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multiplefandomsblog · 3 years

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S/O who lost a bet to Kokichi, punishment being a Maid’s Dress

request; Ooooo, Requests are open! Could I have a female S/O who lost a bet and now has to wear a sexy maid outfit? And Kokichi is just. Eating. It. Up.

warnings; reader lost a bet and has to wear a maid dress, reader uses female pronouns and names, reader uses master(non-sexually), cussing, had to make kaito the ‘bad guy’ for trope reasons lmfao, kokichi gets jealous and possessive, they goof off a ton at the end, overall just fluff without much plot, and i.. i dont even know how to say this, i used this phrase i found from the internet “top 15 embarrassing things to say to strangers” so like,, watch out for that..! ahahahaha-

note; omfg i hate this one so much- most out of all my works, i stg i am the most disappointed in this one. please don’t even read it- i could’ve done so much better ;-; man, i just butchered this like a fricking idiot-- sorry anon!!!! you seriously deserved so much better, i am so sorry. there are so many issues with this- the ending, the cringe, the messiness, the fucking clichés- seriously, please please forgive me. although you probably shouldn’t, i am just so so sorry T_T please don’t be afraid to ask me if you want this rewritten, i am like, BEGGING YOU TO ASK ME TO REWRITE THIS SAVIBVDHBSDKJ

word count; 2.1k

You took a deep breath before leaving your dorm, mentally preparing yourself for the walk of shame to the dining room where you had to… you didn’t even want to say it, nor acknowledge it. The bet you had lost the day before with Kokichi, had left you with nothing but bitterness in the end. Your eyebrows were permanently creased, an expression of pure regret on your face as you shuffled unenthusiastically down the hall in your frilly maid’s outfit.

Shuichi greeted you as soon as he noticed the dress, a concerned, confused and albeit a bit flustered expression on his face as he did. “H-hey S/o! Um, so are you going to the dining hall?” He asked an obvious question, just so he could somehow get you to talk about your huge dress. Only nodding shamefully, you stifled a sigh.

Shuichi only made a noise of acknowledgement, letting the conversation go stale as he was too afraid to address the elephant in the room, himself. You were both silent, Saihara standing in front of you, awkwardly planted on his spot while he looked at everything but you.

He didn’t say anything, only occasionally sparing glances at your dress as he stood like a tree. Getting irked from the silence, you deadpanned, “... You want to know why I’m wearing a maid’s dress.” He flushed at even the mention of the word, as if you had said something terrible.

“Y-you don’t have to te-” Disrupting his excuse, you looked him dead in the eye, and uttered one word, “Kokichi.” Shuichi blinked at the name, before nodding in pity. After your short response, he required no further questions, the single name was all it took for the realization to wash over him. Even if he wasn’t a detective, it wouldn’t take less than a second to know what was going on.

As if the said-Kokichi had been waiting for you to say that, Kokichi suddenly popped out of nowhere, scaring the two of you at his sudden appearance, “Oh? What’s my maid doing with Saihara-chan? Not wasting time I hope~” He laughed sadistically at your suffering, “Chop chop my maid! Since I’m your master, you’re gonna have to follow my every order! So don’t even try to disobey me; cuz I’m sure maid-chan knows what happens when she does, right? Nishishi!” You cringed at the nickname, ere sighing in defeat and letting him drag you to the dining room where you’d soon meet your demise.

You looked back at Shuichi one last time, mouthing a, ‘Help me.’ as Kokichi dragged you away. Shuichi only sent back a sheepish and apologetic look, in which you glared at him, betrayal overtaking you.

A couple of minutes later of countless teasing and judgemental looks sent your way, you were finally at the dreaded destination. To your surprise, Kokichi eagerly kicked the door to the dining room open before you could even prepare yourself, the entire class turning around at the loud noise. Kaito was first to speak up about the dramatic entrance, ‘Kokichi!? What the actual F-! … f-ffffffffffuuhh..” Kaito trailed off, his attention shifting off Kokichi, to focusing on you in a maid’s dress.

Despite wanting you to feel the pure unfiltered humiliation, the sadistic bastard definitely did not love the way Kaito was eyeing you. Smile faltering for a second, he considered dragging you to his own room and having you perform a private show for him instead of these assholes. Shaking his head, he tried dispersing the thoughts of… jealousy? No, that can’t be it.

He decided he’d delay his feelings of conflict for later, and unfortunately for you, focusing back on your nervous figure. Peaking at the look on your face, he couldn’t help the twinge of worry for your well-being.

Noticing him stare at you with a small concern, you furrowed your brows in suspicion, that wasn’t really like him. Only then, did you notice the desperation on his face. He looked like he was choosing to either say, “Are you okay?” or “Pleaaaase!” He watched you, eyes wide with worry yet looking as if he had been begging you. Choosing your fate, you sent him a reassuring, but solemn nod, deciding to do the act he had been looking forward to for the entirety of yesterday; the day you lost that damned bet.

You sighed defeatedly at his pouty expression, you were weak for him and he knew it.

“Alright.” He looked up at you with expecting eyes, holding back a shit-eating grin, “Alright what..?” You sighed for the 2nd time within the span of 45 seconds, “Ugh... Master.” The single word uttered out from your pretty lips had his entire body shuddering, fighting back the blush on his face, he leaned his back towards you teasingly, his ego had been very clearly stroked, “That’s right. I’m your master; so come on and get to it! Don’t make your master wait~” He added, clearly enjoying your misery. You pouted, where did the worried Kokichi go?

Turning to face the crowd that seemed to be staring at you while you flirted talked normally with Kokichi, you felt your frills shuffle with each movement you made. You closed your eyes in preparation, making a mental note never to make a bet with Kokichi, ever. “Do I have to get on my knees?” He smiled cheerfully, “It’s part of the deal~” ‘Nishishi’ing as dread washed over your face.

Everyone watched in anticipation, some with concern, but mostly the former— as you got on your knees, the skirt neatly pleating on the ground.

Disgruntled, you uttered out a small, “If you tickle me, I will… I- “ You looked back at Kokichi, a look of, ‘Do I have to do this?’ contorting on your face as you stared at him pleadingly, dying inside when he nodded frantically like a child at a candy store.

“... S-say hee hee and prance around like a rainbow lollipop on a cloud of unicorn wishes.“ You flinched , the entire class had suddenly started howling and rushing towards you—most likely to tickle you—, but right before a giddy Angie and a determined Tenko could get their hands on you, Kokichi suddenly spoke up, stopping them in their tracks. “Hey! She’s not allowed to be touched by mutts like you, so get back!” He brutally spat, voice scratching from the force of his words.

Kaito immediately took the opportunity to ask you out as Kokichi’s occupied with the others, not hesitating for a second. Tapping on your shoulder, a shy smile adorning Kaito’s face as he awkwardly shuffled, “Hey S/o..! Do you maybe wanna, um..” Kokichi swiftly popped out from underneath your skirt as if this was a routinely thing, standing in between you and Kaito. “What the hell-” Kaito recoiled back in shock, had he just been hiding under there?? Kokichi looked at you, before looking back at him.

You were sure if looks could kill, Kaito would’ve been dead a year ago. “Hey. You know she’s mine, yeah?” Kokichi spoke with a dead-cold look on his face, before almost immediately contorting back into his usual mischievous smile, “... My personal maid, of course! Nishishi!” Kaito stared Kokichi down, in which Kokichi simply glared back in amusement, the same smile staying onto his face. Irking, Kaito discontentedly walked away, shortly after Kokichi had won the stare-down.

Exhaling loudly, his smile fell off his face as well as the breath he kept in, a neutral expression replacing his grin as he stared back at you, “You know, this whole thing is getting kinda boring, let’s just leave.” He tried putting on his signature charming grin, but you could see the way his teeth clenched. It seemed Kaito asking you out had a bigger effect on him than he wanted to admit.

Despite teasing and asking him if he was worried and/or jealous on the way to a secluded area, he persists, staying stubborn and brushing it off. “It just wasn’t as fun as I thought! Now stop nagging me and hurry uuuuup! You’re such a slowpoke.” Perking up, he suddenly remembered something, “Oh wait! That’s an order, right? So you have to obey.” Rolling your eyes, you jolted as an idea suddenly found its way to your head.

Flashing a mischievous smirk in his direction, you left him bewildered as you started sprinting across the field. “Wh- Hey! Haha, what the fuck!?” He cackled at how stupid you looked, throwing your heels across the field somewhere as you stumbled from the length of the dress, still running to god knows where.

His laughing suddenly halted as he witnessed the way you took a large leap and stepped on your dress, tumbling down as you did.“Stooop! You’re gonna actually hurt yourself, seriousl-! …” Kokichi suddenly fell silent as you fell on your face, only sounds of him choking back holding back his own loud laughter. But the boy could only hold back for so long, and as you raised your head from the field, you could hear him just fucking losing it.

Turning around and glaring directly at him, you stumbled back to your feet, jogging towards one of your lost heels before hurling it directly at Kokichi’s stomach. “Take that you little shit!” Now you were the one laughing at his misery. In the end the heel didn’t do what you wanted it to, as he just kept on laughing, only now wheezing from the hilarity of the situation and for the air you knocked out of him.

Hearing his crazy horse laughter fill the air, you couldn’t help but laugh just as loud, along with him. You jogged up to his hysterical figure, falling down next to him, your own giggles mingling in with his. He turned his head to you, pointing at your face weakly, before throwing his head back and laughing even louder.

Eventually, the laughter calmed, both of you just bathing in the afterglow of the extreme euphoria you both had felt. Kokichi turned his head again, staring at you in thought. Noticing his eyes, you took your eyes off the sky, catching his seemingly whipped gaze, “What?”

He smiled, “Even though you look like a maid who had just went through hell to try and escape her traumatizing slave prison life, you still look cute.” Admitting with no hesitation and way too many details, he watched in amusement as your face flushed. “And borderline sexy too. I am loving the sexy prisoner look.” He added, catching you off guard as you flushed even harder.

He sighed lovingly, “You know, I’d gladly pay you to stay in that dress... And I’m not lying.” You scoffed and looked at him in disbelief, Kokichi frowning back, “Hey! Don’t look at me like that! You know damn well, you look hot in those tights.” He drifted his eyes lower and lower, tilting his head to get a better view- before you suddenly chopped him.

Wincing from the hit, he started bawling, “Uwah! How meeeaan! And to do that to your master too! How could you!?” Here come the waterworks. You only grimaced, right before decreasing your face in defeat, deciding to play along, “Fine. I’m sorry then,” Sighing, “Master.” You groaned out, clearly unhappy with the title Kokichi had forced on himself. Kokichi went light-headed as soon as he heard that word come out your lips, smiling like a goof, he only gawked at you.

Shooting your head back to him, you were concerned as to why he was suddenly quiet. Was there something wrong with him? Did he pass out? “Master?” You called him by his title, shaking his tiny figure. The expression on his face showed pure bliss, “Just kiss me already.”

He snapped out of it for a second, eyes darting to yours. You glared at him, in which he simply glared back, a challenging smirk on his face, differing greatly from his expression from earlier, “That’s an order~”

Blinking at the statement, you gave in to your demise, slowly leaning down to kiss his forehead lightly, a flush on your face. Pressing your lips lightly against his skin, you pulled away shortly, lingering no longer than you had to. However short it was, that alone seemed to do it for him, as you swore you saw hearts shoot out from the spot in which you pecked.

Giggling strangely, he rested on the field, completely surrendering his body to the earth as he went limp. “Nishi… My maid loooves me!” You stayed silent at the bold remark, wanting to refute but you knew he’d just figure out your lies.

... Even so, you refused to admit it, “You fucking wish.” Snorting, you pushed his face away from you gently, cackling as you heard his whining.

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 4 years

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Hello!! Can I request some headcanons about Rantaro, Mukuro, Kazu, Taka, Kokichi, Nagito and Leon with SHSL Moodkeeper/Caregiver (i dont know the word)? They is, like, always on a guard to calmly end every arguments and tences in their group, and to give a hand or shoulder for cry to anyone who is in a bad mood. Ultimate stress-relive person, i guess? Also, they has good empathy, but still is very bad in guessing ofters opinion about them, so they really didnt notice someone loving them. Thx!!

I’d say they’re a SHSL Peacekeeper! ^^

.......

Rantaro

He likes how you mediate situations when they start getting out of hand.

Of course, he’s good at calming people down, too, though he’s glad to see you step in as well.

The fact you could settle conflicts between the rowdy ones like Kaito, Miu, and Kokichi so easily is like a miracle.

You also swiftly came to Kaede’s defense when everyone got upset with her for forcing them through the Death Road of Despair.

Before leaving, Rantaro witnessed you hugging the pianist as she cried.

You’re just so kind and caring to everybody.

It was those positive qualities of yours that just naturally...drew him to you.

And eventually they made him fall for you completely.

But despite your talent of reading people like open books...you aren’t too certain about what they think of you.

So when Rantaro hangs out with you more, you just believe he’s a close friend and nothing more.

Though when he visits your lab one day with your favorite gift and asks you out...you pretty much short-circuit.

Someone as sweet and as handsome as him??? Liking you?????

Mukuro

Watching you resolve conflicts without violence is an eye-opening experience for her.

You mean you don’t have to threaten to stab someone??? Or prepare yourself for an attack???

So when you break up a fight between her and Junko with just your words alone, she’s completely baffled.

You feel bad for Mukuro, helping her up when her sister kicks her down, saying she doesn’t deserve to be degraded so much.

She’s even more confused because she thought the insults were Junko’s way of showing familial love.

But perhaps..the soldier was wrong about that.

Over time, she starts giving you more of her attention.

Makoto smiling at her was one thing..but for you to actually care about her?

She just wants to give every bit of her heart to you.

But you aren’t sure what she exactly thinks of you, so...for a while you don’t notice.

She’ll never get past admiration from a distance, though, as she doesn’t know how to express those feelings to you.

Eventually, you’ll notice and reciprocate them.

Kazuichi

He’s perplexed at how the hell you manage to keep so calm all the time, especially when almost everyone was panicking on the island..

No matter how much the class argues, you always end those debates peacefully somehow--even in trials.

After spending some time with you, he eventually confides in you about his insecurities and such.

And you always listen no matter how much he pours his heart out to you.

You just pat his back and offer your sympathy whenever he gets emotional, never judging him.

He’s glad he can someone to rely on..to the point where he feels like he can be his true self around you.

He grows to like you for more than just your talent, though.

You have great looks and a cool personality!

Unfortunately you’re kinda oblivious, so he’s nervous to confess in fear you won’t return the feelings.

He’ll probably need advice from his buddies.

Taka

Like him, you always strive to reach the best compromise among your peers.

And he admires that a lot!

You usually solve conflicts sooner than he does (probably because you aren’t always yelling and can read the room better).

Plus, you’ve taken a sort of therapist role in the class, having a lot of empathy (which Taka himself sometimes lacks) and always willing to help people out.

Sometimes he’ll go to you just to rant about the stress of his studies and whatever else he’s dealing with.

He trusts you enough and thinks venting is a healthy way to get his emotions out.

The talks often end with you hugging him while he cries into your shoulder.

But he always feels a hundred times better afterwards.

It’s not long before he finds himself catching feelings for you.

He can hardly look you in the eyes while you’re speaking, tending to blush when you just smile in his general direction.

Like Kaz, he’ll probably need advice from someone because he doesn’t know how to confront these new feelings.

Kokichi

You two are basically polar opposites.

He’s a little shithead that gets people riled up on purpose.

While you’re the mediator who reassures them he just wants to cause mischief.

Not even he can say he’s lying about that.

So he makes it his mission to get you annoyed with him.

He’ll try speaking over you by blurting out another lie in trials...

Only to pout when you ignore him.

Then he tries cheating in games he plays with you..

Only for you to explain how it’s more fun when everyone plays fairly.

There’s just no winning for him, so he eventually stops and huffs.

You definitely like playing hard-to-get.

Especially when he realizes you’ve become more than just a “friend he can annoy” in his eyes.

He’ll get frustrated when you don’t immediately realize that, too, though.

Nagito

Of all the talents he’s observed, he finds yours most admirable.

Insists you should never let yourself--or anyone--take your talent for granted (and of course, you don’t).

He sees you lending a helping hand to anyone who needs it and is awestruck

You’re truly a shining example of hope.

He’s hesitant to come to you with any of his troubles, convinced trash like him isn’t worth your time.

But you empathize with him and understand why he feels that way.

He’s been stuck in a cycle of luck all his life, usually hurting or killing those close to him.

As time goes on, though, you get him to open up.

Soon he falls in love with not only your hope...but also, well, you.

He’d tell you directly, but...it would be more interesting to watch you figure that out yourself.

Leon

He's surprised how easily you can settle disputes with everyone.

Doesn’t it get tiring for you?

Though you always tell him it’s never a bother.

You understand everyone has their insecurities and tend to lash out.

He gets a bit defensive when he realizes you mean him, too.

But he just proved your point.

Sometimes he’ll rant to you about baseball practice giving him unneeded pressure and his uncertainties about what he really wants to do in life.

You suggest he feels misguided due to his attempts to impress random girls instead of focusing on himself.

He’s stunned you could read him like an open book.

Before long, he finds himself lovestruck yet again--not just because of your looks but also because of your sweet and upbeat nature.

So he tries improving himself first before he’s ready to ask you out.

Though when you don’t know for sure how he feels around you...he’ll get agitated and ends up blurting out his confession.

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aroseandapen · 3 years

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{Don’t go asking to be a horror movie protagonist when you’re terrified of ghosts}

For the @badthingshappenbingo; prompt: caught in a storm

A sudden storm drives Kaito to seek shelter. Nothing unusual could ever happen in an abandoned house. Ghost AU.

Warnings: Past Suicide

Drizzle turned into downpour, with whipping winds throwing sheets of freezing water directly into his face. Kaito pulled the side of his jacket up as a shield, but it quickly soaked through. His eyes stung, bringing tears in defense of the painful wind.

He didn’t think he’d make it home like this.

Quickly he scanned the street, hoping for an overhang to huddle underneath until the worst of the storm passed. Miraculously, he saw a vacant house tucked between two others, the wind having blown the door open to flap against the elements like it was waving him in. Really, it would be rude of him not to take the invitation the gods offered up to him. Technically it might be trespassing, but what was the law of man against the powers that be.

He could hardly see anyway with how ferociously the wind kicked water up directly into his eyes. Surely no one would denounce him for popping into a house for shelter for an hour at most, especially when no one else was using it.

Squinting against the rain and wind, he jogged up the walkway, forcing the front door shut behind him and dragging the deadbolt into place so that the wind couldn’t blow it back open.

Immediate relief washed over him. The wood groaned and glass panes rattled under each gust that buffeted the side of the house, but it was safer and warmer compared to being outside. His clothes and hair dripped into the entryway. Too bad there probably weren’t any towels left in this vacant place; he could really use one right now.

The small entryway opened up into a large area, ornate stairs directly in front of him leading up to the next floor, double doors to the left and the right that were cracked open. A smaller door was tucked half out of sight by the stairs. He opened it, hoping that it was a closet that contained at least one bit of fabric he could use to dry off. Fortunately, it actually was a closet. Less fortunately, there was nothing inside.

Kaito sighed. Dammit. Well, beggars couldn’t be choosers, he supposed. He shrugged off his jacket and peeled off his shirt, hanging both over the handrail lining the stairs after wringing them out. His exposed chest left him shivering somewhat in the large drafty house, but it was better than dragging around soaking fabric that hung heavy over him the entire time. And while there was no hope of them drying before he left this place again, at least it might be a bit better by the time he had to put them back on.

He lingered by his hanging shirt and jacket for a moment to consider his next move. Nothing really to do now, he supposed, but to explore the house for a while, right?

First he swept the lower floor, peeking into wide rooms occupied by worn furniture--the odds and ends left behind by the final owner’s evacuation. A chair knocked over in one corner had spiders weaving their webs between the legs and the floor. The kitchen had a fold-up table leaning against the wall, but it’d been bent out of shape in such a way that Kaito wondered how the hell it’d stood on its side in the time since it’d been abandoned.

One room in particular was crammed wall to wall in junk, so that when he pushed the door, it would only open a couple inches before getting stuck. A storage room, evidently, but he couldn’t tell for what reason and why it’d been left behind. Unable to get in to sift through the stuff in the room, there was nothing of interest on the ground floor for him.

Kaito stepped back, hand on the door handle to close it. Just then the wind outside picked up, whistling through the tiny cracks in the house. The door slammed shut, no input from him.

He jumped back, heart rolling into his throat. A chill ran down his spine, hairs sticking up on the back of his neck. Probably just uneven air pressure from the wind, he figured, but that didn’t make it any less damn creepy. Like something lurking in the house didn’t want him in that room.

Which was dumb. Silly. Nothing--nobody--was in the house but Kaito. Maybe a homeless guy or two, although he hadn’t seen evidence that anyone had been in this place recently, but still nothing supernatural.

Yeah. He had goosebumps now for absolutely no reason.

And for no reason at all, he sped-walked down the hallway to return to the staircase. His skin prickled with his back to the door, but he refused to look back. As he lingered by his hanging clothes, he was suddenly reminded of the many scary movies that took place in an abandoned house in the middle of a storm.

Tree branches slapped against the side of the house, screeching along the glass window panes. He jumped.

“Dammit. Get yourself together, man,” he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Something about the sound of his own voice filling the void of the house made him feel a bit more secure. Enough so that he could finally take the next step, heading up the stairs to check out the top floor of the house.

He opened up the first room, and nearly slammed the door shut again in pure shock. It was a child’s room, practically untouched. Dust covered every inch of furniture--a small bed with the corners still tucked under the mattress, a desk, a tiny chest in the corner. He couldn’t imagine how it was still there, why it’d been left behind. His heart wrenched with dread. Nothing good could come from this room, left behind to be forgotten with the rest of the house empty.

Slowly, he closed the door. It didn’t feel right to wander into some kid’s room, even if it had been abandoned for however long. This adventure felt less fun by the room. He moved onto the next door down, dragging his feet heavily across the floor.

He opened the door, noticed two things: the room was almost a perfect mirror of the previous, and a torn racoon plush was slumped against the leg of the bed.

A face popped in front of his eyes.

Kaito screamed.

He pinwheeled his arms and scuttled back. His head slammed into the wall in his rush to escape. The face briefly retreated, then surged forward again.

“Wait, you--.”

A person, it was a fucking person speaking to him, transparent and floating inches above the ground. A ghost, right in front of him.

Kaito ducked and twisted his body. He dug his toes into the floor and sprinted down the hall for the stairs. Even without looking behind him, he could sense the ghost in hot pursuit. Outside the wind howled, rain pelting the house.

He’d take a full hurricane, plus an earthquake, before he dealt with a ghost.

“Don’t!” it called, voice thin and bouncing off the walls as if the sound, too, was chasing him.

Flying down the stairs, he full-body slammed into the front door so hard that he bounced off it. He staggered back, but he didn’t bother to right himself before he threw himself at it again. The knob turned easily and he yanked on it.

The door creaked and clattered in the frame, but did not open. Kaito choked on his heart.

“Fuck, no, come on, come on!”

He pushed and pulled, jerking the door to force it open. No matter what he did, though, it wouldn’t budge. Was it the storm? The ghostly figure whistling down the stairs after him now? Was he trapped in this abandoned house he’d recklessly taken shelter in?

“Fuck!” The door was no good. His eyes darted along the wall, searching for an alternate route. A screech that hurt his ears and teeth drew his attention over to where the branches outside scraped against the window. The window!

He made a mad dash for it, bulldozing ahead with all intentions of crashing out through it. A misstep, though, twisted his ankle and brought him tumbling to the floor. His head cracked against the floorboards and stars burst in his vision. He hissed in pain, the room spinning around him. Stunned, he could barely move when the half-there figure once again swam into view.

“A-are you ok? Oh no, please don’t be…” The face grimaced. His eyes darted around, looking for something. Then, as if realizing he could do nothing even if he found what he was looking for, regret filled the ghostly features. “Take it easy ok? Hang in there.”

Kaito blinked rapidly. His head throbbed with each bat of his lashes. “Gh…” He brought a hand to his forehead. “What the hell… are you?”

Hurt flooded his expression. “I’m…” Face pinched, he looked away and crossed his arms. Something was vaguely familiar about his appearance, especially when he posed like that. “I mean… you can tell, can’t you? That’s why you...”

That was why he ran.

“...you got hurt.”

“Wait, what?” Despite the ghost’s urgings for him to take it easy, Kaito forced himself to sit up. The ghost, as if startled, drew chillingly close to him, hands hovering over Kaito’s shoulder. When he flinched, the ghost withdrew. He blew out a relieved sigh. “Of course I got hurt. You were chasing me.”

“I wasn’t.” The ghost pouted. “You were just running…” His face twitched uncomfortably. “Ok I guess that is chasing, but… I wasn’t gonna do anything.”

“You locked me in!” Kaito protested with a burst of anger. He staggered to his feet. “You made the door jam shut, how the hell am I supposed to take that?!”

A flash of irritation twisted the ghost’s expression. “I didn’t! You’re the one who locked the door when you came in here!”

The faint memory of sliding the deadbolt to keep the door from blowing back open scratched the back of his mind. The angry fire in Kaito’s gut immediately extinguished. “Oh… right.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Who’re you supposed to be anyway? What do you want with me?”

“I’m Kurochi; I don’t want anything with you. You’re the one who came into my house. Or… the house I grew up in, I guess… So who are you?” Kurochi ended with a question, his tone defensive.

“Kaito. It’s raining outside and this place was abandoned, so…” He shrugged. For some reason he felt guilty, but he didn’t know why he should. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t expect the place to be literally haunted by some kid. “How old are you?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know, probably same age as you? It’s been… a long time.”

“So when did you...?” he blurted out the question, regretting it as soon as the words left his mouth. He was asking about an actual person’s death here; he wouldn’t be surprised if Kurochi grew furious because of it.

The ghost didn’t. His face did fall, however, eyes dropping to the floor. “I… died when I was twelve. So… I don’t know. It’s been years since then, though.”

“You don’t look twelve.” Even if Kurochi would have been the same age as him, if he died at such a young age he should have looked the part. Although Kurochi did have a young face, it wasn’t as if he looked like a child.

Kurochi only shrugged. “I don’t really know what I look like. Mirrors don’t exactly work when you’re…” He gestured toward his incorporeal body. “I have a twin brother, though. Maybe I look like he does now.”

Suddenly Kaito realized just why Kurochi had looked so familiar to him before. “Wait! I think I know… what’s your full name?”

“Oshi…” Kurochi started, then stopped. He looked physically pained before he shook his head and quickly changed the name he was about to give. “Ouma. That was my mother’s family name, that’s what… we wanted before…”

Kaito’s eyes bugged. The pieces fit too well to be a coincidence.

“Wait, was your brother named Kokichi?” Kaito could see his classmate in the ghost’s (transparent) features. It wasn’t exact, but the resemblance was enough to be uncanny.

He’d never seen quite a mixture of shock, hope, and horror in a person before like he saw in Kurochi’s face the moment the question left his lips. A tremor ran through Kurochi; he pulled in so close to Kaito that he could feel his own body heat being sapped from him by the chill of Kurochi’s form. Kaito backed up, unnerved and trying to get some space, but Kurochi only closed it again.

“Yes! You’ve seen him? Is he ok? He’s ok, right? He’s safe? Right?”

The anxious questions tumbled out in a rush. Kurochi seemed to shimmer, the anticipation practically leaking out of his body. Part of Kaito regretted saying anything, but that was overwritten by the overwhelming relief that he had some good news to tell.

“Yes. He’s ok. A little shit sometimes, but he’s good as far as I can tell.” Which probably wasn’t saying much; Kaito had the feeling that Kokichi hid a great deal beneath his wide grin and clowning behavior. It was blatant now, considering he’d never heard of a twin brother who’d died when he was twelve. “We’re classmates now.”

Kurochi melted to the floor, almost passing through it as he sunk in his deep relief. “He’s safe… he’s good, thank god…”

He held a hand over his chest, where his heart would be if he still had one.

“What I wouldn’t give to see him again…”

Well, that was a wish well within Kaito’s ability to grant. “Do you want to? I can bring him here for you.”

“No! No, no, no, don’t you dare!” Kurochi shrieked, making Kaito jump and fumble back.

The vehement reaction to the negative shocked Kaito. “What? Why not? You just said you wanted to see him, right?”

Tremors ran through Kurochi. He hunched his shoulders, tucking his chin down as if to hide himself from Kaito’s gaze. With a tiny, quick movement, he shook his head and said, “I… don’t want to put that burden on him. If he’s started to get over my death, I want it to stay that way. If you brought him here… I don’t think he even will move on.” His bottom lip trembled; Kurochi closed his eyes. “I can’t handle that. I already left him behind, I can’t… I can’t…”

Despite the innate fear he had of the ghost, the pathetic wobble of Kurochi’s voice pulled on Kaito’s heartstrings. He stepped forward, raising a hand as if to rest it comfortingly on his shoulder. Just before he made contact, he remembered that it wasn’t possible to touch him, and he quickly pulled his hand away. Trying and failing to touch Kurochi would probably only make the ghost feel worse. “Hey, it’s not your fault you died…”

Big watery eyes met his, but the tears never fell. “It is… I… I… when we were twelve, I just couldn’t…”

Shame forced Kurochi’s gaze back down and he trailed off without explaining. He didn’t need to, Kaito understood without him being explicit about it. Kaito swallowed hard.

“For what it’s worth… I’m sorry you felt that way. That the only way to escape whatever the hell you went through was… that. I know I just met you, and tried to run away from you and all, but… no kid deserves to feel that way. No one does,” he said, solemnity muting his tone.

Kurochi near-smiled at his heartfelt sympathy. It didn’t quite lift his expression, but there was something appreciative deep in those eyes. “Thanks. I just… wish I never put Kokichi through that though. I… ruined everything.”

No, that wasn’t his fault. Kaito didn’t know much about his--and by extension, Kokichi’s--childhood, but regardless, it wasn’t a twelve-year-old’s fault if he was so overwhelmed by the pain in his life that he killed himself. Boiling heat stirred in his chest, anger at the injustice rising on Kurochi’s behalf. He was just a child. He deserved so much better than life had given him back then--up until now, too, living as a ghost alone in this abandoned house, not a soul to talk to.

Kaito decided then: he would give him that. While he couldn’t fix the past, he could be that bond Kurochi needed to help him work through what happened to him. He couldn’t bring him back to life, but he could help Kurochi move on. Whatever ‘moving on’ meant for a ghost.

“You didn’t ruin shit--and I’ll show you, too! After this storm passes… I’ll be back tomorrow! And probably the day after that, or next week even! And the week after too!”

Kurochi stared, bemused. And yet--though perhaps it was wishful thinking on his part--Kaito thought he saw something hopeful sparking deep in those hollow eyes. “You’ll… but why?”

“To hang out with you, what else?”

Kurochi choked--or maybe he snorted--shaking his head hard. “No I get that, but… why?”

“Because…” Kaito planted his fists on his hips. “...everyone deserves at least someone at their side, right? And if you don’t want me telling Kokichi about you, I’ll just have to keep you company myself then!”

#kairochi #kaito momota #kurochi ouma #badthingshappenbingo #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #Drabble.#prompt: caught in a storm #ghost au #this one is gonna be a two parter baybee #with a different prompt in the next part tbh

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elyvorg · 4 years

Text

“Well, they’re more like a mom and dad who have a... hands-off approach to parenting.”

“That sounds... awkward. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than never knowing your parents at all.”

“Yeah... me neither. I’m lucky to have my uncle, at least.”

“...Hey, Kaito? You’ve been quiet for a while. Is something wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, nah, it’s nothing. Just spaced out for a bit, that’s all. My bad.”

“You know, Kaito... you live with your grandparents, right? And you never talk about your parents. It... it might not be any of my business, but I couldn’t help but wonder... are you... like me? Or... perhaps a bit like Maki, and you don’t even remember them?”

“Huh? N-No, it’s... neither of those.”

“I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. You don’t have to—”

“Hey, it’s fine. I... I guess I don’t mind telling you guys. They... my parents died in a car crash when I was ten.”

---

@trainingtrioweek Day 5: Family

Instead of an art today, some rambly thoughts that this prompt gave me the perfect excuse to bring up. (If you’re finding my blog through this event: as well as arts, I also do quite a bit of meta and not-quite-meta rambling such as this kind of thing on here, usually still about the training trio!)

It’s only especially relevant in non-fiction AUs such as UTDP where everyone’s families are actually real, but – can we talk about the fact that all three of the training trio, in very different ways, are lacking in parents with both the qualities of being alive and being decent parents?

Shuichi

Shuichi’s parent issues are only mentioned briefly in one of his FTEs and don’t get nearly as much focus as his detective-related issues caused by that one case that traumatised him. But it’s possible that they could actually explain quite a bit about him.

It seems to be only in fairly recent years that Shuichi’s parents moved to work overseas and he was sent to live with his detective uncle. However, his bitter comment about his parents’ “hands-off approach to parenting” (that part of the line I wrote here was taken directly from his canon FTE) implies that they weren’t particularly there for him even when they were his primary caregivers.

He also mentions in this FTE that he became an apprentice to his uncle “as thanks for looking after me”. Which, like… that shouldn’t be necessary? Having someone take care of you is a basic human right for a child. But apparently, being properly looked after is not something Shuichi takes for granted, to the point that he feels like he needs to repay the person who does it for him. Ouch. Poor Shuichi.

Thinking on this, it feels like Shuichi’s distant parents could be a big part of why he grew up so anxious and insecure, and why he instinctively seeks out people he can depend on wholeheartedly and latches onto them when he finds them, like he did with Kaede and Kaito. And most likely with his uncle too, for that matter.

I can definitely imagine Shuichi managing to pick up on the clues about Kaito that suggest things aren’t great regarding his parents, and quietly wondering if they’re the same – maybe even sort of hoping they are, so that he’d have someone who really understands. And, well, turns out they aren’t quite the same after all, but nonetheless, knowing that Kaito’s gone through something similar and can relate on some level would still help Shuichi feel less alone with this.

Kaito

Meanwhile, what happened with Kaito’s parents probably also played a bit of a role in shaping him into the person he is, but in more of a positive way.

I’ve seen some people assume that the deal with Kaito’s parents is that they’re shitty parents kind of like Shuichi’s are, and that this is why Kaito talks himself up to be so super awesome all the time, out of a desperate need for the validation that he never got from his own home. But I don’t think that fits. While the stress of the killing game and his illness begin to really get to him and gradually break down his self-worth, it absolutely reads to me like Kaito’s confidence in himself at the beginning of the game was completely genuine. I don’t believe – at the start – that he needed validation from anyone else to know that he was the awesome person he said he was.

So, I believe Kaito’s parents must have been great and supportive parents. They’d need to have been, for Kaito to be able to grow up with so much real confidence, so unashamed of being bombastically himself all the time even if everyone else thinks he’s a ridiculous idiot. But then, if those lovely parents had died all of a sudden when Kaito was young (young-ish, but old enough to properly remember)… that would also have helped shape him into the Kaito we know, in that it’d make him even more determined to live his life to the fullest and not waste a moment of it.

[There’s more than just these general unsubstantiated feelings about Kaito’s overall character that make me sure his parents died, though – there’s also a few canon lines that I believe are deliberately subtly hinting at it. If you want to see which lines and what I think about them, I’ve compiled them in a section at the end of this post.]

Of course, Kaito losing his parents would have been an incredibly difficult and painful experience at the time. But with his grandparents’ support and his own natural resilience and optimism, Kaito appears to have dealt with it as well as any kid losing their parents could be expected to. He’d be determined to use it to push him forward rather than let it hold him back, and it definitely seems like he succeeded.

(Even so, it’d still hurt sometimes. He still misses them, even if he mostly does a good job of not dwelling on it or letting it get him down.)

Unlike most of his other “weaknesses”, Kaito wouldn’t ever try to outright hide or lie about what happened to his parents. He’s come to terms with it by now, and he’s not and never was ashamed of it – every kid’s expected to grieve for their parents, after all – so I don’t think it’d quite set off his hero issues and make him afraid of letting his sidekicks down if they found out.

But still, I imagine Kaito wouldn’t bring it up unless specifically asked about it. No matter how much he tries to focus on the positives and assure people that he’s okay with it now, it… tends to make people feel sorry for him, and he doesn’t like that.

However, after being prompted to talk about it during this conversation with Shuichi and Maki about their parent situations, Kaito would come to realise that maybe that’s not such an issue with them. Maki and Shuichi each have their own painful lack-of-parents problems that they’ve had to get used to, so they’re not going to be unconsciously pitying Kaito for his. That’d make a refreshing change from most people.

Maki in particular must have known some kids at the orphanage who’d been in Kaito’s situation, in that they used to live with their parents and had to go through the grief of losing them. From this, she’s able to tell that, while it’s partly because he was lucky enough to still have his grandparents, Kaito really does seem to have dealt with losing his parents remarkably well. Kaito already knew that – his grandparents would have told him how proud they are of him for coping so well – but it’d help to know that someone from outside the situation thinks the same thing.

(He still wouldn’t quite bring up the moments where it still hurts and he finds himself missing his parents terribly, because that’s weakness, isn’t it? But at least, knowing that his sidekicks understand this kind of pain, albeit in a bit of a different way, would help it hurt just a little less whenever Kaito can’t help but feel like this. He wouldn’t tell them, but he’d be really glad to have that.)

Maki

Maki’s probably actually the least interesting one to talk about here, because she grew up in an orphanage where not having parents was normal and never felt like the odd one out, and she never even knew her parents to have any feelings about them in particular. It seems she had more just a general fantasy of what having parents would be like which she could share with the other kids there – she talks in one of her FTEs about how she and her best friend played House in the role of the parents and just had to make it up. Then, of course, Maki gained much worse things to be dealing with and shaping her into the person she is than a simple lack of parents.

Still, being at Hope’s Peak (or whatever other school they’re at together in this non-fiction AU) and suddenly being surrounded by other kids who constantly talk about their parents like it’s normal… it probably feels vaguely alienating for Maki, on top of every other reason she has to feel like she doesn’t belong.

But at least Shuichi and Kaito understand, in a way. They know what it feels like to hear the other kids casually talk about doing things with their parents while only being able to wish that were normal for them. Maki’s not so much of an outsider, not when she’s with these two.

And in that same way, Kaito and Shuichi would feel less alone in this regard when the trio are together. All three of them have learned to live with their situations and not complain, but it must be nice to have someone else – two someone elses – who know the kind of feeling they’re going through and can relate, even if it’s rather different for each of them.

They’d be able to bond over this – and not just as hero and sidekicks, but as equals, because this is something even Kaito isn’t completely okay about. They are friends.

(Or, maybe, they’re also like a found family? Shuichi and Kaito are certainly the closest thing to a family that Maki’s had in a long time.)

---

[appendix: why I’m sure Kaito’s parents died]

First off, there’s the possibility that Kaito’s grandparents are the subject of his motive video simply because he never knew his parents at all, a bit like Maki. But that can’t be the case, based on this line from his second FTE:

Kaito: “When I was a kid, I’d go to my gramps’ place to play sometimes…”

If he considered it his “gramps’ place” at the time and only went there sometimes, he wasn’t living with them back when he was that young. So apparently, his parents were still around at that time.

Which means that something else happened with Kaito’s parents to make his grandparents the most important people in his life. There are pretty much two possibilities for this: that Kaito’s parents died sometime after those stories he told in his FTEs, or that Kaito’s parents are just assholes and so he prefers his grandparents to them.

With regards to the possibility that his parents are assholes: aside from how I don’t think that fits because Kaito’s confidence is too genuine until the killing game beats it down, there’s also one line vaguely relevant to this topic that suggests they aren’t. In UTDP, in a scene where he’s being pestered by Kokichi:

Kaito: “You’re still like this at your age? Doesn’t it make your parents cry? Do you even visit?”

Kaito automatically assumes that Kokichi’s parents care about him, even though it could potentially begin to explain a few things about Kokichi if they didn’t. If Kaito’s own parents sucked, you’d think this’d make him likely to consider the possibility that Kokichi’s might do too. Instead, though, that option doesn’t cross his mind, so it seems like Kaito unconsciously sees parents being decent as the norm.

Meanwhile, there are a few subtle bits throughout the story that indicate Kaito might have some experience in dealing with grief prior to the killing game. At the end of trial 1, after suggesting Shuichi visit Kaede’s lab to help come to terms with her death, he says this:

Kaito: “Understand? There’s only one way to get through this awful feeling. No one’s gonna be able to console you if you’re just sitting here alone. If anyone’s gonna help you, it’ll be her… in your memories.”

This really reads to me like Kaito is speaking from experience – that he’s saying this because he found that something similar helped for him when he was going through a similar kind of pain.

Then there’s the part in trial 3 where he’s encouraging Himiko to face up to Tenko’s death:

Kaito: “Our only option is to face her death head-on!”

Himiko: “…Nyeh? Face her death?”

Kaito: “Himiko… I understand what you’re going through.”

It’s a little oddly specific of Kaito to say that he understands what Himiko’s going through when he hasn’t personally lost anyone he was especially close to in the killing game like she has. And Kaito is absolutely not the kind of person to lie or exaggerate about something this serious and personal to somebody else – this moment is about Himiko and her feelings, and Kaito knows that and wouldn’t try to artificially make things about himself. So this strongly suggests that Kaito does in fact have some idea of what Himiko is going through and is thinking about a loss he suffered outside of the killing game. Facing it head-on sounds like just the kind of thing Kaito would have tried to do for his own grief, doesn’t it?

Then, only a few lines later in that same conversation, Kaito says this:

Kaito: “Abandoning someone who died and only thinking about your own survival… That’s just as bad as a hit-and-run! I won’t forgive something so messed up!”

Which would be an extremely weirdly-specific thing to say in this situation… except that it makes perfect sense if you assume, based on his earlier lines, that Kaito was already thinking about how he felt when he lost his parents.

So, yeah. When I wrote that Kaito’s parents died specifically in a car crash, that wasn’t pulled out of nowhere either. I really believe that’s what the writers had in mind as the truth about Kaito and deliberately hinted at here.

(It does make sense that Kaito would have lost his parents to an accident like this rather than to something like illness. It’s statistically more likely that he was raised by both his parents, and if that’s the case, an accident is something that could take both of them from him at once where illness most likely wouldn’t. Plus, if he’d lost his parent(s) to illness, spending the days and weeks leading up to their death(s) knowing he was going to lose them, you’d think Kaito would have ended up better at psychologically dealing with his own deadly illness than he actually is.)

There’s also a few lines Kaito has here and there about making the most out of the time you’ve got:

Kaito: “If you’re not going to get yourself in gear now, then when!? Now’s all you’ve got!”

Kaito: “Life is short! I don’t have time to waste loafing around here.”

…which, granted, is a very Kaito-like sentiment in general. But it does suggest that he might have learned first-hand that life is short, like he could be thinking about how his parents’ time got cut off abruptly when he’s saying this kind of thing.

The only part of this idea I pulled somewhat out of thin air for this post was that the accident happened specifically when Kaito was ten, but I think something around that age range seems right. Based on the fact that it’s so relatively hard to spot the signs of this in Kaito’s behaviour, it feels like losing his parents wasn’t so recent that the wound is still raw, and also not so early on in his childhood that it would have left a huge, noticeable scar on his psyche. Kaito’s long since managed to come out on the other side and develop a healthy, positive way of dealing with grief that he can try to pass onto both Shuichi and Himiko during the game, such that doing so is the only real noticeable sign that he even went through anything painful himself at all.

#danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #kaito momota #shuichi saihara #maki harukawa #training trio #friends #training trio week 2020 #ramble

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itsa-lie · 3 years

Text

The “Death” Of A Liar [Epilogue of Birth Of A Liar]

A epilogue of that headcanon I wrote for Kokichi. You can read all five parts here. Will contain spoilers so read at your own risk! Trigger Warning: death, poisoning, needles, and a mention of a certain death in game.

There it was...

The Hydraulic crusher comes closer to his face. It was slow, painfully so. The pain in his body was unbearable. The poison was going through his body at an accelerating rate. Kokichi slowly turn his head to the side to see Kaito. His face was a literal mess. His face was full of tears, red and puffy, nose running like a faucet of snot. Oh jeez...if he wasn’t so in pain he’d make fun of this big hero guy bawling like a baby. Though he could only give a smile to him. And a small pained chuckle.

“C-C’mon Kaito, you’re the hero guy, right? You’re about to defeat the baddest villain ever. You shouldn’t be crying. Ya...ya..big baby...”

Kaito glares back to the boy laying shirtless on his back on the press, the tears still not stopping. “You idiot! Biggest bad villain?! J-Jeez! You’re doing this to stop the Mastermind! This was all your plan! Don’t...don’t say you’re a villian, alright? You’ve done some stupid things but...”

Kokichi cut the purple haired teen off with a weak “nee-hee-hee” as he turns his head back to the slowly descending iron. “You always were an idiot...” Kaito slams his fist on the control panel angrily, still filled with sorrow. “I am NOT an idiot!” Kokichi laughs again, the press only a few feet from his face. “You’re too trusting...I mean...you’re trusting me right? ....thank you for that...even if it is an idiotic decision...but hey....maybe I’m an idiot too right? I am trying to stop this horrible game.” Kokichi’s breathing gets shallow, each breath was an exhausting experience now. Even if it hurt horribly, Kokichi smiles.

“It’s like those movies, yeah? A hero and their side-kick try to beat the super villain, the villain causes so much trouble for a few more movies, then finally after a big climatic battle the hero finally defeats the villain.” The press was only a few inches from his face now, he couldn’t turn back to see Kaito without being even more in pain than he already was. Not to mention his constant wheezing from Maki’s poison made it hard for him to even talk. He had to hurry this up.

“I’m...not the final villain, you hero guys still gotta...find them but...but at least...I wasn’t boring...right?”

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

“SIMULATION TERMINATED. EJECTING...EJECTING...”

The horrible pain of getting every sort of bone crushed in your body suddenly halted as a robotic voice echoed in the air. There were sounds of machinery opening and whirling, yet everything was still so dark, so odd...

What felt like a cool breeze hit Kokichi’s face as he could feel some sort of apparatuses snap off or out of his body. And then he fell face first into a tiled floor. A cold, unforgiving, tiled floor. Grunting, Kokichi sits up and rubs his nose from the fall. ...wait...everything didn’t feel like a pancake...was he...alive? Should he dare open his eyes? Okay...on the count of three...one....two...three! His eyes wandered to his hands, both looking normal, except he was in some sort of different clothes. They looked familiar, but kinda boring. Oh God this was hell wasn’t it? Only the Devil himself would have everyone in such boring school uniforms. Kokichi missed his DICE outfit but hey, no one cared about him anyway so maybe hell was where he deserved to be. He wasn’t complaining. But if it was hell, where was the fire? Or the demons? Or the Devil and his pitchfork?

But the only place he saw was a white room. A white room full off odd sci-fy like pods. Some pods were empty, but others did have people inside them. They happened to look a lot like the surviving classmates, one of which seemed to be tossing and turning wildly.

“Kaito?”

That was Kaito alright...only he wasn’t wearing his usual jacket and tee shirt, he seemed to be wearing a drab school outfit as well. Wait...how did he get to hell? This guy was Mister Perfect! Why would he end up in a place that bad guys go to if he’s the hero? Maybe he should have a talk with God and get Him to reconsider. That was...if he could get out of this room! But what was this weird pod everyone was in? Was he in one as well? Upon turning around there was indeed a pod just like everyone else had. The inside had a soft plush interior as well as a weird white halo-like contraption at the front. There also seemed to be tubes and needles that were on the side. Wait...what did the tube go to-never mind, he looked in and regretted it. It was apparently attached to a catheter bag...okay new idea, no more trying to explore weird tubes and stuff.

However a noise coming from the other side of the room caught his attention. A girl had come in. She looks exhausted, her breathing fast and rapid, her face as red as an apple from exertion. Short brown hair framed her face and she wore a very fancy middle school uniform. Honestly she looked familiar but for some reason Kokichi couldn’t figure out who she was. “Kokichi! I ran here as soon as I saw and-”

“Finally! Satan! I’ve been waiting for you. Ya know, I really wasn’t expecting you to be a little girl, I thought you’d be a bit intimidating or somethi-”

Before he could finish that statement the girl slapped him hard making him stumble back holding his hand to his face. The girl looked angry as hell.

“I saw everything! What was wrong with you? You called out that Kaede girl, and that poor bug man, and-and-and-well you did so much I don’t even want to think of it!” She was shaking with rage. Was this girl just a fan of the show? No...she might have been but if this was just some random passerby saying these words to him he wouldn’t care. But for some reason coming from...whoever this is...it made him feel extreme guilt? But just like always...Kokichi hides his real emotions behind a blank stare.

The girl stopped her ranting and looked up at Kokichi, her eyes still watering. “Don’t you...remember me?”

A blank face, a white lie, a half-truth.

“Nope. Not at all.”

This answer got the girl more upset as she began to sob. “You don’t remember me, do you?” She rummages through her back pocket as she pulls out a poorly drawn clown mask and places it on her face. And for the first time...Kokichi was at a loss for words. That mask was important! Yeah, in his memory he remembered it looking much better but this was DICE’s logo! Their uniform! All of the members had one. However he couldn’t get himself to say anything! Say something! Say anything, stupid!

“I knew it...” The girl places her mask back. “I’m Hanako! The person you promised to take care of DICE if you were ever gone! And now you betrayed everything our organization ever stood for by acting like a mean selfish brat! And not only that!” She stares daggers at the pod containing what appears to be a sleeping Maki. “Big sister tried to kill you! I don’t know what happened in this game but it’s like I don’t even know who you two are anymore! You’re like two evil strangers!” Before she could go on her rant, two policemen had entered from an unseen stairway. Come to think of it that was probably how Hanako got in.

“Only Crew-members and participants are allowed through this point, little girl.” One says grabbing the girl’s arm. “Ah, her uniform. She must be from that fancy shmancy all girls orphanage not too far from here. According to my records she escapes a lot.”

“Let me go! I-I have to go back to DICE! I hate that orphanage!” Hanako tries to struggle out of the man’s grip but to no avail.

“Wait just a second, fatso! I was talking to her!” Kokichi demands. This girl was being forced back to a place against her will and even if he was the Ultimate Supreme Leader Of Evil, he definitely wasn’t going to sit back and watch these two bully her! Not only that, this girl had information on DICE, maybe she knows the truth. “Shuddup pipsqueak. You got what you deserved.” One cop completely discarded him.

“Wait, what happened? Did the little grape kid kill anyone directly yet? Shit did I miss his execution?”

“Almost. Seems he tried to kill that Kaito guy under a giant press but then suddenly outta nowhere the complete opposite happens an’ Kaito is alive an’ the supreme leader is squashed like a grape!”

“Shoot! I missed it! Did they record the squashin’?”

“No but you know, they do show his body...or what’s left of it anyways. Plus they do a whole play-by-play anyway with a reenactment of what happened. Sadly I think they’re gonna execute the Kaito kid next...”

“A shame, but at least he’ll go out as a hero, right?”

Kaito...execution...he knew this would happen...and he didn’t really want it to. Hell...after seeing so many of his friends die Kokichi was willing to go through an execution as well out of extreme guilt for not finishing this “destroy Daganronpa” plan quick enough! But at least Kaito will die as a hero, and he’ll most likely die of his disease before Monokuma could really kill him. The thought of that bear being frustrated with that filled Kokichi with so much joy. He smiles a little, only to be pushed away like trash by the cops as they take the girl back up.

“.........”

That’s right...he was the “mastemind”. The guy who kept causing trouble for everyone in the game. The bad guy. The antagonist. That’s what he was now...to the world, to Maki, to Hanako, and most likely to DICE themselves. Whoever Kokichi Ouma was before the Killing Game was gone. Everyone forgot that version, even Kokichi himself...no one would want him around anymore. So it was settled. He won’t go back to his orphanage...he won’t go back to DICE, they tore down their headquarters anyway. He was going to hide away. He’s been doing that for years now and he was good at it. Why stop now? With his blank stare which hid tons and tons of pain, he made his way up the stairs to start his new life who knows where.

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

“Will that be for here or to go?”

“Uhhhh....I think I’ll take it to go. Oh, can I get some extra ketchup?”

“Sure. Alright m’am. Have a happity-happy day.”

God he hated saying that, but he had to. It’s part of Happity Burger’s policy. The woman had to double take looking at him too. No doubt she recognizes him. Shit.

Good thing he was on his break. His manager was apparently not into television shows so he didn’t mind hiring him, though still he hid his name-tag or borrowed a co-workers anytime he needed one for the uniform. Yeah flipping burgers and singing that same stupid happy birthday song to some kid who was this close to barfing on you wasn’t a glorious life but...hey it was a way to get by. Once you get through the stares that is.

And people stared.

A lot.

Ugh.

It was during his break that he got a text from an unknown number. Kokichi slightly looked at his phone to see who it was.

Unknown: Hello? Unknown: Do I have the right number?

Who would even text him besides his boss? He rolls his eyes and goes back to looking at memes trying to get a chuckle out of his depressing life. He looks around to see more people looking at him. Tch..he turn around to the window in the booth he was sitting at, ignoring the trash and spills on the table from the family who ate here before.

Ding!

Unknown: Kokichi Ouma?

Okay that surprised him for a second. Hardly anyone knew his name because he wouldn’t tell it, so how the hell would they know?

You: Sorry, wrong number.

Well he was a liar after all. According to his phone he had only a few minutes of break time left before the lunch rush comes in. He cursed to himself and cleaned up the table he was sitting at. As he did he thought about all of his friends...not all his memories had come back...though some came back quicker than others. He did remember the Killing Game participants vividly though. Kaede, Shuichi, Kiiboy, Kaito,...Maki. Actually now that he’s older and an adult now he holds no ill will towards Maki. The fact that girl...whoever she was...remembered both him and her meant something. He still hasn’t figured that out. But that Kokichi Ouma was dead. Crushed by a Hydraulic press much to the delight of an entire audience of strangers. Shuichi was right.

He was always going to be alone.

And he was used to it. There was nothing he could do about it. The universe hated him. And honestly...he hated himself too.

Another ding. What do they want now?

Unknown: Yep. It’s you alright. It’s been five or six years, hasn’t it? Meet me outside after work, I want to talk to you.

#kokichi ouma #kokichi oma #kokichi headcanons #ndrv3 #drv3

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zoryany · 4 years

Text

@kaitodetective1412 sent me 45 -- You may technically be an adult, but you’re still my child.

(an anon did as well and I do plan to answer both in different ways and I will tag kaito in the anon answer as well bc I feel like this isn’t what either of you wanted but it’s what you’re gonna get, for now)

Imperial Royal Skywalker Family AU Pt 1 || Pt 2

send me ficlet prompts – optionally include characters

Dessert passed in relative silence, the atmosphere in the dining room having grown decidedly tense. Luke had really been hoping he could have delayed Han meeting his father until after he’d spoken to his parents, but the Force seemed to be set on toying with him. At least Mother had been able to placate Father before he’d done anything rash, but Luke wasn’t sure that had been entirely preferable, either.

When they’d all finished, Luke moved to usher Han back to his suite, but his mother raised her hand before he had the chance to even rise from his chair. “Leia? Sweetheart, can you please escort Captain Solo to his rooms while your father and I talk to Luke?”

“Yes, Mother.” Leia looked as though she would rather swallow a bantha whole, but she knew better than to argue with their mother, especially when she was already in a dangerous enough mood. She was also probably hoping she’d get to be in on the whole conversation that was to come, which added to her disappointment. Not that it mattered, anyways, because one way or another, she would know exactly what was said, but her expression and presence in the Force soured significantly as she turned her gaze to Han. “Let’s go, Captain. I don’t have all night.”

Han threw a final, withering look over his shoulder as Leia led him from the room, leaving Luke alone with his mother at last. With a severe expression, she turned to face him, and Luke felt his stomach drop out from under him. Out of the eyes of company, it was entirely clear just how upset she really was. All of the guilt that had been eating at him for the past weeks rose back up in him all at once.

“Come, dear,” said his mother as she stood. “Let’s not keep your father waiting.”

Hanging his head, Luke followed his mother with heavy steps to his father’s study. Unlike the rooms of the Palace occupied largely by the Empress, Darth Vader’s spaces, both planetside and on his flagship, tended to be dim and spartan, possessing little in the way of embellishments. He claimed it as practicality -- and, on most occasions, Luke would agree with that -- but right about now, he was convinced that it was meant to make facing him all that more intimidating.

Luke had never been afraid of his father. He understood why people were, and why they should be, and he was all too aware of what someone as powerful as Darth Vader was capable of, but he’d never feared him. His father would never hurt him or Leia, especially not with Mother around to rein in his temper, but there was always a certain anxiety that overtook him whenever his father was angry. He hated the feeling, the sudden urge to cower in submission before a man he’d idolized all his life and who loved him deeply. Leia had always been better than Luke at standing strong in the face of his emotions, perhaps because she had never felt the same level of hero-worship towards him, but Luke was finding himself longing for some of her strength right about now.

His father had been pacing the length of the room when they’d arrived, but the moment they crossed the threshold, he stopped in his tracks and whirled around. The movement was so abrupt that most would assume that kind of speed impossible from a man as large as Vader, but he moved quick enough to send his cape billowing behind him. “Sit,” he commanded, pointing to a chair in the centre of the room.

As he complied, his mother walked to stand to the right of her husband, both parents folding their arms across their chests. His cheeks burned in shame as he avoided looking directly at them. How was it that they could so easily make him feel like he was five years old again?

“You know why you are here, son.” The modulated voice carried a tranquil rage, one that affected him far more than being shouted at ever would. “Explain.”

‘You can do this, Luke,’ he thought silently, sucking in a shuddering breath in an attempt to steady himself. ‘You’ve been practicing this speech in your head since you left.’

"I -- I can’t apologize enough for leaving without warning like that. I know I put you through needless worry, and I’m sure that nothing I can do will make up for that. I just... needed to get away.” Stars, it sounded even lamer saying it out loud than it did in his head. Neither parent looked pleased. He pressed on. “You know I’ve never really liked -- never really been comfortable with any of... well, our status.” Once again, he was jealous of Leia. She wouldn’t be stumbling over her words like this. “I’ve never liked being the Prince, never really liked making public appearances. Never been good at them, either. Leia’s always been better suited for it. And after twenty years of it, I was feeling... claustrophobic. I needed some freedom.”

“Freedom?” It had always been a touchy subject for his father, Luke knew, but he had to hope he could use that to his advantage. “As the Imperial Prince, you have been granted every want, every desire you could hope for. Your mother and I fought tirelessly, made endless sacrifices to create this life for you and your sister. There has never been more freedom in the galaxy, and you stand at the head of it all.”

Was his father being serious? “You... actually expect me to believe that being rich and powerful is the same as being free?” But then, of course his father did. “Maybe you just don’t realize this gilded cage you’ve put me in, Father. I can’t go anywhere beyond our private quarters without an excessive number of guards accompanying me. You and mother have to be aware of my location at every given moment. I’m not allowed to fly or talk to people or do anything without express permission! It’s suffocating! It’s -- ”

“For your safety,” his father growled, hands falling from his chest to form clenched fists at his sides. Next to him, his mother tensed slightly, pursing her lips, but she did nothing more than focus on watching him just a bit more closely. “Everything I have ever done has been to keep you and your mother and your sister safe. The life we live has come at a great cost, and I will not see you throw it all away out of some foolish rebellion. If something would have happened to you -- ”

“But it didn’t!” Luke cried, his voice pitching upward. Any fear or anxiety he’d been feeling had evaporated, and he was prepared to staunchly defend himself. He was not an idiot. He knew exactly how his parents would feel and how they would react to his departure. The decision he made was conscious and purposeful, and he had every intention of justifying it. “I can take care of myself, you know. All that training hasn’t been for nothing. I was careful. I took every precaution. And I’m twenty years old, now, I’m not a little kid anymore.”

While his mother’s face had relaxed a bit, his father did not appear to be convinced. “You may technically be an adult,” he said, slowly, “but you are still my child -- our child. I have torn down the galaxy once to protect you, and I would do it a thousand times over if it keeps you from harm.”

Letting out a noise of frustration, Luke leapt up from his seat. “But that’s just it! I know you have and I know that you were trying to do it again! Don’t think I didn’t notice the swath of destruction you left in your wake when you tried to track me down this time. It’s too much! I love you both so much, but I don’t want the galaxy to grind to a halt just because I ask for some time alone. I can’t stand all the attention, the pomp and circumstance that surrounds everything I do, the formality I’m forced to endure just to attend dinner! I just -- ” His voice broke, and he was embarrassed to find his eyes stinging as he looked imploringly at his parents. “All I wanted was a little bit of normalcy.”

Slumping back in his chair, Luke realized he may not have processed all of this quite as successfully as he’d initially thought. Running away, it turned out, had only served as a distraction from genuinely confronting what was really bothering him.

“Normalcy?” The vocoder’s tone was dull and flat, and his father seemed to have relaxed his stance, somewhat, almost in disbelief. “You wish to be ordinary? Like every other being in this galaxy?” Disbelief was evident, now. His father’s fists had uncurled, his shoulders slackened, and though he could not see his face, Luke got the impression of wide eyes and raised brows. “That... is unacceptable. You are the furthest thing from ordinary, son. You are above those lesser beings, and I would not see you receive anything less than you deserve. ”

"No,” Luke said, quietly but firmly, “I am not above them.” He’d spent countless hours in the Coruscant underground, on treks both known and unknown to his parents, and he’d spent several weeks touring the galaxy. He had interacted with their citizens on a regular basis, and he knew who they really were. They were people, beings with dreams and aspirations and ideals, and they were magnificent. “My abilities and my status don’t make me any better than anyone else. Aren’t we supposed to be ruling the galaxy for them?”

A stubborn set worked its way through his father’s frame, unyielding as ever. “We do. The galaxy has never fared better.” And he could not be certain if that was a truth or a lie, but his father certainly believed it. “But I cannot allow you to stoop to the level of those below your status. The future of our benevolent Empire rests upon you and your sister. You must maintain a particular image if you wish for your control over them to endure.”

“Are you not listening to me?” But Luke already knew the answer to that. Of course his father wasn’t listening to him. Anything that contradicted his very specific view of the universe rarely made it through. “I don’t want that power to rest on me! I’m not interested in having people grovel at my feet or flinch away from me in fear. I don’t want people to worship me or treat me like... like -- ”

“Royalty?” His father’s arms were folded across his chest again. “That is what you are.”

Luke was prepared to cut in, and his father looked like he had more to say, but before either of them could speak up again, his mother stepped up and placed a gentle hand on his father’s shoulder.

“Ani, wait.” Even after twenty years, Luke could still not believe just how quickly his father seemed to settle when his mother intervened. “I think I know what this is about.” His mother’s expression grew tender as she stepped towards him, crouching down before his chair and cupping his face in her hands. “Dearest,” she said with unparalleled tenderness, “was this because of your birthday?”

Reading the sympathy and understanding in his mother’s deep brown eyes, Luke found himself leaning into her touch. She was radiating compassion, searching for understanding, and Luke knew that this was the reason he’d always intended to return home when he’d left. His parents loved him. They cared for him. They wanted what was best for him, even if they didn’t know how to go about it. All he’d wanted was to do something on his own terms.

“Yes...”

Because his birthday had not been on his terms. It hadn’t been on Leia’s, either, but she could adapt to it much easier than her brother. He’d been overwhelmed, surrounded by sycophants who only wanted to know him because he was an heir, and his status meant that he could not enjoy even the smallest of pleasantries at a party that was meant to be for him and his twin. And then the scene during the speeches...

He’d never wanted to leave his family. Luke loved his mother, father and sister with his entire being. But their status had always weighed on him, and that night had been a breaking point.

“Oh, sweetheart...” His mother shifted her grip and pulled him close. Luke squeezed his eyes shut. Tears had been threatening to spring forth since he’d sat back down, and they ran freely down his cheeks when his mother’s arms enveloped him. “Why didn’t you say anything? We could have talked this out. You didn’t need to run away.”

At this point, his father had taken a single step forward, appearing somewhat hesitant but still refusing to relent. Luke chose to focus on his mother, and he found himself sinking in on himself even more. It felt nearly impossible to convey how he felt and what he wanted without hurting their feelings. His mother’s sympathetic gaze coupled with his father’s unyielding stance only served to elevate his guilt.

But there was this sneaking feeling within him that the conversation his mother suggested wouldn’t have gone well regardless.

“I didn’t think you would listen to me,” he said quietly. “You’re still not really listening to me. I had to do something drastic. It felt like the only option, at the time, and I still feel like it’s not enough. Han makes me happy in a way that all that spectacle just - doesn’t. So I just - I need you to understand why - and I mean actually understand. Because I didn’t want to run. And I don’t want to do it again. But I can’t keep going like this...”

For a long moment, his mother looked at him with large, sad eyes before finally withdrawing her hands and stepping away. “Alright,” she said, a quiet resignation working its way into her voice. “I... don’t think we’ll get much further tonight. Why don’t you go wash up for bed, and your father and I will discuss what you’ve told us.” She pressed her lips together and gave him a long, steady look. “We want what’s best for you, Luke. Please know this.”

And he did. The trouble was, their idea of what was best for him didn’t always match up to his own.

“Luke.” His father seemed uncharacteristically hesitant. “Please do not resort to this again.”

There was more his father wanted to say - more they all wanted to say - but Luke felt satisfied that they had, at the very least, made some manner of progress tonight.

“I won’t, Father. I promise.”

#imperial royal skywalker family au #luke skywalker #darth vader #padme naberrie #padme amidala #my writing #star wars fic #i THINK i'm happy with this #hope you folks enjoy!#any feedback is obviously appreciated #so let me know what you think!#and if you want more of this AU #either a continuation #or like other things that go down in it

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cutegirlmayra · 4 years

Note

Ever heard of Magic Kaito? Can you make a sonic prompt out of it? I'm not asking an AU, but as something to base on, like Sonic was forced by Dr. Eggman to steal, or has to beat him to it by stealing it first? And he has to keep it as a secret just like kaito? How would everyone react to it? Ooh and Shadow and the G.U.N. chasing him this time for actually being a "bad" guy!!! My how the tables have turned! and add sonamy in there too XD Thank you ate Mayra \uwu/ you're the best!!!

I can work with thieves in the night! Also, thank you so much for all you’ve done for @idontworkforsega! I really appreciate it and for that, have this prompt I tried to put a lot of thought into it and I just hope you enjoy it >w

PROMPTS ARE ON SHUTDOWN. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT SEND ME ANY ASK TILL THEY ARE OPENED! WHICH THEY ARE NOT! SO HOLD THOSE BEAUTIFUL IDEAS IN A WORD DOC CAUSE IT BREAKS MY HEART TO DELETE GOOD PROMPT IDEAS! JUST WAIT, CUTIES! (followers) WE’RE TWO PROMPTS AWAY FROM REOPENING!!! WE’RE ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!

Prompt:

“Sonic just can’t be bad…” Tails repeated, not sure if Shadow understood him clearly.

His ears bent as Shadow dismissed him, flipping through a G.U.N file. “Stolen engine. Stolen gear. Stolen weapons. Stolen metal and utilities?” he put the file down and pinched the bridge of his eyes.

“Rouge, none of this makes sense.”

“They’ve got me stumped just as much, too.” Rouge, half-hidden in the darkness of the one light that swings above them, has her arms folded before walking over to take the folder. She flips it open again, “Seems he’s really being mind-controlled or something to help Eggman build something… but something on this scale would be impossible to not only create but to steal… Not without-”

“Sonic’s speed.” Tails hops into a chair, putting his hands together as he recently saw the footage he thought was back when Shadow was stealing the Chaos Emeralds… but it turns out all of that was to frame Sonic before… this time… Sonic really does seem to be the one causing the damage. “He never trusted Eggman. Even back in Chris’s world, he stopped Eggman. When everyone started liking Eggman, falling for his games, Sonic never once listened to anyone. He destroyed Eggman’s plan no matter how much the government fought against him.”

Shadow and Rouge turn to Tails.

He sighs, looking a bit loss for words. “He has to be mind-controlled… why else would he..?”

“It’s not mind-control.” The three turn to see Knuckles struggling to grip the door frame of Rouge’s hideout.

“Knuckles!” she exclaims, turning around, “Why are you..?”

She was shocked, her hand up by her face as she beheld the many injuries on him, as he fell to a knee, shaking…

“Knuckles!!!” she leaped and glided to him, helping him up as he struggled and fell to the ground again. “Ah!” like a doting friend, she let him lean on her. “What on earth happened to you?”

“S…Sonic… he’s not mind-controlled. He said he had… his reasons…” Knuckles looked torn-up just saying that, as though he tried to ‘knock’ some sense into Sonic and lost…

“No… he even attacked you?” Tails jumped out of the chair, coming down closer and falling to his knees in front of Knuckles’s crumbling strength. “Tell me! Tell me everything he said to you!”

“He’s got it. The Master Emerald.” Knuckles quickly spot through gritted teeth, one eye half-closed out of pain. “Tails… He’s not there anymore. He’s changed.”

“I don’t believe that!” Tails shook his head. “He… he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t abandon us like this!”

“Face it, Tails.” Shadow stepped up then, looking down at the boy as he began to break down. “He destroyed your plane, attacked his friends, and now has only one thing left to steal…”

Rouge looked up to Shadow, “You don’t mean…”

“If Eggman’s building what I think he is… then Sonic’s next target has to be it.” he turned back to the file Rouge once had.

He stared long and hard at it, not approaching it for a moment but then sternly grabbing it again.

“He’s going to come for G.U.N’s most secretive blueprints…”

“What are those..?” Knuckles dared to lift his shaking head up, as Rouge’s eyes shook in fright.

“You don’t mean…”

Shadow slowly turned around, closing his eyes. “Hmph… He appears to be…”

He opened his eyes.

“Coming for me.”

Amy wasn’t a stranger to G.U.N, though the boys may have doubted her and worried for her safety if Sonic really was mind-controlled, she knew through her own investigations that he may be after Project Shadow’s blueprints.

She didn’t know what he wanted with them, or why it seemed like he was helping Eggman, but she did know one thing.

She looked at the security guard passively leading her through to the commanding officer, but once her guard slipped, she too–scurried away!

“Phew~” Amy swiped some sweat off her forehead. “I thought she’d never give me a break.” Amy quickly began to sneak expertly around G.U.N’s most heavily secured locations… the top-secret files of Floor 42.

Floor 42 held everything there ever was that was blotted out of history, including Project Shadow and the Ark.

When things got dicey, Amy seemed to become invisible for a few moments, darting under the radar of the guards and their machine robots they had for double security…

However…

The robots, giant and bulky holding high-threat guns for the most serious of occasions suddenly began to short-circuit.

Amy gasped, peeking around the corner she had just managed to sneak by before realizing the sparking.

“727, what’s wrong with you?!” One of the men stated before the Robot’s body returned to normal… but its eyes shifted color and it began to fire on the lock doors.

“Ah!” Amy darted out, shouting as she grabbed the man and they tumbled to the floor before the robot could blast him to smithereens too.

“Great work there, buddy.” a familiar voice… could it be..?

There was a pounding up above the ventilation as Sonic used a laser to create a cut-out for him to shimmy through.

He put his hands to his hips, smiling at the robot and then clicking a few buttons from a device strapped to a black utility belt.

“G.U.N sure has more useful gadgets than Eggman could ever afford! Let’s say you and I get what we came for and then get out of here.” towards the end of that line, it sounded like Sonic turned less like himself and more serious, his smile left and the jokes had run out.

Was he coping?

Amy recognized the facial expression, and after helping the downed man get to the corner safely, she made herself known.

“Hold it right there! I know you don’t want to do this, Sonic!!!”

There was a moment of an involuntary twitch from Sonic,… but as he turned around, his eyes and face only held dark tones. It was as though… he really had changed sides.

“W-what’s wrong with you? You’re never like this… Sonic…” She began to lose her nerve, trembling a moment at the look of animosity in his expression. She shook her head and continued to be brave, “No! I won’t believe it! Tails went to find answers after you rigged the X-Tornado to explode! Your fingerprints… I just don’t want to accept it but it was you!” she lowered her head, her fists trembling. “They wouldn’t let me fight… to talk some sense into you… or at least find out why you’re doing this! Do you need Eggman to trust you? Is he blackmailing you? Sonic… talk to me! For once, just let us know what’s going on in that dense head of yours!” She stepped forward, and his eyes lowered to her foot that faced directly to him.

“You don’t have to do this alone, Sonic… let us help you! We can save you too!”

He seemed to pause a moment but then sigh and turn his head away, “No, Amy. You can’t.”

She seemed puzzled by his dismissal of her. “W-what do you mean..?” she stepped back a moment.

Again, he seemed to be thinking… before rubbing the back of his head. “Man… I knew I needed to get Tails and Knuckles off my backs… but I had really hoped you’d stay out of it.”

He cracked his neck and stretched out his arms a moment. “Guess you don’t leave me much of a choice now…” He began to walk towards her.

“S…S…S-Sonic… You wouldn’t hurt me… What do you mean by Knuckles? What did you do to him?!” She continued to move back, before bumping into something behind her.

“Ah!” she screeched as she turned around and saw Metal Sonic’s red eyes blaring into her own.

“SUBJECT IDENTIFIED. BAIT AND LURE.” it charged her.

When Amy came too, something was ramming into the files, fighting fearlessly but like animals as Amy looked to see the guard robot was defensively standing over her.

“W-… what?”

She leaned up and looked again, seeing Sonic slam into and create a dominio effect of the cabinet walls all toppling over onto each other. They were lined up pretty neatly, so Metal Sonic was able to keep shoving Sonic into each one.

“Sonic! I knew he wouldn’t hurt me!” Amy summoned out her hammer, “SOOONNICCC!!”

She charged, knocking Metal Sonic away as Sonic grabbed her arm.

“H-huh?”

“File located.” Sonic glared at Metal Sonic, but his eyes weren’t comforting to Amy at all.

He held up, with a bit of strain in his injured arm, a file with a red tag.

Metal, about to retaliate, looked like he didn’t really want to hesitate. “…PROTOCOL.” he seemed forced to comply and scanned it.

“FILE CONFIRMED.” he disengaged.

Sonic looked to Amy, and for a second, she did see sorrow in his eyes.

He held Amy’s arm up, “Ow!” Amy was pulled in the direction, grabbing her own arm to counter his forceful grip.

“…Lure confirmed.” Sonic glared back at Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic seemed to know something Amy didn’t know in that moment. His eyes narrowed, as though challenging Sonic.

Sonic held his own, and even though Amy struggled, she wouldn’t fight against Sonic like this.

Metal looked to Amy… then grabbed her and pulled her over his shoulder.

“Hey, wait-!” Sonic went to protest but Sonic held his claws up, ready to stab him.

“BAIT CONFIRMED.” he seemed to be arguing a point…

Sonic gritted his teeth, shaking his outstretched hand into a fist… he held back… and lowered his head slightly. “…Mission… completed.”

Metal Sonic, as though taunting Sonic’s submissiveness, lowered the hand and patted Amy’s back. “RETURN ALL STOLEN ITEMS TO BASE.”

Sonic closed his mouth, just eyeing Metal head-on…

Metal lowered his arm but took a bold step forward, as though daring Sonic to try something… anything…

“MISSION…” his computerized voice replayed as though rewinding backwards, then he left a pause to see if Sonic would confirm the next instruction.

He tilted his head closer to Sonic, seeing he shut up a moment, and not say anything.

“Sonic…” Amy looked back over Metal Sonic’s shoulder. “You were protecting me right? Why aren’t you… why aren’t you fighting back anymore?”

He stayed with his eyes to the ground, which was currently the cabinet turned over and bent in where he was rushed into by Metal’s frame…

“Completed.” He closed his eyes, shutting Amy out once and for all.

Metal leaned back, his eyes lowering its eyelids as though disappointed he couldn’t fight Sonic while he was being compliant.

“DIRECTIVE, DR. EGGMAN MUST KNOW OF BAIT.” he opened something that flipped up on his arm. “DR. EGGMAN. FILE ACQUIRED. NEW BAIT ACQUIRED. PERMISSION-”

“New bait? Ohhh! If it isn’t Amy Rose! This just got interesting… I wonder how you took being captured by your own rescuer!” Eggman giddily cheered from the mic in the arm. “Good work, Metal Sonic, Sonic… I hope to see you both… very... soon… HOHOHOOOHOHO!!” he laughed his infamous, belly-deep gloat and turned the mic off.

Metal Sonic looked to Sonic then, the slide on his arm flipping back shut and tight. “SECURING BAIT.” He placed Amy down as she struggled, trying to trip up Metal Sonic, but his force was created to be matched only to Sonic’s brute strength… she couldn’t wiggle out of his hold so easily.

“L-let me go!” she turned back to Sonic, “Sonic, help me!”

Sonic tightened his eyes further shut.

“Sonic!” she watched as Metal Sonic rose a hand up.

“PROCEEDING TO INHIBIT TARGET FROM ESCAPE.”

Her eyes widened, he was going to knock her out? For good this time!?

His metal hand swung down…

But stopped.

Amy gasped and looked at him sparking.

“Y-Y-YOUZZZZ TRA-ZZZ-AIT-ZZZZ-TOR…” He malfunctioned as Sonic held down the device on his utility belt.

“Actually… I’m not the one that’s gonna fry you.” Sonic lifted the device as the guard G.U.N robot came towering into the room, basically knocking down the entire wall and door into the cabinet space–not being designed to come into the room–only to protect it.

The robot held up its large blaster and fired into Metal as Sonic grabbed Amy out of the way, controlling the robot.

Metal was blasted farther and farther back, and soon… out like a light.

“Sonic! You really did save-!… ahh…” She turned back, happy to have her hero back for a moment before…

His eyes were still hostile… still aggressive.

“…Sonic?”

He looked down at her, before throwing her like a tossed rag-doll over his shoulder.

“Ah! Hey! Sonic! L-…let me go! This is not how I like to be held!” She kicked back a bit but again, didn’t want to hurt him.

He went over to Metal Sonic’s steaming and heated metal, kicking the heel of his feet into the sliding device.

“Metal Sonic? What it is? Metal? Come in, Metal!!”

“Hey, Doc. Metal was being careless. Look like he got knocked out by one of the G.U.N guard bots around here.”

Amy stopped struggling.

“…Hmm… A likely story…” Eggman grumbled. “Don’t forget our little deal now… SONIC!” he threatened through the mic.

“Honest Eggman, I’ll bring him back to you. Free of charge! Then you can tell me how the little copybot rolled over.” his usual spunk had returned, but was it only for show at this point?

“Hmmm… Very well. Then I suppose the added bait… got away too?”

“Nope! No way she could escape me!”

“Oh yes… her darling Sonic still the darling of her dreams and fantasies then?”

Sonic remained silent…

Amy began to holler, “Eggman! What’d you do to him-!” but Sonic bounced her on his shoulder, and it hit the air out of her gut for a moment. “Ahh…!” she twitched a moment in temporary pain.

“Hahaha! Well, well. Looks like you are still following my commands. Excellent… then no hard feelings with Metal Sonic… Just make sure you bring that file and the girl to the base… Tails and the others will surely come to rescue her. Well done, Sonic The Hedgehog~” he chimed on that last part and then cut off the mic.

After Metal Sonic had cooled, more G.U.N robots and military began to appear.

“Alright, I’ve had a pretty rough day.” Sonic finally admitted, then smirked to them. “So I guess I need to let off a little steam. Sorry ‘bout all this.”

With no hesitation, Sonic took off and bested the G.U.N security while having both hands grabbing and carrying Amy and Metal Sonic out the front door.

It was infuriating the head of G.U.N, who launched everything, even a full-blown chase out to get Sonic.

While dashing away in a quick flee, dodging bombs and missiles heading their way, Sonic made sure to not let Amy escape.

“I don’t understand!” Amy tried to leap away when he rolled to miss a firing squad, but quickly bit the end of her dress and tugged, forcing her to yoyo back as he got up and grabbed her again.

“Gotta make everything difficult… including your criminal record now!” Amy folded her arms, huffing and puffing up her cheek in her scolding. “What? Being a goody-two-shoes suddenly doesn’t seem like the life anymore?!”

He never responded to her.

She once again summoned her hammer, ready to strike his head, but her eyes bent back in love and she looked to see another grenade launched at them.

With a surprised gasp, she hit it away as it exploded, and Sonic turned to see what she had done.

Finally, he did acknowledge her, grinning.

“Oh… OHHH!!! SHUT UP! Of course, I can’t help but still want you alive and well! Till death do us part, you idiot!” she let out her iconic cry and then threw her hammer at another guard, now attempting to slightly help in his escape.

However, she remained stubborn and folded her arms again, pouting. “Don’t you think this means I support your new life choices, though, Sonic!”

“Thanks, Amy.”

That blew her back more than the whiplash of him making it all the way to Eggman’s secret hideout.

“I appreciate it.”

“Y…You appreciate what..? That you broke my heart? Hmph.” she looked away from him, but couldn’t help and blush.

Amy soon realized that Sonic wasn’t being mind-controlled or anything like that at all! Eggman had inserted a small micro-explosion-chip into each of Sonic’s friend’s necks. If Sonic didn’t do as he was told, he would lose them all.

“Sonic! This isn’t fair!”

“Fair?” Eggman howled in laughter. “If I was playing fair, I wouldn’t have threatened lives!”

The plan was completed, Eggman’s new airship launched itself, planning to take out G.U.N and the biggest military defenses around the globe. With them disabled, Eggman was assured he’d take over the world without much resistance.

“Boring, I know, but I’m feeling a little lucky today~ Who knows! Maybe someone will rise up to fight you, Sonic. Wouldn’t that be something! HOHOHO!!!”

With Eggman’s laugh, Sonic stepped into the robotizier.

“Sonic!” Amy cried out, having escaped her cell and rushed into the engine room where Eggman and Sonic were. “You can’t do this! I’d rather have my neck blown off than watch you suffer!”

Sonic then paused as the machine came down around him. “Amy! Look out!”

Amy was surprised by that response but turned to see Metal Sonic swiping a claw at her.

It seemed Eggman didn’t just want ONE Metal Sonic…

Darting out of the machine, Sonic nearly got to Amy before his claw nicked her cheek, and he threw him over with himself into the lava pit Eggman had installed from the waste the generating engine created.

Eggman, amazed by Sonic’s fearless act, peeked over the side to see if they had really been incinerated… but Amy swooped her hand down after Sonic, gripping him with two hands as Metal flew up back into the air.

“Sooooniiicc!!!”

He smiled up at her, a bit of sweat all over him, as though he really was faking being alright with everything.

“Why can’t you just trust us for once! Just once! Let us know what’s going on with you!”

His eyes softened to her.

“Even if we all die, it’s better than having to fight against our friend! I’m not giving up on you, Sonic The Hedgehog! You’ve never stolen anything in your life! It was always just given you. But for once! I’m asking something of you that you can’t possibly refuse!!!” She began to let go of one of her hands on his, trying to stop sliding down the cylinder engine and towards the lava pit.

Eggman stuffed popcorn into his face, curious to see how Amy was going to save herself AND SONIC from this predicament.

Metal Sonic went to attack but Eggman held up a hand. “Hold it. Dead or robotized, doesn’t really matter in the end. Now… does it?” he then went back to eating his popcorn. “So long as Sonic’s out of the way, my plans for world domination can’t be superseded. Let the girl have her final moments of recongition~” he chimed.

“You’re going to do exactly what you’re still doing! Risking your life for the ones you cherish!”

Sonic couldn’t help but be fixated on her.

She struggled, her arm beginning to falter as it stretched to keep them both from sliding off and plummeting to their molten deaths.

“But in return, you must give us the same right! The same right… to… fight… for you… Son…ic..! AHHHH!!!” she strained her head back, feeling for the last ounces of strength left in her as Sonic, amazed, watched her swing him up and cry out as he was returned back to the top of the cylinder, large, beam-like engine that scaled the entire length of the open room.

Eggman spit out his popcorn. His whole body lurched forward, mouth hung open as he wiped heat and steam from his eyes. “WHAT!? Im… Impossible!!!??!?!”

Amy smiled through heavy breaths… “I’m gonna marry you… but you have to be my hero… my darling… for me to say I do… ahh… hhaaa…. Sooon…ic…” she slowly released her grip.

Pulling out a wire meant for lowering ones self into a room to snatch expensive jewelry, Sonic grabbed her with his wire and reeled her up.

Metal Sonic looked outraged, but due to his programming, he just turned to Eggman with a loud roar of his engine.

“Oh, fine! Take them down!” Eggman waved it off, pulling away from the scene. “Just make sure they don’t get away!”

Sonic pulled Amy up by him, as though… disguising the hug of relief.

“They’ve stolen Shadow’s files.” Sonic moved her away seconds after the embrace, “He was gonna make an army of me, but like Shadow.”

“A… Project Sonic?” Amy’s head was boggled then, but they quickly had bigger issues to deal with, currently…

Metal Sonic flung down towards them, but like a renewed tag-team, they began to fight him.

Through the outside metal-coating of the launched airbase, Tails fired the X-Tornado and took out Metal Sonic, blasting through the hide and then taking him down in the process as he was fired several times down into the lava below… and melted just the same.

Knuckles tried to retrieve his Master Emerald but Rouge was a double-agent, hearing about Knuckles’s micro-explosion-chip, she wanted to protect everyone as well.

The twist left Sonic still walking into the robotizer… but Amy turned Rouge’s heart at the last second, and Shadow finally disabled the engine which in turn, turned off the power of the ship.

Eggman’s bluff came out real fast as Tails hacked his computers, revealing that all he told Sonic was a lie and that no one was going to die.

“Pfft! You’re really gonna believe I made that whole thing up in one night sitting with a coffee cup that reads ‘Greatest Supervillian of all time’? Oh come now, Sonic, be sensible unlike your friends here. You know what’s best for them, don’t you, old boy?”

“I’m threw with having my friends distrust me, Doc.” Sonic threw the utility belt down.

“But I did happen to steal something actually worth keeping.”

Eggman rolled his yes, groaning, “Friendship?” he knew he was already beat…

The gang, Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy all stood behind Sonic.

Sonic held his chest up proudly… before shrugging.

“Nahhh! It was the codes for the death generator bomb you implanted just in case a scenario like this happened!” he pulled out the device and started typing it in, “Heh, bummer.” He made a face, then clicked it.

Eggman roared and howled in vigorous anger after Sonic, but the gang all made it out safely.

G.U.N still handcuffed Sonic, saying he was saying locked up till he paid for this crimes.

As he walked by his friends, he apologized to each of them… but only looked at Amy, and then walked on by.

“Ah… Hey! Hold on!” She charged up to block the prison keepers from taking him away, spreading her arms out fully.

“You… You’re just going to walk away like that..? Let them take you somewhere where we can’t find you?” Her eyes poured out heartbreak, but Sonic only wiggled a finger in his ear.

As though being ignored, she began to drop her arms, but Sonic looked to a guard who nodded and let him walk up to her.

“You know,” He whispered to her, eyeing the guards as he did so. “I distinctly remember a certain hedgehog detective who managed to find out my next move before anyone else did…”

She slowly raised her head.

“If that hedgehog could find me out and save my life all in one day… then there’s no place they can keep me without her knowing about it.” he winked, smirking.

Her whole being rose up with his challenge, and with the understanding of his faith in her to bust him out and make a plan to do so.

“Just you wait, Sonic.” She nodded, determined to not disappoint him. “Through sickness and in health.”

His smirk turned more into uncertainty, as though he wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“And much longer than after death.” she put her hands behind her back and tilted her head cutely to him.

“Not death, Amy.” he spoke even quieter than before, that she had to lean forward and ask him again what he was mumbling. “Heh.” he smiled, giving her a bit of the Sonic charm as he whispered, for only her ears to hear…

“But not life, either.”

“Huh?” she didn’t seem to understand.

As he passed her, she heard a faint line cross the wind behind her…

“We’re never truly apart.”

but not a month went by before G.U.N was broken into yet again in their snowy base camp where a group of rebel thieves stole Sonic from right under their long, pointy noses!

Rouge was so proud. But strangely… threatened by the new recruits too.

Knuckles still denies he ever did anything illegal in his life, especially thieving!

#cutegirlmayra #sonamy #sonicxamy #sonic the hedgehog #sonic x #sonic prompt #sonamy prompt #amy rose #sonic x prompt

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takonei · 4 years

Text

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, daily life (Part 2)

Note of the author: Ok uhhhhhh I didn’t expect that shit to be that long so the daily life parts (normally ‘1 part = 1 day’) are going to be '2 parts = 1 day’.

Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Daily life

Day 14 since the beginning of the game.

7:30 AM.

Shuichi woke up earlier than expected.

Not because he gave up on sleeping. He simply didn't feel like going back to sleep.

He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the grey card on the table, in the middle of the room.

The ‘Sanzu key’ as Monokuma called it.

What was he even planning?

The violinist took a shower, trying to forget about those worries for a while.

But he couldn’t.

Monokuma’s motive always came the day after the new labs opened. This time they had a part of the motive, but the bear specified that the whole thing was not ready yet.

What did that even mean?

After his usual routine, he left his room. Surprisingly, Kirumi was leaning against a pillar, and Miu was laying on the ground, head resting on her arms, staring at the ceiling.

Ryoma was also there, fidgeting with his Sanzu key.

The others turned to Shuichi.

“G’morning. Breakfast canceled, we stay here.” the street artist said with a hint of sarcasm.

He blinked. “What’s... Happening?”

Kirumi shrugged. “No one knows. The dormitories’ door is locked, so we can’t go out. We’re locked here.”

... What? Was that the motive? Being quarantined in their rooms? That sounded like a bad joke.

“We tried calling Monokuma and even the monokubs and no one came.” Ryoma explained.

That sounded fishy. Extremely fishy.

They could only wait.

Rantaro, Kiyo, and Tsumugi came out of their rooms one by one. The situation had to be explained each time.

...

8:00 AM.

The morning announcement rang, but the message was different.

“All students are required to go out of their rooms, this is a direct order from the principal of the academy!”

Did Monokuma want them all at once? Usually, when an announcement was made they were all supposed to go to the gym. Why the dormitories this time?

Speaking of the devil, the bear and his cubs appeared before them.

“My, my! It’s as though almost everyone is here!” he cackled. “Only Mr. grumps and Mr. gloomy are missing!”

Shuichi flinched at the nicknames.

The two cubs started their shenanigans that Shuichi didn’t even bother listening to.

The only emotion he could feel when the monokubs appeared was a pure annoyance. Not even hatred. Pure annoyance.

He couldn’t even bother being mad at them. It just felt like each time they visited them, his only desire was to see them disappear forever.

Minutes felt like hours, Shuichi silently praying for Kaito and Kokichi to just come out from their room already so the green and red bears would shut up.

Kaito was the first to come out, surprisingly. his appearance was less messy than yesterday.

Shuichi noticed him glancing at Miu, the latter avoiding his gaze.

He muttered a quiet “Hey.” as he came down the stairs. The biker immediately separated himself from the group to lean against a pillar.

After another couple of minutes waiting for Kokichi, the boy opened his door, stumbling out of his room. He didn't seem to have slept well.

“Next time, do not come late to the principal’s announcement! I’ve waited way too long for you two to come out!” he raised his paws in the air, voice a bit too loud for the two who had woken up minutes ago.

“So, what do you want from us this time?” Rantaro was straight to the point.

“Sheesh, stop being so eager for the motive, I can’t even prepare the surprise!”

So it was the motive.

“Anyway, let me present you the next motive, starting from today to the moment someone dies...”

“... The Sanzu garden!”

That raised more questions than answered them.

“And what is the ‘Sanzu garden’?” Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

“To put it simply, this entire academy was renovated just for you guys!”

Something that involved the whole academy?

“Before explaining the motive, perhaps I should tell you a story passed through generations... Have any of you heard the legend of the Sanzu river?”

Tsumugi put a finger on her chin. “From what I’ve heard, the Sanzu River is a mythological river of the Buddhist religion. Souls joining the afterlife must pass the river by one of the three crossing points, depending on the actions they made in their life, also known as ‘karma’.”

Kokichi visibly flinched at the explanation.

“Great! I may also add that a cost is required to cross the river. Six mon to be specific.” the bear explained.

“In other words, this academy has been transformed into a great garden! And the cost of living for another day must be paid! However, the cost isn’t six mon like the legends told since we live in a modern society with better ways to pay your lovely headmaster!”

Kaito raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. “So what, someone must kill within 24 hours so the others can live?”

“Better! That’s where your Sanzu keys play their part! They serve as bank cards to pay your fee to live for the next 24 hours!”

“Wh- bank cards??” Miu exclaimed, taking out the card.

“There are two locks with your icons hidden in the academy, specific to each of you. You will have to activate the locks each day with your card keys to continue living. One lock must be activated between 8 AM and 3 PM, and the other between 3 PM and 10 PM. It doesn’t matter in which order you activate the locks.” the bear explained as everyone listened carefully.

“Also, do not even try to activate another person’s lock! This will not work in the slightest! And the locks’ placements will be different each day! They can be in the labs, common rooms, and even outside!”

Rantaro, who had sat down, joined his hands. “Let me get this straight. We have to use cards on locks two times a day and look around the academy to find them?”

“Where’s the catch.” Ryoma bluntly asked. “That’s way too easy. There’s a catch.”

The bear laughed. “Puhuhuhuhu... I’m glad you asked! The catch is also the reason why we are meeting in the dormitories after all!”

This did not reassure Shuichi in the slightest.

“Did you know? The Sanzu river takes its name directly from the Japanese ‘San’, meaning ‘three’ and ‘Zu’, meaning ‘way’ for our non-japanese audience!”

... What?

“This garden has a similar mechanic! There are only three choices offered to those entering it!”

“... To die, to kill or to suffer.”

... Huh?

“This academy is a garden of traps in every corner. Both outside and inside. From pitfalls to spears to arrows to spikes, everything is here to hurt you. But my favorite part is...”

“... Some rooms will lock themselves and whisper your worst fears to you.”

“Of course, none of the traps will actually kill you, that would be a shame if someone was accidentally killed!”

“But I meticulously put everything in place so you guys could enjoy this academy of nightmares!”

Monokuma raised his paws in the air with excitement.

... This could not be real.

An academy of nightmares??

“There is one zone that is free of danger, which is where we’re standing!”

“The dorms are safe?” Kirumi raised an eyebrow.

“Thaaaat’s right! The dormitories are the only place without any traps!”

Shuichi couldn't even say anything.

As if the academy wasn't already the place where they all had to kill each other, it just had to be trapped for the sole purpose of making them suffer?

What did whoever put them into the killing game even want from them?

If he even dared to ask Monokuma he would probably say "despair".

And at this point, is the truth even worth knowing?

Was there even an explanation of why they had to endure this?

"Of course it would take a loooong time to search through the whole academy for the locks, so I'm giving you one hint each day! They will be available on your monopads! How generous of me!"

Shuichi wanted to vomit.

This entire motive made no sense.

"That was all the explanations for the motive! Any questions?"

No one even dared to speak.

That was even worse than the last motive.

Even if he even managed to survive, what even would be the next motive?

"No? Then good luck! And don't forget..." the bear smiled.

"The garden will be shut down when a dead body gets discovered."

He left immediately after, the two remaining monokubs following behind.

Everyone stared at each other.

Rantaro slowly approached the door and opened it.

No traps were visible, but Shuichi knew the moment someone would set a foot outside a trap would activate.

"Give me a sec." Ryoma approached his dorm and entered the room.

About a minute later, he came out with a set of tennis balls, supposedly won at the monomono machine. He took a ball out and threw it outside.

... Nothing happened.

"Was Monokuma lying about the traps?" Shuichi raised an eyebrow.

"I think it just means that it's not a trap activated with a motion sensor. There's a possibility the trap is activated when you step foot on one of the path stones." Kirumi shook her head.

"Before we go head first and get us all killed how about we get organized? We know the dorms are the safe spot of the academy, so we'll likely spend most of our time here." Rantaro turned to the others.

"We'll still have to go outside to find the locks." Kiyo added. "We will have to think collectively or else we will not keep up for long."

Shuichi checked his monopad to see what the hints were.

Memories of lavender.

Senses and intuition ~ Follow your heart.

Of course it was going to be some kind of riddle that he didn't get.

"So? What's your plan, boss?" Ryoma asked Rantaro, hands in his pockets.

He pondered for a moment. "First off we should move as much food as we can to the dorms. It will be safer to eat here than in the dining hall."

Kirumi nodded. "Although for now, we should focus on searching at least one of our locks. We have a time limit for each of them."

"But... Do we separate or do we go in groups?" Miu asked.

Rantaro sat down to think. "There are nine of us. Since I think it's too dangerous to leave someone by themselves, I suggest we go by groups of 3 whenever we move from here."

"And our groups shouldn't change for the day so no one gets confused." Ryoma added.

... This clearly wasn't appreciated by some of them. Noticeably Kaito and Kokichi.

Tsumugi crossed her arms. "So? Who gets with who?"

"I suggest we separate Ryoma, you and I since we're probably the most qualified to detect the traps." Kirumi raised a hand. "One in each of the groups seems reasonable."

The prodigy nodded. "That is fair."

She took a few steps away, and so did Ryoma.

After some debating, the groups were made.

Rantaro, Ryoma, and Kaito were the first group.

Kirumi, Kokichi and Miu were the second.

And finally, Shuichi, Tsumugi, and Kiyo formed the last group.

"So now it's pretty much 'the first group finding all their morning locks gets the food'?" Tsumugi fiddled with her hair.

"For now, that is the plan. If we find each others' locks, we share the info however we can." Kiyo replied.

"Well, how do we even do that?" Miu tilted her head to the side. "If we're separated, we can't do anything."

Shuichi pondered. "The most we can do is yelling, I mean my hearing is pretty developed but there are limits to it..."

Ryoma fixed his beanie. "We'll only better our strategy if we face the danger at least once. Staying here won't do any good."

The others agreed.

The strategy was fixed.

The groups would go out one by one by intervals of five minutes to investigate where their lockers would be.

Kaito, Rantaro, and Ryoma left first. The others watched them go to see if everything was fine. They were walking slowly to make sure they didn't activate anything.

For now, everything seemed fine. But Shuichi preferred not to get his hopes up.

The two remaining groups talked about their riddles. They looked pretty strange.

"Hey, Kiyo... Do you have an idea of what my riddle could mean?" he asked the therapist.

"Let's see..." he took the violinist's monopad and read the two sentences. "I don't think your riddle is too far fetched. Does the color purple remind you of something nostalgic and positive?"

He pondered. "I... No, I don't think that's it."

Kiyo shook his head. "All theories could be right. Your riddle says to 'follow your heart'. Your answer could be right."

He looked at the tablet for a moment. "My... My cousin has lavender hair. And I do miss her."

Then it clicked. "Ah! My lab! That's where Miu made her portrait when we got the motive videos!"

Kiyo weakly smiled. "That sounds plausible. We will check your lab once we get to the main building."

Shuichi stared back at the tablet. "So was that the first or the second quote?"

The therapist shook his head. "I don't think one quote is for one lock. Both locks must be linked somehow."

"So the other lock is also hinted by the riddle?"

"I think so." Kiyo nodded. "Perhaps..."

He pointed at the second quote. "You found a potential solution with your intuition. So the second could be linked to your senses."

"My senses...? Something purple that could be linked to my senses?"

Hearing? No. His lab was already for one lock.

Taste? The only thing popping in his mind was that type of soda with a taste you could only describe as 'purple'. Which he didn't like in the slightest.

Touch? That would be unlikely...

Sight? Too vague...

Smell? That could be it since the riddle said 'lavender'. Perhaps...

"The wisterias from the courtyard? They're purple, right?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Does it remind you of something nostalgic?" Kiyo asked.

Shuichi weakly chuckled. "My cousin always had two long braids. Somehow it always reminded me of those flowers..."

Kiyo put a finger on his chin. "So both of your locks are related to one person. To me, we are on the right path."

Just as they stopped talking, Kirumi's group was prepared to go.

Well, Miu and Kirumi were prepared to go. Kokichi was barely keeping up.

The two girls made sure the smaller boy was following when they left, nervousness written all over their faces.

The three ones left in the dorms looked at each other.

"So, did you two find out where your locks could be?" the prodigy asked.

"I'm guessing one is in my lab, and the other should be at the pool." the therapist replied.

Tsumugi nodded. "Good, good. And you?" she turned to Shuichi.

"Oh, um... I think one is near the wisterias and the other should be in my lab as well..."

She frowned. "Three in a row."

"Huh?"

"All of us have a lock in our respective labs. I'm thinking Monokuma put them here as some sort of guide for the first day. The next days are probably going to get harder and harder."

... What did 'harder' mean?

"What about you, then?" Kiyo asked.

"One should be in my lab. The other in the library."

The therapist nodded. "I see. Do you have a strategy for which places we check?"

She started pacing around slowly. "We have both of them in the main building except Shuichi who has one in front of the dorms."

She stopped. "For now we are also requested to help to transport food to the dorms, but there's a possibility the other groups will be done with the locks before us. So I think we should go to the ones that are not in our labs." She narrowed her eyes. "Although for the next days we should find out the locks' locations before forming the groups."

They nodded.

Enough time had passed since the last group left, so they decided to go as well.

They reached the wisterias with no problem, and a black podium with an icon was indeed there.

Before they could go under the pergola, Tsumugi glanced at the structure. She took off her jacket and threw it on the table. Spikes suddenly rose from above, impaling the piece of cloth before it could reach the table.

"... We'll have to find ways to activate traps in advance. We won't use my jacket each time. The tennis balls were pretty effective." the prodigy picked up the jacket from the floor where it had fallen.

The three made their way to the podium, which had Shuichi's icon on it. A red LED was on, indicating that the violinist had not yet activated it.

After taking out the Sanzu key and approaching it to the icon, a small jingle rang, with the LED turning green.

At least the 'paying' process was easy.

"Next up is mine, at the pool." Kiyo turned to the two.

Surprisingly, their way to the main building was quite silent.

Perhaps the paths outside were never trapped, and it was only the main structures?

Kiyo carefully opened the door.

A black podium was right beside the deckchairs.

He glanced around to see if there were any traps, and carefully approached the podium. After the small jingle rang, he joined the others so they could move on.

Two out of three.

Something didn't feel right for Shuichi. That motive looked way too simple.

Would it be like Tsumugi said, that this was going to get harder and harder with time?

They left the pool and approached the door to the main building.

When they opened it, Shuichi took a step and immediately stopped when an arrow was shot right in front of his face.

"Ah!-"

He took a step backwards and touched the bridge of his nose.

Pecks of blood tainted his fingers.

"Are you okay, Shuichi?" Kiyo asked, worried.

He turned to the therapist. "I'm- I'm fine, this just surprised me. Perhaps we should crouch to pass this door."

He rubbed his nose with his wrist. The wound was pretty light, but it still stung.

The three made their way to the central hall, luckily not activating any more traps.

"Now let's go to the basement. Once we're done with the library we'll be free for now." Tsumugi declared.

They slowly went to the corridor leading to the stairs, until...

*click*

They stopped and looked at their feet.

Kiyo had just stepped onto a pressure plate.

Shuichi's heart skipped a beat when a wall of concrete came down from the ceiling behind them, crushing the grass on the floor.

Then another. And another.

They ran as fast as they could to the stairs, walls menacing to crush them if they were not fast enough.

The trio tripped, fell down the stairs and crashed against the wall.

"Ouch..."

"At least we're alive."

"Even though Monokuma said those traps were not going to kill us we almost ended up crushed."

"Could you two move? I can't breathe..."

"Tsumugi is on top of me, I cannot move either."

The prodigy stood up, brushing dust off her skirt. "I thought you two would be physically stronger than that."

Shuichi could barely mutter under Kiyo's weight. "Well, I'm a violinist, not a biker nor a soldier..."

The therapist stood up and helped Shuichi get on his feet.

Just as the three recovered from their fall, Rantaro's group appeared.

The medic blinked a few times in confusion. "Are you three okay?"

Shuichi rubbed the bridge of his nose to wipe off the rest of the blood from earlier. "We're fine. It could be worse."

Ryoma appeared from behind. "Tsumugi, there's a lock for you in the library. We deactivated the trap here so don't worry about anything."

"I guessed it from my riddle, but thank you."

Kaito was also there but did not seem to want to contribute to the conversation.

"Anyway, our group is done with the morning locks. We'll be getting the food." Rantaro cracked his knuckles.

Kiyo pondered. "Our group only has one more morning lock to activate. We'll be able to join you shortly."

"In that case, we should go to your lab, Rantaro." Ryoma crossed his arms. "We'll need medical supplies in case someone gets injured."

The medic nodded. "Sounds good. So you three can bring the food in the meantime?" he turned to Kiyo.

"Count on us."

The two groups separated. The concrete walls were gone- they were made to make them hurry, not to lock them in the basement, fortunately.

Just as Ryoma said, the trap was deactivated in the library. It seemed to have made some of the bookshelves fall. Tsumugi's lock was right in front of a table.

The jingle rang as she approached her key.

They left the basement to get to the dining hall. No one seemed to have gone there yet.

Shuichi approached the pantry but suddenly...

The floor disappeared beneath his feet.

Kiyo thankfully caught his arm before he could fall.

Don't look down don't look down don't look down don't look down-

"T-Thanks a lot, Kiyo..." he mumbled.

The two others helped him up.

He sat on the ground for a minute, trying to calm down.

How deep was that hole?

"Tch. I knew something would happen." Tsumugi quietly spat.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Kiyo narrowed his eyes at her.

"Excuse me if I don't express every single intuition I have."

"We're in a situation where we could die instantly. Every single intuition could save a life."

"It could also make us paranoid for nothing. You should know as a therapist that paranoia could also kill us."

"I prefer to be paranoid over careless."

Shuichi knew that is he didn't stop them they could argue for hours.

"Guys! Please..." he stood up despite his feet trembling. "I'm fine. Let's just... Get the food."

The two exchanged glances and stepped in the pantry, avoiding the giant hole in the ground.

"We don't have a refrigerator in the dorms, so we'll have to take durable food." Tsumugi noted.

"We have access to drinkable water in the dorms, I don't think drinks will be necessary." Shuichi added.

Tsumugi looked around. "We don't have any bags. And my jacket is too small to make a substitute.

Shuichi thought back at when Himiko and Kokichi here going to the dorms using their jackets as bags for objects they won at the monomono machine. But...

The astronomer wasn't here anymore. He had to accept it.

He shook his head. "That's better than nothing. I still have my own just in case."

"And mine." Kiyo added.

"Also, perhaps we should take cutlery. To eat and to serve as a decoy for the traps." Tsumugi suggested.

The three started taking food. Mostly canned food since it was the safest option.

Shuichi had suggested taking rice and other starchy foods, but since there was no way to cook them in the dorms, the idea was rejected.

Shortly after, Kirumi, Miu, and Kokichi joined them.

"It's nice to take food that doesn't expire soon, but we should take food that doesn't take much space." Kirumi explained. "We will not go in this building too much, so we'll have to take as much as we possibly can."

Miu pondered for a second. "How about we use kitchen furniture to transport food? That's two in one!"

Tsumugi perked up. "I didn't think about that."

"However the kitchen furniture will be useless to us since we do not have anything to cook food." Kiyo advised.

"But that's still better than using our jackets to transport food... And perhaps we'll find a way to cook." Shuichi countered.

"Then the pots will be the best for both cooking and transport." Tsumugi declared.

The 6 of them took time to choose which food to take. Canned food, rice, noodles, dry food but also some fruits. They took enough cutlery for both the group and to use it as a trap decoy.

They left the dining hall with all the furniture.

Shuichi hoped they wouldn't have to run with that much in their hands.

Miu looked at the pot she was transporting, full of fruits. "We said we would take the pots but any idea on what to use to cook? We know there's no lighter or some kind of portable stove..."

Tsumugi pondered. "We have the candles on the fourth floor and wood in Angie's lab. But that will require maintenance."

"I believe there are tools to keep the fire alive in my lab since there is a fireplace. We should take a look this afternoon." Kiyo suggested.

"That sounds fair to m-" Tsumugi interrupted herself when she heard a click.

A series of needles was shot from the walls on the group, stabbing each of them in all places.

They ran as fast as they could to get out of the building. Shuichi is pretty sure some of the food fell on the floor, but now was not the time to retrieve it.

His cheeks hurt.

They pushed the door to get out of the building.

Shuichi heard a loud noise, of someone falling to the ground.

When he turned around, his eyes widened.

Miu was less covered than the majority of them. She only had a crop top and a short overall. The needles did much more damage on her than on the others.

She wasn't bleeding, but there were way too many of them, on her arms, legs, and even her face.

"Miu!!" he kneeled before her. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I-I'm fine. D-Don't worry about me." she stuttered.

Everyone took off the needles that stuck on their bodies, Shuichi helping Miu get hers off.

Kiyo helped her getting up. "Rantaro's group went on the third floor for medical supplies. He'll help you once they come back."

She weakly nodded.

Kirumi had taken Kiyo's pot so he could help Miu walk.

Fortunately, no more traps activated on their way to the dorms.

When they opened the door, they realized Rantaro's group was already there, organizing the medical supplies.

The medic rushed to the group. "Are you guys okay?"

"We activated a trap and Miu ended up getting more injured than us. She needs your help, Rantaro." Kiyo explained.

The group organized the food and cutlery, except for Miu and Rantaro, the latter disinfecting the former's wounds.

Kirumi prepared lunch with Ryoma since Miu was unable to do anything. Shuichi hadn't realized they took that long to activate a few locks and transport food. But at least they had enough for the day, and perhaps the day after if they managed to save enough.

For some reason, Rantaro, Ryoma, Kirumi, and Kokichi already seemed to be used to be light on food, considering how little they ate.

The group ate in silence on the floor of the dorms. Canned food was not the tastiest, especially considering what Kirumi and Miu could usually cook, but they didn't have a choice.

This motive was already starting to get the better of them. Would they even be able to continue like this for long? Long enough for Monokuma to perhaps get bored and stop the motive?

Since there wasn't much to do, everyone either stayed in their rooms or talked in the lobby.

Shuichi was already tired from the morning, so he laid on his bed for the time being.

They could only use the locks after 3 PM. Monokuma already knew they would be going to rush and unlock both if he didn't add the rule.

He thought about the situation. They were surprisingly organized.

Surprising...

Was it, though?

Their group had two soldiers, a mercenary, an intellectual genius, and a therapist to help them get organized.

They were teenagers more mature than any normal person their age.

A maturity that came from the harshness of their past.

The fact that they were able to get organized so well...

... That was definitely not surprising.

At around 2:50 PM, he left his room to join the others. (The others being: Kirumi and Rantaro).

He only noticed after that Ryoma was knocking on Tsumugi's door.

"Um... Is everything alright?" the violinist asked the two.

"Well, we're trying to think about how the traps work, and that's why we need Tsumugi." Kirumi explained.

Speaking of which, the prodigy joined them with Ryoma.

"We need your opinion on this, Tsumugi." Rantaro looked serious.

"I'm listening."

Kirumi crossed her arms. "We're saying that the more we are in a group, the higher are the chances of activating a trap, and possibly a huge one."

She pondered for a second. "From the traps we activated, I think that could be true. The needles were quite ferocious, even if they didn't look like it."

She perked up. "You're saying we should try to go individually and not by groups?"

Shuichi blinked. "Go individually? Isn't there a risk we could get injured without being able to be helped?"

Rantaro nervously bounced his leg. "I've inspected Miu's injuries earlier. This was not pretty to look at. I'm the only one who can treat serious wounds, so I have to admit going separately would be safer."

So the opposite strategy from earlier.

But if that was the best strategy, then it could be for the best.

...

Shuichi wished he could be as smart and strong as them.

At 3:00 PM, the others came out of their rooms.

After a short explanation, they decided to go by groups of two, even though they would separate at some point.

They also decided that those on the fourth floor would bring candles and wood, and Kiyo would get the tools for the fire.

Kirumi and Ryoma went first.

Then Rantaro and Kaito.

Tsumugi went alone.

Then it was Shuichi and Kiyo's turn. They wished Miu and Kokichi good luck and left.

"... I'm still nervous about this strategy." Shuichi admitted.

"For now it's for the best. This is the first day, we will decide which strategy is the best for tomorrow." Kiyo replied. "However we can go together with a distance between us so we do not activate unnecessary traps."

Shuichi smiled. "If it doesn't bother you of course."

"At the sole condition that you help me carry the tools from the fireplace."

He chuckled. "Alright. I accept."

They reached the building, and Shuichi crouched to enter the entrance hall. Perhaps the arrow trap wasn't there anymore, but he preferred not to take a risk.

The walk to the second floor was silent and surprisingly peaceful. They avoided a few traps in the corridors, going one after the other.

This strategy seemed to work.

The fewer people were together, the lower are the chances to activate a trap.

...

Monokuma wanted to separate them. Even Shuichi realized that.

The violinist entered his lab and activated the locker.

He sighed in relief. At least this was over for now.

Just as he stepped out of the lab, he joined back Kiyo, who was waiting for him near the stairs to the third floor.

"So, was your lock in your lab?" he asked.

"Yes, I managed to activate it." Shuichi nodded. "Thank you for helping me this morning."

The two made their way to the fifth floor.

...

This was too silent. Something was wrong.

"Are you coming, Shuichi?" Kiyo asked when he saw that Shuichi slowed down.

"Ah yes I'm..." he trailed off when he heard a faint noise. A voice?

He paused to focus.

"Shuichi?-"

"Shhh!" he raised a hand to ask him to be quiet.

There was a voice. It was definitely a voice.

Wait-

It was not a voice. It was several unfamiliar voices.

Kiyo raised an eyebrow.

...

Something wasn't right.

He walked down the upper set of stairs since the voices were definitely below them- on the fourth floor.

Kiyo followed him.

He could barely hear anything, but voices were coming from somewhere, he was sure of it.

"..."

"... -where... ... stops-"

"..."

"... Rats..."

"..."

"... Rats..."

"..."

"... Rats... Rats... Rats..."

Shuichi had a very bad feeling.

He stepped forward to go down the other set of stairs...

... But stopped when he heard a blood curling scream. Not a scream of pain. A scream of pure terror.

And by the pitch of the voice, it was...

"... Kokichi?" he instinctively muttered.

The violinist and the therapist exchanged quick glances.

Shuichi panicked.

He ran.

He didn't even care if a trap activated. He knew where the voices were from. Where the scream came from.

He ran through the fourth floor despite Kiyo telling him to stop.

The voices were louder and louder as he ran.

Some were talking and panicking. Some were repeating the same word over and over.

"Rats."

"They're everywhere- Someone just kill them!"

"Rats. Rats."

"Stay away from me!"

"Rats. Rats. Rats. Rats."

"God please have mercy on our souls- There's no God! We're going to die like rats!"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats"

"I- I think I'm infected too- STAY AWAY FROM ME!!"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats"

"WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS??"

"Ratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsratsrats-"

Suddenly the voices stopped all at once.

Shuichi entered the corridor leading to Kokichi's lab. A second door had shut down, eliminating every possibility of entering the lab.

"Kokichi!! Kokichi!!!!"

... Nothing.

Kiyo joined him, his monopad in hand. "Kokichi isn't the only one in here."

He looked at the therapist.

"Miu is here as well."

Shuichi kept slamming the door with his fist.

"Kokichi!! Miu!! Say something!!"

No one was answering. The second door was soundproofing the lab. Which was why the voices had 'stopped'.

They didn't stop, they were just contained in the lab.

Shuichi couldn't hear Miu and Kokichi, and neither of them could hear Shuichi banging at the door.

"Miu!! Kokichi!!!"

... This was hopeless.

He thought back at what Monokuma said earlier.

“... Some rooms will lock themselves to whisper your worst fears to you.”

That was what he meant.

He meant psychological torture.

Shuichi and Kiyo would only wait, powerless over the situation.

The violinist fell on his knees.

Just the thought made him want to puke.

Kokichi and Miu were stuck in a room made for psychological torture.

And they had no way of getting out.

#ndrv3 #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 au #beta au #main story

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s-j-ace · 4 years

Text

The Same Question

Chapter Five

Characters: Shuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi

Words: 10600

Summary:

After Detective Shuichi Saihara encounters mysterious thief Kokichi Ouma for the first time, a game of cat and mouse ensues as both men ask themselves the same question. Why exactly does the elusive phantom thief do what he does?

This is Chapter Five, Here are Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four

Read on AO3

[Log of Text Messages from Maki Harukawa’s Cellular Device]

From: idiot #1

Hey Makiroll <3

How was your flight?

From: Me

Good

Well

You know

I was on an eight hour flight

So that was never going to go well

But I just got to the apartment and I made some tea

So I’m good now

It’s nice to be home

From: idiot #1

Haha I bet

Man I wish I could be home to greet you!

I’d give you a big hug and kiss right now if I could!!!!!!

From: Me

Gross

From: idiot #1

From: Me

…

If you were here right now I’d tell you I love you with my words

Like an adult

From: idiot #1

What no kiss?

From: Me

Maybe a small one

From: idiot #1

From: Me

If you’ve shaved

From: idiot #1

From: Me

I gotta wean you off kisses kaito

That way you won’t have to go cold turkey right away when you go on your big trip

From: idiot #1

My big trip?

Lol, you make it sound like I’m just going overseas or something

From: Me

Well space is treated as international waters by most countries

From: idiot #1

I guess that’s true?

Hey!!

That’s a space fact!

Maki Roll!!!!

From: Me

Shhushhhh

From: idiot #1

From: Me

Oh hey

Speaking of big trips

Have you heard from Shuichi at all?

I’m concerned that he may be mad at me

From: idiot #1

Whaaaaat

Why would shuichi be mad at you

From: Me

Well

I didn’t back up his clowns stealing toilets from the louvre thing

And then clowns stole toilets from the louvre

I’m worried he may feel as though I’ve gaslit him

Or something

From: idiot #1

What

How did you know about the toilets

From: Me

It was in the news?

Wait, so you heard a different way?

From: idiot #1

From: Me

So you have heard from him

From: idiot #1

Oh yeah

I don’t think he’s mad at you

He’s pretty preoccupied with the clowns I think

And besides you know

My sidekick isn’t really the type of guy who like

Gets mad

He’s more likely to like

Think you’re mad at him

And then be mad at himself for making you mad

From: Me

Shuichi gets mad sometimes

I saw him punch a guy once

And he listens to those songs that are just people screaming endlessly about hating other people

From: idiot #1

Yeah but he cries while doing that

Also I meant like

He wouldn’t get mad at you like that

Because you’re friends

From: Me

Yeah

You’re probably right

I still want to go visit him tomorrow

Say I’m.. sorry? Or something

Is this the kind of stuff that apologies are for?

From: idiot #1

Well I mean like

If you feel bad like by all means feel free to let him know

But Shuichi probably doesn’t think it’s a big deal

From: Me

Yeah but I still want to

From: idiot #1

Also I don’t think visiting him would be super productive

As far as I can tell he isn’t back from his trip yet

From: Me

What

But it’s been a month since he left

Isn’t he bored of Paris yet

From: idiot #1

No I think he’s like

Going other places too

From: Me

wym

Like, he’s doing a tour of europe?

That sounds nice

From: idiot #1

No I think it's more like

He’s still on the case

Cuz last week he was in Taiwan

And the week before that he was in Egypt

And some robberies happened there

From: Me

So he didn’t take my vacation advice at all huh

From: idiot #1

Yea I guess not

But hey

Not giving up is a good thing!!

From: Me

But what if you need to give up something that’s hurting you

Like smoking or murdering or drinking or overworking yourself because you equate productivity to self-worth

From: idiot #1

Then don’t give up on trying to get better!!!! You gotta believe in the best version of yourself

From: Me

|:/

Is he at least going to take a break long enough to come home and see you off

From: idiot #1

From: Me

Maybe I could text him to remind him and casually slip in the fact that I may be a little bit sorry that I thought he was insane

I mean obviously he’ll want to come see you before you go

You did tell him right

Kaito

...

You forgot to tell him

From: idiot #1

Well I don’t know about forgot

It’s more like

There was never really a good time? To tell him?

From: Me

…

I’m changing your contact back to number one idiot in my phone

From: #1 idiot

Ouch

Will you change it back if I tell him today?

From: Me

Maybe

Do you even know where he is?

From: #1 idiot

…

From: Me

… well you better find him before I change your contact to “best friend loser”

From: #1 idiot

Implying that I’m your best friend and a loser or implying that I lost our best friend to the thrill of chasing a group of fiendish clowns

From: Me

Both

From: #1 idiot

Okay okay I’m already texting him --- Shuichi Saihara spent the start of his day awkwardly trying to fit in with the rest of the people sitting in the front row of the exceedingly fancy audience at the first show of fashion week in Milan, Italy. He knew he should technically feel exceedingly lucky that he even got into the show, let alone that he got one of the very expensive front row seats. The Milan fashion week people were certainly the most cooperative of any potential DICE targets he had tried to warn previously. Probably because Shuichi made sure not to just send the warning through Interpol this time, and the fashion people actually cared about their careers enough to take the threat of a break in seriously. Except, Shuichi wasn't sure all the security should be placed around the stages and dresses like they were. The most typically valuable item on sight was never really DICE's MO.

That's why he was here, wasn't it?

In the front row. With all these strangers. Who were giving him weird looks. Did that lady just whisper to her friend while looking directly at him? Wait no, don't look at them. Or maybe do look at them? What if they were DICE members who only just spotted him? Right, right, all these people were suspects. Job before social anxiety Shuichi.

Refocused, Shuichi made some observations around him. He scanned the crowd, but didn't see any of the DICE members he would recognize. He did see that security guards had been helpfully placed by the doorways. He wondered if any of them were interpol agents. If they were, it wasn’t anyone he knew. Probably for the best anyway. Agent Ishimaru was mostly likely still pretty steamed at him. He hadn’t been letting Shuichi look at the notes DICE sent to Interpol, even though their team didn’t seem to have as much luck translating them as Shuichi had in the past.

Wait, there was one entrance wasn’t there? Maybe he should watch it? After all, there was no guarantee that DICE wouldn't just walk right in. Like they did in Nevada. And Cairo. But weirdly not Taipei? It seemed like they had abandoned whatever they were going to use Doctor Iruma’s EMP bombs for after failing to get them... Or were the bombs the heist after all and DICE had just waited for him to leave Taiwan to carry out the heist and actually weren’t in Milan at all and Shuichi was a big old idiot? No, they had to be in Milan, he had seen the airport tapes and done the research. But were they at the show? If they weren’t that’d be good news for the next season of fashion, but probably not for Shuichi’s case...

Ok, he just had to make sure that even if they were here nothing got stolen. What was he saying? Oh, yeah. Just walking in was probably less likely here, with all the security and all.

But wasn't it just like DICE to pick the path less likely than one would expect?

As the intro music cued in to the beginning of the fashion show and the house lights dimmed, all Shuichi really knew was that he should be ready for anything.

Two spotlights did a bit of a dance on the catwalk before they too faded and the whole room was pitch black.

There was a moment of silence.

…

And another.

…

And… another…

…

People started murmuring in the crowd.

Shuichi heard some English lady say, "What, do they expect us to have night vision?"

"It's all part of the show, dearest," said the woman next to her.

Shuichi thought for a second.

…

And another.

…

And a-

…

They stole the lights didn't they. --- Kokichi Ouma had to be honest with himself, as he continued on his circuitous route throughout the vents which overlooked the first show of fashion week in Milan, stealing all the lights from this year’s venue wasn’t very inspired. He was essentially reusing the Taipei 101 idea that hadn’t come to fruition, but Queen had insisted he needed a powerful light for his next project and the rest of DICE seemed to have formed some sort of blood pact to support whatever his next heist idea was as long as he didn’t make them watch the cinematic masterpiece Cats (2019) at their last movie night.

Kokichi himself hadn’t actually seen Cats (2019) yet. He kept reminding himself to, after hearing of its reported cursedness, but he just hadn’t gotten around to it. DICE had watched it for the first time without him, and now every time Queen brought it up Kokichi felt obligated to shut him down for the sake of maintaining his own authority. “Now Queen, obviously I love Cats (2019) directed by Tom Hooper and starring Franceska Hayward, as a fellow enthusiast of the cinematic arts, but for the sake of everyone else…” Cue eight sighs of relief courtesy of your one and only super awesome boss.

While thinking absentmindedly about his and the cinematic masterpiece Cats (2019)’s passing like two ships in the night, Kokichi checked where all his pieces should be on his internal chessboard. The locations of four fake guards, two fake handymen, and three vent crawlers popped up on the schematics he had memorized of the event hall. All busy dismantling lighting equipment or keeping an eye on a certain detective.

The word detective sent a third train of thought spiraling. Saihara really had shown up, hadn’t he? Kokichi hadn’t even sent a note this time and the detective was already here in the front row of the audience. That was probably the main reason Kokichi felt it was fair to upcycle the same plan from Taipei. Usually he’d get bored of an idea after tossing it around for a bit, so he had to act fast before his own lack of motivation became his undoing, but with Saihara around he didn’t have to worry about entertaining himself with his plans. Whatever the detective would do in response was bound to be far more interesting.

Okay he was almost in position for the first hit, and Ace was about to cause the black out in 5… 4… 3…

Oup, the light already turned off. Now Kokichi was just shuffling through the dark old vent getting ready to drop down and steal the lights from whatever room was beneath him while counting to himself about nothing and having three incongruous trains of thought at the same time.

The reason behind Kokichi’s super special secret ability to be thinking about three things at once was that A) he was a genius and 1) he was still on a sugar high from the gelato that he and his hench people had gotten for breakfast, and everyone knows sugar make brain work good.

Also! Gelato is just like… Ice Cream ++. Just like, better ice cream. It was just smooth and creamy instead of cold and chunky all the time. Kokichi could eat a lot more of it without getting a brain freeze than the regular stuff, and he wanted to get as much of it in him as possible before they left Italy forever. He’d ‘reluctantly’ promised they’d get some more to celebrate after the heist was done, but it was mostly because when they were plotting their escape he didn’t want to deal with a sugar cr-

*CREEEEAAAAAAK*

No, a crash, silly vent making a stupid noise, a sugar cra-

*CRACKOOM*

That was the last sound Kokichi heard before the ceiling crumbled beneath him. --- Shuichi Saihara realized that, by all means, the black out was rather clever. It completely stifled any immediate action on the part of an investigator. Even if Shuichi was right and it was the stage lights that were stolen, waiting to confirm the fact would only give the thieves more time to escape. He’d probably be able to bumble around in the dark searching for the entrance, but then what?

Then his phone buzzed.

Oh. Duh. He thought.

Quickly he pulled out his phone, swiping aside whatever thing Kaito had just sent him to access his phone’s flashlight feature.

"Lights!" He shouted. "Use your cellphones as lights!"

He repeated these directions once more in the best Italian he could manage, hoping he sounded authoritative enough to garner a response.

There was a great shuffling all around him as the audience muttered and reached for their phones.

Then, as Shuichi turned on his own phone's flashlight and raised it up, he watched everyone in the audience do the same. Hundreds of little lights flickered on around him, the image of the runway becoming clearer every second.

As if that were their planned cue all along, the first models began to strut down the catwalk, every glitzy gown and sparkly suit seemingly illuminated by a thousand stars in the night sky. The audience oohed and aahed, and maybe Shuichi would've found the sight pretty cool too if he hadn't been looking up at an entirely different catwalk altogether. The lighting deck above had apparently been stripped bare during the black out. Shuichi knew that both sides of that catwalk let out to the heavily guarded backstage area. So where did DICE go?

Wait… were those horizontal air vents over the catwalk?

Shuichi started making his way over to the security guards near the exit.

God, when would architects of security systems ever learn? Why would you ever put a horizontal vent right above whatever it is you're trying to not get stolen? It's child's play! Any thief with at least one limb or a very ambitious set of teeth could steal something with a horizontal vent over it, and yet no one ever thought to check them until it was too late!

When he reached the guards he said hurriedly in a low tone, “We need to check the vents right now.”

Both guards gave him weird looks and Shuichi felt his confidence immediately wither.

“Parla solo italiano.” Said the guard to the right with the long dark brown hair tied in a tight bun. Speak only Italian. Shit.

Uh. Okay. Um.

“I ladri hanno... colpito,” Okay, ladri means thieves. Yeah. Uh. Was colpito the right word? Maybe? It sounded like culprit. What was the word for air vent again... “Controllare l'uscita… dell'aria!” Yeah! It was dell’aria. Okay. Good. Italian spoken.

Except now she was giving him an even weirder look.

“Cosa hai detto signore? Lardo hanno colpito? Qualcuno sta lanciando lardo tra il pubblico? Lardo nelle prese d'aria?”

Ah. Uh. That was a lot of words. Cosa… hai detto… what did you say sir. And then. Something about lard?

“Lardo….” Had she not heard him correctly through the loud music of the show happening behind them? His eyes wandered to the other guard, a man about the same height as the woman with the same dark brown hair color. Both guards were wearing sunglasses, but the man’s face suddenly scrunched with obvious anger.

“Hey! Are you calling me fat?” He accused with no hint of Italian accent.

… What? Why would he… Unless…

The woman cracked her knuckles. “Ti faccio vedere dov'è il lardo, ragazzo duro.”

Before Shuichi could even begin to decipher what that meant, the woman put him in a headlock.

DICE . Shuichi realized as the man took a cloth out of his pocket. Shuichi smelled the sweet, familiar scent of a volatile anesthetic. Probably chloroform or something of the sort….

Luckily this wasn’t the first time Shuichi had been in a headlock, and she wasn’t even holding a knife to his neck. He tucked his chin into the arm restraining him, holding it with his right hand as he brought his left up and over the front of her face. In one smooth motion he flipped her over on her back.

Officer Chabashira had taught him that. Tenko had been one of his better friends on the force. Though she spent most of her time beating up other cops for being misogynist pigs than catching criminals. Then again that strong sense of justice was something Shuichi actually liked about her. He hadn’t seen much of her after she quit the force, though. He heard she opened a studio for something called “neo-aikido” but had been too afraid of too many things, like that she wouldn’t recognize him and that things would be awkward and then she would yell at him for being a degenerate male, to check it out. It was probably for the best anyway. If she were here right now, she’d definitely yell at him for betraying the number one rule of her aikido teachings...

“Shuichi don’t use neo-aikido on girls. If a girl tries to kill you, you deserve it.”

Said “girl” trying to kill him landed in a roll, and probably would have tried to grapple him again if she hadn’t crashed into a nearby audience member.

Shuichi made a break for the exit. He expected to be intercepted by the other guard, but the man turned instead to help up his partner.

“You okay, sis?” He asked concernedly.

“I’d be better if you weren’t letting him get away, lo stupido!” She replied tartly and also, Shuichi noted, without much accent.

He managed to get through the doors and found that the guards that had been assigned to stand outside the entrance were no longer there. That meant that he would most likely have to find his way backstage by going around the building if he wanted back up, so he started running.

He’d probably have to shake his tails first, he reminded himself as the doors burst open again behind him.

Shuichi changed course, making a couple of quick turns. Around the corner near the exit he saw the sign for the men’s bathroom. Of course! The bathroom! There would definitely be a vent outlet in the bathroom.

He opened the door and quickly ducked in. He hoped that the DICE members wouldn’t follow him in before he got to the-

Shuichi froze.

The scene that lay before him was one familiar to him since childhood, but yet every time he saw it he hoped to never see it again.

A body was sprawled face down on the bathroom tile, blood splattered on the ground all around the head. Shuichi realized that he recognized the blood soaked hair’s strange purple color, although it seemed to be tied back for some reason… He looked up at what was apparently a hole in the ceiling and deduced that the thief had been crawling through the vents when he fell. The rubble on the ground around him seemed to confirm that. Shuichi…. Shuichi couldn’t tell if he was breathing from here.

What a way to end the thief’s crime spree...

He willed himself to put one foot in front of the other. Then he did so again. Then he got over his shock and walked up to the body. These things get easier, he reminded himself.

Shuichi kneeled down to take a look, careful not to contaminate any of the blood spatter with his shoes. There… really was a lot of blood. There were no obvious signs of breathing…

Okay. Shuichi needed to check the pulse to see if he should call an ambulance. Maybe there was still a chance…

He reached for the man’s wrist-

The man suddenly sprung up, thrusting his huge grinning, and now blood covered, clown mask into Shuichi’s personal space. “It’s a lie!” He exclaimed

Shuichi startled, falling on the floor. Shock ran through him as the thief began to cackle his signature laugh.

“Did I surprise you?” He teased, blood pouring down his mask, “Were you going to scream and cry in terror?”

Shuichi looked at him in shock for a solid ten seconds. The thief in return looked at him, leaning back and forth a little dazedly. Shuichi watched a drop of blood separate itself from the man’s chin, going to join the puddle on the floor.

“Oh, sorry…” The man disrupted the silence. “I should be saying something real witty just about now… I’m just a little light-headed from the blood loss. Yeah. This is. This is real blood.”

Then the shock was over and Shuichi found himself reacting by standing up, grabbing the thief, and putting him in a standard police academy arm lock on the ground. As much as the move required speed, Shuichi tried to be mindful of the head wound. He didn’t want to give the thief the chance to escape like his mistake in Taipei had, but he also didn’t want to further injure him.

The man still made a grunt of pain when he hit the ground. “Wow, detective, you’re a lot better at police brutality than you are at dressing for fashion shows.”

Shuichi remembered the people in the front row of the show who had been giving him odd looks. He frowned. “What’s wrong with the way I dress?” He muttered as he tried to figure out how he could hold this guy down and also grab a bandage from his coat pockets. Which were very functional, thank you very much.

“Well, some people might say that the all dark clothing kind of makes you look like an evil villain.” He said with the same dazed tone in his voice. How much blood was he losing? Shuichi couldn’t tell with the mask still on. He moved to take it off-

The door opened and Shuichi saw two security guards come in and Shuichi turned slighty to look at them. Thankfully they weren’t the two from before. Perhaps they had figured out the vents were the escape route already and had come to investigate?

“Like those guys.” The man beneath him muttered on. “They might think black clothing is kinda.. Villain looking. Not me though, I think you look like a sexy motorcycle.”

Shuichi frowned at him. Wow, he sounded very loopy. He was losing a lot of blood.

Shuichi turned to address the guards, who were seemingly frozen in shock. “Scusa... ma potra-no, uh, tresti, potresti chiamare,” what was the gender for ambulance again? “a-ambulanza-”

The woman from before burst in, the other DICE member pretending to be a security guard at her heels. She pointed at Shuichi, exclaiming, “L'uomo in cima a quel brutto bambino è colui che ci ha attaccato!”

“Vroom vroom” The man beneath him giggled out before Shuichi was picked up by the two guards and slammed against the wall.

“Sei sicuro che sia lui?” One of them said to the Italian-speaking DICE member. “Quest'uomo sembra molto debole.”

“Quello è lui. Deve essere uno dei ladri.” She was… calling him one of the thieves? “Sono addestrati in aikido, ricordi l'incontro informativo?”

“Certo, certo.” Said the guard in response, obviously lying. If he had been to the l'incontro informativo - the informational meeting - then he would know who Shuichi was.

“Tu non capisci!” Shuichi exclaimed.

“Stai zitto, straniero.” The other guard shoved him up harder against the wall.

“Boss! What happened to you?” The male DICE member exclaimed.

His “boss” propped himself up on his elbow and swung his legs like a tweenager at a sleepover party. “Well, it’s a funny story! But at this rate I’m going to pass out from blood loss before I tell it to you!” His lackey gave him a concerned look. “Neeheehee… just kidding.”

“Wait I-” Shuichi started to say. The guards shoved him harder against the wall and he winced before going on. “I have some bandages and gauze in my pockets somewhere.”

The DICE members all turned to look at him. The man who had dressed as a guard looked at him hopefully, but the bleeding thief only gave him a blank stare and the woman fixed him with a steely glare.

“Aiuteremo questo piccolo bambino straniero.” She said icily. “Voi due potete prendervi cura del criminale.”

“What can I say Saihara?” The thief muttered as his lackeys helped him up. “Ya.. Ya shouldn't've worn all black to fashion week. Yup. That’s the… That’s the moral here.”

As they shuffled away, Shuichi realized there was nothing he could do. Even if he fought both security guards and managed to escape somehow, it would only prove to them that he really was a threat, and that was aside from the fact that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to capture the thieves on his own. He’d have to wait until they brought him to someone who actually recognized him and by then it would be too late.

The impossible is possible, all you gotta do is make it so.

“... I’ll stop you.” The detective said, resolution clear in his voice.

“I’d like to see you try.” The thief muttered in response.

Then the door shut. --- “Man… You’re really bleeding a lot there, boss…” Clubs muttered as Kokichi buckled himself into the seatbelt of their getaway car. After putting him down in the back seat, Clubs got in next to him, taking his usual spot in the middle seat even though there wasn’t really a need yet. Maybe he was anticipating the arrival of the rest of the group. Or maybe he was just being Clubs. And Clubs always sat in the middle seat. Not because of a reason but because he did. People operated from their own internal self as if the person they constructed from their thoughts and actions was more important to maintain than any law in the land.

Italian cars were… really weird huh? Very smooth… Like, like… Gelato.

“I’m fine.” He said. Ugh how unconvincing. “I’m just... pretending to bleed.”

Clubs frowned at him. “How could you possibly pretend to bleed?”

Kokichi was! Going to come up with a very, very good explanation. As soon as he just… sucked that blood back in… yeah… gelato… they were supposed to get gelato…

“He can’t.” Spades ducked her head into the car. “We need to stop it. Do you have a cloth or anything on you?”

“Only the one…” Kokichi muttered. He was thinking about the kerchief he still had in his pocket from the detective. Not that either Spades or Clubs knew that. They probably just thought he was going crazy. Well fine he didn’t want them to know about it anyway. They’d just get blood on it.

“Here,” Clubs took off his own bandana and put it on Kokichi’s head. “He’s still bleeding.” He reported.

“That’s why we’re taking him to a hospital.” Spades replied, now taking her place in the driver’s seat of the gelato car.

Ugh, what? No.

“You can’t take me to a hospital. It’s the first place they’ll look.” He wasn’t going to let the detective catch him at a hospital of all places… What kind of Phantom Thief got caught in a hospital… Lame… Lamey-lamey-lamooo….

Spades put the key in the car and started it. “Fine. We’ll go to a mafia doctor if we have to.”

Kokichi shook his head and felt the fluids roll around inside and outside of his skull. Part of him wondered if he could just sit in this car forever and bleed out until he died. The other part of him was sure that he was doomed to be immortal. “Nope. You crazy or something? We cannot get mixed up in organized crime. They murder people and we don’t do capitalism. Crime should be disorganized or else-”

“Okay! Fine! We’ll go to a fucking Farmacia and pray that you don’t have a concussion!”

Kokichi snorted. “I can’t have a concussion. I’m too smart.”

Clubs gave him a look. “Boss, do you know what a concussion is?”

Kokichi squinted. He’d only ever seen the word being used by people making fun of jocks on the internet. “Isn’t it like a sports thing?”

“Well, actually,” Clubs said in an informative tone of voice. “It’s a serious brain injury.”

“You listening to your fortnite buddies again?”

“No, we learned that in junior high.”

Hah. School. Lameass. Kokichi never needed school. Who needs school when you have google, video games, and anime?

“I’m a serious brain injury already, I think I’ll be fine.”

“No, you won’t be, you could die.” Spades was on her phone, probably looking up italian pharmacies.

That would be fine too. Haha. What a good… A good joke… brain…

“I’m just woozy. I need… like a gelato. We’re getting gelato. We gotta wait for the rest of the gang so we can get gelato.”

“No, I texted them, they can all fit in the other car, you need medical attention.

Kokichi frowned. “There’s seven of them. That car’s a five seater.”

“We’re clowns boss.”

Right. Clowns.... Clowns…. Horses.

“Sis, don’t you think we should wait for King? He’s got his nurse certification, so he should be the one to help with injuries.”

Horses?

“No, this is a different kind of thing Clubs, with head injuries you have to act fast. King can catch up to us with the rest.”

Why weren’t there clown horses?

“Boss, don’t fall asleep. Clubs, make sure he stays awake. See if you can find concussion tests online” She handed her brother her phone.

Kokichi imagined a horse in clown makeup… they’d have to make it a real big red nose. Juicy like gelato…

“Boss, stay with us.”

“Only if we’re going to get… get gelato.” --- Shuichi Saihara was still in police custody, locked alone in one of the back rooms of the fashion week venue and wrestling with his own inadequacy, as he often did, when Agent Ishimaru arrived. He was holding a briefcase.

The interpol agent usually announced himself loudly to whatever room he was in, but today he entered quietly, closing the door in that stiff way of his before sitting down at the interrogation table across from Shuichi.

Shuichi expected him to start yelling again.

He didn’t.

Instead he said, “Mr. Saihara. I am disappointed to see you here.”

“... I am too.” Shuichi said after a moment’s pause. “I almost caught the thief today.”

Kiyotaka looked like he was about to say something along the lines of a reprimand, but he paused and took a breath instead. “Perhaps… perhaps you did.”

Shuichi was still trying to piece this together. Was Kiyotaka mad at him or not?

“But, Mr. Saihara, I would ask you to consider…” He paused. He put the briefcase on the table, but didn’t open it. “That it is not your job to catch this thief.”

Shuichi felt indignant at that. But clearly Kiyotaka was going somewhere with this. “... as a detective, I often find it is my job to solve crimes.”

“You-” Kiyotaka grimaced. “I must apologize, Mr. Saihara, for speaking so obtusely. Yet there are some matters of rule violation recently brought to my attention that require me to handle this situation with a delicacy I am not known for.”

Oh… was this about…

“Just tell me the truth.” Shuichi said.

Kiyotaka took another breath.

“Shuichi Saihara, it has recently aggrieved me to know that you have recently been impersonating an interpol officer at crime scenes involving the DICE cases to further your vigilante investigations. Is this true?”

Vigilante was a little harsh…

“Yes.” Shuichi replied honestly. “I have been asking local law enforcement for access to flight records and airport security information in order to track down DICE--” Kiyotaka visibly tensed at this admission, but Shuichi kept going, “--but I sent every piece of info I’ve uncovered to your team. I know that it’s against your protocol to respond to them, but I’ve been right every time and-”

“And to some that could be very suspicious.” Ishimaru finished for him.

Shuichi grew wary. “What do you mean?” He asked.

Ishimaru sighed. “Do you know the name Kyosuke Munakata?”

“Yes.” Shuichi replied. “Isn’t he the new Secretary General?”

“Yes. The officer in charge of our day-to-day practice. He is my direct superior.” Ishimaru began opening the suitcase, which had two simple latches sealing it shut. He took out a small white envelope and handed it to Shuichi. “This is from him.”

Shuichi took the envelope and looked it over. There was no address on the outside, or stamp, or anything really. Just a foil laminate seal, with two characters interlaced stylistically in it. “未” and “来.” Future.

“You do not need to open it here.” Ishimaru went on. “But I can tell you what it says, if you want.”

Shuichi set the letter down on the table, “What does it say?” he asked.

“If what my superior has told me is to be believed, it is an offer of employment.”

What.

His disbelief must have shown on his face, because when Ishimaru kept going he acknowledged, “I was just about as surprised as you. To see my superior want to reward a rule breaker such as yourself… but then he explained it to me like this. He said, ‘If that young man was able to use our resources to such consistent efficiency, then he should see no problem with transparently putting his methods towards our cause. But if he is not so transparent and refuses our offer, well then we have reason to suspect his intent in this case.’”

Shuichi blinked. Really?

“You’re saying that… the Secretary General suspects that I’m in league with DICE.”

“That is correct.”

"But I-"

"Frankly I do not agree with Secretary General Munakata's deduction."

That was… some relief at least.

"I think that you will refuse this opportunity because, despite your tendency to believe the law does not apply to you simply because you don't believe in it, you are a good detective."

That was… not not where Shuichi thought that sentence would go.

Ishimaru pulled a chunky manilla folder out of the briefcase next. And then another one. And another. And… yeah he ended up pulling out five overflowing manilla folders.

"Do you know what this is?"

"... No."

"This is a print out of the files we have on you."

"What?" They had files? About him? What was he, an international security threat?

Oh… Maybe that was what Ishimaru had just finished telling him wasn’t it...

"Each of these files is a year since you joined the Towa city police force." Ishimaru gestured towards two slightly thicker files. "And these are the two years after you quit." He riffled the papers coming out of the side of one of the folders with his thumb. "Each packet of paper in these outlines a specific contribution you have made to getting a case solved. Everything from missing kids to the Novoselic Diamond case."

Oy vey...

"There's about forty or so cases in each of these files. That means you solve, on average, forty cases in a year. That's about three cases every month."

That wasn't so much. It wasn’t uncommon for Shuichi to be looking into more than one case at once. Except this month…

"This month you've solved zero cases.” Ishimaru seemed to read Shuichi’s mind, but the statistics hit him like a knife to the chest when read aloud. “You've been too busy doing what? Chasing a troupe of clowns who nab the occasional toilet or light fixture?"

… ouch.

"I don't mean to be harsh, Mr. Saihara, I really don't. You'll have to forgive my tone. But these DICE guys simply aren't worth your time. A month spent chasing them is a month you could use to much better effect on a different case. One involving the safety of children or national treasures, rather than the carpets of closing museums."

Ishimaru paused, letting Shuichi absorb what he just said. Then he started placing the folders back in the briefcase.

"So, Mr. Saihara, I think that I may be able to get my superior off your back, but only under two conditions."

He closed the lid of the case.

"The first being that you reveal to us in detail whatever method you have used to divine DICE's machinations from airport documents."

He closed the latch on the right of the briefcase.

"And the second being that you return home effective immediately and cut all ties with this case."

He closed the latch on the left.

"Do you find issue with these terms?"

His usually active hands found a resting place atop the case.

“...”

“Well?”

Shuichi couldn't quite understand how he had gotten here. In his head, until this moment, it really had seemed like he had been doing the right thing. He remembered that when he first latched onto the DICE case he had managed to keep it on the back burner while he dealt with the cases of clients. It had struck him as odd that a string of high scale robberies such as theirs would go unchecked for so long, going back five years or more. It hinted, to him at least, at a missing factor. Perhaps each hit was a calculated strike paid for by a foreign government, or a scheme funded by an underground criminal organization, or perhaps just another play at developing a network of untraceable capital to benefit a small group of people. Yet when was the last time Shuichi had spent any serious time looking into those connections?

It occured to Shuichi, then, that perhaps his ego was behind the wheel of the past month or so, when he'd spent the majority of his time exclusively tracking down DICE. Instead of actually assessing the threat that DICE posed, if any at all, he wasted time tracking down where they would strike next. To do what, catch them in the act? He didn't have the power to arrest them if he did. Even now, when he was closer than ever, all he had done was worsen his already tenuous relationship with the international police. The only plausible motive behind his own actions was that he investigated DICE simply because he knew that he could and he thought that he could do it better than anyone else.

But that wasn't true, was it?

He might think he was especially clever, but as soon as he revealed his methods that special cleverness would run out.

And he was tired, wasn't he? His head was perpetually sore, his eye sockets ached, and his limbs were weighed down by a the familiar slowness of a confused circadian rhythm anytime he didn't have a cup of coffee in his hand.

What Ishimaru had just done with the case files felt like an intervention. Like when TV nutritionists would show someone how many Coca-Colas they drank a month by building a tower of cans or filling a swimming pool with them in order to stop that person from drinking so many Coca-Colas… except Shuichi's Coca-Colas were investigative contributions to criminal offenses.

Maki had been right. He needed a break from this case. What kind of detective was he anyway…

Shuichi swallowed the lump forming in his throat and started talking.

"Well the only thing from the airport you need are logs of ticket purchases and the security footage from the gates if those aren't enough. DICE is an organization of ten people, so you're always looking for a bulk purchase of 9 to 10 tickets at the same time, although they can be from different airports... It doesn't matter who the tickets are purchased by or what identities are attributed to them, only that they're purchased at the same time. I say 9 or 10 tickets because sometimes DICE members will infiltrate the flight crew."

"Like in Paris."

"Like in Paris." Shuichi confirmed. "From there you can essentially pin down what flight they're on. Then you can figure out the general vicinity of the next crime… and I think from there is mostly luck."

"I don't believe in luck.” Ishimaru pressed on. “I believe in hard work. I think the same can be said for you."

Haha. Maybe.

Shuichi was hard pressed to think of anything that wasn’t already pretty obvious, though.

"... I suppose if you really cared to, I would think up all the possible targets after some preliminary research and try to warn them. You probably know this already… but DICE's targets have a trend of being rather famous or rather high security locations in big cities. Honestly, though, a lot of my encounters with them were due to chance."

He really wasn’t lying about that. The Paris, Taipei, and Cairo encounters were essentially pure coincidence.

Ishimaru paused, seemingly weighing this information for any fraudulence in his head. Then, he simply nodded. "Very well, Mr. Saihara. Thank you for cooperating with our investigation."

The agent stood, picking up his briefcase. "I hear that you've already given your testimony to the Italian authorities. In truth, however, we expect this case to be wrapped up shortly regardless of the details of this particular robbery, considering the substantial forensic evidence left by the perpetrator of these crimes." That was one way to refer to a pool of blood on the bathroom floor... "Is this of any consolation to you?"

"Yes, some." Shuichi felt the untruth of the statement even as he said it. It wasn’t how he would run the case, if he were in charge. Blood tests were highly unreliable for tracking down a criminal that could be from anywhere in the world, especially in a contaminated place like a bathroom. And if that criminal has never been taken into police custody or gotten blood work done before then the test would be completely useless. As a detective, he’d want to do his due diligence at the crime scene anyway…

… But this wasn’t his case anymore, was it?

Ishimaru took him at his word.

"Very well," He said.

The man pulled out of his pocket a phone, which Shuichi realized to be his own, and handed it to him.

"Your coat and other confiscated items are outside. Feel free to leave at any time."

Ishimaru did a quick bow in lieu of a verbal farewell, leaving the room in an orderly fashion.

After the door shut, Shuichi was in silence again.

He turned on his phone. As the screen lit up, he was greeted by a few messages from Kaito. He remembered, guiltily, swiping them aside when he had taken out his phone before his confrontation with DICE.

Now, he opened them. --- [Log of Text Messages from Shuichi Saihara’s Cellular Device]

From: Kaito

Hey Shuichi

How’s it going man

From: Kaito

Are you like chasing clowns right now

Text me when you’re not chasing clowns down

From: Me

I am no longer in the career of chasing clowns down

From: Kaito

Oh shit for real??

Did you catch them?

From: Me

I was just asked not to try to catch them

Very politely

By interpol

From: Kaito

Haha

That’s my sidekick

Making the international police scared for their jobs every day of the week

From: Me

That’s a funny way to look at it...

From: Kaito

Hey don’t be blue about it Shuichi

You got off the clown catching clock at a good time

If you catch a flight home sometime this week you could come with us to the open house at JAXA on friday!

From: Me

Oh is that this friday?

Man I totally

Spaced

On that

From: Kaito

Aklsjdfasflkdj

Since when do you do puns

From: Me

I would be fine if you deleted those messages actually

From: Kaito

Too late I already sent that to Maki

From: Me

:( rude

From: Kaito

She says she’s disappointed in both of us now lol

From: Me

Haha that sounds like Maki

why would she be disappointed in you tho lol

From: Kaito

There might be something I forgot to tell you

From: Me

What?

From: Kaito

Do you remember when we were in DC

I had to go to NASA (america’s JAXA basically) and meet with some people

And then I told you I had to tell you something over steak dinner

But then you had to tell me you said you wanted to do a “stake out” not “go out for steak”

And we kind of forgot about it

From: Me

Oh uh

Vaguely?

From: Kaito

Well

The thing i was going to tell you and then forgot to tell you

Is that I’m going on my first mission next week

From: Me

A space mission

From: Kaito

Yeah

Just to the ISS though

I’m gonna be running experiments in the kibo module

For a few months

Maybe a year

From: Me

You’re leaving next week?

How long have you known?

From: Kaito

Like, a few months

From: Me

From: Kaito

Haha yeah

Kinda forgot to tell you

Thats on me

From: Me

Its fine

From: Kaito

Phew glad i got that off my chest

Can you believe Maki Roll thought you’d be mad at me?

From: Me

Haha what

No its fine

Everything’s cool --- [Log of Text Messages from Shuichi Saihara’s Cellular Device]

From: Me

What the hell???

From: Maki

I know right???? --- Shuichi put down his phone, feeling like a plate on a table that just got the table cloth pulled from beneath it and yet some how found itself shockingly sedentary. He internally recalculated his schedule. He'd need to get on the next plane to Japan as fast as he could.

He opened the door. The lights outside the holding room seemed to have been taken as well. There was an officer with a flashlight who helped him grab his stuff.

Weirdly, on the way out, Shuichi looked back through the little window in the door to the holding room. The lights had gone out in it as well. Wait… wasn't there a vent in that room too?

As soon as the thought occurred to Shuichi he forcefully extinguished it.

Not my case. He reminded himself.

Then he turned, nodded to the officer, and walked out the door. --- Kokichi Ouma sat in the back seat of one of DICE's get away cars with a fresh bandage wrap on his head, slurping street vendor Gelato and trying to convince himself this was another win. Sure, the heist went well. Rook, King, and Queen had been on vent duty with him and had managed to sweep up his unfinished light fixture nabbing route. They were actually about to pick Rook up from the final rendezvous point right that second.

Which brought Kokichi to the discrepancies indicating he may be suffering a loss here.

For starters, no one was smiling. They had just pulled off a major haul and nobody was happy about it. Kokichi thought that if he got into the car where no one had seen him go splat from ceiling to floor he wouldn't have to deal with this, but Queen, King, and Bishop were really out here acting like he had died or something. He didn't even have a concussion! They did all the tests! King checked him out like forty times, he just cut himself on the edge of the broken vent!

But Bishop was stone faced behind the wheel and Queen kept pausing the tikkertap of his fingers on the keyboard to look back at Kokichi. Even King was just sitting there trying not to stare at him. Kokichi could tell he was worrying about him because if King wasn't worrying about him then he would be texting Rook. Those two were insufferable. Did he say insufferable? He meant inseparable. Like they always say next to each other when they could and texted each other the entire time they couldn't. If King was texting them it meant he was looking for emotional support because he was worrying about Kokichi but thought that he should try and make sure Kokichi didn’t know he was worrying about him, which was annoying as hell.

They weren't looking at him like their boss right now, they were looking at him like their kid brother.

He tried not to let that turn his stomach. He had gelato left to put in there, after all.

Ok, them thinking he was weak for bleeding out wasn’t the only option here. Maybe they were just antsy to be done with this heist.

Kokichi couldn’t really argue with that sentiment, though. Not because this one was a trash fire, even though it kind of was, but because he wanted to get onto the next one. Once they picked up Rook, they could figure out where they were going next and Kokichi would have another chance to match wits with the detective. With Kokichi's big screw up today it had only been due to Spades and Clubs's intervention that he hadn't gotten caught. Saihara was right on his tail and Kokichi still had no idea how he was doing it. It was like a puzzle, like an actually hard one. Kokichi spent a few moments thinking up possible methods, crossing out a few, and sorting the rest of them into piles based on likelihood in his head.

He only realized he had been silently spacing out for six minutes when the car stopped. He heard the trunk open and close

King scooted over into the middle seat and Rook came in to sit on the right hand side behind Queen. Kokichi thought about that for a second, because King had automatically assumed that he should be the one to move to the middle seat. Did it speak to Kokichi’s authority that it wasn’t even a consideration that he should move over to let Rook into the car, or did it speak to their interpretation of his fragility? Well, Kokichi was never asked to move over in the back seat. Then again, he usually sat in the front. Wait, wasn’t he in the seat behind the driver? There was a gif set online somewhere where two white guys are in a car and one explains to the other how the seat behind the driver’s is the safest seat in the car. Had everyone subconsciously thought of that gif set when they sat down in the car? Or were they merely following a pattern of behavior because Kokichi was never asked to move over when someone got in the car. In fact he was never asked to move over at all, not even when he was taking up a lot of space on the couch. Again, that could be a sign of his inherent authority. Except maybe it didn’t mean anything because DICE members asked each other to move over as a sign of antagonism and they just didn’t antagonize him like that. Were they afraid of him? Or maybe King just scooted over because Rook was coming in on his side-

Wait, rewind. Were they afraid of him?

Kokichi rethought the silence that had encompassed their ride thus far. Now that he reconsidered, the silence had almost seemed anticipatory, as if something were weighing on their minds more pressing than fresh banter or celebration. He had thought they were just anxious to finish off the operation, but now that Rook had stowed the goods and was safely in the car, the tense anticipation of something to come still hung heavy in the air.

As the car started back up, Kokichi noticed Rook and King exchange a glance. Bishop checked the rear view window at a suspicious angle. Rook’s hand went over the shoulder of the passenger seat, obviously palming something they were handing to Queen.

Kokichi spun a wheel in his head. Get out of the car? Confront them? Change the topic? Make them feel so bad for him they have to drop everything? Strike fear into their hearts of what his reaction would be towards untoward news? Maybe he should do a food crime to make them realize he was fine? Except he had finished his gelato, so what was he supposed to do? Eat the paper cup his gelato was-

Oh, oops.

While Kokichi had been considering what to do, it turned out he had also been methodically folding the finished gelato cup in his hands. Now, it was in his mouth.

Wow, he hadn’t thought this out, huh? He was trying to look less like a person with brain damage, not more . Well, too late to take the paper out of his mouth, he had already committed to the bit.

Kokichi pretended not to notice that everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch him with dawning horror as he chewed the former bowl to pulp in his mouth. It still tasted a little chocolatey. Mostly in an unsatisfying way, though. You know how when you eat the last bit off your spoon and you end up tasting mostly the spoon which just leaves you wishing you had more ice cream and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Except instead of a spoon it was this paper bowl. He felt the fibers dampen and rip apart under his teeth. The gnashing filled the car with sound.

Then he swallowed.

The car was once more filled with a petrified silence, this time on Kokichi’s terms.

“You four have been scheming behind my back.” He announced, emptying the car of silence with the sound of his voice.

At Kokichi’s words, everyone in the car flinched into an avoidant position. Bishop took the car out of park and started driving, Queen went back to typing on his computer, and King leaned as far away as he could from Kokichi without unbuckling.

Rook was the last player standing and braved looking Kokichi in the eyes.

“Uh. So.” They started roughly. “We just thought that….”

“I knew what you thought as soon as you volunteered for the last rendezvous point this morning.” Kokichi interrupted, bluffing wildly, “Just show me what you got out of it.”

“Just one sec, boss I’m uploading it to the computer.” Queen muttered, probably dragging around files from the SD card Rook had handed him. When he finally did turn the laptop around to show Kokichi, an audio player was open. He also noted on the task bar that file explorer,

Mozilla Firefox, and Fieldwire were open but minimized.

Kokichi grabbed the computer and put it in his lap before pressing play.

“Well the only thing from the airport you need are logs of ticket purchases and the security footage from the gates if those aren’t enough.” It took Kokichi a couple seconds to recognize the voice. “DICE is an organization of ten people, so you're always looking for a bulk purchase of 9 to 10 tickets at the same time, although they can be from different airports... ”

Kokichi opened Fieldwire. It was the program that DICE used to share blueprints with one another. Queen had started a new project that had been shared only with Bishop. He opened it.

“It doesn't matter who the tickets are purchased by or what identities are attributed to them, only that they're purchased at the same time.”

It took Kokichi a few moments to figure out what exactly he was looking at.

“I say 9 or 10 tickets because sometimes DICE members will infiltrate the flight crew.”

They were blueprints for a plane.

“Like in Paris” A new voice cut into the recording.

“Like in Paris” Shuichi replied.

There was a minute left on the recording. That was how long Kokichi had to figure out what the hell was going on here and what his response should be.

Detective Saihara using information from airports had been a possibility that crossed his mind before, but Kokichi hadn’t highlighted it any more than his other theories, which ranged from secret spy gear, to omniscience, or to just plain old random chance.

Obviously the same could not be said for those of his cohort. They had suspected public air transport was the root cause of their encounters with the Detective long enough for Queen to draw up these blueprints and recruit Rook to bring evidence for some sort of pitch they were planning.

They had figured the detective out before him.

Kokichi had thought of the detective’s successes as challenges, exciting roadside attractions to disrupt an otherwise monotonous road trip through life. How had he not stopped himself even once during the past month to ask himself how they looked to the rest of DICE? To his subordinates, Saihara’s successes seemed less like fun interruptions and more like real obstacles towards goals they all commonly held. In other words, setbacks revealing failures in Kokichi’s plans.

The worst thing was that Kokichi wanted to be angry at these four for this intervention bullshit. Angry that they took away some bit of mystery solving fun from him. Angry that they wanted to take away something that he had felt good about. Angry that they were undermining his authority by going behind his back.

But he wasn’t going to be angry. It was a stupid, pointless thing, his anger.

Being a supreme leader of ultimate evil isn’t all tulips and tirades. Everything Kokichi did needed to have a purpose, because he knew that DICE were always watching him, looking to him, making judgements and changing their perceptions of him in their minds.

What would being angry here accomplish? It would only strengthen their impression of his sudden unreasonableness. Even if he explained his motives, they didn’t hold up very well upon inspection. What was that Boss? You’re so bored by us that you feel the need to endanger us by playing mind games with a boot licking private eye while we do all the work? Oh yeah, we totally understand. Wait right there while we never fully trust you with anything ever again.

If anything DICE had a right to be angry at him. What had he been doing these past few weeks? How had they figured out this plane thing before him?

Was there some part of him that was actively sabotaging himself? A part that wanted him to fail just for the thrill of it? Maybe he had known how Saihara was really tracking them, but had just ignored the obvious answer because he didn’t want the mystery to be over yet.

How could his friends trust him if he didn’t even trust himself?

Kokichi had ten seconds to wrap up this train of thought before the recording was finished. No more questions, only answers, lets go.

The plans for the airplane were by all means exactly what DICE would be looking for in a plane. It was small enough as to not require a massive amount of runway space but large enough to house everyone comfortably. There were some rather intricate illustrations of those convertible mechanisms that Queen had gotten really into earlier that year. How long had he been planning thi- no questions. Fold out tables, couches, a TV, things that could turn a vehicle into an on the go hideout in the blink of an eye. Kokichi estimated the total cost of everything to come out to around ¥1,190,401,200. Which is. A lot of money. But most of that money would probably be for the engine, which if you buy legally would be around a billion yen. If he factored out buying legally, the rest of the blueprint would probably cost around ¥1,081,200, a much lower figure. Renting a hangar would cost a little less, but that price was more flexible depending on what Bishop said their monthly earnings were.

Kokichi googled ‘Japan Aerospace.’ He was in luck, the first thing that popped up was an article about a new JAXA mission.

The recording stopped.

Showtime.

Kokichi let them breathe in the silence a bit.

Then, when they were good and nervous, he enacted his plan.

“Bishop, tell Queen how much we earned this month.” He requested calmly.

Bishop replied readily, “About ¥2,000,000, Boss!”

Whoa. What? Were they really making that much a month? Kokichi supposed they had been robbing high security locales on a weekly basis, but somehow he had still viewed their team as barely scraping by. What was even the point of the heists anymore if they-

No time for questions, Kokichi had to use that figure right now.

“Do you know what that figure means, Queen?” Kokichi asked, knowing that Queen never thought about the monetary cost of his projects for more than three seconds.

“Uh… Money?” Yeah, okay, Kokichi needed to remember not to target Queen too much, even though he seemed to be the ringleader of this insurrection. That would only serve to force the other members of DICE to pick a side, which was not the ideal dynamic of a ten person group.

“It’s exactly how much money we would need to rent a hangar and build an airplane covertly in Kagoshima next month.” Kokichi clarified.

“... Uh boss,” Bishop interrupted hesitantly, “I hate to contradict you there, but most airplanes would cost a hundred times that-” “I’m not talking about how much it would take to build most airplanes.” Kokichi interrupted the interruption he had expected to occur. “I’m talking about how much it would take us to build an airplane.”

Kokichi then turned the laptop back around to show Queen the article about the manned launch to the ISS happening next week. He scrolled down to a picture of the engine taken at the launch site in Tanegashima. When Queen’s eyes lit up and King let out a sigh of relief, Kokichi knew that he had gotten away with it.

He managed to play off this whole month-long debacle as a waiting game, pretending that he had the very same understanding and intentions as the rest of them since the start of the month.

They’d get on different planes, booked at different times to the international airports in Tokyo, and then ship out to the JAXA launch site on Tanegashima, fuck things up a little and steal some rocket level engines. And Kokichi would stuff down the emptiness that curled in his gut at the lost prospect of a very interesting adversary.

… empty, huh?

Why would cutting his losses make him feel empty? Why-

No questions.

…

He should get some more gelato. Things were good when he was eating gelato.

#shuichi x kokichi #shuichi saihara #shuichi danganronpa #kokichi ouma #kokichi danganronpa #oumasai #saiouma #fanfiction #Phantom Thief AU #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 killing harmony #writing #im gay lol

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commentaryvorg · 4 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 5.18

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in trial 5 (trial 5!!!!!!) as we spent a lot of time discussing the logistics of the plan, Kaito’s cause of death was thrown into question, leading to a clever bit of misdirection which was probably written by Kokichi just before he died about how an unknowable culprit was totally the point of the plan, Kaito basically told everyone that Monokuma doesn’t know who did it, which had equal chances of being Kokichi being stupid and full of himself or Kaito being clever and gunning for the next-best outcome since the best one is almost certainly out of reach, Shuichi figured out Kokichi wasn’t the mastermind (rendering Miu and Gonta’s deaths now completely pointless), then Kokichi ruined his own plan by posthumously gloating about how evil he is, causing everyone to make the mistake of thinking their real enemy was Kokichi and not Monokuma, and so Monokuma joined the party.

Monokuma: “Now, where should we start? We’ve already established what Kokichi is after…”

Note how Monokuma has still not explicitly admitted that he doesn’t know who the culprit is. He’s only vaguely alluding to it here without outright saying it. I really do think that he’s literally not allowed to admit it.

Shuichi realises that now that we know Kokichi’s objective was to fool Monokuma, it might explain why he would bizarrely show a video that apparently proves he crushed Kaito.

Monokuma: “Then what kinda mistake was Kokichi tryin’ to get me to make?”

They made a big deal about how Monokuma is supposedly participating now like just another student, but he’s still kind of not. He could just tell Shuichi, “so, hey, I’m not even sure if Kaito is the victim, I don’t trust that video but I don’t know how it could be faked, figure it out for me”. But it seems he’s still not allowed to participate so directly and is instead just asking vague questions to point Shuichi in the right direction.

Shuichi: “There must be a reason you went out of your way to show us the body being crushed.”

Exisal Kokichi: “No reason, really. That’s just my twisted personality.”

Shuichi: (You’re lying again, Kokichi. There’s a method to your madness.)

Shuichi is still sure that the person he’s talking to here is Kokichi. That will change very soon.

(It might kind of partially be “Kokichi” he’s talking to anyway in the sense that this is probably scripted. But then again, maybe not – again, he’s using Kokichi’s nature as an excuse for a lie, which is not really something Kokichi ever did?)

Shuichi: (Taking the video of the murder but keeping the victim’s identity hidden… What does it show? What doesn’t it show?) “…The victim.”

Maki: “Huh?”

Oh man I never properly noticed until now how Maki is the first one to react to this, aaaa, of course she is.

Shuichi: (Is it even possible?)

This single line, on my first time through, absolutely fucking broke me.

I’d been convinced for a while that Kaito definitely was dead after all, this was the absolute truth, it’s sad but we’ll just have to deal with it and keep going. And then suddenly, for the first time in over an hour, this line was the narrative acknowledging the possibility that Kaito could be alive after all. This wasn’t a relief. This was utterly terrifying, because it was still only a possibility, and there was every chance that this hope would be crushed and snuffed out yet again, which would hurt even more than it had the first time, make me feel stupid and foolish for daring to hope again in the first place. And yet, even the tiniest most fragile possibility of Kaito being alive was infinitely better than the alternative. I couldn’t not hope, despite how terrifying it was.

For me, this case was the absolute best hands-on experience of hope fighting against despair (the real meanings of those words), more than anything else in Danganronpa has ever been. I am so, so glad I managed to be unspoiled for this game so that I could have that, and so sad that I am never going to be able to feel that way while watching this case ever again. Rewatches are great for a lot of things, but some experiences of fiction are literally once-in-a-lifetime.

I admit that I read this line as a desperately hopeful “is it even possible (that Kaito could be alive after all)?” when it might actually just be meant as a more logistical question of “is it even possible (that the video could have been faked)?”. But even if it’s the latter, that still suddenly reopens the possibility that Kaito is alive, so Shuichi has to be thinking that here, one way or another.

Shuichi: (No, that’s a question for later. For now, we know that…)

Regardless, Shuichi is amazingly good at pushing his emotions aside and just focusing on taking the logic one step at a time. While there’s got to be a part of his mind that’s desperately jumping up and down going Kaito might be alive!!! (first-time-me knew exactly that feel and that’s why I can confirm that Shuichi is showing incredible self-control right now), he’s refusing to let it have a say because it’ll cause him to think irrationally and maybe come to the wrong conclusions. The Ultimate Detective can’t let himself be biased by what he wants to be true.

Tsumugi: “Then it was some other dead body that got crushed by the hydraulic press?”

Maki: “What?”

Maki Roll! She sounds hopeful!

Himiko: “Where would he even get another body?”

Keebo: “There should be plenty to choose from if you reuse the body of a former victim—”

Perhaps because they know the story of DR1 now, they’re jumping to this conclusion instead of considering the other possibility that there was one other living person there who could have been crushed instead. I personally immediately assumed that if Kaito was alive then that must have meant somehow Kokichi was dead and Kaito was in the Exisal, but that might be thanks to the narrative argument that that’d make the most interesting story, which these guys of course don’t have.

Exisal Kokichi has a whole scripted speech here about how switching the victims was definitely impossible because the footage wasn’t edited. I think it was around this point that first-time-me finally realised that the camera has a pause button!!!! and that actually totally made it possible for the footage to be faked and Kaito to be alive. This helped a lot in making me somewhat less terrified, because I’d gone from hope that was completely baseless into hope with an actual basis behind it, some way that I could see to reach the outcome I wanted. Even then, it was still only a possibility and there was still always the chance the game could pull the rug out from under me again – but it was a much firmer possibility than a few moments ago, and that was good.

Exisal Kokichi: “Also, if the victim was switched, then that would mean Kaito is still alive. We already discussed this sooo many times. The chance of that happening is imposs—”

…Says Kaito. Heh. Imagine how amused he must be to talk about how impossible it is for him to be alive.

This is definitely scripted, though. The only reason there’s ever been to be sure that Kaito is dead is the footage, but he’s talking about this like it’s a completely separate argument from what he was just saying about that. Like Kaito is obviously just this reckless idiot who’s inevitably going to fail pathetically and get himself killed, and the idea that he could have escaped death and succeeded at something is ridiculous. Like that in itself is proof Kaito must be dead. This is a narrative that Kaito would never choose on his own to promote – but Kokichi had been known to join in with said narrative occasionally, and so it seems he did in the script as well.

Maki: “…It might be possible.”

Exisal Kokichi: “Huh?”

Maki Roll!! He says it’s impossible, but the impossible could be possible if it’s Kaito! She’s finally trying to claw and fight her way into a better reality rather than just accepting the awful one she’s stuck in! And Kaito must quietly be so proud to see Maki latching onto this possibility, to have stopped feeling that unshakeable despair and be looking for a better outcome.

Maki: “There could be a trick to make the switch possible. We just haven’t noticed it yet…”

Exisal Kokichi: “Ooohh, and what trick is that?”

Maki: “…”

Exisal Kokichi: “See, you don’t know, do you? I already said it’s imposs—”

It seems like right now Maki’s hope is still completely baseless. But even though it’s baseless, she’s desperately holding onto it anyway! That’s such a big deal coming from Maki!

Shuichi: “Maki’s not wrong. There is a way it could be done… So we can’t just give up here!”

Shuichi sounds here like he’s already figured out the trick. But I kind of doubt he has, because you’d think this would be the one time where he wouldn’t hesitate to voice his deductions and would immediately explain the whole thing. So in fact, Shuichi’s hope is probably also still baseless, and he’s just doing a better job than Maki of making it sound like it isn’t, to try and keep her hopes up. How very Kaito of him!

Maki: “Hey, Shuichi… I’ll think harder about this as well… So… can you confirm whether or not the victim switched places? If Kaito is… alive or not?”

Maki’s voice sounds so full of emotion here! She’s not holding anything back and is finally letting herself desperately reach for this possibility, now that it seems possible after all!

Maki: “I don’t like the thought that I killed Kaito… I don’t… want that.”

This is the first time Maki has mentioned that she didn’t want to kill him! She’s talking about what she wants! She’s talking about how she felt about killing someone! She’s not just a heartless killer! Her feelings and desires matter!

It’s also in this moment that Maki starts crying, which is the first time we’ve ever seen her do so. She is having emotions and being a person! Kaito must be so proud of her, and so relieved that she’s finally letting herself feel this instead of locking it all away.

Himiko: “Okay then, let’s talk about the possibility that Maki Roll mentioned.”

Tsumugi: “Himiko, if you call her that again—”

Maki: “…Yes, please.”

Maki Roll!!! I absolutely love that this is the moment she accepts that nickname from Himiko. It’s not just that she’s tolerating it; she actively wants Himiko to call her that! She’s desperate for anything that’ll remind her of Kaito and help her feel the way she did back before she thought she’d killed him, just so that she can hold onto that hope!

Tsumugi: “Then let’s all talk it over together!”

Shuichi: (Together…)

…

Kaito: “And don’t forget… you’re not alone! Don’t try to do everything yourself. It’s only gonna wear you out. When times are hard, you gotta rely on your friends.”

…

Shuichi: “Yeah… I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

FRIENDS!!! It’s probably thinking that Kaito might be alive that spurs Shuichi to remember what Kaito said to him, and it’s so lovely and appropriate that the feeling that his best friend might still be here is also accompanied by the reminder that he’s not alone and he’s got other friends he can rely on too. Did you know that this game is about friends.

Exisal Kokichi: “Geez, you guys are a stubborn bunch. There’s no trick.”

And yet you’re still the most stubborn person here, Kaito! He has to have been so thrilled to see the change in Maki just now, and to see everyone working together, and Shuichi letting his friends support him (even if he has no idea that Shuichi was specifically thinking of his own words about that). But no matter how much this might make Kaito feel like he wants them to succeed, he still has to oppose them, and he’s still going to give that everything he’s got until the very end.

Maki: “The person in that video… Was it really Kaito?”

Everyone else in this debate is making fairly logical suggestions for what could be off about the video. But Maki’s voice just sounds full of desperate hope, and this doesn’t even read like a logical argument and doesn’t have an agree spot like the others (surely she can’t really be arguing that it’s not actually Kaito that we see there; it is very unmistakably him). This is her still being so stuck on the is Kaito really alive after all??? that she can’t even think logically like she usually does.

Shuichi: (If we put our heads together, we can find the smallest hope… We won’t fall into despair!)

Finally the narrative is using these words correctly! Yes, damn right thinking that Kaito might be alive is hope! Damn right that him turning out to be dead after all would make them despair! Shuichi’s still having wishful thinking to be saying that they definitely won’t fall into despair, since Kaito’s survival isn’t confirmed yet, but that’s precisely what hope is!

Keebo: “There’d be no way to stop the hydraulic press unless someone used the ‘Force Stop’ button.”

Maki: “When you say someone… you mean Kokichi, right? He was the only one there.”

Exisal Kokichi: “… Hm, actually… maybe I pressed it by accident? I don’t really remember…”

You would imagine that this response would be scripted, but it seems oddly vague for one of Kokichi’s calculated lies to hide the truth of his plan, so I’m not actually sure about this one. Maybe it’s just the vagueness in his tone of voice which strikes me as off? If Kokichi were really here delivering this line he’d probably sound a lot more gleefully sure about his unsureness.

Monokuma: “There’s also the question of how the bodies got switched while the camera was rolling. That would have clearly been caught on camera.”

It almost kind of sounds like Monokuma has already figured this out and is just leading Shuichi into saying it. But then again, if he’d already figured this part out here then he’d probably have been capable of figuring out the whole trick by himself and wouldn’t have needed Shuichi’s help at all.

Shuichi: “Ah, I see. It wasn’t just the press that stopped…”

Monokuma: “…Eh? Huh? Whaddaya mean?”

…Yeah, maybe not. He seems genuinely confused here.

By the way, can we talk about the fact that after the press stopped and the switch happened, the press then descends for the killing blow faster than it did before? I saw a fic once which surmised that during the switch, Kaito fiddled with the settings of the press as best he could to make it go faster, in order to make Kokichi’s death as quick and painless as possible. Not my idea, but hell yes, headcanon absolutely accepted.

Tsumugi helps explain why the video’s odd camera angle was necessary for the trick.

Tsumugi: “If they were recording it like normal, they would have used a better angle.”

Maki: “And if it was recorded at such an odd angle, then that proves a trick was used.”

It technically doesn’t prove it. It could just be that Kokichi had no idea how to frame a decent shot, or that he just wanted us to think a trick was used. But Maki’s latching onto anything that makes it more likely that Kaito is alive and trying to insist that it’s proof, because of course she is. I love how desperately she wants this.

Himiko: “Camera angles, huh? Looks like your cosplayer experience is finally useful.”

Tsumugi: “Well, cosplay doesn’t really come up all that much in class trials…”

Yeah, and maybe it should stay that way, hm?

Shuichi: “When the press was stopped, you couldn’t really see who was inside it, correct?”

Except for his VERY VISIBLE ARM which isn’t actually visible there in canon and we just have to pretend we can’t see, araghrghrghr.

Shuichi: “That was intentional. The body is mostly hidden by the press, making the swap easier.”

In reality, it’s not “mostly” – he’s completely hidden by the press at this point. “Mostly” is what we see in the flawed localisation version, and that would not be enough to convincingly pull off the switch. (I checked the Japanese, and he does indeed still say “mostly” there, even though it really isn’t.)

I suppose one could argue that it was teeeeechnically possible to co-ordinate Kaito’s and Kokichi’s arms to be in similar enough positions to each other that the switch might not be noticeable to the human eye in the split second before the press descended again. But the fact that Shuichi never talks about how that could have been possible – which would be a very important point to cover – basically makes it canon that the arm isn’t actually visible, despite what we localisation-players see in the video.

Tsumugi: “I wonder if they used that tripod in the hangar to adjust the camera’s height.”

What tripod in the hangar? She’s talking like there was one there that we found during the investigation, but… there wasn’t? (If there wasn’t, it doesn’t have to be a plot-hole; Kaito could have taken it with him into the Exisal to hide it.)

Maki: “Then… that logic is correct, right? Kokichi used that video angle trick, and switched the victim in the hydraulic press. In that case, Kaito is—”

Maki is the first one to summarise this discussion and get to the point that this means Kaito’s alive, right? and it’s adorable.

Shuichi: “Himiko, the different body you mentioned… What are you talking about?”

Himiko: “The bodies from the other cases. Kokichi’s the mastermind, so he’d— Nyeh…? Wait… The mastermind…?”

Shuichi: “Yeah. Kokichi isn’t the mastermind, so… I don’t think he’d be able to produce a body to switch out.”

Maki: “…What?”

It seems that most of them, Maki included, were still casually assuming that Kokichi pulled a case 5 from the first Danganronpa and swapped in an older dead body. Which makes sense for them to think, since their heads are full of Hope’s Peak right now, and they also still haven’t shaken off the impression in their minds that Kokichi is the mastermind even though it’s been disproven.

But that would be a rather boring story if it were true. That’d mean that Kokichi is the one in the Exisal after all, and sure, Kaito’s alive, but he’s just hidden somewhere in the school, completely oblivious to the trial going on, still just an unwitting pawn in Kokichi’s plan with no agency of his own. That’s no fun at all. Kaito deserves better than that, narratively speaking. Kaito would have wanted better than that, to be more of a hero than that in his last day alive, no matter what it meant he had to do.

Keebo: “Well, Monokuma? Do the rules allow for a body to be reused?”

Monokuma: “Very well. I’ll answer that.”

Exisal Kokichi: “…You’re giving in pretty easily.”

Monokuma: “Well, it’s crucial information to make the trial fair. This discussion is pointless if it’s not clear what the culprit was allowed to do, right?”

Exisal Kokichi: “Ah-haha, you’ve a convenient mastermind. But I guess that makes defeating you worth my time.”

Not sure this last line of Exisal Kokichi’s is actually scripted. “Worth my time” seems like one hell of an understatement for how Kokichi really felt about defeating Monokuma and the mastermind, given the desperate, twisted lengths he was willing to go to for it and how much more passionately he was gloating about it in the script earlier. This might just be Kaito trying to ad-lib an approximation of how Kokichi feels about this, based on said earlier scripted speech, and not quite getting into it enough.

Monokuma confirms that it was impossible to re-use a dead body.

Shuichi: “…” (Kokichi and Kaito were the only ones in the hangar at the time. If they were the only ones present during the body-swapping trick… Then the real victim was…)

Shuichi looks intensely worried here as he realises this. His narration makes it seem like he’s being shaken at the realisation of who the victim was, but that doesn’t really make sense. He’d already accepted at the beginning of this case that one of the two of them has to be dead, and he was quite happy for Kokichi to be dead if it meant Kaito was alive.

What Shuichi’s really got to be horrified about here is the realisation of who the culprit is. He’s just approaching that topic in the most indirect way possible in his mind because he still doesn’t enjoy facing painful truths like this.

If you get this question wrong and say the victim was a third party, Maki has an extra line to fill Shuichi’s silence as he explains to himself why that’s not possible.

Maki: “If there were no other bodies… then how the hell?”

She is so confused. Kokichi being the victim would mean that Kaito has to be the killer, but obviously it’s completely impossible that Kaito would ever do that, so this is clearly an unsolvable conundrum.

Maki: “…What’s wrong, Shuichi? Who did Kaito switch places with?”

And back to the canon voiced lines from getting it right, Maki sounds somewhat frantic. Either she’s worried that Shuichi’s silence means he’s realised something that proves Kaito didn’t switch with anyone and is dead after all… or perhaps, somewhere deep down she’s also realised the truth and is even more afraid of admitting it than Shuichi.

Shuichi: “Maki… I think I missed something very important here…”

I enjoy the sense given here that Shuichi and Maki’s excited hope of a few minutes ago has come screeching to an awkward halt. They were all so focused on the idea that Kaito was still alive and figuring out how to prove it was possible that nobody took a step back to look at the bigger picture and realise the full implications of what it would mean if Kaito really was alive. In some ways, this is actually worse than Kaito being the victim.

(It’s not, of course; it is immeasurably better. But they’re not looking at this as a narrative. They don’t mind if Kaito doesn’t get to be a hero and just want their friend to survive and preferably not be a murderer.)

Shuichi goes on to deduce that Kaito and Kokichi were working together. Which really kind of makes more sense being deduced after figuring out that Kaito was the culprit, in order to then establish the how and a tiny bit of the why. But nope, Shuichi’s leaving that conclusion until the last possible moment.

Shuichi: “I can’t believe I overlooked this!”

Overlooking them working together until now isn’t something to be kicking himself about. The notion that Kaito and Kokichi would ever co-operate is inconceivable enough that of course it wouldn’t ever come to mind until you have basically conclusive proof that it must have happened, and he only just figured out that proof. Which means that really Shuichi is kicking himself about not having considered during all of his hopeful deductions earlier that if Kaito is alive then he almost certainly killed Kokichi. Shuichi still isn’t willing to think about that directly.

Shuichi: “If they switched places while the press and the camera were stopped… then the person who turned the camera and the press back on was the original victim.”

Even as he’s explaining the switch, he’s using these vague placeholder terms despite knowing full well who he’s talking about. He does not want to say it.

Monokuma: “Geez, this culprit’s a real jerk.”

Heh. Only to you, Monokuma.

I love the way he says this at the point where it is 100% clear that he’s talking about Kaito. It’s some delightful irony, knowing that really this culprit one of the least jerkish people around, and yet also he has been acting like a jerk for most of this trial, all for the purpose of pissing off Monokuma and saving his friends.

Monokuma: “…So, have you realised whodunnit yet?”

Maki: “…”

Maki’s distant, worried expression here makes it clear that she very much has.

Shuichi: (The culprit of the case… If my detective work hasn’t failed me, the culprit is inside that Exisal…)

Exisal: “…”

I love that it no longer displays it as “Exisal Kokichi” here. This is the first time Shuichi has looked at that Exisal without making the assumption that it’s Kokichi in there.

Actually, that’s also an interesting point. Despite how much Shuichi was desperately insisting Kaito could be alive at the beginning of the trial, he never properly extended that to figure that if Kaito really was alive, then he must be the one in the Exisal. He never even acknowledged the possibility of that until now. Partly that’s because he never truly believed Kaito was alive back then, of course. But perhaps it was also that thinking Kaito was in the Exisal was almost as bad as thinking he was dead – because that’d mean Kaito was actively deceiving them for some inconceivable reason.

The question the game asks you here in this accusation screen is “Who is in the Exisal?”. Not “Who is the culprit?”, even though Shuichi knows full well that that’s what he’s proving here. He still does not want to think about that and would rather think of it as proving that Kaito is alive after all.

(First-time-me, meanwhile, was elated to have reached this near-confirmation that Kaito was not only alive but had been inside that Exisal the whole time. It’s not just that his friends are going to get to see him again, but also that he’s been playing an active, integral role in this whole trial, fighting as hard as he can to defeat Monokuma and save everyone. This is exactly the narrative Kaito deserved.)

Shuichi: “If the two of them switched while the press was stopped… then the culprit who started the hydraulic press again and crushed Kokichi… must be Kaito!”

Instead of just straight-up saying “Kaito is the culprit” after you make the choice, Shuichi goes on to re-explain the victim switch, except using actual names this time, in order to end on the conclusion here that the culprit is Kaito. It’s like he still can’t bring himself to admit it unless he justifies to himself that this has to be what happened.

Shuichi: “I don’t want to believe it either… but it’s the only way any of this makes sense. My detective work has led me to the conclusion that Kaito is the culprit.”

I like how Shuichi stresses it being from his detective work. The Ultimate Detective may have figured this out, but Shuichi Saihara alone would never have been able to conceive of the idea that his best friend would kill anyone.

Exisal: “…”

Kaito’s being very quiet during this whole part. It is possible that Kokichi didn’t cover this eventuality in the script – more on that later.

(Kaito’s probably feeling incredibly proud of Shuichi for figuring it out, even as he’s also thinking, “well, shit, what do I do now?”. He’s still not about to just give up and admit it, of course!)

Tsumugi: “Hey, answer us! If you really are Kaito, then—”

Maki: “I’m the culprit.”

Shuichi: (Huh?)

Maki: “There’s no way that Kaito can still be alive… Because I’m the culprit.”

It is so heartbreaking that Maki would rather have a narrative where Kaito is dead and she killed him than one in which he’s alive but he killed anyone at all. She said just before the investigation began that Kaito being the culprit is even more impossible than him being dead, and she still desperately wants that to be the case.

(And note how she’s not trying to get the best of both worlds by arguing that she killed Kokichi and so Kaito is both alive and spotless. Which means that even though she’s not admitting it, she knows that if Kaito were alive then he’d definitely have killed Kokichi before the poison could in order to protect her. The only way for him to conceivably not be the culprit is if he’s dead, therefore that has to be the truth.)

Maki: “I saw it with my own eyes. Kokichi drank the antidote that he stole from Kaito… There’s no doubt Kaito died.”

She makes this argument, but it no longer holds any water. Now that we’ve established that Kokichi’s plan was to die while making everyone think he was still alive by having Kaito pretend to be him inside the Exisal, obviously Kokichi needed Kaito to live and not himself, so obviously he would have wanted to give Kaito the antidote. As soon as you realise that, it’s clear that him drinking the antidote was a lie.

Maki is smart enough that she’s got to have realised this. She’s only making this argument because it’s basically the only argument left to make, even though she knows it’s wrong.

Maki: “And he died because of my poison arrow.”

She’s also insisting that, given Kokichi totally drank the antidote, Kaito definitely died because of her, never mind the possibility presented earlier that Kaito was crushed to death by Kokichi. (Which is actually fair, because that’d mean Maki would still bear the responsibility for Kaito’s death since he would have died thanks to her either way. Look who’s not trying to run away from her responsibility in killing someone.)

Himiko: “But you told us you didn’t want to kill Kaito and—”

Maki: “Yes, I never wanted to. I wanted to believe that I didn’t kill him. But… the truth speaks differently. In the end, I was just running away from the facts.”

She’s still willing to acknowledge at this point that she didn’t want to kill him – and yet even then, she’d still rather have killed Kaito despite that than think that he could have killed anyone.

Shuichi: (Maki, are you…? Trying to protect Kaito? If he’s the culprit, you’re trying to help him get away?)

That doesn’t make any sense, Shuichi. There’s nowhere to escape to, as far as both you and Maki know. If Kaito is the culprit, then there is absolutely no way he’d want to get away with it, because it’d get everyone else killed. The only circumstances in which he’d ever be trying to do that is if he’s (inconceivably) not actually the person we believed in, in which case he wouldn’t deserve anyone trying to protect him. Maki is smart enough to realise all this, too.

What Maki is doing here is running away from the truth that Kaito did it. She knows he must be the killer, but she just can’t bear to accept it. Just like Kaito was with Gonta last trial. It’s ironic how during the investigation she accused Shuichi of being the same way about the “truth” of Kaito’s death, but in the end, she’s the one who’s ended up acting most strongly that way.

(Kaito’s got to have realised that this is what Maki is doing, especially since he was guilty of it himself once before. On the one hand he must be happy that she wants to believe in him this much, but on the other hand he massively regretted doing this kind of thing to Shuichi last trial and it has to hurt to see Maki doing essentially the same. And of course, he still can’t say anything to make this situation any better.)

Maki: “There was only one antidote, so it’s more likely he died from my poison arrow. This is the truth…”

Exisal Kokichi: “It’s not decided yet. I could’ve still killed him with the hydraulic press.”

This is the first thing Kaito’s said since a while before Shuichi accused him. He was probably intending to just stay quiet entirely, but not when Maki is happy to make herself into the murderer in order to run away from the truth. He must really just want to tell her that she didn’t kill anyone because he killed Kokichi, but he’s still being stubborn and refusing to give up on the plan even though it’s almost completely hopeless now. Nonetheless, he can still try and help Maki just a little by reminding everyone that even in his version of events in which he is totally Kokichi and Kaito is totally dead, it’s possible that Maki technically didn’t kill anyone at all.

And again, this is not even remotely what the real Kokichi would say here – he’d be jumping on the idea that the horrible murderous Maki seems to want to think she killed Kaito and cruelly taunting her about it. Yet again, Kaito’s making it pretty damn clear that he’s not Kokichi. Nobody picks up on this even now that they’re aware it really probably is Kaito in there, but still.

(Kokichi would also have loved to gleefully rub in the idea that Kaito killed someone despite how much they all trusted him… but him hypothetically doing that here gets a bit paradoxical.)

Exisal Kokichi: “Either way, those are the two options. Monokuma knows the answer, riiight?”

Monokuma: “…Huh? Are those the only options?”

Yup, definitely just those two options, not any options that involve Kaito being alive and having done it. Kaito is blatantly ignoring the entire conversation they just had deducing that he did it and is taking the opportunity from Maki’s desperate deflecting confession to keep trying to push his narrative onto Monokuma even though it’s near hopeless. He is so damn stubborn.

Also note him again implying that Monokuma actually doesn’t know the answer, since proving that is really what Kaito’s been trying to achieve this whole time given that he knew the main goal would fail. This is probably not scripted, after all – I highly doubt Kokichi predicted that Maki would do this. Kokichi assuming that anyone would believe in someone else is difficult enough for him at the best of times, but even more so when it’s Maki the horrible backstabbing assassin.

Maki: “There’s no mistake… Kaito is dead… I… killed Kaito… There is absolutely… no doubt. That’s… the truth.”

You very clearly don’t really believe that, Maki.

(It’s okay, though. Kaito is still the person you believe in! And him being still alive means you’ll get to talk to him one last time!)

Shuichi: (Ah, I thought so. Maki is trying to protect Kaito.)

No, Shuichi, she’s not! If she were doing that, she’d be stupid!

Shuichi: (I understand how she feels, but if Kaito is the culprit… Why did he agree to Kokichi’s plan?)

Exisal Kokichi: “…”

Shuichi: (I can’t imagine that Kaito would do something so selfish…)

Because it’s not selfish, obviously! The reason why Kaito is doing this should be quite clear. We’ve already established that the point of Kokichi’s plan is to fool Monokuma and “defeat” him. That would be something Kaito would want to do too! Kaito is also trying to defeat Monokuma! Is that not enough, Shuichi?

Shuichi is an amazing detective in terms of piecing together the facts from the evidence, but it seems he’s not always that great at figuring out people and the motives behind their actions, even when those people are his closest friends. (Meanwhile, figuring out the people more than the facts is what Kaito is best at! He and Shuichi complement each other so well.)

I’m also a little disappointed he’s stopped viewing the Exisal as just “Exisal” when it’s not speaking and actively sounding like Kokichi. He knows it’s not Kokichi in there now!

Shuichi: (There must be a reason for it. I truly believe that…)

At least, even while Shuichi is taking way longer than he should to figure out this reason, he is still as certain as he ought to be that there is a reason and Kaito is still definitely on their side. Shuichi may be rather slow on the uptake here, but that never for a second makes him not believe in Kaito.

Shuichi: “You saw him drink it right in front of you, but you couldn’t confirm he actually did it. So maybe… there’s another possibility.”

Maki: “What… are you talking about? Impossible… That’s… impossible…”

Another possibility that means that Kaito killed someone? No, can’t be possible. Can’t be.

Maki: “There is no other possibility! I killed Kaito!”

Definitely no other possibility. She is definitely not already aware of exactly what this possibility is.

The point of Argument Armaments is always that the subject already knows the final bit of proof and just starts yelling furiously to try and stop Shuichi from actually getting to prove it. Usually this is because the subject is the culprit, so of course they know what the proof is. But I love that this even applies to the two times in this game that the subject isn’t the culprit and is just desperately defending someone else – both times, they already know they’re wrong and just can’t bear to face it.

“Don’t reveal the truth… anymore!”

This is one of Maki’s lines for the thing where she blocks your view. She knows full well that what Shuichi’s about to reveal is the truth and just doesn’t want him to force her to accept it. And she’s in a slightly less stubborn amount of denial than Kaito was last trial, since she’s at least vaguely acknowledging this in her words. That would be because Kaito was not only running away from the truth but also running away from the fact that that was what he was doing, whereas Maki here does not have quite as many layers of issues over this and so is willing to acknowledge on some level that she is running away from the truth.

…Yep, Maki’s Argument Armament definitely has button patterns that aren’t quite as difficult as Kaito’s. (I know this without having to go back and check Kaito’s, because I am quite familiar with how his goes.) I mentioned last trial that I found Kaito’s the hardest, and it seems that isn’t just me; that’s a thing the game developers did on purpose. They are both very similar situations, but Kaito definitely did have more issues and more denial going on than Maki does here, and I love that the writers got that across in the difficulty, too.

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[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 5 #class trial #commentary

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natsumiheart · 6 years

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Hewwo, what are your opinions on the people who say oumasai/saiouma is one-sided? Like, having the idea that only Ouma shows love or romantic feelings for Saihara but Saihara doesn't return them.

Omg, I just want to say sorry first for the time it took for me to answer! I didn’t get a notification from my inbox ;;

Just a small warning: this post is kinda long!

I’ve actually gotten some people saying that to me for not only oumasai but other ships as well, and I think the reason why they say this is because there are no “canon” ships in danganronpa. I might love my ships all I want, but the writers intended to never show any reciprocation for feelings in the game. For example, take Kaito and Maki, I love that ship to death personally but after Maki’s confession, Kaito didn’t exactly say he felt the same. because of it a lot say that ship is one-sided as well, and they are not entirely wrong. Because in the killing game a character can fall in love, but the writers will not show if it’s reciprocated.

In the killing game, the relationship Kokichi and Shuichi had was a huge part of the story because their characters are meant to parallel each other with them actually going on the other’s side at the same time. Shuichi has to lie in a trial at least once, and Kokichi mixes in some truth in his lies. Kokichi’s feelings in the game were also a huge factor for his actions in chapter 4 and 5. Making him cling to Shuichi in chapter 4 before everything goes down and he succeeds in making Shuichi hate him and cut their ties for his mastermind plan. While Shuichi was warry of Kokichi, wanting to reach out to him and understand him, but nervous at the same time due to his actions. Kokichi as much as he wanted to let Shuichi take his hand and trust in him, he couldn’t because he was paranoid. That is why he considered him a possible ally, “trustworthy”.

Now as much as I want to believe that some people say its one sided because they don’t see any reciprocation, I think another reason why they believe so is because of the line I’m about to discuss next. I’ve seen fellow shippers being attacked by people only using “you’re alone and you always will be” as their argument. The first thing I would like to discuss is that in that scene people tend to forget the context, but I mean when have people ever cared about context? If the media didn’t prove just how much some people like to play with context to use it in however way it will work in their favor, I don’t know what will. Let’s go back a bit and see what drove Shuichi to say such words. Up until chapter 4 he has been really nice to Kokichi compared to his classmates, in the free time events he even freaked out over him hurting himself, and whenever Kokichi did something the worst he would do is mentally shake his head, he used to comment saying that Kokichi looks too innocent and cute that you can’t believe what he’s saying. as if he didn’t mean it but then he would say “but that may be another lie”. So what caused the change in one chapter? Its simple, it was Kokichi himself.

After the game busters plan took place he had to find a way of making Shuichi hate him so that he doesn’t get in the way of his mastermind plan and question his actions. I believe that Kokichi wouldn’t diss Shuichi’s best friend if he wanted Shuichi to work with him. Kokichi knows his classmates and I’m sure he expected Shuichi to get mad at him for that. After that scene, Kokichi tries his best to not feel bad about Gonta and the fact he will be gone soon, the only person who would trust in him without giving it much of a thought and he latched to because he had what he lacked. Strength. So he latches onto Shuichi way more than usual, and that continues until the trial. During the trial though Shuichi catches him off guard by lying so, he outs Gonta and gets mad when Gonta denies everything. Basically, the person who just killed for him is denying that he killed (which will lead them all to die if everyone believes him), and the other person who is borderline trustworthy and possibly crush is about to hate him and just dared to use how much everyone trusted him for being the detective to force him to confess what happened. He anticipated the second part, but with everything happening real time it must’ve been rough. He ended up crying for like 5 minutes.

After the trial Shuichi was pretty much done, and what does Kokichi do? Diss his best friend again while the other was coughing up blood, So he just said his feelings “we are at least here for him, but you have no one” That was what Kokichi wanted yes but it hit him hard. Friendly reminder that the whole cast treated him like badly from the beginning, just in the first chapter Rantaro accused him of wanting them to play the killing game because he was suggesting something other than the death road of despair. And the reaction he got from Kaede when he asked her to join his organization must’ve hurt a bit. And those two must’ve actually left a big impact on him, he called both of them his “dearests” in the first chapter and caused him to act untrustworthy so that the mastermind doesn’t target him.

The only person who tolerated him was Shuichi, and well Gonta but he learned his lesson after the insert meet and greet. So it’s not like he is not used to being talked to like that, his normal reaction is just laughing it off. But when Shuichi does it he literally shut off his emotions. He doesn’t have this much of a visible reaction normally unless he gets physically hurt and it h u r t s, such as when Kaito punches him or Maki chokes him for the millionth time. Kokichi doesn’t care most of the time, but what Shuichi said must’ve not only hurt him because it was directed from his beloved Saihara-chan but it also hit a chord in him. Kokichi may, in fact, be afraid of being alone. Now we all say stuff we don’t mean when we are angry, I told my parents worse stuff but then regretted it later. I think that might’ve what happened to Shuichi because knowing his personality he must’ve felt bad. But honestly, he had a lot of stuff going on in his head already, especially the fact that Kaito wouldn’t talk to him. But then later after everything was over and he had a moment to think. He called Kokichi his friend. In danganronpa no one should really be friends with anyone because they cannot trust each other, that’s why I believe friends is a strong word when said genuinely in DR.

Friends stay by each other’s side, which directly goes to Shuichi’s words (that he probably regrets) “you have no one by your side” and that also ties to Kokichi’s graduation event which is Kokichi asking Shuichi to stay by his side, and Shuichi taking his hand. And that says that if anyone would trust in Kokichi and would stay by his side it would be Shuichi. That is the true meaning of that scene to me when I connect everything together.

So yes, Shuichi was just trying his best to save as many of his friends as possible and end the killing game. All the while Kokichi who he tried to reach out to refused his hand so he ended up discovering his true feelings and beliefs after he was dead. And he ended up using everything he taught him and gave him, the hints he left for him to end the game. The two characters who are parallel to each other joined and ended danganronpa together even when the other was dead. And Shuichi ended up not knowing that Kokichi actually had feelings for him.

In another situation, things could’ve been really different. While people can say Kokichi’s feelings are one sided it is shown in the game itself that they CAN be reciprocated. In the love hotel, which is a scene that can happen in the killing game itself, even while not canon it shows Shuichi’s genuine reaction if he was with Kokichi in that situation. He wanted him to stay.

And the biggest clue as to how they could’ve ended up in another world is their interactions in Salmon team, in a situation with no killing game and no paranoia. In a situation which allowed Kokichi to open up and show that he wants Shuichi to understand him, in a situation where Kokichi actually considers to stop lying because he wants to be closer to Shuichi, in a situation where Kokichi offers Shuichi his hand…

TL;DR: I guess what I’m trying to say that while it’s understandable to call it onesided because of the unfortunate events of the killing game, I think it’s worth mentioning the fact that it’s shown to be very possible based on certain events and other stuff the game has offered us.

I understand that oumasai can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, everyone is free to feel whatever they want towards a ship! and it’s ok for them to believe that oumasai is one sided, it’s just an opinion after all. but attacking shippers and calling their ship one sided is honestly where I would start disagreeing.

I’m so sorry for this mess of an answer, I rant a lot when it comes to things I’m passionate about XD thank you so much for your ask I’m really happy because of it! having someone want to know my opinion on something makes me feel a bit special ehheehee. I hope I answered your question somehow! 💕💕💕

#asks #rant #kokichi ouma #saihara shuichi #oumasai #saiouma #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #drv3 #saihara shuuichi #saihara x ouma #oh goodness its been so long since i ranted about my babies bless #tbh i almost cried while writing what happened in salmon team #and how it was a situation where kokichi felt comfortable hhh #i just want them to be happy #this answer couldve been better but its 2 am ;;;;

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eyedelater · 7 years

Text

post about the rest of the ajin anime (seasons 1 and 2)

(nothing special, just a liveblog post)

ajin episode 6

i see that the animation budget saved by doing CGI was instead spent on the fluttery shifty effects of the black ghosts

so satou's ghost is also anvil-headed

right, nagai doesn't have much empathy... hmm... hmm... that doesn't excuse his being an asshole at times

tosaki sure is eager to jump to conclusions as to why satou didn't bring out his ghost

ohh, ghost-to-ghost head collisions can bump some memories back and forth, interesting, i forgot about that...

huh, what is eriko calling kei "onii-chan" for at a time like this? she called him "nii-san" to his face and i think in front of everyone who talked to her about him, right? was that her way of expressing worry about him...?

episode 7

tosaki's gotta get that dekai kane

right, of course he's motivated by comatose fiance. doesn't excuse any of the shit he's done

episode 8

nakano kou. do we seriously have a kei, a kai, and a kou? sounds like a bit of a natural OT3 tbh

episode 9

there we go, nagai kei finally being an indisputable asshole

oh, right, big pharma makes an appearance as an antagonist

sokabe has a very silly face.

i already forgot what IBM stands for and can only come up with IBM he company or ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) without the C

right, ogura's distinguishing feature was not only smoking cigarettes, but being unreasonably dedicated to his brand of smokes in particular. so dumb

episode 10

ogura says a black ghost can only be used once or twice a day, but didn't nagai kei whip em out one after another like it was no thing? is that his special protagonist power that makes him differentiated enough to be the protagonist?

kei's ghost learned how to fell a tree from minecraft

do they really have huge screens up in cities complete with booming audio? the screens are nothing new, but the audio seems unusual to me

episode 11

oh, tosaki finally learned satou's name. from satou's video.

yamanaka-san bought him an oPhone8

"life and money are synonymous" sounds like your typical CEO

omfg satou rode the sinking tower and had a great time

sokabe is still calling satou "hat guy." get with the picture

episode 12

this just in: does satou sometimes substitute a "sh" sound in for an "s" sound?

episode 13

kei demonstrates his shittiness by holding a knife to yamanaka-san's neck after getting sniped. what a dick. oh wait he made it work. well whatever

tosaki says nagai kei is not a fool and as such he probably already scouted out the area, but tosaki immediately also says nagai kei has probably exhausted his black ghost uses for the day, something a fool would do because only a fool doesn't know their own limits and try to use them tactically in such a situation

time for season 2 i guess, episode 2-1

this OP isn't bad i guess

these subs having sokabe say "it's normal for a subordinate to greet his senpai." listen, if you use "senpai," you gotta also use "kohai," and if you use "subordinate," you also gotta use "superior" you can't just pick and choose which words you want to translate

this ending song is horrible

ep 2-2

sakurai emerging from the airplane toilet clearly zipping up his fly out of frame and seeing satou and his eyebrows just turn on a fulcrum and then turn backward like they're pinball flippers

ep 2-3

ah. i was musing over what must be the most popular ship for ajin, thinking maybe kei/kai or kei/kou or tosaki/ogura, but i've had a bit of a realization, and if i know the hearts of the BL community at all, their favorite ship is probably some sinful shit like tosaki/kei. i’ll find out soon enough whether i’m right (haven’t looked at any ajin pixiv tags yet)

ep 2-4

kotobuki, eh. seems like a charming character. oh, this bandanna delinquent is pulling the ol' pee-and-chat

kaito, everyone's favorite punching bag

for the record, i know i've read beyond this point in the manga, but i don't remember shit except that i left off around a chapter where we see shimomura's history.

kotobuki has a small head, maybe he just squeezed through some bars to escape

ah, i just realized the other anime this kinda reminds me of: zankyou no terror. it's got the police/government and the american government trying to intervene aspect to it.

carly meyers doesn't have any kind of american accent... i was kinda hoping she would

neither does doug here. i guess they didn't have voice actors who would have some fun doing a bad accent... or maybe they didn't see it as appropriate

holy FUCK, kaito executed a flying dropkick even though he wasn't on higher ground or anything, what the fuck

kotobuki asks kai what nagai kei is like and i earnestly half-expected him to reply "he's scum" like everyone else does

oh, so kotobuki's got a winged kuro-chan. lucky...

i forgot to write about this in the episode where it was said, but that iowan ajin whose ghost was driving a tractor is such a perfect image i can't stop thinking about it

ep 2-5

so i guess satou's catchphrase is "sssshate" (bc he kinda does a "sha" instead of a "sa") (meaning "now, then.")

the first OP wasn't skippable but i find myself needing to skip this one

there's lots of "pulling up live television broadcasts via a non-television device" in this anime

kou calling shimomura "izumi-san" pls

i like how whoever is nearest the whiteboard is the one to cross the latest victim off the target list

ok, if tosaki is about to be fired (which, hasn't he been for a while now?), that made me think, why is he concerned about his job when he's doing this conspiring with ogura and nagai etc hidden from his superiors? is he concerned about stopping satou, or is he still only concerned about money for his fiancee...? is he getting hella paid for this even though he's less involved in the torture (the real moneymaking activity) than before?

i don't like this dynamic btwn american guy and carly meyers where he keeps correcting her gruffly and she keeps backing off and looking afraid/ashamed.

they had nakano put on a satou hat to be satou ;w;

did shimomura just plug a flash drive into her phone? what kind of compatibility we got in this time period?

how long do neck-stab sedatives take to kick in in real life?

carly meyers's kuro-chan has a gem-shaped head

why don't all ajins just keep a knife or something on them to cut their own throat whenever they get hurt

ep 2-6

tainaka yoko. yup, this is about where i left off in the manga, i believe

whoa there, tosaki just got tased right in the nib nob. that's dirty, american doug

i can't say i feel bad for tosaki getting tortured.

ep 2-7

shut your ungrateful mouth, tosaki, shimomura was LITERALLY just doing her job, which you TOLD HER WAS HER JOB: PROTECTING YOU

how in the fuck did satou get away with playing dead when the other side KNOWS it's ajins they're fighting

why isn't ogura, a native english speaker, the one writing an email to the defense department

ep 2-8

this new OP is ok

ep 2-10

(i spent all of 2-9 doing origami instead of typing)

tosaki don't relapse on your smoking habit :( that's not gonna do anyone any good.

ep 2-11

kai busts in with his signature move and saves the day and he's started calling kotobuki "senpai"

so kei's signature line to kai is "i really have to pee"

kai's like "you're wrong. he (kei) isn't an idiot." that's right, he's actually trash, ask anyone

i can't emphasize enough how bad this ending theme is

ep 2-12

well okuyama-kun has been kind of lovable so far, so if he and others decide to join tosaki's side, that would probably be good

isn't burying someone alive the worst way to try to contain them? because you can't see them directly. they could escape without you noticing

ep 2-13

no kabedonning shimomura >:(

wait wait is tanaka also wearing a satou hat? oh, it's just a baseball cap.

fuck off tanaka don't impale shimomura in the same way twice

oh, one of nagai's new ghost army said the thing that nagai said at the scene where he first saw a ghost :0 about the sick puppy. i like all these ghosts spouting quotes

oh, he cut off satou's head. well, that's the first head we've seen cut off. is he facing the right direction to meet his new self? he closed his eyes too soon for us to find out :\

helicopters are raining in bullets from above like in ghost in the shell (1995) (unless i’m completely misremembering. there were other things that were raining bullets in various directions in that scene so i’m not sure)

so now satou's in custody for the first time.

so satou had an exposition dream

honestly i’m no longer sure where i even left off when i read the manga x years ago, i feel like i may have dropped it because i didn’t care for the boring military shit going on for quite a while, but i feel like i even distantly remember satou being beheaded in the manga...? but anyway i’m gonna (re?)read the whole manga now i guess. overall manga verdict: it had a distant, clammy feel to it, but not bad; the voice for nagai’s ghost was real good; they did a good job with the cgi animation, but it definitely lacks something compared to the art in the manga; the only good OP was the first one; and yeah idk my feeling toward this anime is pretty neutral.

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elyvorg · 4 years

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Kaito Momota: The Man Who Apologised Too Much

Yes, you read that title correctly, and yes, I am 100% serious right now. There seems to be this bizarre myth in this fandom (at least from what I’ve seen, and even from people who appear to like Kaito enough to have thought about him a decent amount) that Kaito believes, out of some kind of toxic masculinity, that men shouldn’t ever apologise, and therefore he never does so himself until right at the end as a supposed sign of his growth. This could not be further from the actual truth about how Kaito feels and acts and grows with regards to the topic of apologising. I am here to thoroughly debunk that ridiculous myth and talk about what’s really going on with Kaito and apologies, which is practically the complete opposite of that and far, far more interesting.

(I should also make it clear that I’m not doing this because I’m trying to insist that Kaito is perfect and without fault. If he actually did have a toxic masculinity thing going on that he needed to unlearn, I’d be totally okay with that, because that’d be him having flaws and therefore being a perfectly good character even if he’s a somewhat less good person as a result. It’s just that these are not remotely the issues Kaito has in canon, and I want to shed some light on what’s actually going on here. It still involves him being very messed up, I promise, just in a completely different way!)

Don’t make yourself feel bad!

The best illustration of Kaito’s principles on apologising is early in chapter 1. After everyone gets emotionally beaten down by the escape tunnel, half the group proceeds to blame Kaede as if she should never have encouraged them to keep trying it in the first place. Kaede agrees that it’s all her fault and apologises to them – but Kaito immediately questions why she’s doing that when she didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, things happened to turn out badly as a result of her encouragement, but she didn’t mean for that to happen when she decided to encourage everyone. It was not a mistake for Kaede to want everyone to try and escape, and she should never be made to feel like she ought to apologise for that. So Kaito tells her, phrased like this is advice he’s regularly given to people in the past, “Listen up. Don’t apologize for something that’s not your fault! It’ll just make you feel bad!”

This line not only very clearly states what Kaito’s principles on this are, but it also shows part of why he feels so strongly about this – because it’s about self-care. Kaito is always trying to encourage people to be kind to themselves and to stay positive, to not wallow in negative feelings when they could be thinking instead about what they can do to make things better. This also extends to not blaming themselves and making themselves feel like something’s their fault when it isn’t, and apologising for said thing is liable to make someone do that. Kaito advocates not apologising when something isn’t one’s fault for the sake of the mental health of the person who would be giving the apology, which deserves to be looked out for just as much as that of the person who would be receiving the apology.

(Also note that Kaito’s saying this to Kaede despite her not being a man, and he doesn’t bring up the concept of manliness at all while doing so, because this whole thing is actually not even remotely about gender to him, as I’ll go into more in a bit.)

This is very similar in principle to the type of advice that Kaito gives Shuichi (even though he never directly mentions apologies while doing so, which is a fact that will be important later). Especially after Kaede’s death, Shuichi’s biggest problem is blaming himself for all the bad things that happened, when all he did was try his hardest to find the truth, which isn’t a bad thing to do at all. Even though his deduction was wrong and the mastermind didn’t come to the hidden door, he tried his best to figure things out with what he had and it’s not his fault he wasn’t quite correct. Even though Kaede was executed because Shuichi uncovered her crime, he sure as hell didn’t want that to happen to her and was just trying to save the maximum number of people from this killing game’s rules. Kaito’s support of Shuichi focuses on trying to stop him from blaming himself about this kind of thing, because he should be pursuing the truth, that’s what they need in a killing game like this, and so he should be proud of himself for being the one who can do that for everyone, rather than beating himself up over it.

And, to skip way ahead to a part of chapter 5 for a moment, this idea is also relevant when Kaito jumps in the way of Maki’s arrow that was meant for Kokichi. Moments later, he learns that the arrow was poisoned, that Kokichi was already dying from her first poison arrow anyway and that he just made things worse by getting himself fatally poisoned too (at least, as far as he knows until Kokichi starts explaining his plan) – but Kaito never once apologises for or shows any regret over making that jump. He didn’t and couldn’t have known the arrows were poisoned, so in that situation, leaping to protect Kokichi was the best thing he could have done and therefore not a mistake. The fact that it turned out the arrows were poisoned and his actions only (apparently) made things worse was not his fault, and at least on this occasion, Kaito understands that and doesn’t go and make himself feel bad over this.

Take responsibility!

Getting back to chapter 1 – the next morning after the tunnel incident, people are still blaming Kaede for it, and Kaito is still arguing that they shouldn’t and she shouldn’t apologise. But this time, Kaede clarifies what she actually did wrong: she got so overly focused on the tunnel that she didn’t consider how everyone was feeling. While simply trying to escape was not a mistake, getting so into it that she overlooked everyone’s exhaustion and kept pushing them past their limits was. When Kaede apologises for doing that, Kaito accepts things and drops the subject.

After all, Kaito also strongly advocates taking responsibility, which means that you should apologise when you did genuinely make a mistake. We can see this in this same chapter 1 conversation when Kaito complains that everyone was blaming Kaede without taking responsibility themselves. Even though Kaede was the most forceful in pushing them into it, everyone else still chose to listen to her and try the tunnel of their own volition. So their resulting exhaustion was still partly on them, and they should be acknowledging their own mistake in doing that, rather than running away from their responsibility by pinning it all on Kaede.

And Kaito is perfectly capable of putting this into practice himself, as we see at the beginning of chapter 2 where he very clearly and openly apologises to Shuichi for punching him at the end of the trial the night before. At the time, Kaito’s words made it sound like he’d punched Shuichi to try and push him to stand up to Monokuma more – but really he just did it because he couldn’t deal with his own pain over Kaede’s death and lashed out. After having a night to calm down and think it over, Kaito realised that he was never going to help like that and he shouldn’t have lost control of himself, so he takes responsibility for his mistake and apologises to Shuichi as soon as he can. He even seems somewhat hesitant when Shuichi readily accepts his apology, as if he was expecting Shuichi to be more upset at his actions than this.

So: Kaito very evidently believes that you should apologise when you have made a mistake. In that circumstance, the you-feeling-bad that comes from apologising is worthwhile, because at least it’ll help you learn from that mistake in order to be able to make better choices in future and hopefully not let it happen again. After all, self-improvement is also a big thing that Kaito’s always trying to encourage! It’s only when you genuinely aren’t in the wrong that he advocates not apologising, because that’ll make you feel bad for no good reason and possibly end up inclined to avoid choices in future aren’t actually bad choices at all. This entire thing from Kaito is all about helping people, just like Kaito is always trying to do.

Since realising this about Kaito and thinking about it a lot, I’ve actually been making something of an effort in my own life to catch myself whenever I’m feeling inclined to apologise for something and ask myself if I really should be doing so according to what Kaito would say. Even if I end up concluding that I did in fact make a mistake that I should have been able to foresee and avoid, which I therefore do apologise for, this lets me properly think about what the mistake was. That way, not only can I keep that mistake in mind to try and avoid in future, but I also don’t end up feeling like anything else about the situation that I couldn’t actually help was somehow my fault as well. This is really emotionally healthy advice that I think everyone should try and follow! Kaito is so good.

(There is admittedly another angle to this. Sometimes, even if person A genuinely didn’t meant to hurt person B, person B was still hurt enough that they deserve an apology just for the sake of acknowledging that the hurt happened and that it mattered even if it was unintentional. In that type of case, I do believe that the person responsible should apologise even if it was genuinely an accident, for the sake of the mental health of the person who was hurt. But in that case, it shouldn’t be an “I’m sorry that I did this” if their actions weren’t inherently wrong; it should be an “I’m sorry that you were hurt because of something I did”. Kaito is never seen addressing this angle, but I really think that’s just because it doesn’t happen to come up, and that if you asked him about this, he’d agree with what I’m saying here.)

Be sure of yourself! (whether or not you’re literally a man)

But what does all this even have to do with manliness, then? Well, the short answer is “really not actually that much”, because the only times Kaito ever brings manliness into this apologising thing is when he’s giving this advice to Gonta.

The most notable example of this is during trial 1. After Gonta’s been cleared of suspicion, Kokichi’s dickery makes Gonta literally apologise for not being the murderer. Naturally Kaito takes issue with him doing that, so he tells Gonta, “A man shouldn’t apologize so easily!”. And the key part of this sentence which apparently some people completely overlook is the “so easily”. Kaito would never have uttered that sentence without that part, because he does not even remotely believe that a man shouldn’t apologise at all. What he’s actually saying here is exactly the same thing he was saying to Kaede – don’t apologise when you’re genuinely not in the wrong. Not being a murderer is obviously not a mistake and not something anyone should ever have to feel like they should apologise for and make themselves feel bad over for no sensible reason! Nobody else would have remotely let themselves be led by Kokichi into apologising for being innocent – but Gonta in particular is so tragically unsure of himself and of what he should be doing that when Kokichi implied he’d done something wrong, he immediately assumed he must have done and apologised without question.

Making this also about being a “man” does seem uncalled for, but Kaito does this for two reasons. One is because being sure of yourself is a big part of what his concept of manliness is about. Kaito believes that, ideally, people should think for themselves and know for themselves what’s right and wrong. If they were wrong, they should acknowledge it and own up to that (taking responsibility is also a big part of this manliness thing for Kaito) – but if they were in the right, they should be able to stand up for themselves and not back down from what they believe in. It’s exactly the same concept I’ve already talked about with regards to apologies, just framed in a way that’s about conviction instead of self-care. Gonta is an incredibly kind person who’s always trying to do the right thing, which Kaito can respect a lot, but it bothers Kaito that someone as good as that has such a hard time seeing what the right thing is in the first place. Gonta ought to be able to have enough conviction to stand up for himself and tell Kokichi, “no, I didn’t do anything wrong, stop trying to make me feel bad for not murdering anyone.”

And note how in the previous paragraph when talking about Kaito’s beliefs on this, I said “people”, not “men”, because neither this nor anything else about Kaito’s concept of manliness (which I’m not going into in any more detail here, because this post is about the apology thing) has anything inherently to do with gender. Literally the only thing gendered about Kaito’s concept of manliness is the word he uses for it. It’s really more like a kind of moral code that he always tries to stick to, one which can apply to anyone regardless of gender, except for some reason or another he somehow ended up using that word to encapsulate it. Unfortunately, this has the side-effect of giving it rather less morally-sound implications to anyone who doesn’t bother to pay any attention to what Kaito’s actually talking about every time he mentions it.

However, Kaito’s concept of manliness is almost always something he only has for himself, because following that code is personally important to him. He doesn’t inflict it on others if he doesn’t think they’d buy into it – after all, the concept of conviction is a lot less important in helping people’s mental health than the concept of self-care is. So the other reason Kaito brings manliness into the apology thing in this context is only because it’s Gonta. Gonta has his own very similar thing about being a gentleman, which isn’t quite the same as Kaito’s concept of manliness, but there is a lot of overlap, especially when it comes to sincerity and integrity. Kaito mentions manliness to Gonta in particular only because he believes that idea might actually resonate with Gonta and help him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done, just like he didn’t when telling Kaede not to apologise, and just like he almost never does to Shuichi while giving him advice, even though Shuichi is also male.

Another point at which Kaito tells Gonta that a man shouldn’t apologise so easily (again, so easily; he never omits that part) is during the investigation of case 2. Gonta apologises for being too scared to jump into the water tank to save Ryoma from the piranhas, but Kaito points out that the piranhas would just have eaten him too. Gonta staying put and keeping himself safe was the right thing to do, not a mistake that he should be apologising for and making himself feel bad over when there really wasn’t anything more he could have done to save Ryoma. Later, Gonta apologises again for not watching the tank better because he didn’t see Ryoma in there before the piranhas fell in, and Kaito gives him the same line – because Gonta is so tragically convinced that he’s wrong about everything that he automatically assumes he was mistaken in what he saw and blames himself, without considering that maybe there just genuinely wasn’t anything to see. And the last time Kaito says this to Gonta is at the beginning of chapter 3 when Kokichi tells Gonta, “Nothing good ever happens when you try to help,” and Gonta agrees and apologises… for always trying to help? Obviously that’s not something he should ever apologise for, even if his efforts don’t always work out so well. Kaito would hate it for Gonta to start thinking because of this that he really shouldn’t ever be trying to help!

There’s more on this general idea in that investigation 2 conversation when Shuichi points out that it was impossible to save Ryoma anyway because he was already dead by then according to the Monokuma File, and Gonta admits he didn’t even read the file because he doesn’t think he’s smart enough to understand it. Really, Gonta is not nearly as stupid as he thinks and would have been perfectly able to understand “the cause of death was drowning”. But because he’s so unsure of himself, he didn’t even try, which is exactly the problem with Gonta being this way! Kaito picks up on this and tells him, “If you think you can’t help, then work till you can!” – because, again, Kaito is always trying to encourage people not to wallow in the pain of what they couldn’t do but instead to focus on what they can do going forward.

And that’s exactly the kind of thing that Kaito’s apology principle is all about. Its purpose is to help people stay positive and work constructively to improve themselves. Kaito’s not-actually-gendered concept of manliness is only tangentially connected to this, only even gets brought up when Gonta’s involved, and isn’t really the point at all.

(Heck, if Kaito did consciously think about gender while considering his apology thing, he is smart enough that he’d most likely realise that, in terms of the way people are socialised to behave, it generally tends to be women who apologise too easily and men who don’t apologise enough. So, if anything, he’d frame his usual advice about when not to apologise to be a little more geared towards women, and make more of an overt point about how men should take responsibility instead. The fact that he doesn’t do this is a strong indicator that he just hasn’t taken gender into account at all when it comes to this.)

How Kaito starts to get it wrong

So, having firmly established Kaito’s principles about not apologising when you’re not in the wrong and why he feels so strongly about this, now for the fun part. As in, the part where he repeatedly breaks these principles himself. Everyone should already know how much of a delightful hypocrite Kaito is when it comes to following his own advice, and yep, that applies to this, too.

This begins in chapter 3, as Kaito becomes afflicted by his phobia of ghosts and gets so anxious and nauseous that it completely tanks his mental strength and ability to do much of anything. He apologises so many times during this part of the story: for not being able to hang out with Shuichi, for not being able to be there for him and Maki at training, for not being able to help Shuichi investigate – even though the reason why he can’t do those things is not his fault and he hasn’t done anything wrong. Sure, it sucks that he can’t be there for his sidekicks, but that is not remotely what he wanted to happen and if he had his way and wasn’t so horribly mentally ill then he absolutely would still be there for them. This thoroughly checks out, according to Kaito’s own principles about this, as Not Something To Apologise For.

(…Okay, so it’s slightly more complicated than that since his main issue in this chapter is not a literal sickness but a phobia. That’s something that it’s easier for Kaito to tell himself he should be able to fight against, since it’s all in his head, and therefore it’s his fault if he can’t, right? But, obviously Kaito is trying to fight against it in order to be there for his sidekicks. The only possible mistake here would be him not even trying at all, but Kaito is never not trying. So if he still can’t manage to overcome his phobia despite giving it his best effort, then that isn’t his fault at all.)

But Kaito apologises for it anyway, repeatedly. A lot of these are just casual “sorry”s and “my bad”s peppered into his dialogue that are easy to miss, which might read simply as something he’s doing unconsciously without really thinking about his principles at all. Yet at one point he straight-up approaches Shuichi and makes a whole point of the fact that he thinks he needs to apologise for not coming to training. So it’s not just unconscious – Kaito actively feels like he’s doing something wrong that he ought to take responsibility for and accept feeling bad about so that he can do better in future. Except, how is he ever going to be able to do better in future when his “mistake” is, effectively, “being sick”? Kaito is just going to make himself feel an obligation to be less sick, and that he’s still failing and still ought to feel bad if he continues to be sick anyway, which… well, we know how that’s going to end up for him.

Aaaaand it sure does during chapter 4 as well. Kaito doesn’t apologise nearly as much in this chapter as he did in chapter 3, presumably because he’s able to be there for his sidekicks again and appear on the surface as if he’s totally fine and isn’t doing anything “wrong” at all. But a few unnecessary apologies still slip through here and there. One is when he has to briefly leave a training session for what is totally just using the bathroom and definitely not coughing up any blood. Since using the bathroom isn’t something even Kaito’s warped logic would think of as “doing something wrong”, he’s really apologising for being sick and dying and letting that get in the way of training his sidekicks. Similarly, he apologises at the end of trial 4, after he’s coughed up blood in front of everyone and needs to head back to his room. Again, apologising simply for being visibly ill in front of them. Kaito, no.

The reason Kaito is so convinced that he apparently ought to feel bad and apologise for these things is rooted in the core of his issues, namely his unrealistically perfect standards for heroes. (If you haven’t read that other Kaito analysis post of mine I just linked, you probably should, because it’s going to get increasingly relevant to this post from here on.) A hero like Kaito must be flawlessly strong and never let his sidekicks down no matter what, and anything else is unacceptable. Being weak is a “mistake” for Kaito, even if it’s a type of weakness that isn’t rooted in his choices and is entirely outside of his control. Not being able to be there for his sidekicks is a “mistake” for Kaito, no matter how hard he’s trying to be there and never wanted to be incapable of it. He genuinely feels like he should apologise for these things, because he deserves to feel bad about it, and he needs to do better somehow, even if there’s literally no actual way for him to do so.

Just like every other bit of advice he gives to others, Kaito’s whole principle of not apologising when you’re not in the wrong is about emotional self-care – so it’s only to be expected that he’d be just as bad at following this himself as he is with every other part of his own advice. Because Kaito is horrendous at actually looking after his own well-being when he needs to, emotionally as well as physically.

(And really that’s Kaito’s only actual mistake in this situation: not looking after himself, including not telling his sidekicks what’s going on with him and letting them help. Maybe that should warrant an apology. After all, the reason he avoids them in chapter 3 is less because of his phobia of ghosts itself and more because he doesn’t want them to see that he’s afraid of ghosts. So in that sense, technically he’s skipping out on their training for reasons that actually are him being in the wrong. But that’s definitely never what Kaito thinks he’s apologising for on any of these occasions, now, is it.)

How Kaito gets it wrong in the other direction

Things get even more interesting as we move into chapter 5, in the aftermath of the nightmare that was Gonta’s trial. Shuichi is under the impression that the reason Kaito is avoiding him is because he’s angry at Shuichi for pursuing Gonta’s guilt, almost like he’s wanting Shuichi to apologise for it before talking to him again. But Shuichi asserts privately to Maki that he doesn’t think it would be right for him to apologise when it was the only thing he could do to keep everyone else alive. Of course it’s not Shuichi’s fault that Gonta being the culprit was the truth, nor that Gonta got executed as a result of his crime being uncovered. Shuichi didn’t want any of the awful things to happen and only did what needed to be done to save as many lives as possible.

Sound familiar? Yep, that’s precisely Kaito’s principles on when not to apologise right there. So it is literally not possible that Kaito could actually be expecting an apology from Shuichi; he’d understand perfectly well that Shuichi doesn’t deserve to make himself feel bad when he did what a detective should always do and saved everyone. Credit to Shuichi for being self-assured enough by this point to be able to stand up for what he did and assert that he shouldn’t apologise. The reason he’s so self-assured now is almost certainly thanks to Kaito and all the general advice Kaito has been giving him about not blaming himself and being proud of his detective work. But, because Kaito never specifically mentioned the apology thing while giving Shuichi advice, Shuichi doesn’t consciously realise that Kaito would obviously feel the same way about this. (Shuichi was there when Kaito explained these principles to Kaede in chapter 1, but apparently it didn’t stick with him, perhaps because at the time he wasn’t yet reliant on Kaito.) Which sadly leaves Shuichi floundering in the unresolvable situation of believing Kaito wants him to apologise while refusing to back down on the fact that he shouldn’t, rather than realising that Kaito’s problem is something else entirely that might potentially be fixed just by talking to him.

The problem, or part of it at least, is that Kaito is the one who should be apologising for his actions in Gonta’s trial. He lashed out at Shuichi and made reaching the truth even more difficult and painful for him than it already was, even though he knew deep down that Gonta really was the culprit and that proving this was the only way to save everyone else. Kaito had promised repeatedly before the trial that he’d always be there for Shuichi to help carry his burdens, and yet he actively did the opposite of that when it mattered most.

But Kaito doesn’t apologise for that for most of this chapter. This is the only instance in the whole story in which Kaito breaks his principles on apologising in the opposite way to normal, by not apologising when he is in the wrong. Yet it’s not remotely that he doesn’t even believe he should; of course he knows he should, given how much he cares about taking responsibility. It’s just that the pain he feels over having failed Shuichi so badly in that trial hurts so much that he can’t bear to face up to it and talk about it. He’s essentially being a coward, by running away from that pain, and there’s no way he doesn’t realise that. The reason Kaito avoids Shuichi (at least if I were to frame it in a way that’s about the topic of this post) is because he knows he needs to apologise but can’t.

How Kaito gets it wrong in two ways at once

However, Kaito does not need to apologise for everything he did in the trial. The part where he simply couldn’t bear to face the truth of Gonta’s guilt like Shuichi could is not his fault. That’s just a weakness he has that he can’t help, because he’s Kaito – of course it would be so, so hard for him to accept that someone like Gonta could have committed murder, especially without understanding why or even being able to see any indications of guilt in the amnesiac Gonta’s behaviour. And the part where he felt jealous of Shuichi for being so much stronger than him in being able to face this truth where he couldn’t is also not his fault – Kaito can’t help feeling that way, after all. Apologising for either of those things would be like apologising for being the person he is. The only part that was somewhat under Kaito’s control was the part where he allowed this pain and jealousy to cause him to lash out at Shuichi and actively make things more difficult for him. So that’s the only part which is meaningfully his fault and something he should apologise for.

But it doesn’t seem like Kaito understands that, either. Just like he did when he was apologising for being sick, he appears to believe that simply being weaker than Shuichi is something that counts as a “mistake” on his part and needs to be part of the apology he owes him. The reason I’m so sure that Kaito wants to apologise for this, even though he doesn’t actually do so for the first half of chapter 5, is that he spends the first part of the chapter fixating on a Very Heroic Plan to help everyone escape, in which he makes more of a point of it being his plan than of making it as likely as possible to succeed. Kaito is really doing this is in a desperate attempt to prove himself to Shuichi and show that he can be just as strong and heroic as him after all. An optional line of dialogue from Kaito just before they head into the escape tunnel implies that he may well finally be ready to talk to Shuichi again once they’re out of here – as if he believes that by helping them escape, that’ll be enough to make his apology worth something.

Based on this, it appears that Kaito thinks he needs to make up for being weaker than Shuichi in the trial before he can apologise to him. Which means that the weakness itself is evidently one of the things he’s intending to apologise for. He wants to prove that he’s stronger than that now, so that when he does eventually give the apology he owes, he won’t be emptily apologising for something that he’s still doing. This is the problem with believing you should apologise for things that aren’t your fault and that you couldn’t help – it makes you feel like you should be able to do better when you genuinely can’t. That just leaves you floundering helplessly in your perceived uselessness, and Kaito didn’t feel like he had the right to apologise from that position.

If Kaito didn’t believe that him simply being weaker than Shuichi was part of what he did wrong in the trial, he wouldn’t have felt the need to prove himself like this, and I really believe he might have been able to bite the bullet and apologise for his actual mistake on the first day of chapter 5. But, precisely because he’d convinced himself that he had to apologise for something that he didn’t need to and couldn’t fix, Kaito kept putting off that apology, including the part that he actually should have been apologising for, for what might even have ended up being forever if plot events hadn’t got in the way and changed things.

In short: during early chapter 5, Kaito manages to fuck up his own apology principles in both possible directions at once, both by not being able to apologise when he has made a mistake, and yet also by still believing that he should be apologising for something that genuinely isn’t his fault. Kaito’s issues make him into such a delightful hypocrite and I love it.

How Kaito gets it right again at last

At the end of trial 5, Kaito finally does give Shuichi the apology he’s owed him for the whole chapter. It’s great that he found the courage to do so and didn’t leave things unresolved, but that’s not the part that’s a sign of Kaito’s growth. It was always a given that Kaito would apologise in the end, because he always knew he needed to take responsibility for his mistakes.

The best part of Kaito’s final apology to Shuichi, the part that really does show how he’s grown, is the fact that, while giving it, he doesn’t unnecessarily apologise for anything he shouldn’t. The only thing he apologises for here is being too hard on Shuichi during Gonta’s trial: the lashing out that was his fault because it was under his control. He mentions being jealous of and feeling inferior to Shuichi, but he does not apologise for those feelings that he couldn’t help, because those aren’t his fault – he only brings it up to help Shuichi understand why he lashed out, and nothing else.

After two and a half chapters of internally beating himself up for not being a good enough hero, feeling like he should apologise and he should feel bad for “failing” Shuichi simply due to being an actual human being with weaknesses and struggles, Kaito has finally realised that that’s wrong. He’s accepted at last that things not going as perfectly for him and his heroism as he wished they would isn’t his fault, not if he gave it everything he had the whole way, which of course he always did. It’s an absolutely lovely sign that Kaito’s managed to make at least some progress with his issues about heroes just before the end.

…And then he goes and apologises to Maki, twice, for dying on her – not even in the sense that he’s about to be executed, which could be argued to be his fault, but simply in the sense that his illness is going to kill him no matter what. Of course Maki is hurting, but that isn’t Kaito’s fault and is the last thing he ever wanted to do to her, so it’s not something he needs to make himself feel any worse over than he already does! Granted, one of these is phrased as an “I’m sorry that you’re hurting” type of apology I mentioned earlier that doesn’t frame Kaito himself as responsible for Maki’s pain. But the other is literally, “My bad for making you cry like that,” which, no. God damn it, Kaito, you selfless idiot, you were doing so well.

#danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #kaito momota #character analysis #ramble #kaito's hero issues #happy birthday kaito!#this is one of two kaito rambles i have prepared for today to mark the occasion #watch this space for the other one later!

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