#ALSO also gotta say it. fuck Kaito for the ‘if you cared about Gonta you’d tell us’
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I can never have a conversation about v3 ch4 again bc I’ve gone over the main points ppl actually talk about so many times im just like “yeah yeah ouma’s breakdown we’ve all analyzed it. Anyways FUCK tsumugi-“
#she’s the second person to demand Ouma spill the beans#which imo is what causes everyone to double down bc like#ONE person asking it could go either way Neutrally yknow#but a SECOND person demanding the info tips the scales#also it’s easy and fun to blame tsumugi#ALSO also gotta say it. fuck Kaito for the ‘if you cared about Gonta you’d tell us’#MAN LITERALLY JUST DIED BEGGING YOU NEVER FIND OUT???#anyways. my professional opinion on ch4 is everyone is in the wrong. no one makes a single good choice the entire chapter
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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.
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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 3.8
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 started to realise how her talent could be used for good as she helped Shuichi through the investigation, Kiyo was the worst and murdered Tenko as well, causing something of a setback in the fact that she’d just begun to get through to Himiko, the writers might still be trying to get us to think Kaito is expendable, Kaito’s illness took over as the most pressing issue on his mind, and he completely accidentally brought up the mastermind’s intent to nerf him with his phobia.
This time, the trial begins.
Kaito: “Sorry everyone, but I don’t think I’m gonna be much help this time. Because of Monokuma’s… disruptions, I couldn’t do a thorough investigation.”
Kaito is still clinging to his unintentionally-completely-correct excuse to save face. It’s interesting to note how he apparently wants everybody to think that the way in which he’s useful and therefore needed to be nerfed is because he’s a good investigator, when he’s decidedly not. His real value – and presumably the reason the in-universe writers wanted to nerf him in this chapter – comes from being able to be there for and encourage Shuichi, and everyone else too. He should know this himself, but he doesn’t seem to want to frame things that way.
(And he’s still apologising even as he is arguing that it is supposedly not his fault.)
Kokichi: “I can tell Monokuma is overcompensating to hide his self-consciousness.”
And obviously here Kokichi’s actually talking about Kaito. Which, to be fair, is correct, because Kaito doesn’t really believe his excuse is true.
Monokuma: “Next time, spend less time fixing your hair and more time investigating, spaceman!”
It’s interesting that Monokuma comments on this too. I have to wonder whether or not he knew about the decision to nerf Kaito in this chapter – it’s not like he necessarily needs to know everything about what the writers have planned to manipulate the way the story goes, only the stuff directly related to the motives.
Kiyo: “Do not let your emotions hasten your judgement. There may be two killers.”
Tsumugi: “So… our other culprit… might nooot be one of us heeere…”
Tsumugi, you know full well that does not logically follow from what Kiyo just said. The possibility that the culprit is a spirit has nothing to do with the possibility that there are two killers. If you’re accepting that a ghost murderer is an option, then both victims could have been killed by a spirit, and it could have been the same one or two different ones. And if you’re trying to present a legitimate theory, you could try saying it like a normal person instead of putting on that spooky voice.
What I’m saying is, leave Kaito the fuck alone already, you know he’s not going to make a huge amount of difference in this trial either way. At this point you’re not even manipulating the story; you’re just being an unnecessary dick.
Maki: “Say something, Shuichi. It’ll be a mess if this keeps going on.”
Maki is still frustrated at Kaito’s inability to be his usual self while this ghost stuff is going on and wants it to stop being a thing already. I don’t know why she can’t say something herself, though; she also read the Necronomicon.
Shuichi: (Well, in the interest of being thorough, I should clear things up here.)
More like in the interest of keeping Kaito functional.
Gonta: “So ritual did work!?”
“C-Come on…”
“I said stop…”
“Resurrected!?”
“Y-You gotta be kidding me!”
…
Miu: “Angie did say she was gonna bring Rantaro back!”
“Guys?”
“Come on, be serious…”
“This can’t be happening!”
“So stop it, stop it!”
This is the kind of thing that white noise is really fun for.
Kaito: “PLEASE! STOP IT!!!!”
“Shuichi, say something.”
…I still think loud outbursts like this aren’t quite in character for Kaito, though. At least we get some fun white noise from Maki here too.
Monokuma goes on to insist that the Necronomicon would have worked if it’d been used. So even though it was the cubs who made that claim to begin with, it is also backed up by Monokuma himself, and, well… he never usually lies about motives. Which is what led me to think up my Flashback-Light-and-clone theory I proposed earlier. That said, it is pretty awkward writing that they leave open this insistence that resurrection would have been possible but then never properly explain how at any point. They don’t even hint at it in a way that lets you figure it out on a replay if you’re paying attention (like how they hint at the reason for Kaito’s totally extraneous phobia). I only thought of my theory because I wanted to come up with something that worked, and this was all I could think of, not because I’m certain that it’s what the writers intended to be the truth.
Tsumugi: “Oooh? So resurrecting the dead was actually possible this whole time?”
Leave him alone, for goodness’ sake! Just drop this lazily-written phobia plotline already and let Kaito move on to freaking out about the other thing you gave him to deal with, which is an infinitely better story than this. Not that I think that’s why you gave him that to deal with, but still.
Okay, wow, complete tangent here: I took a break here while writing the commentary and came back to it after booting the game up at this point in the trial, and… the screen was completely black, except for the textboxes and other UI stuff. The game still played, but I couldn’t see any of the text in the Nonstop Debate, so actually proceeding would have been nigh-impossible. I had to restart the class trial from the main menu to fix it and then fast-forward back to here. Is this a known glitch? Maybe it’s because I saved while a line was still in the middle of being read? Because that was a thing.
Kiyo: “I did not care about some katana…”
He totally did, though; he was threatening to tear out Kokichi’s nerves if he touched it earlier in the chapter. It amuses me that the game acts as though you can try and prove that, too.
Kiyo: “I had no desire to kill her in the first place.”
Yeah, of course not, it’s not like you’re a serial killer who targets girls or anything.
Kokichi: “Well, it can’t be Himiko. She was besties with Angie. I trust their friendship! You guys do too, riiiight?”
Sure you do, Kokichi. Yet again, this is him trying to make a point of how foolishly naïve everyone else sounds for talking about friendship and trust in a killing game.
Keebo: “…Can we trust their friendship so readily?”
Kokichi: “Obviously! Let’s believe in them!”
Kokichi’s got this really mocking tone to his voice as he says this. He is really transparently just trying to make his own words about belief sound empty and hollow, to make people think that everyone else’s words about belief are just as hollow too.
Kiyo: “And do you have an alibi for last night?”
Gonta: “Gonta in room, talking to bug friends. Much better than being out too late at night. Ask bug friends if Kiyo doubt Gonta!”
Aww, Gonta. He doesn’t realise that other people don’t speak bug and so can’t question his bug friends, so obviously this makes a perfectly good alibi, right?
Kokichi: “Yeah, I did it. I killed Angie.”
Shuichi: (…Hm.)
I love how Shuichi’s immediate reaction to this is one of utmost scepticism.
Kiyo: “What are you saying? Is this some kind of joke?”
Kiyo looks more flustered than you’d expect him to be about this if he weren’t the murderer. He is so confused as to why the fuck Kokichi would confess to something he knows he didn’t do.
Shuichi: “The gold leaf on that katana did peel rather easily.”
Monokuma: “Hmmm… That evidence rings a bell. Specifically, a school bell…”
Yeah, because everyone in the audience is a big Danganronpa genwunner and you put that here to pander to them, apparently.
(Like, seriously. Fifty-two past seasons. People should not be so fixated on season 1 any more.)
Ugh, these Psyche Taxi segments. Practically every time, the first two or three questions are things that have already been clearly established and only the last question has you actually figure out something new, this time that the whole katana-effigy-rope setup was used to lock the door by being spun around. Why the heck not just take that last question and make it a regular multiple choice question.
Kokichi claimed earlier during his confession that he locked the room by picking the lock closed, so this gets him to admit he didn’t actually do it after all.
Maki: “Why did you say you were the culprit?”
Kokichi: “…I wanted to lure the culprit out. If I claimed to be the culprit, then the *real* culprit would agree as well, ya get me?”
Yeah, except that the real culprit did not jump on the opportunity to save himself by condemning Kokichi (and why would he even try to, since Kokichi was already busy condemning himself with his confession). What Kokichi’s confession actually achieved in terms of smoking out the culprit was having Kiyo be subtly the most bewildered out of anyone by it. But Kokichi didn’t pick up on that subtlety, apparently (or if he did he’s still keeping it to himself, thanks a lot Kokichi), so fat lot of good his whole ploy was.
Kokichi: “And if they pressured me to confess, then that would have looked mighty suspicious. Sheesh! Darn it! It didn’t go my way because Shuichi butted in on my plan.”
You were already confessing. Obviously the culprit wouldn’t have needed to pressure you to confess any more. Your plan was already failing before Shuichi came along and put the lid on it. You are not as clever as you think.
Kaito: “That leaves us with four suspects… Tsumugi, Gonta, Keebo… and Kokichi.”
Kokichi: “Don’t forget Himiko. She’s also a part of the student council. Doesn’t matter if she was besties with Angie, she’s still a suspect.”
And here’s Kokichi proving just how transparently manipulative and two-faced he was being a few minutes ago. (Look at Kaito low-key running with the “it wasn’t Himiko because they were friends” argument, though. Of course he would.)
Himiko: “Me? A suspect? I’d… never kill Angie!”
Himiko is having emotions!
Kokichi asks all of the “Suspect Rangers” what they think they could say to clear their names. Everyone is understandably unsure (what can they say; obviously no-one has alibis), then…
Himiko: “Why… did Tenko have to die?”
Kaito: “Huh?”
Aww, Himiko. And I like Kaito being the one to react to that, because of course he cares about her suffering and wants to help if he can.
Himiko: “Can we talk about Tenko’s case now and not just Angie’s—”
Kokichi: “Mwah-hahahaha! I got ya exactly where I wanted, Himiko!”
…And Kokichi was apparently trying to bait someone into changing the topic to Tenko’s murder, under the assumption that whoever does so is Angie’s killer trying to misdirect everyone.
But no, Kokichi, Himiko doing this doesn’t prove she killed Angie. It just proves that she’s a person who’s having emotions about the fact that the two people who cared about her most are now dead.
Kokichi: “Until we solve Angie’s case, Tenko’s case is meaningless! Did you suggest that to waste our ti—”
Himiko: “It’s not meaningless!”
Shuichi: (Himiko?)
Himiko: “Tenko’s death was meaningless? How dare you! Poor Tenko… How could you do this to her!?”
Look at Himiko go! Look at her getting genuinely fired up and emotional because Kokichi is being a dick about the fact that her would-have-been friend is dead!
Kokichi: “Himiko, stop it with your crappy lies.”
Himiko: “Lies…?”
Kokichi: “Everything you said is total BS. You didn’t give two shits about Tenko when she was alive… But now you’re like, ‘Oh no! Poor Tenko!’ after she’s dead. C’mon, really?”
And again we have an example of Kokichi projecting his own manipulative assholery onto someone else because he can’t comprehend the notion that other people don’t think like he does. If he were in Himiko’s shoes and had not cared about Tenko while she was alive but was claiming to care now, obviously that’d be him lying to try and get sympathy and misdirect everyone, so that’s definitely what Himiko’s doing too, right? It couldn’t possibly be that she’s realised she was unfairly cold towards Tenko and regrets it now that it’s too late or anything.
Like, seriously, Kokichi, you were there in the seance room when Tenko gave her final speech to Himiko. Have some fucking empathy, dude, instead of trying to make everything about you.
(There could be an argument made here that Kokichi is being a dick about this on purpose to push Himiko into admitting to her feelings and showing them. But this started as Kokichi making an attempt to bait out the killer and wasn’t specifically about Himiko until she spoke up, and she was already having emotions at that point. For Kokichi to then continue to be even more of a dick, even after she’d started getting really riled up and passionate, would not be at all necessary if he were secretly trying to help her. So that’s not what he’s doing. He’s just projecting and genuinely believes she doesn’t care.)
Himiko: “I know I ignored Tenko before… That’s why… I’m so upset now… I should’ve faced Tenko… worked things out with her while she was still alive. But now… it’s too late. I can’t complain to her… or thank her…”
Poor Himiko is finally accepting that Tenko was always trying to help her and that all she was doing was running away from the advice Tenko was giving. It’s just a shame it took Tenko’s death for it to fully sink in.
Himiko: “It’s… too la—”
Kaito: “Yeah, seriously! It’s way too late to realize that now.”
And here comes Kaito, doing what he can to help! This is essentially an application of his philosophy that simply moping around lamenting bad things isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Kaito: “Our only option is to face her death head-on!”
Himiko: “…Nyeh? Face her death?”
Kaito: “Himiko… I understand what you’re going through.”
It’s a little oddly specific of Kaito to say that he understands what Himiko’s going through when he hasn’t personally lost anyone he was especially close to so far in this killing game. Yet, I really, really don’t think that Kaito would lie or exaggerate about something this serious and personal. He wouldn’t try and artificially make things about himself when this is 100% about Himiko right now. So… more fuel for the “Kaito’s parents died” train? I really think it is. Him having dealt with his parents’ death by trying his best to face it head-on definitely sounds like the kind of thing Kaito would have done that would have helped shape him into the person he is today.
(Also, assuming that Kaito did lose his parents, it’s still notable that he’s not explicitly mentioning this as his reason for why he cares so much about helping Himiko, because this still isn’t about him and as much as possible he wants to avoid making it so.)
Kaito: “So I’m gonna help you out! Let’s work together to find the truth! I’m not gonna let anyone say her death didn’t matter!”
Himiko: “K-Kaito…!”
Aww, Himiko being appreciative of Kaito’s support. After losing the two people she was closest to, she must be feeling completely alone and like nobody’s on her side, but here’s Kaito showing that he is on her side. That has to really help.
Kaito: “Abandoning someone who died and only thinking about your own survival… That’s just as bad as a hit-and-run! I won’t forgive something so messed up!”
…Did Kaito’s parents die in a hit-and-run.
It is just like Kaito to be furious at any hypothetical person who commits a hit-and-run regardless of who the victims were, just for running away from what they did rather than owning up to it and facing the pain they inadvertently caused. But even so, this is a strangely specific thing for him to bring up in this particular situation, unless he has some personal investment in hit-and-runs that has made him think about this before and is at the front of his mind because he was already thinking about his parents.
I am like 90% certain this is something the writers deliberately intended to imply here, and again I love that there are subtle details about Kaito like this that don’t need to be outright stated because that doesn’t stop them being true.
Kokichi: “I already told you, that’s sooo unnecessary. We’re getting sidetracked here.”
Kaito: “No, even if it was a different culprit, we need to know how Tenko died. If we don’t find out who killed her, we won’t be able to work together. Not now, not ever.”
He’s so right! If they come out of this trial only knowing who killed Angie and not who killed Tenko, then there will always be the looming possibility that one of the remaining survivors killed Tenko and is still hiding that fact. It would be impossible to truly trust each other with that hanging over everyone. And of course Kaito would have already considered the risk of that happening, because he’s always thinking about everyone’s co-operation. Kaito is so good.
(And look, Kokichi is still arguing that Tenko’s death is meaningless even when this is no longer so much about Himiko’s feelings, so that was never why he was saying that.)
Kokichi: “Finally, you noticed! Geez, you’re so slow.”
Yeah, sure, Kokichi, you just try and save face and pretend that you were aware of that all along and that Kaito’s the one who’s slow on the uptake, not you. I totally believe that you were already aware of this notion which centres around the concepts of co-operation and trust; it’s not like you have trouble even comprehending those ideas or anything. God, Kokichi is so incapable of ever admitting when he’s wrong.
Shuichi: (I don’t mind going over Tenko’s case… But that was an abrupt change of topic. Was that… intentional…?)
Shuichi, don’t tell me you’re actually being fooled by Kokichi’s attempt to imply that Himiko only changed the topic to draw attention away from the fact that she supposedly killed Angie.
Miu: “So those four are the culprits!”
Gonta: “Oh… Himiko still culprit?”
Why are we still using the words “culprit” and “suspect” interchangeably. Gonta I can understand, but come on, Miu.
Kiyo: “True, I may have suggested it. But I explained the procedure beforehand, yes? If we all knew of it before the murder then we are all equally suspicious.”
Not really, though. That makes it possible that the others could have done it, but Kiyo is still clearly more suspicious than anyone else because he’s the one who wouldn’t shut up about this seance for the past several days and definitely knew every single detail of it.
Kiyo argues that Keebo did it by using his flashlight to sneak in under the floor. He’s later going to try and claim Himiko did it because she picked the room. He has absolutely no game plan for this, does he. Most killers usually at least try to pin it on one specific person and make all the facts seem to point to them.
Miu is also totally on board with claiming Keebo did it. So much for her caring about him, then.
Keebo: “My status as a robot does not mean I am capable of performing superhuman feats!”
I mean… you are, Keebo. Nobody else here can shine light from their eyes or replay recordings of conversations they were witness to without additional equipment.
Kaito: “Enough with the flashlight! It’s way too bright!”
Kaito being specifically the one to complain here makes me wonder if his illness is making him more sensitive to bright lights than usual.
Tsumugi: “Maybe they marked Tenko with glowing paint and looked for that? That’d let the culprit find her. Then they could stab her through the floorboards…”
Monokuma: “Boy, that sounds really familiar too! But I’m just gonna ignore it!”
…Yeah. On a first time through, this would just seem like a fun little continuity nod that Tsumugi just unintentionally happened to make. But really, it’s a pretty clever subtle hint towards the mastermind’s identity. Less subtle of a hint for people who know what’s truly going on here, though – by which I mean the in-universe audience. You’d think this would have basically told them who it is.
Kokichi: “Nee-heehee… What if Angie’s spirit killed Tenko?”
I’m going to assume that Kokichi doesn’t really think spirits are a thing and is just suggesting this because it gives him an opportunity to be a huge dick to Kaito again.
Kokichi: “See? You can’t explain, can you? Only a spirit could have done th—”
Kaito: “W-Wait, I know! What if the culprit was hiding inside the cage!? If they were in there, they coulda stabbed Tenko during the seance!”
I am amused by Kaito proposing something way stupider than he usually would in his desperation to move the topic away from spirits.
Maki: “I agree with Kaito. The culprit could have been inside the cage.”
And then Maki going along with that seemingly ridiculous theory for a much more sensible reason.
Maki: “Maybe the culprit wouldn’t need to hide in the first place.”
Kiyo: “What?”
Maki: “Also, the culprit could’ve killed her in the cage at any time. I think you know what I’m getting at, right?”
This, however, is a frustrating example of someone acting uncharacteristically vague just so that the player controlling Shuichi can have a game to play and figure it out themselves. Maki would not usually beat around the bush like this.
Kiyo: “After stabbing herself with the sickle, she threw it underneath the floor.”
Still pretty difficult to buy that the sickle ended up in the corner of the room from that, though.
Himiko: “W-Well it doesn’t make sense to me! There’s no reason for Tenko to commit suicide!”
Damn right it doesn’t make any sense! Look at Himiko understanding and believing in Tenko at last.
Of course Kokichi is the one to make the argument that Tenko killed Angie and then killed herself out of guilt and hid her suicide in an attempt to take Himiko with her, because that kind of selfish, underhanded assholery makes perfect sense in his mind as something that someone who liked Himiko would do.
Kokichi: “Himiko, you said that Tenko would never do anything like that… But how can you be so sure? Did you guys *actually* know each other? People keep all sorts of secrets, like Maki. She hid the fact that she’s a cold-blooded killer. Is it wise of us to trust people wholeheartedly in this kind of situation?”
Kokichi is so utterly, unshakably convinced that trusting anyone ever, and especially in a killing game, is completely illogical no matter how they might have acted towards you.
Kaito: “Geez… you’re such a naive dude.”
Kokichi: “…Naive?”
Kaito: “We’re all just people, y’know? Of course we’re gonna have some secrets. What matters is whether there’s any malice behind ‘em.”
Kaito continues to have the best philosophy, yet again. He knows that people are complicated and therefore that doing a bad thing doesn’t necessarily make someone a bad person. The simple act of hiding something from others is not inherently malicious. Maki was hiding something bad about herself, but it wasn’t for a malicious reason! It was to protect herself, not to hurt everyone.
And this is delightfully relevant to the main theme of this game, that lies can sometimes be used for good. While Kokichi is usually the person one would think of as advocating that idea the most, maybe Kaito actually believes that more than Kokichi does.
Kokichi: “People can lie about how malicious their hidden secrets really are.”
…Because Kokichi is irrationally convinced that if someone is hiding something, it’s always for malicious reasons. That’s why he was so terrified of Maki. That’s why he continued to try and push the idea that Maki was a terrible person even once she’d explained her non-malicious reasons for hiding her talent and everyone else had more or less accepted it.
Kaito was not wrong to call Kokichi naïve. Think about how Gonta is naïve: he always assumes the best of everyone when there’s no evidence either way, and even sometimes when there is circumstantial evidence indicating that they’re not such a good person. Kokichi is exactly like that, but in the opposite direction: when things are ambiguous, he always assumes the worst of everyone, even to the point of selectively ignoring circumstantial evidence that indicates they might not be so bad after all. It’s an unusual use of the word “naïve”, but not an inaccurate one. While Gonta is childishly convinced that everyone is always good and wants to help each other, Kokichi is childishly convinced that everyone is always bad and out to get each other.
Kaito: “Well duh. It’s impossible to know for sure what others are thinking. That’s why it all comes down to whether or not you believe in yourself!”
Kaito isn’t doing a great job of explaining exactly what he means here – one would have expected his sentence to end with “believe in them” – but there is a logic to this that makes sense to him. It still is about whether you believe in that person, but Kaito extends this to then also be about whether you believe that your own judgement of that person is correct, despite not being able to know for sure what’s going on in their head. And of course Kaito can believe in himself in this way – as I have pointed out time and again, he has an incredibly keen intuition when it comes to other people and has literally never been wrong so far and never will in future. Kaito has full confidence in how good his intuition is (his “official Luminary of the Stars hunches”!), which is why he’s able to believe in other people as strongly as he does.
(Okay, technically Kaito’s intuition has been wrong so far about one person: Ryoma. Which is to say that Kaito’s intuition is only ever wrong when his issues about heroism get in the way and cloud his judgement. He’s going to be wrong in future for that reason, too – but only for that reason. When that’s not a factor, which is most of the time, his intuition is and will always be correct.)
Kaito: “If you get betrayed, it’s not their fault! It’s your fault for believing in them! That’s why I believed in Maki Roll! Because I wanted to believe in her!”
Kaito is not like Gonta in this regard. He does not just blindly believe that everyone is good without proof. His proof is his judgement – which isn’t completely concrete evidence, but it’s more than enough for him to be willing to take that risk. And again, he knows he’s taking a risk by doing this. He’s fully accepting of the possibility that he might be wrong. But if he turns out to be, then that’s the fault of his judgement being wrong, not of the person in question for being who they always were in the first place. It’s a really great philosophy that would help anyone avoid becoming paranoid, because it puts any problems down to misunderstandings between people, rather than the other person having been deliberately out to get you.
Maki: “Just because you’re acting all cool doesn’t mean you get to skip training.”
Pfft. But also, this is Maki not quite getting Kaito once again. He’s not saying this to try and make himself look good! He’s doing it because this is what he believes, and it’s relevant to the discussion, so why wouldn’t he say it? He’s just being Kaito.
Kaito: “H-Hey, c’mon… Don’tcha think you’re being a little too strict?”
…Although it seems like Kaito might want an excuse to skip training, you know, because of the whole dying thing. Still, I don’t for a second believe that’s the reason he gave this speech.
Kokichi: “Well, we come from different backgrounds. So for now, let’s agree to disagree.”
You want to tell us what it is about your “background” that gives you such ridiculously massive trust issues, Kokichi? No? No, of course not.
Like, I understand why Kokichi would never want to talk about the reason why he’s like this. Even so, it frustrates me to no end that the writing never even tries to hint at what it is. I would like him so much more as a character if I could get a proper, cohesive picture of why he is this way and not just that he is this way! I’d be able to really empathise with him and feel his fear of betrayal instead of just intellectually knowing that he must have it. But that picture just isn’t there. (And it’s not like it couldn’t be there even without Kokichi directly talking about it. Look at how many things about Kaito I’ve been able to point out and be almost completely certain are true even though they’re only subtly hinted at.)
Kokichi: “No one’s ever called me naive before. And from Kaito? Seriously?”
Haha, Kokichi is so mad at the notion that Kaito’s the rational one while he’s not. Of course he’d want to insist that it’s Kaito who’s naïve for buying into all this nonsense about belief. But no, in reality, Kaito’s philosophy about believing in people isn’t naïve at all. It’s not for everyone, sure, but it has great internal consistency and logic to it. Kokichi constantly tries to insist that his own philosophy is the sensiblest most rationalest in order to protect himself from any notion that he might be in the wrong by being an untrusting lying asshole, but really, the logic of his philosophy falls apart as soon as you get to the “everyone must be a bad person no matter what because I’m terrified of thinking otherwise and then turning out to be mistaken”.
Himiko: “My heart… can’t reach Tenko anymore… But I wanna believe in her… She wouldn’t commit suicide! She wouldn’t try to take us down! That’s what I want to believe!”
Yay, Himiko buying into Kaito’s philosophy!
Gonta: “Me too. Gonta no can believe Tenko commit suicide.”
And of course Gonta would believe in her too.
Kiyo: “If you insist we believe in Tenko, then provide a reason to do so.”
Shuichi: (A proper reason…) “Alright… I’ll give you a reason.”
There is no evidence-based reason to believe that Tenko didn’t commit suicide. Shuichi believes in her as a person, just like Himiko does and just like Kaito was encouraging them to do, but in order to get the others who don’t believe in her to buy that she didn’t kill herself, there needs to be evidence. So Shuichi is planning to lie.
Maki: “…Is there a reason?”
Shuichi: “Yes, there is. Will you trust me, Maki? If it turns out I’m wrong, you can blame me all you like. But for now… I need you to trust in my detective work.”
He’s not really asking Maki trust his detective skills; he’s asking her to trust his judgement of Tenko’s personality and play along with his lie. It’s exactly like Kaito was saying: you have to believe that your own judgement of that person is accurate – and if you can believe in someone else’s judgement too, that works the same way. (That’s also why Shuichi started believing in Maki in the previous trial – because Kaito did, and Shuichi decided to trust his judgement.)
Tsumugi: “But if Tenko did commit suicide… It would explain why she died during the seance.”
“Makes sense to Gonta…”
What do you mean it makes sense to you, Gonta? You were just saying how you believed that Tenko would never kill herself!
Maki: “…You’re right. I completely forgot about that important detail. Tenko died instantly…”
Yay for Maki believing in Shuichi’s judgement and lying with him! Even though she has to make herself seem careless in order to do so.
Kokichi: “Nee-heehee… Words of a true killer. Pretty sure we can believe everything she said.”
Yeah, Kokichi’s pretty sure she just lied, isn’t he. Look at him still trying to imply that everyone should doubt her just because she’s an assassin, without actually calling out her lie and dragging the trial back to a halt.
Kaito: “How could you forget that, Maki Roll? You better apologize to Shuichi!”
Maki: “…Excuse me?”
Shuichi: “I-It’s okay, Kaito, really. No apology necessary…”
And I love how Kaito is completely oblivious to the fact that they both just lied.
(Again, reminder: Kaito advocates apologising when you’ve genuinely made a mistake.)
Himiko: “Just like I thought… Tenko wouldn’t commit suicide…”
Gonta: “…Thank goodness, Himiko.”
Aww, Himiko looks to relieved to hear proof that she’s right to believe in Tenko, having no idea that the “proof” is a lie. And Gonta is so happy, all for her sake. What a good.
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Trial 4 - Post-Trial (Pre-Execution)
Investigation 1 / 2
Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW FEW SHITS I GIVE ABOUT YOUR PREGNANCY DRAMA RIGHT NOW
Glad you care as much as I do, Monokuma.
... Nothing? He’s completely stone faced. What does that mean? Is he shaken at how Shuichi wrest control from him at the very end? Is it regret? Taking the time to mull things over, or brace himself? Something else? I’m pretty convinced he showed a lot more of his true self in this trial than he usually does, so he may be trying to calm himself down. Hmm....
Nice reflex, Kokichi!
H-He’s just going to roll with that? Well, I guess he did get the murder he was hoping for...
MY CUTE LIPS
how dare you make me laugh during such a trying time
Wait, are you saying the memories are being held separately now? You’d think the avatar error would corrupt that kind of data. I guess I might be overthinking things though - I suppose the memory data could be being held separately until Gonta goes back in and is able to retrieve them properly? ... Yeah I’m definitely overthinking this.
OH WELL OKAY NEVER MIND THAT’S APPARENTLY SPOT ON
no way
NO WAY WE HAVE AN ALTER EGO GONTA
ahem, my apologies, ~Gonta Alter Ego~
Well shit, there’s that second self Gonta had been lacking!
FML THEY’RE SO CUTE
WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN PRE-EXECUTION UGH
So we’re establishing that they have the power to do this kind of work, huh? I guess... having a mini-killing game simulator inside another killing game simulator would be too much? I do remember that one image of Kaede with that helmet on her head, but...
Wait so - wait wait wait, doesn’t that mean Gonta Alter Ego knew that real boy Gonta wouldn’t be able to remember what happened in the world?
No seriously, give me a second to think about this -
- I’m 99% sure Gonta wasn’t lying to us when he said he didn’t realize he switched the cables. He did make it sound like it sound like he was following what Himiko was saying.
- Could Kokichi have tricked him into switching them? But then that would a) mean that Kokichi knew what the error would be and how it would affect Gonta and b) fly in the face of everything we saw in the last half of the trial, including absolutely losing it on Gonta when he was incapable of defending himself. He was also sitting on the opposite side of the room, and I’m pretty sure everyone would have kept Kokichi from physically putting together his helmet because, well, come on.
- Is Gonta Alter Ego’s existence dependent on the error, as I mentioned earlier? Monokuma said that he was created using the simulated thought patterns of Gonta via his previous login and combine them with the leftover memories. I wonder if they could do that with anyone else? Or or or -
- Monokuma has very, very easy access to this stuff! What does it say about Monokuma and the whole situation that he has the memory and personalty files on hand like this? Could the computer really be powerful enough for them to have completely - well - scanned their brains in a way that allows him to just pull up Gonta again, after the fact, without Gonta being directly plugged in?
- I... just... keep returning to seeing Kaede and Shuichi in that helmet from way back when, you know? That was supposed to be them losing their talents, but if that’s true (and it isn’t my semi-crack theory about them having downloaded the personalities/memories/etc of previous dead? Ultimates or something - “I want to die”), then that would mean their talents, their beings - because I think it’s fair to say their talent informs their personalities, and vice versa - are literal digital files floating around somewhere that had to be accessible in order for them to be ‘returned’ to them - and man, if Monokuma had access to those, that would help solve how he planned to act on that Necronomicon motive if Angie was able to go through with it!
Interesting how this has been the motive in the first, second and now this chapter, huh? Kirumi might not have included the class in her ‘everyone’, but that was definitely what moved her hand.
meanwhile Korekiyo Shinguuji, you special, awful, special boy...
His weakest points, of course, are always painfully exposed during the trials, and there have been plenty of people willing to comment on them, even when they’re thinking they are being kind about it (and of course, not all of them are). His strengths - rendered useless, nearly immediately.
And his talent - well, other than pointing out the distinct lack of insects in the area, the only time it was ‘used’ was in the disastrous Insect Meet-n-Greet. When it rains, it pours.
Maybe that’s what Gonta needed - not just someone to listen, but someone who could relate to him so strongly. But of course, at this late hour...
Damn, and it changed from ‘able to’ to ‘willing to’.
And there it is - straight from the horse’s mouth. No wait, that’s not right - we got it from the horse’s mouth earlier, but our resident horse is an admitted liar -
I don’t know if he’s so much ‘bad’ as he is being cagey about his reasons.
Wait you what??? So the card key is for a place we haven’t been able to access yet? Where, then? An area of the school we haven’t unlocked yet? A viewing tower - or hell, Kaito’s lab? That would be the prime place to have a (powerful) telescope and we haven’t gotten it yet -
“Save everyone” - it sounds... less believable from you, but at the same time... I’m just, are you saying it for Gonta’s sake? To trick us? Or are these your real thoughts? You’re a smart guy, Kokichi - you have to know that getting past the obstacle that is Miu here is only a short-term win. From this point on, you’re going to have to live with everyone left, and Gonta isn’t going to be here to protect you...
And hell, if these are - were - your real thoughts, at the time, does that mean you really were thrown off enough in the trial that you threw everything you and Gonta planned to the wind?
So, the meeting we got to peek in on... Man, I really, really want to know how Kokichi was able to figure out Miu was gunning for him. Maybe they’ll explain that next chapter? He’s perceptive, but there’s gotta be a limit - right?
Oh, so that’s - completely - hm. At first it seemed like the motive was ‘the right to see it’ - something for the classmates to fight, or kill over. But now, the way Monokuma is talking - he’s making it sound like seeing the outside itself is enough to drive someone to murder. I am... totally... biased by my VLR-loving ass and still thinking it has to do with them being in space/on a ship, and them either being far, far away from Earth or them being able to see the devastated ruins of Earth after being pelted by meteors.
So, uh, I feel like that motive would work with everyone except... maybe Kaito lmao. N-Not that I think he wouldn't be upset, but I imagine he’d be like, oh fUCK YES WE’RE IN SPACE! And oh, that’s definitely not Earth. There’s no way the Earth was destroyed. It’s totally fine, we just can’t see if from where we are! insert monokuma hitting his head against the wall in the background
So there actually was something in the simulation after all of that? I was 99% at this point that it was all a lie too!
Why do you insist that the motive and the case itself are separate???? Sure, knowing the exact mechanics are important, but knowing what moves the hand and heart in the end are pretty damn important!
This... this had to be when they left near the beginning. Does that mean they were carrying the Flashback Light with them the whole time after that???
OH you little stinker
By the way:
vs
Interesting choice in wording by both of them. Earlier Kokichi said he ‘showed’ Gonta, and here he says he ‘entrusted him with it” - both very much a way of talking about Gonta as if he was at least near him, if not equal to him. However, Kaito is using the term ‘exposed to’ which is very... well, passive, and really makes Gonta out to be the victim. So who do we believe? Kaito’s side, where Gonta is just a hapless victim in all of this? Or Kokichi’s side, where Gonta was a willing perpetrator? We’re going to get more on that, but I think the way they talk about Gonta is so interesting - it’s clear a lot of the classmates ended up putting Gonta on a pedestal via infantilization, something we’ve brought up before, and I (RELUCTANTLY) love how that was used against them all as a weapon.
Also damn it I definitely checked all over the map and found nothing but that was only because Kokichi got to it first >:(
It’s always interesting to watch how Kokichi uses his status as a liar to get what he wants.
All of the sayings I want to use right now involve horses for some reason, and I swear that isn’t intentional, but what comes to mind immediately is, “you can lead a horse to water, but can’t make it drink.” And of course the inverse is right here - Kokichi led Gonta to the light and chose the exact words that he knew would make him pick it up himself, but unlike what Kaito said ‘Gonta was exposed to it’, which paints the picture of Kokichi unexpectedly blasting him with the light - Gonta practically runs over before shining it on himself. With that said, I’m absolutely not absolving Kokichi of wrongdoing - he is fully aware of how desperately Gonta wants to feel useful. Feelsbadman.jpg
METEORS? RADICAL 6? HINAMIZAWA SYNDROME EPIDEMIC???
FUCKING BRUTAL
But... damn it. No, this makes sense. This was the motive I was struggling with outside of ‘killing in defence of someone else’. Ah, damn it, damn it, Gonta...
ISN’T
WAIT
ISN’T THAT WHAT SHUICHI REMEMBERED HIMSELF SAYING
Man, I can’t imagine how shocking it would be to see someone who is you, with just a few hours of extra memories and a bit more insight separating you, saying something like that.
And he was able to find some reprieve last chapter via Angie, but then she died... Oh, Angie, you were divisive and manipulative as hell and I even found times when you rubbed me the wrong way, but I’m still mad about you going out the way you did. You earned that halo and those wings on your portrait, damn it!
Seeing Gonta like this is breaking my heart. oTL But damn it, ‘outside is hell’. That’s... leading exactly where I think it is, huh...
I’m just struggling with how convenient it was for him to target Miu, who was coming after him! I guess he knew that Miu was creating circumstances for her to murder him away from prying eyes which, of course, worked out in the opposite direction, but still - !
This is a terrible time to push the ‘Gonta is martyring himself for us’ line strategically speaking, which... could mean that either this is from the heart (evidence for - his current sprite, which seems to only accompany the most weighty lines and is far different than his usual crying sprite / evidence against - the way he attacked Gonta in the trial... unless now that the trial is over and the execution is looming, he’s realized their time together is limited?) or this is his way of thanking Gonta for his service, by trying to get him the recognition he craved before he dies? Or something else entirely?
Is this... real, Kokichi??? Is this real??? And possibly a much better use of the ‘despair’ mechanic than DR3 could ever hope to use???
still a stupid name
The shocking thing is how simple this all is when you look at it. The complications came from Miu’s murder plan, and the only thing that implicated Gonta is the avatar setting on Kokichi’s avatar. Without that one clue, they would have absolutely would have implicated Kokichi.
I do enjoy that in the face of ‘death’, he’s still able to make jokes like this. Then again, maybe it’s only because of having Gonta as back-up that he can...
Yeah, she is not happy about being called out. She’s pretty resolute despite that, which speaks to how confident she is in her work.
Of course, Miu being Miu, she has to say it out loud because her general insecurity is next level.
Aaha never mind about what I said before - this is absolutely because he has Gonta on back up. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was his signal to Gonta to come and ‘save’ him.
Isn’t it amazing that we have now had two killers who both want to get out to ‘help everyone’ and believe they alone can do that in a way no one else can?
He actually made a remark about how Miu’s reason was just an excuse, which - man, ‘your murder isn’t valid but ours is?’ That sure as hell wouldn’t fly in court.
Ugh, and this is why I’m super curious about if the faces they make in the simulation can be manipulated by the user of the avatar or if they are directly informed by how they’re feeling and can’t be controlled. This is a very angry face or someone who has previously described this as a ‘fun killing game’! Is it authentic or not?
I’m not sure if it’s nice of Kokichi to tell Gonta and everyone else that Gonta was able to come up with that plan or not. On the one hand, it really rubs in the fact that everyone was underestimating him. On the other hand, it further dirties his hands to have participated in the cover-up afterwards.
Again... is this more kindness on his part or not? This isn’t a team that real Gonta would ever want to be on, but on the other hand he is validating Gonta as an equal in a way that he was never able to in the regular school life..
Yeah, actually though... fair.
I-I don’t know if I would go so far as saying tricked, Kaito! God, I do love you, but you are making incredibly rash and biased decisions right now!
Real!Gonta is miserable because he killed Miu and Gonta Alter Ego is miserable because he made everyone suffer needlessly and he’s assuming they will continue to suffer as they outlive him and everything is such a damn mess right now fml
Meanwhile Shuichi’s heart is being torn in half which, you know, #relatable
Notably absent: ‘us’. Not please forgive us, please forgive him.
Interestingly enough, it’s changed from ‘their plan’ to ‘Gonta’s plan’ now that he’s casting it in a sympathetic way.
And here we are, on the opposite side of the ‘truth and lies’ theme - being presented with a case where maybe it is better to not know. I can see why Umineko fans really enjoy DRV3 - replace ‘lies’ with ‘fantasy’ or ‘magic’ and we’ve got that same battle being fought out here. Actually, now that I think about it, both had a ‘lower level’ game master obscuring the truth with fantasy/lies with a ‘higher level’ game master pushing the protagonist(s) to find the terrible, bloody truth...
This sprite is a bit closer to his ‘crocodile tears’ sprite so I’m a bit wary, but - hm...
I wonder if their deaths would have been instantaneous, similarly to VLR and their poisoned bracelets, or if it would be a spectacle. Oooh, a terrible thought - if everyone aside from the culprit was dragged off to their own personalized execution...
The fact that Gonta Alter Ego is willing to jump to Kokichi’s aid would mean more if he hadn’t also been so fast to help Kokichi out in Chapter 2. :(
“Role of the villain”, huh? This... if all of this and everything coming after are his true feelings, then...
Shuichi has his role as the detective, and he has his role as the Supreme Leader - but who but you yourself imposed that burden on you???
He’s really trying to create a clear line between Gonta and himself - Gonta is a martyr, who took it upon himself to do a terrible deed on behalf of Kokichi, while Kokichi, the villain extraordinaire, was the bastard who pushed the burden all onto Gonta. How the hell is he going to survive the next chapter??? I swear I keep saying, Kokichi, are you trying to make yourself a bigger target - but seriously, Kokichi, are you trying to make yourself a bigger target here???
He is really not used to anyone coming to bat for him! Especially after that bit about ‘everyone hating him’ this must be like a punch to the gut.
You will always be a gentleman to me!!!
AH NO FUCK I MEAN WE ALL KNEW THIS WAS COMING BUT -
Shuichi is me right now because - is this, real? Are you legitimately saying that? I... I’m pretty sure you were the one who brought up how Monokuma would never let one of us switch out for the blackened in Kirumi’s trial, or am I just misremembering??? Is it okay for me to be questioning your sincerity right now? I feel awful, but -
He... Maybe he was prepared to get executed, if they landed on him as the criminal. Would Monokuma have let them choose Kokichi as the killer if they got it wrong, or would he really have killed everyone else and left Gonta alive? What if they had tied in the votes? Would Monokuma have executed both of them?
T... This just brings me back to Kaede, but this time it’s directed at Kokichi specifically as well as everyone else...
K... Kokichi turnaround? Maybe? M... Maybe he’ll... actually pull a Kuzuryuu and work with....... us......... why does that not seem likely at all......
I REALLY DON’T GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT YOU TWO CAN YOU NOT
H-He has a specific “Gonta!!!” audio clip?! A-And his face here, omg -
Even now he’s just thinking about what he wasn’t able to do as;lkdfj
NO KOKICHI ACTUALLY CRYING FOR GONTA IS MAKING THIS 100 TIMES WORSE
NO THIS ISN’T - DON’T LET THOSE BE HIS LAST WORDS - NO FUCK NO NO ASL;DFKJ -
WHELP -
You may be wondering why the screenshots cut off here. The answer is - oh dear god Monophanie just went full ALIEN on us and mY GOD YOU’RE GOING TO KILL OFF GONTA, BUT ALSO HAVE A FUCKING SCYTHER RIP OUT OF HER STOMACH AND GO ON A MURDER RAMPAGE
yeah I was, uh, physically unable to keep screenshotting though the execution
but I can still give you my general thoughts ranging from the eloquent to the general brain babbling:
whY is she getting so big the pregnancy thing is gross enough but -
Oh god she’s swelling up, Gonta’s face is swelling up, everything is terrible -
WHY. WHY OH GOD WHY WHO CAME UP WITH THIS EXECUTION IDEA
Rest in fucking pieces Monophanie/Monotaro, I didn’t expect you both to die but I’m not mad about it
Evil Scyther fUCK NO i-it... ran Gonta through....
And now they’ve been set on fire for NO FUCKING REASON DAMN IT YOU’RE ALREADY STINGING HIM AND HE’S BEEN STABBED - I-I suppose it could be seen as a reverse Celes, considering she was going to go out via fire then was unexpectedly hit by that truck
For that matter this was also very - well, they killed Alter Ego in the first chapter 4, so that’s the obvious reference, but all those insect shots was a bit ‘A Million Fungoes’ too, yeah?
#Gonta Gokuhara#Kokichi Ouma#Ryou plays drv3#spoilers#drv3 spoilers#Shuichi Saihara#Tsumugi Shirogane#Kaito Momota#Himiko Yumeno#Kiibo#K1-bo#Keebo#Maki Harukawa#Monokuma#long post
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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 4.7
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 chapter 4 started being less character arc and more plot, everyone entered the Virtual World upon Miu and Kokichi’s totally-not-suspicious suggestion, Kaito was a dog and we rounded out his list of Manly Things with curiosity and playfulness, and he was also on extremely high alert over Kokichi doing anything suspicious but let Gonta slip under his radar because there’s obviously no way Gonta would do anything bad.
Now we’re in the chapel, discussing how everyone is going to split up to search the Virtual World.
Kokichi: “Oh, yeah… Before we split up, I wanna ask you something, Miu.”
[Kokichi and Miu whisper to each other]
Here’s another way in which Kokichi is deliberately sabotaging the mercy kill plan before it’s even happened. He’s not stupid enough to have forgotten their planned meeting place, but he’s pretending he has and confirming it here in the hopes that someone will overhear (which indeed Keebo does), giving Shuichi yet another clue which will make figuring out Miu’s plan (and therefore Gonta’s guilt) far easier in the trial.
Maki: “So, who’s going to decide how we split up?”
Kaito: “Just leave it all to me! I’ll figure out how everyone should split up in a flash!”
Look, guys, Kaito’s still being useful and a leader! And also he probably wants an excuse to put himself in the same team as both his sidekicks, as well as probably Kokichi so he can keep an eye on him. (And… what if he would have put Gonta in a different team than Kokichi to stop anything potentially bad happening. I bet he would have done.)
Miu: “No, no! Hold up! I’ll decide that! I know this world better than any of you, so I’ll decide!”
She doesn’t really know this world any better than anyone else now that everyone’s explored the whole place (aside from a couple of rooms in the mansion that don’t have anything relevant in them anyway). That’s just an excuse to let her organise her murder plan. She’s kind of bad at this.
She puts Kaito on the roof, of course, so that when she logs him out in order to frame him it’ll get him out of the way of her meeting with Kokichi. Also potentially so that if they do figure out Kokichi was killed on the Virtual World rooftop, Kaito will still look the most suspicious.
Kaito: “Huh!? Why do I gotta go up to the rooftop!? It’s freakin’ cold out there!”
Kokichi: “Yeah! There’s no way the faint-hearted Kaito can search in the cold!”
Kaito: “Alright! Bring it on! All I gotta do is search the rooftop, right?”
Aaaand Kokichi, knowing full well Miu is doing this for her plan, deliberately helps it along for her.
Miu then puts Kokichi in the salon, because he’s supposed to end up dead, which means that nobody will be able to vouch for the fact that Kaito didn’t go to the salon to log himself out.
Then she doesn’t give a fuck other than putting herself on the chapel team. Which makes it kind of obvious that she’s got a hidden agenda here. Literally all you needed to do was randomly pick additional people to assign to other rooms, Miu, it wouldn’t have been hard. You’re terrible at this.
(And if she’d randomly happened to put Gonta on the chapel team, then that would have saved her life.)
Kokichi: “Then Gonta should come with me. We can search the mansion’s surroundings, since no one else wants to deal with the cold.”
Gonta: “Okay… Gonta come with you.”
Gonta is just being heartbreakingly subdued and obedient. Usually he’d be more cheerful about being given something he can be helpful with, but not now.
Kokichi: “Mm-hm, a true gentleman must always volunteer to do the dirty work.”
FUCK YOU AND YOUR DOUBLE MEANINGS, KOKICHI
Tsumugi: “So… you’re just going to use Gonta again. I’ve decided! I’m going that way too! I have to make sure you’re not abusing poor Gonta!”
I’ll give Tsumugi this: she seems pretty committed to her act of pretending to care about Gonta’s wellbeing. I don’t know if she knows what Kokichi is planning for him – probably not, and even if she was it’s not like she’d stop it because it’s an excellent story – but in terms of the character she’s pretending to be, this bit about her being on Gonta’s side is one of the most consistent things she does. I haven’t been pointing it out every time, but it’s been there.
Kaito: “We still need one more for mansion duty. Shuichi, come with us.”
Shuichi: “Ah, okay…”
Maki: “…”
Shuichi: (Is Maki upset…? Because she’s all by herself now?)
There’s this whole bit here, during the ensuing optional dialogue as well, with Maki quietly glaring (at either Kaito or Shuichi, it’s not clear which), presumably because… she’s mad that Kaito picked Shuichi to go with him and not her? But it just doesn’t feel right to me. Yes, I’m sure she would have preferred to go with Kaito than be stuck with neither of her close friends, but she’s not the kind of person who would get actively mad about it, especially not when they have more important things to be doing. The writing is probably trying to pretend that this is about her romantic feelings for Kaito and that she’s all jealous that Kaito would rather hang out with Shuichi than with her, but no, fuck off, that’s such a goddamn stereotypical way for someone to be acting upon romantic feelings (not to mention hugely dickish to your other friend). Maki isn’t like that at all; please remember the time two days ago where she could barely even comprehend that she had such feelings.
As an optional bit of dialogue, Miu suggests making this entire place their new reality and literally everyone (except Maki, who is still being inflicted with bad-writing-induced anger, and Gonta, who is very quiet) disagrees with her, then…
Miu: “Ugh… grghggh! I-I’ll make you regret this!”
Shuichi: (Regret this? What does she mean? She says such ominous things…)
You’re not being super subtle about the fact that you’re planning to kill us all, Miu.
Also, if you examine the organ in the chapel…
Shuichi: “…Kaede probably could have played the organ well too. …”
Aww. (It’s great how the game has occasional mentions of her such as this to make it clear that she’s still important to and having an influence on Shuichi even now. That’s something the first game utterly failed to do with Sayaka.)
On the way back to the mansion…
Miu: “Whoops, my hand slipped.”
[Miu “accidentally” drops the signboard in the river]
Nobody ever genuinely says that when their hand really did just slip. Again: she is so bad at this and Shuichi would have seen right through her if she’d actually succeeded in killing Kokichi.
Gonta is also still very quiet during this whole exchange about the missing bridge, even though you’d expect him to be worrying about the people on the other side or trying to find a way to help somehow. (This kind of quiet behaviour is something it makes sense that Kaito still wouldn’t pick up on, since he’s not paying any specific attention to Gonta, and without doing that it’s hard to notice a lack of something.)
Once they’re in the mansion, Kokichi doles out the other roles on the team and tells Shuichi and Tsumugi to go check the dining hall and kitchen – note how he leaves the entrance hall out of it, since he needs that to be empty. Kaito is still here during this conversation, which is briefly relevant later in a way the writing doesn’t draw explicit attention to, so keep this in mind.
Gonta: “…Gonta go now.”
Oh, Gonta, you poor thing. He’s just so quiet and defeated and sad, or at least that’s the implication given by his very few lines once you know what’s up. He is, however, suppressing it and not showing a visibly sad expression here, meaning that again, even Kaito probably can’t pick up on this due to the less nuanced expressions on the avatars.
Tsumugi: “It’s surprisingly cold out there, so be careful. You should come back here to warm up.”
Gonta: “Thank you… but Gonta okay. Gonta not smart enough to get sick.”
Gonta then also smiles upon Tsumugi’s concern for him. So things probably seem pretty fine and not worrying from the perspective of anyone with him, regardless of how perceptive they are.
Kaito: “Someone who isn’t smart wouldn’t want to save everyone… They’d only think of themselves.”
Gonta: “Oh… thank you.”
Aaaaaagh. These words from Kaito are the last thing anyone says to Gonta before he becomes a murderer in a desperate attempt to save everyone. Maybe that helped him feel just a tiny bit less awful about it. He may be about to become a murderer, but he is so, so far from being stupid.
And it’s absolutely lovely that Kaito thinks this: that meaningful intelligence isn’t about book smarts or whatever but is about how much you care about others and how often you’re thinking about how to help everyone around you. In fact, that would explain why Kaito always gets so mad when people call him an idiot! It’s not because he cares that they think he’s book-dumb – he knows he’s not, but he doesn’t ever bring up that fact to correct people because it’s not the point. It’s because he takes it as them assuming he doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and of course he’d hate others getting that impression of him! That also fits perfectly with the fact that Maki has never stopped calling him an idiot but Kaito stopped complaining about it once they were friends – in other words, once it became clear that she knew he cared about helping her and therefore didn’t mean “idiot” in the sense that bothers him.
It’s also amusing to realise, considering how much I like to call Kaito “idiotically selfless” or words to that effect, that he would see that as a complete oxymoron.
Tsumugi: “I want to go back to my real body.”
Kaito: “Well… These avatars aren’t that bad, y’know?”
Shuichi: “Huh? These avatars?”
Kaito: “Just kidding! It’s just a joke! I’m just joking!”
You’re still kind of bad at this, Kaito. Lucky for you Shuichi’s being selectively oblivious here.
So they all split up to search for what is presumably quite a long time, until Shuichi and Tsumugi happen to be together as they hear the crashing sound.
Tsumugi: “Maybe that sound was something falling off the roof?”
Shuichi: (But… the person on the roof is…)
Welcome to yet another instance of first-time-me being utterly terrified Kaito was dead. By all rights, Shuichi should be too, but… he isn’t? Moments after, they hear Keebo’s voice, and then even if you attempt to get Shuichi to go check the rooftop, he’ll just insist he needs to go outside to check if that was Keebo. Like, geez, you heard Keebo’s voice so at the very least he’s alive, but what if Kaito isn’t???
This is admittedly the first time Kaito’s been possibly dead in which it even makes sense for Shuichi to potentially think that and be worried about it. So, since there’s actually no precedent for how Shuichi would react to this, maybe I’m just overestimating his ability to even think Kaito is dead. More on that in a bit.
This is also the first time Kaito’s been explicitly possibly dead in which the primary out-universe point of this event isn’t actually to make you think he’s dead. That’s just an unintended side effect of the real reason for it, which most directly is that Miu was trying to frame him, but in a more out-universe writing sense (since Miu really could have tried to frame anyone and it didn’t have to be Kaito) her framing him has a deliberate purpose for Kaito’s character arc during this case.
Look at where Gonta is standing when they run into him outside. He has not just come from checking the mansion’s surroundings, has he. The only place he could have come from is that dead end to the side of the mansion where we’re going to find the toilet paper later. This right here is the conclusive proof that Gonta is the murderer.
Tsumugi: “You heard that loud noise, right?”
Gonta: “O-Oh… Gonta hear noise, but Gonta not see anything.”
Gah, look at Gonta having no choice but to lie to them in order to be able to save everyone. He looks sad as he says this, not because he’s disappointed he couldn’t be more helpful, but because he hates lying to them.
Shuichi: (And what about Kaito? He should have heard that from the roof… He would have run over here right away… What’s going on?)
YES AND YOU SHOULD BE MORE WORRIED ABOUT HIM BECAUSE OF THAT
Shuichi: (…Alright. My talent… is solving mysteries. So that’s what I’m going to do.)
Aww, look at Shuichi psyching himself up to solve this even though he’s clearly kind of confused and freaked out right now. He really is good in a crisis.
Gonta: “What happen? Did something happen to Keebo?”
This isn’t Gonta having to lie or hide anything, since he’s probably genuinely confused as to why Keebo was heard nearby – he knows he sent Miu sliding through the wall, but he presumably doesn’t realise that the chapel is on the other side of it.
Gonta: “Leave it to Gonta! Gonta just need to carry signboard!?”
Oh Gonta you precious thing. He is now a murderer and he’s intending to get everyone else mercy-killed soon but he’s still trying to help out in even the smallest ways!
Gonta: “But board is so thin. Will it be okay? What if board breaks this ti—”
At this point Gonta has already used toilet paper that didn’t break, so really he should have grasped this rule, but apparently he hasn’t? I guess Kokichi didn’t bother trying to explain the rule to him properly and just told him it was special toilet paper.
Keebo: “We’re not sure, but her avatar isn’t moving. Maybe something happened in the real world that’s preventing her from moving it.”
This is kind of a misleading description. From this alone, it gives the impression she’s standing there, frozen, which presumably would be what would happen if someone was killed in the real world and lost connection with their avatar. But not only is her avatar not moving, it’s lying face down on the ground. You know, as if she was murdered in here or something.
Maki: “…Hey, where’s Kaito?”
Shuichi: “Ah, Kaito! I-I don’t know, I ran here as fast as I could, I didn’t check the roof…”
Maki: “…You didn’t even bother going to the roof to get him. You’re colder than I thought.”
I guess we can assume that Shuichi was so wrapped up in the panic of it all that he didn’t even think to check the roof (and that mine and any other sensible players’ attempts to get him to do so weren’t canon). And from the way Maki says “get him”, not “check on him”, it seems she’s running under the assumption that Kaito isn’t dead and Shuichi was just kind of a dick for forgetting to include him in the running around in a panic that we’re all doing. Which makes sense, since Maki saw Miu’s virtual corpse and so she started off with the impression that if someone’s dead, it’s probably Miu, and therefore Kaito’s probably safe. Shuichi still has less excuse.
Only a little later, once Maki confirms that Kaito isn’t on the roof…
Maki: “But don’t worry… He’s stupid enough to get himself killed, but I know he won’t really die.”
Shuichi: “…” (I suppose that’s true. I don’t have to worry about him…)
But this is presumably why Shuichi wasn’t nearly as worried as he should have been. Even though he says he supposes that’s true like he’s only just realising this here, the fact is that Shuichi has always been low-key under the impression that Kaito is basically invincible, such that it apparently doesn’t even occur to him (or to Maki for that matter) that there’s still a possibility he could get killed at some point. Well done, Kaito, all your insisting that you couldn’t possibly be worried or hurting about anything somehow succeeded in getting your sidekicks to really see you that way.
Gonta: “Um… So Gonta just say name in phone, and someone come get him?”
And there goes Alter Ego Gonta logging out and temporarily ceasing to exist. We won’t see him again until the end of the trial.
Kokichi: “Now that we’re alone, I wanna tell you something.”
Shuichi: “…What is it?”
Kokichi: “You’re really useful.”
Really, Kokichi? Because if you really think that about Shuichi, then why the fuck does your future plan in chapter 5 not use him as your accomplice and instead just completely glosses over the fact that his “usefulness” if used against you is going to make the plan fail? Good job being thoroughly aware of another of the reasons your plan is terrible and then doing it anyway.
Kokichi: “So, how about you stop hanging out with dumb ol’ Kaito, and be *my* friend instead?”
It’s really annoyingly entitled of Kokichi to act like this when he’s done absolutely fuck all to earn Shuichi’s friendship, while Kaito has done everything and more to deserve it.
Kokichi: “I think I can be useful to you too… y’know? I can help you save everyone. And you wanna save everyone, riiiiight?”
And now Kokichi is trying to manipulate Shuichi through his desire to save everyone, even though there was a perfectly good way to save everyone this chapter without getting Miu and Gonta killed that Kokichi didn’t feel like sharing.
Shuichi quite rightly nopes out of this conversation without saying a word. Presumably he’s figured that Kokichi is just trying to manipulate him and doesn’t actually care about saving everyone at all.
Kokichi: “Nee-heehee… aw, I got rejected. But I won’t give up that easily. When I find someone I like, I’d do anything to get them to notice me… even strangle them.”
I gather this is one of the lines that people use to argue that Kokichi has a crush on Shuichi. And… okay, sure, even my aromantic brain can accept that that’s probably what’s being implied here (especially given he’s alone and therefore has no reason to be lying). But… so what? Even if Kokichi has a crush on Shuichi, that has absolutely no relevance to Kokichi’s meaningful role in the story – not any of the parts of his character that are interesting, nor the things he does in the plot. So it’s bizarre and frustrating to me that the writers broke Shuichi’s POV for what simply isn’t a relevant enough part of the story to justify that.
Aaand Miu’s dead. Hooray. Now she can be more of an interesting character! I’m literally not even kidding – I’m going to be talking about her nearly every time she’s mentioned from this point on and I’m going to actually have fun doing so.
*ding dong, dong ding!*
Monokuma: “A body has been discovered! Everyone, please report to the computer room… Wait, you’re already here. Wow, I get to bring you the body discovery announcement live!”
Not everyone’s here; Kaito isn’t. So I have to assume that, despite Monokuma claiming he’s only doing this live, he still did broadcast at least the first part of it in order for Kaito to hear it.
Consider how the body discovery announcements don’t tell you whose body it is. And remember the conversation Kaito and his sidekicks had near the beginning of this chapter discussing how Shuichi is the most likely target for a future murder, in which Kaito fiercely promised he’d protect both of his sidekicks despite having no way to guarantee that. How terrified must Kaito be right now that the victim could be Shuichi or Maki.
(This isn’t even the first time Kaito’s heard a body discovery announcement while alone and nowhere near the crime scene – in fact, it’s the third – but this would definitely be the most frightening one of all for him given the context.)
Gonta: “Gonta… not understand, either… Miu like this when Gonta wake up… Hey! What going on!? Why this happen!?”
Oh, Gonta. He understands this even less than everybody else does right now.
Gonta: “M-Murder…? Wh-What you mean!? Did something happen while Gonta sleep!?”
This isn’t even that subtle about it! You’d think that if Gonta remembered the Virtual World, he would still feel like something happened while he was “asleep” and wouldn’t be phrasing his confusion in quite this way.
Keebo: “We weren’t asleep and that wasn’t a dream. We were in the Virtual World.”
…But then Keebo’s subsequent line does do a good job of making you instead jump to the assumption that the “sleep” Gonta’s talking about was just this.
Kaito gets here and says that he was taking a nap when the body discovery announcement woke him up.
Gonta: “You were sleeping? Gonta was sleeping, too! Had strange dream! Gonta not understand anything!”
The way that he associates it with Kaito’s nap also rather implies that he really does just see it as normal sleep. The “strange dream” is obviously meant to make you assume he’s talking about the Virtual World, but presumably what it really was was just a regular dream caused by his subconscious brain doing weird brain things while his consciousness was in the simulation.
Kaito: “I didn’t know if it was okay to log back in, so I went back to my room and slept.”
That… doesn’t quite sound like something Kaito would normally do. I feel like he wouldn’t usually be so quick to just give up on their search for the secret of the outside world (and on keeping an eye on Kokichi’s potential scheme), and wouldn’t let himself be stopped by the possible risks of logging back in unplanned. So… his real reason for going back to his room proooobably has more to do with his illness than anything else. Maybe he really had coughed up blood while logged in and had to go change his clothes.
Also, if Kaito had logged back in straight away like he probably would have done if he wasn’t sick, then headed back to the rooftop where he was supposed to be… the murder might not have happened. Kaito is bound to realise this himself once it becomes apparent that the murder happened on the virtual rooftop. Yet again, he in particular could have prevented a murder but failed to do so, not just because he didn’t do a good enough job of getting through to Kokichi or keep a close enough eye on him despite how hard he was trying, but also in an even more direct way. If only he hadn’t been dying.
Shuichi: “We need to discover who killed Miu.”
Kokichi: “Nee-heehee… you seem ready. Well, of course you are. One of your dear friends was killed, so it’s finally time for you to shiiiine!”
This seems like Kokichi being a dick to Shuichi, who hates the way he can only be useful once someone is already dead. But it’s also Kokichi being a dick to Kaito, because the fact that Shuichi is so much better at saving people than him has been eating away at Kaito more and more lately.
Shuichi: “I’ll find the culprit so that we can all survive.”
Kokichi: “…Even if the culprit is Kaito?”
What exactly the fuck are you trying to prove here, Kokichi, you know the culprit isn’t Kaito.
Monokuma: “I’m certain you guys’ll make this turn of events very entertaining!”
Yes, someone sure has done his best to make this case very entertaining. Again, good job, Kokichi, you gave Monokuma exactly what he wants.
Kokichi: “Well, what’re you sad about? You guys hated her! Not as much as you hate me, but still!”
Tsumugi: “Th-That’s not the issue… Of course I thought she was loud and annoying, but…”
Kaito: “I never wanted her to die. I wanted us all to escape together.”
Kokichi is trying even harder than usual to suppress his basic human decency now that he’s killed someone himself. Basic human decency is the only reason anyone else (except Keebo, who had some semblance of a connection with her) is upset about Miu’s death right now, but that’s still more than enough reason to be horrified that a person they knew is dead. But Kokichi’s trying to tell himself that it’s totally okay that he killed her since everyone hated her anyway, right? No, too bad, it doesn’t work like that. You’re still a murderer, Kokichi.
Gonta: “Urgh… Gonta no can forgive this. Gonta… never forgive this. Never forgive culprit, either… But Gonta never forgive self!”
SGHJSDGHJADGHJFSHJFD. I don’t think I need to say any more here.
Shuichi: (I’m… so tired of this awful feeling. I have to do something. I can’t let this—)
Kaito: “Shuichi, don’t carry the burden all by yourself.”
Kaito is still incidentally being a huge hypocrite and probably still overcompensating for his own sense of inferiority here… but his heart’s 100% in the right place regardless. Even though Shuichi didn’t say anything out loud, Kaito can pick up on the fact that he’s putting a lot of undue pressure on himself just because he’s the detective, so of course Kaito should still try and encourage him not to do that.
Kaito: “You’re my sidekick! Don’t forget. We’re gonna do it together! If we work together, we can solve this—”
This is a little more off the main point, though. Shuichi almost certainly can solve the case on his own, after all (and Kaito knows it). The point of Kaito’s support isn’t that Shuichi wouldn’t be able to solve the case without him, but that doing so would be a lot less painful and stressful for Shuichi if he has his friend by his side throughout it. But here Kaito is trying to imply that Shuichi absolutely needs him and not just that he’s an optional extra help to make things a little easier to bear.
Kokichi: “Shuichi is the most reliable person in a class trial, y’know? Why would we let such an important person work together with a suspect like you?”
Even if we disregard everything about how much Shuichi believes in Kaito and assume that he really is the most obvious suspect right now (which he’s not, because he’s so obvious a suspect that it’s clearly not him), this is still a completely backwards argument. Shuichi investigating together with the prime suspect would be a good thing, because then he’d be able to keep a close eye on them, make sure they don’t try to destroy evidence, and notice any suspicious reactions they have that might otherwise have slipped under the radar.
Kaito was also technically one of the main suspects back in case 2 by virtue of being one of only a few people without an alibi. But the very fact that he willingly chose to investigate with Shuichi that time immediately made him less suspicious, because the real culprit wouldn’t have wanted to increase the risk of Shuichi picking up subtle signs that they did it. And, of course, Shuichi noticing subtle suspiciousness from his investigation partner probably contributed to him ending up so sure that Kaede did it in case 1.
Kaito: “You’re saying that if I was the culprit, Shuichi would hide the truth to protect me?”
I mean, if Shuichi was going to do that, he’d do that regardless of whether Kaito investigated with him or not, so again, Kokichi’s argument is terrible. But…
Kaito: “Bullshit! Don’t underestimate Shuichi! Even if I was the culprit, he’s the type of guy that’d see things through!”
Kaito is so fucking good. It’s completely inconceivable to him right now that he would ever kill someone or try to deceive Shuichi, and he knows just how much faith Shuichi has in him. But Kaito believes so strongly in Shuichi’s convictions as a detective that he has complete faith that even if the inconceivable did come to pass, Shuichi would still be able to do what he knows he needs to to save everyone.
And of course, that’s exactly what ends up happening. The foreshadowing is delightful.
(And apparently Kokichi can’t grasp this concept, because if he did, then he would know full well that making Kaito the accomplice in his plan was never going to work.)
Plus, not only is this delicious foreshadowing for case 5, it’s also quite relevant to this case as well. Shuichi has more faith in Kaito than he does in anyone else, so it follows that if Kaito believes Shuichi would be able to pursue the truth of him being the culprit, he also believes Shuichi would be able to pursue the truth of anyone else being the culprit – even someone else Shuichi has a lot of faith in, such as Gonta. So what’s going to happen in the trial when Kaito starts to get angry at Shuichi really isn’t as much about belief and doubt as it might seem. Kaito has clearly stated right here that he knows Shuichi would – and should – pursue the culprit even if it turns out to be a person that he wants to believe in.
Kokichi: “But, remember Kaede’s class trial—”
Kaito: “He saw us through that, didn’t he!? I believe in Shuichi!”
Exactly. We already have concrete proof that Shuichi is capable of proving his closest friend to be a murderer if that’s what it seems like he has to do. Your future plan is never going to work, Kokichi, you absolute moron.
Kokichi: “Nee-heehee… You love to believe, don’t you, Kaito? But that belief can turn against you, especially in this killing game, y’know?”
So, of course, this is also foreshadowing for how this trial is going to turn out for Kaito, and Kokichi’s very much doing this on purpose.
Kokichi’s been constantly trying this whole game to shove his philosophy that believing in people is a terrible idea down everyone’s throats, particularly Kaito’s. It sure is convenient for that attempted message of his that his master plan just happened to incidentally involve him turning the most inherently trustworthy person in here into a murderer, now, isn’t it. While Kokichi is telling himself that this whole murder here is just for the purpose of backing up his future lie that he’s the mastermind, I don’t think that’s really the only reason it happened.
But also, this brings to mind the thing I talked about a couple of chapters ago regarding the two different kinds of “believing in” someone, first just trusting that they’re a good person and secondly believing in their potential to be awesome. Kaito was talking about the latter kind of belief with regards to Shuichi here – and honestly, the former kind, about whether or not Shuichi would kill someone, hasn’t ever been in question by anyone since the first trial ended. But Kokichi turned around and suddenly made this about the former kind of belief instead – because that’s the only kind of belief that’s relevant to Kokichi, since his entire worldview revolves around the conviction that everyone who feels it is wrong. Kokichi can’t believe in anyone’s potential to do amazing things, because that would require believing in them as a person first. Maybe that’s part of why he idiotically thinks Shuichi won’t figure out his plan in chapter 5.
Kaito: “Heh… I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about… I don’t get it at all…”
It seems that while Kaito has unshakeable faith in Shuichi’s ability to find the truth even if it involves someone he believes in being a murderer, Kaito isn’t quite so sure about his own ability to accept such a painful truth, should it come to that. (Remember that Kaito had a harder time accepting that Kaede did it than Shuichi did, in the end.) So he’s trying to brush it off and tell himself that Kokichi’s just talking nonsense and he doesn’t have to worry about it.
Kaito: “Fine, if you’re gonna get all worked up over it, then me and Shuichi won’t team up.”
It’s actually a little surprising to me that Kaito concedes on this. I guess he just figures that if he doesn’t, Kokichi will continue to pester them about this the whole investigation and it won’t be worth it.
Kaito: “That said, try to get through this on your own! Clear me of suspicion with your own power!”
That and he knows that Shuichi’s strong enough by now that he can get through it on his own and doesn’t really need anything more than Kaito cheering him on from the sidelines.
…And it was Kokichi’s insistent dickishness that pushed Kaito into acknowledging that. Hm. I wonder if that was deliberate.
Shuichi: (Of course, this is Kaito we’re talking about, nothing I say could change his mind.)
I mean, he clearly still wants to investigate with you, Shuichi – if you were stubborn enough and insisted to Kokichi that no, fuck you, I can investigate with whoever I damn well choose and I choose Kaito, then that would at least potentially get him to shut up. Buuuut Shuichi is still really passive even when he’s in Ultimate Detective mode, so instead we get stuck with Kokichi for half an investigation.
Shuichi: (I can’t be afraid… I can’t get lost now. In order to protect everyone, I have to do something. I have to do something…)
Shuichi still is putting a little too much of the burden all on himself, though. Don’t forget that Kaito believes in you even if he’s not investigating with you, Shuichi!
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