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#remembering the time i was 4 points away from tsumugi... painful...
shoujosekaii · 2 years
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Ouchi ni Kaerou
一起回家吧
おうちにかえろう
Chapter 13
Mei and her classmates are all dressed up in yutakas. Mei’s classmate (Noa) asks her to turn back and look in her direction. When Mei does, a picture is taken of her. Noa then exclaims that Mei looks really adorable, and the others suggest that Mei should send the picture of herself to the person she likes. We then see the reason for them to be dressed up - they are in Kyoto (which is Mei’s hometown).
Noa asks Mei about what developments have happened between Mei and Iori. Mei replies with a blush that she and Iori have started dating. This surprises her classmates greatly and they get very excited - “Eh? What?!” “Tell us more details!!” “Kyaa! It must be so sweet now since you just started dating <3”
Mei, with a pained smile, answers that it’s not much. She then gives us a recap of the events one week prior.
Iori asks, “A school trip?”. Mei answers yes (Asahina chimes in that he’s going as well), that she will be going to Kyoto for 4 days and 3 nights. Kanon comments excitedly, “Isn’t Kyoto Mei-chan’s hometown? That’s great~ It sounds really fun! (Please buy us souvenirs- <3)”.
However, Mei looks anxious and says that she is worried. She asks, “Iori-sensei, do you know how to use the microwave?”
Iori replies, “What do you take me for?”. He then says that it’s not a problem and she doesn’t need to be so concerned about him. Kanon adds that she will still be around to accompany Iori too.
Asahina laughs in response to Kanon, saying, “Eh, isn’t that what’s most worrying?”. While Kanon goes “Hah?” and glares at Asahina, he disregards her response and tells Iori, “Ah, Iori-sensei. You can leave Mei-chan to me. We’re going to be in the same group, so we’ll always be together <3”.
Iori simply stares blankly back at Asahina, going, “Ah, I see.” Asahina laughingly remarks that Iori is as cold and indifferent as usual, then turns to Mei to say that he’s really excited about the trip. Mei awkwardly agrees.
Mei thinks to herself while glancing at Iori that she has been staying with him for a year, but this is the first time they need to be apart for so long. She sadly wonders if she is the only one feeling lonely. 
Going back to the present, Mei's classmates (Noa, Tsumugi and Chiharu) excitedly point out Arashiyama (the mountain) and the Togetsukyou (a bridge in Kyoto). However, Mei seems to be leaning over the side of the bridge. Chiharu yells, “Mei?! Don’t jump over!!”
Mei then reassures Chiharu, saying that she was just looking at her phone. Mei then glances at her phone once more - she’s looking at her text to Iori, which says “I’m off! Don’t hesitate to contact me if anything comes up.”, but Iori has left her on read without replying. Mei sadly thinks that Iori isn’t contacting her.
Mei then starts worrying if Iori properly got up in the morning, whether he’s eating well, whether he remembered to feed Soseki, etc. Someone goes up to Mei and remarks, “That’s enough– you’re looking at your phone again.” and takes Mei’s phone away from her.
Mei turns to look at who it is - it’s Asahina. He’s also all dressed up in a yukata, but with a hat and face mask. He says that he’ll be confiscating her phone.
Asahina asks Mei if she’s been waiting for Iori to contact her, and Mei guiltily answers yes. He tells her to raise her head and look ahead. He says, “There’s such beautiful scenery before you. This school trip is such a rare opportunity, so you should properly enjoy yourself!”
Mei suddenly looks inspired. She thinks to herself, ‘Indeed, I have always been like this, looking down whenever I was worried about something. This also means that I must have missed out on those happy moments…’
Mei looks cheered up and she thanks Asahina. She then resolves to fully enjoy her trip - they go to the Arashiyama bamboo grove, ride a pulled rickshaw and eat ice cream.
Mei gets ice cream on her cheek. Asahina goes up to her, wipes off the ice cream with his finger and then licks his finger clean while telling her that she has ice cream on her face. This move is witnessed by Mei’s classmates and they freak out, blushing wildly. However, Mei simply smiles and thanks Asahina, not seeming to notice anything.
Chiharu and Tsumugi are impressed by how unfazed Mei is towards Asahina’s suave moves. Tsumugi comments that if it were her in Mei’s place, she would have blushed and nosebleed-ed to death. We see Asahina huff in disappointment.
Noa goes up to Asahina and giggles, saying that Asahina was rejected, as his moves didn’t work on Mei. She asks, “Sora-kun, you like Mei-mei, don’t you? What a painful one-sided love!”
Asahina responds, “I wouldn’t say that I like her. (I just find her reactions interesting.)”.
This shocks Noa. Asahina continues, saying with a smile, “Because, isn’t being in love really lame?”
“It’s so dumb, being led by the nose over someone else’s feelings. In the end, people only care about themselves.”
Noa is freaked out by Asahina’s response and runs away, exclaiming that Mei needs to escape from him - as he is a bad person.
Something vibrates in Asahina’s sleeves - he realizes that it’s Mei’s phone - Iori is calling her. Asahina goes, “...Heh–”, and answers the phone with a high-pitched voice (probably to imitate Mei), “Hello, Iori-sensei? What’s wrong?”
Iori instantly recognizes Asahina’s voice and goes, “......Asahina? Why are you holding onto Mei’s phone…”
Asahina answers, “Mei-chan is really busy now, so she asked me to answer the phone for her. Want me to call for her?”. (Meanwhile, we see Noa going up to Mei and asking Mei if she’s alright. Mei is just smiling at her, going ‘Eh? What?’)
Iori replies, “--No, it’s fine.” Asahina then says, “Anyway, calling your girlfriend while she’s on a school trip; Iori-sensei, aren’t you being too overbearing?”
“Don’t you worry, Mei-chan is having LOTS of fun here.”
Asahina then hangs up. He cheerfully says to himself, “If their relationship will be broken just like this, then that’s just too bad~”. He also deletes the call log.
Later that evening, Asahina approaches Mei to return her phone to her. Mei looks surprised and thanks him, saying that she had totally forgotten about her phone. Mei contentedly thinks to herself that this means she has been enjoying her trip to the fullest.
Asahina then asks Mei, “Mei-chan, do you want to try giving Iori-sensei a call?”. Mei blushes in response and goes, “Eh… Bu-but…”
Asahina tells her that Kanon went out today, so since Iori is alone at home, he might be feeling lonely.
We then see Mei sitting at a bench with her phone. She thinks to herself that she hesitated for 2 whole hours and it’s getting late (her classmates may worry and their teacher may get mad). She decides to cast away all her hesitations and presses “Call” on her phone. While the call is connecting, Mei is trembling with nervousness.
Iori picks up the phone - it’s a video call - and we see that he’s fresh out of the bath. He asks, “--What’s up?”
Mei immediately blushes and gets flustered upon seeing Iori through video call and doesn’t answer. Iori asks her what she’s doing, and Mei replies that she’s taking a screenshot (Iori tells her to stop).
Mei then asks Iori if he’s alright, to which Iori says, “I guess so. It’s only been a day, so nothing would change.”
Mei simply looks at Iori through the phone, thinking to herself, ‘It’s Iori-sensei–’ without replying. Iori then asks, “...Aren’t you very busy?”
Mei goes, “Eh? No! Not at all…”, however her classmates (Noa and Tsumugi) suddenly appear and call out to Mei, asking if she wants to join them to play poker cards. Tsumugi tries to shush Noa as she can tell that Mei is talking to her boyfriend.
Mei replies to Noa and Tsumugi, saying, “Ah! I’m sorry, I’ll go over later!”, but Iori tells Mei that she should quickly return to her room. He adds, “I also still have work. I’m hanging up.”
The call ends before Mei can say anything, and she gets upset. She thinks to herself that it’s unavoidable since he has work, but… (she doesn’t finish her thought, but we see her recalling Iori’s seemingly indifferent response “Ah, I see.”)
Asahina suddenly appears and asks Mei if she’s alright. He goes to sit down next to Mei and says that he heard everything. He adds, “If you’re fine with it, why don’t you talk to me about it?”
Mei pauses for a moment, then says, “...I thought, we’ve only been apart for one day, yet am I the only one who feels so lonely…?”
Mei begins to weep. Asahina goes, “Mei-chan…” and smirks to himself, taking the chance to put his arm around Mei to comfort her. However, upon seeing her crying face, he stops himself.
Asahina says to Mei, “That’s not the case!”
“Iori-sensei has always been a workaholic, right? It’s just that your timings aren’t aligned!”
Mei seems somewhat comforted at Asahina’s words. He then gets up and says that they need to wake up early tomorrow, so she should forget about this and go to sleep.
Mei smiles weakly and thanks Asahina for listening to her. While watching Mei walk away, Asahina looks downcast and asks himself what he’s doing.
The next day, Asahina looks very tired. Mei worriedly asks if he’s alright and he answers that he didn’t get to sleep well. While Mei worries about him, she notices some girls from other schools talking among themselves, “...That, that person!” “Is it him?! It’s him, right?!”
The girls have realized aloud that Asahina Sora is present. This causes a stir among the other people around - they go, “Eh? For real? In person?!” “Where, where?!” “I stan him so much <3”
Noa starts panicking and Asahina sleepily says that he should return to the hotel to sleep.
However, someone grabs his wrist - it’s Mei, who says, “That’s no good, Sora-kun! This school trip is a rare opportunity, right?!”
Before Asahina can react, Mei has taken his hand and tugs him along, going, “This way!!”. Meanwhile, Asahina’s fans are all giving chase.
We see Mei and Asahina in various situations, evading all the fans - hiding in a corner, giving wrong directions about where Asahina went, camouflaging as statues etc. Mei thinks to herself that enjoying their school trip is something important that Asahina taught to her, so she wants to help him defend it.
Later, the two of them reach a riverside and Mei is panting with leaves in her hair. She says that it should be fine since they’ve come all the way here. Asahina puts his hand to his mouth and goes, “Pfft…” and Mei exclaims, “Sora-kun?! Are you alright…”
Asahina bursts out laughing. While Mei looks at him confusedly, Asahina continues laughing and says, “Sor…sorry. I never thought that I’d dash around madly and play hide-and-seek in the heart of Kyoto!”
Laughing with a huge smile on his face, Asahina says, “It was super fun!”
Mei looks at him, and comments, “...So Sora-kun can also smile like that.”
When Asahina goes, “Eh…”, Mei continues, saying, “All this time, haven’t you been smiling with your picture-perfect smiles? Ah, of course those are good, too!!”
Smiling brightly, Mei says, “I just think that when you don’t hold back, it looks really nice!”
Asahina looks taken with Mei. He then leans towards Mei, telling her that she has a leaf in her hair.
Mei gets flustered, going, “Eh?! Where, where?!”
Removing the leaf from Mei’s hair, Asahina leans in close to Mei and says, locking eyes, “...What I think is that, compared to me, Mei-chan’s smiles are the loveliest.”
Mei looks dazed and remains speechless. We then see that Mei’s classmates have caught up to them, and they ask if Mei and Asahina are alright. Asahina replies, “Yep! (Thanks!)”, while Noa asks Mei if anything has happened.
Noa remarks to Mei, “Your face is so red!”, and we see Mei blushing, with a troubled expression on her face.
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hxlcyon · 3 years
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SHAKES HIM
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icharchivist · 3 years
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Thank you for answering the previous asks and hope you're prepared!
How much, out of ten, are you of each winter troupe member?
Have a good day :3c
ahah thank you for doing that all the way!
and oh boy i thought i was prepared but turns out-
okay notewise.:
Tsumugi: 7/10, Tasuku: 3/10, Homare: 4/10 Hisoka: 9.5/10, Azuma: 10/10, Guy: 6/10
(if you're supprised Azuma is actually my ultimate kin and it's not Hisoka: congratz i fooled all of u. the only reason i don't have an Azuma icon is that i genuinely think he looks too sexy in some arts and it doesn't feel Me despite everything else. The more u know.)
And. i need to warn that i went much more into personal details for Hisoka and Azuma under the cut to the point where it may be overwhelming. And that Azuma's entry alone is 2.1k words long. What the fuck me.
Relating to team "we have so much trauma" is going to be so much fun.
coughs, anyway take care :3c
(Links: Spring, Summer, Autumn , Winter ranking)
Winter my beloved, this is going to be a normal, non emotional ranking at all.
Tsumugi: 7/10 I relate to his lack of confidence, and the way he gave up on everything he loved when his spirit was crushed (re what I was talking about with my Kumon rant). On my down time I did study a bit of psychology and though I wouldn’t put myself at the same level as a psy student I’m often told I read people mostly in an accurate way so I can relate to that. I can use my powers for Evil like nudging people in some direction or knowing where to attack, but I am super aware of that and I’ve been extra conscious about not having it happen again for over ten years now DLKFJDLF (Azuma is kinda like that too). But yeah the fact he is like that too makes it relatable.
I also think that the whole “feeling you fucked up and took all the responsibility when a friendship broke apart” is also something very relatable. So is “ghosting your friends after that”. I relate to the fact he’s a nerd too. I relate to him more than not but I guess I just removed points because of how while I relate to specificities the whole thing doesn’t connect as much as it could?
Tasuku: 3/10 he’s probably the one I relate the least to. I honestly didn’t understand Tasuku much until Nocturnality on my first read, and it’s only then that things clicked. Legit I saw him the way Azuma saw him dLKFJDKFJDF. But I do feel it relatable that he feels responsible for failing his friend and that he took it upon himself to try to read more into how people are behaving to try to prevent it from happening again. But else he’s. genuinely not like me KDJFKLDFJDFL
Homare: 4/10 mhmm. I think I relate to the way he is passionate and how much he genuinely loves. I also relate to the fact he is pretty analytic, though the details of what makes his struggles are not something I relate to easily. I have felt broken before, I was told i was broken or unfit in some ways, so this particular pain is something I completely understand. I also did use to be an artist and a writer so I can relate to that passion of his, although as I mentioned in others ranking *shrugs*. That said he’s very much more exuberant and confident than I am and I would assume I know how to deal with people emotionally a bit more.
Hisoka: 9.5/10 oh boy where to start. This is going to be a tough one to get into without getting extremely personal. To start with, I’m a sleepy baby. I sleep a lot DLKJFDF though not much at night. I used to fall asleep in class all the time my friends had to always be on the watch out for me. I don’t have much energies. I love plushy and I love being comfortable in some places. I also really love sweets tho not as much as him. I also do care ways too much for my specific plushies and pillows (I do have huge penguins plushies too).
I, too, have memories issues, though of course to a lesser extend. I have a lot of trauma and for a lot of them I ended up getting fuzzy memories. I used to be in a pretty toxic environment where I constantly had to make use of my memory to survive, and so when my memory started failing me, I was terrified. My parents gaslight me all the time and pretends a lot of things that happened didn’t happen and that I’m crazy for believing it happened, so the moment my memory started to fail me I started to panic a lot. It terrified me to not being completely sure whenever I could trust myself or not. It made me feel extremely unreliable. It’s still something I struggle with a lot.
This would have been my answer pre-awakening moon at least. I always related to him to some degree so Awakening moon was a slap in the face in a way I wasn’t ready to deal with, and this is where I have to be uncomfortably personal.
I am the youngest sibling of 3. My eldest sister ran away from home when I was 6, never to be seen again. My other sister resented me because I used to be very close to the eldest and she was jealous about it, and while the reasons were linked to our parents, who were extremely toxic to us and kept us into this toxic environment for years on end, my sister took all her anger out on me. While we’ve discussed it as adults now, our relationships is too strained to fix it nowadays.
It took me a long while – it took me Azuma’s arc actually – to realize that the way I feel for my eldest sister is more akin to grief than to abandon. I don’t even remember her. I don’t remember her and still apparently the way I was close to her was the reason my sibling hold it against me. I couldn’t even remember *why* my sister was mad at me because I don’t even remember being close to my sister that much. All I know is that she left because the situation at home was too toxic. It was.. so messy.
I have. Much more trauma linked to that specifically but that’s the root of something that hit me in the face with Hisoka’s arc. Because I can’t remember a person that disappeared from my life, and yet it was enough for it to break and shape everything I’ve lived through since. I couldn’t even start to talk about how it still impacts me now 20 years later. I’m just now making peace with the fact this was grief. This is the gist of the reason Hisoka’s arc hit me as hard as it did (and the fact that Chikage is actively undoing all the bad things his own grief pushed him to do on Hisoka is the reason Chikage is so compelling to me. My sister could never lol.).
I felt also that I had to take all the responsibilities for what happened. I felt like I could make things easier for the family after this trauma, at the rip age of 7, and no one stopped to think maybe a child shouldn’t have to be dealing with a collective family trauma like this. But well. Here we are.
I relate to the fact Hisoka also struggles to accept everything that happened. And that now he’s trying to make things better for others people he can relate to. It’s so… complicated.
Also I can’t forget the fact Hisoka tried to kill himself and :/ as someone who has had a lot of suicidal idealization in my life this really hit a lot harder than it should have.
In general I would just say that socially I’m not really like him except with people I’m comfortable with teasing. Hisoka can be a little too rude and it’s where I can’t relate lol. But otherwise man I care him so much I feel so seen. I’m just removing 0.5 points for that and I don’t give him full mark because of what I’ll explain next.
Azuma: 10/10 This one is going to be a trip. It’s about twice the length of the Hisoka’s rant. Mister took me by the throat too. As I think it’s clear now I cannot relate to the fact he genuinely loved his family and how much his family cared for him. Yet I relate… to about everything else.
On the surface I do think I seem more approachable and easy to talk with. I try to be the kindest person I can be, to not be judgmental. I’m conflict avoidant, just like he can be, and if I’m annoyed with someone I’m muuuuch more likely to use passive aggressiveness like he does with Tasuku when he’s pissed at him. (sidenote: I do find it funny that Tasuku was the only character I really felt I didn’t get until Nocturnality, while Azuma was having the exact same problem, and then he became one of my fav the moment it clicked. Azuma is my braincell.)
More often than not, there’s a smile on my face and I try to be soft in the way I can be. I’m generally pretty calm, I’ve been told I was soothing, or give good hugs, this sort of stuff.
Now onto the heavy stuff.
I have a lot of nightmares and night terrors linked to a lot of my traumas. I’m honestly scared sometimes to go to sleep ^^”. But in general, if Hisoka reflects a lot of a personal trauma and how it would personally affect me, Azuma reflects a lot on how I would behave with others people in general and especially when I’m unwell. I’ve coped most of my life with, everything that happened to me, by just. Trying to keep people at armlength. I don’t want to let people close to me, especially irl. Discussing all of that online gives me a distance that allows me to discuss it but, I remember in high school I was going through very bad things, and a few years later I was hanging out with a friend and I happened to open up about those things. And she was going livid because, she had known me for what, 6 years at that point? And she never knew any of this. We talked a lot then, we were close, but she never knew all those things about me until years later. It kinda scared her because to her I was always a sweet and cheerful person and she never expected that I was doing this badly. I remember then she brought up something we discussed back in a party with many of our others friends from high school and similarly they were all. “how did we never know any of this.”. Seeing Azuma in Nocturnality kinda brought me back to that convo tbh LKDJFLKDFJFD.
But I’m good at pretending I’m closer to people than they think. I’m an excellent listener. A lot of my friends tended to rely on me as the person they could talk about their problems to. I used to do it much more back then but I also used to pour a lot of energy trying to make it easier for people, solving their problems. Full on Therapist Friend:tm:. It does help that, as I said with Tsumu, I have basis in psychology so sometimes some observations I can make help much more than expected. Just like Azu tbh lol.
Oh also I am cuddly with my friends in general. I’m super touch starved but also to the point I feel uncomfortable to seek hugs because I just don’t get any on a normal basis and my body isn’t used, but I’m super cuddly and when I’m with my closest friends I’m like a koala.
And it gives people the impression to people that I’m very close to them because I know them well, and I know the ins and outs of why they behave the way they do. But. I kinda feel like it’s one sided more than not. And it’s all because of me, because I keep my walls up very high and it means people don’t generally expect that I’m hiding things.
I’m good at distracting too. I don’t relate to how flirty Azuma is but I keep seeing it as him distracting others. It’s flattering, and just embarrassing enough that the person ends up dropping whatever they may be pressing on Azuma to talk about. And, while not with flirting, I do that a lot, especially using compliments like that. (That said my kindness or teasing has been misinterpreted as flirting before DLKFJDLKF I’m trying to be extra conscious about not having that misunderstanding happen nowadays but man it happened a lot).
Azuma knows a lot of people, and has been supporting a lot of people, but he doesn’t let people in as much.
And a lot of it is linked to his own sense of grief. Of the fact he has lost so much he can’t afford to go through the pain of losing something again, so he distances himself from it before it can hurt. And I do that a lot.
I mentioned in the previous rant but it’s seeing Azuma’s arc that made me understand how much it’s more grief than abandon that makes it so hard for me to move on. And a part of me kinda just. Grieves the family I could never have, the normal life I wish I could have lived and clang too all of my life. When Azuma told Guy “I was always so lonely. Everyone had families they could take for granted but I had no one.” Oh my god it destroyed me. And how he mentions just afterward that while he has new people to rely on, it couldn’t change the fact he was still feeling this pain of losing his family and it just. Man. Might be crying right now.
It’s like… I think the reason I especially related to that is that, in therapy I’ve often discussed my problems in the lenses of neglect and abandon but the problem with that lenses is that, at least with the therapists I had, they tend to focus on the fact that therefore I /must/ be still yearning for them to change and turn around, like I could change something. But I don’t. I was resigned at some point. And it’s really only when I read that that I felt this exact resignation I have been feeling all that time. I think I mentioned once how reading a3 felt like going one step toward recovery I didn’t know I could get and this was exactly the scene I meant. It legit took a weight off my heart that i've been carrying for decades. It was the strangest feeling in the world.
Anyway more in general too, on top of keeping people at distance, I am also a pro at “suddenly disappearing/ghosting when I get too close and/or have a relapse”. When Azuma starts to pull his relapses like we see in Nocturnality, I see myself. Legit had a friend who read a3 who called me out about that DLKJFDKLFJ. Acting weird like this, closing yourself in like this, coming back to some harmful coping mechanism as a way to connect back with your own self, those are all things I do. And it sucks. Like. The things I put my friends though sucks. But I really can’t help it sometimes.
I’m good at listening and observing, I’m generally good at picking up why people act a certain way, but I’m still very distant. I do everything I can to pretend I’m not distant and generally it fakes an idea of intimacy that I don’t specifically see as such.
And I see all of that in Azuma in ways that are terrifyingly relatable. Another thing Azuma says in this convo with Guy, about how “Everytime I would go to sleep, I would wish the morning would never come” me. Mood. Holy shit. Feel seen. I hate it. Just in general though the way he talks about morning as this terrifying thing is me. Between the night terrors and the fact morning genuinely makes me feel horrible, that’s kinda why I end up oversleeping until the afternoon DLKFJDF Azuma my lord I feel you.
Because of my nightly panic attacks I do try to come up with ways around it mainly by drinking some relaxing tisanes and stuff. Oh and I did have a huge period in life where I HATED being in the sun, and I fucked over all of my melanin because of that. as a kid I would tan very easily, but now the sun hates me as much as I used to hate it. So when Azuma is a drama queen about not wanting to stay in the UV too much I’m just like. How dare you pull out a mirror on me I didn’t ask for this. (also I have been called a vampire by people esp when I was a teen but that’s just how people called edgelords like me. Still. Reo my beloved.)
There is honestly so many little things with Azuma that reminds me of myself like this that it makes me go nuts. If Hisoka is who I relate to in term of specific trauma and how I cope personally, Azuma is more like, the direct physical impact of my trauma on me and the way it makes me relate to others people, as well as just every little behaviors here and there that are just so specific.
One of the only thing I really don’t relate to Azuma about is his love for Alcohol but I think if you replace it with like, my addiction to juice it works out the same.
Oh and, that’s a stupid but funny thing to me, I project hard on how much the reason he keeps his hair long is a form of mental stability for him, because I legit keep my hair long for my own mental stability. I have tied ways too much of my recovery process to my hair that when I see Azuma coping with grief with his hairstyle and how almost cutting it would be him spiraling down, I felt seen.
also i have 0 stamina just like him.
ANOTHER THING is also the fact Azuma is genuinely yearning for connections with people but he spent so much of his life keeping people away that as much as he’s yearning for it, it takes him so long to be able to lower those walls because he’s been so used to keep people away that he can’t reply to this yearning. And the way how, once he actually ends up feeling this bit of vulnerability toward people, he would suddenly shut in like it suddenly scares him? Mood.
One last thing (i promise) (i think) is that, if it wasn't obvious from all my ranting.... So much of myself and the way i view myself is defined by my trauma. I struggle to exactly come to term with my identity in any shape or form that isn't deeply related to my trauma. Even if you asked me what my sexuality is (please don't), my actual answer would be completely shaped by the fact i have so much trauma linked to sexuality, romance and gender, that i don't want to process it at all and can't actually manage to "fit the boxes" because i cannot see myself as something else than my trauma, or explain my feelings without linking it to my trauma. Honestly at times i find it kinda cringeworthy from me because i really, really can't tell about anything about my identity without thinking of my various traumas (i talked about a few of them in those rankings but it's not even the tip of the iceberg for a lot of stuff.) And when i see the way Azuma is in particular, maybe i'm projecting, but i feel like a lot of it is the same. Like not processing his age because if he does it reminds him of how he outlived those he loved (which is an headcanon but com'on.) or how even his hair is linked to his trauma. Or how he doesn't drive because it's linked to his trauma. I feel SO seen.
If it wasn’t for the fact he genuinely loved and was loved by his family, I would have felt exactly the same about everything regarding him.
But I still give him a full mark because the way Azuma’s arc has affected me is beyond any possible words I could use. And also because I legit wrote above 2100 words just on how much I related to Azuma ALONE. Even Hisoka took me 800 WORDS. HELLO. Guy: 6/10 Back to general coping here, Guy isn’t exactly relatable to me except in well. For exemple the ways the others relate to him, especially Hisoka and Azuma. So his memory loss to cope with intense family trauma is relatable to me, the way he can have nightmares and night terrors is also hella relatable to me.
But something that’s more Guy that I relate to is the whole “Step dad kept talking down on him and verbally abusing him until Guy basically completely closed himself in” because man. I won’t elaborate but I’ve really felt from reading that verbal abuse the same way I felt thinking back to how my ex-step dad used to talk to me. It made me so angry on his behalf. And the way he internalized it to cope was something deeply relatable.
Another thing with Guy is the fact that Guy did genuinely believes himself inhuman and tbh there was a time when I was very young where I would catch myself unable to feel a bit of humanity mostly from how I kept shutting myself in. (The reason I don’t relate to it with Homare is that this “inhumanity” was never actually there even if Homare did believe in it. But for Guy he went the extra mile convincing himself to the point where he denied this humanity as far as possible in a self destructive way and :/).
SO YEAH Winter is like. Therapy for me. The problem with “Trauma: The Troupe” is that saying “I relate to the Winter troupe” means “I may have problems and so what.” And it sucks.
if you read that wordvomit, congratulation, was it worth it?
Take care!
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kaweeella · 3 years
Text
DAngAnronpA
Chapter 4- Trial 1
Warning for depiction and description of violence
~~~
The elevator door opens, showing a circle of podiums. One of them has a picture stood up on it. Looking closer, she sees it’s a black and white photo of Tenma with a star drawn over it. All of the podiums have screens on them.
“Oh my god…”
“Alright, everyone! They have your names written on them! Find your podium.”
Izumi’s is next to Sakuya and Azuma. It’s in the order of the bedrooms. Tsumugi shuffles awkwardly next to Tasuku. 
“Now you will discuss the evidence you’ve found to find the blackened!”
They stand around, not sure of what to do.
“Well,” Tasuku starts. “Who saw Tenma last?”
“I asked him to get something from the storage room.”
Then it’s silent again.
“God damn, is that all we’ve got?”
“Then let’s talk about where we all were when the body was discovered. I was with Itaru.”
“I was looking in the storage room. Sakisaka came by after some time and looked with me. Tenma never showed so he died before he got to the storage room.”
“How long were you there, Mukkun?”
“About half an hour, I think.”
“Hey Kazunari,” Izumi starts. “What were you doing in the hallway?”
“Oh yeah. Where’d you go off to?”
“I was looking for Tsuzuroon to hang out with. Turns out he was just in his room.”
“It’s not like I was hiding…”
“So people around the body so far are Izumi, Itaru, Yuki, Muku, maybe Kazunari, and me.” Banri says.
“Were you listening, dipshit? Me and Muku were together.”
“And I was with Izumi.”
“There could be an accomplice.”
“Could there…?” Izumi thinks aloud.
“Izumi couldn’t have done it!” Sakuya says. “She’s nice and helps us!”
“Kid, ever heard of a façade? Maybe Ms. Wolf took off her wool sweater.”
“Stop it!” He yells.
“Okay, Banri.” Izumi starts. “Let’s humor this idea. That me and Itaru killed Tenma.”
“Do we have to?” Itaru asks.
“We’d have to get past Yuki and Muku to be able to kill Tenma.”
“I didn’t see anyone but Rurikawa in the hallway when I got there, so it would have to be after.”
“And from when I saw them go past to when I heard them scream were less than a minute.”
“Alright. That still leaves you two.”
“There’s no way it was Rurikawa!”
“And you?”
“What?”
“You went through the hallway last. You could’ve offed him before meeting up with the other kid.”
Muku stands there for a second before breaking down.
“You’re right! I could’ve killed him! Did I really do it? Could I really-”
“I don’t think it was Muku.” Juza cuts in.
“I’m gonna agree with you here. Maybe not a murderer, but he’s a fucking weirdo.”
“So that’s all four of us, what about you, Banri?”
“I’d been in the library the whole time.”
“Anyone in there with you?” Sakyo asks.
“No, no one went in there except for Izumi for a minute.”
“So the murder weapon is from the room you were in, you have no alibi, and you’re flinging accusations.” Yuki says. “Do I have that right?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“I’m not sure that it was Banri.” Izumi says.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because a while back I made a book stack, and when I went to see him in there the book was already missing.”
“Is that really a valid reason?”
“If Izumi thinks it’s not him, then I do too.” Masumi says.
“What’s this, I’m hearing?” The voice asks. “Is there a split opinion?”
“What the fuck do you care?”
“Here’s the fuck why I care.” The screens light up with one question: Is Banri the blackened? Everyone selects one and the podiums shake before rising into the air.
“Holy fuck!”
They split into two groups. The ones that believe it’s not Banri are Izumi, Masumi, Banri, Sakuya, Azuma, Juza, Muku, Tsumugi, Hisoka, and Omi. The Tenma picture is also at the end of that line. The ones that do think it’s him are Yuki, Sakyo, Itaru, Kazunari, Tsuzuru, Citron, Taichi, Tasuku, Homare, and the guy who still hasn’t introduced himself.
“Let the debate begin.”
“I thought this was already a debate…”
“He was pointing fingers at just about anyone besides himself. It’s suspicious as fuck!” Yuki says.
“But thanks to that we know who’s most likely innocent.” Omi says.
“He was in the room that held the murder weapon.” Tsuzuru says.
“The library is open for anyone at any time. Someone could’ve taken it before he got in there.” Sakuya says.
“It’s still pretty suspect that he kept throwing blame.” Tasuku says.
“What the fuck do you want me to do? We can’t find anything out otherwise.”
“He was the only one in the area with no alibi!” Kazunari says.
“... no, that’s wrong.”
The podiums shake and fall back into place.
“What does that mean?” Sakyo asks.
She thinks for a moment. “Tsuzuru,”
“It couldn't have been Tsuzuroon!”
“Let me finish. Tsuzuru, how long were you with Kazunari?”
“I don’t know, a few minutes before the discovery announcement.”
“Could you give me a more exact time?”
“Maybe about… 15 minutes, I think.” He pauses for a second, face falling. “Why do you ask?”
“Kazunari,” She looks over to the man in question. “Did you kill Tenma?”
“What?! No way!”
“You were looking for Tsuzuru, but you didn’t go to the library nor were you asking anyone if they’d seen him.”
“No way! You heard Mukkun, I wasn’t in the hall at that time!”
“Maybe not in the hall, but there is a way you could’ve still killed him without Muku seeing you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Tsumugi asks.
“Itaru, do you remember the cardboard roll blocking the door in the women’s restroom?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“You could see people walking by from in there, but if they’re not paying attention someone might not notice it.”
Azuma looks down. “Did you kill him, Kazunari?”
“What?”
“Were you the one who killed him?”
“No-no I-”
“Wait, Miyoshi… Miyoshi didn’t do it, he couldn’t have!” Tsuzuru says. “I’ve known him since school, there’s no way. He’d never…”
“Aw, Tsuzuroon, I didn’t know you cared so much.” Tears form in his eyes.
“Of course! There has to be something we’re overlooking here.”
“What could we possibly have overlooked?” Izumi asks.
“What books was Banri reading?”
“I don’t know, I read a few. Don’t really remember. One of them was this collection of weird stories. They were mostly fiction or fantasy.”
“The book at the scene, 1001 nights is a collection of stories. He could have been holding it and that’s why she didn’t see it when she went in!”
“1001 nights…” Banri mutters. “What’s that one about?”
“It’s a collection of Arabic stories-” Izumi starts.
“No, probably not. I don’t know a lot about Ariba but the stories I was reading were more gothic.”
“The classic fantasy stories book?”
“Maybe. The pages were silver lined and I think I still have some glitter on my hands.”
“It… it couldn’t have been him.” Tsuzuru says.
“Thank you, Tsuzuroon. But you don’t have to.”
“What does that mean?”
He avoids all eye contact, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Yeah. I did it.”
“So what you told me,” Azuma says. “About finding who really did it, were you really being genuine?”
“Yes. Yes! You shouldn’t blame yourself for… for my shitty decisions. You were trying to help him. I didn’t want you being hard on yourself. Especially because of me.”
“Miyoshi,” Tsuzuru says, staring intently at the ground. “Why?”
“I… I had to. I have to get back to my family.”
“You’re not the only one with a family!” Tsuzuru yells at him, crying. “I have little brothers that I need to get back to, but resorting to this?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Your apologies aren’t going to bring him back to life.”
“I know…”
“Well, it’s voting time!” The voice says, still all too happy.
The screens light up again, showing pictures of everyone, Tenma’s in black and white. The vote goes by quickly, and when everyone is done screens lower from the ceiling in the middle of the podiums. It has all of their pictures. It shows who everyone voted for. Unanimous vote. The screen changes to read “Kazunari Miyoshi has been found guilty”.
He takes off his hat, staring at it. “Well. I guess that’s that.” He looks at Tsuzuru. “Thanks for believing in me.”
“Yeah.”
He pauses for a moment. “Here.” He puts it on his head. “It looks good on you.”
“What happens now?” Sakuya asks. “What’s the punishment?”
“I’m so glad you asked. It’s punishment time!”
Everyone stands still, staring at Kazunari. Suddenly, a lasso like rope grabs him around the neck and drags him away. He struggles the whole way, and it looks like whoever's dragging him is trying to slam him into the walls. After a while he disappears into the darkness. That’s when they hear something on the screens.
“A Hundred And One Lashes” It says. It then shows Kazunari. He’s being held down by the rope on his neck. Two people wearing weird masks stand on either side of him. Then they brandish their whips. They remove Kazunari’s jacket, tossing it to the side, and start bringing the whips down on his back. He cries in pain. They can see the back of his shirt start to turn red. They stop and Kazunari wobbles on his knees. Then, one of them raises and brings down their whip again. Hard. Kazunari falls over. Dead.
They hear the elevator open and soon they wordlessly walk in. Tsuzuru slides down the wall and looks at the hat.
“Hey,” Izumi sits next to him. “Are you okay?”
“Y… yeah I’m f… fine.”
“It’s okay to not be fine.”
“I kn… I know.”
“Okay.”
The rest of the ride is spent in silence.
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takonei · 4 years
Text
Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, deadly life (Part 1)
Note of the author: Place your bets, because these are confusing times.
Also, I’ll be back to college in a few days so I’ll take longer to write chapters and I’m not hoping for a 2nd quarantine to help me with this.
Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Deadly life
...
Huh?
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
"Why... Did the body discovery announcement play?" Shuichi asked.
Ryoma glanced at everyone. "We're all here. No one else died."
Kokichi looked down. "I don't get it..."
Rantaro stared at Tsumugi's body with regret. "... The body discovery announcement played for Tsumugi but..." he clenched his fists. "Why...? No one else did this. Monokuma killed Tsumugi, we saw it for ourselves. There's no class trial to hold."
Shuichi nodded. The canon... The explosion... Tsumugi's last words...
"I knew the mastermind... was coming f-for me anyway..."
...
Did they have to find out who the mastermind was?
But still... Monokuma executed Tsumugi. Not the mastermind themselves. And Monokuma was very adamant with the rules.
"... Only the person who does the final blow is the blackened!”
And the one who did so is Monokuma.
Nothing made sense. Why-
The black and white bear appeared before their eyes.
"My! My! This class trial promises to be very interesting!"
Rantaro immediately shouted at him. "You executed Tsumugi! There's no trial to hold!"
The bear laughed. "Puhuhuhuhu! Very interesting indeed!"
He took a step back to make sure everyone could see him.
"You see, I cannot let the blackened get away as if they were spotless. Someone killed four eyes and this trial is about them!"
Kaito yelled. "What the fuck are you saying?! If I'm the blackened who killed Keebo only because of a maintenance mistake, why would anyone else other than you could be considered the blackened here??"
"Puhuhu! Puhuhuhuhu! That's for you to find out!" The bear reached for a cocktail out of... Who knows at this point. "I shall give you the Monokuma file. After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!"
Shuichi's monopad vibrated. He took it to read the information given.
Monokuma file #4
The victim is Tsumugi Shirogane, the ultimate prodigy.
The body was discovered behind the main building.
The estimated time of death is 3:05 PM.
The victim died from an execution.
Obtained truth bullet! Monokuma file #4
... This didn't help them in the slightest.
Before he realized it, the bear disappeared.
What on earth was going on?
Why did they have to go through this again? What was the point?
Did they have to find the mastermind?
Was this going to be their last trial?
Nothing made sense. Shuichi's head hurt.
Rantaro's grip on his monopad was so strong that Shuichi wondered if he was going to break it. But more importantly...
That intense glare was back. Aimed at the Monokuma file.
He instantly got a chill down his spine.
Miu nervously looked at him. "What are we supposed to do...?"
The medic closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Isn't that obvious?"
"We need to investigate."
Kokichi waved his hands. "But for what? There isn't even a real blackened! We can't solve a murder if there is nothing to solve!"
"I don't make the rules. If Monokuma said we could investigate, then we have to do this. Besides..."
"If we don't, we'll end up like Tsumugi."
Kirumi took a step forward. "And do you have any idea how we should investigate this?"
He pondered for a moment.
"... I don't know. Just search every single corner of the academy. We don't even know what we have to find so we don't have a choice."
Kaito blinked. "All the academy??"
Ryoma crossed his arms. "Obviously the main spots and the buildings only. Anything could be a clue here."
Kirumi fiddled with a lock of hair. "It would be wise to group by two and search the labs."
Rantaro starred at Tsumugi's corpse. "... As much as I hate this, an autopsy would be a waste of time. We saw how she died. I think the mystery resides somewhere else."
"So? How do we proceed?" Kiyo asked.
They created the groups. For now, Shuichi and Kaito would be together to investigate Gonta's and Kaito's labs.
Shuichi had no idea what to do. What to think.
He thought back at her words.
She... knew the mastermind was coming to get her?
Did perhaps the mastermind set everything up so she would die?
But... Why? What did she do?
He grabbed the notebook and opened it.
Unfortunately, he realized how packed the text was. Giant blocks of text on almost every single page.
He starred at the text with wide eyes.
"What is that?" Kaito asked.
"It's... Tsumugi's notebook. She gave it to me but... I don't think it will help us. She explained that it was her deductions about the killing game so I don't think we'll get anything useful here. Besides..."
He showed the notes to Kaito, whose eyes widened.
"... I think I get it."
Shuichi shoved the notebook back into his pocket. The investigation was so unorganized, and they had very little time. Now wasn't the time to read blocks of theories.
The two reached Kaito's lab.
"You know..." he started. "I saw some of my tools in weird places when we got the bat. I didn't think much of it but perhaps it will help us."
They entered the small building. The biker immediately got into the back of the lab, where all his tools were stocked.
Shuichi tried to search through his stuff as well, but he knew so little about mechanics that it was hard to distinguish the usual from the unusual.
"Hey, Shuichi?"
The violinist turned to him. "Yes?"
"The welder was used. I don't know for what, but used at some point, not by me."
He approached the engine.
"I never leave it like this. You have to replace those parts each time you use it. I always do it before putting it back." Kaito explained.
"That's strange..."
Obtained truth bullet! Used welder
He pointed at the shelves of tools. "Also I don't remember how I placed exactly all of them, but some of them look fishy."
The two went through the tools.
"What the hell?"
Shuichi turned back to him.
"Some of my wire cutters have marks on them! Even the biggest ones! And-"
He took one of them and fiddled with it. "... This one's broken."
Obtained truth bullet! Broken wire cutters
... What the hell happened here?
The two left the lab.
Now was time to go to Gonta's lab. Perhaps they would find something.
The lab seemed pretty clean. They looked around and started going through the drawers. Although nothing seemed to be of use.
The two left the lab. But just as they were about to decide what to do next, something fell, causing a loud noise.
A piece of the roof from Kaito's lab fell, knocking a barrel over.
Kaito sighed. "I don't need my lab collapsing."
He approached the barrel to put it back in place but...
"Huh?"
He opened the lid. "What even is that?"
Shuichi approached him to take a look.
Several wood bars were inside. Some of them were long, some were small. But they looked too polished to be branches.
Obtained truth bullet! Wood pieces
"I don't remember putting... Whatever that is here." Kaito frowned.
The violinist couldn't even begin to put a finger on what happened.
He pondered for a moment. "Kaito... Do you mind if we go to the love hotel for a second?"
The biker blinked. "... Phrasing?"
"You know what I meant."
The two made their way here. Somehow the abnormal amount of weapons was still laying around.
"Sheesh, what happened here?" Kaito asked.
"We activated a trap with Kiyo this morning and this is what happened."
A trap, huh...
Perhaps he should keep this moment in mind.
Obtained truth bullet! Diverse projectiles
As they approached Kiyo's lock, Shuichi noticed the burn marks on the ground. Exactly where the cables had gone crazy earlier.
What even was the deal with them?
Obtained truth bullet! Exploded cables
Kaito looked around. "I would have gladly tried to analyze this mess but everything is completely destroyed. I can't do much."
"It's alright. I just needed to see this one more time." Shuichi shook his head.
The two made their way to the main building, where they found Kirumi and Ryoma.
"Kaito, since you're here, mind giving me a hand?" the smaller one asked. "Mechanic stuff."
"Sure. Did you find anything else weird?"
"There's a lot to cover." He turned to the mercenary. "I'll leave the rest of the investigation of the main building to you and Shuichi, alright?"
"Understood."
The two mechanics walked away.
Shuichi turned to Kirumi. "Are you okay? You got knocked out back then, didn't you?"
She shook her head. "I don't feel pain, remember? Besides the exisal didn't want to kill us. For some reason."
The violinist nodded.
"There's something I don't understand though." she took out her monopad, turning it on. "The rule 9 states that 'Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder.' But if we have a class trial, that means Tsumugi's death is considered a murder. And yet I think we all remember how everything turned out."
That was more than strange.
Obtained truth bullet! School regulation #9
"Monokuma is very strict with his rules... Why would he break them?" Shuichi wondered.
Kirumi shook her head. "I do not have a single clue."
The two looked at the main entrance, still blocked by the countless debris.
"Ryoma told me that the entrance collapsed when they turned the handle of the door. They heard something exploding and rushed out of the way." she explained.
"Either way it completely forbade us from entering this way..."
Obtained truth bullet! Main entrance door
Kirumi sighed. "Monokuma doesn't want to get the rubble away so we'll have to enter the main building via the pool area."
Shuichi pondered for a second. "Before we get inside, can we go to the dining hall?  I didn't get a chance to see what happened exactly in here..."
"If you wish to."
The two made their way to the dining hall.
As the two described this morning, many spears and iron bars blocked the door. After trying to move them, Shuichi quickly realized that it would be useless.
Obtained truth bullet! Sealed dining hall
He looked at the lock on the side and the wires linking it to the ceiling.
"Did you realize anything?" she asked.
Shuichi wrapped his fingers around a wire and pulled on it.
"What are you-"
To Shuichi's surprise, the cable was lighter than he thought. But before he knew it, the end of the wire fell from the ceiling.
"... I don't know what I expected." he stared at the object, confused.
"Hold on." Kirumi approached him. She took the end of the cable in her hand. "That thing was cut."
The violinist frowned, approached the other cables and pulled them. All of them fell down.
He went down to take a look and all of them were hastily cut off.
"What on earth..." Kirumi muttered.
Obtained truth bullet! Cut off wires
The two looked at each other.
"Let's just... Move on to inside the building. Who knows if there are other broken wires elsewhere." the mercenary suggested.
"Agreed."
After making their way to the pool area, they noticed Miu on the window platform. She immediately turned to them. "Kirumi! I need your help!"
She approached the rope and started climbing. "What is it?"
The street artist pointed at the top of the window. "Well... I tried to see what made the window unmovable but... I gotta admit I don't want to cut myself with glass shards and I'm uh..." she gestured at her entire body. "I don't exactly have anything to protect myself. Besides, you're taller than me and I can't reach for the top."
Kirumi pulled her sleeves on her hands and inspected the window. After a moment, as she passed her covered hand nearly on every border, she frowned. "Something feels wrong here."
She tried to inspect a little further a certain spot. "It feels like those parts are joined together. Shouldn't it be separated for it to open?"
Obtained truth bullet! Non-functioning window
Miu approached her hand after Kirumi assured her it was safe. "... Yeah, those parts shouldn't be together... I think?"
"It's definitely strange. But did we ever use that window? Perhaps it was never meant to be opened." the mercenary suggested.
Shuichi shook his head. 'Why would there be a handle then?"
Miu shrugged. "Well, clothes designers put fake pockets on girls' pants and we stopped questioning it. People do a lot of useless stuff for aesthetics and mild inconveniences."
Shuichi put a finger on his chin. "I still feel like we should keep that in mind."
The street artist grabbed the rope hanging in the gym and started climbing down. "Whatever. I'll investigate the building."
The boy climbed up the rope to join Kirumi. It was a bit hard to do so, but he was still able to with the help of the young woman.
The two entered the gym, mostly untouched by the fire. There were still rubbles in some places.
... Now that he thought about it, the violent quakes were not here before today. He wondered if they were normal, but now he wasn't so sure. They all appeared after a lock activated. Never at any other point of time.
Obtained truth bullet! Earthquakes
Kirumi and Shuichi started walking. The burnt smell was invading the entire building, and the air was heavy. Probably from the extinguished fire. Thankfully there was no dangerous smoke.
The more they walked through the corridor, the more broken cables they noticed, either hanging from the ceiling or on the ground.
Obtained truth bullet! Hanging wires
"... This place gives even more of an eery vibe than usual." Kirumi noted.
Shuichi nodded. But it was to be expected from a building that survived a fire.
What even caused the fire? They all knew that aside from the candles on the fourth floor, no one was able to create fire.
Especially after...
No. Now wasn't the time.
"Considering what happened I doubt my lab will be worth searching." Kirumi pondered. "I have a feeling we should try to retrace where Tsumugi went, perhaps that will help us to see where the fire came from."
Shuichi had his doubts but accepted. He could still look into her lab later.
They made their way to the third floor, where Tsumugi should have been.
On the second floor, however, Kirumi seemed to have noticed something. "Look."
She sat down near a dark pink stain on the ground, near the wall. She touched carefully, but her fingers were clean.
"This is dried blood. I'm sure of it." she explained.
"Perhaps Tsumugi was shot by a trap? Rantaro mentioned her being injured in the leg..."
The mercenary shook her head. "No. It must have been here for at least a few hours."
For a few hours?
Obtained truth bullet! Dried blood
That was... Strange. But then again, he hasn't stepped into the main building since he went to Tsumugi's lab yesterday morning. Perhaps things happened that he wasn't aware of.
After going up the stairs to the third floor, they entered Miu's lab, which was the nearest. The street artist was already there.
"Did you find anything?" Shuichi asked.
Miu shook her head. "Nothing. I mean I'm searching through here but for now, I'm stuck."
She crossed her arms. "I mean, there's not a lot of stuff to go through here. Ever since the third trial I... got myself a lock from the warehouse and some keys to lock the paint lab. And I put pretty much all my stuff in there."
The street artist took an iron key and unlocked the door. There was a lot more stuff in here than Shuichi saw the first time. All her tools were here, from the products, the stepladder, the different kinds of paint, the buckets, and everything that could be moved.
Obtained truth bullet! Miu's lab
She sighed. "Why do we have to do this? Tsumugi was... She was executed..."
Shuichi winced. "... I don't know."
Kirumi stayed silent for a moment. "If we give up now, we're done for."
The two turned to her.
"Don't get me wrong, I find this situation extremely confusing but... Between us, haven't you realized today was odd?"
Shuichi looked at Miu. "I mean... I did find some things odd... Like the pattern for the traps had changed..."
"Yeah! Nothing activated unless we did it ourselves! But those traps were even more dangerous than the last days!"
The violinist perked up. "Do you think... It has something to do with Tsumugi's death?"
The mercenary shrugged. "To be honest, I am not sure. But I feel like we need to take a step back at the situation. Perhaps that's what Monokuma was hinting at."
Shuichi pondered. "To take a step back, huh..."
That was the only possibility, but the situation didn't make sense.
No matter how you see it, Monokuma was the one to kill Tsumugi.
No matter how much they investigated the academy, the results would still be the same.
They didn't even have a plan to investigate because they didn't know what to investigate.
... Perhaps he should still follow Kirumi's advice.
Obtained truth bullet! Trap patterns
"And as much as it sickens me to say it..." Kirumi continued. "This bear enjoys watching us arguing and distrust each other. I doubt he wanted to let someone die without a trial."
Shuichi's heart skipped a beat. "Does that mean... Someone will get executed wrongly?"
The three looked at each other.
"... I don't know. I'm as much in the dark as you are."
They decided to continue their investigation. Miu left to go to the second floor and go through the other labs.
As for Shuichi and Kirumi, they made their way to Rantaro's lab.
But the moment the door of the lab was in view, they saw him.
The medic was standing in front of his lab, staring at the void.
"Rantaro...?" Shuichi called, keeping his distance.
He didn't move. His fists were clenched and his eyes narrowed.
"... I failed her."
"Huh?"
"I could have saved her. I could have tried. I failed as a soldier. Again."
Kirumi approached him. "There was nothing any of us could have done to save her, Rantaro. Monokuma is at fault."
He bitterly chuckled. "Ironic isn't it?"
Shuichi joined them. His eyes widened when he managed to get a glimpse at Rantaro's lab.
"... To be the reason she died when your role is to save her life."
His entire lab was ruined. Cables were hanging from the walls, the walls and floor were burned, leaving marks everywhere. The air may have been heavy in the building, but his lab was a lot worse, it almost made Shuichi feel nauseous. The smell of burnt and gasoline didn't help.
And in the middle of the lab was...
Tsumugi's lock.
The scene was hard to look at.
It was easy to tell it was the start of the fire.
Obtained truth bullet! Rantaro's lab
Kirumi entered the lab. "... If you do not wish to investigate your lab, Shuichi and I can do it."
"It's fine." he shook his head. "Everything is ruined. Monokuma will rearrange everything after the trial anyway."
The three investigated here. There wasn't much to see, as they expected.
After a while, Kirumi broke the silence. "This trial is going to be much harder than the others."
Rantaro turned back to the exit. "You don't need to tell me." he looked back one last time at the scene. "Tsumugi's lock was right here. She didn't even have time to activate it before the explosion."
Obtained truth bullet! Tsumugi's lock
Shuichi felt sick even being here. She must have been so close and yet...
She couldn't.
The rules were quite simple and yet they weren't able to do it.
To activate a lock between 8 AM and 3 PM.
They had spent too much time trying to get to the building that no one realized Tsumugi didn't have time to get hers.
7 hours. And still unable to do it.
Shuichi felt ashamed just thinking about that.
Obtained truth bullet! Sanzu garden rules
But just as the two stepped out of the lab...
Ding dong bing bong!
... The investigation was over.
After the other investigations, they still had an idea of what was going on, on the potential murder weapon, the way things happened, but here?
They didn't even know why they had to do a trial in the first place.
They didn't know what happened, nor what to look for.
This felt frustrating.
They could only go back to the shrine of judgment.
The walk that felt like an eternity. Kirumi was somehow still calm- although he could sense a hint of worry in her. Rantaro was clearly mad. At himself? Monokuma? Both? He didn't know.
Shuichi was still impressed by the amount of self-control they had. If he was alone, he would probably have screamed his lungs out. Although the fear was mostly covered by the immense amount of confusion this entire situation radiated.
Everyone was already here at the shrine of judgment.
Although everyone was perhaps not the correct term to use. After all, they were eight of them now. They were sixteen at the beginning, and now only half of them were still alive.
And he didn't even know if the eight of them would be back here at the end of the trial, or if one of them was going to be executed for nothing.
None of them were in the mood to talk about anything, which was understandable.
Shuichi got startled when the elevator opened, inviting them to the trial room they all despised.
Of course, the descent to the trial grounds was silent, aside from the usual noise of the elevator.
Doing a trial for someone when the killer was the one judging them... It felt ridiculous.
The elevator opened to reveal the courtroom, but something was... Different.
And that's when he noticed.
Behind Monokuma's throne, on the wall was... A giant clock?
It was one of those clocks you would see in Europe, except with a steampunk feel. The cogs were visible, ticking every second. The large iron hands of the clock were impressive, to say the least, pointing at the time. 4:30 PM.
"What... Is that?" Kiyo asked.
"Why, I'm glad you asked!" the bear cheered. "You see, I felt like it would add a nice feeling to the courtroom. Futuristic is nice and all, but the good ol' clocks are also welcome! This is mostly a piece of decoration."
He was like a child describing his room with his friends.
Except he was a murderous bear, and they weren't his friends.
For now, they had to discover what on earth Monokuma want them to find.
And hope for the best.
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commentaryvorg · 4 years
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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 5.23
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 as we continued the explanations in the conclusion of trial 5, Kaito made it clear that he’d have done this plan even without Maki being a factor, Kokichi did have a reason for making Kaito and not Shuichi his accomplice but it was still a stupid decision, Kaito finally admitted he’s dying with a huge smile on his face and was never going to be any less inspiring if they knew that, didn’t tell them that he did this to be a hero because he didn’t need to, reassured Shuichi that him uncovering the truth was awesome and that the plan still kinda succeeded anyway (which was not a lie), still considers Shuichi his sidekick because he’s stopped being an idiot about that, still considers Kokichi a terrible person because he still was even though he had issues, Kokichi’s final words were more emotionally honest than he’d ever been, and Shuichi’s final reflection on Kokichi drew attention to the fact that the writers may have considered him somewhat more of a narrative device than a character.
That was basically the last thing of note anyone says about Kokichi this chapter, so for the most part, we are done with him. Now we can focus entirely on Kaito and his friends.
Kaito:  “That pretty much wraps up my explanation. Now, finally… I need to apologize to Shuichi…”
Kaito’s got one of his biggest smiles as he says this! He’s not showing any kind of pain or awkwardness about doing this at all – he’s just happy that he’s finally able to give his friend the apology he’s owed him for several days now.
Shuichi:  “What? Me?”
Shuichi has no idea what Kaito could possibly need to apologise to him for. What do you mean there was ever some kind of problem or mistake on Kaito’s end. What.
Kaito:  “To be honest… I was jealous of you.”
Kaito is still smiling as he admits this, too – not such a big smile, but it’s there, and he’s looking Shuichi right in the eye. He’s not ashamed of this any more, and he’s not going to run away from how he felt, even if he’s still not proud of it.
An important point here is that having been jealous of Shuichi is not the part Kaito is apologising about. That was never his fault – nobody can help feeling that way about someone – so that’s not something he should need to apologise for and make himself feel worse about having done.
Shuichi:  “Jealous…?”
Shuichi is still very confused. Why would Kaito have ever been jealous of him.
Kaito:  “Because you were always saving us, y’know? Your detective skills kept us alive… You were just way too cool, and I got frustrated…”
I love his little “y’know?” there, like, isn’t it obvious that Shuichi was always saving everyone? Shouldn’t Shuichi already know that?
Kaito primarily presents himself as the kind of “hero” who can inspire his sidekicks, and he is genuinely amazing at being that kind of hero. But he was jealous of Shuichi for being a different kind of hero, one that can take action and Get Stuff Done and actively, physically save people. A kind of hero Kaito also really wishes he could be but is mostly pretty bad at being.
…The kind of hero Kaito nonetheless still managed to be in the end, at least a little bit, with his role in this trial. But even if he hadn’t, the luminary, people-focused kind of hero that Kaito already is is just as important and just as heroic, and it’s heartbreaking that Kaito doesn’t seem to realise that and value his own strengths as much as he deserves to.
(There might actually be a specific reason for this. Kaito putting more value on the kinds of heroes that win through fighting and plans and taking action might be partly because that’s what you’d find in very simplistic hero stories where the heroes are invincible and win without any struggle. Meanwhile, stories in which the heroes win because they're empathetic and good with people are likely to be more nuanced and character-driven, the kind of story that’d focus more on developing the hero's character and making him fallible while still a hero – and those are evidently not the kinds of hero stories that Kaito has read or internalised at all. So while Kaito calls himself a “hero” with regards to his role in inspiring his sidekicks, that’s much less what a hero actually is in his mind.)
Kaito:  “So that’s why I was so harsh on you. My bad…”
Kaito brought up his jealousy not to apologise for it, but to help Shuichi understand why he did the thing that he does need to apologise for, which was lashing out and making things harder for him back in trial 4 (and possibly also into chapter 5, if he’s realised that the way he was running away just made Shuichi continue to feel like Kaito was angry at him).
And remember how, during their falling out, Kaito’s fixation on his escape plan instead of talking to Shuichi suggested that he also felt he needed to apologise to Shuichi simply for having “failed” him by being weaker than him? He’s not giving that apology here. The only thing Kaito is apologising for is the one thing he should be – the thing that he had control over and that was his fault. He’s realised that he shouldn’t be making himself feel bad for no reason about any of his weaknesses that he couldn’t help. Right here at the end, Kaito is finally, finally getting his own apology thing completely right, and it’s lovely.
Shuichi:  “… Hey… No, Kaito, that’s not true… I was only so confident because you were there for me, Kaito.”
I love how badly Shuichi needs Kaito to know that he never had anything to be jealous of. The idiot that Kaito can be about this kind of thing, not putting nearly enough value in his own people-focused kind of heroism, he somehow managed to completely miss the fact that Shuichi could only ever be that strong because of him. Even if Shuichi didn’t always need any direct encouragement and advice, especially the further along things got, just having Kaito there was so, so important.
If Shuichi ever looked like a bright and shining hero, then it’s because he was reflecting the light that Kaito, the luminary, had always been shining onto him.
Shuichi:  “When you made me your sidekick, you said you’d ‘take the responsibility’… And that… That’s why I can do all this.”
This part in particular really meant a lot to Shuichi – it was upon Kaito saying exactly that back in chapter 2’s investigation that Shuichi realised Kaito was doing this to help him. After Kaede’s death and feeling responsible for it, Shuichi was so afraid of making even more “mistakes” like that that he was too hesitant to act. Kaito claiming responsibility in this way made Shuichi feel like he had a safety net, so that he didn’t have to fear messing up so much because Kaito would be there to catch him if he did. Given how Shuichi is, I doubt he ever felt like this would completely absolve him of all responsibility for his mistakes, but at least Kaito would be sharing that responsibility with him and he wouldn’t be going through it alone.
By now, I’ve stressed again and again how much Kaito advocates taking responsibility for things and not trying to run away from what you’ve done, so it might seem kind of odd that he’d have told Shuichi he doesn’t have to take responsibility for any of his mistakes. But Shuichi’s problem was blaming himself for “mistakes” that weren’t really his fault, and Kaito knew that. Kaito wasn’t really saying that he’d take all of Shuichi’s genuine responsibility for doing something bad, but rather that he’d take all of Shuichi’s unnecessary guilt that he shouldn’t be feeling. This was Kaito tailoring his support to cater for Shuichi’s specific needs and not something he’d say to another of his sidekicks. He never said he would “take responsibility” for Maki’s mistakes, for example, because that’d apply in a completely different and very inappropriate way for her. Kaito is so, so good at being this kind of hero and offering exactly what each of his sidekicks need.
Shuichi:  “If you didn’t talk to me back then, even now I’d be—”
If Kaito hadn’t talked to Shuichi in chapter 2 then Shuichi wouldn’t have had the confidence to solve that case and everyone but Kirumi would have died. And in cases 3 and 4, even though Shuichi didn’t need Kaito’s support anywhere near as directly, he still only had the confidence to solve them because Kaito had given him that boost in the first place. Kaito saved everyone just as much as Shuichi did. He may only need to give his sidekicks a little nudge to help them reach their full potential, but that nudge is absolutely vital.
Kaito:  “Hrkh!”
This conversation gets cut off by an extremely inconveniently-timed coughing fit, such that we never get to see what Kaito’s response to hearing all of this would have been. But you’d think that if Kaito had something to say about this that he really wanted Shuichi to hear, he would have made sure to bring it up again later. He… doesn’t.
Which rather implies that this didn’t sink in with Kaito as much as it should have done, and that he never quite truly believes that his role in making Shuichi into a hero was as incredibly important as it was. And that is heartbreaking. Kaito you absolute moron.
Tsumugi:  “Kaito, are you okay!?”
Kaito:  “Heh… H-How can I be okay? I’m… about to die…”
Turns out, big plot twist here, that Kaito is not in fact okay. But what I love about this is how he phrases it, which is a complete turnaround of the way he always used to insist that he’s fine. Of course he’s not okay! How could he possibly be okay through this? How could there ever have been anything okay about the fact that he’s dying!?
He only subtly gets that sense across in this one line here and then doesn’t linger on it because he’s still Kaito and he’s still not going to wallow and mope, but I love that it’s there. I love that he’s finally able to acknowledge at least briefly that of course this has always been making him suffer, how could it not.
(It also makes me mad that it happens to be Tsumugi who asks if he’s okay here, like she has any fucking right to act as though she’s worried about him.)
Monokuma:  “You sure are, bucko! Cuz it’s punishment time!”
Monokuma jumps in as soon as he says he’s dying. Almost like he definitely wants to make sure Kaito gets punished and doesn’t just die. Tee hee hee.
Maki:  “…I won’t let you… …I won’t let you kill Kaito!”
The Maki from earlier chapters wouldn’t be doing this, even if it were still a Maki who cared about Kaito. She’d realise that Kaito is a dead man walking on two separate levels, and that sucks but there’s nothing that can be done so there’s no point trying and she might as well accept it, just like she resigns herself to everything. But not Maki here! She wants Kaito to live, so she’s damn well going to give it everything she’s got to protect him, no matter how irrational and impossible that may be! What she wants matters! She’s finally being driven by her own desires!
Monokuma:  “Oh? You planning to get in my way? You know what’ll happen if you do that, don’t you?”
Maki:  “I don’t care what happens!”
Of course Maki still doesn’t care what happens to herself so long as Kaito can live. It has not occurred to her that Kaito feels exactly the same way on his end in that regard and could not bear to watch her die for him. What’s about to happen here could essentially be described as a clash of Maki and Kaito’s heartbreakingly unreasonable levels of selflessness… and guess whose is going to win out.
Keebo:  “Y-Yes… I’ve been determined to fight back for a while now…”
(Have you, Keebo? Have you really?)
Kaito:  “N-No… Stop…”
Last time everyone banded together to try and stop an execution, Kaito was on the front lines of trying to do so. This time, even though he knows how everyone feels, he’s once again doing exactly as Kaede did back then. He’s already come to terms with his own fate and cannot let them get themselves killed on his behalf, just like Kaede couldn’t.
Shuichi:  “No, Kaito, I can’t! I can’t let you die, Kaito! I don’t care if you’re sick! I don’t care if you’re dying! I won’t let Monokuma touch you!”
And just like last time, Shuichi is ready to throw himself into protecting his friend even though he has no talent whatsoever with anything approaching fighting. I love the absolute desperate irrationality of “I can’t let you die! Even though you’re dying!”. Although the way he then mentions Monokuma suggests he’s specifically thinking about protecting Kaito not necessarily from dying to his illness but from Monokuma’s execution. Even though he’ll still die either way, Shuichi’s seen how awful and cruel those executions are and he won’t let Kaito suffer any more than he already is.
(Clearly Shuichi has not thought this through and realised what an execution for Kaito would mean. Which is fair; why would he have done? The idea that Kaito would ever be a culprit in the first place was completely inconceivable to him until very recently.)
Monokuma:  “When a life ends, those closest to it mourn. But if you could somehow recycle that life…”
Monokuma is about to make a big deal about bringing his kubs back to life so they can pilot the Exisals again. So, while he and his kids are doing that whole nonsense shtick, let’s take this moment to consider, and appreciate, and pat Monokuma on the back for the fact that this is wasting several minutes of time, which has to be exactly what Kaito wants him to do.
See, Kaito has thought about the prospect of his execution. He had plenty of time in the Exisal last night to think about everything regarding how this plan would go, and given that he knew for sure Shuichi would figure everything out, he knew things would almost certainly end with him being executed. It probably crossed Kaito’s mind that there was a chance he could die from his illness before it gets to that point, and hey, wouldn’t that actually kinda piss Monokuma off? So anything he can do to drag things out and bring his illness just a little closer to killing him before Monokuma can do so is great – and if Monokuma wants to help him with that, well that’s just fantastic.
…Of course, it would have also occurred to Kaito, given that he’s seen all the other executions and how they were themed around everyone’s talents, precisely what his own execution is likely to involve. And… there’s no way Kaito would want to pass up on that, the chance to fulfil his dream in the end after all despite having thought it hopeless, even if it’d be what kills him. But then it’d be a shame to let himself get properly executed and miss out on the chance to piss Monokuma off by dying too soon. So really, the best of both words and the best way to maximally piss Monokuma off would be if he could die in exactly the right very specific, very small window of time – and I think Kaito might well have been hoping for that all along.
So during the Monokubs’ drawn-out return, imagine Kaito having a quiet little grin to himself through his pain, because maybe he’ll get to pull this off after all.
Monokuma:  “You guys are just as replaceable. Maybe not as replaceable as the Monokubs… But finding other people to participate in this killing game is easier than ya might think.”
Geez, Monokuma, why don’t you just tell them that the outside world isn’t dead, you’ve practically already done so by this point. He’s also not being especially subtle about the idea that there’s an endless stream of killing games and that people might not even really be forced to participate.
Shuichi:  (Finding other people?)
Yeah, Shuichi’s picking up on that a little bit. He never explicitly brings up this line later, but it probably helps him believe during next chapter that there’s people outside.
Monokuma:  “Now that the Monokubs are back, I’ve got my Exisal entourage protecting me again.”
Kaito kind of missed a trick by leaving his Exisal, honestly. If he’d opened the cockpit to reveal himself but stayed in there, he could have kept control of it, and then maybe fighting back against the other four Exisals would have been worth a try. So long as only Kaito fought them from inside his own Exisal, he’d be the only one they’d have the right to kill for breaking the rules. But even if this option occurred to him, he might have been worried that the others (especially Maki) would join in the fight and get themselves killed no matter how fiercely he told them to stay back.
And while a practically-hopeless last stand of one Exisal against four is still the kind of thing Kaito might be stubborn and determined enough to try anyway just for the sake of going out with a bang… he’s already planning a better way to do that.
Maki:  “So what? It doesn’t matter… I won’t let you kill Kaito. I’ll… fight until the end…”
Kaito:  “S-Stop… Even if you fight the Exisals, you’ll just get killed, dammit!”
Maki, you may be a badass but you cannot fight five Exisals with just a knife. The way her words start to hesitate a bit suggests she’s starting to realise that this is hopeless and she’s only going to get herself killed – but there’s still a part of her that’d be okay with that because at least she’d be trying to save him and wouldn’t just be helplessly watching him die (because her life still doesn’t matter next to his, right?).
Kaito:  “The remote control and the last Electrobomb were crushed in the press.”
Okay, so I said we were mostly done with Kokichi, because here is one last point about him for this chapter. I never see this line talked about, and it really, really should be. Because the fact that Kokichi could have let Kaito keep the Electrobomb and the remote but didn’t proves two very important things about him and his plan.
Thing one: the reason Kokichi carried out this plan had nothing to do with wanting to save everyone. Sure, saving everyone by ending the killing game would have resulted if it’d succeeded, but that’s not why Kokichi did it. He only cared about “winning”. If he’d cared about saving everyone, then anything that could give them an edge in fighting back against Monokuma would be something he’d have wanted Kaito to keep so he could pass it onto the others in case the plan failed. The remote in particular would be incredibly helpful, because it’d mean they could take control of the Exisals even if they had Monokubs inside and this situation right now wouldn’t be a problem. Even if the reason Kokichi had kept Miu’s inventions from them until now was because he genuinely thought his grand plan was the best way to end the killing game and save everyone (which, wow, what an even bigger idiot he’d have had to be to believe that), there’d be no reason not to pass the gadgets on to Kaito so that the others could use them and continue to fight back in the event that his main plan did fail. Buuuuut he didn’t.
Kaito and Kokichi co-operated in this plan, but they each had completely different reasons for doing it. Kaito did it for the chance at saving everyone, whereas Kokichi only did it because he wanted to “win” the killing game, and not because he cared about what would happen to everyone else when he did.
So Kokichi didn’t actively want to give Kaito the gadgets because he didn’t care about saving everyone, but since he’s also not evil, he’d still have no reason not to do so anyway, right? Yet, evidently, he had one. The only way Kokichi would have had an active reason not to give Kaito the weapons would be if he thought doing so might compromise the plan… so it seems he thought just that.
Which brings us onto thing two: apparently, despite using him as the accomplice in his plan, Kokichi still never truly trusted Kaito. He thought that if Kaito realised there was another way to try and save everyone, by controlling all five Exisals and fighting back – a better way that he would rather do over faking his death and lying to his friends about it for a whole trial – then maybe he’d forgo Kokichi’s plan entirely and just do that. Maybe he’d do so even if he said he agreed to the plan and promised Kokichi that he’d go through with it. So long as Kaito had another option, Kokichi could never trust that promise, because Kokichi could not trust anyone. Kaito could totally have only made that promise to get Kokichi under the press so that he could make Maki spotless, but then be planning to betray the rest of the promise as soon as Kokichi’s dead, right? There’s definitely nothing ingrained in Kaito’s principles that’d mean that if he made a promise to a dying man that he’s about to murder, he would never ever break it – obviously nobody could ever really have that much genuine integrity?
I’ve seen a lot of talk about how neat it is that in the end Kokichi had to put his trust in someone else after all, and I’d like to agree because that would be neat, but… that’s not what actually happened. Kokichi getting Kaito’s co-operation in his plan was never a case of trusting Kaito to do this for him. To Kokichi, it was nothing but manipulation, because his own ability to manipulate others was the only thing he could “trust”.
Anyway, back to not-Kokichi.
Maki:  “No, I won’t give up.”
Kaito:  “Maki Roll! Enough alre—”
Maki:  “I’ve never felt this way before! I’ve always fought to kill, but… this is the first time I’ve fought to protect someone!”
Technically Maki was always protecting the kids at her orphanage, and her best friend, by being an assassin. That never really felt like this, though, because that genuine desire to protect someone would have been clouded by the need to kill unrelated innocent people to do so, so she still just felt like a terrible person and not like she was doing any kind of good. But this is different! The only people she’s fighting are the bad ones who are trying to hurt the person she cares about and wants to protect, so she’s not being a horrible person at all. For the first time, she’s experiencing perhaps what it feels like to be… a hero? Or at least, someone who really wants to be a hero, which deserves to count as the same thing.
Maki:  “And… I’ve never… been given a nickname like ‘Maki Roll’ before, either.”
Kaito:  “You…”
Kaito – it worked! You know you gave her that name to help her, and it worked! Be proud of yourself for that!
Maki:  “And I’ve never… met someone as stubborn as you before… … And… I’ve never…”
Maki’s acknowledging her feelings more openly than she ever has before, but even then, she’s still wearing her terrifying-assassin demeanour on top of it. She begins to cry here, but that doesn’t make her drop the knife or the threatening pose. She’s using it like a mask to try and protect herself from how much it hurts to be admitting this when Kaito’s about to die, and to desperately tell herself that she can still use her assassin skills to save him, right?
Maki:  “…fallen for someone before.”
…So. I’ve been having some Opinions about the way the narrative has been handling Maki’s crush on Kaito, most of them not good. But the actual main moment where it comes to light here? This I’m quite happy with.
The first time I saw this scene and realised where Maki was going with this, I kind of rolled my eyes and braced myself. I often don’t appreciate confessions of romantic love from friendships I’m invested in platonically, because it can sometimes feel like it’s diminishing the friendship I cared about so much. Like the only real reason one character cared about the other in the first place was actually because the feelings were romantic all along and they just weren’t admitting it, implying that obviously they couldn’t have cared about someone that much if it’s just platonic. That’s probably very rarely the authors’ conscious thought process with such moments, but that’s the effect it has on me.
Another thing I’m just personally kind of eh about with fictional romances is when the romantic feelings just kind of happen out of nowhere with no actual reason or basis behind them, since that’s a thing romantic feelings can apparently do. When you’re not interested in romance purely for romance’s sake, that’s just a kind of lacklustre thing to be the driving force of a relationship.
But that’s not what this is! Maki makes it very clear that this is about the things Kaito has done for her and the kind of person he is. This isn’t diminishing their friendship at all – this is about their friendship, and it’s only because of that that she developed romantic feelings at all and now also has those alongside the platonic ones. Note how she says she “fell for” him, like it happened somewhere along the way, not that she was “in love with” him or anything to that effect that would imply it was always about that.
I’ve said that I’m often annoyed with the way the narrative handles the writing around Maki’s feelings for Kaito, but that the writing of Maki herself on this matter is perfectly fine and appropriate for her character, and this here is no exception. I’m really, really happy that this moment is handled the way it is.
(Maki is ragingly demiromantic or at least some other flavour of aro whether the writers intended it or not and I love her for it.)
Me being me and personally preferring platonic love to romantic, I’d want to say that Maki still didn’t technically need romantic feelings at all for this to work. A desperate passionate speech about how much Kaito’s been such an amazing friend and she can’t bear to lose another person who’s this important to her after she’s finally started letting herself have friends again would probably have melted my heart a lot more than this, personally.
However, there is actually a narrative purpose for Maki’s feelings being specifically romantic that wouldn’t work in the same way if they weren’t. See, Kaito was always trying to make Maki consider him a friend. Her having come to do that was still essentially just her doing what someone else wanted of her, like she always did as an assassin, even if this time it was at least someone who genuinely had her best interests at heart for once.
Kaito:  “Maki Roll!”
But… Kaito was never trying to make Maki fall in love with him. His shocked expression for his reaction here makes it clear that he never saw this coming at all. This is something that happened entirely on Maki’s end and was all Maki’s feelings at work (even if it can’t quite be called her choice because romantic feelings don’t usually work that way and hers certainly didn’t). The fact that she’s come to feel something like this completely on her own terms without anyone else having wanted it of her, and that she’s finally willing to accept it and embrace it and let it drive her actions is such a big deal for Maki and her development.
Maki’s arc here could have been written as a very stereotypical, shallow case of “emotionally repressed traumatised girl learns how to emotions again when she awakens to the power of ~true love~”, but anyone who thinks that’s actually what it is is completely missing the point and really needs to look at it in more detail. Maki learning how to be a person again is primarily about her friendship with Kaito and Shuichi, and meanwhile the romantic aspect serves a different purpose that’s a lot more unique to Maki’s more specific issues than such a thing usually is.
And we’re still not done with this part of Maki’s arc either, because this comes back during trial 6 in a way that also wouldn’t work if her feelings were nothing but platonic. So that’ll be a thing when we get there.
Maki:  “I… don’t want this to end. I just… don’t…”
Not to belabour this point or anything, but what she wants matters! I love her “I just don’t” – the only reason for her actions is that she simply doesn’t want this; she doesn’t need any other justification than that. Look at her go.
(She’s not even saying anything about wanting to be in a romantic relationship with Kaito or anything to that effect, which I also appreciate because that wouldn’t remotely be the point right now and maybe he wouldn’t want that and Maki definitely wouldn’t think about things that way. She just doesn’t want to lose him, that’s all, and that’s enough.)
Kaito:  “… Maki Roll… I’m sorry… but that’s not an option. I don’t have as much time left as you think…”
Kaito, you were doing so well earlier; don’t apologise for dying. You know that’s not your fault and is the last thing you ever wanted to do to them. Of course you hate how much this is hurting her, but you don’t need to make yourself feel even worse about it, you moron.
Kaito:  “I’m… fighting just to stay standing.”
It is Very Disappointing to me that this line doesn’t spur Shuichi and/or Maki to immediately rush to his side and help him. Even if he evidently can still stand regardless, he shouldn’t have to fight so hard to do so! At this point, with the vulnerability he’s showing at last, it’s almost certain that Kaito would finally be willing to actually let his sidekicks support him, and seeing that happen very literally would have been lovely.
(I will console myself by assuming that the only reason this doesn’t happen is that it would have been pretty awkward to show using just sprites – and there are some Very Excellent sprites of Kaito we’re still yet to see that we’d miss out on if everything became an illustration from here on – so that’s why the writers didn’t do it and it would totally have happened otherwise. Yes.)
Kaito:  “Hey, Maki Roll. I asked you before… What’s your enemy?”
Kaito isn’t even directly responding to Maki’s confession of her feelings, which I love. It appears he also understands that the most important part of her feeling that way is less about him and really more about her and how far she’s come, so he’s taking this opportunity to continue to make this about her issues and her growth. Whether he reciprocates her romantic feelings or not, telling her either way would only make her feel worse given that he’s about to die. Doing that would make this about him, and of course Kaito isn’t going to make it about how he feels, especially not now. The only thing that matters is him continuing to help Maki so that she’ll be okay once he’s gone.
(For the record, I don’t personally believe Kaito reciprocates Maki’s romantic feelings, but I also think that there’s basically no actual evidence either way, because even if he did it’d be something he wouldn’t show as he never makes things about himself. It really doesn’t matter, though; even if his feelings don’t happen to be romantic, Kaito very clearly loves both his sidekicks with all of his heart, and that’s the important part.)
Kaito:  “Before… you hated yourself so much. You didn’t even like yourself a little… And wasn’t that the reason you tried to distance yourself from others? You decided that you didn’t deserve to have friends, didn’t you? That was your enemy.”
Of course Kaito knew all along what Maki’s “enemy” was. He never mentioned it before because it was up to Maki to figure it out and realise it for herself in order to properly fight it. He’s only bringing it up now so that he can help her see how far she’s come already.
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Kaito:  “But not anymore, huh? You’re alright now!”
This is one of the Very Excellent Kaito Sprites that I mentioned a moment ago! I absolutely adore how much he’s able to fight through his own pain in order to smile for his sidekicks’ sake. This isn’t even a fake smile, either – he’s genuinely so proud of Maki and so happy for her, and he’s not going to let something irrelevant like the fact that he’s suffering and dying stop him from showing that!
Kaito:  “You fell for a guy like me!”
Kaito. Kaito. What on earth do you mean, “a guy like you”? If Maki was going to fall for someone, why shouldn’t it be you? You saved her. You’re amazing.
This is a subtle indication that right now, heartbreakingly, Kaito… doesn’t think he’s worth all that much at all. I don’t think he hates himself any more like he definitely did at the end of chapter 4, not after everything that happened this chapter and having at least managed to help a little bit in the end. But he still doesn’t see himself as anything special on the grand scale of things. Shuichi’s the real hero, not him, right?
No, Kaito, you moron. Even without this trial, you were already a hero the whole time, from the moment you reached out to Shuichi and Maki. The luminary kind of hero who saves people through words and not actions is just as important of a hero. That Kaito can’t see his own incredible worth even though it’s so obvious to his sidekicks is excruciating.
And the thing is, I really don’t believe he always felt this way about himself. I mentioned way back when talking about his parents and how I’m not on the “Kaito’s parents are assholes” train that it really seemed like his confidence was completely genuine. But that was at the time, during chapter 2, in which Kaito was still a relatively emotionally healthy person. Then he started to feel inferior next to Shuichi’s amazing feats in the trials, and realised he was dying and felt even weaker and more powerless because of that, all of which hurt so much more than it usually would in this situation where the most important thing is having the power to make a difference and protect everyone. It didn’t help that part of the way Kaito managed to cope with the thought of his inevitable death was by using his natural selflessness and his growing inferiority complex to convince himself that he didn’t matter so long as Shuichi and Maki were okay.
His lack of belief in his own importance is ingrained deeply enough now that simply having managed to make a difference after all, while it’s helped him feel a little better, isn’t nearly enough to fix the underlying issue. If he weren’t about to die here, this’d be something that he’d need a lot of time to gradually work on getting over and unlearning, just like his sidekicks have needed to do with their problems.
Kaito started out genuinely fine and relatively well-adjusted, and he’s also one of the lucky ones who never got hit with losing anyone he was personally close to. But even so, the pressure of this killing game slowly but surely broke him.
Kaito:  “Now you can learn to like yourself!”
Kaito casually diminished his own importance like this all so that he could keep trying to help Maki. He sees her as so much more important than him, so if she was able to grow this fond of him, then she’s got to be able to like herself now too, right? That’ll be easy! God, Kaito, you moron; Maki doesn’t even remotely see it that way.
Maki:  “… U-Ugh… uuugh…”
Even so, the way Kaito’s been insistently making everything about her and not him seems to have finally got it through to Maki that she really can’t save him, and more importantly, that there’s no way he would want her to throw her life away trying to do that. No matter how much she hates it, the best thing Maki can do for Kaito here is to keep living and try her best to like herself, just like he wants her to. Perhaps she can’t quite believe in her own importance herself yet, but if she means that much to Kaito, then… maybe she really is important after all.
(Meanwhile, the other person in this room who can’t quite believe in his own importance doesn’t seem to have considered that the reverse is also true.)
And so Maki finally drops her mask and just starts sobbing uncontrollably. This is still a sign of her growth: she’s not repressing any of her feelings any more, not even the painful ones! There’s some overlap with Himiko’s issues here – maybe she and Himiko will be able to help each other further with these kinds of things once they get out of here.
(For anyone who’s familiar with some of the V3 content on my main blog, you may like to know that this is the moment at which Maki totally should have thrown herself onto Kaito in a massive desperate hug, leading Shuichi to do the same and ultimately help Kaito understand and be somewhat less of an idiot about the things I’ve just been mentioning. But that didn’t actually happen, even though it should have, which is fine, it’s fine, because everything else that does canonically happen here is still lovely and wonderful.)
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[Next post]
12 notes · View notes
ryouverua · 5 years
Text
Trial 6 - My Will, Our Will (7)
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A new challenger has appeared!
Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
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Being on the other side of Shuichi’s glare and pointer finger is terrifying and now I’m understanding why all the culprits and others start freaking out so much. 8′D
Also, ooooh there it is, oh there’s Clair de Lune, i’mnotcryingyou’recrying
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WE’RE REALLY DOING CLAIR DE LUNE THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH AREN’T WE
OH NO
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A hope that requires two of their classmates to die... that’s the definition of ‘hope’ that was forced on them. K1-b0 is happy as long as he’s opposing despair - but Shuichi isn’t. I.... I think I understand what he’s saying.
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“S-Seriously Shuichi, I really don’t get a chance to be cool very often and you’re really stealing my thunder -”
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“You, uh, remember that my name is pronounced ‘Kii-bo’ too, right - ?”
“YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID!”
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The music is continuing?!?! We’re using Clair de Lune the whole way through?? Man this is making even more of an impact than them playing the opening music - because there’s no triumph to be found here.
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He seems so betrayed! S-Sweetcheeks, we really need to finish his last FTE when this is all over!
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Oh..... oh....... oooooooh -
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Shuichi why would you say something so controversial yet so brave -
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“SEE!!! I CAN DO THIS TOO SHUICHI!!!”
mmm also look at my sweet v-counter skills guys -
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It’s not some great overwhelming force of nature, or some grand enemy to be conquered, something that can be easily shoved into a defining box! It’s a feeling, like anything else! And sure, despair is considered ‘the dark side’, but are we just going to let them also define hope for us?
........
also. ALSO.
THESE COMMENTS. THESE COMMENTS. I-I can’t stop collecting them -
No, that’s wrong!
What are you saying, hat boy? i might steal ‘hat boy’ that’s really good
Can’t say anything now, scrub
He’s not wearing a hat anymore. THE COMMENTER CORRECTED THE OTHER ONE GFGH
What if Shuichi is the mastermind? girl where have you been for the last hour -
I wonder who’s going to live.
Hope always comes in waves.
You’re slipping up, detective.
hurry up and vote
Show me hope.
There’s hope because there’s despair.
Suck it, hope
Keebo’s not gonna lose!
Keebo is hope...
and hope lives on!
Shuichi is the cycle of despair?
Things are getting interesting.
The fight’s just started!
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The endorphin rush they get when, despite all odds, the good guys win over the bad guys, reaffirming that ‘good’ always overcomes ‘evil’....
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Or worse yet, they revel in it, because to paraphrase a certain someone, ‘they’ll use these tragedies to shine even brighter.’ Watching someone rise above adversity and come out the other side even stronger is inspiring. For the same reason that we enjoy playing the games and cheering the survivors on when Junko or whoever is ultimately defeated in the end, this audience eats up every round of the killing game. They can enjoy that with the privilege granted by being able to observe it from the outside, just like us. But strip that layer away, and -
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I’m sorry, excuse me?
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YEAH SHUICHI IS ON A ROLL HERE DON’T STOP HIM NOW
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What’s with that look, Tsumugi? Is it because Shuichi wasn’t actually supposed to fight for despair? Or was the idea that he would be cheered on/convinced by K1-b0, the same way that Naegi convinced the others in the first game?
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Th.... The music..... stopped....
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LAZY PARALLEL WORLD!!!
oh man maybe Tsumugi can hear the music cues. Maybe she realizes Shuichi is onto something. now I’m imagining every time the music shifts Tsumugi’s the only one aware of it, and she’s also the only one reacting appropriately to it ffhg
Also, I assumed that the punishment was execution... but was... was that the mental trap???
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Why wouldn’t there be?! They’re being ‘sacrificed’, aren’t they?!?!
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Everything would make sense -
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Oooh! Ooh - ! Is - is that what it is, then?!
Jeez, it’s super interesting to be in K1-b0′s POV for this - especially with Shuichi being the one asking us questions. Being in his POV before meant he never had the opportunity to really use leading questions like this, which really lends him an unexpected air of authority. Unexpected but earned, mind you...
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HE’S DIRECTING QUESTIONS AT THE AUDIENCE NOW TOO?!?!
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You continue the cycle....
Oh, poor, poor Rantaro -
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Did he have the same options laid out for him? Or did he know that he would be choosing to repeat the game? He still had the determination to end the killing game.. so was that left over from his last game’s iteration? How many times has he repeated it? For that matter, how long has he been in holding while they gathered new people??? I swear that one commenter said they had waited 3 years, so???? Rantaro how old are you?? 
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Was there only one person made into a sacrifice, or two like last game? .... side-eyes K1-b0 and Tsumugi -
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Does... that mean Tsumugi was the mastermind last game too, or....
Also Maki as the Ultimate Survivor would absolutely tear things up. They’d have to pull another stunt like they did with Rantaro if they wanted her out of the game. She definitely has the fitness and demeanour to survive, unless she snaps on someone like she did on Kokichi in Chapter 5.
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Just like Kokichi did, Shuichi is going to try and attack the game itself. His name really hasn’t come up since the motive video reveal, but I’d like to think that this strategy was inspired by his Chapter 5 plan.
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What an interesting set of characters to represent despair winning. First we have Izuru, being all disdainful of their choice and mocking him with the word ‘boring’ - very much his thing, but also reminiscent of Kokichi. In fact, I suppose the despair option is very similar to the stalemate situation Kokichi installed when he was pretending to be the mastermind!
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Then Celestia. She’s not a people-pleasing person. So why her? Thinking back, she was one of the most desperate to escape, despite hiding it... so maybe this is Tsumugi ‘showing’, not telling, that she isn’t happy with them choosing the despair option?
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And then the hope fanboy... basically telling them that despair is the inferior option, but couching it in positive language. Passive-aggressively pushing them towards the actual answer (s)he wants - very on point for him.
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Is it really okay to pass the buck like that?
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In perpetuity...
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I..... I don’t have an answer for that.
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It does... sort of suck that he’s singling out those two in his speech, because it can feel like he’s being dismissive of everyone else - but I don’t think that’s true. He definitely appreciates the losses of everyone else, but those two were the ones that hit him hardest.
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of course it’s bloody Komaeda over there having the time of his life during this speech
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First of all - how strange is it that there are only a few people who look like they aren’t in excruciating pain right now. Rantaro’s face can’t be seen, Angie, Ryoma and Tenko look like they’re sleeping, and Kaito is smiling....
And - ah, Kokichi can’t even be seen. But there ‘he’ is, with his own section in this collage - I guess that third ‘body discovery’ we had in chapter 3 was the closest we would ever get to something real, huh? Poor guy...
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“You said I’d be fighting the entire world, Tsumugi? Fine by me! Meet me behind the school after the trial!”
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“S-Shuichi that’s a lot of people -”
“AND I’M GOING TO FIGHT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!!”
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That’s... true. There is a mental barrier that is hard to cross, especially if they’ve all conditioned themselves to accept real people dying for their own entertainment.
Also there are new comments, which means I am obligated to transcribe them.  Most of them is the audience turning on Shuichi, damn. Okay, here it goes:
Forget about Shuichi
You’re in despair, right?
show me the despair ending
it’s okay to feel despair sometimes... THANK YOU ANON COMMENTER
Why have we been doing this...?
Hope doesn’t turn back!
The big reveal, at last
And it was just getting interesting.
We’re the mastermind.
Are they blaming us?
hurry up and refute it
C’mon, Keebo! Attack!
Force hope through.
something’s different right?
C’mon Keebo!
No, that’s wrong!
No, that’s wrong!
What’s going to happen?
mmm... Shuichi’s eyes ^q^ SWEETCHI97 STRIKES AGAIN
What are you saying, detective?
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Oh!!! Oh shit!!! Shuichi you brilliant bastard!!!
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“Thank god - I mean, let’s be honest, we all knew this was coming - uh, I mean -”
Actually though, how depressing. So many times we’ve talked about ‘reasons to live’, and later on, reasons to die, and lo and behold here we are, at the end of everything...
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Shuichi’s learned from the best, Kokichi Ouma - sometimes, death is just a means to an end, and that end is usually flipping someone off.
Random thought - isn’t it interesting that Shuichi is the ‘lone man against everyone’ while Tsumugi, the final boss, is the one ‘acting on behalf of everyone’? When Naegi was trying to rally everyone on his side, they had known at that point that people had been fighting and dying to rescue them. For Hajime and the others, they had the defected Future Foundation members who had risked their own safety to come in and rescue them, and even had Nanami reach out to him. Shuichi, though... Shuichi came to this conclusion on his own, with everyone either against him or swept up in the narrative.
He told Kokichi at the end of Chapter 4 that ‘he was alone, and always would be’. But maybe... that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe Shuichi needed to be alone to have that clarity of thought, and to come up with a way to ‘end everything’. Anyway, it’s just an unexpected parallel I thought of - m-maybe I’m just inserting endgame Kokichi and Kaito thoughts here because the game didn’t. Whoops
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I AM LIVING FOR THE TOTAL REJECTION OF THE ‘HOPE’ AND ‘DESPAIR’ THEME
TAKE THAT!!!!
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It’s not your own will. 8c
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Can you fight it? Do you have the ability to fight it? The strength of will?
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I love Monokuma’s priorities.
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OH WE HAVEN’T HAD A DEBATE IN A WHILE
omg we only have hope as a bullet
And all the noise says hope
Also Shuichi is dominating it too, holy shit! This strength in his voice is super inspiring!
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thank you for bringing back angry Hanamura it’s still one of my favourite things from the second game
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Ohoho I see what you did there with that line ~
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i’m sorry I was just curious about the fluff text
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CHARACTER GROWTH
I CANNOT BELIEVE IT
K1-B0 LEARNED TO LIE!!!! I NEVER THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD COME!!!
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“That’s redundant btw - I can read the comments just like the rest of you, and they literally are not shutting up about how much they want hope to win.”
speaking of which
What are you doing, Keebo?
Don’t give up hope!
Hope! Hope! Hope!
Please side with hope.
1 vote for hope!
I bet the mastermind is shocked. lol
Hurry up and show me hope.
HOPE!
COME BACK HOOOPE
Hope counter!
show us maki roll! oh hey she has fans too!
it’s unanimous hope.
Hope hasn’t lost yet.
Defeat despair!
cmon it’s hope again! right?
I’m routing for despair so *shrugs*
I got 10 bucks riding on hope. that’s it? weak
I’m on the side of hope, so...
I wanna break Shuichi’s fingers <3 SWEETCHI97 WHO HURT YOU
Huh? It’s hope?
So... So wow, even most of the people talking about wanting despair really did want the hope ending in the end. Shuichi read them like open books.
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HE CAN! HE CAN DEFY THE AUDIENCE!!!! I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU K1-B0!!!!
This - this is why you’re the Ultimate Robot. Forget the upgrades - the ability to learn, grow, adapt and choose your own path is another part of your strength!
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WE.... WE’RE LOSING HIS POV..... We’re losing his POV?!?!
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Yeah??? You wanna expand on that???
T-Though I mean, they said they’re happy to let themselves die via no vote so exactly what can they do anyway? At the end of the day, they’re viewers, right? Relegated to an observational role. Powerful and untouchable.... but in turn, that separation of realities means what’s left of the class can’t be hurt by them, either.
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Tsumugi he literally said he’s fine with dying. Exactly what can you threaten him with here???
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How is it that after all of this, Shuichi is still unable to fight for himself? Maybe I should amend what I said before - he is fighting for other people. They just... well, they don’t know it yet. He’s fighting to prevent future victims, and he’s trading his own life to protect them. I guess in a sense he is fighting something ‘greater than himself’ like Naegi did, but even he had ‘hope that he and his friends would survive with a happy ending’. This is... completely the opposite of that.
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GOODBYE DANGANRONPA INDEED, DAMN
And we’re back in his POV!
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Oh man she is not happy about this. Not at all.
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Hey? Hey Shuichi? What - what the fuck does that mean? You were going to end it all right then? Mid-trial? Excuse me what the hell did you take poison with you to the trial or something -
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Oh - oh. I just realized. This... This was bloody foreshadowed, way back in Chapter 1 with the escape tunnel. With Kokichi’s speech to Kaede, about how she technically had the moral high ground when she was doing all the classic ‘we can’t give up here!’ encouragement, we got to see firsthand hope being weaponized against us. It was right there.
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Of course they have Naegi pleading for hope here
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He’s just talking over her omfg
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You trivialized their lives in the first place and now they’re supposed to consider them sacred?!
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It’s literally the only thing that still wholly belongs to them, so what other choice do they have???
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Wait what is happening -
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I’M HIMIKO NOW??!?!?
i can’t believe she was a slytherin this whole time
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I’m quietly relieved that she doesn’t ‘nyeh’ in her internal monologue
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THIS IS THE DARKEST EVIDENCE BULLET FOR ENDGAME DEAR LORD
this might be worse than nihilism - at least you weren’t able to use that
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How interesting to have him fighting us (along with Sakura and Peko for that matter, the former who literally threw away her life for her classmates and the latter who treated her life as a tool for Fuyuhiko). This was his philosophy and motive of his trial, but he also chose to be the killer and used his life as a means to save the rest of his class, right? Tsumugi, what are you trying to pull here?
Though I guess the whole point was that they were all trying to help the others survive, and Shuichi is getting the whole class to kamikaze themselves so...
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Damn, she didn’t take much convincing at all. It’s nice that she’s repping both Tenko and Angie here. 8′)
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FUCK YEAH WE NAILED THIS HIMIKO! We work well together, who knew!
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Himiko is so well-spoken here. And to think that she was the first to follow in Shuichi’s footsteps - I really thought it would be Maki. Good on you, Himiko.
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lmao that segway - Alright, now it’s Maki time, right?
also Tsumugi why would you phrase it in a way to piss off Maki like damn seriously??
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“No seriously why would you just call me out like that.”
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........................
okay she has a point actually
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Never forget that we are in a class trial where almost all of the survivors are introverts who prefer their emotions on the inside.
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!!!!!!!
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DFJGDSKFL SHUICHI ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME
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Her... internal dialogue is so interesting and immediately comes off as different from Shuichi’s, Himiko’s and K1-b0′s. It seems... angrier, maybe. Is that it? Or maybe it’s all the red lines that makes it seem that way...
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This whole line of her entire self being at the whim of someone else’s writing seems to be targeted at her more-so than the others because she’s already struggled with the idea that she’s had no choices in her life, and that she’s always been a weapon to be used by others. Actually, that’s probably why this hits so hard - she thought she was developing feelings on her own and making a choice to fight to defend him, and the idea of even that being taken away from her...
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“I have love, but more importantly SPITE ON MY SIDE!!!”
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AND ANOTHER ONE
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hsdfjgh no don’t pan over the Kaito portrait w h y my heart
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Angry Mikan is still as terrifying as she was in SDR2!
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As an aside, I don’t know why Hagakure repeatedly showing up is so funny to me - I swear he’s been used more than the others? I-Is he secretly Tsumugi’s favourite character? is it because he’s also older than everyone else and she finds that thought comforting -
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“I won’t go far as saying I don’t want to die mind you, but I’m surprisingly neutral on the subject!”
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If Tsumugi’s ‘everyone’ who she’s fighting for is the living, then the ‘everyone’ Shuichi is fighting for is the dead...
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Even if it’s fiction - it’s their reality. Expecting them to understand that because it’s someone else’s fiction... that’s just not fair, is it?
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Sweetcheeks has an uphill battle to fight, but to have a second class revolt in a single game....
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HEY SAIHARA-CHAN DID YOU HEAR THAT? THE ROBOT’S GETTING SASSY WITH ME!
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K1-B0 YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND
THE TEAM’S BACK TOGETHER!!!
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That’s... that’s it. I think we’ve done it. They’ve finally done it! They were able to turn it around after all!
THIS IS OUR TURNABOUT!!!
34 notes · View notes
osakaso5 · 6 years
Photo
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Tenn Kujo Sweets Rabbit Chat Part 4: Painful Memories, Lodged In His Throat
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5
Tsumugi: Kujo-san, thank you for joining us for the photo shoot today!
Tsumugi: Your group shoot with Riku-san and Momo-san was so adorable that it had a healing effect on my eyes ><
Tenn: Good work.
Tenn: I didn't think I'd be teamed up with Riku. I was surrprised, too.
Tenn: At the fact that he's completely stopped calling me "Tenn-nii" in front of the staff.
Tsumugi: He's always practicing it with Iori-san..!
Tenn: Iori Izumi, huh. At this point, his willingness to do things for other people is practically a talent.
Tsumugi: I think he was worried for Riku-san ><
Tenn: Right. I felt his eyes on us the whole day.
Tenn: I was worried he'd drill a hole in me with that gaze.
Tsumugi: T-that hard..! I'm sorry about him...
Tenn: It was funny, so I don't mind.
Tenn: It's because Momo-san is a very touchy-feely person. He made quite the face when Momo-san whispered something in Riku's ear.
Tsumugi: I-Iori-san...
Tenn: It was a look that screamed "What are you conspiring with my center!"
Tenn: All Momo-san was doing was lecturing him on what he finds cute about Yuki-san, though.
Tsumugi: That's an odd thing to whisper into someone's ear, isn't it!?
Tenn: He probably noticed that Iori Izumi  was watching us, and did  it on purpose. He really  isn't someone you want  to make an enemy out  of. 
Tsumugi: Momo-san can be very aware of his surroundings...
Choices/outcomes:
1. Did you talk about anything else?
Tenn: About our height. Unlikely as it is, we're all the exact same height. Riku said he wanted to become as tall as Gaku, so I'm going to need you to tell him to give up on that goal, too.
2. You all seemed to have lots of fun at the shoot!
Tenn: It was thanks to Momo-san. I feel like we were able to relax for the shoot because of him.
3. I was happy to see you get along so well at the shoot.
Tenn: It was thanks to Momo-san. It wouldn't have been like that with just me and Riku.
Tenn: By the way, I wanted to ask you something
Tsumugi: Okay!
Tenn: Has Riku ever talked to you about the story of Hansel and Gretel?
Tsumugi: He has. He told me you read him the story from a picture book, with a very happy look on his face..!
Tenn: Did he tell you about the fit he had after that?
Tsumugi: Huh!?
Tsumugi: Um, I did hear that you built a fort, brought lots of  sweets inside it, and pretended that you lived in a house of sweets...
Tsumugi: Is that not what happened..?
Tenn: After being scolded for moving around our futons and blankets, I went into the fort with him so we could play.
Tenn: Riku opened the bag to give me candy
Tenn: And suddenly had a fit.
Tsumugi: Huh...
Tenn: Riku collapsed to the floor, and the fort we built toppled down on us.
Tenn: Usually, I would've been able to call for our mother right away, but we were so small at the time that the futons and blankets were too heavy. Our mother didn't notice until I panicked and started crying.
Tsumugi: That's terrible...
Tenn: She called the hospital right away, so he was fine.
Tenn: But I guess Riku doesn't remember it.
Tsumugi: It seems that way... He looked so happy talking about it...
Tsumugi: I'm sorry, I didn't even know
Tenn: Don't apologize. I'm the one who brought up our past.
Tenn: I just felt like telling you. Thank you for listening.
Tenn: Good night.
Tsumugi: Kujo-san...
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drv3-imaginesau · 7 years
Note
Maybe the girls and guys as the mastermind and their s/o reacting to it?
That’s a lot of people. I’ve started with the girls, and I’ll do the guys later. I hope that’s fine for now. I tried to keep this as spoiler free as possible, so any deaths I talk about may or may not have actually happened in game.
-mod Shinguuji 
Kaede Akamatsu
“But Kaede, you always wanted us to escape right? You couldn’t possibly be-”“It’s true, I’m the mastermind. The talk of escape was to trick you, to make you trust me. And it worked didn’t it? Remember when Saihara accused me of being the murderer, but you all turned on him instead? You should have listened to him.”“You killed her? Why would you do that? Kaede you’re being forced to say this right? It’s not true.”“Why won’t you believe me? Why can’t I be the mastermind? Or do you hate the idea of falling for a killer, and that’s why you deny it. I’m a  shouldn’t pity me! I’m a horrible person! I was sick and tired of everything, so I dreamt up a killing game, where I led a group, only to stab them in the back. It was fun you know. The best part was meeting you.”You didn’t know what to do, you loved her, but she had done terrible things. “Come with me, and turn yourself into the police.” “No thanks. After all I’ve done it’d be better if I just died. I’m sure these monokubs can handle one more execution. Thank you S/O, but don’t feel too sad for me.” And with a smile, the metal collar fastened around her neck and pulled her away to her horrible death.
Miu Iruma
“Iruma, you’re the mastermind aren’t you?” You didn’t want to believe it was your girlfriend’s doing, but all the evidence was there.“"Bingo! I mean, who else could craft such fine robots? No one! So yes, I am the fucking mastermind. I thought you would’ve figured it out ages ago but whatever. I’ll try not to be too offended.”“Why?”“Because I could! I was bored, I had some killer robots I was itching to try out, and voila, we’re here. I guess this is game over for me then. I should turn myself into the police, or maybe just kill myself here. Is that what you wanted me to say? No way! I’m leaving here with my freedom intact.” As she spoke, the remaining survivors circled around Iruma to prevent her from leaving.“You’re not going anywhere.”“Are you underestimating me? I’ll have you know I placed a bomb inside Kiibo, so if you try anything, I’ll push the fucking button and send you all to hell! They moved away from her instantly. As she ran off she grabbed your arm and dragged you along. "We’re going to have so much fun together from now on.”
Tsumugi shirogane
“Why Tsumugi? Why?” You yelled at her. You couldn’t believe that your girlfriend, the SHSL cosplayer, was the one responsible for the deaths of your friends. “Have any of you heard of Danganronpa? I suppose not, or you would have mentioned it sooner.” She pulled out a wig as she said this, a blonde wig, with two side bunches. “That was the risk I took with this. If any of you had heard of it, it would all be over for me. Very well, I shall explain…” As she told you about danganronpa, you couldn’t believe it. I front of your eyes, she turned into the so-called shsl despair, Junko Enoshima.“I’d hoped a few more of you would die before I was revealed, but never mind. Now, as a true fan of Junko, I will execute myself and you will be able to leave this place.”That’s when you started to beg, pleading with her to not do this to herself. “What you did was wrong, but I don’t want you to die. Despite everything, I still love you.”But your words couldn’t reach her, and she died in the most gruesome way imaginable, all whilst wearing her cosplay, and a false smile.
Tenko Chabashira
“Tenko, it isn’t true right? You wouldn’t…” Words failed you, your girlfriend could only smile at you sadly.“I wanted them to die. Those male scum are the reason this world is a miserable place, and I wanted to kill them all. Haven’t you wondered why all of you survivors are female?” You did see what she meant, all 8 boys had died, the 4 that were victims, and the 4 that were executed, swearing their innocence until their final breath.“Were they really guilty? Or did you frame them, Tenko?” “Ah, you caught me. I tampered with the evidence to cast suspicion on them, but you were the ones who sent them to their deaths. You know, I’d planned to release all of you tomorrow, to make it look like the monokubs had suddenly shut down, but then you found me out. Ideally, this game would have been 15 males and me, but that would have looked suspicious, so I chose you instead.”“Tenko, I loved you but this isn’t right. You claim to be the strongest Neo Akido master, but I can only see you as weak, hiding behind your lies.”Tenko then reached into her pocket, and tossed a button to you. “This will open the gate, goodbye.” Then she ran off into a secret passageway, closing the door behind her.You never saw her again, but you often heard reports of men being brutally killed, and knew that she was still out there somewhere.
Tojo Kirumi
“Don’t get me wrong, I never wanted any part in this twisted game, but I was forced to.” She didn’t even deny that she was the mastermind. “My master ordered me to continue the killing games, even after her death, and I am bound by contract to comply.”You were shocked, your girlfriend was on the verge of tears. “Couldn’t you just disobey her? You could still leave her, and escape with us.”“No, the world is filled with horrors, and there are many who would kill me if the games ended. My master, Junko Enoshima, died in the very first killing game, and I’ve been left to hold 52 more without her. I was able to stand the pain out of loyalty to my master, but recently I’ve grown sick of it. I’ve wondered whether the games would end if I died, but I feel that she has more henchmen that would continue the job.”“Tojo, come with us, we can end the killings together, fight those filled with despair. I’m sure everyone agrees.” The survivors nodded in approval. “See! You should join us. I love you, and I don’t want to see you so sad.”“You don’t know what’s out there. But I will join you, even if it means my death. Let’s put an end to these killing games!”
Maki Harukawa
“Maki, it’s not true right?” Your girlfriend, who had been so quiet up until this point, turned to you and spoke.“I must tell you now, I’ve been lying this entire time. Maki Harukawa isn’t my real name, and I’m not the shsl childminder. I’m the daughter of the former shsl murdeous fiend, and I have continued her work. You heard stories of how the future foundation eradicated despair from this world, but it still remains within some people. Me included.” “So it was all a lie? Even our love?” The thought of her having tricked you all this time was horrible. “Yes it was. Think about it, how would I ever fall in love with someone like you? It was just convenient for me to have you around, so I didn’t object to it.” This was another lie. She had loved you, but she thought that this way you wouldn’t mourn too much. “Now just go, I’ve opened the gate.”“But Maki, I-”“Go now, before I change my mind.” The other survivors urged you to hurry, and so you did, pausing to take one last glance at her, wishing it hadn’t turned out this way. After you left, you discovered it had all been broadcast on television, and the final video was Maki’s execution
Himiko Yumeno
“Oh so you figured it out? Took you long enough, I was getting bored of you. Ah well, you figured it out, so why don’t we leave this place now S/O. Let’s leave the others behind to die.”“Himiko, why would you do this? How could you do this?” Your girlfriend’s suggestion was out of the question, betray your friends? Only a crazy person would do that.“Why? Because I was bored I guess. I have real magical abilities you know, but whenever I showed people they believed it was a trick or illusion. I found this series called Danganronpa, and I decided to create my own version of a killing game. It was fun, but it’s becoming predictable.”“But your magic isn’t real! You’re deluded!” “If it wasn’t real would I be able to do this?” She raised her hand, and as soon as she pointed at him, his head exploded. “I’m real annoyed now, so I’ll kill the lot of you, except S/O of course.” She raised, supposedly with magic, a boulder above her head, big enough to crush someone.“Himiko don’t! Please stop!” As she was distracted, she ran out of MP.When her body was crushed, her magic ended alongside it. The monokumas stopped working, and the cage was opened. You were free, but you mourned for Himiko, and your dead friends.
Angie Yonaga
“Nya ha ha! You caught me! Yes, I’m the mysterious mastermind behind all these killings.” As she spoke, she bounced over to Monokuma’s class trial seat and sat down on the throne. “Why would you do this Angie? People have died, I’m sure that’s against God’s wishes.” You were horrified that your wonderful girlfriend was the one who caused all this pain and misery,“Well, well, you’d think that, but you’d be wrong. In fact, my God was the one who told me to do all this. He said that filthy sinners like you must be punished. Even you S/O, I love you but my God said you must die, so I was planning to eventually kill you too.” “What are you going to do now? We found out who you were, even though there are still 6 of us alive, will you set us free since we solved the mystery?” You still remained hopeful of survival, and wanted to escape the school with your remaining friends.“Of course not! God said you must die, so you will die! The fact that you discovered my identity is only a minor setback. I could let the killing game continue, but as you know I want you all dead, I might as well just kill you now! It won’t be as fun, but it will fulfill God’s wishes, so I’ll be happy about it!”And then you were all executed as she watched, laughing and hugging the Monokuma.
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sanctferum · 6 years
Text
Dangan Ronpa Chapter 4 Free Time part 2, and probably a Deadly Life by the end of this
OK, so last time we decided to spend what’s probably our final Free Time event of chapter 4 with Kaito. Problem is, I can’t find him anywhere. That is…concerning. OK, I’ll hang out with Himiko instead.
A present for Himiko, huh? How about a Firebolt, I mean Flame Thunder, broomstick?
Himiko is too lazy to tell people not to talk to her if she doesn’t want them to. Or, at least she was back in chapter 2 or whatever point in time this Free Time event was written for.
Himiko became a magician, sorry, a mage, because she was good at it. Not following her talent would go against her master’s teachings. Said master is an amazing archmage, who- oh, we called her a magician by mistake, the conversation’s over. RIP Shuichi.
One final free time. Looks like Kaito’s available now. Let’s finish up his free time events.
Kaito seems awfully nervous about something. Let’s calm him down with this weird space thing present.
Kaito’s upset that we’re moping around. Shuichi isn’t sure why Kaito thinks he’s moping. But, in the interest of sharing burdens, Kaito convinces Shuichi to tell him a story that he’s previously only told Kaede. The story of Shuichi’s first case, the one that went horribly right. Shuichi insists that him solving the case was a complete accident, and that he foiled the culprit’s revenge, despite it turning out that the culprit was justified in seeking that revenge. Kaito thinks that the culprit, had he gotten away, would have been crushed under the weight of his own guilt. In that sense, he should almost be thankful that Shuichi caught him.
Kaito’s an idiot, but…he supports Shuichi and expects nothing in return. He is a true friend.
We get the Spacewalk skill and Kaito’s underpants. Spacewalk looks like it will be useful for psyche taxi.
As night-time approaches, the doorbell to Shuichi’s dorm room rings. Kaito? Maki? Nope, it’s Miu.
Shuichi has no patience for Miu’s perverted remarks, but Miu does say one interesting thing. If Shuichi meets Miu on the fourth floor computer lab, the two of them, and I presume everyone else as well, will be able to escape. Shuichi decides it’s worth going there. Probably.
On the fourth floor, Himiko is outside the computer room. Everyone got the same basic message from Miu, but Himiko says it smells fishy. Well, Miu would know about that. …She’s starting to rub one off on me. Rub off on me. Fuck.
Himiko is hesitant, and then she remembers all the times she didn’t want to do stuff, but Tenko grabbed her and dragged her all over the place. In Tenko’s memory, Himiko won’t hesitate any more.
The green circle in the center of the computer is red now. Everyone is already gathered inside. Including Kokichi. I’m nervous. Really nervous.
Sure enough, Miu plans to get us out of here via bringing us to another world.
Miu will tell us how it works…if we bow down to her like dogs. Kokichi suggests that if Miu wants to be heard, SHE bow down to US. Miu gets desperate and then suddenly the art style shifts to manga style as Miu bows down to us.
There’s a device connected to the computer that can upload your consciousness to it. Which means the way to escape is to abandon our physical bodies and run to a virtual world. My theory as to what’s happening here inches ever closer to being the truth…
The computer doesn’t have “virtual reality” in the sense that we know of it as. It’s really…a Virtual World. One step further than the Neo World Program from Dangan Ronpa 2, sounds like. As Tsumugi puts it, it’s basically the Matrix.
The consciousness is put into an avatar, just like with the Neo World Program. Naturally, we’re all pretty hesitant.
Kokichi found out what Miu was up to. He agreed to bring chairs here for our bodies to be left behind in, in exchange for learning what Miu was planning.
A world without murder and Monokuma, huh? I don’t think we’ll be in a hurry to leave behind the world with our friends and families in it, but I also suspect that said world no longer exists, and that the world we’re in now – possibly even the world we all came from – originates within this same computer.
Himiko is refusing to go. This reeks of danger. And Miu didn’t even create the Virtual World. Someone else made it. HMMMHMMMMM.
Himiko doesn’t want to separate her body and her soul. Kokichi says Keebo might not have a “consciousness” to be uploaded. But surely being a program in the first place will make this definitely work on him, right?
Shuichi is nervous about who could have created the Virtual World. He’s right to be, because as it turns out, it was Monokuma. Just as I thought…
Following on Monokuma’s footsteps are Monophanie and Monotaro. Monotaro is still confused after being hit so many times, and decides that the robot is his father. He picks the wrong robot, though – Keebo, not Monokuma.
Monokuma used a certain program as a template to create the Virtual World. Is that program called the Neo World Program?
The program is called the Killing Game Simulator. I think I must be right about the true nature of this world and everything in it. I’ve got to be.
Miu stayed up all night deleting all dangerous stuff from the Virtual World. Still, even with that, it’s obviously a trap.
Once we go to the Virtual World, we’ll understand how awesome it is. Miu’s speaking like she has already been in and out. Has she?
The Virtual World was originally a killing game simulator? I dunno. Monokuma said he based the Virtual World off of the Killing Game Simulator. It’s therefore more likely that the Simulator is what we’re in now.
Monotaro thinks Miu’s his mommy now. Maybe Miu and Keebo can adopt him.
Kokichi is on Miu’s side when it comes to trying out the Simulator. Very adamantly and suspiciously so. He knows something. Something about what they might find inside the Virtual World. A super crazy secret. Some kind of bait from Monokuma that would be a reason for them to try it out.
Monokuma says it’s…the secret of the outside world. Whoever finds it, will instantly know what’s happening outside the academy.
Kokichi says he didn’t know about this for sure. It was just a hunch. But I think he knew. He used the card key to get into the Monokuma room and found out something…
Kokichi says that the info could be used to end the killing game…Gonta immediately falls for it. Keebo again mentions his “inner voice” and says it’s telling him that this is the right thing to do. Kaito is just plain curious to see what the Virtual World looks like. Maki thinks he’s an idiot, but will go along anyways. It might be dangerous, but everyone’s been in danger for a while by now.
It’s obvious to Shuichi that Kokichi’s planning something. But what?
Two ports on the VR visors…that’s what connects you to the computer. Into the ports go a red cord, for consciousness, and a blue cord, for memory. Red goes in the right port, blue in the left port.
Once the helmets are connected, everyone puts ‘em on. Miu says she tweaked the avatars to look even better than what the rest of em look in real life. Uh-oh…
Himiko, I don’t think Miu was talking about your face.
Despite our reservations, we flip the switch and…are digitized. We black out for a moment.
And in that moment, a message appears. “Welcome to the Neo World Program…”
We’re actually doing this, then? Oh fucking boy. I just hope this doesn’t mean the mastermind is Junko or any incarnation of her. (It’s totally gonna be fucking Junko)
And here we are, and we’re…funko pop chibis. MIIIIIIIIIUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!
Yeah, agreed with Himiko, the graphics could use some improvement.
Keebo was hoping to have a human body. Poor guy.
With this body, Kaito doesn’t have to worry about any of the stuff he’s been worrying about. Shuichi inquires what stuff, but Kaito brushes it off.
Maki appears. Weird, she wasn’t here before? Now that I think about it, Himiko, Tsumugi, Maki, Kaito, Keebo, and Shuichi are here. Where are Gonta, Kokichi, and Miu?
Maki immediately wants to go back to her actual body. Gonta and Kokichi show up, and Kokichi punches Keebo. Keebo is shocked to feel actual pain from having his avatar hit…our senses in the real world are connected to our senses in the Virtual World. Yeah, that’s how the Neo World Program works…
Miu shows up. All of us are here, then.
Oh, when she said we’d look better in the Virtual World, she meant we’re ugly IRL. Thanks.
The thing about the senses being connected is worrying Maki. Miu explains that whenever an avatar receives sensory input, electric signals are sent to the real body’s brain. And the brain interprets those signals as if it actually experienced it.
Miu has a map of the world, but also a warning regarding this world. Objects are unbreakable. Nothing can be broken here. Also, everyone’s avatar has the same physical strength and abilities. Himiko would theoretically be able to overpower Gonta in this world.
How do we log out? Good question. This better not go Sword Art Online on us…
Ah, we log out using the conspicuous telephone on the counter. Pick it up and say your name, and you’ll be out of here in a flash. The phone can’t be moved from the room we’re in, making this room the only place we can log out from. And whenever we log in, we’ll be transported to this room…
The map is posted on the wall outside the room. Also, the back of Tsumugi’s neck is sensitive. Not sure if that’ll ever be of any importance.
Two maps…the smaller one is of the building we’re in, the mansion. There’s a dining hall, kitchen, salon, bathroom, stairs to the roof, and a main hall, and also a salon, which is the room with the phone. The bigger map is of the Virtual World as a whole. Besides the mansion, there’s a run-down chapel. And the black borders of the map represent a wall. A wall that surrounds the entire Virtual World. SOUNDS FAMILIAR, HUH.
“Beyond that wall is the end of the world. Literally.” Just as I suspected, then.
Past the wall, there isn’t anything.
Miu says she prepared the maps herself. Not Monokuma, then. But the way she says that sounds odd…I think she’s lying.
Kokichi plans to go investigate by himself, much to everyone’s worry. Gonta says he’ll keep watch over Kokichi, but I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. Kokichi obviously planned on Gonta volunteering, so…
There’s a weird clock in the hall. Maybe that’ll be important?
We need to go to the roof to see the view. Up a few stairwells is the roof. It’s snowing outside…
Our avatars can feel heat and cold. Also pain, as demonstrated by Keebo, and…pleasure. And since this is a virtual world, birth control isn’t necessary. So that’s what Miu meant about us never needing a rubber again.
Tsumugi and Shuichi discuss whether an avatar can get sick. According to a study Shuichi read, if the mind is utterly convinced that a bucket of hot water is being dumped on the body, the skin will burn even if the water is cold. I think I have an idea of where this is going, and it’s nowhere good.
There’s a storage shed on the roof. Nothing dangerous that can be used as a weapon inside. Just rolled up carpet.
There’s mounted binoculars on the roof. At the point where the black border is on the map, there’s simply nothing…Miu invites us to go over ourselves and see what it means.
Keebo has started to think about things. Nothing is beyond the wall in this World…and the Academy also has a giant wall. No, never mind, it’s probably nothing. Except I think it’s very obviously something, Keebo.
Before we follow Miu to the river, let’s check out the other rooms. The bathroom is odd, since we don’t know if avatars even need to go to the bathroom. Also, if nothing breaks, toilet paper won’t tear, so that could become a pressing issue. We can’t check the dining hall for now, so…outside we go.
There’s a sign near a fork in the river that says “Mirai Hills”. Mirai is of course the Japanese word for future. The plot thickens.
There’s no bridge over the river, but we can use the Mirai Hills signboard as a makeshift bridge. Also everyone thinks we enjoy being bossed around…Shuichi is kinda a submissive guy, but he’s no masochist.
The signboard can’t support our weight, but it doesn’t have to. Nothing breaks in this world. Still, if the signboard gets washed away, we won’t be able to cross back. Which means we’ll be unable to reach the mansion and log out…
We cross over to another screen, but during the second it takes for it to load, we experience the loading screen instead of the Virtual World. So the squiggly line Miu drew on the map is where the second map loads when you cross over. The reason the binoculars couldn’t see past the loading point was because of this. And while loading, there’s no sight or sound. Nor can you see or hear someone on the other side.
The chapel is indeed a mess. Now to split up and look for clues about the outside world.
Kokichi has something he wants to ask Miu, and he then tells it to Gonta, but since they’re whispering, we don’t know what it is.
Kaito will check the roof, and Kokichi will check the salon. Kokichi decides that he’ll search the mansion’s surroundings, since no one else wants to be outside in the snow. He’s going to pair up with Gonta again for that. Tsumugi, upset that Kokichi is clearly using Gonta, volunteers to also search outside, so she can keep an eye on Kokichi. Shuichi’s also on mansion duty. Maki looks like she’s not happy about being left out…well, she’ll join Himiko, Miu, and Keebo in searching the chapel. The chapel has, at a glance…an organ, which Shuichi thinks Kaede could’ve played, books, posters, Christmas decorations…also Miu is mad that we don’t appreciate her beautiful virtual world.
Anyways, on the other side of the loading screen is Kokichi. As we all join him to search the mansion, Miu walks by, and “accidentally” nudges the signboard, which flows down the river. Miu yells at us, then walks off. Everyone in the chapel is now trapped in this world, including Miu herself…nothing we can do now. Gotta go check the mansion.
Tsumugi goes into the dining hall to see what’s inside. The kitchen is our duty. Inside the dining hall are glasses, dishes, etc. Inside the kitchen, we search all over but find nothing important. Tsumugi also finds nothing in her search. But 10 minutes before she comes to find us, she did look through the window in the dining room, and saw Miu. Somehow, Miu was on this side of the river despite having dropped our bridge in the river?
Before we can discuss how strange it is further, there’s a loud bang. We rush out into the hall, but no one’s there. Was it something falling from the roof? But…Kaito was on the roof. It wasn’t him, was it? It was definitely something outside. And also outside, we hear Keebo, who should be in the chapel…how did Miu and Keebo cross the river?
Outside, we meet up with Gonta. If we go to the chapel, we can find out why we heard Keebo’s voice.
Keebo, Himiko, and Maki are on the other side of the river. But we heard Keebo from the other direction.
“We might be able to make it in time”…That doesn’t sounds like good news…
Kokichi runs up to us. So he’s alright…I hope Kaito’s alright. Though if that’s the case, Miu might be dead.
The signboard washed up down the river, against a boulder.
Whatever happened, the Ultimates need to log out right now. But why?
Something happened to Miu. Her avatar stopped moving. Uh-oh.
There’s a roll of toilet paper outside the mansion that wasn’t there before. We can’t examine it now.
Maki says Kaito wasn’t on the roof. He probably just…logged himself out. I dunno, Maki.
Kokichi wants us to log off before him. Weird. You need to say your name in the phone to log out. So, something about his name?
Before we go, Kokichi tells us that we’re really useful. We should stop hanging out with Kaito and become Kokichi’s friend instead. Because…Kokichi can save everyone. Or so he says.
Kokichi is sad that Shuichi rejected him and logged the fuck off, but…when Kokichi finds someone he likes, he’ll do anything to get them to notice him. Even strangle them. Hmmm. Whoever’s dead, most likely Miu but I ain’t ruling Kaito out, did they die by being strangled? We fade back into the real world before we hear what name Kokichi says into the phone.
We wake up and take off our helmet, only to find exactly what everyone head feared. Miu. Miu, dead…apparently via strangulation. HOO boy.
Miu is dead, and Kaito is nowhere to be seen. And as the sun rises over the academy, the body discovery announcement chime plays. But since everyone’s in the computer room anyways, instead of the announcement, Monokuma shows up personally.
Now that Miu is dead, Monokuma doesn’t feel any urge to hold back on vulgar comments.
Monotaro’s weeping his eyes out at the sight of Miu’s body. Monophanie takes a moment to realize what happened, and then she vomits.
Everyone is too shocked by Miu’s corpse to even process that a murder has happened…until Kokichi brings up the topic. And also, not everyone is in the computer lab. Kaito’s not here.
The next thing we hear is footsteps running down the hall. Kaito bursts into the room, panicking over having heard the announcement chime, and there’s the body.
Kaito says he was taking a nap. But I don’t think he’s the blackened. The real blackened must have set up things to look like they did, so that Kaito would be super suspicious.
Kaito got logged out involuntarily, without using the phone. Then he went to his dorm room and took a nap, since he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to log back in…
Kokichi says that it’s Shuichi’s time to shine, as a detective! But if the culprit is Kaito, what will Shuichi do?
Before everyone can start arguing, Monokuma distributes the usual Monokuma File.
Kokichi’s excited to find the culprit…I don’t think he’s the blackened either. Kaito and Kokichi…they’re way too obvious suspects to be the blackened. Also, Kokichi points out that everyone standing around being sad is strange, considering he himself is the only one more hated among the people here than Miu.
Keebo’s completely waterproof…I was wondering about that in chapter 2.
Gonta can’t ever, ever forgive the blackened…or himself. Time after time again, Gonta has failed to protect his friends…but, there’s nothing he could have done.
Kaito claims that Shuichi and him will be able to solve the mystery together. But Kokichi won’t let them. He won’t let the detective work with the prime suspect. Kaito believes in us, which means he believes that if he was the blackened, we’d expose him. He believes we wouldn’t turn away from the truth. Kokichi brings up Kaede’s trial, but Kaito tells him to shut up. He believes in us, end of sentence.
Kokichi believes that believing in other people in a killing game is bad tactics.
Shuichi thinks that Kokichi’s manipulating Kaito into not working with Shuichi for this case. But to what end?
Miu died at 6:30 AM. There’s no external wounds on her body. Perhaps the reason she’s clutching her throat isn’t strangulation, but poison? There’s poisons in Shuichi’s lab, after all.
It’s 7 AM now. So we were still in the Virtual World when Miu died.
Kokichi plans to help us with this case, and make sure Kaito doesn’t try and partner up with us despite saying he wouldn’t. Is there something that only the two of us working together can uncover, and if so, what? And is Kokichi hiding whatever it is because he’s the blackened, or to make the game exciting?
There’s a small bottle on one of the chairs. No doubt it’s poison from Shuichi’s lab. But we’ll investigate that and everything else next time.
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oumakokichi · 7 years
Note
Iruma and Ouma both make me sad and amuse me because, especially in the 5th and 6th chapter, its clear that they were both some of the most useful characters, but ultimately didnt do as much as they could because they didnt trust everybody. how do you think things couldve gone if they both were more open and helping from the start?
I definitely understand how you feel, anon.Ouma and Miu are both extremely interesting in my opinion precisely because ofhow much they both contributed to the group despite the fact that neither of themis really a “team player.”
I would say it’s difficult to judge how thingsmight have gone if they had actually been more open and trusting because—well,they’d be a pretty effective duo. The game might actually end way too soon andthen there’d be very little room for most of the plot or conflict to develop,haha! Amami was a very similar case, for instance: if he’d actually stuckaround for longer, he probably would’ve resolved several questions and broughtseveral conflicts to an end drastically quicker than they resolved themselvesin canon. But he was ultimately unable to do so, because his paranoia andinability to tell anyone else about his plan got him killed.
There’s so much in ndrv3 with the killing gameitself preventing this sort of real, genuine trust among others. In a game thatis all about doubting and suspecting the people around you, that fear remainsunder the surface even despite the characters’ best efforts to get to know oneanother or act as if their situation isn’t as horrible and messed up as itreally is. Ouma and Miu both couldn’t fully trust the people around thembecause of just how much room for betrayal there was.
Not only that, but in ndrv3 in particular,trusting blindly and having a sort of unwavering, optimistic faith in otherswithout first doubting them backfires spectacularly. Kaede was the first realexample of this. The group trusted her and took her words almost at face valueentirely; Ouma, who knew that her talk about trusting and working together wasmostly a bluff she was trying to tell herself, was well aware before most ofthe rest of them that she really didn’t trust people nearly as much as she saidshe did. Hence his hints about her being “the first one to die” in his FTEswith her, and the reason he was so angry that she would even think of attemptingmurder after all the times she had told the rest of them not to worry or totrust each other because things would work out okay.
In Chapter 4, too, Momota’s blind optimism andshounen protagonist “my friends are my power so I would never doubt them”beliefs are called into question by the narrative. Just as Ouma and Miu’spersistent doubt and paranoia is too far of an extreme, being unwilling todoubt anyone at all is also an extreme—and Momota sticking to this kind ofdangerous extremism is a large part of why the Chapter 4 trial becomes as painfuland drawn out as it does.
Even in Chapter 5, too much belief and opennessis the root of just as many problems as too much doubt. The entire group waswilling to take the Hope’s Peak remember light at face value and put theirtrust and belief in “hope”—and they fell into Tsumugi’s trap incredibly easilyas a result.
I feel that if Ouma and Miu had really trustedin one another and in the rest of the group, either the game would’ve come toan end almost immediately or… well, it’s possible that even if the events ofChapter 4 were circumvented, I feel like Chapter 5 would still throw a hugewrench into everything. Because Chapter 5 plays with the expectations of thecharacters and the players so much, there’s this feeling that if things aregoing similarly to the Hope’s Peak arc, then of course believing and trusting in everyone and trying to fight hopewith despair is the right course of action.
But we know differently, because ndrv3’s truetheme is about truth vs. lies, and about how “hope vs. despair” is itself adangerous ideology to adhere to because of how much of a cycle it causes. Evenif Ouma and Miu were at their most helpful, open, and trusting, there wouldstill need to be some layer of doubtand skepticism to their actions, or else they would fall into the exact samepitfalls and traps that all the other characters do. The only reason Ouma knewas much as he did and could plan as far ahead as he could is because he waswilling to doubt and suspect everything around him and took nothing at facevalue. So taking this aspect out of his personality would actually have quite alot of potential to backfire.
It’s very possible that Tsumugi’s plan to sethim (or any of them, really) up as the ringleader in either Chapter 5 or laterwould have gone exactly according to plan. If all the characters were workingtogether and believing in one another, and all of them were therefore thinkingvery little about doubting either each other or the information they were beinggiven, then the Hope’s Peak remember light probably would’ve worked even betterthan it did in canon.
The ndrv3 killing game would probably have continuedmore along the lines of a traditional DR game in terms of characters trying towork together despite it all, but it still would have perpetuated the killinggame show itself. And the 2-person rule would still cause a huge amount ofproblems, because no matter how much they all trusted each other or opened upto one another, the game wouldn’t officially end unless only 2 people graduatedwhile the rest of them sacrificed themselves—or else voted for despair andlived out a very dr1-scenario bad ending.
It’s an interesting question to think about,but I do feel like doubt and paranoia is such an overarching and necessary plotpoint of ndrv3, because it’s something that impacts so many of the characters.Not only Ouma and Miu, but Amami and Kaede and many other characters are allunable to fully open up because the killing game is not the sort of situationthat will allow for it. Doing so really does get you killed, and that’s anoutcome and a lesson that ndrv3 doesn’t shy away from showing.
Thank you for stopping by, anon! This wasreally interesting to write about!
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icharchivist · 3 years
Note
first: WAHHHHHHHHH 😭😭😭 I got so emotional!!! so emotional!!!! so much that I can’t even do this first second pattern bc I have SO MANY thoughts!!!!!!! I’m writing this in my notes instead of straight into the askbox so u know it’s serious business™
ok so debut night!!! I was like ahah yeah it’s a tragedy whatever it’ll be fun to start out with and then the voice acting was SO good that it knocked me out of the park and I almost cried haha. it’s crazy how good the voice acting in a3 is like I love how the dialogue and voice acting works well together bc like it’s limited but so effective!! u can so very clearly see and understand the style they’re going for. especially like tsumugi’s death scene... the Talent jumped out it really did... uh and ok so. I think I may be a littleeee confused abt the play bc I had always interpreted tasukus last lines as raphael to be like abt his being secretly in love with michael. but now that I’m actually reading the line that’s like oh don’t fall for a human it only ends in misery I know that all too well or whatever... ig the implication is that raphael was in love with another human / the same lady michael was in love with in the play. side note I had to go back and edit the proper names in instead of tasuku and tsumugi lol... but speaking of!! speaking of the voice acting and the play itself I 1) love how blatantly obvious it is when tsumugi goes for that grander, tasuku like style of delivery!! like u could just so easily feel the difference it was wild... and 2) tsuzuru is once again spot on with his writing, lol... I felt that like raphaels inability to save or help michael really parallels how tasuku feels abt tsumugi so well, and it’s wonderful that they r able to resolve things and tasuku can properly compliment him on his acting where the angels fail to do so. it’s very good. and I think the play rly highlights (for me at least) that like. to tasuku, it was tsumugi who was sort of an unreachable existence. like were he to idolize and respect someone’s acting, it would be tsumugi. and I think that like caring carries over into their roles really well, because I think in michael’s love for a human tasuku sees like... tsumugi’s style of acting. the heart that he’d lost while within the god troupe. mb I’m losing my mind a little but ah. the play rly works with their relationship so well!! im very excited to see the other winter ppl get main roles tho—same for all the troupes!!! now this ask is too long so I’ll have to do another part lol
going to start off this second part of the ask abt hisoka bc oh my GOD. hisoka. like I was just thinking “hm where r the winter troupe cgs anyways” and then BAM. hisoka CRYING???? especially since he doesn’t seem that emotional it was a really hard hit!!! and who tf is august.... ok well actually theory time!! skipping ahead to the end theres that note that like mentions December and April and. not to expose my friend but very many years ago (a couple years before a3 was launched, at the very least) she wrote this story where there were like 12 orphan assassins and they were all named after months. I remember the main dude was named dec lol. coupled with my “hisoka is capable of murder” bit? listen.... I’m not saying anything but I’m also not not saying anything if u feel me. also I feel like assassin / thief with mysterious background is a common trope!! that was silver from the pokémon adventures manga too... why is this my reference point lmao. anyways I’m unclear if assassins would make it into a3 but like.... if the yakuza and supernatural stuff makes it in...
okay moving away from conspiracy theories and into emotions!!! the quotes from like EVERY mankai actor before the final production made me SO emo... and yay!!! they won!!!! (though admittedly I almost had a heart attack when no one clapped) but they won!!!! that ending cg!!!! and I adore how sakyo immediately goes after god troupe man (I know his name is reni I just don’t feel like calling him that) for the money lol it’s just so sakyo-like. also I love the lil mixed troupe interactions!! I found the game night ch so fun.... ahh, now I wanna reread that ch since it was so good lol
all in all I was super satisfied ahh!! I am SO excited to start up spring troupe again (HELLO character development!!! and chikage) and I’m even MORE excited to get thru all the act 1 events!!!! as a final note, is there any way to reread or replay the flair conversations? I didn’t want any spoilers for the plays while I was doing the practices for them so I kinda sped thru the first time ahah...
HELLO FRIEND IM SO HAPPY TO GET SUCH A LENGHTY ASK ABOUT WINTER IM LKDJFLKDJFLKFD  Winter makes me feel shrimps emotions (i know the whole “shrimps can see more colors than humans can’t comprehend” thing has been disproved but i’m not letting go of that expression, i REALLY feel emotions humans can’t comprehend anymore and i’m going to make it everyone else’s problem)
1) First about the voice acting, rIGHT this is just so fascinating to me!!! I remember after act 2 i came back to reread the main act 1 chapter and i was so thrown out by how GOOD the voice acting was, especially for the first few troupes having to convince you they’re not comfortable or good at acting yet. Winter whole thing is that they’re more subtle and mature and you really feel that with their voice acting, Tsumugi’s voice especially knock it off the park anytime he’s on screen. 
2) Second: what does it say about me that i’ve never, ever considered your reading a possibility because i was so set on “oh Raphael you’re in love with Michael sooooo bad you see it as a tragedy already because you can see him throw his life away” i didn’t even consider “maybe Raphael went through that too”. Though i guess if we’re going with that reading i can totally see “The Woman” they let themselves consumed by easily be a representation of acting or even more the God Troupe, with Raphael/Tasuku knowing to step away before it consumes him completely while Michael/Tsumugi, by his love and passion, pushed himself until he broke, which fits and it hurtsssss god Winter plays hits so hard.
3) Third: oh god yeah when Tsumugi goes for Tasuku’s acting it’s just. It makes me SO uncomfortable, i’ve experienced this scene like three times by now and the third time i was just “can i skip it i can’t go through this again i can’t Tsumugi i love you i can’t do this”. It doesn’t match the play at all and it just throws everyone off balance, and Tsumu you could have told theM YOU WANTED TO DO THAT.... god
4) Fourth: I LOVE YOUR READING SO MUCH I LOVE IT I LOVE IT YES YOU’RE RIGHT!!! Just as we follow Tsumugi let his passion consumes him until he breaks, Tasuku’s character arc really jumps out in Raphael, like, everything you say!!!  The way Tasuku/Raphael knew how the feelings Tsumugi/Michael felt would hurt him on the long run but he didn’t know what to do about it until it was too late, the regrets and the way Raphael voices his frustrations.... Tasuku struggles to be honest without acting (Tasuku pls i love you) but having such a role really help him expressing all he feels about Tsumugi and i’m HHHH this is so good so so good!!! but yeah i also love that Tasuku finally manages to actually compliment Tsumugi naturally, that he understands he can’t let him destroys himself again and it’s just gnhhhhh Tasuku is so kind and considerate and i care about him so much....!!!
5) Fifth: “i’m losing my mind a little” winter mood, winter mood winter mood- (though every troupe’s mood tbh but Winter is gnhhhhh kdhd hdhjf??? you feel me) (i am BIASED i can’t help it TwT) but yeaH i’m looking forward to see how you react to the others plays because the roller coaster juST BEGUN!!!
Onto part 2... Winter Troupe Chapter Feels... 2!
6) Sixth: DLFJDFKLDF HISOKAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE HIM SO MUCHHHHH. Hisoka crying fucked me up so bad!! so so bad!! Like on my first read i didn’t know what to think of him as he starts out very apathic to his troupe and then the more it goes on the more you can feel he starts to open up and i’m soft for this sort of slow burn, but then this whole scene happened and it HIT ME IN THE FACE, he was crying, i was crying, we were all crying, the Unopening Door opened a flood of emotions i can’t cope with. He sounds SO VULNERABLE during that scene and i know all of the Winter Troupe united on “taking care of him” but that’s really the moment i went “i care you and i will keep taking care of you” and look at me now. Thanks funky little scene for ruining my life. I’m glad you liked it i’m aldhjflkjdfkd Hisokaaaaa.....
7) Seventh: I am not commenting on the theory but 👀 that’s so highly specific your friend has a galaxy brain i love it. and i love the idea of “well we have yakuza and supernatural entity what’s an assassin adding himself to it” dLKFJDLKF i know everyone in Mankai calls Izumi out everytime someone joins but that’d be peak. I’m not going further about what December and August and April are all about but i love this plotline sO much, the few mentions of August when Hisoka regained his memories for a minute still haunts me, the guilt he seems to feel and this pain i’m just... godddd such a good set up. I love this plotline.
8) Eigth: EMOTIONS!!  Oh GOD YEAH THE ENDING WITH ALL THE OTHER ACTORS... I cried so hard it’s just. It really shows you it’s not just the culmination of the Winter chapter but of all the act 1 main plot and it really makes you feel how much of a journey you’ve been onto!! A3 is so good at showing you the growth of its characters that especially by the end of Winter you really saw how all of them grew in their respective chapters and how cozy they felt in their new home in the remaining chapters, and the fact this chap has those defining character arc’s lines really drive home “oh my god that was a journey” i love them sO MUCH.... 
9) Ninth: wE WOOOON!!! They’re all so good i just. i’m gonna cry just thinking about it dlfdjlfk i know like, the game has so many content so you know it can’t end at the end of Winter but the suspense really was there. BUT YEAH LMAO I LOVE SAKYO DOING THAT IMMEDIATLY, man sure has the eyes on the prize and we love him for that.  AND THE GAME NIGHT SCENE they are all sO CUTE and sWEET and they’re a family now and i’m hHHHHH i love a3 a normal healthy amount that isn’t just making me cry thinking about how all of them grew so close even through mixed troupes.
10) Tenth: I am SO happy you were satisfied with the plot so far!! I’m genuinely so happy that you decided to take that journey with us and that you shared all of this with me, and i’m so so happy you liked it!! There is still so much content and all of it is so worth it! 
11) Eleventh: Yes!! The flair conversations are all readable on the Mini-Chat tab! So they’re easily accessible and they’re sorted in a way that’s easy to read so you can feel comfortable skipping the flairs if you want until you have seen the stories the flairs are all about. They’re all kinda set during the rehearsals (except for some crosstroupe conversation that wouldn’t make sense if they were like how the Summer Troupe talks with the Spring Troupe in their Flairs DKLFJDF but it’s okay what is a timeline anyway) so some of them are set pre-development and it’s wild to get back to them. I love rereading Flairs i get emotional everytime.
ANND That’s it for this ask! i had a blast reading through your thoughts and i’m so happy and excited!! i’ll send you the drive now so you can start digging through it whenever you feel like it :3c good luck grinding for act 2, meanwhile i hope you’ll have fun with all the act 1 events i compiled for you!!
(side note i need to update the drive too but it’s mostly act 2 content anyway, the only two act 1 things i need to update on it is Sakuya’s birthday card i think?? i think Itaru’s is already in act 2 so i’ll try to get around to it eventually but it’s so far away anyway) (edit: i forgot that the three cards i got for the latest revival are from act 1 DLKJFD okay so i’m missing three cards -)
The drive has backstages and event stories and it may be a lot and overwhelming ahah. Focus on the event stories for the plot and go back to the backstages whenever you feel like it, no need to read them at the same time, unless you want to in which case everything is set up for you :3c and there’s a file with cards that aren’t associated to events too so... lots of goodies hanging around. I’ll send it to you in DM ;O 
Take care and thank you so much for all your thoughts! my inbox remains wide opened for any others thoughts you may have as you go further into it :3c
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takonei · 4 years
Text
Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, daily life (Part 6)
Note of the author: I have never thought one second that this daily life would be that long, I swear.
Also finally reached 100k words lmao
Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Daily life
Day 16 since the beginning of the game.
8:00 AM.
Shuichi slept like a baby.
The morning announcement rang and thus woke him up from his deep slumber.
... That meant he was late and the others were waiting for him.
Damn it.
When he realized that, he quickly got showered and dressed up before leaving his room.
However, when he opened the door, he realized the rest of those who were there were still eating. He sighed in relief.
Kirumi noticed his arrival. "Good morning, Shuichi. It seems you have slept well."
The violinist rubbed his eyes as he approached the rest of the group. Everyone was there aside from Tsumugi and Kaito. Perhaps they were still getting dressed up.
Not to his dismay, breakfast was rather quiet. It was the calm before the storm. Who knew what horrors they were going to see today.
He simply hoped not to get in the situation he was in yesterday.
Rantaro didn't even do anything to him, why did he try so much to avoid his gaze?
After a few minutes, Kaito came out of his room, limping a bit.
Shuichi remembered what he saw yesterday. The prosthetic leg reveal had been quite a shock, but somehow a welcome one considering the situation he was in.
"Yo." he muttered as he sat between Miu and Shuichi.
"Sup'." Miu fist-bumped him as she reached for the pack of crackers. "You good?"
He sighed, taking a biscuit out of the box. "The usual. The morning phantom pains."
Shuichi blinked. "You have that a lot?"
"It's not that painful but I've had them ever since that day. I got used to it but it's still not the greatest thing to wake up to in the morning." he explained.
The violinist couldn't help but wince. "That's rough."
The biker waved his hand. "Nah, it's fine. I usually have to wait a few minutes after I wake up before it goes away. So for now I'm good."
Shuichi took a bite out of an apple. "I just hope it goes well for you..."
Kaito gave him a thumbs up. "I've been dealing with this for three years, I'm used to it by now. Don't worry about it!"
He smiled.
After some time, a door opened behind him and Tsumugi came out. Since everyone was done with breakfast, it was time to get the locks.
Shuichi turned on his monopad to solve the riddle.
What is there to salvage in a treacherous soul?
Even if they try to reach out for the light, they are deemed to feel the perpetual freezing warmth of Judas' embrace.
This made even less sense to him than the previous one. Those riddles were getting stranger and stranger by the day.
But somehow... He had a feeling of familiarity with this.
Of course, he wasn't Christian, but he had a decent amount of knowledge about it. He played for a lot of westerners and they sometimes talked about their culture.
Judas... He was the traitor, right? Did it have anything to do with the group?
...
Could it be about the traitor in their group? The mastermind?
He didn't know who they even were... Did Monokuma expect him to know?
No, that couldn't be it. Perhaps it was a place that had something to do with the mastermind, but that they all knew.
He thought about the time he explored the academy with Kirumi, searching for potential secret passageways.
And yet all he had in mind was the door in the library.
...
Was that it?
He checked back the riddle. The only place related to the mastermind was the library... Or maybe the shrine of judgment, but he already had to go there yesterday.
However, there was still a second lock to find.
Kiyo approached him. "Do you need help?"
Shuichi shook his head. "I feel like I got this... But mine sounds eerily ominous..."
The therapist sighed. "It seems it is the case for you as well. The first ones were about our past, the second ones were about our current situation and today's ones give me this eery feeling. As if Monokuma wants us to think more about our situation in the academy."
The violinist looked back at the riddle. "Mine seems centered around the mastermind... Or at least a traitor."
The taller man frowned. "Out of all the individuals I've tried to understand, Monokuma is the biggest mystery I've encountered. Nothing in his character makes sense."
Shuichi quietly nodded.
Traitor... Treachery...
...
He suddenly perked up. "Dante!"
Kiyo blinked. "Did you... Find the answer?"
Shuichi looked at his riddle. "I've heard about this from one of the families I've played for! Something about nine circles of hell or something..."
The therapist shrugged. "I'm afraid I cannot help you."
"Something about how Hell is made from nine circles for each type of crime and Judas was at the 9th circle, for the traitors..." he started rambling. "I think the circle was made of ice and it was the deepest point of Hell..."
He pondered for a moment. "Hey... If we consider this academy like Hell... Could it hint at the deepest point of the academy?"
Kiyo put a finger on his chin. "That sounds like solid reasoning. Could it be the basement?"
Shuichi shook his head. "My first lock is in the library... I don't think that's it."
He looked back at the riddle. "Reach out for the light..."
Perhaps...
"... The death road of despair." he muttered. "We did try to escape here but miserably failed... So we're stuck here with the mastermind, or rather the traitor..."
He felt a chill running down his spine by even saying those words. "At least I know for sure where this one is."
Kiyo tried to find the right words. "I do not think this hell is eternal. Even though this is hard, we cannot give in to the mastermind. And even if this continues, I know this group is more than capable of getting together. You all have proved this to me."
Shuichi looked at him for a moment, then smiled. "Thank you, Kiyo."
The two decided to group for now.
The others seemed to have chosen their groups as well.
Miu was back with Kokichi.
Rantaro and Ryoma went together once more.
Tsumugi teamed up with Kaito.
And finally, Kirumi would go alone.
The two soldiers were the first ones to leave as the rest mentally prepared themselves.
...
Not even two minutes later, they all heard the sound of an explosion outside.
Shuichi's mind went blank. He rushed to the door and scanned the area to see where the noise came from. And from far away, he could see Ryoma and Rantaro trying to stand up in front of an entrance in ruins. The structure above the door had fallen, blocking the door. The two looked at the damage, trying to move out the rubble, but it was way too heavy to even be lifted.
They gave up and made their way back to the dorms, greeted by concerned faces.
"What the hell happened??" Miu exclaimed.
"We approached the door and it exploded in front of us. We're not injured, don't worry. We just activated a trap." Rantaro explained as he tried to brush the dust off his hair.
"And the main entrance is locked, by the way. We can't move the rubble." Ryoma added.
Kaito groaned. "Can't Monokuma move out the rubble??"
Kirumi sighed. "I doubt he will be of help here. He is the one putting on these traps after all."
Ryoma adjusted his beanie. "Dining hall it is, then."
"Perhaps you two should rest from the explosion for now." Kiyo suggested.
"I'm not letting a simple explosion be an excuse not to be on the front lines." Ryoma replied.
"Please be reasonable. We're not letting you two activate more traps by yourselves. I can go instead." Kirumi countered him.
"I'm not letting anyone go activate traps alone. I shall go if needed." the therapist volunteered.
The mercenary stared at him. "... Fine."
Kiyo turned to the others. "We'll make sure the dining hall is safe to go through and we'll come back after to give the report."
Shuichi nodded.
The two tall individuals left the dorms.
They could only wait.
...
Around ten minutes later, the two came back, visibly concerned.
"... The dining hall is out too." Kirumi declared.
"What??" Kaito exclaimed. "Come on, twice in a row??"
"Kirumi had her lock in the dining hall, and the second she passed her key, a questionable amount of spears blocked the door to the rest of the building." Kiyo explained.
"Then how are we going to get our lockers?" Kokichi asked.
Kirumi pondered. "There are windows at the pool. I think one of them leads to the gym."
Tsumugi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know this academy from head to toe. It is quite convenient."
The mercenary knew where this was going. "My duty as a mercenary is to know all the secrets of this place before striking whoever keeps us here. Just like it is your duty as a prodigy to help us find a path to get to the rest of the building."
The girl closed her eyes. "I was not being sarcastic." She started pacing around. "The window is probably closed from here. We'll have to be careful going through there. If we have to break the window, we'll have to find a way to climb up without injuring ourselves with the glass."
Rantaro frowned. "We should get the locks that are out of the building just in case we take longer than expected."
"And search for tools to help us get through the other doors at the same time." Ryoma added.
That sounded like a solid plan to Shuichi. One of his locks was available, in the road of despair. No one seemed to object until...
"Both of my locks are inside." Tsumugi declared. "I understand the need to get your locks, but I will have to get mine as well."
This... Wasn't good.
"We'll still have to get the tools anyway." Kiyo replied. "That way, we won't waste any time going back and forth places and taking any risks."
Tsumugi seemed concerned but complied. "Fine. it's not like I have a choice anyway."
The groups parted their ways all at once not to waste time.
"My lock is next to the love hotel. Since your lock is behind the main building it would be preferable to do mine first." Kiyo suggested.
Shuichi nodded. "Yeah... We should do that."
The two started walking towards the giant area behind the wall. No traps activated on their way.
Strange, but Shuichi wasn't complaining. If things could go their way for once, it was good.
Once in front of the hotel and the lock, Kiyo activated it and the annoying jingle ringed, signaling Kiyo's safety until this afternoon.
But just as it was heard, the lock emitted a strange noise, and the cables linking the lock to the building exploded, releasing an abnormal amount of sparkles.
The ground started shaking. The two glanced at each other and started running towards the exit.
Other traps activated, shooting different weapons at them, from arrows to spears to needles.
Once out of the casino area, the traps stopped shooting projectiles in random directions.
Shuichi panted as he starred at the unreassuring amount of weapons on the ground. "Was that... Normal?"
Kiyo shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't think the locks would react like this."
... What the hell just happened? Were the traps getting harder and harder with time? It didn't look normal at all, it was like the thing malfunctioned.
What that going to be their future from now on?
The two started walking towards behind the academy, more on guard than they ever were. Shuichi felt so tense he couldn't even take a step without having his eyes darting on all sides to see if anything happened.
The walk towards the back of the main building was silent. Too silent. But perhaps it was normal? Was it?
"I feel like the pattern has changed..." he muttered. "We haven't encountered a single trap on our way here, but once we activate a lock a trap does as well."
Kiyo pondered for a moment. "And yet the main entrance exploded. Rantaro and Ryoma didn't activate a lock, as far as I know."
Back to the unpredictability, then.
The two used the entrance in the back.
Unfortunately, there was no way for them to access the rest of the building from this room.
Shuichi put his head in the manhole to see if the lock was there, and it indeed was.
"I'm... I'm going down. I just hope nothing happens, I'm a bit scared..." he admitted.
Kiyo gave him a weak smile. Like he knew things were probably not going to be okay but wanted to support him anyway. "You'll be fine. I'm right here if needed."
The violinist nodded as he climbed down the ladder. The loud steps echoed through the room. His heartbeat was accelerating but... For what? After all, this academy was as nightmarish as the tunnels, right now. It's not like there was a difference between inside and outside this manhole.
He still felt chills looking at the dark room.
Just as he expected, nothing useful was there to help to get to the window at the pool. Not that he could carry, at least.
Shuichi hesitantly took his card out and approached the lock.
He took a deep breath and passed his card.
...
The ground started rumbling.
Of course, something would activate.
He rushed to the ladder and had just enough time to get to the first step before the metal plates from the ground moved, and the floor disappeared.
Shuichi was thankful the ladder was attached to the wall, unlike the lock and the barrels that just disappeared. But looking at the bottomless pit beneath him...
He shook his head and started climbing, a strong grip on the bars to make sure he didn't fall.
Just don't look down. Don't fall. Don't fall. Don't fall.
He thankfully reached the top and sat down on the rusty floor covered in grass.
"Are you okay?" Kiyo approached him.
"Y-Yeah... I just... Got a little scared down there." the violinist shakily replied.
The therapist helped him get up. "... Let's go. The others are probably at the pool."
Shuichi managed to calm down during the quiet walk.
A walk without traps activating.
Everything felt odd, but he couldn't put his finger on how and why.
They opened the door, revealing Tsumugi, Kaito, and Kirumi... Stacking up deckchairs?
"Mind giving us a hand?" Kirumi asked.
"Are you piling these up to reach the window?" Kiyo looked at the tower of chairs.
"What does it look like we're doing?" Kaito adjusted one of them.
Kirumi looked at the tower. "I'm still doubtful we'll be able to make a stable step stool for everyone."
Tsumugi put a finger on her chin, looking around. "We didn't look into the storage room. Perhaps something will help us."
The mercenary approached the door and opened it. She took a step forward but the second the tip of her boot touched the ground, the entire building started shaking, and a loud noise was heard from the storage room before the shaking stopped.
"What was that?" Shuichi turned to the room Kirumi was standing in front of.
"I think we can forget about searching anything here." she coldly declared.
The violinist approached her, concerned.
An enormous amount of spears had appeared out of nowhere, impaling every single object from all sides. The rubber inner tubes were slowly deflating.
By their size, they could have been useful, but that was out of the question now. A trap activated and now they couldn't use these.
Kirumi sighed. "Fine. I'll see if I can reach the window from here."
She climbed on the tower of deckchairs, and after struggling a bit, she reached the platform below the window and kept herself steady with the pillar. Her height and strength helped her get through this, but it was easy to tell that the others were going to struggle with this.
She reached for the handle and tried to push it, but...
The window didn't move.
"Is everything okay?" Kiyo asked.
"The window doesn't open. It doesn't even move an inch." she explained.
The moment she finished her sentence, Rantaro and Ryoma appeared, immediately noticing the group.
"What... Is happening in here?" the medic asked.
"Window unmovable. We can't access the gym from here." Kirumi explained.
Ryoma frowned as he climbed up the chairs. The young woman helped him get on the platform, although both were struggling and Rantaro kept an eye on his friend to make sure he didn't fall.
The weapons maker himself tried to move the window but nothing happened.
"We're stuck. We can't move the thing from here." he shook his head.
Tsumugi pondered. "Looks like we'll have to break it."
"And find a way to make sure everyone can climb in." Kaito added, tapping his left 'foot' on the ground.
Rantaro paced around. "Do you have anything that could be used to break a window in your lab, Kaito?"
He shrugged. "I have tools in my lab and uh..." he looked away.
"Get to the point." Tsumugi ordered.
"I've got an iron baseball bat in here! Sheesh!" he exclaimed.
Ryoma put his hands in his pockets. "Problem solved. We just need something to get all of us inside."
The biker seemed surprised by how casual he was. "Right..."
Tsumugi looked at the window. "We'll need a rope of some kind. I have a hunch Gonta's lab has something to help us."
Rantaro took a step forward. "Then we'll have to separate to get all of this."
"Kaito and Ryoma will get the baseball bat. Kirumi and I will get the rope. The rest of you will stay here to arrange the deckchairs to make something more stable."
The other soldier didn't nudge and approached the door. "Got it, boss." Kaito followed behind. Kirumi didn't object either and followed them.
Rantaro turned back for a moment and smiled. "We'll get everything as soon as we can, I promise."
A genuine smile that Shuichi missed, somehow. The one he arbored when telling the group that things were going to be okay. The attitude that helped them get together as a group.
Rantaro wasn't just a medic, he was a leader. If he wasn't there, the group would have probably gotten to chaos long ago.
...
And yet he couldn't get the intense glare and the feeling of a cold blade under his throat out of his head.
About a minute after the others' departure, Miu and Kokichi joined them.
After a quick recap of the situation, they started helping in the arrangement of the deckchairs.
Around an hour later, the others finally came back, panting, but with the items.
"I was starting to get worried." Tsumugi looked at them.
"Yeah, well, try to get to a lab when half the tiles you walk on fall beneath your feet! This thing was a nightmare!" Kaito complained.
"Whatever. We got the rope. We got the bat. Let's get to work." Ryoma ignored the bickering. His amount of self-control was astonishing.
He and Kirumi climbed up the chairs, back to the platform.
"Get out of the way. You don't want glass shards in your face." he took the bat that Kaito gave to him.
And after a huge blow, the glass shattered. Several blows later, the window was no more. He also shattered the upper part of the window.
After making sure there was no way anyone would cut themselves with shattered glass, Ryoma took the rope from the mercenary and attached it tightly to the steel bar. He threw the end of the rope back in the pool area.
"We should be good. Can you climb up?" he asked the prodigy.
"I'm afraid I'm not athletic enough to do this. I could do it if there are knots to put my feet on, but climbing up a rope is out of my abilities."
Kirumi sighed. "Knots it is, then."
Ryoma took the rope without complaining and started fiddling with it.
The lack of confrontation he was giving surprised Kirumi.
"... Anyway. Give me the second rope so we can go back and forth from the pool area to the gym.
After attaching the other rope, she started knotting as well.
There was nothing the others could do in the meantime. They could only wait.
Shuichi checked the time on his monopad. 1:00 PM.
He hadn't realized they spent that long finding a way to get to the main building.
Later, Ryoma, who was done with the knots, threw his end of the rope to Tsumugi. "Is this okay now?"
The prodigy started climbing. "I'm fine with it. Although can someone please keep the rope steady? This thing is going to make me vomit from the swinging."
She climbed up as Kaito held onto the rope. "And now we just have to get on the other side. Think you can handle it?"
Tsumugi nodded. She disappeared from view soon after, Ryoma keeping an eye on her. He gave her a thumbs-up before turning to the others. "Tie the other end to one of the deck chairs. It's gonna be easier to climb this way."
Just as Rantaro did as told, the entire building started shaking again. It was like the entire academy was going to collapse at any moment.
And then, nothing.
Ryoma made his way to the gym and yelled. "Tsumugi! You okay?"
She came back soon after at the gym, panting. "The traps are reckless. I feel like everything is going to fall down and there are so many weapons shot at once. It's a nightmare."
"Where are your locks?"
"Third and fifth floor." she replied.
Kirumi threw her end of the rope to the others. "Unfortunately we don't have a choice. Either we take risks to get to our locks, or we die executed."
Tsumugi sighed as she made her way back to the main building. "Wish me luck."
Rantaro raised his hand. "For now let's just try to find ways to get the debris out of the main entrance and the spears out of the dining hall."
They separated.
Rantaro, Ryoma, Kaito, and Kiyo were the main entrance group.
Shuichi, Miu, Kokichi, and Kirumi were the dining hall group.
But just as the violinist's group got to this place, it happened.
A giant explosion was heard by everyone. They didn't know where, but it happened.
The four rushed out, only to see the third floor on fire, walls crumbling.
Shuichi's mind went blank.
Tsumugi. She was supposed to be here.
Rantaro rushed towards the group outside, panicking. "Are all of you okay??"
Kirumi nodded. "We're fine. Is your group okay?"
He looked at the damaged building. "Ryoma and Kiyo are inside the main building. I'm going to get Tsumugi out. Stay here and don't try anything."
He rushed back to the pool area.
What was going on?? This was clearly not normal... Why? What happened?
The wait felt like an eternity before Kiyo and Kaito approached them.
Shuichi's heart was racing. "Are you guys okay? Have you seen Tsumugi? And Ryoma?"
Kaito winced and Kiyo shook his head. "Ryoma tried to get Tsumugi out and now Rantaro is with him, I suppose."
"We have to help them!" Shuichi exclaimed.
Kirumi put a hand on his shoulder. "Right now there's nothing we can do. Rantaro asked us to stay here and all we can do is listen to him."
"But-"
"Please."
She stared at him. "Rantaro and Ryoma are already at it. We're only doing them a favor by staying here."
He looked back at the third floor. It was in flames. The fire was slowly invading the floor.
This academy was collapsing.
Was Monokuma going to do anything?
After what felt like an eternity, Ryoma, Rantaro, and Tsumugi appeared, the latter coughing her lungs out.
"Are you guys okay?" Miu rushed to them.
"We're good. Tsumugi is injured a bit in the leg, but we're fine."
"YOU-HAVE-MADE-IT. CONGRATULATIONS."
The robotic voice of Monodam was heard from behind. The red and green bears appeared.
"Aw... We spent so long building this academy! It's a tragedy!" Monotaro cried.
"WE-ARE-GOING-TO-STOP-THE-FIRE. PLEASE-REMAIN-OUTSIDE-AS-WE-PROCEED."
Two of the exisals appeared behind and the two bears jumped in.
The wait was long. Way too long. They had sat down in the grass, away from the building as the two giant robots sprayed water everywhere.
Since when did they have this function?
No one even wanted to talk. They could only wait.
...
Shuichi was nervously fidgeting with his sleeve.
His heart stopped when he heard a jingle from the speakers, Monokuma appearing on the screen.
"It is now 3:00 PM!"
He raised an eyebrow. Why would Monokuma announce the time?
He turned to the others and that's when he noticed.
Tsumugi's face went as pale as snow, her hands clenching at her stomach. He had never seen her that panicked.
Why-
...
The locks.
Did...
Did Tsumugi activate her lock before the explosion?
A giant crash was heard from behind him.
Another exisal -the pink one- appeared.
It opened to reveal Monokuma himself.
"Ding! Dong! It looks like someone didn't respect the rules!"
The prodigy slowly turned back. "No..."
"Time for the punishment!"
...
She didn't.
She didn't activate her lock in time.
Was she going to be executed?
Shuichi didn't have time to process everything that he saw her ran as fast as she could towards behind the building.
The exisal followed her.
Monokuma was going to kill her.
Rantaro raised an arm as an attempt to block the others.
"Kirumi and Ryoma! Try to distract the exisal however you can while I make sure Tsumugi gets to the death road of despair safe!"
"Wait!-" Shuichi called for him, wanting to tell him about the collapsed floor, but it was too late.
The three warriors ran.
Kirumi had been a bit hesitant, but seeing that Ryoma had gone without a second thought, she followed.
Shuichi panicked. "I have to get to them! The death road of despair isn't an option!"
Kaito grabbed his arm. "What are you saying??"
"The floor collapsed here! She can't enter the tunnels to be safe!"
The biker hesitated, leaving enough time for Shuichi to break free and try to run.
"Shuichi!!" Miu screamed, but it was useless.
He saw Kirumi and Ryoma in the distance being knocked out by the exisal. Not dead, but thrown to the ground like bugs.
And just as he drifted his gaze to the other two, the exisal threw Rantaro away.
Shuichi ran. "No!"
But before he could do anything, the exisal shot an explosive at the prodigy.
His eyes went wide as he watched the smoke fade away.
"Sheesh! You kids can't complete a task, can't you?" Monokuma brushed the dust off of himself.
Shuichi didn't care. He rushed at Tsumugi's side, Rantaro doing the same.
"Tsumugi! wake up, please!" he pleaded. She was heavily bleeding from the side of her torso.
"Shu... ichi...?"
"Tsumugi, please try to stay alive! I'll get my stuff, I can try to heal this!"
"W-Wait..." she clenched at his sleeve.
"I... I know I'm not gonna make it. T-There's too much smoke in my lungs, breathing is getting harder... I don't think... I'll make it out alive. M-Monokuma will make sure that I stay dead. And... I know I d-don't have much time left."
"B-But there's something... I need to do before I die... Please..."
Rantaro looked at her. "No! I can do something! Just let me handle this!"
"Rantaro... Please..."
She reached for her inner pocket and took out a notebook. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged.
"T-Take this. Those are... all my theories and deductions about the killing game... I know some of them are probably false but... Some of them are... Very important... E-Especially my last deductions..." she tried to explain before getting into another coughing fit.
"It was... A pleasure to m-meet you all... I know I wasn't talking much t-to you all but... I'm glad I got... to k-know you guys."
Shuichi could feel tears form in his eyes as he held onto the notebook.
"Please... Get out of this place and... Move on with your lives. I... I know you can do it."
She turned to the medic. "And Rantaro... I'm sorry I accused you so much in the trials. Y-You're smart and I always did my best to explore all the possibilities... to make sure you didn't create a giant complicated scheme. I know you are smart enough to do so. Heh."
Rantaro narrowed his eyes, but not in anger.
"A-And if you are the mastermind of this entire thing... Then screw you. S-Same for you, Shuichi. Besides..."
She bitterly laughed. "I knew the mastermind... was coming f-for me anyway..."
Tsumugi held tightly on Rantaro's hand. "If... The afterlife exists then... I don't want... any of you t-to join me so soon. Alright?"
The medic nodded. "We won't die. I promise."
She smiled and closed her eyes.
"Thank you... for everything."
Her grip on Rantaro's hand weakened. He put his thumb on her wrist for a moment, then put both of her hands on her chest.
"... She's gone." he muttered.
Shuichi's eyes widened. "No... Tsumugi..."
He shook his head.
"Tsumugi!!!"
The others came running, Kirumi and Ryoma having gained their conscience back.
Monokuma was gone, though.
Rantaro stood up and saluted. "Tsumugi. You fought well in this war. Rest in peace, my friend."
Ryoma saluted as the rest of them didn't know what to do. Kaito and Kiyo looked away. Miu had tears in the corner of her eyes. Kirumi and Kokichi looked at the body with regret.
Shuichi couldn't take his eyes off her peaceful smile.
They were going to get out of here. They were going to fight. For her. For those who died.
They were going to-
"Ding dong, dong ding!"
...
Huh...?
"A body has been discovered!"
"Everyone, please gather behind the main building!"
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takonei · 4 years
Text
Beta AU - Main story: Chapter 1, deadly life
Note of the author: The scrum debate was a pain in the ass to write. There, I said it.
Also don’t worry, things are gonna get more interesting soon. I’m gonna bitch-slap your feelings like Hina bitch-slapped Byakuya in chapter 4 of THH. Consider this a threat and a promise.
Chapter 1: Pledge your allegiance to me - Deadly life
...
To say Shuichi was shocked was an understatement. He took a few steps back, hands on his mouth. He had never been exposed to a dead body before, and even though a part of him expected to see someone dying soon, he was not mentally prepared.
Rantaro noticed him, asking what was wrong, even though he, deep down, knew what was the problem.
The others joined him and saw their friend’s dead body, and the music on the monitors stopped.
The body discovery announcement went off.
“Ding dong, dong ding!”
“A body has been discovered!”
“Everyone, please gather at the warehouse!”
About a minute later, everyone was there. Monokuma showed up, happy that someone was murdered on time and said that everything was fine because the culprit just had to raise their hand and take the first blood perk.
But nobody did.
Monokuma was satisfied anyway, and announced the beginning of the investigation. He also told them the Monokuma files were available on their monopads.
Monokuma file #1
The victim is Gonta Gokuhara, the ultimate zoologist.
The body was discovered in the warehouse.
The estimated time of death is unknown.
The victim was stabbed several times in both the chest and the stomach, resulting in an internal bleeding.
The victim died almost immediately from his injuries.
No other injuries were noted on the victim’s body.
Obtained truth bullet! Monokuma file #1
The others started investigating.
Rantaro examined his body, by taking Gonta’s shirt off, to which Miu was about to do a dirty comment but Kaito told her not to.
He concluded the Monokuma file was saying the truth, since the injuries looked fresh, and it was definitely not a mannequin nor a fake body.
After taking a good look at the stab wounds, he also concluded that, out of the 8 stab wounds, 2 looked like they were really deep and the other 6 looked like quick stabs.
Obtained truth bullet! Rantaro’s examination
Unfortunately for them, the murder weapon was nowhere to be seen.
After looking around the warehouse, they didn’t notice anything that could look like a weapon, nor any other hints.
Shuichi, feeling already sick of this, decided to leave the warehouse. He took a quick glance at Rantaro who was still investigating the body carefully, somehow keeping a cool head. But that was to be expected from a war medic.
Outside, he noticed Kokichi and Himiko arguing. Himiko seemed to encourage him with the investigation, saying that if they work together they will surpass this. Kokichi seemed to be panicking, and wanted Himiko to leave him alone because “he only brings bad luck to the others, and doesn’t want the blackened to suffer more than they already will”.
Shuichi preferred not to interfere and decided to look for what could be a murder weapon.
He went to the kitchen, since one of the obvious choices would be a knife. One knife was missing, according to Kirumi, who had just came in and knew exactly how many knives were there.
Obtained truth bullet! Missing knife
A few seconds later, they found Maki who was heading back to the warehouse, but Shuichi interrupted her to ask if anything was wrong.
She responded that it was probably nothing, but one of her Japanese scissors went missing this morning, but thought it was probably lost in all the fabric in her lab.
Obtained truth bullet! Missing scissors
Kirumi asked if she could perhaps take a look around.
Maki was a bit uncomfortable showing her lab like that, but she decided to let it slide because of the investigation.
Her lab was a mess to say the least, but according to her, things were normal. Kirumi asked her if she wanted it to be cleaned, but Maki was fine with the mess.
The three went back to the warehouse, to see if they had anything new to say.
Rantaro said he didn’t find much more on the body, just that the murder weapon was about the size of a knife, or as Maki suggested, Japanese scissors.
Obtained truth bullet! Stab wounds
Angie was examining Gonta’s shirt, who was, apart from the stab holes, ripped around the shoulder.
Obtained truth bullet! Ripped shirt
Maki seemed surprise by this fact, because she remembered Gonta coming to her the previous day, asking if she could repair his shirt because it had the hole in it, but it looked like it was ripped again.
Obtained truth bullet! Maki’s account
They decided to do a recap what everyone was doing before the body discovery announcement.
According to Angie; the people in the library right before the announcement were Ryoma, Kirumi, Maki, Kaede, Kaito, Miu and herself.
Obtained truth bullet! Angie’s account
According to Himiko; Kokichi, Tsumugi, Korekiyo and herself were in the game room.
Obtained truth bullet! Himiko’s account
Tsumugi noticed a box that looked slightly opened and out of place in the shelves. After reaching out to it she discovered a blood-stained sheet.
Obtained truth bullet! Stained sheet
Just as the two were about to inform the others about the sheet, they noticed Tenko stepping on what looked like a piece of duct tape, just peeking from under one of the shelves. She realized almost instantly and took it off. The three looked at what it exactly was, for it to turn out to have blood on the sticky surface. It looked like it had been used.
Obtained truth bullet! Bloody duct tape
Not long after that, the same jingle ringed once again through the other’s ears. Monokuma was asking them to go to the shrine of judgement for the trial.
They all went there, not knowing whether they were going to come out of this alive or not.
The elevator ride felt so long, and the door opened to reveal the giant trial court with the 16 podiums. They all placed themselves to different spots.
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No one really dared to say anything as Monokuma explained the rules.
Everyone seemed to show their nervousness differently, Kokichi was trying to make himself smaller, Maki was tugging on her own hair and Angie was unable to stay in place. To his surprise however, some others looked confident, or at least not affected by their situation at all. That was the case of Kirumi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, Korekiyo, Ryoma and Keebo.
They didn’t really know where to start, so the obvious was to talk about the murder weapon. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found.
Rantaro had concluded earlier that either the missing knife or the scissors could have been weapons.
Tsumugi made a point saying that Monokuma didn’t give a specific timing for the investigation, so it was most likely they collected all the evidence that could lead to a fair class trial.
In conclusion, the murder weapon not being on the Monokuma file, there was a high chance it was one of the two, and not something else.
Monokuma started arguing that he could stop the investigation whenever he wanted, and didn’t have to be scolded by some stupid teenagers.
They ignored the comment and continued debating on the time the weapons went missing.
According to Maki, her scissors went missing by the morning, but they were in her lab the night before. So someone went between 10PM and 9AM to get them.
Kirumi said that the knife was not missing at lunch this day, but was when they checked during the investigation, so it was between 1 PM and 9 PM, which was a very large period of time.
Ryoma noted that since the time frames were way too large to be investigated, so they should focus on something else.
Shuichi decided to speak about the time of death.
According to Rantaro, the death occurred about an hour before the body discovery announcement at most, but couldn’t say exactly when.
Unfortunately a lot of them went back and forth the warehouse, if not all of them. Besides, the warehouse was huge, and Gonta was in the back when Shuichi found him. So there was a possibility someone went to there without realizing there was a dead body in the room.
Which meant anyone who went there could have been a suspect.
Miu was already visibly annoyed that they couldn’t identify anything, to which Rantaro suggested they calm down and think about something else, such as how Gonta was killed.
Since no bloodstains were visible on the floor away from him, it was most likely he was killed on the spot, and with the Monokuma file suggesting he didn’t have any other injuries, he and the killer didn’t fight.
Himiko argued that they saw Gonta fighting Tenko the day before, and that he had enough physical force to knock any of them if he wanted. He would most likely fight back.
Shuichi responded there were no external injuries, and that Rantaro confirmed there were no trace of physical fight that weren’t from the day before.
That situation became a mystery, and no one was really sure what to think.
“Unless..”
Everyone turned to Korekiyo, who had a finger on his chin.
“... He got into this situation by himself.”
The words of the therapist felt heavy on the others’ minds. Kaito decided to speak up, asking if he suggested a suicide.
However a lot of evidence showed that it wasn’t the case. The murder weapon was nowhere to be seen, and he died on the spot. Besides, the evidence was scattered around, such as the bloody duct tape and the stained sheet found in different places.
Korekiyo was suggesting an assisted murder, and that Gonta agreed to die.
Kokichi thought he was manipulated into doing so, because even though Gonta was strong, he was pretty naive, so the mastermind behind the murder knew about this.
Tenko argued, saying that Gonta, even though he was pretty naive, would never agree to die for no reason.
Keebo reminded her of the motive, the time limit. So it was possible he had agreed in advance if they didn’t find a way to get through the door, nor stop the killing game.
Kaede was puzzled. Even if someone agreed to do this murder, why didn’t they take the first blood perk?
Kokichi wanted to say something, but was very hesitant in doing so. Himiko noticed it and encouraged him to say it, because she knows he isn’t stupid.
He suggested that perhaps Gonta never agreed to anything at all and all of this was a scene orchestrated by Monokuma to begin the killing game and blame one of them for it. After all the timing was perfect for him.
Monokuma chimed in, angry at the accusations, and denied this fact.
Tenko exclaimed that maybe it was the Monokubs, from the strange way they disposed of the evidence.
Some of the monokubs started arguing as well, saying that there was no way they could have touched anyone since they had no power. They couldn’t even resurrect the one and only Monokuma, how would they do anything?
Tsumugi practically jumped at the quote.
“Monokuma can’t resurrect himself? Are you saying someone else other than you did so?”
The others went silent.
“The door in the library wasn’t for you then, it was…”
“There is a mastermind behind this killing game, and they’re one of us.”
It was Kirumi, declaring this in a monotone voice.
They all looked at the maid. Monokuma was visibly pissed.
They all had relied on each other not knowing one of them was an accomplice to this game. Which meant that when Angie and Shuichi told everyone about the door, they informed the mastermind as well.
Monokuma broke the silence, saying that they should go back to the investigation this instant.
Now they were sure that Gonta had asked someone to kill him, which was the reason he didn’t fight back.
Tsumugi suggested the piece of duct tape was used so that Gonta wouldn’t scream in pain and alert the others, and the stained sheet was a cover for the killer not to spill blood on them.
Rantaro also concluded that there was a possibility the rapid stab wounds were to kill him faster, not to let him suffer.
Shuichi and the others seemed to agree on that, as hard as it was to accept the truth.
The question of the murder weapon was brought up once again. The opinions were split up, some thinking the killer used the knife, others the scissors.
But as everyone started debating on which was the more logical between the two, Shuichi sighed. “It looks like we’re split in two…”
“... Split!? Did you just say split!?”
The group turned to Monokuma once again, who presented the “morphenomal trail grounds” as he puts it.
(BGM)
The podiums started levitating to form two teams facing each other, divided by their opinions.
Which one was the murder weapon?
On the left, Keebo, Ryoma, Korekiyo, Maki, Angie, Kokichi, Himiko and Kaito The murder weapon was the pair of scissors!
On the right, Shuichi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, Kaede, Tenko, Miu and Kirumi. The murder weapon was the knife!
Scrum debate, start!
Korekiyo: The killer probably bet we wouldn’t realize the scissors went missing.
Shuichi: Monokuma didn’t interrupt the investigation until we found enough evidence. He would have continued until we realized they were missing.
Himiko: The wounds on Gonta’s body match the scissors!
Tsumugi: They also match the knife. We can’t rule out that possibility.
Kokichi: Scissors can be used for killing...
Rantaro: If the killer wanted to kill Gonta quickly they would have to use something sharper than scissors.
Ryoma: We know the killer prepared their plan in advance, the knife could have been taken by someone in a rush.
Kirumi: If the killer did plan on killing in advance, they could have taken both to confuse us.
Maki: If my lab was entered at night it was most likely to get a weapon without me realizing.
Kaede: Perhaps the killer didn’t think you would use your lab today?
Angie: The killer prepared their plan early, they would obviously use the weapon they took in advance!
Tenko: In advance can also mean this afternoon!
Kaito: We were all in the basement for something, we would have noticed someone leaving to take a knife!
Miu: Everyone was busy trying to open the door, they had plenty of time to take the knife without being noticed!
Keebo: Are you saying the scissors had another use?
Shuichi: Japanese scissors aren’t for killing, there could have been another use for them!
After that the podiums slowly got back to normal.
“Another use” wasn’t something they anticipated, but that was the only option. Kaede asked Maki what the scissors looked like.
Kirumi and Rantaro didn’t miss the dirty comment Miu made under her breath about the two girls.
Maki explained that she uses those scissors to make small cuts. She didn’t use those very often, but she had to this morning, hence why she realized they went missing.
Tenko asked what kind of thing they would even try to do with this.
Shuichi thought about it, and remembered Gonta’s ripped shirt. According to Maki, Gonta asked her to repair it. But when they checked the body, the shirt was ripped again.
Kaito was confused as to why the killer would cut it again - what would they benefit from this?
Tsumugi glanced at everyone in the trial, but Shuichi paid no attention to it.
But that question was important. Why would they even risk stealing scissors, just to cut Gonta’s shirt?
Miu was septic of Maki, since it was her lab, she could easily blame someone else for stealing the scissors.
Korekiyo quickly turned this option off, because it would be too dangerous for Maki to even talk about the scissors.
Himiko suggested they perhaps missed a detail on the scene, that there was more to this.
That’s what Shuichi had been thinking, but he didn’t seem to find the answer.
Kirumi asked the others to describe how they found the shirt.
Angie explained that other than the original rip, there were no damages to the shirt.
Maki seemed to have a flash, and asked to see the shirt. She observed it and traced carefully the cut on the shoulder with her finger.
“The thread I used to repair it is missing. There’s no doubt that the person stole it.”
Shuichi blinked. To steal a thread?
Tenko was confused as well. “Why not just use the knife to cut it? It would have been easier than to steal the scissors from Maki’s lab.”
Maki explained that a knife wasn’t made for this. A tailor could probably do it with a knife without damaging it much, but someone not experimented would prefer to use scissors instead, if they really wanted the thread intact that much.
Keebo being a robot, didn’t know what that could even be used for.
Shuichi didn’t know much, aside from sewing back clothes he didn’t know what else that could have been used for.
Korekiyo felt like they were missing something.
Ryoma shrugged it off saying that most of the times he saw threads it was on someone’s skin, but that theory was probably false.
Angie thought they were searching too far, and that it was probably to repair their own clothes.
Tenko argued saying they didn’t fight, so what would they even have to repair?
Tsumugi seemed to have been thinking for a while before finally speaking up. “What if it was something else entirely?”
Tenko looked at her. From Shuichi’s point of view, she seemed worried. “What do you mean?”
Tsumugi stared back for a few seconds before turning to Monokuma. “Don’t you find this strange that Monokuma asked for the trial to start without us finding neither the knife, nor the scissors?”
Shuichi looked down.
Korekiyo seemed to understand her reasoning. “Are you saying the killer actually has their weapon on themselves?”
She nodded. “The killer and Gonta were accomplices, yes? So Gonta ripped his shirt on purpose to get Maki to repair it. That way the killer had a thread available and didn’t have to steal it from Maki’s lab, because she would have noticed it too easily. The killer then modified their own clothes to create a pocket and carry the tools, so no one would find them.”
That explanation seemed far fetched, but Shuichi needed one last thing to confirm the theory.
The culprit would need to use a needle to sew an improvised pocket.
Maki said that the threads were attached to a sewing machine, and she would have noticed if they were cut off. However she had plenty of needles and pins in the drawers. So the culprit could have stolen one without her realizing.
Keebo still seemed septic of Tsumugi’s explanations. “Do you have any idea about who the culprit could be?”
Of course it had to be with clothes thick enough to create the pocket without needing fabric, so some of them were out of the question, like Miu and Keebo.
Shuichi looked down.
She faintly smiled, but quickly dropped it. She turned to Shuichi. “You’ve been leading the debate… I think you know the answer, right?”
Shuichi looked down. The evidence was in front of his eyes from the beginning. He could have just said so, but… Was it worth it?
“Tenko…”
He paused.
“I heard some things clinging around your waist. Like metal tools.”
Tenko looked at him with sad eyes, and then smiled.
After a long silence, Kaede spoke up. “That’s… That’s a joke right?”
Tenko looked at her with watery eyes.
“I’m sorry… Everyone.”
Shuichi felt guilty for accusing her. “I think… I should recap what happened-”
“No.” Tenko interrupted him. “You shouldn't have to do more. I’ll...” She took a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”
“When the time limit was announced… I couldn’t just sit there. And I wasn’t the only one thinking that. I talked to Gonta in private about it, and we established the plan together.”
“We had to decide who would be the victim and who would be the murderer. So we decided to set a match the same afternoon.”
She chuckled. “Yes, when you all came, it was pretty much to watch a death match.”
“Gonta pretended to have his shirt ripped so Maki would repair it. He was in her lab for a good amount of time, so he got to know where the scissors and needles were. That night I stole them from Maki’s lab after Gonta explained to me where they were.”
“Whether I would kill him with a knife or with the scissors was actually not decided in the plan. I told him I would use a knife because it was more efficient. But I didn’t know if I had the time to take it. Thankfully I did.”
“When the time came, we knew everyone was panicking, and that no one really paid attention about who got out of the room or who came in.”
“So we both went to the warehouse at different intervals, and I… I killed him with the knife. I decided to spread the evidence as an excuse to frame the kubs and see what they would say in the trial.”
“I didn’t want to take the first blood perk. My objective… Was to get as much information as we could during the trial.”
She smiled. “And it turned out to be a huge success!”
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Perhaps I- we took the selfish route by putting you all through a trial, but I thought it was better than you all continuing this game without any hints on the situation.”
The silence felt heavy. When they all entered the room they thought it was a merciless killer, but Tenko’s intentions were more than that.
Monokuma started laughing. The trial came to an end, and it was time to vote. Himiko yelled that he was not going to kill her. Kaede joined in as a desperate attempt. Kirumi was unsure but said she would not let some robotic bear dictate what she wanted to do or not.
Kokichi panicked and tried to reach out to Himiko but backed out before touching her shoulder. He tried to tell her that Monokuma still had the exisals by his side, but she wasn’t listening.
Tenko yelled to get the attention of the others. Reassuring them that it was okay, this was what she deserved.
Monokuma laughed, and announced the voting time open.
Shuichi reluctantly voted, like the others.
Tenko was glad to see all the votes for her. She smiled with tears rolling down her face.
“I’m glad I was able to meet you all, even if it was just for a couple of days.”
“But hey, if everyone was cooperating to get through the door, I’m sure you’ll be able to stop this game!”
“I know you can. Anyone could have taken the first blood perk but you didn’t. I’m sure you can do this.”
“Now you have more info to continue, and even if someone among us is a traitor, I’m sure you’ll all be able to corner them.”
“I’m counting on you.”
A majority of the others seemed in denial, they refused to believe that Tenko had killed Gonta, that she was slowly approaching her death with a smile on her face.
But it was a death she accepted the second she made the deal with Gonta.
It was a death she was walking to with honor, not trying to run away.
“Hey Monokuma.”
“Let’s get this over with.”
Himiko yelled and ran towards Tenko.
Monokuma laughed as he used a toy hammer to press the bright red button in front of him.
GAME OVER
Tenko has been found guilty.
Time for the punishment!
(BGM)
Before Himiko could reach her, Tenko’s neck was grabbed by a metal claw, and dragged her away to the elevator.
The elevator closed and instead of going up, it went straight underground. She was holding onto the walls to keep balance, but stumbled onto the floor when the elevator brutally stopped.
She slowly got up when all the walls of the elevator fell down. She couldn’t see anything that was further than a few meters away because of the darkness, but she could clearly see that the floor was covered by thousands of mannequins.
She took only a few steps away from the elevator when what looked like hundreds of pair of pink glowing eyes lightened up to stare at her, but she couldn’t see the rest of their bodies.
The closest pair of eyes slowly approached to reveal a mannequin made to look like Gonta, with several holes in its body, filled with a blood colored paint.
The other mannequins revealed themselves, each looking like the rest of the group, also with “blood” filled holes in them.
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Enemy of the harmonious world Ultimate judoka Tenko Chabashira’s execution: Executed
The first mannequins started jumping on her, and all she could do was to fight them. They were not hard to throw away, but there were way too many for her to handle.
The Maki-shaped ones were throwing needles, the Rantaro-shaped ones were throwing scalpels, some of them were physically fighting her with punches or were just trying to grab her.
As the hundreds of mannequins attacked in different ways, with different weapons, Tenko was starting to get exhausted, and even more injured, with countless cuts on her body.
She had stopped counting how many of them she had thrown away when she collapsed on the floor.
The mannequins stopped attacking. Tenko raised her head to see that they were moving out of someone’s way.
A Gonta shaped mannequin, towering above her, looking at her with soulless pink eyes.
A lever-rope appeared next to him, and the puppet pulled it.
Countless blades appeared one by one from the floor, stabbing all the other mannequins… And the final one, impaling her in the chest.
Tenko Chabashira, the ultimate judoka, was dead.
This felt unreal. Shuichi watched with fearful eyes the scene that just unrolled in front of his eyes.
They had lost two friends today and learned that one of them was orchestrating the whole thing.
No one dared to say anything.
Monokuma rubbed it in their faces, saying that despair was the most wonderful feeling in this world. He told them to rest because the killing game would continue very soon.
The ride in the elevator was silent. Shuichi looked at the spot Tenko was when they went to the trial room, now empty. He didn’t know her well, but that was not a reason not to feel bad for sending her to her death. A painful one, that is.
Some looked almost indifferent, but perhaps it was not to show their weakness.
A majority of the group decided to go straight to bed, but Shuichi decided to walk for a while, to get some fresh air.
After some time he laid on the ground, staring at the sky beyond the giant iron cage. He almost felt like sleeping here but knew this was a bad idea. He was lost in thoughts until a familiar voice talked to him.
“Can’t sleep?”
Shuichi turned around. It was Kaito. Both sat down next to each other.
“I just wanted some fresh air.”
“I get you.”
They went silent for a while, but it was fine. Perhaps just the other’s presence was enough.
“The game’s already started, huh?”
Kaito didn’t even expect an answer. That was more of a statement than a question.
“Tenko… Has faith in us. She told us we were strong but…” the smaller boy’s voice trailed off.
“You can’t help but think this isn’t over?” the taller one finished the sentence.
“Yeah. I don’t think Monokuma is gonna give us a time limit again, but I know things aren’t gonna get better.”
Kaito couldn’t even argue with him. He got up and offered his hand to Shuichi. “I know this whole situation sucks, but perhaps we should stick together for now, yeah?”
Shuichi looked at him, surprised by this change of attitude and took the other’s hand to get up. “Alright. Thanks a lot Kaito.”
They both returned to their dorms. They saw Kokichi and Himiko sitting further away in the courtyard. Unlike the other times Shuichi saw them, it looked like Kokichi was trying to reassure Himiko, who was feeling down, even though he tried to keep a distance between them.
Tomorrow would be another day.
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commentaryvorg · 5 years
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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 4.15
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, still in the heat of trial 4 (trial 4!!!!!), the vague semblance of a decent person inside Kokichi actually showed himself for all of one sentence before being stubbornly forced back down by the rest of him in his inability to admit to doing anything wrong, we established Gonta’s memory loss and why this makes things especially difficult for Kaito, and after a process of elimination in which Kokichi was still dropping the ball re: tormenting Kaito, Shuichi very directly faced the truth by declaring Gonta to be the culprit, which Kaito was not happy about.
Gonta:  “R-Really…? Did Gonta… really do it…?”
Kokichi:  “Geeeez, is that really your reaction? It would’ve been fun if you went all crazy. …But you forgot everything, so oh well.”
I guess Kokichi was expecting Gonta to go crazy if he’d remembered and would still desperately be trying to protect everyone by hiding the truth. I’d say he probably figured that that’d make him come across as even more evil that way, but really it’s more likely that he simply never even imagined things going any differently.
Kokichi:  “A culprit who can’t remember their murder is pretty interesting, so better than nothing.”
Not just better than nothing, better than the story you had planned. This makes everything several times more cruel and painful for everyone involved, and isn’t that exactly what you were going for here, Kokichi? But of course he can’t admit that his plan wasn’t actually the best possible plan ever.
(On my first time through, when I realised Gonta had lost his memory, I figured that Kokichi had somehow switched his cords on purpose to make things as painful as possible. That would have been an even better addition to his plan, if it had occurred to him that he could do that.)
Kokichi:  “If Gonta remembered, his cover would’ve been blown so fast. Especially since he’s an idiot.”
If you knew this the whole time, why the hell were you convinced he was suddenly a great liar during most of the trial up until this point? Kokichi is just backpedalling and acting like he always knew his original plan was kind of bad while dodging the part where that makes him stupid for trying to do it that way anyway. Kokichi is never wrong about anything, you guys.
Kaito:  “H-Hold on! I-I still haven’t accepted this! This has gotta be… Kokichi’s trap…”
Kaito is making it very apparent that he’s the only person in this room who’s still incapable of facing the truth. There’s no way he wants to come across this way, but he’s growing desperate enough that he can’t help himself.
Kaito:  “I still believe in Gonta! He’s not the kinda person who’d kill!”
Of course he does, because he can’t see the Gonta who actually did this and pick up on any of the subtle signs that show that’s not quite the whole truth! I’ve seen a lot of people call Kaito’s belief thing “blind faith”, and most of the time that’s completely the wrong way to describe it. Kaito’s faith is based in what he intuits by getting a read on people, even if it’s all instinctive and he’s not able to explain why he feels the way he does about someone, so it’s not really blind at all. But right now, thanks to Gonta’s memory loss, it really is nothing but blind faith. Kaito is completely blind in his judgement of the Gonta who may or may not have done this; he’s just choosing to believe in him anyway because choosing not to believe in him when he can’t see a reason not to isn’t ever something Kaito would do.
Shuichi:  “Kaito…”
Again I wish I could let you hear this, because every time in this trial Shuichi has a line which is just saying Kaito’s name and nothing else, his (English) voice actor is completely on point for getting across the appropriate emotions for the moment. This time it encapsulates the frustration that Kaito acting this way isn’t at all the right way to act in a class trial and is just making things harder, and yet of course Kaito would react this way and find this so hard, he’s Kaito, how could Shuichi blame him for that.
Kokichi:  “I already said this a million times, Kaito. You shouldn’t use emotions to re—”
Kaito:  “You want proof!? I’ve got your proof!”
Kaito actually does have proof. Which is pretty remarkable for him, especially since, based on his demeanour, he literally only just figured this out as he said this. And he’s even just set off one of the BGM pieces that usually plays when Shuichi has figured out a thing!
Kaito:  “After Tsumugi and Shuichi heard Keebo’s voice in the mansion, they ran outside. And who did they see out there?”
Remember how I noted during the investigation that Kaito was specifically shown paying attention to a conversation with Tsumugi in which she recounted this part where they ran outside and saw Gonta? Yeah. At the time he had no idea that that particular part of it would be so relevant, so it’s still remarkable that Kaito remembered this and brought it up out of nowhere here when nobody else had mentioned anything to set his mind on this track. As we’ve seen time and time again, Kaito’s detective’s instincts are extremely not great – and yet somehow, in his desperation to defend Gonta and not be running away from the truth, Kaito has managed to produce the best piece of deductive reasoning he’s ever had.
(I mean it’s still nothing special on an objective scale, but it’s a really big deal coming from Kaito.)
Shuichi:  “Gonta.”
Yet, as Shuichi confirms Kaito’s information, he’s only looking thoughtful and not as happy about this as he would be if he thought it could prove Gonta innocent. Because Kaito only heard second-hand that Gonta was “outside” – but Shuichi was there, and he saw exactly where Gonta was standing.
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I said that Kaito “has proof”, because from Kaito’s point of view, not knowing exactly where Gonta was standing and assuming he was standing somewhere that’d mean he’d just come up the steps from outside, this could clear Gonta’s name. But that’s not how things really were.
Kaito:  “How about that!? Now you get it, right!? If Gonta was the culprit, there’s no way he coulda been outside the mansion!”
Kaito sounds genuinely sure of himself because he is sure of his argument, since nobody has brought up the possibility that Gonta could have climbed down from the roof. For once in this trial, Kaito isn’t just saying something that he knows isn’t really true.
Tsumugi:  “Now you can’t say Gonta’s the culprit! Congrats, Gonta!”
“Congrats” is a pretty half-assed way of saying “you must be so relieved that you didn’t murder anyone and don’t have to get executed for it”. You’re slipping, Tsumugi.
Gonta:  “What!? Really!?”
Poor Gonta sounds so desperately hopeful here after the heartbroken mess he was a few moments ago. As I said once a while back, Danganronpa often throws the words “hope” and “despair” around so much that it forgets their real meanings. But this moment here is a perfect example of a brief, fleeting moment of hope – for both Gonta and Kaito – before it gets cruelly snatched away from them, making the resulting despair even worse than it would have been without it.
Shuichi:  (It would have been so nice if that were the truth… If Kaito were right, and this horrible trial would just end… But…)
Shuichi wants to believe in Gonta as well, and he’s hating every second of this trial just like Kaito is! But he’s keeping this to his inner monologue, so Kaito still isn’t able to notice this.
Shuichi:  “All the culprit needed was a way to get from the roof to outside the mansion.”
Up until this point, the only proof that Gonta did it was him being the only person with a lack of evidence against him having done it. So it’s pretty painfully ironic that Kaito’s desperate but surprisingly insightful attempt to prove Gonta didn’t do it only ends up drawing Shuichi’s attention to the evidence which finally conclusively proves he did do it.
(Unwittingly leading Shuichi into this is, quite delightfully, the only bit of actual “help” in solving the case that Kaito has provided this entire trial.)
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Kaito:  “…”
I realise that almost all of my images in this trial have been “look at this face Kaito is making”, but… look at this face Kaito is making. He was so sure for like half a minute that everything was going to be okay! But if Shuichi says so, then there must have been a way, and nothing is okay at all.
(In fact, I’m pretty sure this is the only time in the entire game Kaito makes this particular face, meaning they went out of their way to draw it specifically for this moment.)
Shuichi:  “Kaito, I know how you feel. I know because we all feel it. But… we have to face the truth. No matter how cruel that truth may be, we *need* to face it… to survive.”
Shuichi is trying to reach out to Kaito! He’s acknowledging how much Kaito is suffering and trying to reassure him that he’s not the only one, to help him find the strength to face the truth. After all, Shuichi knows better than anyone else how hard that is to do alone. This is the first time this trial that Shuichi has expressed out loud that he’s struggling with this, too – but he’s doing it in a way which isn’t him asking for help but rather him using that fact to try and offer help. This is Shuichi being another kind of hero: not only the kind that gets stuff done, but also the kind who supports people. The kind of hero that Kaito was supposed to be.
Kaito:  “Whose side are you on, Shuichi?”
And… that’s unacceptable for Kaito. He’s meant to be the hero and Shuichi the sidekick – he’s the one who should be giving Shuichi support, not the other way around. If it happens the other way around, if Kaito is weak enough to need that in the first place, then that just means that Kaito is no good as a hero to his sidekick at all. If Shuichi is strong enough to be able to give support, then he’s the real hero who never needed Kaito at all.
Kaito can’t allow any of that to be true, so rather than admit how hard this is for him and accept Shuichi’s support, he’s pushing Shuichi away and deflecting from the real issue. This isn’t about sides – Shuichi is on the side of saving everyone, and Kaito knows this, but he can’t have it seem like he’s being the weak one here by not being able to stand with Shuichi on this.
Shuichi:  “Kaito, please!”
Meaning: “Kaito, please don’t make this any more painful than it already is.” But… that’s exactly what Kaito’s doing.
Kaito:  “Aren’t you my sidekick!? Was that… just a lie!?”
It would be bad enough if this was just about them being friends and Kaito thinking Shuichi could have lied to him about that. But like the last time Kaito invoked the word “sidekick”, this isn’t quite about their friendship or about Shuichi being on Kaito’s side. This is about Kaito hating the fact that Shuichi doesn’t seem to need him any more – and now he’s not even sure if Shuichi ever did in the first place.
Kaito isn’t questioning if Shuichi was ever his friend – he’s questioning if Shuichi was ever weaker than him and in need of his support at all, and if he wasn’t, was he just… pretending? He’s thinking that maybe, ever since they began training together, Shuichi was always just patronising him with the whole “sidekick” thing, playing along and humouring Kaito’s need to play the hero while secretly looking down on him – ha ha, look at that idiot Kaito acting like I need him when really he’s the one who needs me, how pathetic.
No, Kaito. No. Not ever. Not even now.
On some level, Kaito was always subconsciously worried about this. Remember how in their very first training session, he said he was frustrated that Shuichi was weak, because Shuichi was also strong enough to save everyone in Kaede’s trial, and how can he be both at once? But the fact that this chapter and this trial have beaten down Kaito’s sense of self-worth so much that he’s now consciously thinking Shuichi could ever have seen him this way is heartbreaking.
(In Japanese, by the way, this line is not “aren’t you my sidekick”, but “weren’t you my sidekick”. In past tense. Which makes this implication even clearer.)
Shuichi:  “Kaito!”
And here, Shuichi’s intonation clearly means something to the effect of, “What!? No! Why would you even think that!?”
But Shuichi didn’t actually say that, and Kaito’s intuition-reading of Shuichi is emphatically not functioning properly right now thanks to his issues, so he doesn’t realise it. And, in fact, it probably doesn’t help that while Shuichi has never actively complained about being Kaito’s sidekick like Maki used to, he has also never actually said anything to the effect of being on board with it, even though he is.
(Heartless Journey has been playing since Shuichi started trying to reach out to Kaito, just in case it wasn’t clear already how relevant this moment is to Kaito’s arc.)
Kaito:  “Fine then! I’ll tear that sorry reasoning of yours apart and wake you up!”
Look at the way this starts with “Fine, then”, as if Kaito is assuming that what he was just saying has been confirmed. And if that’s the case, if Shuichi really wasn’t ever his sidekick after all, then there’s no reason to hold back against him. This is the first and last time Kaito ever insults Shuichi’s reasoning, the reasoning that he’s supposed to have unending faith in and has encouraged Shuichi to believe in so much himself. (And Kaito still does believe in Shuichi’s reasoning, but that’s being forced aside by his jealousy and his desperation to insist that Shuichi can’t be right and Gonta can’t be the culprit because that would just prove that Kaito’s the weak one who can’t face the truth and how could Shuichi ever need someone like that?)
Shuichi:  (I can’t doubt my detective work now. If I want us all to survive, I can’t back down!)
And Shuichi still has that faith in his detective work that Kaito helped him to gain, even now that Kaito is acting like this. Shuichi’s gotten very good at this being a hero thing.
As I mentioned before, this is also my favourite Argument Armament! They exist to make it feel like Shuichi is very directly fighting against the person involved, which is exactly the feeling that needs to get across right here between him and Kaito and it’s perfect for it. They also exist to show how the person involved has become so riled up that they refuse to listen to reason, which is definitely even more fitting for Kaito here than it was for the others.
In fact (aside from the one in chapter 6 because fuck that one, it doesn’t count, look forward to my rant about how terrible it is), this was the Argument Armament that I took the most damage on during my first time personally playing through the game, more than Maki’s in chapter 5 which you’d expect to be harder than this. And that seems appropriate, since Kaito is the most actively lashing out at Shuichi out of anyone who does one of these.
Kaito:  “I’ll never accept this!”
He really won’t. Not until he can see the culprit-Gonta for himself and understand why he would have done this – which isn’t going to happen until after the vote.
Kaito:  “Don’t you know Gonta at all!? He’s not the kind of guy who’d kill someone! Don’t you know that about him by now!?”
This here in the Argument Armament and that one line earlier in this post are the first times in the trial that Kaito has actually made this argument appealing to our understanding of Gonta’s nature. He could have made it any number of times before that, but he never did because he knew it wouldn’t be an appropriate argument to make in a class trial. Here he’s saying it because he’s become desperate enough to use any kind of argument at all.
Kaito:  “Why won’t you believe Gonta!? Why are you listening to Kokichi!?”
This and a moment just earlier are also the only times Kaito ever makes it sound like this is about him being mad that Shuichi is supposedly siding with Kokichi over Gonta or himself. Again, that’s not the point, and Kaito knows it. This is just more last-ditch desperate deflection.
Kaito:  “Aren’t you my sidekick!? Wake up, Shuichi!”
Given the context it’s sandwiched between, and how Kaito is too uncontrollably riled up to be thinking about things with greater nuance right now, this is probably the only instance of “aren’t you my sidekick?” in which Kaito really is only thinking about the apparent surface meaning of “aren’t you on my side?”.
Kaito:  “Who do you want to believe!?”
Of course Shuichi wants to believe Gonta! But unfortunately, while Kaito’s thing about following what he wants to believe managed to help save everyone in trial 2, it’s just going to do the opposite here. “The only thing that matters is what I want to believe” is a lovely sentiment, but only when there’s no proof either way. Right now, there is proof, so even if it’s not what Kaito likes to instinctively use as proof, him following his desire to believe the opposite of what that proof says is simply wilful ignorance and only making things worse.
Kaito:  “Remember what Kokichi has done to us!”
Actually, the only really meaningfully bad thing that Kokichi has done to us (because the Insect Meet and Greet was just a minor annoyance that didn’t even succeed and that Kaito wasn’t even there for) is this right here. Kaito should know this, too – after all, he’s the one who kept trying to get through to Kokichi and stop him from doing anything this bad right up until it was too late.
Kaito:  “Remember how Gonta’s always tried to protect us! How could Gonta be the culprit!?”
Only if he thought it was the only way to protect us, right? No-one brought this up when talking about his motive despite Kaede and Kirumi having killed for similar reasons, but I suppose without the knowledge of the outside world or at least that Gonta saw the outside world, it’s very difficult to imagine how he could have thought of it like this.
Kaito:  “You still wanna accuse him, huh?”
I like how this line makes it clear that everything Kaito’s said up to this point has just been an obviously-hopeless attempt to distract Shuichi and change his mind and make him no longer want to face the truth and accuse Gonta.
“I’ll just have to make you understand, even if it’s by force!”
I also enjoy this non-voiced line which comes up when he starts using the power to block your view and make the minigame harder. It shows that Kaito still doesn’t want to use “force” against Shuichi (whatever the hell that means in a real context outside of a minigame where Shuichi can take damage from Kaito yelling at him); he’s just desperate enough to deny the truth that he feels like he has to.
…Actually, the “force” part aside, I can make sense of how Shuichi would take “damage” from Kaito yelling at him. Health in trials is technically called “Influence”, aka the ability to convince everyone else of the truth. So if Shuichi takes damage here, what it’s really representing is that Kaito’s desperate irrational deflections about how he should just blindly believe in Gonta and not be siding with Kokichi actually are starting to get to Shuichi and chip away at his will to face the truth.
Kaito:  “You keep saying, ‘truth’ this, ‘truth’ that, but… There’s a reason Gonta’s not the culprit! There’s no way to leave the mansion from the rooftop!”
And even though Kaito had a proper logical argument this whole time, he saved that until after everything else had failed. Which, sure, is because that’s how Argument Armaments are supposed to work, but it also makes perfect sense because Kaito already knows Shuichi has some kind of answer for this that’ll definitely be right because it’s Shuichi. So he put it off until the last possible moment and tried everything else he could muster before giving Shuichi this chance to completely shatter his words.
Kaito Refutations: 7!
Kaito:  “Hold on… if they used the toilet paper as a rope to get down from the roof… Then they’d need to tie it to something. But there was nothing to tie it to. I know because… I investigated the roof!”
Kaito. You know the binoculars were on the roof.
This can’t even be put down to Kaito having temporarily forgotten about them, because the fact that he specifically mentions investigating the roof means he’s consciously recalling what he saw when he was there… and the binoculars are literally the only thing on the rooftop itself. His expression also becomes a lot more strained when he says that part – he knows he’s spouting bullshit in a desperate hope that Shuichi will have somehow forgotten about it and won’t be able to prove Gonta guilty.
Kokichi:  “You’re stubborn, Kaito. You’re still going on about this…”
Really, all you’ve got to say is that he’s “stubborn”? No pointing out that he should know that his argument is wrong and is blatantly running away from the truth? Come on, Kokichi. You could do so much better than this.
Kaito:  “Of course I am! I’m gonna believe in Gonta till the very end!”
Of course he is, though. He’s Kaito. He can’t bear to accept the idea that someone like Gonta could have committed murder when he can’t see it.
Shuichi:  “The binoculars on the rooftop. The toilet paper could have been tied there.”
Kaito:  “Gh…!”
Kaito’s reaction to this also very much makes it sound like he knew this already and just really didn’t want Shuichi to mention it, rather than this is a fact that he’s only just realising.
I could add this to the Kaito Refutations counter, but I tend to think of this one as an extension of the Argument Armament rather than a separate occasion. So our final count is seven! Or, if you count it differently from me and include every single individual statement that gets refuted even if some are lumped into the same general occasion, then this plus two more from the Debate Scrum makes ten. Either way, that’s a really big number for one character in one trial. Probably the biggest there ever is, even including the culprits. The writers knew what they were doing, all right.
Kaito:  “…”
Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… Looks like Kaito’s morale is shot, so this whole thing is done now!”
Congratulations, Kokichi, you fucking did it. Except not really, because you dropped the ball multiple times at contributing to this as well as you could have, and Kaito is never going to change his worldview and stop believing in people either. This is almost entirely about Kaito’s issues with regards to Shuichi and is really none of Kokichi’s business at this point (not that it ever should have been) – but no, of course it is, of course it’s all about Kokichi.
Gonta:  “So… it true. Gonta… really kill Miu.”
Kokichi:  “But I’m the one who came up with the plan!”
Kokichi jumps in to interrupt Gonta really quickly here, like he’s really fixated on making sure everyone knows that all the evil clever scheming and planning, that was all him. Everyone already knew that, but he still feels the need to repeat himself to make sure of it. It’s like he said once earlier – there’s nothing more depressing than an unnoticed prank. He doesn’t just want to mess with people, he wants them to know it was him who messed with them. This need of his to gloat about his “evil” deeds is going to be part of the reason his overall plan fails, which I’ll talk about a lot when we get to that point.
Kokichi:  “Anywaaay… just admit your crime, Gonta.”
And no, he’s not jumping in to take responsibility for the actual crime of killing Miu and therefore take some of the guilt away from Gonta, since he then immediately follows up with this. All the clever scheming was his, but that totally doesn’t make him a murderer, nope, that was all Gonta!
Gonta:  “B-But… why did Gonta do… such… terrible thing…?”
Gontaaaaa. We won’t let you die before you learn the reason! You deserve to know that much at least!
Kokichi:  “Wait, before you start crying… you gotta admit your crime fir—”
So, this is one of the parts that makes me think that Kokichi’s outburst last post about how it hurts him to persecute Gonta was genuine. He cuts Gonta off here when he starts getting emotional, as if there’s a part of him that is actually hurt by knowing it’s his fault that Gonta is suffering like this and so he just wants it to not be happening. Because of course Kokichi can’t actually accept that part of him and face up to the pain he caused Gonta and acknowledge that he did an awful thing. Nope.
(Technically Gonta did already admit he did it a few lines ago, though, so this bit’s a little awkward in how it’s acting like he still hasn’t. Maybe that’s just Kokichi wanting Gonta to be even clearer about how all the blame is definitely his.)
Shuichi:  “Stop. I won’t let you, Kokichi. If anyone is going to get him to confess… it’s me.”
Shuichiiii. He already feels like an awful person as the one stuck with the burden of finding the truth and effectively condemning Gonta to death by proving it – so since he’s already suffering through that, he might as well go all the way with it by also taking this upon himself too.
(And look at how Kaito is emphatically not helping Shuichi carry that burden right now, despite how many times he said he always would. Not because he’s changed his mind about wanting to, mind you, but because he can’t. Because he’s not even strong enough to carry his own part of that burden.)
Shuichi:  “Gonta… I’m going to look back at the whole case one more time, okay? When you’re convinced, you just let me know, alright? Let’s end this together.”
Yet Shuichi’s going about it in such a kind manner! Rather than Kokichi’s assholery and persecution, Shuichi is treating Gonta like a friend and like the confused, hurting victim that he is in this situation.
This would be one of the most well-justified excuses for a Closing Argument, since the idea is supposedly to help Gonta understand everything that happened given that he doesn’t remember. But… it doesn’t really work that way, because it’s still written exactly like a normal Closing Argument and not like Shuichi is trying to carefully and gently explain it to Gonta under these circumstances. Which is kind of a shame – it’d have been really neat if this one stood out among all the others in its tone because it was written like that. Maybe it could have even had him saying “you” instead of “the culprit”, as if he really is directly talking to Gonta. That would have been pretty adorable(…y tragic).
Shuichi:  “After being convinced by Miu, we all logged into the Virtual World.”
We were not convinced by Miu. We were convinced by Kokichi and Monokuma.
Shuichi:  “It’s possible… that this had an effect on their avatar’s personality as well. Because I… I can’t believe that someone so kind could commit murder…”
It seems like this is what Shuichi has been telling himself this whole time in order to justify the possibility of Gonta killing someone. Even he couldn’t bring himself to accept it under normal circumstances! And it does make a certain amount of sense, since there’s both a memory and a consciousness cord, so it follows that if his memory was messed up then his consciousness might have been as well. As it turns out, that’s wrong, and there simply was no consciousness malfunction. But given that nobody could reasonably be expected to imagine Gonta’s actual plausible motive with him still being the person they believe in, it’s understandable that Shuichi would go with this theory instead.
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While a lot of the panels of Shuichi’s imagination of Ambiguous Culprit Gonta are going to be very inaccurate, this one of Gonta freaking out over the unknown motive as Kokichi grins evilly to himself is probably pretty spot-on.
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Irrelevant side note: the way Kaito’s hair is drawn in this panel always bothered me. It’s not sticking up enough! His hair just looks like Phoenix Wright here – not that there’s anything wrong with Phoenix’s hairstyle, but it’s not the right kind of ridiculous anime hair for Kaito.
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Shuichi makes the same assumption Kokichi did a while back that Miu logged Kaito out after walking through the wall, even though it’s silly to assume that because it would have been safer for her to log him out before walking through the wall so he wouldn’t potentially see her do it.
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And here’s a collection of evil grins that Gonta definitely did not have while doing any of this. At least this time Shuichi has a reason for imagining these, since he’s telling himself that Gonta wasn’t really the usual Gonta at all.
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I like this panel of Miu reaching out to Kokichi as she dies. She knew exactly who really killed her. Or at least Shuichi is imagining as much because he knows who really killed her too. (I mean, not that Gonta didn’t also kill her, but.)
Shuichi:  “Without that one little mistake… we might never have solved this case, because the culprit doesn’t remember.”
Um, Shuichi? Are you forgetting whose fault it is that you solved this case? Not Gonta’s for not hiding the toilet paper properly. It was Kokichi’s fault, for straight up fucking telling everyone Gonta did it. Shuichi only figured out the toilet paper thing after he’d already narrowed down that only Gonta could have done it, and he did that because Kokichi told him to.
Gonta:  “S-Sorry… Gonta not really understand… Cuz… Gonta not smart boy…”
See, the whole Closing Argument really wasn’t put across in a way that would help Gonta understand, was it. Not that I’m sure it would have been possible to have him fully understand everything no matter how carefully it was explained, because that’s a lot of details for him to keep in his head without ever having actually been there. He’s not actually seeing the comic, after all.
Gonta:  “But… if everyone agree, then… everyone probably right. Gonta… trust everyone!”
Gontaaaaaa. If anyone would accept that they’re unknowingly a murderer because of their faith in everyone else, it’d be him.
Gonta:  “Gonta kill Miu… forget everything… Gonta even think he not do anything bad…”
No, Gonta, it wasn’t your fault that you forgot, that part really was just an accident!
It’s heartbreaking that Gonta hates himself not just for killing Miu but also for thinking he didn’t do anything wrong after having done something like that. Not only does he obviously believe you shouldn’t do bad things, but he believes that if you do happen to do a bad thing, then owning up to it and accepting that you did it is also really important. Of course he’d think that way. (Take some fucking notes, Kokichi.)
Gonta:  “Wh-Why…? Why Gonta do such terrible thing!?”
Kaito:  “…”
Kaito hasn’t said a single word since Shuichi proved him wrong about the binoculars, and he won’t until after the vote. It is fitting that they’d choose now of all times to pan to him saying nothing and remind us of this fact, since Kaito absolutely cannot comprehend why Gonta would do this either.
Tsumugi:  “It’s Kokichi’s fault. He… must’ve tricked Gonta.”
Kokichi:  “Huuuh? I totally didn’t trick him.”
Yes, you absolutely fucking did. You’re going to convince everyone that you didn’t once his motive gets explained, but you did.
Monokuma:  “What a buzzkill of an ending. It lacks the rush of previous Voting Times… Well, after so many killing games, I guess it was bound to happen eventually!”
Geez, Monokuma, have some subtlety. No freaking wonder Kokichi figured this whole thing out and has spent this entire chapter knowing full well that the outside world he saw was a lie. (Which is why what Kokichi did to Gonta was very much a trick.)
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While the actual reason this game shows the voting results when no previous game did is for the purpose of the final trial where nobody votes, my favourite thing about this feature is that we get to see this voting result here. This entire trial, Kaito’s arc has been about inadvertently showing himself to be weaker than and inferior to Shuichi even though that’s the opposite of what he wants to do. And now here’s a final, tangible, indisputable piece of proof that Kaito just isn’t strong enough to face this truth while Shuichi is. It doesn’t end up mattering because he’s the only one to do it, but if enough other people had been as weak as Kaito is being here, then everyone would have died. That’s not how a hero behaves at all, and Kaito definitely knows this.
It’s honestly a shame that the game even lets you potentially vote incorrectly here (especially given that it forces you to vote correctly in trial 5, so the writers aren’t averse to doing that when it’d help the narrative). If the players suddenly decided to make it so that Shuichi couldn’t face the truth either and was being equally as weak as Kaito, that just completely ruins the entire everything of it. It should have forced you to vote for Gonta even if you try not to, as a representation of Shuichi’s determination to face the truth no matter how much it hurts.
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ryouverua · 6 years
Text
Trial 4 - The Confession  (3)
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THIS IS.... NOT HOW I THOUGHT THINGS WOULD GO DOWN... AT ALL...
Investigation 1 / 2
Trial: 1 / 2
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WHAT THEY HAVE A TEXT BOX AND EVERYTHING THIS IS LEGIT THEN?!?!
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Wait, so she really did meet up with him before the virtual world then? I imagine it was before she gathered everyone, but after that flashback light that caused her to panic the way she did - so in the last few days? And it would have to be before he met Monokuma too... so not yesterday (as I’m imagining this taking place midmorning after they went to the VR world) but the day before that?
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I can only imagine what threw him off as she was speaking. He has an excellent poker face though, so I’m not surprised she didn’t realize he was onto her.
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It says a lot about Kokichi that he could stay calm in the fact of that, but also it’s... a bit sad that he didn’t think he could approach anyone for help...
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... Then again, countering a murder plan with a murder plan is, uh, very Supreme Leader-ish! And one that doesn’t get your own hands dirty...
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I guess you are really confessing everything, because I don’t know why you would feel the need to add that damning evidence on top of all the other stuff???
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By making it more interesting, did he just mean getting everyone into the simulator full well knowing Miu’s plans, or literally telling Monokuma, ‘I am going to counter Miu’s murder plan with my own’?!?!
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It sounds like Kokichi’s idea wasn’t to put the motive in the simulator, after all! Monokuma is straight-up saying it was his!
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But does it matter at this point if we didn’t find it??? I swear, between the Necronomicon, the First Blood Perk and this, we seriously not using any of the motives!
So they argue a bit with Monokuma about him working together with a student but he handwaves it away with the whole, well, ~I wasn’t involved with the actual murder myself~ which, okay, fine though technically isn’t he working with the mastermind. It’s kinda distracting from the confession at hand anyway.
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  It’s a bit scary how badly you want to confess though.
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“Anything that lets me actually put you in the ground.”
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That’s a lukewarm revenge -
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WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
W H A T
j us t
happen....ed...........
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shuichi also reacted with probably one of the cutest ‘eh’ sounds I have every heard out of his mouth but unfortunately this is all visual based, not sound based, so I cannot include it here, and also that is entirely beside the point
Holy shit, Kokichi. Holy - shit - DID YOU... STRAIGHT UP... JUST..... DROP GONTA’S NAME...
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AN ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE REACTION TO FINDING OUT YOU MURDERED SOMEONE VIA ALTER EGO AND DON’T REMEMBER IT once again, a masterstroke by Kokichi, Mr. ‘I reference YGO Duel Monsters without even trying’
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Yeah, I’m not surprised to see Tsumugi chiming in here. She has been Gonta’s biggest defender from trial to trial, even if her voice isn’t as loud as Kaito’s. 8(
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And my god, if Kaito’s voice ain’t loud right now!
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HIMIKO DON’T YOU FUCKING SAY IT
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A;SLDKFJ KOKICHI DON’T THINK YOU INTERRUPTING HERE SAVES YOU FROM ME SERIOUSLY JUDGING YOUR LIFE CHOICES
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“YOU CAN’T JUST SPLIT THE SCREEN LIKE THAT WITHOUT A SWORD DUEL THAT’S NOT HOW THE MECHANIC WORKS!”
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“- ANYWAY I was totally confessing guys, and on behalf of Gonta as well as myself! I can’t believe you would just interrupt me when I’m being so charitable! Waaaah, you’re all so meeeean ~ !” insert crocodile tears sprite here
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I am here to interrupt this incredibly serious and terrifying confession with accompanying illustration to ask - why ‘Busters’?! What kind of dumb name is that, honestly.
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Between this and your ‘if everyone dies, the game will end!’ comment, you’re really scaring me right now, Kokichi - !
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Gonta is not about this at all.
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Man, I’ve been making the D: face over and over again during this trial - meanwhile, Gonta right now is the living embodiment of that text emoji right now.
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Oh.... oh, of course. Kokichi doesn’t know about the avatar error either, does he? He’s been operating under the assumption that Gonta has been... lying to us this whole time............ That he’s been a perfect liar, without a single crack in his veneer, even to a keen liar-spotting master like Kokichi, and that he’s been just as good at tricking us as him - even better, possibly. 
Oh, no. Oh, no.
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Gonta’s strongest, most stalwart supporter of the whole game is back in the game!
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TRAUMATIC BUZZING NOISE FLASHBACKS
Between all the back and forth, including a bit of gloating at Shuichi on Kokichi’s part, he drops this:
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And here, to counter all of the ‘Gonta is too ~dumb~ to do something like this’ comments, he already has a ready-made argument. He really has been set from the beginning, huh? Either that or his improv ability is topnot - oh wait this is Kokichi Ouma we’re talking about, of course it is. Anyway, while I think Kokichi set Gonta up to do this, I feel like I’m at least affording Gonta a bit more agency than his classmates. 8′/
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d-don’t.... neglect the heart...... nngh
erika furudo is being channelled by kokichi ouma to wreak havoc on this killing game, this truly is the worst timeline
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FUCK PLEASE DON’T BRING UP GENTLEMEN THIS IS SO AWFUL I’M GOING TO D I E
and everyone else seems to be in the same state I am, minus the whole ‘I’m 99% sure it was Gonta’ mindset I had going in, so Kokichi asks them the obvious question:
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Aaaah, I thought so. Kaito has been pushed far enough that he won’t accept anything other than Kokichi being the culprit. :(
Kokichi’s about to drop a massive truth bomb in the trial and Kaito is not going to like it.
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OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE KOKICHI NOW YOUR TROLL FACES ARE WARPING THE FABRIC OF REALITY ITSELF AROUND YOU PLEASE CONTROL YOUR TERRIFYING ULTIMATE POWER
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I just really wanted to isolate this one shot from the debate especially because damn, just - the way they set it up for him and his sprite to dominate the whole screen by just - towering over everyone despite everyone being against him, despite everyone accusing him, is just some great work by the layout team!
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Also the fact that they can contrast that with this image with all the flowers and sunshine around him, with that cute little smile on his face... man, I keep praising what they did with the trial debates for a reason!
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And once again, it’s Kaito argument that Shuichi is forced to cut down...
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All the pieces except for two - Gonta’s motive/reason he would work with Kokichi (because I thought it was maybe spur of the moment move on his part to protect Kokichi, but Kokichi is heavily implying it isn’t, and the fact that it was done via prepared item is.... a problem) and Gonta’s memory problems - are officially out in the open. Oooh geez - I had been wondering how they would do this case since to me, it didn’t seem technically difficult to figure out, but I guess the writers’ solution to that issue is to just gut-punch the players all the way to the end. 8′D
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And now Kaito’s being countered by his other sidekick. Can we stop kicking this poor puppy while he’s down??? As in, the poor puppy who is probably dying a slow death from a mysterious illness right now??? Is this the game’s idea of karmic rebalancing for not outright deathflagging him again this chapter, or???
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Because you’ve been baiting him this entire time.
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So... was he going to let them fall for the lie of ‘Kokichi Ouma is the culprit who killed Miu’? That’s what I’m wondering right now. He’s very happily driving in the point that the one, singular truth can be incredibly painful, but this still seems very much to be a reaction to all the events of the trial leading up to this point!
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Having Gonta beside Kaede’s stand, the other person who we thought, ‘No, it couldn’t be, it couldn’t possibly be....’ was probably planned from the very beginning for this trial, I imagine.
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I-I MEAN IS THAT FAIR SINCE BUGS ARE DIRECTLY TIED TO HIS TALENT...
But of course, while the classmates are rallying around Gonta and Kaito...
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Showing growth at the most unfortunate times, Shuichi Saihara uses his budding confidence to grow up up up and away from Kaito. 8′\
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Look at him, inserting himself in between the two like this -
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“SHUT UP KOKICHI YOU’RE RUINING OUR BROSHIP - W-WE CAN STILL BE BROS AFTER THIS, RIGHT KAITO???
Kaito directly after the trial but actually no please let the saimota stay strong you must overcome....
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On the one hand I feel like Kokichi is being heavy-handed - on the other, I’m starting to think that he feels the need to over-explain everything to his classmates because they just won’t get it otherwise. 8′D
I don’t feel like this is 100% fair though - he did a really great job with finding the door in Chapter 1! He, uh, did completely lose his mojo though, so...
Well, the point is, Kaito did need to teach him how to trust in other people because Kaede broke it by lying to him! Shuichi has been a naturally suspicious worrywart this whole time!
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HIS VOICE IS BREAKING I CAN’T FUCKING DO THIS
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SHUICHI CAN’T EITHER
FUCK I THOUGHT DOING HIS FTES WOULD HELP ME THROUGH THIS BUT IT MADE EVERYTHING SO MUCH WORSE
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Oh shit, this was a surprise bit of support that I wasn’t expecting! How shocked do you think Kokichi is right now that K1-b0 of all people is not completely disbelieving him, on a scale of 1-10??
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If I make a comment about how computer-like this is would I get slammed for being robophobic or -
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I mean Kaito’s technically not wrong? But he’s not completely right either... I, I really think Kokichi is trying to kill two birds with one stone here. 8′/ But to what end, is the real question... Disillusionment? Is that the ultimate goal?
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MONOKUMA YOU’RE BRO-BLOCKING ME!!!
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unholy screeching -
Kaito sounds so betrayed -
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“Hold on Monokuma, I thought this was only supposed to happen in the event of an even split -”
“Shut the fuck up Shuichi Is2g I’ll crazy glue your hat back on!”
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THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY TEAM and also a popular OT3, I imagine with an incredibly complicated name. like. how do you combine saiouma and, uh... kiibouma I’m guessing - saikiibouma maybe???
also K1-b0 please don’t wave your Objection! finger in Gonta’s face like that, it is neither the time nor place and also incredibly rude and not helping -
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I absolutely love (and by love I mean my heart is being wrenched In Twain) the way they have Shuichi facing in one direction, and Kaito fully, completely turned the other way.
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Once again Shuichi is learning how to defend himself, and is finally willing to do it. I... just wish it would be under better circumstances...
Actually, out of pure luck, it lines up really well with Kaito’s last FTE and the option I chose where Shuichi bites back about his detective work. It’s funny how in the end, his natural reaction is still to search for the truth at all costs, and I like reading him as someone who is naturally curious as well as singularly focused that way, sometimes to the detriment of everything else - and come hell, high water or, regrettably, casualties. And he’ll certainly have those regrets, and fret on them endlessly as he loses himself in a spiralling circle of self-doubt, but would he be able to stop himself from following that path down to the bitter end? No... no, I don’t think so.
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Should I include every cap of Gonta pleading with everyone that he isn’t the culprit? No, it’s redundant. Will I anyway because he’s tearing my heart to pieces? Yes. Yes I will.
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asldkf;asdf the worst thing is he isn’t. He isn’t lying. He paradoxically is the killer and not lying about it, because not being the killer is his current truth AS HE KNOWS IT...
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Y-You sound like you’re talking from personal experience, and outside of the last few trials, too! Which side of this ‘cornering’ were you on exactly...????
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Oh!!! We haven’t seen this sprite in a long time!
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Is it just me or is Kokichi acting extremely viciously right now? Like, his vitriol levels are off the charts. Honestly I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt this part with commentary because the way Kokichi is going off, just absolutely screaming at him, is a huge departure from the cool and collected Ouma we’ve had up to this point!
Did they... prepare arguments beforehand, maybe? And he’s losing it because Gonta isn’t playing along with the plan he said up? With that said, when Gonta turned on Kokichi in the Meet-n-Greet, Kokichi wasn’t anything like this. So what’s his deal???
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Kokichi Ouma will not rest until he has flipped every single aspect of this trial and the trial format as it’s been up to this point on its head, and subsequently, used it to attack everyone around him. 
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Holy shit, Kokichi has well and truly lost it. This - this has to be real. It’s far too raw for it not to be real.
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Ugh, the way Kaito’s voice cracks when he jumps in here...
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KAITO......................
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I... feel like, despite flickerings of his ‘playful’ persona, this may be the longest he’s ever gone showing his genuine feelings - and man, they aren’t pretty. I mean, that’s assuming this anger is genuine... but I really, really feel like it is.
Just like another character I love who also uses lies and fantasy as weapons, I feel like going over this section again with new eyes will be extremely telling.
Still, that means he really, really wants to live. And the ‘we’ there is interesting. Who is the ‘we’? Is he speaking for a select few, including Shuichi? For the whole class? Someone not here, in a similar vein to Kirumi?
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you know Kokichi for someone who wants to live, maybe screaming at someone whose good friend is an assassin is a bad idea
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You know everyone fighting over him is eating Gonta from the inside out.
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Ah, fuck, I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop and I think this is when it’s going to happen.
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I’m like 99% sure Kokichi’s on Tsumugi’s hit list for next chapter. 8′D 
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Oooh, speaking of growth - !
You know, I keep saying this and I don’t know if I’m alone in thinking this or not but Shuichi has been consistently weak in all things social and emotional, detection-wise and otherwise. But now, here, we finally have Shuichi picking up on the true source of Gonta’s confusion on his own, his language, and how it could be relevant to the case on his own without anyone else giving him any clues or hints!
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The one who has consistently stood up for Gonta in every trial, Kaito, the one who wants to believe in everyone, and Gonta himself... aaaaah, no, no no..... 8′/
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KAITO WHAT IS THAT NEW SPRITE
OH GOD NO THAT’S SUCH A SAD SPRITE SDLKFJ
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OMFG HIMIKO ARE YOU SERIOUSLY WHY ALL OF THIS HAPPENED
ALSO... oh, that’s right. Gonta lifted up the manhole cover at the beginning of the game with his lefthand, didn’t he? SHIT....
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His sprites and tones of voice are oscillating so wildly now and it’s really hard for me to keep up??? I’m getting whiplash asdlfkj
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THAT. THAT IS THE ONE PART THAT I AM WAITING FOR. I thought it was in defense of Kokichi because that is the only way I can feasibly see him killing someone and still be, well, the Gonta Gokuhara who wants to protect everyone, but there is too much of this murder that seems premeditated!!!
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So we’ve established this in previous games via Celes’ and Peko’s trials, but it’s worth going over again - especially since these guys have no knowledge of either of those games -
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Yeah... we’re really going to need a motive from Kokichi. Could it be as simple as countering Miu’s plan? I suppose taking her out as an obvious threat makes sense, and he’s already established that he wants to live ... There’s also the question of if it can really be something like, ‘he also wanted to use this as a way to create a fun mystery.’ I really hope not. 8′\ I suppose something like, ‘I’m taking opportunity of the fact that I’m getting rid of a threat on my life to also drive home certain points to the rest of my classmates, and also as revenge for the events of the last few days’ would be more of an acceptable answer to me, given what I’ve seen of him so far. With that said, that... is not a great way to survive, considering the target being painted in broader strokes on your back each passing minute...
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DON’T LOOK AT ME, SWEETCHEEKS!!
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don’t neGLECT THE HEART, DAMN IT
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Jeez, maybe he really does see the rest of them as chess pieces... and Shuichi as a knight that can move in abstract, highly unpredictable ways. 8/ Either that or he’s thinking he can keep tightlipped on the motive since Gonta no longer knows it?
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Looks directly at Shuichi - winks - blows kiss - “Hey you know what would be a great first date idea? Setting up a tragic murder via patsy that will rock your worldview, potentially break you apart from one of your only friends in this wretched place and ultimately send everyone spiralling into despair.”
“W-Where did you learn how to pick up people?”
“Oh, some book I found in the library called ‘Enoshima’s Guide to Love for the Hopelessly Loveless’, why?”
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“KAEDE.AGAIN, WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME IN THIS SPOT. I DIDN’T WANT TO BE THE PROTAGONIST. SOMEONE, PLEASE SEND HELP.”
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Sadly, Kaito is all bluster at this point... oTL
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I have a feeling this is going to end up looking a lot like my reasoning...
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He goes down the list so clinically. It’s one thing for me, an outsider, to be able to do that (and just barely, because I was SAD about the conclusion I came to, damn it), but for someone in the game to be able to do it... yikes....
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“There is no amount of incest roleplay fantasy dreams that’ll make up for the shitshow that is today.”
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“He’s making me be the one to say it, isn’t he. Sonuvabitch.”
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well fuck you too
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no no no no no no no he’s CRYING HE’S AUDIBLY CRYING THIS IS 50 SHADES OF NOT OKAY
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He’s straight-up challenging Shuichi to be the one to pull the trigger (absolutely pun intended).
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IF.... IF ONLY IT WERE SO EASY, KAITO....
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“If I just choose myself THIS HELL WILL BE OVER.”
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“Bro I will fucking deck you.”
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What if I just
turned
the game off
right now
just let this game board sit open, here, for all of eternity
that would be okay right
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