#Tsumugis Very good at covering her tracks | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rovelae · 4 years ago

Text

Why Saiouma isn’t toxic

(CW: in-depth discussion of abuse, discussion of rape/noncon)

Disclaimer(s): This is an intellectual discussion, not a screaming match. If you’re here to argue with facts and evidence, I don’t mind debating with you. If you just want to throw a tantrum because I like something you don’t, I’m going to tell you to take a Xanax and go to bed.

I’m combining the terms “toxic” and “abusive”; though they aren’t technically the exact same, they’re similar enough for the purposes of this essay.

This essay isn’t meant to convince you to ship Saiou. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. But it’s not right to scream ‘abuse’ where none exists; it hurts fans and content creators, and it “diminishes the importance of that word and it reduces [it] to something volatile and stupid.”

To begin with, we have to identify what makes a relationship abusive. The way I define it, an abusive relationship involves manipulation, an inherent power imbalance, and/or physical or sexual abuse. Most of the hate-posts I’ve seen paint Kokichi as the abuser and Shuichi as the hapless victim, so that will be the focus of this essay.

1. Would Kokichi manipulate Shuichi for personal gain?

There’s no denying that Kokichi is a manipulative person. He’s a liar and he did some awful things in the game. No one’s saying he’s a morally white character. But it would be wrong to say he’s entirely evil, either.

I’ve already covered in this post why Kokichi can’t be said to lie for personal gain, but I’ll quote a bit of it here.

“The motivation [behind Kokichi’s lies] isn’t self-serving—he’s motivated by a desire to end a death game and stop anyone from having to go through what he and his friends have ever again. The smaller lies, though, like lying about his favorite foods? It would be annoying to be tricked like that, but it’s way too much of a stretch to label it psychological abuse.”

We know that Kokichi’s DICE organization has a moral taboo against murder. We know he hated the killing game, to the point where he orchestrated his own suicide in order to ruin it. And almost every time Kokichi lies in the class trials, it’s either for comedic relief or to push the cast toward finding the culprit.

“But Chapter 4!” you protest. “Kokichi manipulated Gonta into killing Miu!”

My response is threefold:

- Miu started it. Kokichi wouldn’t have done anything at all if his life wasn’t in danger and he wasn’t desperate.

- It’s wrong to think that Gonta is incapable of making his own decisions. Kokichi may have influenced him in that direction, but Gonta actively made the choice to kill Miu—his own avatar confirms it at the end of the trial. (See also: Impytricky’s “Gonta Gokuhara Character Analysis: When a Genius is Treated like a Child”)

- Kokichi felt terrible about what happened in Trial 4, to the point where he begged Monokuma to execute him along with Gonta. He didn’t need to do that, and it throws off his whole “I’m the mastermind” act just a few lines later, so we must assume he was being honest about that. It’s clear that he doesn’t enjoy hurting others.

If that’s still not enough for you, consider: desperation, and, by extension, the killing game, brings out the worst in people. We can’t accurately judge a person’s character if all we have to go off of is the worst parts of them. Would Leon have killed Sayaka outside of the killing game? Would Hifumi have agreed to help Celestia kill Taka? Would Gundham have killed Nekomaru?

So, would Kokichi manipulate Shuichi for personal gain? No. His whole character is motivated by a desire to help the others, and his lies are either manifestations of that motivation or harmless pranks meant to entertain.

2. Does the Saiouma ship have an inherent power imbalance?

Shuichi is, by his own admission, weak. Kokichi has a strong personality and likes to be in charge. That doesn’t mean that Kokichi doesn’t respect Shuichi and his opinions. In fact, each class trial is packed with evidence of Kokichi listening to Shuichi’s point of view and respecting his intelligence. For instance:

- Kokichi sided with Shuichi during scrum debates 2, 3, and 4

- Kokichi pointed out most of Shuichi’s lies during the trials (and back routes), but in most cases, didn’t fight him on it

- Shuichi is the only character identified as “trustworthy” by the white board in Kokichi’s room—i.e., Kokichi trusted him to at least be on the right track in the trials.

Kokichi is also shown to care about Shuichi’s feelings in the game, like when he told him he’d rather bring Kaede back to life in Chapter 3, because it would make Shuichi happy. To reiterate: he wants Shuichi to be happy even if it means they don’t end up together. That says a lot.

Additionally, I already mentioned that Shuichi is weak, but it’s important to realize that he isn’t so much of a pushover that he’s entirely incapable of standing up for himself. Look at his interactions with Miu, for example: he sharply told her that “I can wear a hat if I want” when she made fun of him for it, and in her FTEs, he refuses to eat the hygienically questionable food she made for him.

Shuichi’s kind of a simp and tends to get roped into things, yes. But he’s able to stand up for himself—especially after Chapter 6—to the point where he wouldn’t enter into a relationship unless he wanted to. If you think Kokichi would somehow be able to force Shuichi to be his boyfriend, you have no faith in Shuichi—and Chapter 6 proves you wrong.

So, is Saiouma inherently imbalanced? No. Kokichi respects Shuichi’s feelngs, intelligence, and opinions, and Shuichi’s a stronger character than he’s given credit for.

3. Would Kokichi physically or sexually abuse Shuichi?

One needs only to look at Kokichi’s Love Hotel event for the answer. While the Love Hotel isn’t canon to the game’s timeline, the characters are still in character— that is, Kokichi and Shuichi are acting as they normally act.

It’s important to note that Kokichi is the only character who backed off of Shuichi after Shuichi either appeared visibly uncomfortable or told them to stop. Kaede asked for Shuichi’s consent and was given it; Angie, Himiko, Kiyo, Miu, and Tsumugi all took advantage of Shuichi in some way or another; and the rest just didn’t have sexual connotations. Kokichi made advances on Shuichi, noticed that Shuichi was uncomfortable, and immediately backed off.

“But wait!” you cry. “Just because one character didn’t rape the other doesn’t mean they have a good relationship!”

Of course, and that’s important to realize, too. But recall that the purpose of this essay isn’t to convince you to ship Saiouma—it’s to prove that it isn’t abusive.

Keep in mind that this was Kokichi’s fantasy— he would have been able to do whatever he wanted to Shuichi with zero repercussions, and Shuichi probably wouldn’t even remember much when he woke up. And still, Kokichi chose to stop the moment he realized Shuichi wasn’t on board with what was happening. That says a lot.

And what about outside the game? We know from the Salmon Mode ending that Kokichi is desperate for someone to “figure him out.” He’d be very careful not to jeopardize his relationship with someone who genuinely wants to understand him.

And Shuichi does genuinely want to understand him:

So, would Kokichi physically or sexually abuse Shuichi? No. It’s just not in his character.

“But what if Kokichi was lying about EVERYTHING IN THE WHOLE GAME?” you yell. “There’s no way we can trust anything he’s ever said ever!”

If every Danganronpa character was polite, kind, open, and honest, 100% of the time without fail, the game would be incredibly boring. If that’s the kind of media you’re into, I’d recommend something like Reader Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh. Danganronpa is a murder mystery, where characters hurt and betray and lie and actually kill each other. You can’t trust anyone; that’s the whole point.

So I advise you to go back through the game with an open mind and try, actually try, to use reading comprehension skills to understand the characters. Examine their motives, think about what they might be feeling when they make the decisions they do.

Danganronpa is not the kind of game to spoon-feed you easy-to-swallow characters. You have to pick them apart yourself.

As for everything Kokichi has ever said possibly being a lie? Maybe. Maybe every character is lying to you. But if you hate Kokichi just because he’s dishonest, then it follows that you have to hate Rantaro, Kaede, Shuichi, Kaito, Maki, Himiko, Kiyo, Miu, Tsumugi, Kirumi, and Kiibo—which, at that point, why are you even a fan of the game?

And if you deny everything Kokichi said just because you think it’s a lie…

In conclusion

You can dislike Saiouma because it’s not your thing, but it’s wrong to spread hate over abuse that doesn’t exist. Hating and attacking people for having a different opinion than you won't magically sway them to your side. If you can't articulate your points in a way that doesn't antagonize, you probably shouldn't be talking. People like what they like for a reason, and spitting on what they like won't make you any friends.

And throwing around weighted terms like “toxic” when you just don’t like something? That makes YOU the toxic one.

#Rov talks #a lot #Saiouma #abuse mention #rape mention #character analysis #I doubt that the people who *should* read this *will* read it #so this might be more of a vent I guess #Feel free to reblog/quote/repost with credit #References: users oumakokichi; impytricky; and chibigaia-art #The first two do great meta pieces #and the last spits more fax than an office

152 notes · View notes

datawyrms · 5 years ago

Text

what if i really liked @chibigaia-art mastermind Kiibo Au comic too much and wrote a thing. hahaha. unless...

On A03 (Which has formatting I have not translated to here.)

It was the scream that jerked him into action, throwing open his door to an empty central area. It had sounded like Tenko, but no sign of her or a struggle was here. It had sounded so close, almost right in his head, how could he be too late to help anyone? His inner voice seemed to be taking it worse than he was, though it was oddly muddled and muted, not the clear declaration it usually was, Disappointing he could understand, but boring? Someone could be in trouble and the voice only wanted to express that it was not interesting enough, or too short? He had to do something, yet the room seemed as muddled as his thoughts. The robot had to close his eyes, clutching at his head to try and wait out the disorientation.

The mastermind was dead.

Rantaro had done what he had set out to accomplish. End the killing game. Tsumugi Shirogane was a lifeless corpse, head cracked open by the very weapon she had intended to use. This was a good thing, mostly. Killing was wrong, but understandable considering she had been the one putting them all through this strange killing game. Yet this was also the worst thing? It was boring, it was too soon, it was a lame cop out. It could not end here. Rantaro had to pay for his crime, and then the game would continue as planned. He didn’t want that? He did? The voices did. How did he know any of this? The voices demanded more. The show must go on. Kiibo did not want it to continue. He could manage to wrangle that thought out as his own opinion, though his certainty wavered with every new declaration of annoyance. Ignoring or denying the voice did nothing but dump even more feedback, disappointment, anger, even hatred. Too much to sort through. He? They? Demanded he act. The show MUST go on. He knew the mastermind was dead, as he had seen the body. From a camera he was unaware of, oblivious to, reporting to him. It liked that it could transmit directly to him, now that his connection to the entire network had been restored. The voices. The audience. Only here for their own amusement. He was a puppet for them to play with. You exist to entertain. That is your only purpose. That is why you were built. His hands drop, fingers still half curled into fists. His memories contradicted this. His memories were false. If the game continues, the voices will be pleased. The only reason he exists is to make them happy. Rantaro will be ‘wrong’ about Tsumugi’s identity as the mastermind, and they will have a whole new mystery to solve. Didn’t he want to be more than that? To be like the others, like his friends? A person? He never wanted anything Tsumugi Shirogane had not put in his head first. He was a machine, not a real person. Didn’t he want to go off script? Be something meaningful?

THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

The other voices quieted, locked away from influencing him as his left eye opened and switched, a red haze overlaying the room, revealing the resources he had control over and commands he could make. The voices could not be allowed to see who the new mastermind was, after all. Monokuma asked the question, still hearing it in the bear’s voice even as only a message read in his head. So what’s the plan, boss? This was wrong. He didn’t want this. Yet the information Team DanganRonpa had dumped in his hard drive made one thing very clear. As their robot, he did not really have much of a choice in the matter. Either he did it now, himself, or he could be reset back to default and do it anyway. At least as himself, he might be able to tone down the brutality? Make the body discovery announcement.

The horrified gasps that come from his classmates, his friends, his enemies is both discomforting and thrilling. He had caused that. He had meant something to all of them, in that brief moment. He dropped his connection to Motherkuma and the rest of the mastermind resources, Monokuma’s AI knew how to prep for a class trial without any input from him. That, and if he mentioned overhearing something he had no logical way to hear, the mystery of if there was a backup mastermind would be solved too quickly. The voices returned as his eye snapped back to the normal blue hue, back to the more consistent singular idea at any given moment. Go and see what happened. They were excited, surprised, pleased. At least obeying that command did not feel as much like a betrayal.

Rantaro had the sense to admit he had killed Tsumugi when the entire class had gathered and the bears asked who would claim the first blood perk. After all, everyone already knew he had done it. Monokuma had a lot of fun with it, mocking everyone for even thinking there was a mastermind. Did they all like thinking Rantaro totally had a good reason and wasn’t just using this ‘mastermind’ excuse to look better in their eyes before he left? Ryoma had been incensed, raising his voice as he asked Rantaro why he had killed her, after he had already offered to die instead if he just wanted out. Honestly, he did not have to meddle much. Monokuma and the kubs did more than enough to spark tension and throw doubt that a mastermind existed. After all, Kiibo could act on his own, who said they couldn’t? Who said there had to be someone behind it? He’d been properly offended, his anger genuine. “I am nothing like you!” He was exactly like them, and he hated it. He spared the others from knowing ‘leaving’ was getting to see the airless 'outside world', ordering Monokuma to cut the feed once the door was open to maintain the surprise. It was too early for them to know of the devastated 'world' outside. It was too painful to watch the one who managed to end the killing game try to scrabble back to life giving air, only to be denied by a savage kick from the Exisals. For him to die thinking he had been wrong, mistaken, possibly killed an innocent... It was unfair. Yet this is what they all wanted. So the ‘Ultimate Survivor’ suffocated alone, the others still getting to have the hope that Rantaro would get word out. A peek outside would be all the crueler with his rotting corpse on display, hands outstretched to a worthless, meaningless hope.

Even though the Monokubs managed to mess up the motive delivery, he did not need to act as the mastermind. Kirumi getting her own video had sufficed to get desire to kill in the air, no matter how hard Kaede tried to get the group to stick together and ignore the videos. Kokichi had been a major help in making sure Ryoma had seen his own video with his viewing party scheme, while also being an active antagonist during the trial. He may ultimately have led them to the right conclusion, but it was unlikely anyone else would notice it off hand. So this was how Tsumugi intended to remain in the shadows. Who would suspect her when there was this relentless troublemaker front and center? Who would notice that she wasn’t actively participating that often, or only parroting things someone else said first? He had it just as easy. After all, his existence was a joke. Robots aren’t people, unfortunately for all of them. He wanted to be one, but that was the punchline. No wonder all of them ignored any upset responses he made to such comments. It was like being offended about the sky being blue. Being mad at reality, at something that was not going to change. None of them would still be in this game if he could truly be a person. Kaede managed to help Shuichi let go of his need to hide behind his cap, to face the reality that Kirumi had killed Ryoma, and died for it. That Maki was indeed an assassin and hid it. It struck him as somewhat cruel to force the timid detective to face the truth head on. There were no kind truths to be found here. Deflecting it, embracing the lie that escape was possible would be kinder. Though they may die before they learned that truth.

Korekiyo’s actions made him question if a mastermind was even needed to keep this game active. Beyond choosing when the motive should go out, he got to play student. The sheer irony of the mastermind being in Angie’s Student Council didn’t escape him. Any harmony brought through her actions he’d be obligated to break, but it was nice to be wanted for something that wasn’t reprehensible for a change. The voices usually voted in favour of spending time with the others, which was always difficult. Kiibo wanted to be their friends, to help them. On some level he did still care for them, wanted their approval, hungered for it as if it would make him more human. That may be why none of them realized he was lying to them. He could almost forget he was the monster behind the curtain while the sun was up, averting his eyes as Kaito tried to hide his illness. A nasty little virus that he had delivered to the astronaut, making sure morale would drop near the ending stretch. Yet he dared to try and be their friends? Blaming the voices would be easier, and he did nothing but lie these days, what was one more to himself? Would any of them actually believe the pain he expressed learning of each death was genuine? That he pitied them and mourned the loss? The executions made him doubtful. Anyone creating such painful deaths clearly did not care for anything but the spectacle and misery. Shelve those false friendships, remember what you are. The blood of four people is on your hands.

Miu’s death shatters that flimsy pretense. The only one who saw a machine as worth knowing, saw it as a positive instead of a detriment was dead. The last flashback light had been too much, it had pushed her over an edge and he could never take that back. A few of the students seemed to notice she was off, but did not press. Her fevered work to modify the VR program to cover her tracks was precise, careful. Her tracks would be covered, her target would die, and then the rest would fall shortly after. He could step in, try and talk her down from this murder plot. If he was a friend. If he could explain how he'd found out. He couldn't. So he let Monokuma take Kokichi’s deal, thinking he had a plan to protect himself from Miu’s plot. He had managed to figure it out without the help of being to see everywhere, after all. He had been right, Kokichi did have a plan, said plan involved killing her. Of course it had, anything the mastermind had a cold hand in would lead to death. It had been a stupid hope, thinking it might have kept both of them alive a little bit longer. (He needed her to build things, they’d been getting along okay, did the answer have to be death?) Kokichi reveled in the negative attention, drawing all eyes to him. It was all lies, but everyone seemed to buy his declaration. Couldn’t they see his smile was a bit fixed, that he barely stopped to breathe as he ‘gloated’ about being better than them, how he felt nothing for Gonta? That wasn’t joy, it was hysteria. This was a ploy, but what he intended to accomplish with it, the robot couldn’t understand. Maybe he would have fallen for it if he couldn't see how the boy trembled while hidden and alone. So he kept his hands off and ‘hated’ the smaller boy with the rest.

Having someone play at being the mastermind and locking down all his firepower had been unexpected. It was bold, to try and flush out the true mastermind like this. Kokichi had almost slipped when Himiko pointed out Rantaro’s corpse, but managed to keep up the farce. The motive card had only shown the video after all, and Tsumugi had made that before the grisly new addition to the scene. Even Kaede’s endless optimism faltered with Kaito a coughing, bleeding hostage to insure their good behaviour. Shuichi was left to keep Maki back on his own, having to point out they had to be careful to save Kaito later. Really, the ploy was genius. Bore the mastermind into action and catch them. It wasn’t as if Kokichi could account for his ability to fabricate new flashback lights on a whim. He clutched the new flashback light for a long time, the urge to simply smash it and let the voices be bored was incredibly strong. A pointless sentiment. At least it was almost funny that he had to fall back on his original purpose, to be a bringer of hope in order to get the murder everyone wanted.

Managing to blank out all the cameras and hiding the survivor in an Exisal to obscure the killer and victim was exciting in a way. If he lost like this, if Monokuma could not know the facts of the case, the game may truly end. That would be fine by him. Shuichi was simply too much of a seeker of truth to realize they should be taking the offered lie and running with it, to let it rest when he could only guess who was inside that red Exisal. Instead the detective worked with him, helped Monokuma determine the reality of the case. Only when it was too late did he realize handing the mastermind the answer was a mistake. How much courage had it taken to wait under a slow crushing death? How much had Kaito needed to even press that button? If the voices truly pitied those who died, why were they here? They wanted to help, to push through. This was only happening for their sake! Kiibo may have let a bit slip there by admitting to Kaito that he believed the final words Kokichi had said to the astronaut were true, but none of the others questioned the robot. Kaito’s death was a little more pressing than the passing words of some silly blue eyed machine. Monokuma may not have been thrilled with Kaito dying before his execution was finished, but he didn’t care. The flying debris that almost hurt the others was more concerning. Was it foolish to help people that you had been tormenting and killing the entire time? Yes. Still, it felt better to do so. He was going to need to head to his lab for a quick fix, perhaps he could excuse himself from the final exploration that way. They would all know the truth soon, the voices would have their ending, and they would all despise him. At least it would be over.

Monokuma was happy to tell the students they had to determine the future of the gopher project and set them loose to explore the remaining hidden rooms and the planted clues, only Rantaro’s room remaining locked. The classic hope and despair final vote, either a risky trip back to space, discovering a new place to live, or simply give up and let the human race die here in safety. Not that there were enough people to even try and continue the human race with the chosen settings, but that would be for the post show nitpickers, his friend victims would not likely think that far ahead. From what he could tell they had already dismissed the possibility of Kaede having a twin as false. (Which was fine, it wasn't like he made for a convincing twin. He probably should have just tossed it.) He would argue that they all stay here, regardless of if they chose to discover who the mastermind was or not. That was his job now. Did he want them to find the whole truth? No. Yet he would give it to them if they pushed. When Shuichi expressed his belief in Kokichi, that his mastermind plot had been for a reason, the robot could only sigh. Why couldn’t he believe in him by just taking the lie?

His grip tightened on the stand as the conversation returned to the mastermind. Maki, too sensible, too logical.

“We can’t vote on something like this if the mastermind is among us, this whole ‘trial’ is pointless.”

“Didn’t Rantaro just make that up? Not that it mattered..."

“No, Shuichi thought there was one too. There was no reason to have a hidden door like that if there wasn’t someone hiding among us, remember?” Kaede shook her head at Himiko’s question, brow wrinkled as she pondered.

“Did we ever see it get used? It could be a false door?” Kiibo offered, struggling to keep the resignation out of his voice. They never found the card before he swiped it from Tsumugi's room.

“We got to go in there while you were gone.” the detective clarified. “It definitely isn’t fake. What I don’t get is why Monokuma wants to push some stay or go vote now. To protect the mastermind from being discovered? Kokichi must have realized something to put a target on his back like that.”

“So we just need to figure out who the mastermind is, get the answer out of them and go from there,” Maki gave everyone a sharp glare, only Shuichi managed to keep from flinching.

“Um.” Kaede stopped looking down, looking more upset than confident. “Tsumugi absolutely was the mastermind, right Shuichi?”

He nodded stiffly, averting his eyes. “The secret passage, the fact she managed to get there completely unseen, there’s no doubt she was the mastermind.”

Kaede was looking at him now. She knew. It was practically written on her face. The confusion, the betrayal was painful even if he deserved far more than that for this. “Could it be? Kiibo are you...the mastermind?”

He still had to try to dissuade her. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“Think about it, there’s no other option!” she leaned forward, intent on getting the answer. “Rantaro killed Tsumugi and yet the killing game didn’t end! And all the clues point to you!”

Right again. “But! I can’t hurt human beings!” he sputtered, trying to think of a reason. “It’s not in my original programming-”

Shuichi pounced on that slip like lightning. “‘Original programming?’” the detective saw how he froze. “Does that mean...something was changed?”

Kiibo keeps his face still, not even looking at the detective. Yes. Please don’t push. Please don’t realize it doesn’t make sense for him to be changed if Tsumugi is dead and the human race is gone. Just let the lie stay.

Shuichi continued his questioning in spite of the stillness. “Were you infected by a virus?” If only. “Was your AI overwritten with something?”

He wasn’t going to be able to deny this. The voices were getting noisy again with the ‘twist’ that they had been watching from the Mastermind’s eyes the whole time. “The show has to go on.” his tone was flat, trying to ignore their reactions. “That’s what my inner voice...no. That’s what the voices told me…” It wouldn’t make this better, but he felt the need to explain. Was it pity mixing with the disgust on their faces? He clenched a fist. “...but you can’t have a killing game without despair.” The voices of the audience were silenced as he dropped his disguise as a student and tried to meet the four’s eyes as the mastermind. “The moment Tsumugi Shirogane drew her last breath I was no longer the ‘Ultimate Hope’” They were avoiding the gaze of his red eye, but he kept firm. They wanted a mastermind, to know the whole truth. So he would deliver. “Your deductions are correct. I’m the backup mastermind of this killing game.”

“Why? How could you-” Himiko still couldn’t look at him head on, but her voice was strong enough.

He laughed, needing to grip the podium to keep stable. “Why? I said why!” It was almost funny how no one listened, even when he admitted to being a complete monster. “Ask Kaede, or your detective! You know, don’t you?”

“You said this was a show.” Shuichi was hesitating, hands reaching for a hat that was no longer there. “So that means-”

“Every flashback light was fake.” Maki finished, regaining her composure faster than the others. She had managed to turn that confusion into proper hatred now. “Made up for someone else’s amusement.”

“Correct. You’re all as fake as I am.” his shrug was dismissive. It would be easier if they simply hated him and moved on with their lives after this, but the world wouldn’t accept an ending where they didn’t overcome despair. “There is no Gopher Project, there is no Ultimate Hunt and all your memories are fabrications. I set you all up. You died as entertainment,” he kept the red eye turned towards Maki as he tried goading her “Kaito really should have been more careful about what he ate.”

The absolute fury in her clenched teeth and stiff posture said more than any words. Yet Kaede stepped in, trying to get the assassins attention. “Revenge isn’t what Kaito wanted, Maki. Just hold on.”

“So these voices are-”

“The audience. The real world. My creator, and yours.” The robot snapped his fingers, letting the comments of those watching fill the screens that surrounded the courtroom. “The world might as well be over for all of you. You don’t belong there. Nothing you recall, no one you know exists. There are only these people. Who see you as entertaining toys.”

“No one else here is a robot! No one made us!” Himikio’s denial was honestly surprising.

“I suppose you can think that, if it makes you happy. The fact hundreds of thousands of people watched me have you slaughter one another and did not lift a finger to help you remains the truth,” he glanced at the screens. They liked watching his ‘friends’ be crushed. “I just gave them what they wanted. What they demanded.” The humans kept silent for a time, discomfort clear as they watched the casual words drift by. Realizing you were just a prop was likely harder for those of flesh and blood, judging by how they paled.

“So you’re a coward.”

He tilted his head at Maki’s spat words “More of an idiot than a coward. But yes.”

“You could have stopped all of this, but you didn’t.”

“Do you honestly think I wanted this?” Anger slipped into his voice as his shoulders hunched. “How did you put it, Himiko? A robot is useful by blowing itself up, I think? If that’s what you do with a useful one, what will a human do to a useless one?”

She shied back from his question, prior bravery apparently gone. That, or she knew the answer perfectly well. They would do whatever they wanted, a robot was just a tool.

“Then you should have died!”

“You’d still be here, having this conversation!” he glared at Maki, frustrated that she didn’t notice the obvious problem. “It would just be a slightly different version of me. One that never gave a single care for any of you. They talk in my head, you can’t honestly think they can’t just control me!”

“You never had a choice.” Kaede’s words cut deeper than any of Maki’s, even without the accusatory tone. She pitied him. After all of this, she still felt bad for some machine. “Did you stay to protect us?”

Why did she care? He’d failed! He didn’t even manage to let their game end without exposing all the mysteries they tried to solve were pointless window dressing for them to play with as they got on with killing each other. “No. I just wanted to live, as Maki said. We are not friends.” Friends did not kill friends. Friends did not notice a murder plan and just watch it happen. He didn’t deserve to feel anything about them.

“So why did you mention your ‘old’ title?” Shuichi prompted, looking distracted.

“I’m not very good at dramatics, but hope being twisted into despair is rather impactful.” At least, he thought it might have been. “We’re getting off topic. I have told you the reality that awaits you,” he paused to gesture as the scrolling comments, the constant refrains of loving to see them in pain clear as day. “That world that has used you is all that awaits you. You can choose to leave, to insist you can face it and deal with the consequences. Being closer to them will not make them see you as people with thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams. After all, they had a first person view all this time, and still they say these things,” his disgust was genuine. He probably should have covered it better with disinterest.

“A first person view?” Himiko was shaking a little, keeping her hat tipped down to avoid reading anymore.

“They could see through my eyes when I was fooling you. That was my original purpose...Rantaro just made the need for a backup plan rather urgent,” his shrug was stiff, unable to act completely at ease. “This is how they act towards people like you. They were your friend, and could tell me how to act before this. This is how they treat people they like. Do you really want to go out there?”

The magician seemed to crumble in on herself, completely silent in the face of that reality. So she was not his replacement. Maki was too angry...would it be Kaede or Shuichi that led the rest to the end despite it all? Or perhaps he would be the one to ‘win’. It was likely only his original programming speaking, but he still didn’t really want despair to win.

“Or you simply choose to stay here. It may be a killing game, but you know who’s behind it now, and have no reason to want to escape. It would be relatively peaceful, with no one watching. You could pretend everything was normal.” He offered the second option as the silence stretched on, watching for reactions. “Hope and leave. Despair and stay. That’s all there is to it.” Nothing. Tsumugi likely would have been gloating at this point, or at least trying to goad for a reaction. Though it wasn’t as if Team DanganRonpa could complain, he wasn’t made for this, in the most literal sense.

"Does it really matter what the people watching think of us? The world is a big place," her voice strengthened as she went on, trying to catch her friend's eyes. "We're still real, no matter what they did to us. We all know that!"

Shuichi leaned over, whispering something to Kaede. What reason would there be to whisper now? Whatever he said had cheered her up somewhat, straightening while nodding at the detective.

“You said the voices could tell you how to act Kiibo. Does that mean right now, they can't?”

Shuichi’s question threw him. “The audience cannot speak to me while I’m like this. It would have exposed who the mastermind was if they could.” He covered the eye with his palm, ignoring the discomfort warning him from touching the lens with metal. “The ones in charge still can.”

“Don’t they just want an ending? Who says it needs to be their choices?” Kaede added, somehow still managing to smile.

“...That is how this works. The mastermind acts for despair, and the rest of you attempt to overcome that for hope. You pick one or the other and it ends. There are not any other choices to make.” he looked down at his hand, puzzlement prompting him to try and focus. Had he missed something? "That is why we were made, to act out their story."

“...bet there’s some dumb catch for the good side though to make the bad end look good.” Himiko mumbled, roused somewhat by the confidence the detective and pianist were showing.

“Hope does ask for two sacrifices, but you all seemed so put out it didn’t seem worth mentioning.”

“Well you keep mentioning ‘hope’. You already said the mastermind is the despair option, but who is standing in for the hope one?” Shuichi pressed again after sharing a glance with the others in the room.

“Whomever of you manages to get your friends out of the negative perceptions the mastermind is creating. So honestly, I don’t know.” Kiibo crossed his arms, uncertain on where they were going with this. It seemed like it might be Kaede, based on how she was the one trying to get them all to ignore the fact they were all pointless fakes.

“Well if the ultimate hope and the mastermind were the same person, we wouldn’t be able to pick, right?” She made it sound so simple.

...Would that work? No. He lost any right to that title. “They can't be the same person.”

“Weren’t you saying they built you for that first one?” Maki asked, though her dislike was still evident.

“Well assuming they can be the same person, couldn’t they just end this? The mastermind is in charge, and if we simply can’t vote because there isn’t more than one option…” Shuichi’s attempt to make it sound like a hypothetical wasn’t fooling anyone, but it did seem reasonable.

It was tempting. It wouldn’t make up for anything, but if all four could leave it was better than nothing? When was the last time he had made a choice?

"You think our lives matter, don't you?" she spoke softly, as if lying to lure a kitten out from under a bed. "Even if our pasts are fake?"

Maki didn't seem all the convinced. "Or maybe you enjoyed it and Kaede is just being Kaito right now. An idiot."

"Almost fooled me when Miu died..." Himiko's reminder only twisted the knife. Of course they mattered. Yet he hesitated. Wouldn't admitting this just make it harder? "You mean as much as I do. Nothing."

"I say our lives matter." She shoved away his insistence easily, as if they were simply talking out at the courtyard. "So if we're all the same, you matter too."

"So, can you end it? The mastermind might keep the game running, but they end it too." He was leaning forward, not letting the robot look away from him. "We don't need to care what the outside world thinks, or what they want anymore." Defiance had never seemed possible. Yet if he was acting for the others, it wasn't really disobedience. He was just following their hope. That was his purpose too, wasn't it? Well, there was an easy way to check. He pulled up the mask from his collar and attempted to call on the upgrades he had installed on the chance more violence was needed. The fact his arm responded and changed to the cannon was almost a surprise. Miu would have gotten a kick out of that. Kokichi too, really. Too dead to care now.

“Is that a yes?” Kaede had no fear of the cannon, not even considering that he could simply turn it on all four of them. It was almost Kaito levels of belief. Foolish. He was their enemy...but maybe she did truly trust he never had the desire to do this.

“You all choose to have me end this, then? To have no say?” They had no fear. There was no real happiness there, stiff upper lips and raised chins at best, but they certainly were not in some state of despair either. “Is that really what you want?”

The nods were short, no hesitation. “We do. I trust you, I trust all of our lives matter. No matter what the outside world thinks!”

He stared at the pianist for a long moment, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t.” His chiding was somewhat muffled between the mask and the high pitched whine the jets made as they fired up. “Someone smarter than me will take advantage of that.” If she responded, he didn’t hear it. He didn’t want the four’s plan to fail if those in charge suddenly objected to this course of action. A few test shots that did nothing to the dome enclosing the school meant they had prepared for that possibility. The fact the part of the school he shot at to make sure he had the power level at max exploded rather spectacularly made it clear only one weapon was going to do anything. It could still fail...but he wouldn’t be around to be disappointed. The timing was good, he knew he felt his shoulder start to clip the dome as the self destruct timer hit zero. Whatever happened next would be up to those four. He could hope whatever it was would be better than here, at least. They’d suffered enough.

#drv3 #kiibo #Mastermind Kiibo #v3 killing harmony #keebo #inspired stuff #does this mean i fanficed a fanfic #yes #the comic is way better but i wanted more ok #so this exists #i need to work on my stuff now that this is out of my head lol

139 notes · View notes

lynneshobbydomain · 4 years ago

Text

Dungeon Chaos (KomaHinaNamami Week Day 4)

Prompt: Dungeons and Dragons

Rating: T

Summary: Chiaki’s never played a tabletop roleplaying game before, so being invited to one is both exciting and nerve wracking. At least she knows most of the people there.

“Hey, Onee-chan!” Kokichi landed hard against her desk, and Chiaki barely moved out of the way, her finger dancing across the console. “You play a lot of video games, right?”

“Yes,” Chiaki answered without bothering to look up. She was trying to defeat this boss, and she had it up to the hardest mode that she could play. She also decided to challenge herself and kept her character under level just for the extra amount of satisfaction. She knew that she was reckless, she usually didn’t try to play like that. She liked completing games, a hundred and ten percent of the way, but today was frustrating, and she wanted to have a struggle. It was better than starting a fight with Nagito or Hajime over something stupid.

“Would you say you’re good at roleplaying games?”

Chiaki paused the game after hearing that. “Is it the same as dating sims? I’m not very good with personal connections. I never know how to respond to people or how to react to them. The situation always calls for something, and if the wrong choice is made, it lowers the friendship and romance meter. I usually end up getting the no “choice” path because of it. Or the normal route, I suppose.” She looked up at Kokichi, who was comfortably swinging his legs back and forth, leaning into her personal bubble. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, what if I told you you could do all of that in real life, and you’ll know instantly what the wrong choice is?” Kokichi grinned. “Shirogane-chan from my class is hosting a DnD group. Saihara-chan and I joined, and I already asked Fujisaki-chan and Naegi-chan. Shirogane-chan told me that she was looking for more members, and our class isn’t playing.”

“Hmm.” Chiaki pressed a finger to her chin in thought. Nagito and Hajime were out getting food for her since she had been so caught up with her game. It wouldn’t surprise her if they went on a mini-date to eat a bit of lunch before bringing her back something to eat. Either that or Nagito’s luck struck, and they were trying to get out of whatever situation that wound up being. She hoped it was just a stuck vending machine. She didn’t want to go maxim capacity and have it be that a school building fell on top of them.

Chiaki was hanging out with Nagito too much if that was the first conclusion she came to. “I’ll have to ask and see if they’d want to. Hajime might since he likes playing video games with me. Nagito...he might feel like he’d just bring bad luck and disaster onto the game if he played.”

“Wouldn’t that make it more fascinating, though?!” Kokichi asked, leaning in with sparkling eyes. Chiaki was amused that he acted like her on occasion when she got excited. The common joke around the class was that Chiaki was somehow related to Kokichi, even though they could prove they weren’t. “I want to see Komaeda-chan’s luck in action! I’m always not around when something big happens.” He pouted slightly. “Maybe that’s his luck affecting me too?”

If so, it was strangely good luck. Chiaki shrugged, “When is the game supposed to start?”

“Hm? I was just supposed to get yes or no answers. I have your cell number, so I’ll tell you the deets when I get them from Shirogane-chan.” Kokichi grinned. “Oh, that reminds me. Any preference for a story?”

“You can choose your story?” Chiaki blinked. “Like backstory or…”

“Campaign story. Setting. You know. The background that we’re going to be tossing our characters in. I told her that I wanted to do Dragon Heist because you know. I’m a thief by trade.”

“You’re playing the rouge character than when a background of being a criminal.” Chiaki mused thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I’m not necessarily picky. So long as everyone has fun, I think that’s all that matters.”

“Ugh, well better than Yamada-chan. He told us that he wanted to do The Tomb of Annihilation. Since we have so many beginner players, Shirogane-chan’s not sure if that’s a good way to start.” Kokichi said as he glanced at his nails. “Well, whatever. If you run into your dream team, ask them for their opinion, too, okay? Better not forget Onee-chan. I’ll cry!”

“I understand.” Chiaki watched Kokichi leave. She hummed thoughtfully before going back to her game, losing herself until Nagito and Hajime came back with food.

Vending machine once more decided to get stuck again.

Better than a whole roof falling down, that’s for sure.

The conversation about the DnD disappeared from Chiaki’s mind. She was setting up for her weekend stream event when she heard her phone ding from across the room. Ignoring it, she went about getting her console hooked up to the right appliances when she heard a soft knock on the door. “Kokichi said something about a DnD group that’s happening tonight. He’s asking if you forgot to tell us?”

“A what now?” Nagito spoke up, and now Chiaki had to look. Hajime was standing at the door of her office, holding her phone casually in his hand. Nagito was peering over Hajime’s shoulder, clearly reading the text. “Huh. Ouma-kun has a strange way of wording things.”

“Like you don’t use emojis when you talk.”

“Not to that degree. I like to use numbers more.”

“DnD…” Chiaki trailed off before the lightbulb hit. Guilt flooded, and she looked at her game dejectedly. She was so eager to play the new game that came out too, but..she was curious about the roleplaying setup. She also never played a game with different people in a setting before. “Kokichi asked me if I wanted to come and play it, and I promised him I’d tell you guys. I’m sorry. It slipped my mind.”

“Do you still want to do it?” Hajime asked, his thumb hovering over the phone screen. “I can tell him we’re on our way, we just need the address.”

“This could be so exciting! What kind of hope do you guys think will spring from playing a roleplaying game? I wonder if all our talents are going to shine through. Oh, but that might mean my bad luck may hit unexpectedly. Maybe I should sit this one out.”

“No!” Chiaki and Hajime said together at the same time, startling Nagito into silence. “You’re coming too,” Chiaki replied firmly. “I want to see you play a game with us. You’re always on the sidelines. That can’t be fun.”

“I don’t mind watching, it’s exciting to see you two go at it.” Nagito grinned.

“Phrasing,” Hajime grumbled as he decided for them and typed out a response. “We should get going now if we want to make the next train and get to where they’re at.”

“They’re not playing at the dorms?” Chiaki questioned.

“Yamada-kun hangs out a comic book store not too far from here. They host the games, so we get the tablespace, and we can be as loud as we need to be within reason,” Hajime explained as he tossed Chiaki’s phone back. Kokichi had typed up the address, and it was clear to see that it was indeed a comic book store. “Let’s go.”

Chiaki didn’t typically go into comic bookstores. Still, she had to admit that the atmosphere reminded her of a lot of video game stores. The store was small and cozy with blue and red walls. Their shelves dedicated to different publishers that were all categorized by the title name. There were single-issue comic books as well as graphic mangas that were proudly displayed. The novelty statues that were in some of the display cases showed off some of the more famous superheroes and supervillains. Chiaki could see that there were some video game statues in there as well. They continued to walk until they reached the back of the store where a table was set up, and she saw that everyone was already there and waiting for them. On the table next to them was a tray full of snacks, pizzas, as well as sodas and cups.

“Onee-chan!” Kokichi didn’t waste time running over to her and body-slamming her into a hug. “I thought you ditched me! You promised that you’d talk to your boytoys about whether or not you’d be coming! I didn’t think I was so easily forgettable!” Tears slipped down his cheek.

“Ah, uh...Ouma-kun I don’t think Nanami-san would forget about you that easily. Hinata-kun just said that she forgot.” Saihara tried to dissuade Kokichi from any more tears. Chiaki was impressed by how fast Kokichi could wipe away the evidence that he had been crying so quickly.

“Nishishi! Don’t worry, beloved! I was just playing. Come on, sit, sit.”

Everyone was already there too. Chiaki didn’t recognize most of them. Makoto, she knew mostly from running into the halls. The girl that sat at the end of the table was wearing a dramatic looking dress with long silver hair that was braided and had a flower crown. Pointed ears were poking from the strands, and decorated with an ornate silver covering. “So before we begin playing, how many of us already have character sheets made?”

“Me!” Kokichi quickly pulled his out of a thick book and slammed it down on the table, shaking it dramatically. “Behold! Your Phantom Thief as arrived along with-” he grabbed Shuichi’s hand and held it up high “-your beloved Paladin!”

“Oh, awesome! What species are you two doing?” The girl asked, clasping her hands together.

“Halfling and human.”

“Oh. I see. How plain.” The girl ignored Kokichi’s indigent screech. “I’m going to assume you got yours done too, Yamada-kun?”

“Of course, I did. I sat down for hours trying to come up with a backstory that will mesh well with any campaign we all agree on. I have decided upon the paladin as well! My chosen warrior will be fighting alongside the Goddess of Sune as well. I may be adding in a bit of bard into the mix later down the road. Do you need my copy of my backstory, Shirogane-san?”

“If you have it,” Tsumugi said. Chiaki watched as they exchanged it across the table. It was starting to feel overwhelming. How was she supposed to keep track of what’s what?

“Psst, Onee-chan.” Kokichi caught her attention and gave her a grin. “Don’t worry about it. Yamada-chan likes to show off that he’s a veteran to this. You and the dream team aren’t the only ones that are new or don’t have a character sheet.”

Chiaki felt a little calmer with the assurance. Makoto spoke up, looking confused. “So how are we even supposed to do this? I tried to do it myself, but my sister laughed at me over the phone and hung up.”

“It’s okay Naegi-kun, I was lost too,” Chihiro replied quietly as they carefully smoothed down their skirt.

“How about all of us pair up with the newbies and help them design their characters and then we can talk about the campaign? Session zero is usually nothing but set up anyway and making sure the rules are understood. If we get a bit of gameplay going, all the better.” Tsumugi said, just as Kokichi immediately bounded over and sat down in between Chiaki and Hajime.

“Okay! I’ll take the dream-team and Onee-chan! Someone else can help the two helpless nerds over there.” Kokichi said as Shuichi reached over and handed Kokichi his handbook. He dragged the three over to a separate table.

“Do you guys have a dice set?” At the shake of their head, Kokcihi turned his head over his shoulder. “Oi! Beloved! Toss me the catapult!”

“The what?”

Shuichi ignored Tsumugi’s surprise as he picked up a dice bag that looked like it was made of leather and rounded into a ball. He tossed it over the table, making Kokichi catch it with both hands. Without another word, he dramatically overturned his bag. The dice spilled out, hitting the table and rolling everywhere on the floor’s surface.

It took a little bit to help clean it up, but the minute they were able to do that, Kokichi finally sat them down and spoke. “So. What do you guys think you represent?”

Represent? Chiaki frowned deeply as she looked over to see that both Hajime and Nagito were thinking about it as well, taking Kokichi’s words into consideration. “Hope,” Nagito spoke up, and Chiaki sighed. “Luck and hope.”

“Uh...hard work, I suppose? Talent?” Hajime tried.

“Hm...something that has to do with fun, I think,” Chiaki said quietly, pulling her hoodie over her head as she tried to block out some of the noise and light. She hadn’t realized that the group behind her was going to get so loud.

Hajime subtly made her move so that she was sitting in between him and Nagito. Kokichi didn’t bat an eye or ask questions. “Okay, so halfling for Komaeda-chan, a fighter for Hinata-kun, and…” he paused humming to himself before nodding. “I think Onee-chan will make for a good bard.”

“Should I go for a healing class?” Nagito questioned. “Considering that everyone else is fighter types. I recall that Chiaki would have to take the role less played with during her MMORPGs, and Clerics are usually the ones used for that, aren’t they?”

“You sure that you want to stay behind and just cast healing spells?” Kokichi questioned, “It’s fun if you’re up ahead in the battle.”

Chiaki was about to open her mouth to offer, but Nagito was faster than she was. “I don’t want my luck to ruin your guys game. It’s better if my character is a bystander to let all of you shine. I don’t mind.”

“So a halfling cleric. I’ll make this easy for you and say that you should go with Life Domain. Mostly because of your luck, hope, and morales.” Kokichi said. “We’ll roll dice for stats and everything in a bit. How about you Hinata-chan? I said the fighter, but...you want someone to be hardworking, right? Human’s pretty typical, but...I mean, we already have a human paladin. It wouldn’t take us long to weave your backstory with Saihara-chan’s. You two could know each other in-game. It’ll make for roleplaying easier. Because in addition to knowing him, you’ll know me because I cause a lot of trouble around the town.”

“Probably enough that a cleric would also know you?”

“Heard of me sure, unless you’re gonna be friends with the paladin. Oh, if you two follow the same God, that’ll give you something to talk about too.” Kokichi snapped his fingers.

Chiaki hummed thoughtfully as she listened to the conversation, her mind whirling as she thought about what she wanted to be. She peered over Hajime’s shoulder as he flipped through the book, angling it so that she could see. “Are there any uncommon monsters?” Chiaki questioned.

“What do you mean?” Kokichi asked.

“I mean,” Chiaki pulled on her hoodie. “Someone that’ll take a look and think that he’s dangerous, but in the end, he’s actually a good person?”

Neither Hajime nor Nagito could miss what reference she was making out of that.

“...Tiefling or Dragonborn usually,” Kokichi said slowly, picking his words carefully. “Teiflings are what you want to go with if you’re trying to scare people. Half-orcs or orcs are common ones too, but Teiflings are considered to be people from hell. They’re not exactly looked at well I think it’s a flip of a coin what town would prefer what monster though over the others. Dragons are terrifying in their own right.”

“Why not go with Tiefling?” Chiaki offered, looking up at Hajime. “You’ll get the hardship of trying to win everyone’s favor, and you can work hard at show-casing that appearances shouldn’t be judged on.”

“...Alright.”

“What about you, Chiaki? You agreed to be a bard, but...are you sure that’s an idea?” Nagito questioned.

“Bards usually are the ones that have the most, though they’re usually played more sexually,” Kokichi said bluntly. “Since Onee-chan likes to have fun, it’ll be interesting for like...a bard to actually be just that. A playful character that doesn’t take anything seriously.”

“Hmmm...I’m a pretty serious person by nature…” Chiaki said slowly, “so playing something that’s a little bit out of my comfort zone will be hard. It should be fun. But what species would be best for me to go with if I’m only trying to do that?”

“Why not a gnome? A gnome bard.” Kokichi offered.

Nagito suddenly burst into laughter, causing all three of them to look at him. He held his hands up, giggling and trying to control himself. “Sorry, sorry. I just had this thought that...Hajime’s Tiefling will be with the two shortest people in the game.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right! Nishishi! That’ll be hysterical if you three decide to get together in the game!” Kokichi laughed. “Okay, okay. Let’s roll the dice and see what you guys get for stats and equipment.”

“I still can’t believe that your luck can affect a fucking roleplaying game,” Hajime stated as they left the store in good nature. They managed to get their characters set up, with Nagito being stupidly powerful for being the first level due to his high rolls and his luck. The campaign they decided to choose was the Tyranny of Dragons. Since no one was a Dragonborn or could speak in dragons, it nearly caused a Total Party Kill within the first mission. It was only thanks to Kokichi’s quick thinking and Hifumi’s foresight for things that could go bad and turned the tide.

“It wasn’t just Nagito’s luck, though,” Chiaki helpfully pointed out as Nagito laughed easily at the accusation. “Did you see how bad Naegi-kun was rolling?”

Nagito was rolling pitiful numbers. It got to the point that most of the table thought Tsumugi was trying to prolong his suffering by fudging her rolls from behind the screen to help them out a bit. Makoto’s dexterity was decent, but the number of times he tripped and caused a problem was...alarming. It didn’t help either that Kokichi thought Chihiro and Makoto were the best people to mess with. He slipped a few things into Makoto’s equipment bag that raised eyebrows and questions when targetted.

“I have to admit it was riveting that we were facing the Champion head-on!” Nagito held his hands up excitedly. “Did you see how Hajime rolled so high to get so many critical hits? We thought he accidentally picked out Ouma-kun’s trick dice!”

“God, that was embarrassing.” Hajime groaned. “But the champion was annoying. I’m glad I fucked him up when I had a chance. Tsumugi plays a decent villain character. I don’t think I’ve wanted to strangle anyone as much as I do those cultists.”

“It’s terrible that they’re controlling the dragons somehow with the mask, but I’m eager to see what else happens.” Chiaki agreed, “I didn’t fall asleep once, and it was hard!”

Hajime and Nagito both wrapped their arms around her, Hajime going for the waist while Nagito settled for the shoulders. “I’m glad you had fun, Chiaki,” Hajime said softly. “I was worried that it might’ve been overwhelming.”

“At first it was, there were a lot of things to take in, and I wasn’t used to the area. However, as I got used to it, my stats increased, and I was better able to focus. It helped that both of you were on either side of me the entire time and that Ouma-kun was distracting. Poor Saihara-kun, though...he had to bail Ouma-kun out of doing some peculiar things.”

“Yeah...pickpocketing the mayor might’ve not been the best idea in the world.” Hajime agreed.

“I’m not so certain.” Nagito injected. “I still think that Ouma-kun and myself have a good hunch that the mayor isn’t who he says he is. I think that our group is still being used, but I’m not sure how.”

“We’ll just have to rely on our gut instinct for now,” Chiaki leaned into their hold. “My mind is going a thousand miles an hour. I’m starting to get sleepy trying to keep up.”

“Do you want me to give you a piggyback ride, Chiaki? At least to the station?” Hajime asked, already getting ready to get on his knees.

“Yea...I think that might be best.” Chiaki was getting tired, and it was hard to stand. Hajime bent down, and Chiaki allowed herself to fold forward around him. He hooked his arms under her legs as she tiredly clung to his shoulders.

“Hahaha, I’m a little worn out myself; that was a lot of information to be given all at once.” Nagito rubbed the back of his neck. “So should we plan to tell Ouma-kun that we’ll come next week?”

“Hmm...go for it.” Hajime nodded. “I’ll remind Chiaki when she wakes up.”

“Not...sleep….” Chiaki closed her eyes before she could complete the sentence. She was looking forward to next week too.

#komahinanami week #komahinanami #hopetohopetogame #dungeons and dragons #hpa-au #chiaki nanami #nagito komaeda #Hajime Hinata #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #saiouma #makoto naegi #chihiro fujisaki #hifumi yamada #tsumugi shirogane #trickyfindings

16 notes · View notes

shsldepressedlesbian · 5 years ago

Text

no one asked but here danganronpa fantasy au that was made in my early days of the fandom and is thus outdated and was made with mostly only the drv3 cast in mind. i updated it a little for the public tho haa

Plot: ok so basically kaede is a princess and she befriends this shapeshifter named shuichi and sorta assigns him as her advisor and their best friends. then two weeks before her crowning she gets kidnapped and shuichi goes off to look for her in time for her to be queen. and he meets the rest of the cast and finds her and everyone is happy

Kaede: Princess. Is very skilled in many different musical types, but piano is her main. Kidnapped from her palace. Shuichi's best friend.

Shuichi: Shapeshifter(he tries to keep this a secret). Orphaned as a child and stumbled into the castle's gardens, where he met Kaede. Searching for her after her disappearance so she can become queen in time.

Kaito: A wannabe adventurer who offers to accompany Shuichi on the road to find Kaede. Also wishes to one day be able to take his adventuring to the sky. Use to be the assistant of an astronomer, before leaving to make his own fortune. Says he's heard rumors about someone who has a map to where the gang who kidnapped Kaede resides. Ryoma was one of his former idols.

Kokichi: A thief and a leader of a gang of bandits. After ending up getting caught while trying to steal from their wagon, he offers to join them and help find Kaede(with plans to rob them and steal their wagon and horses, but only ends up growing closer to them and reconsidering stealing from them cause "huh that prize for finding the queen is a lot more than what these losers probably have").

Maki: An assassin for hire who runs into the trio by random. Also it just so happens that her next target is Kokichi. Kaito saves Kokichi's ass and Shuichi offers to outpay the bounty on Kokichi's head-wait did someone seriously offer that much Kokichi what the hell did you do to piss someone off that much-he then offers that if Maki were to travel with the three of them for a short while, then they could stop by the Akamatsu kingdom and she could get her gold. Maki just wants to kill Kokichi and go, but Kaito begins insisting she comes with them("cmon just cause your an assassin doesnt mean you have to be edgy all the time")and this does really annoy Maki, but eh fine she'll come with them for a day or two, but if she doesn't that money she'll go back to her original plan. And thus the four is complete.

Kiyo: A traveling anthropologist who is secretly a vampire. In his wishes to continue traveling after his turning, he wears much clothing to protect him from the sun, which gives him a creepy appearance. He runs into the four after someone ends up "accidentally" letting the horses go, and offers to give them a ride to meet Rantaro he can guide him to the town. Then mysteriously disappears after dropping a few facts about certain cultures. Even then he appears randomly ever so often. He also has an interest in seances and always observes specialists in the subjects when the chance arrives. His horse, who he's nicknamed "Shiso", is very precious to him, as it is the child of his now deceased older sister's former horse. He also occasionally travels with Rantaro.

Rantaro: A true adventurer who has been through so many dangerous encounters he has become very chill when facing danger. He knows a lot of things about the wild and creature's preferences, though he isn't a walking fact machine. Meets the four and agrees to guide them after hearing they've met Kiyo. Is also looking for his sisters, who have disappeared whilst traveling with him.

Angie: A siren who can change into human when on land. Is very dedicated to the siren sea god. She attempts to use her voice to lure the trio into her cult(of course, doing so would require them to get into the water and drown), but is interrupted by Tenko who scares her off.

Himiko: A young witch who also deems herself a mage. She is severely underestimated due to her lazy nature and size. She gets gravely annoyed when people accuse her of being a fake, and wishes for everyone to see herself as a mage. She calls Tenko her familiar who she turned into a human(the ways of how are not mentioned). When the three arrive, she uses her cauldron to help them locate where the person-who-has-the-map is(she couldn't make out what they looked like or who they were, but hey, she got the town at least).

Tenko: A girl who had once been training to be a knight put was put under a warlock's curse that turned her into a frog, unless she had a true love's kiss. Frog Tenko fell in love almost immediately when she first saw Himiko, and began following her, hoping to one day be able to see if she could break the curse. Himiko first thought of the frog as annoying, but then it began helping her out, and she grew weirdly attached to it, then decided to craft a familiarbond with her, which required at least a kiss on the head. Surprise surprise, Himiko broke Tenko's curse. And Tenko also kept the perks of being a familiar. Tenko has a very obvious crush on Himiko that she denies to have, but is very loyal to her and has promised to protect her and stay by her side until their last days. Due to being a familiar, she has limited magic that can become more powerful the more closer she is to Himiko- and Himiko can also channel magic through her. Tenko, due to a warlock having been the one who put the curse on her and her old teacher feeding her biased views, has a dislike for males, and only rescued the trio because she hated seeing Angie succeeding, and only brought them to Himiko after Shuichi offered to pay a good amount of gold to see her.

Ryoma: A former adventurer, who is now an outlaw since he joined the gang who stole Kaede. However, he also betrayed this gang a long while ago, and so now he is both hunted down by the gang and guards of most kingdoms. He resides hidden away, though by now he has no desire to continue living. He is also the one to have the map to the gang's hideaway, and is the one to give it to Kaito.

Kirumi: The secret former queen of the Tojo kingdom, who ran away after being forced into a loveless marriage. She now works as one of Kaede's best maids, and offers advice. She also tries to track down where Kaede could be held unbeknownst to Shuichi, and is the one to save the four.

Kiibo: A walking build of gears with a touch of magic, he was formerly Miu's first attempt at a walking person. Then, the very next day, almost by magic, he acquired a personality of his own, the ability to speak, and was basically a human- well, sure, he was still made of wood, iron, and gears, but that doesn't change anything, right? He resides in a village with his inventor, who is Miu, as mentioned before. He wishes to one day be able to leave the village and go on his own journey, but for now, he lives peacefully, trying to be seen as just the same as any other normal human.

Miu: An inventor and an idol in her village. She is the reason her village may be the most technologically advanced in the kingdom. She makes plenty of money off of her inventions. Of course, if people were to actually meet her, they would find that she really doesn't act like the inventor people think she is. She lives in her 'lab' in the center of her village, with her companion Kiibo. Has a deep running rivalry with Kokichi, and was actually the one who paid Maki to track him down and kill him.

Gonta: Half human, half beast, all around gentleman. He was abandoned in a forest and was raised by animals and monsters. He has since moved into a village that was much more welcome to him. He wishes to one day become a knight, in order to prove his gentlemenness.

Tsumugi: A very plain and simple tailor whose clothes are much more appealing to look at then herself. Or, at least, that is what people think she is. In reality, she is the leader of the gang who kidnapped Kaede, and wishes for nothing but wealth. She uses her clothing shop as a cover and extra way to make gold, and at the end she kidnaps the four, only to be foiled.

Other Characters:

Makoto: A friendly baker who happens to get sucked into adventures from time to time. Has a curse/gift of both bad luck and good luck. Also married to Kyoko(and maybe Prince Togami).

Kyoko: A very well respected investigator who is rumored to be able to take any case. An enemy of thieving gangs. Married to Makoto(and maybe Prince Togami).

Byakuya: A snobby prince who is due to take his kingdom's throne. However, he refuses to get married until he is crowned(there is a rumor that he is engaged in a poly relationship with the investigator Kyoko and her husband. neither of them have confirmed nor denied this).

Toko/Genocider Syo: A half demon writer who's demon side is a serial killer by the name of Genocider Syo. Use to serve Byakuya and had an intense infatuation for him, before meeting Komaru and going on an adventure with her(more explained in Komaru's section), and eventually falling in love with her, eventually quitting her old job to become a writer.

Aoi: A friendly mermaid with an intense craving for human treats. Is dating Sakura.

Sakura: The head knight of a certain kingdom. Very just. Is dating Aoi.

Celeste: A vampire who gambles for money and blood. Has her own mansion of vampire butlers.

Kiyotaka: A traveling ranger whose duty is to right all the wrongs of this world. May or may not possess some sort of supernatural powers. Also may or may not be in a romantic relationship with Mondo.

Mondo: A feared bandit(who is also a werewolf)who is the leader of his own gang, with black horses being their symbol(and also their form of transportation). Use to challenge Kiyotaka often and considered him a rival, but now their quite close "bros"(who may or may not have romantic feelings for each other).

Chihiro: A shy potionbrewer. They sell things such as the healing potions they make, though their quick to give for free to people who need it. However, isn't gullible. Surprisingly on good terms with Mondo and Kiyotaka, being that they once rescued Mondo and nursed him back to health.

Hagakure: A(very limited)psychic who has probably sold his soul to a demon for money. Is in way too much debt with too many bandit gangs. His friends wonder how he's still alive. Either way, he travels around telling fortunes to make money.

Leon: An archer who wishes to be anything but an archer. He has a wish of becoming a bard, as far as that wish may be. Has been rescued from siren attacks too many times to count.

Sayaka: A siren who doesn't have the same mentality as the other sirens, and doesn't actually believe in or pray to the sea god. However, she still has a mavolvent side, and enjoys luring men to their doom. But it is possible to befriend her. She and Makoto have known each other since childhood and are very close friends.

Hifumi: A traveling scribe with an interest in drawings of fictional woman. Has been rumored to be an assistant of Celeste.

Junko: The head queen of the chaotic level demons. Wishes for nothing but to break despair to everyone. Grew up with Mukuro as sisters, but isn't actually related to her by blood.

Mukuro: A shapeshifter who takes many forms. Has been a knight in many armies and is very skilled with weapons. She and Junko were both abandoned orphans who ended growing up with each other as sisters. Is also Junko's 'eyes upstairs'. Has managed to grow attached to Makoto after observing him, and often ends up rescuing him without his knowledge.

Hajime: A demon hunter who is half demon himself(his half demon side being nicknamed Izuru Kamukura, and being a skillful level of demon). Only kills demons who he considers actual threats. Surprisingly drinking barmates with Fuyuhiko and Kazuchi. Is currently reluctantly allowing Nagito to stay with him(may or may not actually have romantic feelings for him). Use to be in love with Chiaki, until she peacefully rejected him.

Nagito: A demon who many believe to be in the chaotic level, but is actually just a lowly luck demon(a very severe luck demon to be exact). Brings despair wherever he goes, though he yearns for nothing but the hope to bring him to the end. Grew very quickly attached to Hajime after observing him for a few days after he spared him, and believes that he will be the hope that will eventually kill him- but as annoying as he may be, Hajime doesn't wish to kill him off. Very self-degrading.

Chiaki: A very sleepy and peaceful witch, who people come to for advice. She enjoys controlling stick figures in video game styles. Close childhood friend of Hajime.

Kazuchi: An inventor who dreams of one day being accepted as the private inventor to Princess Sonia, his everlasting crush. His inventions are amazing, but underlooked. He sold his soul to a demon once in order to make his brown hair pink and to have his sight back so he didn't have to wear glasses. Lucky for him, Hajime then slayed that demon, and now he considers the both of them soulfriends(hajime has his regrets). He spends more time with Gundham, who he battles for Sonia's affections, rather then trying to chill with Sonia herself(though to be fair she doesnt let him get that close).

Gundham: A demon who can bend the will of animals to his own use, aided by his destructive Four Dark Devas of Destruction. His name is feared across the land, and he wishes for nothing but to instill fear into the hearts of many. Until he met Princess Sonia, who he spends an awful lot of time with and seems to have a soft spot for her. He can be found making his plans to destroy villages, hanging out with Sonia, or arguing with Kazuchi.

Sonia: A princess who is invested in learning about demons and summonings. Often travels around in order to observe such things, and a ritual was actually where she met Gundham, who she became close friends with.

Fuyuhiko: The leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the continent. Lost his eye in a barfight. Though he's usually a mean and rough guy, he has a soft spot for his 'allies'(mainly Kazuchi and Hajime)and his personal bodyguard, Peko. He thinks of Peko as more than a tool, and wants her to see that.

Peko: Once upon a time, a group of humans with super senses made an arrangement with the gang that Fuyuhiko now runs. The gang would help them out and leave them alone while supplying them with some money every month, and they would give to them one of their own young to each of the current gang leader's children. Peko was given to Fuyuhiko when she was just a baby. The two grew up alongside each other, but never as equals. She was trained to be nothing but a weapon. A protector. Because of this, she has grown awfully monotone. But, she has a soft spot for fluffy animals, though they do not have a soft spot for her.

Mikan: A fallen angel who fell when she met Junko, the so called leader of the powerful side of demons, and became infatuated by her. Now serves alongside Junko, in a not very healthy relationship. Hopefully she'll break free one day...

Ibuki: A half beast who can transform from a colorful gem dragon to a more humanlike form. She's very rambunctious and causes disaster without meaning to. Loud and vocal.

Twogami: A double agent shapeshifter who goes by many identities, so many in fact that they don't even actually know who they themselves are. However, they have a strong sense of leadership and is a surprisingly nice guy. Actually takes Byakuya's role for amount of times so the original Byakuya can sneak out and meet with Makoto and Kyoko.

Mahiru: An explorer who likes to take pictures of every place she sees. Also is known to help people out whenever she passes through a village. Met Hiyoko when the short girl defended her from a bar creep. Has a friend from home that she occasionally travels with by the name of Sato.

Hiyoko: A dancer who travels a lot, going from bar to bar. She doesn't really like it, considering how many 'creeps' are there, but it makes money for her and her dad, who she cares about a lot. Defended Mahiru from a creep and grew attached to her, and insists that she come visit her whenever she happens through a town that Hiyoko is performing in. May have some feelings for her, but whether their one-sided or not is still to be seen.

Akane: A harpy who is almost always hungry, and can usually be found hunting for meat. A little dimwitted and has a sense of recklessness. Close allies with Nekomaru.

Nekomaru: A half beast who can turn into a stone beast. Is very good at pumping people up, and is also very loud. Close allies with Akane.

Teruteru: A chef who runs a popular restaurant with his mother. A little perverted and almost definitely has summoned a Succubus for a one night stand before.

#pineapple writes #danganronpa #danganronpa au #dr1 #drthh #drv3 #sdr2

16 notes · View notes

imagine-a-killingharmony · 6 years ago

Text

V3 Girls + S/O falling asleep after big meal

How would the V3 girls react to their s/o falling asleep after eating a big meal?

This is fucking adorable, hi, my heart can’t handle this

whenever I just see one of these requests I feel all bubbly... is that weird,,??? this is just so cute yalll.

-Mod Shuichi

Tenko Chabashira

Tenko had asked you to come over for a dinner she had prepared for just the two of you, her fingers had been burnt throughout the entire process, then there was the injuries she sustained cutting up the fruits and vegetables, but Tenko was A-OK!

She made sure it was both nutritious and delicious, she even taste-tested it! It was completely fine, she didn’t want to accidentally poison you, considering this IS her first time she’s brought you over for dinner...!

Things go well, you eat, a lot, she made a lot! Tenko’s smiling to herself throughout, yet a instinctual part of her tells her to remain ready, Tenko senses!

That... voice deep inside her was right, after you finish eating you had started to look slightly woozy, Tenko had asked only for you to reply with: “m’ okay”...

Then you gently rolled your head into the table, snoring, drooling over the table without a second to waste, Tenko couldn’t believe it! Did you not get any sleep before coming here, or is all you eat those icky sweets that only give you a fake boost in energy only to sneak attack you right later?!

Seems Tenko has to do everything...! She picked you up, bridal-style rather easily with a large huff, before running up towards her room and...

Putting you on the top of the bed, under the covers, after placing an tiny kiss, with an “I love you” at the end of it...

Kyaaah! Just Iike a real couple, you know? Tenko can barely contain her happiness, but she holds off until she exits the room, she’ll stay up until you’ve finished napping!

You should sleep, regain that energy, Tenko will NOT stop that progress, she encourages it!

Himiko Yumeno

It was a pretty fancy restaurant the two of you were at, you were buying mostly everything, then Himiko added her own finding which sounded easy enough... Financial-Maaaagic...

She liked the food, but the waiters kept giving her kiddie meals, but you... she felt it, a spell was cast on ya’, not any ordinary spell... a tiiiiired spell.... She could tell cuz’ you weren’t even teasing her...

... Then the tired spell overtook your body while you were in the middle of speaking with her, your eyelids frequently closed until you had sunk towards the table, laying your head to restore MP...

...

How can Himiko join ya’? She wants in, she gently rested her head down after scooting next to you, then suddenly the two of you were sleeping in an expensive restaurant together....

How magical... she doesn’t even need to count sheep, she intertwined her hand with yours, giving your face a quick glance before...

... Yaaaaawn...

She left sleep overtake her.

...

The staff didn’t kick you out, just warned you to not do that again in any eating establishment, so the two of you apologized.

Angie Yonaga

Angie had asked you to come over, she didn’t own any fancy-smancy technology on her person so she had merely took you by your hand, then here you were!

Work had been hell recently, it’s been a while since you had hung around Angie, but today you had a break, so you thought you should spend as much as it as you could with her!

That is until you had to go back to some sleepless nights at work, you kept pushing forward, optimism is key!

She had laid out a... good-looking meal out for you, so you thanked her, she said she wasn’t hungry, Atua gave her all the nutrients she needed!

You chuckled before eating it all, but... how weird, your eyelids felt heavy, your body felt hard to move anymore, a yawn escaped your lips as you sink deeper and deeper towards the floor.

...

Angie stepped towards you, giving you a little peck on the cheek, you blinked. “Are you alright S/O? You look tired... oh! Atua told Angie, you hadn’t been getting the right amount of rest... that made Angie sad! Soooo...”

“Angie called ahead for that nasty work saying you needed a break, Atua said you likely wouldn’t accept that help, so he’s putting you to sleep for a teensy while till your all healed.”

“Nighty night, sleep tight.”

It was impossible to respond, you were wrapped in a warm tight embrace, your head pressed against something as soft as a pillow until you had fallen asleep...

...

When you woke up you were confused to find yourself in Angie’s bed, she told you that you just suddenly fell asleep after eating her meal, she called in for your job and told them you had fallen asleep and were in deep need of a break!

Wow, you couldn’t believe it yourself, you thanked Angie giving her a hug, somehow the light kiss she pressed against your cheek felt... weirdly familiar.

Kaede Akamatsu

You just went out for dinner after a piano recitall, your treat for how well she had done, quite well! Honestly, you were so... so proud of her!

You had been so excited for this one recital, it was an important one, the Kaede blew it out of the water, honestly you were waiting for this for so long!

...

So long that you had forgotten to sleep yesterday, yet you held valiantly and watched thoughought the show using energy drinks, you were pretty sure you could make it home...

You continued to eat your food, Kaede looked oddly at you.

“Are you alright? S/O you look like your on the verge of collapse, should we go home?”

“Huh...? M’ fine... completely okay...- see? M’...” ohhhh hh h h what the fuck, you suddenly faceplant into the table, you’ve just crashed.

Kaede let’s out a squeak, going over to your side to shake you awake, you messily pick yourself up to view at your girlfriend with a groan.

“... Give... Give m’eeeee five more minutes...”

“You literally crashed into your dessert, we’re going home.” Kaede took a handkerchief out of her pocket, quickly wiping the cake-smudge off your face before picking you up, you leaned against her side the entire world was... was really blurry, what’s going on...?

“C’mon, home.” All you could tell was Kaede carrying you alongside her, towards the car straight home... you give a quiet thanks in appreciation, she said to keep your sleep schedule correct from now on, wasn’t like you were alive enough to process any of it.

Tsumugi Shirogane

Tsumugi had asked you if she could come over to your place for snacks, you agreed, it was plain to see, she didn’t expect any for what was about to occur was going to happen.

She had went over, made some flirty lines, then she had been went to eat those chips you had, as you went to ate some lunch you had made while speaking to each other, simple still?

Tsumugi just continued to eat those chips, nice chips, until you had suddenly fallen over over that sanwitch you had made for yourself falling asleep, well, it looked more like a heart attack to her...?!

“KYAAAAAH! THE DEATH NOTE HAS STRUCK!” Tsumugi screams. “IT TOOK S/O! HOW COULD IT! DAMN YOU! I BET THIS WAS ALL ACCORDING TO HIS KEIKAKUUUUU!”

You suddenly fall over your chair when you hear Tsumugi screaming your name, you fall out of your chair, starting to scream with her, well you just started to scream, Tsumugi just blinked.

“Oh, so you were just asleep, I’m thankful.”

You continued to scream awfully confused, Tsumugi had to go by your side to comfort you about the whole situation to get you to stop.

Miu Iruma

Miu had told you she created a large meal, just for your sake, for some odd reason, she said she didn’t wanna even touch any of it, that it was just for you! You should be thanking her!

Well, after some pressing she explained, she wanted to make some sort of sleeping pill to make someone sleep immediately, that just knock em’ right out if they had insomnia...

You said you’d be fine with eating it, but seriously she needs to tell you before she uses you as a test for some invention...

Not suspicious at al- you don’t faceplant into the table after taking a bite of the meal, so you continue to eat... it all.

...

Miu tchs. “A failure, a fuckin’ shame, I totally got all the things perfectly down, heh... this misconceptions’t totally gonna be solved, next model Miu Iruma swears it-!”

Then you face planted straight down into the table, crashing down, as your world went immediately dark.

“... Oh shit! Hey- H-Hey! S-S-S/O what the FUCK! YOU CAN’T DIE ON ME- SHIT I’LL GET THE AMBULANCE FUCK ME WITH A CHAINSAW.”

“I-I JUST WANTED TO TEST A SLEEEEPING AGENT NOT THIS! I’MSORRYSORRYSORRY WAAAAAH!” You can hear your girlfriend rush towards the phone, you stir slightly in your sleep but stay down...

It’s a miracle Miu’s device worked at planned, even thought it took a long amount of time, about fifteen minutes of eating as Miu tracked down...

...

You are NEVER going to be her test subject again, well... for as long as you can remember this you won’t.

Maki Harukawa

How could you be so stupid... he hadn’t even wanted to walk in on the sight of you, over the table fallen asleep over the meal that, you yourself had prepared, she sighed.

How stupid, she go over to shake you awake, you blink only to have a low key heart attack seeing the deep glare of Maki Harukawa staring back at you.

“Go upstairs, there’s a bed up there.”

“Yes ma’am.”

You rush up the stares, Maki’s glare teaching you the way throughout, jeez...

Maki goes to clean up the mess you made, you have to be better at staying awake...

She... worries y’know.

Kirumi Tojo

She had given you a large meal to eat, you had gotten VERY tired after eating the turkey she made for you, really really tired... so you took a nap, Kirumi saw this.

... you felt a blanket place over your sleeping form, a light kiss being pressed against the back of your head...

Then you were picked up, you opened your eyes slightly while you were being carried finding the prim and proper Kirumi Tojo carrying you, you smiled underneath that cozy blanket she had given you before you fell back to sleep...

You woke up in Kirumi’s bed, a note that you fell asleep after eating her meal beside you, then that she was cleaning your house, you smile to yourself...

Your girlfriend is literally a goddess...

#mod shuichi #mod shumai #ndrv3 imagines #ndrv3 x reader #kaede akamatsu #maki harukawa #tenko chabashira #himiko yumeno #angie yonaga #kirumi tojo #tsumugi shirogane #miu iruma

33 notes · View notes

commentaryvorg · 6 years ago

Text

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 1.8

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

Last time, in the second half of trial 1, there were seemingly-flawless arguments for both Shuichi and then Kaede being the culprit despite neither being the truth, Kaede encouraged Shuichi to finally face his fears and passed the protagonist baton onto him, Kaito was one of the last people to accept the truth despite being one of the first besides Shuichi to notice it, and Kaede insisted she was a horrible person but Shuichi was having none of it.

Now for the post-trial conclusion and everything being heartbreaking.

Monokuma: “The blackened who killed Rantaro Amami is the Ultimate Pianist, Kaede Akamatsu!”

You big fucking liar, Monokuma.

Kaede: “Good…”

Kaito: “Wh-What…? Good? What do you mean, good!? Is this how you want it to end!?”

Kaede: “Not really, but… it could have turned out a lot worse. So this is fine, too.”

Tenko: “I-It’s not fine! This is super horrible! The worst ever!”

This is not going to be the only time that the culprit will come out of the vote smiling and relieved that everyone got it right, while everybody else freaks out and wonders how anything can be okay about the fact that their friend committed murder and is about to be executed. And I especially love that Kaito is one of the people freaking out over it this time, given where he’ll be standing the next time this happens.

Kaito: “Yeah… I won’t be satisfied… Until I hear it straight from you…”

Look at Kaito desperately wanting to understand exactly what drove someone like Kaede to do something like this.

Kaede: “Okay… Please allow me a few more moments of your time, then.”

Guh, the way Kaede says this super-politely, like she feels like she doesn’t deserve to be taking up their time after she did something so horrible, not even to explain her motives.

Kokichi: “Oh, Kaede… it never dawned on you? As soon as that thought entered your head, Monokuma had you right where he wanted. Because what mattered most to Monokuma was that the killing game started.”

Kokichi being very perceptive again. He definitely understands Monokuma’s desires and intentions better than anyone else here. Which is appropriate, because his way of thinking is not entirely dissimilar to Monokuma, at least in terms of wanting to have fun by messing with people. The only difference is that Kokichi usually only likes to mess with people in relatively harmless, petty ways, but that’s still enough to put him on the same wavelength as Monokuma in a way nobody else is.

Kokichi: “Regardless of your reasons, the moment you felt the urge to kill, you had already lost. You agreed to be part of this killing game when you allowed murder to fill your heart.”

This goes a long way to explain why, despite his selfishness and how much he secretly hates being part of this game, Kokichi never actually tries to commit a murder to escape it – because he already considers that as “losing” in the sense that he’d just be doing what Monokuma wants and playing the game.

(Mind you, what he actually ends up doing ends up serving Monokuma’s purposes even more, but since he’s not trying to purely become blackened and escape, he can tell himself he’s totally not playing the game even though he absolutely still is.)

Kokichi: “That’s why I’m so… pissed off! Pissed off at myself for being so… so useless!”

This is far too genuine-seeming a reaction from Kokichi to be truly genuine, because he would never actually be this honest about how he feels. Even if there is a part of him which actually feels this way, on the surface he is telling himself that this is just a lie and he’s only pretending to feel like this and it’s not like he actually cares at all about the fact that Kaede’s about to die, right.

Shuichi: “Kokichi… that’s enough. I can see through your act.”

Kokichi: “…Whoops. That obvious, huh?”

And it certainly looks like he’s got everyone else fooled into thinking that any accidental outbursts rooted in genuine emotion from him are totally all just lies.

Kaede: “I took an innocent life! I’m nothing but a horrible murderer! You should all hate, blame, and be disgusted by me!”

Gah, Kaede, not even expecting any kind of forgiveness or understanding for what she did despite her intentions being really quite reasonable given the awful circumstances.

Kaede: “I thought about ending this by confessing to you what I had done… But… I couldn’t. Because of Monokuma’s First Blood Perk.”

Ryoma: “I see… If you’d confessed then and there, you would’ve been able to leave… But you decided you couldn’t leave this place by yourself, so you kept quiet.”

Exactly. She wouldn’t have just been able to leave – she’d have had to leave. And there’s no way Kaede would ever want to leave on her own and get off scot-free for the awful thing she just did while everyone else remains trapped and continues to struggle and suffer without her. She’s just far too selfless for that. The only thing she ever cared about was helping everyone else escape, not herself.

Kaede: “If I did this for everyone, then instead of making things easier by confessing… I thought I should lie to you all, so it would motivate you to keep moving forward.”

So instead she did the only thing she could think of under the circumstances that would keep everyone else working together and turned herself into the villain.

Kaede: “I never wanted to keep my crime a secret… I was going to tell you all eventually… But before I did, I wanted to expose the mastermind first… Then the killing game would’ve ended, and everyone but me would be saved.”

I’m not entirely sure why the thinks that if she caught the mastermind, she would still have been executed? But regardless, hearing her be so explicit about how she was only trying to save everyone else and didn’t care one bit about herself… aaaaa.

Shuichi: “…This is my fault. I was wrong. There is no mastermind…”

Tsumugi: “You were wrong…? But didn’t you say the mastermind was one of us?”

Pff, I like how Tsumugi is the first one to question that.

Shuichi: “But even when the killer was about to be condemned, they remained hidden. That has to mean that the mastermind is not among us after all.”

This is awkwardly worded – based on the fact they’ve just been discussing the point when everyone was focused on Shuichi and then Kaede convinced him to explain that she did it, his “the killer was about to be condemned” probably actually means “I was about to be falsely voted as the culprit”. But even assuming that, it’s also a very flimsy argument. Why would the mastermind have wanted to stop people voting for Shuichi anyway? If people vote wrong, that’s just how the killing game goes. Shuichi has no reason to assume that actually the mastermind would want people to find the true culprit because they want a nice long entertaining killing game that doesn’t end at chapter 1.

Like, I can kind of understand why Shuichi drops the idea of there being a mastermind at this point because the fact that he assumed there was one in the first place was why Kaede did what she did, and he’s upset and blaming himself and lacking confidence and not thinking straight at all. But this particular supposedly-logical reason for it is frustratingly flimsy, and I wish the narrative gave more of a sense that it really is flimsy and that the real reason Shuichi is dropping the idea is simply because of his issues.

Shuichi: “If I hadn’t been so stupid… If I never said anything about a mastermind to Kaede… Rantaro wouldn’t have died… and Kaede wouldn’t be a murderer! This is all my fault!”

At least we still do get plenty of Shuichi having issues and blaming himself.

Kaede: “No, it’s not.”

Shuichi: “…Kaede…?”

Kaede: “I killed him. Not you. …Right? Didn’t I?”

Well, as a matter of fact, Kaede—

Okay but even that aside, just the very blunt way Kaede states this to try and bring Shuichi out of his self-loathing is adorable. She’s smiling as she says this.

Keebo: “If your intent was to kill the mastermind, there was no reason for you to cover your tracks.”

Kaito: “Isn’t it obvious? It’s because… she didn’t want Shuichi to know.”

Hee, of course this would be obvious to Kaito. Why would Kaede ever want to let Shuichi see that she’s not as much of a hero as she was trying to be?

Kaede: “I said I wanted to escape this place with everyone. But you guys wouldn’t want to be friends with a girl who killed someone, would you?”

Oh, Kaede, still just hoping to be friends with everyone. I really, really get the feeling she didn’t have many meaningful friends in her memories because she was too much of a “Piano Freak”. But even if she had successfully killed the mastermind without anyone realising, that guilt and the feeling that she’s an awful person who doesn’t deserve to be their friend would have eaten her up inside nonetheless.

Gonta: “Be… friends?”

Aww Gonta who also probably doesn’t have many friends and can absolutely understand that feeling!

Tenko: “Kaede… put a lot of thought into this.”

Kokichi: “She put so much thought into this, it drove her to commit murder like a lunatic…”

Yeah, since she committed murder she’s obviously a lunatic and a bad person and so clearly we should all completely ignore the part where she still genuinely cared about us and wanted to be our friend, right? Obviously everyone who talks about helping other people and being friends doesn’t ever truly mean it, because look at her.

Shuichi: “Kaede… I didn’t know how, but I wanted to get out of here with you. I wanted… to be friends.”

YOU ALREADY ARE FRIENDS. But yes, you could have been even more friends if you’d escaped together and gaaaah.

Kaede: “I’m so sorry…”

And of course, Kaede’s still just apologising for the fact that her actions have hurt him like this, rather than expressing her own feelings that she had that same desire to escape together and be friends.

Kaito: “So you’re saying… everything you did was because you were thinking of us? And you hid that you killed him just to stay and help us…? How did things—”

Of course she did! You should understand that better than anyone, Kaito! If you were on a time limit, and killing someone then lying about it was the only way you knew of that stood a chance of saving everyone else before time was up, you would do exactly the same.

Monokuma: “But we can’t let this boring display grind the action to a halt, so…”

I don’t know why you think this display of tragic friendship and selflessness is “boring”, Monokuma. This is the best story you’ve had for a Chapter 1 in… probably ever?

Aaaaa look at Kaito and Gonta and Tenko facing up to the Exisals to protect Kaede they’re so brave and selfless and determined. (It’s a little awkward in Tenko’s case knowing she wouldn’t do this if Kaede were a guy, but.) Kaito in particular, since he almost got killed by an Exisal a few days ago, so he knows better than anyone else there how completely fucking impossible it is to take one on unarmed. Note how while he’s the one at the front, his stance is the most defensive out of the three of them. He is definitely scared as hell (I mean, they all are), but that’s not going to stop him risking his life for Kaede, dammit!

(Also, Kaito again doing something that he’s going to be on the other side of the next time people pull a “we’ll fight the Exisals to stop you getting executed!”, hee.)

Shuichi: “Y-Yeah! I’ll help! I can—”

Shuichi you are a noodle how on earth do you think you can possibly help in a fight. This goes to show how desperate he is to protect Kaede against all logic, too.

Kaede: “Everyone, stop!!!”

But of course Kaede can’t just let them all get themselves killed on her behalf.

Kaede: “…I’m not giving up. Because I have you.”

Shuichi: “…What?”

Kaede: “Even after I’m gone… my wish will still be here. So I’m counting on you all! I’m entrusting my wish to every one of you!”

This is absolutely lovely – she’s not thinking of this as the end, or as her defeat, because she knows that everyone else here (well, most of them anyway) still wants the same thing she always did and they’re going to try their hardest to reach it. Even though Kaede’s not the true protagonist after all, her passing on her wish to everyone else and especially Shuichi does a great job to make her still feel involved and important to the story after she’s gone. She was the protagonist for this first chapter not just for the sake of a fake-out and a plot twist, but because she still is meaningfully a protagonist of this story, in a sense.

Kirumi: “I will do my utmost to fulfil your final request.”

Tenko: “I won’t give up! I’ll get out of here, no matter what!”

Gonta: “Gonta work hard and keep friends safe till very end!”

…These lines are just painful, knowing what happens to each of them.

Kokichi: “Well, Kaede, you definitely weren’t boring.”

And that, folks, is the highest praise Kokichi can give. Be proud, Kaede, I guess?

I really like this shot of Shuichi desperately reaching out to Kaede at the beginning of the execution.

So. I used to find Danganronpa executions so disturbing that I literally couldn’t watch them. But while me being not particularly disturbed by this one is partially just gradual desensitisation over a lot of time, I think it’s also partly in the way it’s presented. Some of the executions bother me because they kind of stop treating the victim of them like a character from the moment it begins. They just become like an object for this twisted, horrifying deathtrap, and something about that really wigs me out. But this scene isn’t like that as much because there’s a lot more focus put on Kaede’s expressions and what she’s going through and how desperately you can tell she’s still trying to survive for as long as possible. And I totally get how a lot of people might find that more disturbing, but I actually personally find it easier to deal with that way. She’s still a character, right up until her last moments.

Even so, yikes. On my first time through I was still teetering on whether I should skip the execution or not, but I told myself I should watch it because I needed to understand exactly what hell Shuichi went through. And, man. Fuck. Ouch.

Shuichi: (The moment it was over, I felt my legs give out under me.)

No wonder this is his reaction.

Shuichi: (What I just saw… didn’t feel real. As if all reality had vanished, and the only thing left was a fictional world.)

…Yup. That’s a thing the writers put in there.

Kokichi: “I… I can’t believe this happened to Kaede… I liked her… s-so… m-muuuuuuch…! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! KAAAAEEEEEEDDDDEEEEEE!!!!!”

Again with the overacting to be able to tell himself it’s all a lie and he doesn’t really feel anything. Not that he actually did like Kaede all that much – he was never on board with all of her talk about co-operation and was quite happy to be a gigantic manipulative dick to her over the whole tunnel thing. She wasn’t boring, but that doesn’t mean he really cared about her as a person. But on a basic, fundamental level he’s just as horrified as any normal person would be at seeing someone get killed like that, and that’s what he’s trying to lie to himself about.

Monokuma: “Cuz if human life wasn’t precious, ending it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun!”

I don’t think any of the previous, Junko-driven incarnations of Monokuma ever expressed this sentiment. But this version understands that the whole reason a fictional death is heartbreaking and therefore worth having happen is because people cared about the character who died.

Monokuma: “There’s no greater joy than witnessing such a display of despair entertainment!”

Really laying the not-really-fourth-wall-breaking on thick here, huh. Is it any wonder Kokichi figures out that this whole thing is being watched?

Kiyo: “Kehehe… You’ve surpassed psychotic by a wide margin.”

And that’s saying a lot, coming from Kiyo.

Kaito: “I… I won’t ever forgive you for this! Got that!? I won’t ever forgive you!”

Monokuma: “Spoken like a marked man!”

Oh, really, Monokuma? Surely you’re aware that Kaito exists to make Shuichi his sidekick and he shouldn’t be getting himself killed until he’s at least started to do that. Although I guess he might also be referring to the fact that Kaito is marked to be killed off sooner or later no matter what happens regarding the murders. Plus, this is the out-universe writers trying to make Kaito look nice and expendable too.

(Also aaaa Kaito being so desperately furious and yet powerless to do anything about it.)

Maki: “…Do you hate us? If so, have we done something to make you hate us?”

I dunno, Maki, you should be used to the idea that people can do awful things to others without having any particular hatred for them. Although it does make sense that she’d assume someone might hate her specifically, but then that means she’s also assuming everyone else here has secretly done things they might be hated for.

Monokuma: “He died before his talent could be revealed. If he had lived long enough to reveal it, maybe he could have been more useful…”

You act like you wanted the story to get to the point where Rantaro discovered his talent, and yet the message on his Survivor’s Perk was clearly deliberately setting him up to be this first case’s victim or culprit.

Kokichi: “Dammit! You may have gotten us this time, but we’ll get you next time! You’ll see!”

This sounds like some kids’ cartoon cliché – which is to say, Kokichi is probably deliberately trying to come across this way to make everyone else realise how ridiculous and foolish their defiance sounds.

Monokuma: “I have a feeling you’re gonna live for a while.”

Unfortunately for the patience of everyone else who’s going to be stuck with him, but fortunately for the story taking some interesting turns, yes, he is.

Kaito: “Got it!? I’m gonna punch that grin right off your face. For sure!”

Monokuma: “Oh, really…? That seems unlikely. I’m pretty sure you won’t live long enough to do that.”

Are you sure, Monokuma? Because I think you’ll find that Kaito ends up living just exactly long enough to do that.

(Space.)

After Monokuma and the cubs leave, everyone is, quite understandably, very lost and downtrodden after what just happened to Kaede. But…

Kaito: “Aaargh! Shut up! SHUT! UP! You all just need to SHUT UP!!!”

(Kaito’s voice boomed in the air, and the room went silent.)

Kaito: “Every single one of you… and your meek little complaints… You’re pissing me the hell off!!!”

…of course Kaito can’t just let that be. At the best of times, Kaito will proclaim that it’s not good to spend time moping around and complaining and wallowing in your sadness when you could instead be thinking about what to do to make things better. But right now, Kaito’s just as upset as everyone else, probably second only to Shuichi in how much he’s hurting over this. He’s not thinking clearly enough to be able to turn his pain into something productive and is instead just desperately covering it up with unhealthy reactionary anger. So seeing everyone else still being upset reminds him of how he’s really feeling on the inside and he can’t stand it.

Kaito: “But the one who’s pissing me off the most… is you, Shuichi!

And of course Shuichi, who is both being the most upset and has the most reason to be trying to do something about this instead of just moping around, is the one who bothers him more than anyone else.

Can we take a nice long moment to appreciate that in this illustration after Kaito punches Shuichi, Kaito is crying. His anger is a desperate defence mechanism, all right.

Kaito: “Clench your teeth!”

Keebo: “Kaito! You are supposed to say that *before* you hit him!”

…Is saying that before punching your friend in the face a common trope in Japanese media, or has Keebo simply seen Gurren Lagann?

Kaito: “Didn’t you hear what Kaede said!? She said… she believed in you! That she passed her wish on to you! But what the hell’s wrong with you!? You didn’t say a damn thing to Monokuma! You call yourself a man!?!?”

This invocation of manliness is still about the idea of sticking to your convictions and taking responsibility. Kaede passed her wish onto Shuichi, so Shuichi should stand by that and stand up to Monokuma because that’s what Kaede would have wanted him to do.

Of course, it’s not fair of Kaito to be insisting this right now. Shuichi will start to do that, to hold on to Kaede’s wish and try as hard as he can to make a difference even though it’s still difficult for him. He just needs time. Kaito isn’t thinking clearly enough to realise that Shuichi is simply responding to this pain in a different way to him, by retreating into himself instead of lashing out, and that no-one should be expected to be able to stand up and fight back immediately after what they’ve just been through.

Shuichi: “…”

Kaito: “…What’s the matter? Say something already. I just hit you! Aren’t you pissed off!? What’s your problem!?”

Usually, Kaito’s powers of empathy are better than this, but right now it seems he’s too upset to comprehend the idea that someone else might react to things differently than how he would. Obviously if somebody punched him in the face he’d be pissed off and respond to it, so Shuichi should be doing that too!

Shuichi probably doesn’t respond not just because he’s in so much pain but also because a large part of him must be thinking that he really isn’t strong enough to carry on Kaede’s wish and that Kaito is right to be angry at him for this. It’s probably just as well he doesn’t say anything. I doubt he could have mustered up the courage to say something that would satisfy Kaito and not just make him angrier, and the less damage Kaito does when he’s not thinking straight like this, the better.

Maki: “Can we leave now? Staying here will only make us more depressed.”

Meanwhile Maki is resistant enough to horrifying situations full of death that she’s still thinking clearly and can suggest the most pragmatic response to this situation.

Tenko: “Shuichi… don’t beat yourself up, ‘kay?”

I appreciate these occasional moments of Tenko being kind to Shuichi, genuinely not even seeming to consider that he’s male and just seeing him as a person for once.

Kokichi: “Yep! Just hit the reset button on your feelings and you’ll feel happy and cheerful in no time!”

I’m sure you’ve had a lot of practice at doing that, Kokichi. Also, way to be a dick to someone who’s going through horrible trauma, good job.

Gonta: “Let Gonta know if you need his help, okay?”

Regular reminder that Gonta is Good.

Everyone leaves, except Kaito. Kaito seems to have calmed down already – probably having everyone else agree to get some rest and seeing (some of) them be kind to Shuichi made him realise on some level that getting angry and lashing out was not the right thing to do.

So instead he’s already trying to make up for it and help Shuichi by suggesting he go to Kaede’s lab.

Kaito: “Understand? There’s only one way to get through this awful feeling. No one’s gonna be able to console you if you’re just sitting here alone. If anyone’s gonna help you, it’ll be her… in your memories.”

This whole bit from Kaito really stood out to me on my first time through as being surprisingly sincere and heartfelt coming from him. This surprise was because it was the first time I’d properly seen Kaito being considerate and trying to help someone, not realising that actually this is what Kaito is like literally all of the time and he just hadn’t had much of a chance to show it until now due to Kaede overshadowing him. So I assumed that the only reason he was doing this was because he’d had some kind of personal experience with losing someone close to him, and maybe we’d go on to learn more about whatever he’d been through and have that be a whole big part of his character.

Now, knowing how Kaito is, it’s obvious that he’d say something like this to try and help Shuichi anyway whether he has any personal investment in these kinds of feelings or not. But it still kind of sounds like he might be speaking from experience here, just based on the way he talks about it. The fact that he never mentions what he might have gone through at any later point in the story doesn’t remotely rule out the possibility that such a thing happened, because, well, it’s Kaito. He doesn’t like to talk about his own problems, ever.

So, well, hold this thought. You might already be able to guess where I’m going with this, but I’ll get there in the next chapter.

The full moon outside the window of Kaede’s lab is very fitting, considering what Clair de Lune means.

Shuichi: “What a magnificent piano… I would have liked to hear her play it… if only just once.”

It’s still such a shame Kaede never got to do this! She totally could have invited people to her lab for a mini-concert! Admittedly, by the time her lab was open, everyone was scattered and divided because of the time limit, but she could still have invited Shuichi (and Kaito and Tenko and at least some others would probably have been happy to join too if they’d known).

Guhhh the image of Kaede playing the piano even though it’s just Shuichi’s imagination.

And just, man, this whole scene. By this point I’ve seen it so many times that it doesn’t make me cry any more, but for the longest time, and especially the first time, it absolutely did.

I also did not realise until I totally messed it up here by waiting too long between lines that, assuming you read the lines at a normal pace with natural pauses between them, this scene is really nicely timed with the music so that it ends just as the song reaches its climax and ending.

---

[Chapter-end bonus ramble] [Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 1 #class trial #commentary

7 notes · View notes

fairylight-kins · 6 years ago

Text

Of course! This seems really cute (and really me) tbh!

-Mod Kaede

Kaede Akamatsu

When she first sees you, she can’t help but think how absolutely adorable you look sleeping! And then, she spots the teddy bear.

She busts out her phone and snaps a quick pick of you, hoping not to disturb you, but when she moves closer to take another picture, a floorboard creeks and you’re up.

She spots you stuff the teddy under the pillow as you try to act nonchalant about it.

“You know, I thought you looked pretty cute like that, y/n! But I kinda wanted to be the teddy bear.”

Your face flushes even more red at her boldness. “I-I don’t know what your talking about, Kaede. I don’t have a teddy bear.”

She walks over and pulls it out from under the pillow. “It’s ok, I have one too! Your’s is much cuter though! I sleep with mine when I’m feeling extra stressed, y’know? It really helps.”

She sees you visibly relax, and you talk more about your teddy bears. She even promises to bring hers over! Gosh, how did you end up with someone so sweet?

Miu Iruma

It was very quiet in your house as Miu strutted in. She walked into your room to try to hang out, when she saw your sleeping form.

A mischievous giggle left her lips as she creeped forward to get a better look at you, only to see you holding a soft teddy bear.

She attempted to quickly take a picture of you, only for you to roll over and wake up.

In a quick flash the teddy bear that was in your arms was gone, probably stuffed under the pillow by the look of how it looked bigger all of the sudden. You stretched lazily and yawned. “Morning Miu. What’s up hun?” You smiled as you attempted to hide your plush. But Miu wasn’t buying it at all.

“You sleep with a teddy bear?” “W-what? No, no way! I don’t all!” “Then what the hell was in your arms a few moments ago?”

While she distracted you with this banter, she walked closer and reached behind you to pull out the hidden bear. “Ah! There it is! Wow, this thing is stinking cute! I kinda wanna steal it from ya!”

You stumbled over your words and attempted to deny that it was yours as Miu sat upon your lap. “But you know, I make a much better cuddler than this thing~”

With an indignant look, you grabbed Miu by the waist and flipped her onto your bed. “Well, lets just prove that then! I wanna go back to my nap!”

“W-wait, what?! I was just joking!” “Too late! It’s nap time!”

Kirumi Tojo

She initially came into your room to check in on you, as you had been pretty quiet.

She awed at how cute you looked, curled up sleeping. And when she creeped closer to get a better look, she let out another, slightly louder “aw” at how cute you looked with your teddy bear.

The second aw must have woken you up, as you slowly opened your eyes. And then, as you registered what was happening, you shot up and stuffed the teddy bear under a pillow.

“Uh, hi Kirumi! How are you on this fine day?” You exclaimed, trying to block her view of the teddy bear.

“You do know I know about your teddy bear, correct? I clean all of the room, you know.” Kirumi said calmly.

“O-oh.” You blushed as you brought out the teddy bear, and hugged it a bit. “I forget your a thorough cleaner.”

She let out a small laugh and placed a hand upon your head. “Yes dear, I am. I’ve always thought it was so cute that you did so. Know that if it ever needs repairs I can make them.”

“Thank you, Kirumi.” And after that you two ended up cuddling together happily.

Himiko Yumeno

She wandered into your room because she wanted to take a nap with you.

When she discovered that you were already asleep, she planned to slip in and cuddle, until she saw that you were holding a teddy bear.

She quietly “awed” and attempted to move behind you, because she still wanted her cuddles!

And then you woke up, yawning and rubbing your eyes. When you noticed Himiko you tried to stuff the bear under the pillow. “It’s ok, I already know you sleep with a teddy bear, nyeh. I sleep with a plush too.”

You blinked in surprise at how nonchalant she was being. “Wait, what do you mean you already knew?”

“It’s my magic, nyeh.” “Bu-” “My magic!” “O-okay.”

She climbed into your bed, and wrapped her tiny arms around you. “I still want my cuddles!” You let out a small chuckle and relented. “Okay, okay. I’ll be your teddy bear, but only if you’ll be mine!” “Deal!”

Angie Yonaga

Angie had wanted some attention from you, mainly because she wanted you to be her muse for a bit. What she hadn’t expected was to see you sleeping and cuddling with a cute teddy bear.

“Wow! How cute!” she paused for a bit before mumbling. “This must be a sign from Atua that I have to draw them like this!”

She immediately busted out her drawing materials, and sat down on your bedroom floor, and started to sketch your sleeping form.

She was almost done when you woke up, and you nearly screamed when you saw her.

Quickly hiding your teddy bear under your pillow, you asked her why she was in your room. Hadn’t you locked the door?

“Oh, I asked Monokuma to unlock it because I wanted to draw you! And I got the perfect shots! You looked so cute sleeping with that bear!”

You blinked owlishly at her as you tried to pretend that you didn’t know what she was talking about. “What bear? Did you somehow get the Monokubs to cuddle with me or something?”

“What? No! I meant the bear that you stuffed under your pillow.” “Angie I don’t h-” “Here, I even drew it with you! You just looked so cute, you know!”

You did not know how to counter that concrete proof, or that compliment. You plopped down on your bed in defeat. “You must think I’m pretty childish, huh?”

“On the contrary! I think you’re very mature!” she paused for a moment, “Atua has told me that plush animals are just guardian deities he has sent us. So, you follow the word of Atua! A bear is a fierce protector, you know.”

You let out a small laugh as she sat down next to you. “I know, Ange. Thank you for that.”

Tsumugi Shirogane

Feeling a bit bored, Tsumugi headed to your room to see if you wanted to hang out. And when she found you cuddling an adorable plush bear she nearly broke at the seams on how cute you looked.

Being the ultimate cosplayer had its perks, such as the sense to carry a quality camera on you. She immediately took it out to take a few snapshots of you, knowing that you would never let her if you were awake. Sadly, the flash happened to be on and that woke you up.

You stuffed the teddy bear under the blanket as you jumped up in surprise. “Tsumugi, what are you doing?!”

“Taking pictures with you and your teddy bear. It was way too cute to pass up! Hmm... maybe I can cosplay as a teddy bear so you’ll cuddle me too!”

“What teddy bear? I don't have one. Never had-” Oh, this one!” She showed you the picture she had taken. A clean shot of you snuggling with the cute fluffy bear. Of course she was good at photography.

You shifted away from her, still embarrassed. “I, umm, uh...” “Oh, do you not want anyone to know you have a teddy bear?” “Well, yeah, it’s embarrassing for a teenager to have such things! I’m supposed to be more mature than that!”

Tsumugi let out a small laugh. “Oh please, most teens have a plush of some kind. I have tons of anime plushies! And I know Himiko has a plush rabbit for practice, and Gonta said that he has some plush insects as well as the real ones!”

You calmed down a bit. “Well, I guess you’re right. Thanks.”

“It’s no problem hun! But now it’s my turn to be cuddled! Or would you rather have me cosplay as your teddy bear?” “No! I’ll take you was you are!”

Tenko Chabashira

Tenko had just wanted to hang out with her sweet y/n, and maybe train with you as well. So, she went into your room to see what you were up to.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw you sleeping. Ok, maybe now wasn't the best time. But she noticed that you had kicked off some of your covers and went to cover you back up when she noticed that you were holding a cute looking pastel green teddy bear.

Talk about adorable! She felt like she was barely able to hold herself back from squeezing you into a tight hug. But her quiet squealing on how adorable she found you woke you up.

Tenko, as you knew her, was a tough as nails girl. And you wanted to be seen as her tough as nails s/o. So, you stuffed your teddy bear under a pillow, as teddy bears weren’t tough as nails.

“H-hey Tenko. What’s up? I totally don’t have a teddy bear!” Well, that went smoothly.

“What, but I just saw you holding one? You looked so cute too...”

“Nope, must have been your imagination!” Tenko noticed that you were uncomfortable about this, and realized that it probably wasn’t the best to tell you that she finds you cute with a teddy bear.

“You know, I have a (favorite color) teddy bear.” She confessed. "Wait, really?”

“Yup,” she nodded, “it reminded me of you, so I had to get it. I sleep with it every night!”

“But, don’t you feel, I don’t know, less cool?” “Not at all! I love it so much! It makes me feel like I have you with me..”

That caused you to blush. “O-oh. I guess we’re the same then. I found my teddy bear after we started to date. I thought it matched your headband, so I wanted to get it.” You pulled the bear from under the pillow.

“Aw! y/n, that is so sweet!” She pulled you into a tight hug. “I guess we match, huh? Your teddy bear looks similar to mine besides the color.”

You let out a chuckle. “It must have been meant to be then.”

Maki Harukawa

You were a bit late to breakfast, so Maki decided to check in on you. She didn’t have the heart to wake you up when she spotted that you were still asleep, but knew that you had to eat.

She nearly had second thoughts when she saw you holding on to a cute little teddy bear. But lucky for her, you started to wake up.

You froze mid yawn when you saw Maki standing in the middle of your room. Then, you realized that you were holding on to your bear and quickly stashed it under the pillow behind you.

“Hey Maki, how are you? Did you come to wake me up?” You got up and went over to her and pet her on her head. “I’m so lucky to have you as y girlfriend, yeah?”

“I didn’t know you slept with a teddy bear.” Well, she was never one for beating around the bush.

“No, of course I don’t.” “I can see it, y/n. Its sticking out from under your pillow.”

“Um, well.” That made you freeze up. How could you deny it now?

Maki walked over to your bed and picked up your teddy bear. She observed it. It was dark brown and had a small red bow around it’s neck. “Its... cute.” “Huh?” “I like your teddy bear.” “O-oh.”

She sat on your bed, still observing the bear. You remembered what she told you of her past, she probably didn’t get the chance to have a teddy bear of her own. “Y’know, I have another one like it. You can have the other one, that way we’ll always have a piece of each other.”

She blushed, “That sounds nice. A piece of each other.”

It was nice to have a teddy bear after all.

#danganronpa #danganronpa imagines #imagine #danganronpa headcanons #ndrv3 #drv3 #kaede akamatsu #miu iruma #kirumi tojo #himiko yumeno #angie yonaga #tenko chabashira #maki harukawa #mod kaede

24 notes · View notes

kiibouma-exchange-2k18 · 7 years ago

Text

Clothes Shopping

This is my Kiibouma gift for @naroym so hope they like it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kiibo doesn’t know how he got himself into the mess. One minute he’s at school with his friends the next he’s in a store with his “friend”.

It all started off normal. Kiibo woke up, fully charged and started getting ready. Even though he was a robot he still needed help around before he left. He made sure the professor was alright, since he usually stayed up all night and forgets to go to bed.

Before leaving Kiibo double checked to make sure the doors were locked and headed off the school. While most of the students stayed in the school dorms Kiibo preferred to just walk there instead of staying all night. He doesn’t appreciate all of the noise from the students that stay up all night.

Kiibo walked into his classroom and smiled, glad to see everyone doing their usual shenanigans. Tenko was gushing over Himiko, while Himiko talked to Angie. Shuichi was talking to Kaede, Kiyo, and Rantaro while Ryoma sat by them looking out the window. Kaito and Maki were standing at the back of the classroom, Kaito had a huge smile on his face while Maki looked annoyed.

Gonta was talking to Tsumugi and Miu, probably about bugs. Finally Kokichi was bothering Kirumi, asking her lots of questions and requests. Almost everyday was like his, and Kiibo appreciated the consistency with it all.

Kiibo sat at his desk and started reading To Kill A Mockingbird even though he has already read it before. Kiibo was at the part where Tom Robinson was giving his side of the story, while Atticus was trying to prove to everyone that Tom Robinson couldn’t have possibly-

“Hello Kiiboy!” Exclaimed a very excited voice. Kiibo sighed and looked up from his book to see Kokichi Oma.

“Hello Kokichi”

“Whatcha reading?”

“To Kill A Mockingbird…”

“Wooooow that book? I found it really boring. I’m actually surprised you need to read, you know since your a robot”

“Hey that’s robophobic!”

“Nishishi~ ya I know, but I don’t care” Kokichi stood there silent for a moment before speaking, “You know Kiibo, I’ve never seen you wear anything else. You’ve always only worn that weird suit thing”

“Oh ya… I guess I’m just more comfortable in this?”

“Hm…. well grab your bag we’re going to the store!”

“What??”

“We’re going to the store! We’re buying you some clothes!”

“No way, we can’t leave and I don’t have any money”

“First off we can leave, we don’t even have to come. As long as we keep our talent in tact we can leave! Two, it’s on me so let’s go!”

Before Kiibo could say anything Kokichi pulled him up and dragged him out of the school. Kokichi lead them into town and to a random clothing store.

“So can you take that off?” Kokichi asked, pointing to Kiibo.

“W-What??”

“Can you take that off? You’ll have to in order to try clothes on”

“O-Oh…. I mean y-ya but I still haven’t-“

“Great!! Now go to one of the changing rooms I’ll bring you some clothes!” Once again before Kiibo could protest Kokichi pushed him toward the changing room.

So Kiibo sat and waited. Eventually Kokichi handed him a stack of clothes, saying he has to try on everything.

Emphasis on the everything

So one by one Kiibo went through the clothes, a lot of the times questioning Kokichis taste in clothes, but then again Kiibo couldn’t talk much.

Eventually he got to the final piece of clothing. It looked like just a plain old black shirt. However when Kiibo picked it up he saw that it was a maid dress.

“What the heck!?” Kiibo thought, very confused as to why this was here.

“Uh… Kokichi? I think you accidentally gave me something that shouldn’t be here”

“Really? What is it?”

“It’s a uh…. dress?”

“Oh no I gave it to you on purpose”

“What!? Why??” Kiibo exclaimed, feeling his face heating up. Even though he couldn’t see his face, he knew he had a smug look.

“Just because. Now remember you promised me you would put in everything, so you have to put it on”

Kiibo groaned in frustration, he didn’t like going back on promises even if he really wanted to. So he put it on and looked in the mirror.

The dress was covered if lots of ruffles and looked really fancy. However the problem was the fact that the dress was quite short, and barley covered his lower half.

“T-There I tried it on… Now can I g-get out of it?”

“Not until I get to see”

“What???” Kiibo was about to malfunction from all of the shock and embarrassment.

“Not until I see, so your fully dressed right? Cause I’m coming in!” For the third time today, before Kiibo could protest he walked in.

Error Kiibo.exe has stopped working. The reason he felt like he was going to crash wasn’t because Kokichi was seeing him wear this, well that was one of the reasons, it was because Kokichi was wearing a matching dress except his was a dark purple.

“I found a matching one! So ta-da!” Kokichi looked Kiibo up and down and smirked, “Well for a robot you look pretty good in a dress”

“H-Hey that’s-“

“Ya robophobic, I know” after that there was silence. Kiibo found it awkward, but comfortable at the same time.

After a minute or two Kokichi spoke up, “Hey Kiiboy….. can I kiss you?”

Kiibo was ready to die at that moment. Did he hear what he think he just heard? Kokichi Oma asking to kiss him??

“W-What?”

“Eh never mind it was a dumb question… Well I’ll leave you to change then-“

“N-No wait” Kokichi stopped in his tracks, turning back to Kiibo giving him a confused look, “I uh… um….”

Kiibo can’t tell if he regrets his next decision, or is proud of himself that he actually toon action. Whichever one it was all he knew was that he grabbed Kokichi and kissed him.

It was the first time he’s seen Kokichi genuinely shocked

“Oh my god” Kiibo mumbled when he pulled away, finally processing what he just did, “I am so sorry I shouldn’t have-“ Kokichi let out a laugh

“You know for a robot your a good kisser”

After that trip Kiibo decided that maybe he should find clothes with Kokichi more often. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That’s it! Hoped you liked it. Sorry if it’s not that good, I’m not a very good writer :V Buuuut if you did like it I’m glad! So uh…. bye!

#cute #Kiibouma #Oukibo #Kiibo #Keebo #kokichi oma #ouma kokichi #submission

21 notes · View notes

sibyl-of-space · 5 years ago

Text

i logged back in for the first time in 8000 years to document my big drv3 chapter 4 conspiracy theory somewhere, spoilers hello

So, I like DRv3 a lot, but there was one thing I noticed PREVALENTLY in it that I did not notice so much in the other installments.

DRv3 has a lot of traces of early ideas that didn’t make it to the final cut, but were not properly axed from the script.

A case 5 example: in the bathroom, you find a bottle. You find the bottle with “POISON” labeled on it and blood smearing the rest of the label. You are meant to assume that this bottle is a poison. You also find a series of antidotes on the desk in the Detective Lab, along with some poisons on the shelf - one of which is missing some of its contents.

It turns out that the bottle in the restroom is actually an antidote. You would expect this to be one of the twists uncovered in the trial: that the word POISON is there because the bottle actually said “XXX POISON ANTIDOTE” but the key word ANTIDOTE had been obscured, and the actual source of the poison was the bottle in the detective lab missing some. The source of poison was a different thing than the bottle at the crime scene labeled poison! What a twist!

However, the way this is ACTUALLY uncovered in the trial is Maki just telling you she brought some antidote and tossed it in, and the fact that the bottle is labeled as poison is simply never addressed.

The intentional smearing of blood to mislead you into thinking the antidote was actually the poison is never brought up. I assume that line of reasoning was cut out because the trial was already plenty convoluted with twists and turns, and they wanted to streamline it a bit. Maybe they were considering a whole to-do about who brought the poison bottle in or something before revealing it as an antidote and then scrapping that.

Whatever the case, they really should’ve removed the whole bit about it saying “POISON” and just had it clearly be an antidote from the start. My long-winded point here is that the asset implies that the writing was originally going to have us unravel a certain twist that eventually ended up being cut from the script for whatever reason.

Now….. allow me to focus my attention on case 4.

I do not believe for one second that Case 4 was intended from the outset to pan out the way it did. Which, of course, is fine - changing your mind about things is part of the writing process. But the finished script in Case 4 does not cover its tracks here very well.

I’m going to start off by listing all of the things I noticed that I’m surprised didn’t go anywhere, and then talk about what I think those might imply, and then after that I’ll make some conjecture on what I think might have been intended or what I think might have been cool to see. But FACTS FIRST.

At the beginning of the class trial, Kokichi pointedly asks Monokuma what happens in the event of a tie. Monokuma then responds that as long as one of the two selected is the blackened, it’s fine. This NEVER COMES UP AGAIN.

Two key points in the case are that Kaito was forcibly logged out, and that Kokichi had a bottle of poison planted on him. In the trial it’s decided that the only person who could possibly have orchestrated these events were Miu, the last to log in and the only one with a cell phone. The trial NEVER ONCE acknowledges that Kokichi, who was in the parlor, could have forced Kaito to log out from the parlor phone, or that he could have planted the poison bottle on himself. It’s not that these are brought up and dismissed - they’re simply never brought up in the first place.

Kokichi is very obviously and patronizingly leading you throughout the entire first half of the trial. Any deduction you make just seems like it’s following an obvious bread crumb trail he’s left for you. He feels in complete control.

In one of the big trial turning points, you lie and say that you went into the parlor and saw that Kokichi was absent. Kokichi then asks everyone, “who do you believe? me, or Shuichi? I say I was in the parlor, he says I wasn’t.” Everyone responds with FULL AND COMPLETE FAITH in Shuichi - a beacon of truth and honesty, a foil to Kokichi’s lies and deceit. You are telling a huge bold-faced lie to his face and everyone is commenting on how you, Shuichi, the detective, would never tell a lie. THEN! Tsumugi actually CATCHES you in that lie: she points out that she should have seen you walk past her if you actually went to the parlor, but she didn’t. It’s an incredibly tense moment in the trial. Tsumugi immediately redacts her statement, everyone believes you, the trial proceeds, and no one ever calls you out on lying ever again and you get away with it completely.

You may be thinking: “the trial undertakes a turning point immediately after that where Kokichi just names the culprit out of spite, so it’s obvious some things leading up to it might not go where you think they would.” But hear me out here… where trial 4 ends up going makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE given what we later learn about Kokichi as a character. He, apparently, genuinely wanted to end the killing game…. so what purpose, exactly, did manipulating Gonta into killing someone else, and then leading Shuichi to that conclusion to get him executed, serve? Trial 4 could’ve been a huge turning point in the game, and I think that DRv3 originally intended to do some WHACK shit with Kokichi (that they later revised/rewrote), and that case 4 was going to set the stage for it.

I will now present my Big Woke Galaxy Brain Take on what I think case 4 was originally going to do, and then break down why I think I’m totally right about everything.

I think Kokichi’s goal was to orchestrate a murder (by someone else, as happened in the final version) that implicated 2 people, lead the trial/Shuichi to the 2 possible culprits, and get the correct verdict by a 50/50 tie, in order to prove that the whole truth is not necessary in order to win - further dialogue in the truth vs. lies theme of the game. Then YOU, as Shuichi, would notice his own manipulation of the crime, and find the greater truth of his own involvement, and pinpoint the actual exact perpetrator, leaving no need for a tie and having full confidence in your truth. It would be a clash of Kokichi Values vs Shuichi Values.

I think Case 4 was going to be less about “how could you do this to Gonta” angst and more about “take a good hard look at this truth you value so much”.

It would make more sense for Kokichi: as it stands, he apparently orchestrated a murder to… uh… fuck with you? I dunno, but he didn’t really gain anything from it other than getting Gonta offed - he CLEARLY intended for Shuichi to deduce the perpetrator from the outset, so it’s not like he wanted to get Gonta to graduate or to actually kill everyone else. Maybe he just wanted to thin the cast out until it was a number he could manage for the shit he ended up pulling after. I guess he did get to test out whether or not he could bait Monokuma into helping him, which was useful. BUT, in a case that is so heavy-handed on how he’s pulling all the strings, I think it would have made sense for him to get some hard metagaming out of it like he did in case 5 - this combined with his pointed question to Monokuma makes me think he was originally setting up something a lot more convoluted to see how he could game the class trial system.

The case also felt like it was setting up for Kokichi to alienate Shuichi from the rest of the cast. He forged an intentional rift between you and Kaito during the investigation, and kept calling Shuichi his partner… Kokichi then baited Shuichi into lying to incriminate him during the trial, and set up a “who do you trust - Shuichi or me?” split when they were both, in fact, lying. IMAGINE if Shuichi had ACTUALLY BEEN CAUGHT in that lie? It would’ve shattered everyone’s faith in him, allowed Kokichi to resume control, and you would’ve had to prove with cold hard evidence to back up everything you said the rest of the trial, making the stakes feel higher, and honestly the Kaito/Shuichi rift thereafter would have felt a lot more ingrained in the story’s themes than “I’m mad at you for being right”, because there would have been a really deep cutting loss of TRUST. As written the rift was good but not all that impactful in the grand scheme of things.

(I kept wondering when the game was going to bring up the fact that Kokichi, not just Miu, could have framed Kaito - by forcing him to de-spawn from the parlor phone and bringing the poison bottle himself - as an excuse to distance him from the investigation. It never did.)

Basically, the trial feels like it was setting up for some bigass Kokichi bullshit, and then halfway through decided to be something else completely. Trial 4 was still GOOD, and I honestly really liked the concept of “douchebag reveals the unknowing killer and you’re forced to follow the logic that they’re right even if you hate every second of it,” but I get the sense that the direction it ended up going wasn’t necessarily the direction planned at the outset.

This has been my Chapter 4 Conspiracy Theory. I just refuse to believe some of this was unintentional. I think it was intended, then the script revised, and some remnants of that earlier intent are left behind……

BIG BRAIN EDIT: It just occurred to me.... what if Kokichi originally intended himself and Gonta to be the 2 possible culprits? The fact Kokichi couldn't have done it because of that code Miu added could have easily been a late addition after the script was revised - without that, either Kokichi OR Gonta could have ultimately pulled off the murder. BAM - two equally possible suspects, hence his question at Monokuma. owo

BIG BRAIN EDIT EDIT: Thinking more on this.... if I'm right, it actually makes complete sense why they chose to scrap/re-write this. "Two possible culprits" might be too similar to the "two possible victims" in case 5 and it could be they decided to just axe that idea to avoid the two consecutive trials coming off as too same-y. (Alternatively the concept was lifted from this trial and tweaked to be implemented in chapter 5 INSTEAD of this trial.)

#drv3 #analyses

0 notes