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pyropsychiccollector · 6 years

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Danganronpa: Another IF (Chapter 2, Part 1)

By the time everyone had left the courtroom, it was almost nighttime. They all moved to the cafeteria, after Monokuma told them he’d cleaned up the body and crime scene so that they could use the laundry room again. Not really eager to believe the monochrome bear, the students had Kirigiri check on the former crime scene for them; and as it turned out, the bear was telling the truth. Naegi would’ve done it himself, but he had his hands full comforting Sayaka.

“The room was pristine. The body has been removed.” Kirigiri reported. Out of everyone, she seemed the most calm and collected, even after everything they’d been forced to witness. Mondo was the first of them to speak as he clenched his hands.

“Fuck… We don’t even get time to grieve?” The biker tsk’ed.

“Ahh… What of my bedsheets?” Yamada asked as he was slumping forward in his chair. It had been ‘decided’ that Togami would not go without his, and while Sakura did offer hers to Yamada, the otaku just let her keep them.

“They were cleaned once more and folded neatly on the table.” Kirigiri told him calmly, running a hand through her lilac hair. “To be honest, it was as if a murder hadn’t occurred in that room, when I inspected it.”

Junko scowled from her place as she hugged her elbows.

“So much for ‘remembering’ Fukawa’s sacrifice…”

Naegi shook his head as he rubbed Maizono’s back soothingly.

“No… Even if we don’t have a physical reminder, we can’t just forget about her! Or Hagakure. We should walk toward the future, carrying them in our hearts…”

As she nuzzled into him, Maizono nodded sadly in agreement. As a number of them appeared to take time to grieve in their own ways, Asahina spoke up in a chipper tone.

“C’mon, guys! Cheer up! We gotta turn those frowns upside down! ‘Sides, if we all work together, I’m sure we’ll get out of here. Sooo… Let’s all join hands and push forward with a great big smile!” The swimmer mustered the biggest smile she could. However…

“Cut the crap… You’re not making anyone feel any better.” Togami spat out.

“Huh?” Asahina, among others, looked toward the heir with confusion.

“A murder still took place, regardless of your preaching… It won’t be long before we see fallout. Murder isn’t just a fantasy or a nightmare anymore, and everyone here is uncomfortably aware of it.” The air around the blond was smug and arrogant. And though he didn’t seem to agree, Leon acknowledged his point.

“Hagakure mighta fired the first shot… But dude, it’s like Naegi said. The guy never would’ve murdered if Monokuma hadn’t given us those videos!”

Togami turned on the All-Star in aggravation.

“And you don’t think Monokuma can produce the same result again? Manipulation or not, Hagakure has shown what we all are capable of.”

Asahina stared, wide-eyed.

“B-But… We’ve gotta work together and fight back against the Puppetmaster so that no one else gets hurt…!”

“What did I just say? Cut the crap!” Togami snarled. “You’re not making anyone feel any better… ‘Fight back’? ‘Work together’? Pah! This isn’t some damn never-ending ninja comic!”

“Or is it…?” Yamada wondered.

“It seems whomever is behind this – the ‘Puppetmaster,’ so to speak – has far more power than we had imagined.” Celes pointed out. “This Puppetmaster has taken over Hope’s Peak Academy – despite its heavy security – and then fortified it even further… He built the seemingly high-tech Monokuma – he assembled a vast store of daily necessities for us… And above all, there’s that execution… Far too much effort has been put into all this… That this could be the work of a mere madman is unfathomable… I believe it’s safe to say that resistance is not in our best interests.”

“If so, what are we to do?” Sakura asked.

“We abide by the rules.” Togami crisply replied. “If you absolutely want out… then cheat everyone else and win the game… That’s your only option.”

Fujisaki looked down miserably.

“I… I can’t…”

“What was that?” Togami snapped.

“I don’t want to live… if it means someone else has to die… I can’t bear… to kill anyone else…”

Leon cocked his head.

“Waddya mean ‘else’?”

“Hagakure! He’s dead because we voted for him!” Fujisaki argued. “We killed him!”

“You know we would have gotten killed if we hadn’t voted for him, right?” Junko tried to placate the programmer. “We… didn’t have a choice…”

“Indeed! Any further attempts at self-flagellation and you’ll have crossed the border into masochism!” Yamada chipped in. However, Fujisaki didn’t look any more comforted by their situation.

“Hey, Fujisaki…” Naegi said in a gentle voice. “You’re not the bad guy here. Neither are Hagakure or Fukawa… It’s all his doing… All of this is on the Puppetmaster’s hands. He coerced us into casting those ballots… and who knows what would have happened if we said no… He called it an ‘execution,’ but, in the end, the Puppetmaster’s still the one who pulled the trigger! So… it’s not ourselves we should hate… but that damn Puppetmaster!”

Not even a moment after Naegi gave that speech, the school bell rang out, signaling that nighttime had arrived. As usual, Monokuma appeared on the screen, though he had a little more to say this time.

“Ahem, may I have your attention, please? The time is now 10 P.M. ‘Nighttime’ is now in effect. The cafeteria is now off-limits, and the door will be locked momentarily. Oh, and one more thing… There was an ugly trace of self-justification poking its head out of that discussion you guys were having. Here and there and gone and yon… I could whack that mole with my eyes closed! Listen up, and take this to heart… The act of judging someone is a heavy cross to bear! Make sure you can feel that weight! Order can only survive on the shoulders of sacrifice and responsibility! And with that, I wish you all a good night. Sweet dreams…”

Junko’s hand twitched as she scowled.

“What… the hell was that?!”

“All of this is on us? Somehow, I don’t buy that…” Leon scoffed.

“That piece of shit! Always sayin’ whatever the hell he wants…!” Mondo roared.

Everyone filed out of the cafeteria soon after that – they didn’t have a choice, with nighttime in effect. They dispersed and returned to their rooms, resolving to figure out what to do the next day. Well. Almost everyone went to their own rooms…

“Um… Makoto?”

Naegi noticed the idol hadn’t bothered to leave his side, or move toward her door, which was the next one over.

“What’s up? Want me to stay with you for a while?” The Luckster blushed a little as he knew that suggestion might’ve been… a little too intimate, but considering the events they’d gone through that day, Maizono looked like she needed that intimacy.

Which is why he was a little confused when the idol blushed even more deeply than him.

“W-Well… Sort of. I was actually wondering if you’d be okay if I stayed in your room for the night.”

As Naegi’s brain registered Maizono’s request, his blush deepened as well, and he totally lost his composure. However, his brain soon realized what she really must have been requesting.

“O-O-Oh… You m-mean like a room exchange…”

Sayaka dragged a foot on the ground, and she did not look up at him as her blush did not go away.

“Um… no. I really do mean, can I stay the night with you?” Only now did she look up at the Luckster, and he could see the most serious and hopeful gaze he had seen from her yet. This wasn’t some joke. As he desperately tried to work his jaw, Maizono shyly tried to explain herself. “I-I mean… I know it’s unusual, frowned upon, whatever… I just… I need that reassurance you won’t die on me next… y’know? Even… if it’s just for one night…”

Makoto’s heart thundered inside of his chest a mile a minute, the more Sayaka spoke. She… cared about him that much? Granted, he was the only person she ‘knew’ in this godforsaken place, but he was honestly touched. He was… ecstatic. Excited. And yet… he didn’t want to get carried away. Whatever special connection they had now, that could all go away the minute they left the academy. There was no way an ordinary guy like him would end up with the Ultimate Pop Idol. He shouldn’t even be thinking about that stuff when the thing Maizono needed was companionship after a traumatic experience.

… But he was human, and Makoto couldn’t help but lingering on those thoughts, even if only momentarily.

“S-Sure! I don’t mind!” Makoto yelped out after he realized he’d probably made her wait several minutes in uncomfortable silence. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind, and her relieved smile was enough to send his heart aflutter again.

“Thanks, Makoto…”

Naegi was not expecting the heartfelt hug… but he did not shy away from it, as his arms wrapped around her waist and he buries his nose in her hair. He could never get enough of her scent.

~*~

“Arms out! Up and down, up and down~! One. Two. Three. Four…”

“One! Two! Threeee! Four!”

“Faster on the up and down! Bring ‘em in, and out again! In and out! Work that muscle tone! Speed and power! Let’s burn that butter!”

… The next morning, Monokuma had summoned them all to the gymnasium. A good number of them dreaded that the monochrome bear was hitting them with another motive so soon… But no… Instead, he attempted to make them do exercises. Most of them didn’t participate – hell, the only gung-ho one was Ishimaru, though that was hardly a surprise.

“Ahh, man… It feels great to get a good workout! Being indoors all the time is bad for your body!” The sadistic bear gushed. Leon just rolled his eyes.

“You’re the one who locked us up in here, man…”

“Don’t fret the small stuff! That’s my motto~. Ack! I just said something cool just now, didn’t I? Have I won you over? Have you fallen so hard for me you could die? Is the weight of your love crushing?”

“What do you want from us?!” Sakura bellowed. “Surely you did not call us here simply to exercise…”

Monokuma straightened up rigidly.

“Simply… to exercise? Waddya mean, ‘simply’?” He raised his arms threateningly. “You only mock my workout… because you can’t handle my workout! The Monokuma Workout is filled to the brim with secret techniques from the Monkey Assassin Style! Techniques passed down through the generations, from a secret fighting style used in an empire of darkness~.”

Yamada just gaped in awe at the childishness.

“That sounds like the kind of embarrassing idea a middle-schooler would come up with…”

Makoto sighed.

“Whatever, just answer the question… Did you really just call us here to do some exercises?”

Monokuma shook with rage.

“Goodness gracious! Heavens no! I don’t have that kind of time!”

“Sooo…?” Makoto prompted him.

“Ahem! I have an announcement! For every Class Trial you survive, a whole new world inside the academy will be made available to you!”

“A new world?” Junko cocked her head.

“Don’tcha think it would be kinda suckish if you had to spend your whole lives here without any excitement? Plus, you Generation Z-ers start getting all cranky when you run out of things to do! So with that… you’re free to begin exploring. Enjoy the post-Trial world to your hearts’ content!” Giggling, Monokuma took his leave. The students were left somewhat flabbergasted by this development.

“A new world…?” Sayaka murmured.

“Like, a way out?” Asahina exclaimed.

Celes frowned.

“The chances of that are low…”

“You can’t say shit ‘til you’ve actually looked!” Mondo bellowed.

“Regardless… It seems we need to perform yet another search of the premises...” Sakura suggested.

“All right, soldiers! Let’s split up and move out!” Ishimaru declared. “Once we’ve completed our rounds, we’ll rendezvous in the cafeteria for a debriefing!”

Togami rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“Are those the only words you know?”

“It’s called consistency! Now, move out!”

They didn’t need further prompting. The thirteen remaining teens dispersed, with a handful staying on the ground floor to check out the locked areas there. Most of them moved up to the second floor…

~*~

“So, this is the second floor…” Naegi mused as he and Sayaka reached the top of the stairs. Other than the hallway lighting changing a little, the second level of the school gave off the same creepy vibe as the first.

“The hall looks pretty long…” The idol remarked. And she was right. Other than one little turn, which could easily be avoided, and the one branch-off by the stairs that led to some double doors with an anchor painted on them, the corridor looked like it could go on for a while.

“Well, let’s have a look around! If we can’t find an exit, maybe we can find some clue to the Puppetmaster’s identity!” Naegi remained hopeful. Sayaka nodded in agreement, and the two set off for the double doors first, since that was the closest place to check out.

Inside, they found a bunch of lifeguard equipment, two more doors that had what appeared to be card readers next to them, and…

“A Gatling gun?!” Naegi yelped as he took a step back out of instinct. For indeed, there was a gun mounted on the ceiling, pointed at the doors. Implying that there was some rule about who could go through which door.

… In hindsight, Naegi supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by the lengths Monokuma went to for “punishment.” He just hoped no one would fall victim to the gun… That’d be way, way too similar to how they lost Hagakure…

“Yeah, you just missed him.” Junko explained as Naegi regained his bearings. The Luckster only just realized that she, Fujisaki, Asahina, and Celes were there in the room, too. “Basically, only girls can go in the left changing room, and only guys can use the right one. We use our ElectroIDs to get in, and he’s gonna update the rules so no one can borrow each other’s IDs.”

Celes folded her hands under her chin pleasantly.

“You can thank me for that. We would not want Yamada or Leon to slip in uninvited.”

Naegi sweatdropped as Celes specifically named them. Leon might’ve been a bit of a womanizer, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as Yamada… At least, in Naegi’s humble opinion…

“The changing rooms also have exercise equipment! Fujisaki chirped. But she was easily outdone by Asahina’s enthusiasm.

"Naegi! They have a pool! A pool! You gotta take a dip with me!!!”

Naegi grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Maybe later, Hina. We still got some investigating to do, don'tcha think? Besides, do you even have a swimsuit?”

Asahina pouted and tilted her head.

“I’ll just swim with my clothes on. No biggie.”

Naegi’s face became a tomato as perverted images ran through his brain of Asahina’s clothes sticking to her well-toned body, and for the first time in a while, he heard Sayaka giggle beside him. And despite his embarrassment, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile. Even if the last trial still plagued her mind, it seemed like Maizono was steadily feeling better. This made him feel a lot better, too.

“Do I need to chaperone you kids~?” The idol teased and stuck out her tongue. Needless to say, Asahina was confused, but the other three girls looked as amused as Sayaka did.

Naegi just pressed on as best as he could, despite his intense embarrassment.

“A-Anyway… I’ll still hafta pass, Hina. I still wanna explore other areas before any… swimming.”

“Aww! Not you, too! These three all passed on it, too.” The swimmer humphed cutely. “Swimming’s always the answer!”

’… No, I think that only applies to you, Hina…’ Naegi dryly thought to himself.

“You’re probably right~. She IS a swimmer, after all.” Sayaka teased Naegi, making him look gobsmacked at her. Again.

“H-How did you…!?”

“You should know by now, silly~. I’m an esper!” Sayaka chirped. Naegi just twitched a little.

“Yeah, you’re kidding. You just have really good intuition.”

Sayaka tilted her head back and forth cutely.

“Nope~. Definitely psychic!”

“…” No matter what, Naegi was not going to fall for that again. No way, no how.

…… But still… There was always a possibility… Right…?

~*~

“Huh… So there’s a third floor, too… Probably even more.” Naegi muttered as he and Maizono looked at the gate covering up the stairs to the next level. Leon was loitering around that area of the hall, too.

“Yeah… Same deal as before. Sakura couldn’t budge it an inch, and the same goes for the plates on the windows.”

“… I hope we don’t get access to that third floor…” Sayaka wearily sighed. They all knew what they had to do to get another level of the school opened to them, and that just wasn’t worth the price.

“So, what else does this floor have to offer?” Naegi asked the All-Star, who crossed his arms.

“Well… There’s a couple more classrooms, and there’s a library. I didn’t stay to check it out, ‘cause libraries aren’t my thing… Kirigiri, Togami, and tubs stayed, though.”

“How about the first floor? You originally stayed behind with Mondo and Ishimaru, didn’t you?” The idol asked curiously.

“Yeeeah… But Ishimaru kinda gave me the boot, ‘cause the nurse’s office was still locked, and there was only so much in the dorm area that was locked. I’m sure somethin’ opened up there, but Mondo and Ishimaru have it covered.”

Makoto rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“So… We have a pool, some exercise rooms, and a library as the second floor’s ‘main attractions’… It’s not a whole lot to get excited over. But maybe the library…”

“Yeah, I think we should go and check on those guys,” Sayaka agreed. “There might be something in there.”

Leon rubbed the back of his head roguishly.

“Hehe… You guys do that, I’m gonna scope out the pool, if ya catch my drift~.” Leon winked and took his leave. Sayaka groaned terribly contained exasperation, and Makoto laughed bashfully.

“So, let me get this straight… It’s bad when Leon’s perverted, but when I get perverted thoughts, suddenly it’s okay?”

Sayaka puffed out her cheeks adorably.

“It’s different! Very, very different!”

“How?” Naegi was truly baffled.

“It’s cute when it happens to you!”

… Aaand the Luckster was back to doing his impersonation of a tomato…

~*~

The library was clearly the largest room on the second floor. And still, despite its wealth of books, there wasn’t a whole lot that was useful to them. There was an archive room with various files, too – but if there were any hints to the Puppetmaster’s identity planted amongst the shelves, they would be at it for a while, sorting through the “useless” books. Yamada was rather put out there wasn’t any of his doujinshi in that library… But that was neither here nor there.

There was a laptop that didn’t seem to be working. Kirigiri was planning to show it to Fujisaki later, to see if there was anything she could do with it. The last thing was a dusty letter that was left lying out in the open, which in essence explained that Hope’s Peak, for vague reasons that they didn’t go into detail about, was forced to close its doors for an indefinite amount of time. Their current working theory was that it had something to do with why they were trapped and imprisoned there, but without more information, there would be no way to confirm or deny it.

Once Naegi and Maizono had a cursory look around the library and archives, they followed Kirigiri, Togami, and Yamada down to the cafeteria to rejoin their classmates. It wasn’t too much of a surprise that they were the last group to return, but it didn’t look like the others had been waiting too long.

“Good work, soldiers! Does anyone have anything to report?!” Ishimaru initiated the meeting.

“There is a library!” Yamada exclaimed exuberantly.

“There’s a pool! A pool! And changing rooms with a whole bunch of exercise equipment!” Asahina added with just as much energy.

“However, there was nothing resembling an exit…” Sakura conceded. Naegi vocally agreed. Ishimaru just nodded his head.

“Despair not, my friends. For I have made a groundbreaking discovery… Listen to this! We now have access to the storeroom and the large bath here in the dormitory! There’s a wealth of food, clothing, and supplies in the storeroom! Why, it’s an exercise in excess! Now we can snack whenever we want!” The prefect chuckled heartily.

Celes placed her hands on her hips.

“Try not to forget that leaving your room at night is forbidden…”

Mondo seemed dissatisfied with all their attitudes.

“And what about the important part: a way out?”

Ishimaru hesitated in answering.

“Well, uh… You see…”

“Was there somethin’ in that storeroom we could use to bust outta this joint?!” Mondo’s hand twitched angrily.

“I-I… I regret to inform…”

“Damnit, guys… This ain’t the time to be squealin’ about new places to jerk around in! We’re trapped in here, damnit! Trapped! We’re supposed to be lookin’ for a way out!”

“Now, now… Trying to find faults in everything we do isn’t going to accomplish anything…” Celes chided the biker. “Adaptability. It’s all about being able to adapt… So let’s enjoy being locked up together~!”

“Screw that!” Mondo snarled.

Ishimaru sighed.

“Well, for the time being, continue your recon, and if you find anything, you can make a report then…” The prefect sounded much more dismal than when he had started the meeting.

“So we’re done for the day?” Kirigiri asked for clarification.

“Ah, yeah…” Ishimaru sighed again. He had truly believed they had gained some precious commodities with these new territories to explore – they all had believed that – but to be reminded there was still no sign of a way out… It was disheartening.

Naegi suspected this was the Puppetmaster’s strategy. He would build up their expectations, only to knock them back down; to be honest, that did seem to fit with his “all I want is despair” M.O. Regardless, as tough as it was to swallow, Naegi was not going to lose hope. New discoveries were still waiting to be made, and their group’s harmony was still fairly strong, even after everything that had happened to them thus far.

If only he knew about the despair that was to come in the near future…

#Danganronpa #Makoto Naegi #Sayaka Maizono #Mukuro Ikusaba #Makoto x Sayaka #Makoto x Mukuro #Naegi x Maizono #Naegi x Ikusaba #Naezono #Naekusaba

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oumakokichi · 7 years

Note

We know he would never do it out of free will but do you think Ouma would be able to get away with murder in the game? Also, actually would he have been able to get away with murder by claiming credit for Miu's murder?

I have absolutely no doubts that if Ouma had really wantedto, he could’ve committed any sort of murder he wanted and gotten away with itscott-free. The fact that he’s a liar, an expert liar, means that if he’d trulyhad bad intentions or wanted to hurt others, he could’ve deceived them andtricked them any number of ways.

He’s intelligent. Extremely intelligent. I’ve talked atlength about how I suspect that he has some kind of SHSL Analysis talenthimself, and I still stand by it: there just aren’t many other explanations forhow he could write a script of roughly 300 pages or so in a span of less thantwo hours. His ability to predict and analyze the behavior and responses of hisclassmates means that if he were honestly evil, he could do so much damage.

But well, Junko is living proof of that. Junko and Ouma doshare certain similarities, even though they also have several key differences.Take away Ouma’s love for silly, childish pranks and his genuine compassion forhuman life, and he would essentially be the same person as Junko. It’s hissilly side and his compassionate nature that differentiate him from an antagonistlike Junko, not his genius. I have an ask in my inbox about the similaritiesbetween Junko and Ouma that I’m probably going to answer next so I’ll hold offon going into more detail about this point, but it’s really fun to compare andcontrast them.

My point is, Ouma had more than enough means to kill any ofhis classmates. And he was smart enough that he could’ve gotten away with it withoutany consequences at all. When you’re a liar with the intention to hurt people,you lie to make them trust you, to rely on you. Backstabbing and betrayal hurtsmuch more when they thought you were a genuine friend and a part of the groupfirst—see Tsumugi later on, in Chapter 6, after all the comments she made about“working together with everyone” and “getting out of the school together.”

But instead, Ouma spends all his time warning everyone notto trust him. He keeps them on their guard, tells them point-blank that he’s aliar and untrustworthy, tells them they should be doubting other people intheir midst as well. He wants to keep them alive at any cost, and in order todo so, he tries on several occasions to get them to stop relying so much onblind optimism and naïve faith.

It would have been so easy for him to kill any of the groupthat he wanted to. He had so many plans going on in secret which absolutely noone in the group was aware of. He went snooping around and investigating everysquare inch of the school, left hints for the others to find, set his façade perfectlyin place to pretend to be the ringleader—and most impressively, he did it allwhile keeping Tsumugi perfectly unaware of what he was doing for the longesttime. She genuinely thought up until Chapter 5 that he was enjoying the killinggame, not trying to end it, and that took an incredible amount of caution andexpert acting on Ouma’s part in order to make that charade believable.

He had so many inventions at his disposal, things he haddrawn up himself and recruited Miu to make. The electric hammers and electricbombs were just the tip of the iceberg; the remote control she made him thatcould control electronic devices would’ve been more than enough to let Oumakill pretty much anyone and everyone, if he had really wanted to. That remotecould control the Exisals directly, something Tsumugi never accounted for. Itcould unlock them, open them up, move them around—and it definitely couldcontrol the guns equipped to them as well.

Unlike previous killing games, the ndrv3 killing game has noexplicit limit on the amount of people one culprit can kill. This is somethingOuma lampshades and then bluffs his ass off about in Chapter 5. He shows upwith one of his electric bombs, pretending that it’s a real bomb, and asks who’swilling to team up with him. The killing game will end the moment only twopeople are left, so it’s technically not a rule violation at all for one personto kill everyone else, leaving only themselves and one other person alive.

He proposed that plan in the hopes of smoking out theringleader, thinking that whoever would volunteer to team up with him of coursewould have to be heartless and not care about the group at all. But it was aviable plan, and if Ouma had been even a fraction as heartless and ruthless ashe pretended to be, he could actually have carried it out. After all, he had full control over all of the Exisals. He could’ve just gunned down everyone until he was the last person standing.

It’s not evennecessarily a plan that an evil character would carry out—Munakata would havecarried this sort of plan out in a heartbeat if it meant ending the killinggame, no matter how many sacrifices it required. But Ouma was someone who could only bluff about being ableto really go through with those cold, hard sacrifices. Actually carrying themout was another thing entirely. Going through with one of his plans and makingsacrifices in Chapter 4 alone was enough to almost destroy his motivation tokeep going entirely; he hated havingto pretend to be so uncaring.

As for whether he could’ve gotten away with Miu’s murder byclaiming credit for it—the circumstances would have to have been a littledifferent for it to work. The main reason why he couldn’t actually claim creditfor it even though he certainly did most of the planning was because Gontacarried it all out of his own free will. Contrary to what people thought due tomisinformation when the game first came out, Gonta’s avatar wasn’t “hacked” andhe wasn’t “brainwashed” or “mind controlled” into killing Miu. He did it allwillingly within the VR world, then forgot about it when he logged out becausehe had mixed the cables up on his helmet.

All we really know about murders in which one person plansthe crime and another person carries it out comes from sdr2 Chapter 2, whereMonokuma agrees that if the person planning it uses a “tool” to carry it out,then that would make them the one still responsible for the murder. The reasonwhy Peko gets held accountable in Chapter 2 is because Kuzuryuu refuses tothink of her as a tool or call her one when it’s something his family has beendoing all her life—and Peko went and decided to kill Mahiru on her own, afterall, not on Kuzuryuu’s orders. However, sdr2 Chapter 2 does seem to imply thatif Kuzuryuu had been heartless enough to call Peko a “tool” and used her as aweapon to eliminate Mahiru because of the grudge he had, that would’ve made itpossible for him to be executed as the culprit instead.

Ndrv3’s killing game often features different rules than theprevious games, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the same sort of logic applied.Had Gonta’s avatar actually been hacked or had he been “brainwashed” in anyway, that would mean he had no free will in Miu’s murder at all. He would’vebeen little more than a tool or an object himself, and that would’ve made Ouma100% responsible for both the planning and the execution (moreso if he had beenphysically controlling Gonta’s avatar, which most people in the western fandom seemedto mistakenly think he was).

If that had been how the murder had occurred, and had Oumaactually been heartless and a villain, it would’ve been extremely easy for himto misguide everyone about Miu’s murder, yes. He could’ve tricked them all intothinking it was any other number of people, including Momota, who Miu herselfhad tried to set up, or Gonta, and then only waited until after the vote toreveal that he was the one responsible for everything. It would’ve beenextremely easy for him to trick everyone too, considering he could so easilyhave played the victim once the rest of the group knew that Miu had been tryingto murder him. Had he wanted their sympathy, he had more than enough charm andcharisma to put on a “poor, pitiful me” act and make them feel sorry for him.

However, since that’s not how the murder actually occurred,he probably couldn’t actually claim credit for Miu’s murder in canon. Gonta dideverything of his own accord; his free will was completely intact and he wasabsolutely conscious and in control of himself when he carried out the crime.Because of that, he couldn’t actually be regarded as an “object” or a “tool,”and therefore Ouma couldn’t claim complete responsibility for the crime, eventhough he was the one who planned it and asked Gonta to help carry it out.

It seems very telling to me, however, that while he couldn’tbe held accountable as the sole culprit, Monokuma didn’t seem to care one wayor the other when Ouma asked to be executed together with Gonta. The onlyreason that it didn’t happen is because Gonta himself asked Ouma not to, tellinghim not to blame himself and asking him to “be friends with everyone.” So itdoesn’t seem like Monokuma had any problems with Ouma being held partiallyaccountable—perhaps he just thought that an execution involving two culpritswould be more exciting for the killing game. But this is all speculation, of course.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the subject. Knowinghow incredibly easy it would’ve been for Ouma to win the game by killingeveryone sheds a lot of light on just how empathetic he actually was, in my opinion.He was neither a sadistic villain who killed for fun, nor a ruthless,calculating strategist who was willing to sacrifice anyone if it meantaccomplishing his goals—he merely pretended to be both of these things atdifferent points in time, lying to himself that he could really become eitherif that was what it took. But in the end, Ouma was a kid. A very intelligentkid, near genius really, but a kid nonetheless. He could never fully discardhis empathy and his love for human life, and that’s exactly why he played thegame according much more arbitrary rules, rather than hurting or killing asmany people as possible in order to end it more quickly.

Thank you so much for giving me a chance to talk a littlebit about this sort of question. I’m so glad more people have been realizingjust how much Ouma was against killing, since it’s such a central theme to hischaracter. Thanks for stopping by, anon!

#ndrv3 #drv3 #new danganronpa v3 #kokichi ouma #ouma kokichi #ndrv3 spoilers //#my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

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jinjojess · 7 years

Text

TAoS&ObM: Prose Edition

In honor of Akamatsu’s birthday, I went ahead and actually wrote a thing. A quick, sloppy thing, but a thing nonetheless.

Hope you enjoy!

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 3

----------------------------

Ever since she’d been a child, Akamatsu had hated the smell of candles. She assumed it was the result of being taken to a stage production of Phantom of the Opera at too young an age, or perhaps because of the time the power went out at her grandmother’s huge home in the countryside for three whole days. Regardless, for the first time since her death, she was thankful to have lost her sense of smell.

With the sole light source extinguished, the empty room on the fourth floor had been blanketed in complete darkness, yet Akamatsu could still see perfectly. She could see Yumeno and Shinguuji standing in their respective corners, their backs to the center of the room. She could see Saihara hesitantly feeling his way along the wall back to his position. She could even see Ouma grinning in the dark as he let his foot hover over the salt that made up the edge of the magic circle before shaking his head and obediently returning to his assigned corner.

Akamatsu turned her attention to wooden dog statue resting on top of the cage Chabashira was crouching beneath. Though she’d always considered herself a dog person, something about the animal’s expression seemed unnatural--it was as if someone who had never seen a dog in their life had tried to carve the face based on a description from a child. The features weren’t as canine as they were human; something about it made the statue plummet even further into the uncanny valley than Angie’s wax replicas.

“Psst, Saihara-kun.”

“Akamatsu-san, not now. We’re about to start this ritual and I’m trying to remember these song lyrics.”

“I just want to let you know I’m going to keep an eye on things, okay?”

“I thought you were going to go help Harukawa-san in the art room?”

“Maki-chan will be fine. Besides, I can’t help much if you aren’t there, remember?”

“...True.”

“I just...I have a really bad feeling about this.”

Saihara smirked, probably assuming Akamatsu couldn’t see him.

“You seemed totally fine with a perfect replica of yourself being hung upside and stabbed with a sword.”

“Well, yeah. I mean that would’ve been funny if Angie-san hadn’t, you know, died. But this is really unnerving me.”

“Akamatsu-san, are you telling me you’re afraid of ghosts?”

“No, it’s not like Momota-kun’s thing, I’m just--”

“Did you forget that you are, in fact, a ghost?”

“Thanks for that reminder that I’m dead, Saihara-kun. That was really helpful.”

He flinched.

“Sorry. I guess this just puts me on edge too.”

“Saihara-kun,” came Shinguuji’s voice from across the room, “if you are finished whispering to yourself over there, I would like to begin.”

“S-Sorry!” Saihara called back. He turned to face the wall again, offering Akamatsu a shrug of apology.

She huffed, puffing out her cheeks for a moment before floating up to the ceiling. It felt wrong to leave, but she still wanted to be as far away from that creepy dog statue as possible.

Shinguuji began to sing, the others’ voices falling into unison. The melody reminded Akamatsu of a competition she’d participated in a few years ago that required her to create a piano arrangement of various folk songs. Reflexively, she tapped her fingers in the air in front of her, feeling out which key would correspond to which note. It was relaxing, actually.

Maybe a little too relaxing, Akamatsu realized, feeling her eyelids grow heavier as the song continued. She noticed a flicker of movement below, a warm sense of dread building in her stomach.

It was the exact same feeling she’d felt the night before, right before Angie had been killed, according to the Monokuma File.

This was bad. Someone was about to die. It would most likely be the one person in the room who was in a position least conducive to self-defense.

She had to let Saihara know. If she let him know in time, he could maybe stop it.

“Sai--!” she tried to yell, but nothing came out. It felt as though someone had wrapped a rope around her throat and was pulling it taut, trapping the words within. Her voice failed to reach her own ears, let alone Saihara’s, who was still standing in the corner mumbling his way through the song.

The dread began to crescendo, Akamatsu’s panic rising with it. No. No, no, no. She couldn’t let someone else die--they’d just lost Angie and she couldn’t save Amami or the others either and this couldn’t be happening.

Biting her lip, Akamatsu flew full speed toward the dog statue.

Just think of it like a desk in one of the classrooms. You slap things away all the time! This is just like that...

Akamatsu crashed into the statue and heard the cage beneath it rattle.

The haunting melody suddenly boomed in her ears--it was far louder than any four people in a small room could possibly be. Akamatsu felt a painful tug at her neck once again, and the off-key notes of her own execution began to meld with the ritual song.

Her head spun, and she was no longer able to make out the details of the room. Instead, bright bursts of color exploded behind her eyes. Her arms jerked around on their own, feeling as though they’d be ripped from their sockets. The agony in her neck was building, frothing spittle forming at the corners of her mouth.

No.

No. She might be dead, she might never see home again, but like hell if she was going to let another one of her friends die.

Gritting her teeth, Akamatsu blindly flailed beneath her, trying to grab at where she assumed Chabashira to be, and then everything went dark.

As if she’d blinked, Akamatsu found herself standing on the bank of a wide river, staring at the shadowed, foggy area on the other side.

Her vision was tinted red, and she realized with a start that she could smell--something heady and rotten was invading her nostrils. Her knees began to tremble--she had knees again!--and there was a weight to her body she hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Akamatsu coughed, her throat feeling like she’d swallowed an entire cup’s worth of broken glass.

“A-Akamatsu-san?”

She whipped her head to the side to see Chabashira standing next to her, a worried look on her face.

“Fuck.”

“Is...is that really you?”

“Yes,” Akamatsu said with a sigh, “it’s me.”

Tears were already pooling in the corners of Chabashira’s eyes.

“Oh.”

“Listen, Chabashira-san, I’m so sorry. I tried, but--”

Before she could finish, Chabashira seized Akamatsu in a fierce hug.

“Tenko and the others missed you so much,” she said between sobs, crushing Akamatsu’s face into her chest. “Why did you have to leave us?”

“I didn’t, really,” Akamatsu said, voice muffled by Chabashira’s bosom.

“That is true.” Chabashira released Akamatsu, not seeming to notice how she stumbled. “Tenko at least has carried your memory with her this entire time. As for the MENaces, well...”

“Either you have not realized what happened yet, or you’re taking this extremely well.”

“You’re talking about Tenko dying, right?” Chabashira offered a sad smile. “Tenko is trying not to focus on it. She took Yumeno-san’s place and therefore has ensured her survival, so Tenko has no regrets.”

No regrets.

Was that why Akamatsu had stayed behind at Saishuu while the others who had died moved on?

But that couldn’t be right. Amami and Hoshi maybe died without regret, Angie almost assuredly, but Akamatsu knew for a fact that Toujou was even more determined than she herself was to getting out.

There had to be a different reason.

“Akamatsu-san, where are we?”

“I...honestly don’t really know. I assume this is the Sanzu River?” Akamatsu gestured to the muddy water running beside them.

Chabashira frowned. “If that is the case, this is a difficult situation. Tenko is not carrying any change.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever been here myself,” Akamatsu said. “After I died, I woke up at Saishuu again, in my lab.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Saihara-kun came in looking really upset, and started rifling around looking for a CD so I started playing Clair de Lune. And then he screamed.”

“Saihara-san...heard you playing?”

“Uh huh. Apparently he was the only one who could see and hear me, though I was starting to be able to affect Maki-chan too on some level.”

At that Chabashira nodded. “The bond between girls who are close is a deep, unbreakable thing.”

“...We made it work.”

“Tenko supposes she has one regret. She wishes that she could have spent more time with Yumeno-san. To see her grow and evolve. Tenko worries about who will look over Yumeno-san in her absence.”

“It’s okay,” Akamatsu said, patting Chabashira on the shoulder. “I believe she’ll be able to pull through.”

Chabashira nodded once, staring at the ground. Akamatsu followed her gaze, examining a misshapen rock by her toe. How long had it been since she’d seen her own feet? The tip of her shoe didn’t feel attached to her; it was as if she were looking at someone else’s foot.

What is Saihara-kun going to do without me? He’s gotten much better but he still has a long way to go. And Maki-chan? I never even got to say goodbye or tell her again that--

“Oi! Ooooooooooooi!”

Akamatsu looked up, turning toward the sound of the new voice coming from the opposite bank of the river.

Both she and Chabashira gasped in unison--standing there were the four other deceased members of their group: Amami, Hoshi, Toujou, and Angie. The latter was waving eagerly while Hoshi had his hands cupped around his mouth, still calling to get their attention.

“Finally!” he said with a rueful chuckle. “I was startin’ to think you two were gonna keep ignoring us for your pity party!”

“Hi hi! Long time no see, Kaede! Short time no see, Tenko!”

“Everyone...”

Chabashira raised an arm to wave back.

“Everyone! Greetings!”

“It is good to see both of you, despite the circumstances,” Toujou said, eyeing the water separating them. “Especially since you both appear to still be on that side of the river.”

“Hey now, Toujou-san, we agreed. No more trying to swim across.” Amami crossed his arms and smiled.

Wait. On this side of the river?

“What does that mean?” Akamatsu asked.

“It means that you still stand a chance of going back,” Amami answered.

“Yeah,” Hoshi said. “We all woke up on this side, and in spite’a Toujou’s best efforts, we can’t get back across.”

“Though I assure you I will continue to try.”

“Easy there, miss.”

“Yeah yeah yeah! Like, God totes says that it’s a-okay if you two wanna try and go back!”

“You mean like how I was before?”

“Bingo, Kaede! You can go back as spooky ghost girls!”

“HaHA! Tenko knew that all of her training in Neo Aikido would pay off someday!” Chabashira lowered her voice to mutter under her breath. “It certainly seems like Tenko’s spiritual path was more effective than Angie-san’s.”

“That’s actually got very little to do with it,” Amami said. “What keeps you both tethered to the living world is guilt.”

“Guilt?”

“Yeah,” Hoshi said. “You both have people who feel responsible for your deaths. People who’d go crazy if you didn’t go back.”

“Ah, Saihara-kun.” Akamatsu nodded. That made sense. Harukawa had been upset, but thanks to her upbringing could probably have shouldered and/or bottled up the grief. She couldn’t be as sure about Saihara.

“Someone...who would go crazy if Tenko didn’t go back?”

“We unfortunately were not able to cement such bonds in the time allotted to us,” Toujou said, closing her eyes for a moment. “I confess that that is one of my regrets.”

“But anyway you two go and get outta here!” Angie waved again.

“Hang on, how exactly do we get back?”

Hoshi and Amami shrugged.

“No idea.”

“Search me.”

“I believe that is something you both must discover on your own,” Toujou said. “Akamatsu-san, you managed once before, so I have faith that you will be able to do so again.”

“Right...”

Hoshi held out a hand with a thumbs up. “Good luck, you two.”

As the dark fog on the other side of the river engulfed the four figures standing there, Akamatsu felt a tug on her arm.

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Go where, Chabashira-san?”

“Back to the world of the living! If Yumeno-san is in need, Tenko cannot sit here and do nothing.”

She was right. Once Saihara realized Akamatsu was gone, he would likely have a breakdown. He’d probably blame himself again, because that was just what he did. Plus he’d be left to deliver the news to...

Maki-chan...

“Okay, Chabashira-san,” Akamatsu said, grinning and clenching her fists, “let’s do this.”

----------------

Ugh, this is awful, but Obakematsu isn’t meant to be a super serious AU anyway so I guess I can be semi-okay with this.

Hope you enjoyed!

#ghost bff AU #long post #V3 spoilers #shipping #HaruMatsu #Chabameno #DR3 #NDRV3 #V3 #Akamatsu Kaede #Chabashira Tenko #ugh this is so cheesy #and so outside my wheelhouse haha

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