#which is something nobodys ever done for kiyo before

[kokorosfanfics]

Jealous!Gonta x reader: Atua or My Love?

Nobody requested this, this is just an idea I’ve had for a while and I’m waiting to get more requests. Pretty much, Gonta joined the student council and it’s taking a toll on your relationship, but your good friend Kokichi is here to help! -Mod Kokoro

(Also, don’t do this if you’re in a similar situation. This is fiction, but in an actual relationship, it’s better to talk about it.)

Things were bad enough as it is, with being stuck in a killing game. But now, Gonta Gokuhara, your boyfriend, has been brainwashed into the student council, A.K.A. Angie’s cult. Normally, you ate with Gonta on your left and your best friend, Kokichi, on your right. But now that he’s all “ATUAAAA!” He only ate with the other student council members. You tried to talk to him, only for him to insist you join the student council, which you politely refused. No matter how many times Angie gives you a hug, or Gonta pleads, you’re not joining that Atua bullshit. One time, Gonta approached you, only to reprimand you on going out of the dorms at night. You sighed to yourself, simply poking your fork into your food. 

“You good (N/N)?” (Nickname)

“I’m fine, ‘Kichi...” Well, at least you still have Kokichi. At least he didn’t betray you for some cult.

“Yeah. That’s an obvious lie.” Kokichi scooted closer to you, and got a little more serious.

“Is this because of you and Gonta?”

Tears were threatening to come out. “Y-Yes...”

“Y’know, I wouldn’t mind helping you.”

“How? What could you do?”

“Meet me in your room after breakfast.” With nothing else better to do, you nodded your head, and finally ate your breakfast.

You walked with Kokichi to your room, and shut the door behind you. Kokichi sat in your bed, and you sat next to him.

“So... How’re you gonna help me?” You asked.

“Easy! All we gotta do is make him jealous!”

“Jealous? I don’t really think Gonta’s the type to get jealous...”

“Oh, but we’ll do it.” Kokichi gave you sneaky look.

“......How?”

“I’m going to pretend to try to steal you from him.” His face immediately went to one of his creepy/evil ones.

“WHAT?”

“You heard me right. We’re going to play pretend. I’ll pretend to try to steal you from him, and you’re going to pretend it’s working. He won’t catch on that we’re only faking it, and eventually he’ll do something! C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?” Kokichi winked at you.

You thought about it for a bit. How would this work? Gonta... Isn’t the brightest. Pretty dense, really. You’d have to be all over each other in order for something like this to work. And do you really want to make him worry about losing you? That’s horrible! But then again..... He had barely spoken to you like a lover in a long while. And Kokichi, as devious as he is, usually his plans worked. He thought things through, and was pretty damn clever. An evil genius, who secretly had a heart of gold. He’s your best friend, and does genuinely care about you and want to help you. Who knows, maybe this could work?

“Alright. I’m in.” You reluctantly agreed. “But nothing that’ll hurt him!”

“Great! Let’s start right now.”

“Huh?”

“Uh, yeah! We gotta talk through some things we’re gonna do in front of Gonta to get him worked up! Don’t worry we don’t have smash lips or anything like that.”

The two of you planned out some scenarios to act out in front of Gonta to make him jealous.

“You ready N/n?” Kokichi nudged your shoulder.

“Yep. Ready as I’ll ever be, ‘Kichi.”

“Great! Let’s go!” Kokichi wrapped an arm around yours, and the two of you headed to the dining hall for lunch.

As usual, Gonta ignored you, and sat at the opposite end of the table. Kokichi sat next to you, but this time an arm was around your waist. Time to get your acting skills ready.

“Y’know S/o, you look really nice today.” Kokichi pretended to flirt.

“O-Oh! Thank you, that’s really nice. You’re looking good, too!” You responded. So far, so good. You noticed Miu in the corner of your eye carefully observing suspiciously. Kokichi reached up to tuck some hair behind your ear. Now, you saw Miu nudge Kiyo, who was next to her. Seems you’ve got the attention of two of your classmates.

“Hey, S/o, do your hands still hurt from yesterday?” Kokichi made sure this was asked a little louder than usual. 

“Hurt? Is S/O hurt???” You were surprised to hear none other than Gonta, who seemed to have picked up on the conversation. You looked over to see him surprised, and a little worried. You and Kokichi hadn’t planned to get Gonta’s attention this early, but he winked at you, assuring he knew what to do.

“Oh yeah! Poor S/o, she fell and got so injured! But luckily, I was there to help her/him/them.” Kokichi placed emphasis on the “I” part. “Hey, S/o, since your hands still hurt, I’d hate for you to be in pain while lifting your fork, so I’ll help you!” Kokichi picked up your fork, lifted it your mouth, and fed you. You blushed, yeah you had discussed and agreed to this, but it still caught you off guard. Now, Miu, Kiyo, Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki were observing as they spoke lowly to each other. You couldn’t tell if anyone from the student council was noticing, but you felt some eyes on you, so you assumed some of them were. The rest of lunch, Kokichi fed you and subtly pretended he was flirting with you. You pretended to be clueless to his fake advances, and “unknowingly” encouraged him. When you were done eating, Kokichi moved close enough so only you saw his face. He gestured with his eyes and head to look behind you. 

You looked over your shoulder to find Angie, Tenko, Himiko, Kiibo and Gonta muttering to each other. But Gonta only seemed to be focused on you. Not wanting to make it obvious you were looking, you went back to facing Kokichi, and the two of you looked mischievously at each other and nodded. This was getting good. Kokichi placed his head under your neck and rested against you.

“Oh! Are you tired, Kokichi?” You asked softly. You had to pretend like you were oblivious to his “advances” after all. 

“Yeah. You don’t mind if I rest against you, do you?” 

“Not at all!” You hugged him close. But then came something you hadn’t expected.

“Hey! Degenerate male! Why are you flirting with S/o? She’s dating Gonta, so get off her tits!” Tenko the man hater was here to protect you from threats that didn’t actually exist.

“Tenko, he’s not a degenerate and he’s not flirting with me. He’s my friend!” You spoke up to defend him.

“He’s been flirting this whole time! First he’s all over you, next he feeds you, and then he presses his head against your chest and, UGHH.” Tenko cringed in disgust.

“I fed her because her hands were injured? Oh and, N/N and I are like, best friends and all that. Not very uncommon for best friends to be affectionate, you know.” Kokichi scoffed at her remarks.

Before Tenko could say another word, Angie had stepped forward to where you were.

“Now now, it’ll be okay. I’m sure Kokichi is just trying to be a good friend, and S/o knows that. You’d do the same for your friends, wouldn’t you, Tenko?”

“I..... Yeah.” Tenko sighed.

“S/o, you are surrounded by good friends, and a lovely boyfriend! Why don’t you be apart of the student council?” Angie outstretched her arms and walked closer. Here it comes, the tenth time Angie has tried to brainwash you via magic hugs. But thankfully Kokichi swatted her away.

“Heyyy! Don’t take my friends from me! She/He/They doesn’t/don’t wanna be part of your stupid cult!”

“But can’t S/o speak for herself/himself/themselves?” Angie asked.

“Yes, and he’s right. I have no interest in your student council.” You gave her the polite version of what Kokichi said.

“See?” He taunted.

“It is fine! S/o will come around eventually! Let us go, student council.”

“C’mon, S/o. We’ve got places to be. Let’s go to my room!” Kokichi said, in his innocent voice. You saw Kiyo in the corner of you eye glaring at Miu that she better not make another dirty joke.

But as you left, Gonta was watching, and he began to feel.... Something. But he wasn’t sure what this was.

“Oh my God! S/o, THAT. WAS. AWESOME! DID YOU SEE THE LOOK ON THEIR FACES? MANNN THEY KNOW SOMETHING IS UP! I TOLD YA WE COULD GET GONTA JEALOUS!”

“I know! I think it’s working, maybe Gonta will finally snap out of it! I hope....” You were a little worried about hurting him, though.

The next days were spent with similar events. Kokichi would try to “steal you” from Gonta, Gonta would watch from afar, and you could tell it was working. One time you and Kokichi decided to just chill for a bit outside and look at the stars, and you weren’t putting up an act, just simply talking about stuff and chilling outside, and occasionally playing with each others hair. As you and Kokichi were talking, he stopped, and pointed behind you.

“Hm? What is it, ‘Kichi?” You looked behind you to see.... Gonta! Gonta was coming!

“Oh! Gonta you’re here, hey!” You and Kokichi stood up to greet him. You were just about to give him a hug, but...

“S/O and Kokichi not supposed to be out at night time. Gonta will bring S/O and Kokichi back to dorms.”

“Wha..... What?” You stared dumb founded. He was just here to tell you go back to the dorms? 

“Student council not allow you to be outside at night.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You asked.

“It no joke. Come, let us-”

“No.” You stated.

“What S/o mean no? Being out at night is dangerous!”

“I don’t care.” You turned around. ‘This whole thing was a bust. He doesn’t treat me like a lover anymore. I won’t stand for this.’ You began walking off, probably to wander the school. “C’mon ‘Kichi. Let’s walk around for a bit.”

“GONTA NO CAN LET THAT HAPPEN!” Gonta went to take a hold of your hand, only you slapped his hand away from you.

“Fuck off.” You spat. Your gaze only softened a little at Gonta’s hurt expression. “What the hell Gonta? What happened? What’s gotten into you? I don’t deserve to be ignored and bossed around. Just because you’re in Angie’s cult, it doesn’t mean you can just tell me what I can and cannot do. I’m sick of the way you’re treating me, and I especially do not deserve to be second to your PRECIOUS Angie! I deserve better than that! Hell, WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO OFF AND BE WITH HER INSTEAD?” You ran away with tears in your eyes as you headed straight for the school building. You had enough. It was evident to you that Gonta didn’t care for you anymore. In this world where you must kill to escape, Gonta was the silver lining for you. But now, that silver lining has faded.

“Wow.” Kokichi turned to face Gonta. “You fucked up, big guy.” Only then did Kokichi notice Gonta’s expression. He was.... Crying. 

“Gonta.... IDIOT! GONTA IDIOT! GONTA WAS UNGENTLEMANLY! HOW COULD GONTA DO THIS TO S/O?” Gonta fell to his knees, realizing how he made S/o feel. He’s never felt so ashamed in his life.

“Gonta.” Kokichi spoke up. 

“What?” Gonta let out through a sob.

“It’s not too late, y’know. So why don’t you get up and go after her/him/them?”

“S/o deserve better than Gonta. Gonta was ungentlemanly!”

“Yeah, ignoring her/him/them and favoring some student council instead was pretty bad, but you know what gentleman do when they slip up after that?” Kokichi asked.

“What do gentleman do?”

“They go make up for it!” Kokichi nudged Gonta to get him up.

“Run! Go after her/hi/them, and make it up to her/him/them!”

“Kokichi is right! Gonta will go make it up to S/o!” With newfound confidence, Gonta began to run towards the school building.

“S/O! WAIT FOR GONTA! GONTA HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!” 

“Nee-heehee. You’re welcome, S/o.” Kokichi simply walked into the school. He wanted to watch this play out.

You decided the best way to cope with your current situation would be to go in your lab. You were simply practicing your ultimate talent, hoping to get your mind off of things for a while, but you were interrupted.

“S/O!” Gonta exclaimed as he ran to you.

“W-What do you want, Gonta?” You really did not want more of Gonta’s bullshit. But thankfully, it wasn’t

“Whoa-” Gonta pulled you in for a hug.

“Gonta? What are you doing?...”

��Gonta is sorry. Gonta no should have mistreated S/O like that. Gonta promise to be a better gentleman. Gonta no want Angie, he want you.”

“Gonta.....” Finally. FINALLY your boyfriend was back!

“I’m sorry too, Gonta. I shouldn’t have snapped like that..”

“S/O no should apologize! Gonta was in wrong.”

“Thank you!” You reached up to kiss him, and he happily kissed back. You were so happy, finally, he was back! Your loveable giant teddy bear boyfriend was back! 

During your kiss, you heard the familiar sound of Kokichi’s footsteps walking into your lab, as he walked over to where you were. You smiled into your kiss, and reached a hand behind your back, and Kokichi gladly high fived you.

#danganronpa #gonta #gonta gokuhara #gonta x reader #kokichi #kokichi ouma #kokichi oma

[frightfurtabby]

HimiKiyo Week 2021 Day 3- The Streets are Long-Ass Gutters

Day 3! Time for a Cyberpunk AU. What is vice and what is virtue in a dystopian future where so many have turned to crime to survive in corrupt corporate states?

I forget if I mentioned this in the last post but all the amino crosspost links will be collected and posted at the end of the week on here. 

Word Count: 3,061

Content: Lots of murder, alcohol reference

Links-

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34139533

People were suffering, toiling away at shitty jobs for next to no pay, exploited by the powerful megacorporations. Back in the past it was only nations or gangs that went to war against each other, or against themselves. The trend now for the last 100 years was corporations fighting actual bloody wars against each other instead. Sending out all the low level grunts who they had no use for anymore to die. The worst, darkest parts of humanity were on full display every day whether it was something that made the news or not.

Still, technology progressed even when it seemed everything else had regressed into feudalism. Death and Life became ever more complex as people started being able to be downloaded and uploaded like AI with most if not all memories intact. So what truly counted as being dead now? Stuff that could have killed you before could be better dealt with enough credits to pay someone under the table.

In this backdrop is where Korekiyo grew up their whole life, initially being insulated from much of it. That all changed when they didn’t have my parents protection any more. One of them found it a “step too far” to put the chip with what remained of Sister’s brain in themself. Among other traditionalist qualms about how they dressed and wanted to modify about themself, such as the metal arm and enhanced nervous system. It wasn’t surprising, given how they reacted to people like them any time the topic was in the news.

So for the next few years they were travelling, studying how various people were dealing with their own conditions with a school anthropology department. And yet they weren’t allowed to publish some findings because the “education” megacorp that ran the colleges blocked it.

After becoming fed up with the state of things Kiyo quit and joined a gang, getting to delve in and know more about the so-called Underworld and its inhabitants. People from all walks of life ended up around them: drifters, ex-corpos, sex workers, mercenaries, people who were all of the above and then some. Almost none of it was surprising.

And just a couple weeks ago there was an incident that changed their trajectory again, though it seemed like it was just another in a long line of similar incidents..

A group of Yakuza, emboldened in their power by even more corporate money laundering, at the behest of a giant media conglomerate attacked the headquarters of a rival channel. They overheard that performers were one the upper floors which included one of the showrunners' nieces, this pulled Kiyo in to follow the hit squad. Spread throughout the floors were average people who hadn’t done anything wrong and not all of them were going to be saved.

They met Himiko Yumeno and saved her life because of being in the right place at the right time. As though it were destiny.

She was  holed up in a locked room and caught a glimpse of a metal arm holding a steady gun and assumed it was one of the attackers, taking Kiyo down suddenly as they searched for people to help. It took a few moments of pleading to clear up the misunderstanding on their part and help her open up an emergency door for the rest of the show’s cast. It was here they were properly introduced to each other.

“I’m so sorry about that. You can never be too careful.” she said. “So if you’re not with them are you, you don’t look like building security? A cop?”

Kiyo shook their head, they weren’t sure if they could tell her what they really were just yet. Mainly because it wasn’t that much different from what the guys currently murdering a bunch of her co-workers were. “We can talk about that later. I’m not the police either, but they’re coming so we should get out before they come in and we get caught in the crossfire.”

“Fair point.”

Himiko followed behind on the way down the steps and both listened to the shots still ringing out. Some were coming from inside the building but it sounded like the police had rolled up on the front side and were now trading fire in between pleas on their radio to stop the attack.

The streets were going to be blocked off for a pretty wide area, and it had already started. So the two weaved through a back alleyway a few blocks back and found a car left unattended by one of the gang squads.

“I’ll hotwire this, get in.” Kiyo placed a hand on the door and scanned the lock requirements and transformed a finger into just the right shape of key to unlock it. She was sighing in relief, tired of running or being on edge already. Even though it couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes since the start of the raid it felt like every moment stretched on for hours.

Kiyo tapped the driver's side glass to run a check and found it to be bulletproof. They weren’t sure if the passenger’s side was equally protected, but the front pane definitely was knowing how important getaway driver’s were considered.

The car started up and Kiyo shot out of the alley fast enough to send a can of trash flying up, and swerved out onto the road. The blockade wasn’t out this far yet, there was probably a shortage of them on the force again. This even had a police scanner in it, to track them. With just a little bit of a tweak it could also send signals out. They considered for a moment if it was worth it. They didn’t think any good would come of anyone following potentially.

So instead they start using their cyborg arm to start fiddling and turn off tracking and both the dash cam on the front and any bio-scanners inside that would prove they had commandeered this vehicle. It was breaking several laws, yes, but it was saving a life. Nothing they weren’t already used to.

Another car sped up to get right behind them. It was the same kind of model, so definitely one of the attackers. Possibly saw the theft or came when it stopped giving a signal. Either way they were now being followed. And when one followed there was likely going to be more. Either by the police who may think they were involved or by crooks mad their car was taken.

They passed the gun to her. “Here, use this should it come to that.”

Traffic picked up further away from the scene they got so it was harder to weave through quick enough until they hit the freeway. Too many witnesses were made to even properly count. And the brief slow down allowed the other vehicle to graze their side, causing Kiyo to need to swerve and almost over-correct around the next corner.

Their company got even and then picked up speed to pull a little bit ahead, the back window rolled down like their passenger side. A man inside was shouting and going for a weapon on his belt, his words drowned out by the speed of air caused by the race, and he wouldn’t get to finish because Himiko fired twice, sending him backwards into his seat and out of sight.

Kiyo sped up again, hearing a cacophony of honks from civilian vehicles upset at being forced to pull to the shoulder. The enemy driver steadied and muttered a prayer before grinding against the passenger side and attempted his own shot only for the third bullet from Himiko embed itself into the arm he was aiming with, causing it to miss and puncture the ceiling of the stolen vehicle.

Himiko’s adrenaline was pumping. Someone was already dead or going to be soon at her hands. Even if it was defensive, the very thought terrified her.

And yet the driver didn’t give up. He grabbed it with his other hand and drove with the forearm of his injured side to go and ram them again. This time another car got between them as Kiyo veered to create distance and avoid rear-ending the unfortunate motorist.

“Listen, please fire again the next time you see him.” Kiyo asked.

She was shaking, and nodded. There wasn’t much to say. It was what had to be done.

The back seat was hit several times, even shattering the windows, before Himiko had a good shot a throwing knife whizzed into her and the sharp edge cut one of her hands. And her return volley hit the door of the driver, who was reloading. In just a few more seconds he would have bullets with her name on them. That knife was to buy him time.

So she used the last shot, shaking off the pain momentarily, and due to how he was hunched over the bullet entered his jaw and he crashed into the wall as he spasmed and convulsed.

Leaving only their car speeding away… for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Surprisingly, nobody else came. A trip to the outer limits of the city got them away. Kiyo parked in a back alley lot and immediately went and cracked open the trunk. As expected, there were more weapons and some medical supplies for those who were hurt on the job.

She sat down on a milk crate, wincing. “God, this hurts so bad.” She held her opposite hand around her cut to prevent herself from bleeding everywhere as Kiyo brought over the med kit. Blood from her wound was already covering her skirt and leggings.

“That was a close call, I’m glad you’re a surprisingly good shot.” Kiyo said, taking some time to clean and disinfect her first.

“Surprisingly? What’s that supposed to mean?” she huffed at the tall stranger. People were always thinking she was some pushover because she was short and looked young.

Kiyo let the blood soak some before checking how deep the wound was. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything too serious. Wrapping it in some gauze did the trick.

“I don’t mean to offend, but I’ve not seen you fire anything before. How was I supposed to know at that moment?”

“I…” Himiko sighed “I guess you’re right. Thanks by the way. You saved my life.”

“We’re… not entirely out of the clear just yet.” Kiyo said as they got up and dumped the license plate into the alley’s dumpster, quickly covering it with more trash that was littered about, they’d stolen it from the car. It was a bit old fashioned but it would be another piece of evidence that could connect the car to the scene they’d just escaped. Any conclusive proof the gang or cops could find should be destroyed.

“When will we be in the clear?” the girl asked,

She watched her new companion pouring oil from a drum onto the vehicle. And motion her to get back. She took the pack with the rest of the useful medical supplies and Kiyo removed the case of weaponry and looked it over.

“Only when we get to my place. You should probably stay a few days so the hunt dies down… maybe I could put you with a friend in the same-”

“I’m sure your friends are good and all but… I don’t know them yet, I want to stay with you if I gotta pick.”

Kiyo nodded in understanding. “Well then, we’re about.” The tall one did some mental math, checking in quickly with the chip in their head that sped that process up. “35 miles northeast of the complex I live in.”

“And your ride is on the way?”

Kiyo nodded in the affirmative “Indeed. It won’t be very much longer now in fact. It’ll be a couple more blocks up so we’re out of the way when… this goes off.” Then they flicked a match onto the end of the line of oil and rushed with her away.

The way back to the apartment was tense and paranoid. Kiyo put on the online radio to keep track of the news about the situation, switching stations occasionally if they switched coverage to something else or there was nothing new. Chatter online indicated about half the building’s occupants went down with at least injuries. The exact death toll wouldn’t be out until everything had been secured.

“Should I call and tell people I’m okay? I… don’t exactly want to show up as missing on the national news.” Himiko said, shifting nervously in her chair.

“Yes, you can tell someone you trust.” It would look bad if they let their paranoia convince them not to allow her to. Seeming like a kidnapper would just bring unwanted attention. Their associates would be mad and sister told them she didn’t exactly want to spend her time sticking around to just be spent behind bars.

One press and it went to her contact. “I’m okay, I got out. I’ll be in hiding for now. I’m with another friend.”  She had to keep it short on the low battery, unfortunately. Even with being weary of this person still, she thought better of revealing anything more.

She hung up with a farewell after a few more seconds and turned it back off, complaining to the only other who was around to listen. “Of all the days for me to leave the charger at home. Angie even reminded me not to do that.”

“Angie? That’s not a name you hear much in Japan.”

“It’s not, she’s actually from one of those islands out in the pacific. Used to be an American colony before well…”

Kiyo nodded. The United States of America had long since broken up due in part to the corporate wars and there really wasn’t any recognized entity that was still calling itself that. So all the non-mainland territories broke away. Many still are under the boot of large companies whether they were locally built or arrived from overseas since the islands were so rich in natural resources that couldn’t be found in many other places.

The conversation branched out from there, keeping both of their minds occupied with something other than the dread of having even more of those guys after them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the apartment tour Kiyo showed Himiko around. The kitchenette, which was stocked with microwave instant noodles and burritos, featured a ton of soda and alcohol in the small fridge. All of it was cheap and/or synthetic stuff, clearly Shinguji wasn’t someone living in the lap of luxury.

Then there was the main room. It was in the center, the kitchenette was a small area to the left side. It had tile instead of carpet denoting the otherwise almost nonexistent boundary. There were very few doors: one leading outward to the balcony, one leading to the lone bedroom, and a third leading to the lone bathroom.

“Would you like to sleep out here? It’s generally pretty safe…”

“You look like you’re about to hit me with a huge ‘but’”

“Last month someone tried to break in. They were high off something and thought this was their unit. And rumor has it someone’s found ways to pick locks around here. Mine are up to date enough but you know how it is with malware.”

“Then I’ll sleep uh, in your room. If that’s okay.”

Kiyo agreed, showing her the large bed. It could easily fit both of them even though the majority of the time nobody but Kiyo was using it. There was a wardrobe and a work desk. The work desk held all of their weapons and tech. Many tools were used to keep everything working.

“And yes before you ask, I am too poor to afford all of this. A lot of it is stolen.” Kiyo explained. “Often from people who met an unfortunate fate like our attackers earlier.” Kiyo added the new goods to the collection by putting it on top of the desk.

Thankfully the blinds were always shut on this room. Kiyo had boarded it up and sealed the heat in that way because every so often in places as rundown as this you’d get a window shot out for no real reason other than some assholes felt like it.  

A few hours later they had crawled in and tried to rest. At some point somebody must have wanted more warmth because upon waking up the next morning Kiyo noticed they were now huddling together, arms around the other. It would be a delicate thing to get out of the embrace without waking her up too.

They hesitated. They didn’t have any urgent jobs at this hour, all of those were planned specifically to be later. So was it really wrong to stay put and just see how she’s doing? It was a rough day yesterday after all.

Even with the window boarded up small cracks of light fluttered through. A small reminder the outside still had beauty in it.

Himiko woke up moments later, finding herself curled up to Kiyo and realizing she’d been the one to start being so close. An impulsive thought she wasn’t awake enough to second guess herself. It was odd, how they seemed to be more awake but didn’t leave her.

They sat up and said “Good morning. Sleep well?”

She followed suit and rubbed the gunk out of her eyes. “Yeah. I… hope waking up like that didn’t bother you. I-”

“It doesn’t”

She was ready to profusely apologize so hearing that took a moment to process. “Huh?”

“It was quite nice. It’s been a while since I’ve felt anything as warm as that.”

“You’re not upset?”

“Should I be?”

“Well… no, and I kinda liked it too.” she said shyly, turning to sit down on the edge of the bed, putting some distance between them. “You doing anything today?”

Kiyo consulted their chip again. “No work today, we’ll be hanging out with some people from my crew this afternoon.”

“I look forward to it. I needed a bit of a vacation its just…” she sighed.

“How it happened wasn’t desirable?”

Himiko laughed. “That’s an understatement. It actually sucks so much.” crying broke through and took over. It took almost half a day for what happened to even really sink in. “Everything sucks so fucking much.”

Kiyo offered some tissue from the bedside drawer and Himiko took it, thanking them.

#himikiyo #himikiyo week #himiko yumeno #korekiyo shinguji #writing #fanfic #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #cyberpunk

[the-voltage-diaries]

Guns N’ Roses - Taki Kozaki (BirTAKIDAY Countdown: Day 5)

Early update today! Truth be told, I have no idea how this turned out, so I’m publishing it now instead of keeping it in drafts any longer bc then i’d shoot myself over the self scrutiny. So, if I pray to the gods that its good, and I hope you like it.

What if instead of the MC, Taki was the one who got shot?

Minor spoilers for Taki’s Season 4 Part 2. Like very minor lol. The creator chose not to give any warnings. Have fun. ;)

A gunshot. That’s all I heard.

That’s the only sound that flowed into my ears while my arms mustered all their strength to push (Y/N) away from me, and into Yosuke’s safe embrace.

I think she screamed my name, but my mind probably didn’t register it as everything lulled around me. It was as if the world came to a slow stop when I felt the bullet rip through me. That was possibly the first time in a long time when I crumbled. Not emotionally, but physically. Right onto the ground in a heap of powerless limbs. What a bloodied sight to behold.

‘When was the last time I felt so lifeless?’ I thought, gasping for air. ‘Was it when my dad left me? Or was it when I got beaten up for not paying the debt on time?’ A lazy smile made its way to my face as broken flashbacks presented themselves to me. It had been a similar situation then, with me being a mass of broken bones, pulsating bruises and blood trickling out of me, just like my life.

How had I even survived?

I didn’t know. And maybe my mind didn’t want to think any further on those lines either, for the next thing I knew, I felt myself giving in to the vortex of black calling out to me, almost sensually. I sensed its fingers reach out to me, caressing me with a certain ease before it opened its arms to welcome me in its soothing, lifeless embrace.

Just as I felt myself extend an arm towards it, I heard someone calling me. No, I heard her calling me.

I tried to ignore it, I tried to ignore her, but the voice just kept getting louder and louder. It was as if it was trying to tell me that I couldn’t leave... not like this. I couldn’t leave it all without ending things the right way. The moment that epiphany came to me, my chest heaved as a burst of life was pumped back into me.

I somehow opened my eyes, clenching my wrists against the immediate pain, and blinked the haze out of them. I looked up, on the verge of losing consciousness again, only to see (Y/N) in front of me, clutching my hands tight in hers.

‘You’re too good for me,’ I thought, and I chuckled, ignoring the stabs of discomfort shoot through me. I gazed into her eyes, wet with desperation, begging me to fight, pleading me to do everything in my power to just, somehow, anyhow, just... stay.

“Ta...Taki, no, don’t- don’t do this, please,” she whispered, trembling. (Y/N) intertwined our fingers and bit her lip, staring back at me with a longing like no other. “Please, don’t close your eyes, okay? We can make it through this, I know we can, okay? We will make it through this,” she breathed, looking away, “Just... please, please don’t close your eyes...”

“(Y/N),” I finally uttered, pushing against the dryness coating the insides of my mouth. "(Y/N), look at me, love,” I whispered again, somehow lifting my fingers to her face, tilting it so that our eyes would meet once again.

“T-Taki- no, no no, please, no,” she murmured in one quick breath, as if sensing what was about to happen.

“I love you,” I breathed, smiling as I finally felt my life slip away from my loose fingers.

And with that, I slipped into a senseless, timeless dark world, feeling it consume me from the inside out.

Things escalated quickly after that. It was like the time that had slowed down to a stop finally sped up into a run, sprinting through my fading consciousness. 

Yosuke called an ambulance, even though he knew it was too late, and I was rushed to the hospital where Shun and Kiyohito sat, awaiting any update Yosuke had for them. It didn’t take long for the doctor to leave my side and walk out of the room to let them know that there was no use praying, or hoping, or... wanting. 

What was done, was done.

I was with them no more.

Kiyohito, for the first time in ages, looked downright terrified as he curled into Shun’s side, whose tense shoulders did nothing to hide the anxiety he felt either, but he tried to distract himself by rubbing comforting circles on Kiyo’s shoulder as the latter’s eyes welled up with tears, refusing to believe the news. 

I feel a crack echoing in my already shattered heart when I recall how pale (Y/N) looked when she crumbled to the ground, silent as a graveyard.  Yosuke stood right beside her, clenching his fists to numb the pain even as a silent tear dripped down his cheek.

It happened only a week ago, but I remember everything so vividly that I still have a hard time believing if it’s really just memories or an actual movie playing at the front of my mind, every single day.

Sometimes, I still wonder if pushing her away was the right thing to do.

At the time, it seemed like it was. Pushing (Y/N) away meant saving her life, and that was all that mattered.

But now, as I watch her bite her trembling lip, quivering in her black dress while looking at the photo of me in a navy blue frame, I feel a twinge of regret. I look down at Sydney sitting beside her leg, curled up at her side, staring into my soul through the picture, and I feel a pinch of guilt for leaving this life and the two most important woman in them behind.

If anyone asked me why I’m here, I wouldn’t know how to answer them.

After all, what does one do at their own funeral?

‘I want to spend more time with you,’ I think, scoffing at myself for only realising that now, of all times. If only I looked her in the eye and not Ashiba when I felt the bullet pierce me, maybe I would have done things differently. Maybe I would have fought harder, longer. Maybe... maybe I would have saved us both.

But there never is any use crying over spilled milk, now is there?

I sigh, taking in another deep breath as I watch Yosuke walk over to the low podium, a wet handkerchief held tight between his fingers. He steps in front of the mic, and that’s when I catch a sight of his red eyes. This fool, still trying so hard to cover up how he’s feeling.

“Taki was...” he begins, before his trembling lips stop and he looks up, sniffing. “No, Taki is a...” a quiet sob pauses him, “... great friend. He has been, for the last ten years I’ve known him. Always so straightforward, always so blunt. He was so stuck up, I sometimes thought he had a stick shoved up his ass, you know?”

He laughs, but he fools nobody. His attempt at humor only backfires as his shoulders shake, and he finally lets his tears fall down. He sniffles again, trying to gather himself up, but a part of him gives up, and he just allows the world to see his cheeks, wet with tears, too tired to bother wiping them.

“But, I think that’s what I loved the most about him. His honesty. His strength. In all the years I had the honour to call myself his friend, he never once faltered. He was always so... driven. We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances, but I think life, for me at least, became a much better journey with him in it. I felt like I finally made a friend. We never explicitly stated it, but we both knew we had each other to fall back on, should we ever needed. That is... until that day one week ago. I-I’m sorry Taki, I-” he trembles,”I’m sorry I wasn’t there in time. I’m sorry I didn’t have your back when you needed it the most.” 

He takes a moment to dab at his eyes with his kerchief before clearing his throat.

“I never admitted to it, but I loved the man despite all our arguments, our disagreements, our fights, our everything. I know, he loved me too. And I know, he is no longer around for me to pull his leg, or tease him,” Yosuke takes a quick breath, and when he starts speaking again, his voice is nothing above a whisper, “but I know he’ll be right here,” he touches his heart, “no matter what. I couldn’t be more grateful to have made a friend like you, Taki. God knows I’ll miss you and our banter, but... I hope you’re in a better place now. You lived a very, very good life. But I wish you’d stuck around longer, mate.”

Yosuke looks back at my picture near the coffin, and I feel my heart clench at the forlorn look he gives me. 

“I’ll miss you, Tacks,” he whispers again, and I know he means it with everything he’s got. “Love you.”

I feel something wet splash against the back of my hand, and it’s then that I realise that Yosuke isn’t the only one tearing up.

This asshole. Who asked this brat to get all emotional? It wasn’t like him at all. And look what he did to me with his mindless mumbo-jumbo.

‘I’ll miss you too, Yosuke.’

One by one, each of the guys and (Y/N) say their pieces, and to my surprise, they all tear up once they look at the blue coffin inside which I lay. Heh, who knew I’d be so loved, after all?

Forget people crying for me, if ten years ago someone told me I’d even have the fortune of having someone attend my funeral, I’d laugh in their face. It’s funny how things change with time.

Before long, the proceedings are done, and it’s finally time to lay my lifeless body to rest. But just as my coffin is rested on the cool, welcoming earth, I catch (Y/N) leading a depressed Sydney to the pit. She takes the bouquet out of her mouth and places it over the wooden lid of the casket.

I gasp and feel a fresh wave of moisture greet the back of my eyes when I see what they are.

Roses. Nine of them.

‘Eternal love.’ I recall the meaning of this particular set of roses, and once again, I can’t help but be grateful to have such a friend like her. ‘Thank you.’

It’s when my wooden little residence is covered with soil and my tombstone is placed over it that I read the words chosen for me by them. Yosuke. Kiyohito, Shun, (Y/N) and Sydney. My family. A family that I’m leaving behind.

‘His true wealth was in his generous heart. And what an enormous wealth he had.’

And it’s with those lines, I finally feel myself vanish into thin air with a smile on my face. For ever.

#kings of paradise #kop #birTAKIDAY COUNTDOWN! #day 5 #taki kozaki #yosuke sagara #kiyohito shirakami #shun randoh #sydney the croc #kings of paradise taki #kings of paradise yosuke #kings of paradise shun #kings of paradise kiyohito #kop taki #kop shun #kop yosuke #kop kiyo #kings of paradise fanfic #kop fanfic #taki kozaki fanfic #voltage inc #otome romance #l365 #love 365 #Love 365: Find Your Story #angst #angst with no happy ending #hurt no comfort #lol have fun

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 3, deadly life (Part 7)

Note of the author: ... Damn this Deadly life is long. I know there were two deaths but still.

Chapter 3: What is beyond humans’ control - Deadly life

...

“Huh?” the girl blinked.

“I said...” Rantaro gripped his podium. “How do you know what a curare is?”

Shuichi was confused. What’s a ‘curare’ anyway?

“Um... I think I heard it once but don’t remember who said it...” she replied, tapping her cheek.

“... That’s a lie and you know it.” Rantaro became more and more nervous. “I never mentioned anything about curares. I never even said the word, and I don’t think anyone here knows what it even means.”

He turned to the rest of them to see if he was right.

And he was, since everyone glanced at each other to see if anyone knew.

“I mean, I do know but...” Tsumugi pondered. “I don���t remember mentioning it, but I could be wrong, since the past few days have been erased from my memory.”

“Still...” Rantaro turned back to the craftswoman. “Curare is the scientific name for what I described as ‘paralyzing product’ so that everyone would understand.”

“But you couldn’t have known that unless you read the label on the bottle.”

“I... Think I do remember now! I did see it when I checked the shelves in your lab once because I was looking for painkillers! But that was even before the disease!” she joyfully replied.

This looked incredibly suspicious anyway. And Rantaro seemed very skeptic.

“... Supposing this is true...” he turned to the rest of them. “This is the first and last time I want someone rummaging through painkillers. I want to be here if any of you want some painkillers, since I know it’s easy to take the wrong doses.”

... First time? Didn’t Kaito...

No, now wasn’t the time.

He nodded. The rest of the group agreed as well.

“I still have trouble believing you, Angie.” Tsumugi narrowed her eyes.

Ryoma sighed. “We said we would solve the murder, then accuse people. However...”

He turned to the girl. “We still have a suspect list with some of you more suspicious than others, and that includes you, Angie.”

She joyfully nodded. “I’m not the killer~ But we can continue the trial if you wish to!”

Shuichi didn’t know her that much, but that still looked strange.

Kokichi seemed to have an eye on her, but he didn’t look mad at her... For some reason.

What is he even thinking?

“There’s something that has been bothering me ever since I- no. Since we discovered it.” Kirumi glanced at the violinist.

Something they both discovered? Ah, is it...

“... You mean the missing plants in the shrine?” he perked up.

“The what now?” Miu was confused.

“Some bushes were missing in the shrine.” Kirumi explained. “We left it for a few minutes with Rantaro because Monokuma asked us to at the end of the investigation, and when we came back I’m positive they were replaced.”

Kiyo and Ryoma nodded to each other. “That’s what we noticed as well.”

“But what’s that supposed to mean?” Kaito frowned.

“Did any of you find the missing plants anyway?” Tsumugi asked the autopsy trio.

They glanced at each other to confirm that no, they didn’t.

“Does any of you have an idea on what they could have been used for?” Kiyo questioned.

Something they could have used the plants for...

The bushes, and not the flowers.

Perhaps for something that was worth taking off the bushes, yet not the flowers...

And for some reason the bushes disappeared without a trace.

It hit him.

“Did the killer... Burn them? That’s the only explanation I can find...” he suggested.

“Wouldn’t they have taken the flowers with it?” Kaito asked.

Tsumugi shook her head. “No. Flowers are not as flammable as bushes, so I can see where Shuichi comes from, and that’s the most plausible theory.”

“But to burn bushes? What’s the point?” Miu argued.

“My guess would be that they had something else to burn.” Kirumi said.

Something else to burn...

“What about the labels on the bottles? We didn’t find a single one of them in the shrine, but...” he trailed off. “Why would they burn the labels? We know which bottles are missing...”

“I think this has to do with which bottles we would find liquid around.” Rantaro answered. “So we couldn’t identify which ones were used then thrown, and which ones were thrown without being used.”

So this had to do with an already solved mystery.

“Perhaps there is something else we can add to the things they burned.” Kiyo declared. He turned to the medic. “Rantaro, you did the autopsy in its entirety, right?”

He hummed. “Yes, and I’ve given every information I found.”

“Was there a trace of a letter Himiko may have received inviting her to the shrine?”

Rantaro’s eyes widened in realization. “Now that I think about it, no. I didn’t find anything on her.”

“Then we can say that the letter burned with the labels and the bushes.” the therapist concluded.

“So the killer just used the bushes as a way to make fire?” Miu scratched her neck.

“Not just to make fire.” Tsumugi corrected. “To make a fire strong enough to burn both the letter and every single piece of label on the bottles.”

“Let’s not forget the fabric used as a bag.” Kirumi added.

“However there’s a huge contradiction with this entire theory.” Ryoma countered. “You see, I think I know enough by now considering how much time I spent in the warehouse and...”

“There isn’t a single lighter in this academy.”

Shuichi blinked. If there wasn’t any lighter, then there couldn’t have been any fire.

But that theory felt so right...

“You mean like, no way to burn stuff?” Kaito turned to him.

“Nope. Even the monomono machine doesn’t give anything like that, from what I’ve tested.”

Angie pondered. “That’s weird, I swear I have seen fire somewhere...”

She thought for a moment. “There were candles in the rooms of the fourth floor, right?”

That was... Right, actually. When they visited the rooms after they opened, and when they installed furniture for the ill ones.

“Yes, but we blew on them each night so the others could sleep.” Rantaro defended himself, knowing the accusations would be against him.

“Each night? What is that supposed to mean?” Tsumugi raised an eyebrow.

Shuichi forgot for a moment she didn’t remember the last few days.

“Monokuma relighted them each time, for some reason.” the medic replied.

“I remember waking up in a dark room this morning. They were extinguished.” Ryoma testified.

Tsumugi nodded. “I can confirm this.”

Shuichi barely heard Kokichi humming as he nodded, too.

"I went one last time in the rooms before actually eating my meal. You three asked me to turn off the lights, and so I did.” the medic explained.

He frowned. “I didn’t think much of it since you asked me the same the day before, but I should have guessed something was wrong.”

Shuichi could see Tsumugi glancing at Kokichi- the only one in the ill students group who remembered the last few days, to see if he reacted to a potential lie.

From his expression that wasn’t the case.

“But then how are you supposed to burn things without any sort of lighter?” Kaito questioned.

Either the theory was wrong, or they were missing something.

Think.

"Perhaps there wasn’t any fire in the first place?” Kiyo pondered.

Wait, what if...

“Rantaro, didn’t you show us a burned wooden stake?”

Kirumi nodded. “I remember now. There was a partially burned wooden stake on the crime scene.”

“Which means there was a fire after all.” Rantaro confirmed.

“But where does that get us? The thing was partially burned, right? There were no trace of burning anywhere else!” Miu exclaimed.

“But there has to be a way this burn mark was made.” Tsumugi declared.

A way to make fire with a wooden stake...

It hit him.

There was only one person who could have been able to do so.

“Angie...” Shuichi hesitantly turned to her. “You know how to make fire with wood, right?”

The girl innocently tilted her head to the side. “Hm?”

“Yes. You told me about your experiences on your island and told me that was one of the basic things to learn as an artisan.” Kiyo agreed.

“Oh... Did I say that?” she put a finger on her cheek.

Kiyo looked nervous, yet confident in his voice. “Yes Angie. You did.”

All eyes were on her now. her podium emitted a red light and went forward.

“Angie... You’re the culprit aren’t you?” Shuichi narrowed his eyes at her.

Upon a quick glance, Kokichi was still unreadable. It was like he wasn’t even caring about the situation and paying close attention at the same time.

"...”

The girl was silent.

Everyone was waiting an answer.

“... I was in my lab yesterday until 8:00 PM. I never moved from there, actually~”

“Angie.” Rantaro stared at her. “We need an answer. You’re the only one who could have done this.”

“Answer my question then!~” she span around to turn to the medic. “Did any of you see me leaving my lab and temper with the meals?”

The others glanced at each other, hoping to find an answer.

But nobody said anything.

“See? If I did so, one of you would have noticed me. However, since we’re talking about ‘fire’...”

She turned back to Kirumi.

“You’re a mercenary, right? You should have plenty of firearms to help you in your lab~”

“I never use firearms." she countered. “I only use knives and poisons. Nothing in my lab could have done anything of the sort.”

“Can we be sure?” Kaito hesitantly asked.

“I’ve looked at your profiles, several times actually.” Tsumugi argued. “And I remember seeing on Kirumi’s profile that she dislikes firearms. I doubt Monokuma would come up with a lie to defend one of us.”

“Besides...” Ryoma added. “Firearms is only the name. Unless you had gasoline you couldn’t have created fire. And it would have been way too loud to be an effective method.”

Shuichi stared at the craftswoman, hands strongly gripping the podium. “You’re the only one, Angie.”

“I still don’t have the answer to my previous question~” she wasn’t phased at all.

“None of you saw me put soporifics in the meals. And everyone can make fire if they try, it just takes some time~”

“No one saw you, it’s true.” Tsumugi glared at her, one hand placed on her podium. “But you are the only one who could have committed the murder, and that’s all that matters.”

Shuichi thought about the day Angie’s lab opened. Angie had specifically said that she could use all the tools with great skill.

That included the axe.

He felt a chill down his spine. Even though some of them were strong physically, it was an expert who used such a powerful tool on Himiko.

“It’s not like it matters anymore.” the prodigy continued. “Let’s just get to voting time already. The blackened is decided.”

“No they’re not!!!”

Kokichi slammed his hands on the table, startling Shuichi.

“I told you all! There is one blackened here and it’s me!” he put a hand on his chest, as if it would strengthen his argument.

“Kokichi-”

“Even if- Even if any of you really killed Himiko there is one person here who deserves to die, it’s me!” he yelled.

Convincing Kokichi was going to be a hard task.

“Besides, there’s not enough proof to tell it’s Angie! She never left her lab yesterday, you guys must have seen it on your monopads!”

Shuichi blinked. This was how he knew she was in her lab.

But what if...

“I’m the only blackened here! Just vote for me already!”

The violinist took a deep breath.

He has to convince him.

That he isn’t the blackened and Angie is.

It’s almost over. He has to.

Argument armament start!

“She isn’t the blackened, I am!”

                               “There’s one person

                                                              who deserves punishment,

                                                                                   it’s me!”

                                        “I am the blackened!”

                                                       “You don’t have enough proof

                 she is the blackened!”

                                                 “She doesn’t deserve to be punished!”

                                    “Just vote for me already!”

“It’s still my karma

                                      that is responsible

                                                                         for Himiko’s death!”

                 “The killer is just a small part!”

                                         “I am the culprit here!”

                                                        “I’m responsible for her death!”

             “I am the one you

                                                     have to execute!”

                                “You made so many theories incriminating her...”

“But Angie never left her lab, you should have seen it on your monopads!”

                       Mono     pads     tracking     function

“The monopads...” Shuichi muttered.

“The monopads don’t track people, they track the other monopads!” he exclaimed. 

Tsumugi bit her nail. “ Angie just left it in her lab so she could form an alibi...”

Kiyo looked at his monopad. “It’s never stated in the rules that you have to keep the monopad on you at all times, so she must have done this.”

“Satisfied now?” Rantaro stared at Angie.

“...”

There was a long silence.

"I think we should go through this one more time...” Shuichi glanced at everyone.

-Closing argument-

The plan started the night the motive was introduced. The ill students were placed in the rooms on the fourth floor, with Rantaro keeping an eye on them.

The culprit already had their plan prepared. So the first night, when Rantaro was sleeping on the fourth floor...

They went to his lab to look for soporifics. That was a major part of their plan.

Rantaro didn’t notice them missing since he never had the time to check because of his role as the medic for the ill ones.

The next day, the culprit waited until Kirumi started preparing dinner for the hospital team. And when she was out to ask the others their preference...

They went in and drugged the meals.

-A part of him knew the reverse karma was probably the reason why Angie managed to get to do this without being caught, but refrained from mentioning it.-

Of course, neither Miu, Kirumi nor I noticed anything, so we gave the plates without questioning anything.

Rantaro had asked us not to go visit too often because there was a risk we would get the disease, so no one noticed he fell unconscious in the stairs because of the soporifics in his meal.

After nighttime started, the culprit slipped a letter to Himiko inviting her to the shrine of judgement at a certain time, probably between 12 AM and 1 AM.

They began preparing the weapons for their crime.

The culprit cut off some fabric from Maki’s lab to make a bag and transport the weapons.

That included tools from their lab, darts from Kokichi’s lab, scissors from Maki’s lab, and finally, knives and poison from Kirumi’s lab.

Actually, the poisons were not necessary, since their plan was not to poison Himiko. They only made us think it was used to confuse us about their method.

And so, they completely destroyed Kirumi’s lab to make us think they desperately wanted poison.

There was one last thing they needed to retrieve from a lab.

Paralyzing products to use on Himiko so she wouldn’t fight back. They stole syringes as well so they could use it.

Before taking the weapons to the shrine, there was one last thing to do.

The culprit dragged Rantaro’s unconscious body to his lab, and retrieved a chair from Kirumi’s lab to make us think Rantaro was never drugged in the first place.

And so, they could finally make their way to the shrine.

Once Himiko arrived, the killer took her by surprise and drugged her with the paralyzing product so she wouldn’t fight back.

She was already not very strong, but that was important to our culprit.

I do not know how exactly things went from there... The killer... Used all the weapons they had taken on Himiko. They also drew angel wings behind the victim’s back, as shock value, I suppose.

The culprit now needed to dispose of the evidence. That included the labels on the bottles, the letter they sent to the victim, and the fabric they used as a bag.

Since there was no way to create fire in the academy, the killer had to use their own skills.

They snatched the bushes from the shrine, and used them as a base for the fire.

Since our culprit is the ultimate craftswoman, creating a fire was no big deal. They simply used wooden stakes.

Once the culprit was done with burning the evidence, they planted one of the stakes in Himiko’s chest, which was ironically the final evidence to guess the identity of our culprit.

After that they left the horrifying scene for us to see the next day.

And the culprit...

... Is you, Angie Yonaga, the ultimate craftswoman!

“...”

The girl stayed silent for a minute... Then smiled.

“Yep! You are correct!”

Her eyes looked devoid of regret.

“I am Himiko’s killer!”

The joy in her voice... It was terrifying. How could she be so happy about this?

Did she have the disease like Rantaro suspected?

Kokichi was speechless, staring at Angie, with pure horror in his eyes.

Himiko was finally getting her justice but...

This whole situation was atrocious.

“Let’s just end this already.” Rantaro spat, disgust written all over his face.

“Allllllrgihty then! It’s... Voting time!” Monokuma cheered.

Shuichi’s heart skipped a beat when he glanced at Kokichi. Was he going to-

Fortunately, he saw the boy looking down, but still pressing an icon on his tablet.

The violinist turned back to his podium, and pressed Angie’s icon.

“Now then, it seems the voting has finished. Let’s see the result.” Monokuma declared.

The giant screen turned on and everyone’s icons appeared.

9 votes for Angie Yonaga, and 1 vote for Kokichi Ouma.

Shuichi could barely hear Angie mutter “Hm? Weird, I voted for myself...”

Upon a quick glance, it was easy to guess who voted for Kokichi.

“Who’ll be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one!?” Monokuma continued his usual speech.

VERDICT

The wheel turned for a few seconds before slowing down… And landing on Angie.

The coin machine on the screen made its distinct jingle, and coins rolled out of it.

Angie was unreadable.

“Wow! Seriously!? You’re correct again! A-Amazing! This is the third correct verdict in a row!”

“The blackened who killed Himiko Yumeno is Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate craftswoman!”

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

[knylinphd]

zenitsu agatsuma x fem!reader | butterfly estate

zinetsu agatsuma x reader

female reader

Zinetsu gets interested in a nurse from the Butterfly Estate, but now that he's really interested, he doesn't know what to do.

no warning

''What you should do is close your mouth, cause nobody cares about you complaining !'' Aoi shouted at Zenitsu who, once again, refused to take his medicine. Her attention was caught by a noise of a door opening, just behind her. ''Oh, long time no see ! You're done slaying demons ?'' Aoi asked a girl. She didn't have a butterfly in her hair just like all the other members of the Butterfly Estate. However, her haori had butterfly patterns. ''I don't have any mission anymore, so I'm back.'' The mysterious girl replied.

Zenitsu had become silent when she entered the room ; another hunter ? And a girl ?! She had to be a part of their group. ''What's all that noise ?'' She asked, turning to him. Aoi groaned. ''That boy over here don't wanna drink his medicine ! He's the one who got poisoned by a spider demon and now his limbs are tiny.''

The hunter walked to see the boy more closely, and laughed. ''That's so cute ! You look like a child !'' She said, still giggling. And that made Zenitsu flutter. ''I'm (Y/N) (L/N) ! You killed one of the demons that were being a pain in the ass, thanks !'' The girl continued, bowing as she introduced herself. The boy was only able to stutter : ''Z-Zenitsu A-A-Agatsuma.''

After a proper introduction, (Y/N) went outside to check on Inosuke and Tanjiro -that she had met just before looking who was yelling like that. Zenitsu, on his side, just took his medicine like a good little boy after that. ''If you shut up whenever she's around, I'm going to ask her to always come.'' Aoi commented.

         (Y/N) stayed for a few days, until it was time for her to go back on a mission. When she finally came back, Zenitsu's limbs were grown back, but he and Inosuke had decided not to go to the trainings anymore. However, the girl was a part of those trainings. Indeed, Kanao was there for the speed, the reflexes, and the breath, but (Y/N) was here for the strength. And Zenitsu knew it wasn't his thing so he was discouraged even before starting.

           And oh boy, how jealous he got. Strength was Inosuke's thing ; so he got to train with (Y/N) the most often, and she actually seemed cool enough for him to manage to befriend him. That's when Zenitsu decided to snap and stood in front of (Y/N), determined. ''I wanna fight you !'' He said. She simply blinked and replied : ''Okay ?'' unsure of why all that theatricality.

        She actually beat him easily. Maybe it was because he was frozen to be that close to a girl he actually really liked. Tanjiro noticed it, of course -even though Inosuke was just yelling at the blonde to do something. However, after that embarrassing moment of having his butt kicked, the thought of impressing his new crush was enough for Zenitsu to train more and more, and actually succeeding in a lot of trials -still without spilling the tea on the girls.

         Throughout days, the three boys got closer to all the girls of the Butterfly Estate, that's why (Y/N) insisted on telling them she had to go on a mission, instead of them finding out she wasn't home the next morning. ''(Y/N) ? Where are you going with your katana ?'' Zenitsu asked. ''She's going on a mission, dumbass.'' Inosuke muttered, which made the girl giggle. ''Yeah. It's near the mountain you guys got hurt. But I have to go alone, so I guess it's a tiny little demon that can be killed easily.'' She commented, confident.

          ''And you're not scared ?!'' The blonde asked, shocked. Why would they send a beautiful girl like her to the mountain they almost got killed at ?! ''Why would I ?'' She asked, an eyebrow arched. But she didn't wait for an answer before waving at them and going on her mission, Kanao waving at her as well.

         Zenitsu was worried. And Inosuke couldn't understand why ; he wasn't the one being sent for once, so he should've been relieved instead. But Tanjiro knew. ''You like her, right ?'' He asked, a smile on his face. The blonde froze. ''HOW DO YOU KNOW ?!'' As if it wasn't obvious. ''You're frozen when you have to fight her, and you're always trying to impress her. Oh, and you take your medicine when she's the one telling you to.''

          He couldn't believe it. He had been obvious during all that time ? ''But how do I do to make her like me back ? I don't want to ask her to marry me, you always tell me it's not how we're supposed to do it...'' He genuinely seemed lost. Like he had really thought that asking random girls to marry him was the right way to have a girlfriend. ''Yeah, you didn't do that, that's a good point. I think she would've kicked you.'' Tanjiro chuckled at the thought. 

          ''But how do I do it, Tanjiro ?! How do I make her like me ?!'' Zenitsu shook his friend by his shoulders. ''Well, I-I don't really know ! I never asked a girl out ! I don't know just tell her how you feel ?'' The blonde gasped. ''And what if she rejects me ?! I will have to carry the shame forever ! And what if we ever come back here ?! I'll see her again and I'll be humiliated !'' Tanjiro sighed.

         However, when (Y/N) came back, a few days later, Zenitsu had actually found the courage to finally confess. He had freaked out when the girl had came back with a few scratches on her neck. He had thrown himself on her legs, hugging them and crying in her haori. ''(Y/N) ! You're back ! I was so scared you would've died and we would've never seen each other ever again !'' She had raised an eyebrow. ''What's his problem ?'' She had asked the two other boys, who had simply replied they didn't really know.

             (Y/N) was healing her scratches on her neck ; she had actually gone to other missions for all those days, the quests following each other, and that's why she was home only by now. ''(Y/N) ? Can I... can I talk to you ?'' Zenitsu asked, shy. ''Of course.'' She answered, after focusing back on her wounds. He sat on the bed in front of the chair she was sat on. ''The thing is -and that's Tanjiro's idea to make me say it like this- I like you.''

             The girl snorted ; she had heard about his personality from the other boys. ''You like every girl.'' He gasped. ''No ! No no no ! Like, I really do for you ! The other girls, I was just looking for someone to marry me, but you... I just like you for real. I don't care if you don't want to marry me. I actually care if you don't like me back, but at least I'm not yelling at you because I'm scared to die single.''

        She blinked a few times. ''Wait, you really do ? That's weird coming from you.'' She said. ''Yes I do ! That's why I was frozen in place when you fought me and why I was always taking my medicine when you were telling me to !'' Seeing that she wasn't replying, Zenitsu kept going. ''I like how you always jump from the last step of the stairs and land on both your feet, that's very cute ! I like how you always bite your lips when you're focused and how you tap your foot on the floor when you're stressed.''

           That was kinda creepy, to be honest, that he had noticed all of that. But it managed to make (Y/N) smile. ''You really like me, then ?'' She still asked, and Zenitsu vigorously nodded as an answer. That actually made (Y/N) giggle. ‘’Cool then. I actually think you’re cute.’’ The blonde mentally died at that moment. He actually blushed instantly, having some difficulties to control his breath.

‘’Awn, look at you !’’ She said, when she noticed it. ‘’So you’ll be my girlfriend ?’’ The girl looked behind Zenitsu. ‘’Sure, if you come back alive from your next mission.’’, ‘’UHH ?!’’ He turned and saw his sparrow. ‘’Oh no, we already have to go ?!’’ He yelled.

Tanjiro called him to prepare his stuff before going back on a mission. However, before actually saying goodbye to everyone, Sumi, Naho and Kiyo gave the boys some food -that Inosuke started to eat immediately even if it was for later. ‘’Girls, you’re gonna miss me right ?’’ The blonde asked, the girls not really answering his question.

But then, (Y/N) arrived to say goodbye. Of course, Zenitsu started to tear up instantly. ‘’(Y/N) ! I’m gonna miss you so much ! You’ll wait for me, right ?! You won’t date someone else ?!’’ He shouted, hugging her way too tightly. ‘’Yes, I’ll wait for you, Zenitsu.’’ He rubbed his cheek against hers, still crying. ‘’And you’ll miss me, right ?!’’ She nodded. ‘’Then I’ll survive for you.’’ The girl nodded a second time, not really showing any emotion. ‘’You can cry, you know ! I won’t judge you !’’ The blonde said. ‘’I think you cry enough tears for both of us.’’ She replied.

But he managed to make her show some emotion ; he kissed her. That earned some ‘aawn’ from the 3 girls and some disgusted noise from Inosuke, but it was worth it. ‘’Mission with the boys ! Mission with the boys ! Accompany them !’’ A crow yelled ; it was (Y/N)’s. She blinked a few times, and the blonde suddenly gasped and hugged her a second time. ‘’You’re coming with us ! I won’t die alone ! We’ll die together like cursed lovers !’’. ‘’UHH ?!’’ She groaned, angry.

‘’YOU REALLY THINK WE’RE GOING TO DIE ON A MISSION ?! YOU KILLED A DEMON THAT HAD POISONED YOU !’’ She shouted ; but Zenitsu couldn’t be happier to go with her. And that’s why he only took her hand, a big smile on his face, and started to follow his two friends without even caring about his new girlfriend yelling at him.

#kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #zenitsu agatsuma #agatsuma zenitsu #zenitsu x reader #zenitsu agatsuma x reader

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 3.7

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 chapter 3, Maki became Maki Roll, Kaito finally admitted to his phobia (sort of), Tsumugi deliberately used said phobia to nerf Kaito because apparently his support of Shuichi in investigations is just too OP, and so Maki stepped up to begin helping Shuichi investigate instead. Investigate Angie’s death, that is, because she’s dead. That also happened.

Maki:  “The Monokuma File included the time of death this time.”

So apparently, even though Maki spent the previous investigation guarding her lab while insisting she couldn’t help, she still did read the Monokuma File and notice that it omitted the time of death. She wasn’t completely refusing to engage with the case.

Tsumugi:  “So… the murder happened at nighttime after all. If everyone had followed the student council’s rules like Angie and Atua said…”

Yes, if only Angie had followed her own rules.

Himiko:  “I… don’t care anymore…”

Tenko:  “What?”

Himiko:  “Surviving… and everything else… It’s too much of a pain…”

Poor Himiko. She was never lazy; she is horribly depressed, and losing the person she was using as a coping mechanism, even if it was an unhealthy one, has just made things even worse for her.

Kiyo jumps on the opportunity to suggest a seance so that he can get himself a two-for-one murder. Presumably, if he hadn’t unexpectedly had to kill Angie last night, he was imagining the resurrection ritual would fail and then was planning to offer the seance to speak to Rantaro instead.

(It’s a good thing Kaito left before anyone started talking about seances. That would not have helped him feel any better.)

Himiko:  “If I can talk to Angie one more time… I’ll do anything. A seance or whatever it takes… I’ll do it.”

Tenko: “I-I’ll help out as well! I can’t leave Himiko alone!”

Himiko:  “Do whatever you want…”

Tenko:  “Okay… I will.”

I really like that even though Himiko has no opinion about the fact that Tenko is helping her, Tenko doesn’t care and wants to help anyway. Sometimes Tenko’s actions towards Himiko are clearly done with ulterior motives, but she’s at her best when she’s helping Himiko for completely selfless reasons just because she cares about her.

Kiyo:  “My lab has windows, so turning the lights off won’t make it quite dark enough.”

Huh, I’d forgotten this detail – I thought there were no windows anywhere on the fourth floor. I guess the gamemakers put windows in Kiyo’s lab specifically so that his ploy where he leads someone else into picking one of the empty rooms can work.

After talking to Miu and being subjected to some of her usual garbage…

Maki:  “…You’re a waste of time.”

Shuichi:  (Maki turned and walked away. I can’t say I blame her.)

I never get tired of how done Maki is with everyone who deserves it. Shame Shuichi is too passive and polite to give in to what is clearly his own desire to not talk to Miu ever.

Tsumugi:  “U-Umm… I’m not sure if it’s okay to say this or not, but… Could… Tenko be the culprit?”

Look who’s suddenly dropped her theory about the culprit being the resurrected Rantaro now that Kaito’s no longer in the room, even though she was originally so into the theory that she made the point of bringing it up again several minutes after being cut off once. Yeeeaaah.

Gonta:  “N-No way. Student council would never break own rules. They shoulda been asleep in own rooms! To set good example to others!”

Oh, Gonta. Of course he’d be determined to keep the rules that he’s meant to be enforcing, unlike Angie. He’s such a good.

Gonta:  “Maybe Angie get attacked while she sleep in her room, and get brought here? If so… Gonta coulda saved her! If only Gonta saw! But Gonta was sleeping… Sorry, Angie… Gonta no could save you!”

Noooo but then he uses that to give himself a reason to feel guilty and like he could have prevented the murder again no Gonta it’s not your fault!!

Necronomicon:  If it’s not obvious who the effigy is supposed to be, label it with the name of the deceased.

These seem like rather vague requirements. How would whatever otherworldly force that brings back the dead decide whether the effigy’s identity was “obvious” or not and needed a label? Why wouldn’t it be able to just read the mind of the effigy’s creator and sense their intent? Seems more like the ones bringing back the dead are just some perfectly ordinary humans who need to know which Flashback Light (and possibly which clone) they need to prepare, and who are likely to have the same basic human judgement about whether the effigy’s identity is obvious or not as the person who created it.

Necronomicon:  Then close your eyes and wait. After a while… you should feel a light tap on your back.

This part’s a little harder to fit into a way in which this could work. I’m not sure how the gamemakers would be able to get the newly “resurrected” person from wherever they were keeping them to inside the dome and right behind the ritual-doer so quickly. Asking the ritual-doer to close their eyes probably helps, but this still seems… kind of impossible. But I suppose the book technically never specifies how long of a “while” they’re supposed to wait for.

Maki:  “Maybe the student council should have blocked the warehouse instead of the manhole.”

Pretty good point she has there. Also her lab. And Kiyo’s, because of the katana. And Himiko’s has a bunch of swords in it too.

Shuichi:  (Maki nudged me aside, then gripped the katana and pulled it out of the effigy.) “Ah, wait! This is a crime scene, you can’t—”

Isn’t the point of “don’t disturb the crime scene” so that the investigators can be aware of the way things were originally found? Everyone investigating this case has seen how it originally was and will remember it, so surely it’s now perfectly okay to move the things that it’s necessary to move in order to investigate further. Shuichi’s probably really objecting because he just doesn’t want to see someone pull a katana out of something that looks like Kaede.

Maki:  “When I first started working, I botched a mission using a katana… I haven’t used swords since. Which is fine, because they’re a hassle to carry anyway.”

Heh, swords being a hassle to carry is exactly why she ended up botching that mission.

As I just mentioned, there are swords in Himiko’s lab, even though Maki’s has none, so the culprit could have used one of those (and then it wouldn’t have left gold leaf on the lock). Seems like someone was attached to his own lab’s katana after all.

Maki:  “I’m going to put the katana back where we found it… If it’s too hard to watch, look away.”

It’s a small thing, but it’s nice that Maki’s considerate enough to realise Shuichi might not enjoy watching her stab something that looks like Kaede (and she’s right, because he does look away). It’s not the sort of thing you’d necessarily expect her to be conscious of, since she’s so jaded to everything herself.

Shuichi thinks to test how easy it is to move the sliding lock on the back door as soon as he sees the gold leaf on it, meaning he’s basically already figured out that the lock was locked using the katana’s handle and apparently just isn’t being confident enough in his deductions to voice that idea out loud. Having a detective protagonist who’s riddled with self-doubt is very convenient for writing a murder mystery game where you’re supposed to let the players figure things out and not have the protagonist solve everything for them.

Maki:  “…He’s clearly suspicious.”

Shuichi:  (It is suspicious, but that solution seems a little too… convenient.)

They’re talking about Kokichi, because of his lock-picking abilities. Apparently Shuichi is genre savvy enough to know that it’d never be him because that’s way too obvious.

Shuichi:  “I’m surprised you spotted this, Maki. It was hidden under her body…”

Maki:  “…It was partially visible. As a detective, you should have noticed it before I did.”

Shuichi:  “Ah, well, that’s true…”

Maki:  “Well, even so… I guess you’re still getting used to being around dead bodies… So don’t beat yourself up over it.”

Maki’s smiling a little as she says that last bit. She’s being considerate and reassuring! And I think she’s also beginning to realise that her own talent that makes her used to dead bodies can actually be helpful in this situation.

Shuichi:  “Well then, it’s a good thing you’re used to corpses, Maki.”

Maki:  “…Huh? Do you want to die?”

Shuichi:  “S-Sorry, joking. I couldn’t resist.”

Maki:  “…You don’t need to apologize. I was joking, too.”

Look at them being comfortable joking around with each other, even if in this grim kind of way. They’re friends!

Maki:  “It’s not that important, but… the only time you’re reliable is when you’re investigating a crime scene.”

Shuichi:  “Is that… supposed to be a compliment?”

Maki:  “Who knows?”

It’s a bit of a backhanded one, since she’s implying that he’s useless the rest of the time. I think she means well, though. She’s just not used to complimenting people.

Maki:  “You’re certainly more reliable than Kaito, at least. That guy is useless.”

Kaito may be kind of useless in terms of plans, or deductions, which is what’s important right now, but he could not be further from useless when it comes to helping people, in a way that nobody else could replicate. One day Maki is going to be able to admit to herself and others that Kaito has made a huge difference for her. That day is not today.

(The fact that he noped out of investigating due to something that Maki can’t appreciate isn’t his fault certainly doesn’t help that right now.)

It’s also… probably a good thing Kaito isn’t here to hear Maki say that Shuichi is more reliable and useful than him. That would hit him a lot deeper than he’d ever let on. Then again, maybe Maki wouldn’t have said that if he were here. She calls Kaito a lot of things (mostly an idiot), but she hasn’t ever called him useless to his face. And Maki’s not the kind of person who’d think something negative about someone behind their back but avoid saying it in front of them… so the fact that she’s never said it to his face does rather imply that she doesn’t truly think he’s useless after all.

Maki:  “It just occurred to me… Why am I acting like your partner?”

Because you’re friends? Learning how to be friends and work together with people is the kind of thing you’ve been trying to do in fighting your “enemy”, isn’t it?

Shuichi:  (It’s not as if I *asked* you… but it’s fine by me. It’s true that Maki is a tremendous help to me.)

Maki definitely has been more help in terms of actual deductions than Kaito would have been… but still, not really in ways that Shuichi couldn’t have done using his deduction skills alone (with the possible exception of noticing the duct tape under the body because she’s more used to corpses than him). So really, what Shuichi is appreciating the most is the company and support and not having to do this alone.

Next, they head to Kiyo’s lab and end up hearing more about how the seance works as Kokichi reads the book to them. All these details of how the seance is performed are very transparently written to facilitate Kiyo’s murder plan. It’s almost like this seance method only exists for the purpose of committing this specific murder with it or something.

Kokichi:  “Also, it says we can’t step on the magic circle during the preparations…”

Even this part, which Kiyo uses an excuse so that nobody accidentally steps on the unstable floorboard, is explicitly written in the instructions and not just something he makes up himself. How very convenient for him.

What I’m saying is, here’s another thing going on in this chapter which is a product of blatant in-universe lazy writing. It’s actually kind of a consistent running theme of this chapter, in a way – and certainly a more narratively meaningful theme than “ghosts, for some reason”.

Kokichi:  “Complicated plans have a better chance of working out in the end, wouldn’t you say?”

…No? It’s definitely simpler plans that are more likely to work. Man, Kokichi believing this sure does explain a lot, though. His overarching grand plan ultimately fails, and while I’ll go plenty into the exact reasons why when we get there, a more general reason is very much that it was way too complicated.

Kokichi invites Shuichi to join the seance. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he suspected a murder was going to take place and figured Shuichi ought to be witness to it so he could solve it. Maybe.

Shuichi is too focused on the plot to let me take him into the left or right rooms before the seance. If only he’d investigated one of them and discovered the floorboard, maybe he’d have realised what was up before it was too late for Tenko.

Kiyo:  “I always use salt for magic circles. It makes seances more likely to succeed.”

Yeah, that’s definitely why, and not so you can feel your way to the right spot in the dark.

I’m not sure why Himiko initially volunteers to be the spirit medium, since the whole point of this is to let her talk to Angie. She can’t do that if Angie’s possessing her.

Still, it lets Tenko specifically offer to take her place so that Himiko can get to speak to Angie. Gah. She has no idea she just volunteered to die instead of Himiko, but still. If she hadn’t done this and Himiko had died instead, then something like, “I should have volunteered so that I would have died instead of Himiko!” is exactly the kind of overzealously protective thing Tenko would say. If she actually were still around after death in some way to reflect on her decision here, she wouldn’t regret this. But guh, if she’d known beforehand then this wouldn’t even happen at all. Fuck you, Kiyo.

Tenko:  “Expressing your feelings is perfectly natural. You shouldn’t feel ashamed at all. So… if you feel like crying while you’re talking to Angie, go ahead and cry your eyes out. …You’ll feel better when you do. Well, I mean, laughing makes you feel better too… And venting your anger onto something can really cheer you up! Train your heart by crying, laughing and venting your anger, Himiko.”

Himiko:  “… I think you’ve trained too much…”

Tenko:  “Hahaha, you’re probably right.”

I wanted to quote this whole speech to appreciate Tenko being at her best. It’s a shame she’s only at her best when she’s raising massive death flags, but.

Also, look at Himiko actually engaging with Tenko just a little bit (she’s smiling a little as she says that!). If Tenko weren’t about to be killed here, Himiko might have come out of this seance already feeling better and ready to change.

Shuichi:  (It seems like the two of them made up… That’s good.)

Aside from the part where they still weren’t ever really friends in the first place and this would more just be the beginning of them becoming friends, I can also see where Shuichi’s coming from here. It sure is a relief when friends who have been at odds with each other make up just before one of them is murdered. Right?

I’m not sure why Kiyo doesn’t delegate Himiko to be one of the people to carry the cage, since he’s going to claim in the trial that only the cage-carriers could have put the sickle there, but he also tries to pin the blame on Himiko for picking the room. I guess it’s just because she’s small enough that she’d really struggle to lift it? Or he just doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing; that’s also very possible.

Kokichi:  “It wouldn’t be very funny if a body discovery announcement happened during this.”

Kokichi sounds like he means this, so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he hasn’t figured out Tenko is totally about to be murdered. Because if he has and is keeping quiet about it, that’s very not okay. Then again, he did quite knowingly lead Ryoma to his death last chapter, so maybe I shouldn’t be putting this past him.

I’m also sceptical as to how the four of them could have carried the statue in without some of them stepping on the magic circle at some point. That path into the middle of the circle is way too narrow for all four people, especially if they’re carrying something really heavy.

“How many will there be by dawn? Will there be two or just one?”

*thunk!*

Two. Definitely two murders and not just one.

(This bit isn’t in-universely deliberate, since they couldn’t have known Angie would have been unexpectedly killed before this.)

You can kind of clearly see the blood seeping out from under the cage as they relight the candles… but considering that the blood is not actually bright pink and is really dark red, I can understand why the characters don’t notice it at first. The misplaced floorboard is a bit more obvious, but maybe also the room is darker in reality than it looks in the game.

Shuichi:  “…Tenko?”

Kiyo:  “Ah… I told her that she mustn’t speak until the spirit enters her.”

It’s possible this part of the seance procedure was something Kiyo made up just so that he could keep up the pretense of normalcy for long enough to allow him to remove the sheet with the sickle under it.

Kiyo:  “Those who remove objects from the magic circle must be the same who brought them in.”

And this part. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the book, at least from the bits that Kokichi read out to us.

(She jumped onto the cage, and…)

Himiko:  “T-Tenkooo!!!”

(Fueled by desperation, Himiko grabbed the cage, lifted it up, and…)

Look at her lifting the cage by herself when it took two people to carry it! She’s having emotions! She’s desperate not to lose another person who cared about her and was trying to help her deal with this awful situation! God, poor Himiko.

Monotaro:  “Wh-Who would’ve thought… there’d be another victim during the investigation…?”

Apparently nobody gave the kubs the memo about how the scripted murder for this chapter was Kiyo’s seance murder.

Kiyo is the one who asks for clarification about what happens if there are two separate murderers. He knows he’s more likely to be discovered for Tenko’s murder than for Angie’s and is hoping to get himself some insurance for that, and that’s exactly what he gets. Someone claims during the Debate Scrum that Kiyo was planning to protect himself with the rule all along, and he insists that’s not possible because the rule was added after this murder. But even so, him being the one to ask makes it pretty clear that is what he’s hoping for. It’s not like he could have asked about rules regarding double murders prior to the seance without making himself way too suspicious.

Kaito:  “This is… unquestionably bad. I can’t believe Tenko was killed. Everyone’s upset and confused… And I’m in no shape to help right now…”

Heh, this is Kaito actually being honest about his capabilities. That’s rare to see.

Also I like that he specifically mentions how everyone’s upset and confused – because that’s exactly the kind of thing he’d normally be able to help with, by being his usual optimistic self and boosting everyone up.

Kaito:  “So… this is where you need to step up. Listen, Shuichi…”

At least he has his sidekick to trust with that role instead!

Kaito:  “The impossible is possible, all you gotta do is make it so.”

Ayyy! I don’t actually remember how many times throughout the game Kaito says this, so I’m going to keep track here. This is the second.

Kaito:  “Alright… then let’s check the Monokuma File first.”

Even so, despite admitting he’s not likely to be much help and having kind of passed the torch onto Shuichi, Kaito still starts talking as if he’s going to be helping here. I suppose he’s hoping to get in as much help as possible until someone inevitably started talking about seances and spirits and set off his phobia again.

Kokichi:  “Maybe… it’s Angie’s curse.”

Kaito:  “C-Curse…?”

Which Kokichi almost immediately does. He’s obviously noticed Kaito’s phobia (how could anyone have missed it after his reaction last time) and thinks it would be hilarious to set him off again here. Newsflash: no, triggering someone’s phobia on purpose is nothing but the biggest dick move.

(And since Kokichi is such a dick, Tsumugi didn’t need to do anything this time. I have to assume that she was going to, if Kokichi hadn’t got there first.)

Kaito’s overreaction this time is even more extreme and, again, something I don’t think is quite in character for him to do. He should be doing everything he can to not let everyone see him being this obviously pathetic (or what he considers “pathetic”), and he should be capable of suppressing it at least that much.

Maki is blushing here, but even though the writers probably annoyingly intend this as a ship-tease, it doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with her romantic feelings for Kaito (which might not even be a thing quite yet). Anyone, especially someone who’d been severely starved of physical contact with other people for as long as she has, might feel uncomfortable if someone suddenly clung to them like this.

There’s a trickle of blood coming from Kaito’s mouth after Maki punches him to get him off her. It’s not stated exactly where she punched him – did she punch him in the face, causing him to cut his mouth somewhere and bleed that way? Or did she punch him somewhere closer to his stomach, which would have worsened whatever internal injuries he’s got from his illness (his symptoms include stomach pains) and caused him to cough up blood from the inside?

Based on the position of Maki’s arms in the illustration, and the amount of blood coming from Kaito’s mouth… it seems more likely to be the latter.

Kaito:  “My bad, Shuichi… I’m starting to feel bad… but for a different reason.”

For what different reason? Because he feels guilty for invading Maki’s personal space without her permission? Just because she punched him? …Or because his real, physical illness has been getting worse lately and Maki’s punch just exacerbated that even more? This might be one of the most honest things Kaito says regarding his illness until the very end of chapter 5. (And yes, it still isn’t very honest. That’s my point.)

I guess he’s apologising to Shuichi specifically because he’s going to be unable to help him investigate again, but also he really should give Maki an apology for invading her personal space.

Kaito:  “I’m gonna get some fresh air, so… I’ll leave this to you and Maki Roll…”

I feel like this time it’s somewhat less about his phobia and simply needing some fresh air. He’s probably heading to go cough up some blood where nobody will see.

(He remembered to call her Maki Roll this time! …Also a sign that he might be in a less phobia-driven state of mind than last time. Maybe being punched by Maki to the point of almost coughing up blood right there in front of everyone made him freak out about his much more real problem in a way that kind of pushed the phobia aside somewhat.)

Gonta:  “It all Gonta’s fault…! Gonta fail to protect friends again!”

Noooo Gonta it’s not your fault! You couldn’t have known this was going to happen! And it’s especially not all your fault – nobody else saw this coming either, not even the people who were participating in the seance.

Shuichi:  (Tenko’s death caught us all off guard… Everyone is panicking. I have to keep it together. I have to work harder. Because I’m… a detective.)

Gah, look at Shuichi putting pressure on himself. It really would help him a little if Kaito could still be here for this.

Gonta:  “Himiko! Hey, Himiko! Be strong, Himiko!”

Tsumugi:  “Gonta… If you shake Himiko that much, she’s going to break!”

Gonta:  “But she not talking! It’s like Himiko not even here!”

Aww, Gonta, not quite understanding that this can be some people’s way of responding to trauma and getting a bit too overzealous in trying to help. This is also a nice early instance of Gonta wanting to help Himiko, which he does a bit more of at the end of this chapter and in chapter 4.

Kiyo:  “But why did the seance fail? We performed all of the steps flawlessly…!”

I don’t know, maybe because the medium died in the middle of it, you absolute moron. Even if he believes in the seance, I don’t know how he can possibly think that wouldn’t be a sensible reason for it to fail. There cannot be recorded instances of people performing this seance in which the medium died during it and yet it still worked.

Kiyo:  “Oh! If we perform The Caged Child again and summon Tenko’s spirit this time—”

Is he fucking serious. Is he actually trying to get them to do the seance again in one of the two remaining booby-trapped rooms and kill a third fucking person oh my god what a creep.

Kiyo:  “Why, I’ve even had spirits enter my bo—”

Maki:  “Shut up. I don’t want to hear about your stupid delusions.”

Shuichi:  (Maki really doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s kind of refreshing, actually.)

Maki: still 1000% Done With Everybody’s Bullshit, now including Kiyo’s. It really is refreshing to have her around to do this.

Maki:  “With a wound this deep, the victim is too shocked to do anything except die.”

This is part of Maki talking about how Tenko’s death wasn’t instant, which is used in the trial to suggest that she could have thrown the sickle under the floor after stabbing herself… but the way Maki phrases this line in particular certainly makes it sound like she wouldn’t have been able to do that even though she was alive for those few moments. That confused me a little when this part came up in the trial.

When you come back up from investigating underneath the floorboards, Kokichi is no longer there. However, nobody draws attention to him having left, and since he was off in one corner anyway and you don’t have any reason to talk to everybody again before leaving the room, this fact is very easy to miss.

Shuichi:  (When I came to the hallway… a scene more surprising than I could ever imagine unfolded.)

Because of that, and because of this line that implies we’re about to potentially see yet another body (which indeed we do, except it’s just Kokichi messing with us)… on my first time through, I was terrified that this was going to be Kaito. I had no reason to assume that it could be anyone other than him, since I didn’t notice that Kokichi was also missing. I was expecting it to be Kaito so strongly that my brain was apparently just looking for identifying features of Kaito during the first split second of the cutscene, and I got as far as “it’s a dude with pale clothes and dark hair” and felt a pang of sheer terror before I looked at it more and realised it was actually Kokichi (and then that he wasn’t even dead).

I have to wonder if this is something that was maybe vaguely deliberate on the writers’ part – they could have drawn attention to Kokichi having left the room to put the assumption that it’s going to be him rather than Kaito in your head, but they didn’t. And having you think Kaito is dead only for it to turn out to be Kokichi (and then him turn out to be not even dead this time) could kind of maybe be thought of as foreshadowing for chapter 5? …I’m probably reaching here, I admit.

Maki:  “If you’re going to lose consciousness, do it after you tell us everything.”

Maki gives zero fucks about Kokichi even when he’s injured. Which is perfectly reasonable, since he’s spent this whole chapter giving negative fucks about her and treating her like a monster.

Monokuma:  “Killing game fans! Hold your head high and watch with your own two eyes! Baseball! Soccer! Mobile games! They’re all nothing compared to the killing game!”

My god, it is any wonder Kokichi figured out this thing is being watched. You’re really not being subtle at all, Monokuma.

Kokichi:  “He drew his magic circle the same exact way as in this picture.”

Kokichi’s memory cannot really be this bad, surely? The lines leading to the corners of the rooms that were in the salt circle but aren’t in the book were very obvious and hard to miss. I can understand someone not being able to clearly remember whether it was different or not, but sounding this certain that it was the same when it wasn’t seems off to me. He might well be lying and already suspect Kiyo.

…Or this could just be this chapter’s bad writing, because this thing about the magic circle is probably the dumbest part of the trial and I am planning to rant about that when we get there.

Kiyo:  “It would appear we have all gathered… But it seems there are less and less of us.”

Yes, and whose fucking fault is that this time.

Shuichi:  “Ah, more importantly… are you okay, Kaito?”

Kaito:  “Yeah… I’m feeling better now. But wow, Maki Roll sure does pack a punch.”

Aww, look at Shuichi immediately checking on Kaito’s wellbeing.

I have to doubt how much better Kaito really feels, not only phobia-wise, but also because Maki really did pack enough of a punch that it caused blood to come from his mouth, so that’s definitely a thing that’s becoming more and more relevant now. Kaito is never genuinely fine from this point onwards.

Interestingly, this line here is only the second time we’ve seen Kaito’s big-grin-and-thumbs-up sprite since anyone mentioned resurrection rituals (the first being when he told Shuichi the impossible is possible a little earlier). We know that when Kaito’s problem is his phobia, he doesn’t have the mental strength to be able to smile like that – but in future chapters, when his problem is that he’s dying, he’s still able to grin and insist that he’s Completely Fine in this way. So the fact that he’s able to do this now is a sign that this is probably the point where his physical illness begins to overtake his phobia as the biggest problem on his mind. Even though that scares him in a much more real, rational way than any of the ghost stuff did, at least that’s a kind of fear that he’s actually able to hide from the surface – and he’s even more desperate to hide it.

Keebo:  “You might call it an inner voice… It tells me what to do whenever I’m in trou—”

This is the first time Keebo’s brought this up! It’s actually kind of surprising to me that such an important plot point is only first being mentioned halfway through the story.

Kaito:  “Yeah, the trial this time is gonna be rough. We got caught in Monokuma’s trap.”

Shuichi:  “His trap?”

Kaito:  “He probably made the 4th floor so scary on purpose to prevent me from investigating.”

Maki:  “No, he didn’t.”

This part is absolutely great, because the thing is – he did. (Or rather, the mastermind did, but Kaito’s basically conflating them with Monokuma here.) Obviously Kaito doesn’t really think that’s true and is just saying this to try and save face, but… he’s actually right??? Even though, as I said before, the in-universe writers deliberately preventing Kaito from investigating seems pretty unnecessary and I don’t fully understand why they felt the need to do it, that is exactly what they did.

Tsumugi:  “Yeah… there’s no way.”

Yeah, Tsumugi. There’s no way you did that to Kaito on purpose. Kaito definitely didn’t just accidentally describe your intentions.

And with this, I am 100% convinced that this is definitely what the out-universe writers are trying to imply here. Sure, Kaito would naturally make some kind of excuse to save face about not being able to investigate, but to have it be this specific excuse, and then to have specifically Tsumugi respond to it like this, when nobody else except Shuichi and Maki is paying any attention to Kaito here… This is so clearly deliberate.

Which… I really love? I love that even when you’ve seen the whole story and have learned the answers to all the major mysteries, there’s still subtle details like this – details caused by the writers having a specific thing in mind about the story that they don’t feel the need to ever explicitly tell us, because it never being explicitly told to us doesn’t stop it being true.

Kaito:  “… Shuichi… say something.”

Shuichi:  “Wh-What should I say?”

Unfortunately, Shuichi is not omniscient and cannot possibly figure out with the information he has that Kaito’s excuse is actually the truth. Sorry, Kaito. I’m sure he’d love to know that he genuinely is apparently so awesome that the mastermind felt the need to nerf him.

Kokichi:  “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I respected Angie and Tenko so much, since the moment we met!”

No, you didn’t. This is just him yet again trying to cover up his basic-human-decency-driven horror at the two deaths by overexaggerating his reaction to pretend that it’s all a lie. He’s done this for every single death so far – the only one until he becomes a murderer himself next chapter that he won’t do this for is Kiyo, because Kiyo is not a decent person and it’s much easier not to be bothered by his death at all in the first place.

Kaito:  “Shut up! Nothing’s gonna be solved by crying about it!”

Oh, Kaito. Even though it’s Kokichi, and Kaito should perfectly well be able to tell that he’s lying (mostly), he’s still trying to help by putting across his usual philosophy on this kind of thing. (…I wonder if he’s doing this because he can sense on some level that Kokichi’s reaction isn’t completely a lie. I wouldn’t put that past Kaito’s intuition.)

Maki:  “Besides… that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

Kokichi:  “Yup! You guys have me figured out already, so there’s no point in keeping up the act.”

Everyone had this “act” of his figured out ages ago, so why did he keep it up even until now? Oh, right, because the person for whom he’s keeping up the real act is himself.

Keebo:  “I can hear an inner voice guiding me when I don’t know what to do. I can’t explain why, but I believe that voice will lead me to hope as long as I listen to it.”

Oh dear. Sounds like Keebo’s programmers conditioned him to automatically associate his inner voice with hope. Of course they did.

Kokichi:  “That inner voice is probably just a radio or something.”

Kokichi is immediately figuring out plot-relevant things yet again. I don’t think he ever mentions Keebo’s inner voice after this point, though… which he really should, because it’s quite relevant to his ideas about this situation and the point of his plan. Maybe his rampant robophobia prevents him from considering it important enough to warrant further thought.

Tsumugi:  “Hmm… So in the end, the culprit really was… N-No, it’s nothing… We can talk about it once the trial starts.”

You were about to say “Rantaro”, weren’t you. Because Kaito’s feeling better now, and we can’t have that, apparently.

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[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 3 #deadly life #commentary

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 1.7

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, as the first trial began, the narrative continued to ignore the actual reason for Tsumugi’s apparent innocence, everyone generally played catch with the idiot ball to pad things out including several people who deserve better, and I started discussing Kaito’s really-not-that-gendered concept of manliness. Then suspicion fell upon Shuichi, who promptly clammed up in fear of revealing the truth to defend himself, just before we went to the intermission.

Monokuma:  “Try your best to nab the culprit. And believe me, that’s no lie. If I lied, it would shake the game to its very foundation.”

Yeah, you’re definitely not going to do that at the end of this trial, right?

But also, that’s precisely the point: Kokichi’s plan in chapter 5 and Shuichi’s reason for retrying this case in chapter 6 both revolve around the idea that proving Monokuma to have lied would render the entire killing game invalid and force it to end.

Maki is still being the one to drive the conversation in terms of accusing Shuichi. She’s just being pragmatic and has no time for any of this “believing in people” stuff; why would she?

Kokichi:  “Did it ever occur to you that Shuichi could have lied about setting the sensor? Hmmm?”

Kaede:  “A… A lie…?”

Shuichi:  “…”

And yet at the exact time Shuichi was genuinely setting the sensor and not lying about it, Kaede was setting up the camera and turning the flash on and lying about that. That’s probably what Shuichi’s freaking out about right now.

Kokichi’s claim that Shuichi never set up the sensor is so he can argue that Shuichi then used the sensor to set off the receiver in front of Kaede on purpose. But Kokichi doesn’t know the receiver had a power supply, so how does he think Shuichi managed to carry the sensor and the receiver around with him all day and not set it off accidentally just by moving around normally?

Kaede:  (I have to do something! I know for a fact that he’s not the culprit!)

Not an exaggeration!

I enjoy the way the podiums can sometimes move about during these trials, and this debate is one of the biggest reasons for it. Just the way it forces Shuichi into the middle of the circle so that everyone is staring right at him – particularly since Shuichi has such a fear about people looking at him with accusation and hatred in their eyes. This must be especially awful for him right now.

(I particularly like this one shot. Shuichi’s frozen up in the foreground, the background focuses on Ryoma, who’s speaking – but in the background there’s also Kaito, silently freaking out over the possibility that Shuichi did it. Kirumi, who’s much less relevant to anything right now, happens to be completely obscured by Shuichi thanks to the angle used.)

Shuichi:  “………………”

“Say something.”

That bit of white noise there is probably Maki again, being blunt and pragmatic as usual. (It’s fun guessing who the lines of white noise could be from; I’ll be pointing out some of the more relevant ones.)

Kokichi:  “Yeaaah, I mean, whatevs. I made a mistake! Big deal!”

Kiyo:  “You speak as if you knew that from the start… Even I was taken in…”

I can’t decide whether I agree with Kiyo that Kokichi actually knew about the contradiction in his argument from the beginning or not. Making the argument despite knowing it’s wrong is the kind of dick thing he’d do, but also I’m pretty sure that at this point he does think Shuichi did it? There is absolutely no indication that he was aware Kaede was the real culprit until that comes out.

And now Ryoma makes the argument about Shuichi turning the receiver off because he happened to learn that bit of information during the investigation.

This argument they put together here (that Shuichi did set up the sensor, turned the receiver off, murdered Rantaro when he went to the basement and then retrieved the sensor so that he could set off the receiver in front of Kaede to fake the time of death and give himself an alibi) is almost a completely flawless argument. It’s pretty clever how the case manages to do this – create a way in which Shuichi could have plausibly done it so that the only way to defend him is not to prove he didn’t but to force him to prove that Kaede did. And then everyone, even Kaede herself, ends up firmly believing that she did it because the evidence pointing to that is seemingly flawless, even though that’s also not the truth and the real culprit is yet another person that nobody will be aware of until they find new information at the very end of the game.

…I say “almost” completely flawless because there is actually an argument to clear Shuichi’s name without Kaede lying or confessing, namely that they saw the bookcase door closing when they ran into the library, proving that Rantaro had in fact been alive when the receiver went off. Nobody points that out in this trial, but even so, it’s almost a shame that that piece of evidence exists to make this current argument about Shuichi’s potential guilt not truly airtight. The writers presumably only put that bit in as a hint for chapter 6 that Tsumugi had just left, but even then that won’t be necessary to prove that she did it.

Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… So the Ultimate Detective is the killer. What a plot twist!”

You’re not the only person who wanted that plot twist to happen, either, Kokichi. Good thing the other person who wanted it doesn’t exist anymore and got overwritten by an Ultimate Detective who wouldn’t ever kill anyone.

(Also, man, 53 seasons and none of the writers thought to try and do this plot twist, even though they apparently have a lot of Ultimate Detective characters?)

Kaito:  “Hey, you gonna say anything? We’ll all vote for you if you don’t.”

Kaito’s been interestingly quiet this whole time Shuichi’s been accused. This is the first thing he’s said since the intermission, and it’s not even specifically defending him. I might have expected Kaito’s belief in Shuichi to be strong enough that he’d have tried to defend him, but seemingly not. He’s probably been focused on trying to figure out why Shuichi would clam up when he’s being accused if he really isn’t the culprit – Kaito is always about trying to understand people.

Kaede:  (Why won’t Shuichi say anything? Is there… a reason he won’t say anything? … If that’s the case… then it’s all up to me.)

Kaede has probably figured out here that it’s her fault he won’t say anything, because he’s realised she did it and is terrified of admitting it.

Monokuma is having himself a little puhuhuhuhu in amongst the white noise of the debate where you have to lie. He’s probably excited to find out if Kaede will throw Shuichi under the bus for her own survival or not.

You know, Kaede, your lie would probably be more convincing if you didn’t dramatically yell, “I’ll turn this lie… into the truth!” before starting to tell it.

(Yeah, yeah, obviously she doesn’t actually say that out loud since no-one comments on it, but it still comes across as pretty unintentionally silly.)

Kaede:  “S-Sorry, you guys! I forgot to tell you something important!”

She’s also a really unconvincing liar. Shuichi will be much better at it than her when it’s his turn to lie. Plus, her lie is extra bad because it comes with the huge looming question of why the hell didn’t she mention this ten minutes ago when the receiver was first brought up as proof Shuichi did it.

Aaaa but Shuichi’s look of shock when he sees her lying for him, though. He’s probably been terrified this whole time that she’s secretly a horrible person who’s only pretending to defend him and will eventually sacrifice him to get away with her crime, but the fact that she’s willing to go this far to defend him and put herself at this much risk…!

Kaede:  “C’mon, would I lie to you guys?”

Kaito:  “That’d only screw yourself over. If we mess up, you’re dead too, y’know?”

And yet Kaede knows that this lie is all the more likely to get herself killed and that’s exactly why she’s telling it.

Kiyo:  “Or perhaps… you wanted to cover for Shuichi, even at the cost of your own life.”

Shuichi:  “…Huh?”

That’s the first sound Shuichi’s made since he was accused. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the possibility is occurring to him that Kaede is still the person he believed in!

Keebo:  “I cannot imagine why anyone would risk their life to lie on another’s behalf.”

Kokichi:  “Words from a true heartless robot! Emotions are only for meatbags!”

And yet you have an even harder time comprehending the idea of risking your life for someone else’s sake than anyone else in this room, Kokichi.

Tsumugi:  “Umm… I agree. I sort of can’t believe that Shuichi is the culprit.”

Yeah, of course you don’t, because you want everyone to eventually figure out that Kaede did it. Note how she doesn’t even present a specific reason for thinking this; it’s not like she’s been acting as if she believes in Shuichi especially strongly or anything.

Kaito:  “Yeah, this ain’t right!”

And of course Kaito believes in Shuichi! Even though he wasn’t speaking up to defend Shuichi earlier, he also wasn’t one of the people contributing to the argument against him.

Kaede:  (We can’t vote for Shuichi, because he’s definitely not the culprit. If we vote for him, all hope is lost… I won’t be able to save everyone…)

Again with her utter certainity. But she shouldn’t be so worried – she must know that even if she can’t convince everyone of Shuichi’s innocence with just her lie, all she needs to do is confess, if it comes to it. She should be absolutely certain that no matter how things go, this trial will never end up with everyone else getting executed, because she won’t let that happen. I guess by “save everyone” she means she’s still hoping to catch the mastermind at this point, and this whole accusing Shuichi thing is just an inconvenient detour she’s trying to drag everyone off of.

The way Monokuma twists the key into the keyhole when starting up a Debate Scrum is extremely reminiscent of Gurren Lagann. Given a certain someone in this game who is also extremely reminiscent of a certain character from that anime, I feel like this is probably deliberate.

I like that Gonta makes one of the arguments in the Debate Scrum. He wouldn’t necessarily need to, since there’s only five arguments for eight people on his side, but he’s contributing! He’s not as stupid as he thinks!

I’m playing on the Vita version, and one of the few notable downgrades is that it doesn’t have the voice clips of everybody yelling “This is our answer!” together at the end of a Debate Scrum. Which is a shame; I always thought that was a cool bit, hearing multiple characters work together to convince everyone else of the truth. Debate Scrums are a really cool idea in general to get more of the characters involved.

Kaede:  “And if that happens… Everyone will be executed… I definitely won’t let that happen, even if it costs me my life!”

Man, that statement of Kaede’s is telling. Why would it cost her her own life to prevent everyone being executed, unless…? It can be passed off as misguided protagonist determination and her temporarily forgetting how things work because she’s so worked up, but it’s more than that.

Shuichi:  “Kaede…”

Look at Shuichi finally saying something for the first time since he was accused, and it’s when he hears that Kaede is willing to die for her crime. She is not the horrible backstabber he was afraid she might be; she is still exactly the brave, selfless person he believed in. It’s this that makes him finally able to face the truth.

Kaito:  “Yeah, it’s just like Kaede said! Shuichi ain’t the culprit!”

Gonta:  “Gonta believe in Shuichi, too! Gentlemen always believe in friends!”

Kaito and Gonta are both so good and so full of belief in people.

Even though Shuichi is speaking again and is laying out his arguments that lead to the truth, he’s still doing it in a pretty roundabout way, like he’s trying to put off the moment where he has to accuse Kaede for as long as he can.

Kaede:  (I see… Shuichi knows… The reason why Rantaro noticed the camera was…)

I love just how strongly this hints that Kaede knows everything that happened even better than Shuichi.

Kaede:  (I know this… There’s only one reason the camera’s flash was used…)

And again. She very clearly already knows and is not just figuring things out as Shuichi explains.

Kaede:  “But the culprit didn’t expect the camera to take another picture when the door closed.”

And Kaede can be sure of this statement because she is the culprit. (Although, they’re all only assuming the second picture was when the door closed – I believe it is actually supposed to be when Tsumugi opened it again from the other side.)

Kaito:  “Hey, Kaede…?”

Kaede:  “What is it?”

Kaito:  “Is… something wrong? You’ve been acting… kinda strange.”

Kaede:  “…Strange?”

Kiyo:  “Your last few remarks carry… more conviction than before.”

Look at how Kaito is the first one to notice this! He doesn’t for a moment want to believe that she actually did it, which is why he remains vague about what’s up with her and Kiyo has to be more specific – but still, he noticed, and he brought it up because he wanted to better understand why. Kaito is so perceptive when it comes to people and always trying to understand them better when there’s things that don’t make sense to him.

The fact that Shuichi and not Kaede is designated as number 1 in the screen where you have to accuse people would potentially be extremely spoilery if it weren’t for the fact that this is the first time we see this screen, when you’re about to find out that Shuichi is the true protagonist anyway.

It’s very appropriate how Kaede’s voice clip for accusing someone correctly, given that this is the only time she ever does it, is “No doubt about it”.

Kaede:  (I’m sorry… Shuichi. You stayed silent this whole time because you realized it already, right? But, you can’t do that. It may be the end of me, but I want my wish to… I’m giving it to you, Shuichi. From now on, you’re going to carry on my wish! You’re going to protect everyone!)

Shuichi:  (Kaede… I know what you want me to do. That’s so cruel… It’s cruel, but… I understand. I’ll do it. You can trust me. I won’t let your wish… go ungranted.)

This sequence where they switch protagonists is adorable and gives me feelings every time. I don’t think it’s supposed to be that they’re actually talking to each other or reading each other’s thoughts – they just both understand each other enough that they’re accurately imagining how the other is feeling right now and responding to that in their own inner monologue.

Also, despite the game making you do so as her, Kaede didn’t actually accuse herself. All that was ever said out loud was:

Kaede:  “The culprit of this incident is…”

…

Shuichi:  “…Kaede is the culprit.”

Kaede must have been trusting that Shuichi was finally about to find the courage to face the truth and was waiting for him to say it so that she didn’t have to. By acting like she was about to admit it herself, she made it clear to him that she is completely okay with being found guilty, giving him the final push he needed to do it.

Gonta:  “Kaede… did it?”

Tenko:  “W-Wait, that’s not possible! Right, Kaede!?”

I like that these two are the first ones to speak up to question this. They believe in her!

Kaede:  “Pft… ahahahaha! Just kidding!”

Ryoma:  “Just kidding?”

Kaede:  “Huh? Did you guys really think I’m the culprit? Psh, come on, guys! Like I could!”

And now Kaede has started deliberately playing the villain. She’s given up on her attempts to corner the mastermind, given up on her own life – but she still hasn’t stopped trying to help everyone. She’s doing this, playing the horrible traitor who would hide their crime and try to get away with it, in the hope that it will unite everyone against her, so that despite how awfully things went, they’ll still have a sense of unity and co-operation once this is all over. And of course, she’s doing it to get Shuichi to face his fear of revealing the truth, because she knows that he’s going to need to do that in order to keep saving everyone throughout the rest of this killing game.

Kaede is willingly turning herself into a monster because she’s selflessly fixated on saving everyone else and doesn’t care at all what they think of her so long as they’re all going to be okay. She is so, so good.

Kaede:  “Shuichi’s just joking around. He wanted to lighten up the mood.”

Yes, because that’s totally an in-character thing that Shuichi would do.

Kaito:  “Yeah, how? You and Kaede were together the whole time, weren’t you?”

I also find it interesting that, again, this is the first time Kaito has spoken up since Shuichi accused Kaede. He did not join in earlier when Gonta and Tenko were questioning if she really did this. Kaito was the one who first noticed she was acting strange, after all, so it seems there’s a part of him that didn’t have as much trouble believing it, based on the way she’s acting. Here he’s speaking up not to question the fact that she would do it, but simply how she physically could have done it, because that at least is still very unclear.

Kaede:  “…I was in the classroom, standing watch with Shuichi.”

“Y-You see!?”

Gonta:  “Kaede never saw Rantaro… then how she kill him!?”

“There’s no way!”

These two bits of white noise are absolutely 100% Kaito. Even if Kaede being the culprit makes more sense to him based on her behaviour than he would like to admit, he still doesn’t want to face up to that. So he’s vehemently latching onto the part where it doesn’t seem to be physically possible to avoid having to think about the fact that her behaviour tells a different story. The fact that he’s stuttering in the first statement and the text is shaking in the second one certainly implies that he is not as sure of himself as he is trying to sound.

Tsumugi:  “Hmm… what a mystery.”

Yeah, such a mystery that you definitely don’t know the answer to. And you definitely didn’t write Kaede with a fondness for Rube Goldberg machines precisely so she’d be able to create a mystery like this.

Shuichi:  (If I’m remembering correctly, there was something off about her then… Damn it, how could I not realize it…?)

Because she’s your friend and you trusted her and had absolutely no reason to assume she might have been secretly plotting a murder. Don’t beat yourself up about this, Shuichi.

Ryoma:  “It’s not like it started rollin’ on its own…”

“Rollin’ on its own!?”

Ryoma:  “…and fell off the bookcase onto Rantaro’s head.”

“The hell are you talkin’ about!?”

These white noise lines: also Kaito. Ironic that the part he’s furiously questioning here is the part that turns out to be close to the truth.

Typical of Miu to have made this aerial diagram of the library and not even remotely have it occur to her that maybe there’s something weird about the sloped path of books leading to just above Rantaro’s head.

It’s a little weird for Shuichi to be having flashbacks and the flashbacks still be from Kaede’s perspective. Would have been kind of neat to instead get a different flashback to what Shuichi was thinking at the time. Still, I can see that the reason they did it this way is to let the player look back at those lines from Kaede’s inner monologue that hinted at what was really going on and see them for what they really meant.

Kaede:  “Impressive… You have a really good memory, Shuichi.”

Shuichi is condemning her to death and all she cares about doing is praising his talent and making sure he feels confident in himself. She is so goddamn selfless.

Tsumugi:  “A setup that complicated is almost like a Rube Goldberg machine.”

…are you mentioning this because you heard the part where Kaede talked about Rube Goldberg machines and want to make sure everyone in the audience makes the connection, Tsumugi?

Kiyo:  “Your words and that smile… Is this your admission of guilt?”

Kaito:  “Hold on! Don’t just jump to conclusions! I’ve… still got a lot of questions!”

Even though Kaede looks to be just about willing to admit things, Kaito is not ready to accept this so easily.

Kokichi:  “Nee-heehee… that’s weeeeeird. Why do you sound so desperate?”

Kaito:  “There’s nothing weird about it! There’s just no way I can believe someone like Kaede would be the culprit!”

Kokichi notes that Kaito sounds desperate because he is – there’s obviously a part of him that can tell, from the facts lining up and from Kaede’s behaviour right now, that this is the truth. But even so, his belief in the person Kaede is as someone who would never do something like this still hasn’t been contradicted. She’s acting as though she did it, but she’s not acting as though she wasn’t really that person who always cared about saving everyone. This whole time she’s clearly been trying to help Shuichi through his issues and guide him towards the truth. So it just does not make sense to Kaito, since it hasn’t occurred to him that she could have done this in an attempt to save them all.

Gonta:  “Yeah! Gonta not believe it either!”

Kaede:  “What?”

And look at Kaede being so bewildered by them still believing in and defending her. She’s just a murderer, right? She betrayed them all! They should all hate her!

Kaito:  “Don’t worry, Kaede! I’ll clear your name!”

Kaito knows she did it and that it’s not going to be possible to clear her name. He just doesn’t want to accept it.

Kaito:  “I refuse to believe that Kaede is the culprit! I still have my doubts!”

Himiko:  “What kinda doubts?”

Kaito:  “Doubts about the noise, of course!”

His doubts aren’t really about the noise. They’re about the fact that someone like Kaede would ever do this. But he knows that’s not an acceptable argument in a class trial, so instead he’s latching onto whatever evidence-related thing he can think of. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he hadn’t actually forgotten that the BGM could have masked the noise and is just avoiding mentioning it in the hope that no-one else will and he’ll have an excuse not to face the truth.

Ryoma:  “Eh, some noise ain’t a big deal.”

“Is true!”

Tenko:  “Of course it’s a big deal!”

“Yes! I’m positive!”

Hee, look at Gonta and Kaito’s white noise here fervently insisting that Kaede must be innocent. (Kaito is not positive. He’s just desperately pretending that he is.) Also props to Tenko for being the other most adamant defender of Kaede. It’s a little awkward in her case considering that if Kaede were exactly the same person but happened to be a guy then Tenko wouldn’t be doing this, but at least because Kaede is a girl we get to see Tenko’s good side come through here.

This whole argument about the BGM is also kind of flimsy considering that Kaede didn’t know there was going to be loud music masking the sound of the shot and went ahead with her plan anyway. She was presumably hoping her target wouldn’t realise what the noise meant until it was too late. And hey, maybe Rantaro did actually barely hear the sound over the music and that’s why Kaede’s shot missed.

Kokichi:  “Kaito, are you done now?”

Yeah, all this ridiculous nonsense of Kaito’s about believing in people, none of that makes any sense, right? Not in Kokichi’s worldview.

Kaito:  “D-Damn it…! So… it’s true, then…? You’re saying… Kaede really is the culprit!?”

This, though, is Kaito more or less admitting defeat, now that he has no more arguments he can think of. He still doesn’t want to believe that Kaede is the culprit… but he can accept it.

Kirumi:  “But we should not blame him for that. None of those actions warranted suspicion at the time, so he might not have noticed.”

Shuichi:  “…”

Shuichiiii, listen to Kirumi. Don’t go blaming yourself for this.

Gonta:  “That can’t be… It’s gotta be mistake, right?”

Gonta, like Kaito, still doesn’t want to believe that Kaede could have done something like this.

Kokichi:  “But if all of that is true, then that’s pretty unfortunate… I mean… it’s Kaede, y’know? She kept preaching about working together, and then she goes and kills in cold blood!”

This is Kokichi very transparently trying to force it into people’s heads that obviously you shouldn’t trust anyone ever because even someone like Kaede who talks about working together and being friends would totally turn around and murder someone in cold blood for their own selfish gain.

Shuichi:  “No, something still doesn’t fit.”

Kokichi:  “Hm? What doesn’t fit?”

Shuichi:  “Kaede… wouldn’t do something like that.”

And this is Shuichi giving the big middle finger to Kokichi’s twisted worldview. Because anyone who doesn’t have the world’s biggest unexplained trust issues should be able to tell that obviously precisely because Kaede is the person she is, she would definitely have a better reason for killing someone than just doing it in cold blood.

Tsumugi:  “But you were the one that said she did it, right?”

Shuichi:  “Yes, I did say that. But murder in cold blood is just not in her character… I truly believe that! I believe in her!”

This is not the only time that Shuichi is going to be certain that his closest friend committed murder and yet even more certain that they didn’t do it for selfish reasons!

Kaede:  “But… why? Why do you still believe in me, Shuichi? Why? Tell me why!”

Because you’re still a good person, Kaede! Even if you yourself can’t believe that right now because you messed up and accidentally killed an innocent.

Kaede:  “Are you still looking away from the truth!?”

Not any more. Now you’re the one who’s doing that, Kaede.

Kaede:  “I’m a terrible murderer. I betrayed everyone!”

A couple of lines from the Argument Armament that it’s easy to miss out on if you do too well at it, which is a big shame because they are excellent lines.

Shuichi:  “Kaede wasn’t targeting Rantaro. She was targeting the mastermind. She was trying to end this killing game… She was trying to save us all. Isn’t that right, Kaede?”

Kaede: “…”

This time, Kaede’s response is not the “good job for figuring it out, Shuichi!” that she was doing before. She didn’t care if Shuichi figured this out. It didn’t matter what anyone thought of her, after she’d failed them and done such a horrible thing.

Kaito:  “So… she tried to end the killing game… by killing the mastermind?”

And now I think Kaito can finally properly accept it, because he has a reason that makes sense. Even if he’s still upset and frustrated that she was desperate enough to take such drastic measures, he understands.

Shuichi:  “…But it’s all my fault. Kaede trusted my detective skills. I told her the mastermind might be there… And that’s why she set that trap. It’s all my fault. She trusted my detective work, and I screwed it up!”

Kaede:  “Stop… That’s not true… Please, don’t say it’s your fault… It’ll be harder for me… None of this is your fault! It’s mine! Everything’s my fault!”

Kaede does not want to die worried that Shuichi is going to keep blaming himself and suffering because of her mistake. Her only priority now is making sure that everyone else, especially Shuichi, is going to be okay once she’s gone.

Kaede:  “I want you to reveal everything that happened and convince everyone… And then… I want you to end this. That’s… my final wish.”

It’s… honestly a little awkward that Kaede calls this request for Shuichi to do a Closing Argument her “final wish”. No, it’s not – her final wish is going to be for everyone to end this killing game and get out of here! There isn’t even really a need to convince everyone at this point – even Kaito has been convinced by now. But of course it’s Danganronpa so we have to do a Closing Argument. I guess Kaede’s really just trying to give Shuichi more chance to practice his detective skills, you could argue?

“I want to help… I want to help you grant Kaede’s wish!”

…I haven’t been mentioning any of the tutorial text for obvious reasons, but this line is cute.

It’s amusing how the Completely Ambiguous Culprit Figure has a very distinctive backpack, making it not ambiguous at all. It does make sense to do that, since the backpack is relevant in a couple of panels.

Shuichi:  “We deduced that the mastermind would return there to let Monokuma out.”

No, Shuichi, you deduced that all by yourself. Have some more pride in your deductions! (Not that he would want to in this case because this is the reason Kaede committed murder.)

Shuichi:  “The shot kept rolling, then fell on Rantaro’s head, killing him instantly.”

Nope! For once, this is a Closing Argument being straight-up incorrect.

I appreciate this panel of Ambiguous Culprit Kaede being horrified by her guilt even as she’s thinking she killed the mastermind. We’ll even get to see this again in chapter 6 with it actually having Kaede’s face.

Kirumi:  “We can at least try to trust the Kaede we’ve come to know up to this point.”

Tenko:  “The Kaede we’ve come to know…?”

Kirumi:  “Even if she did commit a crime, what Kaede has said to us is not a lie. She wanted to protect us, and I firmly believe that to be the truth.”

Exactly! Too bad Kokichi’s never going to change his tune despite any of this. Also, this is Kirumi showing a surprising amount of personal feelings for her standards. Perhaps because the focus is on how Kaede has been selflessly trying to protect everyone else, which is something Kirumi can definitely understand.

Ryoma:  “If that was a lie too, it’d be the last straw for me. I’d have nothing left to believe in.”

Aww, Ryoma! He did want to believe in Kaede despite his grim outlook on things. Seems like she made him want to find a reason to live just a little bit.

Kaede:  “You guys are so nice… Even though I betrayed you all…”

Because you have been so nice to them the whole time and you didn’t betray them!

Shuichi:  “No! That’s not true, Kaede! You were trying to save all of—”

Kaede:  “Nice job, Shuichi! I didn’t expect any less!”

Shuichi:  “…What?”

Kaede:  “You were super reliable back there! But you still have a long way to go. You need to be more assertive. If you did that more often, you’d be a pretty cool guy.”

Aaaaa Kaede encouraging and giving advice to Shuichi even when she’s about to die! And it’s definitely not a coincidence that she did this as a way to cut off Shuichi’s attempt to make things about how she’s feeling – her own feelings don’t matter next to everyone else’s, especially now she betrayed them and is about to die. She doesn’t want this to be about her at all.

(This attitude of hers is incredibly similar to a certain someone else I could mention who’s going to be encouraging Shuichi a lot from now on.)

Shuichi:  “Kaede… why? Why are you smiling like that…? Why are you still trying to get me to be brave? Why, Kaede? Why are you thinking about everyone except yourself!? If you had just been less selfless, you wouldn’t have had to murder… Why…? Why do you do that?”

Unfortunately, Shuichi, you are going to have to get used to having friends who are this heartbreakingly selfless. This won’t be the last time.

Kaede:  “…I’m… sorry…”

And of course, the only response Kaede has is to apologise for the fact that her selflessness ended up hurting Shuichi like this.

Monokuma:  “The heart-racing excitement as the blackened and the spotless finally face off!”

…Like hell they’re facing off right now, Monokuma. You wish.

The roulette thing which announces the blackened slows down so much that for a moment it almost looks like it’s stopped on Gonta, who’s just before Kaede. Which probably gives first-time players a feeling of “man it sure would be awful if it really was Gonta; good thing that’s clearly never going to happen”. This same thing also happens in trial 2 with Kaito, who’s right next to Kirumi. I have to wonder if that’s deliberate.

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#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 1 #class trial #commentary

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 2.10

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 my favourite segment of trial 2, Kaito Was Good! He was having absolutely none of Kokichi’s bullshit and believed in Maki despite everyone telling him he was an idiot for doing so, said belief saved everyone by giving Maki the courage to tell the truth with less fear of being suspected, then Shuichi and Kaito teamed up to convince everyone of Maki’s trustworthiness even though they had to lie to do it. As a result, everyone finally agreed on the fact that Ryoma was alive during nighttime.

Gonta:  “So… everyone is culprit again?”

Suspect, not culprit, Gonta. You’re almost getting the hang of these terms.

Kokichi:  “But we can’t disobey school rules, right? The body was probably moved in the morning.”

This… sounds genuine. I think Kokichi actually believes this, which means that he hasn’t remotely got the case solved himself, even though he knew before most people that the murder wasn’t before nighttime.

Kirumi:  “But should we trust Maki’s testimony in the first place?”

This is Kirumi’s statement during the Debate Scrum. Everyone else is making logical arguments about the apparent impossibility of moving the body during nighttime, but Kirumi is still hung up on how inconvenient Maki’s testimony is for her and trying to get people to doubt it.

(Holy crap what do you mean I lost two and a half hearts of health from messing up the button mashing part because I briefly blanked on the PlayStation button layout. I know my Action difficulty is set to Mean, but geez.)

Gonta:  “Gentlemen not chuck dead bodies!”

An important fact about gentlemen. Gentlemen also don’t create dead bodies in the first place, which should make the not-chucking-them part kind of moot, but, you know.

Kokichi:  “Got it, musclehead!? Even if we injected tons of steroids into you, it’d be impossible!”

Gonta:  “Sorry. You’re right.”

Tsumugi:  “You didn’t need to apologize, Gonta…”

Kokichi is still being a gigantic uncalled-for dick to the most vulnerable people. And apparently Kaito has given up on telling Gonta not to apologise for things that aren’t his fault, because he keeps doing it anyway?

Kaito:  “How the culprit moved the body from the window… Ha! You guys don’t even know that!? What a bunch of dimwits!”

Kirumi:  “Do you have the answer, then?”

Kaito:  “But of course. Tell ‘em, Shuichi! Blow ‘em all away with the truth!”

Oh, Kaito. He has absolute faith that Shuichi with his amazing detective skills has already figured it out and is just lacking in the confidence to explain it, and is trying to give Shuichi that confidence to do so by talking like this.

Shuichi:  “Ah… I, uh… actually don’t know that yet…”

Kaito:  “Wh-What!?”

…But maybe his expectations for Shuichi are a little too high right now. Oops.

(It’s not too unreasonable for Kaito to assume this, because last trial Shuichi had already figured out basically everything about how Kaede did it, and the only problem was him finding the courage to reveal that truth.)

Kaito:  “Wh-What are we gonna do, Shuichi!? We gotta figure this out or we’re done for! Hey, you gotta do something, Shuichi!”

Shuichi:  “I-I know… I have to do something, but…” (I don’t know what to do, I haven’t figured that out yet… … Dammit… am I really not good enough…? Am I…? Am I no good as a detective? I-I can’t do this, I can’t—)

Kaito, I know you’re trying to help but right now you’re just putting too much pressure on Shuichi! Ease off there.

It’s neat that there’s this one little moment to show that despite how amazing Kaito is at encouraging and supporting people, he’s still not perfect at it and can mess up sometimes. This is coming about because Kaito genuinely believed Shuichi had already figured it out and is caught off-guard and freaks out a little upon realising that he hasn’t. Otherwise Kaito would still believe that Shuichi can figure it out if he just thinks it through carefully, and he’d be able to encourage him to do that instead.

Also I feel like Kaito is using “we” in a way that implies he means just the two of them, like they’re a team who’re going to solve this and save everyone together.

Maki is the one to snap Shuichi out of it by suggesting that we focus on where the murder took place! That’s almost certainly something she wouldn’t have done if Kaito and Shuichi’s belief in her hadn’t encouraged her to be a little more co-operative.

Kokichi:  “Why didn’t anyone realize this yet? Ha, that’s strange.”

Kiyo:  “Perhaps the culprit steered the conversation away from that topic.”

The culprit has definitely done a lot of deliberate steering of the conversation, as I’ve been pointing out… but not really about this. Changing the topic of conversation to where Ryoma was killed isn’t precisely bad for Kirumi anyway, since anyone could have killed him in his lab.

Shuichi:  “…Thank you, Maki. That was a helpful insight.”

Maki:  “I can’t believe you didn’t notice that. I guess that’s why you’re still an apprentice.”

It’s actually quite refreshing to have someone being more realistic about Shuichi’s detective skills rather than automatically putting him on a pedestal just because he has the title of Ultimate. Shuichi should have realised this, really, since he investigated Ryoma’s lab and seemed to more or less deduce it was the crime scene at the time, but then apparently forgot about it in the trial until now.

Kiyo:  “It’s possible they knocked him out before handcuffing him… Kehehe… Though there’s no way we can be sure, now that he’s naught but bones.”

Actually that’s exactly how we can be sure he was knocked out, since we can see the big obvious fracture on his skull. Why does nobody ever mention this. Now would be the time to bring it up.

Kokichi:  “I doubt he was ambushed. I’m pretty sure the culprit got Ryoma by… … Oh whoops, don’t pay attention to little ol’ me. I’m just talking to myself.”

Having seen everyone’s motive videos, Kokichi is probably imagining, correctly, that Ryoma had given up on living after seeing his and let himself get killed. It’s also possible, since Kokichi’s seen Kirumi’s motive video too, that he’s figured out that Kirumi told him about her motive and essentially asked him to sacrifice himself. He could just tell everyone right now that he thinks Kirumi did it, but of course that wouldn’t be any ~fun~, would it?

Oh boy, it’s time to drive a taxi. This whole minigame is so, so stupid for a number of reasons. Why on earth is Shuichi’s mental process being represented by driving a taxi and picking up hookers? That could not be more out of character for him. Plus it’s just unnecessarily long and disconnected from what’s actually going on in the trial. And, even if we just distill it down to the actual meaningful point of it which is the questions you get asked, almost all of those questions are asking you something blatantly obvious which has already been established, rather than challenging you to figure out something new, making it even more ridiculous and unnecessary that the game makes such a big deal about it. Generally the only actually new question is the last one, in which case, why not just use the usual multiple choice question mechanic?

“If you hit those, you will take Focus Energy damage.”

Um, tutorial, don’t you mean Influence? You can’t take damage to your focus meter.

At least I bought and equipped the skill that gives you twice as many letters per letter cube, just to make this minigame go faster because I find it so unnecessarily long.

Gonta:  “First, culprit hang rope outside of one window. Then culprit move to other side… and tie cable to other window. Then, after tying to each window, culprit tie rope and cable together. That how culprit make one rope that reach both windows.”

Look at Gonta being genuinely smart in some ways! I hadn’t even figured this part out on my first time through; I knew the rope had to have been tied between the two windows but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how the culprit managed to do that.

Gonta:  “I-It’s nothing. Gonta use ropes a lot when looking for bugs.”

Gonta may not have many book smarts because he grew up in a forest, but there’s other kinds of intelligence that he still has plenty of.

Kaito:  “Alright, Shuichi… The stage is finally set.”

Shuichi:  “…What?”

Kaito:  “Listen up! Do a good job here, and I’ll be able to put an end to this trial! It all starts with you! You be the opening act, and I’ll be the main event!”

Kaito is so encouraging and good! Yet again, he’s doing his thing of making it seem like this is mostly about him, to take the pressure off Shuichi – especially after he messed up earlier by putting too much pressure on him.

Kaito:  “And then together, we’re gonna save everyone!”

Kaito is so desperate to play a part in saving everyone and so glad that he’s able to do so by being in this partnership with Shuichi.

Shuichi:  “Together?”

And Shuichi is glad that he’s not going through this alone and has someone on his side!

Kaito:  “You got this! After all, you are my sidekick!”

Of course! Kaito is super awesome, so naturally his sidekicks would be super awesome too! He only picks sidekicks that he knows can get the job done!

Kaito:  “I believe in you! So I’m gonna leave the rest to you!”

Shuichi:  “…Yeah.”

Despite having said that he’d be the main event, Kaito now says he’s leaving everything to Shuichi – because of course he knows full well that he’s not really the main event and was only saying that to make Shuichi feel less pressure.

And I love that the game has an entire illustration just for this moment of Kaito encouraging Shuichi. Kaito’s encouragement of Shuichi and their friendship is such an important part of the story and it deserves this amount of emphasis. This is also presumably why Kaito’s podium is right next to Shuichi’s in the trialgrounds, so that this image could exist. Usually in Danganronpa, characters with some kind of close emotional connection never happen to be physically close to each other in the trialgrounds, but thanks to this image existing, Kaito and Shuichi are an exception to that and it makes me happy.

Shuichi:  (This is the main event.)

…Even though Kaito just said that he was the main event. Shuichi can tell that Kaito didn’t really mean that and knew that the main event is actually him.

ROPEWAY

So I gather that basically everyone who played the localisation had never heard this word before. In the original, the word is also the English word “ropeway”, but in Japanese that word can also mean something like a cable car or a gondola and I guess is a more commonly-known word for that type of thing? Not sure what else the localisation could have translated it to that would have been any better than this, unfortunately.

Mind Mine is also a pretty silly minigame for figuring out things that are usually already fairly obvious, but at least it doesn’t take forever and the game part of it is pretty fun. I got super addicted to the casino’s version of it, at least.

Shuichi:  “Remember the inner tube we found in the pool, with the rope on one side?”

I don’t know why you’re asking everyone to “remember” this when you and Kaito were the only people who found it, Shuichi.

Monosuke accidentally confirms that someone came to them to ask about the extent to which they were allowed to “enter” the gym through the window.

Kokichi:  “Maaan, the trial was just getting fun. Why you gotta ruin it with that slip-up?”

Really, Kokichi? I thought you were having the most fun when you were trying to get Kaito and Maki to tear each other apart. Also, he really didn’t ruin it; he just confirmed Shuichi’s deduction which everyone was going to assume was correct anyway. It’s not like he mentioned who the culprit was.

Kokichi:  “If Maki had never met up with Ryoma at nighttime, it might’ve been the end for us.”

Yes, it’s almost like Maki’s testimony is trustworthy and she was helpful and Kaito saved everyone by giving her the confidence to tell the truth, because someone was too busy being an asshole to tell us that he also met Ryoma at nighttime.

Kokichi:  “Well, I still don’t know if Maki is telling the truth or not…”

Maki:  “…Shut up.”

Thank you, Maki. He deserved to be told that. Everyone else has long since accepted that Maki was telling the truth, but Kokichi still feels the need to be a dick about it and try to get everyone to doubt her.

Kaito:  “What are you, stupid? Don’t respect the culprit!”

We all respected Kaede, though, didn’t we, Kaito?

Kokichi:  “Now, we just need to figure out who the culprit is!”

You could tell us that, Kokichi, since you seem to have possibly figured it out a while ago. No? Of course not.

Kaito:  “Hmph. Looks like it’s time for me to start the main event… but my sidekick here’s on a roll right now, so I’ll let him take this one.”

Shuichi:  “Hm? Ah, okay.”

Maki:  “You’re just pushing everything onto Shuichi because you don’t know yourself.”

Oh, Kaito. Still encouraging Shuichi while making it seem like it’s mostly about himself to take the pressure off. Nobody here, least of all Kaito himself, is under any delusions that Kaito knows who the culprit is and can actually pull off this “main event”. Everyone’s thinking what Maki is, but of course she’s the one to point it out because she has no qualms about making jabs at his ridiculousness.

Shuichi:  “…”

Kaito:  “Hey, Shuichi. Are you hesitating again?”

Shuichi:  (What?)

Kaito:  “C’mon, man. There’s no need for that. Like I said, you’re my sidekick. I take responsibility for any mistakes my sidekick makes. So use those skills of yours I believe in… to shove the truth down everybody’s throats!

Shuichi:  “You… believe in my detective skills?”

Kaito:  “That’s right! I’m gonna leave it all to you, Shuichi!”

And of course Kaito would notice Shuichi hesitating and realise he’s still afraid to reveal the truth, as well as to potentially screw up and accuse the wrong person, so he takes the pressure off further by claiming responsibility for Shuichi’s mistakes. All Shuichi has to do is use his awesome detective skills without worrying about a thing, because all the worrisome parts are being taken care of for him by Kaito, or at least that’s how Kaito wants him to feel. He’s so good.

Kirumi:  “If that is the case, then I will have to deny it. I will not let you make the wrong choice.”

Shuichi:  “…The wrong choice?”

In some ways, even though she is the killer, you could argue that voting for Kirumi is “the wrong choice” in that it will prevent her from saving the millions of people out there. That’s how Kirumi is thinking of it.

Kirumi:  “I will refute your accusations will all my might… for everyone’s sake.”

Yeah, everyone’s sake, all right.

Shuichi argues that only Kirumi could have done the preparations in the gym before nighttime, but, I mean, technically so could Kaito and Maki (and Miu, because her alibi is so shaky). The thing that makes Kirumi the most suspicious right now is the part where she was clearly trying to get herself an alibi from Kokichi so that she was only alone for five minutes.

Kirumi: “This is my selfless devotion!”

Appropriate that this should be Kirumi’s line when butting in for her Rebuttal Showdown.

Kirumi:  “While I do understand where you are coming from, I assure you this is just… a part of your petty imagination! An empty theory created from nihilism!”

I enjoy how Kirumi’s speech gets more flowery and elaborate when she’s under pressure, like she irrationally thinks that if she uses unnecessarily big words and concepts then people will be more likely to listen to her. What on earth would Shuichi thinking you did it have to do with nihilism, Kirumi?

It’s a little strange that the argument in this section is asking you to prove that the rope really was tied between the windows by mentioning the marks on the window frames. We stopped talking about the ropeway a while ago and really should have brought up that evidence back then to support the theory. I guess it sort of fits with how Kirumi was still busy trying to get everyone to doubt Maki during the Debate Scrum – rather than address the current argument, it seems she prefers to try and collapse the entire foundation of the argument by discrediting the established premise, even though it has already long since been established and everyone else believes it.

Tenko:  “Please answer us, Kirumi! Shuichi is doing this for your sake—”

Kirumi:  “If it is for my sake… then it would be much easier to forfeit… But I cannot allow that! Because I must do this for everyone!”

Kirumi is so desperate and determined! This is where I start to really enjoy her character.

(Shuichi isn’t really doing this for Kirumi’s sake, though. If she really is the killer, he’s doing it for everyone except Kirumi’s sake.)

Kirumi:  “I have… a duty and a responsibility… I must serve everyone and protect them… So I refuse to surrender! They won’t forgive me if I do!”

The “they” here makes it rather explicitly obvious that she’s talking about an “everyone” who isn’t here, but that’s a localisation blunder. In the original, because Japanese doesn’t use subjects as often, what she said was more along the lines of “It’s unforgivable”, with no reference to who wouldn’t forgive her.

Shuichi:  (Is she doing this for all our sakes…? Am… Am I wrong? Is Kirumi innocent…? No, I… I’m wrong again—)

Which would make it more believable that Shuichi assumes Kirumi is trying to protect everyone here and lets his anxiety and self-doubt get the better of him.

Kaito:  “Hey, Kirumi… Who exactly is this ‘everyone’ you’re talking about?”

Shuichi:  (…Kaito?)

Kaito:  “I’ve… just got a weird feeling about this. When you said ‘everyone,’ it felt like you weren’t talking about us… It felt like… you were talking about someone who isn’t here.”

And it also means this is meant to be another example of Kaito being very perceptive and having a correct hunch about someone’s behaviour without any specific evidence to back it up. It’s a shame the localisation messed that up and just makes this look like Kaito is pointing out the obvious, because that’s not what this moment should be.

Kokichi:  “Hey… Do you think Kirumi saw her own motive video?”

I don’t know, Kokichi, do you? You could just fucking tell us at this point since she’s already the prime suspect now and it wouldn’t make things any less ~fun~ for you.

Kirumi’s only way out of this is to lie and pretend that the “everyone” she was talking about really is everyone here.

Kirumi:  “I do not care what becomes of me, but I will not allow any of you to die. Because I made a promise to Kaede. She wished for all of us to escape together.”

Shuichi:  “…”

Kirumi:  “I want to fulfil my duties as the Ultimate Maid. I wish to serve everyone. So, please believe me! You have to!”

She’s doing this to try and gain everyone’s sympathy, to make them not want to suspect her… but it can’t be too hard for her to put on this act, because she really doesn’t want to have to sacrifice them and break her promise to Kaede and escape on her own without them! If she could protect both “everyones” at once, she would.

Kirumi:  “It is still possible for Maki and Kaito to have gone to the gym. They do not have alibis.”

This is still a valid point.

Kirumi:  “They could have pretended to help Himiko, but secretly prepared the murder.”

This… is a less valid point, since the point of them not having alibis is that they would have snuck in after 9pm when nobody would see them and wouldn’t have needed to pretend to help Himiko.

Kirumi’s words work on some of the others, and several people express doubt that she really did it.

Shuichi:  “I… made a promise. As the Ultimate Detective, I made a promise to seek the truth. I made a promise to Kaede! So I’m not turning back now!” (They’re scared… They’re scared that they have to accuse one of their friends of murder. So it’s up to me… I have to do it. I’ll use my detective work to prove it!)

Shuichi’s issues are being relevant again! It’s not just him – everyone is afraid of facing a painful truth that one of their friends committed murder. In that way, Shuichi is now much better at doing so than everyone else, because he’s had practice. He was in the most pain in the previous trial upon accusing Kaede, but he managed to do it anyway. Compared to that, accusing Kirumi here isn’t so bad for him, so he’s able to do it when nobody else is willing to. He also promised Kaede more strongly than anyone else that he’d find the truth and protect everyone, so he has the most incentive to be brave right now.

Kirumi:  “Shuichi, won’t you please tell me why you are so desperate to pin me as the culprit? Don’t you want to protect everyone!?”

Shuichi:  “I’m doing this *because* I want to protect everyone!”

Kaito:  “Shuichi…”

Look at Shuichi being a hero! And even more importantly, look at Kaito noticing Shuichi being a hero, apparently quite without his help, and being taken aback by it. It’s never explained why Kaito mutters Shuichi’s name like this, but the timing of it suggests that this is what’s going on in his head, as it would fit perfectly as an early hint of Kaito’s later jealousy towards Shuichi. It almost doesn’t need to be here at all because it’s so tiny and so apparently pointless, so the fact that it is here nonetheless means it’s a very deliberate and very relevant part of Kaito’s character arc and makes it possibly my favourite single line of dialogue in this trial. Have I mentioned that I adore subtle character writing and the way it’s used to write Kaito. He is such a damn good character in so many ways.

Another relevant point is that Kaito is mostly quiet after this moment and doesn’t encourage Shuichi again for the rest of the trial, as if he doesn’t think Shuichi needs it any more.

Kirumi:  “All you care about is your own reasoning! You don’t even listen to others! I can’t bet everyone’s lives on a deduction made by a self-righteous brat!”

I like how Kirumi’s furious argument as she tries to discredit Shuichi focuses on making him sound selfish, because that’s obviously something she would consider to be the worst possible trait a person could have.

Kirumi:  “You can’t save anyone!!!”

She’s also trying to cling to the idea that she is the only person here capable of saving others, which is kind of necessary for her motive. If she was able to accept that the people outside didn’t need her specifically to save them from the unknown threat and maybe the other people in the government could deal with it without her, then suddenly her sacrificing her friends to escape from here becomes meaningless, and self-righteous of her.

Her design for the Argument Armament, aside from the broom she’s holding, isn’t that maid-like – she actually looks more like a knight. Appropriate, since she’s fighting to defend her people.

Kirumi:  “In this class trial… everyone’s life is at stake! Because of your self-righteous truth… Everyone might die!”

These words are actually true; she’s talking about “everyone” outside again. She’s saying Shuichi shouldn’t be seeking the truth because it’ll only save the twelve people trapped here and selfishly result in everyone outside getting killed.

Kirumi:  “I only wish to protect everyone… Why must you interfere!?”

More words that are technically true!

Kirumi’s level of clothing damage at the end of her Argument Armament is very over the top and not okay, by the way. I mean, the clothing damage in these is kind of silly in general, but this one is especially nope-why-would-you-even.

Shuichi:  “But our culprit was smart. They weren’t burned because they weren’t bare-handed.”

…I mean, that’s not really because she was smart so much as because she just happens to wear gloves all the time anyway. In a way, it would have been smarter for her to take her gloves off and deliberately give herself ropeburn to avoid the risk of the gloves breaking and leaving evidence – after all, she is more than willing to injure herself for the sake of her people, as we see in her execution. But I guess the ropeburn itself, while possible to hide under her gloves, would still have given her away once Shuichi figured out the culprit had to have it and demanded she take her gloves off to show us her hands.

Kokichi:  “From what I remember, the only one who wears black gloves is Kirumi, right?”

No, she’s not. Miu also wears black fingerless gloves. Miu could technically still be the culprit, because her alibi is shaky enough that she very much could have snuck into the gym for five minutes before nighttime to set things up. I mean, she clearly isn’t, based on the fact that she’d be terrible at hiding it if she really did do it and based on the way Kirumi has been acting, but.

Shuichi:  “The extra uniforms in our rooms are made of the same material we’re wearing now. We can test my theory by comparing the fabric scrap with your glove.”

Which we really should do, to confirm that it’s a piece of one of Kirumi’s gloves and not one of Miu’s. (Assuming their gloves are made of different material in the first place.)

Kirumi:  “U-Uhhh…!”

Angie:  “Huh? What’s the matter? Why are you sweating so much?”

Because she’s desperate to save everyone and she’s not going to be able to do so!

Shuichi:  (In the end… I’m just like them. I’m scared of revealing the truth. Because it means that someone has to be sacrificed. But Kaede was scared, too… She didn’t let that stop her. She thought things through to the end.)

Look at Shuichi being inspired by Kaede even though he knows she was scared the whole time! Knowing that just makes Kaede more inspiring to him, because if she could fight through her fear then he can too!

This is something Kaito really, really should be taking notes about. But he can’t, because Shuichi doesn’t say this out loud.

This shot of Ambiguous Culprit Kirumi grinning evilly after Ryoma is devoured is definitely not what happened. Kirumi had to have been quietly horrified at what she’d done.

{Later addendum edit: I completely missed this before, but look closely at this panel. Isn’t that Kirumi comforting Tsumugi as she freaks out from seeing Ryoma being eaten, even though Kirumi was the one who made this happen in the first place? That’s so lovely of her; of course she would. None of that evilly grinning nonsense, thank you.

(Little does she know Tsumugi is completely faking it and is the one responsible for her becoming a murderer for no reason and her upcoming horrible execution.)}

She also would not have grinned evilly after setting up the gym. Still, this is Shuichi’s imagination, and he doesn’t understand her motive yet other than suspecting it’s maybe something about protecting someone outside, so I can sort of see why he would picture this.

Yet again we have our Ambigious Culprit Figure wearing a distinctive piece of clothing, this time Kirumi’s gloves, since they’re important to how the case played out. She’s shown holding her gloves in her teeth as she drowns Ryoma, which is a neat detail since she would have wanted to not get them wet.

I’m not sure Ryoma’s hands would have been in the water like the panel here shows, though, since the scrapes were on the outside of the sink.

Kiyo:  “Why use your own gloves, though? The warehouse should have had plenty—”

Kokichi:  “There weren’t any. Obviously, she would have used them if they were available.”

I mean technically we don’t know that, since we haven’t actually checked that the scrap is from Kirumi’s glove. And if there are gloves in the warehouse and the scrap matches them, then that means it could still have been Kaito or Maki, but.

Kokichi:  “Geez, Monokuma provided everything but the gloves. That’s pretty sadistic. But thanks to him, at least the game became way more interesting…”

I dunno, if he’d provided gloves, it wouldn’t have been less interesting so much as we’d have been stuck with no way to prove who the killer was out of Kaito, Maki and Kirumi (and technically Miu). No way except looking at the way the suspects are acting and assuming it’s Kirumi based on how stressed she is. And wasn’t that supposed to be Kokichi’s idea of “fun” in the first place?

Monokuma:  “The heart-racing excitement as the blackened and the spotless finally face off!”

Yeah, damn right it’s “finally”, because last trial the blackened and the spotless weren’t facing off at all.

Kirumi voted for Shuichi. Just goes to show much she refuses to give up even though it’s utterly hopeless for her now.

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