#cause after all it became shuichis most powerful weapon there at the end and he used it to get to the actual right answer!

[thatstroubling]

hello and thank you everyone for voting so far! I am genuinelly so positively surprised by the sheer number of votes AND ALSO the interesting results! All the answers have been picked at least once, which to me shows just how cool the writing of this trial really is and how much space for interpretation it offers. But there's also been a clear winner so far. I love how much appreciation for both Kokichi and Kaito as characters hides in that choice. tbh I simply wanted to gush over this iconic trial a bit and get an idea of where the fandom's consesus on it is, and so this has been delightful to see :) thank you again, excited to see more takes, hope you have a good one

I'm just really curious about how people view this aspect of the trial because (to my knowledge) it has never been addressed in the game directly.

More detailed versions of the answers are below:

Kokichi thought his spinal injury was too serious for him to stay alive and sharp until the class trial even with the antidote having gotten rid of the poisonous part

Kokichi (correctly) assumed that Kaito wouldn't trust him enough to believe that he wouldn't seriously try to get everybody killed to end the killing game. He thought Kaito would refuse to get crushed as to not let him do whatever he wanted in the class trial.

Kokichi wanted to be the mysterious enigma 'till the very end. He didn't want others to know his true intentions to such an extent that he chose dying before having to explain that he wasn't actually the mastermind and he also apparently wasn't even that evil (awkward :S)

Kokichi wanted to give Kaito a chance to prove he is truly "not boring" and so he forced him in a position where Kaito had to abandon his morals and lie to his friends in order to make Kokichi's death not completely in vain

Kokichi became a bit delusional at the end (the stress of the killing game plus poison in the bloodstream) and really started to believe that he, the big bad guy, should be the one to be mercilessly murdered, for whatever unhealthy reason

Kokichi had been planning on being the victim of the unsolvable case for sooo looong and didn't want the amazing detailed script he wrote to go to waste (yes, reminds me of Korekiyo's seesaw trick)

Kokichi somehow knew Kaito was seriously sick and he wanted to give Kaito the chance to achieve being the first blackened who technically wasn't executed by Monokuma (another "fuck you" to the killing game)

Kokichi didn't actually want to sacrifice everyone to end the game: he knew very well that Kaito would fold in in last minute but he also understood that the Luminary's heroic exit would inspire the others to fight the killing game and succeed in ending it somewhere down the road. He had realized that with the image he had made for himself, his own execution could never have such a positive impact on the group and therefore couldn't be used in bringing the whole game down anyway (this is my personal favorite tbh)

[allykakamatsu]

FE SS X DRV3 General plot

Once again, I’m back on my bulls**t. Got the basics for the AU sorted now so let’s take a look, as well as what most of the characters are doing

Plot Outline:

As I mentioned in the first post https://allykakamatsu.tumblr.com/post/649470604067717120/fe-ss-x-drv3 the reason the class is in Magvel in the first place is because Monokuma decided that trapping them in the game was gonna be the motive, where you either have to end the war/beat the game or kill someone from the real world in order to get out. The characters got sent to various points in the timeline, and as you can imagine, this changed quite a lot.

Shuichi Saihara:

•The last one to wake up, aka got sent to when the game starts rather than some time before like the others.

•Ends up unintentionally becoming Eirika’s bodyguard as they run into each other while the Princess is trying to get to Frelia and Seth has gone missing dun dun dun

•Sticks around as Eirika knows where Kaede is and because he doesn’t want to leave her on her own.

•Can use magic, but still needs to work on his aim. Aka, never let him fight an enemy that’s near a tree.

•Still better than when he uses a Lance, he just stabs wildly and hope it works

•Because he doesn’t get the pre-war time everyone else had to get ready, he does get the advantage of remembering other things, though they’re things he’d rather not remember.

Kaede Akamatsu:

•Was sent to Renais and ended up getting adopted by the royals, so she’s the Twin’s step-sister.

•Despite her accidental new status, doesn’t change too much, and enjoys her time with her new family even if she’s always scarred about when the war will start

•As such, she’s also very overprotective and always goes with Ephriam to his dumb stunts, under the guise of being all for it.

•Very over dramatic organ player.

•Like Eirika she’s good with swords, but tends to specialise in staffs.

•Is part of Ephriams four (well now five) man army trying to take Grado down.

Maki Harukawa:

•Woke up in Jehana but didn’t stick around for long due to not liking the heat.

•Ended up travelling with Tenko for a while as travelling mercenaries, but when Maki’s work started leaning on the assassin side again she left so the Aikido Master wouldn’t get involved.

•After that becomes an assassin for hire, and she works for people all over the continent, including with Rausten which (unfortunately) led to her seeing Kokichi again

•”If it wasn’t for the fact your Princess hired me I’d kill you”

•Eventually after several jobs making her infamous, she was hired by Kirumi to help protect Eirika.

•Agreed, and was extra motivated due to Shuichi being dragged into this.

Himiko Yumeno:

•One of only two who was over the moon to be sent to Magvel, because now she has real MAGIC

•Winds up in Lute and Arthur’s village, where she joins their friend group to become master Mages.

•Constantly getting on Lute’s nerves for napping during practice.

•More energetic than usual, but that just means when she’s out she’s out for the count.

•Specialises in thunder magic, but that’s mostly not to steal Lute’s thunder, well, fire in this case.

•Goes with Arthur to get help when the village is attacked by monsters to “make sure they don’t claw him to death”

Angie Yonaga:

•Ends up becoming a priestess in Grado.

•Doesn’t really like spreading the word of non-Atua figures, but sticks around because Atua said so.

•Also leads to her becoming friends with Natasha and also ‘friends’ with Cormag

•Was already growing weary of the Empire when she heard about the war, but when Natasha was branded a traitor she knew something was up and went after her.

•Still always smiling, which depending on the person is a relief to see someone keeping their hopes up, or disturbing cause “does she ever not smile?”

•Mostly a light magic user, but can heal and not afraid to staff bonk.

Kirumi Tojo:

•Was sent to Frelia and became a servant at the castle very fast.

•Joined the staff only a few days before ‘The Frelian Tragedy’ where the crown Prince was kidnapped and presumed dead.

•Because of this and the King being so busy, Kirumi ended up being the one to console the young Princess Tana.

•Ended up becoming a mother/big sister figure and was offered a change of position as the nanny. Ended up taking it and staying on maid duty, and eventually rose to head maid.

•More open with her emotions, but still quite reserved.

•Can use all weapons well, but prefers spears and staffs.

Kokichi Oma:

•Not known where or when he first arrived, but after 3 years ended up in Rausten.

•Wound up as part of L’Arachel’s entourage due to his battle skills and her liking his attitude.

•Dream tam for each other, nightmare for everyone else.

•Was rumoured to be part of the Frelian Tragedy, but no one can prove it or knows how.

•With L’Arachel for most of the war, but ran off for a bit to drag Renac back

•A full blown trickster class, so swords and staffs for him.

Kiibo:

•Since Robots don’t exist, he’s a dragon now.

•Excited that he’s living and breathing, but scarred because “How did I change species?!”

•Eventually finds Myrrh and she thankfully sets things straight.

•Proud of his new species, but does miss his old life.

•When Selena steals her dragon stone, he tries to get it back, only to get caught in some trees while in dragon form.

•After that accompanies her on Ephriam and Kaede’s path to get the stone back.

Rantaro Amami:

•A former wyvern rider turned pegasus knight

•Yes, somehow he got a pegasus to trust him enough to let him ride, to the confusion of everyone else.

•Was with Grado for a while, but jumped ship to Jehana about three years before the war.

•When he learned that the Queen’s son had run away, his big brother instincts kicked in and he volunteered to find him.

•His search eventually led to Carcino where he found Joshua alone with the rest of Eirika’s party.

•Agreed to tag along so he could keep an eye on the gambling Prince and so he could help out Shuichi.

•Good with lances, but way better with flying.

Miu Iruma:

•A wyvern rider from Grado, though an unconventional one (I mean, it’s Miu)

•She and Rantaro were part of the same squad, but she stayed unlike him.

•Good at making all her allies lives a living hell with her antics (RIP Cormag) but she’s kept around due to her skill

•Saw Valter kill Glenn, but while trying to tell Cormag, got sidetracked by seeing Selena try to take Kiibo’s dragonstone, which made her go “F**k it”, swear the Flurspar out, and switched sides to team Ephriam.

•The only wyvern who uses an axe. Everyone calls her crazy for it but hey, whatever works.

Tenko Chabishira:

•Was in Renais at first, but after being ditched by Maki she went to Jehana due to her unsurprisingly wanting to be in the nation lead by a queen rather than a king like the rest.

•Ends up bumping into Marisa on a job, and once it’s over she convinces Tenko to join the Mercenaries.

•Loves Tethys and Marisa, so she stays no matter what, but she does eventually get some respect for Gherik.

•Doesn’t stop her from thinking somethings up with Kiyo and the new recruit who won’t take his mask off.

•Would’ve joined up with team Eirika either way since everyone else agreed, Himiko being there just made her a lot more aggressive with it.

•Axes all the way baby!

Korekiyo Shinguji:

•Wound up in Caer Pelyn, which royally confused everyone, but they kinda just rolled with it.

•Stayed due to his interest in the village, but when he was about to leave Ewan stopped by, and after a misunderstanding about why he wanted to leave Kiyo gets dragged into the mercenaries.

•At first only stayed due to wanting to send his sister more ‘friends’, but after seeing Tethys and Ewan act like how siblings are supposed to act, he realised how badly he screwed up, so he ends up sticking around to find out what real siblings are meant to do.

•Gladly joins up with team Eirika once they show up not only to stay with his allies, but also to get some more ‘sibling role models’

•Good with dark magic and staffs, but is in the summoner class..... be very afraid.

Kaito Momota:

•Woke up in Carcino, but after realising the guys in charge were assholes, he left and started travelling all over as a mercenary.

•After seeing Ephriam and Kaede storm a castle with 5 people total and win, he got the bright idea to become a masked hero busting innocents Grado captured out of jail and just generally be a thorn in their side.

•Formed a bit of a partnership with Kokichi because of this cause hey, where else in Magvel are you going to get smoke bombs.

•Eventually met Lyon, and after they explained what was going on to him, Kaito decided to risk it all on them as he let himself get caught to help bust Knoll out of jail, which worked, albeit with a lot of extra help from team Ephriam.

•All and all, more or less the same, just in WAY over his head.

•Of course he’s in the Hero class, so that means swords and axes.

Tsumugi Shirogane:

•The only one who’s played the game before, and easily the most excited, especially as she ended up in Grado and to be more specific as Lyon’s adopted sister.

•Thought she could get everything she wanted due to this being a game, but ended up having a bit of an existential crisis when the world turns out to be harder to manipulate and more real then she thought.

•Not wanting to accept that fiction can be real to, decided to take the demon kings power that wasn’t in Lyon (this was before the stone was shattered so that means most of it) to try get control back.

•This, of course, backfires, as while her already wanting to cause chaos/drama meant she kept her sense of self for longer, her lie eventually crashed in as once Shuichi got her to accept that fiction can be real she got completely possessed.

•Has the same class as Lyon, though she’s less tanky in exchange for being faster, worth it when you’re dealing with dark tomes.

Well, that’s everything for now. Hope you enjoy!

[sanctferum]

Dangan Ronpa V3 Chapter 5: Free Time and also Probably Shit Going Down

Last time Kaito came up with a Bad Idea, and Maki’s tragic backstory was even more so. Let’s go hang out with Keebo now.

Keebo’s lack of super strength is because of an accident during trial production of what became, well, Keebo. Interesting.

Keebo’s eyesight is average, his strength is lacking, but he must have some cool functions! Like, if we put our hand up to his mouth, he, um, starts making a weird noise? Ah, his “breath” from his mouth functions as a dryer. More interestingly, both his hands can turn into multi-tool devices. 10 tools for each hand. His fingers can detect aromas, like a human nose can, and he has a built in music player. But the thing he’s most proud of is his design. It’s compact and lightweight, allowing him to move around like a human AND have all those functions.

Night-time announcement, huh? Featuring no one at all. Monokuma’s already waiting for us at the gym, I bet.

Outside we meet up with Tsumugi, who is wondering if the parts in Keebo’s lab can be used to give him combat abilities so he can support Maki in the conflict…Keebo said he doesn’t want any sci-fi upgrades, though, so most cool stuff is out.

In the gym, there’s a pile of weapons from Maki’s lab. Kaito starts to give an encouraging speech about ending the killing game, but is interrupted by a familiar laugh. Good news: it isn’t Monokuma. Bad news: it’s Kokichi. And he is also planning to end the killing game. I somehow doubt he intends for us to escape, however…

Kokichi came prepared with some weapons of his own. Four mallets and a grenade. Fuck.

Kokichi threatens to blow us all up if we make any sudden moves. As for why he’s here, it has to do with the regulations. The killing game will continue until there’s only two people left. But, there’s nothing in the regulations (this time around) limiting a potential culprit to a certain number of victims. Which means…Kokichi can kill us all and beat Monokuma all in one swift move.

Kokichi offers to let us survive, though. One of us. If a maximum of two people can survive, then only everyone other than Kokichi and that person will have to die. Someone could theoretically save themselves. Whoever raises their hand first will get to live.

We all refute his offer, of course. But Kokichi thought we’d do that. He just wanted to see if we were as determined to not kill as we were making ourselves out to be. And then he offers to lead us to the Ultimate Anti-Monokuma Weapons, which we can use to beat Monokuma. Electrohammers. Miu’s final invention. One hit from them disables any electronic machine on contact. Watch out, Keebo!

Something’s weird here. If Miu made these, why didn’t she fight Monokuma and the Kubs with them rather than taking part in the killing game?

When Kokichi asked Miu to make these, she did, but refused to fight alongside everyone. She thought someone would betray her for sure. Plus, the Exisals were still active.

So Miu made the electrohammers. Kokichi’s bomb, too. The bomb is called an Electrobomb. When detonated, it scatters particles that interfere with electromagnetic waves. It disrupts electronic devices within 50 yards for up to two hours. It doesn’t leave behind debris, and there’s 3 of them. As for the hammers, once Monokuma is taken care of, we can use them to fight our way through the underground tunnel and escape. They’ve got limited battery, so if used against, let’s say, an Exisal, they’d work but also become regular mallets afterwards. It takes 24 hours to recharge.

Kokichi denies knowing anything about writing the horse a message in the courtyard, even though it clearly has his name on it. If he’d written the message, wouldn’t people suspect he was the mastermind? So then, what motivation would he have to write it? He claims it was probably Monokuma’s doing.

Maki’s had enough, and in an instant, has picked Kokichi up by his throat. She isn’t buying a word he says. She only lets him go after Kaito yells at her to stop. If she kills him, she’ll be executed, and the killing game will have continued. Kokichi claims we’re all his friends, and walks away, leaving the electrohammers behind. Yeah, I’m not convinced.

Maki tells us not to believe a word Kokichi says. But Kaito is considering it. He’s almost out of time, though the way he phrases it makes it sounds like the time limit is Monokuma and not himself. We all decide to at least try it. We grab the hammers and go. Everyone is too excited to notice that we left the huge pile of weapons behind in the gym.

In the boiler room, Keebo is concerned about the hammers with regards to himself. Not the right time to try it, Keebo.

Down the manhole! Kaito is excited because if we escape, we can finally fulfill Kaede’s wish.

After several tries, we make it through. At the end is an electric barrier covering a door that looks eerily like the one at the entrance of Hope’s Peak in DR1. We don’t have a passcode for the terminal, so we opt to open it via electrohammer. Beyond the door is the outside world, and boy does it look to be in bad shape. Everything is lit by the ominous red glow of fire and meteorites, and there’s not a living soul to be seen. And there’s no breathable air. We quickly collapse, but before we can suffocate, the door closes and locks. As we force our eyes open, we see that Kokichi followed us. He’s ready now to tell us the truth we’ve all been trying to reach. That the outside world we were trying to reach no longer exists.

Meteorites, raining down on Earth. When Kokichi says “end of the world”, he isn’t exaggerating. And in the end, the leaders of every nation on Earth gathered to create the Gofer Project. A project to build a space-faring vessel, and put humanity’s last hope on it, and hope that one day it would find a habitable planet. In other words, we’re all that’s left – everyone else is dead. That’s what Shuichi’s memory of “I want to die with everyone else” was. He wasn’t the only one. In order to avoid the awful fate of surviving alone, the Ultimates erased their memories. This was around the same time that a certain cult was rising in power. A cult that believed humanity deserved its encroaching extinction. In order to sabotage the Gofer project, the Ultimate Hunt began. To counter that, the government claimed all the 16 students had died, hence the funeral memory. And so the project went forward. The Ark launched, and it left behind a planet which, before long, had no one left on it. The Ark, also known as The Ultimate Academy For Gifted Juveniles. A spaceship colony hosting the remnants of the human race.

But the Gofer Project had made a mistake. A horrible, terrible, mistake. Out of the sixteen survivors of the human race, one of them was secretly the leader of the cult. It was they who prepared Monokuma. The students were only supposed to wake up from their cryogenic sleep once the Ark found a suitable planet, but Monokuma returned the Ark to Earth.

So there It is. The horrible truth. We still don’t know Rantaro’s talent, though. I somehow doubt it was Ultimate Cultist or something really obvious.

And it only gets worse from there. Not only was the ruined hellscape we just saw Earth, but it’s Earth hundreds of years in the future. We’d been cryogenically frozen for centuries.

On this Earth there’s no lifeforms but us. No oxygen either, hence us almost dying. The rest of humanity went extinct hundreds of years ago. Our family, our friends…they’re all dead. And that’s the secret of the outside world.

And one final thing. The cult leader wasn’t Rantaro after all. Instead, it was the other possibility that I thought of. Kokichi Oma. Finally, the title of Ultimate Supreme Leader makes sense.

Kokichi ran the cult. Kokichi had Monokuma and the Kubs created. Kokichi is the mastermind behind our entire situation. After all, why ruin the Gofer project when you can utterly destroy it? That’s why Kokichi wanted the 16 last humans alive, himself included, to kill each other and fall into despair.

We refuse to believe this, so Kokichi decides to prove it. He takes a remote control out of his pocket, presses a button, and summons the Exisals. And just because the Kubs were the only ones who could control the Exisals doesn’t mean that rule applies to the mastermind…

Kokichi was so excited to see everyone’s faces when they realized he was the mastermind. To hint at it, he left the “horse a” message.

Kaito goes to fight back against the Exisals with the electrohammer, but all the hammers power down at once. Kaito, screaming in futile rage, rushes at Kokichi. Shuichi and Maki can only watch in horror as one of the Exisals smashes it’s hand into him. Kaito is alive, thankfully, but now Kokichi has ensured that we see how useless defying him is. Ironic thing is, the Exisals were meant to protect us, in case of danger on other planets. Of course.

Maki leaps into action to save Kaito. Shuichi attempts to stop her, but *Silver the Hedgehog voice* IT’S NO USE

OK, we managed to convince her. But still, what now?

Kokichi got bored of the killing game. That’s why he decided to reveal the truth. And now that he’s seen our despair, he’s satisfied. We can do whatever we like. Kill, don’t kill. Live on, commit suicide. Be friends, be enemies. He doesn’t care anymore.

The End Wall showed us the outside world beyond it, but that was as much a lie as anything else. It’s a pretty picture that simulates the outside world.

Kokichi plans to imprison Kaito somewhere. His hotbloodedness could convince us to rise up against Kokichi, and also could cause problems that might make the killing start again. He forces us to hand over the remote control for the Exisal hangar, where he plans to imprison Kaito. Maki tells us not to, but we end up doing so anyways. There goes our other significant friendship. Shit.

We try talking to the others. Keebo’s panicking, Tsumugi’s falling apart, Himiko is sobbing and has once again lost the will to live, Maki thinks we’re a coward, and Shuichi can’t bring himself to fight back against Kokichi, because what’s the point?

The killing game we played, and everyone’s deaths, were all pointless. Kaede’s wish has disappeared into the void. All we have now is despair.

Each of us goes back to our rooms, empty and broken.

And when morning comes, the announcement plays, but no one is there. Monokuma is simply no longer needed. We lie in bed all die, staring blankly at the ceiling, till the evening announcement goes off.

When morning comes, Shuichi doesn’t get up. He just lies there, wondering if it’s even worth doing anything. Eventually, he comes to the conclusion that it’s probably better to just kill himself and be done with it. But as that thought comes into his mind, his doorbell rings. It’s Maki. She tells him to go to the dining hall, where everyone is waiting. Shuichi’s curiosity gets the better of him and he goes.

Five people. Kaito’s not here, Kokichi’s not here. Everyone looks the same: dead inside. We can barely exchange greetings before the conversation turns to the most painless way we can kill ourselves.

Maki found the flashback light. Where?

On top of the table in the dining hall? She just found it there. Weird.

Maki offers to help us all die peacefully, on the condition that we check the flashback light first. If we’re all going to die, we might as well finish all our business before we do. So that we can die without regrets. And it can’t be dangerous, can it? There’s nothing for us to lose anymore. There’s not even a shred of hope anywhere.

We turn it on, and the light envelops us. And we remember. Everything is connected. And in that memory, we see a building.

That’s…that’s Hope’s Peak Academy. No mistaking it. I suddenly don’t understand anything?

The Tragedy…and the person who caused the it, Junko Enoshima. I fucking knew she’d be involved in this! Ever since I saw the words “Neo World Program”. No, before that. When a new Dangan Ronpa game was announced. Even after it was stated to be separate from the rest of the series…I knew. I just knew Junko Enoshima would be involved.

At some point after Dangan Ronpa 3, the world was at peace once again. And then the meteorites came. People started to despair, and the Remnants of Despair rose again. (Presumably different remnants than the DR2 cast, though.) The Future Foundation faltered in the face of the new despair. But then, the Gofer Project started. A project that promised some measure of hope. A project inspired by hope, to protect hope. A project headed by a man known as the Ultimate Hope.

And so, Makoto Naegi selected 16 Ultimates from Hope’s Peak Academy to escape the devastation of planet Earth. 16 of his students…the main characters of this very game.

Much like its previous incarnations, Hope’s Peak Academy only selected Ultimate students to attend, and tried to cultivate those talents. The reason Dangan Ronpa 3: Hope Arc was so unsatisfying, why it seemed like Makoto was repeating the mistakes of the past? He was. Goddamit, Mak Naggy.

But it wasn’t that the Ultimates were in the same class or anything. It was that they were the only 16 students of Hope’s Peak left. All others, and most of humanity, had succumbed to the virus. Yet, strangely enough, the 16 of us were immune to the virus. And that’s the truth connecting that world to this one. But that means that the Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Oma…he could only have been the leader of the new Remnants of Despair. Kokichi Oma is a follower of Junko Enoshima.

But something is strange. If this was meant to be another killing game, one between hope and despair, that would mirror the one at Hope’s Peak, why did Kokichi abandon it?

Maki has her doubts about something…she won’t tell us what.

But even after all those memories, we still don’t have any hope. Keebo lives up to his name and suggests we become that hope.

Keebo. Hope. And he says his inner voice told him that he could not abandon hope. Could there be another AI inside Keebo? Something along the lines of a Makoto Naegi version of Alter Ego?

We all get pumped up to live on and defeat despair. Which makes it strange that Kokichi would have left us this flashback light.

The plan is to stop Kokichi, save Kaito, and defeat despair. Kokichi is in the Exisal hangar, the same place Kaito’s being held. The barrier is still there, but if we use the electrohammer, we can disable it. The alarm can be disabled via electrobomb. We’ve got one of those because Maki stole it from Kokichi’s pocket when grabbing him by the throat. The electrobomb will also prevent Kokichi from using the Exisals. We need to charge our electrohammers in case of Exisals being piloted manually by Kokichi. Maki plans to kill Kokichi, but everyone tells her not to. She compromises by saying she’ll only kill him if she has to. So, we’ll rescue Kaito, and the three of us will train together again. (Calling it now, Kokichi’s gonna have Kaito lying under an Exisals foot or something, and Maki’s gonna set off the electrobomb, and the Exisal will stop working and fall on Kaito, killing him, and Maki will be executed.)

We go back to our room, but decide that while we wait for the electrohammers to charge, we’ll scout out the area around the Exisal hangar. Which we will do next time!

I’m gonna go mourn every previous Dangan Ronpa good guy now, cause apparently they’re all dead. WELP.