#and whatever the fuck kirumi’s execution was

[thelucidduchess]

[tobiasdrake]

On that note, the 3-2 execution itself is one of Danganronpa's best.

The best executions are the ones that feature some kind of ironic edge to them.

Celeste on a stage being burned as a witch in a glamorous if sinister display, only to have her dignity suddenly taken from her when she's abruptly and gruesomely smashed with a truck. Peko physically puppeted by Monokuma, using her as a tool to cut down Fuyuhiko. Chiaki given the same glimpse of hope that her brother Alter Ego once gave Makoto only for it to be swiftly undercut by the same kind of execution AE saved Makoto from.

That's the well that Kirumi's execution draws from. It's not just a poetic way for a character like her to go out; It's a sharp rebuke of what she represents.

3-2 is about the utilitarian value of a human life, and how much that matters. Kirumi believed she needed to sacrifice everyone here for herself, because as the Prime Minister of a nation in crisis, her life has more value than theirs. Ryoma thought the same thing. They both agreed that Kirumi should kill Ryoma.

Ryoma had no will to live. He saw no value in his existence. But Kirumi's existence has immeasurable value, and so her will to live was strongest of all.

Meanwhile, we have Kaito voicing the same counterargument he brought up earlier in the case: "Shut the fuck up, that's dumb. The value of life can't be measured that way."

Who's right? Who knows. It comes down to what you personally believe in, more than anything else. This isn't a question with an answer. It's not a question that's meant to have an answer.

But whatever you believe, the situation nonetheless is what it is. Kirumi has been found guilty of the murder of Ryoma. She is going to die, and to take the hope for Japan's future with her. Have fun sleeping tonight.

In the most appropriate way possible, Kirumi's determination to survive is the mechanism of her destruction. I'm sure that's not a metaphor for anything.

Kirumi is the first person to run for their life from Monokuma before the execution even begins. She is also the first person to throw themselves on Monokuma's sword rather than having it forced on them.

She makes the choice to climb the thorny vine, to keep climbing through the buzzsaws. To climb towards a hope for survival that was never there.

Obviously Monokuma would have killed her either way. She lost the trial. Her life was forfeit. But a character's death is always meant to be the last word, the final summation of who they are as a character. It's an intensely poetic statement on her character that Kirumi's determination to survive leads her to do this to herself.

And that, but for that final trick at the very end, she even makes it through.

[okthatsgreat]

opddmh new chapter. i read it right after work then went crazy and then. 😴. but ive been absolutely plagued ever since

the two groups unite!! which is fun bc it's both amazing and good and wonderful to have a larger support network but absolutely none of these guys are in touch with both their situation or all of their emotions and we have alr seen how much tension there is revolving around the stakes of the hospital escapees...... so this could also end up the apartment version of a nuclear warzone

this chapter was pretty clear but god my curiosity about everything about the hospital has been building and building. obv a lot of it is spoilers but what's that horror house like past what we know.

maybe sometimes family is two girls on the blacklist of every local therapist and the four teenagers they're hiding from the worst game show management team ever. (the legality and government support of dr is another point of curiousity now that i mention it...... :3)

THE TWO GROUPS UNITE !!!!!! finally they can become the dysfunctional apartment unit of their dreams

talking about this fic! :]

the six of them being in one apartment is essentially that one meme where every single one of them are thinking "jesus these people are freaks. thank god im the only normal one here" but all of them are so damaged its insane. ur so right it widens the support system but at the same time there is a lot to be tense about! kirumi is unwell, rantaro and ryoma are in very clear disagreement, and angie is only going to further play into rantaros belief that there is a place such as niisei. youve got a pretty clear divide between the four people of season 53 that are in the apartment, with two people being so in denial that they are still unconvinced that they are fake, and the other two accepting that they are fake but not coping well with it At All. so! lots of fun to be had :]

THE HOSPITALLLL it connects to the overarching dystopian company that danganronpa is lmfaooo so first. i would like you to imagine a very large media company who is so massive that they can essentially do anything they want if they are able to spin it with some legal jargon. the public is almost entirely on their side, and they have millions of people supporting them, including some very powerful investors. they have so many employees signed underneath them that it is difficult to keep track, and there is clear favoritism involved within the company. they only care about what a person can bring in terms of profit and entertainment, and they're not entitled to make you completely better or care about your personal wellbeing past what you provide for them. AND, because most of the people working under this company have been frightened into submission, they aren't going to reach out to give further help because most of the time they don't think you need it. now i want you to imagine that very same media company opening up a private hospital .

danganronpa is a vindictive company (as we've mostly seen through makoto and akane's povs, if you fuck up they WILL have consequences, and this ranges from salary cuts to throwing you back into the simulator) and they know they can get away with a lot. they are incredible at keeping face and making the company seem appealing, and they are also incredible at silencing people. so whatever happens to you, you just gotta suck it up. the hospital is a clear reflection of danganronpa as a company. they pick favorites, they are vindictive (mikan mentions in her pov that they will go so far as to REFUSE to treat patients if they have wronged the company), and they are directly run by danganronpa executives, meaning they follow their orders (which is why they are planning on keeping season 53 stationed there for much longer than they are legally allowed to). they are understaffed and under-qualified for the patients they need to be treating, leading to many cases of people being misdiagnosed (which again, mikan mentions had happened to her when she stayed there). and considering how fucked up danganronpa is purposefully making these people, they need GOOD DOCTORS AND PSYCHIATRISTS. but they don't, because they don't NEED to have them, and the participants suffer because of it. there is maybe one good licensed psychiatrist that genuinely cares about their job in that building but they are overworked and never available

i love writing the company of danganronpa because its just sooo cruel. its cruel and nobody can see how cruel it is because the public is being painted a very specific and highly coordinated image. even those who are against danganronpa are against it for the "wrong" reasons (as seen in the grocery store scene when akane gets confronted by the cashier). people who are anti danganronpa in this universe are more so against the PARTICIPANTS, which is yet again another way that danganronpa has painted themselves as this do-no-wrong company despite the Everything. it is a money-hungry company that views the participants as vehicles for profit, and their worth entirely depends on how marketable they are to a wider audience. which is entirely gross, but so many of these participants are desperate to be liked because they are SCARED. they will fit into the box that danganronpa gives them because they don't know any other way to live. and quite frankly, there IS no other way to live. it's adapt or die, and they can't die.

n e ways excited for the six of them to share this apartment :] every friend group has the hotheaded emotional repression athlete, the worlds shakiest nurse, a false prophet, a girl who keeps passing out, dora the explorer, and ryoma

THANK YOU AGAIN SO SO MUCH 💥💥💥💥💥💥 MWAH

[dexalyys]

cracks knuckles . (SPOILERS BY THE WAY. YKNOW.) 1) technically, i saw a clip from the anime--chaiki's jumanji lookin ass execution specifically--but i didnt recognise it until way later when i was actually watching the anime myself. that was when i was like 11 or 12 or something idr, but i actually got into it after being introduced to it via the fucking SOUTH PARK INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY. love to see it 2) thh obviously..... duh.... lol.. 3) himiko and mahiru. crazy how theyre both redheads too 💀 idk i just absolutrly DETESTED himiko in my first playthrough for whatever reason. now shes one of my top five favs ^_^ as for mahiru .. more of a recent revelation. ive been replaying sdr2 with an irl of mine every weekend lately and when i was introducing the cast i just lit up seeing mahiru for whatever reason? idk i appreciate her alot :] strange considering i found her quite annoying initially

4) do we gotta name him. cause i dont wanna. (the guy in udg. you know)

5) Many of them . primarily ouma

6) ouuuhhh a few...... only a few of them have designs though :( my fav would be uminagi solely cause shes the most accurate to the actual dr universe. in terms of personal attachmment though id say ash and sara bc i love tragic lesbiamns 7) honestly most of my thoughts here are just in the way of like .. renaming the localised talents????? 'ultimate breeder' LIKE COULD YOU NOT JUST SAY ANIMAL TRAINER ?? akane being the shsl gymnast Makes Sense but her whole thing is parkour. please can we get in the game guys

8) saihara cause hes me

9) question mar . idkj

10) dont really have one 💀 ch 1 was basic, ch 2 was transphobic, ch 3 killed two of my favs, ch 4 was just sad, ch 5 is just a whole lot of back and forth for like a million years, and ch 6 just explains everything terribly imo. i GUESS if i had to pick id say ch 4 bc aoi trying to kill everyone out of grief hits so hard

11) ch 5 tbh ^_^ we love to see a deranged king hit the wall

12) sloooow blink . idk. theyre all pretty good in terms of actual gameplay but y feelings toward them vary ig ? most of them just make me debilitatingly sad bc theyre my fav cast overall 😭 ughh idk ch 2. pretty straightforward trial imo

13) ??? HOW AM I MEANT TO PICK JUST ONE. IM A MULTISHIPPER YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!!!! saiou gontangie amaguuji YES THEYRE ALL V3 GO AWAY

14) scrtahces head . cant get behind kuzupeko idk theyre siblings to me

15) hiyokoooooo. and sayaka bc both of them + their deaths were so rushed for literally no reason and i cannot stand for pointless girl murder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

16) looks sideways at my old old OLD fangan from like 2022............. yea.. what if u pushed a guy thru the flimsy floorboards of a hayloft and stabbed him in the chest w/ a pitchwork while he was winded (ch1)....... what if u and ur impropmptu girlfriend pinned another girl to the gym wall w/ arrows and an axe to the head and ur gf tried to take the blame so u could get away (ch2)....... what if everyone was chained together in pairs by collars so u pushed two of them off either side of a catwalk except Your partner was one of them's sibling so u had to kill them too except it turned out the other sibling survived and ratted u out (ch3)....... what if u were locked in a room and had to trust some random guy on the other side of the door to bring u food and drink for several days so u earn his trust by sharing ur food w/ him only to get ur pet cat to poison him bc yoire claustrophobic (ch4)........

17) kirumi is they/he tmasc sorry i dont make thr rules .. also korekiyo is tfem & het ....... mondo is also nobinary ,,..... him & fujisaki kiss and taka is their mutual qpp ...... gundham & sonia r also qpps and souda just cant wrap his head aroudn it so he thinks theyr dating (not that he had a chance w either of them anyway)

18) some of them are so so so well made i just havemnt had the chance to play any for myself............ i want 2 tho

19) KOMAEDA WOULD BE A KITSUNE AND YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE (& kiyo would be a naga)

20) IDONT EVEN KNOW. MAYBE OUMA IN GENERAL

21) takes a long swig from an already empty bottle . Oh Buddy

22) life size recreation of the fucking vatican city

23) BETA KOMAEDA W/ GLASSES COME BACK TO MEEEEE also ibuki & that one black sakura concept w the sick ass locs

24) prologue saihara/kagehara BUT HES NORMAL. HES JUST AUTISTIC STOP MAKING HIM A FREAK

25) gotta rummage through my aged & fragile memories 4 this one......... umm i think gundham surprised me? i mean the whole of that chapter confuses and pisses me off so ehhhh

26) ur gonna tell me ibuki didnt get a crazy girl murder moment. unbelievable

27) as long as i stay in my room and only leave for food ill be fine right

28) oouuuuuummaaaaaaa

29) idk about Benefitting from it but likeeee what if gontangie talent swap

30) mahiruuuu :3333

31) ummm naegis has no spice and i KNOW thats the point but idc. hinata rocks the 'i have nothing going on in the closet' look better than naegi and hes only got ONE shirt on

32) methinks fujisaki gundham & gonta would vibe nicely ^_^

33) i never played it but i think komahina holding hands is cute

34) this answer would be about ouma but it would literally take up 80% of the post and i aint about to do y'all in like that

35) yes kodaka thats nice and all but WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY

36) chihiro :( :( :( :( :(

37) ??? WHEN I WAS PSYCHOTIC YEAH MAYBE?? 

38) frog blinks. ummmm idk i think they all earned their fanbases but--and im summoning hell here--i dont really understand the gundham hype? hes neat but i dont rlly feel anything in particular for his character

39) ouma has enough love but he also has equal amounts of hate so i think we should just eliminate all haters ^_^ this applies to himiko too

40) i Enjoy them from a Distance . aint got the time in my schedule to do anything crazy for a date once a year ok

41) some r realistic and some r not ........... i like the rrealistic ones but dont quote me on that bc im a diehard komaeda fan talent & all

42) avoiding the fandom is the #1 surefire way to avoid poor mental health in the long run im so srs

43) GESTURES VIOLENTLY AT THAT ONE GUY ????? YOU KNOW THE FUCKIN ONE

44) the Actual dr3 anime? banger. BANGERRR. provides necessary context for sdr2 and bridges between the first and second games :] unless you mean the thh animation, in which case IT CAN FUCK OFF BACK TO ITS HOME PLANET =^_^=

45) big fan of the way komaru is bipolar

46) kagehara is NOT A FREAK!!!!! him and iruma were close and also bon & yumeno are half siblings for literally no reason

47) girl idgaf abt them

48) POINTING VIOLENTLY AT GONTANGIE. I AM SO ALONE IN THIS WORLD

49) i dontttt? caaaareeeee?

50) ndrv3 but yall already knew that

★彡 Danganronpa Asks 彡★

What was your first exposure to Danganronpa?

Which was your first Danganronpa game?

Did you have a character you hated at first, and then fell in love with? Who and why?

Which character can you absolutely not stand?

Which character would you hypothetically die for?

Do you have a fan character? Tell us about them!

You get the chance to reassign five characters new talents. Who do you choose, and which new talents do they get?

Who is your favorite protagonist?

Who is your least favorite protagonist?

Which was your favorite trial from THH?

Which was your favorite trial from SDR2?

Which was your favorite trial from V3?

What is your OTP?

What is your NOTP?

Which character do you think could benefit from a total rewrite?

Do you have any ideas for a Danganronpa murder? Share!

List five headcanons for your favorite characters!

How do you feel about fangames?

What kind of fantasy creature would you make [X] character?

What is your favorite aspect of Danganronpa?

What do you think could be improved about Danganronpa?

What’s a setting you’d love to see for a Killing Game?

Which are your top three favorite beta designs?

Which character do you most identify with?

Which character surprised you when they were revealed to be the blackened?

Which character did you expect to be the blackened, but wasn’t?

You’re placed in a Killing Game as yourself (who you are now, no perks). How far do you believe you’d get?

Who is your preferred rival?

Talent swap time! Which two characters do you think would benefit best from a talent swap?

Whose design do you enjoy the most? 

Whose design do you dislike the most?

Which two characters from different games do you believe would get along the most?

What is your favorite interaction from the Talent Development Program?

What is your opinion on [X] character?

What is your honest opinion on the end of V3?

Which character do you wish had more screen time? Why?

Have you ever wanted to run a Killing Game yourself? 

Which character do you feel is too popular amongst the fans, in your opinion?

Which character do you feel deserves more love?

Do you celebrate character birthdays?

What is your opinion on Ultimate Talents being similar to low-level super powers?

How do you feel about the Danganronpa fandom as a whole?

Which is the most offensive Danganronpa character, in your opinion?

How do you feel about the anime?

What is your opinion on Ultra Despair Girls?

What are some of your pregame headcanons?

What are some of your Remnant of Despair headcanons?

Do you have any rare pairs?

Which is your least favorite installment?

Which is your favorite installment?

[sips-tea-cutely]

can we get headcanons for the reader getting the despair disease during a trial in DRV3? I don't have a particular pairing for this, you can choose if you'd like. I just love the entire class and I'd love to see how they'd react.

Kokichi, Shuichi, Maki, Rantaro, Kiyo, and Kaede’s s/o with the despair disease during a trial

note: sorry for my outburst awhile ago

cw: V3 spoilers (Rantaro)

#Kokichi Oma

is this a prank??

i mean- yeah, you’re def getting shuichi good but- yknow maybe we should focus on the case??

haha jkjk as if

as the trial progresses, he’s less convinced that it’s a prank

why are you acting like miu???

he’ll make kiibo bring you to your dorm to rest

robots can’t get sick after all

NEAT FREAK NEAT FREAK

he’d treat you like you had the fucking plague and would wear double masks

“KIIBO!! take care of my darling. why? because you can’t get sick, haven’t i told you already?!”

he’d be so needy when you’re finally better <33

#Shuichi Saihara

sussing monokuma hard

he’d probably be trying so hard to focus that his mind goes blank

all he can care for right now is you

as soon as any type of break starts, he’s running to you

“a-are you okay, s/o?!”

“tch, i’m fine! just leave me, Kuzuhara!”

HAHA MIU IS LAUGHING HER ASS OFF

he’s still kinda worried

OH THIS IS A MOTIVE?? ALREADY?!?

he’d leave you in your dorm and kaito volunteers to guard your dorm for his ‘soul bro’

he’d also frequently visit and check your temperature

still, he’s pretty worried, you’re pretty fragile right now and anyone could take advantage of it

he gets really protective of you after that thought

“shuichi, i am here to bring s/o their food”

“oh, i’ll give it to them, kirumi.”

“it may be eas-“

“i can do it, don’t worry. :)”

#Maki Harukawa

“upupuupu, looks like the next motive has already started!”

WHAT

she can’t give any more fucks about the dead person anymore, WHAT IS THIS MOTIVE

opposite day???

during the intermission, she probably almost choked it out of monokuma

whatever, ARE YOU OKAY? (*´Д｀*)

DEMANDS that you get pardoned from this trial

she will take GOOD CARE of you until you’re better

#Rantaro Amami

he’s probably seen it before

it probably isn’t too rare that the despair disease is a motive

he’s determined to finish the trial as fast as he can

as soon as the blackened is executed, he’s running to you

*worried*

he’d probably quarantine you in your dorm

makes sure kirumi wears a mask when she sees you

he’d also treat you like you have the plague, i’m sorry, he just wants you better and not dead

#Korekiyo Shinguji

how peculiar

he just knows this fucking bear is why you’re acting out

if anyone, say miu or kokichi, even JOKINGLY says to kill you because you’re ’defective’ now, he will threaten to tear out their nerves

he’ll take very good care of you, even if you’re pushing him away

he’d tell you a ton of stories while you’re sick!!

he might get a bit frustrated sometimes when you spit out your food but, he’ll try his best to be patient

#Kaede Akamatsu

“s-s/o, what’s gotten into you?”

she’s trying to finish the case quickly

she’d probably play you a soft tune to help you rest

she’d also frequently check up on you!!

random hc but i feel like she’d love calling you her baby, so:

“my poor baby, how are you feeling?”

she’d try her best nurse you back to health so that another killing doesn’t happen

[its-nebula]

V3 Boys x Pregnant S/O in the Killing Game

Warning: DRV3 Spoilers

“S/O is what?!”

He panics and freaks out.

Calms down as soon as you tell him that you’ll get through it with him. It’s just all the more reason to survive.

“But Gonta… no can put child in this hell!”

He has a fire in his eyes that you honestly wouldn’t expect from him. You have to try your hardest to convince him not to fight Monokuma, out of fear of him being punished.

“Gonta will try to survive…for Gonta and S/O’s kid.”

He carries you everywhere from now on, not wanting you to strain yourself. If you ask, he puts you down, but will hold you and keep you close by.

During Class Trials, he immediately shuts any suspicion down.

“S/O can’t be culprit! Was with Gonta!”

You tell him to be wary of Kokichi, as you think Kokichi doesn’t have good intentions with your boyfriend. He just gives you a smile.

“Kokichi wants to end killing game just as much as Gonta!”

When all of you go in the simulation, Gonta makes sure you’re okay and that the baby’s okay. You don’t exactly look pregnant in the simulation, but he still makes sure. After that, he goes off to watch Kokichi, and you’re left to explore on your own.

To make a long story short, when Miu was killed, you noticed Kokichi giving you the side-eye, but didn’t say anything to him. You could tell he knew something that you didn’t.

During the Class Trial, the “Killing Game Busters” were revealed. You didn’t want to believe it was Gonta. You really didn’t. He would never hurt someone like that without a purpose…

“S/O, take care of Gonta’s baby. Gonta will be watching over you and baby!”

You sobbed as you watched his execution. The father of your child was burned alive, and he was never coming back.

Instantly, you unleashed all your rage onto Kokichi and his crocodile tears. Several people had to pull you off of him, claiming that the stress wouldn’t be good for the baby.

Besides, you could hit Kokichi with all the punches in the world, but nothing would bring him back…

 Laughs when you tell him about it.

Laughs the second time you tell him about it.

“It is even funnier the second time!”

Doesn’t laugh the third time.

“Wait a minute. You can’t be serious-?!”

Hope you valued your alone time while it lasted, because that is now a thing of the past!

MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!

Lets everyone know that they’re not even allowed near you. He keeps you in his room at all times, you barely even get to sleep in your own bed anymore.

He only really lets you out during Class Trials, and even then he convinces Monokuma to put his podium next to yours.

Constantly talks about how happy he is that he’s going to be a father, to the point everybody knows. Even the Monokubs are a little bit annoyed.  So much for keeping it a secret.

“Hmm, nope! It can’t be me, sorry! I was too busy spending time with my child and my girlfriend~”

His logic is that since you’re pregnant, maybe nobody would kill you because they would feel too bad, so he doesn’t really mind screaming it to the world.

The longer the game goes on, though, the more fucked up things he feels compelled to do, in his efforts to try and stop the killing game.

You practically scream at him when he pretends to be dead.

“Aw, don’t worry your pretty little head! I’m alright, aren’t I?”

Maki keeps sending her threats for him to you.

“If you want to raise the child with a stable 2-Parent family, I suggest you calm your boyfriend down.”

During the fifth trial, things are very tense. Either way, your boyfriend was either dead or going to die. You knew it was all a part of his scheme, but you still thought this was a step too far.

When Kaito was revealed in the Exisal, you bawled your eyes out.

Even as Shuichi explained Kokichi’s thought process, it made nothing better.

You didn’t even get to say goodbye…

And your child would never meet his father.

Wait, you’re what?

Oh no.

In a killing game?!

Oh no.

And he’s the father???

Oh NO.

You’re surprised that he doesn’t faint, by the way he’s acting.

“S/O, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, really!”

You tell him that it’s okay, because you know he’ll make a great parent. You’ve made him a little more confident, but not by a lot.

“We should probably keep this a secret for now. You can never really be too careful in these circumstances.”

Everyone can tell something’s off with him, because he gets really bad Couvade syndrome.

He still tries to help you as much as he can. If you’re craving something he brings you it almost immediately.

If your stomach moves even a tiny bit, he assumes the baby is coming even though he knows better. You have to tell him that it’s only a kick and he needs to take it down a couple of notches.

“Heh…sorry.”

His anxiety is through the ROOF.

Still tries to work on it. He’s got to be strong for you.

Trains with Kaito to help him become stronger, and brings you along with him.

“Hey Shuichi, don’t you think S/O might want to train with us?”

“It’s okay Kaito, S/O gets really sleepy during this time.”

Tries his hardest during class trials. He can’t afford to take shit from anybody and risk getting you killed. Hits the killers with the hard facts and evidence.

Investigates with you by his side.

“Now the baby can see his father in action!”

At the 6th Trial, he reveals your pregnancy, even though Tsumugi already knew.

Nobody else did. How? Guess they weren’t paying attention to your ever-increasing stomach.

When everyone ducks under rocks, Shuichi shields you with his body for extra protection. After the two of you make it out alive, along with Maki and Himiko, the 4 of you go off to start a new life together.

“WHAAAATTTT?!”

Thinks you cheated on him.

He’s very hurt.

You spend almost an hour convincing him that he’s the only one you’ve ever been with. He still doesn’t really believe it, but there’s only one thing to do.

The two of you consult Miu to figure out what in the hell is going on.

“Miu! I never wanted to actually have sperm and be able to create life! Now our child is going to be born in such horrible conditions!”

“Well, be more fuckin’ clear next time, and wrap it up when you get your dick wet, why don’t you?!”

Looks on the bright side.

He was able to get you pregnant, something no other robot was able to do before! That’s a complete win!

You’re still stuck in this school, though, and this was no place to raise a child.

“Robots aren’t allowed to hurt humans, and I can’t risk you killing someone and losing the trial…”

He helps you the best that he can. He gives you any medicine that he can find, and he lets you use him as a heating pad.

Scans daily to see your state of health. Sometimes more than necessary…

“I just did this scan 5 minutes ago? Oh, I hadn’t noticed…”

Takes pictures of your stomach every day to monitor your growth.

Kokichi always makes fun of the two of you.

“Well, I guess that answers my question! Robots do have dicks! Hey S/O, was it all cold and metallic?”

“…that’s not funny.”

When it was revealed during the 6th Trial about Danganronpa, he was conflicted.

The voices in his head– the audience– told him all different things. He was tired, he just wanted to be free. He didn’t want your child to grow up in a world like this.

“S/O, if this continues, and the kid we created joins a future season, I’d never forgive myself. It’s time to end this. Please, when you see them, let them know their father loves them so.”

He sacrificed himself by blowing up the school. As he saw his friends and his significant other huddled beneath a rock, he grinned, knowing they were going to be okay.

Scoffs.

“Well, that’s just my luck that I would cause you to have to bring a new life into this horrible world.”

He’s honestly pretty upset over the whole thing for at least a couple days.

But then he realizes it; he can raise them to be better than he ever was or had a chance at being. He can teach them to do better.

This makes him happy, and he apologizes for being so stand-offish.

“Looks like… we’ve still got a ways to go.”

When the two of you lay down together, he always lays down in a way that his ear is directly pressed against you stomach.

He talks to the child a lot.

“Don’t worry, little one. We’ll get you and everyone else out of here and to safety. I love you so much.”

Truth be told, he’s a little scared that he’s a  threat to the kid. After what happened in his past, what happened to his family, what happened to his lover…

You tell him to try to not think about it, and you know that he’s learned from the past.

The two of you only tell a couple people that you trust; namely, Shuichi and Kirumi. They’re both really happy for you!

Kirumi helps out a lot by getting you whatever you need for the day. She doesn’t get at all bothered by your morning sickness, and even offers to clean.

After the motive videos come out, Ryoma watches his and though he’s a little hurt, it doesn’t stop his determination to leave.

While she’s cleaning Ryoma’s room, Ryoma confides in her for advice.

“I feel like…I won’t be enough for our kid. Look at me now, I’m nothing more than an empty shell. I just… want to be enough for our family.”

SLAM!

Ryoma fell to the ground with a light thud, and that was the last anybody ever heard from him.

Crying out as you saw the piranhas tear away his flesh, you fainted on the spot.

You didn’t even have time to investigate, because the Class Trial had started.

You appreciated how seriously Kirumi was taking this trial. She kept making glances at you, but you assumed it was because she felt bad that your child would have to be without a father.

Until…

No, it couldn’t be. She’d gained your trust, only to betray you in the end? What kind of sick joke was this?!

As she was executed, you looked down at your stomach, rubbing it.

“Looks like we’ve still got a ways to go, kid…”

Wildly switching between happy, sad, and terrified.

On the one hand, he’s happy to be a father to your child. You were the love of his life, and he wanted to do his part and take care of the kid.

On the other hand, when you tell him the news, he paces back and forth, trying to find a way to get you to be as safe as possible. He already survived one killing game, how hard could it be to let the two of you be the last survivors again?

He asked Monokuma to see if you could have the easy way out.

“Monokuma, I know you probably want me to still participate, but my girlfriend, she’s pregnant now, so can you please just-”

“Puhuhuhu~! All applications made are final, buddy! It looks like we may just have another member in a short 9 months! Well, the more the merrier!”

Shit.

After that “lovely” conversation, Rantaro was more determined than ever to find a way out of the game.

He’d already lost his sisters, and he wouldn’t dream of losing you and the child too.

When the countdown motive for the first murder is introduced, he parts with you for just a few minutes, to record the videos that you and your other classmates would later find. He wanders in the library in order to do something, but he’s distracted when a shot put ball falls behind him. As he goes to pick it up, he’s struck in the back of the head.

Finding his body, you wanted to throw up, and not from morning sickness. 

Nobody knew of your pregnancy yet, so nobody really knew how deep into despair you’d fallen.

Though, they still felt sorry for you, because it was obvious the two of you were together.

You didn’t feel right being angry at Kaede when she was revealed as the culprit, especially as she showed deep remorse.

“I didn’t mean it, S/O. I’m so sorry…”

Tears pricked your eyes as she was snatched back by the chains.

You forgive her.

Over the moon at first.

Yes, that’s a pun. Shut up, I know it’s bad.

This man is DANCING while he’s celebrating.

“WOO! I”M GONNA BE A FATHER!”

He’s loud enough that everyone knows within 10 minutes of you telling him.

Well.

When he has some alone time, he frowns to himself. He’s sick, What if he doesn’t live long enough to see their smiling face for the first time? Hear their first laugh?

These invasive thoughts clouded his mind, as he started to cough up blood.

“D-Damn it…”

Kaito decided not to tell you, not just because he’s an idiot, but he doesn’t want you to stress and possibly cause damage to the child.

He talks to your stomach everyday.

“What’s up, my little star!”

He’s extremely proud and isn’t afraid to show you off.

The more ill he gets, the more hope he has that you’ll be just fine. You have to be!

After he’s locked in the bathroom, he tries to find a way out. Any way out, he needed to make sure you were safe. Kokichi couldn’t keep him locked up forever! 

When he and Kokichi make their deal, he does it in your interest.

“If Monokuma can’t solve the murder, I’ll finally get to walk out of here and start my family! Right?!”

But their plan failed. As you watched his execution, you screamed, pounding on the screen, begging Monokuma to let him go, please. You’d do anything! Soon, his coughing got worse, and he was soon on the ground, pink all around him. He’d died of his own accord.

You smiled happily at the bittersweet moment. He died of his own accord, no longer a part of Monokuma’s twisted game.

You knew he was above, watching you from the stars.

“Did you say you’re pregnant…? My, what an interesting turn of events!”

Did this man just say it was interesting?

You told him that this was serious, and that you needed to find a way out of here now.

“Keheehee... you don’t really think I’d let anything happen to you, do you? It’s clear Monokuma won’t let us go, even under these circumstances. Besides, I have my own kin developing inside your body, you need extra attention now!”

He will literally give you a tsunami of compliments everyday about how your body seems to be handling the pregnancy.

“S/O, your body is just so radiant today!”

Tells you stories about motherhood in other cultures.

Knows the best herbal remedies to calm symptoms such as headaches or nausea.

Nervous that you keep having to go to the bathroom, guides you there and back.

You really don’t know why he completely lost his shit by killing Angie and Tenko.

You convinced yourself that it was because of the oppressive student council, but why Tenko?

As he revealed his true self, you were horrified. He...was a serial killer?

The Korekiyo you came to love was a serial killer?

You were thrown into despair as you came to terms with his true colors. Nothing made sense anymore. Not only was your boyfriend and father of your first-born child dead, but he’d been batshit insane this entire time?

Maybe the next time you see red rope and hear a promise of “pleasure like you’ve never experienced”, you’ll politely decline.

[mikimagines]

What would happen if someone tried to grab the chain? For the execution or Try to cut it quick. Like peko? Would that be a execution fail? Like with Kaito?

w o a h.

you guys are really creative with requests

What Would You do?

with mod mikan. ft. all drv3 blackeneds + peko.

We brought random students from hopes peak academy today from the killing game an some unexpected classmates to see what would they do to stop the execution from happening when they break the keychain.

how would they react? who knows.

...

Kaito was about to get executed, he killed kokichi, so he has to deal with the consequences. Before he goes, he says one final goodbye to his starlight, s/o.

then soon the chain comes up and was about to drag him.

then...

*crack* it broke??

he fell down on his feet to see the others shocked, and monokuma having no reason what to do.

Team Dang it grandpa (danganronpa) didn’t know what to do, so they just gave up, since you were just going to stop it from going over and over.

and so Kaito was their for the final showdown, with you, kiibo, Shuichi, himiko, and maki vs tsumugi and the audience.

also he never asked how you did it because you would just say you used himiko’s magic.

you actually just broke the chain with an chain breaker or whatever you call it.

...

gonta is so sorry, he really is.

he wants everyone to move on and get out of “hell” as he is getting ready for his execution he says his final words. then the chain came up and grabbed him, but soon enough you grabbed the chain, letting him go free.

“gonta is still alive?” gonta questions.

you miraculously saved him from his doom since it wasn’t his fault, he just wanted everyone to escape. to come out alive, even if he did kill someone, miu.

then he hugged you...! really, really tight.

ah yes true love.

...

you were devastated. I mean he seriously killed angie and tenko just for his fucking sister?

also it made you even more devastated that he had an... relationship with them. I mean he was your lover right? You still love him, I mean you didn’t even talk when he tells everyone his true motive.

then soon enough you grabbed the chain of his neck.

“huh?” korekiyo said in confusion.

then he turned to you, which you violently turned away.

yeah...

it’s going to take a lot to get you to forgive him.

you still love him, but it’s still going to take a while. mostly for you and himiko, himiko probably wouldn’t talk to you for an while.

but I’ll guess she forgive you since it wasn’t your fault, but kiyo’s.

yeah... yeah.

once again im so sorry kiyo simps

...

I have none for kirumi because she didn’t go by chain, she went by speed.

sorry kiru simps

...

oh the pain in this one. kaede wanted to kill the mastermind, but instead...

she killed Rantaro and she can never forgive herself for it.

but you can. when it was time for her execution she was about to get dragged up to the sky until *click*

you grabbed her hand and pick locked the chain holding her on her neck and both of you fell down, only to get caught by gonta.

great now Shuichi is crying more (mood)

he was about to lose his best friend to monokuma and you saved her.

and so kaede went to the final trial with all of the remaining survivors, including you.

sobs in piano.

... bonus bonus!!

peko was going to get pulled of to her execution as fuyu was getting ready to chase after her.

but someone, pekos s/o got the chain of somehow, letting peko go free.

I mean fuyuhiko was great ful for you for the rest of the game.

like without you he would of lost his friend.

peko was also actually great ful. I mean in her finals words she deeply regrets killing mahiru and almost trying to put the blame of fuyuhiko.

which could of have killed you and everyone else... so she feels slightly regret that she’s know to still be an murderer and has to be watched 24/7.

and Hiyoko? she angy. Like really angy, she would be mad at you and peko for you saving her even though she killed mahiru. Peko is for killing Mahiru, of course.

so it might take an while.

you guys are really good with requests so tysm for requesting!!

[old-blanket-man]

danganronpa hot takes because i hate this fucking series, a new game is coming, and danganronpa tumblr is pretty chill (spoilers for every game lol:

- chapter two in every game is just,, god teir im sorry

- genocider has the best sprites/art

- also shes super fuckign funny?

- other than thh really, the anime is bad. its so fucking boring

- sdr2 was the worst game in terms of storyline. worse than v3. v3's trials saved it for me, but sdr2 was a clusterfuck of sexualization and garbage

- like yeah makoto was stupid but at least it made sense

- ig i'll add this, no i didn't care when hajime was all "im not re a L?" because he was unrelatable and boring as shit

- kaede as protag and angie as antag would have been better for v3

- honestly they should have made angie more important, she was pretty funny and her relationship with god could have been used more

- himiko is gross and has the worst voice in the entire series

- nekomaru could have been such a good character (in a q-taro after chapter one of yttd type beat) but he was just shit jokes till he died.

- also im in love with nekomaru i'll put this here

- sdr2 had the best and worst executions in the series (one woman army for best and whatever the fuck mikan was for worst)

- can we talk about how stupid junko's execution in thh?

- no? okay then, kirigiri wasn't a support character until chapter 6

- there is no fucking reason for teruteru to be a pervert but they gave him the trait anyway to meet the gross character quota.

- i honestly really fucking hate sonia shes so boring bro

- hifumi is extremely relatable and pretty funny but god danganronpa doesn't know how to draw anyone who isn't skinnier than a fucking pencil

- people making joeks about chest size is weird especially since you're supposed to see these characters as minors most of the time ("but they're actually-" stfu i could care less.)

- fuyuhiko was the only character to likee,,, actually develop other than the protags and antags

- ryoma single handedly improved the v3 cast by just existing

- the previous one is mostly a joke, but he is my favorite from that game i think his cardboard cutout base (every dr character is just a trope guys, dont think this is dynamic shit) is actualyl pretty interesitng.

- 11037, mondo butter, fairy, etc jokes weren't funny, currently aren't funny, and will never be funny.

- i did enjoy chapter 3 thh, but it was super easily predictable because no one else was smart enough to do that

- i hate sdr2 chapter 3 it was just sorta shitty (though mikan my beloved)

- chapter 3 v3 was,, okay. korekiyo my beloved.

- monokuma is super funny and i laughed at him a lot. his voice is only good in the thh anime though.

- i keep bringing up the anime because its better paced then the games uwuw

- the woh are some of the best villians. they're relatable, funny, and have super interesting personalities because of it. also kotoko is the best one i dont make the rules man

- nagito's english va sounds like he smoked 50 a day

- EVERYONE'S JAPANESE VA IS BETTER THAN THEIR ENGLISH

- the only english performances i really really liked were miu's (it captures her perfectly, the lines are delivered so well), teruterus (they get the gross lines down well, the screaming was well done, also :sparkling_heart: im in love), and genociders (idk its just done really well, as i said all the lines are pretty funny, but with the voice acting it makes it better)

- danganronpa shouldn't have been at e3, i screamed when i saw it. not a positive scream. i was terrified.

- i genuinely don't like many danganronpa ships, but i'll list a few of my favorites because its about meeee today: teruteru x nekomaru (they get one,, mildly sexual scene together but omg they'd work out nice), kirumi x ryoma (idk what to say its a comfort ship, give ryoma the happy 2021), sakura x toko (remember that scene in the manga? yes), tsumugi x hifumi (im a rairpair guy, this one is a tdp thing, they'd be cute), angie x miu (they get like 0 interactions but they'd play off each other really well), peko x fuyuhiko (sobs)

- nagito isn't well written hes annoying

- same with ouma lol

- togami isn't super bad, i still fucking hate him loads during the first few chapters

- have i mentioned im in love with nekomaru? i think i have

- also you shouldn't hate people for enjoying characters like wow u hate them cool stfu now

- im being really harsh on this series because it really has changed my life for what should be the better, but now that the magic of a new fandom has faded, i can finally take a step back and criticize it (even if i am a little harsh)

- nagtio is going to kiss a girl in the new game

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, deadly life (Part 1)

Note of the author: Place your bets, because these are confusing times.

Also, I’ll be back to college in a few days so I’ll take longer to write chapters and I’m not hoping for a 2nd quarantine to help me with this.

Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Deadly life

...

Huh?

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"Why... Did the body discovery announcement play?" Shuichi asked.

Ryoma glanced at everyone. "We're all here. No one else died."

Kokichi looked down. "I don't get it..."

Rantaro stared at Tsumugi's body with regret. "... The body discovery announcement played for Tsumugi but..." he clenched his fists. "Why...? No one else did this. Monokuma killed Tsumugi, we saw it for ourselves. There's no class trial to hold."

Shuichi nodded. The canon... The explosion... Tsumugi's last words...

"I knew the mastermind... was coming f-for me anyway..."

...

Did they have to find out who the mastermind was?

But still... Monokuma executed Tsumugi. Not the mastermind themselves. And Monokuma was very adamant with the rules.

"... Only the person who does the final blow is the blackened!”

And the one who did so is Monokuma.

Nothing made sense. Why-

The black and white bear appeared before their eyes.

"My! My! This class trial promises to be very interesting!"

Rantaro immediately shouted at him. "You executed Tsumugi! There's no trial to hold!"

The bear laughed. "Puhuhuhuhu! Very interesting indeed!"

He took a step back to make sure everyone could see him.

"You see, I cannot let the blackened get away as if they were spotless. Someone killed four eyes and this trial is about them!"

Kaito yelled. "What the fuck are you saying?! If I'm the blackened who killed Keebo only because of a maintenance mistake, why would anyone else other than you could be considered the blackened here??"

"Puhuhu! Puhuhuhuhu! That's for you to find out!" The bear reached for a cocktail out of... Who knows at this point. "I shall give you the Monokuma file. After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!"

Shuichi's monopad vibrated. He took it to read the information given.

Monokuma file #4

The victim is Tsumugi Shirogane, the ultimate prodigy.

The body was discovered behind the main building.

The estimated time of death is 3:05 PM.

The victim died from an execution.

Obtained truth bullet! Monokuma file #4

... This didn't help them in the slightest.

Before he realized it, the bear disappeared.

What on earth was going on?

Why did they have to go through this again? What was the point?

Did they have to find the mastermind?

Was this going to be their last trial?

Nothing made sense. Shuichi's head hurt.

Rantaro's grip on his monopad was so strong that Shuichi wondered if he was going to break it. But more importantly...

That intense glare was back. Aimed at the Monokuma file.

He instantly got a chill down his spine.

Miu nervously looked at him. "What are we supposed to do...?"

The medic closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Isn't that obvious?"

"We need to investigate."

Kokichi waved his hands. "But for what? There isn't even a real blackened! We can't solve a murder if there is nothing to solve!"

"I don't make the rules. If Monokuma said we could investigate, then we have to do this. Besides..."

"If we don't, we'll end up like Tsumugi."

Kirumi took a step forward. "And do you have any idea how we should investigate this?"

He pondered for a moment.

"... I don't know. Just search every single corner of the academy. We don't even know what we have to find so we don't have a choice."

Kaito blinked. "All the academy??"

Ryoma crossed his arms. "Obviously the main spots and the buildings only. Anything could be a clue here."

Kirumi fiddled with a lock of hair. "It would be wise to group by two and search the labs."

Rantaro starred at Tsumugi's corpse. "... As much as I hate this, an autopsy would be a waste of time. We saw how she died. I think the mystery resides somewhere else."

"So? How do we proceed?" Kiyo asked.

They created the groups. For now, Shuichi and Kaito would be together to investigate Gonta's and Kaito's labs.

Shuichi had no idea what to do. What to think.

He thought back at her words.

She... knew the mastermind was coming to get her?

Did perhaps the mastermind set everything up so she would die?

But... Why? What did she do?

He grabbed the notebook and opened it.

Unfortunately, he realized how packed the text was. Giant blocks of text on almost every single page.

He starred at the text with wide eyes.

"What is that?" Kaito asked.

"It's... Tsumugi's notebook. She gave it to me but... I don't think it will help us. She explained that it was her deductions about the killing game so I don't think we'll get anything useful here. Besides..."

He showed the notes to Kaito, whose eyes widened.

"... I think I get it."

Shuichi shoved the notebook back into his pocket. The investigation was so unorganized, and they had very little time. Now wasn't the time to read blocks of theories.

The two reached Kaito's lab.

"You know..." he started. "I saw some of my tools in weird places when we got the bat. I didn't think much of it but perhaps it will help us."

They entered the small building. The biker immediately got into the back of the lab, where all his tools were stocked.

Shuichi tried to search through his stuff as well, but he knew so little about mechanics that it was hard to distinguish the usual from the unusual.

"Hey, Shuichi?"

The violinist turned to him. "Yes?"

"The welder was used. I don't know for what, but used at some point, not by me."

He approached the engine.

"I never leave it like this. You have to replace those parts each time you use it. I always do it before putting it back." Kaito explained.

"That's strange..."

Obtained truth bullet! Used welder

He pointed at the shelves of tools. "Also I don't remember how I placed exactly all of them, but some of them look fishy."

The two went through the tools.

"What the hell?"

Shuichi turned back to him.

"Some of my wire cutters have marks on them! Even the biggest ones! And-"

He took one of them and fiddled with it. "... This one's broken."

Obtained truth bullet! Broken wire cutters

... What the hell happened here?

The two left the lab.

Now was time to go to Gonta's lab. Perhaps they would find something.

The lab seemed pretty clean. They looked around and started going through the drawers. Although nothing seemed to be of use.

The two left the lab. But just as they were about to decide what to do next, something fell, causing a loud noise.

A piece of the roof from Kaito's lab fell, knocking a barrel over.

Kaito sighed. "I don't need my lab collapsing."

He approached the barrel to put it back in place but...

"Huh?"

He opened the lid. "What even is that?"

Shuichi approached him to take a look.

Several wood bars were inside. Some of them were long, some were small. But they looked too polished to be branches.

Obtained truth bullet! Wood pieces

"I don't remember putting... Whatever that is here." Kaito frowned.

The violinist couldn't even begin to put a finger on what happened.

He pondered for a moment. "Kaito... Do you mind if we go to the love hotel for a second?"

The biker blinked. "... Phrasing?"

"You know what I meant."

The two made their way here. Somehow the abnormal amount of weapons was still laying around.

"Sheesh, what happened here?" Kaito asked.

"We activated a trap with Kiyo this morning and this is what happened."

A trap, huh...

Perhaps he should keep this moment in mind.

Obtained truth bullet! Diverse projectiles

As they approached Kiyo's lock, Shuichi noticed the burn marks on the ground. Exactly where the cables had gone crazy earlier.

What even was the deal with them?

Obtained truth bullet! Exploded cables

Kaito looked around. "I would have gladly tried to analyze this mess but everything is completely destroyed. I can't do much."

"It's alright. I just needed to see this one more time." Shuichi shook his head.

The two made their way to the main building, where they found Kirumi and Ryoma.

"Kaito, since you're here, mind giving me a hand?" the smaller one asked. "Mechanic stuff."

"Sure. Did you find anything else weird?"

"There's a lot to cover." He turned to the mercenary. "I'll leave the rest of the investigation of the main building to you and Shuichi, alright?"

"Understood."

The two mechanics walked away.

Shuichi turned to Kirumi. "Are you okay? You got knocked out back then, didn't you?"

She shook her head. "I don't feel pain, remember? Besides the exisal didn't want to kill us. For some reason."

The violinist nodded.

"There's something I don't understand though." she took out her monopad, turning it on. "The rule 9 states that 'Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.' But if we have a class trial, that means Tsumugi's death is considered a murder. And yet I think we all remember how everything turned out."

That was more than strange.

Obtained truth bullet! School regulation #9

"Monokuma is very strict with his rules... Why would he break them?" Shuichi wondered.

Kirumi shook her head. "I do not have a single clue."

The two looked at the main entrance, still blocked by the countless debris.

"Ryoma told me that the entrance collapsed when they turned the handle of the door. They heard something exploding and rushed out of the way." she explained.

"Either way it completely forbade us from entering this way..."

Obtained truth bullet! Main entrance door

Kirumi sighed. "Monokuma doesn't want to get the rubble away so we'll have to enter the main building via the pool area."

Shuichi pondered for a second. "Before we get inside, can we go to the dining hall?  I didn't get a chance to see what happened exactly in here..."

"If you wish to."

The two made their way to the dining hall.

As the two described this morning, many spears and iron bars blocked the door. After trying to move them, Shuichi quickly realized that it would be useless.

Obtained truth bullet! Sealed dining hall

He looked at the lock on the side and the wires linking it to the ceiling.

"Did you realize anything?" she asked.

Shuichi wrapped his fingers around a wire and pulled on it.

"What are you-"

To Shuichi's surprise, the cable was lighter than he thought. But before he knew it, the end of the wire fell from the ceiling.

"... I don't know what I expected." he stared at the object, confused.

"Hold on." Kirumi approached him. She took the end of the cable in her hand. "That thing was cut."

The violinist frowned, approached the other cables and pulled them. All of them fell down.

He went down to take a look and all of them were hastily cut off.

"What on earth..." Kirumi muttered.

Obtained truth bullet! Cut off wires

The two looked at each other.

"Let's just... Move on to inside the building. Who knows if there are other broken wires elsewhere." the mercenary suggested.

"Agreed."

After making their way to the pool area, they noticed Miu on the window platform. She immediately turned to them. "Kirumi! I need your help!"

She approached the rope and started climbing. "What is it?"

The street artist pointed at the top of the window. "Well... I tried to see what made the window unmovable but... I gotta admit I don't want to cut myself with glass shards and I'm uh..." she gestured at her entire body. "I don't exactly have anything to protect myself. Besides, you're taller than me and I can't reach for the top."

Kirumi pulled her sleeves on her hands and inspected the window. After a moment, as she passed her covered hand nearly on every border, she frowned. "Something feels wrong here."

She tried to inspect a little further a certain spot. "It feels like those parts are joined together. Shouldn't it be separated for it to open?"

Obtained truth bullet! Non-functioning window

Miu approached her hand after Kirumi assured her it was safe. "... Yeah, those parts shouldn't be together... I think?"

"It's definitely strange. But did we ever use that window? Perhaps it was never meant to be opened." the mercenary suggested.

Shuichi shook his head. 'Why would there be a handle then?"

Miu shrugged. "Well, clothes designers put fake pockets on girls' pants and we stopped questioning it. People do a lot of useless stuff for aesthetics and mild inconveniences."

Shuichi put a finger on his chin. "I still feel like we should keep that in mind."

The street artist grabbed the rope hanging in the gym and started climbing down. "Whatever. I'll investigate the building."

The boy climbed up the rope to join Kirumi. It was a bit hard to do so, but he was still able to with the help of the young woman.

The two entered the gym, mostly untouched by the fire. There were still rubbles in some places.

... Now that he thought about it, the violent quakes were not here before today. He wondered if they were normal, but now he wasn't so sure. They all appeared after a lock activated. Never at any other point of time.

Obtained truth bullet! Earthquakes

Kirumi and Shuichi started walking. The burnt smell was invading the entire building, and the air was heavy. Probably from the extinguished fire. Thankfully there was no dangerous smoke.

The more they walked through the corridor, the more broken cables they noticed, either hanging from the ceiling or on the ground.

Obtained truth bullet! Hanging wires

"... This place gives even more of an eery vibe than usual." Kirumi noted.

Shuichi nodded. But it was to be expected from a building that survived a fire.

What even caused the fire? They all knew that aside from the candles on the fourth floor, no one was able to create fire.

Especially after...

No. Now wasn't the time.

"Considering what happened I doubt my lab will be worth searching." Kirumi pondered. "I have a feeling we should try to retrace where Tsumugi went, perhaps that will help us to see where the fire came from."

Shuichi had his doubts but accepted. He could still look into her lab later.

They made their way to the third floor, where Tsumugi should have been.

On the second floor, however, Kirumi seemed to have noticed something. "Look."

She sat down near a dark pink stain on the ground, near the wall. She touched carefully, but her fingers were clean.

"This is dried blood. I'm sure of it." she explained.

"Perhaps Tsumugi was shot by a trap? Rantaro mentioned her being injured in the leg..."

The mercenary shook her head. "No. It must have been here for at least a few hours."

For a few hours?

Obtained truth bullet! Dried blood

That was... Strange. But then again, he hasn't stepped into the main building since he went to Tsumugi's lab yesterday morning. Perhaps things happened that he wasn't aware of.

After going up the stairs to the third floor, they entered Miu's lab, which was the nearest. The street artist was already there.

"Did you find anything?" Shuichi asked.

Miu shook her head. "Nothing. I mean I'm searching through here but for now, I'm stuck."

She crossed her arms. "I mean, there's not a lot of stuff to go through here. Ever since the third trial I... got myself a lock from the warehouse and some keys to lock the paint lab. And I put pretty much all my stuff in there."

The street artist took an iron key and unlocked the door. There was a lot more stuff in here than Shuichi saw the first time. All her tools were here, from the products, the stepladder, the different kinds of paint, the buckets, and everything that could be moved.

Obtained truth bullet! Miu's lab

She sighed. "Why do we have to do this? Tsumugi was... She was executed..."

Shuichi winced. "... I don't know."

Kirumi stayed silent for a moment. "If we give up now, we're done for."

The two turned to her.

"Don't get me wrong, I find this situation extremely confusing but... Between us, haven't you realized today was odd?"

Shuichi looked at Miu. "I mean... I did find some things odd... Like the pattern for the traps had changed..."

"Yeah! Nothing activated unless we did it ourselves! But those traps were even more dangerous than the last days!"

The violinist perked up. "Do you think... It has something to do with Tsumugi's death?"

The mercenary shrugged. "To be honest, I am not sure. But I feel like we need to take a step back at the situation. Perhaps that's what Monokuma was hinting at."

Shuichi pondered. "To take a step back, huh..."

That was the only possibility, but the situation didn't make sense.

No matter how you see it, Monokuma was the one to kill Tsumugi.

No matter how much they investigated the academy, the results would still be the same.

They didn't even have a plan to investigate because they didn't know what to investigate.

... Perhaps he should still follow Kirumi's advice.

Obtained truth bullet! Trap patterns

"And as much as it sickens me to say it..." Kirumi continued. "This bear enjoys watching us arguing and distrust each other. I doubt he wanted to let someone die without a trial."

Shuichi's heart skipped a beat. "Does that mean... Someone will get executed wrongly?"

The three looked at each other.

"... I don't know. I'm as much in the dark as you are."

They decided to continue their investigation. Miu left to go to the second floor and go through the other labs.

As for Shuichi and Kirumi, they made their way to Rantaro's lab.

But the moment the door of the lab was in view, they saw him.

The medic was standing in front of his lab, staring at the void.

"Rantaro...?" Shuichi called, keeping his distance.

He didn't move. His fists were clenched and his eyes narrowed.

"... I failed her."

"Huh?"

"I could have saved her. I could have tried. I failed as a soldier. Again."

Kirumi approached him. "There was nothing any of us could have done to save her, Rantaro. Monokuma is at fault."

He bitterly chuckled. "Ironic isn't it?"

Shuichi joined them. His eyes widened when he managed to get a glimpse at Rantaro's lab.

"... To be the reason she died when your role is to save her life."

His entire lab was ruined. Cables were hanging from the walls, the walls and floor were burned, leaving marks everywhere. The air may have been heavy in the building, but his lab was a lot worse, it almost made Shuichi feel nauseous. The smell of burnt and gasoline didn't help.

And in the middle of the lab was...

Tsumugi's lock.

The scene was hard to look at.

It was easy to tell it was the start of the fire.

Obtained truth bullet! Rantaro's lab

Kirumi entered the lab. "... If you do not wish to investigate your lab, Shuichi and I can do it."

"It's fine." he shook his head. "Everything is ruined. Monokuma will rearrange everything after the trial anyway."

The three investigated here. There wasn't much to see, as they expected.

After a while, Kirumi broke the silence. "This trial is going to be much harder than the others."

Rantaro turned back to the exit. "You don't need to tell me." he looked back one last time at the scene. "Tsumugi's lock was right here. She didn't even have time to activate it before the explosion."

Obtained truth bullet! Tsumugi's lock

Shuichi felt sick even being here. She must have been so close and yet...

She couldn't.

The rules were quite simple and yet they weren't able to do it.

To activate a lock between 8 AM and 3 PM.

They had spent too much time trying to get to the building that no one realized Tsumugi didn't have time to get hers.

7 hours. And still unable to do it.

Shuichi felt ashamed just thinking about that.

Obtained truth bullet! Sanzu garden rules

But just as the two stepped out of the lab...

Ding dong bing bong!

... The investigation was over.

After the other investigations, they still had an idea of what was going on, on the potential murder weapon, the way things happened, but here?

They didn't even know why they had to do a trial in the first place.

They didn't know what happened, nor what to look for.

This felt frustrating.

They could only go back to the shrine of judgment.

The walk that felt like an eternity. Kirumi was somehow still calm- although he could sense a hint of worry in her. Rantaro was clearly mad. At himself? Monokuma? Both? He didn't know.

Shuichi was still impressed by the amount of self-control they had. If he was alone, he would probably have screamed his lungs out. Although the fear was mostly covered by the immense amount of confusion this entire situation radiated.

Everyone was already here at the shrine of judgment.

Although everyone was perhaps not the correct term to use. After all, they were eight of them now. They were sixteen at the beginning, and now only half of them were still alive.

And he didn't even know if the eight of them would be back here at the end of the trial, or if one of them was going to be executed for nothing.

None of them were in the mood to talk about anything, which was understandable.

Shuichi got startled when the elevator opened, inviting them to the trial room they all despised.

Of course, the descent to the trial grounds was silent, aside from the usual noise of the elevator.

Doing a trial for someone when the killer was the one judging them... It felt ridiculous.

The elevator opened to reveal the courtroom, but something was... Different.

And that's when he noticed.

Behind Monokuma's throne, on the wall was... A giant clock?

It was one of those clocks you would see in Europe, except with a steampunk feel. The cogs were visible, ticking every second. The large iron hands of the clock were impressive, to say the least, pointing at the time. 4:30 PM.

"What... Is that?" Kiyo asked.

"Why, I'm glad you asked!" the bear cheered. "You see, I felt like it would add a nice feeling to the courtroom. Futuristic is nice and all, but the good ol' clocks are also welcome! This is mostly a piece of decoration."

He was like a child describing his room with his friends.

Except he was a murderous bear, and they weren't his friends.

For now, they had to discover what on earth Monokuma want them to find.

And hope for the best.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

New Members

I see...so that is the situation...

I’m glad you’re so quick to understand. I admire people like you.

Thank you sir.

Sorry if this may seems like a hassle, but would you care to explain this to Tenko too when she awakes?

Well, we kind of have to...

Well, if we’re gonna start throwing questions, then let me start.

How are you three here? You’re all supposed to be dead.

To be honest, I don’t really understand the nature of the situation myself. All I remember is waking up in that strange lab and then escaping with Miu and Tenko. Eventually, we sought refuge in that abandoned house, and stayed there for a few weeks. Tenko fell dreadfully ill after we escaped, so I had to nurse her with whatever I could find in that time.

Back up a second. A lab?

The last thing I remember is reaching the top of a very long, death trap. And then falling...

When I awoke, I was in some sort of laboratory...I’d just left some sort of cryostasis pod.

I don’t know how I got out, but I figured there had been a malfunction with the machines that were keeping me in there, and I began to thaw.

Cryostasis Pod? Like those on Space Shuttles?

Yes, like those.

I saw that there were another 6 pods around me, and instinctively, I began to deactivate them.

The first pod I opened was Miu’s and she came tumbling out of it. I lent her a blanket I carry around with me, and then I did the same for Tenko’s pod.

However, that’s when those things showed up...

”Those things?”

...

Exisals...

What!? The Exisals!?

If I remember correctly, the Exisal robots were the mech’s the Monokuma Cubs used to keep you in check, right?

They weren’t the same exisals that the Monokubs used, but they looked almost the same. As soon as they saw us, I imagined they tried to put us back in the pods.

However...Tenko fought back against them and tried to protect us. She even managed to destroy a few of them.

She destroyed them?

Maybe the Exisals weren’t as powerful as Monokuma told us they were? We wouldn’t want to risk it, would we?

Guess not...

Anyway, during the fight, Tenko got wounded. Badly. The Exisal practically cut open her abdomen.

I grabbed her body and Miu and myself made a run for it. I ripped off a piece of my skirt to use as a bandage, to stop Tenko’s bleeding.

We were luckily able to escape the area with our lives, and Miu found us a place to hide out for a while. Unfortunately, Tenko’s wound got infected, and we were unable to go to a hospital in fear of whoever was controlling the exisals finding us.

That house had several scraps in it, so Miu’s been keeping busy with her inventions, but...we didn’t know how long you would be able to last.

Well, fear no more. We can help you out?

This is kind of different from the way you were acting around Shuichi and his friends, right?

Saihara, Harukawa and Yumeno have proven that they can be trusted, that much I will admit to. However...there is one thing I want to clear up...

Tojo. You told us your last memory was falling from a death trap...Death Trap meaning...?

Y-You...!?

...

Kirumi...was executed for the murder of our friend and classmate, Ryoma Hoshi...

Yes, it is just as he said...

However...while I can never truly atone for my actions...I wish to...So I ask you this?

Shuichi, Maki and Himiko all now work with you in the Future Foundation, correct? Do you have space for...say...3 more? If you reject me because of what happened, then I will not fault you...

But I sincerely owe you for taking such good care of Tenko.

Byakuya? Makoto?

I have no objections. If she can make a cup of tea as good as this, then I don’t see the problem.

Besides, almost everyone around here has taken a life or more, and are spending the rest of their lives trying to atone for those actions. You are not alone.

I don’t object either, but...This seems a little short notice.

Indeed. For now, we’ll provide you a place to stay. Sorry if this irritates you, but would you mind moving in with your friend Miu?

I don’t mind. I have pretty high tolerance levels. Tenko I presume will be staying the night here?

We won’t leave her side, no matter what.

Thank you so very much...

So...we all good?

Yeah, for now. The Future Foundation have accepted you.

Kirumi spoke quite highly of you actually.

She better have! My golden brain deserves recognition!

...Miu...Can I ask something?

What is it?

The lab that Kirumi said you three ran away from...the one where Tenko got hurt...Where was it?

Oh well...

*Miu describes the location of the base.

How’s that for some whoopass memory!

...

Shuichi? 

...

Why did you ask that...? You aren’t seriously thinking...?

Kirumi said that there were another 6 pods. If two of those pods had Miu and Tenko in them, then that could mean...

...That the others...

Are probably still alive. It’s a possibility, but I want to be sure of it...

But wait, how? It’s not like you can just go back there, right? The exisals’ll rip you to shreds!

And there’s no way Kyoko will let you go without permission or backup.

I know...

which is why I don’t plan on asking...

!!!??

No! You can’t just go in secret! And not by yourself either!

Yeah, are you fucking crazy!? If Tenko barely escaped with her life, then you ain’t got shit on them!

He’s not going alone...

Himiko?

I...I’m going with you Shuichi!

You guys really DID lose it after you got out of that killing game and shit...

Himiko, if Shuichi won’t stand a chance, then you sure won’t! Even if you say you’ll use your magic, it’s-

I don’t care!

...!

Those...those BASTARDS hurt Tenko...I...

I’ll never forgive them for that! Never!

Himiko...

I know I can’t do any real fighting, but we’re not there to start a fight, are we?

We’re there to rescue our friends!

...

Maki...Kaito might be there you know?

...

I...I don’t know what you want of me...but...

I can’t let you idiots go alone...I’ll come.

Thank you.

I suppose you want me in on this too?

Actually Miu, you’re a necessity.

Your inventions will be needed if we’re going to plan an infiltration...

Wow...Day one of being here and I’m already breaking the goddamn rules...

So...it’s a yes?

Well, on one hand, I’m against this batshit crazy idea...

But if you bring my genius inventions into it, then it ain’t so crazy anymore!

You son of a bitch, I’m in!

(I knew that’d work...!)

[biinarysttars]

plz share some spicy hot takes abt ndrv3.......

Okay okay okay this took a while & I'm sorry but here are my Hot Takes, some of which are spicier than others. Spoiler warning btw, and a lot of this is negative!! I’d like to TW for y’know, the general DR things (death, blood, etc.,), but also I go over Kiyo’s deal a little bit-- described more in passing than in detail, so read at your own discretion!!

I have a couple more Spicy Hot Takes if anyone wants ‘em but for now take these!!

Hot Take #1: It kinda sucked compared to the other 3 games in the franchise! It wasn’t a bad game, but like. Idk. The other games were all much better, imo??

The story’s execution after Chapter 1 was bad. It was like they only planned that far, had everything riding on that, and from there, they were like “eh just do whatever I guess.” The Prologue was an excellent way to start off, with everyone’s “pregame” selves all gathered in a room. It’s the only thing that alluded to the end twist and did it well. Kaede’s whole deal with being the murderer, being an unreliable narrator, was very expertly crafted and written so well! I can’t begin to tell you how much I admire the writing there.

Kirumi’s execution was lazy (while every other character got an execution inspired by their talents, Kirumi’s was, “she couldn’t get away whoops”), then there was Korekiyo’s whole deal (I’m gonna get into that in a minute because I’m so mad about what they did to him), all of Chapter 4 was cheap and a cop out (Gonta didn’t deserve to die! I don’t mean in the way that Kokichi masterminded the whole thing and blah blah blah I already know that’s not grounds for saving him from execution, but he didn’t know or remember that he did it. He wasn’t blackened. His avatar was, but Gonta irl? Didn’t actually do anything), and I dunno, Chapter 5 was okay. I didn’t really contribute much to the overall plot, but it was a decent chapter that made enough sense. I think that Kiibo’s sacrifice was a bad way to leave the story! What other Ultimate Hope died? (Nagito calling himself the “Ultimate Hope” doesn’t count.) The Tsumugi/Junko thing was stupid, too. Like. Don’t force Junko in with another character. Plus Tsumugi’s “I’m so plain :((” thing made it really obvious that she was the mastermind, imo.

Hot Take #2: Korekiyo didn’t deserve any of what he got! Fuck!!!! This one is very personal, but Kiyo’s autistic, like very clearly. I wasn’t diagnosed at the time I played, but he wears clothes over every part of his body, he has strange body language, he doesn’t really bond with anyone in the game and is kind of a loner, and the only thing he ever talks about is anthropology, his special interest. I saw all of these traits in him, and they were all traits I saw in myself! And I was so comforted that basically the other characters went “ah he’s weird, but that’s just Kiyo I guess” only for the game to turn around and make him out to be a violent, misogynistic murderer creep incestuous assfuck. What the hell. What the fuck? Like. I dunno. It’s Danganronpa, he coulda been a killer all he wanted! That’s how things be in this high-stakes game of life and death, of hope and despair. But for that to be his backstory, his plot twist? What the fuck?! He deserved so much better. Fuck. (And so did Tenko and so did Angie, by extension.)

[originaldanganronpascenarios]

i hope it wouldn’t be hard to write and it’s not a weird request :( How would v3 boys/girls(I can’t choose, so if you will write this can you please choose)comfort their s/o after their sibling’s execution?

Ok it didn't took long cuz it was hard- it took long cuz my gaming addiction came back but now I won't be able to play games so I guess I will write :D also just so yall know whenever I will have an opportunity to write for girls I will do so! Well not allways cuz there might be some things I want to write for boys so yeah!

V3 Girls comfort their s/o after their sibling’s execution?

S/N- Sibling name

Kirumi Tojo

Both you and Kirumi were in shock while you heard verdict: S/N was the culprit. As she saw tears in your eyes she immediately embraced you.

Then she witnessed the last talk you and your sibling had. It was heartbreaking. Whether it was argument or not she just couldn't handle this.

Still she stayed quiet and was there to comfort you when needed. She said her goodbyes to S/N but she didn't interfere with your final conversation.

You just couldn't look at it and Kirumi couldn't blame you. She held you close and whispered to you in a manner to comfort you.

She tried to make you avoid looking at this horrible sight (since before dying your sibling asked her to make sure you won't see them).

She decided to do whatever it takes to make you feel happier after all this and get over S/N's death. Of course she didn't ment is as forgetting about S/N.

In the end she whould occasionally see you down and that's when she whould try her best to make you smile becouse she just couldn't let that precious smile of yours disappear. But sometimes she gives you some space and time.

Miu Iruma

When it was all clear Miu didn't knew how to react. She looked at you and tried to calm you down.

No matter if your last conversation was argument or some emotional bullshit it was just standing there and holding your hand in a manner of comfort (of course she whould let go if you hugged her but then Miu was dragged into group hug).

Before this bullshit began Miu felt heartbroken as she saw tears in your eyes. She hugged you (once again) and pat your back.

As S/N's execution began Miu saw that your legs were giving up on you. She supported you so you whouldn't fall. You couldn't believe your eyes and why were you even looking at this!?

When S/N was dead Miu couldn't let you be alone. She was there to comfort you and she didn't care if you said that you needed some time alone cuz she knew it was total bullshit. The last thing you need is to be alone.

Kaede Akamatsu

She couldn't belive it. Why whould S/N kill anyone? Even if they tried to get away they whould kill YOU. Their own family member! Of course they had their own motive but she was very surprised that they were ready to sacrifice you.

Still the truth was reached and now you will witness S/N's death... Kaede at this point felt like her heart broke when she saw how upset you were.

And that's when she decided embrace you and your sibling. The two of you just went for it and hugged one last time...

When the "show" began Kaede tried to make you look so where else since she knew S/N didn't wanted you too see them suffer.

After that she was trying to show you a lot of love and support but of course gave you some time when you wanted to think. Then she whould stay with you but she whould be silent. She knew that she couldn't leave you alone and that you often needed comfort.

Angie Yonaga

When the trial was over Angie was surprised by the outcome... Why whould S/N kill anyone? She wasn't sure...

Still she forgave S/N their crime and promised them to take good care of you. They were confused by her choice of words but felt grateful anyways.

She hugged you and your sibling at the same time making it a group hug. But she knew that it would not last for long...

During the execution Angie whouldn't do anything but hold your hand if you wished to not look she whould help you.

When everything was over and S/N was gone... Angie never let you stay alone she wasn't acting differently and she tried her best to support you.

Tenko Chabashira

(Ok fuck this i won't write separate for is sibling was female or not I will make it like this: She liked your sibling and enjoyed their company but not as much as yours of course)

She couldn't belive that neither you or your sibling whould commit such a brutal act. But it happened and this was the truth.

Caring more about how you felt about it she stayed silent as you talked with them. Then she said her goodbyes and no matter if your talk with them was an argument or not she dragged you into a group hug.

Of course she didn't wanted you to look at this but it is your decision if you want to do so. Either way she was there if you needed a shoulder to cry on.

Next day she spent all that time with you trying to think about S/N all the good and bad times you had. Of course it wasn't to turn you down it was to remember S/N.

Himiko Yumeno

She was upset about this fact. Why whould S/N try to get away and let you all get killed!? Even though she didn't had best terms with them she believed in them.

It seemed wierd of her to react in such was but it was only because Himiko cared about you deeply and just couldn't understand why your own sibling whould try and kill you if it granted their escape.

But after she let all her feelings out she didn't join conversation between you and them. Still she decided to apologize in the end.

The sight of an execution was something Himiko truly wanted to avoid and didn't wanted you to look either but what if S/N somehow gave you that one last message?

Anyways when S/N died you seemed less lively. Himiko tried to make you smile as she held few magical shows just for you but the smiles at her magic didn't last long and she tried to cheer you up.

Even though she fully understood you S/N probably whouldn't want you morning their death for such a long time...

Maki Harukawa

She didn't interact with your sibling often. Still she didn't expect them to kill...

Maki felt really bad for you and as she saw your reaction her heart broke. When you were talking to them she was silent.

When the execution began however she held you close so you could cry on her shoulder or just look away and miss this horrible sight.

After everything was over Maki gave you space and time. But it she felt like you needed comfort she showed you that she was there for you.

Tsumigi Shirogane

Tsumigi didn't knew what to say about whole thing... It was crazy!

But there is one thing she wanted to make sure of. What was that thing? You not being in bad terms with your sibling before their death.

If you whould argue she whould try her best to calm the situation. If not she whould just let you two talk. In the end she whould start a group hug and few of the remaining students whould join.

During the execution Tsumigi didn't do anything as it was your choice if you wanted to see it or not. But there is one thing she did wich was holding your hand in manner to comfort you.

When it was over Tsumigi decided to stay close to you. She didn't said anything about S/N if you weren't the one who brought it up.

~Mod Chiaki

[noddytheornithopod]

So it’s chapter 4, and things are heating up.

Very eerie Rantaro message. He says there’s something important about the rule to the two people left rule, and that this isn’t their first something (their first killing game?). Whoever finds out who they are will come for them, and that they apparently wanted this. I assume Rantaro is talking to the students... what does it all mean? I mean, the wanting the game definitely ties into that memory of Shuichi wanting to die. All in all, this is all pretty weird.

So what’s up with that writing on the rock? Who’s writing it?

Gonta also apparently keeps seeing bugs, weird.

Okay so Kokichi is REALLY getting into the killing game now. He’s no longer just an annoying brat, but he’s actually starting to show his Ultimate Supreme Leader side. I still can’t help but wonder if he knows something the others don’t. And of course, the Mastermind could STILL be one of the students. I feel like Kokichi would be too obvious to be the mastermind (as said, it feels like he’s a Byakuya/Fuyuhiko type, though him getting more serious and manipulative is very Nagito too, plus like Nagito he has a major link to the story’s central themes), but I’m still keeping an eye on him.

Kokichi steals one of the items you need to unlock new areas... and it just so happens to be a card. I have a feeling it might be the library card for the hidden door. What’s really in there?

Tsumugi gets her lab, nice. Also turns out she was a bartender as a job to get money before sponsors, cool. You’re back to being adorkable instead of a creepy cult follower, Miss Shirogane.

Shuichi gets his lab, huh. I thought it would be the checkered one downstairs, but I guess we get this one. Whose lab is it down there then? Rantaro? Or maybe Kokichi... maybe his checkered scarf is a clue.

Keebo gets a lab... and doesn’t like it. Monokuma tailored to everyone except him, of course. :v

So they get another memory flashlight and we see the meteors. We also hear about something called the Gofer project to save humanity which supposedly failed... and we also got some weird culty group saying mankind deserves damnation. Sounds kind of Ultimate Despair-like if you ask me.

Wait... this is the crisis Kirumi was overseeing wasn’t she?

More training. I’m enjoying the Shuichi, Maki and Kaito trio. Also Maki weirdly asks a question about whether Shuichi had feelings for Kaede, and if it’s rational. TBH it’s like she’s asking if she has feelings for someone. :v My guess is Kaito, lol.

That bonus I got with Himiko and Gonta training was fun. Seeing Himiko try to live her best life possible and move forward is pretty cool... even if she’s trying too hard sometimes, lol.

Okay this Monotaro and Monophanie subplot is REALLY weird. Monotaro malfunctioning is one thing... but the weird incest thing too? And domestic violence? What even is this? And there’s an ending??? Wow.

So we get Maki’s tragic backstory with training... ouch. So the Ultimate Child Caregiver cover has some truth to it, being something that happened at her orphanage. But then she was forced to be an assassin so she could get the money to keep the orphanage running. It sounds like that life really took a toll on her, huh. Amazing how she went from the most invisible character to TBH one of my faves. I like this main trio we currently have, as said.

Also got another bonus event with Shuichi bringing a practice katana to train with Kaito and Maki during the day... but unfortunately it makes Maki remember her failed mission. Turns out she failed the assassination because they thought she was cosplaying as a character and everyone loved it... and the attention meant she was almost discovered and couldn’t do her job. It’s kinda cute, but Maki is pretty upset by it because of the aforementioned backstory. I have to admit even if it’s a bit cliche with her kind of character, seeing Maki warm up to the others like this is nice.

Okay so free times... I finished Tsumugi’s since she’s now un-cancelled, and it actually got really sweet in the last one where it turned out Shuichi really liked a show she not only adored, but also inspired her to cosplay. Also wow, they get a bit awkward at the end, in a bit of a romantic tension kind of way. First character I completed too.

Also did some more Kaito free times. He’s really talking himself up, huh? I don’t even know if I believe these stories about having a pirate rival out at sea and running into an anaconda that guarded some ancient empire? IDK what to make of it, but it seems like he really has a taste for adventure and that’s why he wants to explore the Universe (gosh I hope he’s not blackened and that’s his Monokuma execution). Best part though was when Shuichi was really fondly of Kaito but then was like “WAIT I SHOULDN’T BE THINKING ABOUT A GUY LIKE THIS!” Shuichi Saihara is not straight confirmed, honestly this makes me ship him and Kaito even more.

Speaking of Kaito, he seems pretty unwell. It’s interesting that even though he’s trying to push and inspire Shuichi and Maki, he’s afraid to admit his own weakness (even as he encourages the others to talk about what’s bothering them). That end of chapter 3 thing implied he was dying, but from what?

Kokichi, what are you up to? I don’t trust you. It’s implied he’s somehow using the card for the second Neo World Miu was working on, but IDK how that works, especially if it’s the library card. Unless there’s something IN there he’s using, or the card is something else completely (like it has code or something)? And again, I feel like he might know something the others don’t. Also wow, his sprites get progressively creepier.

I guess Chapter 4 is the “callback to last game’s setting” chapter now, lol.

They do make a good point about wondering why Gonta feels such a need to be useful and protective to everyone.

So it also becomes apparent that even though Miu was working on the Neo World, she’s up to something with Kokichi. Miu decided she wanted to use it so they can all escape, but it seems like Kokichi has conspired something with her, or at the very least is manipulating her into doing things that he’d want. Is there really a secret in the Neo World, or is that all just an assumption that Kokichi wanted the others to make?

Miu, with vegetable and the R word, enough with the fucking ableist slurs.

Wow, so this Neo World has them all looking like weird funko pop things. Miu is as crass as ever (and there’s some odd exchanges about Tsumugi being sensitive on her neck and Kaito being a perv WTF), but also using her authority as the one who developed this version of the Neo World to steer things in her (or Kokichi’s?) direction.

Wow, Kaito is pretty excited about snow, lol. Maki says he’s acting like a puppy. Also when they split into groups to search Maki sounds disappointed she wasn’t with Shuichi and/or Kaito, and later comments that Shuichi really is cold for not checking the roof of the mansion to see if Kaito was there when he goes missing.

Miu gets rid of the bridge for the mansion group, which is pretty suspect even as she (really badly) pretends it’s an accident.

So they hear the chapel side even though it’s far away from them... is there some circular aspect to the loading of the world? Like you can travel between the supposed ends to reach the other world and not just the middle loading point?

Keebo makes a peculiar comment wondering if the world’s borders here with nothing beyond them reflects the academy they’re in right now. Huh.

Alright Kokichi, just spill the beans already. You asking Shuichi to basically join you is pretty suspicious. I have no idea what you’re planning, but it’s clearly not good.

So they exit the Neo World and... Miu’s dead. This is intriguing, since it seemed like she was planning something (or Kokichi was and using her). Kaito being missing makes him an obvious suspect, but even if it is obvious, I do think they’re setting something up with him dying and all that. Maybe he discovered the plan and at the last minute killed her to stop it, whatever it may be (I mean, chapter 4 IS the “super tragic sacrifice” chapter... gosh Maki if you have any feelings for Kaito say them before it’s too late)? Kokichi is also suspicious of course for seemingly orchestrating everything, but I feel like he’s too smart to be the killer directly right now.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 8: Lives on the Chopin block

CLASS TRIAL- IN SESSION

Everyone went to their proper podiums again, with three new crossed out portraits filling up their ranks.

Miu’s was naturally the first that Kaede turned to, her eyes staring back at her from between the three crosses going across her face. She idly wondered if it was because of the girl’s lewdness or a comment on how “strong” her personality was, like alcohol, but it felt fitting in a darkly humorous sort of way. Miu still would have probably appreciated this little joke either way, if she were there to see it. But she wasn’t.

Reluctantly she turned from Miu’s face, past Shuichi’s, to see about those of her other lost friends. It was hard to avoid thinking about whose face would be joining these monochrome memorials after this too. But even that was more pleasant than to really see where Maki and Kirumi’s deaths left them.

Ryoma was alone now, flanked on both sides with dead faces. That of one of his closest friends in this prison, and the other the girl who threatened his life to escape it. But at least the latter’s absence made it easier for Kaito and him to share glances now, for what little support that could give each other.

Though these looks would also mean every time Kaito faced him he’d see the harsh reminder of Maki’s death looming over Ryoma. Kaede couldn’t imagine what seeing that must be like for either of them.

The red lines hardly looked out of place for Maki’s, but the cross was placed less like an X and more like a plus sign. Or more accurately a gun’s scope, given the circle around it. It was almost a blessing her cause of death wasn’t up in the air like Himiko’s initially was, since they at least knew for sure she wasn’t really shot.

Kirumi’s portrait was pretty bland in comparison. The lines were cleaner and crisper than Rantaro’s, but less artistic than Shuichi’s, just a plain formal X on the center of her face. Like checking off a box on a grocery list or a voting ballot. Not that anyone here ever voted for her to do anything.

But there wasn’t much time for contemplation. Their lives were all on the lines again.

“Aww, everyone seems so depressed this time. It’s okay! I’m sure it will be okay! We know what it’s like to watch as your number keeps dwindling one by one but you’ll bounce back. Just like we did!” Monophanie began, taking a triumphant pose with her paws where her hips should be as she looked up to the sky with Monotaro’s scarf blowing in the breeze. The source being the fan Monodam held for her.

“Ya don’t need ta lie to 'em ‘Phanie, they know what they gotta do. Speaking of, youse all best ignore any of what our old paw sez capisce? He’s just an audience this time, we’re still running this show!” Monosuke followed.

“Yeah, yeah whatever. It’s almost nice to have a break for a change. I’ve been doing this for just soooo long you know? This should be so much less stressful, it’s gonna be great for my fur. It’s not easy to keep up this youthful complexion, with how much work I’ve had to put into these games year after year...” Monokuma dismissively replied from his throne, taking out a compact to play with some blush for emphasis as he slighted his most obnoxious son.

“Then-Don’t-Interrupt-Us-Anymore-Father. I-Shall-Do-The-Basic-Explanation-Of-The-Class-Trial.”

“I didn’t agree to that shit! You chumps know the drill by now, if you really don’t know how this works yet then just shut up and watch. Ya argue like a family at dinner over who sent your buddy ta go sleep with da fishes, and vote for “Howdunit”.”

“You mean “Whodunit” Monosuke. “Howdunit” or “Howcatchem”s are completely different types of mysteries. We don’t care how any crime was done, even a completely blind guess would be valid in this courtroom.” Monophanie corrected, again acting like this was some boring comedy routine.

As Monosuke distracted himself bickering with Monophanie over "embearassing" him for his mistake Monodam took over again. “But-If-You-Vote-For-The-Wrong-Person-All-Of-You-Will-Die. If-You-Vote-Right-Only-The-One-Responsible-Will-Be-Punished, With-An-Execution-Made-To-Best-Reflect-Who-They-Were-As-A-Person, Sins-And-All.”

“Oi, not everyone dies if they get the criminal wrong you bucket o’ bolts! If the innocent spotless can’t catch which of them blackened themselves with the blood of their “friends” the killer graduates! They can get the hell outta dodge and leave this place, no strings attached, even if they don’t want to.” Monosuke chimed, while he got his sister into some sort of headlock to "settle" their dispute.

And got an uppercut to his "jaw" for his troubles, as she proved victorious again so she could continue while Monodam nervously watched. (Honestly, with how distracting it is watching them squabble and how dumb they normally are I'm really impressed what they're saying is still coherent. And yet still somehow equally useless. We still know all of this already, so why put us through the entire thing a THIRD time?!)

“And no one is allowed to get out of this without risking bloodying their own hands either. As long as you’re in the minority a wrong vote won’t be held against you, but if you don’t vote we need to kill you. Well, Monosuke will if one of you decides to try, I want no part of it. We’d refuse if we could, I’m sorry.”

“But-I’m-Sure-None-Of-You-Would-Want-That-So-Let’s-Move-On!" Monodam rushed so Monosuke couldn't try picking a fight with their sister again. "Remember-To-Be-Respectful-Of-Each- Others-Thoughts-And-Feelings-As-You-Argue, Even-If-Some-Of-You-Need-To-Lie-And-Accuse-Each-Other.”

“Oh Jeez this is really gonna suck isn’t it? You tykes didn’t even bother trying to stick to your scripts!” Monokuma grumbled behind them, knocking his head against the back of his chair.

“Of-Course-We-Didn’t. What-Is-The-Point-Of-Replacing-You-If-We-Were-Going-To-Follow-Your-Orders?”

Kaito gladly took the opportunity to try and put things back on track.

“Let’s just ignore them for now you guys. Sorry if I can’t be of much help this time.”

“Not to worry, no one blames you Kaito." Kibo quickly dismissed with a sympathetic look. "Between the first victim and your illness this was expected.”

“My what? Who said anything about me being sick?! I’m not sick, I’m as hearty as a horse!”

“Suuure you are Kaito. You really want to admit you’ve just been scared shitless this whole time?”

“FUCK YOU KOKICHI, I ain’t afraid of-”

“No ghost?” Kokichi finished for him with a matching unnatural ghostlike grin on his face and a cackle. (How the fuck does he even make expressions like that?! Who even cackles anymore outside of movies?)

“Please don’t make this one long ghost joke you two, we already had a failed seance and no zombies.” Tsumugi said with a sigh, making Tenko nod her head in agreement.

“Does it count as a failure if we never got to start it?” Angie asked, the picture of utmost innocence.

“We ended up with more dead people than we had when you wackos started, hell yeah it counts!” Kaito shouted, looking appalled he had to point it out to her.

While Angie huffed, Kiyo took the chance to make his argument instead. “It wouldn’t have failed, someone just took advantage of the few of us isolating ourselves for that brief window of time to kill Kirumi. But we should answer the question of who attacked Maki first yes?”

“No! Kirumi’s the freshest so she should be the one we focus on." Tenko shot back, banging against the front railing of her podium with her momentum. "Besides, it’s obvious whoever killed Maki is the one who would have tried attacking you guys. Or BE one of you guys. So Kiyo’s the culprit!” She pointed at him.

Ryoma stepped in before Kiyo had the chance to defend himself though. “Easy there Tenko. Angie’s the one who had the gold on her hands from the gold katana that was used to kill her and it was Angie is who wanted to perform the seance, so shouldn’t she be our prime suspect? The only sources of gold leaf we have are that sword and the supply from her lab, Kaito and I checked.”

“Nuh-uh, Angie would never kill anybody! A degenerate like Kiyo’s way more likely, it was his katana. Besides if there was gold on the underside of all the handles in those rooms wouldn’t that make not getting any on him suspicious? I mean Kirumi wouldn’t since she never tried to leave before… You know.” Tenko trailed off as the memory of the horrifying scene made her lose steam.

“Anyone could enter my lab and take it, and not having gold on my hands still proves I could not have handled that Katana. And with the game’s “first come, first served” rule why should we assume one person is responsible for both crimes? As the only blackened we need to find is Maki’s killer should we not focus our efforts on that culprit first?”

“I agree with Kiyo, there will be time to go over Kirumi’s death later. We can even sort out who killed her outside of the court if we run out of time before we can settle it.” Ryoma said, giving Kirumi’s portrait a wary glance.

“Yeah! Besides Maki has more possible suspects too, so settling her death will take more time.” Kaito agreed.

“Why would the killings be unrelated though, aren’t they a bit too close together to be a coincidence? If we uncover Kirumi’s killer it may help narrow down potential suspects for Maki too, if the two aren’t one and the same. But Angie isn’t responsible for either of these, I swear by Atua’s name.”

“Is “Atua” really their name, or just what they are? Merely asking out of genuine curiosity I assure you.” Kiyo asked, and despite his claim the question had an unmistakable snark to it earning him a glare.

“Hush up you heretic, Angie need not speak His name. That's a higher member benefit.”

“I… I guess the two could be related? I mean Kirumi was the one investigating Maki’s body so maybe the killer chose to attack her just in case she noticed something in addition to wanting to stop the seance.” Kaede suggested, unsure of what else to say.

“Then Kiyo’s still the killer because he chose Kirumi to act as the Medium-”

“No, he didn’t Tenko! Kirumi ask him for job. Gonta may no be able to help but he still hear that right.”

“Exactly. And Angie was the one who chose the rooms we were going to use, I only said they needed to be dark. It would appear the katana used to cut off the head of our maid was hidden under those rooms. Had I been the one to kill her why wouldn’t I have simply used a weapon from Maki’s lab instead?”

“Why would anyone have used a katana in that poor condition then? It is most surprising it is able to cut as well as it is despite its current state. Maki’s lab would be a plain better place to take something like this from, wouldn’t it? It’s probably where the knife Kiyo found in Kirumi’s apron came from too.” Kibo pointed out.

“Oooh I know, I know! Angie had to use it because she’d be too short to reach Kirumi’s neck with anything else!” Kokichi said, hopping up and down as he raised his hand like a kid with a look that screamed he knew he was wrong and just merrily teasing them again. And so Kibo took the bait.

“Negative, that is both illogical and unlikely. While none of Maki’s weapons are as long as the katana’s blade the angle of the cut wouldn’t be this even if that were the case, there’d be a slope to it. Besides Kirumi may not have even been standing when she was attacked.”

“Umm, wouldn’t there need to be a lot of force behind the swing too? Angie isn’t sure why everybody’s only picking on her and Kiyo.” Angie said, looking a little confused as Kiyo only shrugged.

Seeing as it was easy to clear up Kaede explained this one. “It’s because of the announcement. It only rings when three people not counting the killer finds a body, and it didn’t ring until Ryoma caught up to us. Unless anyone thinks I could have done this too?”

“Ah, fair point. I hadn’t noticed. Are you sure that’s when it rang Kaede?" Kiyo asked as he, Angie, and Ryoma took a moment to mentally go over what happened. "Everything was rather hectic at that point of time I'm afraid. I hardly remember the bell ringing at all, and I wasn’t in nearly as much shock as you were at the time, my apologies.”

“Yeah, sorry Kaede but I don’t really remember hearing anything other than you screaming either when I caught up with you three." Ryoma reluctantly agreed, giving Angie a wary glance as she still seemed to be thinking it over and coming up blank. "It could have rang, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t really paying attention to that thing in the first place.”

… Am I sure? I mean a lot was going on and we’ve heard it so often now. I couldn’t really catch what anyone was saying either. And I don’t want to accuse either of them. Or is Kiyo trying to gaslight us, and just tricked Ryoma? Why would he kill Kirumi? He’d have to have blood or something on him right- OH!

“Hmm, maybe you’re right. I mean neither of you has her blood on you- well I mean Kiyo has some on his bandages now but only from touching her, he didn’t when he offered to help- and with how… Messy it all was that’s pretty unlikely, isn’t it? Especially since the killer also posed her.”

“But no one here got blood on them. Could killer have been under boards to stay clean? That why crosspiece cut?” Gonta asked, struggling to picture what might explain this.

“A killer attacking someone from under the floorboards you say? Oh, that sure is nostalgic. Not to mention that mask, or a knife and the same golden katana being present for a murder. So many memories~ Isn’t it lovely how violence keeps repeating itself like clockwork?” Monokuma drawled.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to talk this time! Besides, I think it’s more like an Endless Waltz-”

“Tsumugi don’t let his nonsense ramblings distract you! Just ignore him.”

“And keep your own nonsense nerdy ramblings to yourself too! You’ll just distract us and that’s waaay worse.”  Kokichi scolded, as if to parody Kaito, who gave him a scowl for twisting his words against her.

“Gonta does make a good point though, the cross pieces don’t seem to be related to anything. Unless it made Kirumi trip, to help set up the attack?” Kibo suggested, trying to get everyone back on track.

“No, had that been the case Kirumi would have most likely suffered at least a head wound. We saw Kaede nearly fall prey to it, and who knows what would have befallen her if not for Gonta’s intervention.” Kibo said, though he looked frustrated that this left the boards unexplained for this.

“Then how else would someone hide the blood? I mean there was so much of it and nobody found any sheets or anything to clean any of it up or block the splatter right?” Tsumugi nervously asked.

Let’s see… We ruled out using something to cover them since we didn’t find anything.

Even Angie’s lab doesn’t have a sink so there was definitely no way for anyone to wash the blood off.

… But hiding it UNDER something we’d expect a person to normally wear could work if it covered enough of them. Particularly if they were one of the three checking rooms for the seance, since no one would see them without it. Which would only leave one person.

But none of this is making any sense. What motive could he possibly have to do something like this?

“I think I know the trick to this now you guys. If you’ll let me explain my theory on how this happened…”

Kaede looked around the room, and everyone gave their approval. No one had any distinct ideas after all. So she began painting the scene for them with her words and the sound of her voice the best she could.

“First the culprit set up the three rooms sometime before today. Cutting through the crossbeams and applying gold leaf to the handles would take too long for this to be anything other than premeditated. I can’t explain the floorboard trap, but it could be to help distract anyone who found this by accident.

Today, when someone else suggested these rooms be used for the seance it was time for that premeditation to pay off. They made sure only one person went into each room, themselves, their victim, and the one they planned to frame for this. Ideally, their fall guy was the one who’d suggest this.

They wouldn’t need to do anything for their mark to set themselves up, since they’d likely touch the loose gold when trying to leave the room, making it look like they’ve touched the golden katana.

Not only would the culprit know to avoid the gold there, the victim wouldn’t have a chance to touch it either, so if we didn’t notice the handles we’d assume there was no other way for the gold to be there. They may have even originally planned to clean the other two handles, since they set it up so it wouldn’t matter who went into each room, but obviously they never got the chance so we weren’t fooled by this.

But that doesn’t explain how they kept their hands clean to start with. That ties into how they didn’t seem to get anything on them.

They went under the floor, where the three rooms are all connected, and took off their jacket. They already planted the katana in that crawlspace, so it was a vital area for them both to keep their weapon out of sight and provide a way to get into the victim's room without being seen.

Since there weren't any bloodied covers in this area that means whatever they used to hide the blood they'd get on them is still with them. Here there are two possibilities. They could have left their coat down there to make sure it'd stay clean, dropping it off when they got the katana or vice versa. Or they took off their coat, turned it inside out, and tied it around their waist like an apron to help keep any blood from getting on their legs. I think the latter's more likely here.

After that, they pick up the katana and go to the room they know Kirumi entered so none of the gold would get anywhere they couldn't explain later. They have to act fast because while the rooms are dark since there aren’t any candles it also means she’d be tempted to leave soon. Maybe they even said something to help make her pause or used the seesaw trap to distract her.

Ultimately they succeeded in decapitating her. It could be due to the killer having a light source on them or just the length of the blade covering a lot of the room but their goal was achieved. After doing so they moved her body to the wall near where they entered, posing her as if it was for a twisted tea ceremony.

With how general the pose is in practice even that could have been done in the dark, and I’m not entirely sure why they chose to move her like this at all. It could be to keep her away from the seesaw trap in the center of the room, but it's really hard to say.

To get rid of the gold and blood from their hands they remove the wrappings they put there. The cotton strips could then be used to help touch up any other clean up they need to do on the walk back to the room they’d be expected to leave from. But first, they’d stop to put the blood-soaked katana under the room their patsy was in to further implicate them of this crime.

With the katana gone and blood mostly out of the way they put their jacket back on, over their probably blood covered shirt, and stuff the soiled wrappings in one of their pockets while applying some fresh bandages so that we’d be none the wiser that they changed at all as we’d notice if they were missing.

That’s probably around the time I found Kirumi’s body, since everything happened so fast. It wasn’t hard to look like they were just worried about what was going on when they joined the rest of us, and if they needed to adjust anything else we’d all be distracted trying to find out what was going on even if the body was found sooner than they were planning on.

I wasn’t imagining the bell delay before either. Since they needed to see what I was screaming about as soon as they could to keep from being suspicious, they really were one of the first three to see the body.

So… The easiest way to for us to see if I’ve got this wrong would be for you to take off your jacket Kiyo. Otherwise, there’s no one else who could do it this way. No one could enter or leave those rooms without anyone else noticing, and at least Angie’s hands would still have blood on them if she tried my method.”

The room went silent as they turned to look at him. But despite the horrors he’s accused of he isn’t upset. Korekiyo doesn’t seem bothered by anyof this in the slightest. And that wasn’t the worst of it.

He’s smiling. There’s no doubt about the expression under that mask. He’s accused of murder and he looks like a child who just got a brand new set of toys to play with! Something isn’t right here. I know he’s kinda messed up but this is going too far! How can he possibly be so happy about this right now?!

“Nicely done Kaede! I’m most impressed, I’m sure that’d deductions would make even an Ultimate Detective proud. You’re always so full of such wonderful surprises. You are absolutely correct! But so there is no room for doubt here I will concede, and I do apologize if it is unduly upsetting to any of you.”

There really weren’t any doubts as he laid his coat along the railing of his podium. There’s so much blood his white undershirt could nearly be mistaken for Maki’s top, it’s even worse than his bandages were. He made no move to take off the bandages though, since considering everything he really didn’t need to. But even as he stood before them in his bloodied button down he didn’t seem the least bit nervous.

“Though I must also confess, the trick with the floorboards really is unrelated here. That was just a remnant of a plan I scrapped after seeing it might be too difficult to properly utilize. Though had I stuck with it Kirumi would have died all the same, during the caged dog seance. Any other questions?”

“... What the actual fuck?”

“Do be more specific Kaito. I can’t answer you if I’m not sure to which part of this you are referring to.”

“Are you giving up then?” Ryoma practically growled as he visibly struggled to restrain himself.

“For Kirumi’s murder most certainly! But if you think now is a good time for us to vote you’d be most sorely mistaken. Not unless your death wish has changed to wanting to have us all die alongside you. Because for the terms of this trial, as bloody as I may be, I’m still as “spotless” as everyone else. However, I am grateful you all have allowed me to experience something so close to what our true blackened must have all felt before their ends. It’s a most enlightening and intriguing sensation.”

“What are you talking about?! You killed Kirumi you bastard-” Tenko shouted at him, as if hoping if she got angry enough his confidence would crumble and see he was doomed. But he just wouldn’t stop.

“Indeed I did! But only Kirumi. Just ask Gonta or Ryoma, I was with them when Maki died. Unless you’d prefer I simply tell you all who our real blackened is, the one you all should have been seeking? Now I do understand if you don’t wish to believe me, but it won’t make my words any less the truth. I’m offering to reward you all for your fine work in order to keep the trial up to this point from being a wasted effort.”

What? So he just killed her because he knew he’d get away with it?! Is he telling the truth right now?

“Why did you even go so far then?! The posing, the decapitation, all of it! Why kill someone at all if you know you aren’t going to graduate from it?” Kaito snapped.

“Must you be so hung up on that? Her death has never mattered in this case. But fine. I only meant to cut into her neck enough to be fatal, to assure her a quick death, but I misjudged the sharpness of the blade. I hadn’t tested it enough so I didn’t notice the rust wasn’t an indicator of it being dull, so I put much more force into the swing than I should have. The posing was an attempt to give her some dignity after my mistake. I also thought it may suit an “artist’s” sensibilities, to buy me more time to prove I was not guilty of killing Maki should I have needed it. I do apologize for framing you Angie, I have no excuse.”

Angie’s smile was completely gone as she blankly stared at the monster standing beside her. The hate in her eyes was unmistakable. Had she been someone else she may have even tried to attack him, for the way his apologies as he faced her felt like a mockery. But her resolve was stronger than that so she just watched him in silence, refusing to dignify any of this with a response, until Kaito began shouting at him again.

“How can you say a person’s death didn’t matter?! Like hell we’d ever just let that be swept under the rug. We can’t just ignore what happened to them in order to protect ourselves. She was our friend! Besides, Maki Roll told me she was going to talk to you last night so you still could have done this.”

“And that is true, but she left my lab before I did and I still have my alibi. Gonta was even as gracious as to escort me back to my dorm, in accordance to the student council’s curfew Maki and I both broke. But given what happened I suspect she never actually left the fourth floor.” Korekiyo claimed.

“So what, you’re trying to pin your crimes on Kibo or Angie again?! We don’t need to waste any more time on your lies, I’m ready to vote!”

“And it’d be suicide Tenko, we still have a ways to go to prove anything. I saw both of them that night and if the Monokuma-” Ryoma began to argue before peanut gallery interfered again.

“It’s a Monosuke file you bastard!”

“Oh shut up Monosuke, let them work or I’ll gag you with my scarf!”

“Ohh, kinky.”

“She-Said-Be-Quiet! And-Why-Would-You-Even-Joke-Like-That-Father?!”

“... Fine. If the Monosuke file is to be believed I saw Kiyo at the time it said Maki died. I don’t see thing being some sort of trick he pulled either, she’s too quick to lose to someone like him in a fight.”

“Yeah. Gonta… Not really understanding why he do this but Kiyo not lying about Gonta escorting him. But… That means student council kill Maki? Why?! We… We protect all students. No exceptions!” Gonta said best he could through his confusion, sweat, and tears.

“Exactly! And Angie definitely didn’t see Maki that night. I was working in my lab, no visitors either.” Angie quickly claimed, which got a nod from Tenko and Monophanie to offer some support for it.

Not to be outdone Kibo also rushed to his own defense. “I didn’t see anyone, I was working in the computer lab the entire time! You can even check the log for the program I’ve been fixing, everything is time stamped so I have a solid alibi!”

Korekiyo almost looked bored as he shook his head at both of their panicked responses. “You all seem to be forgetting there was one other person on the fourth floor that night. Kirumi was the one patrolling the halls so Kibo had his time to work and help weed out any of Angie’s unwanted guests.”

“I’m not the culprit!” Kibo shouted over him.

“Angie’s not the culprit!” Angie said at almost the same time and volume.

“You’re both idiots is what you are.” Korekiyo bitterly countered them almost just as quickly.

It was hard to get a word in edgewise as the three kept talking over each other in their efforts to prove they weren’t the culprits. Well, the two were, as Korekiyo simply kept being drowned out as he tried to prove they were panicking over nothing. His argument seemed sound enough though, despite Kaede’s wariness.

Framing Angie for Kirumi’s death in order to make her a suspect for Maki’s would have only worked if he always planned on making her the person he planned to frame, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Kibo’s been completely unrelated to the case so far and has no motive to go to Kiyo’s lab to kill Maki.

But Kirumi’s a different story. She had been so ready to kill after her video she lashed out in front of everyone. Maybe Maki was able to pick up on that and confronted her about and something… Snapped.

“So Kiyo, what you mean to tell us is you killed Kirumi because you knew she was guilty of killing Maki?” Kaede asked, hoping to anything that would listen that this wouldn't blow up in her face.

“Precisely. That is why she put herself in charge of examining Maki’s body, much like how I examined my own victim in kind. Kirumi planted those ashes, not discovered them. I saw her do it since I knew to keep an eye on her already. It’s also when she took the knife Maki had when she fell, hidden under the pieces of the broken banister. I suspect Maki used it in self-defense, rather than the blood being Maki’s, given how its style indicates it came from Maki’s lab, when Kirumi would have likely preferred the equally easy to obtain kitchen knives as she had more experience with them.”

“So what? You mean to tell us you killed Kirumi to avenge Maki since you knew the two fought for some reason you’re not sharing? I’m not buying it.”

“Oh goodness no, if that was my motivation I wouldn’t have needed to do anything. Can you imagine the execution Monokuma would have had in store for her? Kirumi wasn’t the sort of woman who’d be content to go quietly into the night either, so her own futile efforts to elude her grisly fate would have only prolonged things even more. She’d never allow herself to die with dignity if she could help it. Survival was far too important for her. So I spared her that suffering, as beautiful as it may have been.”

“So��� Kiyo kill Kirumi to… Protect Kirumi? Like killing wounded animal that can’t get better?”

“Very good Gonta! And not just her either. So far I’ve been the only one of us who hasn’t played a part in sending our friends to their graves, with voting to have them executed. Now I’m the only one with her blood on my hands, rather than having it divided amongst us all. I didn’t think anyone would mind that.”

The courtroom was nothing but arguing as they tried to decide whether or not Korekiyo was telling them the truth, and if he was if it would have in any way justified his actions. He wasn’t wrong in acting like Kirumi would have died either way, had she really killed Maki, but by taking things into his own hands he denied her the chance to defend or explain herself.

Even if that wouldn’t have changed anything in the end, she had a right to a fair trial, didn’t she? Except then they’d still have to see what living hell Kirumi would undoubtedly be forced through to die. But was the alternative Korekiyo made for them really better for anyone here but him?

Korekiyo still let them string themselves along like this, to watch them as they struggled to figure out what happened, when he could have ended things much sooner by just explaining himself. The only reason he could possibly have for this was his own entertainment. He’s already expressed similar sentiments so often pulling a stunt like this wasn’t really that much different.

He’s always been a sadistic creep, but they underestimated just how far he was willing to go with it. Kaede resisted the urge to put her head in her hands to try and block out Korekiyo’s twisted logic.

Head in her hands- Kirumi’s bloody head in her hands- Please I don’t want that image in my head- Wait.

Kirumi was only there because she didn’t want Kaede to be involved. Like Gonta said Korekiyo didn’t choose Kirumi like he was now claiming. So his reasoning for “picking” her must have been a lie too.

When I offered to be the medium before Korekiyo looked surprised but pleased.

Like everything was going according to plan without him lifting so much as a finger.

Kirumi wanting the role initially bothered him, before he adapted. Which means...

It was supposed to be ME in that room, not Kirumi. Kirumi just got in his way.

Korekiyo was trying to kill me.

Why on earth would he want me dead? I haven’t done anything wrong!

Why would he do that even after asking if I could be his sister’s friend when we got out-

… Unless she’s already dead.

That’s why he reacted the way he did during his motive video. That’s why the last words were about some promise between the two of them. The promise to make her some female friends on his travels.

It was reminding him he already failed. Not unless he wanted to try giving his dead sister some dead friends. Like those cruel burial rites where you kill innocents just to give the person who died company.

This is why Kokichi has been weird when he’s around Korekiyo. He realized what he was capable of. That’s why after we got the Necronomicon he’s been trying to make sure I’m not left alone with him.

Maybe it wasn’t just me either. The casino stunt helped keep Korekiyo away from any girls he might go after, aside from Maki. Maki would be able to protect herself though, and she had Ryoma and Kaito too.

Even if Korekiyo slipped away he wouldn’t have an alibi, and Gonta was between him and the school. Tenko was likely the first girl he’d be able to attack, and he wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

Why didn’t Kokichi just tell me? What was he afraid of? Being wrong? Tipping Korekiyo off? Scaring me?

Should… Should I tell them? If… If there is another reason Korekiyo wanted me dead this might really be an isolated incident. The stuff he’s saying is really screwed up, but he isn’t that wrong.

None of us wanted to see another of our friends be executed, no matter what they did to deserve it. And no matter how he did it a quick death would have been a lot less painful than what Monokuma planned.

Well not really Monokuma’s plans. The mastermind behind this game is the one to blame for all of this.

Maybe Korekiyo thinks I could have been the mastermind and he was just trying to end the game? If he gives that as a reason then I’m not sure anyone would be able to trust me anymore, even if I can prove he’s wrong or hiding his real motive. Would anyone believe me? Could I prove I wasn’t the mastermind?

But if he doesn’t think I’m the mastermind then he could go after someone else next. I’d probably be too risky to try killing again anytime soon, but Angie’s cult looks like it’ll be gone now and even if Tenko’s enough to scare him off Tsumugi’s in danger. Assuming he couldn’t just kill Tenko with some trap.

Either way, if I bring this up someone will probably want to kill Korekiyo even more than they already do. And whoever does will just end up being the next friend we execute, even if the victim definitely deserved it.

Which option is the more acceptable risk? Korekiyo killing someone else, or someone killing him? Having to recover from losing an innocent victim, or condemning a sympathetic murderer for protecting us? Can’t there be a third option? Could we really keep him in check without killing him somehow?

What do I do? I… I can’t breathe. I need to focus on breathing. I NEED to calm down. To think this through.

But I don’t know what to do.

First Chapter     Previous Chapter     Index     AO3 Version     Next Chapter

[drv3girlsimagines]

Girls Finding Out Their S/O Is The Mastermind

This may or may not have some angst in it

Tsumugi

~”Huh...?”

~”You’re behind the killing game?”

~You nodded at your girlfriend, smiling.

~”The killings, the executions, I planned it all..”

~”Why would you do such a sick thing?!”

~”Eh, I was bored.”

~”You were behind the killings of so many people because you were bored?!”

~She was screaming at this point, tears streaming down her face.

~”Please, Tsumugi, I know this was wrong of me.. but please stay with me..”

~”I don’t think I can do that.. I’m sorry..”

Tenko;

~”Huh?! You?! The mastermind?!”

~”Yes.”

~”Well, some of the people deserved it..”

~”I’ll forgive you, as long as you promise to never to that again!”

~You nod at her with a smile, before hugging the slightly shorter girl.

~”Promise.”

Maki;

~”So you’re.. the person behind the killing game..?”

~”I am.”

~”Why would you do this?”

~”I dunno, I was bored I guess.”

~”Because you were bored? Aren’t there other ways to occupy yourself?

~”Yes, but I decided this was the most exciting one!”

~”... we’re over.”

~”Huh? Maki? Are you okay?”

~”I said we’re over! I’m not going to call someone like you my girlfriend any longer!”

Himiko;

~”Nyeh.. you’re the mastermind?”

~You only nodded at the small girl.

~”Why?”

~”Why not?”

~”Because you don’t just take peoples lives like that!”

~”Why can’t I?”

~”Because, it’s sick!”

~”S/O, goodbye... I guess this is our break-up..”

~You watched your now ex girlfriend walk away, as tears were filling up in your eyes.

Kaede;

~”You?! Mastermind?!”

~”I never suspected you..”

~”That’s good though, Kaede, isn’t it? It was a surprise!”

~”No, it’s wrong! We’re over, and so is this conversation.”

~”Wai-“

~And Kaede was already off.

Iruma;

~”W-w-w-what t-the fuck?”

~”I knew you were actin’ kinda strange, but I never thought you’d do this..”

~”Whatever! I’ll stay with ya! I was the one who deserved to live most anyways!”

~You smiled at your girlfriend and gave her thanks <3

Angie;

~”Huh? You’re the mastermind?”

~”Reeeally?”

~”It’s okay! Atua says he forgives you, so I do too!”

~Aww

Kirumi;

~”You’re the person behind the killing game?!”

~”Kirumi, calm down..”

~”Why would you do such a thing?”

~”..”

~”Kirumi, I messed up, bad, but please, stay with me..”

~”If that is your request, then I will do so..”

[tuwasduwillst]

ch6

who the hell are you

i don’t know what any of that was about, but okay.

would you stop blowing things up?? what is even the point

Shuichi and the others decide to try to go talk to him and get him to stop.

stop blowing things up!!

he says he wants to destroy the school to end the killing game.

well that’s just rude.

they try to convince him that they can stop it together and that there’s still hope; Shuichi says there could still be somewhere for them to go, though he’s mostly just basing that on what Kaito told them before his execution about someone watching.

still, though, that possibility is their hope. they still have things to investigate in the school; they can’t just give up now.

great, thanks, now that you’ve blown half the place up you’re willing to stop and cooperate. couldn’t have just spoken to everyone before the explosions, noooo.

he says he’ll wait until dawn. what gives you the right to place a time limit on them?? 

once it hits dawn he says he’ll end the killing game and kill himself? okay

Monokuma shows up and says that the killing game is eternal and can’t be stopped.

also, destroying school property like that is ~an act of mutiny~. so now Kiibo’s going to have to fight off Monokuma and his stupid “kubs”. u_u

at least they’ll be distracted while Shuichi and the others poke around, i guess. still, what the heck. the guy just starts blowing things up without speaking to anyone else about it... geez... how inconsiderate...

Shuichi, Maki, Tsumugi, and Himiko all go into the school and decide to try to find the actual mastermind, because they think there could be someone in the school controlling things. they all split up, but before Shuichi can leave the school’s entrance--

a hole in the floor in front of him is created by some of the damage to the building.

what

staircase in the hole!

aw. i was wondering where it was, since it hadn’t shown up yet...

since there’s damage to the door, Shuichi can get in.

o: 

Shuichi looks around and most of his comments are “this seems comical” or “this seems like a kid’s idea of what an evil organization would have”

he won’t play with the RC helicopter :(

...not that he has time to, but.

Shuichi finds this book about the history of Hope’s Peak. Maki shows up while he’s looking at it and he asks her to tell him what she remembers about the history of the academy. she sighs, but she does it.

what she says is what he remembers as well, but it doesn’t match the book, and the book is apparently the most accurate account of the school’s history.

you can’t keep what you found from me, that’s unfair! i want to know now too :(

well, whatever he discovered, he decides he needs to go to Kokichi’s room and figure out more about him, since he found this book in his lab.

...don’t the rooms lock after the person dies?

what the heck

Shuichi’s remembering some kid asking him if he’s part of the Gofer Project; Shuichi says he’s not because he’s just a normal high school student. the kid was convinced all the kids were still alive despite the fake funeral thing and he was calling them ~heroes~.

oh, it was a delayed flashback light thing from the one Monokuma used after the trial. Maki apparently also remembered something like that.

time to go to Kokichi’s room! which i guess isn’t locked, because they get in easily.

awww, the whiteboard is too tiny to see on Tumblr. it’s funny, though--he’s got “annoying” written by the “kubs”, “suspicious” by Maki, “trustworthy!” by Shuichi (aw)*, and “weird” by Kiibo.

--oh no, i accidentally hit it away! D: come back, whiteboard!

* or it’s “trustworthy?”, i can’t tell. either way it’s cute

is that a lightsaber

Shuichi says they don’t have time to look through them, but Maki says she’ll do it. that way Shuichi can keep looking at the rest of the room.

speaking of the rest of the room, Kokichi had a bunch of stuff from the past murders. i was kind of wondering where that stuff goes after the investigation... and Shuichi commented on the missing inner tube after Kirumi’s trial.

Shuichi finds one of the motive videos on Kokichi’s bed and decides to play it. he doesn’t think it’ll be Kokichi’s video, but he wants to check it out.

it is his, though!

cuuuute

once Shuichi’s done seeing that, Maki tells him he can go and she’ll keep looking through the blueprints, because they rely on Shuichi most in situations like these. before he goes, though, she wants him to look at something she found.

it’s like a scavenger hunt! let’s go!

Maki thinks it’s probably just a prank, but Shuichi thinks it needs to be checked out. i agree, let’s goooo

oh, good, this is the right place. i had no idea what that note meant by “garden”.

huh.

Shuichi has another flashback before he leaves this area.

oh, good, Shuichi thought it was stupid as well.

anyway, the reason is ~*hope*~. you guys in the DR universe have serious problems when it comes to “hope” and “talent”.

Kiibo also had a flashback, so he ends up crashing through the roof of the area Shuichi’s in. he offers to destroy Rantarou’s lab’s door so Shuichi can get in there and check it out.

Kiibo does that and then tells Shuichi he’ll help him get anywhere he needs to go. even the place behind the bookshelf? o:

well, first: Rantarou’s lab.

ooh, roses. Himiko shows up, having heard the sound of Kiibo blasting the door.

uhhh... no.

weird zodiac vault...

the HORSE

what the... really.

and there’s a laptop on the table, so...

one file on there and it’s a video. oh, it’s Rantarou’s weird video, but now i get to see the whole thing.

one part of it was the video.

was there something special about his Monopad?

Rantarou got blocked from saying something in the video.

what kind of ultimate survivor gets lured over by a camera’s flash?

Shuichi thinks the mastermind knew his identity and that’s why he died.

another flashback!

Shuichi’s school friends: u gonna fuck some hot girls in space, bro??

yeah that’s definitely what Shuichi’s main concern and priority was

once the flashback is over, Himiko says she’ll check for whatever the other part of Rantarou’s perk was so that Shuichi can continue moving. Tsumugi approaches him just as he’s decided to go to the bookcase room--apparently there’s a new room by Kaito’s lab that opened up due to the destruction, so Shuichi has to check that out first.

it’s the room they were all asleep in.

there’s a thing on the table that apparently has all their information in it. Tsumugi noticed something she wants Shuichi to see.

and Tsumugi is worried about that because Junko also had a twin sister.

what, is it like a rule in the DR universe that if you have a set of twins one of them has to be evil??? no. Shuichi makes a note of it just in case it’s relevant.

now it’s time to go to the library.

Maki’s down there and she has something she found in Kokichi’s room that she wants Shuichi to look at.

bugvac...

Miu apparently made a prototype version of it. it works, but there’s nothing in there.

Himiko shows up--she didn’t find anything in Rantarou’s room. Shuichi wonders if someone took whatever he’d had.

they decide to check out the hidden door, but one of the Exisals shows up before they can even really get close to it.

good.

then he blasts open the door.

good idea!

well, here’s the room.

they start talking about the mastermind and Monokuma’s voice speaks up, saying it’s time for the “last boss”.

hey, it’s an ugly Monokuma head.

i’m not calling you that.

it claims to be able to make Monokumas, so everyone demands that it do it right now. it doesn’t.

hey, it’s Rantarou’s thing!

he had a map that had every single space labeled, including this secret room!

he was also told about the Monokuma spares, which is probably why he was trying to get into the hidden door that one time.

Maki goes to get the pictures of Rantarou from Kokichi’s room so they can figure out what’s up with the blood on this Monopad.

and what kind of idiot leaves it in the trash? surely there was somewhere better to leave that thing.

Kaede’s vest?

Shuichi gets another flashback, this time of when Monokuma first showed up and erased his memories before the killing game started.

Himiko tells Shuichi she’ll keep looking here, so he can go somewhere else to investigate more.

Shuichi and Tsumugi leave the room, but after they do the fight between Kiibo and the Exisal causes the hidden room to be blocked by rubble, trapping Himiko inside.

Shuichi says they’ll have to leave her there for now (Kiibo doesn’t want to risk hurting her by blasting it away) and continue their investigation.

oh, weird, the timer ran out and then it just gave me a huge chunk of time while keeping me in the same place.

since i wasn’t sure why it ran out and thought it might be due to my typing, i had to stop for a bit.

Shuichi found a way to make flashback lights in one of the classrooms; it let him pick from several different versions of memories and then spat out a flashlight into a locker in the room. when the door gets opened, the room goes back to normal.

Himiko found a hidden passage to the secret room; it’s not on Rantarou’s perk map.

Shuichi thinks he’s found enough to figure things out.

Monokuma agrees to the trial because it’s more interesting than fighting Kiibo. he warns them that there will be consequences if they don’t accomplish what they’re aiming for, but everyone left is prepared to accept that. they know they can finish this.

Monokuma makes Kiibo’s gear get removed before the trial starts, and when he shows up again, he’s got his ahoge back.

apparently the Monokubs put it back because he asked them to repair him.

what if every ahoge was secretly an antenna

Maki has the bugvac with her, so Kiibo asks to take a look at it. apparently he can zoom in on things now.

why bother making them in the shape of tiny Monokumas with cameras!

aw, it’s kind of cute.

apparently they function as a hivemind and they’re swarming all over the place. what the heck.

they bring up Kokichi using the electrobomb before.

haha.

although, Tsumugi... well. it doesn’t matter right now. we’ll see what happens in the trial.

...i feel like i’ve accidentally spelled her name as “Tsugumi” in these posts before, uhh. oops. listen. ...her name is literally right there, why... i have no excuse...

trial time! the “kubs” already won’t shut up and i hate it. Monokuma asks Shuichi why he called this trial.

gotta go back to that first case! he’s found new evidence and thinks that someone else was responsible for the murder, not Kaede.

did he become the ultimate survivor after that? what was he before that, then...

anyway, reviewing things! they thought Rantarou was the only one in the library at the time he was murdered, but that isn’t necessarily true.

someone was in the hidden room. someone had to have taken Rantarou’s Survivor Perk Monopad away from him after his death.

ughh, the bearsss

you tell ‘em, Shuichi.

they argue that he just didn’t have it with him, but the photo of Rantarou clearly shows him holding it.

regarding the timing, the mastermind would’ve known exactly what was happening in the library due to the tiny... Nanokumas? i think that’s what they were calling them.

Monokuma claims the Monopad got taken back just because it was meant for Rantarou’s eyes only, so after he died, it was removed. he says it’s not relevant, though, because this is about Rantarou’s murder itself.

Shuichi says that the mastermind was the one that killed Rantarou, though.

i still can’t believe it was just put in the trash can. who does that.

ughhh, i want to care about this trial but i really dislike those stupid bear cubs. just blow them all up already, they ruin everything

anyway... Shuichi says that Kaede’s shot put ball missed, so the mastermind had to fix it in order to keep the game going. that means that Kaede was executed for a murder she didn’t commit.

and now they’re trying to figure out who the mastermind is. Himiko suggests it was a 17th person, but:

it said that the person comes to the hidden room often, so they weren’t always there. if it was someone that had to stay completely hidden, it seems unlikely that they’d risk that.

there’s also the flashback light classroom--it reverts to a normal one when the door is opened. if they were just a 17th person, they could just use their own room for stuff like that.

the unfortunate truth that reveals is that the mastermind is one of them. Maki says it’s possible it’s not one of them right there; Kiibo agrees, saying the mastermind could have faked their death.

in order to really know who the mastermind is, Shuichi needs to know who killed Rantarou. which means he needs to go over everyone’s alibis again.

Himiko and Maki were in the game room. Kiibo was in his room. and Tsumugi was in the dining hall, but she left to go to the bathroom.

the bathroom that has the ~secret passage~. since the card reader dust was still there, that passageway is the only way the culprit could have gotten into the hidden room at that time.

etc.

Tsumugi denies that it’s her, saying it was just a coincidence that she was in the bathroom.

the trial continues and Shuichi points out that Tsumugi is the only one that didn’t try to command the “Motherkuma” to give birth to more Monokumas. she specifically told it to “create” more; it only works if the mastermind tells it to “birth” more.

why.

anyway, Shuichi doesn’t want to think Tsumugi is the mastermind. he’d prefer if she could refute what he’s saying. he wants everyone’s help and cooperation to find the truth.

Tsumugi isn’t saying anything to defend herself; they all want her to say anything that would prove her innocence.

Monokuma tells Shuichi to do the manga thing.

“wtf”

gotta be honest, i wouldn’t just stand around staring up if this happened, i’d immediately be backing away.

she has nothing to say to defend herself, though, all she says is that she didn’t do it and it’s obvious their logic is flawed. point out the flaws, then! participate!

no

no! get out of here

go away!

u_u

Shuichi says the trial is over; Monokuma covered up what she did and the whole game is illegitimate. 

she admits she messed up there, but that’s about it. the others start asking about the people watching.

the only reason she cared about things being exciting or the rules was just to replicate the original feel of the killing game.

Shuichi doesn’t believe that. that’s what they remember, but that doesn’t make it true. he brings up the book and asks everyone to say what they remember about Hope’s Peak and its history.

oh, that’s what was bothering him. and the other things... oh, this isn’t hard at all, even with my terrible memory. nice.

Shuichi brings up Rantarou--he said he’d won a previous killing game in his tape, but he’s not one of the students from Junko’s other games they know about.

he also has suspicions about Kokichi. they all assumed he was a Remnant of Despair, but Shuichi doesn’t think that’s true.

i never thought that was true, it didn’t make sense... idk why they were so convinced he was. is it because he lied all the time?? ...i mean i guess he did lie about being the mastermind and set up a murder and stuff, so it’s kind of understandable... and they had a memory of it or whatever.

anyway, Shuichi brings up Kokichi’s motive video and his organization.

it only had 10 people in it, too.

Shuichi talks about the flashback lights and the thing that makes them.

they “implant” memories and i don’t like the hangman’s gambit thing, geez.

the memories being false means that nothing they learned from the flashback lights matters. so even their memories about being students at Hope’s Peak...

okay, well, i apologize for being rude to Naegi before, then. if that plan isn’t real then it’s fine.

anyway, the reason she had them remember Kokichi as a Remnant of Despair is because she wanted to get rid of him; with them remembering Hope’s Peak as well, they’d be likely to target him, like Maki did.

all of the lights served a purpose like that--pushing them to do one thing or another, or feel a certain way about things.

Shuichi wants to know who this “Junko” is.

get out of there

THE SONG IS BACK

oh, good, it stopped. also, uhh, you’re kind of... drooling.

DR reveals the truth: cosplayers are evil

Shuichi brings up the whole “cospox” thing.

Megumi Ogata! <3

uhhh, right, actual game stuff is happening.

that’s stupid.

no u

no, it’s just stupid.

that doesn’t even make sense

“Sakura is my muscle waifu”

same tho

except i’d never use the word “waifu” ever, even ironically

so anyway this game really doesn’t want you to actually care about it, huh.

hey that ugly kid is there

you can’t mix Roman numerals and Arabic numerals like that

you know, if you’re sick of making these games or you’re bored or something, you don’t have to keep doing it.

well gee, if people want to watch teenagers murder each other in a game like this, i guess there’s just no choice but to continue making it happen

blllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh

oh, hey! did you know i’m getting my passport today? i’ve never had one before, so i’m kind of nervous i’m going to mess up the application or something. i think it’ll be okay in the end, but i’m still a little worried. i’m really excited to go to Japan in May, though!

i’ve never even been outside of the US before, so that also makes me a little nervous, but i’ll be with my sister and her boyfriend, so i think it’ll be fine. i do need to make sure i keep studying Japanese, though, because i’m the only one that knows enough to have a conversation or read anything.

we’ll just be wandering around in Tokyo for the ~9 days we’re there, because we don’t want to wander too far and end up being lost or something. there’s plenty to do there, though! i want to eat a crepe~ which offends my sister because she’s been to France and had French crepes, but Japanese ones always look so good... and i’ve never been to France, so it’s not like i’ll know the difference.

in 53 seasons? really? what the hell were they doing

but i was talking about Japan. anyway! yeah, it should be pretty fun. i’m trying to save up as much money as i can. i’m not sure how much i should bring with me, but IIRC they still don’t really use cards much over there.

my sister is going to just withdraw cash whenever she needs it because apparently the conversation rate is better that way, so maybe that’s what i’ll mostly do as well. right now we’re looking at a place in Shibuya to stay at and it’s pretty close to a lot of really convenient things!

money aside, i kind of worry about public transportation. we don’t really use much of it here and it can be tricky to figure out, y’know? though with all the apps and technology around these days, it’ll probably be fine.

you can’t mess with me by using a piano~ you already did that once~

oh! there’s a really cute cafe that sells doughnuts that look like animals in Tokyo! we’re going to try to find it, but apparently it’s in a kind of hard-to-find place. the doughnuts are sooo cute, though.

oh, it finished.

sure, why not.

“ultimate real fiction” just sounds stupid

what was i talking about before? oh yeah, the doughnuts. honestly, i think the food will be a highlight of the trip, i am so ready to try new things and hopefully like them despite how picky i can be.

i think sometime before the trip i might go to one of those all-you-can eat Japanese places with my sister, just so we can try some things we've never had and make sure we're okay eating them. brand new things are fine to try, but you also don't want to get sick or just waste money on food during a trip like that...

i hate fish, so i know that's going to limit me a lot. i think other than fish the most common meat is chicken, though, so that should be fine? and i can have vegetable dishes or whatever, too.

hmmm... i ran out of things to say.

i just chose the option that appeared in front of me, don’t bring me into this. i'm done

hopebot

she wins: they get to live at the school forever Keebo wins: they have to finish the game and only two get to "graduate"

this post won't even let me stick any images in here anymore, so i guess i'm going to have to describe everything.

Kiibo volunteers to sacrifice himself so ~hope can win~. Maki also volunteers to sacrifice herself.

Shuichi starts talking about how he rejects that hope, blah blah, Kiibo's like "noooo despair can never be better"

Shuichi says that the people watching want hope, which is why this game keeps continuing and they ignore everything they suffer through to get this point. so if they choose hope here, they're just giving them what they want and it'll never end.

Shuichi wants to know what kind of punishment Maki and Kiibo will get. if it's what he's thinking, everything makes sense, including why Rantarou would participate in another game like this.

the punishment is to participate in the next game; Rantarou must have sacrificed himself last time, which is why he wanted to win this game. so if they choose "hope" here, the game won't end.

he decides he's not going to vote. if no one votes, the audience will hate it. he's done playing.

Shuichi gets the other three to agree and all of them decide to just stop. the audience doesn't like that and decide Kiibo's personality needs to be erased.

Shuichi says he's going to change the outside world, since they're why that happened to Kiibo.

okay i'm sick of not having screenshots, i'm going to do something

(click here for the secret end of the game post)