#talentswap au

[mmani-e]

Hello! After all this effort, behold:

DANGANRONPA DEMIX, THH EDITION!

Dr Demix 2

Finally got the talentswap designs I have for the THH characters one and done with! You can click through the read more section for some fun design insights. I'm intending on uploading a doc containing short lore bits about them eventually.

Kyoko Kirigiri - Ultimate Affluent Progeny

So Kyoko's design was both kinda simple, kinda not, wanted to give her a very fine and regal kinda attitude to her but not arrogant as that's very much Byakuya's thing. Her story is that she loves her dad more than the family business and her grandpa so she abandons detective work and just uses her brain to help her dad out.

Makoto Naegi - Ultimate Novelist

Makoto is a wonderful guy, just great all around. He loves writing children's books and happy stories. This is his main coping mechanism so he doesn't have to process any negative emotions he gets, the rest he can't process… well they go into a murderous psychopath alter.

Aoi Asahina - Ultimate Lucky Student

Shoujo protagonist Aoi. Cute, headstrong, affective, competitive, these are all the traits that make her fight for her friends and clash with Kyoko (and more often than not Byakuya) in the killing game, even when all hope seems lost… she pushes through, unafraid to let tears spill from her eyes for all those lost, but pushing all the same.

Byakuya Togami - Ultimate Detective

This one, I wanna go into more lore territory, cause I kinda memed around his last desc I gave him so here goes:

"A disgraced heir of the Togami household, Byakuya lost the competition that would've secured his riches. Disdainful and bitter, he sought out to get to the bottom of why he lost, uncovering a rabbit hole in the process. By the end, he proved his sibling a cheater, but it didn't matter because by the end as he found the sweet satisfaction of uncovering secrets and crushing liars and cheaters under the weight of their hubris far more satisfying than any inheritance."

Sayaka Maizono - Ultimate Spirit Medium

So Sayaka isn't a clairvoyant at all like Yasuhiro, in fact her entire skillset is completely different, first of all she is like an actual psychic, and I based her design off of the japanese Itako, quite loosely. Very interesting group, look it up, also she'll never use these powers in the killing game because I dunno how to even approach these rituals or what they look like or how to write them while remaining respectful, so she won't do it in a killing game for the express reason of her not having the right tools available and not wanting to disrespect her traditions.

Leon Kuwata - Ultimate Swimmer

I really wanna draw him again, all these characters again tbh, and I wanna show off the patterns on his wetsuit. It's a whole coral reef under there, that anemone and clownfish bit is only one part of a whole reef stretching his midline.

Sakura Ogami - Ultimate Programmer

Sakura has installed chips into her body to help optimize her body processes and also cause why not. As for the muscles, she's an Assembly programmer, the programs she's made can run on calculators she loves it.

Chihiro Fujisaki - Ultimate Martial Artist

Chihiro's design here with the two belts is an explicit nod to his preferred martial art - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so unlike Sakura in canon who'd be easy to imagine cracking someone's skull in half with a chop, Chihiro's approach is more crawling onto someone and bringing them down to the floor with grappling like an angry halfling monk. As for the belts themselves, on his head is his final junior belt, while around his waist is his current belt, he's not a black belt yet because he's still too young for it.

Celestia Ludenberg - Ultimate Baseball Star

Celestia actually isn't a legend in this AU, Taeko is. Celestia hates that and wants to start a baseball career going international, whatever the hell that means is up to her own definition, but she wants to be remembered forever as Celestia, not Taeko. Also extra sentence, but this is the SINGLE hardest design I've ever had to deal with here, I think in the future I'll be drawing all her little accessories and I have an alt costume for her I have in mind.

Hifumi Yamada - Ultimate Pop Star

So I changed Hifumi's story as I originally outlined in the OG post with him. He was friends with Aoi all his life, pretty much his only friend at all, and ever since he was little he had an obsession with writing songs, because he was obsessed with stuff like anime openings and was content to just keep the songs to himself. It wasn't till Aoi convinced him to share some of his songs that he started his journey to success, but bc he's not traditionally attractive, his first hits were literally just… his voice being played over other more attractive singers and it wasn't until very very recently that he even performed a song of his for the first time.

Toko Fukawa - Ultimate Fanfic Writer

So while Hifumi was clearly a Doujinshi but due to weird translation, ended up as fanfic creator, Touko is straight up a FF then Wattpad then AO3 girl, who would get obsessed with this really shitty, tripe manga that she didn't even like reading. It did however have super hot dudes in it, so she wrote good stories of those characters when she got frustrated with the actual authorial content - which was always.

Yasuhiro Hagakure - Ultimate Gambler

Quite LITERALLY the never stop gambling meme personified into a guy. He can lose 3 mil on slot machines but always comes out fine because it means if he keeps gambling he'll eventually run into his 1/3 and win giga millions, what he needs to pay off his debts. It isn't just with luck though either because his personality and lack of intelligence or understanding of most the rules of the games he plays means he'll never react the way he should when getting a good hand in poker or a bad draw in blackjack, so he wins those games almost always through just… stupidity.

Mukuro Ikusaba - Ultimate Biker

She's number 16 in her gang, and is easily the most loyal enforcer and taskman of the gang. She does anything she's told, to a grim and disciplined degree not typical for hooligan bike gangers, she doesn't really desire a seat as top dog of the gang though, after all she's got school to worry about, and her sister.

Mondo Owada - Ultimate Warlord

So his relationship and Kiyotaka's is gonna be interesting, because I don't want him to be exactly like Mukuro at all, who was just sort of an all-obsessed Yandere. It's more like he's always chafing under Taka, who is less than friendly with him in this AU, really the main way he even lets Taka boss him around is because he pays incredibly well and helps keep his gang members from devolving back into the unstructured, chaotic criminal life, the same that took his brother years ago.

Oh and yeah, he still looks like Guile, as he should.

Sparkling Justice - Ultimate Killer Killer

Yeah it's a reference to Killer Killer, sue me I love the manga. He has Hajirahara's ahoge, and I thought it'd be cute to also give him a mask just like the other Makoto from a Kodaka game series (Raincode.) Also, while Genocide jack stuffs all her scissors in her skirt, Makoto keeps a truth gun with "truth bullets" as his main weapon, the gun he stores inside the big book in the chibi of just Makoto, and the bullets kept on his person as the red buttons all over his body, which he pulls out when he needs to reload.

"Kiyotaka Ishimaru" - Ultimate Fashionista

Unlike Mukuro and Junko, Mondo absolutely cannot hide the fact that he acts nothing like Kiyotaka, though this is surprisingly fine to everyone else, because unlike Junko who plastered herself onto literally everything, Mondo always obfuscated himself from the public spotlight, at most showing only his suits while he hid his face behind something conveniently placed. Which played primarily to his vision of an ultimate fashionista, who was above everyone and catered to the rich and powerful.

Junko Enoshima - Ultimate Moral Compass

This was a fun one, I decided to let her have her red hair because I believe it to be the "natural" look of her hair, while attaching little clips of dyed hair to her buns as a replacement to keep her shape sorta and keep the strawberry blonde somwehere on her. Understand that while she is the "moral compass" she is still pretty deranged, and the only reason she focuses so much on keeping everyone on their best behavior is because it's endlessly entertaining to her to make her fellow moral committee members upset when she blatantly makes a mockery of the rules while still keeping kids on their best behavior to make a point.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru - Ultimate Fashionista and Tyrant, the Iron Hand of Despair

Taka's design I wanted to sort of focus on this sort of, holier-than-thou idea, where I wanted to make him look a lot fancier and upper-class than Junko does in his standard highschool fit compared to him. I wanted him to have an upper-crust sort of look

If you're reading this after reading this all, thanks! You're a wonderful person :) Signing off...

Mani

[fixateforonce]

Pretty proud of this one! Day 5: Roleswap/ Gifts- I wanted to choose Ultimates that still suit their personalities. I imagine Mondo goes around challenging every fighter he can after Daiya dies, to prove that he's stronger than Daiya and earned his place as the head of their dojo. (Diamond Dojo) Daiya having died during their last match similar to him dying during their race. Kiyotaka's grandfather in this case was a disgraced General, formerly regarded as a hero. Caught in a scandal, that ruins the family name with debt affecting them still. Kiyotaka wants to serve to restore his family's honor, work his way up the ranks, be a figure of authority who treats his men with respect, and prevents his men any unnecessary harm. Any chance he's gotten, he's gone to military camps/ school. Mondo seeing another ultimate who can fight wants to throw down with him so bad.

[exposed-wires]

Talentswap!!! [Ultimate Robot! Mondo]

Waves!!! This is one of the more in depth, well thought out ideas I have for a Talentswap AU :)) It's mainly Mondo, or M0-N40 focused ^^

Also heads up for major character death if you're sensitive to that! It'll make sense trust me,,

Mondo, or M0-N40; is the Ultimate Robot! His intended purpose is to understand human emotion and behavior, and what it means to be truly human. In other words, he's programmed to act as human as humanly possible. That is also the case given he has been built to look the part as well [albeit with some obvious indications that he isn't].

His creator, or who he calls his 'brother', is a talented mechanic! The fact he somehow built a robot from the ground up is quite the feat..! Man I sure do wonder how he managed to pull all that off-

Yeah okay so. Fun fact Daiya may or may not be a little mental but that's okay I forgive him. Instead of the Crazy Diamonds being a biker gang, they're instead an auto repair shop that fixes up cars, motorcycles... anything that has an engine! They still do biker things on the side, more as a hobby.

Mondo and Daiya go out for a joyride one night, and as fate would have it they get into a horrible accident, except; Daiya was a second too late. Unable to push his brother out of the way, he succumbs to death. And Daiya is heartbroken, inconsolable over the death of his younger brother, how he failed him.. Which that very guilt festers into an unexplainable deed. Taking the metaphorical remains of his brother, and vowing to put him back together. No matter how long it takes [spoiler alert, it takes 2 years].

M0-N40 has no idea that he is built to be an exact replica of a person who now rests six feet underground. He thinks he is his own person, his own being.. and sure! He has pre-established memories to help him integrate with the people around him but.. it doesn't mean anything, right?

[I HAVE SO MUCH WRITTEN FOR HIM THIS IS JUST THE BASIC JIST AND AUGHAJSNSMMAKW],,

That's all for the time being :]]

[dreamzghostz]

Here's how Celestia views her classmates in the Talentswap AU

(DISCLAIMER - THIS IS NOT CANON. THIS IS FROM MY AU.)

[foryoupeko]

Prince!Kazuichi and Breeder!Hiyoko belongs to @mmani-e

Little doodles bc I think it's funny we both had the idea for Talentswap AU.

[slices23]

SDRA2 TALENTSWAP: Hibiki Otonokoji & Kanade Otonokoji

Hello again, I'm back to give more details of my talentswap au.

Naturally I could have gone in order but, most of the characters are not finished or half baked. So I decided to start with two characters I'm confident in presenting first. I hope no one minds that!

Nothingless enjoy!

I will like to give a shoutout for the Rewrite of the Otonokoji twins made by

@ninjagirlstar5

So some ideas were taken from here for this Talentswap

-----------

Hibiki Otonokoji - Ultimate Firefighter

Kanade Otonokoji - Ultimate Broker

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Most of their backstory stays the same. Hibiki bullies Kanade due to feeling inferior, and Kanade gives in to it.

Kanade desired Hibiki's love & attention, even though she hated her, thus did whatever it took to keep Hibiki only reliant on her. Like: Setting their housepet dog free never to be seen again & blackmailing their childhood friend.

It wasn't until their former childhood friend exposed Kanade with online evidnece is where everything takes a turn.

Hibiki seeing this goes to confront Kanade, starting an arguement which results in Kanade accidentally starting a fire out of anger in the apartment they were in for an upcoming performence.

They would quickly run to evacuate but, Hibiki sees someone in danger and without a second thought jumps in to save them. Sucessfully getting them out of the building.

For such a brave act, Hibiki was held as a hero & even her parents praised.

When testifying, Hibiki told investigators what Kanade had did, with the evidence the supported the story, and the fact that Kanade had not returned home. A search was made for her

As for Kanade, she ran away and hadn't returned home. She saw on the news how much praise Hibiki was getting, being renouned as a hero for her bravery. Getting the love and attention from the media and her parents. It seemed like everyone loved her.

The same cannot be said for Kanade, nothing but haterd towards her. Stating she was a demon incarnated, even her parents denouced ever loving such her.

With this relevation, Kanade felt so unwanted and continue running away.

Eventually, with investigators not finding any trace of Kanade. Hibiki slowly accepted that she had lost her sister forever.

Due to the praise she got. Hibiki set her sights on being a firefighter. Soon being accepted as the Ultimate Firefighter.

Kanade eventually had to find ways to survive & not get caught in the streets.

Thankfully with her intellect, she was able to survive dangerous situations(Such as being taken by a gang and sold off in the black market or approached by creeps who wanted to take advantage of her)

She quickly got into Black Market business realizing she can benefit from it for survival.

And she does, thanks to her wit.(Starting off small of course) She became the go to person deals such as weaponry, assassinations, distribution, and etc.

Eventually she got scouted as the Ultimate Broker. Meaning if she refused to attend school. She could get a jail for life sentence or the death penalty for her prior and past crimes. (The ladder that is likely to happen)

But in a ironic cruel twist of fate. The sisters will reunite in the same classroom within the same class. A mockery towards Kanade and horrible surprise for Hibiki.

-----------

If anyone has questions for these talentswap version. Feel free to ask!

[nno-user]

the minute I saw Pluto's post I was obsessed bro

Mechanic Kaede and Nurse Shuichi💕💕 @toxicpineapple

[lehimikowofan]

Bartender!Shuichi

To complement my talentswap AU on my @dansconcepts acc (the drabble'll pop up eventually, I'll rb this when it's posted). Also it's currently 2 AM right now and I speedran this because of my brainrot so it's pretty messy but I did try a lil to clean it up (and yes the shading and wrinkling is pretty wack too ALSO THE COCKTAIL MIXER IS HILARIOUSLY BAD LMAOAOAO)

[coppereko]

randomly generated a project: eden's garden talentswap au a few days ago, might make art for this (if i didnt suck at drawing humans)

Damon Maitsu : Ultimate Fencer

Desmond Hall : Ultimate Music Producer

Ulysses Wilhelm : Ultimate Marksman

Mark "Mayhem" Berskii : Ultimate Ship Captain

Wolfgang Akire : Ultimate Blacksmith

Kai Monteago : Ultimate Drag Racer

Jett Dawson : Ultimate Lawyer

Jean DeLamer : Ultimate Historian

Eva Tsunaka : Ultimate Golfer

Eloise Taulner : Ultimate Matchmaker

Toshiko Kayura : Ultimate Cosmetologist

Wenona : Ultimate Pro Gamer

Diana Venicia : Ultimate Entreprenur

Ingrid Grimwall : Ultimate Liar

Grace Madison : Ultimate Influencer

Cassidy Amber : Ultimate Debater

i also generated from the canon danganronpa games

(wow what another au ill probably forget after 2 months)

[sunshinepyl0n]

If you’re in the mood, we can take it to the moon~

Just like a movie scene, table for 2 🎶

[sammylbir]

Weights (Hinazumi with some past Mahiru x Sato x Natsumi)

[mmani-e]

I've finally finished my Danganronpa AU personal project! I personally call it

DANGANRONPA: DEMIX

See Demix 1 here

And yeah, all the swaps as you can see above, and these guys in the middle are the replacements for Monokuma and Usami respectively:

Check out under the cut for some design insights on my take AND closer pictures of each pair:

Finally finished my personal AU project. I hope it's to everyone's liking!

I can go on forever about these designs but I'll limit myself to one-two sentences on some facts about the designs.

Mikan: Mikan's face tattoo was commissioned on her against her will so that she can never hide her nature as a Yakuza, but her leg tattoo was done on purpose, and she and Nagito have matching tattoos on their legs, his is just hidden most the time.

Nagito: He is usually seen with a spear and prefers the weapon over the sword, but he is more famous for his natural skill with the blade. That said, he resents the blade and wishes he could be recognized for the things he actually works hard to do, like throwing spears or protecting Mikan and her family.

Ibuki: I kept her design very similar to her base design because she pretty much just looks like a student, and I don't want to change anyone's personality so there's no reason for her to not get highlights. But I gave her some more symmetry in this design and gave her a cute little semi ahoge I guess with a hair tie, bc she doesn't naturally have one.

Imposter/Gamemaster: Yeah I made the big brain choice to keep him with his colors as "Byakuya" because it made for a more striking visual, and more recognizeable as the impostor. Also I made him too tall because I wanted to give him big legs lol.

Hiyoko: Her four cats are named Heart (scraggly cat), Mr. Pearls (sleepy cat), Big Red (Giant cat), and BB (black cat) bc canonically the four dark devas are named after shonen manga, I named her cats after pokemon games, which she canonically likes playing. Also chickens are her favorite animal, despite her love of cats.

Kazuichi: Kazuichi's not a natural born prince, through shenanigans it turns out he's extremely distantly related to some royal line in a microstate north of germany called "Nordsumpf." Their main exports are cars and Kazuichi is still new to being a prince.

"Kyoko": She'd try her best to act like Kyoko, but she's a little too meek and openy affectionate to pull it off properly. Also her knockers are way bigger than Kyoko's, so there's an immediate discrepancy to the trained eye.

Also in my au of DR1, Kyoko is the ultimate affluent progeny and Makoto is author/serial killer.

Hajime: His hair is actually extremely long back there, he just keeps it tied up. On shows he lets it all out and a wears red contacts, his stage name is "Izuru."

Sonia: Sonia became a team manager because she was escaping an assasination attempt, strolled into a junior laegue soccer game, took over for the coach and started just barking orders and the team won. They were the worst team in the whole league and after that she just sorta stuck around them and won them the championships.

Gundham: Gundham was orginally meant to wear the japanese flag… but there was too much white in his design so I cut it. He has names for all of his gymnast moves and he announces them very loudly when he does any of them.

Peko: I tried to give Peko a unique sort of "zombie survivor" kinda vibe so while she's clearly a mechanic first she can also just fucking kill you by braining you with that monkey wrench. Most of the time she's cool though, she's just like horribly dependent on other people to tell her what to do, so she attaches to Kazuichi because he's the most immediately available authority figure.

Fuyuhiko: He's got that sort of machismo that makes him not like to admit he loves dancing, but the moment he's complimented on it he'll really appreciate it. Also he's still part of a crime family, but it's just not as strong as Mikan's.

Akane: She really looks sporty still, but don't worry she's definitely "lucky," she's just much more focused on the future than her bad luck in the moment… which can be very bad, actually, and can make her come across as kind of aloof.

Nekomaru: Why is nurse Nekomaru not as common a thing. Just think about it, it's perfect. Nekomaru here got inspired by the bravery and hard work of the nurses that treated him and boom he became a nurse, nobody tougher than healthcare professionals after all.

Mahiru: Mahiru as a nurse is honestly a really really really fun concept but I feel like I wasn't very ambitious here, and I can't really show it through the drawing but one of my early drafts had her look more like a european chef a la gordon ramsey bc I headcanon her as a scot.

Teruteru: Decided to give him a raincoat which my sister pointed out to me could also be a trenchcoat, which is just PERFECT for a creep like him. It just writes itself man, though seriously he's mostly a landscape photographer who specializes in pics of the countryside. Still a huge perv tho.

Usowa: Name is a combo of Usagi and Chowa, the word for Harmony. She's less like a chaotic force of nature like Monokuma and more a manipulative and hardline teacher who coaxes the students into doing awful things by playing into their insecuritoies with motives, and which then causes them to kill, allowing her to punish them, "weeding out the weak and undisciplined among their ranks." She replaces Monokuma.

Kyojuma: Name is a combo of Kyoju (professor) and Kuma. He's a pretty silly guy with an easy temper to poke at, but he's good at heart and tries his best to be a more sort of "fun" teacher than the rules lawyer Usami kinda was. He just wants to help his students, too bad Usowa showed up and decidedly does NOT like his approach.

[detectivesplotslies]

I've got smoke, I've got mirrors, what's next?

Saimatsu Week 2024 - Day 3: Swap / Seasons @saimatsu-week

Description: Ultimate Inventor Kaede Akamatsu wants to ask the Ultimate Magician Shuichi Saihara about a trick she saw! Word Count: 2,314 Read on AO3 here

“And then when the audience was looking over there, the magician opened the latch and folded the fake wall, halving the space and hiding it, right? I’m right aren’t I? I didn’t get to examine the box but from the angle I saw it, that’s gotta be how it works, but then I tried making one at home and one of the measures wouldn’t quite work, but I ended up making a pretty nice space saving cabinet and… Saihara-kun are you okay?”

Kaede tilted her head, ponytail bouncing a bit as she came out of her excited ramble and noticed the stiffness of the boy in front of her. His hands, which had been nervously fidgeting with the brim of his top hat before, had gone rigid. She leaned in and a bit lower to get a glimpse of his eyes under it, and saw they had widened in panic. As her face swam into his view, Shuichi backpedaled himself right into the desk behind them and fell to the ground, hat tumbling off and limbs askew.

After a brief moment of surprise, she straightened and hurried over to help him up.

“I’m… I’m fine, Akamatsu-san,” he mumbled as she yanked him back up to his feet. “I uh… I have to go.” He retrieved his hat from the floor, shoving it down low over his face and started towards the hall. Kaede blinked.

“Hold on! We were talking!” Well, she had been talking, but semantics. Kaede hurried after the quiet magician. She had approached him earlier after everyone introduced themselves for two reasons. One was because she loved magic tricks, working out how they were done was such fun as an inventor, and here he was, the Ultimate Magician himself! Finally someone with the answers to the ones she wasn’t quite sure of. Despite his headstart, Kaede found herself catching up and matching Shuichi’s pace quite easily. Glancing at him sidelong, she could see he was adjusting his bowtie and avoiding her eye.

“Where do you have to go?” She decided to change the subject and watched his face as they descended the stairs side by side, narrowly avoiding a collision with a certain grinning pianist as he slid down the banister and past them, calling out greetings for the ‘wizard’. She rolled her eyes, but caught Shuichi’s sigh as well. When they reached the ground floor, he stopped, and peered at her with one eye from under the hat brim.

“Uh, well… Akamatsu-san… it’s just… um…”

“Yes?” she prompted, smiling encouragingly.

He glanced down the hall, and following his eyes she spotted Rantaro and Kaito, apparently talking about places they’d both been, loudly. Her eyes darted back to Shuichi.

“Did you want to talk somewhere else? Somewhere more private?”

“P-private?” Even with the hat she could see his cheeks go red. Her own burned a bit as she realized how that sounded.

“Y-yeah, I haven’t seen my lab yet, and it just opened so maybe we can talk there!”

“Oh! Uh… Yeah okay, we can do that.”

Bolstered, Kaede took the lead, turning them towards the front door of the school. Shuichi hesitated only a moment, before following her tread. The tails of his coat fluttered as he sped up. With the promise of talk when they got there, their walk settled into a more comfortable silence as they stepped out the door into the caged sunlight. The bars around them were still troubling to see, but there were other things to think about for the time being.

It wasn’t long before they were down the steps and walking toward a brassy looking building with a bit of an old fashioned look off to the side of the path. The door had a neatly welded pattern on it of little cogs, much like her own hair clips. Thoughts of their prison were replaced briefly with a giddy excitement. “Oh I hope it’s like my workshop back home, I have been itching to work on something!”

She reached out to grab the door and pulled, but stopped, and turned to hold it, looking back at Shuichi with an expectant smile.

He stared, fidgeting with his cuff as he peered between the doorway and her. “Don’t you want to see it first..? There could be something p-personal…”

“It’s a workshop, right? I doubt it. Come on, I insist! Not like I’m going to slam the door and lock you in!” Kaede joked. Seeing his alarm, she quickly added, “I promise.”

Shuichi hesitated a moment longer, then rolled his shoulders and stepped in. She followed after, letting the door swing after her.

It was dim inside and hard to see, and that alone brought some disappointment. Maybe it was silly to get her hopes up for something provided by a bunch of robot bears, but an Ultimate Lab sounded like something she could really use right now. Looking up, trying to find a light switch, she walked right into the boy in front of her, who had paused to look down at something.

“Oop, sorry about that Saihara-kun, I-”

There was an audible click as he stumbled another step forward, and she fell silent. The click was followed by a winding sound, then a rhythmic ticking. She stared around the place, trying to spot the source. It sounded like a machine, maybe something like a clock or timer? Or with the winding, maybe a wheel? It sounded like it was somewhere up above them, but the ceiling was so dark there could be a whole canopy up there and she wouldn’t be any the wis-

Her wrist was suddenly yanked hard, and Kaede yelped in surprise as she tumbled down to join Shuichi, who was crouching on the floor since she last looked down. She gaped at him, about to barrage him with questions when a whoosh of air flew past their heads, his hat falling and her hair blowing with it. Her eyes darted up to see the comically large mallet swinging down like a pendulum for another pass on the way back. “Whoa!”

The two of them sat on the floor watching the ridiculous thing swing a few more times before settling. Finally, the clicking stopped, and one by one the lights around the lab blinked on, bringing a warm golden glow to the space. There were shelves of jars, boxes and baskets full of odds and ends, parts, toys. There was a work desk lined with tools to the side under the brightest lamp. There was a record player that came to life as the last light flicked on, a jaunty classical tune playing. And of course, all around the ceiling and the walls were strings and tracks for what seemed like the most elaborate trap. There were ball bearings set to fall on springs, a fishing reel with a loose string that looped around a book on a shelf, a bucket dangling from a chain that was definitely full to the brim from the telltale drip. It looked like a cross between a child’s idea of a toy shop and a hermit’s jury-rigged idea of security.

Her eyes finally went to the floor, and spied the trip wire Shuichi must have pushed into when she nudged him. Had he spotted it already and stopped for that? Cautious, she stood up and poked at the mallet, then laughed aloud.

Shuichi stared up in horror. When she glanced down to see he wasn’t getting up, she hurriedly pointed at the mallet. “It’s inflated, like a balloon! Full of air. Come on, poke it!” Kaede held out her hand to help him up for the second time now.

“It is?” Taking her hand, the magician got back to his feet. He reached out to poke it suspiciously, watching the given under his finger before it bounces back to shape. “Why was something like this even here?”

“If I had to guess… Maybe it’s for people who didn’t knock?”

“...What?” Shuichi’s eyes found Kaede’s for a moment, before looking away, suddenly conscious his hat was still on the floor. She giggled, then pointed to the wire on the floor.

“See, it’s connected here then goes all the way to the desk at the back. That’s probably where you set it, so that when you’re working you can stop someone from rushing in uninvited, or disarm it when there’s a knock! I actually made something similar for my room when I was younger, but instead of a giant hammer it dropped a blanket from the ceiling!”

“You.. Your ceiling??”

“Yeah! I caught my dad in it a few times when he was trying to tidy up my inventions! Sure, it was a little messy but as long as I knew where everything was did it really matter? But wow, Saihara-kun, you noticed where it was so fast! What tipped you off? Or as a magician have you trained to have amazing night vision so you can run around the stage when the lights go out?”

“N-no, my vision’s normal. I saw the wire so I knew something was coming.”

“But you knew where it was coming from,” Kaede countered, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head. “I could tell something was happening too, but you knew where. How?”

“...” Shuichi retrieved his hat from the floor, and glanced up. “...I heard the hinge and knew it was something swinging, and then felt next to us to see how high the f-furniture was.”

Kaede raised a brow and looked around. Sure enough next to them on the side the mallet swung front was a bench that came up to about her waist, right where Shuichi had pulled her down to. She carefully pushed the mallet and looked up at the ceiling and just as it reached the farther side she heard the hinge squeak. It wasn’t very loud, but they had both fallen silent when the clicking started, she had just been so focused on it. “That’s amazing that you noticed!”

“It isn’t that big a deal,” he answered, dusting himself off rapidly, and taking in the rest of the place.

“I think it’s really cool! That was like something in a spy movie, how you saved me!”

“But it wasn’t actually dangerous.”

“You thought it was, though, right?”

“...” The magician fell silent again, adjusting the brim of his hat.

The inventor huffed, but decided not to push it, walking further into the lab to marvel at all the materials. There were so many things in so many sizes. So much cool stuff she could make with these! She fished through a bin, checking some rubber tubing, a little bell, and even an old toaster before she noticed what had Shuichi's attention. She set her new treasures down and stepped over quietly to look at it as well, from behind him.

“...So, did you want to talk now? It’s just us,” Kaede prompted again, lightly.

“Well, the thing is, Akamatsu-san… Even if I wanted to, I can’t tell you how that trick worked.”

“Oh, it’s okay if you don’t know. But I figured the Ultimate Magician might!”

“No that’s… That’s not quite it. See, there’s a thing called The Magician’s Oath. I’m bound by my honour as a magician, and as my uncle’s apprentice.”

“An oath? Is it serious? What are the conditions?” Kaede asked. Then she realized. “Wait! Then you DO know how that trick works?”

“It’s not the point whether I do or not, it’s that even if I do, I can’t tell you.”

“That doesn’t seem fair, not even if I guess? What’s this oath anyways?” Kaede asks with a pout.

Shuichi sighed, and lowered his hand. He began to speak, or more likely, quote. “As a magician, I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician, unless that one swears to uphold the Oath in turn. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic.” He peered at her from under the edge of his hat. “When I became an apprentice I had to agree to that. It’s pretty simple.”

Kaede tilted her head, ponytail bobbing. “Yeah, it is pretty simple.” She cleared her throat. “As a magician, I promise never to-”

“H-hold on! What are you-?”

“I’m swearing the oath!”

“But you’re not a magician!”

“Well, yeah, but I have to swear the Magician’s Oath to become one right? Otherwise you can’t teach me anything!”

“You… What?”

Kaede beamed brightly. “I’ll become a magician! Then I can become your apprentice, and you can show me how to do the illusions, right? I bet having an assistant will make them easier to do here, you could even put on a show before we find your lab if I make the tricks”

“Why do you want to do magic? Aren’t you an inventor?”

“Why do you think I invent stuff, Saihara-kun?”

“...Um.”

Kaede sighed, but her smile remained. “I invent things so people get to see something new. And what’s more new than magic tricks? Sure, I can make lots of other stuff, but this will be new for me too, and that’s exciting! Please, let me be your assistant.”

“I’m still learning myself, I’m not sure I can teach the stuff you want to know…”

“That’s fine! I want to know everything so anything you know is fine!”

“..You’re sure?”

Kaede nodded, and took his hand. “I promise! Now repeat the oath with me, I’ve already forgotten the words!”

Shuichi’s cheeks reddened under the shadow of his hat, but his hand curled around hers after a moment and he gave a shaky nod. “O-okay.”

Together, they recited it. “As a magician, I promise never to reveal the secret…”

A new duo was invented that day in the lab.

[wingstobetorn]

Made a talentswap au

Notes

Ultimate Artist Kokichi makes his own clothes!

He is also very secretive about his sketchbook. There could be anything in there.

Maybeee I'll draw them later, but Shuichi and Himiko swap talents too

Ah. I'll think of more stuff later.

[dansconcepts]

Gamer!Kaede HCs (+ some other Talentswap AU things)

My girl Kaede is 1000%:

Always tired because she stays up playing games and is on the grind 24/7

Is a streamer as well as takes classes at Hope's Peak (She does touch grass)

She loves rhythm games and dating sims, and her least favourite are fighting games and horror games (but she's still pretty good at them, although horror games scare her)

She doesn't like Just Dance. She's TERRIBLE at dancing, but she finds it a fun game regardless and enjoys it more seeing her friends being silly (Kokichi's gonna break his ankles and "Miu please don't break the controller") or the real dancing pros while playing (i.e. Maki and her ballet or Tenko with breakdancing)

Sometimes people will come up to her saying they recognize her because of her streams

She often deals with "why do you take games so seriously" and she's very passionate about games being about fun and enjoyment, but also knows how doing well on a leaderboard can be a part of that

She's 100% a perfectionist, she wants the S rankings and to top frag/be the winner and to unlock the best endings

She's also quite competitive but she's not the boastful type (unless she's playing against Kokichi whenever she can convince him to, because HE is the boastful type and she wouldn't miss an opportunity to put him in his place)

In the past she's been asked by other people to be the "carry" and at first it flattered her until it just became her doing all the work while they went AFK or gave her their phone/console, which was heavily isolating and upsetting for her

In that sense, she dislikes people who completely rely on her rather than just play the game, which is why she doesn't play multiplayer games as often unless she's off-stream and on an alt

Also she's been teased for liking games and called a "Game Freak" bc she enjoyed them but as she grew up games became more mainstream. She's still self-conscious about bringing up her passion though

She's super upbeat but will make references from time to time that some people may not catch about gaming

She also thinks in gaming references (i.e. Tsumugi's like an NPC) and not overly familiar with being social (she's a little awkward, just kind and used to having a persona that presents as social- courtesy of streaming)

[t-posing-ibuki]

I really like the talentswap AUs, so I figured I'd throw my hat into the mix.