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civilight-eterna · 23 days

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Fanfic Writing Questions

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Looks like 17, incidentally my lucky number!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

204,980 so far!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, Arknights. If Ex Astris gets any more content though I'll probably lunge for it again. I'm also always open to writing Vocaloid stuff even though I'm a little embarrassed looking back at some of my earlier works. I don't write for RWBY or Danganronpa anymore. I've been kinda hurt by people in those fandoms and I'm baby (or was baby) so it kinda killed my heart for it.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. From Hell to the Moon - 953 kudos My gigantic Touko/Komaru fic from back when Ultra Despair Girls had me in an absolute chokehold. I still love them but I kinda fell off from updating because I got a lot of comments like 'ughh i'm so sad this will never get updated' and the pressure got to me. 2. Between the Li[n]es - 425 kudos Another one I left on a massive cliffhanger for Danganronpa V3, my Miu/Kokichi/K1-B0 fic. I appreciate the support it received so much. I do enjoy writing robot sex. I fell off of updating because I made a friend in the fandom that kinned Kokichi pretty hard and seemed to feel like he was a much 'softer boi' than the way I wrote him and implied that my Kokichi was OOC and even though I didn't really believe it...well, you become your actions, so, by kind of, tolerating their interpretation it kind of neutered my own. We haven't talked in years. Sometimes I think about writing a quickie update chapter but I'm too into my other writing. As one comment put it: "came to nut, stayed for the feels", so I felt pretty damn good about the naughty scenes in this one. One of the more vulgar things I've published.

3. Other Side - 288 kudos My first fic for the RWBY fandom! I wrote it right after the Weiss trailer came out and we knew nothing, so a lot of the story is nothing like how the characters act now. I look back on it pretty fondly because it got me out of a pretty bad writing rut, but it's kinda bittersweet because I've moved on from RWBY. Still a sucker for Ruby/Weiss and I was overjoyed when Ice Queendom came out and gave them some spotlight. 4. Amor fati - 188 kudos My beloved golden child chenmiya fic. It makes me so happy to see this one climbing high into the list even though it's the most recent. A lot of tender love and care went into writing this and reading this is the key to my heart. Nothing excites me more than comments on this or any of my other chenmiya fics. It's basically my love letter to the ship. 5. Secondhand Smoke - 177 kudos One of my early entries into the ~problematic yuri~ genre from when Cinder/Ruby from RWBY had me by the throat. I got a lot of much-appreciated appreciation for writing these two and I remember this being the year that a bunch of my artist friends drew me Cinder/Ruby for my birthday! I'd never had anything like that happen before and I felt so loved.

5. Do you respond to comments? Sometimes! If you leave a lengthy comment I try to at least pop in and cry about how much it means to me haha.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Sour Grapes, easily. But is anyone surprised?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Definitely dodecatheon meadia. If ever I've written something I can consider to have a true fairytale ending, this is the one. This one really healed my heart too! I felt like I had a real fire under me while writing it and these girls have deeply affected me. I don't want to say too too much about it since some people are very likely still finishing the game. But it's also a new feeling to be the first fic in a tag!

8. Do you get hate on fics? Thankfully not really.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah, I sure do, almost exclusively-but I tend to have myself in this hostage situation of, "please make a 50k-100k epic to perfectly justify the characters having sex" that I occasionally escape containment from. I've gotten a little better at just laying the foundations quickly and getting to what I like to write, but it can still be a struggle because I get a little perfectionist with it. Which is funny because to me the 'perfect' smut doesn't exist, and it's made 'perfect' through the imperfections. I think the little bumps and hiccups and misunderstandings along the way are a lot more compelling to me than having everything go without a hitch, but there's definitely exceptions and different circumstances! Like when that's a big part of the story-like a character really really in control for another character's safety. When I write robot sex or medfet there tends to be a bit more detail about the safety side of things because I like to take the reader through the experience of safety too. I never turn right to the camera and go 'and now the safe way to do it is x' but I rely on the characters to express their expertise to each other, and their reassurance, and for the trust of the other character to speak for itself. haha, i rambled.

this is why for the lin/chen/amiya bondage i'm working on writing that i have a notebook with several pages of questions that lin goes through before tying people up. things like 'if you start to cry, does that mean you need to stop, or is that just what you need?'

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not really, the only one I've kind of written was the Ex Astris/Arknights one in dodecatheon meadia, based lightly off the fact that the games did a collab and I wanted to acknowledge them with the outfits of those girls from another world that they didn't quite get to know.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Oh, just once. But it was SO long ago and the person was pretty young I think and they were ashamed and took it down right away, so live and let live.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Some kind folks translated Sour Grapes into Chinese! I asked them for a link to where it ended up but I don't think they totally understood what I was asking. I was flattered nonetheless.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, I haven't. I do a lot of rping though still, though less publicly than I used to. I think if I co-wrote anything and published it it would have to be with @lanymme because she's my most trusted peer! When we talk about writing things and whenever she gives me feedback, she is so kind and spirited about it in a way that pushes me to do my best. Her encouragement is truly so earnest and even though I can be a little protective of my writing she has a really nice way about her of discussing how to make it stronger without making me ever feel like I'm not 'enough' as an author. I can't overstate how much I value her companionship; as an editor and a good friend and just lovely person overall. And when she leaves huge comments on my fics spotting all the little painstaking details I put in and mentioning them-what better satisfaction can there be as a writer? I always intend to do the same back but I am always just so floored and wiped out by the quality of her writing that I atomize before I can form cohesive thoughts. It just makes it all the more impressive that she can put together a fucking. bibliography of the story's moments and her reactions. So lanymme I hope you know how much I adore your style. /)///(\

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Chenmiya. I sort of felt inklings of it all throughout the beginning of the story and then chapters 7 and 8 sealed my coffin shut. Amiya sort of represents, I think, the idealism that Ch'en had wanted to believe in growing up. The world was really cruel and Ch'en adapted in her own ways, but she...rejects Amiya a bit because I feel like in her heart she can't let herself get too attached. She knows-or thinks she knows-that Amiya will lose hope and she'll feel that heartbreak all over. But slowly, her optimism and continued efforts to just...keep going, in a world that is cold, a world that shows her cruelty-it reaches Ch'en. And even though Ch'en puts up her front at first, Amiya's ultra-high empathy helps her understand who Ch'en really is, and she has the maturity to not begrudge her for the way she's processed things up to the events of chapter 7 and 8. As she puts it, "I saw the color of her heart", when talking about how Ch'en interacted with the kids in the slums that didn't have anyone else. And then she launches a rescue for Ch'en, and ends up so linked up with her memories and emotions that she just like. Becomes the other half of her soul in that fight. Amiya arrives with her optimism and hopes on the sheer chance that Ch'en is still alive and still needs her help and goes up the tower alone to find her and she does even against all odds. She talks about how she wants to cry when she sees her. In Ch'en's hour of need, Amiya arrives carrying the hopes of what she wanted to be herself, and they fight a battle where they are alone, saving each other, promising each other that they can do it, and they come out alive.

There are so, so so many more details about them. Ch'en's wishes for Amiya to call her by first name in a closer way, the way that Amiya shyly, obstinately continues to add some form of honorific for her. The way Ch'en inherited her abusive father's rhetoric and echoed his lines to Amiya to try to get her to distance herself from her in the beginning, only to apologize at the top of the tower and tell her she wishes she'd met her earlier.

But the main thing I always think about, at the top of the tower, is where black-snake-controlled Talulah puts Amiya in a prison of fire specifically to goad Ch'en. She wraps her in flames and says "I wonder how her melting flesh will smell"/something akin to that and Ch'en loses her mind and yells as her to "don't touch her!" and says "I'm the one you want, let her go!" etc., you know, all the good shit. So my interpretation of the scene is this: since the black snake can't make Talulah do something she doesn't actually want to do, I've always felt that the feelings behind that scene were of Talulah wanting someone close to her to really, truly understand how it feels to lose someone you love, and she saw Amiya to Ch'en as being someone analogous to what Alina was to herself. I think even if you read Ch'en's feelings for Amiya as non-romantic, Amiya was still so so dearly important to her to make her react that way, and that the black snake being cruel enough to try to leverage their relationship to, ultimately, kill Ch'en, who was Talulah's last tether to not losing control of herself fully-was so outrageously heinous. Ch'en could have killed herself trying to get Amiya out, which would have been what the black snake wanted most of all, since it couldn't quite urge Talulah to kill Ch'en directly, and it would have done so by preying on both Talulah's love/sorrow for Alina and Ch'en's love for Amiya.

scrolling up and seeing the wall of text i wrote and. yeah. there's still so much more.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Between the Li[e]s. Danganronpa fandom just hurts too much.

16. What are your writing strengths? Aside from dialogue, I think my other big strength is that I'm not afraid to write what I want even if and especially if it's fucked up. I also feel like another strength of mine is that the characters will take over for me, and get me to write them truly as they are without letting me change them. Even if that results in me writing things I'm very embarrassed and shy about writing.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I lack discipline. I need to get myself consistently writing more, but it's hard for me to make time to do it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't tend to do more than a few phrases, and only then if it's a character's native language and I want them to call someone a cute nickname or something.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Princess Tutu. I was 13. it was the 4th of July. I was supposed to be in bed asleep. But I was using the string lights illumination to light up my journal and it was then for the very first time I felt the feeling of realizing that I could make anything happen that I wanted.

It was not very good at all! But I treasure the memories of having boundless energy to write with because I was just so excited to see something become real from something that had only till then been inside of me.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

dodecatheon meadia. maybe it's surprising because it's not one of my headliner chenmiya fics, but-it's a secret chenmiya fic if you squint!

and honestly even though the story of ex astris is a little patchy at times, by the end you feel just...gripped by the world building and by yan and vi in particular. so i remember writing for them, desperate to see the happiest ending i could make, weaving it in with the canon with as many of my favorite details as possible, and it felt so good. i wrote pretty much nonstop for a week straight and finished it. the feeling of just-DYING to write was burning under my skin after finishing the game and the satisfaction of finishing the fic was magical, even if it came with the usual...idk, 'fanfic post-partum' of sending your writing out into the world when it's all done.

tagging: @lanymme, @annierosaart, and anyone else who wants to do it!

#bunny talk #about me

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hopeymchope · 10 months

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I immediately say that English is not my native language, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes

I wonder if you still have such hatred for kokichi ouma or has it lessened a bit do you think he is a well written character and question that too i am curious who do you hate more kokichi or light yagami if you have seen death note

Your English seems excellent to me. :)

I haven't read/watched as much of Death Note as I probably should. Maybe partly because I didn't even get heavily into anime/manga until like 2016?

But you know the supposed "three episode rule" of anime? I don't always adhere strictly to that, but... Death Note was largely boring me after three episodes, and I wound up dropping it as a result. I probably should give it another chance, given how legendarily beloved it is. And it's not like it's one of those beloved anime with intimidatingly massive runs (ala Dragon Ball or One Piece), either. I mean, it's just 37 episodes.

That aside — yeah, I still hate Kokichi. He's a manipulative piece of crap whose personal morality can be boiled down to "the ends justify the means," allowing him to internally excuse any damage he does to... fucking everyone around him. And he does quite a lot of damage. But just because I think he's a complete bastard doesn't mean I think he's a bad character. I'd argue he's easily in the running for best antagonist/villain in the series! His machinations are just so insidiously clever. And I believe he genuinely views himself as "the good guy" in spite of all the harm he causes and distrust he sows among the group, because his end goal is a good/positive one.

And for the most part, I think he's VERY well-written! My only issue is that Kokichi's ability to always know whenever anyone lies about anything feels impossible/magical on more than one occasion. Even if someone is lying about something that doesn't affect a case's outcome and/or is completely plausible, and they're doing it with a straight face... he always just magically KNOWS because he's some kind of Ultimate Lie Detector.

#asks #anti-kokichi ouma #anti-kokichi oma #danganronpa #death note #drv3 spoilers #d

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cookiesnt · 3 years

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DRV3 boys with a chaotic good Ultimate Peacekeeper antag

(Sorry these are short) This sounds interesting... I’m writing each boy as a protag, then making Y/n the respective antag. Hope that’s okay!

Rantaro:

He thought you were chill at first.

An Ultimate Peacekeeper could come in handy.

However, your true colours began to show when the time limit was announced.

He noticed that you started to be more controlling over the other students.

When Kaede’s body was found, he already had his suspiscions.

You can imagine his shock when Kokichi was found guilty, only for the leader to scream about being tricked.

You admitted to manipulating him to kill Kaede.

“It had to be done. Both were getting in the way of peace, so I got rid of them.”

After that, most of the other students avoided you.

Yet somehow, you still kept them wrapped around your finger.

Ryoma:

He noticed that something was off immediately.

You didn’t seem to trust him, but he didn’t care, since he was a killer after all.

However, you seemed... different from the others.

You had a tendency to boss them around and claim it was for their own good.

But since you were a peacekeeper, he saw nothing wrong with it.

Even once the killing had been happening and for were on your 5th case, he just thought you were doing what was best for everyone.

Until...

“The killer is the Ultimate Peacekeeper! You killed Kokichi, Y/n!”

“Yeah, I did. He was in the way.”

The class was confused.

“He was in the way of keeping the peace. That’s my job, after all... Well, Monokuma, let’s get this over with.”

Your execution was swift.

All that just to keep the peace...

Korekiyo:

He found you interesting.

He’s an expert with humans, so he knew that something was up right away.

Once the killing game was announced, he watched you closely.

“I’ll do anything to keep the peace, Kiyo. And I mean anything.”

He quickly realized that you were telling the truth when he caught you about to kill Kokichi.

“Y/n, how could you do such a despicable thing?!”

You simply stared at him with no emotion.

“I had to keep the peace, and this was the only way of doing it.”

After that, he and the others avoided you.

You didn’t care. As long as peace was kept, it was fine.

Gonta:

Let’s be real here, it’s Gonta.

He didn’t understand why the others barely trusted you.

So he tried to befriend you!

You went along with it, and you did have a solid friendship.

However, everything changed when the 4th class trial happened.

Turns out you were the one who killed Miu.

“Y/n... Why you kill Miu?!”

You shrugged.

“She was in the way. It’s not personal, it just needed to happen.”

He cried during your execution, even as the others explained what happened.

Kokichi:

He found you very entertaining.

“Y/n, the reason I hang out with you is because you’re not boring, that’s all!”

You played along with his games, leading him to believe that you were wrapped around his finger.

However, it was all a lie.

Kokichi only realized this when you approached him with a weapon.

“You’re disrupting the peace, Kokichi. It’s nothing personal, I promise.”

He didn’t have time to react before there was a sharp pain in his chest and he fell to the ground.

“I promise it’s not personal...”

At least he didn’t die alone.

Kaito:

He was suspicious almost immediately.

You just seemed... off.

Once the first murder occurred, he knew that he was right.

You didn’t even try to cover your tracks.

“Angie was disrupting the peace, and I couldn’t have that. You understand, don’t you?”

No one understood.

“Well, that’s fine. I did my job. Get it over with, Monokuma.”

It left a weird feeling dangling over the remaining students, especially Kaito.

You were right, after all... Right?

Kiibo:

He was never able to see through you.

Emotions aren’t really his thing, after all.

He sees things in black and white a lot; You’re either good or you’re bad.

So when he saw you, the Ultimate Peacekeeper, he assumed you were good.

Then he realized that he was wrong.

You were very good with words and frequently manipulated the others.

It never resulted in anything bad, but you still did it.

When he confronted you, you shrugged.

“The end justifies the means, Kiibo.”

He decided to keep a better eye on you after that.

Shuichi:

He had some suspicions about you from the very beginning.

He hated suspecting anyone about anything, but he was a detective. That’s his job.

So it was hard for him.

He managed to catch on to your tactics pretty quickly, but didn’t intervene since you had good intentions.

Then, when Kokichi was killed, he knew it was you right away.

“Well, I didn’t plan on hiding it. He was in the way of peacekeeping. He was stopping me from doing my job.”

Even when you were gone, your words still stuck with him.

Were you really a bad guy?

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nashishishi · 3 years

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saiouma fic recs (completed fics only)

LIST IS AT 200 AND COUNTING

(fic list and conditions for how i rate them below cut)

R A T I N G S :

Five stars at most. Increased number of stars for how memorable it is, how recognizable it is, and overall length and quality of the fanfiction. Originality was especially important when I rated these fics. Don't see your favorite SaiOuma fic here? It's probably because I didn't find it original. In addition, the way the fic ended was also very important to me. Depending on how much effect it had on me, it might have taken a star down.

Ratings are not based on placement on the list. The list is numbered purely so that it's more convenient for when I want to count how many there are. (Although I will note that the reason the first four are all 5 stars is because they were the best ones I thought of off the top of my head.)

I rate these fics as SaiOuma fics, not as fics in general. That means that if the SaiOuma isn’t really important, but it just happens to make the fic cuter, then it’s on the list but it’s not 4 stars.

Ratings are in double corner brackets (「」).

I M P O R T A N T:

All fanfictions in this list are of high quality. Some are just better than others, in my opinion. What I am ranking is: out of the best fics out there, which ones are the best of the best?

Don't be discouraged by any 1 star ratings. Those fics are still wonderful. Trust me, my tastes aren't garbage.

There aren't a lot of smut fics here. Most of, if not all the smut fics here are fics that are either Porn with Feelings or Porn with Plot. (I was hesitant to include smut fics at all, but goddamn, "Shuichi's Love Hotel" by ReturnToZero was just too damn good not to.) If you came here for smut fics (maybe you’re horny rn idk) then this isn’t the right place to look.

I didn’t add any of the summaries to these fics. This big block of text would only get bigger if I did that. I also didn’t add any links because I’m lazy. (I might add links later, though.)

B I A S E S :

I don't like Sumb and Oumoron very much. Any fics that have Sumb and/or Oumoron are probably going to have lower ratings by default.

I'm always hesitant to read pregame fics. This is usually because the fic has something to do with violence, unhealthy obsessions, and toxic relationships. Because of this, my impression and overall opinion of the fic is bound to be tainted. (The only exception is “Sweetheart” by Hyacinthium, apparently.)

I'm a sucker for Hanahaki fics. There's a lot of them here. I know it totally contradicts my earlier statement about originality, but I just love Hanahaki fics way too much. Please take Hanahaki fic ratings with a grain of salt.

I probably (read: most definitely) avoided some fics that have the Major Character Death tag. I've tried to steel myself in order to read the fics where Kokichi dies (because it's always Kokichi), but I still end up avoiding most of them. I could be missing out on some S-tier fics here, so make sure to tell me if I am.

I (probably, most likely) did not include any fics that were cross-posted on Wattpad, because I didn't bother to read the ones that said "cross-posted on Wattpad" in the summary. I don't like Wattpad fics, and I was only justified further when one of the cross-posted fics I was reading opened with the words "Shuichi's POV:". If there are any SaiOuma fics from Wattpad that are good, please tell me.

I, uhh, usually rate my fics based on how emotional they make me. I'm not the type to cry while reading, or even when watching a movie, so if a fic makes me cry, it is a goddamn good fic. Which means, if it's angsty enough (Kokichi dies probably, idk) then it made me cry. Therefore, 5 stars.

If you don't trust my ratings at all, you should really just go check them out yourself. Really, they're all good.

☆ﾟ°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

25,244 | mediocre_kazoo_player 「☆☆☆☆☆」

In A Heartbeat | papapapuffy 「☆☆☆☆☆」

there's a thin line between comedy and tragedy | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Hologram | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

nouveau dèpart | kami (slowburnsunsets) 「☆☆☆☆」

Rubik's cubes a'rolling | Mbirnsings71 「☆☆」

Now you're speaking my language | Jimcloud 「☆☆☆」

Cigarettes & Grief | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆☆」

It's Lonely at Midnight | AnimeGirlAnn 「☆☆☆☆」

Second Chances | Lethargic_Lilac 「☆☆☆」

Shuichi's Love Hotel | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Field Trip | ReturnToZero 「☆☆」

Tells | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆」

listen, before i go | HopelessTodorokiLover 「☆☆☆☆」

How to express love | Litsu 「☆☆☆」

Hypothetical Situation | Tyingto_NoyFail_InLife 「☆☆☆☆」

cops and robbers | 264feet 「☆☆」

Meta | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆☆」

The Perks of Being Hollywood Spawn | Lenasaurous 「☆☆☆☆」

we can be ghosts together | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」

you have the right to remain right here | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆☆」

built to last | rannas 「☆☆☆☆☆」

starved. | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Unexpected Developments | adylini 「☆☆☆☆」

so YA novels were a fcking lie [series] | sleep_247 「☆☆☆」

welcome home | tougenkyous 「☆☆☆☆」

closet case | clownmaeda_renaissance 「☆☆☆」

Loop [series] | Romhack0101 「☆☆☆」

how to fall in love in three easy steps | chuwuyas 「☆☆☆☆」

sometimes i fantasize about faking my own death, just to see how it would make you feel [series] | hubbletuff 「☆☆☆☆」

Forget-Me-Not [series] | Rhyllow 「☆☆☆☆」

3.38 | Plus_ONE (SfrogPlus) 「☆☆☆☆」

Wishing It Was You | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」

flower for your thoughts? | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

The Long List of Things that Annoy Kokichi Ouma | FishMum 「☆☆☆☆」

Little Lies | Krokodyll 「☆☆☆☆」

His Mouth | RandomGuineaPig 「☆☆☆☆」

La la love | Tiramisseun 「☆☆」

soulmate's connection. | kiraqi (caticoo) 「☆☆☆☆」

Sectional Rivalry | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」

The Way to a Man's Heart (is through his stomach) | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

Month of Hell | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

summer depression | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆☆」

a future for you and me | Yukari 「☆」

And All the Things I Don't Talk About | murg 「☆☆☆☆」

Restoring Connections | queenshroom 「☆☆☆」

My Hat, Your Hat | Hittinmiss 「☆☆☆」

looking for what's right in front of me | kathoo 「☆☆☆」

You Don't Need to Say | auralikh 「☆☆」

His True Feelings | begonialily 「☆☆」

Your Sweet Russian Roulette | coeurdargent 「☆☆」

poem weaver | tia37 「☆☆☆」

Shine | taitofan 「☆☆」

(Life) After Death | Rovelae 「☆☆☆」

Things Could Be Worse... No, Really. | thatsrightdollface 「☆☆☆☆」

Monsoon | Scornful_Truth 「☆☆☆」

do not get blackout drunk [series] | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」

And now for something different | Serahne 「☆☆☆」

He Dreams Too | error_in_execution 「☆☆☆」

Flower Language | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Poison Mouth | psychiccupid 「☆☆」

After All, I'm (Not) A Liar | BrightStarWrites 「☆☆☆」

Alone | orphan_account 「☆☆☆☆」

Close | echocantspell 「☆☆☆」

Kriegspiel | Azia 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Valentine's Chocolate | shslAO3_fanficWriter 「☆☆」

A Game of Confessions (And Love) | HereComesAComment 「☆☆☆☆」

The Writer | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

Sleepovers and What They Mean to a Surpeme Leader | LavenderMilk 「☆」

Sweetheart | Hyacinthium 「☆☆☆☆☆」

midnight swim | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

Love in the Mist | winterflakes 「☆☆☆」

Feelings of Ham | lovingdefiance 「☆☆☆」

Pockets Full of Petals | ColorfulVoid 「☆☆☆☆」

Little Bastards (Saiouma) | ySoda (JESTERPH0BIC) 「☆☆☆」

Withdrawal | screaming_speedwell 「☆☆☆☆」

Roommates and Blind Dates | AchiOuma 「☆☆☆」

Googly Eyes and a Heart-Shaped Lollipop | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

A Flower's Meaning (hanakotoba) | hananocha 「☆☆☆☆」

Close Youre Eyes and Rest | Snowy_Snowflake 「☆☆☆」

Ad-Lib Performance | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Comfort In Your Silence | Akiragane 「☆☆☆」

Chocolates for My Beloved | sushihara_shuichi 「☆☆」

Seven Ways to Prove I Love You | EternalFluffy 「☆☆☆☆」

For What It's Worth | screaming_speedwell 「☆☆☆☆」

It's not stealing if I gift it to you freely | twinSky 「☆☆☆☆」

Cold, Warmer, Warmer..Hot! | Notcreativewithnames 「☆☆☆」

Cold Room and Closed Doors | HereComesAComment 「☆☆☆☆」

Guilty Redemption | TheAzureFox 「☆☆☆」

connections in a coffee shop | plaidnutmeg 「☆☆☆」

I Wish It Was A Lie | Browa123 「☆☆☆☆」

Kinder | Sakakura 「☆☆☆」

The Worst Lie and The True Ending | TheAlmightyResonance 「☆☆☆」

Redemption | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Like That | sunsets 「☆☆☆☆」

The Moonlit Revel of the Phantom Thief | TheMayBellTree 「☆☆☆」

Whatever It Takes | nanisorero (miriam_lee) 「☆☆☆☆」

feelings long since dead | ninata 「☆☆☆☆」

Rain | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆☆」

Seven Minutes In Hell | ariiiadne 「☆☆☆☆」

aftermath | shumais 「☆☆☆☆」

pull me close, hold me tight (i guess we just won't sleep tonight) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Fledgling | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

we'll never die (they'll immortalise us in the stars) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆」

all that's left is a ghost of you | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Overwhelming affection | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」

Holds My Heart | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Home | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Bittersweet | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Saccharine | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Stay | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

this song reminded me of you (so i played it on loop and my friends grew concerned for my mental well-being) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

anywhere whenever (apart but still together) | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

Something Off | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」

Surface | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆」

The Light of our Hearts | earthseaBorealis 「☆☆☆」

Pulling at Heartstrings | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

radio silence | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

From Me to You | Angelic_Ascent 「☆☆☆☆」

Vos Autem Lux Inferos | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

sunlight | orphan_account 「☆☆☆」

Playing Detective | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

Mister and Mister Communication | megastarstrike 「☆☆☆」

Strawberry Sweethearts | megastarstrike 「☆☆」

Catch and Release | Hanzohara 「☆☆☆☆」

Always In My Head | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

So Much More | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

These Nights | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Heaven | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

healing takes time. [series] | kiraqi (caticoo) 「☆☆☆☆」

drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, romeo! | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」

Sick | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」

Let's Do a Lot More Together | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

Salt in the Wound | kokichiouma 「☆☆☆」

Recluse | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

New and Better | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」

Alone | sinfulwonder 「☆☆」

Something to Live for | sinfulwonder 「☆☆☆」

it's a little more fun when i'm with you | unseeliekey 「☆☆☆☆」

How Many Will There Be By Dawn? | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Safehouse | Rovelae 「☆☆☆☆」

Flashbulb Memory | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

I Forgive You | kokihara 「☆☆☆」

A Helping Hand | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」

cat scratch [series] | error_in_execution 「☆☆☆☆」

Contents of a Deadman's Pocket | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Best By Date on Label | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」

Good Mourning | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」

Day 7 - Mastermind AU | lake_writes 「☆☆☆」

Repeat Exposure | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆☆」

Contrived Courtship | EvilMuffins 「☆☆」

Five Steps Backwards Into Love | megastarstrike 「☆」

Our Final Words [series] | ImaginaryFigment 「☆☆☆☆」

No One Was Ever Supposed To Know | TheTealTea 「☆☆☆☆」

The truth | Ash_Shade 「☆☆」

Accidental meetings, or is it fate? | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Conflicting Opinions | kckicuma 「☆」

sometimes it's hard to convince yourself to stay. | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」

The Suicide of Shuichi Saihara. [series] | gay_fire_69 「☆☆」

moving in | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」

Put the Past Behind | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆」

Ameliorate the Pain | kckicuma 「☆☆☆☆☆」

How Many Letters to Say I Love You | Hypoxia 「☆☆☆☆☆」

A Song of Sacrifice | SomeoneSpoopy 「☆☆☆」

If you're with me | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Romeo's Quest (Saiouma) | ySoda (JESTERPH0BIC) 「☆☆☆☆」

finding a relationship in the least likely way | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Wilt | fatiguedfern 「☆☆☆☆☆」

It's a lie! | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆」

Freshly brewed dreams for a long spoiled talent | majorinconvenience 「☆☆☆☆」

what happened to the soul that you used to be? | DarkColdSummer 「☆☆☆☆」

waterfalls coming out your mouth | terrortxwer (dekimasen) 「☆☆☆☆」

Waste Paper | EvilMuffins 「☆☆☆」

Everything was Beautiful | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」

Congratulations for not dying yet. | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」

Viral | ReturnToZero 「☆☆☆☆」

smile (the worst is yet to come) | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」

Attached (by heart and wrist, apparently) | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Get To Reading | paooowa 「☆☆☆☆」

That Funny Feeling | Loafas_Lawyer 「☆☆☆」

Melancholia | ImaginaryFigment 「☆☆☆☆☆」

Sleepless and (almost) alone | GrossShapes 「☆☆☆☆」

death isn't the answer is it? | maddylime 「☆☆☆」

birthday wish | maddylime 「☆☆☆☆」

Truths and Despair | tarochai 「☆☆」

just know that if you hide (it doesn't go away) | moonlightsunny 「☆☆☆」

i carry band-aids on me now (for when your soft hands hit the jagged ground) | Anonymous 「☆☆☆☆」

Every Adventure Needs An Artist | SelenaShuu 「☆☆」

Inventive Love | Cookiestar16 「☆」

Missing The Detective | Shyhara 「☆☆☆」

wash away | rannas 「☆☆☆☆」

hospital roof | yhighon 「☆☆☆☆」

Literary Affection | kckicuma 「☆☆☆」

Chameleon Cat | SomeoneSpoopy 「☆☆」

For Warmth | sai_ouma_trash 「☆☆☆」

a special day calls for a special date | kckicuma 「☆☆」

A Flower from My Beloved | DJBeatz 「☆☆☆」

A Date with the School Heartthrob (ft. Overprotective Friends) | DJBeatz 「☆☆☆」

Gentle Hands | DJBeatz 「☆☆」

Gentleness - Saiou One Write/One Draw | DJCarnation 「☆☆」

In my arms tonight | catcake 「☆☆」

Irreplaceable You | DillasStrikesBack 「☆☆☆☆☆」

☆ﾟ°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

this list kinda just updates whenever i feel like it so,,,,, don’t expect consistency. i have other things to do like be a functional human being so sometimes i forget to read any fics that day. (although despite all the important things i’ve made time for i still fail to be a functional human being.)

if you have any fics that you like but aren’t on this list, be sure to tell me. i’m trying to get to 420 ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

#saiouma #oumasai #saiou #ousai #ao3 #ao3 fics #fic recommendation #fic list #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #i think i'm going insane #i've probably already gone insane actually #long post #really long post #unnecessarily long post #n44_txt

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momota-kaiharem · 3 years

Note

Thoughts on Oumota? Rivals to lovers taken to the extreme

well! i used to hate oumota, everything about it, from the way that it was portrayed to the way they interacted ingame, i thought they were terrible for each other and the amount of vitriol they showed each other during the game just made me REALLY not like them romantically.

and then i made friends with a bunch of oumoters and read a bunch of think pieces and postgame fics and wrote a couple hangar fics and in essence i have been completely converted, it’s one of my favourite momota pairings right now. i just think they have such a neat dynamic, the way they’re both really... huge liars (if you do kaito’s ftes you find that he actually!!! tells a whole lot of fucking lies almost as preposterous as kokichi’s, both of these men really just be making shit up) but that they like, contrast it, with the whole hero vs villain dynamic. and they do embody it quite strongly. kaito and kokichi are as similar as they are different if that makes sense? they both believe that you should face things, even if kaito is more a “save everyone or no one” type and kokichi is a “ends justify the means” type.

i also find the way that kaito’s belief in people juxtaposes ouma’s general distrustfulness to be EXTREMELY sexy. kaito chooses people on instinct, going off of feelings, what his heart tells him. he’s messy and imprecise and he follows his gut, and more often than not he’s even RIGHT about whether or not he should believe in a person. kokichi, to contrast, is extremely calculated, very careful and precise, he plots out every single detail and goes so far as to write an entire BOOK of potential responses kaito could have to people during the trial. i think they would challenge each other’s beliefs-- on kaito’s end, because he sees himself in ouma, the fear of vulnerability, the refusal to open up, and on kokichi’s end, because kaito’s unwavering belief in people (and eventually him) is so frustrating yet endearing yet inspiring, and kokichi CAN’T but he WANTS to be more like that, to love so completely and fully as kaito does, because even though it could and has lead him wrong, kaito still does it, he keeps taking the risks, making the leap.

i’m also a fan of how they look together. i think it was chemicataclysm who got an ask once being like “why do you like oumota” and he was like “kaito is six feet and kokichi is 5′1″, need i say more” which, FKSDJFLJDSLKFJ YEAH!!! it’s about the height difference. it’s about kaito and kokichi throwing hands and kaito scooping kokichi up to end it and kokichi biting him. the energies. the energies.

i also think that kokichi is the most perceptive to kaito’s weaknesses/flaws, and in a context where he’s not deliberately using them against him (as he does in chapter four when he’s trying to seem like the Big Bad Wolf Guy) he could honestly... take more steps to accommodate them? as i’ve said before i think kaito is extremely sensitive about his intelligence, and after first impressions and all i think kokichi would start to realise just how absolutely brilliant kaito is, and like. i dunno, encourage him a little, in that backwards way he does. kokichi is so good at picking at people too, provoking them, and so i could see him using that to help kaito stop repressing.

and of course kaito would believe in/trust/take care of/encourage ouma (ONCE THEY GET CLOSE) in a way that nobody else has before really, even with gonta it’s more of this blind faith/belief thing, but kaito actually gets MAD at ouma, he holds him ACCOUNTABLE, there’s a back and forth, kaito is constantly urging ouma to grow as a person and take responsibility for his actions. something i like to think about when i try to judge whether two people would be good for each other or not is to think about,

1. who they are when they’re apart 2. who they are when they’re together 3. what they would do for one another 4. how they encourage each other to grow 5. does the relationship flow both ways

and for all of these, it’s like... i think apart kaito and kokichi sort of go unchallenged, everyone in kaito’s life sees him as this hero with no weaknesses/need for comfort and everyone in kokichi’s sees him as a villain without a heart, but they have the ability to connect with each other in a deeper way and see past all of that? and as for reciprocity, i think oumota’s got it in spades, if for no other reason than the fact that kokichi hates it when people lie to themselves, and would probably feel stifled by all the attention going towards him... and of course kaito’s love language is acts of service/words of affirmation/physical touch so there’s no way he wouldn’t be taking care of kokichi while they’re friends. even when they’re not friends, i think kaito would and has shown him compassion when he’s needed it.

short answer: yes i like them. long answer: i like them so much that if myself from a year ago met me now, she would beat me to death. and i would deserve it

#oumota #momota kaito #ouma kokichi #kaito momota #kokichi ouma #character analysis #relationship analysis #ndrv3 spoilers

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takonei · 3 years

Text

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 6, Trial (Part 5)

Note of the author: I’m terribly sorry for the very long wait. This chapter has been by far the most difficult to write, no joke. Also update in the warnings.

Chapter 6: My killing game, our killing game

…

The words he spoke out felt dissonant.

The mastermind was right in front of him... Why on earth would she kill her fellow accomplice?

Nothing made sense anymore.

"Tastuya is... what?" Miu asked, astonished.

"You're kidding me, right?" Kaito spat out.

Maybe he was right. Maybe that wasn't...

...

Shuichi's eyes were instinctively drawn to the ringleader. And Kirumi...

... She wore a satisfied grin, annihilating any possibility that he was wrong.

"Tatsuya was also the mastermind." he mumbled, keeping eye contact with the young woman. "Kirumi killed him, but he was the one who asked her to do so."

"Am I..." He swallowed. "Am I wrong?"

Kirumi closed her eyes, her smile still as gentle as it was before.

"... I would say you have most things figured out. Congratulations, Shuichi. You guessed right."

"Tatsuya and I are indeed the ones who created this killing game."

Kokichi's eyes widened. "But then why did you do this?! Why did you kill him and dragged down Himiko with him if he was your ally?"

"As I said earlier, things don’t always go as we want them to." she said. "It was a necessary evil both of us had to face."

"That's how things always are in a killing game. No one is spared from the hazards of life and death, not even the gods."

Was that regret in her voice?

So Kirumi truly did not want to kill him? Then why?

Kaito slammed his hands on the podium. "Quit your bullshit, Kirumi! Just admit you want to make Tatsuya look bad for no fucking reason!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Make Tatsuya look bad? Why would I, if it was a lie?"

"I simply didn't want to hear you all mourning his death this way when he is just as much to blame as me for the killing game. One could even say he is more at fault, but I personally disagree."

Tatsuya more to blame than her? Did she completely lose her mind?!

"Then what did Tatsuya do?! What is worse than everything you did?!" he cried out.

Kirumi hummed. She seemed deep in thought.

"Who is to blame for the death of a criminal? The headsman or the judge?"

"One cut off the criminal's head, but the other sealed the man's fate. Who do you think has more blood on their hands?"

Kaito dug his nails deeper into the podium. "Cut it out with your dumb metaphors and get to the point!"

In response, Kirumi sighed. "None of you are in the mood for interesting questions. Shame."

"I was not the one who suggested the idea to create the killing game- Tatsuya did. I accepted to follow him in this madness because that was the only way we had to make our miserable lives a little better, to put it simply."

She crossed her arms, shoulders raised in a shrug. "Sometimes all you can do is associating yourself with the good people, and it doesn't matter if they are morally questionable and will drag down a few more people to their deaths. Because in the end, they're the only ones who can give you what you're desperate enough to put your life on the line for."

"Though one could argue whether or not the end truly justifies the means."

...

It was... Tatsuya's idea...?

Was the killing game a mere consequence of a need to escape a desperate situation?

Was there a possibility she didn't want to do any of this in the first place?

"Kirumi..." Shuichi mumbled. "You... Were you forced to cooperate with him and become the mastermind...?"

He saw the eyes of his friends turn to look at him with bewilderment, but he didn't care.

And yet, Kaito, Miu, and Kokichi were not the only ones staring at him in confusion.

Though Kirumi was incredibly good at hiding her emotions, he couldn't help but sense the same feeling in her.

That was until a glimmer of realization struck her.

"Shuichi..." she frowned. She opened her mouth again to say something. But there was a halt, exactly like earlier in front of the mirror in Rantaro's room.

A moment she actually had to take time to choose her words instead of fluidly singing them to her audience- the sign she was caught off guard.

But what came out of her mouth... was a dry chuckle.

"Perhaps I should have expected you to react in such a manner."

She shrugged. "It's the same cycle repeating itself over and over again, no matter how many times it happens."

"The human race is both fascinating and infuriating when they're driven by instinct."

The glare she sent him... It was probably worse than Rantaro was ever able to do.

Where he could see the madness in his green eyes, there was none of that in hers. She knew perfectly what she was doing- she was the very definition of rationality.

"Indeed, truly fascinating how humans always manage to come up with reasons to worship the cruelest monsters to ever come to life."

Shuichi instinctively took a small step backwards. "What...?"

"Isn't this what all of you always did? Forgive and forget?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. "As long as a killer gives you a good enough reason for what they did, they become a saint in your eyes?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Kaito yelled. "Do you seriously think any of us would forgive you just because you weren't the one who suggested creating the game?!"

"I don't know, Kaito. Would you?"

The taller man frowned, submerged by confusion and anger.

"What about Tenko? She killed Gonta, didn't she? She stabbed him not once, but eight times in the chest, and happily got rid of the evidence."

Kirumi put her elbow on the armrest, her head resting in her palm. The fingers of her other hand were slowly tapping, creating a slow, constant rhythm.

"Couldn't she have decided to fight Monokuma like everyone intended? Or perhaps just taking the first blood perk? Or was it absolutely necessary to drag everyone in a courtroom for hours so they would understand the reason why she did this? To clear her name, perhaps? To make herself look better for the crime she committed."

"And no. There is no way it could have been to try and find out who was pulling the strings and what the secrets of this game were. We could have all done that without the trial. And in the end, you all watched her getting dragged to her death with pity, forgetting she willingly sent someone to the afterlife."

She played with the microphone, a look of disappointment painted on her face.

"Of course, I'm excluding ending her own life as a way to stop the time limit, as it is not a fate I wish upon anyone."

Shuichi could only stare with wide eyes.

"How can you speak of her like that when you two were the ones who put the time limit in the first place! In the end, it's still your damn fault!" Miu retorted.

"See? That's exactly your problem." Kirumi narrowed her eyes. "You refuse to stray away from your black and white vision of the world, denying the existence of the infinite amount of shades of grey that exist in each and every one of us. So supposing you forgive Tenko because it was an urgent situation and she wasn't able to think of a better solution..."

He noticed the hint of venom in her voice as she pronounced the word 'forgive'.

"... What about Maki then?"

"There was no time limit. Only videos reminding you that there were people out there waiting for you and the possibility to escape with someone. And if I recall correctly, after learning she had the possibility to escape with Kaede, she went against her beloved's wish to fight the instigator of the killing game and decided to take action by killing one of you at random, which ironically turned out to be Kaede herself. You do realize she would have tried to win her trial and kill the rest of you without an ounce of regret had Kaede not been the victim, right?"

"How would you know that?" Kokichi asked, the anger reeking from his voice. "It's not as if she had enjoyed doing this, unlike you!"

Kirumi raised her head, her cheek losing the touch of her hand. She clearly looked offended.

"... Do you realize what you're saying?"

"Weren't you the one to tell her that what she did was wrong? That no life mattered more than another? What happened to this philosophy of yours I respected?"

Kokichi stiffened, realizing the contradictions in his words.

"And yet, none of you dared blaming her. You looked away, refusing to face the reality that she was right about being a terrible person. I guess it is in our nature to be cowards when it comes to facing ourselves or the monster we think we might become."

She let out a dry chuckle, a smug look printed on her face. "I guess humanity's greatest fear isn't the unknown, after all. It's our own person."

There was a silence as everyone tried to find something to say to argue, without success.

"I am going to leave Angie out of this as she was an odd case. But..."

"Supposing you once again forgive Maki because she 'didn't want this', believed we would never have been able to fight the mastermind and that we would be stuck here forever..."

"... What about Kiyo, who spent hours tampering with the traps in order to expose Tsumugi as the mastermind, a theory he based on empty accusations, being well aware of the risk of killing her if she wasn't the villain of the story?"

The brown-haired teen perked up at the mention of his friend.

"You know what's funny? The fact that out of all people, he is the one you all decided to forgive in a blink of an eye because of his past actions. You decided to turn away from the crime he meticulously prepared and perfected an entire night, and decided to focus on how he helped you throughout the game instead."

"All it took you was hearing the pathetic excuse 'I regretted making the mistake of not stopping a clearly blood-thirsty Angie from slaughtering Himiko' to forgive him."

Shuichi couldn't accept the slander of his friend. Clenching the podium, he could feel the anger rising in his throat.

He was the therapist. The one who helped them the most staying sane during the game. Who was she to claim he was as much of a monster as her?!

"Kiyo was a better person than you'll ever be, stop blaming him for those things! You keep rambling and scolding us about stuff we would never have done had we been in a normal environment and mental state! So stop saying this when you'll never be able to understand what we've all felt throughout the game you've orchestrated!"

"And since you're gonna start blaming Rantaro as well..." He pointed at her, glaring with a vengeful gaze.

"... I should remind you it's entirely your fault he completely lost his mind and you are well aware of it!!"

...

Kirumi went dead silent. And after what felt like an eternity, she closed her eyes.

"... I know."

Shuichi refrained from jumping when he heard the sentence. He didn't expect such an easy acceptance.

But did she even realize the extent of the damage she has done?

"I know and I have accepted it. I've accepted that I did horrible things, and ripping one's mind to shreds is only a fraction of the disgusting acts I've committed."

She raised her head again.

"But do you know what is the difference between you and I?"

"The difference is that I do not try to find excuses for what I did. I don't claim that killing people is the right thing to do. I never claimed that I was a good person, even when I was putting on the mask of the ultimate mercenary. I don't whine about how everything is my fault endlessly to gain the sympathy of others."

"And that? It's something that genuinely disgusted me during the entire game. I do understand the need to stick together, but you all turned your backs on murder attempts and everything there is in the book. And that, either because 'they did not mean to' or because 'the mastermind is worse'. In your eyes, they were as much victims as the ones they have killed or tried to kill."

"You were all so blinded by that need to excuse murderers that you lost all sense of morality."

"Isn't it what makes us human? The ability to distinguish good from evil?"

Shuichi genuinely didn't know what to say.

But the audacity she had to lecture them about morality of all things-

"But why am I even bothering? It's not like any of you will listen to the mastermind of the killing game of all people."

Was she reading his thoughts?!

"I expected that, do not worry." she said as she crossed her legs. "Just consider this a little pet peeve of mine that I needed to talk about."

...

His eyes lowered to the floor.

What was he thinking, really?

Was she right?

His own morals...

Had he...

... Had they all fallen into madness like Rantaro, just in a different way?

Her gaze turned to him, which took him out of his thoughts. "But enough existential ranting. Back to what I wanted to say to the person who thought I was somewhat innocent despite everything I just said..."

"... I am one of the two masterminds of the killing game. And because it was not my idea to create it does not mean I was forced in any way, shape, or form to do any of this."

"I took part in the creation of the killing game of my own free will. So if you would please not go back to your denial, I would gladly appreciate it."

The look she gave him reeked of poisoned irony.

"And I also killed Tatsuya, though it doesn't look that important in your eyes anymore since he was also a monster, does it?"

...

"I want proof."

A small voice broke the silence.

Kokichi lifted his head up to look at Kirumi.

"I want proof that Tatsuya was also the mastermind."

Kirumi paused to think about what she should say, but Monokuma spoke first.

"That is a reasonable demand after all!" the bear cheered as he clapped his hands once. "Though perhaps the supreme judge betraying their oath of integrity could be considered a form of despair on its own!"

The television that always appeared for the votes came down. "So as an exclusivity to the whole wide world..."

"... Tatsuya's last moments on Earth!"

The screen turned on, revealing static. And then...

...

The camera was filming a person's feet, walking at a rapid pace in the darkness. The ground seemed to be similar to one of a construction site. Only gravel, sand, and dirt.

It was easy to tell who was this certain someone. Keebo was a robot and was easily recognizable after all.

Now his eyes in view, anyone could tell he was dead-serious about completing a specific goal.

The metal vessel kept walking in what was actually the underground tunnel.

He stopped in front of the door leading to the mastermind's room, which opened immediately. Keebo did not waste time. He approached the drawer in the wall, took out a hacking gun, and made his way out.

The camera continued filming him for some time. And then, in a smooth transition, a new camera showed the interior of Kirumi's lab, where the young woman was going through the destroyed drawers.

"Ding, dong! A little bird told me it was time!"

Her head lifted up, and her expression was a mix of worry and annoyance. She turned to the mascot that was behind her.

"I suggest you do not make him wait!~"

The bear immediately stormed off, leaving the instigator alone. She gazed into the nothingness for a moment, then lowered her head with a quiet sigh, closing her eyes.

She stood up and left the room in silence, leaving the horrid mess as it was.

And true to the bear's words, the underground passage was open, and Keebo was spinning the gun around his finger. His icy gaze met the young woman's. Not saying a word, he tossed the gun at Kirumi, who caught it easily.

"This is it." he said.

Kirumi did not answer. She stared at the number on the gun, indicating that it was full and ready to use.

"Don't be sad, you know what they say! I'll still live in your heart forever, and I'll keep watching you all from above."

"How are you so calm about this?" she asked, clearly offended by the statement. She pointed the gun at him, though her finger was not on the trigger. "One shot and you're gone. No cheating death this time."

He looked at the gun, then back to her with a smile that looked fake. "I guess karma came to punish me for this. You do know a thing or two about it, right?"

Her grip tightened around the gun, which Keebo seemed to notice.

"I'm sure you'll be a fine mastermind without me, Kirumi."

"That's not what I'm upset about and you know it."

Keebo dropped the smile and sighed.

"I wish I could have been able to stand by your side for the last trial, but fate said otherwise, and the best solution we have is to finish me off. I don't blame you for doing this. I really don't."

He approached her and lifted his metallic pinkie.

"My story does not end here. As long as this killing game exists, I will continue to be its narrator. So please, promise me you'll make sure this killing game is worth our names."

"We're the ultimate masterminds, after all, aren't we?"

Kirumi stared at him for a moment, regret in her eyes.

"... Yeah. Ultimate masterminds as you say."

She raised her pinkie and wrapped it around Keebo's.

"I promise."

With sad smiles on their faces, the two took a step forward, throwing themselves in a shoulder hug. But it only lasted a few seconds.

The vessel took a step back, taking his hand off her back.

"So long, partner. We'll see each other again very soon, I'm sure of it."

Kirumi looked at the gun. She pointed it at her accomplice, this time her finger on the trigger.

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she muttered the words.

"Farewell... Tatsuya."

She fired the gun at the robot, whose eyes flashed a few times before they turned completely black. He fell on his back, deactivated for good.

With a disgusted expression, she firmly closed her eyes before tossing the gun in the tunnel, which closed right after. She left the crime scene, leaving her accomplice dead on the ground.

She wiped away the lone tear on her cheek.

"I'll see you in hell soon enough."

...

The screen turned black, leaving the room speechless.

What did they even expect?!

Why was a part of him feeling bad for both the victim and the killer?

Was Kirumi right when she said they all lost their sense of morality...?

The sound of Monokuma munching popcorn broke the silence. "My, my! Such a heartfelt farewell between the two masterminds!"

But while the bear was cheering, Kirumi, on the other hand, was wearing her usual stone-cold facade.

"... I would have liked Tatsuya to keep a glimmer of privacy and not have his death recorded and broadcasted, but I digress."

"What about Tenko, Maki, Angie, Korekiyo and Rantaro?" Kaito spat. "Do you also feel that way about them, you fucking hypocrite?"

She crossed her arms, a finger under her chin. "... You do have a point. My mistake."

"I cannot complain about undignified deaths for ourselves when we expected them the moment we decided to create this killing game."

"Then why?"

Kirumi turned to Miu, who had just muttered those words.

"Why did you put us through all of this? I would have at least understood if you two were invincible. I could easily tell myself it's because you two are horrible pieces of shit who do deserve to rot at the bottom of hell as you said..."

"... But you just said you were completely aware that you and Tatsuya could die at any moment. So why would you throw yourselves into the arena you created, knowing full well you could die with us?"

The ringmaster blinked, and then, of course, she chuckled, a smug look on her face.

"Now we're getting to the meaningful questions. But at what cost? Is it so all of you can excuse or even justify my actions? You've done that plenty of times already."

Shuichi's heart skipped a beat. He was ready to yell a retort, but she was quicker.

"Though I'm willing to take the risk by giving you a glimpse of a hint."

With a snap of her fingers, the entire courtroom went black.

"How about a second round? That one little game seemed to have been quite the success."

The spotlights on Shuichi and Miu turned on.

"You know what to do now. Retrace your steps in the last investigation, and perhaps you will get why we decided to create this killing game."

The two stared at each other. Miu had never been in this position, so of course, it must be weird for her. Shuichi shouldn't have gotten used to it, but there he was, ready to do as told.

"Something we found that could explain her motive? What the hell?" she repeated.

"I don't know..." Shuichi muttered. "It's not like we've stumbled upon a notebook of hers or anything like that."

Miu hummed. "Though I don't think she would have said 'glimpse of a hint' if it was that obvious."

She had a point.

But what did they even find together that could help?

"The Gofer project is completely fake, so we can rule out the cabins." she said.

"And Tatsuya's file was probably filled with lies." Shuichi added. "At least the 'dead' part is true..."

Miu tapped her finger on the podium in frustration. "I know we should cling to this part since we know it's true, but I don't get it."

"Perhaps we should review everything we've found before focusing on that." he suggested, thoughtful.

She nodded. "Yeah, but aside from the drugs, the book, and the key, I don't see what..."

Miu trailed off, her eyes widening.

"... The contract."

Shuichi perked up. "You think... I have something to do with Kirumi's decision to create the game...?"

"I don't know, but it's the closest we got to an actual hint." she said. "The contract said you would be some kind of protagonist, right?"

He looked down, not brave enough to face his friend about this piece of paper he signed. "Yes, but... What does it have to do with Kirumi personally?"

"Perhaps you two knew each other before the game?" she suggested. "Maybe she signed a contract and convinced you to do the same?"

He couldn't help but feel like this wasn't it. He glanced at where Kirumi was, but she was hidden by the darkness.

"I'm not sure about that... She said they created the game to make their lives better, so I don't think I played a part in this." Shuichi looked at her, doubtful. "They acted because they were a desperate situation, but that must have been about Tatsuya and her only. Not me."

Miu sighed. "The contract doesn't explain anything after all. We still don't know why they threw themselves in a bloodbath. You say it was to escape a desperate situation, but I don't know what can be worse than what we went through."

A situation worse than the killing game...

It was impossible to imagine, but considering Kirumi's strategical self, that would be the most logical explanation.

Despite having created this mercenary persona as a disguise to hide her intentions, he noticed some parts of it were still present in her right now. He didn't forget the number of times she claimed doing morally wrong things for her own survival, including killing people.

If she was able to maintain that mask for so long without slipping, then surely it must have been because her fake self and her true self were actually not that different.

But what could be worse than a killing game?

"Perhaps it was a life or death situation?" he suggested. "Maybe they would have been killed if they didn't accept to do it?"

"Nah, she said she and Tatsuya did this willingly." Miu shook her head. "She said she was not forced in any way to create the killing game, so that can't be it."

Shuichi continued thinking, but nothing came to mind.

"Were we wrong when we assumed her situation was worse than the killing game?" he reluctantly asked.

"Not quite."

Kirumi's spotlight lit up. "You two are on the right track, but the truth resides in another hint you've found."

"After all, this contract was signed only months after we became the masterminds, but I digress."

Before he could say anything back, her spotlight turned off.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" he yelled.

Though of course, no answer came.

Miu frowned. "I'm also curious about what she meant, but right now we gotta focus on her motive."

He nodded.

She more or less confirmed that her situation was not the best, to say the least, and he had to keep in mind that she was not forced to be one of the masterminds.

"So she was in a bad place and she... had the choice not to create the game but did so anyway?" Miu hesitantly asked.

"I still don't get what could be her motive..." Shuichi sighed.

"Then let's focus on the other hints, then." she suggested. "It's not the contract, that's all we know."

The cabins for the fake project, Tatsuya's forged document, the drugs in the fridge, the book and the key...

"I don't think it's the cabins since they're fake, and the document is falsified." Shuichi said. "I do think it's one of the others."

"I don't know about you, but I don't think we can get any information about Kirumi personally from the book and the key. I would bet it's the drugs."

The book was a tacky Monokuma version of the Necronomicon and the key was some sort of electronic gadget that didn't fit in a normal laptop.

As for the drugs... On second thought it was the most logical answer. They were hidden in the mastermind's room, as if she didn't want anyone to see them.

A secret she couldn't afford to tell anyone, something as important as her identity as the mastermind.

"I agree, but what are even these for?" Shuichi said. "Kirumi doesn't strike me as a drug addict."

"Hey, I don't know what you two found, but drugs aren't necessarily recreative, y'know."

Shuichi turned to the source of the voice, who was in the dark, to his left.

"What do you mean, Kaito?"

"I mean exactly what I said. 'Drugs' is just the general term, but they aren't just for fun. What did they look like?"

Miu frowned. "Blisters. Dozens of them."

He hummed in response. "Aren't you sure it's not medication? I have to take stuff that looks like hard drugs sometimes, but I can assure you it's just so I don't lose my shit over of my non-existent leg."

"Wait, so Kirumi created this game because... She was ill or something like that?"

Shuichi looked at where Kirumi was, even though he couldn't see her.

"That sounds weird, not gonna lie." Miu said. "What does this have to do with anything?"

A desperate situation...

"... Isn't it what we were looking for? A desperate situation worse than being thrown in a killing game?" Shuichi suggested, though he had trouble believing his own words. "I don't know what these are supposed to do exactly, but if she needs them to live, then we might be onto something."

"That doesn't answer the question, though." Miu replied. "Being on medication and creating a killing game are two things completely unrelated."

"But what if they were?" he said. "Kirumi said one of the clues we found would give a hint about what her motivation was, and right now we are on a better track than ever before! There's no reason to believe we're stuck in a dead-end!"

Miu looked at him, understanding.

"Besides..." Shuichi added, gaze drifting to the person facing him from above.

"Had we been completely out of subject, she would have said something by now."

"Am I wrong?"

Miu's eyes widened. She turned to the mastermind's throne, which slowly came back to the light.

Kirumi let out a laugh. "You're starting to learn the pattern."

"Yes, you are on the right track indeed." she said before her spotlight turned off again.

Miu and Shuichi looked at each other.

"So Kirumi being on medication does have something to do with her motivation..." she muttered.

Though Miu was right on one point. The two pieces of information looked completely unrelated. But Kirumi just confirmed his theory, so now they could only try to think of a good motive based on that.

And yet, his mind could only wonder about the reason why she was on medication. Was she sick? Was it similar to Kaito, in a way?

"Wait... I'm not sure, but..."

Kokichi's voice came out of the darkness.

"Tatsuya and Kirumi were on the same page since they created the killing game together, right? So..."

"... Shouldn't their motive be the same?"

Shuichi thought for a moment.

That sounded logical. Kirumi said she had followed him, and they knew each other before the game. A decision Tatsuya had taken, that Kirumi agreed on, which led them to where they are today.

A robotic vessel killed in secret and a ringmaster leading what remains of their circus.

Did that mean Tatsuya's motive also had something to do with being on medication? Was he also...

...

"Kokichi..." Shuichi mumbled. "What was the reason behind the creation of the vessel already...?"

The smaller boy seemed to hesitate. "The reason why K1-B0 was created? You said it was... um..."

There was a long pause during which Shuichi could feel his lavender eyes on him.

"... The disease. The file said it was because of the disease, which had contaminated Tatsuya."

Bingo.

"Hold on!" Miu slammed her hands on the podium. "Are you sure that file was saying the truth?! 'The disease', as you say, probably doesn't even exist!"

A lot of clues they had found were fabricated. The book about the ultimate academy, the details about the Gofer project, the cabins...

She had a point. That file could have been just a bunch of lies. But...

"... Don't you think it fits? Perhaps there was some truth in this file." Shuichi argued. "Perhaps the disease the flashback lights told us about is completely fake, but we have right in front of our eyes the confirmation he and Kirumi could have been in the exact same situation!"

"Kirumi said he cheated death once, that might have been because he was supposed to die from a disease, even if it was not from the one implied in the file!"

"But don't you think it's too easy?" Miu looked skeptical. "I know this sounds right, but still... Suddenly a forged document is agreeing with our theories? I don't buy it."

He couldn't blame her, but he knew this was the correct answer. Maybe it was just a hunch, but he couldn't drop it. Not now.

"Still, we saw his picture in the Gofer project file, didn't we? He looked physically weak and had little to no hair... That might as well have been because of a disease. And we know it was indeed him because I found his dead body in his lab."

"I know, I know, what you said sounds right, but..." Miu said. "I don't know. I can't trust those lies-filled papers."

"But why else would anyone transfer their consciousness in a robotic vessel than to escape such a desperate situ... ation..."

He trailed off, realizing what he had just said. The colors left his body as he put the pieces together.

"Shuichi...?" she called him.

"The situation they wanted to escape by creating the game... It was their physical conditions."

He looked at Miu again, who was staring back with worry.

"Tatsuya was offered a robotic vessel because his body must have been far too damaged by whatever disease he had."

"As for Kirumi, she was just given medication."

Though two of them were in the darkness, he knew all of his friends' eyes were on him.

"Wait... So you're telling me... Kirumi has a terminal disease?" Miu's voice was reeking with fear.

And it's only now that he fully registered what he had just said.

She and Tatsuya had the same motive. So if he had a terminal illness...

... Then she was also dying as well.

Though he could hardly feel any sort of pity for her now, this still wasn't a fate he would have wished upon her.

But now, everything made sense.

Tatsuya and her had the same intentions, the same moralities, and most importantly, they were in the same situation. It's that set of criteria that got the two ringleaders on the same wavelength.

The killing game was the result of a dilemma no one put them through, but they made this choice anyway, not caring if they bring down a few more people with them, because at least they could escape their tragic fate.

It was a gift- a way to make their miserable lives better...

... A promise to help them cheat death itself.

"Kirumi..." he said. "Am I right? Did you two accept to create the killing game because you were promised an escape to your terminal illnesses?"

The other spotlights -not just Kirumi's- turned on, revealing the rest of his friends staring at her.

...

She smiled, letting out a bitter laugh.

"... Heh. I knew you would come to this conclusion."

Was that not it?!

Or maybe... He must have been only partially right. That was the only possible explanation for her reaction.

"But enough of the guessing games. We don't have an infinite amount of time at our disposal. Especially me, as you all guessed."

So he was right. Her time was only limited. He could only wonder how limited it was.

"You see... The robotic vessel for Tatsuya and my treatment... They were only a bonus."

A bonus?! Were those not the things they were desperate to get?!

"The only reason we decided to create this killing game, as well as throwing ourselves in this bloodbath..."

She smiled gently, though anyone could see the bitter irony and frustration in her eyes.

"... Was because we preferred to make the end of our short lives a bit more exciting than to wither alone in a hospital room."

#ndrv3 #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 au #beta au #main story

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rlb-queer-danganronpa-au · 2 years

Text

NDRV3 - Kaede Akamatsu

Disclaimer: These are my own personal headcanons and are just for fun! If something I post seems offensive or anything like that, please let me know so I can fix it.

DANGANRONPA SPOILERS

ID Information

○ She/they

○ Genderqueer

○ Bisexual (female lean)

○ Sophomore/Second Year (started HPA at 14, is currently 15)

○ Class 77-A

○ SHSL Pianist

○ Born March 26 (Aries)

○ 5 ft 6 in (160 cm)

○ 121 lbs (55 kg)

○ O Blood

Story Changes:

○ The first major story change is going to be that Kaede isn't the character you start playing as. The player is going to play as Shuichi in the beginning, they're going to murder the first person and be executed, then the player will go through the rest of the game as Kaede. I mean, how despairing would it be if the Ultimate Detective was the first one to be caught murdering people?

○ Again, her personality will remain relatively the same, I love how she's bi as hell in the actual game. Her aesthetic will also be very different. Strictly from the sweater, I decided that I wanted to give them a 1960s aesthetic (both American and Japanese 60s for inspiration).

○ I actually want the V3 cast to have short appearances or interactions during the Danganronpa anime, since I made them be in the same year group as the SDR2 cast. For instance, Kaede could have an interaction with Ibuki and Sayaka (like during Ultimate Talent Development Plan).

○ This version of V3 won't take place in the far-future version of Hope's Peak (after the events of Hope Arc), it'll take place much sooner. Chihiro’s dad (Taichi Fujisaki) is brought back from Towa City by Hagakure, Komaru, and Toko, and rebuilds the Neo World Program (just Chiaki, Usami, and Alter Ego). That’s how they pinpoint the signal to Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles.

Character Relationships:

○ Shuichi Saihara is the first person Kaede encounters after entering the sibling Neo World Program, so it makes sense that she would grow to become close friends with them. She's usually very outgoing, but throughout the first Chapter she tended to stick closely to Shuichi. Shuichi encouraged Kaede to always strive for the truth, while Kaede encourged Shuichi to have faith in their abilities as a detective. Both of them were terrified of losing each other once Monokuma announced the time limit, and after they learned of their missing memories. Once Shuichi is revealed to be Chapter One's Stained, Kaede only feels immense sorrow. She understands why they did what they did, although that doesn't fully justify the act of killing another, and doesn't want them to leave her again.

○ Kaede immediately took a liking to Maki Harukawa as soon as she sees her. Maki also made it apparent that she was a pessimist (although she claims she's just a realist), while Kaede is an optimist. Apparently Kaede's type is either just like her, or dark and brooding. Kaede thought Maki was very mysterious upon first meeting her, and wanted to try and get her to talk more. They wanted to know all about her talent and past, but it took a while for Maki to reciprocate those feelings. Maki went under the false title of SHSL Child Caregiver until the end of Chapter 2, where she is exposed by Kokichi. It was after that moment that Maki realized how dangerous it was to have enemies in a place like this. She started confiding in Kaede simply to have an ally, but realized how freeing it was to have friends like them and Kaito. She started revealing more about herself, and her connection to Kokichi. In turn, Kaede revealed her feelings towards Shuichi, and Kaito talked about his past. During Chapter 5, Kaede is the most understanding towards Maki. They break back into the hangar and stop Kaito and Kokichi from going through with their murder attempt. This is only time Maki hesitated before firing, but then she remembered the love that Kaede taught her, and the love she held for Kaito, and even Kokichi. After surviving the game, Kaede helped Maki want to make up with Kokichi. Kaede, Maki, and Kaito also end up forming a polycule.

○ Kaito Momota is very similar to Kaede personality-wise, so they hit it off after their first full conversation. Kaito also seemed to get along with Shuichi very well, which makes Kaede like him even more. He is very confident, with a bit of an ego, and likes to look for the bright side of situations. Kaito has a hard time coming up with ideas himself, but despite that he's always willing to help carry through with a plan. During introductions, Kaede thought Kaito was just a loud egomaniac. However, after getting to know him, she learned that he was considerate and helpful as well. They loved finding ways to combine their interests and teach each other things about their SHSL Talents. Kaede even found herself imitating Kaito's train of thought whenever she needed some encouragement, and Kaito found himself doing the same. Kaede learns how to be a leader from Kaito being their friend (although Kaito says Kaede is his sidekick). Kaito learns how to put action behind his words when it comes to other people. After Shuichi's execution, Kaito encouraged Kaede to come out and train with him in order to keep their spirits up and bodies in shape. Maki joined them too after a little while, and that's how they all started opening up to each other. The

#Queer Danganronpa AU #New Danganronpa V3 #Kaede Akamatsu #Character Profile

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dangan-meme-palace · 3 years

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So the people of Reddit are saying that Maki is horribly written, at the very least post-assassin reveal. Your take on this?

(So far your takes have been different from everyone else I've seen, which is intriguing. Thank you for your posts.)

I agree wholeheartedly, surprisingly.

The problem with post-reveal Maki is that that's the moment where Kaito started getting involved with her character arc and it was a complete disaster on all fronts, from set up to execution.

She basically gets turned into Kaito's waifu, his fixer-upper/prop. Like everytime Maki goes through any sort of development it's solely because Kaito made her do it and not from any voiced desire to get better for herself. It makes it seem like Maki existed solely to make Kaito look good for helping the poor orphan girl learn feelings, making him seem better than he actually is. She turns into a prop to make Kaito look better rather than a character with agency.

She doesn't get any choice but to do what Kaito wants her to do or what the narrative needs her to do for Kaito's sake. She never decides anything without Kaito's advice except for, of course, when she has to go save Kaito. She exists for Kaito and it's really overplayed and poorly written.

Both of these things make her really inconsistent later on in the game like:

Where before she said she would only kill if someone tried to kill her, she now actively hunts Kokichi down for Kaito.

Where before she would think things through calmly and rational with few exceptions, now she goes along with whatever brainless plan Kaito has because she believes in him.

Where before she kept her temper in check for the most part by avoiding confrontations, now she threatens people constantly and glares at whoever would dare to question Kaito's actions even when said actions are a literal threat to her life and she knows it. (Rationality and bluntness who?)

Not only does her character now contradict itself, she has literally became the exact opposite of what she was before in the worst possible way. Calm, logical, yet apathetic Maki became this angry, irrational, and hyper-emotional attack dog for Kaito's sake and not only is this a total downgrade from what her character once was, especially considering the fact that the cast could have really used more rational people, it's treated as a good thing that she's become like this! Like Kaito has somehow achieved this great feat for making her worse!

And if all of that weren't bad enough, the narrative does a horrible job of explaining why these changes happened in the first place, just awful... because they don't explain it at all other than "because it's Kaito!"

She starts out being annoyed by Kaito and giving him death glares only to fall in love with the side of him that annoyed her in the first place with no actual confirmed reason other than "It's Kaito" as if that helps anything when she has repeatedly criticized and scoffed at him pre-reveal. She never had any sort of good relationship with him and now we just have to take the narrative's word on it that they're close? Okay okay okay

The writers Told us that she likes him instead of Showing us and this pattern continues a lot in Maki's character.

Remember that time when she said she was going to try and prove herself to be a trustworthy person and then literally one chapter later she went behind everyone's backs, started the killing game again, and got two people killed?

Remember when Kaito said that she's gotten a lot more open and pleasant and then she repeatedly threatened people with death and got angry over the smallest of things?

Remember when the narrative pretended that Maki and Shuichi were good friends and then had Maki say that he's useless outside of trials and just generally say mean things to him all the time unless they were talking about, you probably guessed it, Kaito?

... just to name a few off the top of my head, there's definitely more.

So basically my main problems are:

All of post-reveal Maki's character arc revolves around Kaito, not Maki, which is counter to the point.

The arc doesn't even pay off in the end because she ends up worse as a character because of it, and that's only for the parts of her that actually saw any sort of development. She doesn't even have a role for a majority of the story post-reveal besides "Kaito's DIY waifu".

There's no foundation or support for any of the narrative's claims of what a Good Girl she's become because of Kaito and it happens with literally every single major character trait, plotline, and milestone for Maki. If the narrative is saying one thing about Maki it's not hard to come up with several instances where she contradicts it both before and after.

They never justified any of her arc and they never even went through with what they set out to do half of the time.

Maki is shaped by Kaito with seemingly no will of her own besides telling him "leave me alone" that the writers break out of her immediately because she's not allowed to do anything but love, support, and be "fixed" by Kaito.

She doesn't have a character-driven arc (unless you count Kaito as driving it, which you shouldn't) and it makes it feel like she's not a character at all, just Kaito's designated waifu and prop. She's left inconsistent and under-developed despite all the time the narrative spent hyping her development. Maki's generally just dissatisfying despite all of her potential and all of the narrative/time/story investment put into her.

#asks #fighto bromota #and maki pouts some more #go through my maki tag if you want to see more of my opinions on her. im gonna go to bed lol #sorry if this was convoluted i just have a lot to say that im not sure how to word #i prefer pre-reveal Maki so much more than post-Kaito Maki. I liked her BEFORE why did you RUIN HER KODAKA #the fact that i had to write 'kaito' so many times proves that her character become over-dependant on him #*became *dependent #to edit

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toxicpineapple · 4 years

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It’s hard being in the v3 fandom sometimes when I feel like the only person who thinks Shuichi is bland but inoffensive, find Ouma to be a well written character (but since I believe trust is good and open communication key in deadly situations, I hate his stupid plans and attitude on life) and finds saiouma a boring pairing. I just wanna read about Ryoma, Gonta and Kork without having to dig through two thousand saiouma fics that mention their names briefly! Sorry for venting in your inbox, lol

i absolutely wouls not call shuichi bland but i'm gonna ask for like, @shuichi-saiharem to weigh in on this if they can because i don't think i can articulate why that statement makes me feel a little weird.

as for kokichi, i think making a statement on his attitude on life is a little weird when kokichi was not operating under normal circumstances. like, at all. kokichi, as a normal person, probably just feels like you need to exercise caution in your interactions and say the things that need to be said. that's sort of what he preached the whole game of v3, even if he wasn't always the nicest about it. what you have to understand though is that kokichi was like, trying actively to end the killing game the entire time. his life philosophy doesn't really factor into it. it's a weird takeaway to have. everything kokichi did in the killing game was for the sake of ending the killing game. period. he's an ends justify the means person who did bad things. but to say that that's how he actually behaves, when the lives of potentially hundreds of children aren't at stake... again, it's weird to me.

you are totally entitled to your opinion on both of these guys, and to your opinion on saiouma. but i think there are plenty of people who think shuichi is bland, and who don't like kokichi, and who don't like saiouma. you might just be looking in the wrong places. i'm a huge fan of saiouma. i love the pairing. it was one of my first pairings. youre welcome to express your opinions in my inbox at any time but please know im very fond of shuichi and kokichi and saiouma as a pairing for the future :]

#saiouma #saihara shuichi #ouma kokichi #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma

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g0nta-g0kuhara · 5 months

Text

The Chapter 4 Essay Part 1: Kokichi Ouma

A metapost on my thoughts on Kokichi’s overall motivations and Gonta’s actions during ch4. Split into two parts. You can find the Gonta half here: (LINK)

I think the way Kokichi acts when he’s telling the truth says something crucial about his personality. When he’s telling the genuine truth, his expression becomes carefully neutral.

(post trial, chapter 1)

To me, it feels like he’s trying very hard to keep this face of neutrality. Normally, he’s able to expertly express any emotion that he wants to. In these moments, its almost like the emotion he’s feeling is so overpowering that he’s trying to repress it in order to maintain control over the face he presents to everyone else, but isn’t quite able to do so.

Kokichi is very careful about keeping people from seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t choose to show. His villain persona and constant lying is part of this- He wants to keep people away from him. During the events of the killing game, he uses the distance that he creates in many ways. Part of it was that not having many close alliances allowed him to go off and do whatever he wanted during daily life. This let him explore the school and investigate the truth of the killing game without interruption or much attention. Lying also gave him distance between the game and himself. Pretending that the killing game was fun might’ve been his way to cope with everything that was happening. I think Kokichi is really damn good at separating himself from his emotions, lying to himself to do what he thinks needs to be done. This line from Chapter 1 is pretty telling…

(post trial, chapter 1)

This was also something he says himself to Kaito in the exisal hanger during chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

I’m inclined to believe everything that Kokichi says to Kaito in the exisal hanger. As Kiibo says when Kaito questions it, “I think his dying words may have been the honest truth.” Knowing he was about the die, and that he absolutely needed Kaito’s help to get his plan to break the killing game to work- to achieve his genuine, true goal- I don’t see any reason for him to lie.

This emotional distance extends past just the killing game. I think it's a key part of how he interacts with others around him.

Kokichi is an ultimate leader. I think he uses his talent throughout the game in an attempt to “lead” everyone from the shadows. He wanted to stop the killing game and escape with as many people as possible. However, his methods are very ends-justify-the-means. I believe that he did genuinely care about everyone at the ultimate academy, but in the detached way a distant king might care about his subjects. On the other hand, if he had to use or sacrifice a few as pawns for the greater good, that is what had to be done. It’s not like it didn’t emotionally affect him, but I think he was deliberately trying to keep his distance so that it would not impact him as much, and so that he could continue trying to tear the killing game apart with as many tools in his arsenal as possible.

(post trial, chapter 5)

With this core motivation in mind, this brings us to Chapter 4.

In my opinion, the Killing Game Busters was never a plan that was meant to succeed. From an in-game perspective, the idea that he was originally going to follow this mercy kill plan doesn’t make sense to me. Firstly, Kokichi already had suspicions that they were being watched as early as chapter 3.

(post trial, chapter 3)

…and he later confirms that he was fully convinced of this fact when Monokuma agreed to reuse the chapter 4 motive in the virtual world.

(post trial, chapter 5)

He knew that this killing game was for somebody else’s entertainment. I’ll go a bit into the secret of the outside world in a moment, but considering this, I don’t think he ever fully believed in it. Choosing to mercy kill everyone, in the name of a “truth” that was incompatible with what he had discovered… just doesn’t make sense to me.

Not to mention, from a narrative standpoint, I think the idea that he was completely for this mercy kill plan, decided to throw out the plan mid-trial, and then start an entirely different plan to end the killing game in chapter 5, isn’t very compelling. It weakens Kokichi’s overall character by making his motivation less cohesive and making him seem less organized over all, which I think is one of his strengths as a character. A Kokichi that is this fickle with what he’s trying to do would not have been able to write the script for chapter 5.

I think he always had different goals in mind with the Killing Game Busters. The first was something that is made very clear in chapter 5, but started here in chapter 4: He wanted to stop the killing to give himself room to break the game while minimizing deaths. The second was to further villainize himself, for all the reasons I talked about above, and some more I will get into in a little bit.

Seeing the secret of the outside world was undoubtably disturbing, regardless of whether he believed it or not; there is a noticeable shift in how Kokichi acts before and after he swipes that card key. Combined with discovering that Miu, someone he’d been working with closely, was planning on murdering him, I believe that seeing the destruction of the outside world pushed him towards more drastic measures than what he had been doing in previous chapters. He decided that in order for his plan in chapter 5 to work (which he had almost certainly already been planning at this point, considering how elaborate it was), he needed to make everyone question if pursuing the truth was the right thing to do at all.

After Miu’s body discovery, nobody was really worried about losing this class trial. Everyone had seen how Shuichi had guided them all to the truth and caught the blackened three times in a row, despite the unique difficulties in each case. They had full confidence in his abilities.

(investigation, chapter 4)

Shuichi is also not really doubting his abilities as a detective anymore. One of Shuichi’s core internal conflicts is his fear of the consequences of revealing the truth. Up to this point, it seems like he’s been moving past it. Especially after catching Korekiyo “Actual Serial Killer” Shinguji, who had no regrets or grey motivation for his killings. Shuichi’s morale, and subsequently everyone else’s, was at an all time high. (Of course, he was starting to feel a lot of pressure to solve these cases and save everyone on his own… but that’s another issue. ily Shuichi)

If Kokichi could take the wind out of Shuichi’s sails, really destroy the confidence he had built up so far, he could set up his impossible trial in chapter 5 to be more likely to work as intended. Everyone will be less motivated to try and figure out what happened if they are uncertain that finding the truth would actually result in anything good.

And I do believe he was trying to knock Shuichi off balance specifically. Damaging his confidence is one thing, but he was also deliberately trying to drive a wedge between him and Kaito. He antagonizes Kaito all chapter 4 investigation, including making up a nickname for Shuichi (“Shumai”) that directly riffs off Kaito’s closeness with Maki. He insists into the trial that he and Shuichi are partners now.

(class trial, chapter 4)

(Sidenote: Kokichi’s behaviour during trial 4 is genuinely really interesting to me. On top of the direct digs like this, he says a lot more subtle things to get under Kaito’s skin during trial 4 that I think are super neat to pay attention to.)

Theoretically, pushing Kaito away from Shuichi, combined with the powerlessness he’ll feel in the wake of the truth of both trial 4 and the outside world, could make him easier to convince to join Kokichi’s “side”. He even directly asks Shuichi to team up with him before leaving the virtual world:

(daily life, Chapter 4)

This leads me to believe that Shuichi was originally the one that Kokichi intended to use to build his impossible trial. I mean, if Shuichi was the one in the exisal hanger and presumed dead instead of Kaito, the chances of everyone else solving that mystery drops Significantly. Everyone else, aside from maybe Kiibo, was 100% convinced that Kokichi was the mastermind at that point. No one except Shuichi would’ve tried to dig as deep as he did, for better or for worse. I think this idea is supported by the note that Kokichi wrote next to Shuichi’s face on the whiteboard in his room (“trustworthy?”). He was clearly considering Shuichi as a person for one reason or another, and I believe this is it.

By condemning Gonta, who everyone else perceived as a kind soul who would never hurt anybody, someone who was struggling to understand what the virtual world even was with his amnesia, would be perceived by the others as kicking someone when they were down. Gonta has an absolutely miserable time through the accusations and wholly blames himself for how things turned out in the end. That, and Gonta’s actions were even well-intentioned. The secret of the outside world was apparently so horrible, Gonta thought it would be kinder to mercy kill everyone rather than force them to face it. This result would make everyone question if the truth was really as undoubtably good as they had come to think so far; Not only did Gonta suffer because they had to find the truth, but seeking the secret of the outside world would apparently also only lead to suffering. This would make them hesitate during Kokichi’s impossible trial.

(class trial, chapter 4)

As I said before, Kokichi’s second goal for trial 4 was villainizing himself even further. He says that this was a goal himself to Kaito in chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

Part of this villainization was just adding to the persona he had already created for himself and that I already talked about his motivations for before. The other part was what he says here. He specifically wanted everyone to think that he was the mastermind. This gave him leverage in two main ways. First, making himself appear to be the mastermind with an actual mastermind as hands off as Tsumugi genuinely gave him power over everyone else. He used this in chapter 5 to put a pause to the killings and give himself more room to enact his plan to break the killing game from the inside.

(daily life, chapter 5)

Although he then says “You guys can commit suicide together or kill each other… / Or, you can change your mind and stay here! You’re welcome to do that too!”, having experienced the secret of the outside world already, I think he’s pretty confident in what they will be feeling in this moment. No one is going to kill each other, and he knows that. He wants them to take that second option for the time being while he sets up his plot.

Making himself appear like the mastermind also benefited his impossible trial plan directly. Everyone would be much more likely to vote for someone they were convinced was the mastermind rather than one of their friends. No one would suspect that it was really him that was the victim.

“Using Gonta and making him into a murderer” was a significant part of how he villainized himself, but the way he treated Gonta during this whole experience was also a major factor. Starting as early as just after Miu was killed, he begins to be really aggressively mean to Gonta. He just straight up bullies him throughout the second half of the trial.

(daily life, chapter 4)

(class trial, chapter 4)

And then, after all this, he acts remorseful and sides himself with Gonta at the very end. It isn't genuine emotion like he felt before Kaede's execution, shown by his neutral expression. To me, this uncharacteristically open expression of grief feels like it was just set up to exacerbate the impact of his cruelty after Gonta’s execution. At this point, everybody’s little faith in Kokichi has been shaken significantly. With the shock of the trial, maybe you Could start to believe they were on the same side, as a team. Then, at the reveal of the extent of Kokichi’s manipulation, that is all ripped painfully away again.

(post trial, chapter 4)

Even if these parts of trial 4 make my stomach turn, I don’t want to imply that Kokichi is completely cold-hearted and unfeeling. Actually, I think there were multiple moments in chapter 4 that show him struggling to regulate his emotions and keep face around everyone else while he enacted this plan.

1: I don’t think Kokichi initially planned to make the reveal that Gonta was the killer as dramatic (or frankly, a bit traumatic) as it ended up being. He had been carrying himself a certain way during the first half of the trial, and I think Shuichi lying to his face in front of everyone about Kokichi’s own alibi dramatically changed his attitude. I mean, Shuichi lied (as he had done almost every trial and gotten 0 flack for) and Tsumugi even called him out on it, but everyone believed him over Kokichi anyways. So when Kokichi lies, it’s completely inexcusable, even though he’s been working tirelessly on his own trying to save everyone?* But when SHUICHI lies, and gets caught in it, people go along with him? They don’t doubt their trust in him for even a second? This double standard infuriated him. It’s at this point that he completely shifts in energy. If Shuichi, no, everyone, is going to disrespect him like this, he was going to make them suffer for it.

(class trial, chapter 4)

2: Kokichi only goes full villain after Kaito says “Kokichi, If you really cared for Gonta, explain yourself to everyone” in the post trial. I think that even though he was always going to paint himself as the villain, he was legitimately affected by the things that had just happened (Gonta’s death, Miu’s attempted murder, the secret of the outside world, even if he knew it wasn’t real) and what he’d just done. Even if he was trying hard not to be. The sudden shift he has from not saying anything to cackling about how little he cared about Gonta feels to me like he was kicking himself back into gear after trying to process some genuinely difficult emotions. 3: After Kokichi punches Kaito down, and everyone completely ignores him in favour of helping Kaito up, Shuichi says these iconic words to Kokichi: “Kaito always has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you. / You’re alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.” Kokichi responds like this:

(Post-trial, chapter 4)

There’s something about the way he cuts himself off, pauses, and then his mask falls. I think Shuichi’s words got to him more than he wanted them to. Honestly, Kokichi’s attitude towards cooperation, keeping everyone at arm’s length, and insisting (to himself) that he (as a leader) must fix the killing game completely on his own just seems so lonely to me. Even if he is intentionally trying to alienate himself and get everyone to hate him, being so viscerally cut into like this must have hurt. Especially from someone he was trying to work to get onto his side. It’s no wonder he quickly left after this moment.

This is what I think drove Kokichi in chapter 4. He’s a leader who wants to “lead” his classmates into safety, but he isn’t afraid to use underhanded, cruel tactics if he thinks it will get him ahead in the game for the greater good. He viscerally represses his emotions in order to keep himself going and keep everyone else away from him. He tried to destroy Shuichi’s confidence and drive a wedge between him and Kaito to get him on his side for his plan. He used and made Gonta into a murderer to villainize himself and discourage everyone else from seeking the truth.

Whenever I imagine Kokichi on his own, out of the spotlight of the Audience or the eyes of his castmates, he’s never as expressive as he is in the open. I think in reality, Kokichi is a pretty depressed and lonely person. His clownish personality isn’t entirely a facade, and outside of a killing game scenario, I think he would act pretty similarly to how he does in game. But I do think that he uses it as a mask for his true emotions. While I feel like the “evil villain” persona is a genuine part of Kokichi’s personality, outside of the killing game he probably doesn’t act on it as deeply as he does in-game. I also think Kokichi struggles with letting people become close to him, even without anything on the line. The killing game just caused him to lean into these aspects of his personality hard, and in potentially the worst ways.

*I feel like here it’s important to mention that personally, I still think the collateral damage he caused in his attempts to stop the killing game matters. A lot. I don’t think he should be excused for the things he did, even if he had good intentions. This makes him a really interesting, morally grey character, and I like that about him.

#kokichi ouma #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #ouma kokichi #kokichi oma #oma kokichi #drv3 spoilers #meta post #long post #(Sorry- I'm not putting this under a readmore because in the case where I change my username or deactivate #I still want this post to be readable)#id in alt text #Caveat that this interpretation is entirely based on the english localization #which I still think is valid #Part 2 coming in literally a couple minutes- just need to read over it one more time and add tags #shut up me

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hopeymchope · 2 years

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I hate Kokichi, but I think outing Maki is one of the only actions he's committed where you can argue that it was justified. (by the way, I respect your opinion and I feel safe discussing my dislike towards Kokichi with you :D) Maki is a trained ruthless assassin and she could have easily killed any of them and got away with it. That doesn't necessarily mean she deserves all his scorn, but I can see where he's coming from a little + I also wouldn't be forgiving to someone who tried to kill me.

Yeah, I get what you mean. And thank you for the kind words. :) But I also get where Maki's coming from with her anger.

We play the game from Shuichi's point of view, though, and from where Shuichi stands, Kokichi has already proven to be a major obstacle who — even when he clearly knows who the culprit is (as in our most recent trial) — deliberately chooses to withhold information from the others when all their lives are on the line. And despite his lack of help, the group managed to identify the culprit and survive the trial partly because of Kaito's insistence that they should have faith in Maki.

So if I'm Shuichi, when this reveal happens and I get over my initial shock, my very next thought is "What's Kokichi's angle?" Because it's not like he's known for being helpful in any way.

I think Kokichi didn't trust Maki whatsoever and wanted to let everybody know why, in his opinion, they shouldn't trust her either. That was likely his motive here. But based on his behavior in the trial that had only just ended, I wouldn't trust that he was attempting to help.

#asks #anon #anti-kokichi oma #anti-kokichi ouma #danganronpa

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golden-redhead · 4 years

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Hey! I'm having a hard time phrasing this, so I just wanna assure up front that I mean this with no bad faith: What are Kokichi's faults and negative traits in your eyes? What does he do wrong? I see you talk a lot about all the things he hasn't done wrong and the things that aren't actually faults, but I'd like to know what you think is imperfect about him? Or does he just not have any?

Honestly, the reason why I usually talk about the things he actually hasn’t done wrong is mostly because, well, he’s my favorite character, so obviously in some way I am biased and always will be, but most importantly… The narrative points out his flaws time and time again, he’s been called the ‘antagonist of the game’ by the fandom, the game leaves us with the protagonist still wondering whether he was good or bad, so… What would be even the point of talking about his flaws when they are so glaringly obvious and pointed out all the time? Like, it’s not like I could add anything new, his entire character was built on the assumption that we are supposed to see him as the bad guy and then by the very end leave us with this feeling of ‘but was he really?? what was this guy REALLY up to?” and never give us the straight answer.

Like, what can I even say to that question? That he had trust issues? That he was rude? Insensitive? Mean? Confusing? I mean, all true, but literally every character says all that multiple times in the game and half of the fandom still discusses his morality, so…

The thing is, Kokichi, as a person, is not all that likeable, even if we consider the biased and incomplete image of him that Shuichi had and the fact that we have reasons to believe that his actions were exaggerated as a way to protect himself in the game. I see most of his behaviours as somewhat justified by the circumstances, but it doesn’t change the fact that a lot of his actions were uncalled for, rude and harmful, just taking things too far for no good reason, even if it was his goal to make himself look as unlikeable as possible. I think a few times he’s really fucking unpleasant in a way I really can’t justify in any way, especially when he was pointing out some characters’ traits in a really hurtful manner, I think in some cases things he said could easily destroy someone else’s sense of self-worth and as someone who was bullied and who gets panic attacks if I think I might have offended someone or made someone feel bad it’s just… very not okay in my book and something that bothered me. If Kokichi was a real person I wouldn’t like him, people like that make me feel very uncomfortable, especially with all the attention he draws to himself.

So yeah. He’s rude. He’s outright unpleasant. Even if he had good reasons for acting the way he did, his words were hurtful and mean. He never showed people respect they deserved and in a way they deserved it and even the fact that he had to play the role of a villain doesn’t justify many of the things he did or said. He said many nasty and insensitive things (just often not the ones that fandom usually points out). He has a poor temper and can be surprisingly impulsive. He isn’t nearly as good of a liar as everyone seems to think. He’s not exactly a good detective either? I think it’s interesting because we know he kept looking for the mastermind with more dedication than Shuichi ever did, but he was so wrong practically every trial and he had to rely on Shuichi to figure things out even after he died. He’s perspective, yeah, but his intelligence is very different from Shuichi’s? I also think he’s pretty arrogant in general, even when he doesn’t mean to be. Oh, and I think he’s also a very ‘everything or nothing’ kind of person and that’s not exactly a good trait and the killing game situation definitely doesn’t make it any better, his relationship with Maki is a pretty good example of what I mean here. And ch5. For him it’s either eveything and nothing, he can sacrifice everything for a cause, fuck the consequences.

So yeah. He’s all of these things and more.

Also, one of the reasons why I often don’t talk about Kokichi’s flaws and faults is because… well, for me the sacrifice he makes at the end is kind of a way of him paying for the things he’s done.

He didn’t have to die.

When Maki attacked him she genuinely wanted to kill him. Kaito interfering is honestly Kaito’s fault, it’s not like Kokichi forced him to save him or anything. And Kaito was dying anyways, even the entire plan included him dying. Kokichi didn’t have to die and if he wanted to stop the game the concept of doing it through dying was risky and honestly kinda dumb. I genuinely think that one of the reasons why Kokichi makes the sacrifice he does in ch5 is because of his guilt, because he felt he’s responsible for Gonta and Miu’s deaths, because he wasn’t able to stop any of the deaths that occurred before that. For me it just kinda feels like him actually owning his flaws and mistakes and paying the price for them, hoping that it will save those who are still alive.

Maybe I’m interpreting it all wrong, but this was always my take on Kokichi and his choice in ch5. It’s really hard to talk at length about character’s flaws if said character actually owned them in the end and did the next right thing in order to make things better. And that sacrifice is what ultimately helps Maki, Himiko and Shuichi survive.

I’m sorry for this weird stream of consciousness, these things are kinda hard for me to put into words and I’m tired. And hey, we can always just assume that I’m a horribly biased bitch and a Kokichi apologist, I’m fine with that, too. That’s my emotional support Kokichi, sir. And I’m keeping him.

#ask #anon #I spent an hour writing it #writing and rewriting actually #so I do hope it's at least somewhat coherent #also don't worry Anon #I know what you mean

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commentaryvorg · 4 years

Text

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.6

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time as trial 6 began (and no, this trial is not getting any exclamation marks), we retried Rantaro’s murder, Rantaro’s Survivor Perk note was not a video, Kaede still did meaningfully bear responsibility for his death but her execution was not justified even by the game’s rules, Kaede’s twin was a ridiculous and very telling red herring, Himiko continued to be a little bit Kaito (though only on a surface level) in her desperation to keep believing in Tsumugi, Shuichi still hated accusing his friends of murder but managed it anyway, and Junko Enoshima waaaas…

Tsumugi: “Junko… Enoshima is…”

“Junko”: “Right the fuck here!”

…Not actually even remotely here at all, of course.

“Junko”: “Even if nobody was waiting, even if it makes you go, ‘What, again?’… The diva of despair takes the stage once more! Junko Enoshima the 53rd!”

So… are we seriously to believe that in every single in-universe Danganronpa series up until this point, they’ve always found some excuse for it to be Junko each time? That this really is literally the 53rd time she’s appeared? Damn, no wonder she’s lampshading the repetitiveness and how bored everyone must be of that.

That’s difficult enough to believe that I’d rather assume she’s only saying 53rd to give them a hint, and really Junko has appeared more than enough times for people to be tired of it but still not nearly every time.

(This also reads like a dig by the out-universe writers at themselves for this, even though she only returned once and that was pretty believable because of the situation they were in. Unless she also somehow returned from the dead in the anime or UDG. Geez, I hope not.)

Monokuma: “Bwah-hahahaha! There you have it! Once again, the mastermind is Junko Enoshima!”

Monokuma has apparently just become like a sports commentator, now that the mastermind herself can play the role he usually has. This is after all the first time Monokuma’s still been around once the mastermind takes the stage, because he’s not a literal puppet this time.

Himiko: “Tsumugi… wh-what’s the matter? Aren’t you… Tsumugi Shirogane? Our friend who survived with us?”

“Junko”: “Hahaha, sorry about that. You can go ahead and forget about Tsumugi Shirogane.”

Tsumugi: “Cuz I’m just a character! Y’know, a lie!”

This is, in a certain sense, not wrong. The Tsumugi they thought they knew and were friends with never existed – it was just an act being put on by the real Tsumugi who was cruelly making this fiction for entertainment and enjoying every second of it. It may have been somewhat based in reality in that Tsumugi based that lie off herself and just did what would come naturally to her if she wasn’t a fucking terrible person, but it was still ultimately not a person who really exists. “Tsumugi” was the only one of the students here who really truly was just fictional.

“Junko”: “Sorry to all her fans out there. If any of you even exist, that is.”

And now joining Monokuma in the Not Remotely Subtle club: Tsumugi! Not that she probably cares because she’s intending for Shuichi to figure out the real truth soon enough.

“Junko”: “Tsumugi Shirogane was nothing more than a cover for me, the mastermind.”

However, here she’s trying to imply that there never even was anyone called Tsumugi Shirogane in the first place and she was just Junko in disguise the whole time. And for some reason, the students seem to kind of buy this (as did several of the blind LPers I’ve watched), when nobody should? Tsumugi is a cosplayer. It is still perfectly possible that this is just Tsumugi cosplaying Junko rather than the other way around, and especially since Junko is supposed to be super super dead, that should be what everyone immediately jumps to rather than believing this.

“Junko”: “As you can see, I am a perfect reproduction of Junko Enoshima.”

Maki: “So… you’re just a freak pretending to be Junko Enoshima, huh!?”

“Junko”: “No, a perfect reproduction!”

Tsumugi: “Perfect reproductions are exactly the same as the original.”

She’s clearly talking about cosplay here, guys! At least Maki seems to get it, but nobody quite zeroes in on the fact that beneath the mask she still is Tsumugi the Ultimate Cosplayer and it’s just that the Tsumugi we thought we knew was mostly an act.

Maki: “So if we kill you, then that’ll be the end, correct?”

Maki Roll, no! Didn’t you decide back in the investigation that you weren’t actually going to kill the mastermind?

Shuichi: “You killed Kaede, and Monokuma covered it up with a false narrative!”

Hah, I like how he calls it a narrative. Way more appropriate than he realises.

“Junko”: “I knew of Hope’s Peak Academy’s Gofer Project, and my inner Junko told me…”

…

Tsumugi: “And then I took the name ‘Tsumugi Shirogane’ and sneaked in among them.”

She can’t even keep her own narrative straight! “Junko” is implying she’s not really Junko and just wanted to be, and Tsumugi is saying she’s not really Tsumugi! Which one is she even trying to go with here!? Apparently she’s just trying to confuse everyone as much as possible.

Maki: “Did… Kokichi know about this? Wasn’t he a Remnant of Despair?”

Maki, you were with Shuichi when he saw Kokichi’s motive video, you should know now that he wasn’t! It seems she was so fixated on her belief that he’s a Remnant (for reasons we will get into soon) that she told herself the motive video must have been some kind of hoax.

Himiko: “Who’s this killing game being shown to!? Where are the survivors of humanity!?”

Tsumugi: “There’s nobody watching.”

You literally just talked about your “fans” like five minutes ago, Tsumugi, I don’t know why you expect this to work on anyone.

Shuichi finally brings up with the notion that their memories might not be true. He let Tsumugi ramble on for far longer than he needed to about things he had every reason to think were most likely lies before coming out with this, but.

Shuichi: “This book contains years of research about Hope’s Peak Academy. Nothing would indicate this book is a prop. I believe this information here is accurate.”

Oh, no, Shuichi, this book is very much a prop and everything written in here is also a lie. I guess he’s saying this because, for the out-universe audience, they already know that everything written in that book is the real truth about the Hope’s Peak story. But it’s still pretty flimsy the way Shuichi just takes this book as the truth at this point in the trial in order to argue that their memories are the part that’s wrong. Especially when he now has plenty of other ways to prove that anyway.

Monokuma: “Alright! Time to play some Danganronpa trivia!”

…Apparently this is why the narrative is doing this and is about to make us go through three Nonstop Debates just about this: because they really did just want to make us play Danganronpa trivia. Anyone playing this game who hadn’t played or seen the other games can just use the book to be able to do this, but man, surely they’d feel so bored and left out and questioning why they should care about all this.

(Also, the students are probably wondering why the hell Monokuma just started talking about Bullet Rebuttals like that’s supposed to mean anything. …Or maybe they’re not, because Monokuma was always full of non-sequiturs anyway and this is probably just another one, right.)

Maki: “Wasn’t Junko the Ultimate Despair?”

Keebo: “…That’s what I recall as well. That label should only apply to her.”

Apparently they don’t think that the Remnants of Despair count as being called the Ultimate Despair in any capacity. In DR2, a certain group of people who were referred to as “Ultimate Despair” were definitely also called “Remnants of Despair” in at least one or two lines. However, that’s the part of the story that everyone’s fake memories seem to be missing out, so I suppose that explains why they see the Remnants of Despair as a totally separate thing.

“Junko”: “Ugh, does it even matter? I’m bored already.”

Really? Because you don’t seem that bored. This “Junko” we’re seeing here is only really showing one personality, the “base” Junko so to speak, rather than switching between multiple different ones like the real Junko would do because she kept getting bored. Of course Tsumugi isn’t going to get bored like that – how could she ever be bored of being one of her favourite characters?

Keebo: “…because Junko had prepared countless ways of spreading despair.”

“She did no such thing!”

“Oh, maybe she did…”

Is Tsumugi switching characters mid-debate in order to disagree with herself? Boo, only Kaito was allowed to do that. (Or maybe she’s just arguing with Monokuma.)

“Junko”: “It just means those documents were written all half-assed. There’s no need to worry about it. Your memories are all correct.”

Shuichi: “What you’ve been saying isn’t consistent! First you said it was just ‘coincidence’.”

I appreciate Shuichi picking up on how inconsistent her narrative is and calling her out on that. The previous time he’s talking about was her claiming that everyone coincidentally misremembered the same thing, which is the complete opposite of her claim here that the book is wrong and not their memories.

Keebo: “And with that… recruitment of talented students resumed.”

This is supposed to be Keebo remembering that they all applied to Hope’s Peak when the “truth” is that the school didn’t accept applications and scouted all its students. But the phrasing “recruitment of students” definitely sounds like Keebo is saying that they were scouted. Probably a localisation error, but way to mess that one up, localisers.

Shuichi: “Me too. I *chose* to come to Hope’s Peak.”

And if you think about it, that really isn’t in character for you, is it, Shuichi? Until you met Kaede and Kaito, you hated your talent and didn’t think you deserved to be called the Ultimate Detective. You were scared of revealing the truth and certainly wouldn’t have decided on your own to apply to make that something you had to do even more of.

On that same note, why in the world would Maki have applied to be recognised as the Ultimate Assassin and have that become well-known?

Shuichi then goes on to mention the other evidence of this all being bullshit, specifically that they have no memory of the killing game Rantaro participated in, and that Kokichi wasn’t a Remnant of Despair. It’s almost like we didn’t need to do all of this business with Shuichi inexplicably insisting the book must definitely be the truth in order to prove this.

Maki: “He wasn’t… a Remnant of Despair?”

Maki in particular looks very shocked to hear this. If he wasn’t, then it means she had no good justification for trying to kill Kokichi – not only was he not actually the mastermind, but she had no genuine, non-fabricated reason to even assume he was. It means she was just being manipulated into doing what others wanted of her and killing who others wanted her to kill on an even greater level than she was already aware of. She’d thought at the time that it was her own decision and her own desire, but all of it was just manipulation, just someone else using her as a puppet to kill, like always.

Shuichi: “An organization centered around petty crimes, one that forbids murder.”

Whoops, there’s a remnant (no pun intended) of the original Japanese line in Kokichi’s motive video that mentioned their explicit motto about not killing people. Apparently Shuichi’s localiser is not the same one who localised the video and did not get the memo.

Maki: “You mean… he wasn’t a Remnant of Despair? That’s… not possible…”

Because if it is possible, if it is true, then why did she try to kill him? Was she really just killing for someone else’s whims yet again? Is she not allowed to have any of her own agency at all?

Shuichi: “Kokichi didn’t tell us because he wasn’t exposed to that Flashback Light. And… neither was Kaito.”

…

Exisal Kaito: “… Junko?”

I like that it calls back to this and allows the players to very explicitly realise how utterly fucking confused Kaito must have been during those bits. (Even though it’s technically wrong for the text box be calling him “Exisal Kaito”; sure, we know now it was Kaito, but he was pretending to be Kokichi at the time and that makes him “Exisal Kokichi”. The name “Exisal Kokichi” never referred to the real Kokichi at all.)

Shuichi finally gets to the point and starts talking about how the Flashback Lights were fake. Since he has pretty concrete proof of this, I really don’t know why he couldn’t have brought this up sooner. (Because clearly we all really needed to play some Danganronpa Trivia, I guess.)

Keebo: “So the memories we recovered with the Flashback Lights were…”

Shuichi: “Not real. They were all false memories. They were all lies!”

One thing to note is that nobody remembers the very first Flashback Light at the beginning where they “remembered” their talents – understandably, since it created their entire characters and overwrote everything that came before. So, even though Shuichi now knows that the entire backstory about the Gofer Project was all a lie, he’s not yet able to think this through to its conclusion of just how bad this is.

Monokuma: “Then everything was a lie! All the suspense and foreshadowing was for nothing! Can you believe it? It’s like everything that happened didn’t matter at all.”

You’re giving yourself and your in-universe writer friends way too much credit, Monokuma. It’s not like the backstory ever actually really mattered. The things that mattered most in this story were the deaths that happened in this killing game and the efforts everyone went to to avoid letting more happen, all of which was very, very real. All this changes is that a few of the murders – Kirumi’s and Gonta’s, and Maki’s attempted one – were done for a reason that was based on a lie. But that doesn’t make it not matter, that just makes it more tragic in hindsight to know that they were manipulated.

Tsumugi: “Lies are just like snowballs. The more you roll them, the bigger they get. The bigger they are, the more fun and shocking it is when they’re revealed.”

“Junko”: “That’s why everything up till now has been lies! That’s the truth!”

Not even remotely “everything”. Tsumugi is right to say that a bigger lie being revealed makes for a better plot twist, but doing so to too great an extent does run the risk of making the entire story seem pointless. I think the out-universe writers struck a good balance here, though, because not everything has been lies. Everyone still formed bonds and fought and struggled and died, and all of that has been real. Everything which really mattered still matters. And most of the actual meaningful foreshadowing and suspense we’ve had has been very much on an out-universe level, because the in-universe writers couldn’t have predicted what would happen in future, especially not for cases 4 and 5 which were all “written” for them by Kokichi.

Himiko: “We’re not students from Hope’s Peak?”

Himiko is the only one who even seems to be particularly upset about this part of the relevation, probably because she’s the only one of them who’s truly proud of her talent and would have been happy to think she’d been part of a huge legacy of talented people.

“Junko”: “Looking back, it was a mistake to have you remember Hope’s Peak.”

Tsumugi: “I didn’t originally plan on giving you those memories, but… I was in a rush and overlooked all those inconsistencies, so you figured it all out…”

It wasn’t only a mistake because it let them figure everything out, Tsumugi. It was also just bad writing.

There’s no reason to doubt this claim that she didn’t plan this from the start. Everything about the Hope’s Peak part of the backstory was clearly shoehorned in and not truly connected to everything that had come before it; nothing about it was foreshadowed in the previous memories. That book in Kokichi’s lab was thrown in there in a hurry and had nothing to do with the rest of the room.

(It would have been perfectly possible to foreshadow Hope’s Peak in their memories. They could have all vaguely remembered growing up in a world that was slowly recovering from some apocalyptic event, even if they were unclear on what that event was. Instead of remembering being at ordinary schools and just having their talents recognised by a separate Ultimate Initiative, they could have remembered being at some fairly prestigious kind of school and just forgotten the name of the school and that it was the same one for all of them. And they maybe could have had it so they didn’t remember why they knew of their Ultimate titles, only for it to turn out that that’s because Hope’s Peak bestowed those titles and they forgot the specifics about Hope’s Peak. But nope – none of that was in their memories, because none of this was planned.)

Shuichi: “So that’s why Kokichi had to die?”

I mean, really, Kokichi was planning on getting himself killed for his grand plan anyway whether the mastermind had any say in it or not.

Shuichi: “He usurped the mastermind’s role, but in doing so, became a thorn in their side. So to get rid of that hindrance, the mastermind played along with the lie.”

However, the mastermind was probably hoping to get Kokichi killed before he could pull off whatever grand plan was going to be the endpoint of all his scheming and possibly make things even worse for them. Too bad that didn’t work out – all thanks to Kaito jumping in the way of Maki’s arrow, which is emphatically not something that was part of the writers’ script.

Tsumugi: “At the same time, having everyone remember Hope’s Peak Academy… made you guys target him because you thought he was a Remnant of Despair.”

Yep, she’s straight-up admitting it. It wasn’t just believing he was a Remnant, but also the fact that they believed they themselves were these symbols of hope whose duty was to “defeat” anything associated with “despair”. Hope’s Peak was very much a part of the manipulation.

Maki: “Then the reason I tried to kill Kokichi was…”

Monokuma: “You were being controlled by false memories, like putty in the mastermind’s hands.”

I’m afraid so, Maki.

Monokuma also goes on to confirm that the Hope’s Peak memory was also to artificially make them recover from the despair they were in. Really they should have been able to figure this out themselves at the time, but hey.

“Junko”: “New mysteries and truths turn to motivation. Motivation drives a story. Everything from the Flashback Lights was just motivation to move you forward. But… I guess it was fake motivation.”

Monokuma: “You idiots kept getting jerked around by meaningless lies!”

I mean, yes, she’s right, they needed motivation to make the story interesting and that was a lot of the point of the Flashback Lights. But it really wasn’t to the extent that she’s claiming. Most of their motivation was just wanting to get the hell out of here and not die, which was entirely the truth and nothing to do with the Flashback Lights. The only fake motivation that actually drove the story was some of the motives for murder – but then everyone’s reactions and further motivations in the wake of those murders were very real.

“Junko”: “This class trial was like that too, wasn’t it? Why was it you were so motivated to do it? Because you got a memory from one of the Flashback Lights, right?”

Haha, no, stop giving yourself credit you don’t deserve. She goes on to talk about all of the flashbacks they had during the investigation and how that supposedly filled them with the hope to fight back, but no, that had nothing to do with why Shuichi and his friends were determined to do this. This trial would still be happening exactly like it is now if they’d never had those flashbacks. Shuichi is doing this because of his determination to end the killing game, thanks to the promises he made to Kaede and Kaito and everyone else, because he doesn’t want their deaths to be in vain. All of that is completely real and had nothing to do with the pointless flashbacks that were entirely irrelevant to anything that’s actually been happening here.

“Junko”: “Remembering the weight of that hope should’ve made you feel stronger.”

Eh, that depends. That could also have just put too much pressure on them and made them hesitant to act for fear of messing up and letting down everyone who’d supposedly been relying on them – especially for someone like Shuichi.

Tsumugi: “Even though Kaito and Kokichi were gone, and Keebo started to go berserk… You guys didn’t give up hope.”

Oh, you can fuck right off with your implication that now that Kaito’s gone he has absolutely nothing to do with them holding onto hope. Kaito’s death is precisely why Shuichi is so determined now! And if you didn’t think that was going to happen when Kaito died, why in the everliving hell did you even *kill him*!? Am I seriously going to have to accept here that Tsumugi didn’t have any kind of meaningful narrative in mind for Kaito’s death? That she killed him not even for the sake of at least Shuichi’s arc in her story, but purely for the hell of it?

I can try and tell myself that she doesn’t quite mean this and is only saying it in a pathetic attempt to sell the importance of her pointless backstory and even more pointless flashbacks, but geez.

It also sounds awkwardly like she could be saying that Kokichi ever inspired anyone with hope, but I presume what she means there is that he was providing an obvious enemy whom they could be inspired to fight against.

Maki: “You were controlling our emotions? Even our resolve to defeat the mastermind?”

Maki’s voice sounds very distressed here. She is not at all happy to realise that she’s still just being controlled and used by a higher power that doesn’t care about her, even now after she’d begun to feel like she’d started to make her own decisions and break free of that. Her desires matter? No, actually, her desires were never really hers in the first place.

I really enjoy how, even though it’s never explained why Maki’s so distressed over this and over learning that Kokichi wasn’t a Remnant of Despair earlier, it’s still very much there in her voice. This is hitting her right in the issues in a way that’s going to continue to be very relevant as this trial continues.

Himiko: “A-All the memories… were fake? Then… what was everything till now?”

Still real, Himiko! Angie and Tenko still really died, you know! This doesn’t change that much!

Himiko: “If they were all fake memories, then… Where… are we? Why are we in this killing game?”

She’s acting like the memories of the Gofer Project and everything somehow justified that they were being put through this killing game, but… they really didn’t. The killing game part of that was unrelated to the actual backstory and was supposedly because one single evil asshole suddenly decided “hey wouldn’t it be fun if the survivors of humanity all killed each other”. Which is the only reason a game like this would ever happen: because some asshole thought it would be fun. The wider context of it really isn’t that relevant – it only served to make it more tragic that they were killing each other despite how important their lives were to humanity – so it really doesn’t matter now that it’s all been revealed as fake.

Shuichi: “But we have nothing to do with Hope’s Peak, so you can’t be Junko. So who the hell are you!?”

I… don’t know why this is only just occurring to you now, Shuichi. It should have been obvious from the start that she’s not really Junko. Why is it so hard for you to think that she could just be Tsumugi, albeit a different “Tsumugi” to the one you thought you were friends with?

“Hajime”: “I’m me. No one else.”

Shuichi: (…What?)

Keebo: “What… is this?”

Tsumugi: “Huh? You know him, don’t you? He was in the Jabberwock Island killing game.”

The general public in the Hope’s Peak universe didn’t watch that killing game, though. Shuichi and friends shouldn’t have fake memories of Hajime or anyone else from DR2. At most, they should vaguely remember a list of names and faces of the people who were involved in that conflict that the general public maybe learned about afterwards, but they shouldn’t be familiar with them.

Tsumugi: “What am I doing? I’m just cosplaying.”

Shuichi: “Cosplaying?”

I would say “come on, Shuichi, this isn’t hard to grasp”, but, to be fair… at this point, it becomes less cosplay and more shapeshifting. I can just about stretch my disbelief to buy that she can change clothes ridiculously fast – sure, whatever, this is an anime-style universe, let’s go with that. But now, she’s not only cosplaying Junko, she’s cosplaying several characters who have completely different body types to her. To some extent cosplayers can copy body types by using binding or padding, but not to this degree! Some of these characters are significantly shorter than her, and there’s no way you can do that!

So, everyone else’s talents are faked, but Tsumugi is so talented at cosplay that she can just do what has to be literal shapeshifting. Sure, sure, I guess we’ve just got to go with that. Tsumugi is a shapeshifter, okay then.

“Kazuichi”: “Check it out! Even my voice sounds exactly the same!”

(Haha, hi, Kaito’s voice actor. The English dub had all of the V3 characters voiced by someone who did one of the DR1 or 2 cast in order to spend less money on this. Apparently the Japanese dub didn’t and yet still managed to get all the old VAs back anyway.)

We’re also supposed to believe that Tsumugi can just perfectly mimic all the voices, even the deepest male ones. I guess the Ultimate Imposter could do that kind of thing (even though they couldn’t change their body type), so sure, whatever, even though this is not supposed to be a universe where some people are born with talents that are practically superpowers, I guess Tsumugi can do that too.

I suppose her being able to do this does make it slightly more justifiable why the Exisals randomly have a voice changer that can perfectly mimic anyone’s voice, right? That’s a plus to this, isn’t it??

This is the moment at which Tsumugi’s magical cosplay aura is meant to appear… but there’s a well-known glitch where if you save and quit and then resume at any point before this while “Junko” is here, the aura will show up before it should and somewhat spoil the reveal. I write this commentary in sessions that don’t necessarily correlate with the post breaks, so this happened to me too this time. Whoooops, game devs.

Shuichi: “How can she cosplay as students of Hope’s Peak Academy!? Because Tsumugi told us…”

Shuichi, that stupid cospox claim should not be taken as any kind of evidence for anything! You have no proof she was even telling the truth about that!

Tsumugi: “Ah, you remembered! Yes, that’s exactly right.”

“Makoto”: “So then… what does this mean?”

The cospox nonsense is supposedly used to “prove” that the characters she’s cosplaying are all actually fictional. But that really is not necessary, because Tsumugi is clearly ready to have Shuichi figure that out and would have therefore been quite happy to just tell him if he couldn’t figure it out himself. This entire stupid cospox plot point was just 1000% Not Needed. Even if they wanted Shuichi to be the one to figure this out to give the players a game to play, they could have just used the fact that Tsumugi always very strongly argued that it was wrong to cosplay real people and seems to still be agreeing with that philosophy even as Shuichi brings it up now.

(I mean, I suppose since Tsumugi is a literal shapeshifter maybe I shouldn’t be considering it such a ridiculous leap compared to that that her superpowers come with the caveat of only being able to do it with fictional people. But still. (And when she “demonstrated” it to Kaede, she did not attempt to shapeshift into her, just put on her clothes, so.))

Shuichi: (Hope’s Peak Academy is…) “It’s fictional… It’s all fictional!?”

Shuichi looks incredibly shellshocked at this realisation… but I’m not sure why it’s getting to him so much now. As soon as he realised that their memories from the Hope’s Peak Flashback Light were all fake, it follows that not only were they not Hope’s Peak students, but also that the school and all the backstory surrounding it may well have never existed in the first place.

Shuichi: “Dangan… ronpa…?”

I love how bewildered Shuichi sounds at hearing this name for the world he thought he was a part of. Okay, sure, maybe rebuttals are kind of relevant to these class trials, but what do bullets have to do with anything???

Himiko: “S-So… this was all fake? Everything was made up? And the whole time… we thought it was real?”

What do you even mean, the whole time? You guys started thinking Hope’s Peak was real literally only two days ago! Again, this should not be the point at which everyone’s being the most shocked about this – that should have happened simply when they realised their memories from the Flashback Lights were all fake. I think the out-universe writers are slipping a bit too much into having them react like the audience would to such a revelation, because obviously Hope’s Peak is totally the most important thing, right? Not to these characters, it shouldn’t be. The last time they reacted more like a fan than they should have done regarding Hope’s Peak revelations, that was probably in-universely deliberate brainwashing from that Flashback Light, making them super excited for the sake of artificial “hope”. But this time there’s not that excuse.

I’ve also seen one or two blind LPers get kind of upset at this revelation that DR1 and 2 were “all fictional”, as if it callously retconned things so that nothing in those games ever mattered – but this is completely misunderstanding how fiction works. Of course Danganronpa 1 and 2 were fictional. We ourselves consumed them as works of fiction. But within that fictional universe, it all really happened and really mattered. All this is saying here is that Danganronpa V3 does not take place within that universe after all – instead, it takes place in a universe similar to our own where DR1 and 2 were works of fiction. That does not make the events of the Hope’s Peak storyline any less meaningful to itself – it just means that those events aren’t a part of this story like we’d been led to believe.

(And like I mentioned back in chapter 5, this is a good thing, because it means that those surviving characters we cared about in the Hope’s Peak universe weren’t randomly, meaninglessly killed off by meteorites! They did still live somewhat-happily ever after!)

While Himiko’s saying this, we also get a bunch of flashback images from both DR1 and 2… and again, she shouldn’t be remembering any of the specifics of Danganronpa 2, because the general public didn’t watch that killing game.

Tsumugi: “Did you think the Ultimate Cosplayer’s talent was only limited to characters?”

“Junko”: “It’d be kinda lame if that was all the big bad mastermind could do…”

I guess that’s our reason for why she’s a straight-up shapeshifter. Because she’s the big bad mastermind, so she’s got to be able to do something over-the-top like that. Sure.

Tsumugi: “I can do far more than that… I can cosplay the world itself!”

…No, not really? Shoving memories of that world into people’s heads and making them think it’s the truth isn’t “cosplaying” it and has nothing to do with your superpower and everything to do with Flashback Lights.

Shuichi: “B-But… why? Why would you do this? Why make us think it’s real—”

“Hina”: “Well, duh! It’s so you’d all play the killing game!”

That’s really not why. They were all playing the killing game just fine long before they thought any of the previous Danganronpas were real. You don’t need to know about the previous ones to be forced to do what the bear tells you to. The only reason she made them think it was real was to pander to the in-universe audience when they were mad at her after Kokichi had made things temporarily boring.

“Nekomaru”: “In other words, it’s Ultimate Real Fiction!!!”

In other words, you’re still killing real people for this killing game, regardless of how fictional the backstory is.

Maki: “But… if it’s fiction… If everything… isn’t real… Then… the world being in ruins is also fiction, right? The world outside… is fine, right?”

It would be a little surprising that it took so long for someone to mention this part, the thing that would be good news about all this… but I suppose they didn’t only get the “truth” about the outside world from the Flashback Light. It’d be harder to find a reason to doubt what they also saw with their own eyes until reaching this point.

Unless, of course, you’re Kokichi and are already certain there’s an audience and using that as your base premise, resulting in a thought process of, “there’s definitely an audience, so what do you mean the world’s been destroyed?”. But since everyone else only learned there was probably an audience after seeing the outside world, they had the destroyed outside world as their base premise instead, and so they were faced with a mystery of, “the world’s been destroyed, so I’m not sure how there can be an audience even though the evidence suggests there is one”.

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airakorainies · 5 years

Text

Trapped Against You

((... the sexual tension in this title-))

New? it’s part six of THIS saiibo (or sailboat thanks to autocorrect) fanfiction!

“I have no clue what I’m going to do!” Shuichi was pulling at the ends of his hair, pacing back and forth. His breath fell out fast, rushing like an elaborate river of anxiety. “I have literally nothing else besides the exact same clothes to wear. I didn’t even plan a time to meet up with Kiibo and I’m too afraid to ask. I’ve got terrible bedhead on of course the best day to have it. And my anxiety is so bad I feel like I’m going to puke.” The detective sighed and he defeatedly stood still, crossing his arms.

Tsumugi felt a small smile of pity amuse itself onto her face, her hands neatly folded in her lap. She readjusted her legs as she scooted a little more forward on Shuichi’s bed. Then she quickly let out a small chuckle. “I think this is the longest I’ve heard you ramble about something besides a trial and murder, Shuichi.”

“It’s not that amusing to me.” He sighed and tilted his head. “Maybe I should just call it off.”

“Now hold it right there!” She jumped up and walked in front of him, placing her arms under her bosom in anger. “You worked so hard to achieve this date with Kiibo! And you want to call it off because of a little bedhead?! I promised I’d come help you get ready, but if you’re scared just because of this? Then maybe...” she shook her head and turned around, a small glance over her shoulder full of disgust took place. “Maybe you don’t like him at all.”

“N-No!” Shuichi panicked and felt tension run through his body. He gritted his teeth before shaking his head. He wondered if Tsumugi could hear his heart. “I know I like him! I’m sorry. I’m just so nervous.” He heard the girl giggle and turn around, readjusting her glasses.

“Good! Now I won’t have to worry about scraping this fanfiction!”

“This what now?”

“Shuichi, did you know the way you wear an outfit can make it become a totally different outfit on its own?” She quickly changed the topic as she began to unbutton her top. Shuichi panicked and turned around. She giggled, “No no. I’m not taking it off. I’m just showing a bit more of my undershirt!” She tugged down at her skirt, staying conscious of how much she could. She rolled her sleeves up and pulled her hair to the side. She loosened up her undershirt just a tad and removed her ribbon from around her neck. She took away her glasses and placed them on the end table. “Turn around.” She ordered, her attitude weirdly changing.

Shuichi did as he was told and when he saw her, he had to step back a bit. She seemed like a completely different person. Her eyes retreated to a smaller size as her face appeared more defined. Her stance was different as she placed a hand on her hip and cocked it outward a little bit. She seemed more relaxed. More casual. More... Shuichi found this an odd way to describe it, but more herself.

She giggled and placed her hands out in a jazz hands sort of fashion. “Ta-da! See? I told you. It’s how you wear the clothes that make an impression. I’ve learned this from a many a year of cosplaying and conventions.” As she spoke, she reversed the process in which she had changed herself. “Now! Let’s see what we can do to fix you up. Oh, and about the time, I don’t think you’ll have to worry. Gonta has it covered!”

A breath of relief escaped from the edge of Shuichi’s lips. In his hectic panic, he had forgotten all the help his friends so graciously have given him. To be fair, it was because of them he has even made it this far. Both in the game and in his relationship with Kiibo. A small ray of light illuminated on his face as contentment washed over him. Everything would be just fine.

Tsumugi couldn’t help but furrow her eyebrows and play a small pitiful smile. She then cleared her throat. “First, grab the cleanest set of clothes that you’ve got.” Shuichi nodded and turned towards his closet, examining each set of clothes closely.

After a moment, a click of the hanger suggested he had made his decision. “I think this might be the one. I have yet to touch this one so far so I guess this will make due.”

Tsumugi put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes nodding. She then moved her hands behind her back and laughed as an expected order fell from her pink lips, “Now strip!”

“W-What?” Shuichi gasped loudly, his face flurrying in all assortments of rose colors. She couldn’t help but grace the air with a giggle.

“Don’t worry! People have to get changed quickly in conventions all the time. I’m used to seeing some things! But here, I’ll go into the bathroom while you get changed out here. Quickly though! I’ll only wait two minutes. We must make progress!” She began to walk towards his bathroom door before he called back to her.

“W-Wait. Just let me change in the bathroom. No point in having you wait around in there. Plus, I think it would be rude to have my guest wait in the bathroom.”

Tsumugi shrugged and seemed to show no difference in emotions. Despite her teasing, her interest in Shuichi seemed to not desire anything past just being friends. No blush came to her cheeks as she danced around with his emotions and due to his kindness, her fun seemed to slow a little. She, at that moment, realized how Kokichi feels. “Oh what a lie!”

“Um, what did you say?”

Tsumugi giggled, “I agree to your terms. But you better hurry! Your date is waiting.” Her smile held no sort of tease this time. A genuine smile. One jealous and yet pitiful of love. Her heart heated for one person, and yet, she could never have what Shuichi has. Tsumugi walked over and sat on the bed, and began to hold back something that had begun to stir within her.

Shuichi moved right along into the bathroom, a content smile and pale red painting a beautiful masterpiece upon his acute face.

“Kokichi!” Kiibo cried out in a panic, hearing the little gremlin laugh with excitement. The poor robot’s face was nothing but deep shades of red. His body seemed hot and sweat began to emerge from the compartments on his head.

“Haha!” Kokichi laughed, poking Kiibo, who had buried his face in his hands, everywhere he could. “That dream told you something Kiiboy! It told you how much of a naughty, naughty boy you are! Nishishi!”

Miu couldn’t help but laugh as she used her wrench, screwing some bolt on a large machine into place. “I just can’t believe you had the kind of brain power to think such perverted thoughts!” She dropped the wrench quickly and had an idea. She then turned around, drool seeping from her mouth. She hugged herself tightly, her legs rubbing together. She stared right at Kiibo as she just kept laughing. “Did it make hard and wet down there? Did you want to see more you dirty robot? I can’t help but give you some credit! I bet you fucking loved it!”

Kiibo started to scream before Kokichi pated his shoulder, a face of pity masked on. Kiibo wanted to find out if it was a lie or just a prank. Or both. “Now now Miu,” Kokichi spoke, shaking his head as if he were disappointed, “You can’t say that to our poor robot friend here. We don’t even know if he has a dick to do such things!” The laughter from Kokichi told everything. Kiibo sighed heavily, quickly moving away from Kokichi’s arm. Who, very quickly, snapped up and looked excited at Kiibo. “Wait a minute! If you can remove the outer shell off your chest, then can you remove everything else?!”

Miu jumped at that. She ran over besides Kokichi and leaned in with him. A new form of determination filled their eyes. “Now this I gotta see!”

And with Kiibo screaming, they pounced.

It was only just a moment later when the door to Miu’s lab was slammed open by a gentle giant. “Kiibo?! Is everything alright? Gonta heard you scream!” The sight he had to take in was quite the... how to describe it. Kiibo on the ground, tears beckoning on his eyes. His body was pinned to the floor and Kokichi and Miu were on top of him. “What’s going on?!”

“Gonta! Help me!” The smaller robot cried and Gonta nodded. In less than a second, Kokichi and Miu were lifted up and placed gently under two arms, wrapping around both of them.

“D-Don’t be so rough...” Miu muttered, her face red as she reached up and scratched it. Kokichi bit his lip and genuinely felt a little bad. Quickly, they were placed down into two chairs.

“Gonta is disappointed in the two of you. Gonta knows you enjoy teasing Kiibo but this was too far. We are supposed to help him, not scare him. Understand?” His words were sweet and gentle, his body down on a kneel as he spoke like a father towards them.

“B-But Gonta! I wasn’t going to do anything! All I wanted to do was see his di-“

“Kokichi!” His face squinted as he cast a disappointed look on his face. He sighed and then placed a gentle hand on top of the much smaller boy’s head. “Gonta knows you’re not feeling well. And that it hurts right here,” Gonta’s other hand moved over his heart, “But that doesn’t mean you can take it out on Kiibo, or Shuichi, or anyone else here for that matter. Besides, Gonta already promised he’d help you later.”

Miu just stared. For whatever reason, Kokichi’s face of hurt when he was scolded seemed so out of place. So... real. For once (and maybe for the better), she was at a loss for words.

“W-Wait,” Kiibo spoke as he scrambled off the floor, “Kokichi is upset? Why?” Despite the constant out-lash he gets from Kokichi, the robot’s kind heart couldn’t help but be concerned.

Kokichi suddenly laughed and peered over Gonta’s shoulder. “I have no idea what he’s talking about! Haha!” That was a lie. An obvious lie.

“Besides! We need to go ahead and get you ready Kiibo. Oh and...” the purple liar stood up and nodded to Gonta, showing he will do no harm. He walked up to Kiibo, who justifiably stepped back, and looked down. He sighed before looking straight in the eyes, a different kind and rare smile on his face. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have done that to you. And I hope this won’t make you feel any different from when I tease you in the future!” He giggled and then quickly ran off, gently patting Kiibo’s shoulder as he ran by.

The robot sighed and turned to Gonta. Who then turned to Miu. Her foot began to stomp on the ground, her face red and she looked away. “D-Don’t look at me like that! Ugh fine!” She quickly jumped up and approached a hand out to Kiibo. “Look I guess I’m s... so.... sorr.... s-so....” Though despite her troubles, her excited and red face showed this dialogue was from a different sort of embarrassment. She then quickly shook her head and looked Kiibo in the eyes as well. “I’m sorry alright! Geez! With a look like that, I can’t help but... never mind. I’ll give you a free oiling later as an apology. I guess I got...” She didn’t wanna finish. Her laugh became short and creepy as she scratched her chin. She then cleared her throat. “Right! Well! I promised you could use my lab to ready yourself with Gonta. I’ll go out and meet the others!” It seemed so out of place for Miu to be nice without asking for her boots licked in return. In a way, Kiibo felt it was as if she really did feel bad.

He felt a small smile appear on his face, causing him to turn to Gonta. “Alright.” His face then quickly melded into one of anxiousness, “Help! What do I do on a date?!”

“Okay. Okay. Just deep breaths Kiibo! You’re ready. You talked with Gonta. You dealt with Kokichi and Miu’s wild antics today. You’re ready to face the boy you like!” And that sentence right there caused Kiibo to let go of the pool’s door handles and slap a hand to his face, sighing as he tried to hide his red from people who weren’t there. His appearance didn’t change much at all. He could remove his outer shell but at the moment, it leaves many wiring and gears exposed and he was afraid of Shuichi somehow hurting himself. Or Kiibo oddly hurting himself on himself. What he did do was prep talk himself to be ready for anything! He even had Miu include a water resistant coating on his body (before the whole ordeal with Kokichi and her) so he may swim if Shuichi so chose to. Gonta had told Kiibo about the pool being the date area so Kiibo wanted to make sure he was ready for any scenario.

Well, all scenarios besides looking at Shuichi. Kiibo knew that it’d be hard to even look at Shuichi. He did something so embarrassing in front of everyone by accepting it the way he did. All he could think about is how it may have affected his good friend.

He quickly shook his head, knowing that if he kept worrying here all day, he’d never actually go inside. So he returned the hands onto the handles and walked inside.

Two towels near the pool, two seats neatly moved close together under an umbrella. A smoothie made by who knows sitting peacefully on one of the pool tables, two straws in it. There were flower petals all sprinkled about, a red hue gracing the ends of each yellow petal.

The robot couldn’t help but blush yet again at the view. He knew his friends had set up the area but it didn’t mean it still wasn’t embarrassing. He then walked with a weird pep in his step onto the sky blue towel, sitting down with his legs laying off the edge of the pool. He placed his hands into his lap and fiddled with his fingers as he watched the calm water before him.

All he can do now was wait.

“Ah! Kiibo?” His voice carried easily through the silent room, reaching to the ears of a certain nervous robot. Quickly, Kiibo turned into the direction of the voice and felt the world slow.

There he was. Beautiful as could be. He had his normal clothes on but it was... different. His jacket was unbuttoned revealing a black t-shirt from underneath. It was untucked and was hanging slightly over his knees. His sleeves were folded back into cuffs that laid just slightly above his elbows. He held his hand up, scratching his cheek in nervousness. His eyes couldn’t meet with Kiibo’s as his blush contrasted his pale skin. His hair was slicked back in the front, giving his outfit the complete effect. The detective cleared his throat and approached Kiibo.

“A-Ah! Shuichi you look...” Kiibo stumbled, still staring.

Shuichi sat on the dark blue towel next to the robot. He laughed as he looked over towards his boyfriend. “Weird, right? Tsumugi was really set on ‘transforming’ my look. I still can’t believe what she did with my normal outfit haha.”

“N-No! You don’t look weird! In fact, you look,” Kiibo’s face became a quick red as he fumbled with his fingers even more, “you look handsome.”

Shuichi’s face became a deep red, brighter than before. His face showed one of shock and then embarrassment. It was so bad he couldn’t help but laugh in the face of his nerves.

Kiibo thought to himself how much he adored Shuichi’s laugh.

And then the silence fell. It was so awkward. But yet, it was a peaceful silence. Something comforting about being alone with your significant other. But Shuichi’s nerves couldn’t take it. It was then he noticed a box. “So, I’m really happy our friends set this place up for us. But, um, why did they put a Monokuma looking box here?”

“Huh?” The clueless robot asked, looking in the direction Shuichi was pointing. He was right. There was a weird Monokuma themed box across the pool. The detective rose, beginning to make way before Kiibo spoke up. “Wait! Shuichi! I’ll come with you.”

“Kiibo,” he spoke his name softly. A sense of longing and protection hidden within his sweet tone. “I’m just going to go check it out. I don’t want you getting hurt if it’s a little trick Monokuma put out for us.”

The smaller boy shook his head, puffing out his delicate cheeks while his face lit up a small shade of red. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much! If anything, I’d want to be the one protecting you.” It was then his face was torn away to look up directly at the detective.

His hands were soft. The robot couldn’t helped but reach up and twist his fingers around Shuichi’s hands. His eyes widened slightly, shocked by both his boyfriend and his own actions. Shuichi, despite having an extreme blush on his face, narrowed his eyes and looked towards Kiibo with nothing but pure love in his eyes. “Let me take care of you, at least.” He spoke, his voice as sweet as a graceful raven’s. He released Kiibo’s face before turning around. “It will only take a moment. I promise.”

“R-Right.” Kiibo cleared his throat and went to sit back down. He had to suppress the urge to just stare at the beauty of his boyfriend. His insides were churning with something he had never experienced before. Something inside of him was racing. Pumping and beating with each short breath he took. Kiibo couldn’t help but put his hands up to his face, so off balanced by his own actions and reactions he wanted to cry.

Shuichi gave a small sigh to himself, pulling his hand up in front of his body to keep Kiibo from seeing just how much his hand was shaking. He couldn’t help but smile at his own nerves. He was surprised by his own actions.

He arrived at the box and saw a hole on the top of it. It was rectangular and hard to peer in to see what the box held. He then noticed the writing above the hole. His body froze and his eye twitched.

“Don’t forget protection! Puhuhu!”

Shuichi reeled his foot back and then kicked the box, watching as it flew forward and bounced between the wall of the school and back down onto the ground. He sighed and brushed his hands together, as if he just finished some hard work.

When he returned, Kiibo had his knees all tucked up next to his chest and his arms were wrapped around them. He looked up at Shuichi and lifted his eyebrow. It seemed, too, the robot had reclaimed some composure. “So? What was the box?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just a dumb joke by our one and only.” Shuichi shot a glance at a camera nearby.

“Oh, I see.” Shuichi returned to his spot next to Kiibo and leaned back against his hands, watching the water sway back and forth. It was quiet at first but with each passing moment, a smile crept up on Kiibo’s face.

“Shuichi!”

“Y-Yeah?” He stuttered, a little jumped for being torn from his daze.

“I heard from Kaito that if you look into the pool, you can see your future reflection! Like, what you will look like in the future.”

Shuichi gave a small smile and shook his head, a breath full of cheer escaping his pale lips. “I think Kaito is just pulling your leg, Kiibo.”

Kiibo turned and gave a puzzled look. “But Kaito is not here to pull my leg? But anyway! It’s true! I looked into the water and saw my functions different! My face got an upgrade too!” Shuichi raised his eyebrow and became curious.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check.” He slowly creeped out from his spot and looked over the pool’s edge, staring into the water. “I don’t see anything different- WHOA!”

It was very quick. The small shove from the giggling robot to the tiny shriek of distress from the detective. He fell into the water and felt his world be bogged down by heavy clothes and water. He resurfaced to hear the song of an angel’s laughter. He looked up at Kiibo with a smile on his face.

“Oh Shuichi! I can’t believe you fell for that! Everyone knows I’m ahead of my time! Besides, it was really cute for me to-“ but he too became surprised. It didn’t take much for Shuichi to pull the robot down into the water with him.

The detective then panicked. “Wait Kiibo! I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking please come back up-“

“It’s alright Shuichi,” Kiibo spoke when he resurfaced, “I have implemented water functions and resistances in my body for just the occasion! Now we may have a casually romantic swim together.”

A smile and reddened cheeks answered the detective’s worries. He then floated over to the edge of the pool and stood up, reaching down to the bottom of his shirt. He began to unbutton his detective’s jacket and moved it over. It was only when he began to pull of his undershirt that the robot screamed!

“W-Wah!! W-What are you doing?!” Kiibo the pure bean buried his face into his hands. But, he couldn’t help but raise his head and split his fingers apart to see.

Shuichi felt his face flush but also had to laugh. “Sorry. I guess I should have warned you. But I’m not gonna swim with heavy and wet clothes pulling me down.” An idea struck his mind. Shuichi is not exactly the type to take initiative but teasing his boyfriend was something he wouldn’t mind doing.

He spun around with a smirk plastered on his face and a new sort of sparkle in his eyes. Kiibo looked up with both amazement and confusion. “W-What is it?”

Shuichi took a couple steps closer. “Could it be that you were upset because...” He took as many steps as it took before he stopped and towered only slightly over the robot. He moved his hands up and cupped the Kiibo’s face within them. He then moved closer and whispered softly into his dear’s ear, his breath sinking into the metal skin of his boyfriend. “You wanted to removed my shirt yourself?”

Shuichi could practically feel the chills that ran up Kiibo’s spine. He was pushed away and was rewarded with a gorgeous sight. Kiibo so red and so shocked his mouth seemed screwed closed. His hands were up and shaking very badly. He could feel the strength that was holding him upright give way and he slowly sunk into the water. Just a tad before he readjusted himself. He tried to look back up at Shuichi but he couldn’t look anywhere else but his boyfriend’s bare chest.

“Consider it payback for throwing me into the water!”

“W-What? I did that for fun! You teased me because your cruel.”

“Aw.” Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed and he waded through the water. Kiibo jolted but didn’t move. He felt his hand be grasped and lifted out of the water. Gently, it was placed against the detective’s chest. He could feel Shuichi’s heart. Each beat. It was going abnormally fast. “If it makes you feel any better, that took a lot out of me. I feel like I’m going to collapse I got so nervous. So consider it even.”

“No!” Kiibo’s face became determined. “Don’t collapse! Here. Let’s get you back on the edge there.”

And the night fell, their feet in the water. They seemed closer and their smiles were content. Shuichi was wrapped up in a towel while he was leaning his head down against Kiibo’s shoulder. All seemed right.

No jokes.

No games.

No murders.

No betrayals.

And no more lies. Everything, right now, is right.

“That was adorable!” Tsumugi was crying so hard as she peered into the pool’s window. Everyone else was celebrating (and eavesdropping in their own way too).

Kaito had a hand against a cheery Maki and had tears of his own streaming down his face. “My boy became a man today!”

Kokichi wasn’t looking at the window but was, instead, making fun of everyone else. “Come on! You’re all such babies haha!”

“Ah Young Love! What a wonderful thing to have!” His voice sent panic through everyone, scaring a few.

“Kaito. Get out from my arms.”

“S-Sorry Maki Roll. He just spooked me...”

Monokuma giggled. “Puhuhu! But oh what a shame! It seems like it’s nighttime and their feet are in the pool! That is a school regulation is that being broken right there!” His smile grew devilish. “You know what that means!”

“No!”

“Please! Leave them be!”

Monokuma only laughed more. “But rules are rules! I can’t make exceptions just because you said ‘pwetty pwease’! Now if you’ll excuse me-“

Kokichi stood between Monokuma and the pool’s window, his hands up as if he was protecting the window. Tears were streaming down his face. The restless classmates fell silent and even Monokuma greeted the quiet. “If it’s one thing I won’t stand for, it’s seeing people I care about being hurt! This game has twisted me from the inside and I can’t breathe anymore! But if you think you’re going to kill the person I lo- the people I care the most about just because they’re young and in love, then you’re so wrong! Take another step, Bear, I dare you!”

Normally, Monokuma would immediately take Kokichi down and move on. But it seems letting him live would be more torturous. The bear smiled and put a paw up to his chin. “Weeeeell~, if they were to prove their love, I might let them go this once. Like a kiss maybe~?”

The faces of all the suspects sighed, smiles appearing on a few of their faces.

Monokuma’s vanished. “Why aren’t you all worried? They probably won’t kiss! Your friends have to do something they don’t know about to even live!”

Kokichi held his stomach as he spoke, a large smile on his face distracting from the tears. “Have you met those two? They’re too lovey dovey to NOT kiss! Besides...”

He turned his head over his shoulder and gave a soft smile no one could see. “He’s not one to let opportunities to slip by...”

His heart was beating. Or well, his chest was exploding. Shuichi was leaning against him. His eyes were closed and he looked so peaceful. His body was exposed and the air was still. Not a sound or worry in sight. It reminded him of the shed.

Though now, circumstances were better. Kiibo slowly moved his head down and leaned it against his boyfriend’s head.

Shuichi stirred.

He shot back up.

“Kiibo.” His voice was quiet and rasp, like it was the last word he would ever say.

“Y-Yes?” The robot felt the weight on his shoulder disappear and a small new weight pressing on his heart. He felt himself wishing they stayed like that a little while longer. He turned his head and saw Shuichi’s face close... too close. He couldn’t help but blush at the distance.

Shuichi paused for a moment, staring at Kiibo before he looked down. A look of shame fell upon his face. “I’m sorry.”

Kiibo blinked and placed his hands in Shuichi’s shoulders. “Why? You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“No I’m sorry. I can’t win. This killing game it... it keeps tearing us apart from each other. I can’t stop it. I’m trying my best but I just can’t.” Shuichi reached his hands up and placed them around Kiibo. “I can’t protect you. I’m sorry.”

“Shuichi...” His voice was calm and soothing. He reached his hands up and cupped his hands around Shuichi’s head, forcing him to pull off and look him in the eyes. After a moment, Kiibo began to stare at his boyfriend. His face shifted as the moon appeared on his face. “Your eyes are very pretty.”

“Ah-!” His face flourished with a red that Kiibo had to smile at.

“Can I look at them closer?”

“What do you mean-“

A connection of fate. A twist of life. How cruel it must be. Everyday your life hangs on the edge of death. But yet, you make the best of it.

They were soft. Both his lips and their hearts. His eyes couldn’t stay open as much as he would have loved to keep gazing at the stars in his beloved’s eyes. The eyelashes fluttered down as he found himself being invited in. It was their first.

And it was their last.

“Kiibo...” He gasped his name as they moved apart, as much as he wanted to stay closer.

“Shu.” Kiibo smiled at the nickname he deemed for his boyfriend. But it wasn’t long before he panicked. “S-Shu! Why are you crying?!”

The tears fell down gently, but it wasn’t as gentle as the smile on his face. He pulled Kiibo in close for a tight embrace, the poor boy surprised and startled. “Thank you.”

His words were simple. They chimed in Kiibo’s ears. But he knew Shuichi had everything poured into those words. So he reached around and returned his embrace. “Shu, I’m happy to be here. As awful as this place is, even though we are trapped here. I’m happy to be trapped against you, with my body snug in your arms. I will do all I can to keep you from harm.”

My love.

Trapped no longer.

Our love.

Stuck forever.

((HOLY FUCK I’M DONE! 😭 I’M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I reeeeeeeally wanted it to be special! I hope you liked it. And I really really like the next part 👀. It’s gonna break all our hearts :D thank you for reading! Till next time!))

#airako tart #dangaronpa #saiibo #drv3 #dr kiibo #dr shuichi #danganronpa killing harmony #danganronpa saiibo #dr saiibo #I really hope you liked it!

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hcpefulmarshmallow · 5 years

Text

V3 Spoilers under cut. Just some stuff that has been on my mind since I played the game.

Okay, so I haven’t played it as much as the first two, and I really do adore Shuichi as a character. Let me get those two things out first because I don’t want any angry people in my inbox. This isn’t to complain about Shuichi, or that V3 took things in a different direction than the first two games. The third installment in any franchise has a tough job, balancing fan expectations and keeping the spirit of the story alive enough to please people who have been there since the beginning; while also being new and exciting enough as to not feel stale, and maybe even draw in a whole new crowd. I get that. Changing up a series is not, by default, a bad thing, and I don’t want to imply that DR should have stuck with the same old formula. I’m just saying that there was one glaring misuse of the characters that lowkey sucked. And for the purposes of not writing a whole novel, I’ll probably gloss over some big, important stuff in the interests of streamlining. Please don’t be mad. This is just the impression that the game gave me.

(And yeah, I’m talking like UDG didn’t exist. I still haven’t finished that game to be honest. It’s enjoyable in it’s own merits, and I’m loving the familiar faces and all, but at times it just doesn’t feel like Danganronpa. Yeah, I said it. Maybe that’s my own problem, though - the third-person adventure/horror aspect isn’t my style usually, unless the game is something else. But I digress.)

So, onto our main point, I’m gonna come out and say it: Shuichi was a poor choice for a protagonist.

Let’s rewind for a minute to the first two games, shall we? Each cast was likable in their own ways, the different environments gave each story it’s own atmosphere while still retaining that unmistakable Danganronpa feeling. There were things we could rely on as we transitioned from one game to the other, and things we could be surprised by. One thing about DR is that it has the same trio over and over, right up until this game, where the roles are inexplicably changed. (And again, changing things up: not automatically invalid. But this was a large part of the soul of Danganronpa: the ability to feel like your ordinary self has become a part of this world of Ultimates, and the battle between hope and despair. It’s designed to make you a part of the game so you really feel the highs and lows and every little consequence; and nowhere is it as blatant as in this game, see the final trial. That’s why this change was so bizarre.)

In the first game, it was Makoto, Kyoko and Byakuya. In the second, it was Hajime, Chiaki and Nagito. Respectively, their roles were such:

Your protagonist and POV character. They were relatable in many ways: feeling out of place in the presence of all this talent to which they felt they couldn’t compare, somewhat naive, always wanting to believe the best of others, never particularly keen to put anyone to death. They weren’t unintelligent by any means, but their self-doubt and desire to keep the group as a group would hold them back from difficult deductions. This would show in different degrees and in different ways in the characters, but it was always very much there. Much like the player: we didn’t want to put our faves to death, but we didn’t have a choice. For the most part, it was the protagonist who kept that human element to an otherwise fantastical environment, full of people who were only borderline believable. They kept the story grounded, presenting it through their respective viewpoints. The game doesn’t have to justify why it has this almost fictional quality to it’s story and characters, because Makoto and Hajime have both observed that it’s almost not real. But then they get close to the other characters and form attachments, and truly become a part of events themselves, and it all feels very real. It’s through this character that our ordinary selves can truly experience a world like the one in Danganronpa.

Next, you have the two sidekicks, performing polarizing roles. All very intelligent, often figuring out the case before our protagonist. You have Kyoko and Chiaki: dropping hints, assisting us along the way, serving as a moral compass of sorts. When we feel lost or confused in the class trial, it’s this character who usually helps us find our way to the truth. And you have Byakuya and Nagito, who exist to misdirect us. Forcing us to strive to be better; rather than relying on the work others do. (And yeah, I know all these characters are deeper than that -- I’m just talking about their basic function in relation to the protagonist). This allows the POV character, and by extension us, to navigate the class trials and the moral dilemma they present, not by providing answers, but by providing growth. By the end, out protagonists have gone from feeling overwhelmed and uncertain, to being able to stand up against the mastermind, even if we’ve lost our sidekicks by that point.

Now, let’s look at V3′s golden trio. I’ve seen some debate around this but, in terms of this particular dynamic, we’ve got: Kaede, Shuichi and Kokichi. Or at least, that’s who we should have.

Kokichi is the obvious choice for an antagonistic character who forces us to up our anti a little bit. He’s constantly throwing us for a loop, constantly making things harder, but never sabotaging us to the point where the trial becomes literally impossible. Love him or hate him, he is a very good, complex character with exceptional narrative utility. I don’t think I need to go into depth with this one, because I don’t think anyone would disagree that this is his role. So moving on.

As for Shuichi, he does very much fit the description I gave above of the general layout of a Danganronpa protag: that he’s somewhat self-doubting, overwhelmed at the scope of the people he’s been put amongst, gets along with the others for the most part, doesn’t want to doubt his friends, and goes through extraordinary character growth. However, there are a few issues he has that the others do not. For starters: most of his relevant character growth in terms of what Hajime and Makoto went through happens in the first chapter. He learns from Kaede’s death to trust his own deductions and believe in his talent. He still has a lot of self-doubt, and is still very relatable, but from there, most of his story revolves around trusting others and working as a team, rather than his internal conflicts. That seems more in line with Kyoko’s arc of opening up to Makoto and letting the others in on what she learns rather than flying solo all the time; and of Chiaki’s arc of finally being able to tell Hajime the truth of who she is, and wanting to bring everyone together. Again, I’m kind of strawmanning the character here; but even if I’m dead wrong about his motivations (it sucks not being able to screenshot, you forget so much), there’s one more major flaw. His talent.

Through the class trials, our POV character goes in with about as much certainty as we have. And we, alongside them, uncover the truth of the case. We’re essentially experiencing the class trial through their eyes, experiencing being the key word here. Shuichi, however, is the smartest and most capable detective in the room, what with being the Ultimate Detective and all. The feeling I got from him wasn’t that I was solving the mystery through him, but rather that he would have all the answers at least a split-second before me, then the game just kind of waits for me to catch up. There was a lot more “I knew it!” and “As I thought!” kind of going on there, rather than “Aha! The answer can only be __!”

Furthermore, Shuichi isn’t terribly proactive. Which is fine, to an extent. The previous POV characters would kind of get thrust into situations too; but once they were there, they were an active part of events. Hajime didn’t want to go feed Nagito, but in doing so, became an active part of what was going on with his story, and learned early on about his manipulation of Mahiru. Makoto didn’t go out investigating Mukuro on his own, but once Kyoko told him about her, he used that information to his advantage, particularly in the Trials. And there were events for which they were active catalysts, too. Not too boring, but not pulling a lot of major strings, either: giving the player a front row seat to the action, letting something amazing play out for their ordinary selves to enjoy, but also making them feel like their actions matter. For Shuichi, he’s dragged into everything he’s involved in, and even then, he’s either just kind of there, present and accounted for while stuff happens; or he’s off on his own, even if someone else is physically present. For instance, when he and Kaito are investigating, Kaito might be there, but Shuichi is doing all the leg work, really. Not saying Kaito is useless, just...saying. And this is totally fine, and consistent with his character. He’s not very social until he gets to know someone well, and he’s definitely more intellectual and emotional than he is a physical being. But again, your protagonist needs to toe that line between being passive enough that stuff can still happen around them, and active enough that the player can engage with that stuff. And again: Shuichi more fits the mold of someone like Chiaki, who is often off on her own, and only intervenes in situations when she absolutely must; or Kyoko, who is also off on her own a lot, and isn’t sociable at all. In terms of free time events and stuff, I have no trouble believing Makoto or Hajime would make an effort to, out-of-the-blue, find and learn more about a fellow classmate; but Shuichi? Not so much. Again: he’s just not a person who is comfortable with other people. Which is all fine and relatable and good for him as a character. But as a POV? Sure he gets close with his little workout gang, but only because Kaito drags him along. Even Kaede spends most of the first chapter just pulling him around everywhere. After a while, all this adds up and makes you feel detached from events: less like you’re playing a game, and more like you’re watching a movie.

So we’ve established that, as far as the game goes, Shuichi is a good character but makes a better sidekick archetype than a POV protagonist. So what’s the difference between him and Kaede that makes her a great, Danganronpa-esque protag?

Well...the opposite of everything I’ve said.

For starters, her talent. Thus far, our protagonists’ talents have been generally the least impressive of the group. (Okay, yeah, Hajime was eventually the Ultimate Everything, but we only find that out at the end. He spent all game being the Ultimate Nothing, and therefore had all his relevant character growth before that. By this point, we already experienced the events of the game through him, and have already grown accustomed to the very human, very fallible, Hajime. Tell me he’s Izuru, I’m just as easily gonna see the guy who passed out on the beach but over time became a badass.) Ultimate Pianist is kind of a niche talent, but I don’t think that makes it isolating. For one, like her predecessors, her talent is utterly useless in a trial setting. Unless there were some specific circumstances, knowing how to play piano will not help her find a killer. (Technically Makoto’s luck could have been useful, but I think it’s made pretty clear he and his class passed those trials through hard work, not luck). The most important thing for a protagonist has to be their ability to be relatable by being brave and true and all that Good Stuff, not to be born exceptional. How are you going to pander to a market who is trying to escape their dull lives if all they have to escape to are people who are fundamentally better than them in ways they could never relate to? Anyway can be brave, not anyone can be Sherlock.

Because Kaede’s character was built mostly around her traits and not her talent, she’s still easily relatable. She, like us, wants the best for her fellow characters. She’s moralistic, kind, and defiant of the circumstance she’s been thrust into, all things we can aspire to. She’s likeable, but not infallible or unbelievable. She can be bossy at times, her own personal sense of justice perhaps her biggest downfall. This idea of “good/hope MUST triumph over evil/despair” which has been pushed by the game itself, is used as it’s newest protagonist’s flaw, and is a viewpoint that will ultimately be subverted in the final trial.

Kaede is, overall, more sociable and active. I buy that she spends her free time getting to know other people. She doesn’t always think with her head, and she is the type to stumble into situations by accident, meaning she’s a much more viable candidate to be just lucky enough to wind up in wacky hijinks, and just active enough to really become a part of them. Also, I’m gonna just mention the elephant in the room real quick: it sucks that the only female protagonist out of the main games had to be killed off. I liked the idea of a female protag.

Okay, I know I said it was a bummer that Shuichi so quickly moved past doubting himself and his own talent much too quickly, especially when the protags we’re used to take most of the game to do that sort of thing. Kaede doesn’t really have much self-doubt, to be honest. She doesn’t struggle with the morality of the situation she’s in: instead, her solution is simplistic and naive: “We just won’t kill. Easy.” This is a polar opposite of our protagonists, but not invalid. Remember: not all changes are bad, and this is the third installment. We expect some shakeups to the formula.

This actually could’ve been used really well, if Kaede was given more time. After her idea of “we just won’t play!!1!” is crushed and she’s forced to endure an entire class trial and vote for someone to be executed, this would’ve shattered (or at least, damaged) her pure and perfect world view. She would be forced to look inward, and question her frankly childish sense of right and wrong, which ties in so much better with the eventual themes of the final trial. Rather than seeing only good and evil, she would be forced to confront the moral grey that exists within her, and within all situations. And she would have to do so without losing what makes her fundamentally Kaede - her optimism, her strength, and her trust in others. I’ve seen this done well rarely, but most notably in characters like Penelope Garcia. I truly feel like Danganronpa could’ve pulled this off.

“But Jenny! There’s a problem!! You said that it was after the first trial that Shuichi had the development to grow into a great Chiaki/Kyoko archetype, but that only happens through the death of Kaede!!! If she survived, he would still be hiding in her shadow!!”

I’ve thought of that too. So say, instead, Kaede just comes really close to being killed in the trial. Say, the vote is split 50-50 between her and the real killer. Shuichi is the only one with the key information to sway the final voter/s, but he knows in doing so, he will condemn someone to death. He can do so and save Kaede, or close his eyes and leave it up to chance. In the end, he trusts his talent and uses what he knows to shed light on the truth. He has to come to terms with condemning someone, but he knows that he also saved an innocent person. Once again tying in so well with the final theme of how good and evil and right and wrong aren’t always distinguishable; and giving Shuichi a great character development moment that’s more than just “my girlfriend is dead so now I can grow, I’m so glad the franchise has never played this angle before or it would feel tired and kind of sexist :(”; and giving Kaede a chance to view first-hand that you can be a good person, and walk a grey line. I thought of that in two seconds. Just saying.

But anyway, that’s just one long-ass thought from someone who has played this game one and a half times. I want to play it again, and maybe I’ll change my own mind, who knows. But while I’m still of this mindset, I wanted it out there.

#meta;#v3 spoilers #( that took entirely too long to write and I can't be bothered proofreading again so..have it )

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