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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years

Note

“Jinx, you owe me a coke.” - *can’t speak until they buy a soda* (panta or coffee would fit better?) Saiouma? Except they also can't do coupley stuff and Kokichi *really* wants affection and Shuichi *really* wants Kokichi's weird antics. Who will give in first?

(This was an interesting prompt Anon. Especially all of the rules that you gave me. I had to really think on how to write this, so I hope this is to your liking! Thank you for your support as always!)

The Jinx Rule

Rated: T (Miu has a mouth guys and Kokichi is frustrated)

Summary: D.I.C.E made the rules. Miu just perfected them.

“Again?!” Shuichi and Kokichi asked at the same time, staring at Miu before turning towards each other. “Jinx, you owe me a drink.” They said again and Miu cackled.

They were about to turn around to leave, when the bell rang across the school grounds. Miu cackled harder and they both turned to face her. Kokichi more out of annoyance and Shuichi more out of curiosity.

“What you think that we’re just going to let your fucking organization have the fun? We’re adding onto that bullshit!” Miu proclaimed and Shuichi’s eyebrow rose higher up. “Until you guys can fulfill that stupid promise, Cockichi can’t shove his dick in your face, Suckihara. That also goes for you too though! So don’t think you can fuck your way outta this.”

Shuichi’s cheeks burned brightly. It was a mistake to introduce D.I.C.E’s rule to his friends for sure. Kokichi’s cheeks were red, and he knew that he had half of the mind to open his mouth and lay on her. Yet, he wouldn’t break a rule that D.I.C.E themselves created, and he was the type that would go all out with the extra challenge.

He couldn’t reach out to try to tug Kokichi out of his thoughts either. All he could do was head into the classroom and pray that Kokichi would get the hint and follow. This was going to be a long day.

It was hell. Normally Shuichi was all in for quiet. He usually basked in these moments when they were forced to stay silent. D.I.C.E only had the silent rule because most of their members were talkative and it was punishment. Introverts like himself, Widow, and Ouverte usually were all in for the silent games. In fact, they would try to prolong that silence as long as they possibly could. Widow had the highest streak of keeping a jinx going. It made Trick and Shuffle suffer since they were the ones that she mostly got in her web. Shuichi had to admire that.

Miu’s rule on the other hand, no matter the implications, were pretty firm. Kokichi couldn’t do his affection routine. He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t hug. He couldn’t do anything. Shuichi wasn’t much of a PDA person to begin with, but it was weird hearing Kokichi behind him, and not getting jumped on.

Kokichi must have put some hidden boundaries on himself to make the challenge “extra exciting” too. Throughout class, Shuichi was able to focus on the note-taking and the lecture. Kokichi by this point would have thrown a love note or something on his desk, trying to get them into trouble, but nothing crossed his desk. He looked over his shoulder to see that he was gnawing at his pen, staring ahead determinedly. Shuichi pursed his lips together as he also turned back to face the front. It was just...weird to not have a distraction.

Shuichi was starting to miss the affection. Normally it was aggravating, a little annoying, and unnecessary. He missed being jumped on as weird as that sounded, even Shuichi was astonished by that thought. He didn’t realize how often or how much Kokichi touched. Whether it was hanging off his shoulders, arms, acting like a backpack, Kokichi was always touching.

He also missed his voice. The silent game was fun, yes, but Shuichi wasn’t the type to make it go for too long unless he was absolutely trying to concentrate on something. But even then, Kokichi normally ended the jinx by getting him a coffee from the pot and calling it a peace treaty. Sometimes, Kokichi let it go on for longer if he thought Shuichi really didn’t need his voice yelling around in their dorm room, but would lay in his lap. He’d play with Shuichi’s hair. He’s poke at his cheek just to get his attention.

They weren’t too far from each other. Shuichi might as well admit that he picked up a thing or two about being dramatic, because it really was torture feeling like Kokichi was across the room when he was just a desk away. He glanced over at Kokichi again, and this time met violet eyes.

Kokichi had bit through the pen. Blue ink was staining his lips and mouth. Shuichi’s eyes widened and Kokichi furrowed his brows at him. Shuichi knew that being silent meant not being able to gesture. Kokichi was fluent in sign language for god knows what reason, and that broke the rule of no communication. Shuichi licked his lips and Kokichi mirrored the action before his face twisted comically.

It was the fastest Shuichi ever saw someone run out of the classroom too.

The door slammed catching everyone’s attention and Shuichi turned back to face the front.

He kind of hoped that while Kokichi attempted to wash out his mouth, he’d also try to sneak towards a vending machine.

That fucking bitch was going to have another thing coming to her, Kokichi swore in his brain. He didn’t mind adding more people to the game. That made it fun. What made it suck was that Miu thought she knew how to make a game more exciting. More challenging. Kokichi fucking hated it. Shuichi would go along with it, because Shuichi was gentle and kind and liked to give everyone a chance. Kokichi thought about strangling her.

He wanted to hug his boyfriend goddamn it. He wanted to jump on his back. Kokichi didn’t miss how Shuichi had braced himself when he heard him coming up from behind. Kokichi knew the offer was loud and clear, but thanks to the no PDA fucking rule, Kokichi had to bite his tongue and hold himself back.

He hated it. Kokichi slammed the bathroom door closed behind him as he went to the sink. His teeth stained blue and his lips looked as though he just finished kissing someone with hypothermia, or a corpse. He could taste the ink still on his tongue and it made him wince. Using his elbow to not get more ink everywhere, he turned on the faucet and started running his hands into the water. He brought them up and tried to rinse his mouth out of the taste and of the pigment, spitting out blue water until it was kind of clear.

The silent game he could handle. He knew how to make silence his bitch. This though? This?! Kokichi pursed his lips together as he looked at himself in the mirror. He felt pathetic, but...he loved giving affection. Shuichi didn’t either get a whole lot at home, or maybe just didn’t know how to respond to it, but he was always so flustered when someone just ruffled his hair. Forget how shy he got with a kiss. He liked being the one to make Shuichi’s cheeks flush. All Kokichi ever wanted was to not let one day go where Shuichi questioned if he was loved.

Kokichi didn’t ask about Shuichi’s past much. They talked about the detective work, about his uncle and his family. They talked about D.I.C.E...but history wasn’t something either of them were willing to impart on each other. Kokichi was fine with that. There wasn’t much of his past that he was willing to look back on, and he was sure Shuichi felt the same. But they both lacked the same thing. Affection and love. Kokichi spent years finding that with his organization. He was willing to spend decades building it with Shuichi.

It just sucked that so far it’s been three hours since that stupid jinx happened, and Kokichi wasn’t sure if Shuichi knew if he was loved. Shuichi’s insecurity could be the death of the entire class. His humble attitude. His gentle smile.

Kokichi smacked his cheeks. There was only one way to solve this.

Screw Miu.

After school Shuichi felt something cold hit the back of his neck and he jumped out of his skin. He turned around, a lecture on his tongue, when he saw what Kokichi was holding. A cold can of coffee. The jinx was broken and Shuichi never felt more relieved. Without a second thought, he took the offered drink and set it on his desk. “Jesus Christ never again.” Kokichi groaned. “That was hell, Shumai. Literal hell. Thousand of burning hells. I’d thought I was going to die.”

“You weren’t going to die.”

“You don’t know that! I need a thousand hugs every hour, otherwise I’ll shrivel up like a houseplant and I’ll fade away into nothing! Nothing!” Kokichi proclaimed loudly as he wrapped his arms around Shuichi’s neck and started rubbing their cheeks together.

“Kokichi-”

“Don’t say you didn’t miss this.” Kokichi replied slowly.

“Of course I missed this.” Shuichi leaned a little into the cheek rub. “But you weren’t going to shrivel up like a houseplant. We could’ve left together to get a drink.”

“You don’t know that, and I wanted to end it now.”

“I do know that.” Shuichi reached up and gently hugged Kokichi’s arms that were draped around his neck.

“Shumai’s being so mean to me. What did I do?! If anything, you were the one that taught Miu our stupid rule!” To his credit, Kokichi only pulled himself closer, as though he could drape himself like a boa around Shuichi’s shoulders.

“Hey!” Miu shouted, reminding the boys that a few of their classmates hadn’t left yet.

“You went along with it!” Shuichi pouted back, leaning into the hold easily.

“Oh for fucks sake, if I trick you into doing a jinx again, will you two shut the fuck up and stop with the PDA porn? Not everyone wants to see that!” Miu groaned.

“No.” They both said together before groaning. “Jinx.” They said together in a defeated tone of voice. Kokichi slipping off of Shuichi’s shoulders reluctantly and Shuichi wishing for once he had just shut up himself.

“FUCK YES!” Miu shouted and the rest of the class erupted into snickers and giggles.

Kokichi flipped Miu off, and Shuichi wanted to bang his head on the desk. At least they’ll be quicker to get to a vending machine this time.

#trickyfindings #miu iruma #kokichi ouma #shuichi saihara #saiouma #oumasai #dialogue prompt #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #i hope you enjoyed this anon #you gave me a hell of a challenge with this #Anonymous

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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years

Note

12 for oumasai!

(Thank you so much @sinfulwonders for your prompt! I hope you enjoy this, because I sure did! Yes I remembered it was the hangover starter XD)

The Only One Sober

Rated: T

Summary: Shuichi was grateful that he didn’t drink.

please be mindful of the tags

“Out of my way peasant! I need to empty out my guts!” Kokichi shouted as Shuichi was unceremoniously shoved into the wall. Kokichi rushed down the hall and slammed the bathroom door shut. Shuichi winced a little as he heard the sounds of vomit going into the toilet. He had been on his way to check in on him, with a glass of water in his hand, and he was momentarily grateful that he thought that far ahead. He pushed himself off of the wall and headed towards the bathroom. There was really nothing he could do, but he could at least ease a bit of Kokichi’s suffering.

He carefully knocked on the door before gently pushing it open to see Kokichi hunched over, pale with a slight sheen of sweat coating his face. His eyes were watery and red. He reached over blindly to flush the toilet before collapsing onto the tile floor, curling in on himself. Shuichi got onto the floor next to him and carefully pulled his lover’s head into his lap, pushing sweat-damped hair out of his face and trying to cool him off. His breathing was ragged and the sour-scent made Shuichi’s stomach turn slightly in sympathy.

“Why are you so bubbly?” Kokichi groaned after a moment as Shuichi pressed a cup of water towards him. He took a gulp full to swish around in his mouth before weakly spatting it into the toilet and flushing it again.

“I didn’t drink.” Shuichi replied easily, and listened to Kokichi moan in response. He carefully set the boy back down on the tile and got the empty cup. He went to the sink and filled it up before getting back into position again. “That’s what you get when you drink like crazy.”

“My pride was at stake Shuichi-chan. They said that I couldn’t keep up.” Kokichi took a small sip before pushing the cup away. Anymore was just making his stomach feel worse.

“So of course you thought it was best to keep up.” Shuichi rolled his eyes as he set the cup aside for now. He knew that there were only two people in D.I.C.E that actively drank, but not to this degree. Kokichi was inexperienced, despite trying to say that D.I.C.E could out drink Korekiyo. Even Gonta had a hard time keeping up, but he was smart to know when to cut himself off and not get the hangover blues so to speak.

“That cum heap had it coming.” Kokichi groaned, getting back into Shuichi’s lap. “Saying I was too small.”

Miu. Shuichi doubted she was holding up any better. He wondered how Kiibo was handling her hangover. The last time Shuichi had to take care of Miu in that state, there was a lot less clothes involved and Shuichi saw things he didn’t want or need to see. Kokichi had thought it was both amusing and disgusting. A lot of blackmail material sure, but Shuichi was just as traumatized so it could easily backfire on him instead of affecting the pink inventor. Shuichi was just grateful to have Kaede as a sober friend. They were both dealing with sick lovers at the moment.

“And you didn’t help me.” Kokichi whined suddenly. “You left me all alone.”

“Kokichi, we talked about this. I don’t drink.” Shuichi sighed softly, carding his fingers through Kokichi’s hair and wiping away the sweat that gathered on his forehead. “I have water, you should probably drink it.”

“Nooo, if I drink it I’ll get sick.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” Shuichi frowned at him. “You’re nauseous still right? You need to eat and drink something, and you need to get all of that out of your system.”

“Noooo.” Kokichi groaned, “And you can’t make me.”

“Did you have fun at least?” Shuichi asked, curiously. “That headache has to hurt.”

“No. Just my stomach. I think the headache will come later. Maybe. Maybe I’m not affected at all! Maybe I’m making all of this up. Oh god I feel sick.” Kokichi cut himself off as he rolled off of Shuichi’s lap, curling in as though he could block out the nausea by being a tighter ball.

“Stop talking then.” Shuichi was a little amused, but he rubbed Kokichi’s shoulders and continued to stroke his hair, gathering it out of his face. “I can make something easy for the stomachache.” He murmured to him. “It won’t be pancakes, but it’ll be something.”

Kokichi nodded weakly and Shuichi carefully dislodged himself from the suffering boy. “I’ll be back with some medicine too.” He promised as he left the bathroom.

It didn’t take long to hear another sound of vomit echo through the bathroom. It was going to be a long day.

#oh fuzzy brain not good #trickyfindings #oumasai #saiouma #hangover prompt #promps #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa v3 #danganronpa #tw: vomit #tw: alcohol mention #tw: hangover aftermath #sorry this took so long #i hope you enjoyed it because I did #low-key think that the only one that can keep up with Korekiyo is Rantaro #no matter if it's a ship or friends or what have you #Gonta could probably #but I always picture him to be like and stop when it gets there #sinfulwonders

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

Text

Dungeon Chaos (KomaHinaNamami Week Day 4)

Prompt: Dungeons and Dragons

Rating: T

Summary: Chiaki’s never played a tabletop roleplaying game before, so being invited to one is both exciting and nerve wracking. At least she knows most of the people there.

“Hey, Onee-chan!” Kokichi landed hard against her desk, and Chiaki barely moved out of the way, her finger dancing across the console. “You play a lot of video games, right?”

“Yes,” Chiaki answered without bothering to look up. She was trying to defeat this boss, and she had it up to the hardest mode that she could play. She also decided to challenge herself and kept her character under level just for the extra amount of satisfaction. She knew that she was reckless, she usually didn’t try to play like that. She liked completing games, a hundred and ten percent of the way, but today was frustrating, and she wanted to have a struggle. It was better than starting a fight with Nagito or Hajime over something stupid.

“Would you say you’re good at roleplaying games?”

Chiaki paused the game after hearing that. “Is it the same as dating sims? I’m not very good with personal connections. I never know how to respond to people or how to react to them. The situation always calls for something, and if the wrong choice is made, it lowers the friendship and romance meter. I usually end up getting the no “choice” path because of it. Or the normal route, I suppose.” She looked up at Kokichi, who was comfortably swinging his legs back and forth, leaning into her personal bubble. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, what if I told you you could do all of that in real life, and you’ll know instantly what the wrong choice is?” Kokichi grinned. “Shirogane-chan from my class is hosting a DnD group. Saihara-chan and I joined, and I already asked Fujisaki-chan and Naegi-chan. Shirogane-chan told me that she was looking for more members, and our class isn’t playing.”

“Hmm.” Chiaki pressed a finger to her chin in thought. Nagito and Hajime were out getting food for her since she had been so caught up with her game. It wouldn’t surprise her if they went on a mini-date to eat a bit of lunch before bringing her back something to eat. Either that or Nagito’s luck struck, and they were trying to get out of whatever situation that wound up being. She hoped it was just a stuck vending machine. She didn’t want to go maxim capacity and have it be that a school building fell on top of them.

Chiaki was hanging out with Nagito too much if that was the first conclusion she came to. “I’ll have to ask and see if they’d want to. Hajime might since he likes playing video games with me. Nagito...he might feel like he’d just bring bad luck and disaster onto the game if he played.”

“Wouldn’t that make it more fascinating, though?!” Kokichi asked, leaning in with sparkling eyes. Chiaki was amused that he acted like her on occasion when she got excited. The common joke around the class was that Chiaki was somehow related to Kokichi, even though they could prove they weren’t. “I want to see Komaeda-chan’s luck in action! I’m always not around when something big happens.” He pouted slightly. “Maybe that’s his luck affecting me too?”

If so, it was strangely good luck. Chiaki shrugged, “When is the game supposed to start?”

“Hm? I was just supposed to get yes or no answers. I have your cell number, so I’ll tell you the deets when I get them from Shirogane-chan.” Kokichi grinned. “Oh, that reminds me. Any preference for a story?”

“You can choose your story?” Chiaki blinked. “Like backstory or…”

“Campaign story. Setting. You know. The background that we’re going to be tossing our characters in. I told her that I wanted to do Dragon Heist because you know. I’m a thief by trade.”

“You’re playing the rouge character than when a background of being a criminal.” Chiaki mused thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I’m not necessarily picky. So long as everyone has fun, I think that’s all that matters.”

“Ugh, well better than Yamada-chan. He told us that he wanted to do The Tomb of Annihilation. Since we have so many beginner players, Shirogane-chan’s not sure if that’s a good way to start.” Kokichi said as he glanced at his nails. “Well, whatever. If you run into your dream team, ask them for their opinion, too, okay? Better not forget Onee-chan. I’ll cry!”

“I understand.” Chiaki watched Kokichi leave. She hummed thoughtfully before going back to her game, losing herself until Nagito and Hajime came back with food.

Vending machine once more decided to get stuck again.

Better than a whole roof falling down, that’s for sure.

The conversation about the DnD disappeared from Chiaki’s mind. She was setting up for her weekend stream event when she heard her phone ding from across the room. Ignoring it, she went about getting her console hooked up to the right appliances when she heard a soft knock on the door. “Kokichi said something about a DnD group that’s happening tonight. He’s asking if you forgot to tell us?”

“A what now?” Nagito spoke up, and now Chiaki had to look. Hajime was standing at the door of her office, holding her phone casually in his hand. Nagito was peering over Hajime’s shoulder, clearly reading the text. “Huh. Ouma-kun has a strange way of wording things.”

“Like you don’t use emojis when you talk.”

“Not to that degree. I like to use numbers more.”

“DnD…” Chiaki trailed off before the lightbulb hit. Guilt flooded, and she looked at her game dejectedly. She was so eager to play the new game that came out too, but..she was curious about the roleplaying setup. She also never played a game with different people in a setting before. “Kokichi asked me if I wanted to come and play it, and I promised him I’d tell you guys. I’m sorry. It slipped my mind.”

“Do you still want to do it?” Hajime asked, his thumb hovering over the phone screen. “I can tell him we’re on our way, we just need the address.”

“This could be so exciting! What kind of hope do you guys think will spring from playing a roleplaying game? I wonder if all our talents are going to shine through. Oh, but that might mean my bad luck may hit unexpectedly. Maybe I should sit this one out.”

“No!” Chiaki and Hajime said together at the same time, startling Nagito into silence. “You’re coming too,” Chiaki replied firmly. “I want to see you play a game with us. You’re always on the sidelines. That can’t be fun.”

“I don’t mind watching, it’s exciting to see you two go at it.” Nagito grinned.

“Phrasing,” Hajime grumbled as he decided for them and typed out a response. “We should get going now if we want to make the next train and get to where they’re at.”

“They’re not playing at the dorms?” Chiaki questioned.

“Yamada-kun hangs out a comic book store not too far from here. They host the games, so we get the tablespace, and we can be as loud as we need to be within reason,” Hajime explained as he tossed Chiaki’s phone back. Kokichi had typed up the address, and it was clear to see that it was indeed a comic book store. “Let’s go.”

Chiaki didn’t typically go into comic bookstores. Still, she had to admit that the atmosphere reminded her of a lot of video game stores. The store was small and cozy with blue and red walls. Their shelves dedicated to different publishers that were all categorized by the title name. There were single-issue comic books as well as graphic mangas that were proudly displayed. The novelty statues that were in some of the display cases showed off some of the more famous superheroes and supervillains. Chiaki could see that there were some video game statues in there as well. They continued to walk until they reached the back of the store where a table was set up, and she saw that everyone was already there and waiting for them. On the table next to them was a tray full of snacks, pizzas, as well as sodas and cups.

“Onee-chan!” Kokichi didn’t waste time running over to her and body-slamming her into a hug. “I thought you ditched me! You promised that you’d talk to your boytoys about whether or not you’d be coming! I didn’t think I was so easily forgettable!” Tears slipped down his cheek.

“Ah, uh...Ouma-kun I don’t think Nanami-san would forget about you that easily. Hinata-kun just said that she forgot.” Saihara tried to dissuade Kokichi from any more tears. Chiaki was impressed by how fast Kokichi could wipe away the evidence that he had been crying so quickly.

“Nishishi! Don’t worry, beloved! I was just playing. Come on, sit, sit.”

Everyone was already there too. Chiaki didn’t recognize most of them. Makoto, she knew mostly from running into the halls. The girl that sat at the end of the table was wearing a dramatic looking dress with long silver hair that was braided and had a flower crown. Pointed ears were poking from the strands, and decorated with an ornate silver covering. “So before we begin playing, how many of us already have character sheets made?”

“Me!” Kokichi quickly pulled his out of a thick book and slammed it down on the table, shaking it dramatically. “Behold! Your Phantom Thief as arrived along with-” he grabbed Shuichi’s hand and held it up high “-your beloved Paladin!”

“Oh, awesome! What species are you two doing?” The girl asked, clasping her hands together.

“Halfling and human.”

“Oh. I see. How plain.” The girl ignored Kokichi’s indigent screech. “I’m going to assume you got yours done too, Yamada-kun?”

“Of course, I did. I sat down for hours trying to come up with a backstory that will mesh well with any campaign we all agree on. I have decided upon the paladin as well! My chosen warrior will be fighting alongside the Goddess of Sune as well. I may be adding in a bit of bard into the mix later down the road. Do you need my copy of my backstory, Shirogane-san?”

“If you have it,” Tsumugi said. Chiaki watched as they exchanged it across the table. It was starting to feel overwhelming. How was she supposed to keep track of what’s what?

“Psst, Onee-chan.” Kokichi caught her attention and gave her a grin. “Don’t worry about it. Yamada-chan likes to show off that he’s a veteran to this. You and the dream team aren’t the only ones that are new or don’t have a character sheet.”

Chiaki felt a little calmer with the assurance. Makoto spoke up, looking confused. “So how are we even supposed to do this? I tried to do it myself, but my sister laughed at me over the phone and hung up.”

“It’s okay Naegi-kun, I was lost too,” Chihiro replied quietly as they carefully smoothed down their skirt.

“How about all of us pair up with the newbies and help them design their characters and then we can talk about the campaign? Session zero is usually nothing but set up anyway and making sure the rules are understood. If we get a bit of gameplay going, all the better.” Tsumugi said, just as Kokichi immediately bounded over and sat down in between Chiaki and Hajime.

“Okay! I’ll take the dream-team and Onee-chan! Someone else can help the two helpless nerds over there.” Kokichi said as Shuichi reached over and handed Kokichi his handbook. He dragged the three over to a separate table.

“Do you guys have a dice set?” At the shake of their head, Kokcihi turned his head over his shoulder. “Oi! Beloved! Toss me the catapult!”

“The what?”

Shuichi ignored Tsumugi’s surprise as he picked up a dice bag that looked like it was made of leather and rounded into a ball. He tossed it over the table, making Kokichi catch it with both hands. Without another word, he dramatically overturned his bag. The dice spilled out, hitting the table and rolling everywhere on the floor’s surface.

It took a little bit to help clean it up, but the minute they were able to do that, Kokichi finally sat them down and spoke. “So. What do you guys think you represent?”

Represent? Chiaki frowned deeply as she looked over to see that both Hajime and Nagito were thinking about it as well, taking Kokichi’s words into consideration. “Hope,” Nagito spoke up, and Chiaki sighed. “Luck and hope.”

“Uh...hard work, I suppose? Talent?” Hajime tried.

“Hm...something that has to do with fun, I think,” Chiaki said quietly, pulling her hoodie over her head as she tried to block out some of the noise and light. She hadn’t realized that the group behind her was going to get so loud.

Hajime subtly made her move so that she was sitting in between him and Nagito. Kokichi didn’t bat an eye or ask questions. “Okay, so halfling for Komaeda-chan, a fighter for Hinata-kun, and…” he paused humming to himself before nodding. “I think Onee-chan will make for a good bard.”

“Should I go for a healing class?” Nagito questioned. “Considering that everyone else is fighter types. I recall that Chiaki would have to take the role less played with during her MMORPGs, and Clerics are usually the ones used for that, aren’t they?”

“You sure that you want to stay behind and just cast healing spells?” Kokichi questioned, “It’s fun if you’re up ahead in the battle.”

Chiaki was about to open her mouth to offer, but Nagito was faster than she was. “I don’t want my luck to ruin your guys game. It’s better if my character is a bystander to let all of you shine. I don’t mind.”

“So a halfling cleric. I’ll make this easy for you and say that you should go with Life Domain. Mostly because of your luck, hope, and morales.” Kokichi said. “We’ll roll dice for stats and everything in a bit. How about you Hinata-chan? I said the fighter, but...you want someone to be hardworking, right? Human’s pretty typical, but...I mean, we already have a human paladin. It wouldn’t take us long to weave your backstory with Saihara-chan’s. You two could know each other in-game. It’ll make for roleplaying easier. Because in addition to knowing him, you’ll know me because I cause a lot of trouble around the town.”

“Probably enough that a cleric would also know you?”

“Heard of me sure, unless you’re gonna be friends with the paladin. Oh, if you two follow the same God, that’ll give you something to talk about too.” Kokichi snapped his fingers.

Chiaki hummed thoughtfully as she listened to the conversation, her mind whirling as she thought about what she wanted to be. She peered over Hajime’s shoulder as he flipped through the book, angling it so that she could see. “Are there any uncommon monsters?” Chiaki questioned.

“What do you mean?” Kokichi asked.

“I mean,” Chiaki pulled on her hoodie. “Someone that’ll take a look and think that he’s dangerous, but in the end, he’s actually a good person?”

Neither Hajime nor Nagito could miss what reference she was making out of that.

“...Tiefling or Dragonborn usually,” Kokichi said slowly, picking his words carefully. “Teiflings are what you want to go with if you’re trying to scare people. Half-orcs or orcs are common ones too, but Teiflings are considered to be people from hell. They’re not exactly looked at well I think it’s a flip of a coin what town would prefer what monster though over the others. Dragons are terrifying in their own right.”

“Why not go with Tiefling?” Chiaki offered, looking up at Hajime. “You’ll get the hardship of trying to win everyone’s favor, and you can work hard at show-casing that appearances shouldn’t be judged on.”

“...Alright.”

“What about you, Chiaki? You agreed to be a bard, but...are you sure that’s an idea?” Nagito questioned.

“Bards usually are the ones that have the most, though they’re usually played more sexually,” Kokichi said bluntly. “Since Onee-chan likes to have fun, it’ll be interesting for like...a bard to actually be just that. A playful character that doesn’t take anything seriously.”

“Hmmm...I’m a pretty serious person by nature…” Chiaki said slowly, “so playing something that’s a little bit out of my comfort zone will be hard. It should be fun. But what species would be best for me to go with if I’m only trying to do that?”

“Why not a gnome? A gnome bard.” Kokichi offered.

Nagito suddenly burst into laughter, causing all three of them to look at him. He held his hands up, giggling and trying to control himself. “Sorry, sorry. I just had this thought that...Hajime’s Tiefling will be with the two shortest people in the game.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right! Nishishi! That’ll be hysterical if you three decide to get together in the game!” Kokichi laughed. “Okay, okay. Let’s roll the dice and see what you guys get for stats and equipment.”

“I still can’t believe that your luck can affect a fucking roleplaying game,” Hajime stated as they left the store in good nature. They managed to get their characters set up, with Nagito being stupidly powerful for being the first level due to his high rolls and his luck. The campaign they decided to choose was the Tyranny of Dragons. Since no one was a Dragonborn or could speak in dragons, it nearly caused a Total Party Kill within the first mission. It was only thanks to Kokichi’s quick thinking and Hifumi’s foresight for things that could go bad and turned the tide.

“It wasn’t just Nagito’s luck, though,” Chiaki helpfully pointed out as Nagito laughed easily at the accusation. “Did you see how bad Naegi-kun was rolling?”

Nagito was rolling pitiful numbers. It got to the point that most of the table thought Tsumugi was trying to prolong his suffering by fudging her rolls from behind the screen to help them out a bit. Makoto’s dexterity was decent, but the number of times he tripped and caused a problem was...alarming. It didn’t help either that Kokichi thought Chihiro and Makoto were the best people to mess with. He slipped a few things into Makoto’s equipment bag that raised eyebrows and questions when targetted.

“I have to admit it was riveting that we were facing the Champion head-on!” Nagito held his hands up excitedly. “Did you see how Hajime rolled so high to get so many critical hits? We thought he accidentally picked out Ouma-kun’s trick dice!”

“God, that was embarrassing.” Hajime groaned. “But the champion was annoying. I’m glad I fucked him up when I had a chance. Tsumugi plays a decent villain character. I don’t think I’ve wanted to strangle anyone as much as I do those cultists.”

“It’s terrible that they’re controlling the dragons somehow with the mask, but I’m eager to see what else happens.” Chiaki agreed, “I didn’t fall asleep once, and it was hard!”

Hajime and Nagito both wrapped their arms around her, Hajime going for the waist while Nagito settled for the shoulders. “I’m glad you had fun, Chiaki,” Hajime said softly. “I was worried that it might’ve been overwhelming.”

“At first it was, there were a lot of things to take in, and I wasn’t used to the area. However, as I got used to it, my stats increased, and I was better able to focus. It helped that both of you were on either side of me the entire time and that Ouma-kun was distracting. Poor Saihara-kun, though...he had to bail Ouma-kun out of doing some peculiar things.”

“Yeah...pickpocketing the mayor might’ve not been the best idea in the world.” Hajime agreed.

“I’m not so certain.” Nagito injected. “I still think that Ouma-kun and myself have a good hunch that the mayor isn’t who he says he is. I think that our group is still being used, but I’m not sure how.”

“We’ll just have to rely on our gut instinct for now,” Chiaki leaned into their hold. “My mind is going a thousand miles an hour. I’m starting to get sleepy trying to keep up.”

“Do you want me to give you a piggyback ride, Chiaki? At least to the station?” Hajime asked, already getting ready to get on his knees.

“Yea...I think that might be best.” Chiaki was getting tired, and it was hard to stand. Hajime bent down, and Chiaki allowed herself to fold forward around him. He hooked his arms under her legs as she tiredly clung to his shoulders.

“Hahaha, I’m a little worn out myself; that was a lot of information to be given all at once.” Nagito rubbed the back of his neck. “So should we plan to tell Ouma-kun that we’ll come next week?”

“Hmm...go for it.” Hajime nodded. “I’ll remind Chiaki when she wakes up.”

“Not...sleep….” Chiaki closed her eyes before she could complete the sentence. She was looking forward to next week too.

#komahinanami week #komahinanami #hopetohopetogame #dungeons and dragons #hpa-au #chiaki nanami #nagito komaeda #Hajime Hinata #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #saiouma #makoto naegi #chihiro fujisaki #hifumi yamada #tsumugi shirogane #trickyfindings

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

Note

10 for Shuichi and/or Kokichi :D

Oh gosh since you did both for me, I’ll do both for you.

Kokichi is someone that doesn’t usually show whether or not he’s melted romantically, but what really gets him going is when his partner plays along to whatever scheme he has. Whether it’s roleplaying in the bedroom or playing a rock paper scissors game that could end in endless amount of ties, as long as you’re in the game, he’s pleased as peaches. He also likes it when his partner can see through his lies and call him out on it. He wants the challenge because he knows it’s easy to be taken at face value. He wants someone to see him exactly who he is, and have him rise to the challenge. He’s competitive for sure. He has to be since he’s a leader.

That being said though Kokichi also melts a lot with gifts. He likes gifts that he can use to play with other people. It means a lot to him when his partner gives these kinds of gifts because they want to spend time with him, to play with him. It means a lot.

Of course if their really the type. If they let him be dramatic as possible during a date, or let him choose how the date can go, they just gave him the world.

Shuichi is a little more low key than that. He’s the type that enjoys the silence in between. Whether it means he reads a book and his partner is on the couch, doing something on their phone or also reading, it’s fine by him. He adores it when his partner is resting against his lap or his shoulder, silently doing their own thing. It means that they’re comfortable and feel safe around him. He also likes it when he can converse with his partner and not feel so anxious about overstepping or going over the lines. Also, if his partner plans a date and has it all down to a T, he will fucking adore them because it takes a lot of pressure off of him to impress them.

#danganronpa v3 #trickyfindings #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #danganronpa headcannons

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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years

Text

Prompt #50 for Anon

(This is prompt number #50 for Anon who asked for either KamuKoma or Oumasai. I decided to do both since I was late)

Don’t Tell

Rated: G

Summary: The best kept secrets are usually those laid out in plain sight.

It wasn’t a secret that Kokichi had a crush on Shuichi. Everyone knew that he had a crush on Shuichi. The whole school knew that he had a crush on Shuichi. It wasn’t like Kokichi even tried to keep a secret either. From the nicknames to calling him “beloved”, it was pretty freaking obvious that Kokichi wanted Shuichi’s attention. The bad thing was Shuichi didn’t take him seriously and it was driving him up the damn wall.

How?! How was he supposed to even get Shuichi’s attention, when Shuichi was dead-set on making sure that it didn’t happen? He put up with the nicknames, barely batted an eye about being called beloved, and all the while in the same breath, would tell people “we’re just friends”. It really made Kokichi want to rip his hair out sometimes.

But that was the price wasn’t it? Kokichi was a liar. Everyone knew that too. That wasn’t a secret. That was the worst secret anyone could possibly keep. He was loud about it, proclaimed about it. There were few people that could call him out on it, Shuichi being one of them, and he was always proud of those people for being able to see right through him. It meant that they were smart, it meant that they were worth his time. Shuichi was definitely worth his time. He made it fun. The problem was that Kokichi backpedaled.

The problem was that Shuichi didn’t know that Kokichi knew how to backpedal and that was the entire reason why they were in this mess. Loud love confessions that were never treated seriously because someone thought that Kokichi was lying. Kokichi, being the good friend that he was, played along and pretended that it was indeed a lie. All the while wanting to slam his head into the desk and scream into a pillow as to why Shuichi had to choose now to be dense.

It was painful for everyone. Maki and Kaito could get it through his head, and the only reason why they weren’t was probably because they wanted to see Kokichi suffer. Which okay, fine he deserved that after the many different kinds of pranks and tricks he pulled on the space cadet and the assassin-girl, but he would appreciate it if they’d ended his suffering sooner rather than later.

It wasn’t that he was going to give up. Shuichi hadn’t outright rejected his advances, so...Kokichi had a feeling he had a chance, right? Right! So he was going to play it cool.

At least until all bets were off.

“Saihara-chan! Come with me!” Kokichi latched onto Shuichi’s arm and started dragging him off before he could even protest.

“Ah Ouma-kun, what-?” Shuichi stammered as he was dragged down the hallway. It was lunchtime so no one was really out and about, mostly sticking with their classes. Kokichi pulled open a janitoral closet and shoved Shuichi in there unceremoniously before closing the door behind him. “Wha-?”

Without another word, Kokichi pressed a kiss against Shuichi’s lips. Surely if he thought all of his words were lies, this would get the message clear as day. He pulled away from Shuichi and grinned, “Nishishi, got you detective~!”

“O-ouma-kun…”

“You shouldn’t really let your guard down like that, it’s not good for you.” Kokichi was about to spin out of the closet, before Shuichi grabbed onto his wrist and dragged him back towards him. “Yes my belo-”

Shuichi was kissing him.

Kokichi’s cheeks burned a bright red as he felt his beloved’s lips against his own. He hadn’t expected this. He thought Shuichi would melt in a corner, and they’d never mention it again. Maybe the detective would chase him around, try to get him to speak about his feelings. Maybe it would be a dramatic revelation.

It wasn’t like this. A soft acceptance. They parted, and Shuichi moved towards the door. “M-maybe you should take your own advice, Ouma-kun.” He left before Kokichi could say anything.

Kokichi just blinked at him. Kokichi.exe couldn’t compute.

It wasn’t a secret that Kokichi had a crush on Shuichi, but clearly it was a secret that Shuichi had a crush on Kokichi. No one had been the wiser. Now to just figure out how to make that secret public…

Though he wouldn’t mind a few more hidden kisses. Just for fun.

#anon #Lynne's self indulgence #dangnaronpa v3 #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #oumasai #trickyfindings #prompt #kissing prompt #hope you enjoyed #i loved doing this for you

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

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Vengeance Chapter 11

((Thank you all for your likes and your reblogs. Your support means the world to me. Thank you to @sinfulwonders for betaing this mess of a chapter. I do apologize that it took so long to come out.))

Rated: M

Summary: Amateur Detective Shuichi Saihara knew that searching for the "Usual 16" wasn't going to get him anywhere. The disappearances weren't being tracked in any news outlet, and very few families even tried to come forward to ask for help, let alone to report them missing. Yet, Shuichi can't shake off the feeling that there's a reason behind the disappearances, and he's close to the answer.

He just didn't realize that the answer was going to hit close to home, in more ways than one.

Previous Next

You can read under the cut or go to my AO3!

Both Shuichi and Kokichi stared perturbed as they watched the hand slowly fade out from existence. Neither of them moved, or breathed. Shuichi could feel the cold sweat break out on his forehead and on his neck, his hand gripping onto Kokichi’s hand tightly enough to break fingers or bone. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. He watched as all the other players were frozen solid with the same expression painted on their faces. Thoroughly terrorized and silently crying as they realized what their fate could be. A killing game. Until now, until seeing that, Shuichi didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. He knew that time was against them, he knew that the votes counted. He knew tha the motives and the murder were all part of it...but seeing it come to life. Knowing that this was the end for someone who decided to try to get out…

Shuichi felt his throat go dry and everything felt too real and not enough. He felt Kokichi try to dislodge his hand from his and he realized that he was making it harder for Kokichi to escape. He quietly detangled his fingers from his boyfriend’s and watched as Kokichi left his room. He didn’t doubt Kokichi was going to go to the restroom and empty out his stomach. It was a brutal execution. It was…

There were really no words for what this was. Shuichi numbly shut the laptop’s cover and placed it underneath his bed, as though hiding it from view would make what he saw disappear from his mind. The room was spinning and blurring in and out of his vision and Shuichi reached up to rub his eyes of the tears that were starting to fall down his cheeks. His shoulders hitched and his stomach dropped another rock into the bottomless pit of anxiety and depression. He curled in on himself, unable to stop the tears or the sobs that flowed. He was scared. He was terrified. He didn’t realize, he didn’t think about how far Danganronpa was willing to go for excitement, for entertainment. He wanted to be sick, he wanted to scream.

A murder was a mercy in that game, Shuichi was starting to realize numbly. It was a horrible, terrible mercy. Mercy wasn’t supposed to look like violence. A mercy killing usually was quicker, painless. Like knocking someone out with the gas and trying their hardest to slit their throat, despite knowing that it wasn’t going to work.

The execution wasn’t a mercy. It was torture. It is a punishment, just like Monokuma called it. Just like he had warned everyone ahead of time. Get caught, and it wasn’t a fast death. It wasn’t anything that the students could come up with on their own.

Shuichi felt something tug at him, reminding him that maybe he should check in on Kokichi. He watched it too. He was suffering by himself, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t find any reason to move. His body continued to shake and he continued to cry and his thoughts were just spinning over the same scene again, and again, and again. Stuck on an endless loop. A repeat. It was probably a mercy that Danganronpa muted the screams of the tortured.

The door creaked open and Shuichi used what little energy that he had to look up from his knees to see Kokichi coming back. The shadows of Shuichi’s room gave Kokichi’s face a darkened mask. His eyes were clear of haze or any type of emotion, a facade that wasn’t well fitted around his face yet. He quietly got back into the bed, snuggling as close as he possibly could to Shuichi. He leaned his head against his shoulder and mindlessly started to rub circles into his back and shoulders, and then letting his hand trail up to massage the side of Shuichi’s neck. Shuichi could feel how swollen his neck felt from the lingering touch, and he melted into the embrace as though he were a puddle, trying to gather as much warmth and comfort as he could from his boyfriend. He also reached, and gripped onto Kokichi’s arm, reaching for any little hug that he could give.

Neither of them broke the silence that covered them like a weighted blanket. It was hard to find a way to shift around the smothering tension. Shuichi wanted to break the silence and wanted his brain to stop looping Yadori’s skating.

The bears and how they skated, skated, skated.

How she slipped and fell.

How Monokuma prepared for that, using it as a way to turn the thermostat up.

Her falling into the melted ice.

Her being unable to reach the surface because of the weight of her skates, and being froze over.

Her drowning underneath the surface as-

“Stop.” Kokichi whispered and the thoughts quieted just a little. He could feel it in the background noise in the back of his head, but there was a more present sound that he could hear. He could feel Kokichi adjust his hold and Shuichi caught his scent, breathing in soft as he let it relax him just a little. “Breathe with me, beloved.”

Shuichi knew he was hyperventilating but he couldn’t stop the train now that it was going. His chest and shoulders ached. Everything felt too close and real, and too far away and fake. There were black spots that were just at the edge of his sight, and he could only assume it was from the panic and not from the silhouettes clamoring for his attention. He could hear Kokichi breathing, loud and steady. He tried to follow the pattern, but it was...it was a lot. Everything was a lot. It took a few tries, but soon enough they were breathing in and out the same song and Shuichi let it lull him into a state of wanting to fall asleep, and being wide awake.

“Let’s try to sleep.” Kokichi’s voice was still ever so quiet against the thick blanket of doubt and fear. Shuichi held onto it as though it was the only way out of the darkness that was his thoughts, that was reality. The boys maneuvered themselves so that they were lying down, and Kokichi reached over and turned the light off.

Neither of them dared to close their eyes, but neither of them were willing to break the silence again.

When morning broke, Shuichi wasn’t sure if he had been chasing Kokichi through more rooftops that he thought was possible, or if Honor got a little too over-excited about teaching Shuichi how to defend himself. His stomach felt punched. His eyes were irritated and itchy, not enough rubbing in the world soothed the pain and only made the swollen skin worse. His body complained and cried out, remembering that he spent all night in an anxiety attack that just wouldn’t fade. Nothing about the morning felt inviting. He knew for a fact that school was a far away option right now, and he knew that Kokichi was probably feeling the same. He could smell breakfast cooking, but instead of feeling his stomach wake up to hunger, it twisted painfully and reminded him that food was probably not the best idea at the moment. He rolled over to his side and saw that Kokichi was lying on his back, absently staring up at the ceiling, his arms crossed under his head.

Telling him good morning felt like a joke. It tasted like salt and sand in his mouth. Shuichi swallowed it back and decided not to. Instead he reached over and gently tapped on Kokichi’s stomach. Three small, lingering taps. Kokichi didn’t startle, nor was he fazed when he looked over at him. His eyes were as bloodshot as Shuichi’s felt. How long had he stayed up with his own tears and demons? It made Shuichi twist in distress. Neither of them had words.

What they saw felt like a nightmare, a bad dream that could rival someone's sleep paralysis for a month. Shuichi could still see bright blood underneath a layer of ice and a hand banging against it, pleading for mercy. Pleading for help.

He tried to shove it all to the side. To later sort through it. He couldn’t afford to skip class again, and he didn’t want to rely on Kokichi either. They both had universities that they wanted to get into, if they could. Well, Shuichi did. Kokichi was...very much someone that lived on the edge. Whether or not he was going to go to college was just as up in the air as what dinner plans might be tonight. Never known until the last minute or so.

Shuichi could barely taste the food that he was eating, let alone keeping track of grabbing his things. Nothing felt real. He wasn’t sure the room he was in was real. He wasn’t sure if he was in or out of his body. Shuichi’s gaze went from trying to get his things together, to the backpack that was still on his chair. His gut twisted uncomfortably. He needed to text his uncle about that. He should have done it yesterday, but had gotten distracted instead. He knew that going to class was important, he knew that he needed to get the grades. He could drop the backpack off afterwards, but…

Time wasn’t a luxury they could afford anymore. Shuichi knew the game would continue to roll now that someone had been brave enough to shed first blood. He abandoned his backpack in favor of grabbing Aki’s. Kokichi had already left. They went their separate ways to school anyway, and even though Shuichi tried to walk him as far as he could, Kokichi knew that he didn’t like to feel late to anything, and tended to leave anyway.

He picked up her bag, feeling it’s weight in his hands. Shuichi wondered how much this was going to help, and how much of this was just going to hinder the investigation. Shuichi wasn’t sure if his uncle was aware of how Danganronpa worked, and since he was voting and actively a part of the chat logs, Shuichi knew that he was guilty by association.

Being a detective was going to be a far off dream if he got caught, or if someone figured out that Shuichi was a part of the game. Shuichi loved his job but….

It wasn’t worth the secrecy. Shuichi shifted the bag onto his shoulders and decided to go to his uncle’s agency. He could feel the cold sweat against his skin as he headed outside, but there wasn’t time for take backs or second guesses.

Two deaths were enough. Two deaths were too much in Shuichi’s mind. He should’ve been faster. Not that it would do anything. If all of his theories were true, and Danganronpa really did have a hand in the government or in the police force, then there was a good chance that all of the evidence that Shuichi collected thus far was just collecting dust on someone else’s desk.

Even if it was unethical to do their own search for their own family member, Shuichi couldn’t scramble up a good reason to hand it off to someone else.

The detective agency was a hole in the wall building that was squished in between two large office buildings that were imposing and harsh. As many people walked by, barely anyone took a good look at the building. His uncle had a superstition that they shouldn’t be found until someone absolutely needed them, and the statement was accurate. More times than Shuichi could count when he was a child, did a woman or a man walk into the agency, never knowing that it had been there for years, requesting a case or a missing person’s file or something. Most of the time it was adultery cases, and most of the time were easy to solve.

It was easy money, but it was also a challenge. The name Saihara threw weight around, but it also threw grudges. It made Shuichi wonder if Danganronpa held such a grudge. He honestly couldn’t see why. He was the only one working on the Usual 16 and wasn’t getting anywhere at the time.

He opened the door and blinked at the disarray of the office. Ando-kohai was standing by the door with a steaming cup in his hands. His tie was loose around his neck and he looked flushed and overheated. The A/C was humming loudly in the background and there were plenty of papers and files that were scattered on the floor, covering the dark brown wood like an area rug and taped onto the white walls. No strings yet, which was a good thing. If the strings came out, Shuichi would have to worry if the old method of fanning things out and using the computer for visual aid wasn’t doing enough.

Ando looked and Shuichi could count new wrinkles that lined his normally youthful expression. There was also a line of grey that was starting to streak through his hair prematurely. There was a twitch to his fingers and Shuichi had a feeling that Ando was going to wind up in the hospital from a heart attack or worse. “Hey Shuichi-kun, shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Ah um...I wanted to talk to my uncle for a bit but uh…” Shuichi glanced to see that his uncle was currently sitting in the middle of this mess. Both office desks were shoved up against the wall and the chairs were stacked precariously against each other. Shuichi had no doubt that it would take one firm slam of the door for both chairs to crash down. The window blinds were open and the sun glared off of the white paper like snow.

His uncle, meanwhile, was staring at the mess as though it was a large jigsaw puzzle that needed to be put together. Shuichi wasn’t sure on how to begin a pathway to his uncle. There was literally no room to step, let alone disturb the papers. Deciding on a different method, Shuichi reached down and tugged off his shoes so that they wouldn’t get marks on the paper, and carefully made his way towards his uncle, trying to mindfully step where he thought he could.

“Please make a walkway.” Shuichi pleaded when he finally got to his uncle’s side.

“Shhh.” Koji murmured softly. “I think I almost understand this. Maybe.”

Shuichi looked down and tried to make heads or tails of what he was seeing that would cause an explosion of paper. From what he was seeing, it was all the suspect lists that Shuichi had made for the Usual 16, and all of the papers that they were in. He caught sight of the bird sanctuary that Kokai had founded and was a part of, as well as Chatani’s award for her manga that she penned.

“He’s been at this for hours now, and he said that fifteen minutes ago.” Ando said helpfully from the door. “I got placed over here for being a distraction.”

“You are!” Koji gave Ando a look. “Your theory makes no more sense than pigs flying.”

“What theory?” Shuichi asked, his finger curling against his chin.

“My theory was that these kids all were part of something huge. You know, like the awards and making records, being on Broadway, the works.” Ando explained and Shuichi could follow along that logic. “But with Aki-chan not having that type of exposure, I thought that maybe it was a grudge.”

“But why would Danganronpa have a grudge against you?” Shuichi’s mind was already spinning. Could that really be the case? If so then...was Akamatsu the performer that collapsed the same day of the Smash Tournament? Then where did Aki go that day? Busking? Did someone scout her just by watching her on the street?

The air went still and Koji’s head whipped around to face him. Shuichi felt a little shocked at the expression that shadowed over Koji’s face. He had never seen him so angry before. No, this wasn’t anger. There was a lot more behind the heat. However, Shuichi couldn’t focus on that, already tugging on his hat to try to avoid the confrontation that was going to happen anyway.

“I know that you got an email from them.” Koji said slowly, carefully. “But what made you connect these 16 kids to that?”

Shuichi took a breath. “I uh...I saved the link.”

“Oh kid, no.” Ando whispered from his spot.

Koji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What did you see?”

“The 16 that you’re trying to find. All of that that I gave you? Or sent to you? They’re all in a game called Danganronpa. It’s...it’s a killing game.” Shuichi adjusted his hat, trying to keep his gaze low. “Kokichi-kun and I...we watch it. Aki-chan is in it. She lost her memory. She’s going by Mayumi-chan.” Taking the opening for what it was, Shuichi carefully removed the bag from his shoulders. “Aki-chan knew that she was being followed. She left behind this and a charm bracelet. I have pictures of the crime scene.”

“Why didn’t the police grab it?” Ando mused. “If it was left out in the open like that, someone would have had to report it.”

“Aki-chan shoved her backpack behind the dumpster, unless someone was actively looking for it they wouldn’t have found it. Her charm bracelet was broken.” Shuichi swallowed. “She...either didn’t tell Danganronpa her name and they’re going with the flow of it, or they know exactly who she is, and they’re still going with the flow because she’s not opening her mouth to say who she is. Regardless, Danganronpa relies on the students to lose their memory so that it can be manipulated somehow. As far as I’m aware, Aki-chan -no- Mayumi-chan, has literally nothing to her name.”

“No memory,” Koji mused thoughtfully. “Manipulated into something that they want instead.” He covered his mouth with his hand, looking at the files. “But why these kids?”

“There’s a gimmick that they use called “Ultimates”. Whatever they’re talented for, or known for, that’s what they’re going to use.” Shuichi felt his heart race against his chest, and he felt dizzy. He should’ve eaten more, or he should’ve just called it a day and stayed in bed. He still could… “They force these kids to kill each other. There’s...there’s already been a couple of deaths.”

“Oh fuck.” Ando hissed and Koji bowed his head. “Saihara-kun, who were the two deaths?”

“Chatani-san and Yadori-san. They’re known as the Ultimate Mangaka and Figure Skater.” Shuichi said and Koji immediately started shuffling papers around.

“What was their motive?” Koji asked.

“Um...it was supposed to be a way to get their memory back but it escalated into Yadori-san thinking that she had to protect her classmates from Chatani. I think Chatani was just trying to keep herself armed and ready for an attack on her.” Shuichi explained. “I...don’t know much after that. They stopped recording after showing the execution.”

“......I feel like that only leads to more questions.” Koji sighed, running a hand across his face. “Sixteen…” He mused thoughtfully as he looked at the papers before him. Shuichi could swear he could see gears turning around his head. “And they picked Aki. Why? If anyone made papers, it would’ve been you, Shuichi-kun.”

“It goes with my theory though doesn’t it?” Ando pointed out helpfully, “Aki-chan was the bait.”

Koji seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his head. “I wonder if it had something to do with the Kamukura technology custody battle that happened a year ago.”

Ando made a soft noise, “Keiko-chan certainly tore them down didn’t she?”

“I’m wondering now if Jabberwock had an inkling this was happening, and that’s why they suddenly started clamoring for their technology back. It was meant to be used in a virtual therapy world so that people could recover from trauma.” Koji mused. “I wonder if that technology and Danganronpa have something in common, but I’m not sure. It wasn’t on a lease or anything...so perhaps it was stolen and recently resurfaced? I’ll have to see what the details are from her.”

The back and forth of the conversation left Shuichi feeling as though he didn’t have all the cards in his hands. Jabberwock? Kamukura technology? Just what did those two things have to do with Danganronpa? He didn’t remember his aunt taking on a case like that, but then again...Shuichi didn’t usually pay attention to his aunt’s cases. It was less about puzzle solving, and more about having the better argument. “Unless Jabberwock gave that technology over fifty years ago I doubt it.” Shuichi frowned, he wasn’t sure anymore what sort of wavelength was trying to get on. “This is their fifty-second season of doing this.”

“That can’t be right can it? Fifty years?” Ando spluttered. “That’s before the-”

“We’re looking at fifteen years max.” Koji cut through. “But I honestly doubt that Jabberwock would leave their technology behind like that. I think that there’s something more that’s happening. Five years is my max. I’m willing to gamble that it’s been closer to three.”

“Keiko-chan should know when the technology was brought over…” Ando mused. “That should give us a relative timeline, right?”

“If I can get her to fork over the papers, we might get somewhere. But then if that’s the case, then...why didn’t they pick Keiko-chan or myself?”

“You’re not a kid.” Ando waved it off. “Sounds like to me this Danganronpa group has a niche. I mean who's going to be horrified at an adult doing a murder spree? A teenager forced to kill another kid sounds much more terrifying.”

Shuichi thought about Chatani’s slit throat and how Yadori tried to make it as painless as she possibly could. He thought about the blood water. His stomach twisted and looked away, feeling nauseous and ill. Kids killing kids would make for a more entertaining show, wouldn’t it? Adults killed each other all the time, doing the littlest, reckless thing. “They want to make a statement.” Shuichi said, “Either that or they’re testing something, but I just don’t know what either of those could be.”

“You shouldn’t be watching.” Ando paused. “Um...that actually makes me want to ask...why did the invitation get sent to you, Saihara-kun? Instead of Saihara-senpai?”

“I feel as though that was a deliberate choice.” Koji mused. “Make the adults fret and wonder and perhaps they thought we wouldn’t believe Shuichi-kun or Ouma-kun for coming forward about it.”

“I also think it has something to do with my other theory.” Shuichi tugged his hat. “...What are you doing with the evidence, Uncle?”

“When I think I have something, I send it to my colleagues that are in the police force who have a criminal detective on board, why do you ask?”

“I think you might want to change tactics. Danganronpa has a hand in the police force. Why else can sixteen kids go missing without so much of a warning? Especially when they made local papers?” Shuichi pointed out.

The silence was deafening and Shuichi let out a low breath. Koji let out a low breath. “I hate calling in favors.”

Shuichi felt lost, but Ando looked over at the phone. “She’s gonna yell at you, or she’s gonna tell you told you so.”

“Her and Keiko-chan are going to say something.” Koji sighed. “Shuichi-kun...you should go to school. I...have to think.”

Understanding that his presence wasn’t needed anymore, Shuichi nodded. “I’ll see you soon Uncle.” He promised before running out of the building.

A bento was gently set before Shuichi and he looked up to see Takahashi was sitting across from him. Shuichi dealt with the anxiety of being at school late. Thankfully his teacher was understanding that he was trying to recover from a missing person’s case and decided to let him off the hook, but Shuichi wasn’ relying on that to happen every time.

Takahashi didn’t say anything as he opened his own bento. Shuichi knew that he shouldn’t feel surprised. Takahashi occasionally brought an extra lunch. Whether he had a knack of intuition that told him if Shuichi forgot his, or if it was just because he was waiting to share it with someone that needed the food, Shuichi never had the heart to ask. He knew that there was no way to refuse it too. The last time he tried didn’t end well, and he knew that Takahashi never meant any insult.

“Thanks.” Shuichi doubted that the bento would taste like anything. He barely could remember breakfast and school was dragging along at snail's pace and his energy levels were about in the negatives. Too many people staring, too many questions buzzing, everything just felt like it was too much and too loud. He pulled the bento apart and he was greeted with an array of colorful food and rice. “Thank you for the meal.”

“It’s really nothing.” Takahashi responded as he took his apart as well, showing the same arrangement. “Did something happen last night?”

Shuichi blinked, “Why specifically last night?”

“You were with us the other night and you seemed okay...I mean...as okay as you can be.” Takahashi clarified. “Last night...something must’ve happened. Ouma-kun made us worried with his messages in the D.I.C.E text group. He just said to be kind to you is all.”

“O-oh.” Shuichi looked away. “It’s nothing.”

“I won’t pry, this isn’t pancake night.” Takahashi promised. “Just...I’m here if you ever want to talk.”

God how to explain the craziness that was his life? Shuichi gently nudged his chopsticks against a sausage roll and watched it shift back and forth in place as he tried to gather his thoughts. His stomach grumbled, irritated that he was barely eating anything. Yet when he placed the food in his mouth, he barely could taste the flavor. His stomach whimpered, as though begging to change his mind, but Shuichi knew he needed to eat...even if he didn’t feel like it was a good idea.

He couldn’t talk about the case, that was confidential and he wasn’t sure how much he should be able to share. Now that he...thought about it...Shuichi looked over at Takahashi who was calmly eating, not breaking the silence between them for any superficial reasons. “Takahashi-kun?”

“Hm?”

“Who...was Aki-chan to you?”

“Did Ouma-kun put you up to that question?” Takahashi teased as Shuichi raised his hands up defensively. “I’m kidding. He’s been bugging me about that too. I mostly ignore him, he blows up my phone and then probably comes crying to you about it.”

That must’ve been half of the time Kokichi only vaguely said that D.I.C.E was bullying him. Shuichi shook his head. “I was just...trying to figure something out.”

“She’s a good friend.” Takahashi said simply, “and like I told her...I’m not really looking for a relationship.”

“You told her that?”

“She confessed not too long before this happened,” Takahashi pursed his lips together. “I didn’t say anything to anyone about it because I didn’t want to look as though I had something to do with it. Before I realized it was a kidnapping, I legitimately thought she took my words to heart and decided to do what she wanted to do for graduation.”

“To...what?” Shuichi blinked.

“To see Japan for what it was worth without anyone to hold her back. Not that she thought you or her family were hindrances. I think she just….wanted to be someone that could be free for a little while. Not worry about the Saihara name...and all that comes with it.” Takahashi shrugged. “You know, just a couple of days ago, Ouma-kun asked me what I’d do if I found out Saihara-san lost her memory.”

“Ouma-kun doesn’t hold back his questions, does he?” That was...a little harsh.

“I didn’t mind it. He knew that I already lost someone to memory loss once, so…” Takahashi nonchalantly took another bite of his food. “I suppose this time I came prepared. I mean, Saihara-san is still a treasured friend. She’s been good to us, good to Ouma-kun. You both have been. To abandon her when she can’t remember us is...well...expected if we don’t adjust. My grammy lost her memory. It was...rough. My parents thought she was selfish for forgetting them, for forgetting me, but...at the end of the day I think maybe I was the selfish one instead.”

Shuichi could only tilt his head in confusion, waiting.

“I stopped thinking of her as grammy and started to learn about her as Mei.” Takahashi replied. “I learned that her favorite color was purple, and she liked having the blinds up because the sunlight hit just right and made her room look bright and cheerful. She liked porcelain tea sets more than cast iron because it’s prettier and more welcoming. Cast iron was more for businesses and for formal tea ceremonies.” He looked up at Shuichi, chopsticks hanging slightly from his fingers. “My grammy hated having the blinds up, she thought that’s where all the dust came from and didn’t help matters. Grammy was also very strict. She was the type that was always after me for my grades. She was kind of disappointed that I decided on this high school when I took my entrance exams.”

He wasn’t lying about anything that he was saying, but he also wasn’t in any sort of distress talking about it. It was though he was talking about the weather. Shuichi wondered if that meant he was good at hiding that his question bothered him, or if it meant that this was...something that happened a long time ago and was easy to talk about now.

“So in short, I would start from square one and build back up again. Maybe that means we’re friends. Maybe we’ll want nothing to do with each other. Maybe the pain will be too much for me this time, and I’ll have to say goodbye. Maybe she will.” Takahashi shrugged, going back to eating. “There’s really no telling how that’d go until it actually happens. But it’ll be harder for you, because of all the little things you two would have between each other. The inside jokes, what annoys her, the small things you guys used to do for fun. It all can be so drastically different and you’ll hate it. You’ll get frustrated. She’ll get frustrated. She’ll get upset. Just...start from square one. All of you started like that at one point in your life.”

“You make it sound easy.” Shuichi was a little...in awe of him. “When...did all of this happen?”

“Two years ago. It’ll be the third year come Christmas.” Takahashi replied simply. “It sucks my present was a dead grammy and a friend but...well...both Mei and grammy liked Christmas so...they had something in common at least. It wasn’t easy. Believe me, it sounds easy but it’s really hard. You want to compare and contrast. You want to dig and try to find just a little something that means she’s not completely gone or completely disappeared.” He looked at Shuichi. “Don’t. It’s not worth the torment. Again easier said than done, but...you’d thank yourself for it later.”

“Right...I am sorry for your loss.” Shuichi murmured.

“I’m not.” Takahashi smiled lightly. “Who ever said death was the ending to life anyway? It doesn’t make sense when you think about it.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure if he could share that sentiment, but he was grateful for the optimism all at the same time. He just wished that he could follow that advice, come whatever ending was to come.

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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years

Note

*GASP* ...79,72 for saiouma,,, sleeby koki

(Thank you for the prompt!!!!!! God, I’m not very good at crack, I don’t think myself as funny, so let’s see if this makes you laugh. @just-a-random-shipper-passing-by)

Sing Me A Lullaby

Rated: T Kokichi has a mouth tonight

Summary: Shuichi’s trying to finish an essay when Kokichi starts talking. What he requests isn’t something Shuichi’s in favor for.

Prompt Sentences:

Are you high? -I’m just so fucking tired

Tell me what I can do to help?- You could sing me to sleep.

“Do you ever think of what would happen if the bitchlet ever got together with the masked creep?” Kokichi asked as he stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know if I can handle that.”

Shuichi paused in his typing. The room was completely dark save for the desk lamp and the computer light that basked the room in soft yellows and bright blues. He could have sworn Kokichi had gone to bed already. Shuichi was trying to get the last of the essays for his college course done so he wouldn’t have to worry about it for the next three days. He spun around in his chair, waiting for Kokichi to continue with his thoughts. It wouldn’t be the first time Kokichi slept while talking.

“Like.” Kokichi continued, shifting on the bed and pushing the covers off him slightly. “Ran-chan would make a better pair with him. They’re both cryptids from the Mummy.”

“Kokichi…” Shuichi stared at him, should he try to wake him up or let him continue?

“Also that vine or TikTok or whatever that app thing was,” Kokichi continued, “still has me thinking. Where would you feel pain if the pain wasn’t in your leg? The legs are gone.”

“Kokichi…” Shuichi bit his lower lip, Kokichi wasn’t sleep-talking. This was way too coherent for that. Well, if anyone could call this coherent.

“I get phantom pain, but...wait a freaking moment. Wouldn’t you feel the pain in the thigh?!”

“I feel like that’s a Tsumiki-san question.” Shuichi watched as Kokichi suddenly had a light bulb and Shuichi had to move from the desk chair to grab Kokichi’s phone. “You are not texting her at-” he glanced at the phone. “Three in the morning?” He stared at the screen in disbelief.

“Oh my fucking god it’s three.” Kokichi groaned.

“Are you high?” Shuichi couldn’t help but to ask as he handed the phone back to him. “You’re hardly ever up this late.”

“It’s Shuichi-chan’s fault. I’m just wanting to go to bed and he’s up. I’m so fucking tired but I can’t sleep.” Kokichi whined as he looked at him.

The lights. Shuichi’s amused smile curved downwards. “I’m sorry. I thought the lights wouldn’t bother you-”

“It’s not the lights. Geez, Shuichi-chan, who's missing in my bed?”

“My bed.” Shuichi answered before blinking. “What do you mean who's missing? You’re in it!”

“Shuichi-chan...honey no. Are you high?” Kokichi stared up at him. “You gotta use that big brain of yours.”

“My big brain is currently trying to finish an essay and I’m alarmed that you’re still awake.” Shuichi answered as he placed the phone back where it belonged. Kokichi made a muffled noise that sounded like he was in pain of some sort. “Tell me what I can do to help? You’re going to be dead tomorrow and...it is my fault you’re awake. I should’ve studied in the living room, I didn’t think.”

“You’re still not thinking.” Kokichi stared up at him before glancing away. “You could sing to me.”

Shuichi blinked slowly. “I’m not a singer.”

“I hate liars, Shuichi-chan.”

“I’m not lying, I’m not a singer.”

“You’re so lying. You’re hurting my feelings.” Kokichi’s expression went blank, and he was starting to get a little upset. There was an edge to his voice Shuichi recognized when he was talking to Miu.

“What in gods name makes you think I can sing?” Shuichi surrendered. Maybe if he could dispel that, Kokichi would believe him.

“You sing in the shower.” Shuichi froze and his cheeks burned a bright red. Kokichi glanced over at him and his mouth dropped slightly. “No way. Shuichi-chan...I live here! I live here! I can hear you. The walls aren’t that thick! Why do you think I offer the gag-”

“Please stop talking!” Shuichi scrambled to cover Kokichi’s mouth, his heart throbbing in his ears as he covered his boyfriend’s mouth. He felt something wet up against his palms, and he knew what happened, but he kept them there for now. “Oh my god no wonder the neighbors look at us funny. I thought it was because of your clothes.”

“RUDE!” Kokichi snatched Shuichi’s wrists and yanked his hands off of his mouth. “That’s so rude!”

“Kokichi-”

“I look adorable Shuichi-chan. It’s not my fault no one here cares about fashion.”

“Wearing a panda onesie isn’t fashion.”

“It was cute.” Kokichi groaned. “But we’re getting off track. Your Supreme Leader has been up for…” He reached around blinding and grabbed Shuichi’s phone. He turned it on and stared at the screen. “A long fucking ass time and I’m tired as hell. Please for the love of god, end my misery somehow.”

“Dramatic?” Shuichi asked, his blushing only going down some. “I don’t...what do you even want me to sing?”

“What about that lullaby Chicane-chan mentioned to me?” Kokichi asked slyly. “You know the one.”

“That’s fine with me, but…” Shuichi shifted. “I’m really not a good singer, Kokichi-kun.”

“That’s for me to decide isn’t? Go turn off the lights, close the laptop and come here.” Kokichi waited patiently for Shuichi to do what he asked. When Shuichi approached the bed again, he grabbed onto what he could and forced him to come closer. “Lay down next to me like this and sing. I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. You have my vow.”

“Does it really mean much?”

“So mean.” Kokichi teased. “Now sing, peasant.”

#trickyfindings #prompt #dialogue prompt #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #oumasai #saiouma #lynne's self indulgence #that vine or tiktok still makes me think sometimes #so I had to mention it #the story of us #just-a-random-shipper-passing-by

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

Text

Vengeance Chapter 10

((Thank you so much @sinfulwonders for betaing this chapter for me. You’re always so kind. Also thank you all for the reblogs and for the likes. Just a heads up, not only is this chapter long, but it does contain two deaths that may be disturbing to you. Please be advised.))

Rating: M (Violence)

Previous Next

You can read this underneath the cut or at my A03

Shuichi knew that the tranquility wasn’t going to last, but he did his best to milk it anyway. He let Kokichi drag him out of the house, in clothes that would make anyone do a double-take. They hung at the ice cream parlor for a little bit, Kokichi smearing a bit of his ice cream on Shuichi's cheek when Shuichi sniped at him too much and didn’t let him get away with any of his lies. He let Kokichi sneak him into a movie theatre without paying, trying to ignore how his hands sweat with nerves and how his heart continued to pound and race even though he knew that there was little to no chance that they were going to be caught when the movie started. He let Kokichi drag him all over the city, trying to find an arcade that Trick wasn’t at so that they could have some fun.

Shuichi played Yu-Gi-Oh at home, and bartered with Kokichi to go up against him with Smash. Kokichi bantered with Koji, with Keiko, and tried to fill as much light and laughter in the living room as he possibly could. For the first time in a long time, Shuichi had forgotten about the case that he was working on.

It really didn’t surprise him when they were in his room, sitting on the floor, playing slap jack when his phone went off. It wasn’t just his phone either, Kokichi’s phone also went off at the same time. Both of them looked at each other and they both dived for their respective cellular devices. Shuichi half-expected it to be D.I.C.E. He thought that Shuffle might’ve already found a building to hop into, and was going to send the GPS coordinates with a “don’t be late”. He would’ve preferred it honestly to the Danganronpa email that was staring at his face. It’s Voting Time!!!!

Shuichi felt his stomach twist and the room spin uncomfortably. His throat squeezed tightly as he opened the email.

Pick a Death!

Falling?

Drowning?

It was...vague. Shuichi pursed his lips together as he read the question again. Both of them sounded painful, and neither of them sounded quick. Shuichi could imagine the fear and panic from both of the deaths. He knew from his time at the agency that both of those were common suicides. Most of the time those who decided to jump usually picked to jump into rivers, or off of buildings so that there was little to no chance of second-guesses or take backs. The worst suicides were those who decided that it was best to jump in front of a train. Plenty of people went into Aokiagahara Forest because it was quieter, secluded, and less people around to try to talk them out of it. Of course Shuichi knew there were people who constantly wandered the forest to see if they could offer their assistance, their shoulders and ears.

This didn’t sound like a suicide however. Shuichi was certain that the death was going to have to do with a murder of some sort. Falling would be the quickest, but the luring would be hard to do. That person would have to trust the other a lot, especially if they were being coaxed to the edge. Shuichi doubted anyone in that group could call themselves that close. Yuya might fall for it, because she was hyperactive and friendly. Shirogane might, just because she would want to fit in. If Aki wanted to exploit her friendship or if Kokai thought that he could kill Aki or Rantaro, he might be able to convince them to get close and personal with the edge of a building.

He was very certain that Oda would laugh in someone’s face if they tried. Everyone else was too paranoid and not willing to trust anyone with a ten foot pool.

That meant that the most likely way to die was to drown. Shuichi didn’t recall anyone mentioning a pool or a body of water that was nearby the school. The courtyard had a fountain, but...the water would be too shallow for a proper drowning. Shuichi pursed his lips together. It meant a stronger chance of survival. At the same time, Shuichi could easily be misjudging how deep the fountain was.

He didn’t want anyone to die. He didn’t want anyone to suffer. He looked over at Kokichi who was staring at his phone, his thumbnail being bitten between his teeth. His eyes were focused on the small screen, and his brows were furrowed. He was distressed and Shuichi worried for a moment that something happened at home. Kokichi’s parents rarely ever reached out to him in worry or in care. They pretended that he didn’t exist, and Kokichi...well...he tended to like the idea that he didn’t exist. It meant less problems for the three of them, even if Shuichi wished otherwise.

It didn’t mean that his parents didn’t surprise him. Sometimes, Shuichi knew that they’d reach out, only if they thought they could manipulate him to go back home for whatever reason. He sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. He looked back at the email, and his heart stuttered. How was he going to watch this when Kokcihi was with him? He couldn’t. He couldn’t risk Kokichi looking at it either. No it was best to vote and it was best to delete the email. It was best to pretend that the episode wasn’t happening…

He wasn’t sure he could watch it, knowing that it could be Aki’s murder that he was actively voting for. He wasn’t sure he could watch it thinking that Aki actively murdered someone. He doubted both of those routes, but they were in a killing game. The two day deadline was up.

Someone was dead and he knew it.

Someone was going to pay for it, and he knew that too.

“Shuichi-chan?” Shuichi jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up, trying to hide his phone away from Kokichi’s gaze. He knew that outed him as suspicious immediately. Kokcihi’s gaze flicked, Shuichi wondered what exactly crossed his mind, before a smile played at his lips. “You spaced out there for a minute, beloved~. Did something happen?”

Shuichi had his suspicions on Loki being Kokichi, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go down that rabbit hole yet. Especially since the voting was actively trying to goad people into picking someone’s demise. There was no right way to respond to the email. Someone was going to die in whatever the majority decided on, and as much as Shuichi loved and wanted to protect his cousin, he wasn’t sure he could vote for someone else’s death too.

Aki wouldn’t want him to. Shuichi knew that this could bite him in the ass later, but...Aki wouldn’t want him to vote. Not this. Motives? Probably a way to help. Murder? He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t find a reason. Danganronpa wanted him to be an accomplice. He wasn’t going to push someone into hell. He wasn’t going to do that to the victims or their families. With that firm resolve in mind, he gave Kokichi a slight smile. “Danganronpa.” He admitted. “It uh...it was a weird email.”

“I bet...you okay?” Kokcihi pursed his lips tightly. “What did they want?”

“Something I couldn’t give.” Shuichi wished that he had more confidence in his words. He knew that sounded shaky and false, even to him. “It’s okay. I just...it was...a lot.”

“Okay.” Kokichi murmured quietly. “Let’s forget about it for now then. Come on beloved!” He suddenly grabbed Shuichi’s arm and started to pull on him. “Let’s go annoy Keiko-chan in the kitchen.”

“She’s going to hit you with a spoon if you annoy her while she’s cooking, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi admonished as he let himself be tugged out of his room and out towards the kitchen.

“Then it’s all in good fun!”

Later that night, Shuichi woke up. Being a light sleeper that he was, he was used to being woken up at strange times in the middle of the night. Sometimes, Aki couldn’t sleep and suddenly would start playing music as softly as she could in her room. Sometimes, Kokichi would have nights where he tossed and turned and would accidentally kick him awake. Sometimes, Shuichi’s brain just decided to randomly go on high alert and remind him that he was alone in his room and that for whatever reason something was amiss. Shuichi glanced over to the side to see if it was the Kokichi situation when he registered that the boy wasn’t even in his bed.

He reached over to the side and felt the sheets. They were slightly warm, which meant that Kokichi had left and his side was starting to become cold. He must’ve been up for a while. Shuichi carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position and reached over to his bedside table to turn the lap on. The room immediately flicked into soft yellows and irritated Shuichi’s eyes and head as he rubbed the sleep away from the corners of his eyes. Kokichi wasn’t anywhere in his room. Did he think he would be too much of a disturbance and decided to go out into the living room?

Shuichi looked over at his desk and noticed that his laptop was missing. Shuffle mentioned last night that Kokichi would take his laptop and would drag it down to the living room and watch it. Feeling as though he was about to step in on some private mystery, Shuichi walked out of his room with his heart pounding in his ears. This could be his chance to figure out once and for all if Kokichi actually watched the show. He had his suspicions, he had some of the evidence to back up his claims, but nothing would be as concrete as this. He kept his footsteps light and attentive, making sure to keep his back against the walls and keeping note where the shadows are. It was easy to slink into detective tracking mode, even in his own home.

He could strain to hear the little things that the house hid when no one was paying attention. Keiko was asleep down the hall. The small creaks and groans the house made as it settled down into the earth. The small noises that were made outside, the humming of faraway traffic. He noticed that the living room light was on. The table side of it anyway, since the glow didn’t reach too far towards the hallways or the kitchen. Shuichi peered over the corner, and saw Kokichi on the ground cross legged, his laptop up.

There was an investigation that was happening. Shuichi’s eyebrows furrowed as he decided to let his presence be known. “Danganronpa?”

Kokichi jumped six feet in the air and he scrambled to find some way to save his face, despite that there was no way he could recover from the jumpscare. “Shuichi-chan!” He hissed, pulling his headphones off. Shuichi hadn’t noticed that they were missing or that Kokichi was wearing them. He was still a little shell-shocked that Kokichi was watching the show. “What are you doing?” He whispered. “Go back to sleep, beloved. I’ll-”

“You watch Danganronpa.” It wasn’t meant to sound like an accusation. He didn’t want Kokichi to look at him like that. His neutral expression was just breaking enough that there was a hint of fear that was in his eyes. He was thinking that this was going to be a showdown of some sort. Shuichi didn’t want a fight. He didn’t want a confrontation that didn’t mean anything. “I do too.”

“I know you do, beloved.” Kokichi sighed, his shoulders relaxing only a fraction. “I see you in the chat logs.” He looked at Shuichi and Shuichi could see the anxiousness. The fear. He was just as afraid of this game as Shuichi was. Yet he was watching it by his lonesome. Shuichi wondered if it was because Kokichi thought he needed the sleep, or if he was worried about the same thing he had been worried about previously. About whether or not Aki was the murderer or the victim. “Aki-chan’s still alive.” He paused the recording and stood up, taking the laptop with him. “We should move this into your room. We can talk there.”

Shuichi nodded and they headed back into his room. They got comfortable on his bed, Kokichi placing the laptop between them and tossing the headphones to the side. Shuichi gave him a small glare for it, those were his good noise-cancelling headphones but Kokichi wasn’t paying attention or caring. He quickly adjusted the volume so that it was comfortable before hitting play. “Should I go back to the beginning?” He asked, hovering his mouse over to the replay button.

Shuichi shook his head and Kokichi took his hands off of the computer, and instead found Shuichi’s under the covers. Rantaro was looking around the crime scene and Shuichi’s throat bobbed when he saw the body of the mangaka on the floor. A scalpel lodged deep into her throat. It looked like someone had tried to slit her throat, but either changed their mind last second, or didn’t realize there was a proper way to do it without getting the weapon caught.

“So Shinigami-san was wrong in thinking the chemist was the murderer.” Kokichi mused softly. “I don’t think this would be her thing.”

“Could be the doctor since I’m sure that’s one of his supplies.” Shuichi mused thoughtfully. “Oh they found the bottle of the chemicals used to knock someone out...or kill them.”

“I think it was a knockout. If it was a killing proportion, then why get stabbed in the neck?” Kokichi theorized as Rantaro started to badger his classmates about alibis and where they were. Shuichi noticed that Aki was looking around the room too, casually going over to Rantaro when she found something to help move the case along.

The scene of the crime was interesting too. It was in an abandoned classroom. If the mangaka was going to die somewhere, Shuichi would’ve thought that her lab would’ve been the prime spot. Someone wanted to have a chat. “Did they figure out the time of death or anything?”

“So far, we don’t know much.” Kokichi murmured. “Apparently this is something new they're trying out.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to some of the backlogs that I was reading before the recording showed up,” Kokichi gestured vaguely to the screen. “Monokuma used to tell the students the time of death, type of death, and little other factoids. This time, Monokuma is giving students free reign. I suppose it’s because they have a doctor on their talent team.”

“How do you feel about the talents?” Shuichi asked softly.

“Hmm...nothing really. It’s just a gimmick isn’t it? I bet that’s why Monokuma isn’t exactly being helpful. If the doctor does a botched up job, well...that means that everyone gets killed besides the blackened riiight?” Kokichi drawled softly. The violinist, Akamatsu if Shuichi remembered her name right, came back with Yadori and gave Rantaro a slip of paper that merely said the words midnight on it.

“So they were meeting up in the classroom.” Shuichi concluded. “To talk probably.”

“About what? Did someone know something? Kind of pointless to start having secret meetings now.” Kokichi scoffed a little. “Honestly some of these kids have no clue what they’re doing.”

“You don’t either, Kokichi-kun.” Shuichi winced a little as Kokichi gave him a mock offended look.

Bing. Bong. Bong. Bing sounded through the computer’s speakers and both of the boys’ shut their mouths as Monokuma appeared in the monitor, looking pleased as the cat that got the cream. “It’s now time for the class trial!” He sounded overly gleeful, like this was the best part of the game. The murder was just the cherry on top of it all. He directed the students towards the elevator, and Shuichi watched as fifteen students climbed into the cage like device and go down deep into the underground.

The trial room wasn’t like anything Shuichi had seen before, and he and Kokichi both had been in court rooms. The podiums were like witness stands, all in a circle facing each other so that there was no way to try to hide anyone’s expression or their actions. Everything was for everyone to see. There was one podium in particular that had Chatani’s death portrait, a large X painted in a bright red substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

The room itself was a little insane looking too. Black and white tile reflected a blue light that came from the ceiling, bouncing off of stained glass windows and mosaiced down to the ground. On a red and gold chair sat Monokuma and down in front of him like jury members waiting to hear the deceivsiness of the trial were the loudmouth Monokubs that Shuichi rarely paid attention to.

The rules were simple. Discuss until there was nothing left to discuss. Vote and pray that it was the right answer. If it was wrong, everyone but the blackened would die. Vote correctly and the blackened would die and everyone else would live.

“Usually in trials everyone’s on the witness stand has to say their name and their ultimate.” Aki suddenly spoke up. “And since we know that this is being recorded, we may want to do that just for it to be on the record.”

“Didn’t realize you were the Ultimate Lawyer, Mayumi-chan.” Oda teased.

Aki paused. “My name is Mayumi. I don’t have a last name. I’m the Ultimate Guitarist. I’ll also be bold enough to say that I’m pleading innocent too.”

Everyone in the trial froze. Kokichi let out a high pitched noise that sounded like he was trying to hold back a snicker or a laugh. Shuichi watched as everyone looked at each other, a little nervous. A little less thrilled with the idea that they might be recorded, that someone could actually use this in an actual trial.

“My name is Maeji Sena. I’m the Ultimate Cheerleader.” Shuichi remembered her credits being fun. Her background was usually a gym of some sort with a bunch of people in the stands. He knew about the cheerleader part though mostly because her yellow and blue pom poms that she carried with her gave her away. She was a nice looking girl too. With a side ponytail and a couple of the same colored ribbons. Her uniform supported the color theme. “I’ll also be bold and say that I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Wow. This trial is going to go by so fast.” Shimahara stated, looking completely bored out of his mind. The sparkles of his shirt caught the light of the stained glass, making it shimmer brilliantly. The looks that his classmates were giving him however, were enough to make him shrink. “Fine, fine. My name is Shimahara Yuji. Ultimate Dancer. Ultimate bored out of my fucking mind. I’m not a part of this. Can we move on?”

“Dick.” Yuya grumbled, flapping her sweater sleeves nervously around her body. “Heyo. I’m Yuya Chika and I burn things for fun!”

“Innocent.” Everyone said together at the same time.

“Yuya-chan can’t be a murderer because we’d have a burnt body instead.” Yadori giggled, though there was something off in her posture. Shuichi noticed that she was too tense for that to be genuine. The laugh also sounded shrill, like a panic. “Okay, okay. I’m Yadori Miki. I’m the Ultimate Figure Skater. I’m pleading not guilty.”

“Yeah maybe we should all just agree that we’re all going to say not guilty and maybe not do that.” Oda sighed, taking out a monocoin and flipped it. He watched it fall down to the ground and bent to pick it up. “So you all know me-”

“Pretend we don’t.” Aki cut through quickly.

Oda gave her a small look. “Okay I’ll humor you. Oda Touru. Ultimate Thief. I’ll steal anything so long as it benefits me somehow.”

“Annnd there’s our jackass.” Yuya happily gestured.

“Maybe not everyone’s not guilty after all.” Ajishi gritted her teeth. “Ah, right. Forgive me.” She cleared her throat and adjusted herself and her posture. Shuichi had to admire how quickly she threw on her persona. “My name is Ajishi Misa and I’m a chemist.”

“Ougai Eiji.” The doctor quietly murmured next to her. “I’m a doctor. We should try to remain objective while we’re on trial.”

“We’re not...always going to go around the circle introducing ourselves right?” A boy asked. He wore the same sort of uniform the thief did, but his had a bit more of a flair to it. It was fitted loose on him and Shuichi felt like all he was missing was the cape. “I’m only stalling, I'm sorry. My name is Nakaji Katsuji. I’m the Ultimate Actor.”

“Ultimate could be murderer got it.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Now, now.” Rantaro quickly held his hands up. “Let’s not get into a fight. We’re all in the same boat here. My name is Amami Rantaro. I’m the Ultimate Adventurer.” He looked over at Kokai. “Your turn.”

“I’m Kokai Seijo. I’m a falconer.” Kokai nervously adjusted his gloves. “I’m na a murderer eider.”

“So now it’s my turn right?!” Shirogane asked. “My name is Shirogane Tsumugi. My talent is being the Ultimate Cosplayer. I’m not surprised if no one remembers me.”

“You’re right. No idea who you are.” Shimahara deadpanned.

“Well you didn’t have to be so mean about it...but I get it.” Shirogane winced.

“Why didn’t anyone think to kill you off is a mystery.” A girl with blonde hair spoke up. Shuichi really did try to rack his brians, the familiarity of her just bothered him sometimes. “My name is Akamatsu Kazue. I’m the Ultimate Violinist. Let’s solve this mystery together.”

“Horrible catch phrase.” It was a teasing tone and a gentle smile that graced that sentence. The boy had on a heavy utility belt and it was full of different kinds of equipment. His hair was all over the place, and he looked to be in the same boat as Yuya when it came to burns. “So formally I’m Gonoji Yoshitaka, but you guys can call me Yoshi-kun. I don’t care.”

“That leaves me. I’m Kai Yako. I’m the Ultimate Singer.” Kai mused, shifting on his feet.

“Oh. Right I was supposed to say that I was the Ultimate Electrician. Sorry.” Yoshi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Now that we got that all squared away, and it’s on record.” Rantaro spoke up, “We should start by talking about the obvious.”

Ougai straightened his tie. “To slit someone’s throat effectively, you would go from ear to ear with the head tilted downwards to expose more veins. Tilting it up, you expose the knife to different obsticals and instead of making a fast clean death, you made the victim suffer and you fuck up the kill. You don’t look dramatic. You look like an amateur. We can rule out myself and Ajishi automatically for it if that’s the case.” Ougai paused. “Also there were some defensive wounds that were on Chatani-san’s body. Indicating that there was a struggle.”

“Okay so we’re dissing the culprit before we even start, cool.” Oda drawled. “But sorry doctor and chemistry teacher, but I think you two shouldn’t count yourselves out just yet. We know the murder weapon was a scapal. Therefore it was one of yours. I’m thinking the doctor did it. Anyone else?”

“What would the motive be? The flashback light?” Yuya tugged on her sleeves nervously, winging and flapping them around, nearly hitting her peers that were next to her. “I mean, we don’t even know if it’s real or not. Monokuma could’ve just said to throw all of us off.”

“Yes, but that does not mean that someone else would believe the lie.” Ajishi adjusted her goggles over her eyes. “Let’s hypothesize that someone’s motive is the flashback light. Let’s hypothesize that they believed that there was a memory in there that they wanted back.”

“If we’re accusing me first, I can easily say three things. One, I have an alibi. Two, if I’m going to murder someone why would I pick the most obvious weapon that can be pointed out to me? I know more ways to murder someone and get away with it than to do a botched job and leave my own work too behind. Three, I don’t care about the flashback light. I don’t care about my lost memory. If anyone should be worried about their memories, it’s Mayumi-san who doesn’t have a single thing to her name.” Ougai gestured over towards Aki, who was mindless chewing on her finger.

She froze like a deer in headlights, and bit at her nail a little harder, but otherwise stayed silent.

“Why woul’ she go af’er Chadani dough?” Kokai frowned, tugging on his gloves and keeping his gaze down. “We dun dalk da her much.”

“If she was going to go after anyone, it’d be Oda-kun you’re right.” Akamatsu said, as she held her pointer finger up in the air. She had another hand on her hip and she immediately turned the conversation. “So we need to start looking at people who are close to Chatani-chan and who would want to hurt her.”

“So basically all of us and none of all all at the same time.” Oda rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could. “Because none of us are really all that chummy with each other, violin.”

“She’s the weakest member here though, isn’t she?” Yadori asked as she was redoing her hair, trying to pull it back into a nicer looking bun. Her hands were trembling, Shuichi noticed. She wasn’t trying to meet anyone’s gaze. If anything, she was trying to distract, but why? Shuichi covered his mouth with his hand, gazing on Yadori as though she could hold all of the answers. Maybe he was wrong, but...she was acting not herself for certain.

“Where was she during the investigation?” Kokichi murmured and Shuichi felt his heart plummet down into his stomach, icing his veins in the cold realization that Yadori was a suspect. She had acted weird when Ajishi confronted her classmates about her missing things too. Too stiff. Too afraid. Oda was too calm, too certain. He didn’t care that he was an accomplice. Only the murderer was going to get punished. He could do whatever he wanted and help whoever he pleased.

It made Shuichi wonder if Oda had a bigger part to play than the “Ultimate Thief”.

“Wow.” Tsumugi drawled, looking insulted. “That’s just plain rude right there. Chatani-senpai’s a strong person. Both inside and out. You didn’t know this, but when Chatani-senpai writes any kind of manga, she does her research. From experimenting with eating disorders to actually going to the gym and working out to be as buff as she can as a female, and asking male bodybuilders to pose for her to practice the anatomy. She isn’t someone that’d just lay down and take a hit.”

“Eating disorders aren’t exactly what you’d consider strength here.” Shuichi muttered, mostly to himself. He heard Kokichi snort beside him and he felt his cheeks flush. He was used to being by himself while he watched the show. He forgot that sometimes he mumbled to himself to get the gears rolling in his mind. That being said though, Tsumugi had a bit of a point. Her determination and perseverance would be considered a strength. If she hadn’t died, she would’ve made it a lot longer than she had, that was for certain.

“Is anyone else disturbed that she actually goes that far for her writing or is that just me?” Oda asked, looking around at the trial circle.

“I mean, I’m a performer.” Nakajima said, picking against his tie as he undid it and was re-doing it. “I also have to determine what weight I have to be if I’m going to be an accurate representation of my character. I destroyed my body in many ways and I recovered it in many ways.”

“I’m not much but a singer, but even my appearance gets me a side-eye every now and then.” Kai rubbed his neck.

Maeji shifted in her stand, “I mean, I was once told to lose some weight if I wanted to be caught easier during the pyramids or any of the tosses, but I never took them into too much consideration. It was a...thought though I’ll...admit that.”

Shimahara just sighed, “Yeah. All of us have body issues. I did the same. It’s stupid. Can we press on now?”

“Dear god, please get therapy, all of you.” Oda’s complexation paled.

“One of us cannot, she’s dead.” Ajishi frowned at Oda. “And also please stop being so insensitive.”

“We’re getting off topic.” Rantaro quickly intervened. “We’re not getting anywhere if we get sidetracked. So we know that whoever killed Chatani-san didn’t know how to slit a throat. We know that they managed to get into Ougai-kun’s lab and get the weapon. We also found a bottle of the mixture Ajishi-san told us would make a knockout gas rather than a poisonous one.

“To be on the safe side,” Ougai commented, “My lab is never locked.”

Everyone stared at him. Rantaro folded his arms and gave him a small look. “You mean to tell me that anyone can go in and grab what they can from your lab?”

“My lab is a medical facility. For me to close it could be hazardous to anyone. I want there to be free reign in case someone gets hurt or needs something and I’m not awake to provide. That being said, I do normally keep my door unlocked too.” Ougai explained. “So that if someone does have a need for me, they can get me as fast as possible. I’m used to not sleeping a lot, so I’m easy to alert.”

“Do we know when Chatani-chan died?” Aki asked, her voice wavering as she tore another piece of skin from her nails. Shuichi watched in muted horror as blood dripped down between her fingertips.

Ougai also looked pained, “Please stop chewing your nails, Mayumi-san, you can’t play guitar like that. Also...I can only give an estimate. I’m no way a coroner. My theory is that Chatani-san met her demise around twelve ten or twelve thirty.”

“So a thirty minute chat.” Oda mused, “What would they be talking about that could take so long?”

“Girls are like gossips. They never shut up.” Shimahara shrugged.

“I knew Oda-kun was a dick, but you, sir, are an asshole.” Yuya frowned, putting her hands on her hips. “Maybe you two should go find a room after this is over and get some of that aggression out.”

“Fucking ex-”

“We’re getting sidetracked again!” Rantaro snapped. “Will you guys cut it out, this is serious. If we don’t figure it out, all of us are dead.”

“Is that really a bad thing though?” Yadori asked, looking apprehensive. “I mean…we’re forced to die anyway. Isn’t this...quicker?”

“Wow.” Yuya stared at Yadori. “You have no balls.”

Yadori spluttered.

“I’m kinda sad really. I thought we were friends.” Yuya pouted, kicking at the stand and placing her hands behind her back. Her eyes looking downcast and her expression clearly betrayed. “I thought that you liked hanging out with me.”

“O-of course I do! I just…”

“Would rather want us dead than alive is all.” Aki muttered. Her finger was bleeding profusely now and she was already going on to the next one.

Shuichi couldn’t remember a time where Aki actively bit her nails. She was always so careful to make sure that they were short, but...had that been to resist the temptation of biting them? He was going to have to figure out how to ask about that habit to his uncle and his aunt. He couldn’t imagine Danganronpa being able to implement new habits, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure what this game was capable of.

They stole everyone’s memory and forcibly removed Aki’s for everything including her name. He couldn’t imagine it just stopped there either.

“Da no’ said dat dey were gonna mee’ up a’ midnigh’.” Kokai broke the conversation, his voice a slow thoughtful drawl. “We know dat dey had da abli-lie da use da chemical da knock ou’ Chadani-san.” He pulled the gloves. “We know dat dey dun kno how da kill eider.”

“You know I don’t know if this would help but here’s my theory.” Ougai suddenly snapped his fingers. “The culprit and Chatani-san both agreed to meet up at the classroom at midnight. The culprit already knew that Chatani only had few friends and therefore wouldn’t be missed. They used the knockout chemical mixture to make the death painless as possible, only misjudged on how to properly slit a throat. The throat is slit and the dead is done.”

“So we’re thinking the chemical was used on Chatani-san. Okay so we’re thinking that this was a mercy killing.” Akamatsu mused, coming back some of her hair as she looked to the side. “God, my sister’s much better at figuring out mysteries like this. I just can’t come up with anyone that’d go out of their way to hurt her.”

“Alibis then.” Rantaro nodded, “We should get those cleared out so that we can figure out who we need to start looking at.”

“Hold on a second.” Oda broke the conversation, looking at Rantaro with a deep frown on his face. “Why aren’t we questioning Mayumi-chan?”

“What do you mean?” Rantaro deadpanned.

“She’s the one with the lost memory, right?” Oda gestured. “We know that the flashback light would be the motive. Why are we ruling her out?”

“I never said that she was ruled out.” Rantaro frowned at Oda, his arms tightly folded against his chest. “What I can determine though is that Mayumi-chan wouldn’t go after Chatani on the mere fact that neither of them are close.”

“We’re stuck in a killing game. Should closeness really be a reason here?” Yadori frowned.

“Then why hasn’t anyone gone after Kokai-kun? Shirogane-san? Mayumi-chan if she’s such an easy target.” Rantaro gestured. “It’s because they’re all connected to someone yeah? A little bit of a threat. Shirogane-san and Chatani-san were probably the only friends that actively hung out all the time.”

“I don’t recall anyone asking me to hang out as of late besides Amami-kun, Mayumi-chan, and Kokai-kun.” Shirogane nodded. “As plain as I am, I’m not surprised that I’d be ignored in the background, but it was nice to see that Chatani-senpai saw a fellow fan and was willing to let me pick her brain so to speak.”

Kokichi let out a suffering sigh, “They’re going around in circles.”

“Yadori-san isn't helping that fact and neither is Oda-kun.” Shuichi murmured, watching the trial dissolve back into disaster. “Amami-kun’s on the right track though. Killers aren’t likely to kill strangers. They’ll kill people they’re familiar with because it’s easier to figure out routine. Getting trust means it’s easy to get them to do what you want them to do.”

“What’s your big detective brain thinking then?” Kokichi asked and Shuichi could feel Kokichi’s gaze on him.

“I think that it’s weird that Oda-kun stole the chemicals. I think it’s weird that Yadori acted strangely in the breakfast hall.” Shuichi murmured. “I wonder...Chatani-san had the chemicals in her possession. She had it there that night when she met up with her killer. I bet it was a struggle and a fight to get both murder weapons away from each other. Chatani-san isn’t strong physically and was most likely overpowered. She was easy to knock out and kill after that.”

“Psychology says that memory and personality are one in the same. If the brain is tempered with in any direction, the personality can change with it.” Aki agreed, speaking around a bleeding middle finger. Shuichi and Kokichi both stared at the screen as everyone else looked over at her. She continued to chew as she spoke, her words muffled against skin and blood. “Closeness isn’t a factor, I agree with Yadori-chan. We can’t rule any one of us out. If we were out in the real world then yeah, it’d be weird for a stranger to go up and murder someone, but that’s not what’s happening here.” She took her finger out of her mouth, blood lingered on her lips as she looked at everyone. “So here’s my thought. I find it weird and strange that Chatani-chan’s body has defensive wounds. While I know some of us are performers and have skills in makeup, I think that we should all offer our own bodies to show whether or not we have the bruises or scratches. Of course, I can always out you now if you’d prefer.”

“What do you mean “out”?” Oda asked, folding his arms.

“We know that Chatani-chan wasn’t late for the meeting, she was right on time because the murder took place around twelve ten to twelve thirty. Without an actual coroner to say anything about it, we can only go by a guess or two. I’m sure Shirogane-san can confirm that Chatani-chan wouldn’t be late to any kind of meeting because mangaka’s are always under strict schedules. Right?”

“That is right!” Shirogane proclaimed, looking excited. “Mangaka authors are used to working towards extreme deadlines, very rarely do they miss. Therefore, the meeting went exactly as planned.”

“What does this have to do...with anything?” Kai asked, looking perplexed. He wasn’t the only one that was lost. Even Rantaro was giving her a mild look.

“Because if the murder was about the flashback light, we would’ve found it in either Chatani-chan’s lab or her room. Both were negative.” Aki explained, looking at Yako. “Which means that’s not the motive. But...if I recall from all the meetings we had. Chatani-chan would always mention that a murder could happen. In particular, the conversation about the chemicals.”

“Now that you mention it,” Rantaro placed his hands on his hips, looking peeved. “I do recall Oda-kun getting upset with you about calling him out for stealing it.”

“Now wait just a-”

Aki barreled on, ignoring Oda’s protests. “Who else acted weird during that conversation, Amami-kun?”

“Yadori-san.” Shuichi breathed just as Rantaro spoke the name. The figure skater was always antsy around the mangaka. Especially when Chatani would mention that there was a method of killing, or that the chemicals and the imbalance of them would be a waste to use. “That makes sense.”

“You and Aki-chan go like seven different hoops and I feel like I’m stuck on level one world one.” Kokichi pouted a little. “How did you get Yadori from all of that?! There’s literally no proof unless…”

“Kokai-kun probably has it. Either that or Aki-chan is hiding her own piece of evidence. This isn’t a real court. Not everyone is going to want to show things off. They’re going to want to put the killer to the back of the wall and force them to see the truth of their crimes.” Shuichi gripped Kokichi’s hand. “This isn’t a game of who's going to go to jail. This is whether or not they survive for the next several hours.”

“But I never really spoke to Chatani-chan so...why would it be me?” Yadori frowned. “How was I acting strange to get the suspicion?”

“Because every time Chatani-san mentioned the flashback light or the chemicals, you tensed up as though you were waiting for her to act on it.” Rantaro continued. “You also keep looking away from us. I mean all of us aren’t exactly thrilled at looking at each other in the eye and accusing each other of killing one of our classmates, but you also said something that threw all of us for a loop. You thought it was a good idea for all of us to suffer and die.”

“I...I was only thinking-”

“That’s some balls right there. Really big cajones.” Shimahara narrowed his eyes at Yadori, and Shuichi watched her cower. “Because if it was the other way around and someone else had said that would you agree?”

“I just…”

“So we weren’t friends.” Yuya sounded tearful. “You wanted us dead so that you could go and get the flashback light, is that what you were after?”

“Chika-chan no, please.” Yadori begged, looking at her friend, tears springing to the corner of her eyes. “That’s not true. None of what they’re saying is true. I have an alibi. I was asleep like everyone else, I promise. I promise. I didn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I was just trying to protect you. I swear.”

“So you did hurt someone.” Rantaro watched Yadori freeze on the stand. Horror started to carve itself around her face as she realized that she dug her own hole trying to assure Yuya that she wouldn’t go out of her way to hurt someone.

“You don’t get it.” Yadori whispered. “You don’t understand. You guys don’t…” She took a deep breath. “If you think you’re so clever, then come out and accuse me. You don’t have any proof. Everything you're saying is speculation. THIS IS BULLSHIT!” She suddenly screamed, gripping onto the stand like a lifeline. Shuichi felt himself back up a little away from the laptop, staring at her in surprise. The composure that she was was breaking at the seams. “I’D NEVER HURT CHATANI-CHAN. NEVER EVER. Yes I was worried about her being a murderer. Yes I went to check on her to make sure that never happened. BUT DIDN’T DO A DAMN THING TO HER! IF ANYONE SHOULD BE WORRIED, IT WOULD BE WHOEVER CHATANI-CHAN WAS GOING TO GO AFTER! SHE HAD THE BOTTLE OF THE MIXTURE IN HER POSSESSION!”

“But how do you know that?” Rantaro demanded, not daring to let Yadori escape his gaze. “None of us knew who had the chemicals in whose possession. You were there that night.”

“IF I WAS THERE THAT NIGHT THEN WOULDN’T MY CLOTHES BE BLOODIED?” Yadori shrieked. “HOW ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY GIVE ME SOME PROOF BEFORE YOU START COMING AFTER ME?!”

“Oh is that it?” Oda asked casually as he decided to fling a piece of fabric into the middle of the circle. Said fabric, Shuichi noticed, was one of Yadori’s leotards. The bright blue soaked in red. “Oops. My bad. I guess I should’ve been a little nicer and handed it over to everyone before this whole trial.”

“Where did you get that?” Yadori hissed. “You’re trying to set me up you-”

“I don’t like it when people try to toss me under buses. I don’t particularly care that you went off and killed Chatani-chan, but I thought it was cute you decided to try to assure us that you wouldn’t “hurt” anyone at the time very clearly admitting that you did. Also, I thought it’d be fun to watch you sweat a little. You almost got away too. Shame.” Oda taunted, looking completely smug. “Maybe next time I’ll team up with the investigator squad. They make things so much more interesting than you trying to act innocent.”

Shuichi watched Yadori’s expression break, and he knew there was no way for her to recover from this. Rantaro took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, “Here’s how this all went down.” Rantaro mused. “Yadori-san got concernend after the fifth or so time Chatani-san mentioned a murder happening or taking place or even hinting that a murder could have occured. She decided to ask Chatani-san to come meet her in the classroom at midnight. Yadori-san knew she might be dealing with an unstable individual so she snuck into Ougai-kun’s infirmary lab and stole a scalpel from his place. Considering that Ougai-kun does plenty of patrols around the campus, it wasn’t hard. She waited until midnight and at first tried to resolve things peacefully.”

Rantaro looked each of his classmates in the eye as he tried to sum up the case. “But Chatani-san was prepared too. She was paranoid that she might be the next victim or that someone would find her as an easy target. Using the chemicals that she asked Oda-kun to steal, and listened to Ajishi-san’s advice, she was going to knock out her supposed culprit and get help. Somehow someway, it became a struggle. Whether Chatai-san saw the scalpel or had an idea that Yadori-san might be her culprit, or that Yadori-san assumed the bottle and the cloth held the lethal amount of chemicals inside, we don’t know for sure and maybe won’t ever know.”

He folded his arms tightly as he stared right at Yadori. “But it became a struggle, didn’t it? You guys fought and you managed to get the cloth first. You could have left her there, and continued on, but no. You used the scalpel, and tried to slit her throat. Either you were too overzealous, or you really had no idea what to do. You ran off after the deed was done. You weren’t at breakfast this morning because you were trying to find a way to discard the bloodied clothes. However, while everyone was trying to find Chatani-san, Oda-kun came across your dumping grounds and decided to hold onto it for whatever reason. You joined up later and helped us find Chatani-san. All in all, the clues point to you, Yadori Miki, the Ultimate Figure Skater.”

“Was that….accurate?” Kokichi whispered breathlessly.

“More accurate than I can say.” Shuichi agreed. “Yadori-san was the murderer.”

“Jesus.”

“You were the murderer of Chatani Shinko, the Ulitmate Mangaka.” Rantaro concluded. “It was...you this entire time.”

“.....I thought she was going to kill me.” Yadori sobbed quietly, falling apart in the witness stand. “I didn’t know what to do, I panicked. I thought about getting help, but I was afraid to turn my back. What if she was faking. What if, what if…” She trailed off. “You guys wouldn’t get it. I have so much waiting for me at home. I...I was going to be in the Olympics. I was….I was going to be someone. Someone famous. Someone that no one could look down upon ever again! I worked so hard...I worked so hard…”

“Yadori-san…” Yuya whispered.

“I killed her. I stabbed her in the throat and then realized I could have slit it and I was trying to fix that mistake only it was too late.” Yadori whimpered, covering her eyes in shame, still sobbing. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Monokuma cackled from his stand. “Well now it’s voting time! Don’t go picking the wrong one now!”

Shuichi held his breath as he watched the votes get counted. He looked over at the chat log, seeing how many people were commenting about how they were kind of disappointed that Yadori didn’t make it through. Many of them were poking holes in the discussion that was happening, making fun of everyone for one mistake or another. Yet that wasn’t why most of the people in the chat were there. The trials were just like popcorn. A small snack to the bigger finale.

Monokuma hit a red button with a small hammer and everyone paused with a breath as an old fashioned 8-bit screen appeared. A small miniature Yadori standing in the middle of Monokuma’s path before being dragged off. The loading screen disappeared just as a metal grip attached itself to Yadori’s neck and physically hauled her onto a skating rink.

Everyone stared in shock as Yadori was in the middle of an ice rink. A spotlight flashed on top of her in a darkened room. At first it was peaceful. Yadori skated as fast as she could towards the exit door and yanked it open. At first she was greeted with a dark hallway that was still covered in ice. She was just about to move when she was suddenly shoved to the side and a bunch of monokuma bears appeared onto the rink, skating and recreating some of the twirls and catches.

She was about to try to skate through the herd of many Monokuma cubs, but she lost her footing and slipped onto the ice rink. Everyone watched in muted shock as she was being run over and sliced by ice skates. Her screams were muted, but if they were anything like the one she let out in the trial, Shuichi didn’t have to use his imagination. While the monokuma bears were busy tearing her body apart by thinking she was part of the ice rink, the camera momentarily disappeared and showed the real Monokuma at a thermostat, turning the heat up so that the ice rink would start to melt.

Soon enough the monokuma bears got bored and disappeared back into the hallway. She was left on the rink, bloodied and cut. She slowly got herself up on her knees, blood splattered onto the ice as she started to get up onto her feet. Her clothes were torn in a way that looked a bit fanservicey for Shucihi to be comfortable with. She was holding herself up as blood continued to spill down her body. She wobbled and tried to skate towards a different area, trying to keep towards the wall of the rink, a trail of blood following her wake. Whatever she was holding must have had an electrical current going through it, because she was zapped and was forced to let go.

Uncertain where to go, and thinking the other side might be safer, Yadori slowly started to skate her way painfully towards the otherside.

“Oh no.” Kokichi whispered.

She got to the middle of the rink. The ice was thin enough that it cracked ominously underneath her weight. She was in too much pain to try to skate faster and she fell into the water. Monokuma quickly turned the thermostat down…

All anyone could see was red blood going to the surface of the ice, and a small fist banging at the bottom of the ice for a while before sinking downwards.

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lynneshobbydomain · 5 years

Note

60 for Oumasai!🥰

(Oh my gosh, @sinfulwonders thank you so much for the prompt! I know which one you’re talking about so don’t worry! I thought it was funny to get the second ask right after this one XD. You’re doing so much for me so this is the very least I can do for you)

A Promise One Keeps

Rated: T (Kokichi’s fault I swear)

Summery: Kokichi wasn’t traditional. Shuichi was.

Prompt: Is it greedy to say that I never want you to leave my arms?

It was on the tip of Kokichi’s tongue, but for once in his life fear and uncertainty made him want to swallow his mouth. Shuichi hadn’t picked up on any clues or hints, and he was grateful for that really. He wasn’t trying to bounce around and make his beloved’s head spin, but he knew that Shuichi was the type to get easily flustered over the smallest of things. It didn’t bother Kokichi much that he was the one that had to ask the questions. To pester Shuichi to love him in Hope’s Peak, and to barge into his life completely by moving in when they were in college.

In return Shuichi stood by him through times Kokichi never thought was possible. D.I.C.E grew! It already had 10,000 members, of course, but he never thought he’d see the day when it would grow to 100,000 members! He told Shuichi that, completely stunned and trying to figure out where all of these people showed up. Of course, he was lying about one thing in that, but who knew where the lie was. Or was he lying about both? Shuichi himself took over his uncle’s agency. His uncle finally took that retirement like both boys had pestered him to do for ages, and now Shuichi was the one that was solving the cases and saving the world! Of course there were times it got a little bloody. It got a little sad. Kokichi made sure that his arms and shoulder were ready for those days, and he would plan for at least five days worth of fun. He’d shoot for five weeks, but Shuichi was a natural born workaholic and someone had to be a party pooper. Honestly.

It wasn’t just the work. Kokichi watched Shuichi bloom. He was still shy, flustered, easily to tease. He doubted that would ever change. Shuichi had confidence though. There were times when he would speak to a client and something would switch on and there was a mode. Kokichi couldn’t describe it. He sometimes showed it back in Hope’s Peak, but it was so little. So very little. Now, it just took a well timed jab and a playful smile to get the ball going and Shuichi would just…go into that mode. Kokichi tried not to abuse it too much. It was like a delicacy.

Now Kokichi was sitting on their bed, all of these thoughts going through his head as he fiddled with a ring box. He could go all out with a grand gesture. He could make Shuichi’s life miserable before presenting this. He could take him out on an adventure, on a date, on something, before all of this. But this was too important for all that. Kokichi knew when things were delicate. Asking Shuichi to be his beloved in Hope’s Peak wasn’t as important as this.

Kokichi didn’t do this kind of thing. Being with Shuichi was natural as breathing, but this was different. This…came with implications. Kokichi wasn’t traditional. Not in any sense of the means. Kokichi was as conventional as one could get. Marriage? Proposing? If he was going to do any of that, it would be direct, in your face, loud. Like he was. Like he did anything.

But this wasn’t about him this time. Kokichi took a breath in and swallowed, feeling his tongue thick against the back of his throat. He had this ring for months. He had been planning this out for days. He really should have done it yesterday, or the day before that or the day before that, but he kept faltering. Shuichi deserved this. He wanted to make sure it was right.

He even asked his uncle if this was okay. Of course he had been brash, dancing around the subject, and wearing the old man down, but he was caught. The man was a detective after all, he saw right through him. Gave him permission on the spot, which…in honesty Kokichi wasn’t sure if that was a testament to how crazy the Saiharas actually were, or how insanely patient they could get. He immediately got a instant invite to the nonexistent wedding that wasn’t happening because someone couldn’t get their mouth to fucking work.

He heard the door open from the bedroom and he closed the ring box, taking a deep breath and he slipped it into his pocket. It was now or never and he knew it. He quickly got out from the bedroom and saw Shuichi taking off his shoes in the foyer. “I missed you!”

Shuichi barely had time to look up before he was tackled into a hug by a hyperactive Kokichi. He hugged him back and he let out a groan, “When do you think I’ll not fall for that?”

“Never ever.” Kokichi pulled away to rub noses with him and then jumped back on to the higher ground. “Hard day?” He noticed the redness in Shuichi’s eyes. Whether it was from a crying fest that he had in the bathroom or if it was from rubbing them raw out of sleeplessness, Kokichi didn’t know.

“Ah. No. Today was a pretty good day. It’s just from lack of sleep.” Shuichi promised.

“Then do I have a cure for you!” Kokichi pronounced suddenly. He grabbed Shuichi’s arm and dragged him further into the living room and gently pushed him into the couch and crawled on top of him. “The best cure for not getting any sleep, Shu-chan, is to get some sleep.”

“I would if I didn’t have something hard poking me.”

Kokichi blinked and he glanced up at him. “Well I’d never. Who-”

“I was talking about your pocket! I know what I said, and it came out wrong and I just-” Shuichi stammered and Kokichi felt his blood drain from his face.

That fucking ring box.

He had been so concerned about Shuichi, he completely forgot he put it back in his pocket.

Kokichi could recover from this. He hoped that his expression stayed playful. He hoped that Shuichi didn’t see any cracks or anything on his face. “Is it greedy of me to say that I never want you to leave my arms?” He asked as he took the ring box out and held it out to Shuichi.

“Kokichi.” Shuichi’s curious smile turned into a shocked expression. Golden eyes wide as he stared at the ring box that Kokichi had in his hands. “No. It’s not greedy at all.” He said after a moment. “Kokichi you could’ve just asked me directly.”

“What?” Kokichi blinked.

“To marry you. That’s what this is, right? You’re asking me to marry you.” Shuichi pressed, and Kokichi felt as though he was being pushed back against the wall. How Shuichi was able to do that when he was happily sprawled out against the couch, Kokichi didn’t know. “You could be direct. Like…you normally are.”

“Shuichi is a traditionalist.” Kokichi felt as though he was speaking far away. He could have gone and done something grand? “I didn’t think you’d appreciate me asking you in front of our friends or…”

Publicly.

“We-well no I wouldn’t like that.” Shuichi reached and pulled Kokichi close towards him. “This is…this is perfect. It’s just that it’s a really old tradition, Kokichi. My uncle proposed to his wife like that.”

“Your aunt is a saint because I don’t think I would’ve understood if someone was proposing to me like that.”

“To be…honest I was thinking of doing that.” Shuichi admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and Kokichi stared at him. “I didn’t get a ring or anything, but I was going to ask…anyway. I didn’t know if that was…something you would want. The ring I mean.”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I want a ring?”

“Kokichi last time we talked about whether or not we’d get married and how we’d do it you mentioned everything from handcuffs to collars. What was I supposed to think?” Shuichi gave his boyfriend, no…Shuichi gave his fiance a look.

“How vague of a question were you going to give me?” Kokichi asked.

“I was honestly just going to ask you if you wanted to marry me.”

Kokichi stared at him for a moment. “You mean to tell me that I went through all those freaking romance movies-”

“Oh so that’s why we were on a romance kick.”

“-trying to find a romantic way of asking you to marry me only for you to be like “yeah this is fine”?!”

“Yes?” Shuichi bit his lower lip, clearly amused. A long time ago, he would’ve been flustered. A long time ago, he would’ve apologized endlessly for messing up somehow. Kokichi was grateful he could take a joke and see a lie when he saw it, and instead of just calling it out, play along.

“But it’s still a yes?” Kokichi asked timidly.

“Kokichi I would be stupid to say no to you.”

“That is true.” Kokichi beamed. “That is completely a hundred percent true. Wow, my Shumai is so smart.”

“Okay, but you still haven’t given me the ring yet.”

“Oh. Right yeah that part. You could put it on yourself you know, but that’s a lie because I want to do it for you. You belong to me, Shumai.”

“Yes.” Shuichi laughed as he held his hand out for Kokichi to slide the ring on his finger. It felt so strange to see it there, and to know that it was only a matter of time before it was more permanent than this. He immediately fell on top of his boyfriend, no his fiance, and kissed him.

Shuichi, as always, followed his lead.

#tricky findings #prompt #fic prompt #writing prompt #danganronpa #danganronpa fanfic #lynne's self indulgence #oumasai #saiouma #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #danganronpa v3 #proposal #I hope you enjoy this #I had fun writing it #sinfulwonders #trickyfindings

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lynneshobbydomain · 4 years

Text

Vengeance Chapter Six

(Thank you all so much for the likes and reblogs! Also thank you so much @sinfulwonders for beta-reading my chapter, also for telling me about the tagging system. Jesus I didn’t know that was a thing. Also, I’m changing the rating on all of my chapters from NSFW to mature as there is really nothing Explicit in my chapters thus far and probably won’t be. I maintain my position that ratings can change depending on what happens and as new information appears (like the tagging, jesus I still can’t believe no one told me. It used to be it was either sfw or nsfw and there was no in between...You’re so wonderful to me <3. Early update once again, but who knows why >:D)

Rated: Mature (language, murder, descriptions of violence, sexual language)

Summary: Amateur Detective Shuichi Saihara knew that searching for the “Usual 16” wasn’t going to get him anywhere. The disappearances weren’t being tracked in any news outlet, and very few families even tried to come forward to ask for help, let alone to report them missing. Yet, Shuichi can’t shake off the feeling that there’s a reason behind the disappearances, and he’s close to the answer.He just didn’t realize that the answer was going to hit close to home, in more ways than one.

Previous Next

You can read this below the cut or at AO3

The house no longer felt the same. The missing sounds of the guitar were still too much and the scattered conversation between him, his aunt, and his uncle all felt forced and unnatural. Shuichi remembered how he interviewed the families who were missing and how they always said the house felt strange without them. Like there was a piece missing. It wasn’t the absence of routine. It was a literal piece and Shuichi wished that he never knew what it felt like.

It was raw. It was a constant reminder that she wasn’t there. It wasn’t just the missing guitar, it was the fact that his aunt was at the stove. It was his uncle that was at the living room table with files scattered and a furrowed brow. It was the strained silence that held too many words that Shuichi knew needed to be said, but no one was daring to say them. It was a loss. Calling it a heavy cloud of grief and of worry didn’t even make sense. It was more like a ghost. Every phone call was a jolt, a prayer, a hope. It was a spark that was easily extinguished and left a sour taste in the back of his mouth.

Shuichi pulled his hat over his eyes, and glanced down at the ground on the train. He didn’t want anyone to take a look at him and pester him for answers he didn’t have. Class was the same way, the same averted gaze. The teacher drowned on and on and he couldn’t grasp what was being talked about. The day both moved like molasses and moved at supersonic speed and he wasn’t sure which one he preferred. He just wanted the world to stop. He wanted to figure out this case.

On spur of the moment he decided to ditch the rest of his classes. They weren’t doing him much good mentally, and he wasn’t focusing. It was better for him to leave before someone figured him out, and asked him to go see someone. It wasn’t that he disregarded those who worked in the mental health field, it was just he had bigger fish to fry. He was going to have to figure out a way to get a new phone so that he could keep in contact with D.I.C.E and everyone else. Aki wasn’t going to be able to get a hold of him, but he sure hoped that she wouldn’t think he was kidnapped if she heard the wrong voice at the end of the phone.

Getting home was a surprise in itself. He didn’t remember getting on a train, but he remembered being around crowds of people. He didn’t remember turning at the corner like he usually did, but he did remember to stop at the park bench and wait a moment to see if someone was going to run and catch up to him. He also forgot that his aunt was home, and that he outed himself that he had skipped.

Soft padding of feet alerted Shuichi to look up to see that his aunt was standing at the foyer, hands on her hips. Her lips were pursed but it was easy to see that it was out of worry, not out of shame. The word “plain” echoed in his mind the last time his father spoke about his aunt. She wasn’t exotic with the different hair colors like himself or his uncle. Black straight hair, almond eyes that could pierce through any one’s soul. Much like she was doing to him now. Despite being home, she wore a professional button up blouse that was a wine red and black dress slacks.

Instead of arguing or telling him that he should go back, she stepped down into his space and hugged him tightly. Shuichi froze at first, feeling everything in him tense up and his skin prickled at the feeling. He could smell the soft scent of her perfume that she constantly wore to work. He brought his arms up and sank into her embrace, hugging her back.

“We’ll get through this.” Keiko spoke. Shuichi didn’t realize how similar his cousin and his aunt spoke. The same lit to their words, the same gentle tone. She pulled him away and she gently moved his cap so she could brush some of his hair out of his face. Her eyes were watery, red rimmed. She had been crying recently, and probably all day while he was at school. “Koji went to the station. See if he could find anything. You might’ve provided a lead with those emails.”

False hope wasn’t like his aunt, but they were grasping at anything really. Shuichi couldn’t blame her for that. For wanting to find some sort of hope. For finding some sort of peace. It was torture not knowing what was happening. Shuichi pulled his shoes off and decided to go back into his room.

The only way to know anything, Shuichi sat at his desk and pulled the laptop close, was to dive in. He braced himself for the worse, and he also braced himself for a spam email that’ll give his computer a thousand viruses. God he could imagine how hard Kokichi would laugh at that. Solo probably would have tried to contact him on his phone to warn him. Considering he requinished it to his uncle for evidence, he wouldn’t have gotten the message and Kokichi wasn’t ditching class. Or if he was, he probably was checking in on Deuce and Trick.

Keeping a mental tab open that he was going to have to visit too, he logged into his email account and froze when he saw a third letter from Danganronpa. The subject line made his blood freeze and his stomach feel hollow. It’s Voting Time.

The letter simply asked one question: What would the first round’s motive be? The answers that Shuichi were greeted with were appalling at best.

Fight For Your Loved Ones

Memories You Think You Forgot

Reasons To Live

“What the hell.” Shuichi whispered softly to himself, staring at the choices. He still didn’t know what the hell the motive was supposed to be for. He had meant to go into the link, to see what he was missing. Instead he was greeted with this and his heart rate accelerated. He could hear it throbbing in his ears and his stomach only buckled under the pressure of anxiety. He felt nauseous. It didn’t help that there was a time limit. He had until six in the evening to decide what it was.

Were these motives supposed to be reasons to escape? He would have thought that the “escape” would be reason enough. Using that as his own motivation, he clicked out of the email and he went into the second one with the invitation link. He clicked on it and pursed his lips together as his screen suddenly went black.

Well. That answered that question didn’t it? He was about to close his laptop and see about talking to Takahashi to fix it when an emblem of a crest appeared. The rest looked like a high school’s crest that was vaguely familiar to Shuichi. It had a checkered background of black and white. There was a pen going diagonally to the left and a jagged red gash that went the other direction. The crest was crowned like royalty and on either side was adorned with angel wings.

Shuichi could suspect that the crest was mocking someone or something. There was just...a bad feeling that etched into his psyche and told him to stay on guard. The screen disappeared turning back to black when it reappeared.

There was a chat log on the right hand side of the computer that was already taking off. Shuichi noted that there were a lot of banned comments that took up most of it. There were only three rules that were being stated. No pleading, no complaining, and no online bets.

Shuichi blinked slowly at the chat log before he turned his attention to the screen. The location looked to be like a dinning hall. There was a long table that had exactly sixteen seats and a kitchen in the nearby background. There were no windows, but the light overhead was bright enough to mock sunlight. There was also overgrowth that was happening in the corners of the room. Were they in a place that was abandoned? Inside the dining hall, there was a green haired boy that was talking to another boy. His brows furrowed, he could’ve sworn he saw that green-haired kid somewhere. When the camera moved to a different angle, the lightbulb appeared.

“Amami-kun?” Shuichi spoke softly. “But we thought you were in Japan…” He trailed off. They had been right in thinking that he was in Japan. But now it made sense why they couldn’t find him. He was also one of the Usual 16.

Same with that boy that he was talking to. He wore a black and blue flannel shirt and torn up jeans that had grass stains at the knees and mud at the hems. His boots were covered in it, meaning that he walked around hiking trails and forested areas quite a lot. His hair was an untamed mess that was a result of all the trees branches trying to snatch at him. Shuichi also noted that he wore brown heavy duty gloves. The kind that bird trainers would wear at the zoo.

“-Don’t think anything has happened yet.” Rantaro spoke. He had a tone to his voice that was soft and unassuming. A casual dialect. “So I don’t think we have to worry much about Monokuma's planning, Kokai-kun.”

Monokuma? Shuichi blinked slowly. He glanced at the chat log to see if anyone was going to answer that question, but all he saw were mockery and laughter. These were people who’ve probably seen more than their fair share of this kind of game if they knew what to expect.

“I jus’ don’ like the fac’ dat we’re all here and dat we dunno wha’s goin’ on.” The heavy accent made Shuichi’s head spin. He was really going to have to listen hard to understand what he was trying to say. “Dat bear ding really makes me a nervous willy. ‘Elling us dat dis is a killin’ game.”

Shuichi felt himself lurch backwards, his hands gripped in front of his desk. A killing game? Then that meant that the class trials were to figure out something. Was this supposed to be a game of real life murder mystery solving?! Then that would explain why no one was connected to each other. Why put family members in the same room when all they would do was try to find ways to save each other, or kill for each other?! Shuichi brought himself back into the conversation.

“Yeah that was a bit weird and unsettling.” Rantaro agreed. “For now our main focus is to figure out a way out of here. I know that we already split into groups, but do you wanna come with? You don’t have to if you’d rather stay out of it. I get it.”

“Nah, I’ll come.” Kokai agreed, tugging on his gloves nervously. “I dunno how much help I’ll be, bu’ if I can see or do somethin’ I dun mind.”

“Thanks partner. I’ll be relying on you.”

The blush on Kokai’s cheeks was flaming red and Shuichi glanced at the chat log again to see that more comments were going off.

The camera changed to another group. Two girls were in a grassy hallway with springtime flowers that were blossoming. The windows had the sun shining through the glass, pouring onto the ground and lighting up the area with its rays. One was wearing a sparkling leotard that caught the light and shimmered everytime she moved. Her blond hair was tied in a tight knot on the top of her head. She had an athletic build and she stood in a way that told Shuichi that she was used to being in a poised position. Either she was a ballerina, a dancer, or something else entirely.

Her accomplice was a messy looking character. Her ends of her hair were singed and she had a black streak that went across her cheek past the bridge of her nose. She had a lot of black marks on her clothes, and a lot of burn holes too. Her socks were over stretched and hung at her calves and she also had a plaid red black skirt. Her shirt had floppy long sleeves that were torn and burned as well. She had bandages wrapped around her fingers and hands, and she was twirling a lighter in between her fingers. Shuichi blinked slowly. If he didn’t know all of the members of D.I.C.E he wouldn’t have been surprised to find out she was one.

“That bear gives me the creeps.” The girl with the lighter spoke. “But you gotta admit he’s a cutie too. Do you think if we light ‘em up he’ll let us go?”

“I don’t think that’s how that works, Yuya-chan.” Yuya. Shuichi quickly grabbed his notebook from the side. He quickly jolted the name down. He just needed to see if anyone was going to be on a first name basis. “So um…” She shifted nervously. “Can I ask you something?”

“Do you wanna ask me how many buildings I’ve burned down?” Yuya stopped twirling the lighter and suddenly flicked it, scaring the other girl into jumping back a few feet away. “Nyahahaha! Sorry!” She extinguished the flame. “What was the question?”

“Why do you burn down buildings?”

“Would it surprise you if I told you I never did?” Yuya blinked at her as she twirled the lighter. “I think the only reason I got Ultimate Arsonist is because I set fire to my house once. By accident thank you.”

“H-how on earth?”

“Curious to know the same.”

The girls screamed and Rantaro and Kokai approached. “Sorry.” He waved casually. “Didn’t mean to scare you girls into a fright. You okay?”

“Amami-kun you’re like a ghost you know that?” Yuya pouted. “So you wanna know the story too huh? What about bird boy over there?”

Ultimates? Arsonist? Shuichi was starting to wonder if he could keep up with all of the information that was being poured out to him. What was an Ultimate? What did it mean in the context of the game? He didn’t hear about any house burnings in his area but...if they were all taken from different prefectures….then there had to have been a house burning recently that caught everyone’s attention. He was going to have to look that up later. If he could get a better name than just “Yuya”. Depending on where she lived, there could be plenty of them running around or just a few.

“Okay well since you’re soooo insistent. I guess I’ll spill. It was a cooking accident.” Yuya sighed as she folded her arms around her waist. “And just so happened that it was near something electrical and kaboom!”

“Sounds scary.” Rantaro had the same expression as the girl and the other boy that was next to him. Shuichi also couldn’t hide his own surprise. That was terrible luck. “Glad to see that you’re okay.”

“I got some major burns for it, but I’m walking!” She pounded at her chest. “Nothing gets me down. What about you Amami-kun? Since we’re being all chummy. How did you get your Ultimate title?”

“Haha.” Rantaro rubbed the back of his neck. “I suppose it’s because I often travel.”

“But you’re not the Ultimate Tourist.” Yuya pointed out. “You’re the Ultimate Adventurer. So there’s a story there.”

“Maybe.” Rantaro shook his head. “Personally I don’t really see it as a story. You know. Going off into the wilderness.”

“Oh that kind of adventurer.” Yuya pouted. “And here I thought you’d be looking for something. Like treasure.”

“Haha. Maybe I am and I just haven’t stumbled upon it yet.”

“Sounds like you Amami-kun. We already know why bird-boy’s bird boy-”

“Shuddup.” Kokai frowned.

Ultimate Adventurer. That fit with the fact that he was trying to go around the world and find his family. Shuichi paused in that thought process as the hand that cupped around his mouth slowly fell in realization. Ultimates weren’t “Ultimates”. That was just a fancy title. No, what connected these people together wasn’t how close they were. It was the accomplishments.

Every single person in that room, in that game that was being played out before Shuichi’s eyes, accomplished something. Which meant that they were in newspapers or they were in some sort of local event that gathered. They somehow caught Danganronpa’s attention. He just had to figure out where that point of interest was.

He looked at the chat log to see that some of them were annoyed with Yuya. Some thought she was cute. Some were commenting on Rantaro and whether or not he would last in the game. Some thought he was cute. Some thought he was bland. There were also comments about the girl too. Shuichi barely caught the word Maeji before he scrambled to write that down. He would have to wait and see how the game progressed to get her “ultimate” and see if he couldn’t find her.

Shuichi couldn’t deny that the fire and the description of it helped narrow down his results. He couldn’t open anything in a new browser since the game took up the computer screen, but he could wait until it was over, or at least until he decided to log off. He noted that there was a timer on the side of the chat log. He carefully wiggled his mouse and dragged the pointer over to it to see that it was the amount of time left before the voting polls were closed. He still had time.

He chanced a look at the chat logs, just to see if there were more banned comments. Instead his eyes were greeted to a simple conversation, but one that held meaning.

[ Loki: Maan so lame. How long are we gonna have to listen to them chat about how to get out of the stupid building? ]

[ Shinigami: This is the first episode of sorts, Loki. We’re still trying to get to know who the players are and who we want to show our support to. Hence why there’s such a long time for us to vote. They want us to feel something for these people. They’re going to allow them the luxury of feeling safe for now. The real game begins with the votes are cast. ]

[ Loki: Ugh you’d think they’d be able to do it without us. ]

[ Shinigami: The audience did request more of a presence. ]

Which was why the emails were sent. Which was why the timer was a constant reminder that they had to decide everyone’s fate. He watched the group split apart again after a chat and wander away. He knew that paying attention to every little detail, every little piece of the conversation could lead to something bigger, but he was also filled with worry, with dread.

Right now, it appeared their motive was simple. They were trying to escape or trying to find a way to get out. Shuichi could understand why they had to split up. The area that they chose to use for the game looked pretty big. They would need all hands on deck if they wanted to figure out a way out. If there was a way out. Shuichi wasn’t sure about that. Chances were it was a one-way ticket. There was no traditional way of getting out of there.

He was right when the camera took them outside. The dome shape barrier was enough to tell him that these people who were behind the game were smart. Dreadfully clever. They thought things through, they had to. They had 52 seasons to mess up. How many made it out alive? How many all died before they could reach the entrance? Shuichi pursed his lips together as he tugged his hat down slightly.

The camera focused in the courtyard by the fountain. There were two people that were wearing white lab coats. One wore the safety goggles and had different colors splattered all over her coat. She had her cotton candy colored hair tied in a ponytail and she kept a navy mask over her mouth too. Her features were...obscured heavily. The other one who wore a white lab coat wore a suit underneath. His tie was fixated at his neck and he had a couple of pens in his pocket. He carried a clipboard and his hair was slicked back since he couldn’t very well tie it.

They looked much older than the other classmates, but at the same time Shuichi wondered how much of this was due to what they were wearing. Now that he was thinking about it, it was a bit odd for them to be wearing such clothing. He doubted those were the clothes they were stolen in. If anything, Shuichi was starting to get the idea that this was a horrible game of “dress up the part”.

They were being mocked for their talents and they didn’t have a clue.

Shuichi was also starting to get the sense that the camera favored following around one particular student, but he couldn’t tell if it was the boy with the accent or Rantaro. The camera zoomed in on the conversation just as Rantaro and Kokai appeared to them. “Yo.” Rantaro greeted as he approached. “Did you two find anything?”

“So far our research fails us.” The woman spoke as she adjusted her goggles. “We had a hypothesis that said that the entrance could be outside somewhere rather than indoors, but we can’t seem to figure out where it could be. We supposed that it could be a manhole, but looking at it...we verified that it wasn’t the case. Our reasoning is that the manhole would be too...obvious.”

“Obvious in the sense that the mastermind or whoever thought of this game would think that we’d have the same idea.” The man spoke. “Ajshi-san thought so too, but we can’t come up with any other leads.”

“I also had a hypothesis that maybe someone might know more. I attempted to talk to one of the Monokubs, but they accused me of attempting to cheat.” Ajishi frowned, as she tugged up on her gloves. “I guess that proves my hypothesis correct even though I can’t exactly prove anything. Attempted repeats will probably get me killed. Ougai-san also convinced me not to go further in my research. I’m inclined to agree. I’m not good with people. I’m good with chemicals.”

“And depending on how bad things can get, if we have someone here that can at least help make medicine using my knowledge, it’ll be half the battle.” Ougai nodded sagely. “We’re too important to just risk.”

“I get that.” Rantaro replied. “So not the man hole then. Sucks. Would’ve thought that would be our way out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Any other ideas?”

“None that I can think of so far. But we’re attempting to come up with an idea. Our thoughts were to use Yuya-san’s ability to the maximum. However, we’re unsure what would be good to break this dome. I have never seen anything like it. It’s thick to the touch.” Ajishi rolled her shoulder as she spoke. “I’ll have to see if Yuya-san has even worked with something like this before, and if she knows a way to make it explode. It could be our only way out.”

“That is if it doesn’t count as school property.” Ougai spoke just as a black and white bear appeared on the screen.

It was one of the most hideous creatures Shuichi had ever seen. The white side looked like a normal stuffed bear. The black side on the other hand had a red gash for an eye that looked vastly similar to the emblem that had been on the screen not too long ago. “What do you mean it’s not a part of school property?!” He yelled, in a very over the top high pitched tone. “If it’s on school grounds, it’s school property.” He changed tune quickly into a nervous wreck. “You youngsters and your rebellion phrases. I thought you would get over yourselves. I told ya, you ain’t leavin! That’s just a pipe dream! You know how to get out!”

“Murder isn’t our forte. We don’t have a killer among us.” Aijshi spoke up sternly. “You caught people who are pacifists in nature.”

“What do you know about being a pacifist?” The bear asked, suddenly curious. Shuichi was starting to get whiplash on how all over the place this animal was. What even was this creature? This couldn’t be real. That had to be the made up part about this show. “Anyone here has a potential of killing. But what do I know? I’m just a lonely stupid bear.”

“Besides escaping, what other reasons could we have to murder?” Rantaro spoke up, his voice just as firm as Ajishi’s. His arms were folded tight against his chest as he stared down at the bear, unphased by the creature’s looks or his wording. “There’s nothing.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?” The bear suddenly sing-songed. “But I’ll tell you one thing. Ya ain’t leaving by trying to explode those things. We knew that grabbing an arsonist was going to make us look bad.”

“Whose we?” Ougai suddenly spoke up with interest.

“Uh oh.” Just like that he disappeared.

“Wait just a moment!” Ajishi shouted before slumping, her goggles slipping half-way down her face. “He ran away again. Just as he was about to let something important slip.”

“Dun’ ya dink it’s weird dough?” Kokai suddenly spoke up. “Dey planned for an arsonist.”

“Yes, I thought the phrasing was strange myself.” Ajishi suddenly perked back up, adjusting her goggles back onto her face. “Which means they prepared that there would be a chemist and a doctor among you as well. We should tread carefully. That animated bear may be on to something. Anyone has the capability of murder, that is correct. There is not a single person among us who is a detective.”

Shuichi’s heart lurched in his chest. Did that mean that she wasn’t in this game? At the same time, he had to stamp down that hope. He already knew that everyone had a talent that meant they accomplished something. Aki never did anything with detective work, so there was no way that would be her accomplishment.

It meant that he knew now what kind of motive that bear was looking for too. That motive vote was to either persuade people to kill or to persuade people to keep stalling the game. Shuichi cupped his mouth with his hand as he moved his mouse and clicked on the timer and saw that the vote was also embedded into the website. They must have come to the thought that not everyone was going to vote first or be able to escape out of the computer screen.

If Aki was going to commit a murder, Shuichi knew that she’d do it if she thought he was in danger. Which meant that he had to be very careful about what his choice was. Loved ones were out. He couldn’t afford to be the reason. He didn’t know if Aki suffered from depression like he did. She didn’t show that to him. He had no choice, Aki had developed a sixth sense of when he was down and unable to get out of bed. She would’ve caught him this morning looking like a wreck.

It would be amusing if it didn’t make his heart ache. That left with one other choice that didn’t make much sense to Shuichi. Memories. What could she have forgotten that the Danganronpa knew about and wanted to torment her with? It was a flip of a coin, but it was the safest alternative than either one of the previous options. He clicked the vote and held his breath.

Nothing happened besides a thank you screen. Shuichi let out the breath, both grateful that he didn’t have to see the cumulative results so far, and a little miffed that he couldn’t see what everyone else wanted to happen. He was also starting to see why the anonymity of having family members mingled in with the audience was a huge thing. The audience could try to rig it into their favor. That was why the rule of pleading and complaining was one of the hard rules of having comments banned. No one wanted to hear them plead and empathize with them. They wanted the game.

He heard his aunt calling for him and Shuichi reluctantly decided to close the laptop shut. He hadn’t realized that time had gone by so quickly that it was nearing dinner time. He was going to have to figure out a way to start jumping in on the chat conversations as well. If anyone was going to slip what was happening with the motives or with the contestants, that would be the place to make waves.

He just would have to come up with a good user handle.

Unfortunately when he got back to the room, the game was already over. At the very least, the website was down and everyone was still chatting in the logs, reminiscing on what was happening. Shuichi leaned back in his chair, content to lurk around. So far the only ones that were on were him, Shinigami and Loki.

[ Loki: So tell me Shini-shiny how long have you been watching the games for? ]

[ Shinigami: Never call me that again, otherwise I’ll tear your tongue out. As for how long I have been watching, this will mark my third year. I was invited through...different means you could say. ]

[ Loki: So you’re someone with a family member that offed themselves or something? ]

[ Shinigami: Your crudeness astounds me. No. Danganronpa was not so lucky as to get someone from me. Instead they got something better. I am a scholar, you could say. I was offered a chance to see what a real life killing game looked like. My observations are...anonymous. So if I were to publish a paper, I cannot mention anything. So, you could say that it would be futile for me to even attempt to document such a tragedy. Yet here I am, bound to do so. ]

[ Loki: Sounds like a bore. Do you have any idea of who might win this thing? ]

[ Shinigami: If I were a betting man, I would say the Traveler and the Cosplayer may have a chance. ]

Cosplayer? Shuichi decided that if this was the time to talk, it couldn’t hurt. He missed too much apparently.

[ Seeker: Sorry I’m new...but what do you mean by cosplayer? I think I missed them. ]

[ Shinigami: It is hard to keep up when there is new blood and everyone is trying to introduce themselves. You must have come in after the fact. The Ultimate Cosplayer is named Shirogane Tsumugi. She is...I hate to say...not as insane as the rest of her class. A typical wall flower if you ask me. Which is why no one will think to murder her. Unless of course the Ultimate Mangaka wishes to not have a fan among her midst. It’ll be interesting to see that death play if that’s the case. Other the other way around, considering some cosplayers are such huge fans...they hate the canonical work the author put in. Warping it and turning it into their own works of literature. ]

[ Seeker: There isn’t by chance a list of names and ultimates is there? ]

[ Shinigami: It’s considered too risky. You just have to be able to keep up I’m afraid. Though I’ll happily name drop who I am talking about. I have no qualms in discussing who may win or lose. Shall I indulge you on who I think may be our first victim? ]

[ Loki: Enlighten us Shiny. ]

[ Shinigami: It is times like these I wish I were a mod. Regardless I shall spill. I believe our first victim will be none other than Yuya Chika. ]

Shuichi couldn’t place that for a second. The girl was hyper sure, but he didn’t get the vibe from her that she would just commit murder or be a vitcim. Then again, maybe they would want her gone because of her talent to make things explode. It was a dangerous talent to just run around unchecked. He wrote the name down in his notebook regardless.

[ Loki: Hmm but who’d be her murderer? ]

[ Shinigami: I hazard to say that is a toss between the chemist or the figure skater. Did you not see the way she jumped away from the flames? I have no doubt that Yadori Miki could have a trigger and that Yuya caused it. It could be an easy motive to murder. Yuya demonstrated a danger, and she could easily fall into the mindset that she’s protecting people by taking her out of the game. Ajishi Misa on the other hand may take the arsonist out simply because Yuya is too close to her element of study, and people who study in scientific fields don’t usually like sharing titles. ]

[ Seeker: That’s an awful lot of maybes though. ]

[ Shinigami: Ajishi likes to be the smartest one in the room. She uses language in a way that indicates that she should be the only one using the jargon. She stayed close to the doctor, Ougai Eiji because they share similar fields but his is less about chemicals and more about the human body. He has to rely on her for medications to be made if medications can be made. ]

[ Loki: Ew. Power trips. I hate those. ]

[ Shinigami: But it is a good motive for a murder no? Ah speaking of motives and murder, I was curious about the voting poll that we participated in. I will not ask you what you voted for, as that is between you and Danganronpa, but I must say I was a bit...surprised at how tame it was. ]

[ Loki: Yeah me too! I thought we were going to be voting methods of death or something! ]

[ Shinigami: That could still be the case. After all, we are only voting to see what will push these contestants into the brink of despair. We haven’t exactly gotten through the first round. ]

[ Seeker: What do you mean “first round”? ]

[ Shinigami: It means what it means. ]

[ Loki: Yeah Seeker, pay attention! ]

[ Seeker: I think you two misunderstood my confusion. How can this be “first round” when nothing happened? ]

[ Shinigami: Ah you are correct. I did misunderstand. My apologies. No, it would be better to say this was the “first day”. Everyone is trying to get their bearings and understand what is happening. The hopelessness of no escape will start to eat at them by the third day. Monokuma usually is nice to allow that many days respite before the games begin. I suppose it is also his cruelty. We get attached to the contestants as the contestants get attached to each other. Then it all goes to hell for lack of a better term. ]

[ Loki: Ugh. So we have to spend three days watching them get chummy with each other? Gross. ]

[ Shinigami: Sounds like you only came for the murder and gore. ]

[ Loki: Uh duh? ]

[ Seeker: We already met everyone though correct? And this is...just us trying to get one on one time with them? To deepen connections? Why would they go so far if it’s a killing game? Wouldn’t it be better if they were handed weapons and say go off? ]

[ Loki: ^ ]

[ Shinigami: You really are new to this game aren’t you Seeker? Loki? I had pegged Loki to be a veteran, I was sorely mistaken. Well, considering that we aren’t kicked off the website yet, I can indulge you for a moment. Allow me to explain. There is a theme that goes on in these games. The most common is the fight between what is more powerful, hope or despair. There are some themes where the fight is different. For example, there was a season that dealt with living in the past or living for the future. There was a fight about whether or not memories were important to a person’s personality. There was even a fight, though I wasn’t around to witness it, on reality versus fiction. As you can see, there are plenty of things that this game prides itself on. Hope versus Despair is the common theme because it’s the easiest to implement. How can you cause despair? Get attached to these people. Let these people get attached to each other. Craft a motive that is to cause heart ache. At first no one would ever think that murder will cross each other’s minds, but we know differently. ]

[ Loki: What’s the TLDR version of that whole wall of text you greeted us with? ]

[ Shinigami: Rudeness doesn’t get a TLDR. ]

[ Loki: WAAAAAHH and here I thought we were FRIENDS ]

[ Shinigami: You must be insufferable in your real life as you are online. I cannot picture this any other way. ]

[ Shinigami: Before we part, I will give you some advice. Vote as early as you possibly can and if you are an insomniac, I recommend watching the episode that was playing live around midnight. They edit out the bits that don’t mean much, and you get hints in between the pauses about what this game’s theme or even what this game’s motive is about. ]

[ Loki: So what we’re watching is the live version? ]

[ Shinigami: Live versions start at nine in the morning depending on where you are. The episodes that are recorded are edited and put out by midnight. ]

[ Loki: That’s an hour of editing. ]

[ Shinigami: I imagine they edit along the way so that they can do that. Not everyone has the day off like I do, anot not every day I can make it to a live session. That is not to say that they do the recordings for me, but you get the idea. ]

[ Loki: Well it’s no skin off my nose, but I’m bored now. So I’m gonna say bye bye and hang with my boyfriend :D Goodnight. ]

[ Shinigami: Pity your boyfriend. ]

Shuichi couldn’t help but to laugh a little at that and he also decided to sign off since there was nothing else he could think of doing. He had a good amount of leads though and he felt confident that if he could gather all of that evidence up, he could present it to his uncle and the game would end before the first motive appeared, or at the very least before the first murder happened. Right now though, he needed to start looking at the ultimate titles he did have down and figure out their history.

He had a lot of work to do.

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