#I am Trying to get Kokichi’s chapter finished up so I can post it

[spittyfishy]

Hear me out, remnant Kaito, but with a rocket launcher 🚀

[frillyheathen]

Unused Fanfiction Ideas #1

I was thinking of all the fanfiction ideas I thought of, but never really brought to life. So this is a self-indulgent little series where I explain the ideas and why they didn't make it to the big screen (my ao3 account).

Spoilers for Danganronpa V3 post-game content

The Idea:

After beating Dv3, the player unlocks a bonus mode called "Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team" and instead of being part of a killing game, the characters are all on a dating show. Monokuma states that the couples that get together can graduate and leave the school.

So...

In the fanfiction, Shuichi would get pulled aside by Tsumugi and Kokichi during the first day. In order to ensure that everyone gets to leave as soon as possible, Tsumugi and Kokichi have decided to break everyone up into pre-determined couples. They ask for Shuichi's help dividing the couples since he's a detective and should be good at deducing who's a good pair. Of course, Shuichi's input is largely ignored or his reasoning is twisted.

All of the pre-determined couples were odd, not necessarily because the ships themselves were but, but because Tsumugi and Kokichi used some silly goose reasoning. For example, Ryoma and Kaito get paired up because they both give off the strongest heterosexual vibes. Then Tsumugi pairs herself with Kaede just because Kaede seems like the best possible partner.

Then the fic would devolve into Kokichi and Tsumugi (with Shuichi in tow) trying to make all their pairings work and being frustrated when literally none of their plans work out.

Why it Wasn't Written

By the time I got finished writing the fanfiction about Rantaro in the Love Suite, I lost my juice for writing for a while. It's been a hot minute since I played Dv3, so I don't have the same level of excitement about all the characters anymore.

Plus the idea is designed to be multi-chaptered and have a lot of twists and turns; it's not exactly a oneshot I can plunk out in a few evenings. Then there was the concern that I didn't want to accidentally dunk on anyone's ships. That being said, I am amused by the small snippets of dialogue that were written for the story.

[ahwait-no-yes]

Let’s talk about if Saihara hated Ouma

So lately I’ve actually seen a bit more comments on how Saihara doesn’t actually like Ouma and people have gone as far as saying he hates him and idk why people genuinely believe it so here I am about to refute that (I’ve been waiting ages to make this post just so you know so this came out as a horribly unstructured ramble more than anything oops)

some notes beforehand:

I have an obvious bias as I do ship saiouma. although i’ll try to be neutral on what I say here, I can’t hide my bias. I have tried to include what people that hate this ship believe to counter them though, also if you ship other things that’s totally fine?? don’t think of any of this as an attack at your ship and I’m not saying Saihara loved Ouma, I’m just tired of people saying Saihara hated him.

You’re allowed to respectfully disagree as long as you don’t berate me or say I don’t know the game when the majority of the screenshots in this are from my own gameplay, lmao. 

and massive whole-game spoilers! Don’t read this if you’ve not finished DRV3!

Glad to know you made it under the cut! now I can begin with where I think people got this idea that Saihara hates him from- the infamous “You’re alone Kokichi and you always will be” line.

I admit this was very cold and still breaks my fragile saiou heart, but to base Saihara’s entire perspective of Ouma on this one line he said while he wasn’t thinking straight is just.. no.. It’s unrealistic. we’ve seen how Saihara is able to adapt his views and grow (I’ll come back to this later), he’s not stubborn in this regard like Momota or even Ouma is, so even if he did mean it 100% (which I doubt because when *anybody* is angry they will say or do things they may regret had they been calmer), it’s not like his view on Ouma from chapter 4 was his final view on him. And that’s what people fail to realise. 

So, how does Saihara view Ouma then?

well, I’d say he’s been interested in Ouma as a detective from the moment he met him with his curiosity piqued at Ouma’s claims of leading a secret organisation.

and he remains curious about Ouma throughout, always questioning why Ouma says certain things, what Ouma is lying for, he just wants to figure him out- and this doesn’t just apply to free time events either

I think you get my point there, now, I think if I didn’t ship saiou and read this, I’d argue these are all pre-chapter 5 and before the breaking line so he may have been curious before but not after- that then brings me to my next point

Saihara was confident- dare I say believed- in Ouma, especially after Chapter 5.

how bold of me to say ikr, but this ties in to Saihara’s ability to adapt his views. He’s sort of like a mixture of both Kaito and Ouma honestly, because naturally as a detective he has to be suspicious and think logically as Ouma does, while at the same time Kaito taught him to believe in his friends which has also helped him to advance in trials. I think he might have extended this belief to Ouma, because he trusts that Ouma is doing what he does for a reason.

In fact, I’d argue he’s the only one of the remaining group who wouldn’t readily accept pinning Ouma down as a villain. If anything, it’s the opposite- Saihara fought to clear Ouma’s name, and never stopped trying to understand whether or not his intentions were true or false

i’ll just drop this screenshot here (that i named THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY.png in case you were wondering)

this is what I mean when I say he wouldn’t accept it as fast as the others and would second-guess it, bear in mind this is the moment Ouma “admitted” to being the mastermind. and it’s not like this doubt was sudden or anything, cause I can recall this moment (that I actually didn’t catch on to on my first playthrough)

which gives me the idea that hadn’t Ouma purposefully messed with everyone and built up his bad reputation, it would’ve been so much easier for Saihara to disprove him being the mastermind at the point he said it. 

Anyway, going back to my point- excluding Kaito (cause Ouma directly told him), Saihara is the first to bring up Ouma’s innocence, and this is what I mean when I say Saihara believed in Ouma

note that I say believed in. believing Ouma and believing in Ouma are different, it’s like how loving someone and being in love with someone are two different things, so don’t argue that by saying “he didn’t trust him” because ik that and that’s not what I’m trying to say.

but he did believe that Ouma had his reasons, and he tried to discover and understand them. I mean, take this for example

he’s already on board lool look at him go, but no really look at the confidence

he’s both confident in himself and in Ouma not lying here, then goes back to being curious about his intentions

oh and let’s not forget who it was that searched Ouma’s lab to find clues to prove he is a remnant of despair. Why do you need to search for evidence for something you (and the others even more) think is irrefutably true? the answer is obvious- he was doubtful of it from the start, and needed evidence to convince himself it was true, but then as he found nothing to prove it (and even evidence against it), he had to convince the others of it too- and prove Ouma’s innocence

(the last screenshot was from Hikkie’s playthrough on Youtube) 

But as you can see, he’s clearing Ouma’s name as the leader of the Remnants of Despair. 

Now, I bet someone would argue that this only proves Saihara was determined to find the truth in general, because he’s mister detective, so I’ll raise you the fact that Saihara didn’t need to try figuring why Ouma does the things he does- he could leave it at just knowing the truth and if he really didn’t like Ouma like people say then there’s not much merit to it. 

“So what if I know this now? I didn’t care about him, it’s pointless” he could’ve thought something like that, but no

(I also think the “you’re lying again kokichi, there’s a method to your madness” moment fits here too)

Not only this, but there’s also how Saihara learnt from him.

honestly im still kinda mindblown from this ever since I first realised it, but when you think about it, Ouma hinted to Saihara in his FTEs how to win the game.

(those 3 screenshots are from justonegamr’s kokichi’s FTE video; random fun fact this was the playthrough that i watched while first getting into drv3)

But if you think about it, Ouma tried this again in his own trial in his attempt at ending the killing game and then Saihara also used this to actually end it

Not only that (which personally i think is pretty powerful in itself), but Saihara also tries to take Ouma seriously and picks up hints he leaves and uses them later

as well as

et

(and generally just)

generally, Ouma will hint and then Saihara will pick it up. it’s been like that for the whole game- why should Saihara give any extra thought to what Ouma hints if he dislikes him?? really, he could’ve just ignored him the same way he did at the end of chapter 4- but again, he didn’t “”hate”” Ouma enough to keep ignoring him, he considered him a friend in the end anyway.

and the end is what I’ll talk about now, too.

first- can we just acknowledge this?

he doesn’t ignore Ouma at all here. even though he didn’t trust him, he was sad to have lost him. 

Not to mention the way he thinks about lying at the end of Chapter 6. (like, please this is just-  *chefs kiss*)

IMAGINE Ouma was alive to hear him say that omg but Saihara could (and probably would) extend what he says here to Ouma himself- y’know, the ‘embodiment of lies’

by thinking about lies in a different angle instead of at face value like this, he gets a more neutral view on them rather than just thinking “they’re bad!!”, why wouldn’t he be able to do the same for Ouma? especially now that he knows Ouma was innocent and actually hated the game as much as they all did. I mean hey, even after chapter 5′s trial he sort of already thinks about lies differently

and throughout this post, I’ve tried to avoid talking about his free time events or his salmon mode ending because people always say “well they’re not canon” and to that I say not canon to the plot, yes, but still canon to the characters. so yeah, I don’t disregard any of them.

from this point onwards these all technically happen before chapter 5, so it’s not entirely relevant to my point that saihara still liked ouma even after the end of chapter 4, but it’s still something that shows he liked him beforehand at least. I mainly just wanna ramble though haha

one thing I’ve always thought was interesting was how Saihara easily lashed out at Kaito in his own free time event

and Kaito is undeniably Saihara’s best friend who he holds in high regard. If Saihara having backbone means he doesn’t like someone then damn bye bye momota have a nice trip in space

in terms of ouma and saihara though 

how about the fact that Saihara willingly sat there and played rock paper scissors (janken pon!) with Ouma 100 times?? bruh I got bored playing that with my brother after 8 rounds yesterday how would Saihara manage 100?? would you really have the patience for that when you don’t even like the person you’re playing with?

how about his third free time event too?

(from justonegamr’s kokichi fte video)

Saihara wanted to spend some time with Ouma, that’s- its literally written there I don’t know what you want from me the guy wanted a nice time with someone he supposedly doesnt like

what I love about this is how “reaching out” could be taken both literally and figuratively. Wanting to understand someone and trying to find a way to but them being too unwilling to trust anyone.. damn 😔👊 also shuuichi either wanted to handshake or hold hands, what else do you do when you reach for someone’s hand come on

oh yes and how about that he’s content with the refusal because it allowed him to figure out a small thing about Ouma? understanding that Ouma has a different way of being reached out to? mhm please think about that for a bit

that parallel in the salmon ending too...

he considered how it’ll be like with him after they get out and how he’ll learn about him, then ultimately decided when ouma reached out to him that he does want this, and even comments on the warmth of his hand... afhskfdlj

his blush when ouma mentions how his lies didn’t bore saihara was also a very cute moment

ooh and what about the love hotel???

there’s that one line “I know i’m meant to be Kokichi’s ideal in this fantasy but when he tells me he loves me I feel like he means the opposite” or something like that- i’d argue it’s because he’s cautious of Ouma for one but also am I getting something wrong here or is he talking about how he, Shuuichi, thinks Ouma doesn’t like him?  because I see people argue this is proof saihara doesn’t like ouma but all he’s really doing is just doubting ouma loves him

well in any case

WHY would he want him to stay in a love hotel of all places if he disliked him?! I know I’m just a broken record at this point but I can’t think of anything logical for it. they didnt even need to include that line in the scene at all but they did like they could’ve easily said something to do with realising where he was instead but nah. even after the event’s over, he says to himself

doesn’t he sound disappointed by it? and the fact that he even questions if it was a dream- okay  

ooh, something i’ve realised while writing this as well: it kind of seems like Saihara might not want to like him but does anyway; he quickly ‘smothered the thought’ of staying with Kokichi, didn’t want to admit that Ouma’s lies never bored him, and I also thought about how in one of Kaito’s free time events he says to himself “I shouldn’t be talking about another boy like that”- well, maybe it’s similar for how he thinks of ouma? it’s not like Saihara didn’t care for the others’ opinion on him (probably the opposite ngl if you mess up in class trials he says something along the lines of“Ah I screwed up! They probably think I’m a fraud”) and considering nobody else liked ouma (except for maybe gonta) I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt shame for liking him, thus repressing that feeling (especially around the others, there’s that part in trial 4 where he’s trying to convince kaito he isn’t siding with ouma cause he knows by doing that could damage his friendship with his bro)

I mean this is something I only thought of just now, but it could be plausible (i hope?)

One last thing- I find it incredibly funny how in chapter 2 when ouma is literally on top of saihara he doesn’t freak out or scream and everyone else in the room is also completely chill with it and unquestioning. no really they’re just standing there.. and how long was ouma even in that position for??

Now, I think that’s all. So to finish off, I’ll just say

People get the idea that saiouma is bad because some don’t realise Saihara can still like a person without idolising or putting them on a pedestal. Idk if this is gonna sound controversial or not, but I honestly do think he did exactly that to Kaito and Kaede- which doesn’t make what they have with him toxic or bad at all, I just think his view on Ouma is a lot more realistic and less clouded. Heck, if Saihara canonically liked Ouma as much as he does with the other two I don’t know if I’d ship saiouma as hard as I do (it is fun to imagine though).

If you actually read through this then.. wow? I’m surprised you got through this unstructured mess? I hope you can agree with me for some of my points at least but I’m not here to convince you or anything, this has just been on my mind for weeks now I needed to get it out somehow.

I said it at the start and i’ll say it again now too- i didn’t intend on attacking or comparing saiou to any other ships so I do apologise if I seem like it, i’m just terrible with my wording (lmk if something genuinely offended you, i’ll probably change it) but you’re free to ship whatever you like cause at the end of the day it’s just a bit of fun. that being said, I don’t want to actually argue on this so please don’t haha, i’ve contemplated just deleting this but I’ve put a lot of effort into this post even though i cant analyse for 💩

I hope you can enjoy the rest of your day!

have the kokichi gaygun as a farewell present

[spookyc]

i’d love to hear about your talent swap maki (if you want to)

So glad you asked! This will probably be a long post so be prepared.

Okay so, Maki is easily my favorite character in v3 and probably in the whole series, so it only made sense she was my first swap. Maki in this au is the ultimate artist and she got into art during her time at the orphanage. Due to the stress of having to take care of the kids all the time, her friend, Hana, (yes she has a name in this au because she's way more important in this au) suggested it to help relieve her stress. Maki was skeptical at first but when she tried it she realized that it was surprisingly comforting and fun, so she continued it and found a real passion for it.

Unfortunately for her, she still has the assassins to worry about, and they had their eyes on her in this au. Originally she would have accepted the role if it meant protecting the other kids but now she wasn't so sure. She wanted to pursue her art as a career and show it to the world. But, she reluctantly accepted the fact that her art would only be posted onto the orphanage's walls. Or at least that's what she thought. See, unbeknownst to her, Hana wasn't planning on letting that happen and she would do everything in her power to prevent Maki from leaving. So, when Maki packed her things and prepared to leave with the other assassins, Hana pushed her out of the way. She then proceeded to tell the assassins that Maki was unfit to be an assassin, that Maki was too emotional and that she would make a far better candidate. The irony of course being that Hana was mostly talking about herself.

Maki fought with her and tried to convince the assassins otherwise but eventually the assassins decided on Hana and took her away. Maki was never the same after she left, always anxious and on edge. But still, she had hope that Hana would come back to her, so she waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally, after many years, Hana's training was finished. Maki eagerly stood by the door, waiting for them to open and bring Hana with them. And after an eternity, they finally did. Immediately Maki was met by the same two assassins that had taken Hana away all those years ago. And with them was a familiar face, just not the one Maki was expecting. Angie Yonaga.

See, in this au, Angie is the ultimate child caregiver as well as the ultimate assassin. She also is in the charge of the whole cult aspect of the assassin organization and sort of acts like a figurehead, but one that still works for the organization. To Maki's dismay though, no one else enters the door. She asks Angie where Hana is and Angie tells her the bad news. Hana is dead. She had died on a mission. Maki is immediately in disbelief, telling Angie that she has to be wrong. But Angie reaffirms to Maki that Hana is long gone. Then Maki goes into a rage, asking Angie why she didn't do anything. Angie says that it was out of her control and that there was nothing she could have done. But Maki refuses to believe this and this is where her hatred of Angie begins.

Deep down Maki knows that Angie isn't really responsible for this, but she blames her because she doesn't want to consider the reality of the situation. The reality of what happens to assassins when they don't return from a mission. The fact that Hana killed herself. Maki can't accept this truth and so she redirects her grief-striken anger towards Angie and believes that killing her will give her closure. But as all revenge stories go, it won't, and Maki knows that it won't but if getting rid of Angie and her organization can help ease her mind then she will do what is necessary. After the news of Hana's passing, Maki gets planning. She plans to eventually take down the assassin organization and take Angie down with it.

But she knows that she will face sure death if she faces Angie at her current state, she needs to train to prepare for their battle. So she packs her things and leaves the orphanage at night without a word. She takes to the streets and sells her art to get by, all while training at night for the day she fights Angie. Word of a talented artist begins to spread until the Ultimate Initiative hears of Maki and decides to deem her the ultimate artist. And one night after a bout of training, Maki is kidnapped in the night and brought to the Ultimate Academy and our main plot starts here.

And it's great because Maki was already pissed that she got taken to this school against her will but when she finds out that Angie is there too she is.....not pleased to say the least. But once the killing game is introduced to them, Maki gains hope again for her plan. In the first chapter she initially plans on going through with the First Blood Perk, but cannot get to Angie as she is constantly surrounded by others. After the first case though, Maki starts to spread rumors to the others about Angie being the ultimate assassin, since she's the only one that knows. Most everyone is skeptical except Kiibo (ultimate supreme leader) who is naturally suspicious of everyone and Miu (ultimate survivor) because she's always gotten "bad vibes" from Angie. But when the motive videos are introduced she is one of the big advocaters of exchanging the motive videos and is also very particular about finding out who owns Angie's. This leads to her attempting the motive screening party with everyone, working with Kiibo and Miu. Her approach is far more diplomatic than Kokichi's in the main game, simply using the power of manipulation, with help from Kiibo, to try and convince everyone to come. Haven't completely worked out everything that happens with that, but it gets stopped before they can show anything and the second case plays out. It is after the case where Maki gets a hold of Angie's video and asks Monokuma to show it to, "make things more interesting." Monokuma agrees and Angie's motive video is shown and now everyone knows that Angie is the ultimate assassin.

This leads into the third chapter with a huge divide between the group. Now Maki, Kiibo, Miu, as well as three other students have formed a sort of Anti-Angie squad. They believe that Angie is a threat and should be dealt with and prevented from participating in the killing game. The other six are the Angie Support squad who while they recognize that Angie is an assassin, they also believe that she is a student just like the rest of them and she should not be ostracized as a monster. And it's with the support of the Anti-Angie squad that Maki plans to finally go for the kill. Her plan is to use the necronomicon to revive one of the past killers and to use them as a puppet to kill Angie. Now Maki still doesn't believe in the occult, but she's so blinded by her hatred and revenge that she will utilize any measure possible if it means killing Angie.

So she works together with Shuichi, (ultimate anthropologist) and the revived person to kill Angie. This however backfires when the revived person doesn't act as planned and can't go through with killing Angie and tries to convince Maki to change her mind. She gets angry and kills the revived individual, reducing them back to ash. And right as she's about to kill Angie, she sees that she is speaking with Gonta (ultimate tennis pro/ultimate prisoner). And so, using the katana that Shuichi lended her, she sends it hurtling through Gonta's chest.

With surprising force, the sword goes in through his back and out his chest and when she pulls the sword back she leaves him to bleed out. Her eyes lock on to the horrified Angie and she makes a move towards her, until she feels something stop her. A hand digs into her shoulder and prevents her from moving. It's Shuichi. Snapping out of her frozen state, Angie takes the opportunity and makes a run for it. Maki tries to follow her but Shuichi holds her arms back. She demands him to let her go but he refuses, telling Maki that she needs to stop. Maki questions his intentions, seeing as how he was fine with the plan before. Shuichi explains that he was okay with it before innocent lives were slaughtered and he argues that if Maki is willing to go that far to see Angie die then maybe this plan isn't worth it. Seething with anger she glares daggers at Shuichi, but after some time she relaxes and pulls Shuichi into a hug.

Surprised by the gesture, he lets go of her and hugs her back giving her the perfect opportunity to impale him with his own katana. As he's coughing up blood and clutching his chest, she thinks to go after Angie, but then she observes the scene before her. At the pile of ash and the two bodies dying on the ground. An idea then forms in her mind. Why kill her myself when I can simply pin these murders on her?

And so the rest of the case plays out, her leaving Gonta's body where it laid and hiding Shuichi's in Angie's research room. She convinces the Anti-Angie squad that Angie killed Gonta and Shuichi and the trial proceeds with half of the class vehemently arguing that Angie is the killer. However with the precise detective work from Kiyo, he's able to deduce that Maki is the killer and that is where her story ends.

Well, not entirely, since Kiyo can see and hear ghosts in this au she still terrorizes and threatens him at every turn but chapter three is where her main story concludes.

I am so sorry for the length, I tend to get way too in depth with things and the addition of it being Maki doesn't help but I hope you enjoyed the read. Her plot line has been a lot of fun to come up with, its almost like a Maki villain arc in a way, like if she had went down a darker path. I've still got a few tweaks I need to make but overall I'm really proud with how her arc has come along and I appreciate being able to infodump about it, so thanks!

[quixotic-dragon]

Kokichi Oma’s Crocodile Tears   (MAJOR DRV3 SPOILERS)

Ah, good ol’ Kokichi Oma. The Ultimate Little Shit- and a controversial little shit at that! I’ve recently played v3, and Kokichi is the one character who always seems to be on my mind (aside from my fav, Keebo, of course) because he’s such a mystery. We never get to know what’s going on in his head, at least not openly, and many players are led to assume that he is a malicious troublemaker, or even an outright sadist. 

I’m going to take a moment to analyze Kokichi specifically during that infamous scene at the end of Chapter 4 because that is all that’s been on my mind as of late. 

Underneath the Keep reading, there WILL be major spoilers for the entirety of v3. There will also be a very long essay, but I will do my best to break it up so it is easier to read. Read at your own risk.

So without further ado, here is my analysis of and my thoughts on Kokichi, his actions, and his character circa Chapter 4:

INITIAL REACTION:

Before I go into how I feel about Kokichi now, I’m going to have a discussion about my thoughts on him while this scene was playing out. (I know my exact feelings because I was liveposting in a discord server as I played, haha)

At this point in the game, the player does not yet know that Kokichi is not the true mastermind, nor do they understand what Kokichi means by “winning” the game. 

I had personally been spoiled of who the v3 mastermind was (thanks a lot danganronpa wiki), so I recognized that Kokichi wasn’t the mastermind, however I did not recognize that he was trying to win the killing game via unconventional methods. So from my point of view, Kokichi had just intentionally murdered Gonta (and Miu) just to increase his chances of winning and had the nerve to shed fake tears over it. I was furious! (behold, my fury!)

Kokichi sobs over Gonta’s death, and I interpreted this as entirely fake tears. One of my friends suggested, “i feel like there was a difference between like his / crocodile tears and this.” 

I was enraged at this suggestion and stood beside my initial reaction because I felt that there were no signs that Kokichi never cared for Gonta as anything more than an asset, so I could not trust Kokichi to have any real remorse for his death with such a manipulative relationship having existed. (Massive disclaimer that this is my interpretation of their relationship; if you have a different interpretation, that is totally fine and valid!)

At this point, I considered why Kokichi might be crying so intensely even if it was an act, and came to the conclusion that if there was any sort of truth in those tears that Kokichi would be upset for a different reason than Gonta. He would be upset because he was truly alone. Not a single living person wanted to spare him the time of day besides Gonta. And now that Gonta is dead, nobody wants Kokichi. Even though I was fully convinced he was a sadistic, evil bastard at this point, I still figured that he must’ve felt some sort of sudden and crippling loneliness realizing that the only person who cared about him in the slightest was dead.

This interpretation of Kokichi I had really didn’t change much until after I had finished the entire game and stopped to think about Kokichi a bit more; his heartfelt final words to Kaito felt like lies to convince him to play along (blackmailing Maki certainly didn’t help with that much either), and his whole trick felt less like him trying to help and more like him just trying to cause chaos for the hell of it in my mind.

So, in conclusion, my initial reaction to the Kokichi scene? I thought Kokichi was a heartless bastard whose only remorse could be crippling loneliness. Although my initial analysis while I was still playing was quite interesting, I have some different opinions on it now that I’ve taken a step back and viewed the game as a whole.

KOKICHI ONLY WANTS YOU TO THINK HE’S EVIL:

Surprise! Kokichi isn’t a sadistic fuck! Crazy right? 

Well, not really if you’ve watched/read any Kokichi analysis ever. However, Kokichi’s act seems to be a common thing that many casual players of v3 fall for. I certainly fell for it when I played, as you saw above!

It isn’t until far later in the game that it is revealed that Kokichi is the “supreme leader” of a pacifist prankster club (DICE), and it isn’t revealed until the end of Chapter 5 that Kokichi actually had good intentions in setting up his mastermind persona (although, as seen above, those good intentions are still very easily interpreted in a bad light).

So why does he bother to so obviously cry wolf at Gonta’s death just to double back on his persona ten-fold as soon as he’s called out on it? Because he’s just trying to sell his mastermind persona, not only to the other characters and the mastermind, but to the player themself. This is intended by both Kokichi and the writers themselves, made obvious by the fact that we get no real evidence of Kokichi being a benevolent person until long after this scene. (There are many moments in earlier chapters where Kokichi is trying to be helpful to the group or to a specific character, however every time he attempts this, it is painted in a negative light because he is either going against the protagonist’s will or achieving things in a more underhanded manner via lies or provocation). 

When I saw Kokichi crying for Gonta, my first thoughts were, “I am going to THROTTLE this fucking BASTARD.” Because even if those tears were real, Kokichi was still the one fully responsible for Gonta’s death, so I felt that he had no right to shed tears over it. If it weren’t for Kokichi’s crying during this scene, I would have been very suspicious of how suddenly his evil villain act amped up. If he hadn’t shed tears that were so obviously fake, I would not have been nearly as enraged with him, and therefore not nearly as willing to just accept the fact: “Well. Guess he’s evil now.”

Whereas I would’ve chalked the scene without crying to bad writing, the viewers of the killing game, and by extent the mastermind, would garner suspicion towards his actions. Although Kokichi was not aware that Keebo had direct contact with the outside world, he was very aware that the killing game had to have been broadcasted to somewhere. He had to ensure that he was as convincing as possible; that meant no “bad writing” mistakes could be left anywhere.

I stand by what I said before in that Kokichi’s crying in this scene is just a bunch of crocodile tears. However, with new context and information surrounding the situation, they probably weren’t devoid of emotion. Kokichi only allowed himself to cry here in order to properly double back on his new mastermind persona, however, unlike what I believed before, he most likely did feel remorse at the deaths of Gonta and Miu. He just broke his last standing moral code: don’t murder people. And he broke it by indirectly causing the deaths of two people he may have considered to be his friends. That’s heavy stuff! 

Kokichi is faking these reactions to the trial because he has to if he wants to deceive everybody. But... the best acting comes from the heart.

LONELINESS AND GUILT:

As I covered in my initial reaction to Kokichi’s breakdown, I felt as though he couldn’t possibly have any remorse for his actions, so he must have been devastated knowing that he would now be truly alone. This view was heavily influenced by Shuichi’s words after the trial... because they were true. 

After Kokichi criticizes the group for coming to Kaito’s aid, Shuichi turns around and tells Kokichi that he is the pathetic one because he will always be alone. There are no lies to these words. Now that Gonta is dead, and now that Kokichi has gone so far into his persona, not a single person wants to even be near him.

Now that I’ve established that Kokichi’s actions post-trial were most definitely an act and not representative of his true feelings, we can discuss what his true feelings may have been. I come back to the idea of Kokichi fearing being alone because, hey! My past ignorant self was actually onto something!

The acknowledgement that Kokichi feels remorse for his actions just makes this situation even sadder for him; not only did he just indirectly murder two people and has to put up with the guilt of that, but now, nobody cares about him either. Not that anybody in the cast cared for him all that much in the first place (aside from Gonta), but Shuichi’s words to him here seal his fate as the permanent outcast and assigned villain of the group. He had already been struggling with loneliness throughout the beginning chapters of the game, and now Shuichi - the only person he finds truly trustworthy (according to his little whiteboard, at least) - is confirming to him that nobody wants him. Ouch.

I am personally led to believe that a large part of the reason that Kokichi ends up sacrificing himself in Chapter 5 has a lot to do with the broken feelings he would’ve had under the combined guilt of his actions and the crushing reality of loneliness.

Would Kokichi have offered to sacrifice himself anyways given the circumstances? Probably, yeah. However, the way he was so accepting of his death reminded me a lot of Kaede in Chapter 1; she couldn’t allow herself to take the First Blood Perk because she felt that she had to atone for her sins, or she could never live with herself. Kokichi seems, in the moment, to be more than willing to die, perhaps for the same reasons. Not only would be feel like he has to make up for the deaths he caused, but he would also feel like he had nothing left to live for, at least not within the academy anyway.

Or maybe he was just tired from the poison, not from life. But who’s to say? We can’t see inside of his head.

FINAL THOUGHTS / CONCLUSION:

OK, so some final thoughts before wrapping this up: Holy shit, Kokichi is an asshole.

Even knowing the emotional turmoil Kokichi must have been going through, it was still infuriating to see him treat Gonta so poorly in Trial 4. Perhaps it was just a part of his act as well? Regardless, it really just did not sit with me well. Under no circumstance should Kokichi be continulessly yelling at Gonta while he’s crying from the insults, for real. But hey, at least if it was just another act from Kokichi, then he can rest easy knowing he certainly had me fooled.

...

So, in my opinion, Kokichi’s infamous breakdown was entirely fabricated. He had to fake both his tears and his sadism in order to fully convince the world that he was a force of pure malice in order to get away with what he had planned. However, despite his apparent change in personality, he never really was sadistic, and may have even cared for the people around him till the very end.

That’s all I guess  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[datawyrms]

That’s Robophobic!

Is K1-B0 really too sensitive about being a robot, a far too long rambling thing digging through every bit of dialogue he has.

short answer: no. long answer: HOLD ON FOLKS I’N SERIOUS ABOUT EVERY BIT OF TEXT as i’m bored and i’m going to spit ideas about my Favourite good robot at you all day. It’s entire prologue and first chapter I am serious this thing is huge and way too many words.  Also spoilers everywhere so uh. Don’t...look at this if you haven’t finished V3ok.

Prologue 

Keebo doesn’t talk or do anything in this bit! He’s just there. Up front for the splash and then hiding in the back afterwards. Officially according to the art book he is in fact a robot at this point in time as well. He’s just covered up and apparently doesn’t have to have those lines on his face or the ear-analogues he’s got most of the game. The More You Know. (not that this should stop anyone from havin fun in fan work. do what makes you happy!) I mostly point it out as Being A Robot is a massive part of Keebo’s character, so the fact he’s always one isn’t really that surprising. We’ll get into that more when he actually...has lines... oh and the mild theory of Monodam basically being Keebo’s Bear Equivalent, they have similar plot beats/character progression though the Monokubs are shaky in general so :v MOVING ON

Ultimate Revival

aka we meet Keebo and Kokichi ‘properly’ for the first time. The pair should generally be the 6/7th students protag bumps into. (me replaying and going ‘lol Tsumugi makes herself the first not Shuichi person Kaede should canonically meet by the placements’) Get used to Kokichi, a massive amount of Keebo’s dialogue is with, in response of, or directed at him, and this introduction is a testament to that. You meet them mid interaction!

Kokichi- Heeey! Wait for meee!

That boy in white is chasing that other boy in the funny clothes... What's happening here?   

Great opening robot. You spend most of the time lonely but the first we see of you is running away from someone. (It’s an interesting difference to how he reacts to Kaede/Shuichi in their first FTEs.) That, and apparently Kaede doesn’t peg Keebo as a robot here. Shuichi says he’s ‘chasing somebody’, so he might have noticed.

Kokichi: C’mooon! Wait up! Lemme touch your body a little! I've always wanted to be friends with a robot! Kaede: What? A robot!? K1-B0: ...What is it? Are you another robophobe?  I have a recording function. If you make any robophobic remarks, I will see you in court. 

keebs you don’t have the money to take anything to court but we’ll let you keep that delusion ok. and you’re probably legally counted as property In fairness, the robot lad is not making the best first impression! Kokichi is kinda childish by just assuming he should get to touch the robot, but he is genuinely interested at this point. It’s easy to read this as Keebo being too touchy. He’s sensitive about that being a robot is the ONLY thing you care about. So Kokichi wanting to be friends with a robot and being grabby...well there he goes getting defensive. (and it turns out he probably has reasons to not like grabby hands. kaede)

Kaede:  Wait...you're a robot!? Are you, for reals, a robot!?  Shuichi:  A-Are you...one of the Monokubs—   K1-B0:  Do not compare me to those toys! I am not just any old robot! 

Keebo is completely justified here, visually he isn’t even close to a Monokub or an Exisal, and lacks a split two tone theme. Would you want to be compared to a Monokub? No. No you would not. He’s also showing at bit of that pride here, calling them ‘toys’, though they do seem as capable as thinking as he is. (keebo is also a robophobe oh no.)

Oh look it’s the reason you have SO MANY NAMES. Some people prefer the ‘Kiibo’ shortening, but all the screenshots are going to say Keebo so we’re gonna be consistent. We are never going to see another character refer to him as K1-B0, but everything interface wise will call him this. We might not think you’re a person, but we’ll use your preferred name no problem. probably because k1-b0 is a mouthful

Kaede:  A robot and...supreme leader? Neither of them make any sense. Kokichi: By the way, I learned the hard way that a robot's breath smells like gasoline. K1-B0: My breath does not smell like gasoline! I am powered by electricity! Kokichi: Nee—heehee...I'm just kidding. K1-B0: ...You're not funny. Kokichi:   Of course you don't think I'm funny. Robots can't understand human humor to begin with! K1-B0:  D-Don't mock me! I have studied the complete history of stand-up comedy! 

Things we learn: These two are weird. That, and Keebo is kind of terrible at interacting with people. He takes the lie/joke at face value, hesitates when corrected that it is a joke (But doesn’t go saying ROBOPHOBIA this time). and each time he’s responding he’s trying to prove something. The little stammer seems like Keebo knows he’s bad at it but darn it he’s going to tell you about the things he can do. Like study stand-up comedy. (Poorly)

Kaede: I think you should've just watched stand-up comedy instead of studying it...   K1-B0: Plus, I may have the appearance of a robot, but I am a high school student just like you Shuichi: You're a high school student? K1-B0: I was created by Professor Idabashi, the leading authority in the field of robotics...  He installed in me a "strong AI," capable of learning and maturing like a human brain. That's why, at the time of my creation, I didn't know anything. I was like a baby...  But the professor raised me like I was his own child. He taught me so many things... Until finally, he enrolled me in high school. And now I stand here before you all! See? I’m just like everyone else! Kokichi: Hey, do robots have dicks? K1-B0: Please do not ask ridiculous questions! Kokichi: Nee-heehee... I only asked because your backstory is pretty flaccid for a robot. Kaede: Well, I can see how being a robot might be enough to be called the Ultimate Robot...

Keebs loves talking about himself, this like the longest intro block of text. Then the justification to why Keebo is Pretty Garbage at fitting in! He speaks rather formally and uses contractions less often than he could and spends a lot of time clarifying things you could probably assume. His entire life up to this point he’s basically been home schooled by a leading robotics expert from scratch, and we don’t even know for how long. He doesn’t mention any other people, and even via FTEs and Salmon mode he never refers to having any other close relations or friends. (This isn’t uncommon for most of the cast there isn’t a ton of FTE time to bring up things that don’t matter, but they’ll usually MENTION other people/activities that you could reasonably assume would involve others.)  He says he was raised ‘like his own child’ but Keebo might have zero actual context to what a family relationship looks like! Kaede’s mental crack nudges at this, maybe our robot friend ‘knows’ what something is, but has he actually experienced it? Is he just assuming his experience is ‘close enough’ to whatever he was taught? We don’t know! For all we know Keebo has only been operational for like three years. He’s incredibly aware he’s a robot, he doesn’t use words like born and always clarifies he was like a baby or a child, but not literally so. So constantly being reminded like he doesn’t already know that might be annoying for him. Really he’s asking for respect and to be treated like an equal...but he’s expressing it by saying he’s the same as everyone.  Also: We’re just meeting him and we’ve already got two people going ‘this is a disappointing robot’. Kaede doesn’t even think he’s much of an Ultimate right now, and we all know Kokichi’s thoughts :v This trend will continue.

Kaede: Hey... Everything he's said so far has sounded like a lie, so that's gotta be a lie too, right? K1-B0: Just leave him alone. Everything he has been saying has been a lie. ...He's a far more suspicious person than I am, that's for sure. Kokichi: Well, of course you're not a suspicious person, because robots aren't people, silly. K1-B0: Grgh...! Kokichi: Oh, you mad? Are you gonna hit me with a rocket punch? K1-B0: I don't have that function! Kokichi: Aw maaan, you’re boring.

Keebo will use ‘person’ to describe himself! Never human. It’s likely the main conflict he’s having is having a different definition for ‘personhood’ than most of his fellow classmates. If you’re into marine life, you might know about how dolphins and whales seem intelligent enough that considering them ‘non human persons’ was/is bandied about sometimes, and the whole issue with that is well, we’re humans. Everything we judge is going to related to the human experience. (National Geographic had a neat article on the topic in 2015 I think?) Keebo is not coming from that experience. He knows he can think and feel like all the others, so of course if he needs a word, it’s ‘person’. Note how he doesn’t actually argue back when Kokichi says he isn’t one. They’re both ‘right’ in a sense, even if Keebo clearly doesn’t like it.

K1-B0:  I may have the appearance of a robot, but I am a high school student just like you. From one high school student to another, I hope we can all get along! Kokichi: Who creates a robot without a rocket punch? Why do you even exist?

Yes, even in post conversation dialogue Kokichi comes along for the ride. Here Keebo goes trying to use ‘high school student’ as a describer instead of person since he is undeniably a student. The fact he flips from being proud of what he is to downplaying the fact he’s a robot is pretty interesting and the first look at the difficulty he’s going to be having. Fitting in=Respect.  While Kokichi is digging for more info, but Keebo doesn’t elaborate or react to the repeated rocket punch reference :v Shuichi and Kaede only comment on Kokichi in the post dialogue, so nothing to add from them.

Then we get to the gym. Kaede chastises Himiko for being lazy and then Keebo decides to add his thoughts. With an apology. This boy can’t decide if he has all the confidence or none of it.

K1-B0: Pardon me, but...we need to be on our guard. We do not know if and when danger will strike. Kokichi: D-don’t say that... I’m so scared... I don’t know what to do... Angie: There is no need to worry. Atua will protect us. Kokichi: Phew! That’s a relief!

oh look a Keebo line immediately followed by a Kokichi one i wonder if this will be a trend. Kokichi points out that Keebo phrased ‘uh we might be in danger’ rather poorly with his little emotion flip flop. We know that Keebo means it in the best way possible, he wants the best for everyone, but it’s unnecessary. Yes, nothing has happened, but they all know they’ve been kidnapped by weird colourful bears. Are you restating for the audience at home Keebs? (...he could be. Inner voice is a fun can of worms. we’ll get to that.) He doesn’t speak again until the killing game is announced.

Tenko: W—Wait a second. What did you say? K1-B0: I-If I heard him correctly— Monodam: KILLING-GAME

There he goes taking someone completely literally. Then not even getting to finish his sentence because Monodam cuts him off. The Monokubs do their jabroni throwdown thing annnnd Tsumugi: In a situation like this, is he just going to watch!? K1-B0: Either way, it's too dangerous! We need to get out of here or else—  Monokuma: Now, now, now... Kaede: What? Monokuma: My cute little cubs... You gotta knock off this awful fighting...

Cutting off other robots is apparently a family trait, because Monokuma does it here too! The fact Keebo is instantly suggesting running also shows he’s not really the aggressive sort. When you see his profile image in the Monopad you might think he’d be a scary sort of fighter bot. Buuuutnope. The Monobear gang do their chattering/properly introduce Monokuma

Maki: Headmaster? K1-B0: It appears to be some sort of autonomous robot with a built-in A.l., like me... Monotaro: Dong dong dong! The Exisals are different, though! They're brainless buckets of bolts!

He does recognize Monokuma/kubs as similar to himself here instead of continuing on with the current question of ‘how is this thing a headmaster of anything’. Keebo would probably be the expert on this, but no one asked. Time and place for information is also something Keebo is terrible at :v Monokuma: It's just...when I said it before, I kinda just phoned it in and now I feel awkward... I want you students with your Ultimate-level talents to participate in a killing game. Kaede: K-Killing game? Us? K1-B0: Please stop joking! Why would we agree to participate in a killing game!? Monokuma: Huh? You guys don't wanna do it?  

‘Maybe he’s joking like Kokichi was earlier!’ Sorry robot friend, Monokuma is not joking. Keebs cares about death, even if reasonably he could be as ‘replaceable’ as Monokuma (Though we sort of know he isn’t based on Tsumugi’s mentioning that she’s glad he ‘made it to the end’.)  Keebo doesn’t comment again after this

He is the second to show up after Kaede in the into though! Considering he is a ‘protagonist’ (for the ‘real world’) that’s not too surprising, while Shuichi is hiding in the 5th spot, after Rantaro.

Chapter 1

ohboy here we go. With the entire cast alive, Keebs is very much a background character. What’s his first line as everyone is learning the rules of the killing game?

Tsumugi: But...we looked all over that wall and there wasn't a single hole. K1-B0:  Now wait just a second. If there's no opening in the wall... Then how did we get inside these walls in the first place? Tsumugi:  ...Oh, good point.

Correcting Tsumugi. No horrified reactions or anything, but oh That Isn’t Logical I Will Correct You. Especially in group settings, Keebo generally sticks to factual statements, unless he’s being goaded. Once again, he has nothing else to say after this! But before you have Gonta open the manhole cover, Keebo shows up in Kokichi’s dialogue if you talk to him.  aka this is optional content.

Kokichi: Whoa, look at all these weeds. This place could definitely use a groundskeeper. Right, Kee—boy!? K1-B0: Why are you telling me that? Furthermore... I would prefer you address me as "Keebo." Kokichi: But you can pull weeds. Right, Kee-boy? K1-B0:  I can do all sorts of things just as well as any person! Kokichi: As well as any person...? But...you're not a person. K1-B0: Th-That's discrimination... Robophobic discrimination...

I don’t have anything to say, time to hassle the robot is a pretty common tactic for Kokichi. He’s also the only one to nickname Keebo a second time. No one else will be calling him Keeboy. It’s curious how he pulls Keebo into this conversation, and how Keebo doesn’t really seem to know how to react to it and just tries to correct Kokichi about his name. We can add our second example of him actually going ‘robophobia’ to the list though :v He seems a bit offended that he’s being underestimated/having the suggestion floated that he can only pull weeds and basically does a low key brag about his abilities ‘all sorts of things’. In fairness, ‘as well as any person’ isn’t exactly a useful metric for ability. People vary a lot! Again he doesn’t deny that he ‘isn’t a person’, by going ‘robophobia’ he’s practically agreeing. If you talk to Keebo directly...

K1-B0: ...There is a monitor here, too. That aside, this is a rather remote location to install a communication device... K1-B0: ...lt's a pointless expenditure, wouldn't you agree?

He’s making observations about the area alone and trying to be useful by posing a question. That, and getting someone to agree with you is a decent tactic to becoming more friendly, and it’s a pretty easy thing to agree with... He’s not actually being useful, since we have no reason to care why Monokuma would make pointless expenditures, but he’s trying. This is also the most dialogue any single person has (Kurumi gets close, but only has one textbox to Keebo’s two.) Time to lift a manhole cover aaaannnnd

Angie: Awwww, this manhole cover looks heavy. Can we even lift it? K1-B0:  I can try. Keebo placed his hands on the manhole cover, and with all his strength he—Grgh...! Grrrrrrrrrrrrgh...! How embarrassing. It won't even budge. Angie:  Huhhh? A robot's not even strong enough to move it? K1-B0: Oh, don't worry. My physical strength is approximate to that of a strong senior citizen. Miu: Th-That's fuckin' pathetic! K1-B0: Th-The professor did not want a repeat of the tragedy that occurred during trial production. Tsumugi: Umm... Now I'm just plain curious about what happened during that trial...

Yes, the first time Miu ever interacts with Keebo, she calls him pathetic. :v His want to help overroad the common sense that he probably wouldn’t be able to lift it at all. It is also possible Kokichi’s comments made him want ho show he can do things. Even though he literally can’t do this. Tsumugi was very much me at this moment, going ‘wait explain that please’ but no one else really cares so he won’t be clarifying. The fact he just goes there was a tragedy in trial production and no one bats an eye is low key hilarious to me. He’s just so matter of fact about it. Gonta then makes the cover look like a paper plate.

Kokichi: But Gonta is sooo much more reliable than some bean—counting robot. K1-B0:  Are you...talking about me? Because I can count many things, not just beans.

His objection is that he can count lots of stuff. Not that he’s a bean-counting robot, or less useful than Gonta. Keebo is adorable, okay. Keebo doesn’t speak again after this, meaning we’re back in optional dialogue time! This is right outside the death road of despair.

Miu: You're too weak, Keebo! Lemme remodel you and I'll make you the strongest robot ever! First, I'll soup up your crotch plate by installin' a nice, thick one, just how I like it! Hah-hahaha!

Miu is Miu. Keebo doesn’t respond to this! It is fun to see Miu’s already excited that there’s a robot around that isn’t evil to tinker with, but we don’t know how he feels about it for the moment. Her lab isn’t even open yet and she STILL is talking about remodling new robot pal :v (and yes i am putting down dialogue that relates to Keebo even if he doesn’t react/isn’t present for it. Knowing what the other characters think of him is important too.)

K1-B0: ...It's quite dusty in here. Prolonged exposure to this polluted air may be detrimental to one's health. Angie: Whaaat? Polluted air bothers you? But you don't even breathe air, right? K1-B0: W—Well, that is... While it's true that I do not breathe, I also do not like polluted air any more than you do. Kokichi: I see, you have a function for sensing poisonous gases! Well then, lead the way! K1-B0: N—No! I don't have that function! Do I look like a canary to you? Kokichi: Whaaat, you don't? Then you're even more useless than a canary! K1-B0: Grgh...

oh did you think he’d have a conversation without Kokichi. WRONG. Poor Keebo is already a bit flustered by being called out as different again when he was mostly just making an observation like he did upstairs. The whole not breathing thing is a pretty big difference and he’s instantly going I STILL DON’T LIKE IT, even though originally he might have just meant everyone’s health in general. Being able to sense poison gasses would probably be a helpful skill, and it’s a reasonable deduction...buuuut since he doesn’t have that it just gets to be an easy jab at him instead. The fact Keebo instantly goes for the canary comparison when as a robot he could be reasonably expected to not die because of the gasses is a bit odd, but sets him up wonderfully for a roast :v Keebo is one of the few that gets to ‘...’ at the death road failure, but doesn’t comment again until everyone is rallying themselves for another shot.

Tenko: My body is ready! You can tell by how outta control my pit sweat is! Kaede: E—Everyone! K1-B0: Isn’t it premature to say what we’ll do after we escape? Assumptions are all but useless. Kokichi: Geez, you're clueless... Why am I not surprised that a robot can't read the air? K1-B0: Robots can read the air! Thanks to innovations in pollutant-detecting technology, I— Kaito: Anyway, it doesn’t matter if Monokuma says it’s impossible! We’ll show him what we can do!

Kaito has joined the ‘people who cut off Keebo mid sentence’ club. Keebo is TERRIBLE at interacting. The question is probably genuine, logically they’re thinking too far ahead but like he’s told...now is not the time to be throwing reality in people’s faces Keebs. Or for desperately trying to prove yourself as able to read the air by completely misunderstanding what Kokichi is saying. he’s such a little disaster. i adore this silly robot. Once Kokichi calls Kaede out for ‘torturing’ everyone, K1-B0: Given the circumstance...the most logical course of action would be to give up...

No mentions of how he’s feeling. Just logic and trying to relate it to facts. I assume he expects feelings to be ignored so he sticks to facts for that reason...but that’s just my reading. He does it again when Rantaro speaks up.

Rantaro: Hey, guys? Just...as a warning...We shouldn’t let our guards down. We’ll be easy targets at night. Gonta: C-Cuz of killing game, you mean? K1-B0: I see no need to worry about something as illogical as murder taking place here. Rantaro: I know, I know. Just a warning.

Even though he says there’s no need to worry, he’s absolutely sporting a worried sprite. Yet he goes for saying it’s illogical for murder to be taking place. He can’t see any way doing such a thing would be justified at the moment, and you can see Keebo is a bit of a stickler for things ‘making logical sense’. When he’s not just taking the advice of a voice in his head anyway. We don’t hear from him again until the next morning in the dining hall.

Korekiyo: Now...all of us have arrived.  Kehehe...I'm glad. It looks as though there were no victims. K1-B0: But of course! Kokichi: By the way...are you okay, Kaede? Kaede: Huh? What do you mean? Kokichi: Well...you looked pretty bummed out after everyone started blaming you yesterday. Tsumugi: H-Hey... What are you doing all of— Kokichi: Seriously, you guys are so mean. Poor girl... She tried her best to encourage everyone, and you sore losers got mad at her anyway. K1-B0: What's the point of bringing that up again? Tenko: Actually...didn’t *you* blame Kaede first?

Oh look, Keebo’s being positive. Since everyone lived and he can confidently say that now. He’s also showing that Understanding Kokichi For Dummies was not in his hard drive, but he is trying to figure him out a little. Why did you bring it up? They don’t know, because Tenko gives him an easy out here. Not that he was likely going to answer anyway, but hey! A direct question! Which he follows up on after the rest of the class squabbles about it here..

Kokichi: Phew, cool beans! Now everything’s settled! K1-B0: ...But you did blame her first, didn't you? Kokichi: Well, that was a lie. Y'know, one of those lies to make us more united or whatever. Did you know half my lies are actually told with good intentions? Himiko: Now *that* sounds like a lie.

Kokichi actually answers! Genuinely, no less, even though he’s already got his lying reputation by this point. Kokichi is surprisingly up front with Keebo a decent chunk of the time, even if most of the time it’s just His Opinion On The Robot. Maybe he knows no one’s gonna take anything he says to Keebo very seriously now that he’s laid out the constant mockery groundwork. and then monokuma shows up

Maki: ...Motivation to kill? Monokuma: In short, a motive! That oughta add some mystery to the proceedings! Even if a killer is exposed, they could whip up a sob story to deceive everyone! K1-B0: Wh-What are you saying? Your logic is impossible to understand...! Monokuma: I will now announce the first motive! Make sure  you record this moment for prosperity! Now then, the special motive I’ve prepared is called the First Blood Perk!  Wow! For the first murder that occurs, no class trial will be held! Can you believe it? That means the first one to kill someone will get to graduate, no strings attached! Maki: No class trial will be held? Monokuma: I'm sorry that I made the class trial seem more important than it really is... So for the first murder, I've decided not to hold a class trial at all. Please just relax, calm down and kill! After all, the first one’s free! Miu: Huh? That's all!? We just gotta kill someone to get outta here!? K1-B0: "That's all"!? What's that supposed to mean!? Please just calm down! Tenko: First Blood Perk!? Don't make it sound like some kind of game show bonus!

Keebo is super anti-murder, though it’s sort of funny how his plea to Miu is very close to Monkuma’s own wording to ‘just calm down’. He doesn’t understand why you’d want to kill someone or make someone kill another, and seems genuinely surprised someone would do it based on how he reacts to Miu here. Leaving is not a justifiable reason to murder for Keebo, and we get that fact pretty fast. Then he just watches until Kaito gets himself in trouble by threatening Monokuma.

Monosuke: Youse bastards better pay attention! This is what happens when you mess with us! Kaito: Wh...what? What are you guys planning to do? K1-B0: P-Please, don't! Kaede: Run, Kaito!

More pleading to reconsider, because watching people die is Not Fun. Asking the Monokubs to not do something over encouraging Kaito is a bit notable though, no one really tries to reason with them. Keebo might not like them, or like being compared to them, but still seems to think they might be able to be reasoned with. They are AIs like him after all...and he doesn’t remark on anything after Monotaro messes up and crushes Monokuma either. I wonder if watching Monokuma die bothered him at all. (I think it might have, on the walk to the library Shuichi takes Kaede on, Keebo is one of the few characters that isn’t around to talk to.) You don’t see him again until the next morning where he’s hanging out near the main entrance.

K1-B0: Good morning, Kaede. Kaede: Morning, Keebo. K1-B0: Everyone appears to have gathered at the dining hall again. Kaede: Yup, looks like it. K1-B0: I'm thinking about heading over there as well, but... ... Kaede: But? K1-B0: Oh, nothing. I was just wondering...when someone is going to come rescue us. It's been almost a full day since Monokuma was dispatched, but our situation hasn't changed. I'm just speculating, but what if... ...only Monokuma knew about this place? What if this location is not on any map? What if...no one is coming to rescue us? Kaede: Huh? K1-B0: Maybe...we'll just be forgotten, and no one will ever find us again... Kaede: D-Don’t say that! Besides, we should be trying to escape, not waiting for someone to rescue us! K1-B0: Y-Yes...I apologize. I was overthinking things. It would be impossible to discreetly construct a facility such as this in the first place. Plus, if the professor knew I was missing, he would not rest until he found me. With his technology, he would rescue us! No matter where on earth this place is! Kaede: Yeah... K1-B0: On the other hand...it *has* only been one day. As much as we'd love to go home right now, we must wait in a calm, dignified manner! (you need to talk to him a second time to get this line)   

This poor boy has thought himself into a tizzy and is looking to Kaede for some of that positive thinking that he’s not super great at. He goes from ‘good morning’ to ‘oh it’s nothing but I’m worried we’ll never be found :v’ in two seconds flat. Keebo DOESN’T SLEEP. He’s probably been overthinking all night! He has no trouble finding reasons to not worry once Kaede shakes him out of it, and once again shows us he thinks a great deal about the professor who made him. Look at him going all ‘we must wait calmly’ like it wasn’t just him having a miniature breakdown there. Keebs is fond of ‘we’. Not a shock, since Fitting In and being part of the group is kinda big deal for him. At breakfast he’s taken the whole ‘don’t worry’ thing to heart.

Gonta: But...when someone coming to get us? K1-B0: Whoever does...I assume they will come today. There's no need to worry. Rantaro: ...

he’s probably a bit over positive in thinking they’ll be rescued in a single day after Monokuma’s demise though. Logically they’re going to be saved, therefore it should be quick. Keebo kinda runs down bad logic paths like this to extremes instead of staying a middle ground. there’s levels between we’re all gonna be stuck forever and rescue today keebo.

Monokuma: After dying in a tragic car accident, I've been reborn as a Yo-Kai! Call me Jibakuma, kuma! K1-B0: Jibakuma...? Monokuma: From now on, I'm the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy, kuma! You might feel uncomfortable at first, but eventually you'll get used to it. 

Keebo’s the only one to even sort of play along. Considering he has everyone call him something other that his name, I can see him continuing to use ‘Jibakuma’ if Monokuma had kept up the bit for more than ten seconds :v audience stand in keebs always on standby if a bit is falling flat for the other participants. Next motive gets given, Kubs do their shitk with the one of a kind thing and Kaede: Of course! We never left! K1-B0: Why are you doing this!? How much suffering do you want to put us through!? Monokuma: I see... Well, if you're suffering, you all better hurry up and start the killing game. Puhuhu... then you can say bye-bye to the suffering.

monokuma is directly answering the audience at this point I swear. Keebs does do a decent amount of the ‘obvious protag questions’...it is kinda his job. It’s interesting in hindsight. Bears leave, panic happens.

Kaito: W-We can’t panic about something like this. I’ll...do something about it. K1-B0: ...Did you have a course of action in mind? Kaito: I'm...gonna start thinking of one right now!

Kaito is so salty about Keebo pointing out he has no actual plan that he doesn’t invite him to the ‘fight Monokuma’ meeting on the final day. (or doesn’t trust a robot/think he’d help after the manhole debacle.) Keebs, once again bringing down the mood with reality/ genuine questions he doesn’t think through very well. (And honestly Kaito’s whole believing in people thing is inherently illogical, so they don’t really see eye to eye...) They then discuss fighting back.

Ryoma: You're going to go against those machines barehanded? Isn't that too reckless? Tenko: B-But...we have to do it! If we don't, we'll die! K1-B0: Wait! We still have plenty of time to calculate all possible options— Korekiyo: We’ve no time to be indecisive. We are being urged to make a decision... To die fighting... Or die from the time limit.

That’s four members of the cut Keebo off club. :v Keebo might react in the moment, but when it comes to making a plan? Yeah he’d rather take the time to think over everything, but apparently that’s not an option here so he gets trampled over.

Kaede: Miu! You better not do anything shady, okay!? K1-B0: There is no need to worry, is there? No one is going to...kill anyone, right? Himiko: If someone is going to kill, they should just go for the robot. K1-B0: That's even worse!

It really isn’t Keebo’s day. Korekiyo goes right into talking about ‘why does everyone think killing is wrong’ here, no one goes ‘hey maybe don’t threaten the robot’. Poor guy hesitates to even say kill and then gets told he should die first and no one stands up for him. being keebo is suffering. People start leaving and Rantaro starts being Mysterious

Kaede: Ultimate Hunt? What is that...? I've never heard of it. K1-B0: What about it?  Rantaro: ...Nothing, forget it.

Curious robot is curious. That and is doing the whole protag thing again by following on weird unanswered questions, not that it goes anywhere this time. When you talk to him after Rantaro leaves, he’s still thinking about it.

K1-B0: That Ultimate Hunt Rantaro mentioned...what do you suppose it is? ...Any theories, Kaede? Kaede: I don't know... It's the first time I've heard of it... K1-B0: It sounds so...violent. It sounds like it involves us somehow...No, disregard that. Nobody has any clue what it could mean, so it is illogical to continue thinking about it. Our more pressing concern...is the current predicament we find ourselves in. Kaede: Yeah, you're right... K1-B0: We have until nighttime, two days from now... What should we do until then? (once again you need to talk to him a second time for this line.)

He’s pretty much on the right track, but dismisses it before he can drop into that overthinking spiral he was doing earlier in the day, and decides to refocus on the current problem, probably trying to be helpful again. Yet again, reason why is ‘it’s illogical’ to keep worrying about it. Of course, he doesn’t actually have any ideas here. Logic can only take you so far Keebs. He has nothing else to contribute until Free Time. If you chat to him in the first time slot...

K1-B0: A killing game... Why are we being forced to do such a thing? I cannot believe we're being subjected to this purely for the entertainment value!

Keebo has apparently found the script and read chapter six. oknotreally, he’s clearly basing this off the fact it’s called a game and Monokuma basically answered his ‘why are you doing this’ with ‘lolcuzican’, and can’t accept this as a valid reason. Yet he’s not gonna get another one! In time slot two he’s hanging out at the gym

K1-B0: I'm tired of everyone's prejudices! Yes, I'm a robot. But I'm also a high school student like everyone else, you know!?

Himiko literally said kill him first, I think he’s allowed to be a bit miffed about being treated differently. He’s still not arguing that he’s not different, but wants to be treated the same way the others are in ways they can be. sadly for Keebs he is this game’s easy target and he will not be getting a break ever and he needs a hug. Instead we’re going to make a mockery of him again when Shuichi recruits Kaede for operation ‘Get Miu to Make Stuff For Us’ as go near the Casino area.

Kaede: Morning Keebo. K1-B0: Ah, good morning. Your timing is impeccable. I have something I wish to ask you both. Shuichi: Huh? What is it, Keebo? K1-B0: What are your thoughts on this door? No matter how hard I try, it will not open... Kaede: Um, well...it doesn't seem like an exit... K1-B0: What do you think is on the other side of this wall? Kokichi: Why don’t you fly over and see for yourself? K1-B0: Whoa—!? Shuichi: K-Kokichi!? Kokichi: C’mon! I wanna see you fly! Robots have jet packs or whatever under their feet, right? K1-B0: ... Kokichi: Whaaat? You...don’t...? K1-B0: ...No, I don't. Kokichi: ...Have a dick? K1-B0: Wh-What are you talking about!? Kokichi: Oh yeah! If you had a jet pack... then you could've flown over the wall and called for help! K1-B0: ... Kokichi: Geeeez! You're just a huge disappointment, Keebo! K1-B0: ... Kaede: K-Keebo? K1-B0: ...I’m fine. Please just let it be. I...don't like sci-fi functions like flight. Kaede: But aren't you already pretty sci-fi? K1-B0: ... Kaede: Um...it might be better to leave them alone... 

Oh look a big semi important conversation. Keebo’s just asking questions again, he seems to put a lot of importance on what other people think over what he personally does. (he listens to a voice in his head that he knows isn’t himself. listening to other people first is probably preprogramed into him so he’s more malleable >> You can also take it as having a lot of doubts about himself.) Of course, neither Kaede or Shuichi can have any more idea than he does about the wall and what’s beyond it, but he’s asking anyway! Then Kokichi shows up and completely redirects the conversation to Keebo’s abilities again. And robot just can’t follow this! He knows he’s going to disappoint Kokichi ability wise again and clams up instead of stating yes or no clearly here, it takes a second nudge to get an answer. Honestly it reads like he feels bad that the reason he can’t fly is because of something he personally doesn’t like, so he’s unable to help again. He just assures Kaede he’s fine and then clams up again. He’s probably not fine! Like Kaede thinks, Keebo is..pretty sci-fi on his own, but he’s not elaborating on why he doesn’t like that sort of thing. It makes him stand out too much, it makes him less ‘like everyone else’ is probably a safe bet though. And all of this is completely missable dialogue :v In free time slot three he’s in the B classroom alone.

K1-B0: ...Tsumugi just asked me if I can perform a "rocket punch." Why does everyone automatically assume that robots have a rocket punch function!? I don't have a violent function like that! 

it’s a common robot trope, but keebo doesn’t know this, apparently. But hey, bonus reafirrming that Keebo would consider rocket punching violent, and probably doesn’t have any other similar features. Nor does he want any. (For now.) In time slot 4, the final one...

K1-B0: ...At this rate, the time limit will expire before we know it. We must take action somehow... 

He’s worried again! That, and still using ‘we’. Killing someone and only looking out for himself isn’t an option here. He does have good reason to be worried though, if you swing on by to talk to Himiko at this time... Himiko: The time limit is tomorrow night... Maybe...we should kill the robot? Kaede: That's just a joke...right? 

seriously himiko you’re a jerk. I get it, you’re magic and he’s all science and wouldn’t buy a magic trick for a second but you have seen him around for a few days now and are just calling him ‘the robot’ and saying someone should kill him!  For the second time! At least he’s not in the room this time but come on! Himiko clearly has a division between human life and Keebo’s life, and she’s going to stay that way, Which, fair enough, a human can value human life over other forms of life (and guess what we usually do) but...he’s literally sitting and talking with you guys and in the exact same boat. He’s closer to human than a lot of things... After this free time we don’t see him at all until it’s corpse time. So I’ll throw down his Kaede FTEs now. With all the options. As I’m nuts.

K1-B0: If you have come to talk to me...that can only mean you are interested in me, right Kaede? I certainly do not mind. After all, I am the Ultimate Robot. Naturally, I will attract interest. Kaede: Yeah, I've never talked to such a human-like robot before... Well, any robot, really. Hey, if you don't mind... Can I ask you a question? K1-B0: By all means, ask me anything. Oh, but I cannot answer any questions about the technology used to create me. Kaede: Don't worry, I won't ask anything too difficult! Okay, first question...do you sleep at night? K1-B0: I have no need for sleep. However, it is necessary to recharge my power cells. Kaede: Oh, so you recharge! K1-B0: Yes, but I am still conscious while I recharge, so it's not quite the same as human sleep...A single charge generates a week's worth of power, so I don't need to do it very often. Kaede: Ooh, for one week, I see... I always assumed robots needed a lot of electricity. K1-B0: That's what's so incredible about me! My energy efficiency is truly incomparable! Kaede: Hmmm... K1-B0: ...That's it? Kaede: Huh? Was he expecting me to be more excited? To be honest, it's not *that* amazing... May I ask you another question, then? K1-B0: Yes, go ahead... Kaede: Do you eat? K1-B0: ...No... Kaede: Huh? He looks pretty down... Sorry, did I say something wrong? K1-B0: No, I'm sorry too...Though I cannot eat, food still looks delicious to me. The unfairness of it all pains me... Kaede: Yeah, that seems pretty rough. Do you like girls? K1-B0: ...Huh? Kaede: Are you attracted to human girls? Or do you prefer female robots? K1-B0: Are you suggesting...that robots should stick with their own kind? Kaede: I didn't mean it like that! I was just curious! Honest! K1-B0: Then...are you saying...that you...and me...? Kaede: Th-That's not it, either! K1-B0: ...Of course. I apologize for being overly self-conscious. I have never felt romantic attraction, so I cannot answer questions on that subject. Kaede: How do you feel about the Roomba? K1-B0: You mean...the disc-shaped cleaning robot that scoots along the floor Kaede: Yeah, that! Do you see them as, like, younger siblings or something? K1-B0:  ...Kaede, it's very robophobic to suggest that robots are only good for cleaning. You should know that I am completely different from that simple machine. Kaede: But you guys are basically the same, more or less...so I was just wondering K1-B0: That does not matter. If I am comparable to a human, that thing is comparable to a microbe. Kaede: But compared to Roombas, you're losing in the popularity department. K1-B0: Why, that's—! Kaede: I'm kidding! Really! K1-B0: Krgh...! Human jokes are rather vexing...! Kaede: I continued to ask Keebo some questions... Well, that's all! Thanks for answering them, Keebo! K1-B0: Yes, of course...You're the first person to ask me so many questions, one after the other. Kaede: Oh! Was I being too forward? K1-B0: No, that's not what I meant. I just thought......being treated like that isn't so bad. It's actually...kind of fun.

hooboy that’s a lot. Robot is just looking for some validation and is not gonna get it in the ways he thinks he should! One week battery life is incredibly impressive but Kaede sure doesn’t think so, or care to know why that is. She is pretty nice though, overall. Oh and the fact Keebo has a built in company secrets thing is kinda funny. Maybe that’s why he’s garbage with computers, he can’t blab if he doesn’t know jack :v. Mostly we just reconfirm that Keebo is pretty bad at talking to people and probably hasn’t met all that many. He also takes the ‘liking girl’s question really badly and backpedals into being offended when really he just doesn’t have an answer at all. Since he doesn’t know what love is. He actually apologizes for freaking out here, so apparently getting touchy is just his default reaction. :p You can see when he actually has time to explain why he doesn’t like a thing he’ll actually do so, and seems more reasonable when he can. Of course he doesn’t like being compared to something that scoots along, doesn’t think and cleans. They’re both robots, but really not on the same level...and Keebo isn’t quite sure how he’s going to handle that. He says it’s rude to say they’re only good for cleaning...but you can kind of tell he mostly means in relation to himself/robots as intelligent as he is. So instead he just sounds weird and inconsistent...and robophobic himself considering he thinks he’s better than other robots :v Even if it is a joke...Kaede is probably right about the roombas being more popular than Keebs. Also who the heck made him think food looks good when he can’t eat. That’s just mean.

Kaede’s blurb about him for the FTE is pretty positive too, when you see Shuichi’s they’re quite different. (Though their rank one FTEs are INCREDIBLY SIMILAR. because this is how Keebo introduces himself to people. By assuming they want to know about him and flailing. aka terribly. this poor robot. he’s probably only met other people interested in robotics before now.) So we move to FTE 2, where Kaede shows she’s an impulsive little imp when she wants to be!

Kaede: I'm chatting with Keebo again today, but... K1-B0: ...Kaede, is something troubling you? Kaede: N-No! It's nothing.  To be honest, something's been bothering me, and I can't really focus on our conversation.There's a button on Keebo's neck... What does it do? It's calling out to me... I wanna push the button! *thud* K1-B0: Hm? What was that sound? Kaede: Whatever that sound was, it occurred at the exact right time...Because when Keebo turned around, his neck was completely defenseless...Oh, god! The button is like screaming, "Don't push me! Don't push me!" But I'm definitely gonna push the button! *click!* 

(great job you broke him kaede. they do a ... back and forth like five times, just stare at it for a bit.) No reaction...? Keebo!? I called his name and circled around him... K1-B0: ... Kaede: Whaaaaat!? Keebo was completely frozen! Like a toy out of batteries...M-Maybe that was the emergency stop button!? Wh-What should I do!? Maybe if I push it again, it'll fix him...? Hoping that was the case, I pressed the button again. *click!* K1-B0: ... Kaede: ... K1-B0:  Wha—!? Kaede, why are you in front of me? Weren't you behind me earlier? A-And why are you so close to me? Kaede: I-I'm so glad... You're back to normal... K1-B0: Huh? What do you mean? Kaede: U-Um...well, I noticed a button on your neck, so I pushed it K1-B0: What—!? You discovered this button!? Kaede: I-I'm so sorry! It was tempting me! Was that the emergency stop button? K1-B0: ...Yes. It's there just in case my AI or essential functions encounter problems. Kaede: I didn't know you had such a function... K1-B0: Kaede...you know my secret now... Kaede: I-If it's a secret, then you should've hid it better! K1-B0: But what good is an emergency button that cannot be easily found in an emergency? Kaede: But there are people who might push it for fun...like me... K1-B0: ...That's true. I will forward your feedback to the professor when we get out of here. Kaede: Yeah, good idea... K1-B0: But...Kaede, that means you will have influenced my design. Which means you will have played a role in my creation. Kaede: Huh? You're exaggerating. K1-B0: It's no exaggeration. If Professor Idabashi can be considered my "father"...Then you, Kaede, will be my "mother." So I shall call you mom. Kaede: M-M-Mom!? What!? K1-B0: ...That was a joke. Kaede: U-Um... K1-B0: It's payback for messing with my body. You deserve at least that much. Kaede: Ha...hahaha... I'm so sorry, Keebo. A robot making a joke... That's pretty cool. The title of Ultimate Robot really suits him. K1-B0: Um, Kaede... Do you think you can keep that button a secret from everyone? Kaede: Yeah, don't worry. Kokichi definitely can't find out about his button. That would be a huge problem...

Keebo spends a good chunk of his own FTE completely frozen up :v That, and Keebo has this collar covering nearly all of his neck and half of his face! How did you get to it? Or are you calling the collar his neck. He’s probably had to deal with literally getting his buttons pushed before, but Kaede does apologize so he seems more okay with it than he’d usually be. (Really as long as you say sorry he’s generally okay...he wants you to like him.) Also, having that button probably isn’t a ton of fun, even if it’s important. He was completely unaware of what happened and a bit disoriented because of it. Yet he still has time to defend the professor about the placement of the stop button. (As I seriously doubt he had any say in where it is, Kaede! Don’t go pushing random buttons on people!) The fact he gets back at her with an attempt at a joke this time is pretty cute, considering he just previously said jokes are difficult for him. He’s learning! That and the fact both of them instantly go ‘Kokichi must never know’ is just ‘yes, hilarious.’ He’s pretty lucky she keeps it secret and no one else finds out. As an aside, Kaede can ask Rantaro what she thinks of people, and Keebo is an option.

Rantaro: Nah, it's nothing. By the way, who's the most...unique person here, in your eyes? Kaede:  Keebo... Rantaro: Being a robot is interesting enough that his personality barely matters. But you know, I think Keebo is on our side... Kaede: What do you mean, on our side? Rantaro: Have you ever heard of the Three Laws of Robotics? The long and short of it is...robots can't harm people. If Keebo's creator was a good scientist, he would have programmed that into Keebo's AI. We're all human, so we can assume that he's on our side...Of course, I'm just guessing

He probably wouldn’t appreciate his personality not having to matter, but Rantaro basically seems to trust Keebo here. Because he’s a robot :v Unfortunately, he doesn’t trust him enough to let him in on the survivor perk thing...he probably would have lived if Keebo came along to his ill advised library search. It’s much harder to sneak up on two people with a shot putt ball. speaking of shot putt balls, time to get past the part where he dies. Since Keebs is hiding out his room, he gets summoned by the body discovery announcement.

He doesn’t get it, and understandably panics a little, and doesn’t really interact with anyone, they’re all doing their own expressions of dismay. Miu’s does come after his though. What finally gets him talking again? Being worried he won’t be much help.

Kirumi: Do not fret. Just imagine this as something out of a police drama or detective manga. Right, Shuichi? Shuichi: R-Right... K1-B0: I'm in trouble... I've never watched police dramas or read detective manga! Korekiyo: Well...there's no need to think so hard. We need only converse with the corpse... A corpse is not simply a dead person. That is just an assumption made by the living. Yes! By coming face to face with the corpse, you will learn a great many things! (yes that is it exactly.)

Really though, how long has Keebo been ‘alive’? He’s never so much as looked at entire genre even once? You had time for the entire history of stand up and didn’t look at detectives? Shuichi taking charge a little does get him a bit more positive though.

K1-B0: As novice investigators, logic dictates that we work together rather than give in to paranoia.

Teamwork makes the dream work :v He also goes ahead and does the protagonist thing again here.

Kaede: We’ll all escape from here! I’ll make sure of it! K1-B0: So, let's get started. 

He’s the first one to say ‘okay let’s do the thing.’ He’s also the first to react when Kaede says...

Kaede: The mastermind killed Rantaro... K1-B0: ...Mastermind? I’m sorry, what are we talking about?

Asking clarifying questions is Keebo’s part time job at this rate. Most of the other characters have no idea what Kaede is going on about here! This exchange is ten times funnier when you know Kaede is actually right, Tsumugi’s sprite is on screen when she says this and everything. Keebo also trusts Monophanie at her word when it comes to developing the camera film.

K1-B0: And she said she had to follow the rules, so I don’t think she’d destroy evidence. 

He doesn’t say how he thinks very often! Though in this case he’s probably speaking from experience...he’s a robot too, and might have rules he absolutely has to follow. (Such as not talking about how he was created.) Gonta is the other one who trusts her...but Gonta is kind of a sweetheart that trusts almost anyone so :v. Angie also sort of does? But really, the ones who trust are all in the ‘probably not taken seriously’ camp. He continues to be a team player during the investigation.

Kirumi: I do not intend to offer a suggestion that would further arouse suspicion, but... K1-B0: No, that's logical! Please speak your mind, Kirumi! Kaito: It's not something you should be proud to say... but I guess we don't have a choice. After all, if we don't find out who the culprit is, we'll all be killed. 

Keebs with the logic train again, with Kaito there going ‘I Do Not Like’, seeing as it’s kinda hard to believe in your friends while suspecting them. He almost seems to be chastising Keebo here, since he’s unapologetically for the ‘stick in groups’ plan. Of course robot lad knows someone is dead, someone here had to have done it, taking all precautions therefore is only being sensible. In the investigation proper he hangs out in the classroom they kept watch in with Korekiyo, since he actually listens when they say stay in groups.

K1-B0: Kaede, Shuichi! I would like to ask you two a question! You were on lookout inside this classroom, right? Kaede: Yeah. From here, we could keep an eye on the basement, and it was close to the library, too. Shuichi: That’s our alibi. We were both in this classroom when the murder occurred. K1-B0: I see... Then the probability that you two committed the crime is extremely low... By the way...were you two together the entire time? Shuichi: No...I did leave for a bit to see what was happening in the basement. But besides that, we were together the whole time, until the receiver went off. Kaede: Y-Yeah, that's right... K1-B0: ...I understand. Thank you very much. Kaede: Is that all you wanted to ask? K1-B0 Oh, may I ask you one more question? Specifically, about that vent... It appears to be connected to this classroom. The air duct in the basement hallway leads to it... Shuichi: Yes, I was also concerned about this vent... That’s why we kept watch in this classroom. Kaede: Because the culprit wouldn't be able to use this vent if we're in here on lookout. K1-B0: Under those circumstances, it would be difficult to sneak into the library from here. Shuichi: Kaede stacked up books in front of the library vent as well. With those in the way, it would be even harder for someone to go in and out. K1-B0: Really? I will be sure to save that important piece of information to my memory bank. I hope my line of questioning has not offended either of you. It is necessary, so that we may find the truth. Kaede: Keebo, you totally sounded like a detective or a lawyer just now! Oh! Maybe you were a detective or a lawyer in a past life!

Keebo does not appreciate your absolute nonsense Kaede. Even if you’re meaning it as a complement. He’s trying pretty hard, noticing the vent and asking for alibis and trying to puzzle out what happened. He is of course, pretty wrong about these two being unlikely culprits for being here since he hasn’t considered how the murder occurred, but he’s already admitted to not being good at this. He even apologizes for being rude, he’s so worried about making people not like him! Yet he still gets prickly about the robot thing, but really Kaede should we be talking about past lives when there’s a smashed avocado downstairs at this very moment?

Kaede: Hey Keebo, what were you doing and where during the body discovery announcement?  K1-B0: Ah... My alibi.  ... ... (we get his glitching out sprite here :v) Kaede: ...Um, are you glitching right now? K1-B0: No, I'm just searching for the right words. In all honesty I was alone in my room, so I admit my alibi is not altogether reliable... Kaede: So...you don't have an alibi? K1-B0: But Ryoma said he was alone in his room, too. Kaede: Geez, way to throw him under the bus K1-B0:  Huh!? Th-That was not my intention! Kaede: But I see... Both Keebo and Ryoma don't have an alibi... That means, it's possible one of those two is the mastermind... K1-B0: Umm... Am I under suspicion because I don't have an alibi? Kaede: No... I won't suspect you just because you don't have an alibi. And I’m not saying that because you’re a robot or anything! I’m not robophobic at all! K1-B0: Thank you very much. But...you don't need to be so PC. 

Don’t throw Ryomas under busses. Though this is more of ‘I’m stating a fact’ and not really thinking how that comes off again. Well, really you should be under suspicion Keebo, but Kaede already knows who the culprit is and is trying to make you feel better since you’re clearly anxious about it. So she leans into your weak point...and you tell her it’s fine and she doesn’t need to do that. Now is that because her outright saying she not a robophobe makes you feel silly, or are you so worried about inconveniencing your friends you’re just automatically downgrading the importance of your feelings? keebo doesn’t know what he wants. So who’s the one to ask the protagonist about the last bit of evidence they get?

K1-B0: ...Kaede! Are those the developed photos?

zero points for guessing designated audience insert. I have a question and wish to ask it is just how he rolls, especially early on when everyone needs time to talk.

K1-B0: There is one more photo of the front entrance, correct? 

as you see.  A+ for consistency.

Kaede: The camera pointed at the front entrance only snapped these four photos... K1-B0: Neither Rantaro nor anyone else who could be the culprit are in the photos... Ryoma: Did they both enter through the back door, then? 

Adding his two cents, though he’s basically stating the obvious. Hmm. Is it really his two cents when he’s just making factual comments? Ryoma’s the one who actually moves the thought to the next question that needs to be answered.

Ryoma: Could the culprit have gone into the hidden door? K1-B0: Yes, that is a possibility. Korekiyo: For now, let us see the next picture. There is one remaining, isn't there? 

Validating other people’s assumptions but not adding any of his own here.  

Shuichi: But that would mean that Rantaro noticed it... He saw...our hidden camera... K1-B0: Moving the bookcase triggers the sensor, which in turn activates the camera, right? The bookcase appears to have already been moved, so why did the sensor activate...? Tenko: Who cares!? What happened to the culprit!? How come they're not in any of the photos!? 

Tenko, Keebo cares. That’s why he asked.  He’s either not quite understanding how the sensor works...or he’s pointing out the bookcase has moved more than it should have to trigger the sensor a second time. So we know someone came out of the mastermind lair when Rantaro got distracted by the flash. We will never touch on this again! We know the door can automatically close, but it’s in the exact same position despite the camera interval timers. this is probably just oversight but it is kind of funny to think this could have been a giveaway.

Kaede: We just need to expose the mastermind in this class trial! And then everything, including this killing game...will come to an end. K1-B0: Yes, that's right.

Gotta stick to those safe tiny bits of encouragement eh Keebs? even if he’s wrong

K1-B0: I'm sorry, I can't even posit a guess as to who the culprit might be...But I haven't given up! I assure you, we will avenge Rantaro!

‘I have nothing useful to add, so I’m going to use odd words and restate my willingness to help.’ The choice of ‘avenge’ is pretty interesting though. Keebs isn’t big on violence, and we’re not going to be avenging Rantaro with a song and dance number here, we’re gonna get someone else dead. Perhaps we’re getting a tiny peek at the ends justify the means Keebo who only really gets to come out to play in chapter six. or he’s just mimicking the other’s sentiments and not thinking too hard about what avenging would mean :v

Keade: An...elevator? K1-B0: Does he want us to board it?

protagsaskstupidquestions.txt

K1-B0: This is an authentic replica of a courtroom

No it’s not! Well maybe it is in ronpa world. oh god does he know what they look like because he was literally built for this. is this why he threatens with lawsuits.

Tenko: First, let's breathe in! And breathe out! We need to remember our "No, No, No's"! “No pushing! No running! No talking!” K1-B0: But communication is the foundation of any discussion!

The human is confusing me, and we’ve been here for like five seconds. He can’t think of a good way to start, so he’s stuck just pointing out things that might be problems, such as not talking :v

Ryoma: The mastermind, huh? Odds are, it's one of us... Kokichi: It's Kee-boy over here! Everyone else thinks so too! K1-B0: D-Does everyone really think that...!? Kaede: We'll get to the bottom of this... 

He can instantly buy into the idea that everyone suspects him. Even when it’s coming from Kokichi. Kaede sort of denies it, but this poor boy. He’s trying so hard and wants to do his best but has no trouble at all going ‘yeah everyone doubts me’. Maybe that’s a protag thing, with how Shuichi freaks out when you present the wrong evidence :v (THEY’LL THINK I’M A FRAUD)

Kaede: Because, Rantaro didn't have the card key to open the hidden door. You'd think the mastermind would have that card key on him, right? K1-B0: Perhaps the culprit took the card key after killing Rantaro? Shuichi: But none of the pictures show Rantaro holding the card key. So I don't really think he had the key at all

Time for Keebo to make little logical guesses and generally be wrong, since this is Kaede and Shuichi’s trial to run. Someone’s gotta double down on Rantaro possibly being the mastermind I suppose. 

Ryoma: To lure Rantaro to the library...and kill him K1-B0: Does that mean the culprit and the mastermind are one in the same? Korekiyo: Hmm... That does seem plausible. It’s very likely the mastermind knew about Kaede and Shuichi’s trap. Kaede: The mastermind knew about our trap this whole time?

Yes, but actually no. Ryoma, Keebo and Korekiyo are absolutely correct here, even though we won’t be getting the correct answer. It’s kind of impressive that the ‘real world’ protag and his Investigation Buddy have the actual right answer here. (Kiyo and Keebs were together after all). Ryoma’s showing up a lot near Keebo’s dialogue too :v The most unexpected trio ever.

K1-B0: So you knew nothing about the trap in the library? Miu: I'm tellin' ya, I had no idea! Not like it matters...cuz I never went to the library, okay!? Ryoma: The person who made the cameras...would've known their blind spots, too.

Keebo Ryoma tag team...to get the agree statement Kaede needs. I don’t think Keebo has really talked to Miu beyond her calling him pathetic once still.

Ryoma: Cool your jets, kid. Korekiyo: Tsumugi and Kirumi were both in the dining hall as well. K1-B0: We can dismiss those four as potential culprits if they were together the entire time. Korekiyo: No...not the entire time. At one point, Tsumugi went to the restroom. Tsumugi: Oh...so you brought that up after all...It's true. I went to the restroom closest to the dining hall.

I really didn’t notice how often these guys are paired together but now I keep seeing them. Kiyo corrects Keebo like a good Investigation Buddy and brings up a damning clue even. THAT WE WON”T USE AAAAA

Tenko: I would never punch a foe from behind! A true aikido master would never do something so dishonorable! K1-B0: Punching is permitted in aikido!? Tenko: Yes! Neo-Aikido even uses wooden swords! Maki: All you've proven is that you're an idiot.

A distraction conversation in the mass panic debate, but the fact Keebo is so baffled here is funny to me. I suppose he’d be more interested in self defense styles like aikido. Gonta also mentions  ‘ Not person... Robot? Like Keebo? ‘ when talking to Angie. Keebo Is Not A Person is a pretty common sentiment in the class :v

Tsumugi: The A/V Room's sliding door doesn't open, so you can't get into the hallway. K1-B0: If you cannot enter the hallway, how would you open the rear door to the library? Kirumi: Although you cannot fit your whole body through the sliding door, an arm would suffice. It would be possible if you used a particular item in the A/V Room.

Keebo doesn’t talk a ton in this trial because Lots Of People need screentime, but here he is to ask more questions now that we’ve moved past the correct culprit and are moving on to the ‘acceptable’ culprit. He continues to follow Kirumi’s logic path after this exchange too.

Kirumi: Yes, the act of throwing a shot put ball could lead one to use it as a weapon. K1-B0: Even if a person couldn't fit through the space, a shot put ball certainly would.

He doesn’t see the contradiction Kaede does in the whole open bookcase thing, after all. So he’s just helping in making Gonta look suspicious.

Kokichi: Yup! A walking, talking Roomba can't compare to a mighty beast like Gonta! K1-B0: That Roomba remark...is probably not about me, as l have a variety of custodial functions.

Yes, I’m sure everyone totally believes he believes that. While your rebuttal is ‘i can do lots of types of cleaning over a roomba’. This robot, I swear. I tell Kaede off for assuming robots should just need to clean but to prove myself to Kokichi I will talk about how good I am at cleaning things. (Amusing, Kaede apparently magically remembers this, she brings up Keebo’s cleaning function in one of her Salmon mode library dates :v) Also: Kokichi proving to himself that he can derail the robot REALLY EASILY if he wants to be distracting in trials. Keebo doesn’t participate again until another robot crack sets him off. 

Tsumugi: We don't even know if they're a guy or not, though, right? Himiko: Or if they're even human... K1-B0: Are you referring to me?

Himiko doesn’t like you Keebo, I’m sorry. Who else could she be referring to? The fact Tsumugi is saying this to Kaito’s ‘culprit should man up and confess’ thing though? Ha

Angie: The culprit was hiding in the library the whole time, before Kaede and Shuichi even placed the cameras. K1-B0: Where would they have hidden? Angie: Inside the hidden door! Ryoma: So you’re sayin’ the culprit was lyin’ in wait there? Korekiyo: If that's true, the suspects...are those who were alone at time of the incident.

Oh look, Keebo is talking when proof of the real culprit shows up, and asks the question that brings up that proof. Angie’s right! Kiyo is going a bit too far in suspecting Keebo and Ryoma here, but they’d be on the right track if it wasn’t for that chalk dust in the card reader :v 

Kirumi: So the real question is how the culprit entered and exited the library. K1-B0: We cannot continue until we address that problem first! Korekiyo: It’s quite the mystery. How did the killer avoid being caught by the cameras?

He’s helping a little here in making sure the discussion stays on this topic, but Investigation Buddy Kiyo is the one doing the work again. Keebs, you are really showing your inner Makoto :v

Miu: Eureka! I know how the culprit got in the library-- the front door! K1-B0: Um... Have you been paying attention? The camera would've taken their picture. Miu: Not if the culprit timed their movements around the camera intervals!

He’s so exasperated by her by saying something that goes against hard evidence/logic. He hasn’t even considered such a thing like camera intervals. He’s pretty bad about thinking of stuff that goes against ‘facts’. Sadly we won’t get more robot sass for a bit. But hey, we got some.

Miu: The three cameras that Kaediot and Poo-ichi placed go off when they pick up movement. From there, it takes 30 seconds for the film to auto-roll to the next photo. K1-B0: So, for 30 seconds, anyone could've entered the library without their photo being taken!? Kirumi: That may have been enough time to kill Rantaro and exit the library...

Thank you for summarizing for the audience Keebo, I think they figured that out. He’s perfectly happy to work with Miu even if he was just snarking at her for not paying attention. She just needed a logical reason and now he’s on board, no problems. This is probably the first non-aggressive/in agreement bit the two have, depending on how you read their other interactions.

Korekiyo: I see. Then he caused the receiver to go off in front of Kaede to trick her. Shuichi: ... K1-B0: It's certainly plausible, considering that Shuichi knew about the intervals.

Ryoma, since the receiver trick is his idea is the one who gets Keebo on the Suspecting Shuichi bandwagon. The fact Kiyo talks right before he decides it’s plausible is just amusing. He keeps following them, but doesn’t seem very sure. He doesn’t join in for the following debate.

Kaede: So that’s why there’s no way Shuichi could’ve turned off the receiver! Shuichi: ... K1-B0: If that is true, then the entire premise of the argument thus far is wrong... Kirumi: Is this true, Kaede?

He doesn’t actually ask if it’s true, just what it would mean if it was. I’m not sure if I’d rather take it as he doesn’t really buy it or not, she doesn’t seem like a great liar, but Keebo is pretty garbage at reading things. I don’t really think be buys it yet personally (he does later once hearing ‘why would I lie’), that why he doesn’t want to ask, but I can see it being the other way, in he does completely and he’s bummed that they’re back to square one.

Korekiyo: Or perhaps...you wanted to cover for Shuichi, even at the cost of your life. Shuichi: ...Huh?

Kokichi: Words from a true heartless robot! Emotions are only for meatbags! K1-B0: That is a harmful stereotype. I can produce heartfelt remarks through calculations! Tsumugi: Like "less than three"? Those kinds of calculations?

Mugi’s just here to dunk on a robot. Keebo is actually showing how different he is from everyone here. Even though he’s a big team player, he can’t fathom why someone would risk death for a lie for someone else. Kokichi is going to give Keebo a real life example someday, but it seems like Keebo is a tiiiny bit selfish here, or really just very lonely. He doesn’t have a strong enough relationship with anyone to make this idea seem possible, that and he’s not much of a liar. It’s not a shock Kokichi jumps on him here to try and figure out if this is just a shortcoming or Keebo just doesn’t feel much in general, but Keebo’s angry response probably clued him in. Even if he needs to clarify he’s doing so via calculations. Maybe you;re a bit too honest, Keeboy. (Also, given what we learn in his third FTE, a bit strange. His previous self killed himself over risking hurting the professor again...but perhaps he’s not counting that because it’s not a lie?) Either way, he’s taking Kaede’s lie as 100% truth at this point.

Miu: So we all agree that Poo-ichi did it!? Then let's just vote already! K1-B0: No, I think it’s too soon to determine the culprit. Tsumugi: Umm...I agree. I sort of can't believe that Shuichi is the culprit.

mugi i swear to god you just love flaunting don’t you. Keebo’s the first to go ‘actually let’s not die killing tthe wrong person’, so good for him. Against Miu, again. you two have a rocky start huh.

Ryoma: If Shuichi had the receiver, it could have been disguised. K1-B0: Kaede is the one who actually had the receiver!

Robot is gonna be the one taking the lie in the debate scrum and using it as a weapon. She said she didn’t lie, it is a fact now, and he’s sticking with it. He really flip flops on how much he wants to trust people. I think he wants to trust everyone generally, but then he gets in that logic zone and starts being suspicious again. Thaaat and the voice in his head often probably tells him to get off the logic track and believe. He listens to it when he ‘doesn’t know what to do’, and let’s be real Keebo is almost in a constant state of ‘what do’. The less confident he is, the more likely he’s going to be nudged into being trusting...

Kaito: Whoa! The brightness is totally different! K1-B0: Same room, circumstance, and camera. And yet, there is a disparity in brightness...

Reiterating and expanding on what Kaito said here, but he’s letting Shuichi explain it instead of trying to do so himself. It’s this sort of thing that makes me think his confidence is incredibly fragile >>

Shuichi: ...Kaede is the culprit. K1-B0: Huh!?

Keebo has identified the new protagonist and is now reacting to them first instead of False Protagonist. I suppose it makes sense he’s first to react a decent chunk of the time...he does have a computer for a brain. Quick on the update, sometimes. Not that he knows what to say beyond being baffled.

Shuichi: How Kaede killed Rantaro with the shot put ball...should become clear when you consider where she used it. K1-B0: Where she used the shot put ball?

Keebo you were in the room and pointed out the vent, come on buddy. but i was serious about how he’s figured out who he should be listening to most closely again.

Shuichi: ...She rolled it. She rolled the shot from the first floor classroom and hit Rantaro. K1-B0: I am skeptical that she could perform such a feat of accuracy...

see? Of course in his confusion the thing he personally investigated has just dropped right out of his hard drive. :v It does egg Shuichi on so he’ll continue explaining. It’s his show now. To the point Keebo stays silent until we get to Kaede’s motivations.

Shuichi: You weren’t persuaded by Monokuma...and you weren't trying to save yourself. What you were trying to do...was kill the mastermind! K1-B0: Kill...the mastermind? Shuichi:  Kaede wasn't targeting Rantaro. She was targeting the mastermind. She was trying to end this killing game... She was trying to save us all. ...Isn't that right, Kaede?

Keebo just loves to pretend to be Solid Snake. He’s been really quiet otherwise, this isn’t a good time. Kaede was one of the friendliest people to him, too.

Kaede: ... K1-B0: Kaede, what would possess you to do something like this?

Even after hearing how it played out (well, everyone thinks it played out) he still doesn’t get it. She did it to kill the mastermind, but he just can’t see why you’d ever take such a step. Maybe he wants to hear it from her, but it’s still a gut punch.

Kaede: I felt like if I didn't do this, then Rantaro's death would have been meaningless. K1-B0: We were searching for both the culprit and the mastermind during this class trial. Angie: Ah, Kaede did mention that.

What can you say to something like that? His death is ‘meaningless’ in a way, but the truth about him will come about later. (too bad keebo’s is the MOST meaningless) Keebo just chooses to stick to stating the facts, as if that’ll help it make more sense. Not that it probably does. He still has questions.

K1-B0: But, Kaede, why did you set such a convoluted trap? If your intent was to kill the mastermind, there was no reason for you to cover your tracks. Kaito: Isn't it obvious? It's because...she didn't want Shuichi to know.

Kaito is way better at figuring out people’s motivations, especially if driven by emotion. Keebo’s question is sensible...but it is probably rather obvious to everyone else there. He’s accepted she killed with a reason, though we don’t know if he thinks it was a good reason. Being tricked like this...it couldn’t have been good for anyone. He doesn’t stand up to the Exisals. He’s not going to throw his life away.

Kaede: Even after I'm gone...my wish will still be here. So I’m counting on you all! I’m entrusting my wish to every one of you! I believe in you! I believe that you all will make it through this, somehow! You guys better live! Don't go dying on me now! End this ridiculous killing game, survive, and get the hell out of this place! And then...be friends after you escape, okay? I think you’ll all be the best of friends. K1-B0: Affirmative, Kaede...

He will agree to try and make her wish come true. (before everyone else. he’s quick on the draw for this kind of thing.) Of course...no one takes her death well.

A horrible mess Keebo, a horrible mess. Of course, he can still pull himself together if a question needs to be asked.

Monokuma: ...Hate you? Puhuhu...who can say? That's your job to figure out. If you really wanna know what's going on, you're gonna have to work for it. ...Though the corpse formerly known as Rantaro may have had a hunch. Gonta: ...Huh? K1-B0: What do you mean? What was Rantaro's hunch? Monokuma: Puhuhu... What, indeed?

Posing for the camera, that bear. Unfortunately, Keebo doesn’t really pursue what Rantaro’s hunch might have been...or if he does, Shuichi isn’t around to see him do it. Or maybe he mentions it in a one off line and I’ve forgotten. We’ll see.

Tenko: Wh-what kinda d-degenerate male... cries in p-public...? It’s so r-rude... Keebo: But, Tenko, you're crying too. Ryoma: Now's not the time to point that out, Keebo. Just let it be.

Ryoma’s a good guy, he’s figured out Keebo doesn’t really mean anything by it, and he’s genuinely confused by Tenko’s illogical statement. No mockery or anything, just tells him to let it go for now. Of course he’s trying to get more easily answered questions figured out when you’re stuck dealing with ones like ‘why did Kaede have to die’, ‘why did it have to be so cruel’ or ‘what secrets do we know nothing about’. He’d rather be distracted right now.

Kaito: Clench your teeth! K1-B0: Kaito! You are supposed to say that *before* you hit him!

An easy fact that can be applied, so he speaks up. He’ll be speaking up when Kaito does a repeat performance later, too. Kaito and Keebo get on each others case sometimes :v But now it’s Keebo’s turn to be a bit insensitive. 

Shuichi: ...I'm fine.

Gonta: Gonta not sure it waste of time. But Gonta agree, fighting not good...

That was a pretty emotional moment between people mourning a lost one with Kaito trying to get Shuichi to stand up and fight back annnnnd Keebo’s calling it a waste of time. Oooof, he is bad at people. Gonta disagrees, though to Keebo it’s logically just a waste. He can’t see what they’re gaining here, or the point of fighting between friends like this. We know in hindsight that Shuichi kind of needs this, but our robot pal doesn’t. That, and violence is never really entering his acceptable solution list. Not yet.

Shuichi: Sorry, you should go ahead without me... K1-B0: ...Why? Is there a reason you wish to stay in a place like this? Shuichi: I want to be alone for a while. Just for a little bit.

must...respond...to...protagonist...Cannot understand why you want to stay in the place Kaede just died and you got punched in. Shuichi kinda gives a non answer, but Keebo doesn’t press. Probably because he’s not going to understand the answer anyway. That’s in for chapter one!

Why did I do this? Cus I’m in the mood to replay it and I am going to babble about my favourite who deserves better. The other kids a bit too, I do like them all but mostly the robot lad.

Also congratulations if you got this far, you’re just as nuts as I am! please share your own hot takes/ things you just realized from all the quotes shoved in here. I probably should have worked on my fanfics instead of doing this :v (I have a bunch on Keebo as Verl on A03, if you are like ‘yeas i want more ravings from this mad being’) ...I’ll be back with Chapter two later...

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Bonus 3.2 - Dangan Salmon Team (Still Kaito Edition)

This is postgame content, so people shouldn’t be reading this without having already finished the main game anyway. But just to be safe: while this is non-canon character stuff, I will sometimes be mentioning events that happened in the main story, so there will be spoilers for the main game.

[If you’ve found yourself here on this post because I linked to it elsewhere while talking about Kaito and friendship, the stuff I was most likely referring to is discussed in the “Hangout invitations” section.]

Last time on Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team (did you know that SPACE), we covered all of what the game calls “dates” – but that I insistently called “hangouts” because fuck the romantic undertones of this mode – with Kaito. Yes, all forty-five of them. Yes, I had something of at least some substance to say about close enough to all of them that it didn’t feel right leaving out only the tiny few for which I kind of didn’t. Kaito is the best and is almost always being at least an adorable dork but also so often a fascinating and complex character even in silly bonus fluff like this – especially when it involves him hanging out with Shuichi, who is after all the focal point of most of his issues.

This time, we still have plenty more Kaito content from this mode to cover, including the best part!

Let’s warm up with some opening acts before we get to the main event, though. Aside from the actual hangouts we did last time, there’s some other little snippets of dialogue in this mode that may seem straightforward and inconsequential but that I still have stuff to say about. When I said I’d be covering practically everything Kaito says in this mode, I wasn’t kidding.

FTE invitations

So obviously I’ve already done Kaito’s FTEs, and the game remembers that and won’t have them happen again for me in this mode (which is just as well, really, because his final one definitely belongs in its canon context of chapter 4!). But there are still unique lines that Kaito has in this mode for if Shuichi chooses to hang out with him for what would be an FTE.

Kaito:  “You came to invite me, right? Well of course! You’re my sidekick!”

-      Spend time with Kaito

Kaito:  “Today I’m going to tell you about the best places in the universe for adventures. I guarantee it’ll light a fire in your heart for the universe!”

Shuichi:  (We discussed the most adventurous places in the universe…)

Look at Kaito excitedly telling Shuichi about SPACE. But it’s also very him that he’s not telling Shuichi facts about space or anything more scientific – this is apparently about the best places in space to have adventures. Which is to say, tiny Kaito who had all his totally-true heroic adventures on sea and on land definitely also thought a lot about what kinds of heroic adventures he would be having when he got into space, and he’s telling Shuichi all about those now. What a dork.

Kaito:  “Oh, this is perfect! I wanted to talk to you!”

-      Spend time with Kaito

Kaito:  “Just what I’d expect from my sidekick! Let’s talk it out, man-to-man! You understand? Don’t tell this stuff to the others.”

Shuichi:  (Kaito and I had a heart-to-heart between men…)

This one is really curious. It sounds on the surface like Kaito is referring to something like talking about what girls they like, or some other gendered, stereotypically masculine thing. But since that was never what Kaito’s concept of manliness was ever about, that cannot possibly be what’s happening here.

Based on Kaito’s actual concept of manliness having a focus on being true to yourself and open about your intentions, I’d want to think that his idea of a “man-to-man” talk would involve something along the lines of him and Shuichi being open with each other, and therefore talking to each other about… their emotions and issues and problems? That does fit as something that he’d hypothetically not want Shuichi to tell anyone else about, but, that is definitely not what happened either for obvious reasons.

I honestly don’t think that Kaito ever sees himself hiding his weakness as him compromising his idea of being a “man”, though. The “being true to yourself” concept is less about how you feel and more about who you are, or at least who you want to be. And of course Kaito doesn’t want to be weak and struggling, so the fact that he maybe is is totally irrelevant and definitely not something that a “man” would need to actually open up about, not when he should be focusing on being the inspiring hero he wants to be. It’s kind of like how him denouncing Kokichi for putting a mask over his true face in trial 4 really wasn’t actually that hypocritical – because Kaito may have been hiding his weakness, but he was never hiding his intentions, which were to help everyone around him as much as he could.

So ultimately I’m not entirely sure what Kaito would actually think of as a “man-to-man talk”, especially one that he doesn’t want Shuichi telling anyone else about. Which leaves me very confused as to what kind of conversation he and Shuichi did have here.

Kaito:  “Hey, I was looking for you, man! We’re gonna hang out today, right?”

-      Spend time with Kaito

Kaito:  “A sidekick wouldn’t pick anyone besides the hero. That’s just crazy! Well, now that I’m thinking about it, sidekicks…”

Shuichi:  (I listened to Kaito’s thoughts about sidekicks…)

Dammit, don’t fade to black there, game, I am itching to hear Kaito’s thoughts about sidekicks! Obviously I’m already perfectly aware of exactly what he thinks about them, but it’s still not something that Kaito himself has ever explicitly talked about. It’d be really interesting to hear him describe his idea of a “sidekick” in his own words! Why would you tease us by telling us a conversation about this happened but then not show it to us.

Kaito:  “Why the long face? You wanna talk about something?

-      Spend time with Kaito

Kaito:  “My sidekick’s worries are mine. My worries are my sidekick’s! Talk to me about anything, man! Don’t keep any secrets from me!”

Shuichi:  (I spent the whole time asking Kaito for advice…)

Of course this is here. Of course there’s at least one instance of Kaito immediately assuming Shuichi needs something and offering support before Shuichi’s even said anything yet.

Given that there’s nothing in the general context of this situation that would make Kaito be super desperate for Shuichi to need his help like in chapter 4, and that Shuichi does end up asking him for advice here apparently without any resistance, I’m going to assume Kaito’s judgement this time was correct and he picked up that Shuichi genuinely was feeling down and needed a boost. But the reminder of Kaito’s tendency to do this before even being asked for help is fun. The line between him being selflessly supportive and him being dysfunctionally co-dependent is a thin line, but both sides of it are excellent.

Also here’s another reprise of “Your worry is my worry; my worry is your worry”, or close enough anyway, which is still every bit as delightfully false and hypocritical as it was before. (Except Kaito is actually just saying “your worry is my worry” twice over, so there’s nothing false or hypocritical about it at all, right?)

Gift dialogues

While I’m here pretending to do FTEs with Kaito, it also means I get to give him presents and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like them. His responses for gifts he likes are fairly straightforward enthusiastic gratitude, but it is interesting to see how he reacts when he’s given something he doesn’t particularly care for.

(These bits of dialogue for FTE gifts aren’t unique to this mode, of course, but it wouldn’t have been very canon to bring the negative ones up during the main story.)

Kaito:  “Huh? What’s this? Where’d you get it? Well, if it’s a gift from you, then I’ll totally accept it.”

This is a pretty cute response – he doesn’t care about the thing at all, but Shuichi gave it to him out of thinking he’d like it, so he’ll keep it anyway just as a token of the fact that his sidekick wanted to give him something nice. (Or, these lines also apply to Kaede giving him gifts, but he respects her a lot, so it’d be the same sentiment with her, too.)

On the other hand, sometimes you can catch him with a less optimistic outlook about this…

Kaito:  “You’ve got a bunch of stuff, huh? You’re not just trying to unload some garbage on me, right?”

It’s really interesting – and kind of sad – that Kaito thinks Shuichi might actually be doing that. Surely he’d believe in how much his sidekick cares about him and that Shuichi would have carefully thought about each gift, even if sometimes he’s mistaken in what Kaito would like? But apparently it can at least cross Kaito’s mind that Shuichi really might callously unload random stuff on him without caring.

Kaito:  “Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do with this? What’s up with you? This isn’t like you, man!”

This kind of reaction, even though it’s a more negative response to the gift, is Kaito being more reasonable. He expected his sidekick (or Kaede) to know better than to give him something he obviously wouldn’t like, but he’s just putting it down to them having a lapse of judgement while meaning well.

Kaito:  “Did you really think I’d like something like this? C’mon, man… Are you making fun of me? Nah, you wouldn’t, but…”

But again, sometimes… apparently it’s possible for Kaito to think that Shuichi could just be making fun of him. He brushes the thought off as not like Shuichi, but then he lingers on the “but”, suggesting it’s still what he’s thinking even if he doesn’t want to admit it to himself.

The fact that he’s capable of thinking that really brings to mind his “Aren’t you my sidekick? Was that… just a lie?” from trial 4 that implied a tiny part of him has always been afraid that Shuichi was only ever playing along with the whole sidekick thing while secretly mocking him. Which is a mindset that doesn’t really apply in this bonus mode in which Shuichi hasn’t been effortlessly saving everyone in trials and so Kaito has no obvious reason to feel inferior… but keep in mind that these gift dialogues were originally written for the main game.

(Kaito, if you’re worried about this, just talk to Shuichi about it, he would immediately be more than happy to reassure you that he’d never do that to you. But no, of course Kaito cannot possibly be worried about anything, and so he’d just not say a word and let that worry build up and eat away at him and goddammit Kaito.)

This idea that Kaito would briefly think the gift-giver might be making fun of him also works well enough for Kaede, who is basically as dismissive of his overblown Kaito-ness as anyone else is in chapter 1, and whom Kaito also looks up to and probably secretly feels a little inferior to thanks to her being a better leader than him.

During this bad-gift-giving session, I learned something about the emotional support robot orca which makes me Very Disappointed (see the linked post if you haven’t already for context about this). Turns out it’s not actually a hated gift for Kaito after all; it’s just a neutral one. The third comment of Kaito’s that I just quoted can in fact apply to a neutral or a hated gift, and I guess the chart that I was using for reference got that comment when they gave him the orca and assumed it was hated. I spent a very long time throwing orcas at Kaito to confirm this.

(And yes, you’re welcome for the mental image of Shuichi doing literally that. Maybe he’s trying to not-so-subtly imply that he wants to help and support Kaito with his problems, too. Not that Shuichi would ever realise Kaito has problems without some kind of outside spurring, so this wouldn’t actually happen (yet), but.)

…I am even more sad about the orca not being a hated gift after a reader went and drew actual fanart about this because of me, for what has turned out to be just a totally mistaken assumption on my part. Can we just pretend Kaito hates getting one anyway? It makes so much in-character sense for him to do so, and apparently I was not the only one who really liked being able to think of it as a thing. And it would fit perfectly in particular for Kaito to respond with the fourth and most negative of the above quotes when being given one by Shuichi – because that’s Shuichi implying he realises Kaito needs support, meaning, surely, that Shuichi really was just lying about being his sidekick and actually was secretly looking down on him and making fun of him this whole time? Damn it, writers, why did you not realise this should be a thing when deciding on Kaito’s gift preferences. I’m at least glad that the chart I used hit the one-in-three chance of mistakenly labelling this gift as hated so that I could accidentally make this a thing.

During some other testing I did to confirm this, I also discovered that a gift called the Death Flag gives most characters a reaction even worse than the regular bad gift dialogues. This is more than just something they dislike and don’t want; the act of giving it seems to be taken as an insult. It is, after all, basically as if the giver is callously telling them they’re going to die.

Kaito:  “Hey… we can still pretend it was just a joke, so put that away.”

Seeing Kaito’s line for this when I wasn’t expecting it kind of punched me in the gut. It’s more subtly hostile than he ever usually is. He really does not want to get angry at Shuichi, but he’s probably worried he’s about to if they don’t immediately pretend this never happened.

(And, uh, remember this line was originally written for the canon storyline, for half of which Kaito knew he was dying. …Not that Shuichi would ever actually genuinely try to imply that he thinks Kaito is going to die, what the hell, I feel kind of terrible for making him do this.)

Anyway let’s stop being unkind to Kaito in a way that’s obviously out of character for Shuichi just to see how he reacts, and move on.

Hangout invitations

There’s also some more little snippets of dialogue I discovered in this mode – turns out there’s a mechanic in which characters whose FTEs you’ve maxed will occasionally show up at Shuichi’s door on their own to ask him for a hangout. (Unfortunately, the character just appears in Shuichi’s room without there being any kind of doorbell-ringing first, meaning you sadly don’t get to learn that it’s Kaito who’s about to invite you out before you even see him based on how enthusiastically the doorbell just rang.)

Kaito:  “You free right now, man? I just really feel like talking to you.”

Kaito was the first character this happened with while I was playing, and it really made me smile. Obviously I knew that this was just a mechanic which could apply to any character, but still. This is Kaito being the one to initiate spending time with Shuichi – but in a way that’s not in the hero-and-sidekick context of Kaito wanting to help Shuichi with his problems. He doesn’t mention that here at all, even though you know the writers totally could have made this bit of dialogue about that, too. Kaito’s realised that he also enjoys just spending time with Shuichi as a friend and wanted to do that! That’s actually a really big deal coming from him.

On the other hand, alternatively (there’s two randomly-picked lines he can have if this happens):

Kaito:  “Alright, Shuichi! Let’s hang out! Well, you don’t really have a choice but to spend time with me, right?”

…this one is quite a bit more pushy. (Remember, he has shown up at Shuichi’s door uninvited to ask to hang out here.) It almost seems like Kaito is worried Shuichi might not want to hang out with him as his friend rather than his sidekick and is covering that up by insisting that obviously Shuichi couldn’t possibly want to do anything else.

-      Accept

Kaito:  “Yeah! No way my sidekick would hang out with anyone but me!”

His response if you accept (which seems to always be this regardless of which initial line of dialogue you got) comes across as kind of needy, too. As does his “A sidekick wouldn’t pick anyone besides the hero” back in the FTE invitations, for that matter. It’s like he’s telling himself that as the hero to Shuichi’s sidekick, he gets automatic Hero Privileges above all of Shuichi’s friends. Which he sort of does, but that’s because them being hero and sidekick already means that they’re particularly close friends. It’s not because it’s a separate thing from a friendship.

But… Kaito seems to kind of think it is. Even though he wants to hang out as friends, Kaito assumes that the only reason Shuichi accepts is because he’s his sidekick. As though, if Shuichi weren’t his sidekick, he’d have no reason to want to spend time with Kaito at all.

-      Politely decline

Kaito:  “If you’re busy, then it's fine… No big deal… I mean, it happens.”

Also quite needy is Kaito’s response if you turn him down. The first sentence alone would have sounded natural, but the more he adds, the more awkward it gets. This might sound like Kaito being passive-aggressive at Shuichi about being turned down, but he wouldn’t do that. So what it must be is Kaito trying to reassure himself that it really is just because Shuichi’s busy and these things happen and it doesn’t mean that Shuichi doesn’t want to spend any time with him at all.

If this were in the context of chapter 4, I’d be saying something very different about what’s going on here, but this isn’t chapter 4. What I’m getting from this instead is that it’s Kaito being kind of awkward and unsure when it comes to doing regular friendship. He’s fine when Shuichi’s the sidekick who’s having struggles and needing Kaito’s advice and support (so long as this isn’t the main story in which Shuichi has been the real hero in the trials and maybe doesn’t really need him after all). But when it’s not about their hero-and-sidekick thing and Kaito just wants to hang out with Shuichi anyway for reasons unrelated to supporting him? He’s subtly insecure as to whether Shuichi would even want to.

This is a concept that didn’t really come up much in the main story, but that’s because there was mortal peril and Shuichi was having a lot more issues and struggles and so Kaito was very firmly in hero-and-sidekick mode the whole time. It’s only in a context like this where there’s less to worry about and they’re supposed to be hanging out as friends (shush, Monokuma totally mentioned platonic friendship) that this becomes more noticeable.

If you think about it, it does actually make some level of sense that Kaito might not be very experienced in having regular friends. He’s always been kind of an awkward goof whenever we’ve seen him trying to interact with people on a down-to-earth level. His personality is naturally very larger-than-life, and he’d refuse to ever try and mask that because then it wouldn’t be him. That’s fine when he’s having sidekicks and him being this way helps to inspire them, but for regular everyday interactions, he probably comes off as a bit… Much, perhaps to the point that it’s a little offputting for some people.

Kaito’s behaviour towards Shuichi in his earlier FTEs, the ones that almost certainly happened before he started considering Shuichi his sidekick, showed that his idea of how to try and make someone his friend (rather than his sidekick) was to force them to listen to completely ridiculous stories about his own “heroics”. That was not, in fact, a very ideal way to make friends at all – Shuichi mostly seemed bewildered and perhaps just a little bit annoyed by the whole thing – but Kaito didn’t appear to have any better ideas. And his idea of how to make friends with Kaede, upon being excited by how similar they were and wanting her to share his enthusiasm about that, was to ask her for a hug out of nowhere, which definitely was not the right way to go about things.

Plus, that story he told in his second FTE hinted that Kaito might have had a falling out with his at-the-time best friend when he was young, one that never got resolved and that he then wrapped up in his ridiculous heroic fiction rather than think about what actually happened. If that is the case, then maybe Kaito being too offputtingly over-the-top for his former friend’s liking was the reason why. There was also that one bit in a hangout last post where Kaito seemed worried by the idea of being different from Shuichi, like he was afraid this’d make Shuichi less inclined to be his friend – almost as if he’d had this problem in the past. (That’s probably why he was so excited at seeing that Kaede was so similar to him, leading him to be so inappropriately forward in his awkward attempt to befriend her.)

[This kind of thing also incidentally happens to be Kaito being extremely neurodivergent-coded, and I love him for it.]

This could in fact be a large part of why Kaito got so big on the whole sidekick thing. If someone needs his support, then him being ridiculous and over-the-top, like he can’t help but be, is inspiring and helpful rather than weird and offputting, and so he can be more sure they’ll stick around – but also more convinced that him supporting them is the only reason they’re sticking around. Of those former sidekicks he mentioned in his FTEs, several of them were significantly older than him, so it would be very easy for Kaito to assume that they probably didn’t consider him an actual friend beyond their sidekick arrangement and would only be there for as long as they needed his support and advice. Kaito may well have already been a little bit co-dependent even before the killing game in canon made it worse.

(That doesn’t change the fact that he genuinely cares and wants to help those people, of course. The unhealthy part is the part where this may have become Kaito’s only way of forming and maintaining bonds with others.)

It’s a good thing Kaito has Shuichi, then! They started properly bonding over Shuichi needing help and being a sidekick, but he’s more than just a sidekick. Shuichi realised after he started training that he enjoys Kaito’s company not so much because Kaito’s a strong invincible hero, but rather just because he’s a ridiculous impulsive carefree goof, and Shuichi finds that kind of outlook refreshing and helpful to be around. Shuichi has always seen Kaito as not just a hero but a friend. So if anyone could break Kaito out of this cycle, could help him realise that he’s already better at friendship than he thought he was and doesn’t need to cling to the sidekick thing as his only way of keeping people by his side, it’s Shuichi.

Harmonious Heart

And on that note, it’s time for the main event for this mode! The piece de resistance, the reason we’re all here, this game’s single best piece of non-main-story Kaito content that I consider basically Required Reading for anyone who cares about understanding what makes Kaito tick, is his Harmonious Heart event.

…Okay, so I have already talked about this at quite some length in my big general ramble about Kaito’s character arc which I reblogged here. But this commentary gives me the excuse to talk about it in line-by-line detail, as well as to talk about it more as a story in its own right rather than just as a delightful source of vital information about the core of Kaito’s issues. So you can be damn sure I’m going to take the chance to do that.

Honestly, I call this my favourite piece of non-main-story Kaito content, but it might also be one of my favourite pieces of Kaito content in general. Obviously the canon story has just so many moments that are positively dripping with Kaito’s delightful issues, but… this is still pretty up there with the best of them.

I should mention that actually seeing all of this event is even more inconvenient than the hangouts were. It has a small, completely random chance of popping up instead of the regular options whenever you do a hangout somewhere, and then there are four different outcomes, only one of which can be got per playthrough. So I actually had to do four playthroughs of this mode to see all of this. I am very grateful for the people who bothered to record/transcribe all the outcomes of Harmonious Heart events onto Youtube/the wiki, making it quite easy for people to see all of these if they’re interested, because otherwise I imagine far fewer people ever would. And as I have already mentioned, this event is so important for understanding Kaito’s character; everybody who cares about Kaito should see all four of these outcomes and it makes me sad to think there are probably still a large fraction of such people who haven’t.

I managed to happen across this event basically by chance only a month or so after seeing the main game, and I’m so glad it didn’t take me longer than that, because it significantly influenced and improved my understanding of Kaito’s issues and why he so stubbornly hid everything he was going through in canon. This then led to me thinking about Kaito in even more depth than I already had and wanting to put some content out there that really talks about all this stuff, and… long story short, there’s a chance this very commentary wouldn’t be here if this event didn’t exist.

Kaito:  “…”

Shuichi:  (I wonder what’s wrong? Kaito looks deep in thought…)

Kaito:  (Damn it…)

Shuichi:  (Huh? That voice just now. Is that…?  Is that Kaito’s inner thoughts…?)

Featuring Shuichi’s inexplicable mindreading powers that he spontaneously developed because of the strength of his bond with Kaito, I guess?

Not that I mind how inexplicable this is, because it is vital. The thing that’s so excruciating about Kaito’s problems in canon is how easily Shuichi could help him with them if only he knew about them. But he has no idea, because he idolises Kaito too much to assume there could be anything wrong with him, and because Kaito never talks about any of it. So it is practically necessary for some kind of inexplicable supernatural intervention to bring Kaito’s issues to light in order for Shuichi to help him, and that’s what’s happening here.

(Also, man it makes an interesting change to be using brackets and not speech marks for Kaito. It would have been so, so fun if we’d been able to see inside his head for the whole game.)

Kaito:  (What if we really gotta stay here forever…?)

Even though Kaito should know that he’s actively working towards their escape by befriending Shuichi like this, he’s still finding himself having brief pessimistic thoughts about whether things would really be this easy and Monokuma would really let them go just like that.

(And if he can’t help but worry like this about the relatively minor concerns in this AU, then please take a moment to imagine the far worse thoughts he’d have been plagued with in canon, where people have died and he is dying and there is no apparent means of escape for all of them together.)

Kaito:  (No, what am I saying…? I won’t accept this! No way!)

Of course, this is Kaito, who utterly refuses to acknowledge negative or painful thoughts, so he immediately shoots it down and pushes himself to stay determined.

It’s very important to note, though, that he’s still having that negative thought and needing to shoot it down consciously. Again, here’s proof that Kaito cannot completely lie to himself about things that are worrying him, even if he still hates dwelling on them and tries to stay as positive as he can.

Which he should! Maybe it’s somewhat less of a good idea for him to shoot down his worries in canon about the whole dying thing when that’s a problem he should really be addressing and not forcing himself to ignore. But most of the time, for most of Kaito’s problems, including this one here, he’s already doing his best to do something about it. And in that case, worrying about something you’re already doing your best to fix isn’t going to help; it’s just going to make you feel bad unnecessarily. Don’t wallow in your bad feelings when you could be doing something to make it better! This is Kaito instinctively following the advice he always gives to others!

Kaito:  (Damn it… For me to be this weak… It’s not like me…)

But… Kaito doesn’t realise that.

Really, this part could work if the weak spot was on the word “weak”, because I would very much like to contest the idea that the thought he was having was even weakness in the first place. Everyone has negative and pessimistic thoughts sometimes! That’s human! What should matter is how you deal with them, and clearly Kaito just dealt with his in a way that he ought to consider strong.

Yet the fact that he just did what he believes people should always do and overcame his worry means nothing next to the fact that he had that worry in the first place. Other people are allowed to be “weak” so long as they’re fighting to overcome their weakness, but not him. He’s not allowed to be anything less than invincible.

And suddenly, this has become the thing he’s worrying about – not the fleeting thought that they might not escape, but the thought that he’s being weak and he’s not supposed to be this way.

Kaito:  (I can’t let Shuichi see me like this… I can’t show weakness in front of my sidekick…)

Which is especially bad because right now he happens to be in the same room as Shuichi. The reason he isn’t allowed to be weak is because his sidekicks need him to be strong. As a hero, he has to be the perfect invincible pillar of support for his sidekicks, and if he isn’t, if his sidekicks see that he isn’t, then how could he ever do anything for them any more?

Way back before I ever saw this event, I was trying to understand exactly why Kaito was so hypocritically determined to hide his weakness from his sidekicks. The most obvious idea was that it was out of selflessness, but simply in the sense that he didn’t want to cause his sidekicks more distress by worrying them. Another option that occurred to me was that it was more selfish than that, in terms of his pride, because he’d hate to shatter the heroic image he likes to give off.

Of course, the worry thing is very much part of it – but it’s not the main point. This event taught me the real answer: it is about his heroic image, but that image exists much less for himself and more for his sidekicks, to make them feel as if they can rely on him and to inspire them to be stronger. He hides his weakness in order to preserve his image out of selflessness, because he is so determined to support people who need it and so genuinely convinced those people would lose all the support they’ve been getting from him if they ever realised he was weak.

So not only would Kaito rather deal with his burdens alone, but he is adding to his burdens by making himself so afraid of letting his sidekicks down and depriving them of the support they need if he lets them see even the tiniest hint of weakness from him. Kaito acts casual and carefree on the surface when he’s with Shuichi and Maki – of course he does, he has to – but beneath that, this fear of showing weakness specifically to his sidekicks means that he is so often terrified just by being around the people he cares about most. And that’s heartbreaking?

And, again, this is an AU in which even just a very minor “weakness” is something that Kaito is afraid of showing to Shuichi. Just imagine how much more terrified he’d have been in canon when the weakness that he was at risk of showing to Shuichi and Maki was so much worse.

Shuichi:  (He seems deeply troubled by something…)

This is a stock line that Shuichi has in every Harmonious Heart event, but man is it incredibly appropriate in Kaito’s case here. A lot of the other characters’ thoughts in these events are about much more superficial things, or just more specific things that are only relevant to a particular event in their past, such that “deeply troubled” seems like a bit of an overstatement. But Kaito’s thoughts right here are the problem that’s at the root of everything that goes wrong between him and Shuichi in the main storyline and literally the reason he dies. We know just how badly Kaito wants to live, but this is worse than his fear of dying. He is so deeply troubled by the thought of showing weakness to his sidekicks that he would rather suffer a slow and painful death entirely alone. Damn right that deserves to be described like this.

I’m going to be going through the four outcomes from worst to best. So, time to fuck everything up and make things almost as bad as they were after trial 4.

Deny “It’s not like me…”

Shuichi:  “I don’t know about that, Kaito… It’s okay to be afraid sometimes…”

I love how, despite that this leads to the worst outcome, Shuichi is clearly still trying to help. None of the bad outcomes to this are caused by Shuichi having any kind of inexplicable bad intent; they’re just caused by him saying something with genuine good intentions that happened to set off Kaito’s issues and make things worse.

Shuichi is probably saying this specifically because it’s essentially something that Kaito has taught him. Kaito’s pep talks have never once tried to make Shuichi feel like he should be ashamed of being afraid, just so long as he’s trying to face those fears and become stronger. Really, Kaito should already understand this concept perfectly well himself! But… that’s for his sidekicks. He’s the hero, so clearly things are Different for him.

Kaito:  “It’s not like me to make others worry…”

Of course it isn’t. Causing other people emotional pain? Nope, that’s the complete opposite of what Kaito is always trying to do. How dare he ever do that, even if he never meant to and even if his own emotional pain is far worse than the worry he’s causing others by letting them see it.

Shuichi:  “I-I’m not trying to ‘worry’ about you or anything…”

But that really isn’t what Shuichi was doing, and even if it was, that’s not the point. This isn’t about how Shuichi feels bad because something’s up with Kaito; this is Shuichi trying to focus on how Kaito feels and find a way to help him feel better.

Kaito:  “It’s fine…”

Of course Kaito doesn’t see it that way, though, because Kaito always makes things about everyone except himself. It’s definitely nothing and Shuichi should stop worrying.

Kaito:  “What have I done? I’m so embarrassed. I’ve failed my sidekick…”

But despite insisting that it’s fine, Kaito is clearly not fine. He can’t even see Shuichi’s assurance that it’s okay to be afraid as the attempt to help him that it clearly was. All he can see is confirmation that, despite how desperately he was just telling himself he needs to hide it, Shuichi has seen his weakness.

Which is The Worst Thing he could possibly have allowed to happen. How could he have been such a terrible hero? This was exactly what he was so terrified of, and now it’s come true: he’s failed his sidekick. Shuichi is obviously never going to look up to him or be helped by him ever again now that he’s seen how weak Kaito is. All of that support and encouragement he’d been giving Shuichi has been dashed to pieces. Everything is ruined.

Kaito:  “Sorry, but can you leave me alone for a bit?”

So he asks to be left alone (while apologising for it, because of course this is completely his fault and something he deserves to feel bad about, right?).

And I really feel like he’s doing this because he’s about to have a rather more minor but basically analogous version of the breakdown he had at the end of chapter 4 after having so obviously (so he believed) shown himself to be weaker than Shuichi in the trial. He Will Not break down in front of Shuichi no matter what, but keeping up that mental barrier while in his presence, blocking out everything screaming at him about how badly he’s failed, has to be mentally exhausting. He probably wants the opportunity to be able to drop that and just let himself fall apart a little bit where nobody will see, just like when he wanted to get back to his room as quickly as possible after coughing up blood at the end of trial 4.

Honestly, it’s a little hard to imagine that Kaito would be able to just casually continue hanging out with Shuichi after this, even though the game mechanics don’t care and allow that to happen anyway. I can very much picture this causing Kaito to do the equivalent of early chapter 5 in which he just awkwardly avoids Shuichi, because surely Shuichi wouldn’t want to hang out with him any more after having seen how pathetic he is?

And a relevant thing to note is that you can’t get the Harmonious Heart event again on the same playthrough after having had it once. I was kind of frustrated to learn that the game doesn’t let you try again to fix how much you screwed it up the first time, but then I thought about it and realised that actually, at least in Kaito’s case, that makes perfect sense. Given what just happened, Kaito is going to be clamming up even more in front of Shuichi, probably even to the point of completely avoiding him. He’d be even more determined not to let Shuichi get even the tiniest glimpse of weakness out of utter terror of making things even worse. There’s no way Shuichi would ever be able to get as far as seeing into his thoughts again in the first place.

At least in this context, Shuichi has a lot less reason to believe Kaito is angry at him – although maybe he’d feel guilty for unintentionally intruding on Kaito’s thoughts, especially ones as deeply personal as this, and might assume Kaito could be angry at him and therefore avoiding him for that reason. That is, however, something that Shuichi actually should apologise for, so he’d probably be able to get himself to do that. I doubt that would help that much, though, because that’s still not Kaito’s actual problem; regardless of whether Shuichi was wrong to intrude on Kaito’s thoughts, that doesn’t change what he heard  when he did so. Kaito knows that Shuichi’s never going to be able to unhear how weak he is, so how can he just pretend it never happened just because Shuichi didn’t mean to hear it?

(…Maybe upon realising that he’s not going to get anywhere with Kaito by just talking to him about it, this would be the point at which Shuichi would actually start repeatedly gifting him emotional support robot orcas, in a desperate attempt to communicate that I just want to help you, it’s okay to need support, please stop shutting me out.)

But now let’s move to a universe where Shuichi didn’t mess things up quite so badly. (I say “mess it up” like it was Shuichi’s fault, but it wasn’t. It was really on Kaito’s end for completely missing the point of his genuine desire to help.)

Affirm “I can’t show weakness in front of my sidekick…”

Shuichi:  “You never show me your weakness, Kaito.”

First, let’s stop and consider the fact that Shuichi has always looked up to Kaito and assumed he’s basically invincible – if he even did so in the killing game, where it’s way less reasonable to imagine anyone truly being invincible, then he’s definitely also doing so in this AU. Which means that this sudden insight into Kaito’s thoughts would be the very first time Shuichi ever properly realises that Kaito does have weaknesses in the first place. So maybe part of what’s going through Shuichi’s head as he says this is him reeling from the fact that, wait, Kaito has been having worries of his own this whole time and he never told me any of them, despite everything he keeps saying about sharing our worries?

Yet even though he’s probably saying this due to being taken aback by this realisation, Shuichi’s exasperated-but-worried expression as he says this also reads to me like he intends to follow it up with “but I wish you would, it’s okay, you don’t have to be afraid of that”. He is still saying this with an intent to help.

Kaito:  “Yeah! No way I’d do that. It’s as absurd as saying you’re an alien.”

But before Shuichi can get that far, Kaito just jumps on Shuichi’s first sentence and insists that yes, of course he’d never do that, that’s utterly absurd, why would Shuichi ever possibly think he would. Showing weakness to his sidekick is The Worst Possible Thing that would ruin everything and obviously he’d never be so terrible as to fail his sidekick that completely, what kind of hero does Shuichi even think he is!?

Shuichi:  “It’s not *that* absurd…”

Meanwhile, Shuichi, being on planet Earth and not Planet Kaito, is rather confused by this logic. Showing weakness to someone you trust isn’t absurd, it’s just human. (Does Kaito trust Shuichi? Not in this way, evidently. He doesn’t trust that Shuichi would still look up to him even if he knew about this, despite how obvious that is to anyone else who knows Shuichi even a little bit.)

Kaito:  “No, to me it’s a really big deal.”

It really is. Especially since this is why he fell apart at the end of chapter 4 and why he never told anyone he was dying until it was far too late to save him. It’s honestly a little surprising that we actually get Kaito somewhat acknowledging what a big deal this is to him here… but I suppose so long as he does so without actually showing any weakness, then it’s fine; he’s just explaining an important principle of his that he’s definitely never going to break.

Kaito:  “But I can’t really shake this mood just yet…”

Of course he can’t. His worried mood started off just being about escaping, but then it quickly turned into him being even more worried about showing weakness to Shuichi, which is exactly the topic that the conversation is still on and that he’s just asserted would be absolutely unthinkable for him to ever do. That worry is not going to go away like that, and it’s also the exact kind of thing he can’t let Shuichi see. This is a positive-feedback loop of his fear of showing weakness being the very weakness that he’s afraid to show. He is still terrified of failing Shuichi as they speak.

Kaito:  “Sorry, but could you leave me alone for now?”

So he’s… running away from the situation, as the only way to ensure he won’t fail. He would rather pass up on a chance to hang out with Shuichi than keep risking that. (Also, apologising, because of course. To be fair, maybe an apology for not hanging out with his friend for such an irrational reason is warranted, but that’s definitely not what Kaito thinks he’s apologising for, is it.)

This one isn’t quite as bad an outcome as last time because at least Kaito doesn’t end up believing that he’s already failed. (It doesn’t seem like Kaito realises that Shuichi saw his thoughts this time, or at least he has some plausible deniability to himself about it – Shuichi would totally just make a comment like “You never show me your weakness” out of the blue because that’s just a definitely true statement, right?) But even so, this brought Kaito face-to-face with his fear of letting Shuichi down and made him really think about what he believes it’d mean if he did do that and how terrified he is of that happening. He’s probably not going to start actively avoiding Shuichi from here, because he’s obviously fine and obviously isn’t going to show any weakness to him, but all his interactions with Shuichi from this point on are likely to be undercut even more than they usually would with that constant fear of what if he *does*? What if he *fails*? Again, though he still emphatically did not mean to, Shuichi accidentally made things worse than they were before he said anything.

Before we move onto the better two outcomes, I noticed something regarding these two worst options here. Shuichi telling him “hey, no, it’s okay to be afraid” and Shuichi going “whoa, yeah, you really never do show me your weakness, do you” would probably both come about by Shuichi being very immediately reactionary and saying what first comes to mind when he hears Kaito’s thoughts. And it’s neat that those are the ones that unintentionally mess things up and make Kaito feel worse. This is a very delicate situation that needs to be approached in exactly the right way to get through to Kaito and not make him just shut Shuichi out even more, and to do that, Shuichi would need to stop and think more carefully about exactly how Kaito’s going to respond to his words and how best to get him to see sense.

Affirm “It’s not like me…”

Shuichi:  “…That’s true. You never back down from a challenge, do you, Kaito?”

It seems that this time, Shuichi’s decided to try and affirm Kaito’s stubbornness and determination and reassure him that he’s not weak. This still isn’t addressing the real core of the problem, but it seems likely to help on the surface.

This sentiment would perhaps work a little better if it really could be directed at the “For me to be this weak” statement, though. It would be more helpful to specifically tell Kaito that thinking something negative and then shooting it down isn’t actually weakness at all, reassuring him that what he thinks of as weakness in himself really isn’t. As it is, Kaito is liable to think that the only reason Shuichi called him strong is because he overlooked the part of Kaito that’s so weak in the first place. Which leaves exactly the same problem of making Kaito so afraid of showing that weakness after all and ruining that supposed illusion.

That said, Shuichi is still doing better than just a blanket affirmation that Kaito is strong. He’s saying that Kaito won’t back down from a challenge, which is a completely accurate assessment of what Kaito is like! He may struggle with things from time to time, but he refuses to give up and let that stop him!

But Kaito thinks in a far too black-and-white way about strength and weakness, at least when it comes to heroes like himself, so he’s not going to take it that way.

Kaito:  “Right!? No way a man who’s gonna explore the universe should freak out about this!”

It’s not that he was freaking out but then didn’t back down and refused to let it stop him – it’s that he definitely didn’t freak out at all in the first place, that’s definitely what Shuichi is saying and definitely what happened and he’s completely fine. Someone like him shouldn’t freak out about anything, because he’s a hero and that is not what heroes do – but at least Shuichi seems to be agreeing with him about that, right!?

Kaito:  “Especially to you.”

Kaito is implying here that, if he absolutely had to show weakness at all, he’d actually kind of prefer to do so not to a sidekick of his like Shuichi, but to a stranger, someone who doesn’t have any expectations of him and that he doesn’t have a responsibility towards.

Shuichi:  “…To me?”

Shuichi seems bewildered by this part in particular. Which does make sense – surely it’d be easier for Kaito to show weakness to someone he’s close to, like Shuichi, than to a complete stranger? That’s usually the case with most people, after all. Understanding why it’s the exact opposite of that for Kaito is the root of the problem, and Shuichi failed to figure that out in this version of events.

Kaito:  “I can’t show weakness in front of my sidekick.”

Just in case you weren’t sure how important this was, Kaito is reiterating it. It’s actually kind of surprising he’s even willing to say this out loud to Shuichi, since it implies that he might potentially have some kind of weakness that he’s choosing not to show. But, again, I suppose that so long as he doesn’t show any, then he can tell himself that all he’s doing by saying this is affirming his Heroic Responsibilities that he would obviously never let his sidekick down by breaking.

Kaito:  “Just forget about whatever it was you heard before.”

However, this is interesting, because it implies that Kaito is, to some extent, aware of the fact that Shuichi just heard his thoughts? Which you’d think would send him into the same kind of spiral of “oh god I’ve failed him” as the worst outcome, but apparently not quite. It seems that Shuichi responding by affirming Kaito’s strength is allowing Kaito to convince himself that it’s not that bad, Shuichi can’t possibly have noticed how weak he is from whatever he heard, because if he had then surely he’d have said so.

But Kaito’s still insisting Shuichi forgets about it, probably mostly so that he can forget about it and not have to worry about what might happen if Shuichi thinks too hard about the thoughts he heard. He’s basically just desperately trying to paper over the problem and ignore what just happened, convincing himself that so long as Shuichi didn’t mention seeing any weakness then he obviously mustn’t have seen any at all, and so it’s totally not a big deal that he might have just read Kaito’s thoughts while they were being so weak and negative and everything is fine, right!? Right!!!

Kaito:  “I was unsure for a sec, but now I’m overflowing with motivation!”

See, those negative thoughts he might have been maybe having for a second are totally gone now, so they might as well both pretend they never existed! He’s fine! Shuichi needn’t worry about a thing! Everything is fine.

Shuichi:  (He sounds like he’s hiding something…)

…But even Shuichi can tell now that he is not fine. Which is either because his glimpse into Kaito’s thoughts just now is letting him realise that these displays from Kaito aren’t as truthful as he once thought they were, or just because this particular display is especially strained and transparent.

The event doesn’t go any further than this, other than awkwardly mood-whiplashing us with Shuichi’s standard “I think this conversation went well” comment that he has for every good-but-not-great hangout outcome. It clearly did not go well! Shuichi managed to notice that! This is nominally a good outcome by the game’s metric, and admittedly it seems to be that way on the surface because look, Kaito is Totally Fine, nothing is wrong at all, and at least he didn’t end up asking Shuichi to leave him alone this time. But this has not remotely fixed Kaito’s problem either and is just perpetuating his desperate defence mechanisms.

In fact, if anything, the possibility that Shuichi might have got a glimpse of what’s beneath them is only going to make Kaito’s façade even more desperate and strained. Since Shuichi affirmed that he’s fine, Kaito can’t make an excuse to leave like in the other ones, because that’d be like admitting that Shuichi’s wrong and he’s not actually fine at all. So he has no choice but to keep hanging out with him and keep desperately pretending to be fine despite how badly he must be freaking out over the possibility of showing Shuichi that he isn’t. Things are yet again just a little bit worse despite Shuichi’s genuine attempt to help.

Shuichi would probably notice that Kaito seems kind of awkwardly distracted and distant during their continued hangouts and figure it has something to do with what happened here. After trying to prod Kaito about it verbally and getting a predictable complete lack of acknowledgement of a problem, Shuichi might become desperate enough to fix this awkwardness and figure out how to help Kaito that, against his better judgement, he decides to deliberately tap into his mindreading powers again. So he looks into Kaito’s thoughts during one of his distant moments to try and figure out what’s really bothering him about this…

…only to find Kaito THINKING VERY LOUDLY ABOUT SPACE, he can’t wait to go to SPACE, here are all the PLANETS HE CAN NAME.

Because Kaito knows now that somehow, inexplicably, Shuichi can hear his thoughts. Even if Shuichi totally didn’t hear anything bad last time it happened, that notion that he can hear them at all is terrifying to Kaito. He can’t even afford to think about the things that are worrying him while in Shuichi’s presence in case Shuichi hears it and becomes convinced that he really is weak. But of course, that very fear of doing that would then become the topic of his thoughts and make him worry even more and make everything even worse and make him even more likely to fail Shuichi and—

…And so, long story short, to avoid spontaneously combusting, Kaito hastily cobbled together a desperate coping mechanism of running mental interference by consciously forcing himself to think about something unrelated whenever he’s in Shuichi’s company. As a result, all of his interactions (SPACE) with Shuichi are awkwardly (BLACK HOLES) stilted, because he’s constantly focusing on (NEBULAS) trying to keep an inner monologue that (JUPITER) isn’t thinking about anything else (THE BIG DIPPER. THE BIG DIPPER!) except space. (While, of course, feeling utterly terrified beneath it of letting it slip for even a second, not that SPACE no he’s not scared of anytHING HE JUST REALLY LIKES SPACE)

…I’m not sure where this story ends. I mostly just wanted to get to the part with Kaito thinking loudly about space to drown out his other thoughts, because that’s a concept I’ve had in my head for ages that I wanted to share.

So anyway, let’s rewind things one last time and actually help Kaito at last.

Deny “I can’t show weakness in front of my sidekick…”

In this one, Shuichi has realised that this is the core of the problem. And that’s all he ever needed to do to fix this.

Shuichi:  “I’m your sidekick… but I’m also your friend, Kaito.”

Shuichi’s way of approaching this is adorable. Instead of telling Kaito how heroes are allowed to be weak sometimes and that doesn’t mean they’ve failed their sidekicks or make them any less heroic at all, he just throws all of that out of the window to focus on the fact that they’re friends.

Earlier in this post I got talking about how Kaito is so hung up on the idea that Shuichi is his sidekick that he isn’t even sure if he’s actually a regular friend beneath that. I’m really happy that happened to come up from those bits of bonus dialogue and deliberately went into it so much when it did because it’s a very important point that’s been contributing to his issues here.

The hero-and-sidekick thing is a useful way to frame their relationship in terms of how Kaito is helping Shuichi, but it inherently comes with all kinds of expectations, almost all of them on Kaito to continue to be that perfect and invincible hero, or else… or else Shuichi won’t have any reason to care about him any more? But friendship is so much simpler and with so many fewer expectations. Friends care about each other regardless of how strong or weak they are. Until now, Kaito wasn’t sure if Shuichi even was his friend outside of the whole sidekick deal, but… of course he is, you big moron.

Shuichi:  “Maybe you don’t show weakness to your sidekick. But you can to your friend.”

…I’m not sure I like how Shuichi is still saying it’s okay that Kaito insists he mustn’t show any weakness while he’s playing the hero role and Shuichi is being the sidekick. That’s still a totally misguided premise. (And Shuichi should be perfectly aware that heroes don’t need to be invincible to be inspiring, you’d think, based on his comments about fiction in trial 6.) But regardless, so long as what Shuichi’s saying about their friendship gets Kaito to realise that it’s okay for him to show weakness to Shuichi, that’s what really matters.

Kaito:  “…”

For once, Kaito isn’t responding immediately with some kind of fervent insistence that him showing weakness would be inconceivable. He’s actually listening to what Shuichi’s saying with a thoughtful expression.

Shuichi:  “If you don’t want to open up to your sidekick… maybe you’ll open up to your best friend. How about it, Kaito?”

Heroes and sidekicks may not, at least not in Kaito’s definition, but friends open up to each other and support each other with their problems, mutually, in both directions. That’s just how friendship works. Even Kaito with his possible lack of experience in the subject ought to understand that much.

It’s also incredibly adorable how Shuichi’s not saying “you’re my best friend”, which is the part he’d be able to say with authority. Rather, he’s saying “I’m your best friend”, even though Kaito has never actually said as much (because he’s barely even called Shuichi his friend in the first place). Shuichi is technically making an assumption here to even say that – but of course he’s right about it. Kaito hadn’t even properly realised that himself, but Shuichi could see it anyway. And it was definitely his Shuichi Saihara side and not his detective side that made him so sure about this particular truth.

(they are FRIENDS, I may have mentioned this a few times)

Kaito:  “Shuichi…”

Kaito is still pausing, thoughtful. He’s saying Shuichi’s name like he’s impressed or taken aback, as if Shuichi just said something groundbreaking that Kaito would never have thought of himself, but that actually… makes sense?

(Of course it makes sense, Kaito. You were just always being a gigantic idiot about this.)

Kaito:  “Thanks. I’m alright now.”

He genuinely means this. This is so much more subdued than all of his over-the-top insistence that he’s Totally Fine, so this isn’t a façade. Shuichi’s words actually got through to him and made him realise that he doesn’t need to be afraid of this. And thanking someone is something Kaito does quite rarely because he usually doesn’t like to acknowledge that he needed help – but he’s doing so here! Shuichi really did help him and he really is grateful, and it’s okay for him to admit that!

Shuichi:  “What? Are you sure?”

Shuichi seems surprised that Kaito would suddenly be so okay so quickly, which could seem to hint that he actually isn’t. But it’s not that – it’s just that Shuichi didn’t realise that the fix would be this simple.

Kaito:  “Now that I know you think of me like that… All my doubts are gone!”

Shuichi was perhaps still thinking that the main problem was Kaito’s initial worry about not getting out of here and was expecting him to open up about that. But that was insignificant next to the real problem, which was Kaito’s fear of what would happen if he showed any kind of weakness to Shuichi. Now that Kaito realises that Shuichi sees him as a friend and accepts and supports him regardless of his weaknesses, and that this doesn’t mean they can’t also do the hero-and-sidekick thing alongside that… the entire problem has literally just vanished into thin air.

Kaito:  “Alright! Let’s escape this screwed up academy together!”

And those initial doubts he had about escaping? Even though he didn’t have Shuichi help him address those doubts, they were already something Kaito was capable of shooting down and overcoming by himself! Damn right he’s not just going to accept being stuck here, not when he’s got a friend as amazing as Shuichi that he wants to escape with!

These outcomes to a Harmonious Heart event have a very limited length – really there should be so much more being said here than the handful of lines we get. Shuichi should still want to discuss the fact that Kaito did feel so afraid of showing him weakness, so that they can explore that and be sure that Kaito really will be comfortable opening up to him in future if he needs to. Despite knowing now in his head that it’s okay, Kaito’s still going to be instinctively inclined to hide his worries, and it’ll probably take him a while to fully unlearn that.

But regardless, I really like that even in this short space, the writing makes sure to carefully show that this does work on Kaito and genuinely gets through to him. It would be very easy for things to still come across like Kaito’s lying about being okay, but his reaction here contains enough clues that he actually means it and that he really thought about Shuichi’s words and took them to heart.

Helping Kaito begin to fix his issues was always going to be this simple. Shuichi only needed to know what the problem was in the first place, and that was the hardest part.

Graduation scene

And now, let’s imagine this brings us onto the final bit of content in this bonus mode, which is the scene you get with Kaito after the ten days are over and they’re going to get out of here because they became appropriately epic friends. (shush, Monokuma DEFINITELY MENTIONED FRIENDSHIP)

It’s a little unclear as to whether everyone else is also going to escape just because two people achieved this, or whether they’re the only ones escaping – I’m pretty sure all the graduation scenes kinda just skim over that topic. But let’s assume that everyone gets to leave, because neither Kaito nor Shuichi would stand for it and be able to have this happy reflection about their time here if that wasn’t the case.

The wiki mentions at one point that successfully getting the best outcome for the Harmonious Heart event is necessary to unlock the graduation scene. Unfortunately, the wiki is wrong. You can very definitely fuck up the Harmonious Heart and still get this scene – heck, you can probably not even happen to trigger it at all. All you need to do is max a character’s FTEs to get five hearts of affection and then do enough successful hangouts to get another five hearts. It would, after all, be kind of unfair for the game to expect you to get the Harmonious Heart right, because you can only attempt it once per playthrough and so getting it wrong would screw you out of that character’s ending on that playthrough.

…I say “unfortunately” because, at least in Kaito’s case, it’d narratively be a lot more fun if you really did have to succeed in his Harmonious Heart event to get this ending. It would be really neat if the kind of close friendship that Shuichi and Kaito needed to achieve in order to be able to leave is a more equal, healthy friendship than they ever had in canon, in which Kaito is also able to open up to Shuichi about his own issues and be supported in return. That’s very much the kind of friendship I like to imagine them having in this AU once they leave and continue to live happily ever after as adorable best friends on the outside. Or in any AU in which they both get to live, for that matter. They deserve it.

(Because, you know, Monokuma and the audience definitely care about emotionally healthy and nuanced relationships showing these complex characters helping each other overcome their issues, since such a thing is a more meaningful and compelling part of a relationship than simply whether or not the feelings involved are romantic and is equally possible when they aren’t. That’s totally what the audience is watching for and not just ARGLFLARGL ROMANCE, right.)

There’s also the fact that in all of the Harmonious Heart outcomes that aren’t the successful one, things would likely become at best subtly awkward between Kaito and Shuichi, and at worst Kaito probably starts outright avoiding him. That wouldn’t be the best environment for this ending to happen in.

Kaito:  “I thought I’d be happy about it, but I don’t want it to end… I’m a little sad.”

Shuichi:  “It was just for a short while, but we did go through a lot. I’m a little sad too.”

Yeah, all those things they went through that totally, uh, you know, happened. Shuichi’s wording implies he’s talking about things that aren’t just hanging out with Kaito and becoming friends with him, as if there were some actual overarching plot events to this mode, which, ha ha.

Shuichi:  “Are you going to go back to astronaut training when you get out of here?”

Kaito:  “Of course! No way I’d give up on my dream of becoming an astronaut!”

Obviously! Kaito is going to live happily ever after as an astronaut who goes to SPACE lots of times under normal circumstances and comes back alive each time!

Kaito:  “I’m gonna make up all my lost time as fast as I can!”

Shuichi:  “That’s true, while we were in here, the other trainees were training every day.”

Haha, yes, those other trainees. Kaito’s going to hit something of a roadblock upon learning that he was never an astronaut trainee in the first place… but like hell that’s going to stop him. It’s still going to be him making up for lost time, just the lost time of never having actually trained in the first place. (His fake memories of training will help a bit, though.)

Kaito:  “But, y’know, coming here… I think it was good for me. One reason was because I got to meet you…”

Aww. He’s about to talk about how being here helped with his astronaut training, but he still wanted to mention meeting Shuichi first, because that’s very much the best thing he gained from being here. They are friends.

(Coming here was also good for him because without it he wouldn’t exist. Existing is good.)

Shuichi:  (The most important thing for an astronaut…) “Good communication, right?”

Every character’s ending scene asks you to remember something they mentioned during one of their FTEs, and this is the one for Kaito. Of course communication skills are relevant to the time they spent here! Or… at least they would have been if this AU had had any semblance of a story to it.

Kaito:  “No matter how great you are, you can’t be an astronaut if you can’t communicate. A fight in a spaceship because of bad communication could be fatal, right?”

You know what else could be fatal on a spaceship because of bad communication? One of the astronauts not telling everybody else when he’s feeling sick, which could potentially endanger not just the astronaut himself but also the rest of the crew. So thaaaat’s a thing they’ll have to train out of him – though maybe the help Shuichi’s given him in this AU has already started to do that.

Kaito:  “Being shut away and told to live together… Living together here was probably even harder than living on a spaceship.”

It actually is kind of analogous! Astronauts are stuck with the same handful of people all day every day for months on end while up in space, which is why they need to be able to get along so well. That’s also basically what happened at this academy. Too bad this place contained a few people who are so horrendously bad at communication and teamwork that they’d never have been allowed to become astronauts even if they tried. I guess that’s why Kaito says it was even harder than being on a spaceship.

Shuichi:  “Well, you learned a lot about communication here. Living here must have been good training for you.”

Yeah, with all of the communicating among each other that everybody definitely did, it’s not like they just stood unmoving in the same spot in the courtyard for ten days or anything. Gah, this mode’s lack of a story.

The actual canon story would also have helped Kaito learn a thing or two about communication, in theory, at least if he’d lived and had been able to continue to use what he’d learned. If he’d lived, then presumably, during whatever change to the canon events caused him to actually get his illness treated before it was too late, the main lesson he’d learn would be an emphatic tell people when something’s wrong with you, dammit. Important lessons about communication there.

Kaito:  “Just how living here helped me in my astronaut training… I think it helped you with your detective work, too. Maybe the time you spent here will be useful for your future, y’know?”

A nice sentiment, but one that definitely only really makes sense for the main story. In this AU, apparently all Shuichi did was hang out with people all day, with no attempt to unravel the mystery of what’s going on here.

Kaito:  “Isn’t there something you gained here?”

It’s marred by the lack of any semblance of a story backing this up, but it’s still very Kaito that he’s trying to encourage Shuichi to think about what he’s learned and how he’s grown.

Shuichi:  (And above all else… I was so lucky to make a friend like Kaito.)

That’s definitely a thing that we can all agree he gained here, though! And that’s what’s most important – for Kaito as well.

Shuichi:  “Thank you for everything. I’m really glad I met you, Kaito.”

Awwww. It’s so lovely to hear Shuichi fully expressing how much he’s grateful to Kaito, while Kaito is there to hear it. Shuichi never quite said anything to this extent in canon while Kaito was alive, which I may have mentioned a few times was kind of heartbreaking.

Kaito:  “What are you talking about!? That’s my line! I’m glad I got to meet you, Shuichi!”

So… since this is this AU and not the canon story, I’m going to assume that Kaito brushing off Shuichi’s heartfelt thanks isn’t because he doesn’t feel like he deserves it. Rather, it’s just that, despite that he constantly presents the fiction of himself as this awesome hero who does this for people, he’s kind of awkward and unsure about how to respond to such earnest gratitude acknowledging that awesomeness as the genuine truth. So instead, he does what he always does and turns it around to use it to help Shuichi feel good about himself, too.

Kaito really does mean this, though. He’s just as grateful to Shuichi as Shuichi is to him – especially if we assume that the Harmonious Heart’s best outcome really did happen in this story. They are friends! Not just hero and sidekick, friends, which is such a big deal to Kaito. Shuichi is already the closest friend he’s ever had, and that means the world to him.

(I definitely hadn’t forgotten about this line when I wrote my own thing about Kaito getting heartfelt thanks from his sidekicks and responding with “that’s my line”, so this… probably somewhat influenced that, yes.)

Kaito:  “You’ll always be my sidekick, alright!?”

Again, since this is a happier AU with much less messed-up co-dependency going on (especially with the Harmonious Heart having helped to fix that), I’m going to assume Kaito means this in a good way. Not as “I need you to always depend on me”, but just as “whenever you do need me, I’ll always be there for you”. Everyone needs someone else from time to time. You can’t just graduate from being a “sidekick” who relies on someone else’s support into a “hero” who doesn’t need anyone at all. Heroes and sidekicks aren’t that black-and-white. Kaito considered the sidekicks from his backstory only former sidekicks by now, but that isn’t how things should actually work at all.

Once Kaito’s sidekick, always Kaito’s sidekick, because no matter how strong those people are now thanks to him, they’re still going to need help sometimes, and because Kaito is always going to want to be there for his friends.

Shuichi:  “Yes, of course!”

Look at Shuichi not even being slightly awkward or put-off at the idea of being Kaito’s “sidekick”! He understands exactly what Kaito means by that here, and it was never about Shuichi being lesser than him.

Shuichi:  (Kaito and I beamed at one another and shook hands. We both put all our strength into the handshake.)

They are friends! I love the implication that they both want to get across the strength of their friendship in that handshake, communicating without words.

Shuichi:  (I’m really glad I met Kaito. So in at least *one* way, I’m thankful to Monokuma. I’m sure Kaito feels the same way. But we don’t have to tell each other that. We don’t need words. I know exactly how Kaito feels, without them.)

Communication without words! Shuichi and Kaito also kind of did some of this, during trial 5, so it’s especially appropriate for them that this is one of the things the writers put into their scene here. Friends who know each other so well that they can do this is one of my favourite friendship tropes and melts my heart.

I suppose we can assume that Shuichi’s inexplicable mindreading powers have reverted to something less supernaturally intrusive and more realistically just him being able to intuit how Kaito’s feeling because of how well he knows him. Maybe this means he’ll be able to take a leaf out of Kaito’s book and pick up on when Kaito’s feeling down and needs to talk to him about something, even when he’d have hesitated to mention it otherwise? I hope so. They are friends and equals who can support each other, like they always should have been.

[landofmelodyandstars]

DRV3 Gift Reactions Transcription.

These are transcriptions of the character’s gift reactions from drv3. Spoilers for Chapter 1 Danganronpa v3 below the cut.

Characters are listed in the same order as my posts with the proper screenshots of these reactions. Every new line of text is a new dialog box.

Assume that the reactions are from Chapter 1 unless specifically marked as otherwise. (Tbh I actually got the majority of this transcribed the other day, I was just waiting to sleep and recharge my energy to get and edit the post-chapter-1 screenshots I needed to finish it.)

I’ve only transcribed post-chapter-1 gift reactions that are significantly different--it can generally be safely assumed that Kaede’s name is simply replaced by Shuichi’s in places where it comes up.

My masterpost for gift reactions is here. My masterlist for all things danganronpa-related is here. (Just be warned as there may be whole game/series spoilers there depending on how far in the future you’re reading this.) The things here are transcribed exactly, including dropped words and typos, but they’ll still be marked with [sic] because I want to differentiate between the errors in the game and my own inability to type correctly.

~Shuichi Saihara~

Loved Gifts:

Kaede... thank you. I’ve never received something like this before. I’m so happy I... I don’t know what to say!

Ah? For me? Kaede...you’re amazing! How did you know I want this?

Liked Gifts:

Can I...really have this? Thank you, I’ll take good care of it. I’ll help soothe my anxiety as dark times like this.

I can tell that you put a lot of time and thought into this... Thank you. You giving me something this wonderful... I wish I could give you something in return.

Neutral Gifts:

Ah, do you like this kind of stuff, Kaede? I don’t really get it...but maybe I’ll learn to love it?

I didn’t know the academy had things like this... I wonder if this was prepared for us. If it was, they must have quite the budget... They can afford to have aesthetic items like this.

You’re...giving this to me? Thank you... I’ll cherish it.

Disliked Gifts:

Ah, um, I don’t think I can accept this... I do appreciate the thought, but... I’m sorry.

Ah...I don’t know... why you’d give me this... Ah! Is this a joke? S-Sorry, I don’t get it!

Hated Gift(s):

...I-I’m sorry... Even if it’s a gift from you, I can’t accept it. I’m really sorry... I know you’re just trying to make me happy...

But for you to give me something at a time like this, I... I can’t believe you’d do that. I can’t believe you’d be the kind of person who would do something so tasteless...

~Kokichi Oma~

Loved Gifts:

H-How do you have something this amazing, Kaede? Did you steal this!? The supreme leader of evil lost!? Grrrrr... Dammit! This pisses me off!

Hey, I’m surprised you had something so interesting on you, Kaede. But if you think something like this would make me happy, you got another thing coming! ...Just kidding. Thank you.

Liked Gifts:

This is a pretty decent present, Kaede. Are you starting to get me now? It feels good to know that you thought long and hard about what tribute to give me.

Hmm...I guess this isn’t *that* boring. You have pretty good taste, Kaede. Well, not as good as mine. I’ll surprise you with a gift one of these days, Kaede!

Woooah! This is niiiice! I’ve always wanted something like this! By the way, that’s not a lie, ‘kay? Don’t worry, I’m actually happy.

Neutral Gifts:

Hm, for me? I’ll take it, but... You’re not getting any thanks from me, buddy! Well, I might repay your kindness...with tricks. Since I *am* the supreme leader of evil.

How do I put this nicely... Well...it’s not bad, but it’s not good either... And by that, I mean it’s bad.

Disliked Gifts:

Wooooow, this is just aaaawful! It’s soooo boring that it’s funny! Um, I don’t really want this. Toss it somewhere else.

Um...why would you think I’d like this? You have pretty bad taste, Kaede. I thought we were of one heart and soul.

*sigh* ...You disappoint me. I thought you would’ve made it more fun for me, Kaede. Or are you hinting that I should make it fun for you instead?

Hated Gift(s):

I...I didn’t know you hated me that much, Kaede... WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! Even if you do hate me, this is going too far! Well, at least this isn’t boring... But you gotta make it up to me later, ‘kay?

~Kaito Momota~

Loved Gifts:

A-Are you serious!? I didn’t think you could even find this around here! Kaede...this makes me so happy! Gimme a hug!

Oh, nice! This gift’s a real bullseye! Your thoughts hit me dead center! Alright! Since you gave it to me, I’ll teach you all about this thing!

Liked Gifts:

Are you giving this to me? Haha, you know me so well! Alright! As thanks for this cool gift, I’ll tell you a cool story!

Oh, that’s pretty interesting. This is almost the perfect gift for a Luminary of the Stars! You’re on the right path.

Neutral Gifts:

You’ve got a bunch of stuff, huh? You’re not just trying to unload some garbage on me, right?

Huh? What’s this? Where’d you get it? Well, if it’s a gift from you, then I’ll totally accept it.

Disliked Gifts:

Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do with this? What’s up with you? This isn’t like you, man!

Did you really think I’d like something like this? C’mon, man... Are you making fun of me? Nah you wouldn’t, but...

Hated Gift(s):

Hey...we can still pretend it was just a joke, so put that away.

H-Hold up...don’t put that near me. You got it? Why do you even have such a weird think!? Toss it in the garbage!

~Rantaro Amami~

Loved Gifts:

Did you...get me this because you thought it’d make me happy? I guess you thought I’d like this kind of thing, based on how I dress. Haha... Well, ah, thanks anyway.

Now *this* I like. I knew you had good taste, Kaede. I can learn from you.

Liked Gifts:

You’ve got something pretty interesting there. Where did you find it? Oh, you’re giving it to me? A present? That’s so sweet. You’re being so nice to a guy that doesn’t even know his own talent...

But this looks really valuable. Are you sure you want me to have it? I’ll get you something special one day too. I have some pretty rare things myself.

Neutral Gifts:

I always get butterflies in my tummy when people give me gifts. Thank you. Is there anything you want, Kaede? I want to give you something in return.

Wow, they even have stuff like this here? This place gets weirder and weirder. Don’t you think it’s odd? That you would find this stuff here?

Oh...for me? No no, it’s not that I don’t like it... Just the thought makes me happy, Kaede.

Disliked Gifts:

Really? You’re giving this to me? Kaede, you have...unique taste. I never expected this from you.

Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but maybe there’s someone else who would enjoy it more? I think you should give this to someone who can really appreciate it.

Hated Gift(s):

Haha...my, this is a pretty dark gift. You look like a sunny and cheerful girl, but I guess there’s a dark side to ya.

~Gonta Gokuhara~

Loved Gifts:

Oh wow... Gonta think bug friends will like this. Kaede like bugs, too? Gonta so happy!

Gentlemen wear small trinkets... Gonta must remember that. Gonta still not used to gentleman clothes... This very helpful, Kaede!

Liked Gifts:

Ummm... But real gentleman say nice thing. Then gentleman give gift, too... Gonta not real gentleman yes, huh...? Someday Gonta give Kaede nice gift!

What? For Gonta? Thank you, Kaede! Gonta not get gifts often... Gonta happy! Very very happy!

Neutral Gifts:

Hmmm... Gonta not know stuff like this exist. Thanks for showing Gonta, Kaede!

For Gonta? Thank you! Gonta treasure it always. How that? Gonta show gentleman gratitude okay? 

Hmmm...Kaede like this kinda stuff? Gonta think he understand now. Gonta try hard to appreciate gift.

Disliked Gifts:

Ummm... Sorry. Gonta not sure what to do with this. Gonta know Kaede mean well... Gonta so pathetic!

K-Kaede... You...hate Gonta!? Oh, G-Gonta wrong? Gonta just not understand.

Hated Gift(s):

Kaede...no can give gift like this! Is not proper! O-Or...d-does Kaede...hate...Gonta? G-Gonta...*sniffle*...so sad!

Oh, sorry... This sorta thing give Gonta bad memories... Gonta hope Kaede not feel bad now... Gonta really sorry!

~K1-B0~

Loved Gifts:

Kaede... Thank you very much. I am humbled by your generosity. Did you give me this simply because I am a robot? I will report you robophobic actions.

This is...quite a practical gift. Thank you. Please don’t get the wrong impression... I’m happy because this gift is so practical. Under different circumstances, this gift could be considered robophobia.

Liked Gifts:

This is...quite a fascinating item! Are you sure I can have it? I wish I could give you something in return, but I have nothing to give... I’m sorry.

...A toy? Is this your way of bringing me a friend? Do you see me a toy[sic], too? I’d prefer not to be compared to this toy...but as far as toys go, I guess it’s kind of cute.

This is nice. It aligns with my preferences. You understand me... I feel...happy.

Neutral Gifts:

...I’m sorry. I cannot see myself ever developing an interest in this. Should I feign happiness in this situation? That seems illogical to me...

A present from Kaede... There, I’ve finished saving a backup copy of this memory. I hope to repay your kindness one day.

Disliked Gifts:

I’m sorry. I can’t do anything with food or beverages except stare at them... I this kind of gift is wasted on me. You should probably give it to someone else.

... ... I’m sorry. I was calculating the appropriate response to a situation like this.

...I don’t know how to react to being given a gift like this. It would be insincere of me to just accept this gifts, so I must politely decline it.

Hated Gift(s):

Wh-What’s wrong with you!? Why would you give me a gift like this!? This isn’t some kind of robophobic microaggression, is it!?

~Ryoma Hoshi~

Loved Gifts:

Hmph...not bad at all. Sometimes, even I want to feel happy ...so I’ll accept this. Thanks.

If you’re giving me this... you really get me, huh? I don’t hve anything to give you, is that okay? Hmph...you’re strange.

Liked Gifts:

Hmph...nothing good will come from making me happy, you know? Sorry I can’t show how happy I am... I really am grateful for this gift.

Oh...you’ve got good taste. I hope I can return the favor. But I’m not great at giving gifts.

Neutral Gifts:

Hmph...you’re giving this to me? What’s the meaning of this? Well, whatever. I guess you didn’t mean anything bad by it.

Huh? You seemed like the conscientious type, but did I misjudge you? Well...I guess having a side like that is just part of your charm, huh?

Giving me a gift... You’re a strange one. I...appreciate the thought.

Disliked Gifts:

Exactly what sort of reaction were you expecting from me? Sorry, but I’m not a fan of joke gifts.

That’s just not cool... I thought you’d have better taste than that. Hmph...I don’t have anything to say to a gift like that.

Hated Gift(s):

I won’t make a scene about this insult...but I’ll remember it. Even if someone’s not a good person, you can’t just be rude like that...

You’re giving that to me? What’s you game...? I’m not sure it you’re being a punk or just nosy, but I’m not accepting that.

~Korekiyo Shinguji~

Loved Gifts:

This is...! Kaede, where on Earth did you find such a thing!? Ooh...I never dreamed of encounter such a splendid item here.

To have brought this to me... You truly have an eye for treasures. Kehehe...what a wonderful woman you are. I have no complains with this. If you’d like, I can tell you this item’s history. Are you interested?

Loved Gifts (post chapter 1):

To have brought this to me... You truly have an eye for treasures. If you’d like, I can tell you this item’s history. Are you interested?

Liked Gifts:

I may have this? Kehehe...much appreciated. You enjoy giving gifts? Perhaps we can discuss cultural gift giving practices.

This is a fine gift... It almost makes me sorry to be the receiving it. I would like to at least tell you some stories in return. Which one though...?

Neutral Gifts:

Kehehe...did you think giving me this would make me happy? Interesting... It would appear you don’t yet know me well enough.

The desire to do something for someone. I understand it well. But is it not necessary to consider what will make that person happy?

Disliked Gifts:

Honestly, I cannot understand your reasons for giving me this. Do tell...what were your intentions giving me this?

Hmm...even if your[sic] have poor taste, that is beautiful too... Not everyone shares the same preferences. Do keep that in mind.

Hated Gift(s):

I cannot accept this. Are you taking the occult lightly?

~Kaede Akamatsu~

Loved Gifts:

Shuichi...I’m just so ecstatic! I thought I had been the only one looking at you, but I guess you’ve noticed me, too. I think that, because... you gave me such a pretty gift.

Whoa! Can I really have this!? Thanks, I’m so happy right now! You really know what makes me smile, Shuichi. But, I guess *you* would know what I like!

Liked Gifts:

Oh! I was just thinking about getting one of these! I can’t believe you already know what I like, even though we just met... Well, that’s a detective for ya!

I really like these kinda of things. Do you enjoy them too, Shuichi? It would make me a bit happier to know we like the same things. Oh, god... I think I said something embarrassing just now.

Neutral Gifts:

Hmm...so you like these kinds of things, Shuichi. I’ll remember that. Someday, I’ll give you a present, too... Oh, I don’t mean it in a weird way. It’s to return the favor, okay?

I see... You carry these things around, huh, Shuichi? How did you find them in this academy? Or did you have them before you came here?

Disliked Gifts:

Umm... Your taste is...unique... Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. If you like it, then that’s your choice.

Umm...I’m sorta curious why you chose to give this to me... I don’t hate it. Well...I’m actually happy!

Hated Gift(s):

This isn’t okay, Shuichi...Even if it’s a joke, there are some things you shouldn’t do. If we weren’t in such a weird situation, I might be able to laugh it off.

~Maki Harukawa~

Loved Gifts:

Is this for me...? Hmm... ...Huh, do I look mad? I may not show it, but I’m actually pretty happy.

...Thank you. I’ll cherish this. Why are you surprised? I got something I like, so of course I’m going to thank you for it.

Liked Gifts:

Hmm... You must not worry a lot if you’re giving presents in a situation like this... ...Well, it’s not like I mind. I’ll take it.

This is...something you should give to a child. You shouldn’t give this to someone my age. Well...when we get out of here, I’ll give it to the kids. That’s why you gave it to me, right?

Neutral Gifts:

...You have surprisingly bad taste. If you don’t want it, then I don’t mind keeping it.

I see... You’re giving it to me. What? Did you think I would be excited? Sorry, but I don’t intend to give empty thanks because of social obligations.

I don’t think it’s bad to give presents after spending time... But you should really think about the present first before giving it, don’t you think?

Disliked Gifts:

What is this...? Where did you even get this thing? It’s for me? Why would you even thing about giving this to me?

Wait... I’m going to stop you right now if you plan to give me something I don’t want. ...Am I wrong? That’s a joke, right?

Hated Gift(s):

... Sorry, but I don’t need this.

~Miu Iruma~

Loved Gifts:

Wh-What? How did you know I’ve wanted this? D-Don’t tell me...you’re that into me... Naturally, a flat-chested idiot like you would fall for a brainy, busty, beauty like me!

Wha—! I-I’ve...wanted this...so bad... I took you for an idiot, Kaediot, but it turns out you’re actually pretty useful! Heh, I could give you one of my inventions as a show of gratitude!

Loved Gifts (post-chapter-1):

Wh-What? How did you know I’ve wanted this? D-Don’t tell me...you’re that into me... Well, I guess a perma-virgin like you can’t help but think about[sic] all day long!

Wha—! I-I’ve...wanted this...so bad... Not bad, perma-virgin! When are ya plannin’s to slip some fliff between these big ol’ titties!? Well, if you’re tugging it to me every day, I guess I can let the slide!

Liked Gifts:

Damn, Kaediot! You actually brought me somethin’ nice! Alright, I’ll show you an invention of mine! I bet you’re so thankful, you’re about to cry! Huh? Y-You’re not interested? Whyyyy?

Whoa! I’ve wanted this for a while! I never expected you to have it, Kaediot! Why didn’t you give it to me sooner!? Geez, you just wasted my precious time!

Neutral Gifts:

What the hell were you thinkin’ givin’ this to me!? Do you have any how[sic] valuable my time is!?

Hm? What’s this? I mean, I guess I’ll take it... This is what you’re givin’ to me lovely self? I figured you for a fuckn’ idiot, but...

Hmmm... Well, I could probably use it for my invention so I guess I’ll take it. What, you want me to thank you? You should be thankin’ me for takin’ it off you hands!

Disliked Gifts:

Huh!? You’re givin’ this to me? You really are an idiot, aren’tcha!? I was right to start callin’ you “Kaediot”!

Maaaaaan! I’m startin’ to feel sorry for ya! Cuz, well...look at me! I’m beautiful, brainy, busty... You’re just a flat-chested Plain Jane who knows jack shit about proper gift-giving!

Disliked Gifts (post-chapter-1):

Huh!? You’re givin’ this to me? You really are a piece of shit, aren’tcha!? I was right to start callin’ you “Pooichi”!

Maaaaaan! I’m startin’ to feel sorry for ya! Cuz, well...look at me! I’m beautiful, brainy, busty... You’re just a perma-virgin with a stupid hat who knows jack shit about proper gift-giving!

Hated Gift(s):

Huh...? Do you really hate me that much? Why else would you give this to me? N-No way...

~Tenko Chabashira~

Loved Gifts:

K-Kaede, what a wonderful gift! Truly, only girst understand other girls’ delicate hearts! It’d be great if I can thank you in some way... How about I teach you a Neo-Aikido move!?

Thank you very much, Kaede! You understand me so well! This is making me too happy! It’s making me blush!

Loved Gifts (post-chapter-1):

Even though you’re a male, you made me happy... I feel like I lost! I’m annoyed, so I’m gonna throw you! Then we’ll be even!

You gave me exactly what I needed... Shuichi, do you understand the way of Neo-Aikido, too!? Then maybe I can smash your body onto the floor with a Neo-Aikido move!

Liked Gifts:

Wow! Amazing, Kaede! This is a wonderful gift! It’s probably because you’re a pianist that you know how to pick gifts! Please teach me!

What!? Y-You’re giving this to me!? Wow, I’m so happy! Thank you so much!

Liked Gifts (post-chapter-1):

Urgh... Not bad, Shuichi! You actually made me really happy! But don’t assume you can appease me! Girls are not that simple!

Even though you’re a male, you gave a gift that would make someone happy! But, I’m not so easy to overcome with just this! Please don’t underestimate me!

Neutral Gifts:

It’s so nice of you to bring me a gift, Kaede! But, of course a girl would! Oh no! I didn’t bring you anything! I-I’m so sorry!

Woah! I didn’t know there was something like this as school! Where’d you find it, Kaede? I wish I could give something in return... Would you like to see some Neo-Aikido instead!?

Huh, a present? Th-Thank you so much! I’m sorry I can’t understand the value of this gift, but your good feelings have reached me!

Neutral Gifts (post-chapter-1):

I don’t know what you’re thinking, Shuichi. So I guess I can stay and listen to you! Girls are not merciless enough to send someone away after they gave a gift!

O-Oh, is this for me...? This gift didn’t do any wrong, so I’ll take it... But even though you’re a detective, you’re still a make who ca’t understand girls’ feelings!

There must be an ulterior motive when a degenerate male gives a gift to a girl... So that’s why I’ll take this. It’s better than you giving it to Himiko or the other girls!

Disliked Gifts:

Kaede, you have an...um...unique taste. Well, you’re a pianist so... Do you feel like you were a bit too sheltered and it affected your taste in things?

I-I wasn’t aware that there would be such a huge difference in sensitivity between girls! Well, I’m not denying your taste... But I think I’ll pass on this...

Disliked Gifts (post-chapter-1):

... Sorry, I’m just surprised how bad this gift is *even* for a degenerate! I assume you want me to throw you across the room, right, Shuichi!?

Huuuuh? What do you want me to do with something like this? Did you think I would be happy? You completely underestimate me! Now, I’m gonna throw you!

Hated Gift(s):

I’m not too sure about this, Kaede... I don’t really wanna say it... But the thought of you handing this to someone else... Well, it makes my heart hurt...

Kaede! What’s going on here!? Did those degenerate males influence you to be vulgar and insensitive!? I will teach you Neo-Aikido then! You mind will become calm!

Hated Gift(s) (post-chapter-1):

...It seems you want to be punished. Got anything to say? You may say only one word.

~Himiko Yumeno~

Loved Gifts:

Oooh...you clearly know what’s important for a mage. Hm, as thanks I’ll show you some of my magic.

Oooh...this is it. The item I needed. Not bad. Please bring me more stuff to increase me magic stat.

Liked Gifts:

You must have used a “Find Himiko A Good Gift” spell. Hm, well done. I don’t mind you giving me more stuff from now on.

Hmm...yes, this will do. Now my MP can recover. Well, it’s still not enough to power a big spell...

Neutral Gifts:

Hm...offerings for the mighty Himiko... Yes, this will do. This thing has no magic. A gift for a mage should be magical, y’know?

Hm? What that for me? I didn’t realize. If you can’t give proper gifts, you’ll have a lot of trouble in life.

Nyeh... For me? Sorry, but saying thanks is too much work...

Disliked Gifts:

... Nyeeeh...I’m at a loss. What are you thinking giving me something like this?

Nyeeeh... I don’t want it. I don’t know what you want, but put that away already.

Hated Gift(s):

Are you bullying me? You’re bullying me cuz no one else is around, huh? I wanna turn you into a lowly worm with my magic.

~Kirumi Tojo~

Loved Gifts:

Will there be duties where I must use this? Then I will accept it, by all means. Am I mistaken? In that case, I will use this to aid you. Shall we begin then?

I never told you I needed this, but... Is it truly alright for me to have this? Thank you. This will help me immensely. If I use this, this can help everyone as well.

Liked Gifts:

Even though I am here to serve you, I cannot believe I received such a great gift. The only way I can return the favor is to serve as you maid... Is that alright with you?

It seems I do not have to give you any advice on how to select the right gift. You have made me...incredibly happy.

Neutral Gifts:

You wish you give this to me, correct? I understand. I will treasure it. I do not want you to misunderstand... ...but, I am grateful that you have chosen a gift just for me.

Are you asking me to throw this away? I understand. Leave it to me. Am I wrong? Please accept my apology. I failed as a maid to understand your goodwill.

I see...so you are giving this to me. I have been asked if I wanted a present before, but this is a surprise. Thank you.

Disliked Gifts:

Kaede... if you do not know which gift to select, then please ask me. I will teach you how to choose the best present and the most optimal way to deliver them.

I am not impressed with the kind of gifts you choose for people. If you order me to throw it away, then that would be far more efficient.

Hated Gift(s):

Kaede... Even if it is a prank, it is not nice to give people these kinds of gifts. I never imagined you would do such a thing...

~Angie Yonaga~

Loved Gifts:

Ohhhh! How divine of you, Kaede! Nyahaha! My cup runneth over with gratitude!

This is it! This is what I’ve been after! How did you know, Kaede? Did Atua speak to you?

Liked Gifts:

I see, I see... Kaede, you know how Angie is feeling today. With all the offering’s you’ve brought me, Angie[sic] must be having lots of fun. I will be happy.

Oh, I see... This offering will earn Atua’s favor somewhat, Kaede. I will pray to Atua for you, Karde, so that you may become a gold member someday.

Neutral Gifts:

Do you think this is a divine relic, Kaede? I don’t really see it. But Atua says you have decent taste. Good for you, Kaede.

The academy has mysterious miracles like this? This can only be a blessing from Atua.

Hmmm, is this your offering Kaede? This is a decent effort. Atua is watching your devotion closely.

Disliked Gifts:

Atua has spoken... Such an offering is unacceptable. Kaede, I think this offering will offend Atua. I know I’m certainly disappointed.

Hmm? What’s wrong, Kaede? Are you sad because you can’ hear Atua’s voice? It’s okay; I’ll tell you what He’s saying. You don’t need to worry about a thing. Oh, you can just throw that offering away.

Hated Gift(s):

Kaede... Atua will forgive you if you ask. Come, let’s pray together for His forgiveness. Or else...Atua will curse you for your next six lifetimes.

~Tsumugi Shirogane~

Loved Gifts:

What!? I can have this!? Really!? I mean...no one else here can even appreciate this like I can!

You’d give this...to me...? Thank you! Thank you so much! Those are the only words I can say!

Liked Gifts:

Oh, this...it’s from that one show, right? I knew it! Huh...? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Waaah! I must’ve misunderstood... I thought you know it, Kaede...

Huh, there was something like this here? Are you sure I can have it? Thanks, it was plain to see I was stressed, but this helped me calm down.

Neutral Gifts:

Umm...it seems out tastes just don’t match that well. Oh, I’m not ungrateful. Even between otaku, likes and dislikes can be completely different.

I know that you’re trying to say. This plain item’s good for plain old me. Just kidding... I know you didn’t mean that. It’s just a joke, okay?

Hmm...well, things like this aren’t bad. Do you like stuff like this, Kaede? Why did you choose it? I’m curious about other people’s tastes.

Disliked Gifts:

Sorry, but...I don’t have any good references for a weird thing like this. I’m just a plain, boring girl. You know that, right Kaede?

Umm...I don’t really get it. Why are you giving this to me? Fine then. This...means war. Is that what you wanted me to say?

Hated Gift(s):

Is this some sort of bad joke? I don’t know what to say... Sorry...I think I don’t feel well. I’m gonna go put some ice on my head, so can you give me some space?

-

Anyway, thanks for reading! I plan on doing more Danganronpa-related stuff in the future, primarily collecting the flavor text for all the free times when you initially talk to the characters.

That’ll take me awhile, though, so in the meantime I might actually get around to talking about things in v3 that I’ve been wanting to talk about but haven’t had much of a place to talk about. Like a post discussing character design in Danganronpa that I mentioned wanting to do somewhere in this chain of semi-organized information.

[kawaiikichi]

See You on the Other Side (3/5)

Part three of five of my Saiouma Day one-shot! Okay, I literally underestimated how long it would take me to finish writing this along with how long it was going to be. So, that’s why it’s being posted tonight rather than last night.

So, there will be more canon divergence (who doesn’t love canon divergence)! It will diverge from canon after the double murder in chapter three.

I hope you guys like it! :)

Title: See You on the Other Side

Summary: The world works as such: everyone has a soulmate that they must find before either one of them dies. If one of them dies, the other person will become stuck in a loop, starting from a specific moment in time. However, the soulmate indicator changes each time and gradually becomes harder to recognize. This will continue until they find their soulmate.

Now that Shuichi knows for certain that Kokichi is his soulmate, he will stop at nothing to try and break the loop. But no matter how hard he tries, even going so far as to convincing Monobear to put off the third classroom trial until the next day, a bigger force is determined to stop him from getting Kokichi to acknowledge and accept him as his soulmate...

Soulmate Indicator: Tattooed on your arm is the last words that your soulmate says to you before they die. The tattoo will disappear once the soulmate has died. As the words disappear, a tingling sensation along with immense pain follows.

Notes: This is a mashup of both soulmate and time loop AUs; there are many rules that are put into place in this particular universe; some parts will be longer than others due to how much content needs to be covered (particularly Loop #4)

Warnings: Major canon divergence (ex. an additional rule being added to the handbook), character death; read at your own risk!

Links down below:

♾ First ♾

♾ Previous ♾

♾ Next ♾

Continue reading under the cut!

♾ Ｌｏｏｐ ３ Ｓｔａｒｔ ♾

Again, the detective was confused by the change in events.

He was waiting for them to rush to Kaede’s research lab and find Himiko’s dead body among the music sheets scattered on the floor.

He was waiting for Angie to be revealed as the culprit and be dragged to her execution.

He was waiting for Tenko and Korekiyo to fall into their comas from the shock of losing their soulmates.

So, why was it that it never happened?

Why did it go back to what happened during the first loop, with Rantaro being murdered in the library and Kaede being the culprit?

Shuichi dropped down onto the bed, running a hand through his hair.

This is too confusing...just what is going on here, he asked himself.

He rose his hand up, observing the tattoo that had appeared on his arm.

People will start to think you’re in love with me, Saihara-chan.

This phrase...does he say this to me or something, he asked himself.

He let his hand drop back down to his side.

“I guess I’ll have to wait and see...” he muttered under his breath.

He turned over on his side, blinking tiredly at the door. The nighttime announcement began to play as the lights turned off in the room. He found himself drifting off to sleep as the nighttime announcement came to an end.

💜💜💜💜

The third murder investigation came upon them quicker than Shuichi had expected. Everyone had split up and begin to investigate both the art room and the middle room, where Angie and Tenko’s bodies laid.

Shuichi had finished checking the floorboards as he noticed a bottle laying on the ground.

He furrowed his brows at this.

“What in the...? A bottle?” he wondered out loud.

He walked over to the bottle and picked it up.

“Did you find something?” Maki called out to him.

“Ah...” he turned, watching as she made her way over to him. “Yeah. I just happened to find this bottle on the floor.” he said.

“A bottle?” she questioned, quirking a brow in confusion.

She stopped beside him, taking the bottle from him and observing it.

“It’s empty...not only that, there’s no label on it.” she stated.

“That’s strange. Why was there a bottle in here, to begin with?” Shuichi asked.

“I wouldn’t know. What I’m curious about is how come you guys didn’t notice it before when you were all setting up for the seance?” she asked.

“Maybe it was the lighting?” Shuichi suggested.

“Could be.” she continued to observe the bottle. “This bottle...I think I saw ones similar to it in the warehouse.” she commented.

“You did?”

“Yeah. From what I remember, these are soulmate pain suppressants.”

“Soulmate pain suppressants?”

“Yeah. You can take these so that if your soulmate does happen to die, you will feel little or no pain at all.”

“I see...”

Shuichi brought his hand up to his chin as he continued observing the bottle.

If Harukawa-san’s correct, then that would mean Shinguji-kun took these pills so that he wouldn’t feel anything when he killed Yonaga-san. It must’ve been hard, having no choice but to kill your soulmate because they happened to stumble upon you preparing your murder, he thought to himself.

“We have some time before the trial, right? I want to head down to the warehouse and check to see if this really is a bottle for soulmate pain suppressants.” Shuichi stated.

“Alright.” Maki flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “Let’s go, then.” she said.

Shuichi nodded, stuffing the bottle into his coat pocket and heading out of the room.

As soon as he stepped out, the pungent smell of blood reached his nose.

“Blood? Where is that coming fro—“ he turned and then, his blood turned cold upon seeing the sight before him.

Kokichi laid motionless on the floor, his face in a large pool of his own blood.

Shuichi swore his heart stopped beating. Panic flooded through him as his breath caught in his throat.

He knew that the supreme leader was joking. He knew that in a couple of minutes, he was going to raise his head and say in a chirpy voice that it was all a lie.

But for some reason, he found himself thinking for just a minute that maybe the supreme leader wasn’t lying this time.

There was an incessant ringing in his ears as memories flashed through his mind.

Their conversation about the star in his neck when they were changing out of their wet clothes.

The love suite dream.

The pain he felt as he was heading back to his room from his research lab.

Waking back up in the classroom with Kaede after passing out.

Finding Kokichi pestering Keebo in the warehouse.

Finding Himiko’s body in Kaede’s research lab rather than Rantaro’s body in the library.

Angie getting executed rather than Kaede.

His interaction with Kokichi in the library about soulmates.

The red string that connected them both.

Him running after the supreme leader upon recognizing the soulmate indicator.

Kokichi being sniped before Shuichi could reach out to him.

The tears, screaming, and sobbing that shook his being as he collapsed, vision going black...

He felt himself shudder at the memories, tears welling up in his eyes as Kokichi rose his head from the floor.

“It was a lie!” he declared.

Shuichi knew he was lying.

But he couldn’t shake the terror he felt upon seeing his motionless body on the floor.

He moved with wobbly legs towards the supreme leader, throat dry. Maki’s words were distant along with Kokichi’s giggling as he dropped down before him.

“Saihara-chan, why so—“ Before he could finish his sentence, Shuichi pulled him into a hug.

Kokichi stilled as the detective wrapped his arms tightly around him. His chin rested on his shoulder as the blood seeping from his head rolled down the sides of his face and stained his coat.

“S...Saihara-chan...I told you that I was—“ Kokichi stopped as Shuichi choked out a sob.

“I don’t care if it was a lie! Don’t do it again! I...” tears streamed down the detective’s cheeks. “I really thought you were dead...!” he choked out.

Kokichi pressed his lips into a thin line as he listened to the detective sob. He slowly pulled away, watching as tears continued to roll down Shuichi’s cheeks.

“Oh goodness, are you seriously crying?” Kokichi cupped Shuichi’s cheeks, swiping away at his tears. “I told you that it was a lie, Saihara-chan...” he trailed off.

“And I told you before that I don’t care!” Shuichi snapped.

Kokichi stared at him with a look of bewilderment as a voice interrupted them.

“Ahem! May I ask what’s going on here?!”

“Monobear!” Shuichi shot a look at the monochromatic bear. “I think Ouma-kun hit his head somewhere!” he exclaimed.

“Hm? Hit his head somewhere?” The bear shrugged. “Eh, he looks fine to me. There’s no need to panic over hitting your head on something, anyway.” it pointed out.

“But he’s bleeding!”

“Eh, so? It’s only a drop or two!”

“‘Only a drop or two?!’ There’s enough blood here to fill a small-sized pool!”

“Now, now, you’re exaggerating—“

“But, it’s still a fair amount of blood, isn’t it? In order to even have his head bleeding this much, he must’ve hit his head really hard! For all we know, he could have a concussion!”

“Uh, Saihara-chan, it’s okay.” Kokichi lowered his gaze. “I can handle it—“

“No, you cannot.” Shuichi stared at Monobear. “Put off the trial until tomorrow.” he said.

“Saihara, what are you—“ Monobear cut Maki off.

“Put the trial off until tomorrow?! Are you being for real right now?! That is total blasphemy!” it exclaimed in horror.

“Yes, I am being for real. He is terribly injured! He can’t participate in the trial like this!” Shuichi pointed out.

“Oh? But, I’m pretty sure he can, though. All he’s got to do is wipe the blood away and it’ll be good!” Monobear said.

“And what if that’s not the case? What if he ends up dying from this? If he does end up dying, then one of the rules will be violated, won’t it?” Shuichi countered.

Monobear began to sweat as Shuichi reached into his pocket and pulled out his Monopad.

“According to rule number sixteen in the handbook, the blackened can only kill two students max during the game. But, I’m sure we can also interpret it as having only two deaths, excluding the execution, occur all at once. So, if we leave Ouma-kun alone and he does die, then that rule would be violated. From what I can see, you like to follow your rules to a tee. So, if you do leave him to die, then you’ll be considered as someone who doesn’t even abide by their own rules.” Shuichi explained.

Monobear continued to sweat as Shuichi’s piercing gaze bore holes into it.

“You do want to follow the rules, don’t you?” he asked.

“Of...Of course I want to follow my own rules!” Monobear pulled out a mega phone. “Listen up, you punks! The classroom trial is being postponed until tomorrow due to one of your beloved classmates suffering from a major injury!” it shouted.

“Are you for fucking real right now?!” Kaito roared angrily.

Monobear put the mega phone away and it looked at Shuichi.

“There. Are you happy?” it asked.

“I am. Now,” Shuichi picked Kokichi off of the ground bridal style, “can you please bring some medical equipment to his room? I’ll carry him there.” he said.

“Roger!” Monobear replied, quickly saluting him before vanishing into thin air.

Maki watched Shuichi in surprise.

“Are you kidding me? Why are you showing concern for this little shit? He can bleed to death for all I fucking care.” she bit out.

“You may want him to bleed to death, but I don’t.” Shuichi told her.

“But, he’s caused nothing but trouble—“

“For you, he might have. But, not for me.” he began to walk off. “If the others are looking for me, tell them that I’m in Ouma-kun’s room!” he called out over his shoulder.

Maki wanted to protest, but decided to keep quiet as Shuichi headed downstairs to the third floor.

As he walked down the hall, Kokichi peered up at him through half-lidded eyes.

“Saihara...chan...?” he weakly muttered.

“It’s going to be okay, Ouma-kun. I’m not going to let you continue suffering like this.” Shuichi said.

A weak chuckle came from the supreme leader.

“Geez...why are you suddenly...caring...” Kokichi didn’t get to finish his sentence as he lost consciousness, his head resting against Shuichi’s chest.

Shuichi began to pick up the pace as he made his way down to the second floor.

Don’t worry, Ouma-kun. I’ll make sure that you don’t die on me, he said to himself.

💜💜💜💜

Hours have passed since the trial was postponed until tomorrow and Kokichi was given appropriate treatment for his injury.

Shuichi stayed by his side, wiping the blood off with a damp cloth and checking his condition every half hour.

As he went to empty the blood colored water into the bathroom sink, he heard a small groan.

“Ouma-kun? Are you awake?” Shuichi called out.

“Mmmm...yeah?”

Shuichi set the bowl down on the sink counter along with the cloth and he stepped back out.

“Are you feeling okay now?” he asked, grabbing for one of the chairs and pulling it over to the side of the bed.

“Yeah, I guess. My head just hurts a little, that’s all.” Kokichi replied.

“I see...” Shuichi trailed off.

He sat down in the chair and he reached out to rest the back of his hand against Kokichi’s forehead.

“Well, it seems like you don’t have a fever...” a smile crossed the detective’s lips. “I’m glad.” he said.

Kokichi furrowed his brows, a frown pulling at his lips.

“You don’t need to fret over me like that.” he swatted Shuichi’s hand away. “So? What ended up happening? My mind is kind of all over the place, so...” he murmured.

“Ah, Monobear put off the trial until tomorrow.” Shuichi replied.

“Huh? That bear did what?” Kokichi sat up, shock evident in his features. “But why would it do that? There’s no way it would willingly do such a thing.” he said.

“I know. I managed to convince Monobear to put it off.” Shuichi told him.

“Huh? You managed to convince Monobear?”

“I did.”

“But...why? You guys can do the trial just fine without me, you know.”

“You’re injured, Ouma-kun! You can’t participate in the trial like that!”

“Says who? I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s not like anyone would care if they find out that I was the one that was injured—“

“But I do! I do care, Ouma-kun! If your injury had gotten worse...I don’t think I would have been able to bear it!”

“Oh? And why is that, Saihara-chan?”

“Because you’re my—“ that was when he felt his throat go dry.

The words that he wanted to say simply refused to be said. It was as if something was preventing him from telling Kokichi that they were soulmates.

This is weird. Why...are the words not coming out, he asked himself.

Kokichi tilted his head to the side, peering at him curiously.

“I’m your what?” he asked.

“You’re my s—“ he felt himself getting choked up once again.

Why can’t I just say it, he asked himself.

He quickly stood.

“I think my throat’s a little dry. I’ll go get some water for us.” he said.

“Okay, then.” Kokichi replied as he dropped back down onto the bed.

Shuichi turned and he began to head out. Before he could step out, he heard Kokichi call out to him.

“Saihara-chan, before you go, I need to say something.” he said.

“What is it?” Shuichi answered, turning to look at him.

“You...are you actually...” Kokichi trailed off, licking his lips.

Shuichi eyed him curiously.

“Ah, forget it. It’s not that important, anyway.” Kokichi smiled at him. “You shouldn’t show so much concern for me. People will start to think you’re in love with me, Saihara-chan.” he warned.

Shuichi’s grip on the door handle tightened as he forced himself to grin.

“I’ll make sure to keep that in mind, then.” he said before exiting the room, closing the door behind him.

He sighed as he made his way to the dining hall.

Why couldn’t I tell him that he’s my soulmate? That was the perfect opportunity to do so! So, why couldn’t I?! It was almost like something was preventing me from telling him, he thought to himself.

He walked into the dining hall and headed into the kitchen, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard as a thought hit him.

Maybe...something is preventing me from telling him. It’s almost like something is trying to keep me in this loop forever, he thought to himself.

He felt the temperature in the room drop as he turned on the faucet and filled up the first glass.

“Is that really it...?” he muttered out.

He brought the second glass under, watching it fill up with water as he mulled over the thought. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that the cup was overflowing, nor did he feel the water cascading down the sides of his hand like a waterfall.

A hand reached out and turned the faucet off, pulling Shuichi back into reality. He turned, seeing Tsumugi standing beside him.

“Shirogane-san...” he trailed off.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” she asked, her voice timid.

“No, no, you didn’t scare me at all.” he said.

“Oh, I’m glad.” she noticed the two glasses in his hands. “Who are you taking water for?” she asked.

“Ah, it’s for me and Ouma-kun. My throat felt a little dry and I feel like he needed to drink something, as well. So, I came out and got some water.” he explained.

“I see...well, I shouldn’t hold you up for too long.” she said.

“Alright. I’ll get going now.” Shuichi said as he began to head out of the kitchen.

“Oh, before you go!” Tsumugi called out.

“Hm?” Shuichi turned. “What is it?” he asked.

“Shinguji-kun hasn’t shown up since Monobear decided to put off the trial to tomorrow. If you happen to see him, tell him to come to the dining hall.” she requested.

“I’ll do that.” he said as he stepped out and headed back to the dormitory.

He furrowed his brows.

What in the world would Shinguji-kun be doing? He’s not destroying any of the evidence, is he, he asked himself.

Just then, he felt a tingling sensation on his arm. He slowed, glancing down at his arm as the tattoo began to disappear.

“What the...” he muttered.

Why is it disappearing like that? Is that even supposed to be—

Then, that all too familiar pain took over his body all at once. The glasses fell from his hands, shattering on the ground.

Wait...I got the indicator all wrong. The words on my wrist aren’t the most important thing he has to tell me. This is his last words to me before he dies, he thought to himself.

His eyes grew wide at the realization.

“No...” he muttered under his breath.

He fell to his knees as he let out a scream.

“No!” tears began to fill up in his eyes as the pain grew more intense. “Why?!” he screamed.

He dropped to the ground.

“Why, why, why?! Why do you keep doing this to me?!”

He sobbed, watching as his vision began to blur.

“Please stop keeping him away from me...stop killing him...please stop killing him!” he cried out.

The last thing he saw was the dormitory and a familiar figure slipping out before he lost consciousness once more.

♾ Ｌｏｏｐ ３ Ｅｎｄ ♾

[ryouverua]

Trial 4 - Post-Accusation (4)

Pride goeth before the fall...

Investigation 1 / 2

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3

Yeah well I straight-up procrastinated finishing the trial because...... well DO I REALLY NEED TO SAY IT. AHHH EVERYTHING HURTS

He could barely say the words.

MEANWHILE GRANDMASTER WEENIE EXTRAORDINAIRE OVER HERE IS CHIRPING AWAY -

But then holy shit, screaming at me, at everyone else, and honestly like fuck, it feels like he’s literally screaming at me, that’s how raw it is -

And onto his third persona, the Supreme Leader of Evil - that’s what you called yourself, right? And they all have their own distinct voices, and distinct cadences - is that the face you want associated with the truth?

Like everyone else before him, huh?

Oh come on, please stop Kokichi, please. I can’t... take much more of this...

He’s not yelling at Shuichi, but he certainly isn’t accepting anything he has to say, either. And oh, hey, I feel like Kaito said this about Kaede too in the first trial? I feel like Shuichi is having flashbacks right now.

Interestingly enough, the triumphant ‘turning around the trial’ music is coming on now that Kaito is countering - and it’s definitely going to be with something Shuichi is going to knock down - while with Kokichi and the actual truth of the case, it’s all been the very ominous music. Maybe it’s just because we had a short stint of having a musician-type character as our protagonist, but I feel like the way they use music in the game is very important and something to watch out for.

That’s actually not a bad point, Kaito! And honestly, I want to make sure I give him credit - he’s not all bluster. He’s not just talking out of his ass, even if he’s reaching - he really is trying to find solid evidence of Gonta not being the possibility, though unfortunately he’s doing it without presenting an alternative - which, you know, we’d need so familiar, eh Battler? But..... ah, the toilet paper....

And of course, the other classmates rally behind Kaito, with the obvious exception of Kokichi and Shuichi - and K1-b0, for that matter. He’s been rather... I don’t know, subdued during the trial? Which is interesting in itself, but... hm...

for fuck’s sake don’t raise his hopes up

These moments in his internal dialogue are so important...

I would hate to be Gonta right now, having to stand there and watch people debate your guilt with absolutely no way to input or know the truth yourself. And of course, seeing people he considers friends arguing that you murdered someone who, and I cannot stress this enough, you have no memory of killing and, as far as you know, no motive to kill!

Kaito... tried to reach out to Gonta, earlier in this chapter. I noticed it. It was too little, too late, but he tried, damn it. It’s - not necessarily related to this exact moment, or this sprite - but seeing him like this with such a devastated face just reminded me of how he was trying to tell Gonta that he wasn’t useless, that having him around was important...

And fml, he’s just seeing his failure to reach out sooner crash around him. We didn’t get to talk about it much, but Kaito has a pretty big list of people he regrets not helping more that he has lost during the game too - Kaede, Ryoma, and now, Gonta...

aaaah, I’ve got a case of the feels and it might just be terminal is that what you’re dealing with Kaito

Shuichi attempts to plead his side to Kaito!

It’s not very effective!

Kaito just used the ‘l’ word on Shuichi omfg

and also god this sounds like they’re fucking breaking up I cannot believe -

I like how the moment Kaito perceives Shuichi to be on Kokichi’s side, he accuses him of lying. 8′D Man, Kokichi really did a number on you in this trial, huh...

WHOA OKAY NO GAME I DID NOT ASK TO FIGHT KAITO AGAIN, LITERALLY

oh shit that means Gonta isn’t getting an Argument Armament? A-And what the hell does that say about Kaito’s viability next chapter? EVEN THE GAME MECHANICS ARE PREEMPTIVELY DEATHFLAGGING KAITO I CANNOT BELIEVE -

omfg is that a little naked alien on his knee

DOES THE ALIEN HAVE A FUCKING AHOGE

I KNOW IT’S AN ANTENNA BUT I MEAN WHAT IS AN ANTENNA ON AN ALIEN BUT A FLESHY AHOGE

And here he looks more like an armour-covered hero than an astronaut which, I imagine, was completely on purpose.

Kaito your.... right leg.......... someone please save Kaito

KAITO IS SO BUFF HERE WHAT 

The binoculars......... aaaaaah.

That’s your goalpost of the trial?!?!

The classmates are reluctantly convinced but I don’t care as much about their opinions compared to the one person who really matters. And... he seems, though it took him time to process, convinced. And unlike Kaito, he isn’t fighting back.................

Menacing evil chess master Kokichi is back, but...

Every extremely hateful thing Kokichi has said this trial has been accompanied with a face like ^ and man, this does not scream ‘pleasure’ to me at all. 

OH HOLY FUCK YES SHUICHI!!! YES! YES! FUCK YES OWN IT!

H-He stopped Kokichi right in his tracks! Is it just general speechlessness from how ballsy Shuichi suddenly was, or the unpredictability factor again? And unlike with Himiko earlier, he doesn’t have a quip about how it was okay when they were bullying him earlier.

Ah, and here’s the constant theme we’ve had with Shuichi - in his backstory, with Kaede, with Kirumi and now, with Gonta, he has had empathy for a killer - and I find myself thinking back to both Maki’s comment about there being a thin line between detective and criminal, and his time working under his uncle and how he had to track/observe people. I don’t think we’re going to see him commit a murder (after losing Kaede I would be shocked) but perhaps he can see himself in their position? He certainly has the know-how to commit a difficult murder, and in Kaede’s case, he had the same goal as Kaede - to pin down the mastermind - but he just didn’t take it as far as she did.

It’s also interesting to contrast against the other thing I keep saying about him - how he seems to struggle as far as emotional intelligence goes, but damn it, the boy tries. While he does need to grow past the issues he had with that murderer he caught before the game and understand that he did make the right decision, losing the part of him that tries to understand and look past the immortal actions of the culprit would be a huge loss... 

a;lskdfj no no no no no never mind I want off this ride

Gosh there was a lot going on in the closing argument comic that I couldn’t bring myself to skip over - please indulge this foolish person.

Shuichi brings up an interesting possibility -  that the avatar error may have changed/effected Gonta’s personality while he was in the game. But I don’t recall anything sticking out to me during our time in there?

Miu is incredibly cute here and I felt obligated to point that out.

Me, choking through my tears: “The comic-stylized version of the avatars are so fucking cute -”

Also, I find the way they simplified Kokichi’s hair to be very interesting. I’m trying to put my finger on why....

ZOOM

Miu’s swearing at them in the distance and Shuichi looks so done with her omfg

Are you just trying to push the altered personality Gonta theory??? He looks so evil! Though with that said, Kokichi is like, 20 levels more ominous here than he usually is, or is that just me?

NO NOT TINY KAITO!!!

Also damn, did you really have to hold the hammer in such a conspicuous ‘I’m not hiding anything’ way?

Ah..... damn. Holy shit. And there’s Kokichi Ouma, just there....

is this a bad time to admire how cute they are again

I am more than happy to admit I didn’t catch onto this part at all when first putting my ideas together. Very smart! But.... man, you should have maybe tossed it over the castle wall rather than down the same area you came from...

FUCKING FINALLY I WAS WAITING TO SEE CUTE GONTA AVATAR

oh shit wait right I forgot I was in the middle of being FUCKING DEVASTATED

He’s not happy about it, not at all - but he’s still putting it out there, with Kaito barely hanging on beside him.

More heart-wrenching bits of Gonta putting himself down and trusting everyone else over himself because why not kick everyone while they’re down.

And again, the one who has consistently defended Gonta in every trial before this, Tsumugi -

His VA is absolutely knocking it out of the park, btw. FML the way he’s choking up...

OMG there are so many people that have the potential of making an attempt on Kokichi’s life next chapter - Maki, Tsumugi, Kaito... well, not that I think Kaito has it in him, but with that said, this chapter was a hell of a game-changer so honestly? Who knows.

NO FOR FUCK’S SAKE HOW DID YOU CONVINCE HIM OUTSIDE OF DEFENDING YOU

I NEED TO KNOW

Probably because everyone at their podiums is an empty shell of their former shells tbh

OMFG SOMEONE SPITE-VOTED KOKICHI

was it Kaito

KAITO DID YOU FUCKING SPITE-VOTE FOR KOKICHI

[dynamite-derek]

My personal top-10 games of 2017

With 2017 slowly fading, it feels like my favorite games of the year are locked firmly in place. 2017 was a strong year and while it was hard compiling a list of my favorite games, I also feel pretty good about my list. That said, there are some games that I didn’t get around to playing that I feel had a good chance of making my list if I had gotten around to them. They are: Nioh, Resident Evil VII, Trails in the Sky 3 and Golf Story. After I finish Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I think I wanna tackle RE VII. Alas. Only so much time in the day. So, let’s get started.

10-) Splatoon 2 - Not the most original sequel ever made, but I had a lot of fun with it. Splatoon 2 carries a lot of what made the first one so great over to the Switch. There are some new features - including new weapons and a wave-based mode where a squad of human players takes on AI called Salmon Run - but it’s mostly more of the same. Given that this is only the second Splatoon I can look past that. I had a lot of fun with it and am happy that people who couldn’t experience the original on the Wii U can fool around with it now.

9-) Tekken 7 - I have a lot of love for the Tekken series. I remember renting and playing Tekken 3 for hours. I once wrote a way-too-long column about how Tekken 5 was like a love letter to fans. 7 was just a really solid new addition to the franchise. The character customization was super deep and allowed for very unique feeling takes on familiar fighters. It also has both Akuma and Geese, which is the closest we’ll ever get to a Capcom vs. SNK 3 it feels like. 

8-) Sonic Mania - I don’t buy into the belief that there has never been a good 3D Sonic game and I certainly don’t buy into there never being ANY good Sonic games. That said, I will definitely say that the series has had far more spotty entries than good ones. When I first beat it, I think I suggested that it was better than Sonic 3 and Knuckles. That’s insane. A Sonic game in 2017 is at least on par with 3+K, a game many consider to be the best Sonic game ever. And it’s made by fans! If I had to describe my experience with Sonic Mania in one word it’d be: joy. Shame Sonic Forces also came out this year, robbing me of all my blue blur joy.

7-) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - It feels insane to me that Zelda is only ranked at 7, but that’s how strong 2017 was to me personally. Breath of the Wild brought an entirely fresh feeling to the very stale Zelda franchise. Honestly, I hated Skyward Sword. I didn’t have a whole lot of hype for Zelda. If it wasn’t a launch game with the Switch, I might have waited to give it a go. ...Obviously the hype around it would have brought me in eventually. And it was totally different. It brought a world that was fun to explore with mechanics that were fun to tinker and experiment with. For weeks, people would post videos of them doing weird things with the various objects in the game. It’ll be interesting to see what a new Zelda game does. Will it be another big open world? Is this the new face of Zelda? 

6-) Cuphead - Aesthetically one of my favorite looking games ever made. It legitimately looks like a 1920′s era cartoon in motion. The visuals only aid in how great the game plays. It not only has a retro aesthetic, but in the gameplay department it also brings with it a retro-feeling difficulty. You have to memorize boss patterns, look for visual cues and have a quick trigger finger in order to survive. With the difficulty also comes the sheer joy of beating boss that is just dominating the hell out of you. I feel like I struggled for over an hour on this clown boss. I almost feel like I got lucky even beating him. His stupid charlie horses always popped up at inappropriate times. But when I managed to win, it felt like I really accomplished something. My only complaint about it is that I wish there were no run-and-gun levels. I just wanted to not play them and get back to the boss battles. They felt like an after-thought. 

5-) Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - I did not see this game hitting me as hard as it did. I enjoyed the first two Danganronpas and even endured the anime, which served as a conclusion to the storyline that played out in the first two. DRV3 plays much like the first two games, but where it shines is the story. A big twist occurs in the first chapter and the hits just keep coming after that.Then chapter 6 hits and brings with it one of the best plot twists and endings I have ever seen in a video game. I’m not going to spoil the ending in case a person who wants to play DRV3 stumbles across this list somehow, but the last couple hours of the game hits the player hard and makes you think about narrative and story telling in general in a really interesting way. One of my favorite bits towards the end involves real life things about the game, like the logo. It’s just well thought out and compelling. Even if you’ve never played a Danganronpa, play this game. It also introduced my favorite character of the year Kokichi Ouma.

4-) Nier Automata - A sequel to Nier making my personal top-10 list probably isn’t that shocking. What is shocking is that Nier Automata has garnered praise from all over the gaming world and has become something of a surprise hit for Square Enix. There’s a good reason for this. Automata’s visual style, amazing music and depressing story telling help create a compelling world for the player. The story, as everybody is probably aware, is the real star of the show. It makes you ponder about life and humanity in ways rarely touched on in video games. One of the endings to the game, E, is one of the most effective ever. It really speaks to the player. I’m sure I’m not alone in sitting at the decision you need to make and really pondering it. The gameplay is also solid, but honestly a little weak for a Platinum game. Nier Automata feels like a miracle of a game and I’m thrilled that it has taken off as much as it has.

3-) Super Mario Odyssey - This game was just a pure delight. For years, it felt like they just weren’t making Mario games I was terribly interested in. I would never say Mario 3D World was a bad video game, but it just wasn’t what I wanted out of a Mario. It felt like a 2D Mario game in everything but the 3D gameplay. Mario Odyssey brings back the big worlds filled with objects to find seen in 64, Sunshine and Galaxy. The worlds were all really interesting too. I think everybody was excited to see New Donk City (Metro Kingdom), but to actually run around a realistic looking world as Mario really just feels surreal. It’s just great. It’s interesting to think about how Nintendo’s two biggest franchises took two different but equally successful approaches. Zelda completely flipped the script and tried to do something different. Mario refined what made some older Mario games great. Mario felt like a really polished Mario game, and honestly most years that will put it up there as one of the best games of the year.

2-) Yakuza 0 - I had always wanted to try to get into the Yakuza series before this year. The story just seemed too daunting to get into. There’s a lot of it, after all. I decided to give Yakuza 0 a shot because of its nature as the first chronologically in the series. I also saw hilarious screenshots, which helped to further my decision. I was hooked. Yakuza 0 not only tells an amazing story, but it gives you a world with a ton of things to do. There are amazing mini games - I found myself hooked to the Maid Cafe in particular - and a ton of sub stories to experience. You get to meet characters like NOT MICHAEL JACKSON, you can play Outrun, you can become a real estate mogul. Honestly, Yakuza 0 does a better job of creating what feels like a living, breathing city than even a Grand Theft Auto. Also, I just love Goro Majima. This game was so good that I played through Yakuza 1(Kiwami)-5 just to see what would happen to Kiryu and Majima. That’s not an insignificant chunk of playing time. But the world and story weaved by Yakuza 0 was so strong that I knew I wanted to be along for the ride. Play these games. 

1-) Persona 5 - I had to think long and hard about whether Yakuza would top Persona. In the end, I honestly feel both games are among my favorite games ever made. Persona 5 seems like a title that was made specifically for me. It is amazingly slick, has some of the best music I’ve ever heard in a video game (Specifically Rivers in the Desert), and features a cast of characters that I really deeply cared about. I wanted to see more of their lives and I was actually sad when Persona 5 ended because I knew it’d be a while before I saw Makoto Niijima or Yusuke Kitagawa again. There are things I’d like to see Persona 6 work on - it’d be great to see your confidants interact with more people for instance - but Persona 5 was a gripping experience and really spoke to me at times. And honestly, sometimes it’s fun to turn your brain off and just grind against demons in a dungeon. It was a close race, but I knew Persona 5 would be my favorite game of the year before the year started. It’s nice to be right for a change.

That’s all for now. I know this is tl;dr, but I wanted to write out my favorite games somewhere. 

[sanctferum]

Dangan Ronpa V3, chapter 3 free time!

Time to explore!

There’s a hidden Monokuma in Kaede’s lab. Ryoma’s lab’s been cleaned up by Monokuma, and the shower room is inaccessible because Shuichi doesn’t need to take a shower. The gym has also been cleaned up, and the inner tube in the pool has been neatly put away.

OK, the blackboards show different things in different chapters when you go into search mode. Or maybe it’s because we’re playing as Shuichi? I didn’t check them last chapter.

Monokuma knows. He knows that in order to be a Dangan Ronpa player character, an ahoge is necessary.

Another hidden Monokuma’s in the boiler room.

Oh, we can retry the escape game, huh?

Well, that didn’t work. I wonder what would even happen if we completed it successfully?

Found another Hidden Monokuma near the Kumasutra Hotel. I bet the last one is in the racing minigame again…

The casino minigames now include Mind Mine and Psyche Taxi equivalents.

Treasure Hunter Monolith: the music reminds me WAY too much of Chiaki’s execution music from DR2…

Outlaw Run: I am still very bad at this minigame. Give me Logic Dive back!

Don’t know how to unlock any category besides “Kind” for these minigames. Betting max coins didn’t work, getting an S rank didn’t work. Advancing a chapter hasn’t worked for the Hangman’s Gambit one, either.

Oh, did the exchange always sell Monopad themes?

Anyways, on to the actual free time! I’m gonna hang out with Kaito.

Kaito is still upset people are lumping Maki and Kirumi into the “murderous fiend” category. Let’s calm him down with this moon buggy model!

Kaito tell us about how astronaut training is super intense, and it’s a lot of work…but the universe is a harsh place. He’s got to be able to handle crazy situations if he wants to explore it. For the first two years of training, he learned the basic skills needed to be an astronaut – medicine, engineering, scuba diving, linguistics, survival training…pretty much everything.

There’s a training facility for astronauts at the bottom of the ocean? The most important thing for an astronaut is communication and teamwork. No one person can hope to explore space by themselves…you need a team, and you need to trust in that team. The facility at the bottom of the ocean helps people learn to work as a team. Also, as part of communication training, you have to master other languages and cultures…Kaito is fluent in Japanese, English, and Russian. He might be an idiot sometimes, but Kaito sure is incredible…

Bedtime already? I wonder if trying the escape game took up a portion of free time?

The Monokubs sure look beat up…well two of them at least. Monodam sure is harsh…

Time to train with Kaito! On our way out, we see Angie, who’s still trying to convert everyone. She claims to be prepared to work with everyone to make the Academy a paradise on Earth. Considering how well her last attempt at that went…hmmm.

Shuichi shows up to the usual training spot, but Kaito is nowhere to be f-

Oh. There he is, dragging Maki behind him. Well, I guess we’re all training together, huh?

Kaito kept ringing her doorbell till Maki answered. Then he dragged her here.

Maki thinks the whole idea is stupid and heads back to her room. Kaito tries to convince her to stay by…Kaito. Kaito, that’s stupid. You aren’t the hero of this story, and Maki isn’t gonna be willing to be your sidekick.

Kaito does say that from his perspective he might be the hero, but from our perspectives, we each are the hero of our own stories.

Maki knows from experience that this will all end in tears. But Kaito calls her out on the what he believes is the real reason she isn’t interacting with anyone. She’s afraid. She’s running away, when she should be standing tall and fighting.

Maki is getting pissed. Kaito, this is…

…going to work out well after all. Maki agrees to train, just so Kaito will stop bugging her about it.

And now. 100 pushups! Shuichi’s body is in hell, Kaito is going along…Maki is almost done. You don’t become an assassin by being out of shape.

Kaito tells her to show up for training tomorrow too. Maki ignores him and walks away.

Ah, so it ties back into what he was saying in the free time event. Teamwork…if you see someone who is weak, you help them become strong. Someone is suffering? You can’t just walk away. Kaito mentions that Shuichi and Maki’s cases are a bit different. Back to the rest of the pushups.

Monokuma Theater ti-

…Monodam Theater time.

He’s wearing a leather jacket and Kamina shades.

Morning announcement. Everyone will gather in the gym to get along, huh? Assembling in the gym is usually a rather bad thing. I’m not sure what to expect.

Kiyo mentions how he overslept, but is usually up by 6 AM and ready to go at 7:30 AM. A half hour to get ready? Is it because of his uniform? Kaito is also around but not going to the gym yet. He’s gonna make sure Maki comes with him to the gym, since everyone needs to show up. If someone doesn’t, who knows what could happen.

Outside, Himiko is complaining about having to go to the gym so early in the morning. Shuichi is apprehensive about all this, and Himiko mentions a student council meeting. What? Oh. Oh boy. Angie wants to throw a party…Atua decreed it would be a pool party?

Monokuma shows up. Looking awful still, huh? Is he gonna tempt us to peek on the girls’ pool party? Is this the scene that the Man’s Desire Gun or whatever unlocks?

Monokuma just stares at us until we randomly have a fantasy come up in our mind. A Man’s Fantasy, to be specific. Oh boy. Shuichi finds himself unable to resist it. Swimsuits…a zany-yet-romantic scene…yet, on the other hand, if anyone saw him, Tenko would beat him half to death twice…oh well, if such is the price we must pay…

Inside the Academy now…Keebo’s also worried about the sudden summons. Another motive, most likely. Keebo is determined to stop anyone from killing, no matter what!

In the gym, which again, has been cleaned up post-trial, we find everyone else. Miu talks about the computer on the 4th floor…the specs are insane…

Keebo is jealous of the computer. Godammit, I know Miu was being super suggestive at you, but…come on. You’re basically a computer yourself, anyways.

Kokichi is unnerved by Maki’s presence, and immediately begins trying to ruin the fragile atmosphere. Then Gonta shows up. He’s about to tell us something serious about the courtyard, possibly something that will help us make sense of “horse a”? Then the Monokubs show up before he can finish his sentence.

Monodam has a motive, all right. A motive to get along?

Tsumigi and Keebo…I’m getting the feeling Angie brainwashed them into her Atua cult too…Himiko was already in, but, um…

The motive will inspire fear like never before…forcing the Ultimates to unite to fight against it. Monotaro and Monophanie prepare to present, on Monodam’s behalf, the motive! It’s…a transfer student. What?

Resurrect one of the four people who’ve died so far…? How? Using the computer? Are we gonna resurrect Kaede? Or perhaps Kirumi, since she’s important to the world? Rantaro, so we might learn his talent? Ryoma…probably wouldn’t care to be resurrected. Anyways, what the fuck, and also, that’s the meaning behind the chapter title.

The Necronomicon? We’ve got a copy of that?

Once resurrected, we can welcome the student back, or, if we want to, kill them off again immediately. They’ll be part of the game again, in other words. Thanks for telling us that, Monotaro.

Monodam has no such thanks. Monotaro blames his exposition of killing on old habits.

Monodam instructs Monophanie to punish Monotaro…this is a complete reversal, the students are being spared and it’s Monotaro and Monophanie who are in deep shit. Monotaro doesn’t want to be punished by Monophanie, since he mocks for dumb shit all the time. Monophanie, remembering those times, decides sure, she’ll do it. Then the Kubs leave.

How can anyone believe that the dead can be resurrected? Well, Kiyo thinks that not believing it to because it’s scientifically impossible is folly in and of itself.

Funeral ceremonies…like the one we saw of ourselves…

Sending the dead to the next world. HMMM.

Kiyo believes souls are real…but they can’t be reached once the person is dead. Resurrecting the dead is impossible.

Angie believes it isn’t so strange, though. It’s not so much bringing the dead back to life as returning the dead to us…the difference is, the crime scenes were cleaned up perfectly. Perhaps the dead…had their deaths faked by Monokuma or themselves? In which case, they’re alive? Could the bodies have been fakes? If Monokuma and the Exisals can exist, is it possible for realistic corpses to?

Shuichi wants all this to be true, but he can’t believe it really is. To do so would be to turn away from the truth.

Gonta brings up that if the students were alive, they’d have to be here somewhere. Maybe one of them wrote “horse a” in the courtyard. He was gonna tell us something about the courtyard. Was it that the message is now longer?

“Twnm I”?

I see. The horse message wasn’t meant to be read  from top to bottom. It was meant to be read from left to right. TH, WOR, SE, N, I, MA…?

And the Monokubs left the Necronomicon here for us. It’s definitely a motive…but what kind? Maybe it’s a motive like this: we ignore it and the four people who are still alive somehow die for real? Angie is very appreciative of Gonta’s story…she goes over and hugs him…is she…she’s trying to get him to believe in Atua. Soon she’ll have brainwashed like half the survivors.

A gentle grandma? Isn’t Atua a handsome man? Himiko says Atua’s appearance depends on who’s looking. Kokichi thinks that sure is suspiciously convenient. Angie invites Gonta to the student council that Himiko mentioned. Apparently it’s part of Angie’s plan to stop the killing game. Keebo, Himiko, Tenko, Tsumugi, and Angie all met up and agreed to make the Ultimate Academy Student Council. Angie came up with the idea, and is Student Council President. Which means Atua is the one really in charge. Of course. Kokichi declares them brainwashed…Kiyo agrees. The Ultimate Academy, under the conditions of the killing game, is the perfect breeding grounds for a cult. And this has all the markings of a cult. Keebo, Tenko, and Tsumugi, and now Gonta, have been taken in by this nonsense…Tenko even put aside her love for Himiko to give her love to Atua instead.

Maki points out how clear of a trap the resurrection ritual is…but it’s to no avail. The Student Council members are beyond the reach of logic or reason. Meanwhile, Kaito’s been really quiet this whole time, and I’m somewhat worried about him.

But there’s no time to be worried…we need to head to the pool and spy on the girls, pronto!

Two girls wearing only bikini bottoms. One girl wearing pantaloons. And Tenko, fully in the nude. Enjoy the view, Shuichi, I guess? (Or, you could just ask Miu to flash you? Where is she anyways? Was she not invited? Guess not, student council girls only)

Himiko would rather conserve her MP than use them to grow her boobs as big as Tenko’s. She’s awfully jealous. Tenko reassures her that Himiko’s boobs may be small, but they’re nicely shaped. Angie, meanwhile, is trying to grope Tsumugi’s boobs. Shuichi witness it all and immediately remembers that this is morally wrong and stupid. Too late, dude. Too late.

Afterwards we return to our room. Time to go hang out with people! Not sure who, though…Himiko, maybe. Next time!

[oumakokichi]

NDRV3 Transcripts: Chapter 5 Post-Trial

Firstly, many thanks to everyone who’s been reading and enjoying these translated transcripts. Chapter 5 in particular has so many noteworthy moments that I want to get them all done before I jump into Chapter 6.

For the better part of the 5th class trial, Saihara and the others are convinced that Momota is dead and Ouma is the killer. As the discussion progresses, however, they begin to realise that maybe Ouma isn’t the ringleader after all, and that all their initial assumptions about this case were wrong. The conclusion is absolutely devastating, for the characters and the player. Everyone is literally speechless as the culprit climbs out of the Exisal at the end, finally revealing his identity and putting an end to the discussion.

So that we don’t get lost in this back-and-forth: bold on the names means present time and italics means flashback. Please enjoy!

Okay, so first off, I want to note that this is actually more like a submission from two people, rather than one. First off, @ne0dym has provided me with a wonderful partial transcript as always! For anyone looking for a full, uninterrupted explanation of Momota and Ouma’s collaboration in Chapter 5, please read this.

However, I also received a Google doc with a transcription of the full scene from @shinjiroaragaki! The scene is very, very long, but it’s incredibly important, and full of details about Momota’s illness, the killing game show, the ringleader’s identity, and of course, Ouma’s true mindset. I can’t include the full transcript here because it’d get way too long, but I don’t want all their hard work to go to waste.

I translated the whole Google doc from start to finish, although I’ve removed the Japanese text from there for the sake of length. Here, the Japanese text is left in like always for the partial transcript, just so people can compare my translation to the original text if they’d like. Of course, I’ll also include some meta of my own at the end like always.

I know the scene is long, but please give it a read if you have a chance. It’s very, very interesting, and anyone curious about clearing up fake spoilers and rumors should check it out, because I’ve made it as accurate of a translation as possible and included all the facts.

So, if anyone is interested in seeing the full, complete translation of Chapter 5′s post-trial, please read this Google doc!

More translated transcripts.

We’ve all worked very hard to bring you this, so I’d really appreciate it if this post could get reblogged and spread around! If this is well-received, we’re planning on translating even more scenes in full like this. So please spread this around, and enjoy!

MONOKUMA: まぁ、本人がゲロっちゃった以上、どんなバカでも間違えないと思いますが…王馬小吉クンを殺した犯人は、百田解斗クンでしたー！全員、大正解でーす！！

Everyone, great job guessing the correct answe—r! Well, the cat’s officially out of the bag, so I think any idiot could’ve arrived at this conclusion by now, but…The culprit who killed Ouma Kokichi is Momota Kaito—! Everyone, great job guessing the correct answe—r!

MOMOTA: 全員正解か…終一もハルマキもちゃんとオレに投票してくれたんだな…良かったぜ、一安心だな！まぁ、さすがに間違えたりしねーだろうけどよ！でも、王馬の真似をし続けるのもなかなか大変だったぜ。まぁ、ほとんだはあいつが用意したセリフだけどな。見ろよ、この台本の分厚さを。あいつは事前にこんなモンまで用意してたんだぜ？色んなルートにいった時の色んなセリフを、全部台本にしてやがったんだ。けどよ、実はオレのアドリブも結構あったんだぜ？どれがそうかわからねーだろ？なぁ…頼むからよ、そんなに暗い顔するんじゃねーよ…テメーらは何も間違っちゃいねー。これで良かったんだよ。

So everyone got the right answer, huh… Both Shuuichi and Harumaki also properly voted for me…That’s good, I’m relieved! Well of course, there’s no way I would’ve expected you all to guess the wrong answer! Still, it was pretty tough for me to have to keep impersonating Ouma like that. Well, to tell the truth, I was mostly just reading lines from a script that he prepared for this.

Look at how thick this script is. He actually prepared something like this ahead of time, you know? He wrote down a bunch of lines and responses, even had them all branch out into different routes, and put it all in a script. But I did throw in a little ad-lib of my own sometimes! Bet you guys can’t tell which parts were my own addition, right?

Hey…I’m begging you, don’t make those long faces…You guys did the right thing, alright? This is for the best.

HARUKAWA: どうして…？どうして…王馬を殺したの？あれだけコロシアイはダメだって言ってたのに…どうして、王馬を殺したの？あんたは絶対にそんな事をしないって…私は…そう信じていたのに…

Why…? Why… did you kill Ouma? Even though you said that we shouldn’t kill one another so many times…Why did you kill Ouma? You said that you would definitely never do such a thing… And I… believed those words…

SAIHARA: 春川さん…

Harukawa-san…

SAIHARA (THINKING): もしかして、彼女は百田くんを庇った訳じゃなくて、本当に…彼を信じて？

Could it be that she wasn’t trying to cover for Momota-kun? She just… honestly believed in him?

MOMOTA: そうだな…ちゃんと説明しておかねーとな。つっても、ほとんだが終一の言った通りなんだけどな。王馬は解毒剤を飲んだフリをしてハルマキを騙した後、それをオレに飲ませた…そこで、あいつはオレに言ったんだ。「自分の計画に協力しろ」ってな…

That’s right… I guess I really need to explain things to you guys. Although for the most part, things went down pretty much like Shuuichi already said. After Ouma pretended to drink the antidote to deceive Harumaki, he had me drink it instead… And then, he told me something like this: “I need you to cooperate with me for my plan”…

-FLASHBACK START-

MOMOTA: 計画って…なんの計画だ？

Your plan? …What kind of plan?

OUMA: ま、前から…考えてたんだよね。首謀者に一泡吹かせる為の…計画をさ。

It, It’s something I’ve been… thinking about for a while now. I’ve been thinking about…a plan to strike back at the ringleader.

MOMOTA: 首謀者に一泡…？何言ってんだ…首謀者はテメーだろ？

Strike back at the ringleader…?The hell do you mean by that… Ain’t you the ringleader?

OUMA: あぁ…あれはオレの嘘だよ…オ、オレは首謀者のフリをしてただけなんだ…

Ahh… That was just one of my lies… I, I was just pretending to be the ringleader…

MOMOTA: …フリだと！？

Pretending!?

OUMA: みんな、すっかり信じてくれたよね。まぁ、その為に色々伏線を張ってたんだけど。入間ちゃんにこんなリモコンを作って貰ったのも…裏庭の謎のメッセージも…ゴン太を利用して殺人犯に仕立てたのも…ぜーんぶ、オレが首謀者って事をみんなに信じて貰う為の伏線だったんだよ。

Looks like I had you all completely fooled, huh? Well, that’s why I kept putting all those fake hints here and there, to try and give you that impression. The remote control that I had Iruma-chan make for me… And the mysterious message that I wrote in the courtyard… And the fact that I made Gonta into a culprit… A—ll those things I did, they were all fake hints that I left so that you’d all believe I was the ringleader.

MOMOTA: な、なんだそりゃあ…！なんで…そんな真似を…首謀者のフリを…した理由は…

Wh, What the hell is that…!Why would you…want to imitate…

OUMA: このつまらないコロシアイを終わらせる為だよ！

It’s because I want to put an end to this boring killing game!

MOMOTA: …コロシアイを終わらせる？

…Put an end to the killing game?

OUMA: 首謀者として外の世界の”絶望的な真実”を明かして、キミらが「外に出たい」なんて思わなくなれば…コロシアイも終わると思ってたんだよね。それなのに…こんな事になるとはね。まさか、このオレが春川ちゃんに殺されるなんてさ。でも…どうして思う？どうして、春川ちゃんはオレを殺したんだよ思う？どうして、またコロシアイが始まっちゃったんだと思う？

If I, as the ringleader, revealed “the despair-inducing truth” of the outside world to you all, you’d all stop thinking, “I want to get out of here”… And I thought that would make the killing game end. And yet… this kind of thing still happened. To think, that I really was killed by Harukawa-chan after all. But…why do you think this happened? Just why do you think Harukawa-chan killed me? Why do you think she would want to start up this killing game again?

MOMOTA: ど、どうしてって…

E, Even if you ask me why…

OUMA: 間違いなく”真の首謀者”の差し金だよ。そいつがオレらの知らない内に新しい手を打ったんだ。あーあ…お陰で何もかも台無しだよ。

I have no doubt that she was manipulated by “the real ringleader.” The ringleader had a move up their sleeve that I never even saw coming. Yeah…because of that, everything came crumbling down.

MOMOTA: ”真の首謀者”の差し金って…じゃあ、ハルマキの今の行動も、そいつの差し金だって言いてーのか？

Manipulated by “the real ringleader”… So you mean, they’re the one who manipulated Harumaki into doing all of that just now?

OUMA: そうだよ…首謀者を乗っ取ったオレがジャマだから、コロシアイを使って排除しようとしたんだろうね。

That’s right… Since I hijacked this game from the ringleader and got in their way, they probably decided to use the killing game to try and eliminate me.

MOMOTA: だったら、その”真の首謀者”ってのは誰なんだ！？

If that’s true, then who the hell is “the real ringleader”!?

OUMA: さ、さぁね…オレにもわからないよ。でも、誰であろうと負ける訳にはいかないんだよ。ゲームは…勝たないと意味がないからさ。だから…こういう時の為に、とておきの計画を考えてあったんだ。オレがこうして負けた時の為の…

Wh, Who knows… Even I don’t know the answer to that. But no matter who it is, I can’t let myself lose to them. After all… There’s no meaning in a game without victory. So that’s why…at a time like this,I thought up the best possible plan in response. Even though I might have lost like this…

勝つ計画をね！

With this plan, I’ll win the game!

MOMOTA: よくわからねーが…それがそれが”首謀者に一泡吹かせる為の計画”ってヤツか？

I don’t really get it, but… Are you talking about your “plan to strike back at the real ringleader”?

OUMA: まぁ、別に難しい事じゃないんだよ。百田ちゃんにはただ…オレを殺して欲しいんだ。

Well, I’m not really asking for a lot. Momota-chan, all I’m asking you to do…is to kill me.

MOMOTA: なッ…！？

Wh…!?

-FLASHBACK END-

MOMOTA: その計画ってのが…被害者不明の状況を作る事だった。そして、モノクマに”オレが被害者”って間違った判決を出させる事だった。だから、クロの認定自体は、ハルマキでも王馬でも構わなかったんだ…その判定が出た後にオレが��体を現して、モノクマの判定を否定して…このコロシアイは成立してねーって聡明すれば、それで良かったんだ。

The key to that plan of his…was to create a scenario where nobody knew who the victim was. Doing that, we would try to make Monokuma think “I am the victim,” and have him make the wrong decision in the school trial. That’s why it didn’t really matter whether you all thought the culprit was Harumaki or Ouma… After the vote, I’d have come out and shown myself, and denied Monokuma’s verdict… It would’ve been good if we could prove that there’s no basis to this damn killing game.

SAIHARA: 僕が1番聞きたかったのは…そこだよ。その証明って、誰に対しての証明なの？

That’s…what I wanted to ask you about the most. Just who are you trying to prove that to?

MOMOTA: あぁ、それはオレもあいつに聞いたぜ。コロシアイが成立してねーって証明したところで、モノクマに無視されれば意味ねーってよ。そうしたら…あいつはこう言ったんだ。

Ah, that’s something I asked him about myself, too. I told him, even if we prove that the killing game has no basis, there’s no point if Monokuma just ignores us and does what he wants. And then…he told me this.

-FLASHBACK START-

OUMA: いくらモノクマだろうと、”真の首謀者”だろうと、好き勝手にルール違反はできないはずだよ。そんなアンフェアな真似は…許されないはずなんだ。

Whether it’s Monokuma or “the real ringleader” we’re talking about, they still shouldn’t be able to break their own rules however they like. Because that kind of unfair behavior…definitely wouldn’t be allowed.

MOMOTA: …どういう意味だ？

…What do you mean?

OUMA: 大抵のデスゲームっていうのはさ、”誰かに見せている”からこそ、成立するものなんだよ。”誰かに見せる意図”がないなら、ルールにこだわる必要はないし…ゲームにする意味すらないんだよ。でも、モノクマはルールにこだわり続けている。そして、ゲームが盛り上がる事にもこだわり続けている。だからこそ、プログラム世界でのオレの誘いにも乗ったんだろうしね…つまり、モノクマは誰かの目を意識しているって事だよ。だとすると…このデスゲームも間違いなく誰かの見世物になっているはずなんだ。

In most cases, people would only allow a death game* like this to exist precisely because “it was being shown to someone.” “Because they’re trying to show it to someone,” that’s why they have to stick to their own rules… It’s not like there’s any particular meaning in treating this kind of thing like a game. And yet, Monokuma continues to stick to his own rules. And he keeps looking for things that will make the game more exciting. I guess that’s exactly why he went along with the offer I made him right before we entered the VR world…

In other words, Monokuma is very aware of someone watching him.And if that’s the case…then I have no doubts that this death game is some kind of spectacle being put on for someone.

(*Translator’s Note: The term “death game” doesn’t always  necessarily mean a literal game to the death, though in this case it certainly does. It applies to any game which entails a sense of danger and suspense, and which involves a strict set of rules which must be followed for the game to work.)

MOMOTA: だ、だからって…テメーを殺せなんて…何言ってやがんだ！？オレに人殺しをしろってのか！？

S, Saying that…you want me to kill you… Just what the fuck are you going on about!? You wanna make me into some kind of murderer!?

OUMA: まぁ、そういう反応だよね？そうだと思ったけどさ…でも…本当にそれでいいの？だって、このままオレが毒で死んだら、クロは春川ちゃんになっちゃうんだよ？しかも、突発的な彼女の犯行は簡単に露呈するだろうね。そうなったら、オレも彼女もただの犬死だよ？”真の首謀者”の思惑通りにね。

Oh, so that’s your reaction, is it? Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, but… Still…are you really okay with that? After all, you understand that when I die from this poison, Harukawa-chan is going to be the culprit, right? What’s more, her crime was so sudden that I bet she’ll be exposed easily. And if that’s the case, then both she and I will have died in vain, understand? Just as “the real ringleader” planned.

MOMOTA: …なッ！テ、テメー…汚ねーぞ…！その為に…たった１つしかない解毒剤をオレに…

…Wh-! Y, You bastard… That’s low…! So that’s why…you gave me the antidote, even though there was only one…

OUMA: にしし…オレは”超高校級の総統”だよ？悪の総統は、目的の為なら手段を選ばないんだ。たとえ…自分の命を犠牲にしようとね。

Nishishi… I’m the “Super High School Level Supreme Leader,” remember? An evil Supreme Leader doesn’t shy away from any means to accomplish their goals. Even if…it means sacrificing my own life.

MOMOTA: ……

OUMA: とにかく…これはチャンスなんだよ。このコロシアイを終わらせるチャンスなんだ。だから…ちゃんとオレを殺してこのゲームに勝って、このコロシアイゲームを台無しにして…これを仕組んだ”真の首謀者”も、これを見ている誰かも…

Anyway… This is our chance. This is our chance to put an end to the killing game. So that’s why…as long as you agree to kill me and help me win this game, we can completely ruin this entire killing game… And then, “the real ringleader,” and whoever might be watching this…

まとめて”絶望”させるんだ！そうすれば、死んだみんなだって浮かばれるはずだよ！あははははははっ！

We can make them all taste true “despair”! If we do that, it should be the perfect way to honor the memories of everyone who died! Ahahahahaha!

…っと、ヤベ。そろそろ死にそうだから、さっさと始めない？

…Ouch, not good. Hey, it looks like I’m about to kick the bucket any second here, so can we hurry up and get started?

MOMOTA: テメー…やっぱ狂ってるぜ。

You… You’re fuckin’ crazy after all.

OUMA: にししし…でもさ…オレって…つまらなくなかったろ？

Nishishi… Still… At least… I wasn’t boring, right?

(At this point, the characters get a little sidetracked by the topic of Momota’s illness. I’ve decided to leave that out for now, so let’s get back to our flashback!)

(T/N: Again, check out the Google doc to see the whole thing. There’s a lot of really good, important scenes, it’d just be too long to include them all here.)

OUMA: い、息も苦しくなってきたし…そろそろ…頼むよ…

It, It’s getting kind of hard to breathe now…Come on…I’m begging you…

MOMOTA: なぁ、最後にもう1つだけ聞かせてくれ。コロシアイを台無しにするって言ったけどよ…前に、テメーは言ったよな？このコロシアイは最高に楽しいってよ。

Hey, let me ask you one last thing. You say that you wanna ruin this killing game… But you said this before too, right? You said before that you thought killing was the most fuckin’ fun thing in the world.

OUMA: ……嘘に…決まってんだろ…人にやらされるゲームなんて…楽しい訳あるかよ…

……Obviously…I was lying… As if there could ever be any fun…in a game like this where you take people’s lives…

そう思わないと…生き残れないから…自分に嘘をついただけだ！

That was just a lie that I had to tell myself… Because if I didn’t make myself think that way…I couldn’t have survived!

MOMOTA: テ、テメー…

Y, You…

OUMA: オレらの命を弄ぶようなムカつくゲームを考えるヤツも…それを…楽しんでいる連中も…全部…ムカつく…！だから…オレはどんな手を使おうと、ぜ、絶対に…このゲームを終わらせてみせるんだっ！

The person who thought up this fucking horrible game that toys around with all of our lives…and the people who are enjoying themselves so much with it… All of them just…piss me off…! So that’s why…no matter what it takes, I’ll d, definitely…put an end to this fucking killing game!

-FLASHBACK END-

HARUKAWA: あの王馬…そんな事を？

Ouma really…said something like that?

MOMOTA: どうせ…それも嘘だろうけどな。オレに協力させる為に、同情を引こうとしただけだろ。

Well…it was probably just another one of his lies, though. I bet he just said all that to try and make me feel sorry for him and get me to cooperate with his plan.

KIIBO: そう…なのでしょうか…死に際の言葉となると本音のようにも思えますが…

I really…wonder about that… I can’t help but think that he really did voice his true intentions, since he was already on the verge of death…

YUMENO: いや…嘘にけ決まっとるわい。あやつは本気の涙を流すようなヤツではない。

No… He had to be lying. He wasn’t the kind of person who could ever shed real tears like that.

SHIROGANE: どっちなんだろうね…？

I wonder what the truth is…?

SAIHARA (THINKING): 嘘か…本当か…王馬くんは最後の最後まで、本当にわからない人だったな…

What’s a lie…and what’s the truth… Up until the very last moment, Ouma-kun really was impossible to understand…

でも、それが”嘘”の本質なのかもしれない。見る角度によって答えが変わって…どう捉えるかは受け取る側の僕ら次第で…そういう意味でも、王馬くんは”嘘”を体現したような人だったな。

But perhaps that itself is the very essence of “lies.”The answer constantly shifts and changes depending on which angle you’re looking from…And we, the ones looking, have to interpret that answer for ourselves…In that sense, Ouma-kun was a person almost entirely comprised of “lies.”

This whole scene is absolutely fascinating and heartbreaking from start to finish. Everyone really shines in Chapter 5, including characters like Kiibo who rarely got to step into the spotlight before, but Momota and Ouma both really steal the show here. Their collaboration and ability to put aside their differences and work on such an incredible plan is one of the most interesting match-ups that’s ever been done in a DR game.

Of course, there’s a lot that this chapter sort of tries to leave in the catbox, the most important of which being whether Ouma was telling the truth or not when he lost his cool over the killing game. The characters are torn between whether he was being serious or whether it was all an act, and as you can see, the last scene with Saihara’s narration clearly shows that you get a drastically different picture of Ouma depending on which interpretation you personally choose to believe.

As someone who loved to perform and could fill any role he had to step into perfectly, even in death Ouma as a character fills both niches perfectly. If there were to be someone who could understand his mindset and motivation and believe him when he says he hates the killing game, that’s fine–unexpected, but fine. But if, in the more likely scenario, the group needs a villain to hate–then he’s fine playing that role too, as always. And the answer to which was “the real Ouma” is left undisturbed in the catbox, because none of the characters can really say with certainty.

However, as with the catbox of the Exisal itself in Chapter 5, there comes a time when interpretations and views have to be updated as new information presents itself. And even if in Chapter 5 it would theoretically be impossible to say with certainty whether Ouma was lying or telling the truth, it is absolutely possible to make a decision after Chapter 6.

All the evidence found in Ouma’s room, including his motive video, his whiteboard, and his research lab, all confirm for a fact that he was not lying when he talked about hating the killing game. Regardless of the lengths he went to, regardless of the fact that he did inexcusable, horrible things in order to try and stay alive and fight the ringleader, Ouma hated murders and killing.

His motto with DICE, which clearly states that they “don’t kill people,” as well as the incredible amount of foresight and analysis he was capable of, shows that even though he was certainly smart enough to hurt or kill the group had he wanted to, he did not. Whenever possible, Ouma tried to avoid killing others, and this itself is the most obvious proof that he was not lying to Momota when he talked about hating the game from the bottom of his heart.

Many people have taken the fact that Ouma cried, and the fact that Momota himself doubts whether Ouma really told him the truth or not, as a suggestion that Ouma “was shedding crocodile tears.” But this is absolutely not the case. His crocodile tears in his sprites are huge, childish, exaggerated, and messy. The sprites he uses in these scenes, by contrast, feature him being really, truly angry–just like in the Chapter 4 trial, his tears here are the real deal. People might disagree, but all the actual evidence about Ouma throughout the game backs this up.

It’s important to note too that the people quickest to accuse Ouma of lying in-game are the ones who are emotional and quick to jump to conclusions, including Momota himself and Himiko as well. The more rational, level-headed members of the group, including both of our protagonists, Kiibo and Saihara, arrive at the conclusion that he had very little reason to lie while he was literally on the verge of death.

Just as the Exisal could have remained a catbox forever without the answer of “who’s inside it?” ever coming to light, ndrv3 could very well have kept Ouma’s true character and thoughts a complete mystery if that had been the point of the game. But the Exisal did open up, and Momota did show himself–and similarly, in Chapter 6, so much more new information about Ouma comes to light and helps to open up the catbox of “what was he really like?”

It’s impossible to look at this scene, and at all the mountain of evidence we get about Ouma and from Ouma himself in Chapter 6, and to say that he enjoyed killing. He really, honestly did not. Therefore, when rereading this scene, it should be clear that he was in fact telling the truth to Momota.

I also want to talk about how incredibly fun it is that Ouma himself brings up “wanting to make the true ringleader and the audience themselves despair”–making him into an icon of despair was the ringleader’s biggest intention in Chapter 5, after all. But instead of turning that hatred and that despair on the rest of his classmates, Ouma specifically wanted to target the people who were putting them through the killing game in the first place.

And that’s absolutely fascinating, in my opinion. His humanism and loathing for killing, as well as only wanting to turn his worst traits on the people responsible for their suffering, is the biggest key difference separating him from becoming someone like Junko or Kamukura.

There’s so much more I could talk about, but this is already incredibly long, so I’ll leave it for another time. If you’ve read this far, then thank you! I really hope people enjoyed this translation. Please keep supporting the three of us as we bring you more translated transcripts from here on out!

[sanctferum]

Dangan Ronpa V3: Chapter 4 Free Time!

After leaving the library, I immediately find a hidden Monokuma near the bottom of the stairs. Let’s look at all these old and new areas to find some others. There’s one on the railing in the second floor hallway, and another in the dorms, and yet another in Tenko’s abandoned lab. The final one must be during a trial minigame.

Hanging out with Kaito, he offers to spend the free time talking about himself. The reason Kaito feels so strongly about the universe. When Kaito was a kid, he used to go to his grandpa’s house. (Let’s not mention what we saw in the motive video to him.) He’d look for treasure in his grandpa’s old warehouse, and one day, while rummaging around, he found a treasure map, to find the treasures of these with! He promptly sold it to a pawn shop for cash. Kaito wouldn’t follow a map to adventure. He’d make his own maps. Still, the sea was calling him now, so he used the money to buy a boat and went on a voyage, and soon after becoming a captain, he met his destined rival. Where is this story going?

The boss of the Great Pirates. Uh. What.

He and the boss of the Great Pirates fought many battles, and eventually became friends. Then they had one final battle to determine who would conquer the seas. Kaito knew he could win, but he’d come to realize he wouldn’t be satisfied with just the sea. Kaito won the battle but didn’t finish the guy off, and ever since then, they haven’t seen each other. To be continued next time…

After an incredibly stupid and suspect story, we return to our room. No more free time today.

Monokub announcement! Night-time starts now, Monophanie and Monotaro have fallen in love, etc. Wait, what? C’mon, what’s with all the incest stuff. First Kiyo and now this bullshit…

Shuichi decides to pretend that never happened, and goes off to train with Kaito and Maki.

Gonta is up too. He thinks it’s best that even with the Student Council dissolved, people stay in their rooms for the night. Both Ryoma and Angie were killed at night…by that logic, the day/night split for the murders is 50/50, though.

Gonta feels useless. Shuichi encourages him, saying everyone can tell how much he cares about everyone. Gonta comes to a decision…but doesn’t say what it is. He’ll discuss it tomorrow at breakfast.

Outside, Kaito and Maki are waiting. 100 sit-ups each. In the time it takes for Shuichi to do 3 sit-ups, Maki’s almost at 30…that’s 10 times as fast. Impressive. And Kaito…has done none. He’s just staring at the stars…he gets up and tells us he needs to use the bathroom. Maki offers to go check on him for Shuichi while he finishes his sit-ups, but Shuichi points out that Maki would have to follow Kaito into the boys bathroom.

So no on that plan…but Maki takes the opportunity to ask a surprise question. Did Shuichi like Kaede? Maki thought he didn’t, because she can’t understand how people could become friends so quickly, especially in a situation like this. It’s weird.

Shuichi asks Maki what circumstances that people meet under aren’t weird for a sudden friendship. Maki is unable to answer, because it’s not an experience she has ever had. Damn, that’s…

Before Shuichi can figure out why Maki is asking these questions all of the sudden, Kaito returns. He drank too much water before training and had to pee. A lie, in all likelihood, but not one Shuichi picks up on.

So, then, the training begins again from the beginning. Another 100 sit-ups.

Kaito isn’t exercising because he has nothing to worry about, or so he says. What’s up with him?

Neither Kaito nor Shuichi are able to do the extra 100 sit-ups, but Maki manages it easily. Back in his room, Shuichi reflects on what the flashback light made him remember. All the things he remembered…If they’re connected to this situation, or to the Ultimate Hunt, or to the funeral…maybe the answers can save them. But those are answers Shuichi does not have.

Monokuma Theater! Haven’t had one of these since chapter 2. Chapter 3 just had Monodam theaters.

According to Monokuma, soccer players wear numbers on their jersey to determine how many mochi they get in the red bean soup they eat post-game. That way, the red bean soup can be properly prepared in advance. Trading jerseys with someone gets you that jersey’s number of mochi in your red bean soup. But for baseball players, the number represents how many pieces of meat they get in their curry. Volleyball players and sliced pork in their ramen, etc. And that is the importance of jersey numbers. Thanks Monokuma, that all sounded really credible and trustworthy trivia.

Morning announcement! Monotaro and Monophanie are now playing the part of an abusive boyfriend and the girl he seduced.

Outside the dorm, Maki and Shuichi talk about their conversation last night. Maki sounded like she didn’t care, but that wasn’t true. A detective should listen before making assumptions.

Maki walks off. Further up the path is Himiko, who’s out of breath from running all the way to the front of the Academy building from the dorms. She ran as part of her new philosophy of moving forward with her life. Walking is too slow of a pace for that! Shuichi questions whether she needs to be physically going fast to do that. The thing is, how else is she gonna do it? She doesn’t know of any other way to live life facing forwards, for Angie and Tenko’s sakes.

Still, she’s definitely gotta pace herself. Shuichi gives her a black belt from the monomono machine, so she can exercise in Tenko’s dojo. After breakfast, Shuichi will meet up with Himiko and train in the dojo.

Miu’s standing in the hall, near the basement stairs. Shuichi almost immediately regrets talking to her.

Fun last night? Huh?

Oh, she thinks Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki had a threesome in the middle of the courtyard. Yeah, that sounds like something Miu would think. She goes off to the breakfast hall, but not before mentioning that she’s working on the perfect invention! Once Shuichi has that, he won’t even need a rubber…Shuichi muses that Miu seemed more upbeat, and that she said “wait” in relation to the invention. Is she working on something right now, that she’s almost finished with? It’s weird…hopefully it’s something other than her figuring out how to make drugs and getting high. That’s the last thing we need.

Inside the dining hall, Gonta seems to be trying to convince the others of something.

Oh, he plans to fight Monokuma. Even with three Monokubs dead, there’s still two Exisals, and Monokuma himself has spares, so…bad idea.

Kokichi doesn’t think Monokuma’s defeat would even stop the killing game. And why would anyone (read: just Kokichi) want it to stop in the first place? It’s starting to get fun now, after all. He also states his intent to win the game. If he needs to become the next blackened to do that, he’ll do it. But the game can’t continue until there’s another killing…so, someone kill already, and make the fun start! And if no one kills each other, Kokichi will have no choice but to take the matter into his own hands and become the blackened himself.

Kaito punches Kokichi in the face. As Kaito yells at Kokichi, Keebo cautions that even minor fights can escalate into murder. If we try and solve our problems with violence, another killing is all but assured. Kaito, who was about to punch Kokichi again, steps back and puts his fists down.

Gonta says that if everyone’s gonna fight each other, he’ll go fight Monokuma rather than watch another killing happen.

Miu tells him there’s no need for that. Hmmmm. I wonder what she invented? An Exisal of her own?

Himiko delivers a Miu line…no wait, that’s just an example of what Miu would have likely said. But she told him not to be worried about Monokuma instead. Miu says that recklessness is pointless because she’s got a plan to save everyone.

“I’ll bring you to a world where the killing game doesn’t exist!”

It’s the computer, isn’t it…she plans to use the computer to create a new world of her own. That’s the only thing I can think of.

After breakfast, we head to the dojo to train with Himiko. Gonta’s there too. And he’s refusing to accept that there’s no way he can help out, so we have no choice but to invite him to train with us and work out together.

Himiko’s gonna do mage exercises. And the best way for her to gain the mana necessary is to have someone overflowing with vitality nearby. Gonta can stand nearby while Himiko borrows his vitality for her exercise. OK.

The exercises are basically preparations for stage performers to do their stuff. That isn’t a Mage exercise. That’s a Magician exercise. Well at least Himiko and Gonta are having fun.

Back to our room. Gonta wanted to fight Monokuma to save his friends. There’s no way Miu would ever say it, but she probably is working hard for the same reason. But Shuichi can’t help his friends, because his talent is only useful after they’re dead.

Free time again! Let’s see what nutty story Kaito has this time.

OK, so Kaito fought off a bunch of rival pirates and left his ship. But before he could get to port, he got caught in a storm. Right when he thought he was done for, a whale ate his boat. Hey, has this guy been watching Pinocchio too many times or something?

Whales are apparently the second smartest thing in the world. The smartest thing is Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars. What am I reading.

Kaito was sheltered from the storm, but he was stuck inside the whale’s stomach. He eventually made it to port, and realized that he’d tried to conquer the sea, and the sea won. So next up was…the land. This story sure is long.

Shuichi is just sweatdropping. Kaito talks on. He sold his boat and all his belonging, and entered the jungle. As he cut his own path through the dense growth, he found himself face to face with va giant anaconda, capable of swallowing a man whole! Kaito defeated the fell serpent, but that ended up triggering something else. Right before him, a gate opened up, leading to the Underground Empire, who had been using the anaconda as a watchman.

Against his better judgement, Shuichi asks what the heck that even is. Apparently, it’s a civilization located in an underground cave. Kaito invaded the empire, and made the emperor into his sidekick, but then time ran out and he had to go back to his gramp’s house. Summer vacation was over. So…was this whole story just his younger self thinking up a cool story about what the map could do?

Anyways, back to the main topic. Kaito must have wanted to become an astronaut for some reason, right? Even if he lost track of the topic while telling his tall tale. His reason is that the universe is the final frontier for him to conquer! Besides, astronauts are cool! What kid hasn’t grown up wanting to be one?

Shuichi looks so disappointed…

Well, time for more Free Time!

Kaito wants to escape. Who knows how much astronaut training he’s missing. But since we’re here, at least we got to meet each other and become friends.

Kaito says he could be called the Ultimate Hero. He’s had plenty of sidekicks before Shuichi. He’s only an astronaut trainee, but in other fields, he’s already made quite the name for himself. One of his sidekicks became a star rookie in major league baseball, another became an engineer who won a Nobel Prize, he even tutored the prime minister of Japan in politics! (What, the figurehead Prime Minister or Kirumi?) He goes on to talk about other sidekicks and make up a bunch of bullshit to brag about. But still, he says that he only nudged them in the right direction. Because…he believed in them. And that’s what’s most important, following the path you believe in. Kaito may be an idiot, but he’s someone who can give encouragement to others…encouragement that lets them face forwards and pursue their dreams. In that sense…he’s the perfect partner for Shuichi.

Evening time. Monotaro gives the night-time announcement. He has a bruise on his face and Monophanie is nowhere to be seen. Serves you right, asshole.

Monophanie whopped him so hard that he’s forgotten where he is and what time he’s announcing it to be. And didn’t there used to be someone else?

Monophanie steps out from behind a pillar to say that Monotaro is helpless without her. Shuichi doesn’t even bother commenting on the soap opera this time.

Training time with Kaito and Maki. Keebo and Tsumugi are in the dorm halls. Keebo’s worried about another murder happening if people are out at night. Keebo and Tsumugi discuss how seriously to take anything Kokichi says…everyone should make sure to be careful around him. I somehow suspect he might be the next victim, and he certainly is not gonna be the blackened this time around. Tsumugi’s also annoyed about the soap opera Monokub announcements. Keebo is more worried that it’s an incestual relationship. OK, well, they’re just robots, no offense, so if you want to squick at someone, Kiyo’s a better choice.

Do the Monokubs have to abide by human morality if they’re bears? No, they aren’t even bears. They’re robots oh shit Keebo’s mad about robophobia again.

Outside, Kaito doesn’t look well. Maki says it’s because of what happened earlier. Kaito suggests the three of them skip training and just talk. He definitely has something on his mind, so…

The conversation almost immediately turns to the subject of Maki’s life. Like, what her favorite blood type is. What? You meant, what’s her blood type, right? (It says it’s A, right there on the monopad’s report card.) Kaito seems to be acting stranger than usual.

Shuichi has a question of his own. When they first met, Maki told Kaede and him that she was the Ultimate Child Caregiver. Why that title in specific?

As the topic is about to move on, Maki speaks up with her answer. She grew up in an orphanage. That part of her backstory wasn’t made up. She has no idea who her parents even were, much let alone memories of them. And what she told us at the beginning…the only part of it that was false was her Ultimate title. Maki really was an orphan, and she really did end up helping raise the orphanage’s other residents…and kids really do like Maki. She doesn’t like taking care of them, but the kids like her anyways…but she never had a choice as to whether to become a caretaker or an assassin. Because when she was 10, a group of strangers started hanging around the orphanage. They were all smiles, but didn’t interact with the kids. Only watched them from afar…trying to see what talent each of them had. And Maki agreed to let them adopt her when she heard that they’d donate a large sum of money to the orphanage if she did. And that’s how Maki’s life started to become a living hell.

Ever since that day, she trained to become an assassin. And she had no choice but to keep going, even when she didn’t want to. As long as she became an assassin and succeeded in her missions, the orphanage would continue to receive funding…at first, Maki vomited every day, cried every night…but then, she got used to it. It was her life now. And so she became a tool to be used for killing by the cult she worked for, and her heart became empty, and her emotions numb, and her thoughts on why she had to keep going diminished.

But even with all that, she has to ask herself after every mission what life would have been like if she stayed at the orphanage. It’s a gnawing thought that will never leave her.

So that’s it. The story of Maki Harukawa. A girl who made what seemed like the right choice, and descended into hell because of it.

Kaito says that Maki and Shuichi both try to shoulder things on their own. Better to trust in others. Having shared your burdens with your friends, you’ll become stronger. And if Maki has managed to share her burden with Kaito and Shuichi, then maybe she’s become stronger already.

Maki acknowledges that the training has made her stronger, and the three friends spend time just talking. Shuichi feels more than ever that he needs to uncover the truth of the Academy, so he can protect his friends. No matter what, he needs to keep his friends alive.

And yet, at that very moment, in the games room in the basement, Monokuma is face-to-face with Kokichi. Kokichi, who has something to talk about with Monokuma in private. Something that will make the killing game that more exciting. Kokichi also says that the reason he hasn’t used the motive yet is because it has to be used dramatically. But then, he had an idea. A certain someone is planning something interesting. If the motive is used with regards to that, then the game would become super intense. I wonder who the certain someone is? Gonta or Miu, perhaps.

When Monokuma says you’re an evil bastard, you’re pretty damn far gone.

Kokichi makes the evilest face he’s made yet. And evil is what he is planning…

Monokuma Theater! Dishonest people…you can trust them, cause you know that they’re dishonest. But an honest man, you never know when they’re gonna do something idiotic. Unless he’s lying about that. And so on and so forth. Kokichi’s plan really impressed him, it seems.

Monokub announcement, starring no one. No wait, Monophanie appeared out of literally thin air to continue the soap opera bullshit. Monophanie and Monotaro eventually realize that they need each other, and a curtain falls with the words “The End” on it. What a long, strange announcement.

Outside the dorms, Kaito wants to ask Shuichi for advice about their training sessions. We’ve been doing sit-ups and push-ups, but Kaito feels like something is missing. Martial arts, or mental training…we have a practice sword in our inventory, so Shuichi and Kaito decide to train together after breakfast. Kaito will bring Maki over as well.

Near the boiler room, Gonta’s still looking for the tiny bug…

*Silver the Hedgehog voice* IT’S NO USE!

Hey, I did say I would bust out that line every time the voice clip was used…

Himiko’s in the hall near the bathrooms. She’s sad the Monokuma soap opera is over. She thought there’s be a plot twist, where Monophanie would turn out to be pregnant with a kub of her own, but it’d turn out the father wasn’t Monotaro! The father would be Monokid, or Monosuke, or possibly Monodam but probably not. Despite her predictions, the soap opera ended happily ever after. I wonder if Himiko is a soap opera fan? Wouldn’t have thought so before now, but…

Inside the dining hall, everyone but Miu and Kokichi are here. That worries me.

Everyone’s trying to think of ways to make themselves useful to each other. After breakfast, we go back to our rooms. But even then, an “unspeakable malice” is brewing.

No time to worry about whether Miu is dead, though, because it’s time to train with Kaito.

Oh right. Maki doesn’t use swords. Oops.

It’s a painful memory, but Kaito tells her to get it out there so the three of them can continue to share each other’s burdens.

So, Maki gathered information for her mission. The target worked late at night, but was also into some nerdy hobbies. And we’re talking Tsumugi-levels of nerdy, especially considering that this guy loved cosplay. So Maki came up with a plan. Use a prop carrying case to stealthily bring a katana with her and then kill the guy with it. The plan worked at first. Then Maki drew her katana on the guy. But her height and hairstyle match that of a popular character who is a katana user, and she was in the middle of a cosplay hall when this happened. And so, before she knew what was happening, Maki found herself in a different hall, with people photographing her as part of a photoshoot. Luckily, no one looked inside her weapon case, or she would’ve been busted. They would’ve realized the katana was real…Kaito and Shuichi think the whole thing is pretty funny. But the story isn’t over with. Maki returned to her employers without having killed the guy. She was branded as a failure. And failing meant her employers would no longer donate to the orphanage…which is why she had to keep going. So that her hell of a life would have some kind of meaning.

Shuichi returns to his room. Hopefully there’ll be at least another free time before the murder. Ooh, there is. Next time, we finish up Kaito’s last free time event and move towards the inevitable deadly life.