#naehara book club

[theamityelf]

I am once again thinking about Shuichi flirting with Makoto via talking about book characters

(YES.) (Follow-up to this post.)

"Yeah, he's my favorite character," Shuichi is saying.

They're sitting on nice, sunlit benches out on the school grounds. His hat is askew; he always turns it to the side, when he's reading, so the shadow cast by the bill of the cap doesn't block light from hitting the page.

It makes it easier to see his face, when he wears his hat like that. To see the shades of blue in his hair and the gold of his eyes. (Silver, in some light, but right now gold. When asked, Shuichi just says they're gray.) He's blushing a little; Makoto supposes that talking a lot makes him shy. He doesn't seem to be as shy with his classmates. In fact, Makoto has overheard him arguing with some of them, or correcting others, plenty of times. But talking to one's own class is different than talking to upperclassmen. Makoto himself isn't really all that intimidating at all, which is probably why Shuichi's been talking to him more. He's glad. Makoto always looks forward to hearing what Shuichi thinks about the book they've been reading.

The fact that one of the book's most boring characters is apparently his favorite is just another example of Shuichi having a fascinating take on things. "Really? What do you like about him?"

Shuichi glances up at Makoto, from the page, and his blush deepens. His gaze drops again. Shy. But he answers, with a smile, "I really love that he's always helping the other characters and listening to them talk about their problems, and...I know the author mostly uses his character to contrast with how interesting all the other characters are, but I think if the story focused on him more, we'd find out he's really interesting, too."

"Wow. That's a cool way to think about it. Even if he's not working for a top secret spy network like the others, he might be just as interesting if we could see the story from his perspective."

"Or even just spent enough time with him. As a character, I mean. If the main characters talked about him more, instead of just bouncing their problems off him or asking him for favors or hiding behind him when things go wrong..."

Makoto watches Shuichi get into the discussion, intrigued by the passion he's directing toward the open book in his lap. The last time he saw that trace of indignation interrupt Shuichi's shy disposition was when he heard about Kyoko inviting Makoto to a crime scene to introduce him to a few people he later found out were murder suspects. (Apparently, she wanted to see how they acted toward Makoto, since he was within the demographic of people the murderers most liked to kill.) Or the time he found out about Mondo inviting Makoto to a "bros night out" that turned out to just be a night out for Mondo and his gang while Makoto stayed behind at Mondo's house and answered the door when the cops came knocking and then Mondo snuck in through the back window and the cops asked if Mondo had been home all night and- Well, Shuichi just has a somewhat rigid moral compass. Makoto counts himself lucky he's never found fault with anything Makoto's done, so far.

"You really like that character," he observes, amazed.

Shuichi's intense look relaxes into a sheepish smile. "Yeah, I...I do."

"It would be a different kind of story, if it were about him," Makoto muses. "Do you wish we were reading a different book?"

"No, I like the story a lot. I just...The story is better because he's in it, and I feel like the characters and even the writer don't know that."

"I'm sure the writer does. How could they make a character that you like so much and not know it?"

"Sometimes...people don't notice that kind of thing."

Makoto turns that thought over for a second. "So, what would it look like if the writer did know how great the character was?"

Shuichi meets his eyes. "Someone might say something, maybe?"

"One of the characters? I guess that makes sense."

For a second, Shuichi presses his lips together, seeming to decide whether or not to say what he's thinking. Then he opines, "I think he and the investigator should spend more time together. I mean, the investigator is different around him than he is with any other character. He's softer, like maybe he feels differently about him than he feels about his partners or...his classmates...at the spy academy..."

Makoto has to smile at the timid but determined way Shuichi approaches his point. "So, you ship them? That's shipping, right? Hifumi taught me that word."

"Y-Yeah, I...I ship them."

"They could be good together. I mean, they've only talked to each other twice in the book, but they were good conversations. The investigator was willing to tell him about his dead wife; that's not something he told anyone else."

"Exactly! And...I think they could...take care of each other."

"Have you ever thought about writing fanfiction?"

"Huh?" Shuichi looks slightly startled by the question, like he's been woken from a dream.

"Fanfiction. Hifumi writes it, and I think you might enjoy it if you tried. You clearly have a lot of thoughts about the characters and...Hey, you don't have to be embarrassed! Did I say something wrong?"

Shuichi is hiding his blushing face behind the book, almost knocking his cap off his head. "No," he says into the spine. "I just, uh, didn't mean to get so into it."

"But it's cool to be so passionate about things. That's one of my favorite things about you."

Shuichi lowers the book just enough to peek at Makoto's face, then hastily hides behind it again and stands up. "Okay, I think I've got to go. I just remembered I owe Kokichi ten thousand yen." He runs off.

"Bye," Makoto calls after him, half-fond and half-confused. Why do so many of their book discussions end with Shuichi running off like that?

[theamityelf]

At this point Shuichi is just making up excuses for himself not to be the one to ask Makoto on a date. HURRY UP BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES. YOU KNOW HE'S A SECRET HEARTTHROB.

(Follow-up to this post.)

At this point, I can see it going two ways:

Makoto actually goes through with asking Kaede about whether Shuichi is having friend troubles. Maybe he goes straight to Kaede, or maybe he asks Rantaro first, since the current framing of things suggests Rantaro would be the Lucky Student for that year, making him kind of Makoto's go-to person. The moment Makoto brings it up to him, Rantaro is just like, "You should definitely talk to Kaede about this." (He's, like, awkwardly laughing at the obvious misunderstanding.) Then Makoto approaches Kaede with the same assessment he gave Rantaro, meaning he says something to the effect of, "Shuichi told me he doesn't know who he'll go to the festival with. Is everything okay with you guys?" And Kaede immediately realizes what Shuichi was trying to do and immediately shares in Shuichi's exasperation, just like, "Are you kidding me?! How did you let that one sail over your head?! Come on, snap out of it! Isn't it obvious what he meant?" Ultimately culminating in a very embarrassed Makoto asking Shuichi to the festival.

One day, Makoto casually says to Shuichi, "Byakuya pretty much ordered me to meet up with him after school today. He said there was something important we needed to talk about..." And Shuichi, very aware of how Byakuya feels about Makoto, just suddenly shouts, "Will you go to the festival with me, as a date?!"

[theamityelf]

Not Makoto being lost in Shuichi's eyes in the naehara bookclub au and still not realizing he has a crush. I can't even imagine how the book club meetings would go after they both realize they're in love with the other but neither have confessed or realized the other's feelings

(Follow-up to this post)

Oh gosh, imagine Shuichi notices that Makoto has suddenly started acting shy and awkward around him (because Makoto is bad at hiding his feelings) and Shuichi gets excited by it, trying to encourage Makoto to make a move. But he's using the same indirect tactics as before, talking about the book or other couples at school or anything other than the actual real life feelings he has, and Makoto still isn't taking the hint.

So we get a situation where Shuichi is pretty sure they both like each other and wants Makoto to ask him out (since surely it would be disrespectful for the underclassman to be the one to make a move), and Makoto knows he likes Shuichi but assumed surely Shuichi would say something if he returned his feelings, plus wouldn't it be wrong for him to initiate things, since he's an upperclassman? Plus, Shuichi is the Ultimate Detective's Assistant, and one of Makoto's best friends is the Ultimate Detective. What if Makoto asks him out and Shuichi thinks he has to date Makoto to keep things from being weird between him and Kyoko? Shuichi and Kyoko have to work together occasionally, and Makoto has already made things kind of weird between them by accidentally making Shuichi so defensive of him, and...

This goes on for way too long.

Shuichi's like, "I heard Owada and Ishimaru from your class are going to the festival together...as a couple."

"Yeah, they are!" Makoto is relieved that Shuichi has forgiven Mondo for the, uh, police incident. "It's their first time officially going out like that. Everyone's really excited. The whole class has been waiting for them to finally confess their feelings."

"Which one of them did?"

"Taka. A lot of people expected Mondo to do it, but I knew it'd be Taka. He can be honest to a fault, sometimes. Mondo can be blunt and passionate, but he also keeps things bottled up a lot."

"It must be...nerve-wracking, to keep something like that bottled up."

Makoto laughs nervously. "I'll bet."

"Why do you think someone would do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe a fear of rejection? And I know Mondo kind of hates being vulnerable..."

"I'd like to go to the festival, but I don't know who I'd go with."

"I thought you were going with Kaede's group. Isn't Kaede going with a bunch of friends?"

"Uh, y-yeah, but I...I just meant...Never mind."

"What is it? Are you and Kaede not friends anymore?"

"No! No, we are! I was just...I was talking about something else. Never mind. Hey, how did you like this chapter's cliff hanger? I was so annoyed when it ended!"

Makoto follows the change in subject, but he makes a mental note that something might be going on with Shuichi and his friends. Should he ask Kaede about it? Or is that too much...

[theamityelf]

Omg Shuichi I love you but Makoto trying to get you into fan fiction and talking to you about shipping the characters that are obviously you and him is entirely your fault. If you didn't want to be dragged into such an awkward conversation that you had to hide behind KOKICHI of all people you should have just asked him out.

If the whole "rewritten personalities" thing in canon ndrv3 is true then he probably did write a ton of fan fiction.

Great now I'm picturing this Shuichi getting into writing fan fiction about him and Makoto because of that conversation and hiding it like it's a dead body GOD they make me ill (complementary).

(Follow-up to this post)

Yeah, he definitely created that problem for himself. 😁

Poor Shuichi, because we definitely gotta get some hijinks out of that fanfiction. He's going to accidentally hand it to someone when they're supposed to be peer-grading each other's homework, or someone will be visiting his room and stumble across it...

Like, narratively there is simply no excuse not to let his fanfiction breach containment. I can't be satisfied unless a handwritten notebook of tender drabbles gets lost and Shuichi freaks out not knowing who has it.

[theamityelf]

YES.

Makoto poses it as a "What if...?" question, but then Shuichi is just like, "I hadn't thought of that! That makes sense! Makoto, I think you figured it out!"

Makoto seems like a literature nerd to me so Naehara au where they have their own little book club with each other. I know other characters like books but. Naehara, man.

Oh my gosh, they read books with mystery elements and Shuichi always solves them early but is very careful not to spoil them (and he doesn't even say he's figured out the twist; Makoto just guesses that he has, from his expression, and praises him for being so good at this).

They read books with romantic subplots, and Shuichi starts talking about the characters who are in love, and it's clearly a veiled way for him to express interest in Makoto, but Makoto is just like "He really likes these characters," or "It's cute how he gets so invested in the story."

They read books and talk about the morals. Shuichi tends to have slightly more cynical takeaways, and he likes to hear Makoto's more optimistic interpretations.

[theamityelf]

My Danganronpa AU Masterlist

Because I realized I need some organization on my blog, lol.

First, my actual fanfiction is mostly on AO3; these will be just Tumblr stuff. Feel free to send an ask about any of these!

AU's are listed in alphabetical order, and the bullet points for each AU are in the order I think would be most coherent for anyone unfamiliar with the AU. I had to limit the amount of posts I included as bullet points, because this post really tested the hyperlink limit at first, lol. In the future, I might make separate masterlists for some of the longer, more detailed AU's in this post, so I can just link the masterlists here. That'll give me room for more links, lol.

Also, check out my Danganronpa analysis tag for posts I've made or reblogged that I just think are interesting from a meta perspective.

Crossover AU's (DR Characters placed in Other Fictional Universe)- has its own masterlist

Plot/Premise AU's

Aikido Makoto AU (someone teaches Makoto aikido)- full tag

Both Classes Despair AU- full tag

Premise

Makoto and Class 77

Bowtie Polycule AU (Naegamigiri/Kamukomaegi)- full tag

Living arrangements

Assassination attempts

Food shenanigans

Chiaki Vampire AU- full tag

Class 79 AU (where V3 cast is class 79)- full tag

Celeste and Angie

Junko and Angie

Makoto and Shuichi (+Naehara book club- full tag)

Upperclassman Taka

Gentle Parenting AU (Makoto gentle parenting Remnants)- full tag

Premise

Hinaegi School AU- full tag

Hinaegi schooltime luck shenanigans

Main Course reaction

Reserve Course reaction

Hajime insecurity

Sakakura incident

Izuru insecurity

Kamuegi introspective cuddles

Hope's Peak Debate Club AU- full tag

Premise/Polyamory web

Kyoko and Makoto

Hope's Peak Deradicalization Class AU

Premise (Nagito and Angie)

Immortals AU- full tag

Kaede in THH AU- full tag

Kamuegi Hope Tutor AU- full tag

Premise

Kamukuras AU (other characters undergo Kamukura Project)- has its own masterlist

Komaeda Chaperone AU- full tag

Premise

Nagito and Monokuma

Misc Nagito Moments in Chapters 1-3

Komaegi-ish in Chapter 2

Komaegi in Chapters 3-4

Komaeda Intern AU- full tag

Premise

Sick Day (+bonus)

Komaegi UDG AU- full tag

Premise

Nagito, Makoto, and Yuta adventure

Caretaker Nagito

Offshoot: Successor Makoto arc- full tag

Komahinaegi School AU- full tag

Phone wallpaper

Nagito's Internet presence

Naegami rebound arc (Komahinaenami polycule forms after Naegami breaks up)- full tag

Makoto in Other Killing Games AU's- has its own masterlist

Memory Kidnapping AU (Yandere Kamukura)- full tag

Premise

Realization

Aftermath: keeping memory ; losing memory

Mini Classmate AU's (doll-sized DR characters cared for by normal-sized DR characters)- has its own masterlist

Naejunko Breakup Komaegi AU- full tag

Premise

Patron Celeste AU (Celeste/Angie)- full tag

Premise

Celeste pining part 1, part 2

Separate Izuru AU- full tag

Premise

Shuichi in THH AU- full tag

Soniakanedam Apartment AU- full tag

Soulmate AU- full tag

Variety list

Makoto and Junko (+bonus)

Makoto and the whole class

Survivors Killing Game AU- full tag

Premise

Naehinahara

Hajime prioritizing lives

Ultimate Makoto AU (where Makoto is Ultimate something)- full tag

Brainstorm

Multiship brainstorm

Undead AU (lucksters care for infected class)- has its own masterlist

Vampire AU- full tag

Premise

Blood rationing

Hope blood vs. Despair blood

How it happened and why it's this bad

THH Survivors locked away

Kamukomaegi feeding time

Vampire Makoto arc- full tag

Werewolf Makoto AU- full tag

Werewolf Pandemic AU- full tag

Wings AU- full tag

Crossover AU's (Characters from Other Fictional Universe placed in Danganronpa)

Disney Descendants Danganronpa AU- full tag

Ultimates List

Masterminds

Riordanverse (PJO/HOO/TKC) Danganronpa AU- full tag

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

I hope you enjoy, and I hope this masterlist is useful! (At the very least, it's useful to me, lol.)

[theamityelf]

Makoto seems like a literature nerd to me so Naehara au where they have their own little book club with each other. I know other characters like books but. Naehara, man.

Oh my gosh, they read books with mystery elements and Shuichi always solves them early but is very careful not to spoil them (and he doesn't even say he's figured out the twist; Makoto just guesses that he has, from his expression, and praises him for being so good at this).

They read books with romantic subplots, and Shuichi starts talking about the characters who are in love, and it's clearly a veiled way for him to express interest in Makoto, but Makoto is just like "He really likes these characters," or "It's cute how he gets so invested in the story."

They read books and talk about the morals. Shuichi tends to have slightly more cynical takeaways, and he likes to hear Makoto's more optimistic interpretations.