#Shuichi because he makes no effort to get to know anyone

[s1llycilantro]

Are Shuichi and Kokichi studying in the same school as any other of the drv3 participants in the cinema au? :0

Sorry for such a late response but yeah!! Most do, and it's not limited to drv3 either! Though they don't all go to the same school (drv3 cast haha) they all talk or atleast know of eachother. Doesn't mean they all like eachother though ! :P

[relatableblorbopoll]

Round 1 of preliminaries, group 10

The first two places get a place on the bracket

Little reminder: there will be 2 more rounds of preliminaries, the losing blorbos of this poll still have 2 chances of getting in the official bracket

Propaganda under the cut

Nagisa Ran (Ensemble Stars)

"- autistic - grew up very isolated - nonbinary. to me. - they had a speech impediment veeeery similar to the one i used to have and their current speaking patterns are very similar to the way i speak - we both have a special interest in geology - i'd list more but the rest are just autism symptoms so. uhhh"

Waver Velvet (Fate series /The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II)

No propaganda

Shuichi Saihara (Danganronpa V3)

"sorry for submitting a danganronpa character but hear me out!! there's many reasons shuichi is a relatable character, such as: 1. he's def lgbtq+ actually. in the free time events with kaito momota (another male character), shuichi's inner monologue says "only someone like him could tell me what i need to hear." before he internally scolds himself saying he "shouldn't talk about another boy like that" 2. self doubt. throughout the game, he doubts his detective skills a lot. well, in earlier chapters. he grows out of it but yk. he feels like he isn't a "real detective" n all 3. a. autism. throughout the entire prologue and chapter 1, he wears a hat to avoid eye contact. while there is an actual reason that isn't autism, i still think that's autism behavior. also he seemingly knows a lot about true crime and at one point, when another character brings up the victorian era, he responds by mentioning jack the ripper. 4. he's very sad. chapter 1? cries. chapter 3? cries. chapter 5? cries. chapter 6? cries. he might've cried other times i don't remember though. although it is fair bc people are dying. but even outside of the death, he is sad. refer to number 2. also he feels like he shouldn't have solved the case that made him the ultimate detective. (there are reasons for that. also linked to the hat.) and more"

Opossums (real life)

"Nocturnal creatures that just like wanna chill and eat, plus they have to lay down when really stressed, they are like me for real."

Midori Takamine (Ensemble Stars!! Music)

"- literally just some guy that gets dragged into things (accidentally became an idol somehow) - his only real interests are mascot characters and vegetables + he finds talking to people bothersome - all of his friends are extroverted or very friendly while midori is just… there. - cringefail loser who can’t talk to people without being nervous despite being a 5’10 giant and an idol (179cm), only really talks a lot when discussing mascots - depressed, just straight up clinical depression but its ok cause he’s working on it and doesn’t let it get him too down"

Seven of nine (Star Trek)

"seven of nine is a big ball of identity questioning in one person. she literally has a whole section on her wiki page titled "identity crises". mood. as a child she's snatched up and made part of a hivemind, all these cyborg augments put into her, the usual scifi stuff. but her story begins when she's freed. against her will, even if it's ultimately for the best. she has no idea how to relate to these people, how to speak or act or dress or sound. big autism mood. big trans mood. big gay mood, because she has no idea what anyone is supposed to do when dating and it turns out she's into women and ends up with a girlfriend so it's no wonder she couldn't connect to all the lessons about boyfriends and the attempt to date a man! multiple times she's forced to assimilate and act more "human" and change her name but she won't! and the people who make an effort to understand end up important found family and friends. and she ends up in control of her own life and a captain!! legend."

[booklin]

KBTBB High School Headcanons!

Eisuke - I’d say Eisuke probably had straight A’s without trying. He was every girl's crush at school. All of the teachers loved him, giving their best reviews on report cards. Though, didn't have many friends, despite talking to a school day’s worth of people. The people he did call friends were just those he believed would benefit him in the future. You know the anime, “Haven’t you heard? I’m Sakamoto” basically, he’s a kid who’s perfect. Always ten steps ahead, girls love him, guys respect him, teachers admire his grades, that type of thing. That’s Eisuke. He avoids conflict and is always a step ahead. Pop quiz? He knew about it a week before.

Soryu - When you first see him you think he’s a bully, which is attractive in a way. Turns out he’s just a quiet kid, though there’s definitely an abnormal strength about him. The person everyone fights to get on their team during gym class. Decent grades, probably would get a B in math if it weren’t for the teacher being scared of him. I can imagine him holding a lot of pain in, especially with his home life. Unapproachable, to say the least. Only has one or two friends at most but keeps everyone at arm's length. He’s, surprisingly, not the fighting type however I can see him getting into one fight if he saw a girl being bullied.

Shuichi - Him and Eisuke are constantly battling for top marks. Everytime one gets an A- the other mocks them for the entire week. Unlike Eisuke, Shuichi actually studies. Some could argue he doesn’t need too, but still does. His desk is always clean, and his notes are perfect. The teachers always entrust responsibilities to him. They even joke about having him as the principal when he’s older. Probably the type of kid that puts a lot of pressure on himself. That, and he just grew up having high expectations set on him. Doesn’t date. At all. He denies every girl that tries. Has been labeled as an “impossible catch”. Believes studies comes first and would break his concentration.

Ota - Ota is the popular kid. Everyone’s friends with him. He’s always hanging out with someone. One day it’s the drama club, the next it’s the art club. Did I mention the art teacher loves him? He doesn’t do the best academically, but his art teacher is so impressed, she offers to write a college recommendation letter. Again, everyone loves him. He’s the type of person a fight would break out over in the cafeteria, because everyone wants him at their table. Between him and Eisuke, the girls can’t decide who they want to date first.

Baba - Baba is the playboy all the girls warn each other about. At last, between his dashing smile and adoring personality, almost every girl has fallen for him once. People probably think he rides a motorcycle. He doesn’t, still, he gives off friends to lovers vibes. Despite his efforts, he always gets dumped due to his flirtatious nature. If anyone were to get pregnant during high school, the chances of him being the dad are 9/10. Quite responsible though. Takes accountability and helps his girlfriend through it. Supports her decision and promises to marry her, if that’s what she wants.

Mamoru - Mamoru is the kid who barely anyone knows. He sits next to you yet, if someone asked, you’d deny that he was in your class. He’s either not in class or sleeping/barely paying attention. They call him “Big Bromoru” because he acts like everyone’s big brother. “Shouldn’t you be doin your homework instead of talkin in the halls, eh?” Literally to random people in the hallway. Though, for some reason, it makes him admirable. No one dares say anything rude back, knowing they’d have the whole school as a target. He’s respected by all the kids there, even if he isn’t very noticeable.

[yuutsunaoi-writes]

Kokichi Ouma is just some guy with pale skin, dark purple hair and purple eyes clad in a white-based uniform paired with a checkered white and black scarf. He's just some guy who is quite disliked among the characters in Danganronpa V3. He's also quite disliked by certain parts of the fandom. He's just kinda disliked in general. Even in his forged back story, he was leading a group of misfits that pull harmless pranks - which becomes one of the reason why he's disliked in the eyes of public.

In other words, he's disliked no matter where he went.

Yet, in the midst of it, we could know that he's also loved because of the same misfits that joined his DICE organisation. In the few pictures he took with them, we could see how they all wear the uniforms proudly.

And for them, I'm thankful that Kokichi at least have a few people to lean on - eventhough we all know he's selfless. Selfless in the way that he had sacrificed himself to beat the killing game.

What? You're gonna say he did that just to win and beat the killing game?

Well, isn't beating the killing game what everyone wants? Sure, his ways of doing things are disliked since he lies all the time, but who wouldn't when you have no one you could actually trust? He would want to make sure the mastermind does not catch up to his plans.

Kokichi Ouma, who lies all the time, jokingly worded things to piss people off all the time, has a big fear - fear of being boring. He hated being boring the most, since he hated boredom very much. Just not as much as Junko Enoshima who caused despair just to feel something and make things 'interesting'.

Perhaps it's because he got used to associating pissed and crossed expressions with his harmless questionably-funny pranks since he had been pulling pranks with his organisation (read: found family) for the longest time, he chose to lie and anger people because for him, that is what it means to not be boring. To be 'funny'.

The Ultimate Supreme Leader, although gives off the vibe of being just a pure menace, he is also smart; smart in the way he noticed peculiar things earlier than anyone else. He noted how it's weird to have an Ultimate Robot, when no one else bothered to care. And many other things, did he notice. But because he lies all the time, he didn't even care to share his findings with anyone else. After all, who can anyone exactly trust in a killing game?

Kokichi is careful despite his carefree facade. He went through every possible outcomes before doing anything. We could see this is proven when he just 'happened to know' how to benefit from him dying in the hands of Kaito Momota.

Trapped in a killing game, where he could trust no one, Kokichi relied on him and only himself. He tried approaching Shuichi Saihara, but he knew his efforts would be futile because he had personally engraved into everyone's head that he's a liar and an instigator - someone to not be trusted.

Perhaps, he had known that he would ended up alone all along - especially after Shuichi had implied so in his words when the Ultimate Supreme Leader tried to get in between Shuichi and Kaito.

After facing such rejection, Kokichi strengthened his resolve, and proceeded how he had planned.

Maybe, in his last dying breaths, as he laid down on the hydraulic press, he wondered if things would've been different had he been able to convince Shuichi to help him in his plans to beat the game.

No one would care if I die anyway.

He knew all along though - that he would be by himself even till the end as the hydraulic press descended on him.

In the end, he left while still being misunderstood. Even as he smiled a little bit, closed his eyes, and wished the best for his friends.

And for the person he fell for.

Kokichi Ouma is used to have one-sided feelings anyway.

He told himself that it didn't hurt.

Ah...

If the 10 people who had willingly joined my organization were real...

I wished I could've met them before dying.

[phussenartzzz]

Excerpt from my Fanfic

THE RESULTS ARE IN AND I'M GONNA POST THE FANFIC EXCERPT!!! (Sorry to the 7.7% who didn't want this but majority rules in my book)

Okay so we all read the title and I just wanna get some things across first and foremost.

I'm posting this for feed-back purposes. I just wanna see if this seems like a good enough story to post because I started thinking about it and realized that reading fan-fics (Saiouma one-shots on Wattpad mostly in this case scenario) have given me ideas for my own one-shots that I wrote down but wasn't confident enough to start typing because I didn't wanna be seen as "cringe" or a "terrible writer". I've seen so many good ideas from people on here like @thelemoncoffee and was like," Imma start publishing my ideas". Please consider commenting feedback or if you think it's worth it; reposting this. And so, with further a-do, my bros, brosephines, and broskis, I present you with an excerpt from:

The Prince and the Amethyst Dragon

"Well, well, well, you really shouldn't be out here roaming these streets alone ya' know~. You could be mugged, kidnapped, or worse, killed." Kokichi's facial expression turned dark and full of all kinds of malice. "And to top it off it could be by anyone, even me." Shuichi felt like his heart was in his stomach, but he had to find a way out of this. "W-well you wouldn't dare lay a-uh, a finger on me. I am Shuichi Saihara; son of the king himself." Shuichi exclaimed, feeling a little bolder now; standing tall above the other male trying to intimidate him. However despite his best efforts, Kokichi wasn't intimidated but his facial expression changed from malice to an almost child-like awe. Saihara gradually yet painfully realized that in revealing who he really was; he'd messed up. "Wow, just, just wow. A real life prince!" Kokichi lowered himself to a bow and reached his hand forward to take Shuichi's and gently kissed it while simultaneously looking up at him and winking."It's an honor to meet you, your highness.~" Shuichi's brain felt scrambled; this guy just threatened his life and now he's "honored to meet me". What was this guy's deal?

"Ohhh come on now, that was an obvious lie. I'm not gonna kill you silly, you gotta read in between the lines Shumai." S-Shumai?! What was this guy on? Whatever it was Shuichi didn't need any more parts of it. He needed to make it back to the castle before he got in trouble for sneaking out; he didn't need any more trouble than he already had. Kokichi trailed alongside him and then said, "So don't you have like- a magic carriage or something waiting for you? All this walking has me bored out of my mind." Shuichi sighed and calmly replied "Well, I do this every Friday night so I'll be fine." Kokichi still followed Shuichi, the sounds of the night filling the void of silence. Then Kokichi had an idea. He walked in front of Shuichi; now walking backwards, and announced his idea. "Hey Shuichi, I've just thought of a waaayyyy better idea that I'm sure you're gonna like." Shuichi doubted he'd like the idea but let the boy go on anyway. "I'll take you home but- in exchange, you gotta give me a kiss~. Nehehehe," he said smugly looking at Shuichi with his finger to his lips. Shuichi was clearly flustered by this and it showed on his face. "What are you trying to say, that you know a short-cut?" Kokichi pondered for a bit then said "Yeah sure, a shortcut or whatever call it what you wanna call it. Just follow my lead and I'll have my beloved prince back home, safe and sound in his castle in no time flat!" He then added, "Also the whole thing about you having to kiss me was a lie" Of course it was a lie Shuichi thought, but then proceeding to lightly blush seeing the child-like grin on the other boy's face. "Umm, so might I ask what's the plan then?" Shuichi asked clearly confused."Follow me."

Kokichi beckoned him towards a dark woodland area. Shuichi really began to question why he was here genuinely following him considering all that happened between them tonight, and yet here they were. Kokichi stopped abruptly and turned around. He looked both ways nervously like he was trying to see if there was a dangerous entity in the dark out to get him. "Okie dokie, Imma need you to wait riiiight here for me please. I'll call out when I'm done." Just as he was about to turn and vanish into the woods he turned around one last time and said, "I need you to not tell a soul what your about to see, I don't normally do this type of stuff for strangers but tonight I'm feeling nice. However, if you do snitch, I'm gonna have to kill you for real, and we both don't want that to happen, now do we my beloved prince?" Not again with the death threats. "Okay no need to put my life on the line again, I promise." Kokichi nodded his head and was consumed by the darkness of the woods. Shuichi stood there anxiously waiting. Minutes later he heard something from the woods "Your safe Shuichi, come on." Hesitantly Shuichi stepped forward and into the woods. "Kokichi?" He cried. "Come closer, you're almost there." Was the reply he got, but he still didn't see him.

"Kokichi can you not mess around right now, where-" Shuichi stopped dead in the middle of his sentence and his tracks. He saw two glowing eyes staring at him, one a golden yellow color and the other, a mythical purple. Shuichi was like a deer caught in headlights with fear and astonishment. He didn't know what to do, and contemplated running away from the beast and waking up in his bed at home safe from all this chaos knowing it was all just a bad dream. Then the dragon cooed to Shuichi, "Come closer, my beloved; believe me, I won't bite."

So that's it so far :) I hope you enjoyed this excerpt and like mentioned prior PLEASE feel free to comment your thoughts/criticisms or drop a question in my ask box. Thank you good citizens of Tumblr for allowing me to be myself, and sharing my interests with y'all :) Stay tuned for more Shuichi x Kokichi content

Thank you once again for your time <3

[dragbunart]

I Fuck Up and I am Sorry

I'm sure you all already know, seeing as you follow this blog. But a few days ago I posted the Grand Killing Game version of Shuichi, which had darker skin. This was a huge mistake that came from a place of privilage and ignorance.

I apologize for the long post in advance, but I didn't want to try and hide this apology under a 'read more' because that felt like trying to hide that and sweep it under the rug.

At the time I thought it wasn't a big deal as he has had darker skin in this AU since the beginning, it's in my header and in the first comic. No one had said anything about it till now. However, that could simply be because my blog didn't really get popular (popular is being used loosely) until recently.

I received backlash to the design from Actual People of color, but some still said it was no big deal, So I made a poll.

I honestly should've made a poll asking about this before ever posting any art of Shuichi with darker skin. To get opinions from actual people of color.

I didn't think it was an issue for a few reasons before I posted it (note I am not trying to excuse my behavior, I am merely explaining it, you all have every right to be upset with me). A) I had seen a darker-skinned Shuichi fanart. B) again I had posted him with darker skin before and received no comments. C) I had made Danganronpa OC's of color and no one had commented negativly on it, though now I realize that changing a characters skin tone, and making an oc with darker skin are different.

To be honest I was a tad shocked when someone first commented and seemed upset with me. While I had known white-washing was wrong, I hadn't seen anything negative about making characters skin darker.

My intent wasn't to Validate anyone, as i didn't feel it was my place to validate POC as a white person. I was just looking for a way to add variety to the cast as even with different hairstyles, after a few minutes of drawing, they can all look the same.

I never meant to come off as rascist or pandering. I simply was trying to help differentiat the different characters.

While this appology was written BEFORE I editted everything. I made sure I posted it after everything was edited. I didn't want anyone to see the apology and then see the images still up, as that could potentially be seen as me appologizing just to get people off my back.

I had removed the header image from both my header and the GKG tab, edited the comic, and edited the shuichi art to no longer be darker skinned. The affected posts have edits explaining that they've been edited due to my fuck up. and I will be leaving the asks up as well as to not sweep this under the rug.

Again I am sorry to everyone I upset, or offended with this art. I will make efforts to do better in the future and I appreciate everyone who gave their opinions on the matter.

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Honestly yes! The unfairness in drv3 just makes my blood boil. Now shuichi is a character I love. But I just have one thing I hate about him the most.

HE. DOESN'T. ACKNOWLEDGE. OTHER. CHARACTER'S. EFFORTS.

And not just him, the rest of the characters as well! Especially the survivors

Now now before I misunderstand everything, here, let's just see tenko

Tenko here clearly tries to comfort shuichi and tell him to be more confident by flipping him during this scene. You can tell that even if shuichi is a "degenerate male" in her eyes, she still cares. Were her words ever mentioned by shuichi? No.

Rantaro. This guy, even if he wasn't able to, tried to end the killing game. Even till the end when shuichi came to know that he has an adventures perk and all, were his efforts encouraged? No.

Miu. This girl. She might act pervy and all but SHE. CARES. She made those cameras during the first chapter, the drone, those hammers, the Electrobomb. Who did it huh? Miu. Even if she made such a stupid mistake in the 4th chapter, and her actions can't really be justified. Still. She deserved better. But were her inventions ever mentioned by anyone except kokichi? No.

Now Angie. I don't really have an opinion on her. But I like to think that she actually cares, but her way of expressing it is a bit weird. I read somewhere that she actually formed a council and all so that they can stop the killing (?) she actually tried to make a peaceful environment and tried to make everyone stay happily with eachother. I also saw in the one of the chapters of this game's Manga where ryoma and Angie were playing tennis, and angie told ryoma that he should forgive himself, and that atua forgives him too. Well in a way, shows she actually cares about people a lot. But the way she expresses it is again, weird and unpredictable. But was her behavior ever understood? No.

Gonta. This cinnamon roll clearly mentioned how he tried to protect everyone. And this guy did his best! Even if he was dumb, but his intentions were really sweet and pure hearted. But was he mentioned? No.

Even keebo in the last scene! I don't know whether the survivors knew keebo blew himself up or not, but they should have pieced the two and two together. But even in the ending scene, they only mentioned kaede and Kaito! So keebo is like, out of the list.

Now kokichi. Without him, the whole drv3 would have been impossible! He did so much for everyone. He dropped hints here and there, sacrificed himself so that his classmates could live, heck he was so guilt driven he sacrificed himself instead of Kaito! Now I also saw this thing somewhere that kokichi had an antenna (?) that could control those exisals. If he had bad intentions, why didn't he put that antenna on keebo to control him and destroy everything? He was hated on just because he lied. And this guy is a fucking genius! Whatever he says, the guy drops hints, and I'm so damn impressed by him. But he was brushed off as a liar. Even in one of the free events with kaede! Just look at this one

In the comment section someone told that in this scene, kokichi warn kaede that her common sense of what is good for her and others is going to get her in trouble. The boy really cares about everyone! But we're his efforts, or his sacrifice ever acknowledged? No. In fact, kaede just brushed him off and told to stop screwing around. What.

Like you said before, drv3 gives luxurious treatment to some characters whole other characters are treated so poorly. I might be wrong about somethings here, and I also might have missed somethings out! So please consider looking at it and correcting me if I'm wrong!

And I'm so so sorry for such a long ask, I got so carried out with my opinion here haha. But well, what do you think?

First of all, thank you for your ask! And you bought up very good points.

It's sad that some of the characters actions are just brushed off and ignored by the others.

Lets take Tenko's death for example: when she died Himiko wasn't properly processing it and Kokichi takes note of that.

In the clsss trial, he calls Himiko out.

That was a rough callout, but it was necesarry for Himiko. She needed to realize that she can't continue to treat people that she cares about in a shitty manner because they could end up dead, just like what ended up happening to Tenko.

He then proceeds to call her out again, but this time for a completely different reason.

He is pushing her to take Tenko's advice, to be honest with herself. He is encouraging her to let out her emotions and be able to move on to become a better person.

And when Kokichi says all this, Himiko breaks. She starts wailing for Tenko and Angie, admitting that she feels lonely. And her breakdown got the other characters to cry and let their own feelings out too.

No one ever once thanked Kokichi or even acknowledged what he did for them.

And don't you find it infuritaing that although Kokichi helped Himiko out with properly expressing herself, she then later decides to blantly disrespect Kokichi's death by saying that "he isn't the type to shed real tears."? If it weren't for Kokichi's push, then Himiko wouldn’t have shed tears in the first place.

I also heavily agree with your point about Kokichi warning Kaede and how she immedietly brushes him off as joking around, which wasn't the case. Kokichi was actually telling Kaede about how she should be more sceptical of others. But did Kaede listen? No.

Kokichi has done plenty of things for the group and the group managed to ignore every single one of his efforts, including his sacrifice.

It is clear as day that the favored characters in this game never take one glance to even consider or care about the other characters feelings.

For example, we have Ryoma and sadly no one really cared about his death. Kaito went through the lenghts of calling him a coward for loosing his will to live and most characters seemed to agree with him. No one even got mad at Kirumi for killing Ryoma, even Monokuma pointed out that Ryoma's death was being neglected.

And don't get me started with Miu, my poor girl got so mistreated and deserved way better. Kaede actually appreciated Miu for helping her but that appreciation was short-lived since Kaede died. The follow-up person who genuienly acknowledged and appreciated Miu's inventions was Kokichi.

Other than that, no one else really paid mind to the things Miu did for the group.

And when she died no one but Kiibo and the two people who literally caused her death (Gonta&Kokichi) were the only ones who were emotionally affected by it.

And to make things worse, in the ch4 class trial when Gonta says that they shouldn't be so indiferent about Miu's death since there was a chance they all could've been friends outside the killing game they all proceed to say they would never be friends with her.

@geekioldschool actually pointed out something about this interaction that I didn't quite catch before—and that is Himiko's hypocrisy. She called Kokichi out for saying Tenko's death was meaningless (mind you, he literally said it was meaningless for the case and investigation, not in general.) and she downright vilinized him for that, yet Himiko literally right after Miu's death said that she wouldn’t be friends with her even if the killing game didn't happen, she also invalidates Kokichi's last words before dying, and later on she completely ignores Kiibos sacrifice too.

But honestly, in the ch4 class trial, most characters were being extremely hypocritical.

When the cast finds out Miu's reasoning for wanting to escape Kaito calls her an idiot. But Kaito literally justified Kirumi's actions in ch2 who did the same exact thing as Miu. And when Maki later on tried to get everyone killed because of her mistake in ch5, Shuichi and the rest actually praise her instead.

And last but not least, we have our boy Kiibo. Kiibo is a character who always looked out for others, including characters who were considered "outcasts" like Miu and Kokichi. Even when Kokichi claumed he was the "mastermind" in ch5, Kiibo still took his time to try to talk and reason with him instead of resorting to violence, Kiibo was the one who called Kaito out for punching Kokichi and he was also the one who believed in Kokichi's last words before dying. Kiibo also had a close relationship with Miu, he was one of the few who was genuienly affected by her death and he also mentions to Shuichi that Miu had a 'natural innocence' in her, which shows us he took his time to actually know her. In the end, Kiibo sacrificed himself so that everyone can escape yet his sacrificed was brushed off by the others who instead decide to bring up Kaede and Kaito.

Theres a lot more instances were the game shows it's bias to certain characters while downright disrespecting others, but I think that these are enough for this blog.

Thanks for reading and hope you have a great day! <3

[mlm-mod-taka]

Hi!!!♡♡ could I request a male reader in a Poly relationship with Shuichi and Kaito who loves to bake? Like if the other two are sad, he's already make space and Detective themed cookies?

HAVING A BAKER BF • shuichi x male reader x kaito

why, of course! i had a slight obsession with baking for a few months, but i was pretty average so didn't make anything great. i have a general understanding of the basics, which definitely came in handy! i hope you all enjoy this, especially with how long you had to wait!

tws/cws: none that i can think of.

|| -> mod taka <3

oh they both definitely love it. shuichi isn't too much of a sweet tooth, but he would eat everything you eat without hesitation. meanwhile, kaito is without a thought the biggest sweet tooth of the group, probably more than you. they both would down a whole platter of your pastries the moment you place it on the table.

if you ever plan on baking with them, get ready for a gigantic mess, and constant laughter. kaito is absolutely terrible when it comes to measurements and instructions, meanwhile shuichi starts shaking when he has to do literally anything more than watch.

so, basically, kaito cares way too little while shuichi cares a bit too much. by the end of the baking session, the kitchen is in havoc. the baked goods that you all worked on together most likely tastes terrible, but atleast you got a kick out of it while making it.

they both fanboy over you, both when you are, and arent around. they both squeal about how nice and sweet their baker boyfriend is, which is usually sweet, if they didn't do it constantly.

god forbid someone mentions anything about baking, because next thing you know, kaito will start bragging about you. shuichi is probably less showy about it, but if anyone mentions you, he'll "casually" nudge in the fact that you're an amazing baker into the conversation somehow.

whenever one of them are a little down in the dumps, you start taking out all of the equipment to make them some treats. you always try to keep it to a theme, something involving space for kaito, and detective things for shuichi.

it instantly makes them feel better, no matter how upset they were previously. not only does your food smell and taste delicious, it also looks great. you can tell that you really tried your best to make it look nice for them, and they appreciate all the effort.

both of them go shopping for new baking materials! whenever they get home from the store, they'll have atleast three new obscure baking tools, that "solve" a very specific problem you probably have never experienced. they would also get the regular things like eggs, flour and sugar.

the two try to learn more about baking on their own time, it works a little. kaito somewhat tries to contain his urges to do dumb stuff in the kitchen, while shuichi can actually measure things without shaking like a leaf.

in conclusion, they both love you, without a doubt. not only do they think that you're the best boyfriend in the world, they both absolutely love everything you make for them. shuichi and kaito will give you so much affection, that its obvious that your polyamorous relationship is very nice and healthy. everyone in your class supports you! just, please keep them in check while they're in the kitchen for everybody else's sanity.

[thelemoncoffee]

i've always found the concept of Maki and Kaito actually being okay with Saiouma weird. In canon, they don't like Kokichi and make it clear they want him to either piss off so he doesn't negitively influence anyone impressionable like Shuichi, Gonta, or Himiko- or to change who he is and stop lying because they hypocritically deem it as wrong. This is why i usually kinda use them as antagonists in some of my saiouma aus.

i wanna try and fix this mindset for myself as this mindset is kinda- ick- considering how it affects aus. So here's an au idea for you:

When saiouma started dating, Kaito and Maki were very much against it. Kokichi being Shuichi's boyfriend means he'll not only be near Shuichi more and could easily manipulate him, but he's also around them more and has more time to get on their nerves. Shuichi, worried about any conflict between the two and Kokichi, advised them to try and read inbetween the lines while around Kokichi, as that's the best way to truely understand him

At first the duo just did not listen, insisting that there was nothing good between the lines to read, but after months of bullshit and fights, it was Maki who finally took the first step forward. Tired of all the misunderstanings, Maki decided she might as well heed Shuichi's advice and started to just play along with Kokichi, trying her best to see anything underneeth all the lies Kokichi spewed.

What surpised her was Kokichi seemed to have been hyperaware of this effort, and after a few days of struggle he started to actively throw her little easy bits of truth to find. She realized this was what Shuichi had gone through while trying to figure him out all that time ago, what he meant when he said Kokichi rewards those who don't take him at face value. She was in this deep now, might as well see where the Kokichi rabbit-hole goes.

While she was doing all this, Kaito noticed her behavior towards Kokichi shifting, and asked if she was okay. When she explained she had taken Shuichi's advice and put effort into understanding Kokichi it slightly unnerved Kaito, as he was scared Kokichi had sucsessfully began to manipluate Maki. But with some reassurance from her, he relaxed, being promised that she still didn't like how much of an asshole Kokichi is. It was a poor choice of words, as to Kaito it read as "he's an asshole through and through" and not "hes s good guy, but how he outwardly behaves is shitty" but Maki hadn't really realized that

More time passes, more truths are revealed, and while Maki still hates Kokichi's outward behavior, she now at least know's its just a defencive thing she can relate to and is not done in ill will. She Notices that Kaito is still being stubborn about Kokichi, and decides to "offer" him a free start to understand Kokichi, and by offer i mean she got sick of Kaito's stubborness and forced him to put effort into understanding Kokichi.

Kaito being Kaito, it was alot more trouble to get him to try, and by now both Maki and Shuichi were practically sitting him down and telling him hes going to try because he was making a scene about it. Tired of all this, Kokichi decided to butt in and tell them to stop. Right in front of Kaito, he told them to stop, and expressed how he didn't want someone who wasn't willing to understand him to be forced into it. He set his walls up for a reason- to keep those willing to understand close and, those not willing out. They were trying to force Kaito past his walls despite their purpose being to keep people like him out, and it was starting to upset him.

now that interested Kaito, Kokichi using his behavior to filter out anyone who isn't truely intested in becoming his friend, possible so he doesn't end up with anyone toxic in his life. Kaito Didn't really want to be Kokichi's friend, even if his asshole behavoir hid something good underneith, he didn't want to have to deal with it in the meantime.

But, after that interaction, he decided to give a little more respect to Kokichi, showing distaste in his behavor, but not in a way that egged it on like before, and somehow it worked. he didn't need to look deep, so long as he aknowlaged the usage of his surface behavoir, Kokichi would lighten up on him- it went from constant fighting to lighthearted banter within a few weeks. He may not know what's up with Kokichi like Maki and Shuichi do, but he reached mutual respect with Kokichi and that's good enough for him. Maybe one day he'll decide to look deeper, but for now he's just content knowing his sidekicks are safe.

[wattpadscapcons]

Oh, oh! I have a good idea!

What about a drabble where the reader is planning something really special for Kagehara (like, it's his birthday or something) and they start to work really hard on this surprise for him. Kagehara notices that the reader is ignoring and avoiding him, and he thinks the worst is happening and that Y/N wants to break up with him. He starts to panic and tries to do everything in his power to convince them to stay. But when the surprise finally comes, the reader explains that they were planning this surprise for him and he becomes really relieved and apologizes for freaking out so much

Sorry if this is confusing or too much. You don't have to do it if it didn't make sense, but I thought it would be a cool idea

*Cries in sleep deprived artist*

I went a little off script but I think you'll like this better anyways. Also, this is less drabble and more of an entire fic. Enjoy!

=

Birthday Burnout (Pregame! Shuichi x Reader)

=

Kagehara is freaking out for the third time today, nearly in tears from the amount of distress this whole situation has put him through already. You've been distancing yourself so much the past two weeks that it's making him worry himself to death. Clutching his cell with two hands he's practically ranting to Kokichi anytime he allows him to. Kokichi's growing more and more impatient with Shuichi as the days pass, and tries his best to just calm him down. He doesn't even really care that he has to lie to him to keep his surprise a secret anymore, though the fact that he's breaking down because of your "dumb idea" is honestly pissing him off more than he'd admit to anyone else.

=

"Shu, you can't keep calling me over this."

"But-"

"No. You just need to give Y/N time, if they wanted to dump you don't you think they would have already done it?"

"Ko-"

"No buts! They're probably just feeling a bit off. You really need to stop freaking out so much."

"Kokichi they won't even talk to me! They've ignored my texts, their mom won't let me see them, and they're completely avoiding me at school. They aren't even sitting with me at lunch now! What if they finally believe what everyone says about me?"

"Haven't you listened to a single word I've told you?"

"Yes-"

"Then just calm down! You're worrying so much over nothing! They are probably just needing some alone time. They could even be experiencing burnout,.... and not want to burden you with such a negative feeling. You can respect that right?"

"Yeah..."

"And you know that they care about you."

"....."

"Shuichi."

"I know they do..."

"Then stop thinking about the "what if's" and go back to your homework. And stop spending so much money on stuff they're only going to look at once. The giant teddy bear was so cliché."

"What else am I supposed to do? They didn't say anything when I left them flowers..."

"Dude just chill out already! I'm sure they have a good reason for all of this. Just don't think about it, and don't take it personally. I've already gone through this kind of thing with you, as I already told you before."

"Yeah...I'm sorry bout that."

"Look, I need to go... Just remember what I said."

"Alright..."

=

Kokichi drops the call with Kagehara and quickly dials your number. He's honestly annoyed that he has to keep lying to one of his best friends because of you. He doesn't even let you say "hello" before he's talking over you.

"Y/N, I swear to god if he calls me again breaking down I'm just going to tell him. This is getting to be too much."

"Kichi, this will be worth it, I promise."

"It better be! You so owe me for this!"

"Ok, ok, how much?"

".....Get me a cake and we're even."

"Let me guess, ice cream cake?"

"YeS."

"Fine..."

=

"Can't believe you're going to so much trouble for him..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, you're trying to get his idol to come see him on his birthday, which is like....in two days."

"Correction, I have got Ms. Kirigiri to agree to come to see him on his birthday. He's very much worth the effort I'm putting into this, I can assure of that."

"What's left to do?"

"Pickup the cake, wrap some of his gifts, and of course somehow get him to come out of the house so you, Angie, and Gonta have time to set up everything."

"Yeah make us do all of the work..."

"You asked to help!"

"I'm joking! Chill, it's fine. We can set it all up for you."

"And don't touch the cake."

"Oh come on, not even a little bite?"

"Kokichi."

"Fine, fine, I won't touch his stupid cake. How are you going to get him out of the house? You've been avoiding him so much I bet he's pretty hesitant to leave and risk being "publicly humiliated"."

"I'm simply just going to drag him out if he doesn't come willingly. You'll let Kyoko in for me right?"

"Sure, and don't worry about any of us freaking out or whatever. Kyoko's cool and all but we prefer different actors over her."

"A little rude, but good."

"What you want us to start drooling over her like your boyfriend would surely do?"

"Kokichi. Don't get on my nerves. Just stick with the plan."

"Whatever you say Y/N."

=

September 7th, his big day! He was actually a little bit relieved to hear from you after being shut out for so long. You made sure to look your best for him today, in hopes to make up for it. It was surprisingly easy to get him out of the house today. All it took was a simple phone call.

=

"Hello?"

"Happy birthday!"

"Angel, I'm glad to hear from you-"

"We don't have much time to talk."

"What?-"

"You need to get dressed silly! I'm on my to come pick you up."

"Why, we can just celebrate at home-"

"Cause! You need some fresh air anyways! I want to make up for my absence, so I decided I'll be taking you out to eat today. That's ok with you right?"

"Of course-"

"Good! I'll be there in about....half an hour. That's enough time for you to get ready right?"

"I s-suppose so..."

"Great, I'll see you soon!"

=

He practically speed-run through getting ready, as he was just eager to spend some time with you again. With the wisdom granted to him with a recent fashion magazine you left over at his house he tried to fix himself up for you. He may have went a little overboard. Slicking back his hair, turtleneck and jacket combination, plus the dress pants and converse shoes he bought on your last trip to the mall together.

To say you were surprised when he opened the door for you was and understatement. He literally changed his entire image for you.

=

"Hey-......Wow, you sure clean up well."

"I t-thought I'd try something d-different this time..."

"Well, you look great. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, just give me a second to grab my wallet-"

"No need, I'm paying this time!"

"Angel-"

"It's your birthday. I'm supposed to be spoiling you. Let's go eat, don't worry about money right now."

"I guess... that I can let you do this for me just this once. I'm paying next time though!"

"Doubt it!"

"Y/N! Hey! Wait for me!"

=

One text from Y/N and it was go time for the others. Using the spare key you gave him, Kokchi was able to get Angie and Gonta in to set up all the party decorations. It only took an hour and Angie's homemade decorations were so cute that she ended up admiring them after they were all put up. The streamers consisted of magnifying glasses and little chibi drawings of Kyoko. The cake was ready, decorations were up, Y/N's presents were on the table for him. All that was left to do is wait.

"Do you think he'll like them?"

"He's sure to love anything we give him, let's be honest here."

"You both brought gifts right?"

"Yeah, I hid mine in his room. Give him a chance to use his "detective skills", you know?"

"Ah... That's such a great idea! Auta would surely approve!"

"You send the invites out?"

"Ryoma and Kirumi said they were on their way."

"Kiyo said he'd be a little late, but I've managed to talk Kaede into coming over."

"Tsumugi said she'd be over soon too."

"Good...Well, it looks like we're done for the moment."

"Gonta, did you order the food?"

"Should be here shortly."

"Who's paying for all of this?"

"Y/N is."

=

One after another people started arriving to join the three, setting down their presents and waiting. More decorations were brought with some of the guests, which were put up with care.

All of them freeze when they hear a knock at the door, the main surprise just arrived. After letting her in, Kokichi sent you a message to let you know everything was ready.

=

Everything was seemingly going to plan and Shuichi actually seemed pretty lively today. Of course, you made sure not to say a thing about a party, so he becomes more and more clingy as you're making the way back to his apartment. The thoughts of being left alone again after not spending anytime with you in weeks was making him upset and he could only keep it to himself for so long. He stops you when you reach for the door to let him on his surprise party.

=

"Would you mind staying with me tonight?"

You can hear his voice crack and with a single look at him, you can tell he's barely keeping himself composed. He he starts to shake and grasp at his hair when you don't reply fast enough for him.

"Please. I get it if you don't want to be with me anymore, but please just stay with me for tonight...."

His voice came out a lot quieter with that plea then he was intended. You gently cupped his face.

"It's ok...I'm not going anywhere."

"Y/N..."

"Shuichi... I was never going to dump you."

"Then why would you spend so much time avoiding me....?"

"Open the door and you'll find out."

=

"What?"

"Go ahead."

"You didn't."

"I did."

"Y/N..."

"Come on...everyone's waiting birthday boy."

=

With a bit of hesitation, Shuichi opened the door and stepped into his dark apartment. The lights quickly flicked on and everyone jumped from their hiding spots.

"Happy Birthday Shuichi!"

They were so loud that he almost jumped back. He didn't even get to see Kyoko yet and he was already crying a little. This has never happened before, not for him. It was easy for him to feel a little overwhelmed when he had so many people there.

"You surprised?"

"Kokichi you jerk...."

"Hey you don't have to cry about it! I didn't tell you because it wouldn't be special then."

"Y/N put so much work into making this perfect."

"Y/N...?"

"There's one more surprise left for you. Kokichi if you please."

"Be happy to."

=

Kokichi steps into another room for a second before bringing her out with him. If Shuichi was crying before, well he's definitely going to be thanking God for giving him you now.

"Happy birthday Shuichi."

"Ms. Kirigiri...? Y/N...."

"I got her to visit you personally for your day."

"I have never loved you as much as I do right now."

"Oh, stop, you deserved this. Let's enjoy this ok?"

=

The smile he gave you was worth all of the effort. The party was worth the effort. Getting to see him so happy with his friends, and getting to talk to his idol (though being a stuttering mess) was all worth it. The party went smoothly, he got his presents, his cake, and a little bit of time to spend with everyone, together.

People started to leave as it got later, he made sure to thank them all on their ways out. Then it was just Angie and Kokichi left, who stayed to help you two clean up.

"I hope you had the time of your life tonight."

"I did. Definitely the best day of my life, well next to Y/N saying yes to dating me."

"Aweeee."

"How gross..."

"Kichi!"

"I'm kidding! You guys are always so serious..."

=

Finally it was time for those two to leave as well. Shuichi didn't even seem sad about it though. The boy had just had the biggest serotonin trip he'd ever had in his life, so he was almost high. The only complaint he had was about how smiling so much was starting to hurt, and yet he couldn't stop.

=

"I'm really happy you all helped me with this. I would've never been able to pull it off on my own."

"Happy to help."

"It's nice to see Shuichi so happy."

"Thank you all so much."

"What are friends for? You two have a good rest of your night. I'll walk Angie home. We'll see you on Monday 'k?"

"Let's do this again next year!"

"Only if you're the party planner."

"Wait, you actually let me?!"

"Sure! Why not?"

"Praise due to Auta!"

"Alright, alright, let's get you home."

=

And then there was two.

=

"Thank you. For everything today."

"You ain't done thanking me yet."

"Huh?"

"I got one more surprise in your bedroom."

"Oh..."

"Not like that. I just hid something you've been wanting for a while."

"Couple's cosplay?"

"Mhm!"

"Can we try them on now???"

"I don't see why not."

=

He found it before you even made it to his room. Of course he did run like a bat out of hell, so it's not like you really had to keep up with him in the first place.

"KIRIGIRI AND NAEGI! YES!"

=

"Thought you'd like them."

"I love you so much."

He was nuzzling against your cheek at this point. You're going to be stuck cuddling him for the rest of the night and into the next morning whether you were anticipating it or not.

"I know, I love you too. Happy birthday Shuichi."

[ivoryratdoggerythethird]

these are so outdated and i spent far more time on these than i should have because i am incapable of making decisions but here are some danganronpa opinion charts i never should have been allowed to come across

- Best Girl: i literally could not pick so i just slapped on the most iconic one besides ramen waifu, gamer waifu and piano waifu. yes syo/jack is up there on that level i love her

- Best Boy: i’m in love with him he’s terrible enough said (he was tied with gonta though)

- Best VA: hey hey (specifically talking about the english va here btw i loved it whenever she spoke)

- taka i like taka he’s great i just couldn’t think of anyone really fitting this so like picked someone who i’m not in love with like much of the fandom

- i couldn’t pick a sexiest female design either so since i’m in love with her as well

- haiji,,,,i had such high hopes for you but not even pretty privileges can save you know smh

- yes junko is both

- i was gonna put chihiro in the last one maybe? but i haven’t really interacted with the fanbase just heard about it so. idk.

- Saihara Harem Supremacy

- hiyoko was annoying but she was on the way to improvement (which danganronpa can clearly do just look at fuyuhiko) but then they punted her into the shadow realm so just fuck the potential i guess.

- i put kotoko in saddest backstory first (for obvious reasons) but then i read about mikan’s childhood on wiki and went uh yeah 

(i am mainly referring to her childhood here btw not the tragedy, although its part of it, what with junko’s abuse and the brainwashing thing but the whole “should she be blamed for the horrible things she did?” is a discussion for another time, preferably for when i’m not rambling about an outdated trend i put way too much effort into)

- listen i saw what happened to hajime and the whole world but did i learn? obviously not i just want to pass my damn classes and if i get long pretty hair out of it i’m still winning

- 3 for 3 with hiro and kirumi because i do not like hiro and i am in love with kirumi

- akane is self-explanatory i think

- couldn’t solidly pick a best waifu but i hadn’t shown celeste, aka the legend the queen the icon, any love in these charts so here we are

- i could NOT decide on a best sprite just know that terrified shuichi, ramen kyoko, iconic screaming souda and almost every ibuki sprite is there in spirit

- couldn’t decide (wow surprise!) best husbando either but i love emo boy so. second closest pick was rantaro

- MASTERMIND!SAIHARA SUPREMACY 

- i would adore talking to sonia istg it would be so fun

[plush-rabbit]

Loneliness With Jin Headcanons

Request: Could I request comfort with Jin who has an s/o that also struggles with loneliness? Maybe they feel like they don’t quite fit in with the league even though they’ve been there for some time or struggle to connect with the other members. If their anxiety gets real bad they think the other members only tolerate them cuz they’re with Jin :(

A/N: I really do love Jin but then I think about the manga and im like crying

-

Jin is devoted to you in every way possible- your happiness comes before his, it comes before everything that he is and if that’s unhealthy, he doesn’t care. He devotes himself to you because you’re the one who gave him a chance- you loved him and held him and treated him with gentleness that made him swoon. You are his support, and he is yours. He cares for you deeply, always making sure that you’re okay and that you have everything that you need if he’s going to be away for long.

If there’s anything that he knows best, it’s loneliness. He’s dealt with it and he knows the crushing weight that it holds, the things that it could make you do and the feelings that wrap tightly around you and never let go. He doesn’t know exactly what to say- the tender moments are in between periods of time and it isn’t because he doesn’t care- he cares deeply- but rather because he doesn’t know what to say. He isn’t the best to comfort you on something that has so negatively impacted him, but he does show his feelings. He’ll keep his hand on you, make sure that you stay near him and that he always asks for your opinion or turns to you to make a comment or to confirm a story of his.

Your relationship with the masked villain is simple- you both are partners and you both care deeply for each other, there’s no underlying meaning to it nor is there any ulterior motives. However, your relationship with the League of Villains is rather difficult. You’ve tried to interact with them, to talk to them when your partner isn’t around, but it always feels so forced. You aren’t up to their level and you fear that you never will be. You fear that the only reason that they even tolerate you is because you’re with a friend of theirs. It’s difficult to gauge their reactions and while some are pleasant to you, you know that they aren’t your friends- they’re his.

Himiko is fine- she’s bubbly and eager for friends, and sometimes her energy can be a bit too much, but you know she means well. She might be a bit terrifying given how much she values her teammate as not only her friend but also part of her new family so you don’t place any sort of ill-intent towards her when she watches you intently or tries to pry information out of you. Atsuhiro is polite enough, making small talk and offering pieces of advice but there’s no friendship there, no real conversations other than the weather and the news. Shuichi is nice enough, talking to you and sitting beside you but there isn’t friendship there. He’ll comment on your shirt or even a phone game that you play, but nothing more and nothing less. Dabi and Tomura are different- they’re harsher and merely wave in your direction, their expressions stoic and while they will sit beside you or offer you a seat, they make no effort in talking to you and to be fair, neither do you.

With the lack of relationships that you have with them, you start to fear that they really do only tolerate you and that they don’t truly consider you an ally or anything or the sort- possibly an annoyance if you let your thoughts linger for far too long. You go to your partner, pulling him into the shared room, and holding his hand in yours. He‘s been around you long enough to pick up that something is wrong, your nature growing more meek and your body closing in on itself to make you appear smaller. In a rushed sentence, you confide to him your fears, turning your head away as your stomach begins to shift, acid thick on your tongue and ears hot. He holds you close, his lips pressed against your cheek and he stays with you for a while trying to console you and convince you that they don’t only tolerate you, that they do like you- probably not as much as he does, but they do.

Afterwards, he tries to include you more. He wants you around more and more, and rather than simply ask for your opinion or feedback, he’ll offer for you to tell the story. If he senses that your words are starting to mismatch, your tongue becoming tied, he’ll take over. His hand will intertwine with yours, his laugh loud and hand tight as he continues the story, making sure that you finish it or say the funny part of it. He’ll bring you along more, pushing for further conversation rather than the simple small talk and it’s then that you’re grateful that he’s so energetic and friendly.

He’ll help you find common ground with each of the members even if it’s something small. They all have their hobbies and pleasures and he exploits that by having you wear something of it or express interest. He does his best to keep the conversation moving, his leg bent and arm around you, as he leans back, pushing you to talk more and more, until you’ve begun to talk without his aid. It’s easier to find common ground in things with them, their interests apparent and curiosity already peaked on both ends- all he had to do was ignite the flame of interest.

While you may have become a bit more energetic with your voice, you do have your moments of where you recede back to your anxiety. He’ll cut the conversation, telling a white lie that he has to go or that he’s tired and he’ll pull you away. If you decide to want to go back, he’ll be beside you, offer you a glass of water or something to drink and he’ll finish a part for you. At the end of the conversations, when he has you to himself, he’ll compliment you and tell you how well you did, and how he’s proud of you for becoming closer to them.

Apparent to everyone, he acts as a sort of guard dog around you. He protects you and takes you away when things have begun to suffocate you a bit too much. He might even let it slip that he wants you and the League to develop a closer bond with each other and will resort to half-hearted begging of it. It’s not only important to you that you grow closer to them, but also to him. The line of work that he has is dangerous and he isn’t planning on dying anytime soon, but he wants to know that if he does have to leave for long moments of time, that you’ll be protected and that you won’t be forgotten or lose people close to you.

There are plenty of things that Jin understands. He understands loneliness and the heavy weight that it bears. He knows what it’s like to want companionship but being unable to receive it or even ask for it. He was lonely once and now he isn’t. He has you to thank for that and the League. You’ve given him a semblance of regular life- a partner who cherishes him and who sleeps beside him, who touches him and kisses at his lips. He’ll do whatever he can to make sure that you feel loved- whether it be with him or anyone else that you want. He’ll hold you close and help you feel less lonely in all the ways that he can. He knows what loneliness is like and he won’t let you go through that, not when he’s around.

[caramelgeddon]

Danganronpa teruteru opinions on v3 students

Hey mod himiko here! This was an originally a scrapped write but I decided to revisit it. Enjoy!

Shuichi

They don’t know much about each other

They only ever interact when Teruteru needs someone to figure out who stole the pie from his window cell

Kaede

While he briefly considers asking her to play piano in his Resturant…

He has had an experience asking a ultimate to preform in his Resturant

There’s still bird feathers in his Resturant to this day

Ryoma

After hearing about what happened to him he makes a effort to try and befriend him…

He offers free food for him at his Resturant putting his heart and soul into his food…

He wants the poor man to have a friend… he needs one… despite some peoples opinions teruteru is a compassionate person.

Maki roll

Yeah he’s terrified of her

Never flirts with her and tries not to interact with her if he can

Smart move

Kaito

Helps him become better at talking to females.

Gonta and Kaito work together to help him

Overall he becomes a better person because of the two of them

Kirumi

Competition never hurt anyone and kirumi is his biggest competition. Her food is just as well renowned as his.

However despite this Kirumi doesn’t view Teruteru as a competitor back. Just another person who’s good at what they do.

They both have mutual respect however and are generally good frenemies.

Kokichi

Permeant ban after he toilet papered his restaurant

Big enemies

Miu

Some people assumes there best friends, they are wrong.

There personalities as similar as they are, clash against each other

So are they enemies?

Not really Miu makes him… “inventions of a certain nature” and teruteru makes her “food of a certain nature”

They are ok with each other in small doses

Gonta

One of Teruteru’s best friends and customer

He always comes by and loves the food…enough to where Teruteru teaches him how to cook

However whenever he’s being perverted… Gonta calls him out on not being a gentlemen.

Teruteru becomes a better person because of Gonta. And Gonta learns how to cook because of Teruteru

Himiko

After watching her act an idea springs to mind… what if he could ask her to preform at his Resturant… it would mean more business for the both of them

After suggesting the idea Himiko’s agrees, soon a mini stage is set up along with adds proclaiming “come see the gifted mate himiko preform! Come see magic while eating our magical food!”

The act goes well at first until the finale where doves were let loose

After they steal everyone’s food both teruteru and himiko agree to pretend this never happened

Korekiyo

He watches with great interest while the semi regular customer eats in his diner…

How is he eating with a mask on? Why is the food disappearing when it’s near his mouth…? How does this work?

He asks shuichi to investigate this but even he has no explanation to this mystery…

I guess some mystery’s will always remain unsolved

Tenko

He tries flirting with her once

“Hey nice fighting moves, how about I show you some of my moves? ;)”

He never made that mistake again

Kiibo

Whenever his friends are at the restaurant Kiibo is there.

Teruteru is a bit weirded out that a robot who can’t eat goes to a restaurant. But he loves having him over

Kiibo and Teruteru are both good friends and his mother loves Kiibo considering him an ideal patron

Tsumigi

While there more strangers then friends… they hang out every now and then

However during a mha cosplay she gets tons of classmates to join in and cosplay too.

Including Teruteru who goes as Mineta, he plays the character perfectly

Rantaro

A regular, or somewhat of a regular… he’s often off on trips

However whenever he returns he always come to teruteru’s resturant

While he enjoys the food he always come to see if a certain someone appears in the Resturant

Perhaps one day…

For now he’ll have a glazed honey steak with a orange soda

Angie

The way she talks about atua, honestly he doesn’t know how to feel about her

He mostly just keeps her distance and keeps away from her

[boy-above]

why do u dislike him ? you don't have 2 talk abt it if ur uncomfortable of course

well for starters he did call korekiyo a slur in the original japanese, which was removed in the localization lol. basically called him a slur that's like gay/transphobic word all in one. so that would give me reason enough, but theres a lot of things about him in general i've disliked before knowing that.

kaito has a bunch of toxic masculinity going on, it's evident even from the beginning. when everyone is devastated after kaede's execution, he starts getting upset and even angry at them for "whining and complaining" and even hits shuichi for mourning her, saying that shuichi was "pissing him off" for not "being a man" about it. this is the moment i immediately decided kaito was not worth it. you can see his sexism as well when he says women shouldn't have weapons. there's actually more instances of sexist beliefs in the original japanese but these were mostly taken out when it was localized for english.

kaito thinks he's the hero of the story, pretty evident considering he calls shuichi his "sidekick" and in general views shuichi as someone he needs to ~take under his wing~. he viewed shuichi as weak and someone in need of fixing. in general kaito has a very inflated sense of self importance. he's stubborn and thinks his way is the right way.

he displays pretty bad toxic positivity. that's why he and kokichi butted heads as two extremes at the opposite ends of a scale. while kokichi wouldn't trust anyone, kaito was Too trusting. his "always believe in your friends!!" spiel would have gotten them caught So long ago. nobody would have survived had everything been done his way and his only. he got mad at shuichi for finding out the truth that gonta was a killer, despite the fact that everyone else would have been killed if he hadn't. that logic also rubbed off on maki, who got angry at shuichi for considering one of them could be the murderer in the final trial, because "friends don't accuse each other". i've already talked about how horrible of a thing that was to say to shuichi, whose had to condemn all of his friends to execution including kaede and felt shame and guilt for it. i'm pretty sure in the japanese version kaito was also asked something along the lines of "would you really risk everyone's lives and not vote maki even if you knew she were the killer?" and he said yes, he would. which makes him a giant hypocrite because he said something along the lines of "we all want to live! so don't get in our way" to ryoma once he found out he was suicidal.

another thing that always made me annoyed is that he decided that maki was trustworthy, despite her doing absolutely nothing to earn it. even after learning she was an assassin hiding an entire room full of weapons, he still decided he believed in her or whatever, but he made no effort to try to understand kokichi like he did with her. at that point maki told Huge lies, she kept her talent and weapons a secret from everyone, she was a Huge Risk. but kokichi is the one who is demonized for outing her, even though she could have been a huge danger to everyone and it was really important for the group to know! but of course he's the asshole for telling everyone her secwet ): maki is allowed to keep secrets and be mean, and gets patience and understanding from kaito, meanwhile kokichi got none of that. and i'm sorry but i think it's bc he wanted in maki's pants lmao. i'm sure people would argue with me about that and that's understandable, it's just what my immediate interpretation was the first time i experienced the game. if not that though, i would say i'm pretty sure it's his sexism that determined his trust in maki. he most likely viewed maki as a non threat because she's a woman. he has several lines that imply his belief that women are weaker than men, so i think that is why he viewed kokichi as a threat and not maki. if kokichi were a woman i think kaito would have been less likely to see him as a serious threat.

i'd like to talk about the localization and how it frames kaito and kokichi. it has a clear agenda on who it wants to make look better or worse than they are in the original. kaito curses like a sailor in the original, and they took that out for? what reason exactly? they took out kaito calling korekiyo the slur, (and of course taking out the slur was a Good thing) but i'm saying they could have replaced it with something that still could negatively impact how you view kaito as a character, rather than just pretending he didn't say something insensitive about korekiyo at all. if kokichi gets to call miu a slut and miu gets to tell him to go play with himself then there should have been NO issue with having kaito say crude or derogatory things. another sexist thing he does that they took out is when ryoma admits he is suicidal, kaito uses a word for him that describes him as girly or effeminate. this is changed to coward in the translation. calling a suicidal person a coward to begin with is horrible, but then in the original it's like he's calling him a sissy or pussy or something for being mentally ill as if that's only a "girl thing" as well.

my biggest example of the localization making kokichi worse is when he says that line about "when i like someone i'd do anything to get them to notice me, even strangle them"? in the original he said "when i love someone, even if they strangled me, i still wouldn't turn away." like that is the exact OPPOSITE of what he said but they decided that was fine. they make changes like that that demonize kokichi further while making kaito seem better than he actually is. it sounds like a conspiracy theory or somethin but look it up, they cleaned kaito up in the translation, they took out a lot of his negative qualities that would make him a more nuanced character and instead tried to make him the hero he always thought he was :I

my dislike for kaito also results in a dislike for maki because, i'm sure some people don't agree with me, but i think maki is a complete orbiter character for kaito. which is why i think it's so wild that i've seen people call others misogynistic for not liking her (throwing around impactful words like that when someone doesn't like your favorite character is a common thing i see in fandom spaces lol) because i think maki exists to have feelings for kaito. she attached herself to him and she doesn't have much to do with any of the rest or the cast. what little growth or development she did had was directly because of or in relation to kaito. she even started parroting his beliefs after he was gone like i mentioned earlier. that's why i just can't get behind those two. i know some people love them and that's okay. i know there's tons of ways you can interpret them and that's okay! i have just never been able to like them. there's objectively worse characters in this series so i'm not acting like they're Worse than them, my dislike for them is just something i'm more passionate about i guess??? or like, yknow something i feel more strongly. you should never be passionate about hating something haha

[some-dr-writings]

Shuichi, Kokichi, Kaito and Kiibo’s crush tries to wake them up, but accidentally naps with them instead

Shuichi Saihara:

·       You groaned, lifting your head off the table. Looking at your phone you found it was about three thirty. You lightly pat your cheeks and face, trying to wake yourself up. You barely had enough time to finish this project as it was, you could not afford to lose a moment to sleep. You looked down to your notebook, the scribble you had scratched down giving you a throbbing headache. “Sorry Saihara. W-what did I miss?”

·       … You got no response.

·       “Saihara?” You tried rubbing the sleepiness from your eyes, looking up to finding your partner was asleep on the floor beside the table.

·       You sighed, slipping out of your seat. “C’mon sleepy head.” You kneeled down beside him, placing your hand on his arm, gently rocking him. “We need to get back to work.” A gigantic yawn escaped you. You couldn’t even stay on your feet, opting to lay next to Shuichi, still rocking his shoulder.

·       …

·       … As Shuichi woke up, he was confused as to what was on his face.

·       A paper?

·       It was a note stating that if you were asleep, to please wake you up so you both could get back to work.

·       Asleep?... Work?...

·       He abruptly sat up realizing he had fallen asleep as you were working. “Y/N I’m so-… Y/N?” He looked to where you were sitting, finding you were not there. He almost panicked before his gaze landed beside himself, where you were sound asleep. He stared at you for a moment, the cogs in his mind slowly turning before a furious blush exploded on his face. It was silly, but the mere thought of sleeping beside you sent his heart racing.

·       He took a moment to compose himself before waking you up. As you couldn’t help but notice how Shuichi would occasionally blush and how in those moments he’d look in any direction away from you. Though confused, you decided to leave that be, getting the project done was more important.

    Kokichi Oma:

·       “Oma!... Hey, Oma! Where are you!?” You sighed in frustration. Were you really just forced into a game of hide and seek? “Oma! Just come out here! Please… I’m REALLY not in the mood for any of your shenanigans right now.” It was evening and the campus was giant. You just wanted to eat dinner and go to sleep, but knowing Kokichi, if you ate without him he’d ‘punish’ you for ditching eating with your lovable dictator, with a day filled with nothing but pranks. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world but eating dinner with Kokichi to avoid that wasn’t so bad. He was a good friend; albeit clingy at times.

·       You searched around for any sign, uproarious laughter, perhaps a scream or the boy’s signature troublesome Nishishis. Maybe even Kirumi or some staff at the school cleaning up some giant mess. Yet you found nothing, no matter where you looked. Every classroom, every hall, every closet, every lab, every field, you found no sign of the supreme leader anywhere.

·       Tired and hungry after having ran around for so long you leaned against a wall, sliding down against it till you were sitting. A cool breeze rolled past, catching your eye as it shifted the grass, lines of tiny bright reflections of that deep orange setting sun racing across the ground. Well… even if you would up getting endlessly pranked for skipping out on dinner, this view of the empty field was well worth it. Simply gorgeous with those rays harshly cast against the mountains, trees, and buildings off in the distance. You watched for a while, letting yourself get lost in it.

·       But then. As the wind picked up, you heard something. In looking for it, you found that unmistakable checkered infinity scarf Kokichi always insisted on wearing with his school uniform in a tree. You quickly climbed up finding Kokichi asleep amongst the branches, slightly shivering with chattering teeth, the strange sound you heard. “Hey, Oma. It’s dinn- AAH!” Somehow you were pulled onto the branches with such a strong, viper like grip the air was knocked out of you momentarily. Next thing you knew Kokichi was curled up atop you, hugging you tightly as he nuzzled into you. “Well… I guess this is my life now.”

·       …

·       With a loud yawn and a stretch, Kokichi sat up. It was rather dark out, nightfall. Perfect, he successfully avoided curfew so he could set up his prank in the gym. Though his hiding place in the tree was notably much more comfortable and soft than he had recalled. Then he suddenly realized why that was. He was very confused as to how you had gotten yourself into the position of being his pillow, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, sure you’d tell him later. Instead he laid back down, quietly snickering, giddy out of his mind.

·       He decided to stay asleep and set up that prank some other night as he snuggled into you, his smile absolutely beaming.

    Kaito Momota:

·       You loved your body. You always worked out, exercise, ate healthy, and rested well. You never found any of this to be a chore, it was always fun for you. Pushing past your limits to see if you could get any better. It was like you were always challenging yourself, always in a competition and you were determined to always come out on top, to be the best! It was for those exact reasons Kaito admired you.

·       The moment after meeting you he practically insisted you be friends and train together. As much as you liked the guy, he infuriated you to no end. HE ALWAYS SKIPPED OUT ON TRAINING! He could be so much better, but he never tried! The few times he did, he actually gave you a run for your money, but it was only on the most rare of occasions he’d put in enough effort to do so. Why was he like this you wondered. It was just so dumb. You could not see why anyone would not want to keep pushing themselves if they were that good!

·       The testing period was coming around, and you! Were! Ecstatic! You could always motivate yourself but getting the opportunity to show off how much you improved!! This was the best! And since Kaito was being tested too, you got to train with him when he was going all out and it was amazing! You’d both challenge one another helping one another push the other to keep going even when you wanted to stop and rest.

·       One night you decided to do push-ups and see who could do more. You were so focused on yourself you weren’t keeping track of how Kaito was doing. Though you did know that neither of you was going to last for too long, given you had been challenging one another like this all day so you were rather exhausted.

·       After some time you lost count, and quickly after you collapsed, unable to push up any more. Out of breath you rolled onto your back, finding Kaito was out of breath, laying against the ground. “Heh, l-lost count. How, how many you got?” “Uh… don’know.” “Rematch tomorrow?” “Yeah! And let’s get Makiroll and Shuichi to join.” “Hah, I, I think they’d just end up keeping count for us!” Kaito rolled onto his back, landing right next to you.

·       Watching the stars, you lightly chatted, feeling that sleepiness slowly but surely taking hold of our mind. You tried telling Kaito that you should hit the showers and get to bed, since staying out in the cold, covered in sweat would likely get you guys sick. But neither of you were up for moving and you’d also get so absorbed in listening to Kaito speak of his dreams and space and you’d end up forgetting all about that.

·       …

·       Kaito slowly awoke, greeted to the brilliant sight of the rising sun. For a moment he was thinking of challenging you to running some laps when he realized that he was seeing the sun rise, he was not in his dorm. He also realized he held someone in his arms. You, the very person he was just thinking about… As he thought more about it something dawned on him. He thought of you a lot, much more than others, and you always inspired him, getting him to want to seek you out and spend time with you.

·       Did he have a crush on you? He decided he’d tell you after you had woken up, after all, you needed rest for all the training you’d be doing together… and maybe as partners if you liked him too… Having a partner like you… he rather liked that thought.

    Kiibo:

·       “Kinda feels weird drinking this in the day. I usually just have this when I’m trying to get to sleep.” “I don’t believe hot milk and honey have any sleep inducing properties. How does it help?” You though for a moment, humming as you took a sip of that soothing sweet drink. “It’s calming…” You gently rocked the mug, seeing that white liquid swirl around, almost reaching the rim and spilling out. “Say, Kiibo, since you don’t need sleep, do you ever dream, like have night terrors or something?”

·       The pair of you sat in your kitchen, you huddling near the oven, a mug of hot milk and honey in hand, desperately seeking warmth since the heater in your apartment broke. You glanced to the window, seeing that gray landscape dusted with white, like dusted powdered sugar over abeleskivers.

·       “No, I don’t believe so. When I recharge, I do reexperience all my memories from last I recharged, but that’s for sorting out where those memories are to go in my memory bank.” “Hmm… So nothing new. No memories mixing and melding together. No warped past. Nothing to send you back years ago to worse times. No fears or terrors resurfacing. No…” “Y/N?” “Ah! Sorry, guess I just got lost in thought for a moment there.” You nervously chuckled, taking another sip of your drink, hoping it’d calm your nerves.

·       “A-anyway, we still up for meeting next week?” “Yes! I’m always free for our weekly hangouts.” “I know, just making sure. I don’t want to have to go through all the trouble of setting up all your recharging equipment only for you to not show up.” “I- That was only once! And that only happened because Oma found my address and thought it was a brilliant idea to lay pranks all through the house and lab!” You chuckled, seeing Kiibo so easily get flustered. “I’m only teasing. Go and recharge now, I’m sure Idabashi is missing you and want’s you back home already.” Placing the mug on the counter you went over to the corner of the room where strange, misshapen looking equipment lay, you plugging it in set a few lights to gently blink on. “I’ll be doing chores if you need me, go and rest now.” Kiibo happily obliged, quickly getting out of your way, secluding himself in the corner.

·       …

·       Suddenly his emergency system went off, forcing him to turn on, and he awoke to the sound of a scream, then heavy breathing. “Y/N!” You were on the floor. He raced to you, but you flinched away, looking absolutely horrified. “K-Ki-Ki-Kiibo? Kiibo. I-” You placed a hand over you heart, taking deep breaths, trying to slow them as to not start hyperventilating. “What happened. How are you?” He moved slowly, kneeling beside you. “I…” You looked around, seemingly confused as to where you were for a moment. “Yeah, I’m fine.” You winced patting your head, feeling a bump at the top. It was then you noticed the broken vase by the high shelf you were dusting. “Ah… so I was knocked out. Explains why it was worse than usual.” You sighed, lightly shaking. “Y/N, what’s worse than usual?” Kiibo placed a hand on your shoulder, causing you to tense up for a moment before forcing yourself to relax. “… You know things weren’t so good a few years back. And… I have nightmares. Frequently. Remember how I was always napping in High School?” He nodded. “Well, my therapist and I were experimenting with medication, seeing which could repress the nightmares and get me enough sleep at night and NOT day, but… clearly it took us a while to figure it out.” You nervously laughed recalling the many times you had fallen asleep in class, or at the cafeteria, or during P.E. or when walking to class or in any number of other places, only for Kiibo to wake you. The first few times he’d reprimand you, but after getting closer you opened up about your past a little and how you were on medication because of it. “But you never told me you had night terrors.” “Well… I would have told you if it had come up, but it just never did.”

·       “Here, rest on the couch, I’ll call the hospital and clean the vase.” “Hey, I’m fine. I just need an-” “Oh no! You are going to see a doctor! That’s final! You got hit hard enough to be knocked unconscious for who knows how long! You are seeing a professional!” Knowing there was not going to be any way of convincing Kiibo otherwise you accepted your fate and waited to see if you got a concussion or not.

·       “Happy now?” “Yes! Now we know you are alright for certain.” You shivered, tugging on our scarf. You glanced up, recognizing the building you were approaching. “Sorry for my clumsiness making you late for getting home. Tell Idabashi that and he still doesn’t have to make a better heating system for the whole building.” “I’ll tell him, though I’m not sure he’ll listen. See you, Y/N.” “See you next week.” Kiibo simply watched you leave till you rounded the corner, out of sight… Strolling to the door he thought of those days in High School. You likely never told him before, not wanting him to worry or shed those days in a different light, but you told him now, so you trusted him. Back then you had slowly opened up to him, and… well… it hurt knowing you still had secrets from those times locked away, but it was completely understandable as to why. Kiibo just wished there was something he could do to help you.

·       You fell face flat on the couch, exhausted from another taxing day at work. You grumbled, hearing your phone, thinking it was your boss calling you AGAIN with the exact same information they had been nagging you about all day. You were relieved to see it was just Kiibo. “Hey, Kiibo. What’s up?” “What I mailed you, do you not notice it? It’s supposed to be as if it were your own skin.” You stripped off your stuffy suit seeing the sticker like ring that wrapped around your wrist and the square patch that you placed over your heart as instructed, the tiny lights on it in a heart shape lighting up in time with what you assumed to be your actual heart. “Yep.” “Good. Could I stay over for the night tomorrow?” “Hmm? Well… My schedule should be clear, but I thought you’d get enough of me in one day. Now you want to stay the night. You realize I’ll be asleep, so it’ll be boring, right?” “Yes! That’s the plan at least!” “… Huh?” “Thank you! I’ll see you tomorrow!” You were confused with the call being ended so abruptly. You were disappointed, not getting the chance to ask why Kiibo was using these to keep track of your vitals, but you didn’t have long to dwell on it, seeing moments later your boss was calling.

·       Thankfully the next day you were able to relax, gleefully chatting with Kiibo and exchanging brief words with Idabashi, Miu and Soda as they went about installing a new heater in your apartment before moving on to ‘improving’ the place as they saw fit effectively kicking you and Kiibo out for a few hours to wander around town. When returning you were expecting to not recognize the place, but it seemed Idabashi was actually able to restrain Miu and Soda from transforming our entire building. Idabashi was even kind enough to leave out some tea for you.

·       “Okay, can I finally ask why you’re keeping track of my vitals?” You pointed to your wrist then chest. “I’m seeing how you are normally and comparing it to when you have a nightmare. That way, I can see the signs and wake you up before you can even dream it! You still have nightmares, even if the medicine lessens the severity, I don’t want you to have them all together! So I’ll wake you up before you can have one!” “… Kiibo.” You smiled, but it wasn’t happy, Kiibo couldn’t quite tell what it was expressing. “Well I guess it couldn’t hurt to try, but won’t you get bored just waiting for me to get a nightmare?” “No need to worry! I have plenty to occupy myself with, though for this first night, and other first few if this works out and we keep doing this, I’ll solely be paying attention to you!” “Hmm… seems kinda weird, but… Sure.”

·       Kiibo sat beside you bed, lost in thought, hoping this would work. You deserved to have a restful night’s sleep. This had to work! And he was going to make it work! He never had a nightmare before, but… it sounds horrifying for one’s own mind to conger up terrifying specters of any kind, digging up the past even if it was long dead and buried, unable to escape. One top of that, in his research Kiibo had learned of sleep paralysis and the supposed ‘demon’ many spoke of seeing. He wondered if you had experienced that. He feared he’d wake you into that state, if he’d appear to you as the demon. The longer the night wore on the more Kiibo’s fears kept pilling and pilling, to the point he was questioning this plan.

·       That was till he was snapped to attention, noticing the signs of a nightmare starting. He gently rocked your shoulder, softly speaking to you. You flinched and softly gasped. “Ah… hey Kiibo.” “How are you doing?” “Uh… feeling kinda funky but… better than last I awoke in the night.” “Good. Huh, wait, why are you sitting up?” You mumbled ‘warm milk and honey’ as you shuffled out of the room. After heating the milk, you went straight back to bed. Nursing the mug, you and Kiibo chatted about nothing, mostly doing so to fill the stagnant air. Soon though, with a yawn, you placed the mug on the nightstand.

·       Your movements were slow, your hand lingering on the handle before retracting it. “Kiibo.” “Yes.” “It feels weird having you just sit around, and I’m still feeling kind of off, would you get into bed with me?” Kiibo froze, a studder escape him, completely caught off guard by the request. “YES! U-uh, well… I did some research and there are lots of health benefits of sleeping with someone you have a great attachment too, like someone you love, so, I- uh… y-yeah… if it’ll help.” His voice wavered and his entire face flushed a bright red. However, in your sleepy state you didn’t completely take in what he said, more so confused why he looked different, but he said ‘yes’ so it was fine… you thought. You scooched over and lifted up the quilt… Though it didn’t leave much room given it was a single person bed. Hesitantly Kiibo slid under the sheets, having to lightly press against you as to not fall off the bed. “A-are you comfortable?” “Uh huh.” You simply pulled the chain attached to the lamp on the head stand, shutting it off.

·       Internally Kiibo was screaming, panicking, having no idea what to make of this situation. Especially more so when you wrapped your arms around him, hugging him tightly. Did you like him back? Were you just acting like this because you were tired, or were you already asleep and didn’t even realize it? Wait he could just check, but then you’d be doing this subconsciously so then was it possibly you liked him and you didn’t even know it? Kiibo sent himself into a panic as these and other questions of similar nature raced through his mind.

·       …

·       Then he awoke. Sunlight shone through the curtains, softly illuminating the room. After a moment of his systems turning on, he realized he shut off due to overheating, likely due to you hugging him and OH FUDGE! He flipped over finding you drowsily opening your eyes. “hmm? Oh, hey Kiibo.” You yawned, sitting up and stretching. “… Don’t know how the night actually went, but I’m feeling great.” “You are!” “Yeah. Guess your plan worked. Thanks, Kiibo. Guess I can actually get sleep once a week now, so that’s good progress.” You chipperly smiled, crawling over him as to get dressed for the day. Leaving Kiibo stunned, a bright blush dusting his cheeks, a goofy smile plastered on his lips. So it worked! Or was it sleeping with him… Kiibo really needed to stop this line of thinking before he overheated again. Though if him sleeping with you helped…

·       You sat at the kitchen table, eating some breakfast as Kiibo sat beside you. “Hey, Kiibo. I’m guessing you could probably see this since you can compare it to other nights, but… well, even if I didn’t have a nightmare, it was nice to wake up and not be alone. This is a small apartment, but… it can still get creepy. Especially if you can’t move. So again, thank you.” “… Then, if I helped so much, maybe I could stay with you every night.” “If you did that, you might as well as move in.” Kiibo fell silent for a moment, thinking. “Dr. Idabashi likes you, and we have plenty of room back home. You could move in with us!” “… Wait, you’re serious?” “Yes, I’m being serious! Let’s do it!”

·       If he could help you, Kiibo would do just about anything. Though… if you were going to move in together, he should probably confess, as to not let you find out later and you possibly think he had you move in under false pretenses.

·       “Um, b-but, before you can, I have to tell you something!”

·       He just hoped this would go well.

[elyvorg]

Here’s an AU with some delicious potential: what if Kokichi had chosen Shuichi for his plan, rather than Kaito?

And, no, despite Kokichi’s decision being the one initial difference in this AU, this really doesn’t significantly change anything for Kokichi himself. He still explains his plan to someone and then ends up just as dead. This is not about him.

Rather, as my illustration suggests, this AU would really be about Kaito, and what’d happen if he were in Shuichi’s position for the events of trial 5. I don’t quite have the focus necessary to write this as a full-on fic, but instead, how about a nice lengthy outline of how this story might unfold?

Daily Life

  -      The initial point-of-no-return at which Kokichi finalised his decision to use Kaito in his plan in canon was after his mastermind reveal, as he captured Kaito with an Exisal. So in this version of events, he’d capture Shuichi instead.

-      Kaito would still get himself knocked out by one of Kokichi’s Exisals, mind you. This might happen exactly like it did in canon out of general anger at Kokichi, before Kokichi then brushes Kaito’s unconscious body aside and grabs Shuichi instead. Alternatively, Kokichi could grab Shuichi first, and so Kaito gets himself knocked out in a desperately reckless effort to save him.

-      As Shuichi is carried away, still conscious but completely powerless in the grip of totally-the-evil-mastermind’s Exisal, worrying about Kaito and despairing over the outside world he just saw, he kind of just shuts down in defeat. Like, literally, to the point that his protagonist status shuts off. (At least, if we want to imagine this AU happening just like the game.)

-      …And the protagonist status switches back on as Kaito as he regains consciousness. He’s immediately panicking over Shuichi being gone, blaming himself and feeling like he’s failed Shuichi yet again. (Given this, I think I prefer the option where Kaito gets knocked out after Shuichi gets grabbed, so that his very first thoughts as the protagonist the second he regains consciousness are worrying about Shuichi.)

-      also the world’s ended apparently and that’s probably something he should be freaking out about too, but the whole Shuichi situation is much more immediately urgent and easier to wrap his head around, so he’s focusing on that

-      Maki manages to convince him not to immediately go recklessly charging after Kokichi. Everyone’s exhausted and mentally drained, and Kaito’s injured on top of that (not to mention sick, she thinks, not that she voices that because she knows he’ll deny it). Right now they just need to try and get some sleep.

-      Which, of course, is something Kaito’s been sick enough to be barely capable of for like the past week. He spends the whole night worrying ferociously about Shuichi and trying to think up some kind of plan to rescue him… but he ultimately accepts that he has no idea what he’s doing and he’s best off getting the others’ input on this, especially Maki’s.

-      He also has plenty of time during the night to actually freak out about the end of the world, and in true Kaito fashion (and exactly like he did in canon), he copes with it by clinging to a completely baseless hope that maybe the world just hasn’t ended. What they saw out there could just be a huge elaborate lie, somehow? That’s the only way this situation wouldn’t be as unbearably awful as it seems – it’s the only way they’d have a reason to not give up – so Kaito’s sticking with that thought.

-      And if that is the case, then he has absolutely no clue how to prove that – but Shuichi would be able to, with his awesome detective skills. That’s all the more reason they need to rescue him as soon as possible, then!

  -      The next morning, Kaito and Maki are already up and about without needing anyone else to prompt them. Both of them, for rather different reasons, are able to not let the despair of the outside world stop them from focusing on the obvious most important task of rescuing Shuichi.

-      Since Kaito’s up, however, he also wants to get the others on board with this, too. He doesn’t like the idea of all of them moping around in despair, not when it’s possible (he has no idea how, but it is, he’s definitely not just baselessly clinging to this in order to cope!) that things aren’t as bad as they seem. And if he can get them focused on helping him rescue Shuichi, that’ll be a nice distraction for them.

-      So Kaito drags everyone to a breakfast briefing that same morning, meaning that the killing game hasn’t gotten boring at all. Which means that Tsumugi doesn’t need to make a Flashback Light to spice things up again. Who needs artificial motivation from that when Kaito’s giving them real motivation? So there’s no Hope’s Peak nonsense at all in this version of events.

-      Kaito’s pep talk manages to convince Himiko and Keebo (and Tsumugi’s act) that maybe things are better than they seem and that they’ll need Shuichi if they’re going to prove this. They all band together for a Shuichi Rescue Operation that looks a lot like the Kaito rescue operation from an alternate universe where Kaito was captured instead.

-      Unfortunately, Himiko, Keebo and Tsumugi didn’t have the presence of mind to charge their Electrohammers last night. Kaito and Maki did, but they’re still only half-charged by now anyway, so it looks like the Shuichi Rescue Operation will have to wait until the next morning for the best chance of success.

-      Maki is still feeling somewhat like murdering Kokichi is their best option because he’s supposedly the mastermind. However, she’s a lot less determined to do so when she hasn’t been brainwashed by any of the hope-must-defeat-despair bullshit from the Flashback Light. That plus Kaito being able to pick up on her intentions and talk her down from it means that, ultimately, she decides against it. Letting Kaito run around did exactly the opposite of making the killing game start up again – funny, that.

  -      While they’re waiting, for the sake of feeling like he’s doing something and not just wasting his very-limited time, and because he’s still just incredibly worried, Kaito goes to the hangar in the hopes of checking on and maybe being able to talk to Shuichi.

-      (He still kind of feels like a huge failure about letting Shuichi get captured in the first place and not even being able to rescue him without everyone else’s help. But then again, there’s still something Kaito can do for him, right? Anyone, even a hero as awesome as Shuichi, would be feeling lost and needing some encouragement after what they all saw outside, and Kaito can at least do that for him, if nothing else. Maybe heroes aren’t completely invincible after all.)

-      Shuichi has indeed just been listlessly in despair since he found himself in the hangar’s bathroom. But hearing Kaito’s voice calling out to him, seeing that familiar bright grin, having Kaito tell him with what sounds like complete conviction that the outside world might just not be destroyed, and you’re the one who can prove it, and that’s why we’re all coming to rescue you tomorrow morning… that really, really helps perk Shuichi up again. Kaito is the best luminary.

-      Several other parts of that conversation go roughly as they do when they’re on opposite sides of that window. Kaito’s health is fine of course why is Shuichi even asking; and meanwhile Shuichi bringing up Gonta just prompts Kaito to praise Shuichi and tell him even more how awesome he is and how everyone’s relying on him. They are friends.

  -      One way or another, Kokichi has got wind of the fact that everyone’s coming to rescue Shuichi the next morning, meaning that tonight is the last chance he realistically has for his plan to go down. So, even though Maki does not enter the hangar to try to murder Kokichi and nobody gets shot with any poisoned arrows, Kokichi tells Shuichi the plan and gets him to carry it out that night.

-      (Honestly, it’s not completely certain whether Shuichi would agree to the plan given that he has none of the desperate-to-be-a-hero motives that Kaito did. That’s got to be why Kokichi chose Kaito in canon despite the million other reasons why that version of the plan would obviously fail. But for the sake of making this AU an interesting story, let’s assume Shuichi goes through with it. It was definitely always possible that he would.)

-      So, the next morning, with Kaito rallying everyone into high spirits as they all charge into the hangar to rescue Shuichi…

-      …Kaito is abruptly confronted with a familiar pinstriped sleeve sticking out of the hydraulic press amidst an enormous pool of blood.

  Deadly Life

-      Everyone else, even Maki, immediately assumes that Kokichi murdered Shuichi. They were all relying on Shuichi to solve the mystery and properly end their reasons to despair; of course Kokichi, the evil sadistic mastermind who enjoys their suffering, would have killed him horribly like this before they could rescue him, all to make them suffer even more. It just makes sense. Plus, Kokichi’s the mastermind and the killing game’s still going, so how could he be the one who’s dead?

-      Kaito is having none of it. Shuichi’s gotta still be alive somehow. It’s Shuichi! He’s bound to have pulled off some super-clever trick to escape this and already secretly be in the process of figuring out the killing game and ending it all, right? That’s exactly what Shuichi’s always been good at! Don’t they all want to believe in Shuichi like this?

-      Someone points out that if Shuichi is alive, then wouldn’t that mean he’s probably the one who killed Kokichi? And nope, Kaito’s also not having any of that. Shuichi’s obviously not the type to kill anyone; can’t they all see that!? (But then again, Kaede and Kirumi and Gonta weren’t either, and yet, in an attempt to save everyone… And Shuichi’s always cared about saving everyone, hasn’t he?)

-      (But no, that still can’t be true, because if it were that’d mean Kaito would have to watch Shuichi being executed and still have failed to protect him, and NOPE nope nope. Shuichi is somehow alive and also not the blackened, that’s definitely possible, it has to be.)

-      Also let me please stop and remind everyone that Shuichi is not at all dead and is hiding inside the red Exisal in the hangar, hearing the pain Kaito is in over this and feeling thoroughly responsible. Still, it lifts his spirits at least a little to hear that Kaito really does want to believe in him this much!

-      Maki tries to tell Kaito that he’s behaving exactly how he was in Gonta’s trial and that simply believing in something won’t get him anywhere. Kaito probably responds to this by getting more riled up and angry, which only kind of proves her point. And he knows that’s what he’s doing, but he can’t stop himself.

-      (Shuichi can’t be dead. All of Kaito’s words and encouragement to him would mean nothing if Shuichi just died anyway because Kaito was still too useless to save him. He’d be nothing but a failure as a hero, just like Gonta’s trial had already proven he was, except worse. Kaito can’t have failed Shuichi this badly. He just can’t.)

-      Himiko, Keebo and Tsumugi start to comment because of all this that maybe Kaito really is just too naïve to accept the truth; maybe they should never have listened to him trying to insist that the outside world isn’t dead when they saw it with their own eyes. Maybe there really is nothing at all to hope for in this situation at all.

-      This does not help Kaito’s mood.

-      Kaito ends up snapping that, fine, if they’re all just gonna give up on Shuichi like that, then he’s gonna do this investigation himself and prove that he’s right about this, dammit!

-      Kaito begins a very pointedly determined investigation – look, guys, he’s not giving up on Shuichi – but… who the hell is he trying to kid? He’s always been terrible at these things. Shuichi was the one who could do all of this, could look at all these random clues and somehow just know what everything meant and piece it all together like magic. Not Kaito.

-      (which also gets him caught up in thinking about what if Shuichi really is gone – not only does that mean Kaito’s a horrible failure, but it also means everyone else is screwed and never going to get out of here because they need Shuichi for things like this)

-      (but no he’s not thinking about that; he’s not worrying about anything, because Shuichi’s definitely alive and spotless and he’s going to prove it)

  -      After Kaito’s spent several minutes wandering around the hangar staring fervently at things and not really taking any of it in (because his mind’s too caught up in warring with himself over how dead Shuichi definitely isn’t to focus properly), Maki approaches him.

-      (Maki is able to be a lot more level-headed and rational here than she is at this point in canon, because she didn’t break into the hangar and accidentally murder someone she cares about last night.)

-      Awkwardly, without looking Kaito in the eye, she mentions that if he wants an investigation partner, she’s here.

-      Kaito can’t help but stare at her kind of bitterly. He thought she was perfectly willing to give up on Shuichi and assume he’s dead, wasn’t she?

-      Maki still thinks that’s the most likely scenario, but… Kaito’s right. She wants to believe Shuichi could still be alive. So maybe, if she investigates with Kaito, he can help her find a way to believe that it could be possible after all.

-      Something within Kaito hears he can help her and latches onto it without another thought. He manages a grin from somewhere, and with a “Why didn’t you say so sooner, Maki Roll!?”, they’re investigating together.

-      Maki is, of course, doing the majority of the observations and deductions, while Kaito is mostly just cheering her on and praising her (specifically whenever her observations manage to have a vaguely positive outlook about Shuichi’s possible survival). There’s something comfortingly familiar about it all.

  -      On Maki’s end… she still isn’t actually sure if she can truly believe Shuichi is alive. That’s not really why she approached Kaito. She did it because she couldn’t stand seeing how much he’s suffering and how alone he feels with it.

-      Really, she’s grimly expecting this whole mess will end with Kaito being forced to face the agonising truth that Shuichi really is gone – but she can’t bear the thought of him having to face that alone. She’s hoping that being there with him during the investigation and trial might mean he’ll be more willing to accept her support when the time comes.

-      Obviously she can’t tell him that, though. He’s in a fragile and volatile enough state as it is, and she saw what he got like towards the end of Gonta’s trial. Telling him that she’s trying to help him at all is a bad move, never mind that she’s specifically trying to help him accept the truth that he’s still refusing to acknowledge could even be true.

-      So, really, the only reason Maki’s saying she wants to believe in Shuichi being alive is because she knows it’s the only way she can approach Kaito right now without him pushing her away.

-      Even so… it’s not a lie. Maki does want to believe Shuichi is alive. She doesn’t want to lose another friend. She’d never have bothered to say it if not to get Kaito to listen to her, because what she wants has never mattered next to the uncaring reality she’s always been stuck in, but… it’s true.

-      And… it really does matter to Kaito, doesn’t it? Not only that he wants Shuichi to be alive, but also – he’s grinning at her and encouraging her every time she observes that something doesn’t necessarily indicate Shuichi’s dead, because her wanting Shuichi to be alive matters to him. And she can tell it’s not just in the sense of having someone agree with his desperate denial, either. Kaito really cares about the fact that she’s not giving up.

-      So, while she’s determined to be there for Kaito if the worst does come to pass… maybe Maki really won’t give up on Shuichi, not just yet.

-      It’s not exactly the reason she actually turned to him, but Kaito is helping her believe that the impossible could be possible all the same. He’s so good at that. It really would be nice if she could see Shuichi again and they could train together like before, all three of them, wouldn’t it?

-      It’d hurt so bad if she turned out to be wrong, but – it’d hurt Kaito even more, and yet he’s still willing to take that risk. To him, that’s infinitely better than just giving up and accepting defeat from the start. Maybe it does make some kind of sense, in that ridiculous, reckless Kaito way, for her to hold onto what she wants and fight for it despite the whole world being against her.

  -      During the investigation, Kaito picks up a small handful of Truth Bullets based on Maki’s observations. But also, towards the end, despite still not having found anything conclusive pointing to Shuichi being alive, Kaito reaffirms in his head how definitely alive he is anyway and gains a final Truth Bullet called “Shuichi’s Survival”. It’s very clearly not actually based in any evidence and is just fuelled by Kaito’s desperate insistence that this is totally the truth, with a description something like, “Shuichi is alive somehow. He’s just gotta be.”

-      Monokuma announces that the trial’s about to start and makes a pointed comment about how everyone has to be there. Maki observes that he’s talking about the unidentified survivor, and Kaito’s spirits lift. Shuichi’ll be there in the trial! Of course he will; why did Kaito never think of that before!? He’ll help everyone figure out this whole mess!

-      (But… why isn’t Shuichi already showing up to help them, if he’s alive? That’s what he’d obviously do. Kokichi hiding from them makes perfect sense, but, not…)

-      (But no, it’s fine. Shuichi’s gotta be alive and Kaito’s not gonna think about anything else.)

  Class Trial

  -      Shuichi still isn’t there in the trial. Monokuma is hiding him behind the scenes, spouting some nonsense about a “unique opportunity” to keep things mysterious. Shuichi’s podium contains a death portrait with a question mark on it, which Kaito finds to be in incredibly bad taste when Monokuma knows full well that Shuichi is obviously alive, dammit.

-      Things feel weird and wrong and kind of awkwardly aimless without Shuichi there to lead the discussion and know how to solve things. Still, Kaito does his best to keep everyone on the same page like he always does, and Maki isn’t doing a bad job at all of filling the gap left by Shuichi in terms of being the most logical voice in the room.

-      In every single Nonstop Debate, “Shuichi’s Survival” is one of the available Truth Bullets. It is never the correct answer, of course – but if you fire it anyway, there’s specific failure dialogue for it in which Kaito desperately baselessly insists Shuichi must be alive somehow. The others – even sometimes Maki – respond in a way that indicates they’re gradually losing faith in Kaito’s ability to approach this rationally, which of course takes a chunk out of his Influence gauge.

  The Exisal

-      After a few minutes of inconclusive discussion over whether Shuichi’s sleeve being in the press proves he’s under there or not, Monokuma realises they aren’t getting anywhere interesting and decides to bring out the survivor to spice things up.

-      Kaito is relieved that finally they’re gonna see Shuichi again and this trial can get back to feeling like normal. He definitely isn’t even a little bit terrified of any other possibility, because there is no other possibility.

-      In walks not a person but an Exisal, and Kaito marvels that, man, Shuichi’s really going for style points here, huh—

-      —and then everything falls apart as the Exisal speaks, taunting them in what is very unmistakably Kokichi’s voice.

-      Kokichi is alive. And if that’s the case, then, doesn’t that mean… the victim has to be…?

-      (And why does Kokichi have the gall to taunt them while referencing a Frank Sinatra song that Kaito happens to like? Geez, he can’t even sing it right, the annoying moron.)

-      Kaito furiously demands for Kokichi to show his face and stop hiding like a coward (like a murderer, like the person who murdered Shuichi—)

-      (…In amongst his desperate totally-not-deflecting fury, though, Kaito can’t help but also notice that there’s something weird about Kokichi here. Well, Kokichi’s always weird, but something about this is weird for Kokichi.)

-      Exisal Kokichi claims that he can’t open the cockpit because “that horrible assassin over there” would kill him if he did. Scowling at hearing Maki called that, Kaito is sure she wouldn’t – but it does kinda make sense that Kokichi might assume she would and want to protect himself. He is the mastermind, after all. (Isn’t he?) Hiding like this is the kind of cowardly thing that fits Kokichi – and the mastermind – perfectly well. (That’s not the weird part, but something’s still definitely weird.)

-      Wait, but… if he won’t show his face, they don’t know that it’s really Kokichi, right? Then maybe…! – but someone else points out that, even so, it’s obviously his voice coming from the Exisal.

-      Kaito is stumped for a moment, until he suggests, utterly grasping at straws, that maybe… maybe the Exisal has like a voice changer or something???

-      At this, Monokuma suddenly pipes up to confirm that, actually, Kaito is right on the money, the Exisals do in fact have voice changers!

-      Everyone is rather bewildered that Monokuma would just offer that suspiciously-convenient information up so readily… but then again, Monokuma never lies about information for a case. So it must be true, then?

-      Exisal Kokichi sighs and switches to Exisal Shuichi for a single line to tell them that, true, the Exisal does have a voice changer, but that alone isn’t enough evidence to prove or disprove anything about who’s inside it. Then he switches back to Kokichi and seems very gleeful about everyone’s reactions to hearing Shuichi’s voice – especially Kaito’s.

-      Someone looks at Kaito and asks, even though he was right about the voice changer, is he really going to try and suggest that Shuichi is somehow in there and just pretending to be Kokichi for some reason?

-      It does make way more sense that this was just Kokichi taking the opportunity to cruelly mess with them – but still. (And if it is Shuichi in there, why would he be deceiving them like this?)

-      Kaito settles on the stance of “I dunno, I’m just saying it’s possible that Shuichi’s still alive, okay!?” because hell if he has any idea how to actually prove anything from this, but it’s something that he can hold onto.

-      With that – with everyone else assuming this is still just Kaito being in denial – they all drop the voice changer subject, and Exisal Shuichi is never heard from again.

  The video

-      Apparently quite eager to move on from talking about the voice changer, Exisal Kokichi brings out the video to prove that it’s definitely him in here anyway.

-      Kaito is, uh. Not Happy. at seeing the moment Shuichi was apparently horribly crushed to death. But even this, and even Exisal Kokichi asserting that the video couldn’t have been edited, is still no match for Kaito’s powers of desperate baseless optimism and never giving up no matter how impossible things seem.

-      In the debate about the video, shooting “Shuichi’s Survival” gets not just failure dialogue but an entire back route in which Exisal Kokichi taunts Kaito about his denial and how gruesomely Shuichi was killed. This is much like the back route in canon, except instead of taunting that it’s hard to believe a “smug idiot like Kaito” got squished, Exisal Kokichi says it’s hard to believe that happened to an “invincible hero like Shuichi”. Oops, looks like he wasn’t so invincible after all! (Shuichi was probably rather bewildered when he saw himself described like this in the script.)

-      (this version of the back route also has no nonsense like Kaito internally claiming his emotional reaction to this is a lie, because it sure freaking isn’t (just like it made no sense for Shuichi’s to be either, grumble))

-      Of course, the actual way through this debate is pointing out the press’s safety function. When the others conclude that this just means Shuichi was killed beforehand, Kaito argues that, sure he’s not moving and it’s too far away to tell if he’s breathing or not, but Shuichi doesn’t look dead in the video before the press descends!!!

-      Maki informs him that there are any number of ways Kokichi could have killed Shuichi such that it didn’t leave a mark on his body that would be visible in that video. She shrinks a little at Kaito’s betrayed look at her when she points this out. She’s just saying that it would have been possible and so his argument doesn’t prove anything, that’s all.

-      Meanwhile, Kaito still can’t stop being hung up on the fact that Kokichi’s acting weird. Not in the sense that showing a video that apparently proves him guilty is weird – or, well, that too – but there’s something else, something about the way he’s talking, that Kaito can’t quite put his finger on.

-      (Shuichi’s people-understanding skills aren’t as sharp as Kaito’s, and so his acting skills aren’t either. He’s doing his best, but the fact is that he’s just not quite as good at pretending to be Kokichi as Kaito is – and even Kaito wasn’t perfect at it. Meanwhile, Kaito’s people-reading skills are top-notch, albeit in a very intuitive way that doesn’t have any conscious reasoning behind it. So, without realising it, he’s starting to pick up on the ways in which Shuichi’s acting is just a little bit off.)

  The other suspects

-      Kaito insists that they can’t just give up and assume Shuichi is dead this easily, so he keeps pushing them to think of other possibilities. One thing that’s at least a little worth discussing – not that Kaito’s super happy about this either but it’s better than the alternative – is whether one of the five of them could be a suspect.

-      Like in canon, Himiko still wandered towards the hangar and had a brief chat with Shuichi, although nothing much came of it (no crossbow delivery request). Keebo went there later to try in vain to talk Kokichi down. And, of course, Kaito also visited the hangar to talk to Shuichi that afternoon. So there’s a slight chance that one of the three of them could be the culprit.

-      Perhaps someone (definitely not Maki, and especially not Exisal Kokichi) suggests the idea that, of those three, if it really was one of them, isn’t Kaito actually the most likely to have killed Shuichi? He’d had that whole falling out with him – so maybe he was still so angry with Shuichi about Gonta’s trial that things got out of hand?

-      Kaito is horrified that it could even cross anyone’s mind that he’d ever do that to Shuichi, that he’d ever even still be angry at him after he’d calmed down from the lashing out during Gonta’s trial that he never should have done.

-      (And wait, did they all think he was still angry at Shuichi in the following days, and that was why he couldn’t face him? Is that what Shuichi thought was going on and why he didn’t ever try to talk to Kaito? Geez, Kaito really messed up so bad with that whole thing, didn’t he.)

-      Kaito asserts that obviously he’d never hurt Shuichi – and besides, when he went to the hangar yesterday to talk to Shuichi, he made up with him! Things are good between them now! (Emphasis on the present tense, of course.)

-      This is the first Maki’s heard of this – Kaito wasn’t exactly in the mood to mention it until now and she didn’t want to ask. She makes sure Kaito knows that she’s glad to hear that; Kaito confirms it with a grin and probably apologises for worrying her with the whole thing and definitely isn’t at all thinking about how little this will end up meaning if Shuichi is actually dead. (Though Maki is relieved that, if Shuichi does turn out to be dead, at least this’ll make things a bit less painful for Kaito than they would have been if he hadn’t made up with him at all.)

-      Exisal Kokichi is probably pretty quiet during this whole discussion, because I kinda doubt Kokichi would have predicted this topic and scripted any lines for it, and Shuichi very much does not trust himself to convincingly ad-lib about this.

-      Kaito glances at the silent Exisal and muses that wouldn’t Kokichi normally be spouting some of his usual bullshit about how you can’t trust anyone right now? He was quite happy to jump on the idea that Kaito could have been the culprit last case. Huh. Huh.

-      (Or, alternatively, maybe Kokichi did script something for this. In that case, either Shuichi decides that no he is not reciting that bit because it’s not worth it to hurt Kaito even more, or he does recite it and instead Kaito picks up on Exisal Kokichi sounding slightly off yet again.)

-      Ultimately, whoever half-heartedly accused Kaito drops it. They didn’t even really want to think he did it and just suggested it because, well, it was Kaito who insisted they try to think of other possibilities. But in the end, there just isn’t any evidence that anyone except Shuichi and Kokichi ever went into the hangar itself.

  Kaito is (not) fine

-      At some point during the trial, Kaito would definitely end up coughing up blood. It’s late enough into his illness that this’d be a pretty frequent occurrence by now, and in a class trial situation, he’s forced to spend hours around everyone else without any chance to quickly go cough his guts out where they can’t see. He’d hold out for as long as he could, but at some point he wouldn’t be able to any more.

-      Everyone else reacts with frantic concern – they knew he was still sick; he should have been letting them help him! – which Kaito desperately tries to brush off. They’re in the middle of a trial, dammit; they don’t have time to be worrying about him right now! This isn’t a big deal; he can handle it!

-      …And, to be fair, he can. He’s been in so much pain this whole time and just carrying on like it’s nothing, because he has to, especially right now. They really unfortunately don’t have time to be giving Kaito medical treatment when Monokuma refuses to let anyone leave their podiums until the trial’s over. So Kaito’s just going to casually continue the trial with flecks of blood all over his shirt like it’s nothing while stubbornly ignoring the worried looks everyone keeps giving him.

-      Exisal Kokichi joins in with this conversation to taunt Kaito about how pathetic he is and how much he’s been hiding from everyone. Because this would very definitely be something Kokichi predicted and put in the script.

-      Shuichi was probably rather alarmed when he saw the “here’s how to react to Kaito coughing up blood” section in the script last night. Part of him was hoping this was Kokichi exaggerating to mess with him, but, nope, he had to use it after all.

-      Even so, seeing Kaito in so much pain, realising that he really has still been so sick this whole time, makes Shuichi desperately worried enough that it’s rather hard to put on the Kokichi act and pretend to be callously gleeful about the whole thing.

-      And… Kaito notices. Even through his pain, he can tell that there’s something really obviously off about the way Kokichi’s taunting him. It’s not the words – the phrasing is still exactly like Kokichi. And of course it’s still technically Kokichi’s voice. But the intonation just sounds all wrong.

-      This isn’t how Kokichi would say this stuff at all. Heck, it’s never sounded quite like him this entire time – but this time stands out even more than the rest. Kaito still can’t put his finger on why not; he just has a hunch.

-      (The others haven’t noticed anything at all. Maybe they’re too busy worrying about him to see, or maybe they just aren’t as good at picking up on this kind of thing.)

-      Kaito’s sure of it now. That’s not Kokichi in there.

-      And if it’s not Kokichi, there’s only one person it could be…!

-      In that instant, “Shuichi’s Survival” gets updated in the Monopad. The description of it now reads, “Shuichi’s definitely alive! It’s him inside that Exisal! I’m positive!”

-      Kaito has no freaking clue how this could be possible, but that doesn’t matter, because he knows he’s onto something here. His hunches are never wrong.

-      He hasn’t said a word about this to anyone else, though. No matter how much he knows he’s right, hunches aren’t evidence in a class trial. They wouldn’t listen; they’d just assume it’s baseless wishful thinking. Which, to be fair, it really kind of was up until now – but not any more.

-      (The others don’t even seem to have noticed him having this revelation, either, probably because it happened while he was still doubled over in pain from his coughing fit and they were too focused on worrying about that.)

  The truth

-      Kaito almost tells them that he’s sure Shuichi is alive anyway, if only for Maki’s sake – he was trying to help her believe this, and surely at least she would trust his judgement?

-      But he doesn’t quite yet. Something tells him he needs to figure this out better before he goes blurting anything out. It’s definitely Shuichi in there, but, never mind the how of it – why?

-      If Shuichi’s in that Exisal, not only is he alive, but he wants them to think he’s Kokichi. He wants them to think that Kokichi killed him. Why the hell?

-      And, wait, if Kokichi having killed Shuichi isn’t the truth (and Kaito finally genuinely believes that it isn’t and is no longer just desperately running away from that apparent fact), then, doesn’t that mean that Shuichi killed Kokichi?

-      The only other option would be that Shuichi is trying to protect the real person who killed Kokichi – that might make some kind of sense – but Kaito’s also sure at this point in the trial that nobody else in the room is hiding anything.

-      The only one who’s hiding something is Shuichi. The only one who makes any sense as the culprit in this case is Shuichi, and he’s trying to get away with it.

-      At this point, Kaito is having an outwardly horrified enough reaction that Maki does notice that he’s realised something bad, and she asks him what’s wrong. (Completely oblivious to what he’s thinking about, she’s starting to worry that this is reaching the point where Kaito begins to face the painful reality that Shuichi really is gone.)

-      Kaito brushes her off and insists it’s nothing important. His stomach just still hurts pretty bad, that’s all. (Which, to be fair, isn’t exactly a lie.)

-      He can’t tell her yet; it doesn’t make sense yet.

-      Shuichi would never be trying to get away with his crime and get everyone killed; that’s just not possible. The only reason he’d ever want to do that might be something like the reason Gonta had, but that’s not relevant now they’ve all seen the outside (which is still definitely not the truth) anyway.

-      Hell, Shuichi wouldn’t even kill someone without a very, very good reason. Not even Kokichi, the mastermind, because he’d never want to repeat Kaede’s mistake.

-      (Though, wait, if Kokichi’s really the victim and the game’s still going, is he even actually the mastermind? …Whatever; that doesn’t matter right now.)

-      Kaede, Kirumi and Gonta all killed someone, too – but that never meant that Kaito was wrong to believe in them. They were still exactly the people he always knew they were. They only killed because they had reasons Kaito couldn’t have known at the time that made them genuinely believe they were doing it to save everyone.

-      So that has to be why Shuichi’s doing this, too. Kaito has no idea how, but it has to be. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.

-      The others were mistaken or misguided in their belief that this would save everyone, but… if anyone would ever be right about it, surely it’d be Shuichi? He’s always known what to do. He’s always known how to save everyone.

-      Kaito believes in Shuichi, more than anything. Not just that he’s a good person even despite being a murderer, but that he’s an amazing hero who’s going to save them all. Kaito doesn’t have a clue why or how Shuichi pretending to be Kokichi and convincing them all Kokichi is the blackened is going to save everyone – but he doesn’t need to. If Shuichi wants this to happen, that’s what’s gotta happen.

-      Everything makes sense now – at least, as much as Kaito needs it to – but he’s still not going to tell Maki what he’s realised. He can’t.

-      (He won’t let Shuichi down again. Not this time.)

  The lie

-      During Kaito’s big internal epiphany, the others have been continuing the discussion, but they haven’t exactly been getting anywhere. There’s just so little to talk about.

-      Exisal Kokichi has kept chipping in to taunt them about how ambiguous everything is; maybe he did it, maybe he didn’t, you idiots don’t have a clue! – and Kaito can tell now, now that he knows and is looking out for it, that every single word of this is clearly not the real Kokichi.

-      Part of the reason the trial has ground to a halt is because Kaito’s been so quiet. Despite his lack of conclusive arguments, he’s still been one of the biggest driving forces of the discussion this whole time. So Maki prods him to speak up again, asking him what he’s been thinking about.

-      (Some tiny part of her is hoping that he’s somehow figured out some impossible Kaito miracle that proves Shuichi really is alive. But… he hasn’t, has he? That was always too much to hope for. It makes far more sense that his silence is just because he can no longer deny the inescapable truth of Shuichi’s death and doesn’t know how to cope with it. So really, this is her trying to gently coax him into facing it at last.)

-      With Kaito still silent, things suddenly shift into a Nonstop Debate. Everyone prompts Kaito to say something, explaining that they still haven’t been getting anywhere without him and asking if he has any more ideas. The debate rounds out with Exisal Kokichi, taunting that of course Kaito doesn’t have a clue; he needs to just face reality already, because there’s not a single shred of conclusive proof that Shuichi’s even alive!

-      Both of those bolded statements are agree spots. The correct way through this debate is to take “Shuichi’s Survival”, turn it into a Lie Bullet, and fire “Shuichi’s Death” at Exisal Kokichi’s statement.

-      There… there really isn’t, is there? Everyone’s been working so hard to try and prove it this whole time, but… they’ve found nothing. And he can’t think of a damn thing either, despite how badly he wants to believe it. Damn it… does that… does that really mean…?

-      …It isn’t even that hard for Kaito to act out his reaction to finally accepting Shuichi’s death. We know he’s a good actor when he needs to be – and here, he’d be playing himself, in a state of mind that he’s been this close to genuinely falling into for the past several hours. His act is very convincing, and nobody else in the room is a good enough people-reader to see through it.

-      Even Maki completely buys it. While she’s been trying to hope for a better outcome, this whole time she’s still been expecting that this is how things would end for Kaito. This is what she always assumed his long silence was about. Rather than question it, or try to be the one to encourage him not to give up, Maki just wants to support him through it.

-      She reaches out to him, telling him that she’s so sorry, that she hates it too, that she’s here for him. Kaito just mumbles something about how they don’t have time to worry about him now when they still need to finish the trial.

-      (Kaito’s not sure he could quite convincingly act out actively grieving for someone he knows isn’t actually dead, so he’s trying to make it look like he’s basically accepted it but is putting off the grieving part until the trial’s over. That’s something that a lot of people have been doing in this killing game, so it’s a pretty convincing lie to tell.)

-      But there’s one person who doesn’t buy it: Shuichi. It’s not that he can tell that Kaito’s acting is fake – it’s that he can’t believe that Kaito would ever, ever just give up on him like this without seeing absolutely conclusive proof that he’s dead. It’s easier for Maki to accept that, because giving up is so instinctive to her that she doesn’t quite grasp how completely impossible it is for Kaito – but Shuichi is certain that Kaito never, ever would.

-      So in this moment, it hits him all at once – Kaito knows. He’s putting on an act to help Shuichi succeed, even though he can’t possibly understand why Shuichi would even want them to get it wrong when that’d usually get them all killed. Kaito really does believe in him that much, huh?

-      (did you know: they are FRIENDS.)

-      Despite Kaito saying they need to finish the trial, there really isn’t much else left to do. Without being able to discuss the idea that Shuichi could be alive, what happened really does seem obvious. Kaito – the fake Kaito who’s accepted Shuichi’s death – still believes in everyone else enough to be sure that none of them would have ever wanted to kill Shuichi, so there’s only one possible culprit. Kokichi must have killed him to make them all suffer, just like they thought from the start.

-      Possibly some of the others muse that it’s still weird that Kokichi being the culprit is so obvious an answer. In a quick ad-lib, Kaito claims that Kokichi figured they’d be so utterly lost without Shuichi that he wouldn’t even need to bother hiding his crime to get away with it. But Kokichi underestimated them! There’s still plenty they can do if they work together! He killed Shuichi to try and make them fall apart and suspect each other, but they’ll show him that they’re not gonna let that happen! Which still is very convincingly Kaito, trying to keep a positive outlook and encourage everyone else despite being the one in the most pain himself.

-      It crosses Kaito’s mind, now that he’s no longer in desperate denial over Shuichi being possibly dead, that killing someone just to make everyone suffer doesn’t even really make sense to him as something Kokichi would do, actually – but of course he stays quiet about it. He sticks to some very convincing fake glares at the Exisal, knowing full well that he’s actually glaring at a Shuichi who is currently being the most awesome.

-      There are probably scripted reactions to Kaito accepting that Kokichi totally killed Shuichi. Shuichi’s recital of them might just be off in such a way that Kaito starts to suspect that Shuichi has realised he knows. That’s okay, though, so long as they can both keep up the act for everyone else. Even though they can’t directly communicate at all, even though Kaito doesn’t even understand why Shuichi’s doing this, they’re a team.

  The reveal

-      Ultimately, despite Monokuma asking them more times than usual if they’re really sure they’re decided on the culprit, not much more of note happens before they go to the vote.

-      Everyone is a little surprised to see that even Kokichi voted for himself. Except Kaito, who claims that Kokichi had just seen how they’d all beaten him and given up! …Which, of course, is not at all the reason Kaito is not surprised.

-      They turn to Monokuma to wait for him to announce the blackened. This has to be it, right here – the moment Shuichi blows everyone away with whatever awesome plan he’s been fighting for this whole time.

-      (…right?)

-      After a longer-than-usual post-voting pause as Monokuma just stares at the still-silent and unmoving Exisal…

-      “You’re absolutely right! The blackened in this case is Kokichi Oma!” – and Kaito’s heart stops—

-      …only to start again a second later as he hears a gloriously familiar “No, that’s wrong!”

-      Everyone stares in disbelief as Shuichi emerges from the Exisal. Except Kaito, who can’t help but blurt out “I knew it!” in triumphant relief, causing everyone else’s bewildered stares to shift from Shuichi to him.

-      Shuichi, of course, isn’t bewildered at all. As his protagonist status switches back on, the first thought we hear from him for half a chapter is, Thank you for believing in me, Kaito… He goes on to recap – since the players weren’t in his head at the time – that the moment Kaito started lying was the moment he realised Kaito knew, because there was no way Kaito would ever have truly given up on him like that.

-      Along with apologising for deceiving and hurting everyone, Shuichi immediately confirms that yes, he did kill Kokichi, and not to worry, none of them are going to be executed for this.

-      Kaito’s first proper words to Shuichi are that, geez don’t scare him like that again, and man he is gonna need one hell of an explanation for all this – but damn, whatever Shuichi just did, that was awesome. Nothing less from his sidekick!

-      Maki puts in that, while she really needs to hear an explanation too – including from Kaito for that matter… she’s glad Shuichi’s alive. Kaito beams at her. He’s so proud of her for trying to believe in it the whole time. They are friends.

-      So Shuichi goes into a lengthy explanation of the hows and whys of the plan, interspersed with Kaito explaining why he hid the fact that he’d figured it out.

-      Shuichi is generally very modest about his part in the plan; after all, Kokichi thought up the whole thing and even gave him this script to follow, so Shuichi was basically just following instructions the whole time.

-      Kaito’s having none of that. Sure, it was Kokichi’s plan, which Kaito begrudgingly admits was pretty clever, but Kokichi got himself killed and took the coward’s way out before it’d even really begun to unfold. Shuichi was the one who took on the burden and did all the hardest parts, all by himself. Kaito can’t even imagine how tough it must have been to deceive them all and act like Kokichi that whole time, knowing that if he messed up, he’d end up being executed – or worse, everyone else would.

-      Shuichi doesn’t think he even did that good of a job at it, though – after all, Kaito saw through it, didn’t he? It’s only because Kaito believed in him that things still worked out. And Kaito’s act, once he started putting it on, was way better and more convincing, so… (He trails off there, realising that what he was about to say is… not exactly a compliment in some ways.)

-      Picking up on what Shuichi almost said, Kaito comments that nah, no way Kokichi would have picked him for the plan. Maybe he could have put on that act too (not that Kaito really wants to think about what that would have been like, never mind the murder part), but with Shuichi there like normal in the trial, he’d have been able to unravel the whole thing in no time! Sure, Kokichi’s plan was pretty clever – but the smartest thing he did was realise how amazing Shuichi was and rope him into it rather than anybody else.

  To be continued…?

-      With the explanations over and Monokuma squirming in his seat, it becomes clear that he really does have no right to execute anyone. Nobody dies at the end of this trial!

-      And I mean nobody. I know what you’re thinking – Kaito should be doomed to die here from his illness anyway – but, remember back in the Daily Life? How the group didn’t mope around in despair for a whole day thanks to Kaito being up and about? That means this entire case and trial happened one day sooner than it did in canon. Which wouldn’t usually affect anything – except it makes all the difference for Kaito. This means his illness won’t kill him at the end of this trial after all. He has one more day left to live.

-      I’d assume that Monokuma wouldn’t just immediately let them go free simply because he broke the rules – where’d be the entertainment value in that? Instead, I imagine he might pull basically the same thing as in chapter 6 of DR1: allow them to investigate everywhere in the Academy and challenge them to solve the whole mystery of the place.

-      So we’d basically enter the same situation as the canon chapter 6 of this game, without any need for Keebo to lose his inner voice and fight the Exisals (in fact, we wouldn’t need to see the Monokubs again at all, woohoo). And with the much more important difference that Kaito is still here.

-      The investigation for trial 6 would happen in the afternoon rather than overnight, because this trial 5 was a lot shorter than in canon, and nobody needed to take a few hours off to grieve. With that plus Kaito having that extra day, maybe that’d be just enough once they escape to get him to a hospital in time to save him. Maybe.

-      (I mean, logically speaking, it’s got to be, because in this AU, Kaito doesn’t go to space at the end of this trial. So obviously he has to survive this, because he can’t die before he’s gone to space! That’s just an Unshakeable Kaito Fact.)

  As for chapter 6 with Kaito still alive? That’s a topic for maybe another AU post sometime, since there’s other possible ways that outcome could be reached as well.

(When I get around to making that post, I’ll put a link to it here, so if you’re reading this note, I haven’t done so yet. I still intend to sometime, though!)