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mutifandomlover · 1 year

Text

Prompt(Victory).

This prompt is by @zazuprompts.

Title:Bittersweet Victory.

"Congratulations, students."

The speakers rang throughout the old school building. We all looked up at them in the cafeteria to see what the announcement was.

"If you've managed to last all seven days in our little game of 'Killing School Life,' then please report to the gymnasium at this time."

One by one, we limped over to the gymnasium. I felt relief, but at the same time, I felt dread. We might finally be done with this twisted game that we've been forced to play with each other, or maybe it was our captor making us play one final game to perfect their twisted vision. Whatever it was, I wasn't ready for it.

Walking into the gymnasium, I'm faced with my classmates, well, the ones that are still alive anyway. We all looked at each other with dull, traumatized eyes. Seven days in hell in this place. A place with little to no food and water to last the game. Dirty bathrooms with disgusting water. Broken furniture and messy beds. Not to mention, the place is small and practically falling apart. Seven days in an abandoned school. Seven days being forced to survive against each other.

I don't know how I survived. In fact, I expected someone to kill me at some point, but somehow, I managed to live through it all.

"Hello."

The black and white bear with his large grin and red eye waved at us in his sick, insane demeanor.

"I'm glad to see you all here."

"As you all know, the game has officially ended, and I'm happy to announce that you all will be graduating from Hope's Peak Academy."

He got off the stage and handed everyone a cap and gown. The tassels were black and white. The little number in pink read '2010.' He really was making us go through a graduation ceremony.

"Great, now that everyone has their cap and gown, go get dressed in the locker rooms and meet back up in the gymnasium for the graduation ceremony."

I felt a pit in my stomach as we went to the locker rooms. I put on my cap and gown. I could feel myself burning with hate and regret. This shouldn't have happened. Why did we have to play this sick game just to graduate? One of my remaining classmates put their hand on my shoulder.

"Makoto, you alright?"

I pushed my feelings of hate and regret away before turning around to face Byakuya and Leon.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Let's get this done and over with."

We walked out of the boys' locker room and met up with the girls. Toko was trying to comfort Aoi and Kyoko, who seemed to also have a pit of regret and self hate in their stomachs. I wouldn't be surprised if we all were going through that same feeling at this very moment.

After a few minutes of standing around awkwardly. We all headed back into the gymnasium. There were six seats, and they were all labeled with our names.

"Find your seat, everyone, we'll get started in just a moment."

We all find our seats. He had us sat in alphabetical order by first name. It was a little strange, but that didn't really matter to me. We sat down, and the bear placed what looked like diplomas on the lectern. He began with an opening speech. I didn't think it was necessary. After all, there’s only six of us here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the graduation of the students from class 2010."

"These students not only passed high school but also survived the game of life."

The game of life, it was more like kill or br killed. I bit my tongue and held my composure. The last thing that we needed was a rage fit. I wanted to strangle that robotic bear, but I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I felt one of my classmates put their hand on my shoulder. I gave them a weak smile as Monokuma continued talking.

"When I call your name, please stand up and come up to the stage to receive your diploma."

"Aoi Asahina."

"Byakuya Togami."

As he called our names, I found myself reflecting on the last three years of my school life. I remembered our first day when we all met and how young we were. I remembered all the fun times we had while in and out of class. There were times when we got in trouble for doing some dumb things. There were also times when we celebrated our accomplishments, like when we passed our first midterm and we all went to eat at a diner that we all liked. It felt great to be with them, but I wished that they were still here with us.

"Kyoko Kirigirl."

"Leon Kuwata."

If only we weren't placed into this old school just to play a twisted game of survival. I tried to keep my hands clean and cooperate with everyone. We all tried to work together, but in the end, some if not all of us had blood on our hands. Some of us paid for it while others were relieved of the burden of trying to survive, and the ones who managed to stay alive, us, we get to leave this hell hole.

"Makoto Naegi."

"Toko Fukawa."

I stood up and walked up the stage with Toko following behind. Monokuma gave me my diploma, and I shook his paw. We stood in a line together, and for a moment, I could see all of our classmates. They were smiling at us and cheering us on. Yet it was only for a moment, and in that moment, it felt like nothing changed.

"Congratulations, students, you have achieved victory in the game of life or death!"

We all held hands and gave each other a small smile, which was followed by tears and hugging each other. It was over. Our time in this hell was finally over.

"Now that the ceremony has come to a close, you guys will change out of your cap and gown and head to your dorm rooms to pack your things."

"When you're done, meet at the end of the dormitory hallway, and we'll head to the exit so that you all can leave and live your life."

We went back to the locker rooms to take off our cap and gown before grabbing the clothes Monokuma left for us and headed to our dorms. We all took showers with clean water for the first time in a week. Yes, it was a little cold, but it was nice to finally take a shower with clean water. I changed into my new outfit. It was nice to finally be out of my school uniform but also a little weird since I've grown attached to it. I packed up my things in the backpack that Monokuma left in my dorm. There wasn't much, just my cap and gown, my diploma, my school uniform, and the photo album of my class throughout our three years of high school. This photo album was my keepsake since the most valuable thing to me was my memories with my friends. I walked out of my dorm room for the last time and met up with the others. We walked together to the end of the hall where Monokuma was waiting for us, and he handed us a photo of us in our caps and gowns. They must've taken the picture before we turned into an emotional mess. We followed him to the giant steel doors, and he opened them.

We found ourselves being amazed by the blue sky and the burning sun. It felt wonderful to feel the sun against my skin. I thought about all of our friends who would never see the sky again. Yasuhiro, Sayaka, Chihiro, Mondo, Kiyotaka, Hifumi, Celeste, Sakura, Mukuro, and Junko. Our friends would never find out what happened to their families. Those who died early on would have no clue as to who lived and who died.

"Look, it's them!"

"Congratulations on your victory!"

My train of thought was interrupted by a group of people that surrounded us at the door. Were they here the whole time? People were cheering, clapping, and holding signs. Some whistled and even stomped their feet. There were photographs and even a news station at the end of a red carpet. The reporter gave us a big smile, and she beckoned for us to come to her. We all looked at each other before walking down the red carpet in pairs. Aoi was with Leon, I was with Kyoko, and Toko was with Byakuya. People's cheers continued as we walked through the path laid out for us. The reporter was facing the cameraman as she began talking.

"We're here at the live set of Tsumibito Academy from the new hit series, Danganronpa:Distrust."

"The final episode, Graduation Day, has finished production, and the lucky survivors of season one have just exited the building."

"So tell us, Mr. Naegi, how does it feel to have such an outstanding victory?"

Was it all a reality show? The world sat down to watch me and my classmates kill each other as entertainment? Were our families watching the show? Why were we put into this? I don't remember ever signing up for anything like this, and I don't think any of us remember being the main cast of a reality show. Before I knew it, however, I already told them my answer.

"It was certainly a strange experience."

"If you were given the chance, would you join Danganronpa for another season?"

"No, this was a crazy experience for me, and it's definitely not something for anyone with a timid mindset to go into."

"Make way, we have a ride for the winners of Danganronpa."

"Paid for by the company themselves."

We looked at the limousine that pulled up. We piled inside and sat down in the luxurious car. I pulled the photo album out from my backpack, and we began to look at the different photos of us throughout high school. I found myself smiling despite all that had happened. We survived, and it's a victory for us. A bittersweet one but a victory nonetheless. Leon was pouring a bottle of sparkling cider into cups for everyone.

"Come on, we gotta celebrate right?"

"I really hope that this ride isn't a trap."

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

I picked up my glass and made a toast.

"To our friends that we'll never forget and to the future we'll make."

"To the future we'll make!"

We clinked our glasses together and I took a slip. It felt like everything was going to be fine. Everything is going to turn out fine, right? There's no way we're going to get dragged into something dangerous, right?

I finished my glass of sparkling cider, and I began to drift off, resting my head on the seat. My vision blurred as my eyes closed, and I drifted off completely into my mind.

"Makoto!"

"MAKOTO!"

"Huh?"

"Leon?"

I was shaken awake by Leon. He had a panicked look in his eyes, and we were no longer in the limousine.

"Gnh!"

I gripped my waist, and I felt a sharp stabbing ache in my hip. I looked down to see a shard of glass sticking out of my hip.

"Hold still."

Leon managed to pull the glass shard out of my hip. He grabbed the scarf in his pocket and wrapped it around my waist.

"What happened?"

"Everyone passed out after we drank the cider in the limousine."

"A little while later, I regained consciousness, and the first thing I saw was the limousine heading straight for a tree."

"I tried to wake everyone up, but the only person that woke up was Kyoko."

"The limousine crashed but we managed to get the door open."

I looked at the busted up limousine. The door was open, but I didn't see the others.

"So, what happened to the others?"

"They're behind me."

"Kyoko is mostly okay. Save for her hand."

"Toko is injured in her leg and so is Aoi."

"And Byakuya has some bruises on his head."

"You were the last person to wake up."

"Oh..."

"What do you we do now?"

"I don't know."

Leon helped me up and got me to the others. Everyone else had injuries that were wrapped in jackets and paper towels from the limousine. We all were in shock. The limousine had crashed, and we almost died. As we were debating what to do, a truck and two cars pulled up behind us.

"Hey!"

Leon stood up and ran to the man driving the car.

"Excuse me, my friends and I were in a car crash."

"We're not sure how it happened, but I and one other person managed to get everyone else out."

"We need medical assistance so please, help us..."

The man stepped out of the car with a gun in his hands. Leon backed up to where we were and fell backwards.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"I don't like this guys."

"It's a trap, I knew it was a trap!"

The man spoke into a radio in his shirt pocket.

"We found them."

"The sedatives wore off just before the car crashed, as planned."

"Yes, they're injured, but they seemed to have stopped their wounds from bleeding out, we'll check them in with the medical staff when we get there."

"Alright, I understand."

He stopped talking and then faced us.

"All of you, get into this truck and don't try to run away."

Leon and Kyoko got all of us inside of the truck before hopping in with us. The truck door slammed shut. Thankfully, there were air holes in the truck so that we could breathe. A few hours, maybe more, and we finally made it to where they were taking us. The first people to greet us when the truck door opened was a set of nurses who helped us out of the vehicle and took us to different operating rooms where they examined our wounds and patched them up. We were all put into hospital robes and taken to a room for recovery. After a few days, someone came in to talk to me.

"Good morning Mr. Naegi."

"Good morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"A lot better, my hip no longer hurts."

"That's good to know."

The man opened a folder with my name on it and showed me a contract that I needed to sign.

"What is this?"

"A contract that we need you to sign."

"Um can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Are you the people behind Danganronpa?"

"Yes."

"So, Monokuma, the bear robot, mentioned that we would get to go home after we finished the killing game, so why are we here?"

"Oh, well, this is your temporary home for the time being while your on the show."

"It is?"

"Yep."

The man pushed the contract towards me. I read it over a few times. It was basically telling me that I would spend my time here working on the show as a member of the cast until I wasn't needed anymore. The only issue is that it didn't say when I would get to go back home.

"Um, can I just go home instead?"

"There is nowhere for you to go, so it's best to stay here."

"Did the others sign this?"

"Yes."

I sighed in defeat and signed my name on the dotted line. The man smiled and left the room. A nurse came in and got me my clothes. I changed back into my outfit and followed her to the living quarters for the cast. The lady then handed me my stuff from the limousine, and I sat down with the others.

"I can't believe we're stuck here."

"So, how are we going to get out of this?"

"I don't think we can. They have eyes everywhere."

"Yeah, we all saw the cameras and guards constantly patrolling the building."

"We can't really do anything right now other than listen."

"At least the place looks nicer than Hope's Peak Academy."

"True, it does."

We walked to our rooms, and I sat down on the bed. I couldn't believe it. We were trapped somewhere again. I kept pondering on the future and what would happen to us. I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to be here at all. Maybe things will get better. I hope it all ends well. I really hope all of this ends well.

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 1 year

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HOOOLY Shit the t got intesne near the end!

Gugh...! Ngh...

*Clutching his body that is almost falling apart, Kuripa trudges over to what remains of Sage Hannibal Robot X.

*CRUNCH!*

*For good measure, he raises a foot over the robot’s head and stamps on it, squashing it like a pumpkin.

KURIPA!

...!?

*Hearing voices incoming behind him, he turns around to see Makoto, Byakuya, Kyoko, Rantaro and Kibin hurrying towards him. Local police and firemen, as well as a few assisting Kisaragi officers help to put out the fire.

Holy...that was INSANE! I knew you were tough, but taking that thing down by yourself!?

I must admit, I am also surprised. Especially given the fact that you’re still standing.

Well...*COUGH* don’t jinx it. My vision’s a little hazy...

Want me to lend you a shoulder?

You know what, that’d be grand.

*Kibin holds Kuripa steady.

...*sigh*

What’s up?

I had a feeling all along, but...now I know the true gravity of the situation.

We never stood a chance against you. We could have rushed at you guns blazing and you would have just shrugged them off.

Going after you was a pointless endeavor in every way.

...It’s ok. You had every right to villainize me after what I did to you guys.

Plus, it’s not like I would have minded. The chase made the situation all the more entertaining.

Entertaining? Was this all fun and games to you?

A matter of life and death can hardly be considered fun and games...I’m just speaking as an animator and storywriter.

Let us make it up to you. I’ll call some medical experts over, we’ll-!

No!

...!?

Kuripa, you are LITERALLY bleeding to death right in front of me!

I told you to stop acting like my dad! I appreciate it, but NOT YET. Remember, I only destroyed the robot.

Katagiri’s actual body is still alive underneath the fountain. I’m not going anywhere until we get down there and stop him once and for all.

...So you’re still planning on killing him?

...Yeah. At least, I would, but I imagine you’re still going to make that difficult for me.

...Listen Kuripa. Allow me to make a proposal for you.

Makoto said from the start that the most diplomatic way to solve this issue between us is to try and convince you that the path you’re on is not a good one. This is less out of trying to save Katagiri and more of trying to protect you.

We...didn’t accept that idea, and rejected it...This led to more infighting amongst ourselves that you had hardly anything to do with. We were fools.

You have every right to decline, but please. Allow us to convince you, one last time, to change this path. It’s not too late.

...Hm...And if my mind is still made up even after the fact?

...Then...

Do as you wish. If you think killing Katagiri is the only way to end this, I won’t stop you.

You’ll just let him murder a man right in front of us!?

It’s not like we can stop him. You said as much yourself.

...

And I for one, am done watching my friends tear each other apart.

...

Don’t worry Bosswife...I accept your terms.

...!?

Really!?

Yeah...Just one thing...

...

*Kuripa nods to Rantaro, and starts limping forward, still supported by Kibin.

...I want to show you something.

...?

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa 1 #dr1 #oc #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #kyoko kirigiri #byakuya togami #makoto naegi #kuripa kurafto #rantaro amami #kibin hatsudoki #ask #the monster in me arc

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yandere-ac · 4 years

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Is it despair bear time?

Yandere Human Monokuma X Spy Reader

"Is there a reason you called for me?" Your voice was quiet, almost monotone. Both because you didn’t want to sound rude or snappy to Monokuma but also because you were very tired. It was nighttime, 2 AM precisely, and Monokuma had woken you up and told you to come to his office. He hadn’t given you any chance to ask why or what was happening before he left, so you had to find out for yourself if this was something serious or not. This wasn’t the first time Monokuma had called you to his office, not even the first time he called you to his office at night. The only thing that made you annoyed was that these past few days he’s been waking you up in the middle of the night and telling you to come to him. And most of the time he didn’t even have a valid reason for calling upon you. And it got very tiresome really quick. You barely got any sleep these days and it was effecting you during daytime. You would nod off during the breakfast meetings and find it hard to stand without swaying and closing your eyes. And it was raising everyones suspicions. It peaked when you collapsed and fell asleep mid conversation with Byakuya and Makoto. You woke up later in your dorm, and of course the first person you ran into as you left was Byakuya. He had given you a stern look and scolded you after telling you what had happened. Most of your classmates had amounted it to you having sleep problems but the sharper ones like Byakuya and Kyoko seemed a bit more suspicious of your sudden sleeping problems.

As you walked into the office, which was just a big security room, Monokuma turned his chair to face you. There he was, the tall man had the same gleeful smile that he always had and as his red eyes fell upon you it only got wider. "Reason? Of course I have a reason. But even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. You don’t really have a say in weather to come here or not. Lest you want your little secret to be revealed~" Once Monokuma told you this he let out a teasing giggle while he opened his desk and pulled something out. It was a wine bottle, it wasn’t really a surprise since he pretty much always drank it during the morning announcements. But the fact that he was gonna drink while you two talked told you that this might not be a crisis exactly. After fetching two wine glasses, Monokuma walked back to you and poured you two some wine. By this point you had already pulled out a spare chair, you had been in here so many times that you basically knew where everything was. "So tell me Y/N," Monokuma began as he handed you one of the glasses. "What have your classmates been up to? Any noteworthy news?" He took a sip of his wine after he asked you this. As Junkos spy you had to bring her information about whatever was happening in the school. You were simply a double agent, acting as a classmate when you really weren’t. Unfortunately, you had to give this information to her second in command, Monokuma. Ever since you entered the school he had been a constant nuisance, and it didn’t get any better once he started to call upon you almost every day.

"Not really no. Kyoko has shown everyone alter ego," as you started listing any noteworthy events Monokuma let out a huge sigh. "Yes I know that Y/N. I know they have found alter ego, I can put two and two together. I’m not asking you to tell me about stuff I already know, I want the inside information! What’s happening with everyone! Is there conflict? Are there secrets? Quit boring me to death and get on with it!" He took another sip. "....naturally. Celeste has started taking advantage of Hifumis desperate nature. Kiyotaka has pretty much lost it. He’s started acting like Mondo to cope with his death. And he’s gotten very possessive over Alter ego. Hifumi has been as well. Taka seems to be clinging onto the last part of Chihiro and Hifumi just seems to be in love with him." As you explained the situation to him you noticed that Monokumas eyes narrowed slightly at the end of your sentence.

"What did you just say?" The tone of his voice was cold, dead serious and poisonous. You immediately tensed up as you heard him. "Huh? I said that Hifumi seems to be in love with him-" "Him? Did you just refer to Alter ego, the computer program, as a him?" He put down his glass and rose out of his chair, now towering over your sitting form. "Do you know what that is Y/N? Sentiment. Sentiment for the people you’re supposed to be spying on." He grabbed you by the chin and forced you to look at him. There was pure hatred in his eyes. "Don’t forget the reason why you’re here, the reason why you’re still ALIVE right now." The two of you stayed silent for a couple of seconds before Monokuma let go and sat back down. "Now! Continue!" His whole attitude changed as he gave you yet another wide smile while running his hand through his hair.

You continued with your report, or at least tried to. Even if Monokuma changed his attitude that didn’t erase what had just happened. But luckily, you managed to get through all of the things you wanted to say, all while Monokuma nodded along with a smile. "I think that’s about it...I wanted to ask you something though." You said, letting out a big yawn afterwards. "Sure! Ask away doll face." Ignoring the pet name, you continued. "I wanted to ask if you could stop calling me here for mundane reasons, especially at night. I’m not getting enough sleep and Kyoko and Byakuya are getting suspicious. The last thing I would want is to be discovered because of you." As you told him this, Monokuma let out a laugh. "Puhuhuhu. So you’re tired? Why didn’t you say so Y/N?" He smirked as he stood up and grabbed your hand. He pulled you up and started to walk away, much to your protest. "Monokuma- let g- where the hell are we going?" You asked as you tried to pull away to no avail. "We’re going to bed!" As you heard his answer you had to take a second just to process what he just said. To bed? Surely he didn’t mean...was he taking you to his bed? Did he have a bed? But as he walked out of the control room and into the hallway you realised that he was gonna take you all the way to your room, and that was when you started resisting. "Monokuma no, please. What if someone sees us?! I can go there by myself! Just- let go!" You whispered in a panicked manner, but he didn’t listen. He just kept walking. But he stopped once he heard footsteps approaching. Someone was coming, and they were gonna find you!

You were panicking, begging Monokuma to just let go of you and disappear. But it would seem like he was one step ahead of you as he pulled you in closer to his body, pressing you up against him while grappling your waist, and before you realised what had happened your surroundings had changed completely. You were now in your dorm. You didn’t understand how he could do that, how he could just teleport around the school. But you didn’t care right now. You immediately pushed Monokuma away from you. Not enough to make him fall or anything, just enough to distance yourself from him. "Are you crazy!? Are you out of your mind?! Do you realise what could have happened if someone saw us!?" He didn’t even flinch as you yelled at him. He only walked closer and pushed you into your bed. "Ah shush. Is someone a bit cranky from sleep deprivation?" You growled at him but stopped as soon as he laid down in bed next to you. "What are you doing?" You moved away from him slightly but that didn’t help. "What? Cant I share the bed with my favowite stuwdent?" Monokuma grabbed ahold of you and pulled you close to him. You had tried to pry him off until you felt a huge wave of sudden drowsiness wash over you. Your eyelids started to feel heavy, and you struggled to keep yourself awake. It was strange. You were tired sure but not this tired, it was as if it just came out of nowhere. You felt Monokuma stroke your hair as he cooed to you. "Shh shh. Don’t worry, just go to sleep. Puhuhuhu" you didn’t want to fall asleep now. Not when he was here. But you could no longer force yourself to stay awake. You went out like a candle.

That night, Monokuma laid awake watching you. It wasn’t like he needed sleep anyhow. For the next couple of hours he observed your sleeping body, watching you breathe in and out, watching your chest go up and down as the air entered your lungs. You looked so cute when you slept, he’d seen it multiple times but never while he was in the same room as you. And never this closely. He probably never would have if it wasn’t for the wine you drank. You should have kept your eyes on your glass while he refilled it, silly you. He found you so fascinating, and your apparent annoyance with him only made it better. He knew you would blow your cover soon, blow your cover as the masterminds little spy. After that, it would only be a matter of time before 1 of 3 things happened. First scenario, your classmates find out about your betrayal and start hating you. If a murder occurred all of them would believe it was you who murdered the victim and falsely vote on you. After that he could execute everyone while you had to watch. Oh but you, there was no need for you to be executed since you were a spy and everyone else was dead. Then he would get you all to himself, and he could do whatever he wanted with you. Second scenario, your classmates hates you so much that one of them decides to kill you. Oh how much despair he would feel as he watched your lifeless corpse. How your eyes that once were filled with such hope would be completely empty. The thought of it made him exhilarated. He would hate for you to die, he would mourn you for days, and he would make sure whoever killed you would die in a brutal and horrific way. And finally, third scenario. You ended up being the actual blackened in the case and he could watch as you fell into despair and turn to murder. To see someone who would never hurt a fly give in and murder someone, one of your friends, is there anything better?! And ultimately, if you got caught he’d have to be the one to kill you. To execute you.

Three scenarios in which two of them leads to your death. He wished that you survived, but he would be lying if he said that the thought of you, dead, didn’t fill him with so much pain and despair. And that made him all giddy.

But for now, you were here in his arms. As he pulled you closer and sniffed your hair he felt his stomach fill up with butterflies.

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themattress · 4 years

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My Top 11 Danganronpa Characters

I love many characters in the Danganronpa series, but these ones are truly the Ultimate.

11. Monomi

Don’t get me wrong, Usami is a sweetheart and all, but on her own (as seen in DR2′s Island Mode) she’s pretty bland. While her forced conversion into Monomi caused her no end of grief in-universe, it made her a much stronger and more memorable character outside of it. Her interactions with Monokuma and position as his good counterpart / “little sister” are just perfect, as is the voicework done by Rebecca Forstadt. She, like her “big brother”, is iconic.

10. Sakura Oogami

I may love Nekomaru and Gonta too, but neither of them hold a candle to the original “tall, muscular giant who looks scary as Hell but is actually the nicest, most loyal friend you could ever hope to have” in the franchise: Sakura Oogami. Her lower placement on this list is only because she kind of recedes into the background among the cast until the reveal at the end of Chapter 3 (which is fitting given the nature of that reveal), but once Chapter 4 centers around her she easily steals the show as a powerful, noble and tragic figure who is nonetheless such a beautiful human being that she successfully ends the Killing Game.

9. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

A textbook case of a character you hate at the start and love by the end, Fuyuhiko’s development from a perpetually angry wannabe-thug who refused to be friends with his classmates and routinely threatened them with violence as a cover for his insecurities to a humble, honorable, brave, supportive team player was amazing to watch unfold, and Derek Stephen Prince sells it magnificently with his most touching performance since Ken Ichijoji . He may still be rough around the edges, but Baby Gangsta has always got your back.

8. Byakuya Togami

If you merged Sherlock Holmes and Seto Kaiba, and in the process filtered out all of the redeeming qualities, you get Byakuya Togami: an elitist prick of the highest order who has a dangerous intellect to back up his ego. As despicable as Byakuya is, he is also fascinating: I both hate hanging around him due to his constant insults and love it because I’m drawn to watching him work as he displays just how well the Togami family-sponsored education has served him. He’s as useful as an ally as he is formidable as an enemy, and once he learns there are some things beyond his sociopathic grasp and that it’s best to stick with those who know it, he mellows out into a reliable anti-hero. So yeah, awful person, fantastic character.

7. Chiaki Nanami

Hey, hey! Chiaki, as portrayed in DR2 anyway, is such a lovable character, at first seeming like an anti-social girl who would rather play video games and sleep than converse with people, but steadily revealing just how big a heart she really has and what a great friend she is once she connects with someone. As naive and weird as she is, she quickly picks up on things once she learns them, and is consistently one of the most perceptive people to have around in a class trial. And just when it seems like she’s becoming a tad too perfect to be realistic, we find out that she isn’t real and suffer one of the biggest emotional gut-punches in the series as she is cruelly taken away from us...except that even then, the bond she and Hajime forged is strong enough to keep her digital spirit alive within him. And Christine M. Cabanos brings it all home with her vocal performance. Chiaki, we will never forget you.

6. Nagito Komaeda

Who would have thought that a guy who at first seems like a weird, equally bland retread of Makoto from the original would end up being one of the franchise’s most famous characters? But it’s super easy to see why - when he shows his true colors it is bone-chilling, and the creepiness factor that Nagito brings with him only keeps on growing from there, as he shows how far he’s willing to go in order to create despair just so that hope can triumph over it. The story of DR2 would not nearly work as well as it does without Nagito in the role of the arch-antagonist for the other characters, all while he develops as a character too in a deliciously negative way which ends up culminating in what is probably the best class trial in the series.

5. Celestia Ludenburg

In a mystery-solving game like Danganronpa, Celestia honestly stands out as one of the most complex characters because she herself is a mystery. The game doesn’t really spell out her backstory, motivations or character arc given that as the Queen of Lies she has to keep a poker face about all that, but does allow the player to decipher it by themselves. While those unwilling to indulge their minds write her off as “crazy evil gambler lady who just wants money in order to become a vampire queen”, the people who pay attention to everything she says and does across the game (including / especially in her FTEs) can separate the truth from the lies and uncover the sad, pitiful reality of the character, a reality that haunts her all the way to her final moments. Call her Celeste or call her Taeko, that kind of depth deserves respect.

4. Gundham Tanaka

That’s right, my favorite DR2 character isn’t Monomi or Fuyuhiko or Chiaki or even Nagito - it’s GUNDHAM TANAKA! This man is a fucking legend, with Chris Tergliafera’s voice-acting perfectly capturing how endearing he is with his persistent delusions of villainous grandeur. But as funny as Gundham may be, he ends up not being a purely comic relief figure, playing a serious, emotional and noble role at the end of his run that gets me and many other players choked up. He may play at being evil, but in actuality Gundham is too good for this Earth.

3. Junko Enoshima

Do I need to explain myself here? It’s Junko fucking Enoshima! One of the most unique Big Bads in recent video game history! From the fact that the ultimate evil is a teen fashionista to the bizarre way she keeps changing her personality just to keep from getting bored to her ungodly despair fetish that has no rational basis for existing but simply does, Junko is less like a human being and more like a force of nature: gleeful, nihilistic despair incarnate. And though it’s true that she wore out her welcome past DR2, in her prime she is magnificent.

2. Kyoko Kirigiri

As far as I’m concerned, Kyoko Kirigiri is the real main character of the original Danganronpa. Makoto is just the POV character; the Watson to her Holmes. And what a character she is; truly one of the greatest female detectives in all of fiction. What I love best about Kyoko is what a unique take on the Emotionless Girl / Ice Queen trope she is. It’s made clear quite frequently that she isn’t really emotionless and that she’s just really good at masking her feelings as a necessary part of her job, and that this doesn’t stop her from being a kind and compassionate person toward others in her own straight-faced way. The narrative doesn’t condemn her for the way she is and she doesn’t have to change it either; what she has to change is her distrust toward others and reluctance to rely on friends, plus her hypocrisy regarding that and her personal goal vs. everyone else’s. It makes her such a rich, nuanced character and I love her for it (fuck the Danganronpa 3 anime though, it did her so dirty).

1. Monokuma

I think I’ll just conclude this post with a screencap:

#Dangan Ronpa #Opinion #Analysis #Comparison

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commentaryvorg · 4 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 6.7

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time in trial 6, Tsumugi was very clearly just cosplaying Junko despite no-one properly figuring this out for ages, Danganronpa trivia was really not necessary to prove everyone’s memories are fake, Tsumugi kept insisting that Shuichi called this trial because of her backstory when really it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with Kaito, Maki was very distressed to learn even more how she was just being controlled and manipulated like always, Tsumugi was a literal fucking shapeshifter, everyone was more upset than they should have been over Hope’s Peak being fictional for something they’d only known about for two days, but at least that meant that the outside world was…

Well… about that.

Monokuma: “Puhuhu… Forget about the world. It wants nothing to do with you.”

Oh boy. It sure doesn’t, even though it should. Here we fucking go.

…Does anyone have any idea what “kumafarre”, the word plastered all over the trial background from this point on, is meant to mean? Because that’s always stumped me. It has to mean something for them to have put it there. Kuma is bear, obviously, but “farre” can’t be Japanese, so… ???

“first!”

Pfft, of course that’d be the first message to show up. But it also proves that everyone in the audience can see their messages showing up here, so they should know that the characters can see what they’re saying.

“Bring on the spoilers!”

How does this even make sense? You can’t have spoilers for a reality show that’s happening live. The only possible spoiler is who the blackened is during a trial, but we’re way past that now.

“Kyoko is my waifu.”

“Sakura is my muscle waifu.”

“Chiaki #1 waifu”

Ugghh waifu culture. And also, I told you everyone was a bunch of genwunners in this audience! No-one mentions anything like this for any character outside of DR1 or 2. And yeah, obviously seasons past 3 don’t exist in the out-universe, but the out-universe writers could totally have just thrown in some random names we’ve never heard and expect us to assume that they’re talking about unknown characters from other seasons. Fifty other goddamn seasons they could be choosing from! But nope, it’s all gotta be mostly season one with some two, that’s all that counts.

“My husbando Shuichi!!!”

And of course Shuichi gets that shitty treatment too, even though he’s a real goddamn person who never asked to be famous and nobody is entitled to anything from him.

“Wow, Himiko is still alive…”

Seriously, that’s the first thing someone wants to say when their messages are getting displayed in a place where Himiko can see it? Lovely.

“Viewers get to participate now!”

“I feel like I’m participating, too!”

At least these couple of people are currently being fairly reasonable – they’re just excited to be a part of it in some way!

…The first two characters Tsumugi cosplays after this moment are Kyoko and then Sakura, and then Chiaki pretty soon after that. She’s pandering to those people whose messages she saw, isn’t she.

“Sakura”: “Of course, those you see here are only a fraction of our total viewers.”

I. Should. Sincerely. Hope. So. Because that’s the only thing that makes this even remotely believable – the idea that the majority of the fanbase are somewhat more decent human beings than this (you know, aside from the watching real people kill each other thing) and we’re just seeing the vocal asshole minority right now.

…That’s really not what the narrative is going to be going for with this, though. If they actually wanted us to think that this audience we see is just the asshole minority and everyone else is more decent, this topic should get addressed in more than just this one throwaway line, and it is not. So probably the only actual reason this line is here is to establish that the number of viewers is way higher than suggested by just these commenters, and not that the attitude of the rest of them is significantly different.

“I believe in Keebs.”

This is a little early hint to the Keebo deal, since a lot of the audience should be thinking about him the most.

“You can do it, Shuichi!”

I like this person! This person is the most decent and realistic person we’ve heard from so far! Yeah, cheer on Shuichi just like I’ve been doing throughout this commentary! They care about him and want him to succeed! It is of course more twisted in this person’s case because he’s not actually fictional, and becomes even more so now that Shuichi can actually hear them and any pretense that he’s just fictional can’t be maintained, but at least this is otherwise a realistic and relatable response to this.

Shuichi: “W-Wait, why would a peaceful world need a killing game like th—”

“Taka”: “It’s *because* the world is so peaceful that this killing game is necessary!”

“Celeste”: “It is so very peaceful… And so, it is so very boring.”

“Kyoko”: “With so much peace, people have become bored. They need stimulation…”

That’s… kinda bullshit. First Shuichi’s assumption that only a world full of strife could possibly create a reason for a killing game, but then also the idea that peace would make people bored. Humans don’t start wars for entertainment, you know. World peace should be the least boring thing for humanity, because without having to spend so much effort on survival and equality, everyone would have more energy left to make all kinds of technology and art, including entertainment which should not have to involve killing real people to be entertaining!

To be fair, Tsumugi is probably exaggerating somewhat, given that she’s part of Team Danganronpa and is trying to sell the idea that her product is so necessary for the world. But it would seem that we are in a world where one way or another it’s become socially accepted to watch real people kill each other for entertainment… which doesn’t seem like a peaceful utopia at all, really.

“Chiaki”: “Every person in the outside world watching this is a huge Danganronpa fan.”

We get a demonstrative image of people all over the world apparently excitedly watching Danganronpa, most of whom are vague and faceless. If it were just them then it could be possible to imagine that Tsumugi is lying and this is just a hypothetical image of what she’s talking about rather than the truth. But… Makoto’s also there. The kid that we, the out-universe audience, very definitely saw at the beginning of the chapter in a context that had no connection to Tsumugi and no reason to be a lie. Which gives this image a lot of credibility.

(And if this is the truth, again, it really doesn’t look like it’s a shady hidden thing only accessed on the darkest corners of the internet.)

I will say one thing in this world’s favour. I’m not remotely trying to defend the part where they watch real people kill each other, but Danganronpa really must be hugely popular among absolutely everyone for this to have somehow ended up not extremely illegal. Which means, given the fact that the audience are basically telling themselves it’s fiction and treating it as such, this is also a world in which it’s socially accepted, not just in niche geek subcultures but in mainstream culture, to get really excited by and invested in fiction. If you took all the awful murderiness out of it and made sure it was all actual fiction, man I’d love to live in that kind of world. As it is, in our world, only children are really socially expected to get super-excited about fictional stories all the time, like it’s something people are meant to grow out of as adults. Among adults, only very few extremely mainstream fictions get even close to that kind of widely-accepted level of importance in people’s lives. Which is disappointing to me.

“Chiaki”: “This killing game is for everyone… So it’s everyone’s killing school semester.”

That’s the Japanese subtitle of this game, which actually turns out to be very meaningful! The general sense of it she’s talking about here would have applied to every season up until now, but there’s also the more specific sense that this season in particular has audience participation, which is apparently the first time it’s happened, making it even more “everyone’s” than before.

And the localisers just decided to nope on that subtitle and change it to the meaningless “Killing Harmony”, which is honestly a shame. Maybe the Japanese subtitle is a bit too long and too much of a mouthful for western standards, but they could have at least changed it to something which kept that relevance.

“Killing Harmony! I just got it! LOL”

Haha, no, that doooeees not work in the localisation.

“I’ve waited three years for this.”

“I thought the franchise was done.”

Huh, this is some juicy info. It’s taken three years since season 52, long enough that some people thought there wasn’t going to be another one? (And a lot of the rest of the chatter at this point is people applauding, perhaps being happy that they got another season.) That… suggests that Danganronpa might have been already on its last legs even before what happens in this trial comes and puts the lid on it all, which maybe makes things a little more believable. That’d also potentially explain why this is the first time they tried the Keebo gimmick, if they were trying to keep things fresh after worrying people would be getting bored of the same old thing.

Also, even if it’s usually less than three years between games, you’ve still got to imagine it’d be at least one year or so, which means it’s been over half a century since the Danganronpa franchise began. A lot of people who worked on it while it was still pure fiction wouldn’t even be alive anymore at this point.

Plus, geez, how long did they keep Rantaro in limbo between games? Was he allowed to live a relatively normal life for the time being while knowing that if they ever did get around to a season 53, he’d be forced into it, meaning he lived dreading that day and desperately hoping it’d never come? Ouch, poor Rantaro. Or possibly they do in fact have real cold sleep technology in this universe and they just stuffed him in one of those for three years.

“Shuichi, look this way! <3”

That’s… rather entitled but also kind of believable as something someone might do, since it seems like a lot of the audience have forgotten that these characters don’t just exist to perform for them.

“Get to the punishment already!”

Aaaand here’s someone who’s barely a believable person. Do the audience really just watch this to see people be horribly executed, rather than for all the character drama that happens in between those parts?

The opening theme music for this game starts playing… and apparently this is being played in-universe, based on the fact that Maki reacts to it.

Maki: “What is this…?”

“Fuyuhiko”: “Can’t you tell? It’s the title of the current Danganronpa you guys are doing.”

God, that has to be incredibly disturbing and wrong, being told that you’re hearing the theme music for you and your friends’ suffering and death… and it’s just this chill jazz tune, of all things. This probably hammered home more than anything else the awful sense that all of their struggles have just been entertainment.

“Chihiro”: “Danganronpa’s gone on so long because the whole world enjoys and supports it.”

No mention of the fact that apparently some people thought there wouldn’t even be a season 53? Of course not, Tsumugi wouldn’t want to admit that the franchise might be on its last legs.

“Makoto”: “What season do you think we’re on? You should be able to tell from the logo.”

So she claims. But you know what I thought when I first heard her say this? Since I already figured it was probably season 53 from Junko the 53rd, I thought the clue in the logo was the negative space between the V and the 3.

It’s actually kinda shaped like a 5 if you look at it that way! But nope, that’d make way more sense that what it’s actually supposed to be.

(I bet Shuichi figured it out from the Junko hint and not the logo, too.)

“V is the Roman numeral for 5.”

*deep breath*

That is not how Roman numerals work!!! In Arabic numerals, “5” can mean five, or fifty, or five hundred, etc, depending on its position within the number. But Roman numerals do not work like that! “V” only ever means five, and its position in the number does not change that. V3 cannot possibly mean fifty-three. It’s combining two number systems that work completely differently and do not make any sense being combined, but if one were to try and make a number out of it, it’d simply mean “five-three”, separately. Or maybe you’d add them together, so it’d mean eight.

In Roman numerals, fifty is denoted with an “L”. To actually get fifty-three in any vaguely sensible way by combining Roman and Arabic numerals, it’d be L3. Or, heck, why don’t we write the whole thing in Roman numerals? Then it’s LIII. Which just so happens to look and sound very similar to the English word “lie”. If the Japanese writers of this game wanted to do a clever little number/letter trick, why didn’t they go for that? It would have been great! Or they could call it L3 but make the negative space between the L and the 3 look kind of like an I somehow, so that “LI3” almost looks like “lie” as well. Missed freaking opportunity there, guys. Instead it’s just very apparent that nobody in Spike Chunsoft (or Team Danganronpa, for that matter) has any idea how Roman numerals work.

“Danganronpa 25 was the best.”

Shout-outs to this person. They’re the only person we ever see here who mentions any series other than 1, 2 or the one they’re currently watching. Props to them for knowing what their favourite season is and sticking to their guns in a sea of people who disregard every new season that comes along as soon as it’s not current any more in favour of obsessing over the first ones like they’re the only ones that matter. Season 25 probably was genuinely one of the best ones if it has a dedicated fan like this. You go, random person. I feel you.

“This is my first Danganronpa.”

Huh, so despite how much Tsumugi is trying to make us think everyone is obsessed with it, there have to still be at least a few people who don’t get what all the hype is about, if this person only just decided to check it out for this season.

(Clearly there hasn’t been a large enough proportion of these uninterested people who are upset about the whole killing-real-people thing to be able to put a stop to it before now, though. Even if it’s not their thing, if the rest of the world’s okay with it then it must be fine, right???)

“I love Shuichi <3”

Yes, thanks, we’re getting that impression. This is probably the same person from before, who still feels the need to mention this while everyone else is talking about this being season 53.

Monokuma: “The seasons just kept coming, and with it came more killing games… Until it transcended games and anime to become this, the Ultimate Real Fiction…”

They gloss over this quite quickly, but it is important to note that yes, the earlier seasons really were just fiction in this universe like they were in ours. They’re not trying to retcon that the Hope’s Peak killing games were actually only happening for entertainment thanks to Flashback Lights and fabricated backstory. DR1 and 2 were completely fictional in this universe, which means that nothing happening here matters to or compromises that storyline at all.

After all, it does make sense that Danganronpa would need to have worldwide popularity already before society collectively decided that doing this with real people (but definitely not really real people, right) would be totally okay. It’s unclear exactly when the transition to “real fiction” happened, although Shuichi and Maki’s comments on the files in his lab kind of made me assume that there were more real ones than fictional ones. So… I was just shouting out season 25, but that one probably involved real people being killed, too.

“Leon”: “What, did the letter in there throw you off? Well, I guess that happens. But isn’t it just rad how it looks like a letter, but it’s really a number!?”

I am way too amused at how they made it be specifically Leon, mister 11037 himself, who mentions this point. Nice one, guys. Nice.

“Sonia”: “Since this is the 53rd season, one would expect to see a multitude of characters…”

Tsumugi: “But you only have memories from the first two, so you wouldn’t recognize any others.”

They shouldn’t even recognise the ones from season two, like I’ve been saying! But she’s been cosplaying them anyway. So it’s probably a lot less about keeping them recognisable for the students here and more just about pandering to those genwunners and twoers outside.

(Obviously there’s a very good out-universe reason for this, but, you know.)

Tsumugi: “So yes, I’m the mastermind! But the *real* mastermind forcing you to do this is… the people of the outside world!”

Way to deflect your responsibility, Tsumugi! Yes, everyone outside is also partially responsible by demanding this and giving it an audience, but you’re still the one who made it all happen and got everyone killed!

The audience starts chattering about how they’re the mastermind, but it’s in a way that sounds happy about it, like they’re just excited to be part of the story. They don’t seem to register the fact that, hey, maybe being literally actually responsible for the suffering and death of the characters they’ve been watching and caring about isn’t actually a good thing.

“Mmm… Shuichi’s nose <3”

Meanwhile Shuichi’s “fan” here still has a one-track mind and is getting increasingly creepy. I refuse to believe that this is the same person who was cheering Shuichi on earlier, since that person actually cared about him and didn’t only shallowly see him as eye-candy.

“put Maki back on kthx”

Also apparently Maki has “fans” too. But hers probably aren’t the good kind either.

“Mikan”: “The ones managing this killing game aren’t psychos like the Remnants of Despair…”

“Ibuki”: “They’re literal managers! Literally!”

Just because they’re managers, that doesn’t stop them from being shitty, evil people on par with the Remnants of Despair in terms of awfulness. They are quite evidently both.

Tsumugi: “So I want to hear your best guess. What company is running this show?”

…

Shuichi: “…Team Danganronpa?”

I love how Shuichi’s tone of voice makes it clear that he’s just pulling this name out of thin air. How is he supposed to know? Conveniently, Team Danganronpa were apparently just really uncreative when it came to naming themselves. (I guess this is realistic enough, though – our world does have The Pokémon Company, which makes Pokémon.)

We – and therefore presumably the students and the in-universe audience – get shown the opening movie that was right at the beginning when you start a new file, the one that summarised seasons 1, 2 and 3 and then implied this one would be a continuation of it. Which still doesn’t actually make any in-universe sense, since all the evidence other than this clearly points towards Hope’s Peak having not being part of this game’s backstory until Tsumugi improvised it in chapter 5. Maybe this was a promo video Team Danganronpa then hastily slapped together after that point to try and act like they totally had this planned all along?

The only difference from before (because it would have been a huuuuge spoiler to see this last time) is that we also see the supposed logos of every Danganronpa season up to 53. 4 through 10 are clearly the out-universe writers having a field day referencing other works of fiction, but then 11 through 52 are all exactly the same logo with only the number being different. Yeah, that’s not how it actually was, is it. The out-universe writers just didn’t want to take the time to make that many unique logos for a split-second each of screentime. (And, fair enough.)

We then get shown a collage of what appears to be basically all of the illustrations in this game. Which you’d think shouldn’t actually exist in-universe, because the audience’s camera is supposed to be Keebo’s eyes, and he wasn’t there for half of this stuff! So this strongly suggests that despite what Tsumugi’s going to claim about that later, the audience could also watch the game through the Nanokumas’ footage instead and potentially saw all the same scenes that we saw that way.

…Makoto is on there, though. He definitely should not be. The out-universe writers didn’t catch that, I guess.

Shuichi: “Shut up… Shut up!”

Yeeeaaah, I don’t blame Shuichi for this. Tsumugi and Monokuma and the audience have been blabbering on for quite a while now, barely letting him and his friends get a word in edgeways while treating them like objects for their amusement. That has to be awful.

And even aside from Shuichi’s feelings about it, the way the audience has been suddenly babbling excitedly about Danganronpa in general to the point of almost completely ignoring the characters who are in this actual story they’re supposed to be invested in is pretty shallow of them. That’s already a sign of how unrealistically awful an audience they’re going to keep showing themselves to be.

Shuichi: “No matter how many false memories we’ve been implanted with, *we* aren’t fictional!”

This line is here as a setup for the big reveal, of course, but even so… he’s right. Just because literally all of their memories from before this killing game are fake, it doesn’t change that they’ve been real people from the moment they got all of those memories.

Shuichi: (Who… are we…?) “We… are real! We’re living, breathing human beings!”

“Nekomaru”: “No! You’re just like MEEEEEE!!!”

I made Shuichi answer this incorrectly at first because I really feel like he would want to assert this… and he’s still not wrong! They are very definitely living and breathing right now, nobody can deny that!

“Makoto”: “You’re just fictional characters created solely for this killing game.”

“Teruteru”: “Nothin’ we can do about it, I’m afraid. Danganronpa’s that kinda property.”

I’m sure it’s much less some intellectual property dispute and more the idea that everyone might have slightly more issue with actual real people from the outside world being killed in this. It’s totally fine if they were created solely for the killing game, though, because then they’re not real and only exist to die here, right?

And honestly… that does make all the deaths in this game come across as just slightly less awful and tragic, in that context. Not because they aren’t still extremely real people who very much did not deserve to suffer and die, but, since they were created to die, anyone managing to survive and escape despite that feels like even more of a victory than in the previous games. It’s less Monokuma killing a bunch of people who were never meant to die, and more Shuichi managing to save at least a small handful of people who were never meant to live.

“Gundham”: “Your immaterial existence is a fabrication, independent of your actual flesh and blood.”

To translate the Gundham-ese: their “souls” were created separately from their bodies. Kind of like how they were discussing when going into the Virtual World how odd it is that the two can be separated like that.

Tsumugi: “Yep, you’re all fictional.”

“Ibuki”: “You guys out there beyond the fourth wall already knew that, right!?”

I like how this works as simultaneously talking to the people beyond both fourth walls at once, while not actually breaking the real one. (Though the people beyond the in-universe fourth wall are only telling themselves these guys are fictional and aren’t actually right.)

Tsumugi: “You all didn’t look like this when you first came to the Ultimate Academy… Those were your true selves. Now you’re all just fictional characters. That’s the truth.”

Shuichi: (That’s the truth? Then… our real identities…)

Don’t get caught up in her manipulation, Shuichi! You are not any less “real” just because different people used to inhabit your bodies!

Tsumugi goes on to talk about when they first arrived at the school as their pregame selves before they got their outfits and memories. And again, we saw this. It is quite ridiculous to assume we saw an entire lengthy section in the prologue which just straight-up didn’t happen. The game has lied to us, but only with very small lies of omission (re: Kaede’s inner monologue). If the game was willing to lie to us about entire sections we played through, we couldn’t trust anything. We couldn’t even trust if this trial we’re playing is really happening right now, or if anything we saw really happened, which would render this entire story meaningless.

“Byakuya”: “But boring, everyday characters have no right to be in Danganronpa…”

Honestly, why, though? Sure, the talents are supposed to be a Danganronpa thing, but you could totally do a killing game with ordinary people. It might make for an interesting change, especially after 53 seasons.

“Peko”: “Which means your Ultimate talents are all just fiction.”

They may have come from fake memories, but they have those talents now. Nobody can deny that Shuichi’s been a pretty great detective.

Maki: “Our talents as well…?”

Maki Roll, you never killed anyone, and you’ll never have to! This is great news for you!

…I bet if Kaito were still here, he’d immediately turn to her with a big grin and tell her that. Encouraging and being happy for the sidekick with a bright side to this would be way more important than however he might be feeling about this revelation in respect to his own talent.

Maki doesn’t react here with anything other than shock and disbelief, though, so I don’t know if this quite sinks in for her yet. It’s probably very hard for her to accept that she suddenly doesn’t deserve to feel guilty about anything. After all, this won’t diminish the effect Maki’s memories have on her and that she’s going to have to live with feeling like she’s killed countless people for the rest of her life. But knowing that nobody real actually died because of her has got to help a lot. I’m sure that’ll sink in eventually, once she’s had more time to think about it without the trial getting in the way.

“Chiaki”: “I mean, they suited you to a certain extent, but mostly in a placebo effect sorta way. Kinda like a form of autosuggestion… You know, like if you do it, it’ll all work out.”

We’ve seen Flashback Lights do plenty of things that aren’t just straight-up remembering stuff: brainwashing everyone to be filled with meaningless “hope” and a sense of the completely wrong meanings of the words “hope” and “despair” in chapter 5? Brainwashing Shuichi into suddenly being a creepy pervert for that optional scene in chapter 3? Kaito’s phobia of ghosts leading him to feel anxious and nauseous upon simply thinking about a certain irrational stimulus? So, given that, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine they can do this kind of thing too. Heck, most of the talents in this game are things that only require knowledge, and perhaps a certain kind of personality, something Flashback Lights can very evidently do. Some also require muscle memory, which is a bit more of a stretch, but it’s still memory.

The hardest one to buy for me is probably Angie’s talent. There’s some muscle memory and some knowledge involved, but a lot of what makes someone good at art is more intangible and hard to define and might be difficult to encapsulate in a Flashback Light. However, Angie was unique in that she explicitly did not remember creating her art, because Atua was supposedly possessing her, and she had to be alone for that to happen. That’s how she made the waxworks. So it’s possible that what was actually happening was some kind of hypnotic trigger making her pass out when she thinks she’s about to create something, and then the gamemakers put pre-created waxworks in her lab. Remember how Angie made four waxworks without having intended to? Almost as if the gamemakers weren’t sure who she’d choose for the ritual and just made all four in advance. …And, okay, admittedly it’s very unclear how anyone could have got inside the school to put the waxworks there, which is the same question as how a hypothetical clone-with-a-Flashback-Light would have got in for the resurrection thing if that was going to be possible. But there’s something there. (Can you tell I hadn’t thought of this idea until after the commentary for chapter 3 had gone up and so I’m awkwardly fitting it in here instead.)

And ultimately, if the characters being “fictional” is the point of this story the out-universe writers decided to tell, then that always had to include fictional talents as well, since Danganronpa insists on having all its characters be Ultimates. So Flashback Lights have to be able to do this, even if it’s a little bit of a stretch to believe, because it’s just necessary for the premise to work.

It’s a lot like how we had to buy that the Exisal randomly had a voice changer that could perfectly mimic any student’s voice, simply because that was vital for the fifth trial’s premise and that story wouldn’t work if it didn’t. We can’t just use the fact that it was somewhat unrealistic of the Exisal to have a voice changer as any kind of evidence to propose that it actually didn’t.

Another example: I once saw a blind LP of the first Danganronpa game where it got to the memory wipe reveal and Junko handwaved how memory-wipe technology worked. And the LPer was all “Um, no, how is memory wiping even possible? I think it’s pretty important to establish this, actually!”, like he was using the fact that he didn’t understand how to question whether it had even happened at all. But that was missing the point; explaining the technology really wasn’t all that important. The existence of memory-wiping technology was just a necessary part of that story that had to be accepted, because if memory wipes weren’t possible then that story couldn’t have happened. This story is the same, except with Flashback Lights and the multitude of things that they need to be able to do to make this story work. At least in this case, Flashback Lights and some of the things they can do are well-established already, which is better setup than the memory-wipe technology had in DR1.

Tsumugi: “Can you really say you’re not fictional now?”

Yes! Yes, they can and should say that!

“Hajime”: “Even if your body is real, your identities, personalities, talents and past are all fiction.”

Past, sure. Identities… maybe? At least if we’re just talking about legal identity? But their talents are quite evidently still talents now, as I’ve just been saying, and their personalities are also something they’re expressing right here and now. Even if they were deliberately crafted and created to be that way, it doesn’t mean those personalities aren’t now real. You can only call a personality “fake” if that person is knowingly putting on a façade and pretending to be someone they’re not. So the only fictional personality we ever saw was Kokichi’s supposed love for this killing game. …Oh, and Tsumugi’s, of course.

Also, hi, Hajime. It’s fitting that she’d choose him for this. If we’re supposed to believe that Izuru got shoved full of every single talent imaginable by them doing weird brain stuff to him, it’s perfectly reasonable to also believe Flashback Lights could do something similar on a lesser scale. And Izuru’s entire existence was created from that process, but that didn’t make him any less “real” of a person than Hajime was. If anything, it made him more real at that point, because he’d overwritten Hajime completely (at least until the simulation). It’s honestly a very similar thing. Maybe Hajime’s story partially inspired the idea for this game.

Shuichi: “…”

Unfortunately… this seems to be working on Shuichi.

…You want to know what Tsumugi ought to think of as the real reason she killed Kaito? Not to have his death inspire Shuichi to become even stronger. That would still be happening anyway if Kaito were still by his side encouraging him; all that was needed for that final push was for Kaito to admit that Shuichi’s even more of a hero than him and tell him that. The real reason for his death should have been because Kaito would completely annihilate what Tsumugi is trying to do here.

Because the only thing that matters is what you want to believe! Tsumugi is trying to argue that their pasts being fabricated means that they don’t count as “real” people, but who even cares about that? They believe they’re real, and have always believed that, and still want to believe that, so why should anything else matter? Someone like Kaito who puts such value in belief and has such strong, unbreakable convictions about being true to himself wouldn’t be listening to any of this crap. He’d be shaken to learn his memories are all fake and that his grandparents and fellow astronaut trainees don’t exist, sure, but it wouldn’t even scratch his belief in who he is. He’s Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! Who cares if he’s only this way because someone else wanted him to be, it’s still who he wants to be, so it’s who he’s going to keep being, dammit! And, of course, upon seeing that his sidekicks are having trouble with this idea and are starting to doubt if they’re really real, he’d give them just the pep talk they’d need to keep believing in themselves and their own existences.

Kaito is exactly the kind of person who would be able to blow this whole trial out of the water, and nerfing him enough to prevent him from doing that required nothing less than him not being alive any more.

(Meanwhile, if Kokichi were still alive at this point, he’d be his usual infuriating self. “Oh, you guys are only just figuring this out now?”)

Also, if Kaito were still alive in this trial and ultimately ended up surviving and escaping while having learned that his memories are fake and he was never actually an astronaut trainee… you know that would not stop him from striding up to JAXA’s front door and being all “Let me take the astronaut exam, sure you already know I’m too young but you’ve also seen I’ve got exactly what it takes”.

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[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 6 #class trial #commentary

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melancholyoftruth · 6 years

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If Kaede was part of the Maki/Shuichi/Kaito Dynamic

Source

So as a person who’s still a bit frustrated over Kaede getting killed so early here’s what I think the Kaito/Shuichi/Maki dynamic would be like if Kaede were alive.

Warning: This is really long because I got inspired lol

Since in the beginning of Chapter 1, Kaito and Shuichi were already gravitating toward Kaede due to her leadership qualities. So they would form a trio right after Chapter 1. Chapter 2 would have us see the dynamic between the three of them like Kaito/Shuichi in the original game. Then Maki would get added into the mix when Kaito tries to get her to join their group.

Kaede would be wary of her due to her being an assassin. Kaito would keep trying to convince her to give her a chance so then she tries to be open and friendly to her like Kaito. She realizes how she’s not bloodthristy but just put under unfortunate circumstances. I noticed Maki was able to open up her defenses to befriend Kaito due to his friendly nature. Since Kaede is outgoing and friendly as well, I feel like once Kaede understands and trusts her, Maki would like her a lot. I always liked the idea that they would parallel Kaito and Shuichi as “best friends”. Kaede playing with her hair and other events in the game that show them bonding.

Kaito and Kaede would be the positive energy in the group that keeps Maki and Shuichi’s heads high. I would imagine they would just get along right away and Kaito would help her with leading and inspiring others. They would have that type of dynamic that would have more playful teasing and lots of small talk due to them being more outgoing.

Shuichi and Kaede would have a similar dynamic to Hajime/Chiaki and Makoto/Kyoko. He would act as the partner to our main protagonist and help her whenever she’s down and support her. Kaede would encourage Shuichi and help him with his confidence by having him help her with leadership, investigations, ect. They would still have the same cute relationship that would slowly develop into a romance (Saimatsu shippers rejoice xD) They would be a team that would stand by each other and have more development in their relationship than what we got originally.

One of the things I felt was off about the trio in the game was that it felt unbalanced. Both Maki and Shuichi depend on Kaito a lot and he’s the one that holds the group together. Maki and Shuichi are friends to a certain degree but they don’t mix as well together due to Shuichi being a bit of a pushover and Maki being more harsh. I like the possibilities of this relationship but it doesn’t feel like they would try to keep the friendship if it wasn’t for Kaito. Maybe Maki and Shuichi’s relationship would be better if they met and got to know each other on their own terms. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they hate each other.

What I’m saying is that Kaede would bring balance to the trio. She would be the friend that would bring the peace in a disagreement, but is not afraid to call out people.

So this leads to the drama in Chapter 4 and 5. When Maki and Kaito stand against Shuichi’s actions in the fourth trial. Kaede would stand by him and be more understanding to why he did that. She would get even though it was cruel, he did it to save everyone. Kaito and Maki would feel betrayed by this because it would look like she’s siding with Ouma’s views in their eyes. Maki would be hurt because someone she considered to be one of her closest friends decides to stand against her. Kaito would be shocked because he believed she would always believe in people like him. Then Maki would harshly accuse Kaede that she stands by Shuichi because she has a crush on him, and in frustration Kaede would accuse the same thing with her with Kaito. Overall both girls would start to yell each other and Shuichi and Kaito would have to break them up. Then the group splits up for a while.

What leads to this climax of the everyone’s friendships here is the connection to Ouma and his views and the lack of understanding. Maki hasn’t had friends in so long and when you take someone who’s been a ruthless and unemotional killer for so long, they say harsh things and don’t consider people’s feelings. Kaito and Maki dislike Ouma, but I believe Kaede would try to bond with him and understand him. Maki, Kaito, and Shuichi would disagree (well less for Shuichi) but they wouldn’t care much at first. As Ouma acts more antagonistic toward everyone, Kaito and Maki would argue with Kaede’s attempts of friendship with Ouma. When Shuichi sides with him in the fourth trial and then Kaede agrees with him, it puts a dent on the group’s friendship. Kaito and Maki wouldn’t understand due to Kaito’s stubbornness and Maki’s lack of empathy (because of that I feel like that’s why she sides with someone she’s closer to over undersanding everyone’s feelings- Kaito). So when someone she’s attached to, like Kaede stands against her she feels betrayed and says stupid and petty things in anger due to her fear and frustration of losing a friend like she lost in the orphanage.

This is what I felt like would have made Maki trying to kill Ouma have much more reason and impact to it. Her believing he’s the mastermind would be an excuse for her to take him down. Her anger at him kidnapping Kaito, having Shuichi and Kaede stand against her, and overall breaking up her only group of friends in her eyes would build up to this.

The same events would happen, Kaito kills Ouma and tries intact his plan and the others would try to save him. Kaede and Shuichi would make up with Kaito at the window before shit goes down.

During the trial, Kaede would be furious with Maki when she intentionally lied to get everyone killed. Maki would try to act like she doesn’t care but would be hurt inside. At the end of the trial, Kaede would slap Maki for her actions (trying to kill Ouma and lying to cause their deaths). Maki would simply be silent and realizing her mistakes and feel immense guilt. Kaito would yell at Kaede to not be too harsh on her. He would tell Kaede privately that Maki just needs guidance and a good friend to help her sort herself out and that he trusts Kaede and Shuichi to do that for him. Kaede would take his words to heart and would be sad as everyone else after his death. Maki would apologize to everyone for her brash actions and everyone would forgive her. Kaede would make her promise to never try to kill again and both girls would forgive each other. Kaede would try to look after Maki, like Kaito. She would help her love herself and sort out her insecurities with Shuichi.

Sorry those last parts ended up focusing a lot on Kaede and Maki but it makes sense because we never see their dynamic. I feel like Kaede would have added a lot to Maki’s character as someone who would stand up to her but also be a friend to her. Maki having other close relationships besides Kaito is what I felt like would have helped her develop more into a stronger and independent person after all the trauma in her life and in the school. I love her relationship with Kaito but I did find it unhealthy that she just focused on him.

Fun fact: Some ideas for Maki/Kaede came from the fanfic “I’d Trade My Life for Your’s” (HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO READ). I wanted to state that having the four of them keeps a balance. Without Shuichi in the story, all hell broke loose for Kaede and Maki’s relationship. There wasn’t a trio for Kaito to get Maki into (I’m guessing cause he didn’t befriend Kaede the same way as Shuichi) so she was only able to befriend him. This caused a REALLY unhealthy attachment for Kaito and hatred for everyone else. She kinda turned into the Togami/Komaeda/Ouma in the story. It shows how Maki’s flaws can lead her down a darker path if things went differently. Seeing Maki and Kaede become enemies in the story made me want to see them as friends somewhere (so this happened lol)

With Kaito, I feel Kaede would have a similar dynamic to him and Shuichi but it’s Kaito wanting to be her sidekick due to the confidence she has. They would develop a close friendship through him helping her, but would always be concerned for her when she tried to befriend Ouma. (idk where to put this. I feel like all of this was already messy lol)

So yeah I feel like Kaede would have added so much to the trio if she was there. This adds to my fuel for my wishes for Kaede being alive. I hope for those who made it this far enjoyed my thoughts. If there are any opinions or anything please share. I hope I was accurate with the characters cause it’s been a while since I played the game xD

I swear I really should make Danganronpa fanfics haha.

#shuichi saihara #kaede akamatsu #maki harukawa #kaito momota #saimatsu #saiaka #momoharu #kaimaki #harukaito #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #new danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #spoilers #headcanons #ideal mystery gang

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hopeymchope · 7 years

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Add Salt to Haterade - A Naegiri One-Shot - Danganronpa Fanfic

Sometimes, writing fanfic can serve as another form of venting.

I hope you guys enjoy this. It runs longer than usual for these one-shots.

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As soon as Makoto Naegi woke up that morning in his quarters on the Hope's Peak campus, he wondered what people were saying.

Just the day before, they went public and announced that the New Hope's Peak Academy would open its doors in the coming spring. Sure, various members of the Future Foundation had been working on the property for months now, but this was the first time anyone had spoken up about the reason for their presence and ongoing efforts.

They had called a press conference at the Tokyo Airport. It was the most secure location in the city, but attendance was still pretty low — plenty of reporters were hesitant to risk travel in the post-Tragedy world, opting instead to simply share information, videos, and audio obtained by an intrepid few. There were still verification measures in place, but unique individual coverage had become a lot less important.

In effect, that meant that rather than the news hitting the entire globe with shared immediacy on the same afternoon as the press conference, it had spread in a gradual, almost-viral fashion since shortly after the conference ended. He read shocked, confused, and even elated reactions on the Internet well into the night, but now that it was a fresh new day, he was hoping that more in-depth opinions had grown from the seeds of those knee-jerk reactions.

Heck, maybe people were even talking about it on TV.

With that on his mind, he crept out of bed and tried to quietly head for the kitchen so as not to wake Kyoko Kirigiri, who was still dozing beside him when he first awoke.

Makoto poured a glass of water in the kitchen and headed over to the couch wearing just his boxers and an undershirt. Flipping on the TV via its remote, he headed for a local Japanese channel and settled down on the far left side of the couch.

As he sat down, he placed the remote on the cushion to his right and sat his water on the end table to the left. On the screen, he saw a mass of protestors outside of the recently constructed perimeter wall of the campus. His expression immediately grew concerned.

"What the-?!" he muttered involuntarily. He cut himself off so he could better hear the words of the angry-looking bearded man who was standing in front of a microphone held by a nervous TV reporter.

"-faculty made up of the very people who caused this nightmare!"

The nervous-looking reporter moved the microphone to her own mouth and asked, "Are you really suggesting that the survivors of Junko Enoshima's killing game were actually responsible for the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History?"

She barely had time to move the microphone back before the man began his rapid-fire answer: "I am flat-out telling you that these so-called 'survivors' of the 78th class put on the whole goddamned show. They used their talents to bring the world to its knees, sent out their upperclassmen to wreak havoc, and then broadcasted a spectacular work of fiction to make themselves look like friggin' victims of their own sickening plan."

Makoto scowled at the TV. At first, he was surprised that the protesters weren't there to protest reopening the site of so much tragedy. Then he was merely disgusted by their actual inspiration.

Even though the female reporter was beginning to bravely question the bearded man's assertions, Makoto didn't want to stick around and hear the next response. He snatched up the remote and quickly changed the channel.

He flipped past a children's anime and then past a game show before landing on some kind of talk show or debate program. This one was currently focused on a panel of three seated around a long, curved counter as they debated. The one in the center was a man; the two on the outside were both female.

The middle-aged man at the center was wearing a suit, tie, and a pair of rounded glasses. He was just finishing his sentence: "-surprised that he'd want to return there, much less re-open the place."

The young woman on the far right chuckled ruefully. "Come on, now," she said bitterly. She pushed back her flowing black hair off of her shoulders and added, "Of course he'd do this."

"What do you mean?" asked the blonde Caucasian woman on the left. She was a bit older than the dark-haired female, but not by much. Her light hair was cut short, and her face scrunched as she asked her question.

"Just that it's perfectly in keeping with his character," the woman on the right answered, smirking. "Makoto Naegi has consistently acted like he's the untouchable idol of the world - someone who can do no wrong. Him re-opening Hope's Peak is the culmination of his sense of superiority.”

The blonde woman was shaking her head vigorously. She fired back, "How can you say that?! If anything, Naegi-kun appears to struggle with a lot of insecurity and doubt."

"He sure didn't act that way when he was dominating those 'class trials,'" the dark-haired woman scoffed. "Even when Kirigiri-san or Togami-kun were providing most of the legwork, he was still the one taking charge and steamrolling through everybody else." The lady folded her arms and went on, "The people around Naegi are bit players to him, and he sees himself as the star of the show. And really, why shouldn't he feel that way? After all, he is mysteriously blessed by some unknown force. Whether it's his 'luck' or whatever is up for debate, but he's managed to get through this entire Tragedy without enduring any serious losses. Most of us have lost family, friends, and maybe even everything we have. Yet Naegi is comfortably protected by his celebrity status, his sister is safe, the woman he loves is alive, and his entire worldview is never seriously questioned by either himself or anyone else in his circle of influence."

"But my friends? Parents... " Makoto mumbled softly, speaking to no one. He felt embarrassed at the realization that he was talking to a TV. He blinked a few times rapidly as he tried to fight the stinging sensation at the edge of his eyes.

He jumped slightly when he felt a hand gently grip his his right shoulder. He twisted around to see Kyoko Kirigiri standing behind him. She was standing behind the couch in her pajama pants and a purple tank top, looking a bit bleary-eyed. She offered him a sympathetic smile. He tried to smiled back, but could only do so weakly as he continued to listen to the TV.

"Now he gets to be in charge of the reborn Hope's Peak, where he can just erase all the deaths that happened there and build a new legacy in his own name. He not only doesn’t care about those deaths, he also believes he can do what many qualified educators already failed to do. Naegi is, in short, a Toxic Alpha Male in sheep's clothing," the woman finished.

Kyoko let go of Makoto's shoulder and stepped around the couch, sitting down slowly to his right. As she lowered herself, she reached down with her free hand and grabbed the TV remote, lightly tossing it onto the far right edge of the couch. At last, she sat down close enough to Makoto that the pants of her pajamas were leaned up against his exposed leg.

"To your point," the man interjected, "Naegi-kun did talk at great length in his conference speech about the — and this is a quote — 'unfathomable losses caused in large part by the old Hope's Peak's actions and policies.' He also revealed a large memorial to all of the Hope's Peak students who were killed during the tragedy, and when I say 'large,' I mean that it's taking up one-quarter of the central quad."

"Right, so I don't think it's fair to say that he's trying to 'erase all the deaths that happened there'," the blonde lady offered.

Kyoko nodded silently beside Makoto.

"Isn't he effectively erasing the accomplishments of others by taking leadership over them, though?" the woman on the right asserted. "Doesn't the fact that his position puts him in charge of the school mean that he ranks above even such intelligent people as Kirigiri-san, which thereby implies his sense of superiority over her? This, despite the fact that he wouldn't be alive at all without her help!"

Makoto and Kyoko both winced. Kyoko then picked up the TV remote from beside her. Makoto noticed her actions, however, and whispered, "Not yet."

Kyoko looked over to him for a moment. She was still holding the remote at the ready, and her face was etched with concern... but she acquiesced, leaving the program running.

"As you referenced earlier, the two of them are in a relationship," the man noted. "So I'm sure that Kirigiri-san has had more than ample opportunity to express her wishes to him. Why do you assume she didn't take that position by choice?" the man asked.

"Why would she?!" the woman on the right shot back. "She's obviously overqualified to be running school security or whatever she may be doing in there. I suppose she might be taking the lesser position just to placate Naegi, but... well, am I the only one who still has questions about the nature of their relationship?"

The blonde woman laughed a bit. "I admit, it is a strange coupling. I do hope she isn't just settling for him so she can continue the Kirigiri legacy A-S-A-P."

On the TV, the entire group laughed. Kyoko pushed the power button with an unnecessary amount of force, then threw the remote aside with a scowl.

After a deep breath, she looked over at Makoto, who appeared sullen. "Don't let it get to you," she advised in a hushed tone.

"How can it not?" Makoto pleaded, squeezing her hand in his. “Hell, it even got to you.”

“I don’t appreciate someone else explaining the supposed reasons why I’m doing anything,” Kyoko said grimly. She cocked her head slightly, regarding the TV. “Still... I’m already working to move past it.”

Makoto tried to nod, but his head wavered. His expression was pained, and his voice cracked as he said, "I've spent every moment since we woke up into this twisted world trying to do the right thing — to help people in any way I can and protect my friends." He paused to swallow away the lump in his throat and rub the tears from the edges of his eyes. "Now people think I'm this... this vile human being who's selfish, egotistical-"

"They're deeply, willfully uninformed," Kyoko interrupted, barely suppressing her anger. "These are the kind of claims that are easily proven wrong with even a shred of evidence. In fact, anyone who paid attention to you during the killing game or your public appearances for the Future Foundation knows precisely how mistaken they are."

Makoto looked away, thinking to himself for a few seconds before he half-whispered, "If I was like that, you'd tell me... r-right?"

Kyoko cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do I seem like someone who keeps her opinions to herself?" she cracked.

When he looked back at her again, he once more had tears in his eyes. "I'm serious," he insisted. "I don't want to go through life utterly blind to what people think of me. If I'm screwing things up, I want to fix them."

Kyoko's eyes glanced down sadly, then back up to his. She licked her lips for moisture before saying, "Of course I would tell you. But I swear to you that there's nothing to tell. This is just one person's opinion."

"I doubt it's isolated," Makoto countered.

"Maybe not," Kyoko acknowledged. "Even so, anyone who'd say these things has probably never paid that much attention to you in the first place. They're just resentful of your celebrity status."

"I never asked for this," Makoto said sourly, hanging his head. "I never called myself the 'Ultimate Hope.'"

"If you need someone to blame," Kyoko suggested sympathetically, "You can blame me. I was the one who first came up with the label, after all."

He shook his head, keeping it low. "None of this is your fault," he said with sudden confidence. "It can be mine for how I carried myself, or it can theirs for how they're seeing me. This is no one else's problem to bear."

"Then believe me when I tell you that it's not your fault, either," Kyoko said with determination. She turned her whole body now, placing her other hand atop the first one so that they were stacked upon his right. "And if that's not enough, you can ask Asahina-san, Hagakure-kun, Togami-kun, Fukawa-san and even your sister. They'll all have your back. Not only do they know you better than anyone from the outside world ever could - they're also the tip of a much bigger iceberg. It wasn't any of us that made you an inspiration to billions. It wasn't any of us that really made the 'Ultimate Hope' label a global phenomenon. All of that? It required that other people see you, be touched by your words, and find hope within them. There are more than enough people who will stand up for you on this, because they're the people who truly kept that label alive. They're the reason you're the Ultimate Hope."

Makoto raised his head and looked straight ahead, contemplating her words for a few moments of silence. Kyoko smiled as he turned to look at her once more. "Thank you," he told her. "But those people on TV are at least correct about one thing."

"What's that?" she asked.

He gave her a tiny smile. "You're seriously out of my league," he said sheepishly.

Kyoko rolled her eyes and smirked, shaking her head. "I'll be the judge of that," she insisted.

"Heh," he chuckled mildly, sounding a little sad. Clearing his throat, Makoto said, "You know... thank you for everything you just said."

"I meant every word," Kyoko responded lovingly.

"Unfortunately," Makoto began, "Some of what I saw before that segment was... actually even worse."

"You're talking about the segment you saw with the protestors," Kyoko observed flatly.

Makoto tilted his head in surprise. "You were standing behind me for all of that?" he asked, surprised.

"No," Kyoko told him with a quick shake of her head. "But I got a text from security alerting me to their presence that woke me up. That was right before I overheard the TV from the bedroom."

Makoto nodded a bit at that. His eyes flitted around the room as though he was trying to find a way to explain his feelings. "That guy out there... he had a whole horde of followers with him."

"That doesn't mean his opinion matters," Kyoko stated firmly.

"Why not?" Makoto asked. "Doesn't everybody's?"

"Not if their opinions are ignoring all scientific evidence that disproves them," Kyoko remarked.

"I mean, it's one thing for me to be hated," Makoto said, looking like he was still confused by what he'd heard. "I can take that a lot more than seeing us hated."

"Me and you?" Kyoko asked, seeking clarification.

"And Asahina-san, Togami-kun, Fukawa-san — even Komaru," Makoto went on. "All of us. Our very survival makes them suspect and hate us, and I can't even begin to understand why. I mean, everyone's seen who the mastermind was! It was globally televised, and it's been confirmed again and again through the lingering effects of her actions! So why suspect us?"

"Look, I can't say that I understand it either," Kyoko said gently. "In murder cases, in a courtroom? Facts matter. The truth matters. That's the world I prefer to live in. In the court of public opinion, however... it can be a whole other story. Still, there is a reason that people cling to these sorts of conspiracy theories, even in light of all the evidence to the contrary."

"What is it?" Makoto asked urgently.

"It's because they're too scared to accept the truth," she answered simply. "The idea that one person could cause so much devastation and death? That's frightening to a lot of people. "

"So it's less frightening to suggest that we all masterminded it together and got away with it?!" Makoto asked in disbelief.

Kyoko shrugged half-heartedly. "For the world as they understand it? Yes. People tend to shape their beliefs based on what they can comprehend. Someone who believes that those in power are always deserving and wise is more likely to believe that an obvious fool placed in a position of power must secretly be intelligent. By the same token, they may insist that a genius opponent could never be stymied by someone who appears comparatively normal. That's how you get the sorts of people we sometimes dealt with in the 14th branch: The ones who believe that Enoshima must still be alive. That kind of person isn't likely to be swayed by DNA evidence, because they aren't thinking with their brains. They're letting their emotions control them — and nothing is more emotional than someone's individual values."

Makoto looked down and shook his head sadly. "Getting wrapped up in our emotions, letting feelings override the facts... that's the kind of stuff that almost got us killed in Enoshima's sick game more than once. People around the world saw that, and yet... I guess they didn't learn anything from it."

Kyoko smirked sadly. "Most people think they're smart," she said ruefully. "Deep down, they believe they understand the world better than most of those around them. When major events shock or surprise them, they try to realign those things into slots that they can understand. It's... a coping mechanism."

"You don't do that," Makoto said to her, smiling sadly.

"Neither do you," Kyoko told him. "For good or ill, it takes a special kind of person to let hard facts always be the driver of their truth."

She paused, smiling affectionately as she looked into Makoto's eyes. "Mind if I tell you about a particularly thorny case I once investigated?"

He smiled a little more, his eyes brightening. "You know I love your detective stories," Makoto told her sincerely.

With a nod of appreciation, she began: "I once had to investigate the death of someone that widely admired in Japan — the kind of person that millions looked up to at one point."

"And you're just now telling me this one?" Makoto inquired in surprise. "Or, wait — is this a story you've told me before?"

"Wait and find out," Kyoko teased him. "You see, not long into my investigation, I realized that the beloved figure in question was the instigator of their own demise. It wasn't suicide, mind you - but they still made some... impure moral choices that led them to them dying quite painfully. It's a tough spot to be in, because I was well aware that anyone who carried around affection for this person was going to have a hard time accepting the facts."

Kyoko paused as Makoto glanced back at the TV for a moment, lost in thought. "I can see what you mean," he said, still looking away. "If I found out that someone I loved or looked up to had died because they were secretly mixed up with Yakuza thugs or got involved in some nasty drug deal or something... I don't know. I think I'd have time accepting that, too."

"But you did accept it," Kyoko told him. Makoto looked over at her with a furrowed brow as she continued, "You did more than accept it — you took that fact and used it as ammunition in our search for the truth."

Makoto's face fell. "Oh," he said simply as he realized the obvious.

She chuckled a little at his reaction. "You probably had more admiration and affection for Maizano-san than any of us. Despite that fact, you managed to accept the truth. And when you did that, I knew right then and there that you were special." Kyoko reached out and put her left hand over his right one where it rested atop his knee. She squeezed his hand gently.

"I thought I was 'comparatively ordinary'?" Makoto prodded in response, managing a smile.

"You only appeared so," she corrected him, cracking a grin. "I certainly knew otherwise, and I still do."

"So, aaahhh... " he said nervously. "You aren't... settling for me, are you?"

"I don't settle," Kyoko replied quickly and with total confidence. "Ever. The truth is, I was never looking for a relationship. The whole 'continuing the Kirigiri legacy' thing? That's not something I've prioritized in my life. But sometimes, you find what you need before you realize you even need it."

Makoto nodded sagely. "Like items in a point-and-click adventure game," he said with dead seriousness.

She paused for a second to give him an amused look before she went on. "Try asking Mitarai-kun about the way I talked about you when we were trapped in the old Future Foundation headquarters. Or you can ask Asahina-san how I talked about you before we got together. Quite frankly, anybody who doesn't believe that my feelings are sincere or that I could love you is as delusional as the people who believe we masterminded the apocalypse."

Makoto looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then that must mean... "

Suddenly, Makoto raised his hands and pretended to look horrified. "Ermahgerd, you're the evil mastermind I'm doooooooomed" he cried in a tiny, cartoonish voice. He couldn't help but smile in the midst of his performance, and as he finished, he laughed at his own goofiness.

Kyoko laughed heartily and fell forward, burying his face in his chest. Her voice was slightly muffled as she laughed out: "You... you unbelievable, insecure, adorable doofus."

He laughed along with her, wrapping his arms around her back. As they both calmed down, Kyoko raised her head out of his chest and got onto her knees. Makoto, in turn, kept his hands on her lower back and looked up into her eyes. "You know," he said, "I can't seem to rely on being 'lucky' very often, but at least I know luck was there for me when it mattered. 'Cause how else did I wind up with you?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret," Kyoko said, leaning forward so that her face hovered just centimeters away from his. "Your so-called 'luck' isn't as much of a factor in your life as you think it is."

Makoto squinted at her, looking perplexed while maintaining a delighted smile. "And how'd you come to that conclusion?"

She leaned in a tiny bit more, touching the tip of her nose onto his. From there, Kyoko spoke quietly: "Because I know what oddities of causality and probability look like. I've met Nagito Komaeda, and I've watched the way events spiral bizarrely around him. You, on the other hand? You stumble and fall at times, but you don't come up from it brutally injured or miraculously unscathed. If you knock a rock from a ledge, the rock just falls to the ground; it doesn't escalate into a boulder or get picked up by the wind to come rushing back at your face."

"I don't understand how you're making this sound so sexy," Makoto said under his breath, feeling sweat begin to bead on his forehead.

Kyoko smiled wide, but she persisted: "What I mean is that even an outside observer can see that your life is 90% free of random, unlikely happenstance. Yet despite that, you consistently say the perfect words at the right times. You make the correct decisions when the going gets tough, and just as you said - you try to always do the right thing and protect your friends. The reason you survived two killing games isn't because of your 'luck,' it's because of smart choices that are as brave as they are wise. And the reason I'm in love with you isn't 'luck' either - it's because of the quality of man you are."

Makoto's mouth formed a broad, open-mouthed grin. He tried to speak, but only managed an "Iiiii... eh... ha?"

"See?" Kyoko said, grinning with delight. "You even know when not to speak."

She leaned forward and kissed him softly, moving her arms under his shoulders.

And just like that, all of Makoto's worries — the same ones that felt so heavy a few minutes before — had completely melted away.

#dangan fanfic #danganronpa fanfic #danganronpa fanfiction #naegiri #makoto naegi #kyoko kirigiri #kyouko kirigiri #kirigiri #naegi

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sleepynobie · 7 years

Text

Makoto x Reader

(A/N: Bless OTP prompts for inspiring me 🙏)

With a cliche anime setting of sitting in the almost empty bus, Makoto is now only accompanied by a you who just looking on your phone. Well not that he care since you're just a stranger but for some reasons, your expression kinda of worrying him.

"Is she... crying?" Makoto mulls in his mind since you keep wiping your tears and also wave your hand to your eyes to not make yourself crying.

"Usually in the drama, isn't this situation telling you that she just got dumped or something? I remember watching it with Komaru though" He continues to mull over on the fact you're crying right now and don't know whether he should comfort you or not.

"Goddammit! Why did you do this?" Makoto heard you say as you wipe your tears and try to sob quietly but it doesn't work since Makoto still able to hear it.

"Okay... It seems to get worse. Maybe I should at least ask her? But we are just strangers and it would seem weird-"

"You play with my feelings!" You say again through your sob and Makoto looks very concerned.

"Ugh you know what, screw this. I'm gonna confront her" He finally makes up his mind and walks to sit next to her before tapping your shoulder.

"Hey um... Are you okay?"

You flinch and look at him before grabbing Makoto's shoulder "Why are we still here?...Just to suffer"

"Umm... What?" Makoto looks puzzled and your eyes teary again before crying again.

"You don't understand the meme!" You sob before retreating your hand and look away.

"W-What? Umm... Sorry?" He apologizes even though he has no idea what just happened. There is a little awkward moment after that before Makoto feels that maybe he had intruded you.

"Well I'm sorry since I feel like I'm bothering you but I'm just worried so I hope you feel better soon" He awkwardly says and is going to move back to his original seat before you turn around to him, looking embarrassed.

"No no no i-it's not your fault! I umm... I thought I could break the awkwardness by saying some meme but I guess it didn't work.."

"Okay she's weird..." Makoto thought and sweatdrops "Well I don't mean to pry since we just met but what happen? You don't need to answer if you don't want to!"

You blush and look hesitant to tell in which Makoto understands that you don't want to tell.

"It's alright! I just hope you get better-"

"W-Well.. My favorite character from a manga just died in the latest chapter so.." You say shyly and Makoto widen his eyes as it's not what he expected but then feels relieved at the same time as he then let out a relieved sigh.

"I see.. I thought it was something like you just got broke up or something"

"Oh no no no" You giggle before looking away "I've been single for my entire life so I never experience that kind of situation"

"Really? I-I thought you would be the type of girl who ever got into a relationship" Makoto smiles and you blush slightly before replying.

"U-Umm.. Thank you? But seriously I never got into a relationship. I'm just a living potato that indulges too much on the internet"

He chuckles "Well many people are like that nowadays right? I don't spend much time on the internet so much but I'm kinda interested"

"Is this boy even real?" You thought before suddenly you look determined "Well! Let me introduce you to this wonderful website called 9gag which is the source of your daily needs for memes"

"Alright sure" Makoto grins "You finally cheered up though, I'm glad"

You look flustered before quickly entering to 9gag to introduce to him. And so for the entire journey, you just show him the memes (and your favorite ones) which make both of you laugh. But this has to end when the bus arrive at your destination in which you have to part ways from your new friend.

"So I guess this is a farewell huh" Makoto says and you look a bit sad before suddenly, you have an idea to ask him for id on social media to communicate. It may feel too intimate but you really want to talk to him again so you decide to go for it.

"C-Can I have your id on any social media so w-we can talk?" You ask shyly and he seems a bit surprised before smiling.

"Sure! I was thinking of asking you that too but I guess you did it first. Thanks umm... I just realise we both haven't introduced ourselves huh"

"Oh yeah! Well I'm (Full Name)" You introduce yourself while both of you exchange social media id.

"Well my name is Jeff"

You widen your eyes and Makoto grins before you laugh "Nailed it! I should have said that.. Damn!"

Makoto chuckles "Alright! My name is Makoto by the way, not Jeff"

"Got it, Makoto" You nod before smiling "Okay I need to go now, I think the driver is getting annoyed. Talk to you later"

"Yeah, talk to you later. Bye (Name)" Makoto waves his hand as you walk towards the door but wave back first to him before getting off.

And that was the first time Makoto met you.

~~~

"Have anyone got any update on (Name) yet?!" Makoto asks the others as with concerned tone since you haven't returned from the mission on searching for the survivors.

"Unfortunately not" Kyoko says bitterly "But Makoto, you should calm down"

"I know.." Makoto sighs "I try not to think the worst possible situation"

"She's at least more capable than you so don't worry too much about that" Byakuya says before smirking in which Makoto could only laughs nervously.

"I would definitely prefer that if it means she's going to be alive. Well, I'm sure she's going to be alive. She has to"

Kyoko nods in agreement and Makoto just smiles before suddenly, someone informs him that they receive a voice call from outside.

"He...lo? Can you.. hear.. me? IS ANYONE... THERE? KNOCK KNOCK"

Makoto widen his eyes and from the voice, it sounds like you "(Name)? Is that you?! Can you hear me?!"

"...."

"(Name)? Hello? Are you there? (Name)?! ANSWER ME!" Makoto shouts in worried tone and hoping that he can reach you.

"My name is Jeff"

"...."

".... Pffttt"

"Did (Name) just purposely stay silent to say a joke?" Kyoko asks.

"Alright cut it off. We don't need to hear anything from this person" Byakuya commands the person, obviously annoyed at you.

"NO WAIT I'M SORRY I HAD TO OKAY?! MAKOTO SAVE ME!"

"New phone who dis?" Makoto replies blankly and a gasp could be heard before you quickly apologize.

"NOOOOOOO I'M SORRY MAKOTO DON'T BE MAD AT ME! I WON'T MEME AGAIN I PROMISE SO SAVE ME!"

"Rest in peace (Name)"

"MAKOTO-"

"Sometimes.. I can still hear her voice"

"NOOOO MAKOTOOOO"

And after that, you keep apologizing to them and Makoto manages to forgive you as he tells you that he's going to send some people to rescue you and the survivors.

"Makotoooo!" You call him after you finally arrive at the future foundation and hug him before apologizing again "I'm sorryyyy!"

"Idiot (Name)" Makoto mumbles before hugging back "Next time if you do that, I'm going to cut you off immediately"

"I couldn't help it! It was a perfect timing!" You whine after pulling away from him "And you start to being savage. How mean!"

"It was called being fair" Makoto smiles and you pout before he then rests his forehead on yours.

"At least you're saved. Thank God"

You smirk "Yeah if not, who are you going to banter with memes eh?"

He chuckles before smiling "True"

(A/N: What do you mean it won't happen? XD And yes I spend on the internet too much I'm sorry lol)

#danganronpa #makoto naegi #fanfiction #reader insert

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danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 2 years

Text

The Hunt Begins.

So wait...lemme get this straight. You’re saying you want us to go all the way to New York City? Now?

Is that a bad idea?

Well, it’s kinda awkward to just...up and leave, isn’t it? After everything the Freedom Foundation have done for us, can we really just ditch them at a moment’s notice?

*Makoto, Komaru, Toko, Kyoko, Byakuya and Hina sit outside the cafe and discuss the information they have currently.

What does going to New York even achieve?

I didn’t mention this to you guys, but it relates to a discovery Chihiro and Miaya made while investigating Uchui’s lab.

Apparently, he had been in contact with the ERR0RM3SS4GE group, and we believe they may have lent him assistance against the Foundation.

ERR0RM3SS4GE...An infamous group of underground hackers slash phantom thieves. Or so they say.

What, we’re dealing with secret societies now!? How much more ridiculous is this situation gonna get?

Still doesn’t explain why we’ve gotta up and go to New York so suddenly.

The reason is pretty simple. Alter Ego did a national scan of some of the group’s most recent calling cards and events.

The agent Uchui was in contact with went by the name “404″ and apparently, there’s a graffiti sign that says his name in New York City. Plus, it seems to fit ERR0RM3SS4GES moniker.

So you mean this 404 guy is in the states with us?

I see...if there’s ever a chance to catch him, it’s now.

We don’t know for sure whether or not ERR0RM3SS4GE are good or bad. Before we do anything like catching 404, we’ll need to validate whether or not he or she is an enemy or an ally.

If they helped Uchui get into Zetsubou, then isn’t it pretty obvious that they’re bad?

That kind of rash thinking with no evidence is exactly what Makoto is trying to avoid, Komaru.

Thank you Byakuya. Apologies accepted Komaru.

Krgh...!

Stop it. Now is not the time for this.

???: No, it’s not.

Huh?

*Everyone turns to look in the direction of this new voice.

Sorry to intrude, but would you all mind coming with me?

Whitecloak, hey, it’s been a-

...

Hey, where are you going?

What’s the problem?

*Whitecloak floats down the trash alleyway to the side of Maya’s café. The group all follows her.

Rgh...Pretty tight and cold down here...

What’s the problem Whitecloak? Where have you been for the past few days?

...You don’t need to call me that anymore.

*She suddenly lowers her hood.

Akane is fine.

Wha...!?

HUUUH!?

What the hell is this!?

Taira, what are you-?

Trust me Kyoko. There is good reason for this.

Hold on...Akane...as in Akane Taira? The Mastermind of the Kibougamine Gakuen Killing Game?

The very same.

Thanks for keeping it on the down lo for so long Kyoko.

You knew, Kyoko?

Yes...She revealed her identity to me not too long ago.

I had begun to suspect that it might have been Mukuro under that hood, just as you did Makoto. However, I was wrong.

...I see...

Sorry for putting that thought into your head.

I’m a detective. I investigate and interrogate. It’s what I do.

Still, Akane had her own reasons for keeping her identity secret. Which is why I’m so confused that she’s unmasking herself in front of the rest of us now.

Let’s just say that I wanted to do it before anyone else had the chance to. If possible, I’d like you all to keep my identity a secret from anyone else who shouldn’t know.

“Before anyone else has the chance to?” What do you mean? How many people know that you’re alive?

In fact, how ARE you alive!?

Sorry, but that’s not something I can just tell you. I can answer your first question though.

Before I presented myself to you just here and now, only 4 people knew of my current status...

Yuki...Kyoko...Four...

And 404...

Agent 404 knows about about you?

Chances are, all of ERR0RM3SS4GE does...

The reason I’ve been absent is because shortly after the Emilia Feng situation ended, I tried looking into Organization Zetsubou’s other contacts here in the USA.

On the way, I ran into Agent 404.

Have you met him?

Not in real life? I infiltrated a sort of...sci-fi get-together, to look for information.

You went to a con!?

Not that sort of sci-fi get-together. Just a bunch of computer whizzes who hang out in internet cafe’s.

I found evidence of that group poking around in some of Zetsubou’s contacts over here...But when I dug deeper, 404 caught me.

And what happened after that?

He told me he knew everything about me. My history, how I came back to life, what I’m currently doing...He knew EVERYTHING that I tried to cover up. Every last piece of personal info.

How can that be? Do you have that information on file?

Not even on paper, much less anything digital. But anyway, he threatened to expose me to the Kisaragi Foundation if I tried to do anything else against him.

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t take the risk.

What the hell? This guy’s a real jerk, looking into a girls privacy like that!

Wait...is he gonna do the same to us!?

I was just thinking that. If he could get most personal info out of Taira, imagine what he could do with us?

He could blackmail each and every one of us, and stop us from talking.

He might even expose hidden controversies the Foundation might have covered up in the past...!

Which is one of the main reasons why I’m showing you my face, and why I’m here now; To let you know that from this point on, I can’t help you guys. I can’t let 404 find out anything else about me...Unless of course he already knows the details.

And the other is to warn you guys. ERR0RM3SS4GE are far more powerful than you think they are, and they’re planning something here.

...Hm...

Be that as it may, we can’t leave this alone.

Huh?

Organization Zetsubou need to go. If these ERR0RM3SS4GE guys are in cahoots with them, we’ll need to take care of them first.

And even if they’re allies on our side, we’ll still need to squeeze them for information on Uchui Kamukura.

...

*Akane glares at Makoto.

And what will you do if you find our 404 is evil? You gonna set Kuripa on him like you did with Emilia Feng?

You know what? I just might...

!!??

That a problem?

Makoto...!

Komaru! I said not now.

Ngh...

...

Never mind...It’s none of my business what you do.

Just...watch that boy, alright? He hasn’t been taking this well. Anything else happens that he might not like, I think he could snap.

...You don’t know what you’re talking about. Kuripa’s not the insane maniac you think he is.

Well, think of it how you will. This is where we say goodbye anyway.

Akane.

Yes?

I...

Thanks a lot.

Huh?

You’ve saved my life countless times. From Otonokoji and from Fang Inc. too.

Sorry I mistook you for Mukuro, and...thank you for everything you’ve done up until now.

...

N-No problem...

*Akane lifts her hood.

Sorry I got your hopes up.

*Akane leaves the alleyway down the other side. Everyone else leaves the alleyway the other way.

...

Are we sure it’s wise to just let her go? She has a lot to answer for.

Do you even know what Taira’s role of Whitecloak is? She’s Yuki Maeda’s partner, and she goes around the world with him helping people in need.

She’s saved our asses on countless occasions too, like Makoto said. She might have been bad at one point but...clearly she’s not the woman she was.

I agree. Taira saved my brother and my daughter from getting caught by Fang Inc. I trust her.

But it looks like for now, we’ll have to get by without her help.

Do we have a plan at this point?

Yeah. Let’s tell the Freedom Foundation we’ll be heading out ASAP. We’ll grab all our things and begin the hunt.

So...is that a wrap? Are we really heading to New York?

[Meanwhile, Airport, London, Gatwick...]

Are we really heading to New York!?

We’re at the airport, aren’t we?

Kaede...Are you sure you’re ok?

Huh? Why wouldn’t I be?

Just a couple of days ago, we were arguing about me putting myself in danger while I’ve got nothing better to do.

And now, here we are, flying to an unknown country to meet with this mysterious person, who hacked my phone and found our location, and approached us with a “deal”

Does it not occur to you this might be a trap?

Even if it is, we can’t just let this go. This could be the breakthrough we need to get back at Shirogane and Zetsubou. If this guy’s really willing to help us, we could save Maki and Himiko!