#this is probably one of the most interesting part of the training arc is kinda basically showing how all of those things that may seem fun

[demodraws0606]

I'm sorry but it is extremely funny to me that Nene5 basically goes "fuck the power of friendship when you got the grindset" and nobody is talking about it.

This is mostly a joke because ik that's not really what the event is about but like it is so funny to have Nene being told to "not have compassion" like DAMN.

[oodearest]

For a Shounen jump series I feel like World Trigger has flown completely under the radar of my focus for years.

I didn’t even realise it was a shounen jump series until I tried reading it after binging the show.

But it’s so good?? The plot makes sense. Osamu is probably one of the more normal shounen protagonists. Everyone is friends. Yet there is no power of friendship. There is no magic training arc to cure all their problems. It’s also kinda dark if you dwell on the threat of the neighbours. However the children are safe and not forced to live this lifestyle?? Honestly that’s the most shocking part to me. Lots of action series tend to overlook the toll fighting on the frontlines takes on the youth.

The world building is amazing! It’s so detailed and immersive. The concept of triggers and Trion is really cool.

Also I find it fascinating how the border agents are all so interconnected and chill with each other. It’s especially evident the higher the rank. I mean there are some abrasive personalities but no one is outright a bully.

The squads are also so interesting. I love their dynamics. You can tell these squads are formed organically and WANT to work with each other. Plus people come and go frequently. Some agents quit their team and form a new one and there’s no bad blood.

The rank wars are also so good! Especially in season 2 and 3.

[eternalera]

gonna be honest... this one has been spinning in my head for a while! so imma do an analysis of touya/dabi (I might switch between the two but its whatever) and just how much his arc makes sense for him and plays into his character. also his trauma and how it affected him. SO! with that being said this will kinda be ramblely and not very coherent but fuck it we ball.

also i have NOT read the manga so uh.... yeah-

(p.s this is REALLY LONG-)

so basically I'm gonna be going over about why it makes sense that touya is a villain and why he chose this path specifically over the one that most people would do, especially after his incident which would be go back to your family and talk it out or whatever. (which he didnt do because hes a totally EDGELORD- excuse me-).

One thing that's been essential about touya's character, from the very beginning (talking childhood) is that he always wanted his father's attention. From a young age touya was raised as practically an only child because lets be honest with him inheriting fire and with endeavors whole 'i want an ice quirk so i dont overheat stuff' he likely payed a lot more attention to touya rather than fuyumi.

touya took in this affection from a young age and seeing how apparently endeavor only got worse as the years went by the view that touya had of his father was likely in somewhat of a good light, glad to be receiving attention from someone in his life that he clearly looked up to at the time. although this did have side effects like his disrespect for his mother (which he also probably gained from being around his father so often).

remember that touya most likely gained a lot of attention from his father, that and his standards from a young age with no one to tell him 'hey this is wrong that hes doing this' as he didn't really care for his mother and her opinion because of guess who? his father. (this is where shoto and him differ as shoto clearly looked up to his mother, who was probably a lot more in his life than she was in touya's).

so the moment when its revealed that 'hey your quirk hurts you, dont use it' is the moment where everything shatters, not just for endeavor but for touya. imagine being told your whole life that you were gonna do something to make someone you looked up to so proud only to find out that you couldn't because of your bodies limits, something thats out of your control.

not only this, but touya likely would've been fine if endeavor had still shown some interest in him. but that wasn't the case. he moved on. touya already had these expectations built in his head that he's going to surpass All Might like his father wanted, so why isn't his father paying attention to him anymore? he probably figured out 'its because my quirk hurts me' so his response was 'its fine i'll push through the hurt and make him proud and show him that i can still do what he wants. so he'll have to pay attention to me again'

touya was so obviously raised on endeavors attention so when its ripped away all that remains in his is 'oh ive done something wrong, how can i fix it?' so once again he keeps training his quirk and hurting himself. not to mention that once again its clear how he looked up to his father

not to mention that he knew what endeavor wanted. he wanted an ice and fire quirk, so when endeavor kept having more and more children it was probably only worsening his dread and anxiety. 'what if this one had the quirk?' 'would dad still love me?' 'would he still look at me?'

he sees this as his father trying to get rid of him, as his father not having enough time for him in a way, which given how much attention he was raised on by his father, is absolutely devastating. SO- lets get to the main course shall we?

TOUYA'S BREAK DOWN!! PART ONE-

at this moment i cant remember the exactly what happened but its where basically endeavors like 'STOP WITH YOUR QUIRK DAMMIT' and touya cant understand that. because if he stops then endeavor will stop looking at him. to touya he has to disobey endeavor, thats the only way all of his attention doesnt go to shoto who clearly has the right quirk his father wants with his split hair because quirks or whatever-

(also fuyumi's face is hilarious in the second picture but moving on-)

in this scene he out right says 'look at me endeavor'. the kid who has been so basically pumped full of attention and praise has had enough of his father trying to constantly trying to seemingly get rid of him and throw him to the side. he wants his father's attention more than anything now, whether its endeavor yelling at him or praising him he just wants to be noticed by someone he's looked up to all of his life.

so he attacks shoto, no quite honestly i don't think that he was trying to kill shoto in this scene, as much as he was trying to scare endeavor/harm him. but thats just a personal opinion. so back to everything else i guess-

NOW- BREAK DOWN PART TWO!!!

in this he very excitedly tells endeavor to come to sekoto peak. endeavor wonders why and checks under the boys shirt only to find burns. and tried to tell him off but touya doesn't listen. he instead says that its really cool and that he might be able to get to shoto's level not only that but its also evident that what his father told him from a young age is still present in his mind as below he claims that he doesn't think that he'd lose to All Might, meaning even after when Endeavor's long thrown touya's training away forgetting about the boy ever being able to surpass All Might touya did not. most likely thinking about how this is his chance to impress his father.

now with these next few lines it reveals a few things, touya doesnt think that endeavors happy with him. he thinks that hes not glad that his own son exists and reasonable it makes him sad as he starts tearing up. but keep in mind, he looks up to endeavor at this point and if the person he looks up to isn't happy with his existence at this point than what the hell is he doing. now this is totally different from before as he just wanted attention, good or bad as he yknow... tried to hurt/kill his younger brother- this is him actively wanting attention. and likely... this is the most healthy he's been mentally for a while.

he went from. this person who i look up to expects something from me, to uh oh i upset them what am i doing wrong? to why arent they paying attention anymore? if theyre not then im gonna harm someone to make them look at me for once. But now his mindset is more 'okay well maybe im not trying hard enough, if i try harder than he'll like me more'

once again... probably his healthiest mindset, that and we see the excitement on his face about this new move or power or whatever. he's genuinely excited over this and the fact that his father just blows it off is gonna take a toll on him. as what did he do wrong again? well we know he did nothing but he doesn't know that. after all the person he looked up to must have a reason right?

he starts crying and with that everything burns. he can't control it and he ends up hurting himself in the process. covering his body in burns as he turns into basically what we see today.

but why didn't he go back? it would make sense right? well probably because of a few reasons.

how could he go back? what would they say? endeavor would be mad at him and plus he wanted to prove himself to his father on that peak. yet it seemed he only did the opposite

why didn't endeavor come? thats all he wanted, all he ever wanted so why didnt he? he no longer holds endeavor up to his high standard anymore, he's angry at him. and rightfully so

would they want him back? maybe natsuo would be there for him but what about the others? would they care for him?

of course the last one might be pushing it but you get the point. the second one probably affected him the most though and is why he became dabi, training his quirk so that he may surpass his father as a petty victory, trying to say 'i was right all along i can surpass you and all might and shoto'. its his last attempt at making his father look his way and he wants to do it right.

he wanted it to be something that his father couldnt just shove off hence the video and him taping it. one last time he wanted his father to look at him and be reminded of everything that had happened with him. and it worked, the todoroki's do go over what happened with touya and saw went went wrong, that being that they neglected him after building him up so high only to say that he was useless after all (its all endeavors doing but... whatever-).

so yeah those are basically my thoughts on it- might be slightly inaccurate but yknow what... this is getting long and i dont wanna type anymore :D

[mimpinightmare]

"SUPA STRIKAS DISCUSSIONS/ ANALYSIS/ HEADCANONS" INCOMING!!! (PART 2) [Oh yeah, This will become a series]

TOPIC: Diego's Potential Coming Back As A Recurring Antagonist In The Show (Discussions)

I feel like the Supa Strikas fandom will not remember who he is, SO HERE I AM, REMINDING YOU HIS EXISTENCE! >:D

When I was re-watching "Rookie Season", this guy (for some reason-) have always stand out to me, that ideas and potential character arcs for Diego has been overflowing in my brain for the past months- SO, HERE IS WHAT IDEAS AND ARCS I COME UP WITH FOR THIS GUY:

If Season 8 (or Rookie Season 2) ever come out, I've always feel like Diego should come back as an antagonist for Skarra and Shakes.

When the show introduced him, we were shown of him greeting Shakes and Skarra, (even knowing their names), despite both of them have no idea who Diego is. Then he introduce himself to them and reveals he knows them by RESEARCHING HIS COMPETITORS- This is, of course, not a "101 in how to write character motivation tropes" but, THAT RIGHT THERE IS SUCH A COMMON TROPE FOR VILLIANS TO DO- (like I said, this isn't a case for all characters who do this) This just show us that, Diego, is ABSOLUTELY READY for his opponents coming in his way.

There's are also moments where he'll do anything to win (or this case, to have the spot in Supa Strikas.) There's a scene where Diego is the last person to arrive to the Try-Outs and slickly, snitch on the Deadly Duo for checking out the Trophy Room. There's also a scene where in the "Training Test", he wasn't doing great in it that, the way for him to win, is to cheat his way, by sabotaging Shakes by holding down the weights.

And when he got eliminated, he (sarcastically) said he was honored to participate, then goes through a hissy fit that he didn't win, to the point, broke a window- THE MAN HAS GRUDGES AND AN EGO, PERFECT FOR A VILLIAN!

So, after all that, I thought if he DID COME BACK, he should join a super league team (that is not Invincible United or Supa Strikas). I suggest Bark FC. (I SWEAR IS "PROBABLY" NOT BECAUSE HE WEARS PURPLE-)

Now, I know people are probably disagreeing me for putting him in Barka FC (which is fine, we don't need to agree on everything) because Barka FC is well known to be clean and honest with it's tactics, and extremely friendly with other Super League Teams and Players, and pretty much that reputation is thanks to Riano. But, hear me out, THAT'S THE POINT! Diego is shown to be the very opposite of Barka FC is known for, snitching, cheating, being immature after he lose to something. There so much shenanigan interactions potential if he becomes a Barka FC player.

I imagine if he were a new rookie in the team, everyone in Barka would be really nice to him and welcome Diego (he is glad tho). But then, his true colors reveal, every time they lose, he'll go on a hissy fit and say nasty things towards the opponents (even to Teams playing and winning fair and square). Sometimes, he would snitch or accidently spread false rumors because he heard it somewhere, on other players (even his own team). HECK, in Rookie Season, he has really good social skills, so him being a two-face person in the team will make interesting interactions. He would be really friendly to his opponents first, then after Barka FC wins he would give such a handback compliments to them. Imagine Barka FC have to apologies every time Diego do something wrong. Pretty much his Team does not like him (but doesn't show it to Diego's face because, unlike him, their mature people). Actually, I wouldn't be surprise if the guy turn out to be one of the most disliked players in his Team, AND in the Super League-

I kinda headcanon Diego and Riano almost being the same age (Diego being 2 years young than Riano). So, the idea how these two interacting will be SUPER distressing and chaotic. Riano trying his best guiding Diego's way to becoming a "less" dislikable person. Teaching him how to be patient, how to not be a stuck-up, and so far, trying to be the best role model he could be to Diego. Unfortunately, Diego see this as an insult, for thinking there's something wrong with his character to be fix. Riano would be seen, being tired and giving annoyed expressions when dealing with Diego. (Also, I like the Idea, if this takes place after Season 7, Riano would call Shakes up, and let out all his troubles about Diego to Shakes. I also like the idea that, the entire Barka Fc Team would go to a bar or hangout somewhere Diego is out of sight, and cheer each other up after meddling with him-)

Also, had an idea that the Barka FC Players TRY THEIR DAMN HARDEST to convince the Barka FC Higher Ups to let go of Diego from their Team, since he's unbearable to work with and ruining Barka Fc's image. The Higher Ups decline because Diego has really great skills in football and is a great asset for the Team to win. (the players groan everyday, waking up knowing they have to babysit Diego-)

Now, one of his arcs I thought for him, is becoming an antagonist for Shakes and Skarra. I imagine, either in Season 8 or Rookie Season 2, a scene where Skarra and Shakes bump into each other and start their bickering rivalry. And then out of nowhere, Diego pops in, interrupting their rivalry, and give a speech about his motivations, revealing that he will get revenge on Skarra and Shakes for taking his place in the Try-Outs for Supa Strikas, and promise them living hell when they meet him. (I know it wouldn't make sense if Diego had a grudge on Skarra, because Shakes is the one who got in. But I feel like Skarra would still be on Diego's list because he was eliminated, before Skarra and Shakes.) (Also, I want more Skarra and Shakes interactions in the show-)

And after all the monologue speech from him, Skarra and Shakes just looks at him in confusion and asked, "Who are you?" "Do we know you?", like a call back to Rookie Season 1. Diego would be shocked, and upset of them for not remembering him at all- And explain who he is and introducing himself (again) to them. (They still don't remember-) This will give Diego more motivation to take revenge on them.

Shakes and Skarra would brush him off and leaves, underestimate Diego capabilities as a person. Then in the future, Skarra and Shakes would be in complicated situations together, have to solve it together, and will reveal, Diego is the one behind it (and they will take him down together). They will have to now knowledge Diego as a threat and (unfortunately for their sake) have to look out for one another.

I know, and i mean, I KNOW, some people in the Supa Strikas community, want for Shakes and Skarra to interact more and DESPRATE some continuation on their relationship getting better. SO WHY NOT DO THAT, IN A WAY, BY GIVING THEM BOTH, THE DEADLY DUO, A COMMON THREAT TO SOLVE??? DIEGO! :D AND ABSOLUTELY KNOW, somewhere, out there, if Season 8 were to happen, people want to see Skarra's Redemption Arc, so this is one of the way I can think of that would do it! After dealing with Diego sometimes, both of them will slowly open up and bond. Rivalry slowly turns into Friendship again. And Skarra, even though is hard for him, will tell Shakes how he feels. (Less sad and aggressive than in "Food for Thought S7E11" of course-)

I also like the idea of Diego, despite him, probably, have a grudge against Supa Strikas for not picking him, is STILL A FAN OF SUPA STRIKAS-

He would scoff of merely thinking and talking about them in one scene, but in the next one, he is impressed and spats out information about what makes Supa Strikas great. And then realizes what he's doing and nonchalantly says "I mean, their still a bad team tho..." or something similar to that.

It will be a running joke in some episodes, to the point, his Team DEFINITELY knows he still loves Supa Strikas, and a massive Nerd for them. (I even envision one of the players gifting Diego a Special Edition Supa Strikas Jersey and was super excited about it, but then he immediately snaps out of his fanboying-ness, and cuts to him saying "I-I mean, It's a fine Jersey...", but then continues of him saying something like, "Would be a shame if that gift will go to waste...", then takes the shirt in a speed of light, close the door, wears the jersey, and reveals his room is full of Supa Strikas merchandise-)

I know this is a dedicated post for Diego, But may I give some potential ideas for Raj :

Half of me is torn between 2 ideas:

1. Raj and Diego would be on the same team.

2. Raj would be in a different team, and he would join Sa Ming FC. (I've always wanted some Sa Ming screen time for so long, even though they never have dialogue and not important in the show, to the point, the creators unfortunately forgot they exist- So why not bring them back, with RAJ as a NEW ROOKIE?!?! Like COME ON, I absolutely love his design, I just wish in the future, if there if more Supa Strikas seasons coming, we will see him again) (Also need more Asian Representation in the Show, so Sa Ming FC, which represents Thailand, and Raj together, united, is the Asian Solidarity I must have and need!!!)

Shout out to @strika-archyvez for conforming Sa Mings FC's Origins being from and representing Thailand, in their post, under the comments!

There's also some cool facts about their lead player. :D You should totally read up about it here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by StrikaArchyvez (@strika_archyvez)

Here's some few ideas I thought for Diego's and Raj's Relationship with each other:

Raj would be the only one who tolerates Diego's behavior and would become "Side Friends" with him in the Super League. Raj would be Diego's moral compass (that Diego tries to ignore), and try to snap senses into him for what he's doing. Diego would think Raj is a nuisance, but secretly likes his company, since his team, nor other players, wouldn't want to hangout with him because of his behavior.

They would meet by random chance, and alot of chaotic shenanigans happens that Raj tries to stop it. I also like the idea Raj would bring Diego to go drink tea, or any beverages, in any shop, to make Diego avoid doing anything scheming for his own good. (Shakes and Skarra should thank him for that in those situations-)

I'm not sure to give him a Redemption Arc or make him stay as a villain. In one hand, I like the Idea he will get better by meeting good people in his life that confronts his behavior (by being BRUTALLY HONEST with him) and confronting Skarra and Shakes about his whole ordeal. But in the other hand, all his trickery and plans I made in my head, are kinda unredeemable for him, and I'm fine with the idea of this man living in the past and refusing to let go of the grudges that Skarra and Shakes wasn't even at fault for.

Either why, I'm fine with either of them. He's a character who has GREAT PONTENTIAL and hope the creators see that.

(This scene in "Trial And Terror, Rookie Season Episode 3" of him really confused me, like I really thought in a way he still controlling the train, but he didn't know it doesn't work, since everything is under control like Coach said, then have bunch of Blammo Bars after "controlling" the train. NOPE. He was eating Blammo Bars and his pain away because he's miserable he didn't get into Supa Strikas- )

BOY, THIS TOOK LONGGGG THAN I THOUGHT- I just want to share ideas of Potential villain Diego for a while now. Unfortunately, not a lot of content around him (don't blame the fandom, he's only a side character in one episode in Rookie Season-). So I guess, I'll be one of those people~

The only stuff I saw, that is remotely Diego content wise, is this lovely art by @matchanxious , where he's older and he's plays for Sultans FC. If this were to happened, I WOULD LOVE HIM TO INTREACT WITH ZOOM ZAHIR (NEED MORE CONTENT OF ZAHIR-) and Duvall too, I guess-

Would Imagine him being super dedicated towards Sheikh, like giving strategies, doing schemes for him with Duvall, and getting any chance to talk to him, but Sheik would get annoyed and try to avoid him- AGAIN DIEGO HAS SO MUCH PONTENTIAL!!!

There's also an old headcanon back in 2021 (I think???) I saw, from also @matchanxious , hers truly:

"Diego would be a Conservative"

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS HILARIOUS AND SOMEHOW, SO IN CHARCTER WITH DIEGO THAT I HAD TO SHARE IT- 😭

This is @matchanxious beautiful artwork of Diego! Please show her artwork some love!!! :

Again, we're at the end! Thank you for reading this if you reach it at the end! Very much appreciated!

And guess what? I actually will be working on 2 analysis post towards two characters from Supa Strikas, by suggestion! :D They will take a little while to do since, again.... COLLEGE! So be patience when I come back with those analysis. And probably more art and edits coming!

Thank you again for reading!!!

- MimpiNightmare

[poisonpercy]

I finally convinced myself to watch the 4th episode of the pjo show. Overall, it was probably the show’s strongest episode so far. That being said, I think it’s fair to say that I am not clicking with this show. I’m not saying the show isn’t good. It definitely has its moments, so it’s a fine show. But as a book to tv show adaptation of pjo, I don’t think it’s very good. I guess my expectations were way too high since I was promised that this is a true adaptation that has everything you would want in a pjo show, but seeing as I don’t feel that way, I can’t say that promise has been fulfilled.

The actors are great, but I find the writing and the overall direction of the show very dull. It’s just not something that keeps my attention personally. I have to convince myself to watch these episodes since they aren’t hitting that obsession that keeps you interested, and while watching, it’s very hard for me to stay watching because it’s just not pulling me in. Anyways, here’s some specific thoughts regarding this episode:

Like a lot of my mutuals, I am not too big of a fan of the flashback with Percy and Sally in the pool. Sally does not feel like the same character that she is in the books. She’s a lot kinder and more mindful of her actions in the books than she is in the show. I get what the flashback was trying to convey, but I honestly don’t think it worked. I remember that Sally had been described as someone who doesn’t raise her voice, and I feel like the writers have disregarded a lot of her prior characterization in the name of her being a #girlboss. To me it feels like they created a brand new character and slapped Sally Jackson’s name on them. “That’s not Sally Jackson! That’s an oc committing identity fraud” vibes

They are really shoving it down our throats that Percy does not like the gods. Which isn’t bad, but I feel like he still needs more time to grow into the resentment that he’s showing

Kinda weird that Annabeth was talking nice about her dad. And I’m more sympathetic towards her dad than most, but he still wasn’t great so giving him praise felt a little off. Not a huge fan of blaming only the stepmother. The misogyny is real

Sleepy, grouchy Grover was cute

The cameo of the centaurs leading into the conversation about Pan and searchers was nice. I wish the show talked about this being Grover’s last chance at getting his searchers license since that was a big part of his character arc in tlt, but idk if that’s ever going to happen

The cops on the train were awful. If this show got one thing right, it’s the fact that cops suck and don’t help

I felt like there was too much of Echidna in this episode. Idk, if you’re going to try to build up a monster, she’s not the one I would have picked

Going off of that, they definitely tried to build tension in this episode, unlike in previous episodes, but it just didn’t work. Like it was too obvious that she was supposed to be a monster without actually giving any tension for the viewers. It’s still very much telling and not showing which is a huge flaw of this show

I’m honestly not a fan of the arch being a temple of Athena. I guess it’s cool for world building, but it just feels too convenient. I did like that Annabeth was stating facts, but to me it felt less like her geeking out and more like her showing off the temple’s greatness

Grover and Annabeth splashing Percy in the fountain was funny but it would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce nectar and ambrosia since they have yet to be brought up

Bad parent Athena rep 🫡

Having Percy trick Annabeth to switch places with her was a nice nod to Percy’s loyalty

I felt like the whole scene at the arch was missing the chaos that was present in the book. Idk it just felt so dry to me

The fight between Percy and the chimera was so underwhelming. There was a lot more tension and chaos and moving parts in the book that the show just is refusing to show. Also, I’m getting tired of Percy being flung around. Let him build up some skill before Ares

The water grabbing Percy when he fell out of the arch was funny but I personally wouldn’t have done the scene that way

The underwater scene was lacking imo. I feel like a broken record by saying I liked it better in the books, but it’s true

Episode was way too short and the show’s pacing is way too fast

[moltensmusings]

Would love your headcannons/thoughts on how you'd do GMG differently if you have them! Sometimes with the later arcs they're so bad it's tricky to think how they could go better I feel because the fundamentals are flawed rather than just a few bits you can ignore. Does your version of Mavis still turn up and strategise? I kinda love that thought because I can see your version of Mavis running things like it's a battle even though its much less of a big deal 🤣

Ah this might be a long one. I do want to note, we're only on episode 171, but I do distinctly remember most of the arc since I liked it so much as a teenager (it does have some good moments in spite of my complaints.)

Gonna put it under the cut!

So first: I actually am torn about how I'd handle the existence of Mavis in the grand magic games. I kind of like the idea of her only appearing to Cana because (in my rewrite) she actually fully passes her magic to Cana on Tenrou leading to her spirit being tied to her directly. She can leave the island because she goes where her essence does.

That said I'm also really liking the idea of Hyper serious Mavis who is otherworldly and militaristic, being incredibly reactive and emotional due to her competitive spirit. Her swapping from being upright and poised to Sports coach in an instant as she wills the guild to win is so incredibly funny to me.

Next: in the lead into the grand magic games we do a training arc. Most focus would be on Lucy and team Natsu would seperate. I mentioned in an earlier post we should've had a mentor figure who is a celestial mage and this would be the arc where they get the most screentime. They'd have been introduced pretimeskip and them training lucy would've been set up as a "once you get back from tenrou we have things to discuss" bit. During this arc Lucy learns about the concept of star dresses (she isn't able to use them for a while), how different spirit combinations can produce new attacks, and also heavily focuses on strengthening how well she can maintain multiple summoned spirits. We could get glimpses of the other characters doing training of their own but part of this mini arc would be to set up anticipation for what everyone else learns in their time away.

Raven tail not being one of the competing guilds would open up the chance for us to have someone else take their place and remove the Lucy vs Flare fight, replacing it with a fair fight instead where we actually see how much Lucy has grown as a mage and build up a high of her winning before we have the Minerva fight where the cruelty of sabertooth is shown. Lucy gets at least 1 win. It would make the Minerva loss hit harder and honestly make Minerva work better as an antagonist in my opinion if we get relatively clean and fair matches up until she arrives. She never outright breaks rules so no one can penalize her, but she does make things hell for fairy tail.

I'd have the audience be less of a hive mind in reacting to what happens in the games. Add In a mix of jeers and cheers for various guilds. Have side characters from magnolia who still love the fairy tail guild be in the audience voicing their support. In general just add some variety to the reactions we get.

Overall I'd probably keep the general plot outline the same outside of this, however I'd make things less one note. None of this "all guilds only stand a chance because the tenrou crew wasn't there" nonsense. Each guild gets highlighted as a strong presence in its own right. Though I will admit, I'd swap out Jura for a different mage in Lamia Scale because them allowing a wizard saint to compete feels like a conflict of interest. He can still be there as a character to interact with, just not competing.

Similarly I'd remove Jellal as Mystogan because i was under the impression people knew mystogan was inactive and the choice to include him was only done to give Jellal more presence in the plot, when him running an almost espionage like mission during the games with Crime Sorciore works fine on its own. We don't need to tie his plot directly into the fairy tail guild, focus instead on how he plays off Ultear and Meledy and the mission they came for. This does mean Cana would be our team B main stay instead of swapping in.

I mentioned in my complaints that someone else should've gone through the time gate Lucy creates and and I stand by that. I think whoever makes it through stating that everyone is gone and Lucy gave her life for the chance of a redo would be way better than her dying randomly trying to protect Natsu. It would also just fit what I know of the lore far better.

I don't even know what to say about the fanservice fight because conceptually it could be a funny cut away moment, but also it's really grossly handled and purely done to cater to the viewers in a way that sours me on it. So I'm ignoring it.

I think my last major note (with my current memory) outside of "1v1 battles need to be better written" is I'd actually consistently show the streets of the city to be very celebratory and excited. I really did enjoy the drinking party where we saw Fairy tail meet Bacchus and just have fun. We need more of that as well as the general idea that during the games the city is constantly alive. It would make the eventual dragon appearances and shift from revelry to terror more poignant. It would also help lean into the idea that most viewers only see the games as a spectical with no real care for the wizards competing when we have guild members get hospitalized while parties still go on.

I do want to note: I may have more to say once we finish the arc. But for now this is it!

[ddarker-dreams]

Lock has finally fall down into the gojo rabbit hole!!! , i was also surprise that u also like geto too tho i dont blame you theirs a reason why hes much more popular with the ladies than gojo lol also im excited for the release of golden girl!!! another fanfic series to binge ever since nexus is already finished 😭😭 im so excited for mc's relationship with gojo and geto!!! and lets not forget her friendship with shoko and her mother and son relationship with megumi 🥹🥹🥹

i'm fighting for my life down here in the gojo rabbit hole ...... i cannot crawl out of this pit no matter how hard i try. he kicks me back down whenever i near the surface.

for the longest time, i didn't see the appeal in geto, but gojo's past arc changed my mind. it also made me think there was a lot more that could've been explored with his character? the :) protect the weak to 🐵🚫 pipeline felt sorta jarring. i could still follow it and his reasoning enough for it not to be immersion breaking, but the reality of non-sorcerers being the only catalysts for curses to exist feels like such an interesting concept...

MCs relationships with the different characters is probably my favorite part of the fic, especially in her late 20s era. the students see how close gojo and MC are just kinda. squint. they ask megumi how this came to be like he isn't as equally perplexed over it as they are. MC is the type you easily gravitate to, whereas most deliberately go out of their way to avoid gojo.

some tidbits on MC's relationship with other members of the cast:

nanami thought she was annoying when they first met, but soon learned that surprisingly, she's one of the more reliable upperclassmen. later on when they're adults, he admits he declined most of her offers to hang out because he knew gojo would be in the vicinity.

her and shoko had matching my melody and kuromi keychains for their phones during their high school years.

megumi barely talked to/acknowledged her existence when they first met. similar to nanami, he found her upbeat nature annoying GJSKLDF it wasn't until she was sent on a three week long job that he realized maybe she isn't so bad. at least she makes tasty food and gets along well with tsumiki. he considers MC a decent enough role model in everything except her romantic life.

she gets along with maki surprisingly well. out of all the big three sorcerer families, the zenins are the only ones MC actively dislikes. her cursed technique is useful when it comes to training others, so they often spar together.

[rengokus-blazing-blog]

Before He Left

A Rengoku X Female Reader Fanfic

Summary:

After going on a mission together, Rengoku accidentally leaves a mark on your neck. The mark is a curse and you have one year to break it or you will die. After some time, Rengoku and you start to develop feelings for each other and this only makes things more difficult.

Slow burn. Eventual Smut.

Warnings: Mentions of torture, sex work, self harm, demons eating humans, etc.

Chapter 1 word count: 18K

Read More on >>> AO3 <<<

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ARC 1: THE DEMON OF THE 100 FACES

Nighttime is frightening. When the sun sets and the light is no longer visible. The time when demons go where they please and cause havoc.

It's such a daunting moment but there is still beauty hiding, waiting to be appreciated by those blessed with kind hearts.

Still, it's strange for you to be traveling at this time of night. With a young man around your age. He is probably 18 or 19. Blond, spiky hair with red tips. Big eyes, ones that never look tired. You couldn't tell what he is thinking. He isn't smiling which is strange for you. You've heard that he is known for his cheerful personality. Although he is not like this right now, you don't feel intimidated or scared. More than that he seems concentrated on whatever he is thinking.

Kyojuro Rengoku. At his short age, he is on his way to becoming a Hashira. Everyone says that this is his last mission before he is officially promoted.

"Is there a specific reason why you chose me as your companion for this mission?" You broke the silence. "I am not a very talented Demon Slayer."

The train is quite lively even when the moon is already up. Children laughing, friends chattering about their lovers, and some are eating food. You are tired but not the kind of tired that makes you sleepy. More tired of sitting for hours and doing nothing.

"Tomioka told me that you were from the Red Light District. And I've never been there, so your knowledge in the area will surely come in handy!" Rengoku has a strong voice, filled with enthusiasm. "Don't worry, if anything happens I'll be there to protect you."

"I said I lack talented but not useless, I can take care of myself," you say as you look out the window. " ... Did he tell you anything else?"

You and Tomioka knew each other since a few years back while on a mission. How the two of you met, is an interesting story but that should be told at another time. Nonetheless, you hope he didn't share any unnecessary information.

"Of course not! You know he is a very quiet person!" Rengoku says as he doesn't stop looking at you. Now it's kinda uncomfortable. "But hey! I would never judge anyone based on where they are from."

"It's easy for you to say when you come from a respectable family."

"Well, what you say might have some truth but believe me! Even if you were born from a prostitute, I wouldn't-"

"When we get there," you interrupt him. As you make eye contact with him. This time he smiles. You feel a little bit guilty for treating him with coldness but you didn't want anyone meddling with your past. "Just don't go around asking about me. Or I'll leave you to handle things by yourself."

"Sounds good to me!"

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Entertainment District or 'Red Light District' as most people know it, is a place where people came to fulfill their pleasures. In the daytime, it was a calm city, where restaurants and shops are open. At night, other types of activities were allowed.

"According to the reports, this demon attacks mostly women. Eating just a few parts of their bodies. The eyes, lips, nose, ears ... Only one thing is eaten. It's strange since demons tend to eat more to get stronger-"

"I am hungry!"

It's like he wasn't listening to you. Either that or he had already read the report and doesn't need a reminder.

Rengoku looks from side to side and goes inside the first shop he sees. It was a tea house. You just let him have it as soon as he enters, you hear the screaming of embarrassed girls. Rengoku quickly gets out and bows apologetically.

"My apologies, I thought they would be open by now," Rengoku scratches his head. He looks like a puppy and sometimes it made you wonder how he came this far with that soft personality.

"If you want to spend time with an Oiran, you are going to have to wait until night. Most of them work after the moon is up" You pat Rengoku on the shoulder as means for him to follow you. "Let's get a place to rest first and then eat ... most of our work will be done during the night."

"Alright, I like your plan! Let's get some tasty food!"

You take him to a familiar place. After years, there hasn't been much change except for a few new businesses. It's a nice place but not too expensive either. But you wonder if a place like this was worth it for someone like Rengoku who is probably used to fancier places.

"We can only give you two nights maximum here. We usually only rent rooms for one night. If you need a longer stay, I recommend going to a tea house for accommodations."

The receptionist is right. Hotels, especially in the Red Light District, are used for a night or only a few hours. But getting a room in a tea house would be too expensive. Not only is paying for a room but for three meals a day, the service, and cleaning fees.

"Oh please, don't be like that! We will pay you double!" Rengoku smiles brightly and the heart of the receptionist is moved.

"We?" You look at Rengoku with a surprised look on your face.

"And we will rent two rooms for three weeks!"

"Mr. Rengoku that's a lot of money and I can't afford that-"

"Who said I was letting you pay?"

His tone of voice is more serious and you feel his eyes heavy on you. His smile disappears and that seems more of a statement than a question. You stay quiet and let him handle the rest.

"As much as I would like to accept we only have one room available," the receptionist has a shaky voice. Her heart races as Rengoku keeps smiling at her.

"Well, that is a problem. I don't think it will proper for an unmarried lady to share a room with a man-"

"We'll take it," you interrupt Rengoku, his mouth wide open as he looks at you. "And he'll pay."

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On the outside, Rengoku pretends to be calm. But the truth is that he is never been alone in a room with a woman. He is sitting on the tatami floor, his sword laying on the right side, looking at you.

You untied your long hair and let it flow down to your waist. Feeling relaxed now that it moves freely. Having long hair can be a hassle sometimes, especially when fighting demons. But it's nothing that a hair tie can't fix.

"Are you sure about this? I don't mind sleeping in the hallway," Rengoku tries to hide his embarrassment by being confident and he is doing a good job at it. "It's not proper for a young lady to share a room with an unmarried man-"

"I wasn't aware that you were one to be worried about etiquette. But I guess someone with your prestige would be worried about being seen with someone of the lower class," you start taking off your black vest, leaving just the white long-sleeve and black pants. "Let's rest and investigate as soon as the sun starts to set. I'll take you to the places where the murders have been happening and some popular tea houses. They should know more about the victims."

"It's nothing like that! I thought you would feel more comfortable not having to share a room with a man. But if you don't care, then I'll be delighted to sleep by your side."

Although you don't know much about Rengoku, you know that he is a trustworthy man. He has a good reputation and he has shown that he is a gentleman.

You go under the bedsheets and cover your body. Planning to sleep a little and maybe take a bath later, you close your eyes. You expect Rengoku to get in bed at any second as well but there is silence. Not a single sound. You open your eyes out of curiosity and see Rengoku in the corner of the room, sitting with his katana on his left side. His eyes are closed but you doubt he is sleeping.

You let him have his way.

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"Mr. Yamada was a regular client of our Yuki, he came often to request her services. All of us thought that Mr. Yamada was in love with her."

Its night time and you took Rengoku to Kimura's Tea House. One of their geisha was murdered recently so you thought that investigating here first would be the best option.

"To think he would go crazy and kill her. We would have never thought ..."

You were allowed to have a few conversations with people in the tea house. Yuki's friends, colleagues, apprentices, and servers. You didn't discover anything new from what the reports already said.

"Mr. Yamada would often gift her rings, this might be a bit strange but he had a fascination with her hands."

That's interesting. The reports say that the demon only ate Yuki's hands.

"Oi! You can't go in there without paying!" Mrs. Kimura, an older lady comes out of a room, pushing Rengoku out of it. He laughs and has a silly smile. Now it bothers you. You appreciate that he is optimistic but so much optimism is overwhelming.

"But the ladies were the ones who invited me inside!"

Rengoku is not lying. After getting out of the room, five young women came out of it. Giggling and talking to themselves, blushing as they look at the flame demon slayer.

"Get out! Now!"

And just like that you were kicked out of the tea house. The streets are full with people walking, too many loud sounds and Rengoku is just laughing things off. One of the things you hate the most is wasting time ... and people who don't take things seriously.

"Could you at least act like you care?" you raise your voice at him. "You are just wasting time."

"Don't worry too much! I promise you that as soon as I see that demon I'll slay its neck!" Rengoku never loses that smile. Whether that's something to admire or detest, is debatable. But now you are opting for the second option.

"Then I don't even know why you brought me with you if you can just easily slay a demon," you began to walk around. Going to the next destination to continue with the investigation.

"My apologies, it's not my intention to waste your time," Rengoku follows closely, you can hear his steps behind you. "Nor do I want to carry you around either."

"Carry me around? Without me, you would end up in some low-class brothel, laying around with some girls instead of doing your job," you are offended by his words. "Seriously, how did you get so far with such an unpreoccupied personality-"

"AAHH!"

It's a slight scream coming from afar but you two were able to hear it. You didn't hesitate and ran towards where you heard the scream. It's a painful one, filled with fear and resentment.

You recognized the area immediately. It's the low-class section of the Red Light District. The place where men with little money came to satisfy their needs. A cruel and sad place, where the less fortunate live.

But as uncomfortable as this place made you feel, there is no time for that. Rengoku and you got there in time as a young lady is fighting for her life.

There is a black figure standing in front of her. Completely dark, like a shadow. There is no doubt that is a demon. You stand in front of the young girl, her protection comes first. You also wanted to study the demon. It had no weapons, the completely dark figure left nothing to figure out. It's not wearing any clothes. It doesn't have any hair. It's completely dark, with a strange human body.

"Nose, nose, nose, nose."

The demon speaks in a soft, raspy voice. Repeating the same word.

"Nose, nose, nose, nose."

Then something clicks. A stupid theory but it may be worth investigating.

But Rengoku had different plans as he rushes towards the demon.

"Wait! Mr. Rengoku!"

And he slashes the neck of the demon.

"No! Takahashi!"

The young girl screams as she stretches her hand but you stop her from getting closer to the body. It didn't disappear, instead, the darkness of the body is gone. It went away, like a snake crawling on the ground, fast like the wind. Leaving nothing but the body of a young man whose head is decapitated.

It is no demon.

But a man possessed by one. Blood Art Magic perhaps.

"You killed him! You killed Takahashi!" the young woman points at Rengoku whose face no longer showed any optimism but horror.

He had never killed a person before. He failed. He failed to protect what he swore to protect. For a moment he feels like passing out and all he could hear were the screams of the young girl.

"Murderer! You killed him!" she screams again. "You killed him!"

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Rengoku opens his eyes. Confused as to why he is in the hotel room. It feels like a fever dream. He wishes that maybe what happened was a bad dream but the blood on his uniform tells him otherwise.

He looks to the side and finds a tray of delicious food. At first, he wouldn't have hesitated to eat it in an instant. But he doesn't feel hungry.

"I am glad you are awake."

Rengoku hears your voice and sees you in the corner of the room. There is so much he wants to say but no words would come out of his mouth.

"I'll prefer for you to stay here. I'll take care of the rest," you look at him, waiting for some time of response but nothing. Instead, Rengoku looks outside the window. He notices it that its morning already. He had slept the entire night. Probably fainted and you had to carry him.

"About what happened-"

"You were right," Rengoku finally speaks. "I was careless and because of that I killed someone innocent."

You didn't know how to respond. Nor what to do to make him feel better.

There is a certain sadness in his face. Nothing is left of that happy genuine smile of his and for a moment you wish you could go back in time and see that smile again.

"There will always be casualties and you did not do it on purpose. You can stay here and lament your mistakes but the longer you do that, the more people will die," you didn't know if you were being harsh or not. But anything is better than lying. "I'll get going and keep investigating. I suggest you rest and whenever you are ready, go back to investigating as well. I'll go back to the low-class section ... Don't even think of going there."

You were about to leave but Rengoku speaks again.

"Have you ever ... killed a person?"

You don't look at him. Your back is facing him and he could only read the 'Destroy' symbol of your uniform.

"Yes," you respond.

"Was it an accident?" he asks again.

"No."

And you leave the room.

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It looks the same to you. The poor begging for money, the young girls in the streets covered in mere drags, trying to lure men into their homes in exchange for a few coins. Brothels were formed mostly of small girls who were sold by their parents. Maybe Giyu is right. You can't escape your past forever.

You try to look for the girl from last night. After what happened she kept screaming and told you both to leave. Rengoku had fainted and as much as you didn't want to leave him alone, you had to.

Walking uphill, you go to the place where the less fortunate can bury their loved ones. Not like you were ever blessed to love someone, rather you accompanied many to this place.

It's not beautiful but it's vast dry land. You see her there, putting soil on a hole where you assumed her lover's body rested.

You walk slowly towards her, not exactly knowing how to approach the situation. Her back is facing you and you were aware that your footsteps were loud enough for her to hear.

"I think I said I didn't want to see you. Especially the other demon slayer," the lady's voice is monotone, lacking any kind of feelings. "Leave."

"I apologize for my partner's rushed decision. He is ashamed of himself and deeply reprimands his actions," You did not know how to express better. You lacked tact, your words feel empty. Even though it is the complete opposite. "Please accept our apologies."

You bow your head so low that your forehead touches the floor. You wait for a few seconds to wait for her to tell you to stop. You weren't planning to stop bowing otherwise.

"He was a good man. He probably wanted to die before ever harming me," her words surprised you as you feel a pat on your head. You sit straight, next to the young lady. "You did him a favor. People who have been possessed by that demon tend to not be the same. Just like that man who killed that geisha."

Reports state that Mr. Yamada has been in a state of delirium after eating the hands of the geisha Yuki. In the state of a dream, unbreakable. Useless.

"When did you two meet?" You asked, thinking the hard questions should be left for later.

"Two years ago. He worked on a farm as a slave. His master was kind to him and would buy her girls to pleasure him. I was one of them," she says as you helped her put more soil into the grave. Your hands are getting dirty but you didn't care. "But we fell in love and since then I have been the only woman in his life."

"Did he care that you were a prostitute of the lower class?"

"No ... He was saving enough money to buy me from the brothel. He was going to free me," her voice starts to tremble. Finally, there is some emotion. "Now ... the light of my eyes is gone."

You close your eyes and remember those times. The desperation, the hate, the pain. It's overwhelming. The anxiety of knowing that there are things in your past you haven't forgotten. These things come back around and now you have to face them.

"What is your name?" you ask as you stand up. She doesn't answer but looks at you. "Which brothel do you belong to?"

"Nanami," she says softly. "I belong to Ueda brothel."

It even seems like it was meant to be.

"Very well then," you clean your uniform with small pats. Getting rid of the dirt on your pants and black vest. "One last question ...."

Nanami's tears disappear as she looks at you. Your change in personality surprised her.

"Yes?"

"...Did Mr. Takahashi ever tell you you had a pretty nose?"

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Rengoku keeps drinking. The fact that he hates sake only suits the guilt in his heart. He should be working, trying to investigate or find more things about the demon. But his heart feels heavy and he doesn't know how to ease the pain.

Should he go and beg for forgiveness? Or would that be too insolent of him? And if were to do that ... would that make him feel better? Was he even worthy of feeling like that?

"Takuto just went crazy the other day and ate his girl's legs!"

At the bar, a man is sitting next to Rengoku. Bald, chubby, and somewhat short. Also with a drink in hand, he decides to listen for now, even when it's rude to eavesdrop.

"Poor guy was thrown into jail and waiting for trial but many say that he is been trying to commit suicide," the man says. "He is in the local Red Light District jail ... I should try and visit him before he is transferred to Kyoto."

Rengoku thought that maybe he should also visit this individual.

With a bottle of sake in his hand, he wanders around. It's hard to get by and Rengoku wished you were with him. He had thought of looking for you but if he gets lost that would only add to your burden. The last thing he wants is to give you trouble. 

After entering a few wrong places and asking around, finally he reaches his places of destination. It's isolated, a bit far away from the rest of the entertainment district.

The guards let him in, knowing that if anyone is capable to handle their dangerous prisoners, is him. A soon to become Hashira.

Rengoku sits on the floor, there is a jail cell in front of him. A man, with short brown hair, not taller than him. He sits in front of him. There is no essence of life in his eyes.

The demon slayer pulls out the bottle of sake he had before and two small cups. He servers a little to the guy and puts the cup in front of him. He doesn't take it but just stares at it. At nothing.

"I wish to not waste your time-"

"Legs, legs, legs, legs."

The man whispers to himself. Repeating the same words at the same rhythm.

"I would like to know more about what happened-"

"Legs, legs, legs, legs."

Rengoku keeps getting interrupted but that doesn't discourage him.

"Legs, legs, legs, legs,"

"How did you know Ms. Sanae?"

He stops talking as if hearing the name of the lady he killed brought him back to reality. Rengoku waits a few seconds and sees that the young man now is looking at him. In this dark room, the only thing Rengoku could see are the flames from the torches in the walls.

"Sanae was the most beautiful person I have ever met. She was a geisha and I was a simple businessman," Takuto says in a very gentle voice. "We loved each other but and we wanted to get married ... but a geisha belongs to their tea house."

He doesn't touch his drink but stares at Rengoku with his lifeless eyes.

"We planned to the runway and we decided on a date ... and when the day came," there is a small pause. "I don't remember much. Just that I was covered in blood and Sanae did not have legs."

"Reports say that you only ate her legs ... Do you have any idea why?"

It's a long silence. There are no sounds but the wind going through the cold walls.

"Have you ever killed someone?" Takuto asks. Out of nowhere, this took Rengoku by surprise. He feels a shiver run down his spine and he doesn't know if he should answer with honesty. "Have you felt the warm blood of a person run down your hands? How warm it is?"

Rengoku stays silent. He has no words nor proper answers to his questions.

"Sanae was so beautiful, such beautiful face and skin, such beautiful legs," Takuto seems to be going back to his previous delirious state. "Legs ... Legs, legs, legs ... legs, legs ..."

Rengoku looks at Takuto's eyes, he has seen those eyes before. On his father, the moment his mother passed away. When the light of his eyes left him forever.

"Please ... kill me," Takuto had tears in his eyes and his body trembles as if he is resisting a higher being. "Kill me."

Rengoku bows and looks up at the young man.

"I promise to avenge the death of your lover," Rengoku says. "I'll slay that demon, no matter what it takes."

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He keeps drinking at the bar. He just needs to finish this bottle and he will go back to the hotel. If he remembers where it is.

He is overwhelmed with so many feelings. Of the fact that he killed someone. A mistake. Because of his choice.

He wanted to finish this mission as quickly as possible so he could become a Hashira and tell his father. That way he could be proud of him.

But his rash decision was a mistake and he couldn't brush that off easily.

"Of all places ... Of all places, you decide to come to a cheap bar to drown your sorrows. Couldn't you have gone to a fancy tea house?"

He feels someone touch his arm. A young lady with long hair, messy. A few hair strings laying in front of her face.

"And you are?"

Rengoku did not recognize you. Either because he is drunk or because he is not used to seeing you like this. You were still wearing your uniform but your hair was a mess from earlier. Not wanting to give explanations, you just sigh and hold onto his arm.

"You need to rest. Let's go back to the hotel-"

"Oi, young lady! How much?" A man says. "Come with me, I'll show you a good time."

You feel an arm wrap around your shoulders. You look up to the man who is equally as drunk as Rengoku. You could easily get rid of him but you didn't want any unnecessary quarrels.

"No. Go away," you push him off and grab Rengoku's hands. "Come on let's go-"

"I'll pay you well! Let's go," the man insisted and before you could push him away, someone rushed in.

Rengoku punches the man, throwing him to the other side of the room. Leaving everyone in shock and staring at you two.

"She said no," Rengoku says.

This is the first time you see a different aura in Rengoku. His eyes are darker, there is a vein showing on his forehead that is usually not there. He stands in front of you, protectively. You can't help but feel a little bit of heat going down your cheeks.

You quickly snapped and once again grabbed Rengoku by his hand. You run away with him. By experience, you know that it's better to not stay at bars once someone has become violent. Fights usually happen after that.

Running through the streets of the Red Light District gave you deja vu. Of younger years, of the sounds of wooden sandals against the ground. Of people staring.

You get to the hotel and rush through the lobby and reception. Getting to your room, you almost pushed Rengoku inside and you close the door.

Your breathing is agitated and you look at Rengoku who is sitting straight and calmly in the bed.

"Young lady, I have to cordially decline this invitation. I am honored but I don't think I am fit to please a lady," Rengoku bows again in an apologetic manner. "However, if you feel unsafe to go outside, please feel welcome to sleep here. I'll take care of you."

"Mr. Rengoku, I think you have drank way too much-"

"No, I'll protect you," Rengoku moves his head from side to side and then quickly fell to the bed. He murmurs to himself as he rolls in the bedsheets. "I promise."

You signed at the sight. Even when he is like this, he is kinda adorable.

It's a long night and you want to sleep. You lay on top of the bedsheets, next to Rengoku. His eyes are closed and you take a few seconds to appreciate his face. He has very unique features. Nice lips, a long straight nose. Predominantly eyebrows, and hair that resembles the scales of dragons.

"Listen Rengoku ... By the time you wake up, I won't be here. You are going to have to continue this mission by yourself. Alright?" You were aware that maybe he won't remember this. And you were talking more to yourself than to him. You made a mental note to tell the receptionist to Rengoku about your absence. "I have to fix some things first."

"Will you come back when you are done?"

"Uh?"

"I can wait for you," Rengoku says, his eyes still closed. "I'll wait for you."

His kind words feel genuine. His soft voice makes it hard for you to not feel something in your heart.

You decide to keep talking to him. You want to indulge him as well as to enjoy his company for a little longer.

"You will be waiting a long time. Time is important, don't waste it on someone like me," you respond.

"You are important too."

"Me, important? You don't know what you are saying," you remember how uncomfortable it was a few days ago on the train. Now, is still uncomfortable but not so much. It's like you were talking to a normal person and not Rengoku Kyojuro, the demon slayer soon to be a Hashira. "I am just someone you met a few days ago."

"It took my father a few hours to realize my mother was important to him," Rengoku murmurs and breathes deeply. "They married each other a month later ... I knew you were important the moment you held my hand at the bar."

Rengoku can say the sweetest of things even when he doesn't mean to. You didn't want to believe too much in words because you know that is probably the alcohol speaking.

"You just don't realize who I am because my hair is a long mess and you are drunk," you say, feeling strange since this is the longest conversation you've had with Rengoku. "I should really cut this off."

"No ... Don't cut it."

Rengoku's voice is more demanding. He is not asking you or suggesting. He is ordering you not to.

You got curious. You could ask 100 questions and you feel like he will answer all of them without hesitation. You were not one to intrude but so little is known of the soon-to-become- Hashira and his past that you can't help but wonder the kind of man he is.

"Mr. Rengoku ... Is your father or mother like you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like always so ... energetic?"

He lets out a small laugh, his eyes closed. Rengoku speaks well for being drunk. But he murmurs some words, some loud others much quieter.

"My mother passed away when I was young ... My dad is angry all the time since then," there is no hate in Rengoku's voice rather understanding. "I have to become a Hashira ... So he can be proud of me. So he can love me."

The only light in the room is coming from the moonlight. It reflects beautifully on Rengoku's face. A shade of blues and whites, his long eyelashes look delicate and you get the urge to touch them. But you restrain yourself from doing so.

"You don't need love ... Love doesn't exist."

"It does ... If it wouldn't ... Then why was my father devastated after my mother died?" his voice became quieter and quieter. You know he is close to falling asleep completely. "If it wasn't because he loved her?"

"Then ... Do you want to become like that?" your voice becomes more aggressive. Not because you were angry but because his naivety bothers you a bit. "Do you want to be miserable if you were to lose a loved one?"

"With my role in the Demon Slayer Corps ... I can't allow myself to feel such emotions," although he keeps his energetic voice, you can tell that there is disappointment in his tone. "Besides, it's not like anyone would love a failure like me."

"You just proved my point then," you say. You didn't think Rengoku is a failure. It's the absolute opposite but your pride in winning the conversation is stronger. "Love doesn't exist for the less fortunate. For those who are insignificant. For the ones who are a failure ... Who could ever love that kind of people?"

There is a few seconds of silence. Finally, Rengoku turns and you can now only see his back.

"I guess ... You are right."

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When he woke up you were not there. Instead, there is nothing just a headache and an empty tummy.

The sunlight feels heavy in his eyes but as he opens it, Rengoku sees there is nothing on your side of the bed. All your belongings were no longer there and he feels a little bit scared. He wonders if you are alright but he doesn't want to panic just yet. After cleaning himself up, he decides to finish his job. He can blame himself later, and receive punishment for his mistake. But he made a promise and he plans to keep it.

Taking soft steps, he smiles at the receptionist who also smiled at him. She didn't take long before talking to him.

"The lady who came with you last night told me to tell you that she won't longer accompany you on your mission," she says. The receptionist of the tea house is an older lady, old enough to have grey hair. "She said she has unfinished business elsewhere and has to make amends."

Feeling uneasy because of your sudden change of action, Rengoku looks at the receptionist for more answers.

"She sends her apologies."

"Thank you for the message," Rengoku says and before he could leave, the receptionist stops him.

"I don't want to intrude but ... The first time you two came, I did not recognize the young lady. She had changed so much," she speaks in a slow voice, the words coming out softly. "But yesterday, when I saw her with that messy hair of hers ... I recognized her."

Rengoku tilts his head.

"My apologies sir but we don't allow runaway girls in our establishments. Much less from the lower class."

Her words did not make much sense to Rengoku and curiosity got the best of him.

"I am sorry but I lack understanding," he says. "Can you explain further?"

"That young woman belongs to the Ueda brothel," the receptionist then points at Rengoku and he feels exposed. "A respectable man like you shouldn't be involved with someone like her ... Please redeem yourself and spend some time with an Oiran. The other men will surely be impressed by that."

He doesn't know where to start dissecting that information. Instead, he just shakes his head and smiles at the receptionist.

"I thank you for your kind advice."

He leaves.

Rengoku walks through the streets of the Red Light District. Hoping that maybe he can see you somewhere. He doesn't feel content with the way he has treated you. He is the one with more experience and should be your guide. Instead, it was the opposite. Leaving you alone when a demon is out there. Not like you couldn't take care of yourself but one small mistake can cost your life.

He knows he shouldn't. But he is worried and is daytime.

So he goes to the low-class section of the district.

The demon slayer doesn't know how to feel about the number of women offering their bodies to him. He gently declines them and he is mostly certain that they were not doing this because they wanted to. They look miserable, like slaves. And they were.

Even though today is a sunny day, there is a dark atmosphere in the whole area. There is no music, no laughs, no chatter. Just the sounds of the cicadas and the dry wind.

After asking around for a while, he reaches his destination. The Ueda brothel. It doesn't look any different from the others. There isn't anything particularly interesting about this place.

He goes inside and is worse than he expected. There is a group of girls cramped in one room. Most of them look unhealthy, pale and almost to the bone. They seem too weak to even stand.

"We are not open until the sun sets, we can give you a girl only if you pay double-"

An older lady appears from another room. She has wrinkles on her face. Her black hair was in a bun and wore a purple kimono. The lady takes a long look at Rengoku and from speaking informally, she softly changes to a formal tone.

"Are you by any chance ... Related to the Rengoku family?"

"Oh, how can you tell?"

"Well, the Rengoku family has very unique features."

That is true. Not everyone has red eyes and blond spiky hair with red tips. Looking like a living flame.

"I came here to request an audience with the owner of this place," Rengoku knows he is crossing his boundaries. You had asked him not to investigate your past. But there is something that doesn't feel right with him.

"I came to ask about someone who worked here ... I think."

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.

.

"(Y/N) was sold by her parents to this brothel when she was six. She always gave me trouble ... Always bringing little money to the brothel."

Rengoku was offered green tea. He drinks a little bit of it although the story Mrs. Ueda was saying did not give him an appetite. He did it more out of courtesy than anything else.

"There is not much I can say. She had a close relationship with a samurai but then ... she killed him."

He can't hide his astonishment as he opens his mouth a little. There are no words to express his feelings.

"Soon after that, she ran away," Mrs. Ueda says, taking a sip of her tea. "May I ask ... what brings such an important member of society to a place like this?"

She changed the topic so casually that Rengoku had no choice but to follow along.

"I am on a mission," Rengoku tries to act normal even when he is still thinking about the previous information. "If you have any information regarding the recent murders in the district, I will highly appreciate it if you share that with me."

"Well, I don't know much but I heard that the Oiran from Suzuki's tea house recently survived an attack ... I am sure someone of your status will have no problem scheduling a visit with her."

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.

.

He waits. It's the only thing he can do. He doesn't know if he should try to look for you or if he should focus on the mission. The sun is finally down and the stars fill the dark sky.

The best course of action should be to prepare a plan to trap the demon. That way no civilians should be harmed. It's either that or wait for the demon to attack and hope they don't hurt anyone in the process.

But Rengoku doesn't know much. What is the demon after? What motives? Why is it here?

He had a few theories but needs more investigation to confirm it.

Everyone stops what they are doing and opens a path to let someone pass.

She walks so slowly and elegantly. Walking on shoes so high that a normal person would tremble and fall. It takes years of practice of the art. To look beautiful and ethereal as she does.

Her face is painted and its perfection, it must have taken hours. Her hair as well. It's lovely and decorated with jewelry only made for the highest of maidens.

This is not the first time Rengoku has seen an Oiran. He remembers seeing a few when he was younger. Before his father was a angry man and when his mother was in better health, Rengoku has fond memories of being taken to dinners with important people. In such dinners, Oirans were brought to entertain them.

Sometimes his mother would get jealous of the beautiful Oiran who approached his father. Even when she was a very reserved woman but his father used to be like him ... Always laughing things off and making amends by making his mother laugh.

As he looks at the Oiran passing by, he realizes how beautiful she is. Almost as if she was a spirit, he couldn't believe someone like her could exist.

"Ex-excuse me."

Rengoku hears someone call for him. He looks down and next to him, there is a young woman. He immediately recognizes her and although the ground is dirty, he doesn't hesitate to get down on the floor and bow to beg for forgiveness.

"Please, young lady ... Forgive me for causing such irreparable pain in your heart," Regonku says. "I've been wanting to look for you to ask for forgiveness but I am deeply ashamed for what I did and couldn't find a way to face you without feeling unworthy."

It's quiet and Rengoku continues. "I know I can't do anything to bring your lover back but if there is any way I can ease the pain in your heart ... Please allow me to accomplish it."

Nanami's heart feels warm. This is the first time someone has ever apologized this deeply to her. With each word being genuine and full of feelings of regret. Nanami looks down at Rengoku, his forehead touching the dirt of the ground.

This man has a good heart, just like you had told her.

"(Y/N) has paid for your mistake."

Rengoku looks up at Nanami. There is an evident confusion on his face.

"Please stand. There is something I must tell you," Nanamis helps Rengoku stand up. He follows her actions and is thankful for her kindness. "(Y/N) ... She... she exchanged herself for me. She gave me my freedom."

.

.

.

"You know, letting that girl go so I could get you was such a waste of money ... But nothing will ever give me this satisfaction."

You sit in front of Mrs. Ueda. You were in her office and it hasn't changed. You had been here many times before. Punished with that same stick she is always carrying around. Holding a long cigar, she breathes in and exhales in front of your face. You find it disgusting but don't move.

"What did I tell you, (Y/N)?" Mrs. Ueda's previous hospitality with Rengoku is completely gone. There is hostility and hate in her eyes. "No matter what, runaways always come back."

She hits you with the stick. You remember the pain as soon as it impacts your body. Although you were stronger now and it doesn't feel as painful, the stick scratches your body to the point of bleeding.

"And you never paid your debt."

She kicks you and you land on the floor. Your hair has become loose again. It's a mess, there is dirt on it. Flashbacks are going through your head, of this same scenery. Although you are Demon Slayer now, nothing has changed. You are still that little girl who was worth three coins.

"Do you want to know why your parents didn't sell you to a tea house?" Mrs. Ueda walks around you, you could hear her sandals against the tatami mat. The only place in the building to have one. "Because you were so ugly no one wanted you."

She grabs your hair and makes you look up at her. Her nails almost digging on your scalp.

"And you still look the same. So pathetic ... Tell me why did you come back?"

Your mouth is dry and you gather the strength to look up at her.

"To pay my debt ... I can't be free unless I pay it."

Mrs. Ueda aggressively lets you go and you don't dare to stand up. You know it will be worse to defy her.

"You stupid girl ... There is no freedom for those who run away. Or have you forgotten the rules?"

She continues to hit you with no remorse and you cover your head. But her intention wasn't to kill you but to hurt you enough to see another day and keep doing it again.

"You won't ever leave this place!"

And as she was about to hit you again, you close your eyes and wait for the impact to happen.

But a few seconds passed.

And nothing.

You slowly open your eyes and see white socks with sandals. How disrespectful ... Who dares to come inside a tatami room with shoes on?

Rengoku forgets about formality as he stops Mrs. Ueda from hitting you again. He holds the stick with his hand and Mrs. Ueda lets go of it as she covers her mouth.

"Mr. Rengoku!"

He kneels down and carries you bridal style. You wanted to stop him but you were in shock and didn't process the moment in front of you.

"I am sorry I am late," he turns around and is about to leave but Mrs. Ueda stops him.

"Wait- you can't take her!" she screams at him, she is a completely different person from the one Rengoku met before. "She still belongs to this brothel, she exchanged herself for that girl! She can't leave unless her debt is paid!"

Rengoku doesn't even dare to look at Mrs. Ueda. But he looks at you instead.

"The Rengoku family will pay five times her debt. I hope that's enough."

"It's not about money anymore! It's about my pride! That woman killed a samurai ... A samurai that was my only son!" she screams violently, with tears in her eyes and desperation in her voice. "Why? Why does she get to be free just for joining the Demon Slayer Corps? She should atone for her sins! It's not fair!"

Rengoku looks at your wounds and even when he doesn't know your full story yet, he knows you must have gone through terrible things. Unspeakable and grotesque. He feels his throat go dry, his feelings threatening to come out of his eyes.

"... I think she has paid enough already."

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.

.

"You don't have to carry me."

"I will feel better if I keep doing so."

Rengoku is walking away with you in his arms. He is naturally warm and it made a nice contrast with the cold night. If you could, you would have fallen asleep long ago but you had too much pride.

"I don't feel comfortable."

Seeing your expression, he lets you go. Allowing your feet to touch the ground first and making sure you weren't feeling dizzy. Your uniform was teared up in some parts and there are a few blood stains. He wants to attend to it but did not want to touch you if you did not want to.

"You are on your own now. I appreciate the time I spent with you. Thank you."

You bow respectfully before walking away. Feeling ashamed and even embarrassed to have a future Hashira looking at you with such pity. You will never be promoted at this rate, not like you cared in the first place.

"Wait, I need you," Rengoku goes after you, following you close. "We still have a mission to complete."

"I told you not to interfere with my past," you keep walking and you hear him get closer to you. You feel like he wants to hold you, desperate to stop you. But he respects your boundaries as much as he wished there weren't any. "Goodbye."

"My apologies," Rengoku rushes in and walks in front of you. "Please allow me to compensate for that. If you want you can hit me as hard and as long as you want to make up for it."

You don't think Rengoku realizes that he is 100 times stronger than you and that hitting him as many times as you wanted will have no impact on him whatsoever.

"That won't make me feel better."

"Well, that's because you are injured. Please let me take care of your wounds."

To you, it might be minor injuries but to him, it looks like you could faint at any second. But you couldn't tell if he is just being nice because he has to or because it was his duty.

"Stop acting like you care," you look at the ground. You had no shoes on. Rengoku had forgotten to pick them up as he left the room while carrying you. "Your feelings don't feel genuine."

"I am sorry-"

"Stop saying you are sorry!" you scream at him, your voice cracks as you look at him. "Can you feel something besides feeling sorry and happy all the time? Try being angry or sad!"

You walk past him and you are thankful no one is on the road. But there is no doubt a few people are peeping from their homes. Trying to calm down, you take a deep breath. You didn't want to say something you might regret later.

"Would I gain anything from feeling anything else? Anger, sadness, hate ... What else there is to it?"

Finally, there is a genuine expression on Rengoku's face. He is curious and his eyes show distress.

The thing you hate the most about Rengoku ... is how good of a person he seems to be. Genuinely good. He is good to everyone and that makes you feel uneasy.

"There is ... the feeling to survive," you say. "You are capable of feeling guilt. People who are trying to survive can't feel that."

"Uh?"

"The feeling of wanting to survive," a few images appear in your head. Kids dyings, adults begging for money, mothers selling their bodies to get food for their children.

"The poor, the unhealthy, the less fortunate. They all have a feeling to survive and they don't even know why. When you experience that ... When you really are trying to survive ... You can't feel anything else. It's something someone like you would not understand."

"Then tell me," Rengoku's voice is softer, almost comforting. "Explain it to me ... Please."

You take a long look at him and as ashamed as you were of your past, of telling someone like Rengoku about you ... You thought maybe you can trust him. Just for a little bit.

"... I was six when my parents sold me to the brothel ..."

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.

"I am sorry but I am not accepting any new girls."

"Please! We are desperate! Anything would suffice!"

Your parent's face is blurry as you have a hard time remembering them.

They were on their knees, their foreheads touching the dirty ground. Tears in their eyes as they begged Mrs. Ueda to buy you. Now that you think about it, this is the only memory you have of Mrs. Ueda showing kindness to someone.

"I was a slave first. I cleaned the brothel and try to bring in customers and if I didn't, I would get hit by Mrs. Ueda. There wasn't much food so I always tried to eat bugs and plants whenever I could."

The drag that covered your body did not compare to the beautiful kimonos the geisha would wear. Whenever you could, you would sneak out to see the Oirans walk through the streets of the Red Light District. You hid in the back, however, because you didn't want to taint the beautiful presence of the Oiran by being too close to them.

"When I turned twelve. I started to work in the brothel. You said that you wouldn't judge me even if I was the daughter of a prostitute ... but the truth is that I was one."

You wanted to keep looking at the beautiful people. Daydreaming of a possibility in which you could be like them. Elegant, beautiful, rich. You knew they must eat the most delicious food and sleep in a warm bed.

But you couldn't dream for too long. You had to go back. To try and get a man crazy enough to sleep with you so you could afford to eat that night.

"Akio was a young samurai, a good swordsman and the son of Mrs. Ueda. He was kind to me. He gave me a bamboo sword and taught me how to defend myself. He said that if I became good enough and defeated him in a duel, he could give me a real sword."

It was not accustomed for a lady to learn how to use a sword. Especially one who is supposed to be as feminine as possible to please machinist men. But Akio was kind to you and he never improperly touched you and because he was Mrs. Ueda's only son, she allowed it.

"So I practiced. Not because I wanted to defend myself better but because the thought of owning a sword ... owning something made me feel thrilled."

You practiced with a tree. Hitting it as hard as you could. Practicing until your hands bleed, until the bamboo sword breaks. And when it broke, you picked up a tree branch and continued. Non-stop.

"But then ... "

You heard from the other girls in the brothel that Akio was in town. After practicing for 7 months, you were ready to challenge him to a duel. Walking around the district, you looked for him. Until you heard that he would be in the forest, hunting alongside his friends.

As you walk through the forest, you smell something being burned. It's a smell you don't recognize. It doesn't smell like wood or grass. It's a horrible smell. Of something rotten. Dying.

There is a big bonfire and you see people around it. You instinctively hid behind some bushes. The people wore masks of demons and the longer you look at the scene, the more things you realize.

It's a ritual and they had just sacrificed a little girl, you could tell by her small body in a wood trunk, her skin slowly melting.

"Let's not lose hope brothers! We have to continue our mission! We shall keep giving sacrifices to the demon king!" a man screams as the light from the bonfire lits even brighter. You recognized the voice but did not want to believe it. "And eventually we will all be blessed and shall receive the power of a demon!"

He takes off his mask and it's Akio.

"We have to keep trying! And may lord Muzan come and bless us all with his blood!"

You should be running. Crying, or hiding. Anything but being in this place.

They were unaware that you were there. Leaving their katanas unattended for anyone to grab. The sword was there for you to take, almost calling your name.

And you didn't hesitate to use it and stab the only man you have ever trusted in the back.

And you don't even know why. It's not like he ever did anything bad to you.

But in the back of your mind, there was the question. What if you were next? What if he does it again? What if ... he hurts another young girl like you?

"After that, I ran away. I was scared but I knew Mrs. Ueda would have killed me and never believed me. She made people look for me for days and I hid in the forest, cold and hungry."

It was a dry area and the thirst was insufferable. There weren't any rivers nearby and you try to survive by drinking the dew of plants and flowers. You thought of going back. Of accepting your punishment but you knew that if you do that the punishment will be death. And if you could choose between dying peacefully or being tortured to death ... the first option sounded more appealing.

"I was not going to make it. I was going to die. And the night was approaching."

You were laying on the ground. The grass underneath you and trees surrounded you. You could see the stars above you, eternally beautiful in the dark sky. You wonder that if you die you would become a star and be beautiful too. But you quickly realize that it's not possible. Someone with a filthy soul and stained body does not belong with stars. It belongs here in this hell.

At least you got to own something in this lifetime. The katana you stole and used to kill Akio.

You hear steps approaching you. Something is growling, there are heavy steps.

A demon.

"I ran even when I wanted to give up. But my body still wanted to live even when my mind had already accepted its fate."

You keep running. Your feet are bleeding, your arms are being scratched as you ran through the bushes and trees. The sticks and tree branches brushing against your skin, the blood only allured the demon in. It knew where you were.

You fell. And just waited for the demon to come and kill you.

But then ...

"I saw it. The most beautiful thing I've seen. A Wisteria tree. I felt at peace. Like it was cleaning my sins ... hope."

You couldn't believe something so beautiful could be made by nature. That you were worth being in the presence of something so ethereal. Something that can just exist because it can. Pure love. A wisteria tree that offers nothing but protection and beauty. A being higher than you. The only mercy that has ever been shown to you ... was by this Wisteria tree.

"I never wanted this life. I never wanted to be sold to a brothel nor ever wanted to sell my body."

You stand up. Grabbing the katana with such strength you thought you could break the handle. You could hear the demon approaching but were hesitant as the Wisteria tree was behind you.

"And I got angry. So angry at life. Angry that I was denied seeing such a beautiful sight before! And I couldn't let life stop me. If life wants me to give up then it better kill me! But I wasn't going to let it drag me around. I couldn't accept the fact that I was born to just suffer. To just die."

You were afraid but your anger is stronger. You had to survive. You had to prove to life, to God, the universe, Buddha, and whoever is out there ... that only you can decide when to die.

"I took the sword with my hands and cut the demon's neck."

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.

.

"After that, I was able to reach another village and worked as a farmer for a while. I went from village to village so I wouldn't be found. I trained and I passed the Demon Slayer Corp's test ... barely."

After being accepted into the Demon Slayer Corps, your criminal background was erased. Mostly one of the reasons why you joined them.

Looking down at the floor, you don't want to make eye contact with Rengoku. You didn't want to look at the disgusted face he must have.

"I am not talented. I can't do any breathing techniques but I want to live. I am going to live until I decide I don't longer want to. That's the only choice I ever had in my life and it's the only choice I want to make."

There is silence and the awkwardness is killing you. Rengoku doesn't say a word. Not like he could say much. But you wished he could say something, at least to insult you.

"I am not like you Mr. Rengoku," you say. "I didn't feel guilty when I killed Akio and I don't feel it now. I don't have a kind heart like you. It happened so many years ago but even so now ... The only thing I can feel is the need to survive."

You muster the strength to look at Rengoku. And you look at his face. His eyes. He no longer has those fiery eyes, but instead, there is sadness. And you regret saying a word. Wishing you could see those happy eyes once again.

"(Y/N) ... I-"

"AAAHHHH!"

There is a scream coming from the central section of the Entertainment district. Both of you quickly react and run to where the scream comes from.

There are a lot of people, panic had kicked in and everyone was screaming and running.

You quickly spotted an Oiran fighting for her life. A man launches at her, he looks insane. Red eyes and growling like a hungry dog.

Rengoku didn't hesitate and kicked the man off the Oiran. The man, who is possed by a demon, gets back on his feet. In all four at first and then on two, prepared to attack.

"Nose, nose, nose, nose"

The demon murmurs repeatedly.

You stand in front of the Oiran, protecting her in case the possessed man plans to attack her again.

Rengoku is fast. He doesn't unleash his sword but with his fist, he punches the face of the man.

A black shadow comes flying out of the man's body and quickly goes inside the Oiran's body. You quickly turn around but you do not unleash your sword, too afraid to hurt her. You take a few steps back as the Oiran starts to change, her eyes red and she's growling just like the man before her.

Her red eyes lay on Rengoku, the only man in this place as everyone had already run away and hid.

"Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes."

She is about to attack him and as bad as you feel for her, you decide to go towards her and punch her directly in the face. Breaking her nose in the process.

"DAMN, YOU! I WANTED THAT!"

The Oiran covers her nose as a demonic voice screams at you. Then, the demon goes out of her body, leaving it unconscious. 

The shadow-like demon moves on the ground like a snake, moving so fast that you were unable to follow it with your eyes.

"Flame Breathing, First Form ..."

But Rengoku is ready to attack, only him with his speed and technique would be able to defeat it.

"Unknown Fire!"

He launches towards the shadow, cutting it in half. So simple as if it was paper.

You knew Rengoku was strong. But he is more than that. His every moment was filled with so much passion and heart that you feel your knees tremble. You didn't know if it was out of respect or out of fear.

The shadow disappears and you run towards Rengoku.

"Is it over?" You ask him but he looks side to side, wondering where that thing could have come from.

"No, that wasn't the demon's main body. It was probably just some type of Blood Art Magic," Rengoku goes back to where the Oiran and the man are. He picks the Oiran as he picked you up before. So delicately and so naturally that you wonder how many times has he done this before.

"Could you please help me with the man over there? We need to take them to the hospital," he says. "We should also plan our next move."

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.

.

After leaving the injured in the hospital, you two decided to head back to the hotel. Rengoku insisted on staying on guard for the night. Saying that he is not sleepy and that you should rest.

Once again there is only the moonlight coming from the window and there is silence except for the wind. It's extremely awkward, especially after you said that you wanted to leave the mission.

"I know you said you were going to leave," Rengoku sits next to you while you lay in the bed. He is facing the window and you can see the symbol of 'Destroy' in his uniform. "But I need you. I think I have a plan."

You are not sure. You are still angry that he tried to discover more about your past.

But you can't stay angry at him for too long. You guessed it is one of Rengoku's charms.

"... I think that when this demon possesses a human, it proceeds to eat the part of the body that the human finds most beautiful in the other person."

You noticed that Rengoku has his sword on the left, ready to unleash it if necessary. It's his way of trying to protect you or maybe trying to make you feel protected in case you couldn't sleep.

"When I punched the Oiran's face and broke her nose ... the demon talked very angrily. It was no longer a beautiful nose. The demon didn't need it anymore."

Rengoku had the same theory but the previous fight confirmed it as well.

"We have to find a way to anger the demon enough to make its true form come out ... Even if it's only for a small moment, I am sure I can slay its neck. I just have to-"

"Mmmm ... Ah!"

It's moments like this that you remember that you were in a middle-class hotel. There is a constant sound, that of bodies impacting each other and moaning. A lot of it.

"Is there a play going on? I hear clapping," Rengoku looks at the wall where the sounds are coming from. He looks genuinely intrigued and you didn't know if this was a good or bad sign. "It must be a really good play! They are clapping a lot."

"They are having intercourse," you explained simply. He is an adult and you didn't want to sugarcoat it. "You know, making babies."

"Oh? Well, I hope they are successful in their mission!" Rengoku says in a happy tone but not too loud as to interrupt the couple in the next room. "I wish I could do that!"

"Nothing is stopping you," you look at the ceiling, not looking at anything particularly. "I'll be fine, go find yourself a beautiful Oiran, there is still an early night."

" ... I am not qualified to please a woman. I am very inexperienced."

"Well, an Oiran can teach you. Actually, it's a good opportunity for you. Not many get to have their first time with an Oiran."

"I don't want my first time to be with an Oiran," Rengoku goes back to looking at the window and now you look at him again. "I want to do it ... with someone I love."

You didn't want to say anything but you could swear that there is a blush in the demon slayer's face.

"Love doesn't exist," you say. "And if it does ... Well, I think you will be the only one worthy of it."

You couldn't see it but Rengoku cheeks' had become red.

He turns around to look at you but you were no longer facing him. Instead, he could only see your back now and the slow movements of your breathing. Rengoku assumes you were already asleep.

"You are the only one who thinks so."

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.

"Do you really think this is a good idea Mr. Rengoku?"

"Yes," Rengoku exclaims. "And please stop calling me Mr.Rengoku, we are the same age. It feels strange. Call me Kyojuro."

You both were on your way to a famous tea house to get ready for the plan. Getting ready will take hours. You weren't completely confident about this idea but you trusted Rengoku's experience.

"I think I'll stick with just Rengoku ... I don't want to forget formalities once you become a Hashira."

"Alright, whatever you feel comfortable using."

You look up at Hasegawa's Tea House, one of the most prestigious and luxurious tea houses in the Red Light Strict. Many Oirans have come out of this place and apparently, Rengoku has a few connections. Such connections will help with today's 'make-over.'

"Alright, so this is the plan," he clears his voice and looks at you. "You will be a fake Oiran. We will wait for someone to get possessed while you do the Oiran walk. We will knock out the demon like last time but this time we won't slay it, we just follow it to reach the real form of the demon."

The plan is too easy and many things could go wrong. You look at Rengoku who keeps smiling at you. He is confident about this and you couldn't doubt him. Doubt is dangerous in a job like this.

"I just hope it doesn't disappear."

"Don't worry that's what these katanas are for! I'll stab the sword into the shadow and it won't be able to disappear until I take it from it."

You look at the tea house. It's an exquisite place, it looks clean and fancy. You remember how you wished to live here. Wanting to have 'sisters' to help you every day to wear a pretty kimono or to get your make-up and hair ready ... Now you are going to be doing that but not in the type of situation you wanted to be.

"Rengoku," your voice is serious now. You don't look at him but you know he is listening. "Before we do this, I want to make something clear. If I get possessed by one of the demon's shadows, I am giving you the right to kill me. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I can't promise that," he quickly snaps. "I'll stop you before that happens."

"I won't do this unless you promise me," you look at him. A few seconds passed and there is no response from him. "Please."

It's almost like you are begging him. You were not one to show so many emotions but your eyes show sincerity. Rengoku could only hope that he is strong enough to stop you ... Or make the right choice.

"I promise."

.

.

.

There are a lot of people who wait along the streets to wait for the Oiran to walk. Rengoku hid in the vast amount of people. Keeping on the lookout for anyone who might fall victim to the demon. It's a dangerous mission, especially due that he doesn't know much about the demon. One thing is sure, the demon is easily angered. Maybe even vain, telling by the interaction yesterday night.

Now it's all about waiting. Being patient and precautions, and taking the right decision that will save most lives.

No, no most lives. Everyone. He had to keep everyone safe.

Rengoku sees you walk slowly. It's strange to see you wearing something different than your Demon Slayer's uniform. Wearing white painting on your face, red lips, your hair is decorated with jewelry and it might be just enough for Rengoku to get distracted.

He feels his heart feel hotter and he wonders what kind of feeling is this or if this is normal. Maybe it's something in the air or a sixth sense telling him to pay attention to the mission.

Rengoku couldn't worry too much about it right now. He sees you walk with tall Koma-Geta shoes, he wonders if you had secretly practiced how to walk on those or if you learned in a matter of a few hours.

You worried.

Mostly because you didn't know if anyone would find you beautiful enough.

You mentally shake your head. For just a brief moment, you are an Oiran. An Oiran, the perfect woman, a beautiful one. They don't doubt their beauty or elegance, they know for a fact who they are and what they are meant to be.

Very much unlike you. You just hoped you were a good enough actress to make everyone believe your facade.

There is a commotion. People are screaming as they see something coming towards you. A young man is running on all fours, like an animal. People ran in all different directions, trying to find a safe spot in which they wouldn't be harmed by the demon.

Under your very expensive kimono, your katana is waiting for you to use it. Waiting for the right moment, the man jumps towards you. But before he could touch you, Rengoku comes in and tackles the man to the ground.

"Neck, neck, neck, neck."

The man who is possed by the demon keeps murmuring. Everyone is gone and you get down from your tall shoes and in bare feet, you run to Rengoku.

He keeps the man under control, putting both of his arms under his back. Although the possessed man is kicking his feet and moving his body uncontrollably, Rengoku is stronger.

The moment you got closer, the man moves with more strength.

"Neck, neck, neck!" he screams as he looks at you.

"So what now? Are we going to cut my neck so the demon comes out?" you ask Rengoku sarcastically.

"No but the demon has two options," Rengoku says as he looks up at you. Still, he can't shake the feeling off from when he saw you. "Either the demon comes, and fights us to get this thing back ... or we wait until the sun rises and kills the shadow inside the human ... I am strong. I can wait all night if necessary."

"... Smart."

Suddenly, you hear the finger snapping. The sound made the shadow inside the human leave his body. The shadow rapidly crawls onto the floor, and you follow it with your eyes.

It goes back to its owner. The person who snapped was tall and slim. Nice physic with a long neck, small lips, and cute button nose. A thin, pointy face. Short black hair.

What a beautiful person. And its beauty is only amplified by the beautiful kimono she is wearing. Wearing very tall Koma-Geta shoes, but she looks to be a natural wearing them.

She is the most beautiful Oiran you have seen. But not only that ... A demon too.

Sky-blue eyes that said 'Lower Moon Three.'

She has a powerful presence but she looks like she won't hurt a fly.

"I want your neck."

Her voice is delicate and elegant. It's enchanting."

"You already have one," you say. More interested in learning about the demon and maybe if you can find a weakness. "Why do you want another one?"

"Because today, that man thought you had the most beautiful neck. Not mine," the demon says. "Tomorrow, someone else may have a more beautiful neck. But today it's yours. And I want it."

The demon takes one step forward and seeing that the man on the ground was no longer possessed by the demon, Rengoku steps in front as he holds the handle of his katana. Ready to unleash it whenever necessary.

"And if I say no?"

"Find out."

The demon snaps her fingers and five shadows come out of her. Immediately going after you but Rengoku slays them before they could touch you.

It is getting ridiculous. You know that you were not at Rengoku's level and maybe never could be. But you are starting to feel useless in the whole situation. Well, you should have expected it. You were the bait after all.

The demon snaps her fingers again and this time 30 shadows come out. Finally, you were able to unleash your sword and take out three shadows while Rengoku took care of the rest.

"Why don't you fight us instead of just throwing your shadows?" Rengoku is confident but he does not misunderestimate the demon.

"Fine ... Once I am finished with you, I'll have her neck."

The demon then multiplicates 100 times. With 100 different faces, bodies, hairs, legs, hands, eyes. All of them are beautiful but in such beauty, something feels strange.

You two are surrounded, watching each other backs.

The 100 creatures began to attack, you slash their necks but it's not the demon's true form. Either that or you will have to cut all of the creature's neck at the same time to defeat it.

"What now?!" You ask Rengoku who is also busy fighting. He can keep up but you don't know how long you can do this. "How are we going to cut the necks of all of these demons at the same time?!"

He doesn't respond, you know that he may be thinking of a plan. But tragically you are starting to get tired. How many shadow-demons have you slayed? 15? There is no end to it. They just keep regenerating.

You finally get kicked down by one of the shadows and one came after the other. Kicking and punching you. Blood coming out of your wounds. Your perfectly groomed hair is now loose and a mess.

"(Y/N!)"

Rengoku gets distracted and is smacked against one of the buildings, breaking the walls along the process.

You are no longer being attacked and you see how quickly the shadows go towards Rengoku. He is unconscious, but just for a short time as he quickly opens his eyes and they are completely red. Not the gentle red you were used to. These had no life in them.

"What a strange person."

The demon inside Rengoku could only see one thing.

"I can't stay in this body for too long ... This man's body, the heat ... the fire in him will kill me!"

You quickly grab your katana and stand up as much as your body hurts. There is debris and you wait for Rengoku to come out of the destroyed building. Your hands tremble. You are scared. Most likely will die but you can't let that happen.

"Hair, hair, hair, hair,"

Rengoku comes out of the building at a speed you have never seen before.

No, you can't win.

You won't win.

But you can decide when your life ends. In the end, it's the only choice you ever had.

Instead of attacking him, you quickly unleash your katana, grab your hair, and cut it.

Rengoku immediately stops as you let go of your hair, the delicate strings flying in the wind.

"YOU DAMN GIRL!"

The demon screams at you as it comes out of Rengoku's body. He falls to the ground.

"YOU RUINED IT FOR ME THREE TIMES! I WON'T LET YOU GO!"

The demon of the 100 faces goes inside your body. It feels repulsing. You couldn't control your body but your mind is still intact.

"This ... is strange."

As the demon looks through your eyes to look at Rengoku, there is nothing in particular you see beautiful about him. But that couldn't be possible. The demon looks again, trying to look for anything. Eyes? Nose? Lips? Hands? It was impossible. There is nothing you find beautiful about him.

Rengoku slowly stands up, no longer under the influence of the demon. He strongly holds his katana, pointing it towards your possessed body.

"I see it now. That's it!"

The demon is exhilarated. Fanatically laughing in your body, tears in your eyes while Rengoku is silently panicking but he has to remain calm. Otherwise, he will end up losing this battle.

"Finally! What I've been looking for years!"

The demon is ready to attack, wanting to get to Rengoku as soon as possible. However, she couldn't deny that she has to calculate her moves due that the swordsman is very skilled.

"The most beautiful thing about this man ... "

The demon launches toward Rengoku but he quickly dodges, he doesn't use his sword, too scared that he might hurt you.

"Heart, heart, heart, heart!"

For the first time in his life.

Rengoku hesitates.

The demon punches him in the face and he lands on his back. Dirt from the ground is picked up it as moves with the wind. He coughs as he inhales it and is quick to stand up.

"It's his heart! After I eat his heart, I would have finally achieved perfection! The pinnacle of human beauty!"

His breathing is heavy, he holds his katana with both hands. His posture is perfect, his stance is strong. Rengoku is perfectly capable of slaying the lower moon demon. But he can't manage to hurt you and he can't let you hurt anyone either. He had promised.

The lower moon demon attacks Rengoku and he jumps to dodge you. But the demon grabs his foot and quickly brings him back to the ground, his back impacting against the soil.

He is not thinking clearly and he unleashes his sword. The demon places your hands in front of the attack and Rengoku lightly cuts the superficial layer of your skin.

The demon screams but it's your voice the one Rengoku hears. His facial expression changes as he listens to your painful voice, his eyebrows sink and his forehead wrinkles.

"Heart, heart, heart, heart!"

Rengoku knows that it's either kill you or let you go and you hurt people. You or multiple innocent lives? There is no way the demon would let you go. Not when the demon has decided that it wants his heart.

So maybe ... the right choice is ... to give it to her.

"I killed someone because of you ... because of my mistake," Rengoku looks at you but talks to the demon inside. "But from now on ... I promise that as long as I live, I will never let anyone else die! I will protect everyone from demons!"

He didn't know if this is the right choice but he couldn't let you die. Not when you had such genuine feelings toward him. He couldn't let die the only person who has truly seen the passion in his heart ... How could anyone find that beautiful will always be a mystery to him. Regardless, he is thankful that someone appreciates his kind and stupid heart.

Rengoku quickly points his katana at himself, the sharp edge directly pointing at his heart.

And as he is about to stab himself, he looks up to see you.

Just to find you, holding your sword to your neck. Ready to slay your neck and end your life along with the demon.

"Uh?"

The demon is surprised that you were able to use your body for just a few seconds. She was distracted but not anymore. The lower moon demon stops you before you kill both of you.

"You really thought you could end your life?"

The demon speaks out loud, knowing well that you were in your subconscious listening to her.

"You stupid girl! Only I get to decide when you die!" the demon screams. "And you will die after I eat the heart of that demon slayer!"

However, the lower moon demon pays attention to Rengoku's action. Scared, she couldn't afford for him to stab his own heart. She can't lose that heart. The demon takes a few seconds to think and she has an idea.

Using the demon slayer's kind heart against him.

"Don't you even think of stabbing that heart of yours! If you do I'll kill myself and this woman!" she screams at Rengoku who is still not moving from his previous position. "You do not want to try me!"

"I am going to live until I decide I don't longer want to. That's the only choice I ever had in my life and it's the only choice I want to make."

Rengoku remembers your words, your voice sounding through his head as he still has his katana pointing at his heart.

"Love doesn't exist. And if it does ... Well, I think you will be the only one worthy of it."

He slowly puts his sword down, still holding onto it ... but defeated, he drops his katana.

"If I get possessed by one of the demon's shadows, I am giving you the right to kill me. I don't want to hurt anyone."

And suddenly ... Rengoku runs towards you. He tackles you to the ground, making the demon drop your sword, unreachable now.

He wraps his hands around your neck and starts to press hard. Choking you as his hands get hotter by the second.

The demon fights by kicking and trying to push Rengoku away but he is too strong and the only thing that is hurting him is seeing you suffer by his hands.

"What is he thinking?!"

The demon thinks, still inside of you and deciding what to do next.

"If he keeps going, he will burn her neck! He will kill her and me!"

"Get out!"

Rengoku screams and for a moment the demon feels genuinely scared. As if a dragon had come and decided to punish her for her sins.

"GET OUT OR I'LL BURN YOU TO DEATH!"

The flames coming out of his hands are different. The demon could feel how the heat is slowly burning her, destroying her neck little by little as the demon slayer is determined to end her life. The demon had underestimated him. A heart as passionate as his could not be stopped, could not be tamed by a mere low-rank demon.

The demon leaves your body, leaving you unconscious. Moving like a snake, crawling on the ground like a coward.

Rengoku takes the opportunity to grab his sword from the ground and follows the demon at great speed.

"Flame Breathing, Third Form ..." Rengoku prepares to attack, like a tiger who has eyes on its prey.

It's as if everything is in slow motion. The demon can't escape Rengoku no matter how fast she tries to go.

"This can't be! It can't be!"

The demon wanted to pray even when she had been abandoned by God a very long time ago.

"I can't die yet! I haven't reached perfection yet!"

She starts to remember all the lives she took. All the beautiful people she made. All the faces she took.

"Blazing Universe!"

And just like that ... Rengoku Kyojuro slays her neck.

"I have to be perfect!"

.

.

.

"Love doesn't exist ... And if it does it is a privilege only beautiful people have."

"You disgusting thing! How dare you steal from a geisha!"

She gets hit with a wooden stick as she is dragged across the tea house to the kitchen. She doesn't have a memory of ever being free or having parents. She has always been a slave to this place.

"I'll cut your hand! That will teach you to not steal again!"

"I don't remember stealing anything. But one of the geishas was scared of me. She thought that if I stayed in the same place as her, my ugliness would spread to the other apprentices. She set me up."

She was not worthy of a name. No one dared to name someone who was considered to be a 'thing.'

However, she had different nicknames. 'Witch, pig, shit, thing.'

Just a thing.

After losing her hand, she had to manage in different ways to do the house chores. Otherwise, she would be kicked out of the tea house. She had prohibited to come out of her room whenever the tea house had clients.

Nonetheless, through a small hole she made in her wooden wall, she sees the evening unfold.

"I saw how beautiful everyone was. The geishas and the men who courted them. The drinks, the performances. A swordsman who stole my heart the moment I saw him."

Whenever she had time, she would follow him around. Even when she would be late and her owner would hit her again with a spiky wooden stick until she bled.

It was hell, but being able to see him made every day worth it.

"One time, he saw me. And instead of making a disgusted face, he gave me a few coins. I thought I was blessed! That I was the luckiest girl alive."

But since she wasn't allowed to have anything, her owner tried to take the coins from her.

She resisted until her owner had no other choice but to burn her face with cigarettes, leaving marks all over it.

"But it was ok, I didn't care as long as I was able to see him."

It wasn't until she found out that the swordsman got engaged to a beautiful woman ... that she began to feel something more than just love for him. But hate and anger began to fill her heart. Jealousy that she had felt before for the beautiful people had now intensified.

"It was late at night and I grabbed the same knife my owner used to cut my hand ... I didn't kill the swordman's fiancee. Instead, I used that knife and killed every person in that tea house. I cut their faces and put them on top of my own. "

But she was just a small, stupid girl. And it didn't take a long time before the townspeople found out who it was.

They took the girl and tortured her by cutting parts of her body. Her fingers, toes and hands. An eye, tongue and lips.

She was left there to die. Next to the river that slowly began to be tainted by blood.

"Why? Why did they do this to me? I only took revenge for what they did to me! No one ever cared for my well-being when they treated me worst than a dog! So why?! If I had died at their hands no one would have cared. Why do they care for them when no one cared for me?!"

She could only hear steps coming closer to her. A demonic presence that was giving her a chance at a new life.

"And I knew why ... it's because they were beautiful and I wasn't. Only beautiful people get to know what love is. What it feels like when people care for you."

She remembers the swordman, the moment he smiled and gave her a few coins.

"And only those with kind hearts ... are the most beautiful of all humans."

She finally reached the river. In one last moment of strength, she looks at the river and sees the face of a young man next to her. A demon who was willing to give her another chance in life in exchange for her eternal service to him.

And instead of looking at her face ... All the time she thought about what a blessing it is that he is here.

"Now that I think about it ... I don't think I have ever seen my own reflection."

.

.

.

The sun began to rise.

The only thing that could be heard is Rengoku's desperate voice, trying to keep you alive.

He looks at the mark on your neck he caused. It's red and irritated, your skin is burned because of him.

Close your eyes,

And remember that passing voice.

I can't return,

I can't go back.

There is only deep darkness.

He starts to compress your chest and give you mouth-to-mouth breathing with the hopes that you will react. But nothing, you just lay there, lifeless. Rengoku's own breathing is agitated, in complete distress.

"You can't die. You can't die you hear me!"

I can't return, I can't go back.

There is only deep darkness.

You hear a gentle sound and it makes you cry

No matter how painful it is,

Move forward

Keep going

Cut off that despair.

You don't know exactly where you are. But you feel safe. There is no pain, just empty darkness. You wondered if this is it. If this is the place people go when they die. Cursing yourself because you weren't the one to end things how you wanted. Instead, it was Rengoku who took that decision.

Rengoku.

Even if you lose, even if you fail,

You have no choice but to keep on living.

No matter how beaten you are,

There is something you have to protect.

He holds your body in his arms, cradling you so gently. Delicately putting strings of your now short hair behind your ears. He takes a better look at your face. Engraving each curve, each imperfection and texture into his mind.

"I was ready to give up my life so you could be safe ..."

Even if you lose, even if you fail,

You have no choice but to keep on living.

No matter how beaten you are,

There is something you have to protect.

You walk into the darkness, not knowing what you were looking for. Or if there is anything to look for at all. Maybe you were looking for something that could not be found. But you feel it. Something ... someone needs you. Calling desperately your name.

This is the path you chose,

Get ready to face destiny.

Covered in mud and scratched your feet,

Look at that thin thread you can't see by eye.

"But I chose to use the right you gave me because I found a reason to live. A reason to survive no matter what!"

Rengoku has never thought too much about his life. He always thought that as long as his life could be used to save others, then it was a life well lived.

But ... would it be alright if he was a little bit selfish? If he wanted more than to just purely devote himself to slaying demons?

In the days you two spent together, he only saw the external layer of you. Of how you only had a sad face, of how your forehead wrinkles when you are angry. How beautiful your hair moves with the wind.

And all that time he saw the superficial ... You saw him. His heart.

You hear a gentle sound that makes you cry.

No matter how painful it is,

Move forward

Head forward

Cut off that despair.

You feel a drop of water touch your cheek. But it's a tear. That of love. Of genuine care and kindness. Of the pure emotions of a gentle heart.

"I never thought I could be worthy of having someone so kind care for me this way."

You slowly open your eyes and see Rengoku in tears, eyes closed as the sun rises behind him. Maybe you were really in heaven.

"I want to keep protecting you!"

Even if it hurts, even if you are in pain,

You have no choice but to stand up.

No matter how beaten you are,

There is something you have to protect.

You caress Rengoku's cheeks, cleaning a few tears. He opens his eyes just to find you alive.

Pure and genuine feelings of admiration. Of the kind heart Rengoku has. Maybe that is the thing you were looking for in the darkness. A blazing heart, kind enough to care for someone like you. Another reason to keep surviving in this cruel world.

There is something you have to protect.

.

.

.

"I am sorry. The mark on your neck will never heal. The burning damaged your skin and it's irreparable."

You are not used to resting at Butterfly Mansion. You were never injured enough to be sent here. Even if you didn't want to be here, you were too weak to protest against Rengoku's wishes.

"But on the bright side, it doesn't look too bad! They look like flames even!

Ms. Shinobu wraps bandages around your neck, knowing that your skin is too sensitive at the moment to let it be exposed to the sunlight.

Your body feels tired but not hurt. Seating on the edge of the bed, you look out the window. It's a bright day and you could hear the birds singing.

"I thank you for your time ... I think I should get going," you stand up and bow to Ms. Shinobu. "Could I get my clothes back?"

"Oh yes, let me bring them to you!" Shinobu says but she feels hesitant about you leaving so soon. "But, may I suggest you wait for a little longer? Rengoku went to town to get me a few things ... he should be getting back soon."

You tilt your head and look at her confused.

"I am sorry but I fail to see how that has to do with me?"

"Well, Rengoku has been waiting for you to wake up," Shinobu takes a look at your appearance. Noticing how your hair is crooked. Probably because you had cut your hair with a katana, or so Rengoku told her. "He has not slept at all."

"To be honest ... I was hoping he had already left," you say. "I did not want him to see me and feel guilty."

Shinobu smiles and goes next to your bed. Next to it, there is a cabinet. She opens it and takes out a pair of scissors. You look at her a bit scared. Shinobu gets too close to you and playfully opens and closes the scissors.

"Well, then maybe we have to ... make you look healthier!"

.

.

.

You feel good in your washed clothes and a new haircut, especially cut by Shinobu herself. Your hair is short, it doesn't touch your shoulders but it does not touch your face either. You feel cold in your neck as you had never had your hair this short before.

You look at the bandages in your neck that covered your damaged skin. It bothers you a little bit but you know you will get used to it in no time.

Putting on your shoes, you sit on the wooden porch of Butterfly Mansion. You wait for your crow to come to you, hoping that maybe you will get a new mission.

"Well, I was not expecting you here."

Giyu Tomioka is known for his stoic face and unreadable actions. You see him make his way towards you. He is wearing a backpack and his crow lays on his shoulder. He most likely arrived a few minutes ago.

"Of course you were. Why else would you be here?"

You finished putting on your shoes. You stay sitting where you are and just let him seat next to you, very casually.

"Yeah, I guess you are right."

There is a silence as he stays close to you but it's not uncomfortable. You wonder who will it be the one to break the silence first. It's not like you were in a hurry to finish the silence, it's been a long while since you and Giyu had time together like this.

"Does it hurt?"

"Uh?" You turn your head to look at him and see Giyu pointing at his own neck.

"Does it hurt?"

He asks again and it surprised you Giyu noticed the bandages on your neck. You thought your uniform's top covered it enough along with your hair.

Either that or he knew about the battle before coming to the Butterfly Mansion.

"At that moment ... yes, it did hurt a lot but," you tried to look for the right words to explain the feeling but did not find them. "I think Rengoku was holding back so as not to hurt me too much."

"He definitely was. If he wanted he could have just melted your neck in an instant," he says as he keeps looking at your neck and then at your face. "Still, it doesn't excuse his dangerous actions ... You are lucky you are alive."

"Well, at least I can say I was burned by the Flame Hashira and survived," you tried to light up the mood, seeing that Giyu has a dark aura around him. He always did but it's more than usual this time. "This will make for some interesting stories."

"It's a shame."

"I'm over it ... really," you say as you touch the top of your bandages. "It doesn't hurt anymore but Ms. Shinobu says I should keep them covered for a few days at least-"

"Not that," Giyu interrupts you and proceeds to raise his hand. Moving it closer and closer to your face.

"Your hair."

He caresses the tips of your hair, remembering how long it used to be. Delicate, soft, beautiful.

"It will grow back ... and it will be the same. I know it."

Giyu has always been a person of small talk. You know this is his way to show that he cares. In his way, he is telling you he is relieved. Or that's what you liked to believe.

After a few seconds, of looking at you and making sure that he didn't miss any other injury or change in your appearance, Giyu lets go of your hair and waits before speaking again.

"I have a proposition," he says.

On the other side of the room ... Rengoku takes small peaks as he looks at you and Tomioka talk. He doesn't have the best of hearing, so he struggles to hear anything you two are saying.

He notices the body language. How close Tomika is to you and how gently he touched your hair.

Tomika stands from the porch, not taking off his backpack, he says one last thing to you before leaving. Rengoku's suspicions are right. Tomioka just came to see you.

After a few moments, you stretch your arms and go inside the room. Rengoku sees you with a backpack now and your crow had also arrived. It lays on your shoulder and it looks like it's telling you something.

You get off the porch, ready to leave the Butterfly Mansion.

"Wait!"

Rengoku finally comes out of his hidden spot. You turn around and see him smiling at you.

"Are you sure you want to leave already? He asks. "It's better to rest and heal your wounds properly before going into any other missions."

"I rested plenty ... I slept for days didn't I?" You could feel some eyes on you. Some young girls inside the house are giggling and talking to themselves. You could only wonder about the type of things they must be imagining. "I must thank you for watching over me all of that time. I should keep going so I can stop being a burden to you and the people in this mansion."

"You are not a burden. And it was nothing. As your partner in the mission, I just wanted to make sure of your well-being."

You don't know what to say after that. Things have been a bit awkward after the mission and you were not certain why.

"I saw you and Tomioka talk," Rengoku looks to the side, avoiding your eyes and you feel a strange sentiment coming from him. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Giyu came to check up on me," you say with the hopes that he will stop avoiding eye contact with you.

"Giyu?"

This hits a nerve on Rengoku ...  for a reason he doesn't know.

"I had knowledge that you two knew each other but I didn't know you two were that close!" he laughs but it's fake to hide his evident annoyance. "You even call him by his first name? How lovely!"

But it was not lovely, at least that's not really the message Rengoku is trying to give you.

"Giyu and I have some unsolved business in a close town. He is going to finish a mission and I'll be meeting him in Gokayama Village."

"Oh then I'll come with you two!" he smiles and is ready to depart whenever you are ready. "It will be fun to go on a mission with you and him!"

"It's not really a mission ... it's more of a personal matter," you say. Rengoku's actions are becoming a mystery to you. Maybe he still feels guilty about hurting you.    "Besides you don't want to deal with having to share a bed with Giyu, he moves a lot! And Ms. Shinobu told me that your Becoming-of-Hashira Ceremony will be held soon! You need to prepare."

"... You have slept in the same bed with Tomioka?" Rengoku's smile does not disappear, instead his right eyebrow twitches.

"Yes, but that's not the point?" you couldn't pinpoint exactly what is going on in Rengoku's mind but if he doesn't communicate it then it's probably not that important. "Don't worry I am sure Giyu will be here before your ceremony."

"If I invite you to the ceremony, would you attend?"

"Uh? No, I don't think so. Only Hashira and important people can attend those things," you scratched your head. Not because you were confused but rather embarrassed that Rengoku thought of inviting you to such an important event. "Maybe ask your father? I know how important this is for you."

"I guess a better question is ... Will I see you again?"

He takes a few steps closer, there is some hope in his eyes. Tragically you will be taking that hope away soon but you still tried to be gentle with your words.

"Unless you request me for a mission ... I don't think so. You know Hashira can only see other Hashira. I think this is goodbye."

"Oh ... yes, you are right," his face turns into a sad one and you don't know what to do or say to make him feel better. "I am sorry about your neck ... for hurting you."

"No, it's alright. I actually wanted to thank you," you keep trying to look into his eyes but now he is avoiding eye contact by looking at the ground. "You saved me. This mark on my neck is just a small price to pay."

Rengoku has never been one to feel embarrassed. Nor afraid to speak his feelings but as he stands in front of you, he finds it difficult.

"I want to thank you too," he finally says, gathering the strength to look you in the eyes. "For seeing me. My heart."

You two haven't talked about what happened. About Rengoku holding you tightly in his arms, begging you to not leave this life. Or about how you find his heart to be the most beautiful thing about him. You feel your cheeks get hot, hopefully, he doesn't see this.

"I don't care what others think of me ... I am certain that I can continue fighting as long as I have you trusting the feelings in my heart," he says.

You abruptly turn around. Your back is now facing him, you didn't want Rengoku to see your evident blush. You were aware that Rengoku, who has genuine and pure feelings, did not mean anything romantic. But sometimes he speaks as if that was the case.

"You speak a little too passionately sometimes ... don't you think?" your voice trembles a little in embarrassment. "But I guess that is one of the things that make you special."

You sigh heavily, getting control of your emotions. Looking up at the sky, you notice how beautiful it is. You survived another day to see this. And you were thankful to Rengoku, that he took your life in his hands and took a risk. That he used the right you have him.

Rengoku gave you another opportunity to choose when your life ends.

"Hey, Rengoku ..."

He wishes that you could stop calling him by his last name and use his first name instead. But he couldn't pressure you. He will wait until you are ready to become closer.

"I don't know if I'll see you again but," you feel your throat go dry and you take a deep breath. Even when you are not seeing him directly, you know his eyes are on you.

And you already miss it. The beauty of his red eyes. You know you wouldn't be able to resist. You wanted to stay a little longer and the sentiment intensified the more you look at him.

"Remember, only you can decide when your life ends. Don't ever let anyone take that right away from you."

Rengoku hears you clearly. Your voice is almost begging to be remembered and he carves it into his mind. Your silhouette, your stance, your hair, your uniform, the tone in your voice. A core memory that he knows that he will remember until he breathes his last breath.

"Survive."

He knows he will see you again. Some way or another the universe will make your paths connect. He finds himself missing you already. His heart feels heavy and he is overwhelmed with feelings he doesn't understand yet. Maybe the next time he sees you, he will be able to figure out this new side of him.

Until the time to see you again comes ... he has to keep on living.

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Arc 1: The Demon of the 100 Faces

End

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You can read more in AO3 (5 Arcs Completed):>>> Here <<<

A/N:

A/N: Was this cringe enough? I very much dislike writing 'x reader' stories for the fact that I am unable to write about the character as much as I would like to. I prefer to write OCs. Regardless, this is the first and last chapter I am writing for this story. This is an idea that came after I watched Demon Slayer Season 3 (I've only watched the anime so if I get anything wrong in this story, sorry about that). I have many ideas on how to continue this but I don't think anyone would be interested in reading more. I wrote this mostly because I wanted to let it out of my system before I continue to write my other stories.

Anyways, it was really fun! Rengoku is a character I enjoy writing about because he is actually complicated. I wanted to show the positive Rengoku everyone loves as well to show that he is a very humane character that can feel other emotions. It was definitely a challenge, so I hope I wrote his character 'decently'.

This is an 18k slow-burn fanfic! So to whoever reached this far, I want to thank you! I appreciate every comment and like I receive. It really motivates me to continue writing.

Anyways, this is my gift to the Rengoku fandom. I do hope you enjoy it.

Maybe one day I'll write more. Maybe soon. Maybe not.

Update: I did end up writing more.

[wjbsart]

Anthro Mecha Universe in a nutshell because I am very far from having the first arc plotted out but I want to talk about it.

At some point Kaiju happen for some reason, probably science related. The first one to arrive is an eldritch abomination that creates portals, and a few of that flavour still occur, but most are either pollution-mutants, demons, angels, science-mutants or rogue AIs.

Everyone is anthropomorphic animals, except invertebrates, which fill the roles taken by regular non-anthropomorphic animals (with one exception that I'll get into later).

There's also a fascist government who are slowly invading and taking over independent regions, kinda like a more evil version of the NCR from New Vegas. They're called the New Argent Federation, and their president is Luther Blake (he/him, 65, saltwater crocodile). He has an underling who is basically a cross between Darth Vader, the Auditor from Brigador, and Pyro from TF2, piloting a mech that looks a bit like Necrozma.

Mech pilots are usually sorted into teams, kinda inspired by Sonic. Each team has a minimum of three pilots, though the number of mechs can be lower since some require multiple pilots (which is taken to extremes by Ironclad, a gigantic warship-themed mech piloted by 50 people). Mechs have different classes, but I won't be talking about them in this post because I can't be bothered.

The main team is Burst Team, composed of people who lack formal training, but still know how to do mech stuff mostly. The members are Stella Fawkes (she/her, 24, goblin shark), pilot of the Stygia, which is made partially out of old boats, submarines and diving mechs; Jim Autumn (he/him, 22, potoo), pilot of the Crimson Star, which he inherited from his mother after she retired; and Sue Simons (she/they, 23, moray eel), pilot of a mech I haven't named yet, which is designed for kaiju research but has had a giant rifle haphazardly bolted to the front.

Their rivals are Rage Team, who are all nepo-babies who pilot advanced mechs equipped with powerful but impractical weapons. The members are Harry Valero (he/him, 23, ocelot), pilot of the Valero Veloce MKIII Concept, an experimental high-speed mech; Miranda Jensen (she/her, 26, fox), pilot of the Starlet, a more humanoid mech with giant wings; and Brad Octavius (he/him, 25, rhinoceros), pilot of a mech I haven't named yet, which is a combat mech using parts from sports mechs.

Survivor Team are like. Pilots who were injured in the course of being a pilot, but kept doing it regardless. While I won't list all their members (because it would take too long and also the roster is far from complete), I do want to highlight Greg Phoenix (he/him, 53, kiwi), whose wife died during battle with a particularly powerful kaiju; he used parts of her mech to upgrade his own one, and named the result "Barbara" in memory of her. Also one of the characters is a Frogfish called Cora Reeve.

Terror Team are the big scary elite dudes, who are also big celebrities, with merch and sponsorships and stuff.

Advance Team are a bunch of giant neeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrds! Their mechs are more experimental (e.g a perfectly-spherical design with stretchy limbs so it can travel far distances quicker, and the body of a dead kaiju that's piloted by an electric eel who uses his natural electricity to puppet it).

Unity Team are just like a vague concept I have at the moment, but basically they have seven members in colour-coded mechs that can fuse together into a larger robot because Power Rangers (and also like. Sentai and Voltron and stuff) pastiche.

Outlier Team are the most interesting, as their members are all from species who aren't standard anthropomorphic animals, including a dimensionally-displaced human, a genetically-modified crab with full sapience and an inexplicable New York accent, an alien from a eusocial species with hundreds of genders, and an ancient robot that resembles an opabinia.

The Kaiju incident is called "The Intrusion", and started with an interdimensional worm monster emerging through a portal, which caused pollutive chemicals to become a powerful mutagen, alerted the setting's equivalents of Heaven and Hell, caused bioengineered creatures to mutate and escape from a lab that's still producing them, and made all the AIs in charge of various facilities go rogue. The results are Pollution (mutated invertebrates mostly, though sapient beings can also become Pollution Kaiju with prolonged exposure to the mutagen or if they eat the flesh of one), Dimensional (Kaiju from other dimensions or even between dimensions, with impossibly alien appearances and, if this ends up being a webcomic or whatever, different artstyles/mediums), Demonic (self-explanatory; in my document about all the characters, I describe them as having "Lots of flames, magma, mouths, leathery wings, pieces of brutalist architecture, masses of flesh, insect limbs, dangling chains, horns"), Angelic (again, self-explanatory; in my document about all the characters, I describe them as having "Lots of clouds, crystals, eyes, feathery wings, pieces of gothic architecture, intricate stained-glass panels, sea slug tentacles, flowing cloth, halos"), Biotech (biomechanical, in a similar way to the Combine Synths from Half-Life 2), and AI (literally just artificial intelligences that were originally in charge of facilities and stuff, but went rogue during The Intrusion and have built themselves bodies) Kaiju.

There's an ancient civilisation of prehistoric vertebrates who had robots based on prehistoric invertebrates (which also filled the roles of animals), as well as "walking buildings" that are essentially early mechs, consisting of Greco-Roman buildings held up by large, articulated statues.

[wayfaringtrainers]

So I constantly joke about how Robin's cooking skills are comedically terrible, but this has always been exaggeration for comedic effect. It got me to thinking: "how capable is Robin in the kitchen? and it kinda snowballed to thinking about all my muses and their culinary capability, sooo, from worst to best:

Worst: Robin

Yeah no, he's a terrible chef, let's not get ahead of ourselves. But not as bad as we've made him out to be. Robin did spend 6-7 years alone on the road, and at least half of them were a hermetic, loner lifestyle so he had to be capable enough to cook for himself.

For the most part, Robin is fine with really basic things. He can butter some bread and slap meat between it, he can fling something into the oven for half an hour. Robin's main issue is impatience; he cannot stand hovering in the kitchen for an hour or two, doing all the prep-work required, his instinct is to just throw it all in at once, no matter how bad an idea that is: if the vegetables needs half an hour at 200 degrees to cook, but the meat takes two hours at 150? He throws them both in at 200 and walks away for 2 hours. It's probably why curries are the only thing he can reasonably cook (being very much a "throw everything in and cook it" kind of food), but even they are just... Mediocre.

Bad: Katrina

Anybody is a master chef in comparison to Robin, but that doesn't mean Katrina is a good chef, she just isn't a disaster. Unlike Robin, who is impatient, Katrina is inexperienced: she's never really done a lot of cooking, because it's never held her interest. She'll cook if she has to, but she doesn't really want to: so her cooking tends to be somewhat plain, bland and uninteresting.

Katrina is strictly a "follow the cooking guide" girl and if she's asked to cook something that doesn't have instructions? She's not even gonna try. What's more, while Robin and Amber will go out to eat because they travel a lot, Katrina will go out to eat regardless, even if she has access to cooking facilities. It just isn't something she cares for.

Average: Amber

Amber's only ahead of Katrina by necessity. Before she met Robin, Amber had a theoretical knowledge of how to cook, but due to her childhood illness, she was rarely allowed to cook for herself (her father and brother were obsessively over-protective). Plus, being Robin's travel companion means she can't rely on him to cook for them, so she has a better handle on it.

Good: Samantha

Being a single mother of two on a budget means Samantha had to be pretty good with her utensils to keep her kids well fed. Prior to her kids, she was already pretty good at campfire culinary, on account of her ranger training.

When times were tough and money short, she may have taken to some of her old-school foraging knowhow to keep food on the table, but Samantha has had years to get comfortable with the kitchen. Her only fault though, is her reluctance to get creative; like everybody else, cooking is a chore for Samantha and while she does it well and takes pride in her skills, she doesn't do it for pleasure, only because she has to.

Best: Dante

Dante is the only one on this blog who actually likes cooking. Dante always had a stressful life, being the favourite child of a perfectionist mother, he was always expected to excel, excel, excel and anything in his life that didn't contribute to accolades, achievements and ambition was something he was discouraged from.

(Yeah, neither of the Richards siblings had a good childhood, go figure)

Cooking was effectively an escape for Dante, it was something practical that his mother couldn't dismiss as a waste of time, but also something he could enjoy doing. He likes the whole process of forming a meal, considering it significantly less stressful than literally every other moment of his life (which includes: work as a nuclear physicist, being Amber's guardian during her sickly days, his whole grief-induced mad scientist arc and having to literally work with criminals). Even the most complex meal is a breeze compared to all that.

[heronoegg]

Rewatching the anime a little bit to refresh my mind and I dont know if it's just the anime but if I had to get rid of anything in the anime that annoys me the most it would be AND LISTEN TO ME READ IT HOW IM SAYING IT

the way they went about making Uraraka have a crush on Deku

It's so annoying to the point I dont wanna "fix it" I just want it gone.

It's kinda long what I have to say and if you like Uraraka/Deku this post probably isn't for you

See it would be fine if it wasn't her whole personality and if you dont agree with me that's fine but I just.. it's hard to watch them fail my girl.

My most annoying parts of it are definitely.

- when she was taking her exam with Aoyama and him bringing up mention of the fact she liked Deku made her lose all composeture in a situation like that. 13 was literally caught off guard that she let go and the only reason they won is because she didnt wanna rip the children apart using black hole or void or whatever her quirk is called.

-when shes fighting Himiko for the first time in the forest training arc shes in FULL ON ATTACK AND PROTECT TSU MODE she man handles Himiko to the ground and I'm rooting for her. Himiko all of a sudden brings up a love interest cause she can smell it on or in Uararka's blood or something that she knows she likes a person. This takes over Uraraka's mind and she leaves ATTACK PROTECT MODE and is blushing and confused like a yandere simulator when you see Senpai. like... why is this scene needed? We know Uraraka likes Deku why does it have to get in the way of Himiko potentially almost stabbing or ending Tsu's life right in front of Uraraka? They were in a fight, having feelings for your crush is not gonna automatically flip your brain into "☺ oh no I remembered I like him" she could have just been extremely confused and Himiko was talking about how she loves Stain the same way Uraraka apparently has feelings for Deku, this scene is only here to show us Uararka liking Deku is making her mess up and that's why later she says she'll put those feelings away and then doesn't put them away cause she allows this to be in the forefront of her mind, Mina even teases her about it later with the present Deku got her. There's nothing wrong with Deku getting her a present and her cherishing it but she keeps it in her arm shoot thingy and when Himiko stole it season 6 Uraraka chased her to get it back cause it meant a lot to her... if it meant a lot to you leave it home??? I'm not gonna bring my keychain I like a lot or something someone gave me to the battle field leave that home where you know its safe

-in movie 1 Uararka is first scene stuttering because she was eavesdropping in on Deku and Melissia having a normal conversation about the island expo. Momo and Jirou are angry for her for no reason because this is meant to be perceived as Deku "cheating" on Uraraka by hanging out with another girl and it really isn't, they were literally just geeking out about hero gear and being a hero I rewatched the movie with my friend a little bit and she said "it's easy to ship Deku with Melissa because I dont feel like it's being pushed in my face ''THEY LIKE EACHOTHER GIGGLE GIGGLE'' it literally just showed two people who are more alike than they knew cause they are both quirkless and geeks about heroes talking about geeky hero stuff. Your next thing is your gonna probably say I'm hating cause I ship Deku with Melissa, I dont care about shipping the characters I was just making a point I honestly really need Deku and Melissa to stay platonic and friends cause shipping them just isn't my tea but to each it's own, I'm not saying I hate Deku/Uraraka I'm just saying there was a better way to go about making them fall in love or have a crush on eachother cause so far into the forest training arc and onward it's one sided, Deku never really thinks about Uraraka the way she thinks about him next your gonna say but in the beginning Deku was crazy about her cause he was like "A GIRL TALK TO ME" when he came to UA and when he talk to her on the phone he was like "I TALK TO A GIRL ON THE PHONE!" He did say these things, girls dont talk to Deku, not in his old middle school not ever really, he's a 15 year old boy if a nerdy kid talks to a girl he's going to geek out about it cause that never happen before

-it's just hard in general to watch her say "I'm gonna put these feelings away cause they get in my way" and then she proceeds to not do that even when shes putting them away she keeps bringing it up or its shown that she clearly didnt "put them away" cause she's struggling to not think abo it Deku in every trial she faces. I kid you not I remember her saying "what would Deku do" the same way Deku says "what would Allmight do" and it's really annoying.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk I just wanted to talk about this cause I dont really appreciate how her romance life is handled. If you like Deku/Uraraka power to you but I dont and I can only see them as friends and she had a crush on him but he friend zoned her

[aberooski]

I beat the FFVI pixel remaster today and it's the first time I've ever actually played it and not just watched an LP, so now I can officially say it's my least favorite between 4, 5, and 6.

I've played 4 and 5 several times and I adore them so much so it was really awesome getting to play 6 for the first time, I had a really good time!

But I guess if I had to, my rank of the three would be 5, 4, then 6 but y’know it's totally subjective and I don't care which ones are "better" or not, that doesn't matter to me in the slightest. This is purely based on which of the three I like the most.

I had some gripes with 6, probably I guess the dumbest one being I didn't like that there are 14 party members if you get all of them and it just feels like too much for them not to have done what 4 did and have characters come in and out and some only be temporary members. Or at least do what 4 also did and allow you to have 5 party members at a time. I liked the parts where you had to split into multiple parties because that made an interesting puzzle dynamic and also allowed you to use characters outside of your main party but I really just felt like 90% of the characters just kinda sit there and collect dust but that could just be a me problem.

Like Terra, Celes, Edgar, Sabin, and Locke are the only characters I felt like really mattered at the end of the day. Sabin maybe a little iffy in that regard even, Edgar was more important to the story than he was and is my favorite character in the game, but I love him so nyeh! And Cyan was more important than some because his arc was intwined in the main story more at the beginning at least and I LOVED his whole story start to finish I thought it was really well done. And maybe Setzer is kinda important too because of the Blackjack and the Falcon. But even then, he's not so much important to the main story beyond that. But everyone else felt like they could've been there for a storyline and then gone away and not been full party members, or not have been there, and like Umaro and Gogo are fun to unlock but they're not needed? Plus my issue with Umaro is the same issue I have with Gau in that you can't control their moves and I hate that. You have more control with Gau but it takes a lot more work, which is fine, it's also exhausting and I just didn't have the gumption to train him after a certain point. I don't know, I guess my main issue is just there's too many party members and not enough space for them and that makes me sad because I love FF characters so much I want them all to hang out and get their use I don't like neglecting characters and with 6 there's so many that you have to and I'm sad about it.

I was also confused by Kefka's motivation, like I know he wanted to destroy the world and everything along with it but I think I missed the why or at least forgot somewhere along the way because I left the game asking that question. I also just didn't like the ending as much as 4 and 5 it felt very abrupt. You beat Kefka, the tower comes crumbling down, and we escape via character credit cards and fly over the world. It's beautiful seeing the recovery of the world and people rebuilding their homes and Katarin having her baby and I will say Terra letting her hair down and just basking in the wind and the freedom and the beauty of it all did hit me hard, I felt so happy and I adore her.

But yeah, 6 was great though despite my silly and kinda stupid gripes. I loved how 6 wasn't afraid to get dark, which I was fully aware of going in. I mean, the whole Doma thing at the beginning...? That's fucked up, like I loved and emotionally hated Cyan's introduction story because it's so messed up. Kefka is truly horrible and twisted, and that's what makes him a great villain. Also Celes waking up from her year long coma after the world is destroyed and being told by Cid that everyone that used to be on the island with them over time gave up hope and threw themselves from the cliffs in despair. And when Cid dies if you fail to save him Celes does the same, she fully intended to kill herself and that's the intro to act 2. Among other things too, 6 wasn't afraid to get dark and I loved that. I really loved this game.

And unsurprisingly for me of all people, my favorite part of the game was the opera sequence, there's a reason it's such a famous moment in the series and one of the most iconic and well remembered parts of the game. It's amazing. And I LOVED that they added vocals to the pixel remaster even when I was playing with the original music like I always do when presented with the option. It made the sequence so much more magical for me as a vocalist and just someone who lives and breathes music, I felt that sequence in my soul. It was amazing.

But at the end of the day, FFV you will always be the classic FF king of my heart.

[lurafita]

Nice to see you back!

Think you will write a Batfam/Spidey crossovr yurself?

Hi there! :-) I don't think I will. While I do like the general idea, the few fics I have partly read, which seem to be the most popular, follow a certain way in how they handle the different characters that I would not. And since these are the popular stories, I can only assume that readers prefer the way the characters are written in those. So if I were to try my hand at it, most people probably wouldn't like it.

And I know that we all say how writing is for oneself and not for the masses, and that we need to create our own stories in our own ways, and I have such respect and awe for people who create true eposes of stories with hardly any followings... But what can I say? I like the kudos, I like the comments, I like the bookmarks and subscriptions. If I believe a story wouldn't find appreciation, I'm just less motivated to write it.

And my Peter Parker being stranded in Gotham, coming into contact with the Bat-fam, after all the shit that happened to him... He would be *very* different from the way I have seen him written in the other stories.

For one, I would crank up his sass meter. I feel like that gets neglected a lot in fics today. For another, he would call Batman out on his self-righteous hipocrisy and borderline xenophobia. (I actually don't like Batman, not the way he is canonically presented. I could make him likeable - to my taste - in the fic, after a bit of a growth/change arc. But yes. I would change him, and most fans probably wouldn't like that) And for the most important (to me) part, I would make Peter the bamf he deserves to be. I'm sorry, I don't mean any offense to the fans of the bats, but they are human. They are highly trained, but they are human. And a lot of them are teens and even pre-teens. I don't buy that they can easily beat Spidey, unless Peter is holding back A LOT. Like, a lot a lot. Like a whole lot. (But that's not the kinda vibe I got from the parts I read of the other fics, so...)

So, yeah... I don't think my take on this popular trope would be appreciated, so I'm not going to bother. :-) XD

But thanks so much for the interest. Feel free to ask any questions you want. I might not be able to answer right away, but I will try to check back into tumblr at least daily.

Have a nice week and remember to stay hydrated. :-)

[corvlth]

Alright so seeing as I am finally caught up with the manga, I feel like saying a thing or two about the Baki characters, and as the resident God of war degenerate who really likes blorbos interacting, I’m sad to announce that they don’t do a lot of interacting besides praising each other’s fighting skills. Bear with me because this is probably gonna be long and unfocused as shit of half remembered plot beats. I’m more of a make lines on a canvas guy than a words one, but regardless.

Now, people usually have big brain analysis about it with references made to Buddhism and symbolism, and I’m from buttfuck, Eastern Europe so I’m not aware of subtle cultural aspects of this manga, so if anything take this as an interesting point of view of a foreigner (though I do sometimes feel like people put more meaning into it than the author intended).

Baki. I’ve read it all (except the side stories, so take all this with a grain of salt). Is it good? No. But it is the outlandish, off the walls shit that brought me back to it ‘til the end and those definitely delivered, but I feel like the character department could have used more attention, so let’s talk about that.

Firstly, Baki Hanma. Protagonist, public menace and little meow meow you root for. He started off the manga by already being the champion of the underground arena before having a flashback of him getting there, which made the first part of it feel kinda clunky but so is this ramble so I ain’t the one to talk. I feel like Baki doesn’t really bring anything particularly interesting to the table by himself, which is a shame because he definitely has the potential to. He was pushed by his mother to train so she could gain the attention of Yujiro, Baki being nothing more than a means to an end for her in the vain attempt to impress a guy who simply couldn’t bring himself to give less of a shit. We see flashbacks of him training with Yujiro too, though I can’t really make out anything out of them. I guess he was tough on the kid? Either way, his mom gets killed in front of him, and after the child arc he’s just nice. Like with exceptions he’s just a swell guy. Which is fine, but it does feel kind of unearned since he just goes from walking through the streets with his mother’s corpse talking to her while trying to delude himself for just a bit longer from the truth of what has just happened, to being a nice, kind teenager with 0 explanation as to what happened in the meantime. And there’s glimpses of Baki acting more like Yujiro but the author doesn’t really do anything with it besides remind us that he’s a Hanma and therefore really strong.

I’m just saying it would be nice to see Baki be more of a messy bitch, like go girl make bad choices, while also being terrified of turning into his father. For example, in the Baki goes to prison arc, he butts in to Jun and Oliva talking and gets thrown into the railings outside, and Jun makes note of the “Hanma blood being the most stimulating liquid known to man” and implying his nature made him act that way. It never gets brought up again or acknowledged besides a ‘this is foreshadowing that he’s really strong actually’. Thank you, we knew that. It’s just that it’d be an interesting plot point for him to fight against his nature and have to eventually accept that the monstrous part of him will always be a part of him, but he can temper himself with compassion and he can use his power for other people and then we get to have him be a nice guy.

The Kozue plot arc felt… Like nothing. They already had a crush on each other, became a couple, Kozue accepted that Baki’s gonna be a fighter, then after that was already established the Ali Jr. arc happened and it just felt like nothing. Jr. gets set up as a potential threat to Baki’s relationship and gets his ass kicked multiple times which does nothing to set him up as a real threat, no idea why Itagaki chose to include that. Also Kozue was inexplicably considering Ali as a potential love interest after knowing him for what felt like 10 minutes. And after Son of Ogre and the big battle she never showed up, not in any meaningful way anyway, as far as I remember. Which is a shame because women an endangered species in this manga.

Skimming through Son of Ogre I see that Baki was looking up to Yujiro for his opulent lifestyle, which would also yield an interesting arc of Baki leaning into his nature, unaware of the effects it has on him and unintentionally getting worse and worse to those around him and that would put him at odds with Jack who does see what he’s turning into and hates it, himself and partially his brother, but desperately wants to save him from this road he’s choosing to go down.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, we love Jack in this house. He’s the messy bitch I wanted Baki to be. He’s out for vengeance, he’s destroying himself in order to achieve it. He’d flush Yujiro’s heart medications down the toilet if he had the chance to. My only gripe with him is that I’d like to see more of his relationship with his mother. She did show up at the end of the first volume. Is she using him to get back at the ogre? Is he even aware of it? Was she cruel to him as a child due to the circumstances of his birth? If so, was that even intentional? It’d be a cool plot point to see if Jack is doing all this because he feels guilty for existing and reconciling this with his mother that- I’m just saying I’ll cry like a bitch if she shows up and holds his face and looks him in the eye and says that she’s sorry and he’s not the monster he convinced himself to be.

And the big bad, the Ogre, the strongest creature on Earth, Yujiro Hanma. I’m torn between disliking and appreciating the fact that he’s very inconsistent. On one hand it’s very jarring that he seems like a caring (albeit very intimidating) father to Baki and gives him advice and warning Tokugawa about his health, and then doing horrible things left and right to people. On the other hand, the unpredictability seems to suit his character. He’s a fun character to hate and watch and it really felt like him and Baki were the only actual characters for a good portion of the first volume. Also that scene at the hotel with him being weaker than whoever was on the other side of the door is very funny and it gets funnier the longer it never gets brought up, I hope they never do.

This is getting kinda long so, some quick ones:

Retsu could have leaned into the pride of his 4000 year old Chinese martial arts but at the same time feeling crippling anxiety that he doesn’t live up to it

Katsumi never had his circus days and his father dying in front of his eyes affect him and is also just a nice well adjusted guy, also my man’s used to have dimples remember what they took from you

Jun’s an actual looney toon and we love him in this house but it’s weird that he’s allegedly fought for independence for his country out of compassion for his people but then says to Oliva that fighting for others is a weakness in his eyes, and only remembered about them halfway through their fight. Has he done all that for personal glory before and just now had a come to Jesus moment?

Musashi was just curious about the present for a good portion of Baki dou, until suddenly deciding to regain his glory, which was kind of jarring and could have been brought up earlier.

The entire Sukune arc was an actual slog to get through I actually only half remember most of these because I put down the manga for days to weeks on time because it felt boring as shit to continue reading until Jack came in and it picked up again. I guess he gets the bitches and banishes evil spirits, so good for him, I guess?

Pickle was a character I was looking forward to see him animated because I wanted to hear the sound design they chose for his vocalizations and was disappointed on that front because it’s like the same sound that’s way too quiet, but otherwise fun character. Kinda weird that there was a plot point for people to vote on freezing him back again and that went nowhere because he’s just living in the sewers now, but he’s a fun character to have around so that’s fine.

I guess that’s kind of it for the most part? Everything that I remembered I had an opinion on anyway, sorry I’m a god of war fan and decided to make that everybody’s problem. Feel free to ask any questions if you got any?

[bumblyburg]

ted lasso finale thoughts

Need the richmond women's team spinoff NOW!!!!!!!!!!! And it better have LESBIANS i swear to god!!!!!!!

As always the strongest part of this ep was the team dynamics. Roy joining the diamond dogs. Isaac with the penalty kick!!!! The fucking dance sequence callback T^T theres no place like afc richmond <3 Them winning the match but losing the whole thing was a good balance of success vs realism. I didn't know enough about football to predict it beforehand LOL but that probably worked in my favor bc i genuinely didnt know whether they would win or lose. Rebecca and ted's friendship was heartwarming as always. I was living in fear that they'd become a couple even though i knew that wasn't what the writers were going for, so I probably need to rewatch to fully enjoy it.

Tedependent lost RIP. it would have made sense but at the same time im kinda glad they didn't, at least this season. trent was still very much a side character and i just don't think the story beats were there for tedtrent endgame. the story would have had to been constructed differently, or it would need another season. I also liked how the main focus was ted & rebecca's friendship rather than either of their romantic relationships. I love a good romance but its not what this story is about.

Thats part of the reason why the dutchman return felt cheap to me lol. Sorry rebecca im always rooting for you but i just wasn't feeling it. Another part of that is probably because Ted and Trent had a much stronger foundation and we still didn't get to see even their friendship develop as much as i would have liked. Maybe ive been spoiled by all the trent this season idk. but i was just hoping for a little more. After all, it's not lost on me that we only got one confirmed gay couple at the end (we don't even know anything about Michael!!! Ugh sorry Im a michael hater he's so boring.)

Speaking of boring, I simply do not care about ted's family. So him moving back was... not really compelling for me. like none of the kansas characters are fleshed out at all. i wish they had done something more interesting with them so i could actually get invested. There was something there with michelle dating their couples therapist, but it ended up falling flat imo. Also Michelle being a teacher is a total copout, I would have preferred if she had an unexpected job that revealed a new side to her. Give her a personality outside of being a wife/mother/caretaker please and thank you.

I did like how Royjamie was left openended!!! thats the ship i care most abt and i knew it wasnt going to *actually* happen so im satisfied with what we got. I am in the (im assuming) minority of royjamie enjoyers that is against roykeeleyjamie. This episode really hammered it in why roy and jamie are not good for keeley LOL, but the signs have been there all along. Keeley needs to be her own boss for a bit! Roy and jamie are just not at her maturity level (lovingly), and they've got some misogyny to work through.

(I need to think on it more, but I'm pretty sure that I liked the way this episode/season handled the Roy And Jamie Are Lowkey Sexist subplot. Like the whole fighting over a woman thing is soooo trite atp, and i still dont know how i feel about them physically fighting over her or whatever. but the story was realistic about how these asshole male footballers are going to have some weird views about women, while still shutting that down those views. like not even giving them the time of day. Keeley literally shoos them out without a word LMAO. So idk need to think about it more but at least keeley didnt end up with either of them).

Hey you know who DOES deserve each other.... and makes each other better people, as represented by their football training arc.... the student is the teacher and the teacher is the student etc etc…… Anyways royjamie is real TO ME!!! (And brett goldstein and phil dunster, number one royjamie warriors. phil dunster wrote royjamie smut I will never get over that)

Overall im sad to see ted lasso go. i think i need to sit with all 3 seasons a bit more before forming my full opinion, but s1 will always have my heart. Mostly because evil jamie and evil rebecca are so so fun to watch.

[koichi-talks]

Hi, I keep coming back to these types of posts about DRDT, especially this one and I decided I wanted to give some more thoughts and what-not in a re-blog than constantly commenting them. (Lowkey for the most part with the Death order prediction since sometimes it is fun to talk about).

I do agree with you down below with what you said about Xander possibly being a take on the "traitor" role. I also think tho compared to other characters like say, Mukuro, he's more-so someone who isnt aligned with the MM in terms of being a traitor.

I...still my conflictions on Eden being the killer this chapter (even putting my bias aside for best girl...), with her giving Teruko such a hopeful speech only for her to be the one to kill Arei would be wild; Ngl as well, I'm also conflicted on the whole "true blackened" rule in the trial since...at least to me comes across a lil vauge and how it'll come into play. But I have been thinking that while the "one day I'll make you understand that" part of her speech will be lost if she dies this chapter, the rest of what she says probably will still being important to Teruko, especially if she says smth similar right before she's executed.

Levi being an accomplie instead of a killer is lowkey a possibility that I'm probs alot more cool with than him being the killer. Does a good way of subverting expecations, which this Fangan does good at with it's characters imo. Confirms theorists suspicions (including mine admittedly) about him being involved in the case somehow, but not making getting him killed off this soon and keeping him in the story for us to learn more about him and helps out for his unresolved relationship with Ace; and possibly the group.

I'm also on the "Charles dying, Whit surviving" train as the days go by. Whit is my fav character of the cast, but Charles has grown on me a good ton; I love how he's a take on the support role, Bro has two of the best dynamics in DT, I love on Whit has made an impact on him to where despite him still being "a-bit" rude as times, but doesn't look down on the others anymore and is more compassionate. But lowkey, if Whit has made an impact on Charles' character, it would sense if the opposite happened later down the line. Also, I feel this could be another subversion; since it's a thing of "who does everyone expect between to the two to die, and who to survive, the frivalours comedic relief, or one of Teruko's main support". I also think it would be interesting if Charles died by his own custom weapon, whether it happens during the daily life, or even the during the middle of the trial (could be daily life if the effects of the poison are instant).

Arturo also makes sense to die next chapter, whether as a victim or even a killer (or one of depending on the Dev handles the CH3 case this time; but I have faith that the case will be handled well). Victim could make sense given how bro has been suspected of being a killer already but ig anything can happen.

Nico I also agree could end up dying either CH3 or 4, easily tho more than likely as a victim as well. Not too much to say but hopefully we get more insight on their character and more depth before they go though.

Hu, based on her hidden quote, could maybe be a killer perhaps, but a victim could be just as likely. Hu, with a themes of change with her butterfly symbolism, could end up having some interesting arc during the KG and I'm interested to see where that goes, and hopefully we get her backstory, or some bits next chapter, as well.

Veronika I also kinda agree could end up being involved in the CH5 case. I think as well too that Veronika could end up being a possible antagonist (depends on how her character would be over the next couple of chapters). If this could happen, I think it would be interesting for an event to take place that she'd be involved in the CH3 case. Since Veronika is the kind of character people expect to die in this type of case, it would be interesting if she'd be in a similar to David is rn except, she is involved but of her own will. And while her being an antag could be a bit obvious too, but the potential is there I'd say. And I lowkey also agree that while Veronika "could" be a MM candidate, but if she made it to CH6 with the rest, she'll be instantly suspected by everyone to be the MM (Also doesn't help since she does share similarities with characters like Junko; it's the obvious pigtails lol.)

David I also feel could be in a weird spot on how his character go, especially with how his character is rn in terms of complexity with how the events of CH2 are of right now, but as you stated, someone like David, if the theories about the hidden depths of his character are true (which those theories I agree with since I'm sure the Dev is pushing the narrative of a morally-grey/human cast and not with people who are outright villains), could be a great survivor. Especially alongside Teruko, his narrative foil bestie :)

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most)

Yeah, I should’ve known that I needed to get around to this someday.

You see, the reason why I hadn’t made a theory about the identity of the Despair Time mastermind is that… I'm not totally convinced on any one person being the mastermind. Like, look at these clowns! They’re all so weird! I love them all for it, obviously, but none of their personality quirks or roles in the story stand out to me as particularly mastermind-y. There are a lot of characters that I believe could be the mastermind, but it’s also pretty easy to convince me out of it for one reason or another.

However, it’s not like I had any idea about who the P:EG mastermind would be, either! At least with two chapters under its belt, I can feel more comfortable that I’m not just fully mischaracterizing the Despair Time cast. And I definitely have things to say about various DRDT masterminds, just… in a way that’s kinda hard to rank.

But, that’s no reason for me to be cowardly! I’m sure that seriously scrutinizing all of the characters’ mastermind potentials and ultimately coming up with who I think the most likely candidate is will be super fun. It’s just… going to be really long, so, buckle in. And maybe prepare to take breaks in the middle.

(Spoilers for all three main canon games and DRDT.)

Why is it going to be so long? Well, it’s because, when it comes to DRDT, I think that my predictions will be at least partially based on how long I think each character will make it into the story. If I have a particularly strong inclination that a character is going to die in Chapter 3.456, no matter how unfounded, it might make me feel worse about their prospects of being the mastermind. That’s not to say that a mastermind can’t appear to die (or actually die) before Chapter 6 rolls around, of course. However, it is an uncommon additional hurdle to the story that would require some justification and a little suspension of disbelief if I’m trying to call it years before it transpires.

So, if we’re going to talk about the mastermind, I need to share my current feelings about where each character might place in the death order. Should I update the title…?

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most) AND ALSO Death Order Predictions

These are my mastermind rankings, so my opinions on where the characters might be headed will obviously be used as the baseline. Naturally, you don’t need to believe in anything I'm about to throw out here. I’m just trying to explain my thought process so that nothing I say later on will come as a total surprise.

Also, since it’s kind of long, here’s the top of the death order section. I think it’ll provide some important context, but if you want to skip it, look for the other green, bold text.

Some of my thoughts were inspired by anderscim’s death predictions theory, as I read that pretty soon after I joined the fandom. I encourage you to go read their work as well!

The tiers are mostly pretty self explanatory– 3-4 means I think they’re at risk of dying sooner and 4-5 means I think they’re at risk of dying later. But, I’ll give everyone what I hope to be a quick rundown on each character just to explain my thinking. 

Xander: Xander canonically died as the Chapter 1 victim.

Min: Min canonically died as the Chapter 1 blackened.

Arei: While I respect the concept, I personally don’t believe in the “J and Arei swapped places and Arei is actually still alive” theory, and I will be writing the rest of this post accordingly. So, to me, Arei canonically died as the Chapter 2 victim.

Eden: Pretty much anyone who’s seen my DRDT theories at this point shouldn't be surprised that I’m listing Eden as the Chapter 2 killer. The logic behind this belief has been explained by my lovely mutuals here and here.

Levi: Alright, on to the ones I don’t have any concrete evidence to support! (There is concrete evidence behind the ch2 murder, even if you believe it points elsewhere.) Levi has had a decent amount of focus already in his trainwreck of a relationship with Ace and discussions of morality with Eden and Teruko. If he does serve as an accomplice to the Chapter 2 killer (see the first link in Eden’s section), then I feel like his clock will really be ticking. He’d be trapped with the branding of a bad person, his greatest fear, and left without any relationships to lean on. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone targeted him as a victim they “believed deserved to die after what happened,” or even if Levi decided that he was doomed to be a villain from the start and decided to kill. Alternatively, he could try to redeem himself as a classic Chapter 4 buff curse sacrifice in some way. In either case (or even in the case of him just being the Chapter 2 killer), I have my doubts that he’ll be making it too much later into the game.

Arturo: To me, Arturo doesn’t feel like a character set up for incredible longevity. That doesn’t mean I’m pigeonholing him as a one-dimensional villain or pure comedic relief, just that Arturo seems like a character who might be set up to have his ideology lead to his downfall. I don’t think he’s dying in Chapter 2, as I believe the narrative would want to see how he reacts to J burning the bridges between them, but I could definitely see the story only needing one more round of daily life (or possibly a trial as well) to resolve wherever his character is going.

Charles: Look, it’s not only because he’s already been pronounced dead at 3. As I elaborated upon in Charles’ section of this post (The Jerk), Charles feels like he’s speeding towards the end of his character arc far ahead of schedule. It could just be that he needed to learn to make friends quickly before Whit makes an early exit, sending him on a secondary arc where he learns to process his current grief and fears as a parallel to regaining memories about Elliot. However, I find it much more likely that the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario plays out in the opposite direction. He makes a lot of sense as a Chapter 3 victim to me.

Nico: Similar to Arei and J, I am writing all of my theories with the assumption that it really was Nico who attempted to murder Ace in Chapter 2, because I think it makes the most narrative sense. (I could keep typing out a “well, unless” every time, but I don’t really want to eat up my time writing or your time reading all of that.) Through that lens, the fact that Nico has already murdered someone and “gotten away with it,” more or less, puts them in a really weird situation. I don’t really see them killing again, as it feels like we’ve already explored the emotional and narrative implications of that happening through Chapter 2. Although, I can’t deny that it would be interesting to see the fallout of Ace being proven totally right and Hu 100% wrong. Still, if they were to be a survivor after doing something so severe so early into the game, it seems like they would have to undergo some sort of redemption for the audience to accept them as a face of hope in the end. I don’t currently see any great paths to that happening, although there’s obviously still plenty of story time for something to open up. For now, though, I feel more confident in placing them as a early/mid-game victim, likely as a consequence of choosing to harm someone else.

Hu: Given her overall lack of focus in the story thus far, I find it likely that Hu will be one of the focal characters of the Chapter 3 daily life. That could be bad news, considering how Xander and Arei fared after being focused upon in their respective daily lives, but… I dunno, I just feel like Hu would survive it, somehow? Wouldn’t be too surprised if she didn’t, but my gut instinct is that she would. I kind of see her character exiting the story in Chapter 4, no preference on killer vs victim.

Veronika: Veronika is a very weird character (an “oddball,” I’ll call it), and thus, my predictions for her are strongly based on the patterns that oddball characters normally follow. I’ll be using canon characters only, because I believe that those are the only killing games that I have the right to assume every DRDT fan has seen. But, you can apply these same kinds of patterns to many fangan characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fangans breaking from typical Danganronpa norms and following their own paths. But, in the case of how oddballs are treated, I think these characters generally tend to follow these patterns because they’re sensible writing practices. I’ll try to explain why each of these conventions makes sense in the following bullet points.

Oddballs tend not to die in Chapters 1 or 2. This is because oddball characters are generally created to supply a very niche kind of comedic relief– examples from DRDT could include Arturo’s commentary on ugly people or Ace’s bizarre remarks of cowardice. Any character deemed worthy of being included in a fangan occupies one of 16 highly contested slots. So, if you include a character for the purpose of making jokes with them, you'll want to get your bang for your buck! It’s hard to fit every joke you have in mind into only a chapter or two. The best example I could come up with for a (canon) oddball who dies early is Teruteru. In his case, the writers likely anticipated that his hyper-flirtatious nature would get tiring if it continued on for too long, and thus, exhausted all of the jokes they wanted to make in Chapter 1 before his exit. An oddball who dies this early has a limited shelf life, and is likely accompanied by other oddballs who can pick up the comedic slack.

Many have pointed out that silly oddballs often die in Chapter 3 (Hifumi, Ibuki, Tenko) as a way to signify the death of fun and innocence. You also have a chance to get rid of some of the more sinister oddballs (Celeste, Kiyo) at a point where it seems unfeasible for them to have stuck around this long without… well, killing someone. In either case, it’s because Chapter 3 is a great balance of letting a character stay in a story for long enough that they achieve whatever strange effects you wanted from them, while also clearing them off the stage before you get into the really serious business. Silly oddballs especially may not be equipped to handle the often turbulent natures of Chapter 4 without breaking the serious tone too much, so it’s best to axe them at the midpoint.

Endearing oddballs (Gundham, Gonta) have a hard time making it past Chapter 4. If Chapter 4 is serious, Chapters 5 and 6 are even more so, and the Chapter 4 killer slot in particular is a viable dumping ground for characters who don’t really have a place in the finale. Their deaths are meant to pull at your heartstrings and prove how a killing game can make literally anyone– yes, even that guy– a killer. (Miu is an outlier; more like an extended Chapter 3. Unlike THH, which has its tonal shift at the end-of-Ch3-Sakura Traitor Reveal, and SDR2, which has its tonal shift at Mikan’s insanity and death, v3’s tonal shift comes at Kokichi's accusation and Kaito and Shuichi's argument, or possibly even Miu's death itself. The Chapter 4 Daily Life isn’t all that serious in and of itself. Thus, Miu dying as a Ch4 victim functions more like killing off a silly oddball before she has to deal with all the betrayal and scheming that occurs later on.)

Oddballs really only die in Chapter 5 to the extent that you can count major antagonists like Nagito and Kokichi as Weird Dudes. As the precursor to the big, showstopping, mind-bending Chapter 5 Trial, the mood is typically pretty… straightforward. Depending on the overall plot’s arc, Chapter 5 is either the point where most of the surviving students are concluding their character arcs and learning how potent a weapon teamwork is (THH, SDR2), or a “dark night of the soul” type moment where all of the slowly growing inter-character conflicts are finally coming to a head (v3). It can also be Version A for some characters and Version B for others, but, either way, hijinks are not ensuing, basically. Plot relevant things happen here, and as such, plot relevant characters are the ones who are dying. It can be hard for an oddball to find a place in the narrative relevant enough to serve as one of its final, poignant deaths without also being a major antagonist.

Despite everything I’ve said about oddballs dying, it is definitely possible for oddballs to survive. Danganronpa is, at its core, a dark comedy, and as such killing off all of your funny joke characters before the ending is probably a bad move. Hiro, Toko, Kazuichi, and Himiko are all characters I’d call oddballs that survive until the very end. The difference in their case is that part of their oddball nature is being… kind of pathetic? I think it helps them fade into the background more. It's also probably easier to give them a character arc than some others... like Veronika.

I’m sure that you can find exceptions to these “rules” I’ve laid out, especially amongst casts that have a high percentage of oddballs (which you could certainly argue fits DRDT). However, pattern recognition brain go brrrr. I don’t think that Veronika fits the description of a Chapter 1-2, Chapter 4, or survivor oddball particularly well. That leaves Chapter 3 (sinister) and Chapter 5 (bewildering antagonist). I don’t know if it’s that Veronika doesn't seem to have much of a reason to kill at this point in time or all of Veronika’s weird mastermind coding that makes me think DRDTdev might have greater plans for her. Either way, I’m leaning Chapter 5, probably victim. Jeez, that was a long section for one character. Favoritism, I guess?

J: J gets her own category because, honestly, I have no idea what to do with her. Could J make it to the end? Sure! Could J die in a Chapter 3 scheme? Sure! Could J be the Chapter 2 killer? Well, I personally believe the evidence points elsewhere, but in terms of narrative? Sure! The only real inclination I have is that I think it’s more likely that she would be a killer than a victim, mostly because Ultimate Effects Artist is a talent that could lend itself to some really creative and fun murder setups. Given that I have more characters pegged as early game deaths right now, I lean towards J late game, but… man, I don’t know!

Teruko: Teruko is the protagonist, and also is a Lucky Student who allegedly “can’t die.” Especially after she made that claim, it would be silly if she died before the ending– it’d just kinda make her look like a fool. I’m not averse to theories where Teruko is no longer the protagonist by the end, whether by her death or someone else taking up the role for whatever reason, but in the sense that “Survivor” = “Chapter 6,” I think Teruko will survive. I’m not here to predict crazy last-minute Kiibo-blowing-himself-up twists.

Rose: I think that Rose has a really nice arc of overcoming her fears and becoming less passive set up in front of her. We spent enough time establishing her relationship with Teruko that I could see her being a good potential friend/support character to Teruko in the endgame if relationships with people like Eden or Charles fall through. (And, at this point, you know what I think about Eden and Charles…) She’s also good at delivering low-key jokes that can provide some levity without totally ruining the tone. We already saw some of that in this scene. The main things that I think could be standing in her way are her photographic memory and history of debt. The photographic memory could be too annoying of an obstacle to write around for the entire game, and instead be an ongoing effect set to expire in in Chapter 3. Additionally, a money motive paralleling THH’s in Chapter 3 could be too tempting for Rose to pass up. Really, what I’m saying is, if Rose can make it through Chapter 3, I think she’s golden. We’ll just have to see how that Chapter pans out in the future.

David: Oh, David. Currently serving as Teruko’s largest antagonist, I can see why people would think that he would die in Chapter 5. However, I’m not going to beat around the bush and pretend that I’m the only person who thinks David might survive, either. As an inspirational speaker, David is established early on as a character who should be a beacon of hope, before revealing that he’s more of a hope-sucking black hole. It would make sense if, alongside Teruko, he learns to find more of a balance between blithe optimism and cynical depression and heal as a person. He has a lot of very obvious depth that I think a lot of people want to see explored, and whose exploration would be very on-brand for the themes of a typical killing game story. Plus, if Teruko ever does stop being the protagonist, David probably needs to be alive at that point to pick up the slack.

Ace: Similar to Nico, it seems like we’ve already gotten a taste of what Ace being a victim would be like, in a way where I don’t think we’re going to see it again. He could still be a killer, but would the cowardly Ace even want to attempt killing someone and throwing himself into the scrutiny of a Class Trial? Well, it is true that Ace believes that “[neither] dying young or living a long, shitty life of suffering… are as bad as this” (the killing game?). So, he could simply grow fed up with the killing game and decide that risking a Class Trial is worth it, even if he does wind up dying young. However, if that were to occur, Chapter 2 seems like the narratively best time to do it, as it’s when his emotions are most potent and probably when others would least expect him to do it due to his weakened state. Like Rose, I feel the period Ace has most to worry about is this upcoming Chapter 2 killer slot, but if he makes it through, his arc of learning to escape his fear by bravely rising above it instead of lashing out to try to knock everyone down feels very viable.

Whit: The pro of the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario is that, hopefully, one of the two would manage to make it as a survivor after the other one dies. And, I’m Team Whit Surviving! Not just based on which of the two I like better (they’re my first and second favorite characters, so I’m taking a massive L either way), but because I think it makes more sense for it to be Whit that lives further on. Unlike Charles, who feels like he’s already in the final lap of the character arc race, Whit has barely left the starting line. The laundry scene in Chapter 1 and Whit’s secret in Chapter 2 have both been used to establish that Whit focuses on his and others’ bliss in hopes of remaining ignorant of everything that stresses him. The main offender, of course, being that Whit lies about his mom being alive to presumably stave off his grief. The easiest way to give him a character arc that resolves that issue is to give him something to grieve– namely, Charles– and soon. If Whit’s main character struggle is pretending that people dying doesn’t bother him, he might need an entire Chapter or more to stubbornly show off his central flaw. Now, it is possible that, if Whit can’t overcome this flaw, he could die soon after Charles and meet a tragic fate. But, those just… aren’t the vibes, to me? A post-character arc Whit who knows how to grieve fiercely but healthily might come in handy if Teruko finds herself handling her own emotions about Xander, Min, and/or anyone else at the end of the game.

And here’s the bottom of the death order section!

Finally finished writing something that nobody asked of me at all. Well, I still think it was important, and I hope you feel the same.

Now that we’ve laid all that out, I think it’s finally time to actually see who I think the Danganronpa: Despair Time mastermind might be! Although, please keep in mind that, despite the large preamble full of story predictions, I’m still pretty uncertain on who I think the mastermind is. So, my points might not be the best supported, and I might change my mind again pretty soon after I post this theory. I expect to be far better at disproving why everyone is the mastermind rather than proving why anyone would be, because that’s generally how I feel… but, onwards we go!

#17: Arei Nageishi

(Forgive me for reusing art here, I’ve drawn these bastards ENOUGH /j)

If I were writing this after Despair Time’s prologue, like I did with P:EG, there’s a pretty good chance that Arei, at the very least, wouldn’t have placed dead last. But, well, now Arei is dead. And also last.

Obviously, there are other dead characters too. But still, Arei is the one who I most struggle to see as the mastermind. Given that Arei died as a victim whose body was thoroughly investigated by several parties, it’s pretty hard for me to believe that anyone could have missed any signs of life. I don’t get the sense that DRDT is in some kind of simulation where everyone can magically be alive again at the end either, so I think Arei is, sadly, well and truly dead.

On top of all that, we know a lot about her backstory from her Chapter 2 breakdown, and none of it seems to point her towards masterminding a killing game specifically. She doesn’t have any particular ties to any big organizations that would have helped her accomplish it, either. While she is NOT just a temporary weather spell whose absence will be celebrated and then forgotten, David… I have a hard time believing that the audience would find her character relevant enough(?) to be a good twist mastermind come Chapter 6 several years down the line.

I don’t think I really need to keep elaborating on this. Arei isn’t the mastermind.

#16: Charles Cuevas

I know it’s a bit of a bold move to put a character who’s currently alive below characters who have already died, but… man, I really just don’t see how Charles could pull this off.

And it’s not (just) because I think he’s going to die in Chapter 3 as part of Whit’s character arc, or that I want to believe that he’s a good person. Really, it’s mostly because of his phobias. How is a guy who started gagging at the sight of blood splattered on the floor supposed to be the one who orchestrated an entire death game? Could he get through the process of creating a brutal execution like Min’s without freezing up and freaking out? Even if he could do it, why would he? Sure, he didn’t seem to remember the fact that he had necrophobia until Xander died, but that might be even more of a problem. Wouldn’t the mastermind, who’s certainly had to consider the others’ deaths before, remember that they were afraid of death? He would almost certainly have to be lying about at least the scale of his reaction, although that’s probably a given if he is the mastermind.

Of course, there are mastermind subcategories that could better benefit Charles. If DRDT is actually a simulation, especially one in which the participants don’t actually die, that would definitely make it easier for him to be the one behind it. We’re also meant to believe that Charles has childhood amnesia, so he could have amnesia in other areas as well and be a mastermind who forgot they were one.

However, as I said before, I don’t particularly believe that DRDT is going to be a computer simulation or that Charles is an amnesiac mastermind. I just… don’t see this one in general.

#15: Xander Matthews

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not trying to argue that Xander is actually still alive. The concept that he would be able to fool not only Min, making her believe that she dealt him a fatal blow, but also everyone else as they identified his body, seems outlandish to me. However, just because Xander is dead doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have entered this game as the mastermind.

We know for a fact that Xander wanted to kill Teruko due to his dialogue regarding the note he received, which lines up well with the popular theory that Xander is the individual speaking in the first scene with the papers and the blood. If we assume he is that guy, then it may seem a little counterintuitive to think that the person who says “I have to end the killing game” would be the one behind the killing game. However, he also says, “Even if I can’t do that… I have to kill Teruko Tawaki,” implying that killing Teruko is of a higher priority than ending “the killing game.” Thus, if, for some reason, Xander thought that orchestrating the killing game was the only way to kill Teruko, it’s possible that he would be willing to let the death game roll for as long as it takes to eliminate his bigger target.

However, I can’t deny that the Xander mastermind theory has some massive flaws to it. For one, Xander is dead. I don’t think we’ve technically seen any evidence that the mastermind has to still be alive as of Chapter 2, but a mastermind-less Chapter 6 would be… an interesting challenge to write, to say the least. Also, while Xander betraying Teruko and the others was a great surprising hook the first time, if it happened again, it would be kind of… underwhelming, in my opinion. It’s the same kind of concept I brought up in my Eden’s Garden ranking:

Then, in Chapter 6, we’d be faced with the revelation that, wow, the mildly antagonistic character was actually a really antagonistic character all along! It just doesn’t seem like enough of a dramatic hook to me, I guess?

“Wow, the guy who betrayed Teruko and became a killer actually betrayed Teruko and was the mastermind all along! And now, he’s not even around to reap the social or karmic consequences of it!” You see.

And then, there is the literal interpretation of the text that Xander (if he is bloody hands man) obviously stands against the killing games. He’s also the Ultimate Rebel, someone who stands against corrupt institutions in general.

If Xander is revealed to be evil later down the line, it would make much more sense if it was as a traitor type. As for being the one and only mastermind, I think the odds are pretty low.

#14: Ace Markey

Hey, it’s another character that’s alive! And, this one doesn’t even have a crippling fear of death. However, he is a massive coward, and that’s the main thing that’s dragging him down for me.

Similar to Charles, what would Ace stand to gain from hosting a killing game such as this? Ace doesn’t seem to have any interest in notoriety, money, the destruction of society, despair, or any other things that I can think of that would motivate a typical mastermind. We’ve seen time and time again that Ace cares most about having control over both his life and how other people see him, even though he often fails on both fronts. I guess both of those things could be solved by hosting a killing game, but… Come on, there have gotta be easier ways to do that which don’t threaten your precious life.

Furthermore, what exactly would Ace being the mastermind have to say about the story as a whole? Jockey has to be in the running for “talents that are least relevant to a potential killing game host.” How about the idea that the mastermind nearly died in Chapter 2, only to go off the rails threatening and blaming his assailant? I… always knew that Nico was… fully in the right for doing that, because it would have killed the big bad early??? Ace Mastermind is the preferred ending for those who believe that Nico can do absolutely no wrong, lol.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but I once saw a theory of writing that said that there are two major kinds of character arcs. One is the typical character arc, where the narrative pushes a character's traits to change over the course of the story for better of for worse. The other, this theory posited, was an arc on the part of the viewer, where they learn that a character that they thought was flawed was actually not as flawed as they thought all along. You could potentially apply this kind of thing to Eden: in the first chapter, some people may have seen her as a dim-witted positive girl, but in Chapter 2, we firmly establish that her kindness is not stupidity and learn how her optimism is a strength.

So, you could say that the character arc DRDTdev is going for with Ace is something more like that, where we spend the entire game learning to treat him more seriously just in time for him to be a real threat as the mastermind? It still feels like a bit of a stretch, though– I don’t know exactly what Ace would do to make us take him more seriously that wouldn’t either send him on a growth arc not super befitting of a mastermind or wind up with him being a blackened. Ace as the mastermind certainly isn’t impossible, but I obviously found it unlikely enough that I placed him below one character who is currently (presumed) dead.

#13: Arturo Giles

Arturo’s role in the story so far is not very mastermind-ish, in my mind. In the prologue, we establish him as a cold and judgmental person who puts his own opinions of how the world works over everything else, especially how other people feel. This already feels like how a mastermind would act, so if he turned out to be the mastermind, it would be more of the same.

Then, in Chapter 2, we establish that he’s a massive simp for celebrities, to the point of transforming into something adjacent to comedic relief. We’re meant to think that his over-the-top sprites and refusal to actually listen to anything J is saying is hilariously pathetic. Other characters are constantly dunking on him, such as Teruko calling him a “bigoted” “crazy person,” and even the narrative gets in on the action when highlighting how he cares less about the fact that J’s life was at risk than that she didn’t come out of it with drip. Narratively, we’ve already seen these characters get the better of Arturo. If we the audience interpret that as confirmation that the surviving cast could easily beat Arturo should he ever come to stand in their way, it could diminish the stakes upon his mastermind reveal.

However, for all of his negatives, there are some definite positives to Arturo being the mastermind, too. Despite his comedic effects, we have seen through his threats to Eden that Arturo is very capable of being very scary in a way that I don’t think we have with Ace. The horror factor of a plastic surgeon as the mastermind could be a really fun and creepy design theme to explore. And, Arturo is obviously super obsessed with celebrities. If hosting a deadly TV show is what he thought it would take to get him in with the Hollywood celebrity scene, he might be willing to go for it.

I don’t really know why he would have made his secret what it is if he was going to get that upset about it, though. I guess if there just weren’t any better options that wouldn’t tip his hand…? Also, Arturo would blend in terribly as a survivor. If you’re heading into Chapter 6 and you have to pick the evil character out of (let me spin a wheel real quick...) Teruko, Eden, Rose, Charles, and Arturo, Arturo is definitely the evil one. (Okay, that was actually a terrible randomized draw for Arturo on the innocence front, but I hope you can imagine how he would oddly stick out of most groups.) Like I said in his death predictions, I find it hard to imagine a character arc for Arturo, which is why I find it hard to believe that he would make it as far as Chapter 6.

#12: Min Jeung

Honestly, if Min weren’t (most likely) dead, she might be pretty high on my list of mastermind choices. While not as suspicious as the Spurlings, XF-Ture Tech is pretty suspicious, even more so with the introduction of that one altDRDT character. Min is related to XF-Ture Tech, so if that company has anything to do with the operation of the killing game, she could have been the one behind it. Min is also very smart, and her talent has obvious applications for how it could have been used to set up/influence the killing game. The fact that her talent is so similar to Teruko’s, Ultimate Student versus Ultimate Lucky Student, could have also set them up for some great parallels and duality down the line.

However… Min’s role as the Chapter 1 killer throws a pretty big wrench in her chances. Beyond the dying part, Min’s role as the blackened was incredibly evitable. It’s not like she was thrown into a situation where she had to kill or be killed, or even one where a motive was particularly difficult for her. If she wanted to be the mastermind and survive until the end, all she had to do was walk away from Xander stabbing Teruko and pretend she never saw it. However, if Min’s goal was the inverse of ol’ Bloody Hands (keep the killing game running, but most importantly, keep Teruko alive), her actions could line up. And then, perhaps Min could have falsified her own execution early to draw suspicion off of her, much like Junko did by killing Mukuro.

Beyond her death, though, it’s really Min’s reaction to being the blackened that makes me think she can’t be the mastermind. The stellar voice acting in Min’s breakdown scenes makes me really believe both that this was the first time she had ever hurt anyone as gravely as she did to Xander, and that she fully believed that she was about to die. Those are two things that a mastermind, especially one headed into a fake execution, would not be feeling. Maybe Min memorized how to be a great actress too amongst all those textbooks, but I doubt it. I can still see several reasons why Min would have been a good mastermind, but her actual death and her reaction to being told she was dying knock her down several pegs in my mind.

#11: Hu Jing

Hu is a bit more suspicious to me than some others just because I think she has something to hide. Between her refusal to share whose secret she received or had herself, mysterious “I want to pay for what I’ve done” hidden quote, and intense desire to be relied upon, there’s definitely something about Hu as a person that the narrative has yet to uncover. Could that something be “Hu is the mastermind”? I dunno, maybe.

Hu also has a tendency to react to things with her temper. That could be a sort of foreshadowing to how she would act as the mastermind, much like how David’s brief spell of apathy during the prologue hinted at the way he would act further down the line. Hu’s defense of Nico could act much the same way. Our overall impression of Hu at this point is that, while she is a flawed person, she’s one of the nicest and morally best people in the game, who’s always looking out for others. Defending Nico to the point of babying them might cross the line a little, but she’s only trying to help everyone…! Hu could make it to the end as a believably heroic survivor and then reveal that all of her presumed poor decisions were actually active malice, and I think she could pull that off.

All that being said… I don’t, like, actually think that’s going to happen. In fact, I’m probably overexaggerating the extent to which people think that Hu is nice and morally good. I’ve seen several people discuss the unjust amounts of hate Hu gets in this fandom, which implies that a lot of people hate her, even if I haven’t particularly seen much of it myself. At the very least, I definitely over exaggerated the extent to which people believe Hu could survive! As implied in the death order predictions, I do personally think Hu is going to die, possibly as a consequence of getting too invested in everyone else’s business when they don’t want her to be and/or wearing herself too thin. There are paths which I believe could lead to Hu being the mastermind, but they seem to be the roads less likely traveled.

#10: David Chiem

While I have no doubts that David has the fame, charisma, and worldview to pull off a killing game… I’d have to wonder about how he would see himself playing into all of it. As we saw in Chapter 2, David knows that his career has a lot of value, possibly to himself but definitely to other people, and therefore, he doesn’t want to jeopardize it. In fact, the reveal of his manipulative secret was the inciting incident behind his massive change in characterization. So, if he were the mastermind of a televised killing game… How would he think that would play out to his viewers?

Now, to be fair, there’s a lot we don’t know about the worldbuilding of DRDT. MonoTV claims that the TV show will be broadcast to a widespread audience. Perhaps that indicates that, in the world of DRDT, publicly broadcasting talented young peoples’ violent deaths is normal, or even sought after. Maybe the cast of DRDT forgot about it.

However, David seems to think that people learning that he sees everyone as manipulable would do damage to his reputation, so it’s a bit of a contradiction either way. If the world has been wracked with despair and craves intense violence on TV, then David’s reaction to his secret is either an elaborate lie or the result of the mastermind erasing his own memories regarding the situation. (Or, I guess the public could see death as fine and dandy but manipulation as a cancellable offense, which is… one of the interpretations ever.) Otherwise, in the scenario that the DRDT world is a normal one, David wouldn’t care about being revealed as a manipulator if he’d already committed to the mastermind bit. If his career was already preemptively ruined by agreeing to commit literal murder, why get so worked up about the thought that people might abandon ship over you not being 100% honest?

And then, there’s also the whole “surprise factor” thing that I keep bringing up. Admittedly, it’s been a longer hiatus between the start of Chapter 2 and the end of Chapter 2 than DRDTdev might have been hoping for, but that doesn’t change the fact that this part of David’s characterization happened in Chapter 2. DRDT fans far and wide have written thousands of words gushing over “the David reveal” or “evil David.” If David were unveiled as the mastermind, we’d have to start writing stuff about “the first David reveal” or “when David showed his true colors again.” You see how it kind of takes the hype away from such major plot points? That’s the sort of concept I’ve been trying to get across with some of my other choices too, but a bit more clear cut.

I don’t know why I sound so much like a hater in this section (in my opinion) when I’m literally putting David at #10, above seven other characters. I guess it’s because I can see why his theatricality and traits foiling Teruko could make him a good mastermind, but also have some major issues with the logistics of him getting there. A lot of good points versus a lot of bad points settle out to him winding up someone in the middle.

#9: Levi Fontana

With our first single digit number, we’ve also reached our midway point of mastermind candidates: Levi!

Levi would be a really interesting mastermind choice because of how his character centers around grappling with his morality. I think it would be really intriguing to have a mastermind outwardly struggling with their attempts and failures to be a good person throughout the entire game, only for the player and the characters to receive the full context of the debacle at the very end. I guess in this situation, it would be pretty likely that Levi would be redeemed at the end? That’s not necessarily a problem. (Honestly, I don’t know if I think the DRDT mastermind could be redeemed or not based on the fangan’s themes… that’s a post for another day, perhaps.)

Anyways, I think that what we know of Levi’s backstory could work well with him being the mastermind. If he does have the “murderer without remorse” secret, that would be in line with orchestrating a killing game. We also know that he’s “been disowned” and that he and his family were “all bad influences on each other.” We’re meant to assume that Levi was fortunate enough to escape a bad/abusive situation (and in all likelihood this IS what actually happened!!!!), but we are hearing about the situation from his point of view alone. There is a small possibility that, if Levi is actually a despair enjoyer, his family cut him out because they thought he was a danger to their lives.

I will reiterate again, though, that I don’t think this is the case. Levi seems like he’s a chill guy, or at least that he’s trying very hard to be one despite how he’s been told to react all his life. The whole “mastermind wanting to become a good person” lens also makes less sense given how channeled Levi’s development is through Ace. Like, I would imagine that, if this were the angle DRDTdev was going for, Levi would be making an effort to get along with everyone as part of his atonement. The mastermind randomly choosing to focus on just one person out of the crowd seems kind of strange, especially when that person is someone as disagreeable as Ace. That kind of plot would have big “the mafia CEO vampire prince fell head over heels in love with me, the random average girl” vibes. Repenting mastermind Levi is the preferred ending for pining lovers to enemies to lovers AceVi shippers, lol.

And then there’s the part where I think he’s going to die. I don’t think Levi is the worst mastermind choice, but I think there are better out there.

#8: Nico Hakobyan

Yay, we finally got to one of the characters that Anon thought was suspicious! It only took… 7k+ words. Oh boy.

I definitely think that the cat coding is the strongest thing that Nico has going for them. It would be pretty funny if the extent to which “Ultimate Pet Therapist” is relevant to the plot is the climactic reveal that “yeah Nico has been talking to a (robotic) animal the whole time.” That’s a joke, as Ultimate Pet Therapist is already quite relevant to Nico’s characterization as someone who prefers communicating with animals over people, but it would be funny as hell from a character designing perspective.

There are less silly reasons to believe that Nico is the mastermind too, though. While it seems like, similar to David, pulling the trigger on Nico’s change in behavior in Chapter 2 would be a bit early, I don’t think it’s as destructive to mastermind Nico as it is to mastermind David. There’s a lot more doubt in people’s minds that Nico even did anything to Ace, to the extent that a decent number of people (in the story and out of it) think that it was someone else trying to kill Ace entirely. Nico also has a stalwart defender in Hu, which adds an extra level of intrigue to the situation. Instead of confirming that everyone was right to be suspicious of David, at least some amount of focus could be placed onto Hu being wrong for trusting Nico and failing to see someone’s true colors again, which could be interesting for her characterization if she was alive at that point.

On the other hand, the biggest reason that I think Nico isn’t the mastermind is also because of the attempted Ace murder. Why would Nico, as the mastermind, try to kill Ace at this time? If Nico wins the Class Trial, then the killing game is over, which is probably counter to the mastermind’s goals. If Nico loses the Class Trial, well, we’ll say that the possibility of Nico dying isn’t an issue, as they could just fake their own death or deny entering the execution. But still, why?

It could be that Nico was trying to remove themselves from the killing game on purpose, but I don’t see why it would be necessary. No one was particularly suspicious of Nico being the mastermind, and if they were worried about their gender identity getting out, they could have simply made their secret something else. A mastermind could kill to avoid the killing game falling into a standstill, but tensions were really high at the time that Ace almost died! With a full day left to go before the motive secrets were revealed, such drastic action wasn’t yet forced. I guess the best option would be that Nico was just really angered by what Ace said, and wanted to retaliate as part of their vicious mastermind nature. Is that worth taking yourself out of the killing game and risking the show’s termination, though…?

There is also the possibility that Nico is the mastermind, but didn’t try to kill Ace. In that case, suspicion of Nico would be such a huge in-universe coincidence that I’m doubtful DRDTdev would have included it as a major plot point.

Speaking of “show’s termination,” I also don’t know why Nico would have any involvement in creating a TV show, both from a backstory/talent perspective and a personality one. Nico doesn’t like interacting with people. Therefore, I don’t know what would possess them to want to create and join a TV show for which the major draw is a big stressful discussion between a bunch of people.

I guess I had fewer reasons why I thought Nico would be the mastermind than I thought. I would love to hear more details about why you suspect Nico though, Anon! I’m definitely willing to believe that they could be the mastermind.

#7: Eden Tobisa

Make no mistake, I still think that Eden is the Chapter 2 killer. However, in the case that she isn’t… mastermind isn’t a terrible choice for her.

The biggest draw of Eden being the mastermind would definitely be the shock value. The seemingly nicest character suddenly being revealed as the mastermind would create a huge hurdle for the surviving characters to overcome. Teruko especially, given that she probably would have grown at least a tad closer to Eden if they survived five chapters together. It would be a little mean to give Teruko a trustworthy friend just to rip it away from her again, but I could see the opportunity being used to highlight Teruko’s growth. When Xander and Min betrayed Teruko, she panicked and shut everyone out, but when Eden betrays Teruko at the very end, she’s able to remain strong and rely on the other friends who she continues to trust. Or DRDT could have an unconventional feel-bad ending, I suppose.

If some kind of time loop is at play within DRDT, then Eden’s talent would obviously be thematically and perhaps practically relevant as well. I could see a lot of comparisons being made regarding a killing game being run “like clockwork.” Her secret quote “you can’t go back, no matter how hard you try” is... actually kind of anti-time loop, but at least the concept of going back in time is somewhat related…? Speaking of secret quotes, her Mai quote, “she kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up” is also really weird. That suspicious hidden evidence could point to her being the mastermind.

However, Eden’s personality is a pretty major issue when it comes to her being the mastermind. Shock value is great in the moment, but it can ring hollow in retrospect if people find that the twist doesn’t make any sense. Masterminds aren’t typically known for their kindness or optimism. So, if Eden is the mastermind, it seems like her whole “even if this world is cruel, I’ll still make the choice to be kind” speech is a complete lie. And, that would be a shame! I don’t think that having an unexpected mastermind at the end of the game is worth the cost of completely demolishing a character that we’ve come to know and love over the course of six chapters and several years. (I’m not saying that complete demolition has to be the case if Eden is the mastermind, but I think it’s a reasonable worry that many people have.)

And, I know that all this talk about how wonderful Eden is might sound rich coming from someone who strongly believes that she just killed someone who wanted to be her best friend. But, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? As someone who thinks that Eden is the killer, I know very well how a lot of people have a really hard time believing that Eden could do something as terrible as killing Arei. I can only imagine how hard it would be to accept that Eden was the one who put Arei, Min, Teruko, and everyone else in danger, and the one pulling the strings behind every execution.

Eden as the mastermind, to me, is more tempting in concept than it would be viable in execution. And also, I don’t even think she’s going to live to see the light of Chapter 3 day. However, there’s also some definite emotional power behind the accusation that makes me see how shooting for this ambitious choice could be worth it in the long run.

#6: Whit Young

Alright, it’s finally time to talk about Whit. I know that he’s a really popular mastermind choice, but… I just don’t see it, personally. Even though I put him at 6th place. (I do not enjoy putting him in 6th place.) Is that just because he’s my favorite and I’m attached to my interpretation of the character? Perhaps. But, I’d still like to explore some points that I find faulty.

Perhaps the biggest reason behind suspicion of Whit that I’ve seen is the way that he breaks the fourth wall. People connect his asking people to pause for the evidence list to MonoTV invoking similar mechanics, and lines such as “do you really think she’d be hanging out in the playground” to him knowing more than he’s letting on. However, there are a couple of ways that this accusation can be depowered, in my opinion.

Firstly, Whit isn’t the only person who says stuff like this. Veronika alludes to the killing game before it begins, Teruko also breaks the fourth wall to tell the viewer to pause (albeit only in her thoughts, not out loud), and Arei makes the same kind of “hanging” wordplay in Eden’s flashback that Whit did. I won’t say that characters addressing the fourth wall can’t be important at all, because I believe there are some moments where the other characters commentate on how weird it is that MonoTV is talking to no one. However, I also think that breaking the fourth wall may simply be part of DRDTdev’s humor, as exemplified by that “make sure to like and subscribe so that Teruko has enough mental strength to carry on” joke. Whit is a funny guy, so it just makes sense that if DRDTdev’s brain generates funny meta jokes, Whit would get some of them. Everything that Whit says reminds me more of Mia AceAttorney saying “hit tab to open the Court Record” than some sort of groundbreaking DDLC-Undertale direct communication with the viewer. However, I can see why others would think otherwise.

The second is that I think some of Whit’s comments (more so the “dead at 3” and “hanging in the playground” than the pause) are just meant to showcase his intuition. And, yeah, it could be that DRDTdev has been leaving crumbs of Whit’s intuition behind so that in Chapter 6, he can use it to exploit everyone’s insecurities and greatest despair. To me, though, Whit’s intuition has always reminded me of the myth of Cassandra.

For those who don’t know, Cassandra is a figure in Greek mythology who was blessed/cursed to receive prophecies, but for no one to ever believe them. By my interpretation, Whit is a really smart and perceptive guy who has strikingly accurate gut feelings about how things will play out down the road, even when he doesn’t realize it himself. However, the curse of his own coping mechanism– choosing to act like an eternally cheerful goofball– leads the majority of the other students, and perhaps some of the viewers, to never take his point of view seriously. He can only realize the accuracy behind what he said after the bad things have already happened, leading him to blame himself more and more for not being able to speak up and help when times were tough.

This kind of behavior would line up with two different themes we’ve seen from Whit before. The first, that when he jokes around without thinking, he can accidentally say hurtful things that he later reprimands himself for. We saw that when Charles blew up at him at the end of their shared FTE. The second is Whit’s major theme of good things hiding a darker undercurrent. Being the Ultimate Matchmaker is great until you’ve never had a successful relationship yourself. Having an awesome mom is great until the truth comes out that she’s actually dead, and you’ve been covering it up. Growing super close to someone is great until he dies. Having an amazing intuition and understanding of everyone is great until you can never actually use it to help those you care about. Joking around is great until it's all you can do. Pretending everything is fine is great until it’s not.

Like I said, very specific interpretation. I promise I was not citing classical literature to make my argument sound smarter than it actually is. I am aware that my interpretation of Whit is no less or more valid than everyone else’s. However, it’s one that I hold very close to my heart, and thus, I personally have a hard time seeing around it.

However, I’ve also seen a lot of people argue some valid points for Whit, so I can at least acknowledge that he deserves to be in the upper echelon of choices. There’s a lot of weird stuff regarding him in Literature Girl Insane, and he’s certainly an option of someone who felt so much grief that they became totally empty inside as shown in that one hidden quote. I would be appropriately surprised and heartbroken if Whit revealed himself as the mastermind in Chapter 6, so he checks the box in that regard. There isn’t anything from his backstory that opposes the notion that he set up the killing game, and, to quote what I said about our other Ultimate Matchmaker, Toshiko…

While Ultimate Matchmaker might seem like a silly talent to give the mastermind, it could also be a ruse to distract us from the fact that [Whit] has a talent that allows [him] to read people well and make choices that will impact their lives dramatically.

I don’t like it, but I can see the argument… kind of. To me, most mastermind Whit interpretations feel like mischaracterization, but as a theorist, I always try to keep in mind that I’m the one who could be twisting the text to my whims as well. In this my-opinions-based list, though, he’s not getting any higher than 6th.

#5: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Ooh, what spooky art for a spooky mastermind. Let’s be real, though, Veronika is way too obvious of a mastermind candidate to actually be the mastermind. Unless… she’s so obvious that she loops back around to not being obvious, and thus, is the perfect mastermind candidate?!

Veronika is in a really weird place. I obviously have no doubts that she would have any moral qualms about hosting a killing game, because she’s told us herself that she doesn’t. She knows what Monokuma is in immense detail, but claims to have no idea what a killing game is. She’s dressed really similarly to Junko, though. Is that just a coincidence? Are giant pigtails also a symbol of fear in the DRDTverse? I need ANSWERS, LADY!!!

The biggest problem I see with Veronika is the potential for obviousness. Similar to Arturo, if she actually made it to Chapter 6, I feel like it would be pretty obvious what’s going on. An oddball like Veronika is not the typical survivor type (although she could break the mold). Because Teruko’s character arc is all about trusting people, it would make sense if the reveal of the mastermind was someone who challenged her trust to some degree. With Veronika being obviously unhinged the whole time, I don’t think that Teruko would have any particular difficulties with kicking her to the curb.

However, Veronika clearly has the motive to start a killing game, and potentially to spread despair. DRDT has taken inspiration from Trigger Happy Havoc in the past, so it could make sense if DRDT’s mastermind was also inspired by THH’s. Having a so-obvious-it’s-not-obvious mastermind could also be another way to mess with theorists like me, as DRDTdev did with the comments section portion of Literature Girl Insane. “bro Veronika being the mastermind would be WAY too obvious” sounds EXACTLY like “I just hope XXXXXX doesn’t go crazy and kill in chapter 3. That would be way too predictable” or “XXXXX will obviously die in ch5”. If part of the point of DRDT is to make know-it-all analysts rethink the rules they believe to be set in stone, I could see Veronika as a subversive choice.

Veronika definitely seems to be building up to something, but I don’t know if being the mastermind is exactly it. I think that Veronika could make it pretty late into the game, but I still struggle to see her making it all the way to Chapter 6. I would absolutely love to see what DRDTdev does with her writing if that is the case, though. 

#4: Mai Akasaki

(Well, now I feel bad that I’ve never made a colored portrait of Mai.)

As you may have noticed back at our first entry, Arei, I started the countdown off at seventeen, not sixteen. (If you didn’t remember that, I don’t blame you– it was a WHILE ago.) That’s because I thought it was only fair to include DRDT’s best kept(?) secret, the lovely Unnamed Student herself, Mai Akasaki, as an option! Because, man, is she mysterious in some suspicious ways.

“But, didn’t MonoTV tell the students that the mastermind was one of them? Mai isn’t one of the students in the killing game (unless prosopagnosia is REALLY going crazy), so she can’t be the mastermind, right?” Well, yes and no. The scene where MonoTV confirms the existence of the mastermind is SUPER weird. Let’s take a look at it.

On one hand, MonoTV is still in the Movie Screening Room, where it was JUST talking to the student body, so it would only stand to reason that it’s a continuation of the scene we just saw. However, the setting also seems to be doing everything in its power to tell us that this is NOT the same scene we just saw. The lights have been turned off, even though they were on in the scene just before this. They return to being on in the first scene of Chapter 1, which the students treat as being directly after the scene during which the lights were on before. The widget denoting the time, chapter, and episode has completely disappeared, placing this at an even more unknown time than “Time Unknown.” The text indicating that the speaker is MonoTV has even disappeared! I mean, I assume that MonoTV is still the one saying it, considering that it’s on screen and the speech bubble is pointing right at it, but we don’t even know that for sure!

Additionally, MonoTV refers to the viewers directly (“dear viewers”) two speech bubbles after this one, which makes it seem more like MonoTV is talking to us the audience rather than the students in the room. But then, if the mastermind is “one of you,” and MonoTV is talking to us, wouldn’t that mean the mastermind is someone in the audience? That could lead in to some really meta interpretations of the text (i.e. “DRDTdev is the mastermind of DRDT because he’s the one who created the killing game”) or it could indicate that I’ve gone fully off the rails. 

A midpoint between those two ideas is that the mastermind is part of the in-universe audience watching the killing game, as in, a fictional character who is watching the real-to-them TV show that is Danganronpa: Despair Time. That could include Mai, a very notable character who is not one of the sixteen participants in the killing game.

Side note, I’ve seen some people fight back against the concept that Mai could be the mastermind with the idea that making the mysterious character the mastermind would be too obvious. While I sort of agree, I feel like we’re somewhat overestimating the extent to which Mai is obvious. It’s not like no casual viewers would know who she is, because her image was shown pretty obviously in Chapter 1. However, the name “Mai Akasaki” is only accessible by finding the hidden quotes on the optional associated website’s character profiles. To learn anything about her beyond that, you have to have the thought to type the name into the website URL, and then solve another puzzle just to see the bare bones of what’s there.

I’m not trying to assert any sort of dominance or superiority over DRDT fans on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, or anything else, but from what I’ve gathered, Tumblr is the place you want to go for deep analysis and theories on DRDT (possibly because of Tumblr’s longer word count). Therefore, anything about DRDT that may seem like common knowledge on Tumblr may only be common knowledge to the fans who specifically bothered to come to the deep lore and crack theories website to find deep lore and crack theories. Essentially, this:

Sort of similar to what Gravity Falls did with the reveal of Bill Cipher back in 2012 (at least I think, I wasn’t actually in the Gravity Falls fandom at that time), I think it would be reasonable to plant clues about an overarching villain that people who want to analyze can analyze ahead of time, such that the villain’s arrival can come as a victory to the puzzle solvers and an exciting new development to the more casual viewers.

However, while I believe that Mai has an awesome setup that she could use to become the mastermind, whether she would actually fit the role is another question entirely. As I alluded to back in the first Mai paragraph, I’m rolling with the widely held (among theorizers) belief that the Unnamed Student in Xander and Min’s bonus episodes is supposed to be Mai. In those episodes, Mai seems to be incredibly caring, peppy, and sweet. She knows a ton of little heartwarming details about Min and Xander, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same is shown to be true with Arei and whoever else’s bonus episodes in the future. Those hidden quotes on Mai’s profile also give off the impression that everyone in the cast really loves Mai– one could call them a “portrait of a person dearly loved,” perhaps.

While it’s possible that these scenes are supposed to highlight Mai’s social prowess and how much she can get people to fall in love with her, they… don’t really seem to be giving off those vibes. We see her thoughts in those bonus videos, and she really does seem to be dedicated to helping Min and Xander out. Mai’s change from someone who wanted nothing more than to help out her friends to someone who was willing to throw all of them into the killing game is something that would have to be explained, and it could be difficult to communicate that shift within the confines of bonus material, if Mai’s content is mostly kept there. There is the concept that Mai could have put her friends into a killing game to protect them somehow, which could be a way to avoid Mai’s character seemingly doing a total 180, but that rationale would need a lot of explanation too.

Otherwise, there’s also the problem that Mai is almost certainly dead. I won’t get super into it myself, because the amazing @1moreff-creator has already done a great job explaining why here (starts in the XI. God is Dead section). I don’t think I need to elaborate on why Mai being dead potentially before the killing game even began would be detrimental to the idea of her being the mastermind.

To be honest, I don’t know how much this idea actually makes sense. I think I’m personally more inclined to believe that Mai could be the mastermind just because I really don’t get mastermind vibes from pretty much anybody in the cast. If the mastermind simply wasn’t one of the members of the main cast, that could solve that issue, right…? Mai is very likely involved in the inception of the killing game somehow, so extending that role to one of being the mastermind isn’t the biggest stretch. However, her personality and living status do throw in some pretty big question marks, so I don’t think she should go any higher.

#3: Teruko Tawaki

Teruko was definitely the first character who I believed could be the mastermind after I watched the series for the first time. However, over time, I’ve sort of fallen off of the idea that she would be. Is that because I’m forgetting key details of the plot, or because I’m drifting closer to the truth…? Honestly, I have no idea.

Let’s start with the strongest “evidence” we have against Teruko, her motive secret: “How could I even select which secret to make your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault.” Although “the killing game [being] all [Teruko’s] fault” sounds pretty damning, there’s the obvious counterargument to be made that this isn’t even Teruko’s motive. In fact, the board currently shows it assigned to Xander. However, the majority of people (including myself) seem to believe that David was lying, and this secret is Teruko’s. So, let’s analyze under that assumption.

Teruko did admit to Veronika that she doesn’t know what secret could be used as her motive because there were so many. Even if that motive secret isn’t hers, that still means that Teruko has done a lot of shady stuff. Teruko’s decision to live on set forever could line up with the mastermind's goal of wanting to keep the cameras rolling as well. The very first scene of DRDT shows that someone who wants the killing game to end also wants Teruko dead, which implies that Teruko and the killing games are on the same side.

Teruko also has a prior history of concealing things about herself from us, the viewing audience. We knew basically nothing about her past or trust issues before Xander stabbed her, causing her sudden change in attitude to come as a blindside. Teruko apparently has a “risky” killing game-ending plan in mind for the end of the second Class Trial that she’s told us absolutely nothing about. And, most notably, Teruko clearly knows things about Mai that she’s decided not to share with viewers at home. (I do believe that Teruko genuinely can’t remember Mai’s name, but she does remember that Mai is similar to Xander and wanted to help, which is more than anything we would have known from the main text on our own).

Point is, DRDT is written in a way where we don’t hear a ton of Teruko’s thoughts. That would make it much easier for her to scheme something behind the scenes, as opposed to someone who we get a lot of emotional reactions or logical theorizing from. It’s actually kind of similar to the difference between Kaede and Shuichi’s styles of narration, as pointed out by ShortOneGaming in their impeccable v3 playthrough! I recommend watching their entire letsplay if you're in the mood for v3, but I found one time where they talked about this concept here. I’ll transcribe it for anyone who doesn’t want to open YouTube right now:

Gina: I do want to call– as my final sort of note– what’s interesting is that you called out immediately that Kaede’s narration was weird. That, it was always, like– dictation? Allison: Yes! Gina: It’s always, like, speaking directly to a person– Allison: Yes! Yes, I did say– It never really felt like actual internal monologue. Like, she never was expressing her thoughts or anything to us. I mean, yes, she was, but then there were those weird moments where she was, like… y’know, hiding it from the player, and… probably from herself, too, to some extent. Like, she was just like, “and then I had to go do this thing.” Um, and like, “we won’t really address how I’m feeling about this.” Gina: Yep. Allison: And at the same time, it hides it from the– the player. And that was very clever. Really good. I mean, her– yeah, her narration was always kind of weird. But, she did have moments where she had internal reflection.

Hopefully, you can see the comparison. By putting a greater emphasis on actions as opposed to what Teruko is feeling (“I kneeled down and touched his neck” after finding Ace’s presumed-dead body; “Everyone else started filtering in” when people walk into the Playground and find Arei’s corpse), it becomes much easier to have Teruko hide exactly what she knows or exactly how she feels about certain events. It’s actually the opposite of the kind of narration that Damon had (“I’m trapped in a killing game… with people who despise me. How… how did this happen? I just wanted to help… I wanted to make sure we didn’t trust each other too easily… and now I’m being treated like the bad guy” after the 0th Class Trial) that made me believe he wasn’t the mastermind!

So, do I think that Teruko would be a mastermind who remembers, or a mastermind who forgot? Well, I could kind of see it either way. Personally, I think that Teruko being a mastermind whose memories are intact is the more interesting version, and I do believe it’s possible. I also don’t understand why someone with as many trust issues as Teruko has would want to remove her own memories if it weren’t necessary. Then again, Teruko being an amnesiac mastermind could make up for some of the… issues that arise with her as a mastermind candidate.

What? She’s in third place, not first. Despite how long I’ve already talked about Teruko, there’s still more to say!

First, the problems if Teruko did retain her memories: why would she ask MonoTV about the mastermind’s identity when the two were alone? Why would she be creating a plan to end the killing game? Why would she pretend to not know who Mariabella Rosales was even though everyone else clearly knew?

And then, the problems that persist even if Teruko did lose her memories: where would Teruko have gotten the resources to plan a killing game of this caliber? Even if she had them, why would she use it on this? Assuming that secret is hers, why would she write that about herself in a plausibly public place (beyond the swapping, Arei looked over Whit’s shoulder)?

Oh yeah, back to that secret. Just because “the killing game is all [Teruko’s] fault” doesn’t mean that she’s the one who planned it. In fact, the wording sounds very accusatory and hostile for something that Teruko would have theoretically written to herself. From the first scene, we already know that there is a person or group of people somewhere who are out to get Teruko. It could make more sense if that entity is the mastermind, and wrote the secret to blame Teruko for whatever she did that got her on their bad side.

There’s probably more to be said, but hopefully you can see why I have so many mixed feelings about Teruko. I definitely think she’s one of the more likely mastermind candidates out there, but I still don’t know exactly how likely that is, y’know?

#2: Rose Lacroix

Once upon a time, a wise and powerful theory alchemist known only by the epithet @1moreff-creator postulated that Rose could be the mastermind of Despair Time, and then never elaborated on the idea at all. For centuries (a couple of weeks) the townsfolk (me) were baffled by these dark and mysterious ramblings. However, as seasons passed by, as travelers came and went, as the tide advanced to kiss the land before slinking back to its home once more– the idea… started making more and more sense?

Rose is a really smart character who has already shown her proficiency in Class Trials. In the first, she utilized her ability to perfectly capture the scene and her knowledge of chromatography. Although her talents haven’t been as useful so far in the second, she’s still managed to keep up with the conversation despite never looking at the scene of the crime. Thus, I can see why, from a writing perspective, DRDTdev would choose to make his mastermind the Ultimate Art Forger.

There’s also the angle that Rose is a criminal, and therefore could be willing to do illegal or immoral things. However, she does seem to be pretty remorseful about it, and she’s already been caught for her criminal behavior before. Unfortunately for her, her relationship with her saviors the Spurlings only makes her all the more suspicious. Even if Rose didn’t want to be the mastermind of a killing game, if the Spurlings forced her to do it, she might have not had a choice. (Xander is very against the Spurlings… Xander is bloody hands guy → stop the killing game → stop the Spurlings?)

I also like the angle of “the Spurlings forced her to do it” because of what I talked about back in Mai’s section– the concept of the mastermind not being among the students. In Rose’s case, you can get the best of both worlds. The entity behind the killing game, the Spurling Foundation, would be a group outside of the killing game for MonoTV to contact, but there would still be a student among the cast’s ranks to suspect and accuse come Chapter 6.

What’s the argument against Rose? Well, I would ask why Rose would want to put herself in this kind of situation, but if it was the Spurlings’ choice, then that explains that. You could say Rose has been too helpful to be a bad guy, but everything she’s done so far has been to help the students win a Class Trial. That keeps the killing game running, which keeps the show on. The biggest problem I’m thinking of at the moment is the notion that the Spurling Foundation would have chosen to make Rose’s secret about how her backstory led her into their clutches. However, the secret doesn’t actually acknowledge the Spurlings by name, and it also frames Rose’s crimes in a way that makes her look like a good person– the opposite of what someone would think of as a mastermind. The secret was also only intended for Rose’s eyes, so it could have functioned as more of a low-key threat to remind her why she needs to stay in line.

Shouldn’t all of this talk of Rose lacking agency make her a bad mastermind candidate, though? If a villain doesn’t even believe in their villainous motivations, the story could end on a really flat note, with the good guys steamrolling an evildoer who doesn’t really care. How are we supposed to reach a satisfying conclusion if the mastermind hardly has anything to be held accountable for?

Those are normally things I would argue, but as many have pointed out, Teruko isn’t a normal protagonist. Actually, I think that this kind of mastermind setup for Rose could be a great way to end Teruko’s arc about learning to trust other people. Rose is the mastermind, somebody who shouldn’t be trusted…! It would be so easy for Teruko to just crush this person who betrayed her into dust– Rose isn’t even putting up much of a fight. But in the end, Teruko will choose to be patient, and see that Rose never wanted to betray Teruko. Even if her actions wound up hurting Teruko and many others, she still deserves a second chance, or at least a second evaluation.

As you saw in the death predictions, I obviously believe that Rose has the potential to make a late game run, whether as a survivor or something else. Writing all of this out, I can see even more clearly why Rose just might be the DRDT mastermind. However, despite all that I wrote, the idea still feels kinda more like a fun AU than the actual truth to me…? So, I still think there’s one person whose chances I like slightly better.

#1: J Rosales

Whaddya know, J’s personal ??? tier catapulted her into the lead. It is probably true that my uncertainty about where she might land is contributing to me deeming her the mastermind– it’s a really weird space in the kill order, as someone who survives long enough to theoretically have a positive character arc while sometimes not being counted among the survivors at the end.

Part of why I put J this high is that I really like the theory of J being the mastermind along with her brother, Ryan. Sadly, I cannot find any of the original theories that postulated this idea to link to, so I’ll try my best to explain what I remember myself. Basically, some people found the scene in c1e4 where Rose doesn’t remember who J is suspicious. They combined this scene with J’s younger brother, Ryan, and J’s talent, the Ultimate Effects Artist, to suggest that J could be using her FX talents to disguise Ryan as herself and have them occasionally trade places. From this Q&A, one of the few things we know about Ryan is that he enjoys crossdressing, which furthers the idea that he could enjoy pretending to be J. Ryan is also (to my memory) the only DRDT character’s sibling whose name we have seen in the main text, which could indicate that he’s more important than Arei’s sisters, Levi’s brothers, or other potential siblings.

I think it’s a really fun idea that I would at the very least want to see come to fruition, regardless of how likely it is. If J was working with Ryan, you can once again repeat the argument that there’s both a mastermind for MonoTV to talk to outside the game and one to be accused within the game. The biggest issue with it is that I don’t know how Arturo wouldn’t see the differences between the two, even if Rose may have. Maybe if J and Ryan haven’t swapped since the Rosales secret got out, and won’t swap again until Arturo dies…? I don’t know, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The thing is, other than just being a unique and interesting concept, I’m not really sure what the point of having J and Ryan swap would be, in universe or out of it. (This is why I wish I could’ve found a link to the original theorist... :,( ) My best argument for in universe would be that there are some things that only J has the skill to do, her being the Ultimate Effects Artist while Ryan is not. However, they couldn’t just have Ryan be the one in the killing game full-time, because he’s too young and therefore wouldn’t have been part of the original Hope’s Peak class. Thus, there are some points in time where J needs to be working behind the scenes (like on the executions or something), and during those intervals, Ryan subs in. Metatextually, I guess it could show how every person in the entertainment industry can be cutthroat, or that every child of a celebrity is bound to get messed up about it somehow…?

Regardless, even if Ryan isn’t involved at all, there are plenty of reasons to suspect J on her own. Ultimate Effects Artist is a highly suspicious talent when it comes to the deception of a killing game (just check out how many people think J already used it to kill Arei), and in connecting her to Hollywood. J may claim to specialize in theater as opposed to television, but 1) she could have been lying, or 2) that could be true, but she’s making an exception this time. Even if she normally works in live theater, if you were a TV executive approached by the daughter of Mariabella Rosales who is also a Hope’s Peak Ultimate student in her own right, would you really turn her away…?

J’s custom weapon is also pretty suspicious. Even if it doesn’t seem to be able to trigger traps like the one used on Levi (though that could be another lie), I could still see it being pretty helpful for subtly operating MonoTV, turning on a monitor, starting an execution, or stuff like that. Charles essentially confirms that the custom weapons were in the students’ rooms since they all woke up, which means that J could have had this remote on her the entire time.

J’s relationships also seem potentially mastermind-y. Thus far, the two characters with which she’s been associated most are Arei and Arturo. Those two (at least, prior to Arei’s change of heart) have been so clearly villainous and hateful that J would obviously look like a nice person in comparison. Why is this helpful? It means that J can get away with doing more objectionable things without raising any huge red flags. If J is the mastermind, we can look back on her demolition of Arturo in the Chapter 2 Trial as a brief early glimpse into how cruel she can really be. But, for the moment, although it’s definitely memorable, many people (including myself) can react to it with a, “yeah, but based on what Arturo was doing to her, it’s kinda justified…” (Not saying it isn’t somewhat justified either way, just that it could also be something more.)

J could also have a range of motivations related to her hatred for her mom. Maybe she’s trying to turn people against the Rosales name to ruin Mariabella’s reputation. Maybe this killing game is a plan to finally have a big artistic success all on her own (or with Ryan) to prove her mom wrong. Maybe she thinks that a world so enamored with fame and glamor deserves to rot in a pit of despair. I don’t know which of these options would be the most likely, but I could see how any of them could be possible explanations for how J got to this point.

I think my biggest argument against J once again comes back to the “why”. I think that J has a lot of potential to be a good mastermind, but I don’t know if that carries over to being a good mastermind for Teruko. Unlike with Rose, I don’t have a good sense of how J being the mastermind would tie into a satisfying ending to Teruko’s trust arc.

@venus-is-thinking and I sometimes like to run randomized killing games as a fun writing exercise (randomize the cast, motives, and mastermind; see where it takes you), and we’ve generally found that the most compelling protagonist-mastermind duos either have the protagonist sharing the same worldview with the mastermind, or being the only person who believes the opposite.

If the protagonist starts with the same beliefs as the mastermind, then defeating the mastermind is a showcase of the protagonist’s development. Hajime and Izuru work as protagonist and mastermind because Izuru is the manifestation of Hajime’s belief that only talented people are important and can make an impact on the world. By renouncing Izuru, Hajime proves that he’s learned that anyone has the chance to change their future if they put in the effort. 

If the protagonist has the opposite opinions from the mastermind, then it proves how crucial the protagonist is to the narrative because they are the only one who could deliver the critical message. A great example of this is Shuichi and Tsumugi. When Tsumugi tries to set up the conflict of “hope good, despair bad” that will keep the killing games going, all of the other surviving students fall for it. Shuichi being the only character who has spent the entire game learning the importance of balancing two extremes makes his callout of Tsumugi incredibly satisfying, and justifies the protagonist swap by proving that Shuichi is the only hero who could have saved this day.

That’s why I think that J would be a great mastermind for a protagonist who has issues with family or stardom, but might not be the best choice for a story with Teruko at the helm. Those are only my observations, though, so I’d understand if DRDTdev planned things differently.

And that is finally the end! Here’s the final tierlist I wound up working off of, which I fiddled with a TON while writing:

(It’s based off of Ocean Unknown’s tierlist!)

Since this has already gone on so long, I’ll try to keep the conclusion brief. Please take all of this with a grain of salt, as I wound up making a lot of claims about writing that don’t necessarily have the strongest foundation. I didn’t write anything that I think is blatantly false, obviously, but whether it’s good advice or not doesn’t necessarily mean that DRDTdev considered it. We may have different priorities in telling a compelling story. And, we’re less than two chapters in! Even the end of the Chapter 2 trial could throw a positive or negative wrench in any of these profiles.

Thank you so much for reading through this whole thing, and if you got through it and still have anything you want me to elaborate on further (a specific character, a specific theory, a specific aspect of fangan writing, etc), I would be happy to do so. I, uh, really hope that this answered the question that Anon asked, haha. Until next time… stay wary. There could be masterminds lurking about...!