#dangan thieves AU

[annsparksthegmr]

Honestly, I really want to get back to the Dangan Thieves AU. I already have a good idea for the fifth palace but I’m struggling to figure out what the fourth Palace manifests as. If anyone would like to help out feel free to PM me.

[shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl]

Trigger Happy Persona AU

What do you do in the face of ultimate despair? You get freaking pissed off and awaken your persona! Play as Hajime [codename “Ace”] who seems average at first until he awakens his second persona and becomes Izuru [codename “Blackjack”]. But the game isn’t complete without the strength of bonds and so enter Chiaki [codename “Bonnie”] who seems aloof by nature until she rips off her mask and summons an 8-bit spaceship!

**Please DO NOT edit, use, or repost any of these! Thank you!

HOLD UP! 

More AU concept art [thank you @likhangjosa] and info dump under the cut!!

Chiaki Nanami Codename: Usami or Bonnie Arcana: Star

Mask: Pink and covers the upper part of her face, with long bunny ears on top, down to a bunny nose with whiskers

Outfit: Sci-fi magical girl look with the color scheme of white, pink, and blue-grey. Wears a hoodie-cardigan (that has holes for the bunny ears to go through) and a Galaga ship (or Usami logo) embroidered on the chest. Sports a flowing translucent galaxy print circle skirt, knee-high boots with leggings and white gloves. Has a pink cat-like backpack where she stores her weapons and gaming consoles. The look is complete with a cottontail clipped on her belt.

Persona: Galaga (8-bit ship get wrekt) Skillset: Strong gun and bless attacks but weak to curse Weapons: Two-handed hammer and minigun

All-Out Attack Card: "Game Over" written in bit font and with videogame style background. Her catchphrase would be "New highscore!"

Awakening Scene: Galaga: Is that the hope that you fight for? Doesn't it seem meaningless in the face of adversity? After all, what's the point if people just betray you in the end?

Chiaki: Even if I'm betrayed again, I still want to believe in everyone. No matter how many times I may be betrayed...I still want to believe in everyone!

Galaga: Despite the despair thrown in your face, you show unwavering faith. That trust is something that you'll need... as well as my blessing. I am thou, thou art I... A better future is waiting for you but in order to reach it you must trust that it is indeed possible.

Chiaki: As long as I believe, things will turn out okay! Let's show them, Galaga!

Quotes: "That was easy. Shall we get going Hajime?" "I could *yawn* go for a nap right now..." "Yosh, I leveled up!" “New skill unlocked! Let’s test it out ASAP!” "A treasure chest! *zelda sfx*" "Move! I've always wanted to open a treasure chest!" "A safe room. Let's take it easy and save first, alright?" “Dungeon crawling never gets old especially in RPGs.” "I feel like I can do a speedrun on this dungeon." “I don’t mind overdoing it a bit.” "Sorry, my stamina stat is running low." "There's a nearby enemy. Grind mode?" “*metal gear solid alert! sfx* We’ve been spotted!” or “Stealth mode blown!” "I felt the LVL gap in that." “Don’t worry, we’re already OP.” "I think we need more EXP to defeat that." “Better prepare so that we don’t get a BAD END.” “*yawn* Where’s Hard Mode?” “Victory! Isn’t this the part where we’re supposed to do a pose?”

*BATON PASS!* "Usami/Bonnie hopping in!" *PROTECT* "Ace! Look out!" *ENDURE* "I... don't want to die!" *PERSONA!* "Summoning reinforcement, Galaga!" *Follow Up* "How about a combo?" *Cover Fire* "Need some support?" *Harisen Recovery* "Don't give in!" or "You're stronger than this!" *low on health* "I'll be fine... probably." *healing someone* "Don't lose hope!" or "You've got this!" *getting healed* "Thanks for the heal!" *giving buffs* "This will make us stronger, I think." *physical attacks* "It's Hammer time!", "I'll smash you flat!", "Time to knock you out of the park!" *attacking* "We'll beat you for sure!" *attack misses* “Accuracy stats are… off?” *couldn't finish off enemy* "I believe you can do this!" *fainting* "I'm sorry... I wanted to protect everyone, no matter what the cost." *getting resurrected* “Thanks, I needed that extra life.”

*status ailment* "Maybe a quick nap can fix this..." Burn: "I'm overheating! Somebody turn on the AC!" Freeze: “Brrr, it’s too c-cold! Is the thermostat broken again?” Shock: "Need... to turn... the rumble off...!" Forget: "Am I a boy...? Or a girl...?" Charm: “Friendly fire mode on.” Rage: “I’ll button mash you to pieces!” Despair: "The difficulty level... it's too high...!" Hunger: "Did I forget to eat again...?" Dizzy: "My controls are all messed up...!" Sleep: “Zzz… Recharging batteries... zzz…” Silence: ... Mouse: "Squeak~!"

Mementos chats: "Ace is a really good driver. If only racing game skills could transfer to real life..." “Maybe I should start naming my combo attacks…” “Sometimes I wish this was one of those games with unlimited ammo.” “This accessory looks ridiculous but it lets me dodge my weakness so I’m not complaining.” “Games are fun but slaying shadows is fun in its own way too.” “Being a Dangan Thief is like a videogame fantasy… but in real life!” “Real life is the True Hard Mode because the stats are invisible. But that’s okay since we know it’s not Impossible Mode.”

Chiaki: What we’re doing feels like we’re in a videogame. Hajime: It’s a good thing that you’re the Ultimate Gamer then.

Chiaki: Do you ever stop to think if we’re all just trapped in some game? Hajime: No, next question.

Chiaki: *stomach growls* Hajime: Were you so busy playing that you forgot to eat again?

Chiaki: *yawns* Wake me up when we run into a Shadow... or something. Hajime: Did you pull another all-nighter over videogames again?

Chiaki: I run out of money too fast. I had to pre-order another game last night on top of the ones I ordered just the other night. Hajime: Hey, I know we make a lot of money but please don’t spend it all on videogames.

Chiaki: It’s a disappointing that electronic devices don’t work in the cognitive world. Hajime: Don’t you already play enough videogames in real life?

Chiaki: All this Dangan Thieves stuff is cutting into my schedule. Thankfully I’ve compromised with my other priorities and my gaming hours are still untouched. Hajime: Is that why you’ve been dozing off more often? Please tell me you’re at least getting enough sleep because this can’t be healthy.

--------------

Hajime Hinata Codename(s): Ahoge  Ace, Blackjack, Dealer

*NOTE: Instead of having multiple personas, Hajime only has one and a second dormant persona. Consequently, whenever he changes persona, he also changes mask and outfit (and personality?) and codename. [e.g. Hajime accidentally summons Izuru, from Ace he becomes Blackjack.]

Codename: Ace Arcana: Fool or Judgement Mask: White domino mask with card aesthetic. The suites displayed change according to the skill type used. [e.g. Spades for physical, Club for elemental, Diamonds for almighty, Hearts for healing and buffs, Joker for status ailment] Outfit: Simple black tailcoat, white inner shirt, matching black formal pants and monk strap shoes. Emerald necktie and gloves. Persona: [starting and only] ??? Skillset: Strong slash and (surprisingly) curse attacks and weak against bless All-Out Attack Card: “Royal Flush” written with a casino table in the background. Catchphrase is “Keep your cards close to your chest!”

Codename: Blackjack Arcana: Death Mask: Plague doctor mask and his red eyes glow through the glass lenses Outfit: Maroon steampunk trench coat with a spine designed on the back and black cuffs and fancy cravat. Inner shirt is black with a textile print and large buttons. Bright red gloves, black trousers and Cuban heeled boots. Persona: [dormant unlockable] Izuru Kamukura Skillset: Strong for all types of attacks except bless skills which is the only weakness. Null physical attacks. All-Out Attack Card: “Card Counter” written with a house of cards in the background. Catchphrase is “How boring…”

Codename: Dealer Arcana: The World Mask: Black bird-shaped mask but the sides of the frame look like wings Outfit: [He has the same spiky hair but white and his eyes are heterochromatic.] White long sleeves with red cuffs, red vest, black bow tie and slacks. Black wingtips for shoes and white gloves. Persona: [hidden ultimate fusion] Hinazuru Skillset: Master of all types attacks. Repel physical and null bless/curse skills All-Out Attack Card: “Wild Card” written with scattered cards and poker chips in the background. Catchphrase is “This is the future that we want!”

Weapons: Dual wield daggers and dual wield pistols

>>>Special thanks to @crazynoodles69 for being a tarot card master and divining Chiaki’s arcana. GIVE IT UP FOR MY SIS WHO WENT ALONG AND DREW AMAZING STUFF FOR THIS. The actual lore happened because @ponsay-de-leon and I had too much fun. Then because I am a monster who has no common sense of liking anything in moderation, this happened. 

Feel free to add on and have fun with this AU!

[maple-able]

Hey! It’s me again! And I have a new Dangan Thieve edit!

I decided to make Fuyu boy’s edit first because i thought it woul be easier. Boy was I wrong. The only reason why it took so long to make lineart was because i’d suddenly forgot how hats are suposed to work and had to pull up a ton of references. Also making the dragon in the mask look like the original eyepatch one is a battle i’m not sure i’ve won. Anyways.

I’m pretty satisfied with this, maybe not as much as i am with Tsumiki’s, but it turned out pretty good in my eyes. Also, if you are not like me and actually know how shades and shadows in scarfs work, any help to make it better is very much aprecciated :)

Credits go to @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl, who came up with the awesome Dangan Thieves AU, and @annsparksthegmr, who first did Fuyuhiko’s cognitive world desing! In any case, I’m probably going to do Hiyoko’s next, until then Byee!

[killr-cupcake]

Dangan Thieves AU: Mikan Tsumiki

YO *Fits head through a hole on the door*

Ever since the second fan made submission to the AU belonging to @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl I’ve been thinking about Mikan

So here, take itttt

~

Mikan Tsumiki, the ultimate nurse from Hope Peak’s Academy, she sees her existence as a nuisance to others and will do anything for people to like her, but can we trust her after being under brainwash for a while?

Arcana: The lovers ~“My beloved forgave my existence and I gave her my heart, but she didn’t want it, nor gave me hers” Those were her words after breaking free from brainwash, we need to make her see she is just as worth as anybody else

Codename: Heartbeat

Outfit: She uses her hair tied on a low and messy ponytail with a monochrome broken hairtie and a nurse hat with a cross and the same heart, she also uses a lab coat that resembles the one from her remnant of despair counterpart but it opens up at the waist and extends to her ankles, the buttons are Crosses and she wears a tight purple skirt under, she also has a medical mask and her usual bandages alongside high socks that have cross patterns on the sides and nurse shoes (Thanks mobile for not letting me add pics)

Mask: A regular mask that is shaped like two horizontal hearts, a black one and a white one with a break between them

Persona: Aceso, the Greek deity of the healing process

Skillset: strong healing and buffs, her very last ability grants her finding an enemie’s weakness but stuns her until her next turn, good gun damage that stacks weaknesses on enemies if they’ve been found yet but weak against curse and charm

Initial weapons: Melee: A medical bonesaw Ranged: An SMG that uses syringes as ammo

All-Out attack card: It’d be fairly similar to the one she had at sdr2’s intro theme with the words “I’m sorry” written on cursive (Haha all doctors write badly whatever)

Persona awakening scene

After being an obstacle for an entire dungeon, the gang finally makes her see what true love and friendship really is

Mikan: My beloved forgave my existence and I gave her my heart, but she didn’t want it… Nor she have me hers in return… She didn’t care about me… I-I… *Breaks down crying until the Persona Heartbeat™ happens*

Aceso: Poor innocent child, you were tricked with the heart into obeying a force of evil, now you are left behind, broken, wounded, but it’s not your fault, you should know the very act of existing should be cherished

Mikan: I-I’m not a burden… True friends w-will like me for who I am and not f-for what I can do…

Aceso: Just like many others, you need to learn and you need to heal, I will assist you along the way, I am thou, thou art I, the contact is sealed for the sake of helping yourself and helping others, at the end of the path, you and the ill will be healed entirely

Mikan: I don’t need forgiveness for what is not my fault, the past broke us all in pieces and we need to learn, heal and be better for the future, p-please help me Aceso!

~

Quotes

“A-Are you alright? It wasn’t very tough but still…”

“We need to take some care after all of that, we should go to the safe room”

“I-I think I’m getting better at this…!” (Level up)

“I can be very useful n-now!” (Skill up)

“I wonder what’s in the chest… Make sure to use protection opening it!”

“I’m worried… W-We’ve been here for a long time n-now”

“A-Ace, I t-think we need a break so I can check up on everyone”

“P-Please let’s think about this first! It seems very dangerous”

ENDURE: I-It’s fine, I’ve had it worse than this…

PROTECT: S-See? I can be very useful as a shield!

BATON PASS: Yes! I-I’ll do anything you want me to do

LOW HEALTH: I’m sorry! Please forgive me!

GETTING HEALED: Th-This is embarrassing hehe

PHYSICAL ATTACKS: Sorry, we’ll have to amputate

HEALING SOMEONE: There you go! / I’ll patch you up! / Lots of shots!

PERSONA: I need you Aceso! … I-If it’s not trouble for you…

FOLLOW UP: I’ll provide medical assistance!

COVER FIRE: P-Please be more careful

GIVING BUFFS: Let m-me help with this

ATTACKING: D-Don’t be angry, just leave us alone…

ATTACK MISSES: *hic* I can’t even d-do one *hic* thing right, I’m *hic* sorryy…

COULDN’T FINISH OFF ENEMY: A-AHH! I tripped over I’m sorry…

FAINTING: The… Despair…

GETTING RESURRECTED: T-Thank you! It was dark and cold like space…

Burn: AH…! I’m burning just like my heart used to

Cold: I-I hope I don’t catch a c-cold or frostbite *achoo*

Shock and Paralyze: P-Please forgive me for not moving! / Th-This brings unpleasant memories…

Confusion: HUH? huh, huh, huh, huh, huuuuuuuhhhh…?

Rage: Forgive me already! If you don’t I’ll cut you open and make you watch!

Despair: M-My beloved… I miss my beloved so much…

Dizzy: Ngh… My ears’ balance fluid…

Brainwash: ah… hahaha… ahahaha…

Forget: … W-What?

Hunger: T-This is bad, I need nutrients to burn into energy…

Sleep: zzz… Ngh don’t move… Zzz

Silence: …

Mouse: …

~

Mementos chats

“This might sound presumptuous but you’re getting better at driving… Slowly”

“Mm… Sometimes seeing my bonesaw reminds me of bad times…”

“This place looks very dark and scary… Well at least I’ve been in worse”

“Weaknesses are a little complicated… But she taught me how important it is to find them and exploit them…”

Hajime: Say Mikan, what do you like the most about being a Dangan Thief?“ Mikan: … Being with all of you

Chiaki: I like your weapons Heartbeat! Are they referencing Mister Ludwig and Miss Valentine? Mikan: W-Who…? Umm… I-I mean yes! I-I’m referencing a-anything you like Bonnie!

Fuyuhiko: Yo, Mikan, how sick do you have to be to kill someone so painfully? I mean, stabbed endlessly by small syringes is some next level shit Mikan: I-I learned that on top of being painful when mishandled, many fear syringes and sometimes it’s good to exploit fear and pain to your advantage…

Mikan: I-I’m so sorry for what I did before joining y-you… I-I’m surprised you *hic* even trust m-mee… *hic* Chiaki: No matter what you or anyone does Mikan, we’ll always believe in each other, especially me

~Bonus dialogue, choosing a codename

Hajime: So, what should we call Mikan? She needs a codename to be a Dangan Thief

Mikan: ummm, I still can’t b-believe you’re taking me in…

Nagito: How about nurse? It’s her talent from Hope’s Peak after all

Hajime: No, it’s too literal

Chiaki: How about psycho nurse?

Fuyuhiko: Can we not? Look, she’s got that heart theme all over her costume and all of that so we should start there

Nagito: Heart, heartbreak?

Hajime: Again, too literal

Fuyuhiko: Maybe pulse?

Chiaki: Hey Mikan, is there a medical them for a heart disease that would make a good codename?

Mikan: W-Well, arrythmia is a term used to describe an irregularly fast heartbeat that could kill you a-and when you’re in love or in shock your heart starts going really fast too

Chiaki: No, it’s too complicated… I guess medical terms are too difficult

Hajime: *Clearly after solving a sdr2 minigame* How about heartbeat? It’s not too complicated and it fits your style and what happened to you

Mikan: A-Ah! Yes I like it, t-thank you very much Hajime!

[cupcake-sketchbook]

I'm supposed to be making the dangan thieves' guns but I kept on making concept stuff for my idea of Mikan so yeah,,, (Lmao look @ dat Inconsistency™) I'm going back to school or something tomorrow and the only time I'm productive with art is when doodling in middle of the class so maybe I'll post more soon??? (Maybe people will notice the doodz and start a conversation? Whyyyyy) And yeah I posted on my doodles blog because I never use it Also! Anyone who guesses the three (five?) Characters/Concepts I used as inspiration gets a free taco Dangan thieves idea is made by @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl

[tempo-takoyaki]

I really like the idea you’re doing for the Persona x DR V3 AU. Reminds me of the Dangan Thieves AU - but in a good way! Would like to see more from you soon.

Thanks ! I might post more of it ! Especially since this time the plot is very clear to me (unlike the Pregame Personality Au). The Dangan Thieves Au ? I don't think I've heard if it could you talk to me more about it ?

As for more of it... Here's an old sketch of Shuichi and Touko ! (Basically Sojiro Sakura in the au, except that she takes care of a book store and is THE MOON arcana)

[ao3feed-hitoshi-shinsou]

Sister Knows Best

sister knows best by Buttercup ghost

This is a story about a boy. This is a story about two boys, and a girl. This is the story of kidnapping, loneliness, thieves, and princes who do not know they are princes.

This is a story of Hitoshi, Izuku, and Junko. - A LOTBS Rapunzel/Tangled AU.

Words: 1023, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 23 of look on the black side

Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Tangled (2010)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Midoriya Izuku, Shinsou Hitoshi, Enoshima Junko, Uraraka Ochako, Matsuda Yasuke, (mentioned), Ikusaba Mukuro, (also mentioned)

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Shinsou Hitoshi, Enoshima Junko/Matsuda Yasuke, (Minor), Enoshima Junko & Midoriya Izuku

Additional Tags: this is so self indulgent it should be illegal, Self-Indulgent, Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Rapunzel Fusion, Rapunzel/Tangled AU, Alternate Universe - Quirks, Alternate Universe - My Hero Academia Fusion, Alternate Universe - Dangan Ronpa Fusion, RIP Ochako, Villain Uraraka Ochako, ochako villain arc wooo, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, basically a LOTBS rapunzel AU, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hitoshi starring as a dashing thief here to steal Izukus heart and his crown, Junko starring as mother gothel but minus the magic, Minor Enoshima Junko/Matsuda Yasuke, Non-Despair Enoshima Junko, kind of, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Yasuke starring as Person Mentioned In The First Chapter, he probably won't show up later. probably, Mukuro starring as Other Person Mentioned In The First Chapter, Kidnapping, Memory Alteration, Hell Hath No Fury Like An Ochako Scorned, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43231146

[miss-prince]

FemslashEx letter

I wasn’t going to write a letter but I procrastinated on signing up and I don’t have time to fill out all the optional details before work today (and sign-ups will be closed by the time work is over), so here we are!

General likes: Physical affection, earn-your-happy-ending, other things I’ll think of later. Kink-wise, humiliation is my ur-kink, which extends to just general embarrassment and insecurity on the tamer side of things, and I like power dynamics in bed, even small ones in vanilla sex. I also like praise kink and think it would work well for all my requested ships, but especially for Severa and Makoto.

General DNW: Scat, guro, any sort of permanent disfigurement as kink, which I only mention because I’m okay with a LOT of things kink-wise and these are kind of my only hard dnws. If you want to do kink and you’re not sure, feel free to ask via the mods or something. Anybody in the requested ship dying permanently, at least for exchange fic.

Dangan Ronpa, Kirigiri/Celes

Kirigiri is one of my favorite characters in anything ever. I love how she’s so intense and serious, but also has a playful side that comes out with people she trusts. I love how she’s both very socially aware and kind of socially inept, in that she can read people well and understand their feelings and how that motivates them, but at the same time has a really hard time expressing her own feelings. Celes, I love for being fucking ridiculous. But I particularly love that she is completely unapologetic in her ridiculousness and also totally driven to achieve her ridiculous dreams. Like, Queen of Liars she may be, but I am willing to believe that at least some of her extremely anime gambling stories are actually true.

Speaking of extremely anime, that’s exactly what I would love to see for this ship! I’d love to see one of Kirigiri’s cases intersect with some crazy gambling tournament Celes is involved in, forcing them to work together! Or instead of the killing game they get thrown into some other weird game with id-fuel rules, like, idk, being partnered up and forced to duel the other students. Or anything that somehow required Kirigiri to wear a collar, that would be a-okay with me *cough*

If you want something that hews a little closer to canon, maybe something where Celes gets a do-over of the killing game? Like a single time loop (or you could do a full repeated time loop deal if you wanted).

And I will happily take straight-up porn if that’s what you want to write. I like Kirigiri as a mouthy sub, personally. I think they’d banter a lot during sex. I also like A/B/O so if you wanted to do that I’d totally be up for it! I like alpha!Celes/omega!Kirigiri or both as alphas for that. Or if you want id-fueled tropes AND porn, I’m still pining for undercover-at-a-BDSM-club! Just sayin.

Fire Emblem: Awakening, Lucina/Severa

(I did this one first and this is how I ran out of time, sorry)

I love these two so much. Severa is so prickly and so deeply insecure and yet so damn loyal and god, throwing herself in front of Lucina in the FP3 DLC? Be still my heart. Meanwhile Lucina has such a huge burden on her shoulders, and she's so stalwart and noble, and yet despite all she's seen she's so deeply sincere.

Feel free to go with whatever you want, but here are some ideas if you need inspiration. Anything with the two of them in some sort of dramatic fight-for-their-lives situation, on the run from the Risen, in their original dying world or the canon one or the Future Past world. Something goofy with interventions from parents or siblings (your choice on who these may be; stuff like Sumia!Severa is cool with me too outside of the canon parental options), or just the other children in general. Something drawing parallels between the Severa and Lucina that came from the future and the young Severa and Lucina born in the world they saved. Anything and everything with them pining away for each other, Severa so consumed by her insecurities and Lucina with her duty and not wanting to impose any burden on the others that they don't notice the other's feelings without some sort of push.

Porn is always good! I love a Severa with a subby streak, and a painfully sincere Lucina that ends up forcing Severa to actually articulate what she wants instead of deflecting constantly.

For iddier stuff -- I like the idea of an arranged marriage AU! Something like, in a world with Sumia!Lucina, Naga sees the depth of Cordelia and Sumia's friendship and grants them a boon, that the union of their firstborn children will bring about a great era of peace, or something. And then their firstborn are both girls, which confuses everyone, but hey, Naga's blessing! I also love A/B/O, so if you want to go for that, some alpha!Lucina/omega!Severa would be awesome.

Persona 5, Makoto Niijima/Tae Takemi

Makoto was my favorite of the Phantom Thieves. Her desperately trying to shoulder all the burdens everyone heaped on her, and then finally snapping and OMG APOCALYPTIC RAIDER THEME AND MOTORCYCLE PERSONA! So good! Takemi was probably my favorite of the non-thief Confidants, and I love her irreverent attitude, her teasing, and the way she cares so very deeply underneath that irreverent facade.

I think for this I’d prefer something set during the canon timeline, either canon-AU or as a side story. I would be totally here for Makoto Niijima’s Gay Awakening, that is, her suddenly realizing her crush on the hot doctor is in fact a crush, she is in fact super attracted to women, how is she supposed to deal with this on top of everything else. I’d also really love something where Takemi gets pulled into the Metaverse and Makoto has to save her -- dramatic identity reveal! Revealing Makoto’s previously-unknown-to-Takemi complete badass side! Danger! Romance! Something fraught and complicated where they both know they would both be in serious trouble if anyone found out about this relationship but they can’t stay away from each other would also be good.

Porn-wise, I feel like Makoto would still be eager to please in bed. Praise kink, as mentioned at the top, would be excellent. Again, I like A/B/O! I’d particularly enjoy alpha!Takemi/alpha!Makoto, maybe as like, a ritualized apprenticeship thing that’s normal between and older and a younger alpha, except they’re way too intense about it and don’t want to stop, or experienced omega!Takemi guiding (and riding) alpha!Makoto.

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

The Sun and the Moon

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3DWOvkn

by Ta_Hinshu

Twins were born with magic hair that Junko Enoshima wants so she steals the twins and locks them in a tower. Despite her attempts, the twins wonder what the outside world is like and what those weird explosions are they see each year on their birthdays. Enter Nagito and Chiaki two thieves running from the guard. Now they have to take the twins to go see the fireworks. Secrets are revealed feelings are hurt how will this story end?

Words: 1225, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Hinata Hajime, Komaeda Nagito, Kamukura Izuru, Nanami Chiaki, Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko, Pekoyama Peko

Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, Kamukura Izuru/Nanami Chiaki

Additional Tags: Will add tags as I go, Tangled AU, Hinata Hajime and Kamukura Izuru Are Twins, Kamukura Izuru Has Feelings, MAGIC HAIR

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3DWOvkn

[detectivetheory]

more meta about kirigiri’s palace in the persona 5 AU:

full name of the host: kirigiri kyouko location of the palace in reality: the JPD shibuya precinct title of the host: executioner form the palace takes: courtroom full title of the palace: courtroom of pride

kyouko’s palace is stemmed from the cognition that she is an executioner of a detective who has sent many people to the gallows out of pride. she does not realize that by doing so, she is bettering humanity, as she truthfully indicts those that are guilty and never pursues a case unless she believes the culprit can be convicted. in her palace, the police officers of the shibuya precinct are found handcuffed to the jury pews, and she stands by the judge’s platform. sitting in the judge’s platform is a cognitive version of her grandfather, kirigiri fuhito, and he speaks for kyouko unless she is personally prompted by someone visiting the palace. this is to represent how kyouko feels as if she speaks only for her legacy as a kirigiri instead of for herself; she idolizes and loves her grandfather but is burdened by his overprotectiveness of her even in her adult years. kyouko is covered from head to toe in a black robe, similar to that of a traditional executioner, with white gloves covering both hands. if the robe is removed (if asked by someone visiting the palace or before a fight for the treasure), underneath would be a black leather bodysuit (similar in fabric to ann’s) and her white gloves would extend to the elbow. in her hands would be a traditional executioner’s axe, and black lines resembling teardrops (see icon 2) would be painted down her face. these are allusions to her source material, dangan ronpa; the black bodysuit represents the sexualization of her in fanart and of female police officers/detectives in general. white gloves that extend up to the elbow represent “purification” by burning, as her hands are burnt. kyouko is more explicit in her shadow form, claiming she “fucking hates the phantom thieves” and “wishes everyone would shut the hell up”. this is to represent kyouko’s anger that is hidden behind polite and professional diction. she is easily angered by minor annoyances but subdues her feelings for a professional look. her voice is distorted, as shadows are. the fight that unlocks the treasure is not with kyouko herself, but with fuhito, who claims his executioner must not be harmed. after kyouko is revealed from underneath her executioner’s garb fuhito ( camio-hito, from ‘camio’, great president of hell ) is defeated, kyouko will willingly give up the treasure-- a pair of black studded gloves. she begins her change of heart. should these be given to the kyouko in the real world, her change of heart will be apparent to the thieves, she has given up the case and leaves it to akechi to finish, facing backlash for deciding that the thieves were “not worth her time” ( should she learn of the thieves’ identities, she will tell them that she believes in their cause and will assist them with what she can-- and she thanks them. ) and is more outspoken to her grandfather / the public. she returns to lebanc periodically for a cup of coffee, but the commute is rare.

[annsparksthegmr]

Dangan Thieves Third Palace

...This is over 4300 words - last I checked. I hope this makes up for all the delays of the Third Palace and revives the AU. Thank you all for waiting! I had to take a hiatus from writing this summary and @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl also got pretty busy. Plus writer’s block decided to knock my head up for the Boss Battle and ending bit. Luckily for everyone, that’s all gone now for this to arrive. As you can tell, we got ourselves Juzo Sakakura being the Third Palace Ruler and let me say - it was a blast figuring out how this would go down. Without any further delay, let’s begin anew! PS Don't blame any mistakes in here because this took long enough as is. Might revise it later if I feel like it needs one. Consider this your Christmas Present everyone!

Third Palace/The Prison Palace 

Keywords: Juzo Sakakura, Hope's Peak Academy Security Building/Faculty Building, Prison

“Playable” Thieves: Hajime, Chiaki, Komeada, Ibuki, and Fuyuhiko with Monomi

The world inside the Metaverse created by Juzo Sakakura, it formed itself quite differently compared to the previous two. Even the way they find themselves entering the Palace is different than before. Rumors of the supposed Dangan Thieves spread throughout the campus and none of the group knows how to handle the fact their popularity is growing. And as much as Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito would like to continue - a longer question keeps them under pressure from doing so quickly. From the last Palace, not even Nagito could understand what his cognition meant by a strange animal. It has them wanting to learn more - something that they believe may or may not backfire later on down the line. Constantly meeting up after school, their adventures to the Metaverse and Mementos continue onward slowly. In one such case, a certain student just so happened to be minding their own business when they overheard a meeting before a trip to Mementos. Unbeknownst to them, not being aware of their surroundings most of the time would be their undoing. Sometime later, Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito are meeting up for some downtime - with nothing really relating to their identities as the Dangan Thieves when Ibuki surprises them. Startled very much at first, the group is very confused at how Ibuki even found them. She admits to stalking them and being a huge Dangan Thieves fan; it gets to the point where her loud noisy voice gets the attention of a security. Catching the attention of one of the guards in the area, the group gets scared off when that guard releases that Hajime isn’t supposed to be in that part of the school. Getting off without much of punishment, this would only be the beginning of the next Palace’s discovery. Days go on as Ibuki keeps pestering the group to have her join one of their adventures to the Metaverse. As much as it annoys Hajime, the attention starts to bring Juzo Sakakura into the whole ordeal. Everything starts off as small, minor annoyances to the party - mainly to Chiaki since Fuyuhiko’s sister isn’t at all punished whenever she visits her brother as with Mahiru visiting Sato. The weird fixation Juzo has for Hajime gets to the point where the Head of Security gets restraining orders on the poor students. No matter what Nagito and Komaeda - though mostly Chiaki - try to get the restraining orders lifted, Juzo won’t budge one bit. Now forced to meet up outside of school ground and far away from the sight of any security guards, they believe that this has to stop. Yet even that clearly an objective due to the fact it could have repercussions and could get Hajime expelled if it proceeds any further. No leads for them to go on, it is then Ibuki appears and apologizes for getting them into that mess. Hajime still isn’t at all forgiving since Ibuki caused him a new annoyance. Still, the Ultimate Musician wishes to join them in the Metaverse and comes up with a solution. Using her mobile device, the trio discovers that somehow Ibuki gained access to the strange Navigator App and is able to find out Juzo has a Palace. The thought of a Palace didn’t really cross their minds since they couldn’t even think or believe it got to that point. Having the information in hand, Ibuki agrees to help get them to the Palace with her “distracting” music recordings if they agree to take her to the Palace. A goal clearly set a way to get past security by Ibuki’s boisterous loud mouth, they accept it in order to lift the restraining orders on Hajime. When the first attempt into the Palace begins, it doesn’t appear to be anything fancy. It first appears to be the security building and is fairly straightforward. Possessing a single floor without any real map, the Thieves quickly sweep it with ease and find themselves getting into the Treasure seemingly way too easily. At first, they seem pretty cautious since it looked to be way too much of a walk in the park. Yet temptation gets the better of them and they reach out to the “Treasure” - something Ibuki is an entrance to the glowing chest. By a twist of predictable fate, however, that was but a trap! Getting surrounded by many Shadows appearing as Prison Officers holding various equipment. Even worse is the fact of not only being outnumbered is the liability of Ibuki. Despite her somewhat well-meaning intentions, her voice goes unheard as they try to fight them off. The battle rages on until one by one, the party is knocked out and Ace has no time to react to the sound of sirens blaring is the last thing he hears. The next thing he knows, he awakens in a prison room with Pierrot welcoming him to their cell. Much to his surprise, Ace finds that while they were unarmed, their rebellious appearance still remains. A relief to the leader since everything might become compromised if his real identity was known. Shocked at not seeing Bonnie, Monomi nor Ibuki with them, neither of the Thieves even have an idea on how to get out. Yet by looking through the bars of the cell, Pierrot places his hand on the lock and by chance or just his pure luck, it opens up for them to escape. While they still possess their outwards appearances, both Ace and Pierrot realize very quickly that neither of their Persona was summoning one bit; something that nearly cost them both their lives by mistakenly engaging in a battle. Resorting to the stealth techniques of actual thieves, they sneak around the Prison and come across Bonnie not far from their cell. Unlocking the cell door for her to escape, the trio quickly tries to locate Monomi and Ibuki to make sure they’re okay before reclaiming their weapons and escaping. As they go more and more through the Palace, they come to find that every flight of stairs didn’t lead them to anyplace where there were windows. Everything seemed to be shut off from the natural light and instead lit by the electrical system powering the place. None of them could really explain just why this was going on but soon enough, they encountered Ibuki yelling her in what appears to the lobby of the prison building with Monomi trying to get Ibuki to calm down. It is there that they find a Shadow carrying a large sack - the same one being chased by the obnoxious yelling and not trying to harm Monomi nor Ibuki. Really perplexed on what’s going, the Thieves discover that on the ground floor that they can summon their Personas. Having their power back, the Shadow is quickly defeated and the sack is dropped to the floor to reveal the missing weapons. Pumped up by the action, Ibuki starts making a ruckus - much to the dismay of the Thieves that eventually gets the attention of the prison officers and are forced to fight some of them off. Exhaustion from the floors and the last battle tolls a good deal of hinderance on the Thieves. Monomi worries for their well being but as the battle continues, Ibuki is watching and getting excited but worried about the Thieves since even she was threatened. No matter how much she shot and yells out, it doesn’t seem to be helping all she wishes to do is to help. She feels powerless in all sense of the words due to the fact that not even becoming a distraction is helping the situation at all. This sparks triggers her awakening to her Persona and a great asset to the battle since her starting powers are Nuclear and hits all the enemies. The force of her powers suddenly causes a power outage yet opens up an escape route for the Thieves to flee. Escaping to the real world after that deadly encounter, Ibuki is hyper-energetic about awakening to her Persona, everything stops when they realize where they are. Wait for a second - when did they get to the Faculty Building?! Yep - much to their shock and horror in Hajime’s case - Juzo’s Palace is split into two different parts. The strange one-floor area that was a trap and then the prison. Nagito notes that they only escaped from the lower floors and didn’t get a chance to go up those floors in the Palace. Trying to collect their thoughts, Ibuki realizes that it wouldn’t be ideal to continue since she’s pretty tired and everyone else appeared to be also. With the thought that everyone else is quite tired as well, they agree to come back tomorrow with Ibuki - much to her joy and group’s reluctance. Yet as they are leaving the area, a certain somebody notices their activity but speaks nothing of it as they leave. The next day, the group meets up to try and get back in order to quickly change Juzo’s heart. Even with not encountering the Shadow Self, upon their return they find that the Prison is inaccessible for any of them. Ibuki even tries making a ruckus in front of the prison gates and in the first area to no avail. Stumped on just what exactly to do to get back in, Monomi questions the group on how they even got in there in the first place. Ace explains the restraining order and how strange it was that they couldn't go back inside. The magical talking bunny suggests it may be because of Ibuki’s Nuclear power spiking and causing the prison to reset its systems that by chance his cognition would have reset on who he saw at a major threat - so even if the Thieves attempted to get back inside it wouldn’t let them. A major threat that he had to restrain even more due to the rumors students were gossiping to each other. Now in order to reset it and get them back inside, somebody would have to appear as a prisoner in order to get them inside. Knowing that Hajime could no longer by their ticket to get in, Chiaki suggests for the group to investigate the rumors going about and see if there was any way to seemingly get Hajime or any of them “caught”  to allow them back inside the Palace. Taking some time, their chance doesn't really show up on Nagito’s, Chiaki’s or Ibuki’s end at all. Fortunately for Hajime, he just so happened to notice how Natsumi seemed to be upset and alone during one of their classes. By some persistence and slowly gaining her trust, she lets it slip that her brother got in trouble for meeting up with her. It was so bad that Peko got hurt pretty badly and she could tell Fuyuhiko wasn’t at all pleased. She confesses that it's even spooked Mahiru and Sato for meeting up - a thought she scowls at. Nothing she seems to be doing is getting him to talk to her. Yet she fears that Sato might be losing her and starting to blame both herself and Hajime for not being able to meet with Mahiru. Hajime tries his best to cheer her up and Natsumi appreciates his help before leaving. Getting that information from the younger sister to the Ultimate Yakuza, he goes to text the others with that lead and hopes that by talking with Fuyuhiko they can get caught and get back into the Prison Palace. Meeting with Fuyuhiko sometime after the news, it surprises the group to see him alone with Peko by his side - something Hajime believed wouldn’t be the case. At first, the Ultimate Yakuza is reluctant to comply with even speaking with the group. Ignoring them seemed to be a priority until Hajime brought up what happened to Peko from the information his little sister told him. This pisses of Fuyuhiko and puts him on the defensive on just how he acquired that knowledge. Finally getting him to talk, they slowly get out of him that Juzo had apparently gotten information from somebody about false dealings that would disrupt order for both the Main and Reserve Course. It wasn’t anything he knew about but Peko got badly hurt inside of him and he wasn’t going to deal with any more of that shit. Of course, this was climax since afterward Juzo comes along to break them. Upon seeing Hajime, Fuyuhiko, and Ibuki with the other Dangan Thieves, hell breaks loose and the group flees the scene before the Head of Security can catch them. By either Komaeda’s turn of good luck or by the wheels of destiny, they happened to get out of getting caught by accidentally finding themselves at a corner of the school. How they escape would be something to question. Recollecting themselves, they found that Fuyuhiko had joined them in running off, only for him to scoff it off since Ibuki had dragged him along with her phone open. Her gleeful smile shocks the group when it suddenly transports everyone into the other world. This grandiose event that gets them into the Metaverse to not only freak out the Ultimate Yakuza but everyone as to why Ibuki would do such a dangerous thing. They’d be arguing a bit with trying to explain to Fuyuhiko just what’s going until security Shadows from Juzo’s Palace roam by and once again kick their asses back in into the Palace’s lower sections. Fortunately this time, Ace and Pierrot find that neither their Weapons or Personas are gone this time - at least for the floor they are on. Losing Bonnie, Noise, Monomi, and Fuyuhiko once again, they break out and begin to examine the floor fully this time. What the two find unusual is a security room on their level and how it seemed to be broken. Going to an above them, their Personas once again won’t appear but having their weapons, they soon come across Monomi cowering inside a security room in that level. Testing out a theory, they end of smashing the head controls of the room to find that their Personas appear once the power in that room goes out. Monomi makes a comment that it would best to destroy all the security rooms they come across and to find the others. Going up the floors again, they destroy the power sources of each room to allow access to their Personas and regroup with their remaining members. Upon reaching the main floor of the building, somebody finally decides to grab them a map during their regrouping moment. When they notice Fuyuhiko is still missing and that on the bottom floor of the Palace looked to be the main generator room, Ace decides to attack their to make sure the security rooms won’t have the power to restrict their Personas and that on their way down they can try and locate Fuyuhiko before bailing out. Descending down below with banter between the group, it comes to Bonnie’s realization that even with the map they have of the lower levels that not even Monomi knows where the Treasure Room is located. Monomi apologizes for not being of much help and reminds the Thieves that even while they are going to change Juzo’s heat, to be aware that anyone not welcomed in a strong Palace’s cognition could easily be killed. A warning - though rarely late - gets the party motivation to continue onward when they hit that roadblock. Through every level they descend, none of them are aware of a certain figure following behind them. Not only that, but the security rooms are mysterious repaired whenever they leave and return. One way or another, the group finally reaches the main generator room and find it guarded by Shadows. Having no other real choice, they ambush the guards and defeat them to gain access to the generator. Getting a clean access to the generator, their next issue is trying to the big power off switch. Noise finds the switch first on the other side of the room and goes over to pull the switch. Just as she is about to grab the switch, she stops upon hearing something upstairs and their only exit has it bursting wide open as Fuyuhiko falls down the stairs. Pierrot and Ace go to see if he’s alright only to find themselves surrounded by shadow guards as everyone in their party is forced to the center of the room. It is here of all times does Shadow Juzo makes his appearance on the very top the railing, all the while belittling the thieves for breaking in and trying to cause an uprising for all the crimes those ‘prisoners’ have committed. Being in a high position compared to the Thieves, his presence alone makes them angry - especially Fuyuhiko at how arrogant the guy is. What gets to the Ultimate Yakuza is how Shadow Juzo only refers to Peko as ‘some common convict’ and not as her own person - in fact, her name is only brought up by Fuyuhiko during the whole exchange between the Thieves and Shadow Juzo. Their exchange of words only lasts so long until Shadow Juzo gets fed up and uses his position as the cognition’s prison warden to order them executed before leaving - not wanting to waste his time watching them. Another battle begins between the waves of shadow guards and the Thieves while Fuyuhiko and Monomi watch it all happen. Ibuki tries to cheer the Ultimate Yakuza to see if she gets him to awaken his Persona but to no avail. Fuyuhiko awakens his Persona more on his own after taking what Shadow Juzo said and comparing it to how he really feels about Peko. Getting the resolve he needs in order to have Peko avenged, his awakening happens and Agrippa’s first action is to rain down flaming bullets that explode upon contact. Yeah, let’s just say Gangster comes out guns ablaze to get all the remaining forces and leave burning remains inside the room. We’ll go with that, and I’m going to leave it at that since afterward the group realizes Gangster’s outburst caused a major blackout as it somehow destroyed the generator. They do escape somehow unharmed and no longer trapped inside the Palace. Just don’t question how they did it in pitch black darkness and no backup generators; ACCEPT. IT. Blame Komaeda’s luck ok? Or that it “overloads” the Palace and the Palace itself kicks them out to the real world. Either one is acceptable. Probably a few days afterward since Fuyuhiko would obvious pass out after causing that much destruction the group would all meet up. Now, they got Fuyuhiko who agrees to join their cause to mainly avenge Peko and get the whole deal with not meeting with his younger sister over with. With Gangster finally added to the party, Monomi introduces the whole switching party member things and almost everyone goes back main lobby before Gangster points out how stupid that idea is. Then through some search, they find a secret entrance to the back part of the prison and finally, Monomi gets to sensing the Treasure Room. Gangster is also while more reckless when fighting he’d another level-headed member help keep everyone in check as long as they didn’t piss him off. Solving puzzles involving finding the right key cards and avoiding the protocols set up to stop them, the group goes through them one by one until they reach the Treasure Room. And where was the room they were searching for all this time? By the looks and the irony of the Thieves… it's the exact same place they first enter! Yelp, it's the main security office/room but now looks more like the hideout of Shadow Juzo with many monitors and backup generators running. Though now they see the misty like a sphere of where the Treasure would appear for them. Monomi confirms it as Ibuki goes and has her hand faze through the cognition’s unstable form of the Treasure. So now after going through all that hassle to get to the room, it is very reasonable for the party to finally have the chance to now send the Calling Card. As to how they send the Calling Card, it's either getting a mass amount sent to Juzo’s office or Fuyuhiko pulls some strings to get the Calling Card to Juzo. Who knows, maybe he does both; he does whatever he wants but either way it's delivered to the man himself. Of course, it triggers the Treasure to appear and then the Thieves enter to steal the Treasure. Entering the security room, the group finds that its manifest into what appeared to be a large arena surrounded by cells and filled with inmates they recognized or know... And while the group questions it a bit, they are quickly cut off when Shadow Juzo appears by nearly shooting Ace’s head off. Ace only barely gets away from the stray bullet due to Gangster noticing it ahead of time. Shadow Juzo appears with his gun snarking at how easy it lured petty thieves into the grand arena of his. Deciding to use them as the perfect pieces of scrap metal, he makes them examples to the rest of the ‘furnace’ and the begins the battle. Shadow Juzo has a similar start to how Shadow Chisa began, sending out inmates of all sorts and kinds out from the cells on the arena’s floor. He’ll be out of range of the attacks for the time being. The Thieves will have to focus down the waves of enemies to even have a chance at facing the Shadow Prison Warden. He’ll even have Shadow Guards of his give status ailments of Rage to the party or the Shadows they are facing if not taking down the guards quickly. One of Shadow Juzo’s moves is an instant K.O to everyone left in the open. The only way to survive is to get into the empty cells around the arena to survive the attack. It also kills the Shadows on the field as well, so it is risky since Shadow Juzo might fake people out with it at times. About halfway through the battle, Shadow Juzo is getting tired of watching the Thieves win and decides to take things into his own hands… ...Or heads in this case since when he lands and destroys the remaining Shadows, he transforms into his second state. While the Shadow mainly is based on the guardian dog of the Underworld Cerberus, this form is quite different as while there are three, dog heads that are floating. Not connected to anybody but just floating, severed heads. Each one has a guillotine collar around the neck to symbolize that the leash/collar was too tight and it literally killed him. What makes this worse is while unleashing powerful Curse, Fire and Physical attacks one by one, their most deadly attack are when the three combine their strength. Together, the trio can unleash a deadly attack that will drop the party’s health to 1 and nullify all buffs followed up by one head making a strike to KO another party member. This makes it very challenging to face the heads working together, so the gimmick with this is distracting the heads to prevent this from happening. Who are the ones best at distracting the heads? Well, it would be Ace, Noise, and Gangster since they were the ones to piss off Shadow Juzo the most. Only one can distract one head at a time, and while Gangster and Ace will only distract ahead, Noise ends up not only distracting ahead, but causes that distracted head to attack another. After one member is sent to distract a head, they’ll need a break before another chance to distract a head comes around. Each head is weak to a different attack: Curse to Bless, Fire to Ice, and Physical to Gun. Also, each head has a move to revive another head at fifty percent health that might use used if one head falls. Through distracting each head and ganging up, they finally take down the Shadow Juzo and the fight ends, returning the room back to normal and the Treasure finally materializes as a security badge, glittering gold and making Monomi super excited. Shadow Juzo gets to here all the Thieves and does agree to go back and give the real Juzo a change of heart. The Shadow doesn’t directly state the blackmails, but mentions that “they” weren’t kidding underneath his breath. None of the Thieves hear what he says before he vanishes. Then, as soon as they take the Treasure into their possession, suddenly the alarms go off and they look at the monitors around the room. Much to their surprise, the Palace collapses as a prison riot breaks out and gives them a new challenge. Escaping while trying not to get caught in the riots. A timer begins as they escape as they must leave before it runs out. Once they escape, everyone returns to the outside world and confirms that the Palace has vanished and all are accounted for. Ibuki cheers in excitement at their successful heist and Fuyuhiko admits that the group isn’t that bad to hang out with. Of course, the hyperactive student takes this as meaning he’s permanently going to hang out with them. Everyone laughs it off a bit until Fuyuhiko points out the treasure in Chiaki’s hands. The Ultimate Gamer is confused at first about what he meant until realizing that the Treasure was in its real form. Much to everyone’s surprise, they find it to be a photo - much like Chisa’s Treasure. What made this different is the obvious crudely cut letters pasted on it blackmailing Juzo into doing everything. Though instead of a name being signed - the group finally learns of the Despair Bear named Monokuma. Getting this lead of sorts, the true race of finding out what’s really going on begins and prompts them to stick together.

[shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl]

Dangan Thieves AU - The Circus of a First Palace

A/N Finally! An actual fic for the dangan thieves AU. I think it’s a good 6k draft (I’m a bit rusty, sorry!) Also please take note that I’m going to skip the tutorial and awakening scenes so we can jump right into the first palace! But first! Gotta thank these awesome people for inspiring me! Send them lots of love please!

[concept art Palace Ruler Chisa 1] [2] @ministarfruit

[first summary] @annsparksthegmr

Beloved Teacher and Ringmistress

“Chisa Yukizome. Hope’s Peak Academy. Circus.”

“Commencing navigation.”

All it takes are three keywords and a mysterious app to see just how despairing someone’s heart can be.

Once the dull throb inside their heads subside, so does all form of rationality. What once was the school is now replaced by a circus tent. Spotlights surrounded it, making it hard to miss among the drab concrete buildings. There aren’t even cognitive students loitering around, after all they are most probably the performers inside the tent. From afar, a crowd cheers, over what they’re not sure. If there’s anything they are certain of it’s that this is no dream.

This is reality. This is the reality as seen through their teacher’s eyes. This is a despairing palace.

This is Miss Yukizome’s Palace.

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s still… sad,” Chiaki— Bonnie says with a dejected sigh. She’s already transformed into her Dangan Thief outfit, prepared but not as enthusiastic. “To think that someone like Miss Yukizome has a palace… It’s a plot twist but I don’t like it one bit.”

“Me neither. But this is what we’re up against,” Hajime— Ace says with a face that isn’t exactly thrilled about this either. He readjusts his gloves out of nervous habit. “I don’t like the idea of confronting her like this but this is only way that might get through her at this point.”

“I don’t want to hurt her but… I don’t like how she’s hurting the others. I just want our old teacher back,” She contemplates morosely. If she was still the same Chiaki then maybe she wouldn’t have done anything. But she’s different now. She won’t let herself be a helpless npc. This time she’s going to be the best playable character. “Let’s go talk some sense into her, Ace.”

They enter the circus tent shortly after and explore until they eventually reunite with Monomi at a safe room.

“Uwawa! You came back!” Monomi cries as she hurls herself at them, only Bonnie catches her though she doesn’t seem to mind the cold shoulder from Ace.

“Not like we had a choice. Us coming back has nothing to do with you though,” Ace comments it goes ignored.

“Were you lonely, Monomi?” Bonnie affectionately pets the bunny mascot.

“Just a bit!” Monomi pulls back, she wipes off the tears from her button eyes and puts on a sweet smile. “But I’m okay now that you two are here! Are you going to steal the treasure?”

“No, we just came here to visit you,” Ace says sarcastically.

“Is that so? Ehehe, that makes me so happy!” Monomi blushes and shuffles her feet shyly.

“…” Ace doesn’t react at first. He doesn’t know how to react to this. So he doesn’t. At all. “Anyways, we’re going to look for this treasure now.”

“Oh! Oh! Let me help!” Monomi excitedly hops towards him with her arms raised in volunteer.

“No offense but we don’t even know what you are, much less what you can do,” He shot her down.

“It’s alright. Let her help,” Bonnie counters him with a smile that was more reassuring than the third party in question.

“What.” Ace shoots her an incredulous look. “Why? You can’t tell me that she isn’t suspicious. Besides, I don’t think we can afford to babysit her.”

“You don’t need to worry about me! I can defend myself pretty well!” Monomi puffs proudly at first but then shrinks back to awkwardly shuffling her feet. “Actually, the shadows don’t attack me for some weird reason… So! I definitely won’t hold you down since I won’t need defending!”

He points at her in accusation. “Okay first of all, that sounds suspicious as hell.”

“Or convenient for us,” Bonnie amends. She’s taking this new information too well that it has Ace concerned. Did that seriously not raise any alarms? She sure didn’t look that alarmed though. Then again, this is the same girl who sleeps through alarms that could save her life. She’s too complacent around alarms apparently. “She won’t hold us back and that’s all that matters. For now, shouldn’t it be fine?”

No, it definitely wasn’t fine. But Ace feels like he couldn’t win this argument anyways, at least not without a worse headache than this. They’ve already wasted enough time as it is. Might as well just go along with it just to get it over with and hope this won’t be their downfall. “Fine. But we’re not going to wait for you if you get left behind.”

Bonnie mouths a ‘thank you’ at him and then she turns to their guest party member. “You hear that, Monomi? You’re coming with us, probably.”

Monomi jumps, overjoyed. “Yay! I pwomise you, I won’t be a pwoblem!”

They’re Dangan Thieves trying to steal from the ringmistress of this circus filled with shadows out to kill them. Ace thinks that a walking stuffed toy is the least of their problems.

Well at least Monomi was somewhat helpful. She was able to find a map so there’s that. Ace had to hold back a comment about how any of them could have found it, it just so happened that Monomi was walking in front so she’d see it first. Bonnie was encouraging Monomi too much.

They traversed through the circus according to the map. There were four main levels and upon exploration, they were able to discern the specific themes for each level. There was a clown level aka nightmare fuel level, they never talk about it. There was a human performer level which would have been amazing if only they didn’t recognize some of the faces of the cognitions. There was even an animal level, those shadows were more brutal than cute.

Perhaps even more bizarre than the levels themselves, was the main mode of transportation.

“I’m not afraid of heights but I’m starting to reconsider,” Ace comments as slowly walks on a tightrope with his heart hammering in his chest. He can never be too careful since one misstep could land him dead. Meanwhile Bonnie just speedwalks right ahead of him. How does she even do that? Does she have a cheat code or something? “How are you so calm on these?”

“Why shouldn’t I be calm?” Bonnie asks without a single tremble in her voice, as if they aren’t walking on a trapeze wire that’s above a god knows how deep chasm. He had a feeling that if he wasn’t on the wire, she’d be jumping across it instead. “I’ve played lots of games with tightropes so I’ve gotten the hang of it… I think.”

“Bonnie, I know you’re into games and all but that is not how this works,” He tries to correct her thinking, he tries so hard.

There is no doubt in his mind that videogame skills do NOT transfer in real life, especially tightrope skills. Why does she make it sound like it makes so much sense when it doesn’t?

She even says it so innocently that it physically pulls a deep sigh from him. Maybe it’s because this is a cognitive world. Her ignorance transforms into unprecedented skill here. Yeah, right. “I mean, aren’t you the least bit scared of falling?”

“But I’ve never fallen in videogames?” She replies, honestly confused at what he was getting at.

“That’s not— Ack!” He loses his balance and for a moment, he thinks he sees his life flash before his eyes. He snaps out of his reverie through pure spite at the fact that his life was boring. He recovers his foothold with some effort on his part. Then there’s Bonnie, already at the end, watching him with curious eyes. He gives up. “You know what, forget it. Why do I even ask?”

“Ah. There’s a cannon here we can use.”

“That better shoot us to a safety net because I’m still pissed at the shadow trap the last one shot us into.”

It did land them on a safety net but as they were about to find out, it was just a false sense of security.

“Another cannon? What the hell?”

They landed on a glowing safety net but surrounding them was pitch black. There was no floor or tightrope to walk on, just darkness. However once they climbed that net, they found four cannons at the top, one for each corner. Each cannon was aiming at a different direction, at what exactly they couldn’t tell. It was far too dark to see anything other than the glowing safety net.

Until there was fire. Several fires actually.

“Seriously? Rings of fire?” Ace asks, already dreading where this was going.

“This feels very Zelda-esque. I think these cannons will lead to more cannons but there’s only one true path,” Bonnie analyzes at the top of her head. She claps her hands in appreciation. “Amazing! I’ve always wanted to try solving this kind of puzzles outside of videogames!”

Ace however, didn’t share her enthusiasm. “Didn’t we already meet our quota for puzzles at that house of mirrors?”

That puzzle in particular was more confusing than it should have been. Ace still feels a hole where his pride used to be since Bonnie knew how to solve it at a glance while he just wasted half an hour in there. How was he supposed to know that he had to look at the backgrounds that the mirrors reflected? He was too preoccupied comparing his own actual reflections which looking back, was obviously a lost cause. Anywhere he looked, his reflection was warped in some way.

Hell, there was even this one mirror which he was sure was broken since it wasn’t reflecting him at all. It was reflecting some dude with long black hair and red eyes. That was just plain unsettling.

“Only lazy dungeons have one type of puzzles. You got to give our teacher credit for creativity,” She shouldn’t be praising this torture palace but that’s what it sounded like. At least someone was enjoying this. She turns to him with expectant eyes. “So how should we do this? Should we split or stick together?”

“Let’s just take turns shooting each other I guess.”

Eventually they solve the puzzle with ease but not without grudge. And here Ace thought he hated trapeze wires but it doesn’t come quite close to his animosity towards cannons. How many times did he get blasted off them? Too many in one lifetime. At least this puzzle was pretty straightforward so he couldn’t complain, as much. He can still hear ringing in his ears.

Not long after that, they finally arrive at the Treasure Room. It’s more anti-climactic than it sounds.

“This is the treasure? Doesn’t look much of a treasure to me,” Ace comments on the floating blur in front of them. The only hint that it was some sort of treasure was that it was the last room and by default, it should be the treasure. That and sometimes it sparkles or at least he thinks so if he squints hard enough.

He is not impressed. “Don’t tell me this is another puzzle.”

“Hmm…  Not a puzzle but maybe it’s a locked key item?” Bonnie suggests thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s a certain condition we need to clear first before we can get it.”

“That’s right!” Monomi suddenly pipes in. “Right now, the treasure is distorted just like everything else here. To steal it, we need to transform it into something physical.”

“How exactly do we do that?” Ace asks with his usual skepticism.

“By having the Palace Ruler conscious that her treasure’s about to be stolen!” Monomi says it matter-of-factly.

“Doesn’t the Shadow Chisa already know that we’re going to steal it though?”

“No, not that one. The one you should target is the Miss Chisa in your world,” Monomi corrects and then adds on, “This world is built from the real world. Remember how you two had ambushed her in her office and how that opened a level here? It’s the same principle.”

“I see. So if we tell the real Miss Yukizome that we’re going to steal her treasure then she’ll be conscious about it enough to actually have the treasure manifest here… or so I think,” Bonnie concludes with honed logic.

“That’s exactly it! Good job!” Monomi flails her arms in cheer. She’s proud that her students learn fast.

“So what? We just tell her something vague like, 'we’ll steal your treasure’, just like that?” Ace holds his chin, contemplating. His lips form a straight line. He doesn’t like this plan at all. “I don’t know about this. It feels like an express ticket to expulsion.”

“Don’t worry! You don’t have to actually do it yourselves. Or rather, you don’t need to reveal your identities!” Monomi cheerfully reassures them. “As long as 'someone’ is out to get it then the effect should be the same.”

“Got it. Leave this to me.” Bonnie raises her hand enthusiastically. Her face is determined but also just barely hiding her excitement. “I’ve always wanted to try something like this.”

“Wait, what something? What exactly do you plan to do?” He asks in concern but she just smiles coyly.

“It’s a surprise.”

Sending a calling card was definitely a last surprise.

Not just one calling card but several in fact. They practically littered the school. They were scattered on the ground outside, and on the floor inside, some were posted on the walls. They were hard to miss. How did she even get to print this many without getting caught? How did she post them all without getting caught?

And yet here was Chiaki, playing nonchalantly, still not caught.

He walks towards her and whispers discreetly, “Hey, isn’t this a little bit overboard? Shouldn’t one calling card to her desk be enough?”

“Maybe… if we were already famous.” She shrugs. She doesn’t pause the game but she continues the conversation, “If it were you and only you got this card, what would you have thought?”

“Someone has too much free time on their hands?”

“Exactly. It’ll come off as a prank and it’s easier to contain it into a private incident. Something she can control.” She stops talking when a few students pass them by and then whispers in a low voice, “But this? This is public humiliation. This will at least cause a panic and an outrage at most.”

“I see… Posting on the whole school level does make it look high priority.” He has to admit, this was a well thought out plan. Impractical as it may seem at first glance, the reasoning behind it was on point. There’s just one concern left. “Do you think it worked though?”

She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t need to answer.

Because someone else makes the answer known for them.

“What rotten oranges! The most rotten of all fruits!” They turn around and see Miss Yukizome shouting furiously, already sweeping a pile of calling cards. “To think that someone would go so far? I don’t think they understand just who they are messing with! I will find the brats behind this. After all, rotten oranges should be either thrown or buried.”

And while Hajime was sweating bullets from that obvious death threat, Chiaki seemed to take the news better.

“It looks like we have a treasure to steal,” She states with a triumphant look.

—

Dear Ringmistress Yukizome

Your despairing desires have turned this school into a circus. You no longer treat students as they should be, instead you educate them mercilessly. This distasteful show has gone long enough. We have come for you to repent and so we are going to steal your heart.

Sincerely, The Dangan Thieves of Hope

“Did you really think you could steal my treasure?

This school is my circus and I am its ringmistress! You rotten oranges are nothing more than stage performers who jump at my command! Petty thieves have no place in my circus!

I’ll make sure to have you jump through fates worse than rings of fire!”

—

Just as Chiaki had said, when they returned to the Treasure Room, the treasure had manifested. Instead of the indiscernible blurred blob, an extravagant top hat floats before them. Even at a glance, the material woven with is of high quality and the buttons glimmer with a shine similar to polished gems. Truly for a hat, it could be hailed as a treasure.

“A fancy top hat, huh. I was kind of expecting a whip honestly,” Ace comments as he admires it from afar, almost mesmerized.

“I guess you would think that. But it’s actually the top hat that’s the true status symbol, I think,” Bonnie adds on, just one of those trivias she picked up from videogames.

“The top hat is prettier too!” Monomi practically coos from the side.

“Well it doesn’t matter. Either way, we’re stealing it.” What’s important is that they’re taking this treasure with them regardless of their preferences. He tentatively reaches out for it—

Only to be pushed away by Bonnie.

“Ace, watch out!” She shouts and tackles him just in time before flames errupt from where he once stood.

“What the hell?” He coughs, accidentally having inhaled smoke. Suddenly the room felt all too hot.

Just as soon as the flames burst, they die out in an instant— along with the room’s lights. Suddenly, darkness swallows them.

“Did you really think it would be that easy?” The voice of Shadow Chisa creeps upon them. In the darkness, she could have well speaking through a megaphone beside them. “Do you think the way I treat my performers is cruel?” She chuckles eeriely and her hollow laughter echoes in the dark. “Well then let me show you how I treat thieves!”

With a snap of her fingers, the spotlights are on again.

Gone was the backstage room they were in. Now they were out in the performer’s ring, surrounded by bleachers filled with a crowd seemingly materialized out of nowhere. Shadow Chisa flicks her wrist and her whip cracks. The sharp sound summons a savage shadow that could pass off as a monstrous tiger. She sits on it as if it was her throne. It was a dangerous sight to behold. That was the least of their concerns at the moment. After all, the treasure was now beyond reach, and on top of Shadow Chisa’s head.

“My top hat is not some pretty thing to be simply stolen. It is a right to be earned. An honor that I earned,” She boasts high and mighty from her perch, looking down on them. “Only those who can perform the best shows have the right to wear this!”

She cracks her whip numerous times, each time a shadow comes forth.

“Watch and learn just how inexperienced you truly are without my guidance!”

Naturally they wouldn’t be able to take the treasure without a fight. This much they expected. They even managed to sweep off the first batch of shadows in just a few turns. But every time they defeat a shadow, Shadow Chisa simply cracks her whip and summons another, sometimes even more. They knew that in order to win this, they had to attack Shadow Chisa but she remains beyond the shield of shadows and out of reach. But that’s not even all of her tricks.

“Ugh!” Bonnie grits her teeth when a critical hit lands on her. She’s down on her knees, gasping.

The crowd roars. It isn’t just for show either since the enemies get buffs while the two of them get debuffs.

“Sorry… they got me off guard,” She slurs, already feeling her speed lowered.

“It happens. Just take care,” He answers curtly.

This isn’t working out. At this pace, they’ll end up exhausted and out of items before long. They have to change strategy, maybe aim elsewhere. Ace tries a different tactic and pulls out his dual pistols.

He fires at Shadow Chisa but she dodges with a flamboyant flip, mocking him. “Dammit!”

The crowd’s roar is even louder this time. The effects are instantaneous, perhaps even stronger.

“What the hell? Isn’t this a little unfair?!” He shouts in frustration as he feels his attack power leeched from him. He can barely hold his weapon with what little strength left in him.

“What did you expect when battling in this ring? We are all performers here. It’s our job to please the crowd, is it not?” Shadow Chisa taunts them with a malicious grin.

“Just give us the freaking hat already!” He barks at her as he narrowly dodges a shadow’s swipe. It’s sloppy and he knows that he can barely dodge another. These debuffs were hurting them more than the actual attacks.

“Wait, Ace. Maybe we’ve been doing this wrong,” Bonnie suddenly brings up when they were cornered.

“What? Did you figure something out?” He shoots her a desperate yet hopeful look.

She doesn’t disappoint. “It’s just as she said. Even though we are fighting, we’re also in the middle of a performance.” She gestures towards the crowd surrounding them. “Don’t you think we should show off our showmanship a bit more?”

…Show off?

Something clicked in the back of his head. That makes sense. That could actually work. That could turn the tables for them. “Oh… I think I get it now.” He nods at her, placing his full trust to her idea. “Alright, Bonnie. Show them how it’s done.”

“Blast off, Galaga!” She summons her persona but rather than using it to attack, she uses it in an improvised routine.

Bonnie latches on it and lets it take her to the highest point where she stays there for one dramatic moment longer. She lets go and falls head first. Her arms are crossed over her chest and her face is as peaceful as ever with her eyes closed. The crowd gasps at her bold move. She plummets fast towards the ground. Even Ace has to hold his breath. Just when there’s only several feet left, her eyes open. She flips herself upright and Galaga swoops in from beneath. She lands tall and proud.

The crowd goes wild. It has never been this loud and this time they were cheering for them.

“Alright! It looks like now’s our chance!” Ace triumphantly shouts, he feels stronger than ever.

From there, they regain their momentum. Aside from sending out Bonnie to do tricks, Ace found out that pulling off flashy moves or dodges had that same effect. For most part of the battle, they were the ones buffed rather than the shadows. It didn’t take long until Shadow Chisa finally ran out of shadow performers to summon.

“Enough!” Shadow Chisa growls at them. “You think that those cheap tricks are enough to best me? Truly the folly of amateurs. I’ll show you just how entertaining a performance should be!”

With another snap of her fingers, the spotlights converge towards Shadow Chisa, the light so intense that she could not be seen. From the blinding light, she bursts through transformed. Dark skin seething with fire, pointed horns portruding her head, and three pairs of arms each holding a flaming whip.

The crowd’s cheers are deafening.

“See? This is how you excite the crowd!” She gloats at them and the crowd goes ballistic. She looks down on them from her high perch and challenges them, “Now let me see how you top this!”

Her attacks were brutal. Six hands meant six attacks per turn and then there was that special tiger move. There’s also that annoying fact that she can do a trick before every turn of hers so all of her attacks are strengthened. But with Chiaki’s performance, they managed to get by somehow. She keeps coming up with impromptu routines that steal the show. Literally stealing the whips certainly helped, that was Ace’s favorite trick of hers.

All of them were exhausted at this point however against all odds, they were winning.

And it pissed off Shadow Chisa.

“You insolent brats. How dare you ruin my performance!”

“Give it up! You’re already out of tricks!” Ace jeers.

“The crowd loves us more so this is our win!” Bonnie shouts and as if on cue, the cognitive crowd cheers.

Shadow Chisa is not taking any of this.

“What kind of a ringmistress do you think I am? Of course I always save the best for last!” She barks, unwilling to accept defeat. She narrows her eyes at them. “Your last that is.”

They did not like the foreboding feeling that sentence held.

“Didn’t I tell you before that I’d make you jump through fates worse than rings of fire?” Six hands snap consecutively. Six large rings of fire encircle the two thieves from top to bottom. There’s no room for them to escape. “I like to call this one, Orange Flambete.”

She extends all of her arms and then swiftly brings them towards three pairs of claps.

Time slowed down at that point. Ace realized with all too much certainty what was happening. As her hands were getting closer and closer to contact, so were the flaming rings growing smaller and smaller around them. At some point they will undoubtedly get trapped and burned alive. No reflex or persona could save them. He chances a final glance at Bonnie, he recognizes the dreadful realization on her face. The same inescapable realization that mirrored his.

They were going to die.

He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want her to die.

He didn’t sign up for this just to die.

Dying like this… Dying like this is…

Boring.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” He clutches his head which feels like it was just set on fire. The pain scorches along his skull and his screams burn scars along his throat. He panics when he thinks that the flames have already gotten to him. Everything burns. Everything hurts. Everything dies. He doesn’t want to die. Not like this. Not a boring death like this.

But Ace eventually dies.

And so Blackjack is born.

Whatever remnant of Ace was had combusted into dark flames and replaced with someone else. His short brown spiky hair was now long ebony locks. His suit was replaced with a trench coat, his bowtie with a cravat, and his gloves were now dipped in red. His mask held a long beak and large clear lenses cover his eyes that glow red through. It was eerie, how different he carried himself. There was something unsettling about every fiber of this being.

Whereas Ace seemed full of life, Blackjack felt like death incarnate.

With a flick of his wrist, the flames instantly die out and in the next moment, the rings instantaneously crumble into dust. He didn’t even need to summon a persona. It’s as if he has complete control over everything simply by existing. If the Reaper exists then surely this person was Death himself.

The room falls into a reverant hush, even the crowd is uncharacteristically silent.

“What just happened?” Shadow Chisa asks, shocked but mostly annoyed.

His head slowly turns towards her, his eyes glow menacingly. Red is the color of blood.

Do shadows bleed?

Shadow Chisa feels her blood leave her body. She instantly fears for her life.

She doesn’t even get the chance to put her fear into action. She doesn’t even see what’s coming. In one swift movement, Blackjack has disarmed her of her weapons and her arms bend at all the wrong angles. “AAARGH!” She crumples helplessly with barely enough life left.

He calmly walks toward her as she tries to crawl away.

“G-Get back! Go away!” She shouts at him. She tries to snap her fingers but even those were broken without her knowing. She doesn’t bleed, not externally at least. But she doesn’t need to see the blood to know that she is dying.

And she will be killed faster.

So she pours what little remains of her life into desperate panic. She tries, and squirms, and crawls harder, as harder as her broken body can go.

Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t go that much farther. At least not enough to get away from the encroaching death.

He doesn’t hasten his walk, he doesn’t need to. In just a few languid strides, he reaches her. He stomps a foot on her chest, halting her movements. It weighs heavily on her like judgement. His heel digs into her, as if digging for a grave, her grave. Two guns are aimed at her head, loaded and ready to fire.

Two bullets, one for the kill and another for pity in case she survives the first one.

His expression is unshifting, unreadable, unfeeling.

He has yet to even say a single word.

It all happened so quickly that it had Bonnie reeling. She feels as if she was just watching some show, not really something happening in front of her. It was all too surreal. But the sight of Shadow Chisa on her dying breath snaps her right out of her reverie. Hajime or whoever that person is— is about to kill Shadow Chisa.

They came here to steal the treasure, not to kill the palace ruler.

She recovers on her feet and rushes towrds them. She thinks she sees him from her peripheral vision, curiously watching her every movement. But even so, he does not stop her. Not even when she was rushing in with desperate hurried steps. Not even when she abruptly pushes the guns away with trembling hands. Not even when she looked at him with a dead set determination.

He does not stop her. Instead he simply observes.

“That’s enough,” She starts off sternly. She may be out of breath but her resolve barely wavers. His face is still impassive but hers softens. As much as she wants to stop him, she also wants to show her gratitude. And so despite the situation, she smiles warmly.  "Thank you for saving me… us.”

“…” He observes.

“But I think we can handle it from here.“ She stands her ground even as he quietly regards her. There is no movement from him, not even the slightest twitch of fingers on the triggers. She holds her breath, her eyes never leaving his.

He is done observing.

”…“ There is the faintest flicker in his eyes or maybe that’s just the glint from the lenses. When he speaks, his voice is as empty as his eyes. "Hmph. How boring…”

She wanted to ask him what he meant by that. Boring? What exactly did he find boring? And who was he in the first place? How is he related to Hajime? What happened to Hajime? How did he even appear? And why… why do his eyes look so empty? These were only a few of the questions she had wanted to ask. She wanted to ask him but she never did get the chance.

Dark flames errupt from nowhere and consume him whole.

When the flames die, so does Blackjack.

And so Ace comes back.

He clutches his head which strangely felt like it had just been set on fire. He couldn’t tell if it was a migraine or a hangover or both. Probably both. Or maybe just something worse. Just what the hell hit him? Hot white flashes of pain scorch along his skull as he groans weakly, “Ugh, I can’t… Did I get a critical hit to the head or something?”

“I’ll explain later,” She calmly reassures him. “For now, let’s deal with this first.”

Shadow Chisa is already on her knees, face towards the floor, and begging. “I didn’t mean for it to get this far. I just wanted what’s best for my students. But somewhere along the way, I forgot what’s important.” Her body shakes as she cries. It’s hard to imagine that this was the same shadow that was hellbent on killing them before. But it’s easy to remember the sincerity their teacher used to show. “Please forgive me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“I think there are others who deserve to hear that apology more than us,” Bonnie says as she gently pats her by the shoulders.

“Yeah, so long as you reflect on what you’ve done, there’s always hope for you.” Ace snatches the top hat from her, she doesn’t even fight for it.

With the treasure gone, the palace crumbles and so does her despairing desires.

“We’ll see your change of heart on the other side.”

That wasn’t the only thing they saw on the other side.

“What the?”

“What is it, Hajime?”

“Remember what Miss Yukizome’s treasure was?”

“A top hat… right?”

“Yeah, well about that…” He sucks in a breath, readying himself for delivering the news. “I can’t seem to find it.”

She tilts her head. “Did we drop it on our way out?”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was in here all the time and the zipper was closed so there was no way I could have dropped it.” He goes through the loot bag again but grumbles when he still can’t find it.

“Maybe I should look at it instead?” She offers.

“Okay. But be careful—”

She unceremoniously pours out the contents.

He sighs, tired. “Nevermind. Just go do your thing.”

She sifts through the various valuables they collected and makes a note of each one in her mind. Nothing else seems to be out of place, all the other loot is still here. Except for the top hat. But there was something there that wasn’t there before. “Huh? What’s this doing here?”

She holds up the strangely misplaced item.

“Hey, isn’t that your class picture?” Hajime comments as he looks over her shoulder.

“Yeah, it is,” She confirms with a fond expression.

“I wonder, how did that get in there?”

“Maybe this was the treasure all along…” She whispers.

“Huh?”

“I think that Miss Yukizome, in her own way, was just trying to protect everyone.” She examines the photo closely and takes note of its pristine condition, as if it had been conscientiously cared for. This only confirms her suspicions. “After all, this was her treasure, right? Her intention was good but somewhere along the way, her methods turned bad.”

“I guess so. I mean she’s a kind person at heart.” He almost winces at his choice of words considering she also possessed a despairing heart. But they both knew what he meant. Their teacher was truly a kind and caring person. “That’s why it was so shocking at how despairing her desires were. It didn’t feel right. Especially not with her.”

“I get the same feeling too. Her methods were too extreme. And it’s not like her to think such dark thoughts.” She places the photo down as she contemplates further. “What if… What if someone else had implanted them?”

He raises an eyebrow at the idea. “You think so?”

“I’m not sure… It’s just a theory,” She falters.

“It’s… plausible I guess.” He nods as he develops it further. “I mean if we could go into the cognitive world and change hearts then who’s to say that there isn’t someone else out there distorting other people’s hearts?”

“It’s certainly better to think that Miss Yukizome’s actions were caused by someone else but…” She hesitates a bit for she concludes, “That would imply that there is someone else out there.”

“And that person is still out there,” He finishes.

It’s not a happy theory.

But it’s something that they can’t look away from.

“If there is such a person then I want to find them,” Chiaki announces with a face set with determination. “We can’t just let them wreak havoc. All they’re doing is spreading suffering. We have to stop them.”

“I agree. Besides, who knows who else they might have changed hearts? Depending on the person, we could be facing a crisis if we don’t do anything about this,” Hajime seconds her conviction. “We have to make sure. Once we know, we will find them. And we will steal their despairing heart as well.”

They may have stolen the despairing heart of their teacher but this was just the first of the many heists of The Dangan Thieves of Hope.

[maple-able]

Soo I fell in love with the Dangan Thieves idea and ended up making a fanart of Mikan desing (bcs she my fav and I loved the idea of desing put on her <3)

I’m not photoshopronpa but i’m definitely proud of myself for making this edit, I know it’s a bit messy at some points (tying that hair gave me an out of body experience) but I liked the finished piece. 

I might do Hiyoko or Fuyuhiko next (since they’re my favorites right behind Mikan), or maybe I'll do some fanfic, who knows, but I definitely love this AU and I'm coming back to it at some point. Credits to @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl, that came up with the Dangan Thieves of Hope AU and to @killr-cupcake, who sketched Mikan’s desing first. Lov y’all!

[queenxfjustice]

detective au

AU Ideas || Not Accepting

Makoto is a private investigator for the Tokyo Police Department. She’s very well known as the Queen of Investigation - a modern Sherlock Holmes if you will.

Makoto and Akechi work together quite often. Though she’s not as famous as Akechi, she prefers to stay out of the spotlight. She thinks that fame gets in the way of investigation and she’d rather not deal with the annoyances of being at celebrity status.

She is put on the case of the Phantom Thieves. But she thinks of it as a joke and doesn’t take the case very seriously until she discovers the metaverse herself.

Despite being a great detective, she never solves the mystery of the Phantom Thieves. She finds there’s too many inconsistencies and the fact that the metaverse exists only proves to her that no one would believe her anyways.

She decides to stay neutral in her biases. Much like Kirigiri in Dangan Ronpa, Makoto looks at every case with a neutral eye and doesn’t let emotions get in the way of solving a case.

[the-apocryphal-one]

What do you think of the dangan thieves au?

I haven’t followed it lately, but it looked very cool last time I saw it!

[ronin-warriors-fanatic]

Dangan Thieves AU: Teruteru

@shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl I know I didn’t ask permission to do this, but Teruteru, Akane, and Nekomaru are the only ones left, and I wanted to contribute to this au somehow.

Codename: Artisan

Arcana: The Lovers

Mask: standard robber’s mask with the image of a crockpot filled with meat cooking in it.

Outfit: some type of mix between a ninja’s and a chef’s

Persona: Cerberus, guardian of the underworld

Skillset: healer: (his food restores the health and makes a stamina buff for everyone in the party)

Weapons: a giant pot of boiling water, a sturring spoon, a spatula, and a hairnet.

All-out Attack Card: the image of a kitchen with multiple chefs and cooks on it, and yells “Gordon Ramsey” when he uses it

Awakwning scene: he’s trapped in Ruruka’s castle, and forced to go against his training to make nothing but these damn sweets that keeps everyone trapped so long as eat them. One day however, he sees the rumored Dangan Theives barging in to the place. Nagito, Fuyuhiko, and Mahiru try their best to take down Ruruka, and her beloved Sonosuke, but they’re not getting anywhere due to how Ruruka’s confections buff and heal Sonosuke, while the opposite could be said for them.

Cerberus: do you understand what using flames and heat for the wrong reasons can get you?

Teruteru: I… I don’t want this I never wanted this …I want to cook for everyone, the freedom to cook whatever I want, to make people happy, and fill their hearts with hope and joy

Cerberus: there’s hope for you after all. I art thou… thou art I, now create masterpieces that everyone can love!

Quotes:

“Do you wish to dine tonight?”

“aaaaahhh, Averill Lavergne”

“My masterpiece will shake you to the core!”

“To think, someone as lovely as you could be so heartless!”

“Level up… my cooking has gotten better”

“I’m enjoying spending time with someone as lovely as you”

“No more, I can’t handle this”

“The enemies are hungry… what would they like…charred, or medium rare?”

*baton pass* now, enjoy the main course!

*block* you’ll have to bring a better dish than that!

*persona* cook up a a hell of a feast, Cerberus!

*Follow up* you’re not alone!

*Cover fire* enjoy the dish, you damn shadow!

*Endure* I can take the heat!

*Harrisen Recovery* woah! Talk about a pick me up

*Low on health* I will survive

*Healing someone* eat this, it’ll help

*Getting healed* my my, you must care about my wellbeing

*Physical attack* I’m going to smack you!

*Attacking* take my special dish

*Giving buffs* you need a pick me up

*Attack missed* waaah; John Cena!!!

*Getting resurrected* my friends do care

Status ailments: Burn: my skin smells like chicken

Freeze: it’s too cold to cook

Shock: grah, I can’t move!

Forget: huh? What were we doing?

Charm: hey…you clme here often?

Rage: how…dare…you!

Despair: so…this is the limit of my cooking.

Hunger: ironic that I feel this sensation

Dizzy: I’m so confused right now

Sleep: I’ll cook some other time.

Mouse: squeak squeak squeak

Mementos Chats:

(Akane: yes, I’ve been so damn hungry, it’s about time.

Teruteru: cooking is an art form, and like any good art, you must be patient.)

(Gundham: I approve of the god you’ve aligned with. The Guardian that protects hell will serve you well.

Teruteru:…um…thanks?)

(Teruteru: would blackjack like something to eat?

Chiaki: umm…this is bonus dialog, Artisan… Blackjack is closer to the end of the main story, and we’re only at the halfway point… I think)

(Teruteru: would you like to-

Hajime: stop…right now)