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kounkibou · 4 years

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HC: Thoughts on Classmates

This is going to be an extensive post about what Nagito thinks of the rest of the SDR2 cast, so strap yourselves in. We’re going to start with in general, meaning everyone as a whole. All of these are going to start similarly because really Nagito thinks highly of everyone for their talents.

Note: I’m going to generalize on Hajime because Nagito’s thoughts on him could be its own post.

The Whole Class

It’s not a secret that Nagito feels like he doesn’t belong in the same place as them. They all have these amazing talents, and he doesn’t have anything but his luck. (Which we all know he doesn’t think is an actual talent or anything good.) Compared to a mechanic or a musician, it’s totally lame.

When Nagito calls himself a “fanatic”, it’s fairly true. He’s a fanboy of people with Ultimate Talents. It makes it hard for him to actually form relationships with his classmates because no matter what, he won’t see himself as their equal. That plus his lack of social skills and his tendency to push people away in order to protect them from his luck almost guarantees that he won’t make any lasting connections.

He also takes it upon himself to be sure that everyone respects women. If there’s someone who’s harassing any of the girls, he’ll be more assertive in getting them to stop. It’s one of those situations where he isn’t afraid to get more serious. For example, if he catches Teruteru trying to be weird with any of the girls, he’ll step in to stop him. He may or may not also be prepared to smack him with something if necessary.

Post-Awakening, Nagito doesn’t want anything to do with them because Remnants of Despair. He feels disgusted with them just like he does himself. After awhile, though, he sees how dedicated they are to being better people and that feeling of “They’re better than me” comes back full force. The full Post-Awakening post will elaborate on that. (Someone remind me to link that here once I do it.)

Akane

There’s not a lot of interaction between these two. Even so, Nagito still respects Akane’s talent even if he isn’t sure how to talk to her. He wouldn’t insult her by saying she was stupid, but he wouldn’t say she’s the most intelligent either. If she asked, he’d definitely explain something she didn’t know because he doesn’t want to be useless to her. He also doesn’t want her to fall behind or be confused because she deserves to know more.

That said, Nagito doesn’t want to presume Akane needs extra help. She’s an Ultimate after all. How could someone lowly like him help an Ultimate with anything?

The only real canon interactions between them are Akane showing a lot of aggression, especially post Final Dead Room shenanigans because frankly, Nagito is an asshole. (Anyone who doesn’t want to wring his neck at that point is a saint.)

On Nagito’s end, though, even if there isn’t a lot there, it’s clear he holds respect for her because of her talent.

They really don’t know each other all that well in a non-despair setting. They don’t have any reason to interact other than as classmates. Nagito doesn’t have an interest in the same things she does, so he wouldn’t go out of his way to talk to her.

Nekomaru

With Nekomaru, Nagito feels a bit more at ease. His aura is more welcoming than most people since he’s a Team Manager. It’s like Nekomaru wants to get along with people, and Nagito can respect that. He just isn’t good at it himself. He feels more willing to participate with someone encouraging it, but he’ll make it known he’ll probably mess it up because of his luck. I imagine talk like that makes Nekomaru get all encouraging, and then Nagito fanboys a little bit because he’s getting a pep-talk from an ultimate.

Nagito isn’t even mad when Nekomaru and Kazuichi tie him up because yeah he deserves it. Most of the time when people treat him cautiously, he agrees that it’s probably for the best. In fact, he doesn’t even hold it against them. I imagine in addition to his own apprehension, Nekomaru worked with Kazuichi because it was best for everyone if Nagito wasn’t allowed to wander around by himself because at that point, he’d proven he wasn’t working in the best interest of the group. Nagito would understand that take on it and think it was necessary even if he was uncomfortable.

In the anthology, they actually bond over their experiences of being in the hospital previously. In a non-despair setting, they could get along fairly well if they got to talking. Nekomaru is pretty forthcoming with his past, so they would end up talking about it eventually. I feel like they could be pretty good friends.

Fuyuhiko

Being the Ultimate Yakuza, Fuyuhiko gets a lot more respect than some of the others because, to Nagito, his talent demands it. If he doesn’t respect him, he could end up six feet under!

Since at first, Fuyuhiko is standoffish to everyone, Nagito respects that he wants to keep everyone away from him. He’ll inquire about him occasionally, but he won’t pester him if he doesn’t have to. Part of him doesn’t like that Fuyuhiko won’t work with everyone else. He just doesn’t feel he has any authority to tell him what he can and can’t do.

When Fuyuhiko starts to open up after Peko’s execution, Nagito still gives him a healthy distance, especially because he himself is garbage and shouldn’t be trusted. He’s really happy, though, that he got better! Watching Fuyuhiko work together with everyone fills his heart with hope!

Another important note: Nagito trusts Fuyuhiko to investigate the clocks in both parts of the Funhouse right before he heads to the Final Dead Room. I’ll let that speak for itself.

Funnily enough, Nagito wants to get along closely with Fuyuhiko. He thinks he’s a cool guy. He knows he doesn’t deserve any friendship from someone with an ultimate talent, but deep inside, he wants to be his friend. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get there, especially not with the way he behaves and with his luck. It’s just something he’d want if he was ever in the right place at the right time. He also doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Fuyuhiko, so he doesn’t try either.

Peko

Nagito respects Peko, especially since most people view swordsmanship as a primarily masculine skill. He finds her abilities both scary and fascinating! He wouldn’t want to mess with her. The amount of discipline she has is something he wishes he could have a fraction of.

Basically, he thinks she’s cool.

Like with most of the girls, Nagito does his best to make sure no one harasses Peko. Even when it comes to non-sexual things, he feels like he owes it to her to help her keep her dignity. (Hence why he tried to be delicate about how her stomach was upset in Chapter 1.) The reason for this isn’t anything spectacular. He just feels like because of how things are with her talent, people might not respect her if they saw something undignified. Nagito feels like this is the best way he can help her even if she probably doesn’t need it.

When Peko kills Mahiru, Nagito isn’t at all surprised once he makes the connection between Peko and Fuyuhiko. He does express that he wishes he could have helped her, but he understands that she wouldn’t have wanted help. Peko has a certain amount of pride, and asking for help from a lowly insect like him would wound it. (According to his thought process anyway.)

He actually misses her quite a bit once she’s gone, and he can see even from afar how it’s affected Fuyuhiko. Their bond is something he’s a bit jealous of, wishing he could have someone that important in his life. He also feels glad that Peko’s hope involved something as beautiful as love.

Non-despair-wise, if Nagito befriended Fuyuhiko, he’d likely be on fairly good terms with Peko, too. They might not be friends, but they could hold a conversation so long as Nagito didn’t get too weird about his hope craze.

Mahiru

Nagito thinks Mahiru’s talent is underrated. Most people would say “Anyone can take a picture and have it look decent.” (Filed under: things I’ve heard people say.) He also has an admiration for what she takes pictures of. Her portfolio consists of people and lots of smiles. To him, that screams spreading hope, and he loves it.

Mahiru doesn’t sugarcoat what she thinks, especially not of behavior she thinks is bad. Nagito accepts being told he’s not good at things, and he takes it to heart coming from someone with an Ultimate Talent.

She has a certain kindness about her in spite of how much she goes in on the guys. That’s something Nagito doesn’t understand, but he would never tell her not to. (It’s not his place to say something like that.) That’s why he’s genuinely upset when she’s murdered. She came to check on him, someone the rest of the group had deemed dangerous enough to isolate from everyone. Mahiru thought to feed him when no one else had, and though she made Hajime do it, it wasn’t like she was just pushing it off on someone else. She actually had other plans.

When Nagito said she wouldn’t be influenced by him, he probably believed that. He likely thought it would get things moving if he mentioned the game, but it was a shot in the dark really. After what he did in the first trial, who would listen to him?

In a not-despair setting, they could probably get along as classmates. I don’t know if they’d get close, but they could have a healthy amount of respect for one another. They could be friends. (I also like to imagine Mahiru seeking an elusive, real Nagito smile as a challenge!)

Hiyoko

Despite liking her talent, Nagito doesn’t know how to feel about Hiyoko. He can respect her talent, but he doesn’t like the way she acts. I think, out of all of his classmates, she’s a competitor for the one he likes least. That’s not to say he openly shows any disdain for her or anything. He just doesn’t mesh well with her at all. Other than Hiyoko yelling at him for getting her shoe size, I can’t really think of many other interactions between them. I attribute this to him not wanting to deal with her attitude. Even Nagito has...maybe not standards, but a standard of treatment he doesn’t want toward himself. Hiyoko oversteps that boundary, and that’s saying something.

After Mahiru’s death, Nagito feels sorry for Hiyoko. He doesn’t say much to her about it, mostly because getting a word in edgewise with her is impossible and he can’t talk to someone with her talent like that. Instead, he doesn’t try to do anything about it and lets everyone else sort that out. He does find the conflict between her and Fuyuhiko interesting, though. A sort of clash of hopes...

Losing any of his classmates in the Neo World upsets him, but part of him feels like she brought it on herself, especially since he knows who did it. Mikan, full of despair, snuffed out the remaining hope in Hiyoko as revenge for crushing her hopes by bullying her. (Not sound logic by any means, but it follows Nagito’s philosophy.)

I don’t see them getting along in any capacity. Hiyoko goes straight for the gut with the way she insults people, and I can see her saying something that might actually upset Nagito. (That’s saying something considering the things he calls himself.) If they could somehow break through that, I’d imagine maybe they could have a conversation about traditional stuff. Nagito finds it fascinating.

Ibuki

Ibuki’s talent is one that Nagito doesn’t know too much about. He didn’t learn how to plan an instrument or anything as a kid like a lot of rich kids seem to do. He might not be ecstatic about Ibuki’s style, but it’s closer to what he likes than pop music. (His taste is “emo kid music” for lack of a better explanation.) Her enthusiasm doesn’t necessarily rub off on him, but he does feel a bit lighter around her. She can certainly liven up a room!

They don’t have a lot of interactions either. I feel like since she does have some other interesting skills, Nagito finds her even more amazing. She pulls through for them a few times. Her hearing might have gotten him into trouble in the first trial, but he isn’t bothered by it because it’s so cool that she recognized what he said and that everyone was able to figure something out from it!

After her death, things are fairly gloomy. The whole starving-in-the-funhouse thing doesn’t make it any better. You could make a case that things get much more serious from that point on. I feel like Nagito would notice that, too, before he totally turns his back on everyone. That might be one of many reasons he was so intent on clearing the Final Dead Room to help everyone. Any little thing he could do to increase morale...

Outside of despair, I don’t know what kind of relationship they could have. Ibuki is so excitable and Nagito is so down on himself that it would be an interesting dynamic. Maybe she could pull what she did with Hajime on him and try to get him to mellow out for a little bit. Ibuki is outgoing enough that she might try to befriend him. Who knows?

Mikan

Mikan is an interesting case. Her talent is something Nagito kind of knows a lot about secondhand due to his assorted health problems, so he had a more personalized respect for her. Nagito feels a bit protective of her because of how anxious she is all the time. He also gets quite alarmed when she falls in those unintentionally erotic positions. If he felt like it was his place to do something, he would help her. (Of course, his lack of any self worth makes him feel like he shouldn’t even touch someone with a talent without a good reason.) She’s a handful, but he doesn’t dislike her for it. He feels for her.

While Mikan is overcome with despair, Nagito feels extremely uncomfortable around her. As soon as he’s better, he has his suspicions about her. The look in her eyes was one that made his hopeful heart sink. The fact that they stand next to each other on the trial ground makes this even more distressing. The whole time he knows that there’s despair in her, but if he comes right out and says it, who’s going to believe him? If they’re all on the same page, there’s more of a chance of everyone choosing the path that “leads to the most hope”.

That’s why he really goes in on her after she starts freaking out. He doesn’t want to be near her or associate with her anymore. When she drops that bombshell about him not having anyone who loves him, it breaks him inside. That’s his big insecurity, one thing that he wants more than anything, and she went for it.

Non-despair-wise, they could get along. They actually have a lot of similarities I’ve noticed roleplaying them both and discussing them with another friend who plays Mikan. They want so desperately to be loved and have unconventional ways of showing it to the point of being obsessive. Neither of them have high self-esteem, and they both have quite a bit of trauma, though they’re very different traumas. Maybe they wouldn’t bond over that since neither like to talk about it, but other things? I feel like they could.

Sonia

By virtue of her being a princess, Nagito absolutely gives Sonia the most respect he can. He refers to her as “Miss Sonia” as well, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. If he’s lesser than most Ultimates, he surely thinks he means nothing compared to Sonia.

In a strictly platonic and distant way, Nagito is a bit protective of Sonia. She can be a bit naïve about things, and based on some of her interactions with other classmates, he worries that they might try to take advantage of her. He’d never say it aloud, but he wonders how she doesn’t understand some things. He understands it could be the language barrier. There seems to be...more evidence that she just doesn’t know.

Funnily enough, I imagine they could get along fairly well. Nagito has experience with higher class society, so he could understand some of Sonia’s woes. She’s also interested in some of the things he is, like unrealistic slasher films for instance. If nothing else, they could have an interesting conversation comparing their experiences. She seems to have more tolerance for him than some of the others.

This would be a lot easier without all of the despair crap to make him act like that. Nagito would still be kind of weird, but at least he’d be more tolerable.

Gundham

Straight up, Nagito thinks Gundham is pretty strange. (Ironic coming from him.) Of course, he admires his talent and finds it intriguing. He’d like to know more, but the biggest thing that keeps him from it is the way Gundham speaks. It isn’t that he can’t interpret his words. It’s just harder for him. It’s hard for Nagito to have good conversations with people in general because of his variant of dementia. Imagine how much harder it is when the person he’s talking to speaks with a lot of flourish. It just takes a bit longer.

Even though it happens after his realization about Ultimate Despair, Nagito has to admit Gundham has courage. All of his respect went down the drain at that point, and though he insults him at the beginning of the next chapter, he does respect that he tried to save everyone. At that point in time, he believes it bad only because they were Remnants of Despair. Otherwise, it’s an admirable sacrifice.

(Admittedly, I have a soft spot for the two of them mostly because Gundham also had the balls to play Russian Roulette.)

I think any interactions between them would be interesting. Nagito trying to decipher Gundham-speak, and Gundham being both glad and also weirded out that Nagito is respecting him like an actual overlord of ice. In any setting, they would have to build up to being friendly with one another. (Or the Gundham equivalent of friendly.) Despite Nagito’s luck with animals, he likes them and doesn’t mind talking about them or interacting with them. In that sense, they would have something to talk about.

Kazuichi

This one is a lot. Nagito has tons of respect for him, and he makes it known during Kazuichi’s introduction. He thinks his talent is cool and useful. Kazuichi isn’t always the brightest, but Nagito wouldn’t insult him for it or anything for by now obvious reasons. He values his opinion and input as much as anyone else’s. Nagito doesn’t know a lot about mechanical things, so he would get a kick out of watching Kazuichi.

He’s extremely respectful toward him even when met with animosity. When Kazuichi and Nekomaru knock him out and tie him up, Nagito doesn’t blame either of them for it. In fact, he thanks Kazuichi for “going easy on him”. In Chapter 4, he readily gives Kazuichi the multitool in order to help him fix the elevator. He also trusts Kazuichi to check the compass in the elevator for him when he isn’t sure he’ll be able to do it himself later. (You know, potentially dying in the Final Dead Room and all.)

If he was going to be honest, Nagito would have to say Kazuichi isn’t very bright, but that doesn’t mean he likes him any less. Sometimes, he wishes he wouldn’t muddy things with his not-so-smart suggestions during trials, but he’d never say it. Nagito also isn’t sure it’s productive of Kazuichi to keep accusing him of things, though he thinks he deserves it.

Kazuichi is another person Nagito would want to be friends with. He thinks Kazuichi is cool, too, just like Fuyuhiko. In a non-despair setting, if Kazuichi could get over how weird Nagito is, they could get along well enough. I don’t know if friendship is in the cards, but it would take effort on both sides surely. Kazuichi would have to be willing to look beyond the mask Nagito wears, and Nagito would have to dial it back a bit and understand that he would have to take steps to develop a friendship instead of being passive.

The Ultimate Imposter

Things between these two are fairly complicated. Like everyone else in-game, Nagito is under the impression that he’s dealing with the Ultimate Affluent Progeny. It doesn’t really impact his outlook on them at all as both talents would be intriguing for him. However, because he doesn’t know until much later that they’re the Ultimate Imposter, we’re working with his outlook on “Byakuya”.

Also, a lot of this is inferred from the Imposter’s actions, and some of it comes from the manga from Nagito’s POV.

Compared to the actual Byakuya, the Imposter has a nicer personality. When they take on the role of leader, Nagito thinks it’s amazing! When they declare they’re going to protect everyone, Nagito finds this noble and something unexpected of a person of high status. In his experience with higher class people, he’s met several who only care for themselves. Of course, Nagito also finds this easy to manipulate once he’s decided he’s going to set things in motion.

There’s a certain amount of guilt I think Nagito feels after they die. He had been expecting to die, and that was why it came as such a shock to him later to find out that yes, they had been protecting him. He thinks maybe, maybe this was an instance of his luck stepping in, so it’s another layer onto his luck hurting people. (The “anyone who cares about me dies” bit.) That’s why despite offering several times for people to kill him, he doesn’t go out of his way to do it until he tries to martyr himself. He’s making up for “kill them with his luck”.

In a normal verse, Nagito could get along with the Imposter. They seem like kind of an “older sibling” type who looks after the others. It would be hard to break through the walls that they’ve built around themselves, but there’s potential for something.

Teruteru

There’s a lot between these two as well. Their dynamic is silly. Nagito softly threatening Teruteru for trying to take advantage of girls? A+ material. He doesn’t dislike Teruteru at all, but he does have a level of tolerance for delinquent behavior that he doesn’t approve of. He immediately transitions to using “Ultimate Chef” when Teruteru insists on it. He shows him just as much respect as anyone else.

It’s important to note that Nagito had to have noticed a weak point in Teruteru to single him out as a potential killer. His insistence that their circumstances are just a dream/not real is evidence enough. Targeting Teruteru as his killer was as much planting a seed of urgency to his actions by letting it slip what he was doing and being completely honest about it. Even though he’s the first Blackened, Teruteru knew about Nagito’s true nature first. Nagito hoped that he would take action. If his luck wouldn’t let him die by any other means, maybe he could get himself killed by an Ultimate and be useful, be a stepping stone so his idols could advance.

Imagine if it had been Nagito. Things would’ve gone differently for sure. Maybe they wouldn’t have been able to figure out who the killer was. Maybe they still would have. It would’ve been the solution he wanted, and Teruteru would have made his “dreams come true” so to speak.

(Post-game, Nagito does eventually feel guilty about starting the Killing Game in the first place, but that takes a lot of personal growth and work...)

In a non-despair verse, their relationship would probably have stayed the same. Teruteru being a little sleazy. Nagito calling him out on it. Fun stuff like that. Maybe friendship is an option. It’s worth mentioning Teruteru did do a bit of flirting, though, which Nagito totally doesn’t notice or completely ignores depending on the situation. I’m mostly imagining an interesting friendship if anything.

Chiaki

Though it doesn’t seem like much of a talent to a lot of people, Nagito thinks Chiaki’s talent is incredible of course! Most of the time when he plays video games, he wins because of his luck, so seeing someone actually good at them is cool.

At first, he isn’t sure what to think of her as a person, thinking of her as potentially not reliable. He’s nice enough to her, but he’s exasperated by the fact that she dozes off so often. Nagito worries about that quite a bit. As things progress, he sees that she’s a lot more than she appears. When she puts her mind to it, she’s intelligent and can find things other people, including him, miss.

Chiaki sees the good in him despite his behavior, and Nagito doesn’t know how to feel about that. She gives him the benefit of the doubt. However, she does reprimand him for the bad things. Nagito doesn’t mind that part, but he can’t understand why she’s nice to him. It’s so confusing that someone is genuinely kind to him even when he’s trash.

It’s funny how Nagito tried so hard to help Chiaki unknowingly when Chiaki didn’t want that help. In the end, he was the reason she was executed, putting another death that was his fault on the list. (Of course, he won’t know that until post game.) Chiaki’s goal wasn’t to destroy the Remnants of Despair. Nagito just interpreted it that way for his own reasons. Their in-game fates were tied together, and...I find that cool.

Non-despair-wise, I’m 100% down for them being friends. Chiaki is a sweetheart, so she’d try to be Nagito’s friend even if he’s a little strange. He probably keeps her at a distance like he does literally everyone. He appreciates it, but he doesn’t want her to get hurt. People actually like her unlike him. I can see Chiaki offering friendship and checking in periodically to see if he’s okay. Nagito probably sits with her while she plays games so he won’t feel alone for a little while. Her company is...calming.

Hajime

Again, I’m gonna generalize here, but straight up, Hajime is Nagito’s favorite person. He thinks he’s amazing, attractive, and absolutely cool. From the first moment he saw Hajime, he felt the potential in him. Everything about him is exciting, and Nagito wants to be as close to him as possible. Genuinely, he wants to be his friend and form some kind of relationship with him even if it isn’t romantic. (He doesn’t deserve that, and it would absolutely make his luck want to kill Hajime.) Every bit of friendliness and kindness he showed Hajime in the beginning was genuine. He wanted to ease his worries and make him feel better.

After the Chapter 1 fiasco, Nagito is most upset that Hajime is upset with him. He didn’t expect him to be on board with his philosophy, but the hostility hurts. His heart aches because they were so close for such a short time that he had almost gotten used to having a friendly relationship. Then it was gone.

Nagito still tries his best to help Hajime and do things with him despite how Hajime really doesn’t want much to do with him. He constantly wants to be close to him. Nagito doesn’t mind sharing his past with Hajime because he keeps coming back to learn more. Maybe if he helps him to understand his point of view a bit better, he’ll want to be close. An interesting way to think about it, but that’s what Nagito wants.

In Chapter 4 when Nagito starts to give him the cold shoulder, it’s because he genuinely feels betrayed. He felt this connection with Hajime, but knowing all of them were Remnants of Despair, he can’t hold onto that. It’s hard to get rid of those feelings, so his only way to cope is to keep insulting him for being a Reserve Course Student. There’s a point where he wishes it could have been different, but he doesn’t dwell on it and carries on. He isn’t around in the Neo World long enough to think about it too much.

Without going into too much detail about it, post game Nagito doesn’t want anything to do with him or anyone else. It scares him. Izuru scares him especially. He just...doesn’t want to be near the others and doesn’t think he should. Hajime is the only person who can get through to him and help him come out of his shell. That leftover trust is key.

And finally, in a non-despair setting, Hajime and Nagito probably don’t interact a lot outside of in passing. When they do, Hajime ends up slowly getting Nagito to be less cruel about the Reserve course. They have a more even playing field here because they’re both ordinary students. One of them was just lucky. Nagito is still a total weirdo, but he’s a person who’s had a hard life. They could be friends, maybe more depending on it. As long as they get along, it makes me happy.

Final Thoughts

I guess the main takeaway here is that it depends on the person how Nagito reacts to them. He really does like all of his classmates to varying degrees. He wants to befriend them and get along, but the way he behaves keeps them at arm’s length. That’s fine with him, but...he really does crave more than just a passing relationship with people.

He wants friends and someone to love. He wants relationships. He’s just socially impaired and afraid of them being hurt.

#x Absolute Hope || Text #x Ultimate Luck || Headcanons #[ here's the BEHEMOTH OF A POST!!! ]#[ i'd like to tag all of them but it'll be a BIG MASS OF TAGS!!! ]

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