#and like...i like to play around with whether or not junko is intentionally preying on kyoko's vulnerabilities or not

[aparticularbandit]

thoughts on enogiri ?

Yeah, yeah!

Honestly, I really love imagining them pre-Killing Game.

I love the idea of Kyoko Kirigiri who has no idea about anything regarding love or relationships and who is always and only detective and who doesn't intentionally keep herself closed off or separate from her classmates but just naturally is those things - like, let's be real, Kyoko has never really had a childhood. Jin tried up until he abandoned her, and even then, she was going on constant trips with her grandfather, she was never really staying in one location for very long, Kyoko has no idea how to actually have a friend at all and has been taught that friendships and family and all that other stuff MUST be seen as LESS THAN being a detective - and, yes, Yui tried, but the entirety of Danganronpa Kirigiri is Kyoko having a moment and then closing back up again because hey, look, this hurt, and I screwed up by trying, and I'm never gonna forget that I screwed up and I can't do this again - that's what the gloves are for!

So like. Kyoko who is this bundle of trauma and training and doesn't know how to people even if she wanted to people and isn't sure that she does want to people because the one time she did people it literally, quite literally blew up in her face--

Being literally adopted by Junko Enoshima who does not know how to keep her mouth shut and cannot take no for an answer and it does not matter how much Kyoko goes off by herself, Junko is going to chase after her because no, you are my friend now, and you don't get to escape this, I'm choosing you, and I don't care, and you're MINE.

Because let's be real. Junko preys on the vulnerable. And when it comes to interpersonal relationships, Kyoko is vulnerable. Kyoko is very strong in who and what she is, although she occasionally has doubts over the whole being a detective is more important than the people you care for thing, but she's very secure in who and what she is.

And Junko says, look, here is this entire world you are shutting yourself off from, and I want you to be part of it, and I'm not taking no for an answer. You don't have to be with anyone else, but you have to be with me, and you're going to like it, and you're going to like me, you're going to love me, even if you don't want to, even if you're scared and vulnerable. Even if no one else wants you, I want you.

Choose me.

Kyoko being warmed by that. Because she really, truly is alone. And she doesn't want to be. And when someone as insistent as Junko reaches out and says you don't have to be alone, eventually Kyoko will say okay and cling to the one person that she has. Because she's all she has.

And that's what Junko wants.

Abusers take lengths to separate their victims from their support system, but if we're honest here? Kyoko never had a support system. Her dad abandoned her. Her grandfather thinks she's just fine on her own. Yui is dead. Her mom is dead. Her other grandfather is dead. Kyoko has Kyoko.

....

And, in this case, Junko.

Who is exactly not the person you want her to have.

(Junko doesn't have to convince Kyoko she's alone. Kyoko already knows that. Junko just has to convince her that she's the only one who will push through her barriers and stick with her no matter what. And that's not hard.)

Semi-Related, someone made a comment early on with OAEI (that's...the fic I've been posting; I'll link to it) that the first game feels very much like it's Junko and Kyoko's story, like Kyoko is meant to be the protagonist and Makoto's...there and not really a concern until after Kyoko goes to bring him back, and like. (They did a much better job explaining this than my overview.) That rings so true to me. So much of THH is so personal to Kyoko, from the murder of her dad to the tidbits that are left for her, specifically, to find (and are absolutely NOT meant for Makoto, which is why he gets knocked out and has the relevant secret information stolen from him), to the endgame investigations revealing that Kyoko was still her dad's password (which means, yes, he did still care about her) and the present of her dad's bones wrapped up just for her to find--

Makoto's the protagonist, sure, and he becomes the Ultimate Hope, sure, but the Killing Game is so much about the relationship between Junko and Kyoko.

The whole thing is a murder mystery.

A present.

Wrapped up for her girlfriend.

Because she loves her.

With the end driving her into despair just the same as Junko is.

(Except for Makoto getting in the way.)

I just.

I love the dynamic of them so much. I love exploring them.

They're cute.