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shieldmonokuma · 4 months

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Day 1.

I remember the sensation of falling as I slid the nerve gear over my head, as though my restless mind was trying but unable to fully escape. I could feel sparks run down my arms as I waited in anticipation for the black screen to turn to the game menu, and then finally, a new world.

Finally I can have a piece of the life I’ve always wanted. To think that I might not have bought the prerelease if it wasn’t for her. In fact, I almost stopped myself from joining right there, due to the bitter feeling in the back of my throat, the lightheadedness that I felt as I looked at the package. Still, I took a deep breath and started.

It’s just my nerves. I’ve never had this chance before, and I can’t afford to hesitate now.

I looked at the menu as it booted up. It scanned me and told me to enter my personal information, everything that it couldn’t gather by itself anyway. It displayed my in-game avatar-an image that I couldn’t even distinguish from myself-and allowed me to edit it from there. I tentatively entered the settings, then finally joined the game.

As the screen loaded in, I saw her waiting for me at the spawn point.

“Ah, hi Izuru!” ChiakiX3, as I had known her online at least, called out.

“I’m glad to see you again too,” I laughed a little. Was it due to my amazement, or just the awkwardness of meeting an online mutual in well, almost real life? It really was surreal. She was a girl who looked to be about my age. It wouldn’t have surprised me to see her walking through the halls of my highschool. It was almost eerie, how closely she seemed to match up with her online persona. She had a calm face, framed by taupe bangs and roughly shoulder-length hair. She wore the same uniform that all players were given, but had chosen to make her tunic a shade of dusty pink that matched her eyes.

To be honest, I felt like a poser recalling the effortlessly cool persona that I could keep up online. Like my attitude, I had only slightly altered my avatar in game, giving it a slightly longer hairstyle. My classmates would definitely call me an e-boy if it was like that in reality.

I choked back the sub-par remarks and unnecessary compliments that came to mind. “Would you like to try fighting something?”

She pressed a finger to her chin, and looked towards the horizon “Well, I actually signed in early. I’ve already learned the base fighting mechanics…” She paused and looked back towards me, the prior excitement returning to her voice, “I’d gladly show you the ropes though.”

“If you’d like to, then of course I’d be up for that.”

“Good. We just need to head to the plains then.”

I watched the scenery go by. An old fashioned village you might expect to see in a tourist town, plains with grass just slightly too green to be real. Finally, we found ourselves in a meadow surrounded by giant rats and wild boar. This was clearly meant to function as the tutorial. I unsheathed the dual short-swords I had selected in the startup menu. She already had her long sword in hand and was gazing at our opponents, apparently lost in thought.

“Okay, so you should start out by getting an idea of how fast your opponent moves, and their movement patterns. These ones are slow enough that you should be able to build momentum and focus on offence, but later on, there will be enemies that pose more of a threat. To perform a power attack you need to hit the opponent as hard as you can. I’d recommend running towards them before attacking to accomplish that, like this.”

She ran to a boar and sliced it across the side, so calmly she made it seem effortless. I tried to focus on copying those movements exactly. I ran forward, readied my swords and…

“Your technique is quite impressive,"

An unfamiliar voice caught me off guard. I missed, and the boar stayed up to charge me. Damn it! I took five damage (a quarter of my hit points) and slashed wildly, hitting the boar near its eye.

I felt a dull kind of pain in my leg, where the boar had hit me, but I reasoned that it was probably nothing. I looked around myself In attempt to find the source of that interruption. Chiaki was standing next to him. Another teenager? Probably a highschool student, but possibly just starting college. He was tall, with white hair that took on a slightly reddish hue at the tips. His silver eyes were hidden in shadow and he seemed to look past me as he watched my approach.

Looking back at Chiaki, he asked in a tone that emanated reverence, "You're the one with that five minute speed run of Monokuma Pizzeria, right? The one that blew up online?"

"Who are you?" I asked, trying not to sound annoyed with the newcomer.

"I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? Not that it matters, but my name is Nagito. You just have to linger on my avatar if you happen to forget. As to why I'm here, I simply admire talent."

Nagito_the_ultimate_stepping_stone_for_hope… I think I've seen weirder… probably on Reddit, at least.

"I'm Chiaki Nanami, but it seems you already know that."

"I'm Izuru."

"Since we've been introduced, would you mind teaching someone as worthless as me?" Said Nagito. Now I honestly couldn't tell if this dead-eyed stranger was messing with us or not.

“I was already training Izuru, so I don't mind."

"Sure," I agreed in the most polite tone I could muster, then sighed and resumed practice, killing several more enemies while Chiaki coached Nagito. By the time we decided to stop training, it was late evening, about an hour after I had first logged in.

“We could try searching the town," Chiaki suggested, "I mean, since we have some items we could sell now."

"I was actually thinking about heating up dinner, but I guess I could stay for a little longer."

"It would be an honour to continue playing together." Nagito insisted as he stared directly into my eyes with that strange, placid smile on his face, “I mean, not that I’d want you to put your evening on hold for us.”

I wasn't sure if I should laugh or not, "Well, when you put it that way!” I moved to a more comfortable distance and continued, “It’s really not like I have anything better to do."

Wordlessly, we walked back through the fields until we reached town. The main street was full of other players; talking, breathing, living. I was still a bit stunned by the sheer number of people here on release. We walked into the store following Chiaki, but unfortunately this excursion would come to an untimely end.

Suddenly, the sky changed to a bright crimson. The announcement blared "ALL PLAYERS MUST MEET AT SPAWN IN 5 MINUTES."

Is this some sort of entrance ceremony?

"It's probably to thank the people here on launch." Nagito said, casually brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"...Yeah, that sounds right." I agreed as we started walking towards the entrance. "Still, this seems a little excessive."

He shrugged, and spread his arms as if to gesture at the world in general, “Couldn’t you say the same for all of this?”

"4 MINUTES…"

There were thousands of people gathered around the spawn point. Everyone looked uncertain. The incoherent buzz of their whispers only added to the tense atmosphere. My friends, or at least, my current company, had gone silent. We waited there like students about to hear their exam results, or kids about to open gifts. 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1, finally it appeared. A towering, cloaked figure whose face was hidden except for a single, glowing red eye.

It spoke in a grating, nasal tone, too much like machinery to assuredly be called a voice, "I hate to be this cliche about it, but this game is designed for a higher purpose than just your entertainment. In fact, it would be completely accurate to say that this game will become your life."

The ghoul paused to let those words sink in, or perhaps, to relish in the audience's disbelief at what was to come next.

"You may have noticed that the exit button is curiously absent. That is not a flaw but a feature of this experience. I want you to live out your action hero dreams, so that was a must. There have to be stakes afterall, so your health and your avatar's health are one and the same. If you want to escape, though, I was generous enough to provide an escape route: just complete all one hundred floors, or… there is always the easier way, …isn't there? To keep it short and sweet, I hope you’re grateful for the wonderful opportunity I’m granting you. Fare-well.”

I froze. Those words were now burned into my memory. They were a dream, a killer’s speech in some movie. Nothing like that could happen to someone like me, a completely average, boring nobody-

"Are you okay?" A familiar voice said to me. I blinked. Something about the world around me had changed. We no longer even appeared to be the perfect avatars of ourselves we had created, but flesh and blood, …and yet he seemed unchanged.

"N-Nagito?"

He smiled with relief, "Ah, you're conscious. That's good. You stood there for a while without moving."

"What I heard back there… did you hear it too?"

“Yes, it appears that we’re stuck here.” His eyes shifted downwards, but his voice remained level, “I already checked, the no exit part is accurate at least.”

It is true then. It wasn't just in my head. Then there's no denying it. Still, I tried my best to fight that deranged conclusion. "This could be a publicity stunt, right?"

My companions looked doubtful.

“Even if that is the case, wouldn't it be better to stay here for the time being, in case the safezone rules hold true?” Chiaki asked.

“...You know there's only one way to test that hypothesis, right?” Chiaki and I looked straight at him, he raised his hands defensively in response, “I mean, you can hit me if that gives you peace of mind.”

I sighed, “No, I don't think that'll be necessary. We’ll figure it out sooner or later anyway.”

“At least we still have each other.” Chiaki pointed out, eyes still fixed on the point where that thing had stood. “That must count for something.”

The silence that followed said everything. I wanted to muster a smile, to tell her that I believed we’d be okay… but this was the beginning of a deadly game, we didn’t even know what we were in for yet. That was just the beginning of our new lives, our new reality.

#happy birthday hajime! oh #and happy new year #i've never posted a fanfiction online but I hope you like it #no content warnings #danganronpa #danganronpa online au #hajime hinata #hinata hajime #chiaki nanami #nanami chiaki #nagito komaeda #komaeda nagito

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syubits · 1 year

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vena amoris

literally, "vein of love" witch!jungkook ∞ reader

“So. Are you going as a zombie to the party?”

The spoon from your mouth drops, clinks to the hardwood floor, but thankfully your grip on the cup of ice cream is stronger as you flinch at the sudden voice coming from next to you.

“Jesus.”

“No, it’s Jungkook,” the boy replies, bunny teeth digging into his bottom lip in an attempt to stop the chuckle spilling out at his own joke – which came out as a snort anyway. He’s been hanging around Jin too much.

“I told you not to do that teleportation thingamjig. What if I was changing? Also… the others could be around.” At that, Jungkook goes still for second, eyes widening at the realisation. It wasn’t a surprise he had mastered yet another ability again, and according to him he was one of the few witches in his level to be able to execute the spell, but as much as you shared his joy, you needed to remind him not to get overexcited for his own sake. After all, you were the only one who knew his secret after walking in on him eating cereal with a levitating spoon while both hands were occupied with the Switch in his hands as he tried to catch Gigantamax. It was rather comical seeing him freezing mid-crunch on cornflakes, the spoon forgotten but still floating next to his mouth. To his surprise (and relief), you weren’t all over him with questions, and you pretended as if nothing happened at all. But to cut short the story, Jungkook was simply a transfer student from a very distant and secluded community – which explains how he is not very familair to social norms. The community being the witch and wizardry world, except no one knows that. Except you.

You still remember his panicked look when his secret was discovered, as if he wasn’t the one who could perform spells like erasing your memory or casting you into a dark universe or something along those lines. You wonder if those were possible, but you remember you’re curious about something else now.

“Jungkook. What party?”

“The umm… Taehyung mentioned something about it.” He plops onto your bed, looking a little too big for the single, pink bed.

“Jungkook, Taehyung goes to like… every party. Everyone asks him and he asks everyone along.” Which was how you met Jungkook in the first place. Taehyung had asked (dragged) him along to Jisoo’s birthday party, and you wanted to wince imagining how awkward it must’ve been for the poor junior. Even though you were quite acquainted with all the 2nd years there, it was easy to feel out of place in that huge apartment. Taehyung got whisked away by a bunch of seniors promptly after introducing him to you, and it was only after 10 minutes of Awkward Fruit Punch Silence when you caught sight a Tsukishima keychain dangling with his keys that a conversation started. You could still vividly recall the way his eyes widened in excitement when you pointed it out.

Jungkook juts out his lower lip. “Oh. You’re right. Ah! The one with Satan?”

You twist in your chair to face him, eyebrows shooting up. “The WHAT?”

“The big and red man… with the white beard.”

“…You mean Santa?”

“Ah, yes! Santa!” Jungkook quickly points in your direction, as if catching onto the word and pinning it to his memory.

“Ah – Hobi’s Christmas party! Right!I already told them I can’t make it because I have this final assignment due –”you trail off, looking up. “Wait. What do you mean, if I’m ‘going as a zombie’?”

“I thought people dressed up for the year-end parties… and you –”

“That’s Halloween.. which was back in October… and I’m not going today so I’m not dressed as anything,” you purse your lips and give him a pointed look. “Are you saying I look like a zombie right now?”

“Ehm…” Jungkook eyes widen slightly as the awareness of what he’d just implied sets in. “No,” is all he says, scratching his jaw and suddenly he is very interested in your floor tiles. You huff, trudging past him with your cup of ice cream and throwing yourself backwards on the couch in your small living room with a loud smoosh. Jungkook was probably right. Your eyebags were probably heavier than the entirety of cushions on the couch, and you couldn’t even remember the last meal you had that wasn’t ice cream or those dry, square biscuits. At least you were 98% done with the assignment.

“_________.”

Not bothering to turn your head, you let your eyes flicker to where he was standing in the doorway of your room. He grimaced, and you fought the urge to groan. You’re not trying to give him a death stare, but you could admit that with the way you look right now anyone would think you need to be exorcised.

“I want to show you something.”

You waited, silence urging him to go on. Another magic spell? Or a new ability he picked up? Maybe he can magically finish your essay.

“I mean, some place.”

At this, you loll your head to one side almost lifelessly and shut your eyes. “Now? Jungkooook. You know I can’t go out,” you whined.

“I know, I know, but you don’t really have to go out. I can bring you there,” he says earnestly. You don’t have to look at him to know that he’s probably leaning forward, anticipating and all doe-eyed like he always does whenever he’s asking for something. It works well with Jimin, Hoseok too but not as effective with you. As long as you keep your eyes closed, that is.

“How do you ‘bring me there’, without me going out?” you knit your brows together. You want to be confused, but you’re too tired to.

“Same way as when I came here?” he replies, nonchalantly.

You lift your head up and look at him from your sprawled position on the couch. “You’re kidding me.”

Jungkook shakes his head. “I’m serious.”

“And you’ve tried this before…?”

“I’m sure it will work,” is all he answers.

You give him a pained look.

“No, I’m sure sure.” He’s seen how other witches did it before. The upperclassmen lurking and snacking in the corridors in groups winking out of existence the moment a councillor walks down the hallway – it’s said in the books he’d found too – as long as the caster’s hands were snug around the other person’s wrist, thumb touching the cord of vein found, you could easily transport another person other than yourself. In the older literature, the term vena amoris –vein of love – appeared often, since it was said that the vein would lead directly to the heart, (read: soul) of the person. The term actually appeared a lot and it wasn’t so suprising because many spells, from trivial to dangerous would involve this.

Silence. A weight settled itself on the tiny bit of space left on the couch before you hear Jungkook’s voice flitter to you, soft and small, like a faint tinkle. “Please? Trust me.”

You felt your jaw tick at that. Of course you trusted him. But…

“Pleaseee.”

A quiet sigh and you sat up. “Fine.”

Jungkook’s eyes lit up, and it’s bright and merry and might as well rival the ornaments at Hoseok’s party. And Hoseok has a lot of them.

He extended his hand towards you, latching onto your wrist and thumb gently brushing the inner side. “Stand up for a bit,” he makes to tug on your hand, and you acquiesce.

His other arms wraps around you, pulling you close. You don’t question anything but Jungkook can tell you’re tense by the way you stiffen slightly. “Trust me,” his voice is soft when he says it again. You nod, a little too sharply and you feel the hand on your wrist brush the circumference of it again. Jungkook is unsure if the staccatoed beats came from your pulse or his as he attunes his energy with yours for the spell. Either way, he never noticed the faint fragrance of strawberry mint in your hair that tickles his nose pleasantly when you lean in closer.

You don’t see much more than feel the process – there wasn’t a sudden whoosh or any falling sensation – just a brief shift of surroundings as if a jigsaw puzzle was taken apart briefly before other pieces are slotted in to make up a brand new picture. A slight movement from both your feet creates a delicious crunch of dead leaves under your heel and you slowly turn, trying to figure out your surroundings. It’s dark, but all it takes is a lift of his fingers and fairy lights come to life, almost winking at you as they prettily line the roof of a lone gazebo sitting at the end of a short bridge. Even the reflection of the gazebo glitters picturesquely on the surface of the pond.

“Whoa,” the word escapes in whisper, as if you’re scared any kind of volume would shatter the spell.

“Wanna go sit?” Jungkook asks, earning a nod from you.

“How did you find this place? Wait, is that the city behind the trees?” You see the peak of tall buildings, the familiar red LOTTE sign in the distance.

“Yup,” he answers, popping the ‘p’ in the word. “I was making deliveries the other day to some building and took the wrong turn. It’s in some kind of park but not many of them come here too often so I thought I’d show you.”

“You got lost? Can’t you just teleport yourself or magically drive your bike…?” You notice Jungkook lightly brushing off the bench before you sat, but he stops halfway to give you a look. He means it to be a disapproving frown, but it turns out to be a cute pout.

“But it’s more fun without magic. I get to see many things and people,” he explains offhandedly, before taking a seat next to you. He rests his back on the railing, stretching his legs out in front of him while you lean back on your palms to look out at the water. Your fingers touch softly, and Jungkook resists the urge to curl his fingers around your hand. “Although I did use it for the fairy lights,” he bares his bottom teeth in a squarish sort-of smile.

“Really? Wow, talent,” you say, lolling your head lazily towards him and side eyeing him from under your lashes. “Next thing you know you’ll come up with some charm spell or whatever.”

Jungkook raises his brows in surprise. “Actually, I am working on it,” he says, turning to you and tilting his head to one side.

You regard him carefully, eyes narrowing into slits and bursting out into laughter when he waggles his brows. “Is it working?”

Your peals of laughter bubble down with a sigh, coloured with content, tainted with exhaustion from the past few days’ worth of working. Nevertheless, your lips are upturned prettily and Jungkook lets a small smile settle on his lips. “Pretty sure our Jungkookie doesn’t really need to come up with a spell to charm people,” you reply. His eyebrows shoot up and disappear under his chestnut brown bangs, giving you a exaggeratingly shocked expression.

“A compliment from you? I’m honored,” he bends in a small bow, a hand on his heart. He ignores the tha-thumps he feel under the sweatshirt that are skipping faster than normal and he curses himself for the fairy light stunt. Maybe he’d just say it was cold if you noticed and asked why his ears were pink under the lights.

“Oh. Why do you have to put your hand on my wrist for the spell? That was such a specific location.”

“It helps with the process. I read it in a book. Give me your hand.”

Without questioning it, you offer him your other hand.

“See here,” he traces your down your fourth finger, in a straight line downwards and stops at your wrist. “It’s called vena amoris – the vein of love. It’s believed to run directly to your heart, so some spells especially binding ones mention it.” He continues to trail his finger down, sweeping about halfway down your arm before he pulls away.

“Oh,” you say. “I learned something new. Is that why most of us wear rings on our fourth finger on our left hand?”

Jungkook makes a clicking sound, pointing finger guns at you. “Bingo.”

“And mind-reading?”

“That’s…kinda… Eh. It’s fairly more complicated.”

“But! You know those carnivals where they take your hand and do fortune telling or mind reading.”

“Nah. They’re fakes.” He wrinkles his nose, as if taking offence for their existence.

“Well. I guess we’ll have to stick with the old penny for your thoughts method. Penny for your thoughts?”

“What does that mean?” Jungkook raises his brows, eyes wide.

“Like… usually people say that when they see people zoning out or something to ask what they’re thinking of.”

“Yo-“ You. “You-ghurt. I mean… yoghurt.”

“That’s… random. What flavour? I might have some in the fridge back home…”

“Strawberry.” The scent of your shampoo.

“Pretty sure there’s still a few left. You can have them when we get back.”

He makes a small hum of acknowledgement, the sound soft like his eyes as they gaze out to pond.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

Another soft hum. “Do you feel better?”

You almost ask what he means, you weren’t feeling particularly down – but you do feel much better now that you think about it. Jungkook instantly smiles when you nod, looking very accomplished as if he just figured out how to cast another spell. Speaking of...

“Whoa,” he hears you gasp. The flowers nearby start to illuminate, pretty hues of pink, blue and maroon that look like faeries above the water. “That’s... enchanting.”

The dark haired witch scoffs, almost says not enchanting as you, but manages to stop himself just before you shove at his shoulder. To you he might just sound like he was showing off, but if you asked he would gladly show you the world if he could.

Jungkook sighs. You weren’t a witch, but how is it that you’ve charmed him so much? He should really head to the library and see if he can find some answers. Maybe half-witches existed.

“You still up for Hobi’s party?” you ask. You’re not sure what time it is but knowing Hobi, he always has an After Party. And knowing the other boys, you could arrive at 3am and it would be like the party has just started.

Jungkook shrugs. “Only if you are.” The silence stretches as you contemplate on your choice. Hm. Surely a little fun wouldn’t hurt.

“We can go maybe a little later. But let’s stay a bit longer, together?”

Jungkook nods and smiles. He liked that word.

“Okay. Together.”

#bts scenario #jungkook scenario #jungkook fluff #bts fluff #writing #merry christmas yall.#AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

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