a heavy sigh, Makoto headed over to the door, still holding his pants up, and opened it up just a crack so he could see who it was. His eyes went wide at the sight. Standing behind the door was himself, or rather his body, although it was dressed in Kyoko’s uniform.

“Makoto, can I come in?” his body asked. Judging by his current body, and the clothes his body was wearing, he assumed that this person was actually Kyoko. In that case, there shouldn’t be any need to explain what was going on.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he replied, opening the door up so Kyoko could come in. She seemed completely unfazed, just as she had during the first motive. He closed the door behind her, before turning and asking, “So, do you know what’s going on?”

“Yes. This is Monokuma’s next motive. He explained it to us in the dining room, but he got bored of waiting for everyone to show up, so he just explained it to one person in each pair.”

“Each pair?” Makoto walked over to the bed and sat down so that he wouldn’t have to keep his pants from falling.

“For this motive, Monokuma made us all exchange bodies with another student last night while we were asleep. He refuses to explain how he did it, only that the flash of light in the gym last night had something to do with it.”

“That explains why he called us there, but then let us go without telling us the motive.”

“As you might expect, he won’t change us back until someone commits murder, however, he refuses to clarify whether he’ll simply swap us back after another death occurs, or whether we actually need to graduate to get our body back.”

“That’s… a very unique motive.” He could certainly see why someone would commit murder over this. He himself was afraid that he might not get his own body back unless he was the one to do the killing, but he refused to let that sway him.

“Indeed. It would seem the mastermind is not only giving us a reason to kill, but is also trying to forge smaller alliances to disrupt the main group.”

“Huh? Alliances?”

“Well, not many people would do something as foolish as killing their own body. Or letting their own body get killed, for that matter.”

“Oh, right. So, the mastermind’s trying to create alliances between the swapped pairs?”

“It seems that way to me.”

“I see…” Makoto looked down at his feet. Having a conversation with what appeared to his own body, while being in Kyoko’s body, was really messing with his head. He wanted to get back to his own body as soon as possible, but he also didn’t want to have to kill someone.

“Here, I brought you some of my clothes so you have something that fits you.” Kyoko held out a duffel bag she had with her. Makoto hadn’t even noticed she was carrying it, since he had just been focusing on the swap itself.

“Oh, um, thanks.” Makoto accepted the bag from her, just barely remembering to hold onto his pants when he stood up.

It seemed Kyoko noticed this action, and said, “You should probably change out of your own clothes.”

“R-Right,” Makoto mumbled, not exactly looking forward to having to get changed while in Kyoko’s body.

“Do you mind if I borrow some of your clothes for the time being?” Makoto hadn’t noticed before, but just as his own clothes were too loose on him, Kyoko’s clothes seemed to be a bit tight on her now that she had his body. In fact, she wasn’t even wearing her boots, seeing as her current feet probably wouldn’t fit inside.

“Sure, that’s fine. Um, I’ll be in the bathroom.” Even though he was in Kyoko’s body right now, Makoto still felt a bit awkward about getting changed in front of her.

“Okay. Just don’t do anything… perverted.”

Kyoko seemed to struggle to find the right word, however Makoto had no problem understanding exactly what she meant. His face immediately flushed red out of embarrassment at even the thought of doing something like that, and his words caught in his throat as he tried to defend himself. “Whuh?! I-I would never-! I-I…”

A small smile appeared on Kyoko’s face… which was actually Makoto’s but for the time being, Kyoko was the one using that face. “Your reaction alone should prove you hadn’t even considered doing that. I appreciate that.”

“Right. W-Well, I’m gonna get changed then.”

“Alright. I’ll go ahead and do the same.”

With that exchange over, Kyoko went about getting out some of Makoto’s clothes, while Makoto headed into the bathroom to get changed. His face was still tinged red from embarrassment, but that couldn’t be helped with the given situation. Once inside, he slowly began undressing, his face flushing red practically every time his clothes brushed against his skin, particularly his chest and crotch. He was constantly looking up at the ceiling, so as to avoid looking at Kyoko’s body and violating her privacy.

His hands rummaged around through the duffel bag, looking for the appropriate items without actually looking down at the bag. Starting with the undergarments, he pulled on her panties and, after a bit of a struggle, her bra. Next came the shirt and skirt, after which Makoto finally felt he was able to look down safely. Next came her tie, and her jacket. The tie made him particularly anxious, as it meant his hands were constantly close to his chest, somewhere he didn’t want them to be right now. He pulled on her socks and boots, the heels of which were already making him nervous. He could only imagine how difficult walking in those would be. Finally, he took out a black ribbon, the only thing left in the duffel bag, and tied it around the braid in his hair.

With that, Makoto was fully dressed. He looked in the mirror again, just to make sure he looked okay. It was kind of scary, seeing Kyoko in the mirror instead of himself. Now he didn’t even have his own clothes to prove it was really him. Could he even be considered Makoto anymore? To the outside world, he looked exactly like Kyoko. The only things that could prove it was really him were his memories, but what if those could be messed with to? What if he started to forget who he really was? If the mastermind could do this to his body, then he had no doubt that they’d be capable of altering his memories.

Makoto shook his head, as if trying to expel the thoughts from his mind. He couldn’t think like that. That was probably what the mastermind wanted; for them to despair over the possibility of completely losing their identity, and resorting to killing in order to stop that. Makoto couldn’t allow that to happen. He wouldn’t fall into that trap. After taking one last look at himself in the mirror, he grabbed the duffel bag, and left the bathroom, taking slow steps to try and get used to walking in Kyoko’s boots.

Outside the bathroom, Kyoko was waiting for him, having already gotten dressed in Makoto’s clothes. The clothes she had previously been wearing were folded up neatly on the bed. “Are you okay?” she asked. She could probably see the uneasiness on Makoto’s face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Makoto replied. It was a lie; he was still mentally wrestling with the idea that he might never truly be himself again, but if Kyoko noticed, she didn’t question him further. Instead, Makoto decided to try and break the tension by asking, “How do I look?” He figured he had gotten everything on right just by looking at himself in the mirror, but perhaps there was something he missed that the owner of the clothes would notice.

“You’re missing one thing,” Kyoko said as she approached him, holding something black and made of leather in her hand. “Hold out your hands.” Makoto did as he was told, flinching a little as he was reminded of the scars that now riddled his hands. That was what he was missing; Kyoko’s gloves. He was about to ask about the scars, but before he could, Kyoko was already putting the gloves onto his hands, saying, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention those to anyone.”

Was that why the gloves weren’t in the bag? Because she wanted to bring that up with him? Regardless, it was clear she didn’t want to talk about it, so Makoto decided to comply with her wishes. “Okay.” As Kyoko pulled the gloves onto his hands, Makoto looked at her. He didn’t see Kyoko, he saw Makoto. The only reason he knew she wasn’t Makoto was because he was really Makoto. If this was the case for everyone, their school life was going to become very confusing until the mastermind swapped everyone back.

“Alright, that should be everything,” Kyoko said as she finished with the gloves.

“Well… what now?”

“Now,” she turned towards the door and began to walk off, “We continue as normal, and do our best to not let this push us to the point of killing.”

Makoto nodded. He was going to simply let Kyoko leave after that, but another thought crossed his mind. “Wait!”

“Hm?”

“Who did everyone else swap with?”

Kyoko let out a small sigh. “Come on, let’s reintroduce you to everyone. That will probably make it easier for you to remember who’s who.”

Kyoko held the door open, and Makoto quickly hurried after her, briefly forgetting that he was wearing Kyoko’s boots. “Woah!” he shouted as he tripped, falling face-first towards the floor. Instead of his body colliding with the ground, though, he felt a pair of hands gripping him, stopping him from falling. He heard the sound of the door closing, as there was no one holding it open anymore.

He looked up to find that, as expected, Kyoko had caught him when he fell. “T-Thanks,” he said, a little embarrassed from having already fallen mere minutes after putting on Kyoko’s uniform.

“Don’t mention it,” Kyoko replied, still as calm as ever. If she was at all fazed by being in Makoto’s body, she certainly didn’t seem to show it.

The two of them left the room, Makoto taking small steps so as to not trip again, and Kyoko keeping a close eye on him to make sure he didn’t injure himself while he was in her body. As odd as the situation was, Makoto was sure this wouldn’t break him. He might never get used to being in Kyoko’s body for however long the mastermind decided to leave him there, but he wouldn’t resort to killing in order to get out. No matter whether he was Makoto, Kyoko, or anyone else, he refused to fall in the face of despair.

He could only pray that the others felt the same way.