#kaito made half of these people his sidekicks

[some-dr-writings]

Izuru, Hajime, and Kirumi x SHSL Military General

Izuru Kamukura:

·       Boring. That was what he had thought of you at first. You had no new talent he didn’t… and yet, despite your fearsome rumors, it seemed all those under your command adored you. He already knew it was not the cliché case of ‘oh you just need to get to know them’ nor you were secretly going about your work in a cult like fashion. No, there was something else, and he decided to snuff it out.

·       “It’s been several days now. If you wish something of me you need but speak, or at the least walk by my side. How much longer do you plan on tailing me?” You stopped in your tracks, turning around to face the man who was but a few paces behind. Both your expressions perfectly stoic, blank. “As long as it takes to find out why everyone loves you. That was my initial objective. But you’re boring. You’re nurturing. Your tone alone is enough to compel others to follow your lead, to not disappoint you out of respect. Now… I want to know why you’re different from me.” You needed but a glance to find your answer. “The difference… I thought a being exactly akin to myself, a person made to be a weapon would already know that.” You walked a few paces, stopping right before him. It was as if he were a statue, not moving at all as you cupped your hand on his cheek, the smallest, softest, kindest of smiles pulling at the corners of your lips. “Good luck old friend. Even with a luck talent you’ll need it.” You then walked away, Izuru following just a few paces behind.

·       “Come now. If you’re going to stick around, work out with me. Surely, you’ve figured out by now that simply observing me, you’ll not get the answers you’re seeking.” Still, Izuru simply stood beside you as you were finishing your pushups atop that mountain with the sky just barely starting to show the signs of a new day beginning. “Why do you speak with me casually, unlike all others? You don’t even speak this way with those you call friends.” “I simply find it natural to speak this way with one so harmless. Just as I find it natural to speak with others in a more formal tone.” “… Harmless.” Hopping up from your pushups you began your climb back down the treacherous mountain. “You find Komaeda to be a weapon of mass destruction, and me, harmless? That’s incomprehensible.” “To you, perhaps.” You kept going for a few moments before deciding to give him some extra help. “You’re an innocent child, myself before I became who I am now, before I rejected the idiotic notion of a weapon being more powerful than man.”

·       He pondered over that brief conversation for a long time. Man being more powerful than a weapon. He knew you were not speaking of how man creates weapons and are the ones who use them, so…

·       “Oh! Hey, Y/N! So, your sidekick finally decided to join us!” The first day Izuru had begun to follow you, you stopped him when going for those nightly training sessions saying he would either participate or go away because you were not going to allow any bystanders. All nights after he’d disappear at some point as you made your way to meet up with Kaito and the others. But he stayed by your side that night, training with the others, giving you and Maki a run for your money when it came to endurance in these exercises.

·       “You’re making everyone uncomfortable just standing in the corner. Come play with us.” Izuru did as told and joined the card game you were playing with your classmates.

·       “Izuru, teach them how to set up the stall, while I take care of matters here.” He helped out your class set up for the school festival.

·       “Huh…” Truthfully you were half expecting Izuru to show up to the beach his usual suit and not swim trunks, let alone playing volleyball with the others already.

·       The others had already left back for school, the field trip long done, but you stayed behind to fit in some of your own exercises… Izuru did as well. “So, finally out of your emotionless emo phase, or are you still insisting everything is boring?” “… I thought by copying you I’d find why we’re different.” “And have you?” “…” He actually thought about it for a moment an answer not immediately puzzled out in his mind. “I’m still gathering information.” “I see.” Seems he was growing up faster than you did, then again you didn’t have anyone to help guide you.

·       For a long time you continued your stretches. “I must admit though, I thought it’d take longer before you’d take this first step.” You stopped, beginning to jog in place, slowly picking up your pace. “This world, with how awful it is, I still find it boring myself at times. But that’s not the good part of it all. Being alive. I’m anticipating to see what you’ll find in people. For me, it’s not a certain aspect of them, but everything. True, humans are creatures of patterns, but focusing on the individual… seeing them as people and not objects, or weapons, or patterns… seeing what they actually are…Connecting… that’s my answer at least, why I gave up being you, a husk intended to be a weapon. Humans no matter how they try, can’t be anything other than human. A human being… strange and funny creatures I find us to be at least.” You placed a hand on his shoulder, lightly chuckling to yourself. “Be sure to tell me when you find your answer. I’m sure someone skilled in more than war will find something I could never hope too, and that sounds exciting to me. But for now, back to training.”

·       Then you dashed away, down the shore, to that brilliantly bright sunset.

·       And he ran. He didn’t even think about it. He was still unsure of what he was doing or what exactly he was searching for, but… something inside him was calling out to you, he just knew he needed to be with you. So he was going to keep chasing after you and perhaps one day, he’d figure it out and finally walk beside you.

    Hajime Hinata:

·       To Hajime, each and every last person who manage to be invited to the academy was an amazing person. How else could they be described? They were individuals who all had already changed the word in some way or another, but there was one individual who arguably made the largest impact to the world, more than any present or past student, the Super High School Level Military General. Nothing of their personage was known, a complete mystery, not even their name. They were solely known for their accomplishments, a child, seemingly appearing out of nowhere quickly rose up through the ranks, becoming a general, and swiftly putting an end to any war they touched. Wars still appeared, but not long and they’d appear putting it to an end with little life being lost, most countries began fighting in less direct ways because of this. What else could they do? The fighting did stop, but not the conflicts that were the root of them. Still, putting an end to so much fighting so quickly was unimaginable to most. Some say their appearance only made conflict worse, some say they saved the world. No matter what one thought, it was undeniable the Super High School Military General left an unmistakable impact that had forever changed the world.

·       And such an amazing person, was the very first friend he had made at the academy, despite him just being a reserve course student.

·       He didn’t even know who they were at first. The school year hadn’t technically started yet, but students were allowed on campus to move their belongings into their dorm rooms and such and that was exactly what Hajime was doing. He didn’t have much, so he was finished quickly and decided to just walk around for a bit. He found himself just looking at the main building off in the distance. So close, yet so far away, just barely out of reach seemingly when he knew deep down, he truly was nowhere close. Then suddenly he spotted something. Not far, just within reach.

·       “Is the vending machine jammed?” “Not as far as I know.” Hajime looked to the machine in confusion, not noticing anything off with it, so why were you just standing before it? “What do you recommend?” Though you hadn’t done much something about how you looked to him, how your voice seemed to resonate in him, he was taken aback for a moment before collecting himself, quickly looking over the options. “Well… I like the orange ramune.” He pointed to it, showing exactly where it was. Not saying a word you placed in some yen and pressed the button for it. How you carried yourself mesmerized him. He couldn’t quite place his finger on why though. It was stiff yet seemed effortless. A rather strange combination to him. Before he knew it you had the drink and… were just looking at it, flipping it around. You had taken off the cap but seemed lost as to what to do next. “There’s a plunger in the cap, you take that out and place it on top where the cap was.” You followed his instructions without question. “Then you push it down, releasing the marble and there you go.” You seemed surprised, your eyes widening a little as the soda kinda exploded as it usually did when being opened. Then you held it out to him? “I can tell you haven’t drunk anything in the past several hours. Take it.” “Oh, thanks.”

·       Your whole demeanor seemed off, somewhat alien. As you got yourself another drink, he couldn’t help but ask- “Are you a foreigner? This soda is rather common in Nippon.” “I suppose one could say that of me.” … Well, that was a strange response. “Seems like we’ve both had a long day. I saw an arcade nearby. Want to just relax and hangout there for a while?” You looked to him in what he assumed was surprise, you didn’t seem very expressive, but he could still see these small shifts in your eyes. For a moment, when he had asked, they seemed to sparkle. “Certainly, lead the way.”

·       The pair of you had a rather fun outing to the arcade. So much of… well everything you seemed unaccustomed too. “What’s this?” “The prize corner? We can win tickets to trade for stuff here.” “Huh… so a transfer of currency, to test skill, to gain a new currency…” Even rather basic things. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” “Make that bubble from your mouth?” “I just blew a bubble with the bubblegum.” “There exists food to blow into bubbles?” Hajime wondered if you grew up extremely sheltered. If that was the case, you were probably from an extremely rich family considering you’d have to pour so much money to get into the reserve course. He felt rather sorry for you. “Have you been to the movies before?” “Never.” “We could go watch some if you’d like, get some more candy and some popcorn.” “I know not if I’d like it, never having experienced it before, but I am curious.” “Let’s go then!”

·       For the next several days Hajime would find you around campus and you’d just go out and have fun in the town. Strangely though, he never saw you at the dorms. He did most often find you exercising so he assumed you just woke up very early.

·       You sat beside him on a bench, passing an orange ramune his way. “So Y/N, feeling ready for class to start tomorrow?” “Yes, I’ve made all necessary preparations and more.” “Still doesn’t feel real that I’m even here, I think it will be a few days till this sinks in.” “… Hinata.” “Yes?” “When class stars… Well, before I ask how schools work, I find a matter more pressing. Will we still spend time together when class starts, like going to the mall, or the park together?” “Of course, we’re friends. Sure, we might get busy with schoolwork sometimes, but we can make time. If you’d like we could study together.” You were silent for a moment, mulling over his words as you took a sip of your soda. “friend…” It was strange to hear that new tone. There was no power or commend to it, it was but a faint unconscious whisper to yourself. “I wonder if we’ll have separate curriculums since we’ll be in different classes.” You knew you’d be in different classes. Maybe you were taking advanced courses or something. That was what Hajime had assumed at least. “Maybe, but we still have break and lunch to chat, we just can’t go out. At least we have holidays.” “Yes, we do have break and lunch. Then you’d be alright if I schedule to spend my breaks with you?” “I don’t mind.”

·       “… Thank you Hin-… Friend. I give you my thanks, Friend. For being my friend… I’ve never had one before. There are so many things I know not, but I intend for you to know I’ll do my utmost to keep improving. You’ve… changed my view on things in such a short amount of time. I find it remarkable.” The new spring breeze rolled past, carrying along the fresh scent of flowers. The sun beamed down, warming the cool world. “Ah, I haven’t done much, but I’m glad knowing our time together means so much to you.” “It’s strange… getting the chance to live as a teenager. Never before have I had the opportunity to be anything over than a military general.” Wait… military general? “For as long as I can recall, I’ve been molded to be a weapon and nothing more. I was the top candidate in the project, which allowed me access, well more so forcibly having me join the army. I believed myself to be unfeeling, emotionless for a time. After all, the soldiers could react with horror and fear at taking life, even celebrating when a battle was won, but I didn’t, to me, it just seemed to be more training. I only ever perceived humans as more targets. That was all my existence was, fighting. But as I was trained to be smart, tactical, I had noticed their reactions. I could not relate to them, but I could sympathize with them. I thought I knew not emotional pain, only physical, but somewhere in my mind I made the connection of physical, mental, and emotional pain as all one in the same. I could not understand them directly, but at the time I knew pain was bad, and so that was what started me beginning to see humans as people, more than bags of flesh. I listened to their stories of their friends, family, and loved ones. I did not understand directly, but I knew then I wanted to protect them, just as they wanted to protect their families, and so I began to think of them as my friends. The project runners soon caught on to my realizing I was human too, and began to torture me to make me believe humans were nothing but bad… bad, good, black, white, they had such an archaic, rudimentary view of life, it’s pitiful. As I realized the humans I worked with were people, I realized those we were fighting were exactly the same. We’re all human, all people, people with causes and more importantly others to fight for… Even if I was but an outsider looking in, not truly able to understand, I knew with all that was thrust onto me I was going to change the system. Be a humanitarian. Save all I could. I would mold my soldiers not in my image, but make them strong enough so they can protect others and themselves even without my leadership, to draw out their true strength from being human… but now…” You looked to the ramune bottle you held. “Before I saw humanity, but now I’ve experienced it, even if but a fraction.” You turned to him, cupping your hand on his cheek, the smallest, softest, kindest of smiles pulling at the corners of your lips. “Simply doing things others do everyday I find so exciting, but something I found with my soldiers, hearing their stories of their loved ones, connecting with them, and now, connecting with you, connecting with other human beings… I think this is the best part of being alive. You’ve shown me the world from a new perspective. I can now finally understand. I had some semblance of it before, but… I was still fighting, not… whatever not fighting is, what you’ve shown me, playing at an arcade and watching movies. THIS is what they were all so desperate to protect. I just wanted them to live, but I didn’t know what being alive was. And so… I suppose I fear us not getting to have our outings as often. This, being friends with you… It’s the most… My vocabulary has failed me, I can’t even begin to describe this, but, I will do whatever it takes for you to not just see, but understand how much I appreciate and treasure all that you have done for me… You are my very first friend after all. I want to treat you right. And I will.”

·       “Wait… so, you’re the Super High School Level Military General?” “That is a title I have been christened recently, but it is not all I am. After all, I’ve more recently gained the title as your friend.” This… was a lot for Hajime to take it. Now he felt a bit weird about telling you so much about his adoration for Hope’s Peak and it’s students, who you were one of, how he wished he could belong there and not just paid to be on the side lines. Yet… despite you being one of those students… he was just talking to his friend… remembering that made this feel less awkward, though a little embarrassing still.

·       It was strange having the stares of his classmates as they just watched him eating with you, to the point you’d often walk around till you found a quieter place to just enjoy your time together in peace.

·       You’d still hangout outside of school, it was both of your favorite time together. You could just be together and be happy without this strange divide that others forced between you two.

ENDING 1:

·       When Hajime befriended Chiaki and her class, he dragged you along, helping you to connect with the others. You both became honorary members of the class.

·       These connections were things you were never going to allow to fade, making sure to regularly keep in contact with everyone even after graduating.

·       With the world having relative peace you retired, working as a personal trainer. You’d come out of retirement temporarily if a new war sprung up, but you always ended it quickly with as little life lost as possible… “Ah, Y/N, you’re back!” “I said I’d be, didn’t I?” Your face instantly flushed a bright red upon Hajime hugging you so tightly. “You took much longer than usual, I thought something had happened.” “A-ah… I…” ... happily returning to your husband and your peaceful life together. This was all both you and Hajime wanted, and you were happy just to be together.

ENDING 2:

·       Even still, no matter how much you tried, you just seemed to be naturally pulled to separate worlds, the staff always causing trouble for Hajime when he’d go to see you, only for you to end up defending him. Moments like these…

·       His mind was a blur, he couldn’t hold onto a single thought, and so he went out for a walk, hoping the fresh air could clear his mind.

·       “Friend.” “Oh, Y/N-” He turned around, finding you were but a few paces behind him. “- you startled me.” You were stoic, standing there stiffly, the only movement was the wind lifting up pieces of your uniform. “You want to talk about something?” “Indeed. The Kamukura project… What’s with that expression, surely one such as I would know of an experiment such as this.” “Y-yeah, I guess so.” “I but wish you to place my mind at ease, after all… I’ve never trained you, you’re not my soldier, I… know not if you’ll be safe on your own, so… I wish to know if you are informed as to what you’ll be doing from kin, one who has attempted to be molded into a weapon as well.” He looked you up and down, searching for something, though he wasn’t sure what himself. Then he nodded. “By partaking in this project, you may never return to now. They may attempt to make you a weapon, but that will not come to be. Friend, should you follow my path, I still will not take you in as a soldier for you have no need of such. They will say you’re someone entirely new, and that you may be. I know not the consequences of one following my path after being allowed to be human for so long. Likely for a time, you will know nothing but fighting, you may have to relearn what it is to be human, is that a process you are willing to go through? It is one I in fact am still stumbling through.” “… Yeah. I know you say all life has meaning, that everyone matters, but… I want to do more!” “And I shall never stop you from any endeavor for self-improvement. That is not my intention here.” You held out your hand to him. “I but wish that after you follow me, you catch up so we may walk side by side once more.” “Of course. Whatever happens next, I know I’ll be alright, I have my friend with me.” Taking your hand into his own he could feel the warmth that seeped through your glove. “Well then…” With an outstretched arm you presented Hope’s Peak. “Shall we be off?” “Yes.”

·       You followed Hajime, but a few paces behind till he stood before those doors off limits to most staff and all students but him. He looked over his shoulder having herd your steady footfalls come to a stop. You both knew you could follow him no longer. This next step he’d have to take on his own, but it was alright, he knew he’d be lost and run after you for a while, but in the end, he’d be someone better, someone who could not only walk beside you, but keep in time and never fall behind. No more chasing after you or leading you around. This time around, you could truly keep in time with one another.

    Kirumi Tojo:

·       Kirumi had met you through Korekiyo, he introduced the two of you thinking you’d make for good friends given how similar you were. You both lived to serve others, to make them as great of people as they could be. Kirumi admired the lengths you’d go for your soldiers, keeping mental and emotional health in mind, not just physical. All you wished was for your soldiers to be even greater than yourself so that together the whole world could be a safe place. Being your maid was something she had considered, but you were perfectly fine on your own, even being able to work on self-improvement without the assistance of others. Surely being your maid, she’d be able to an extent serve and help many others but given you absolutely couldn’t find someone like her to be of use, she became your friend instead.

·       Whenever the pair of you had free time, you’d share stories of the past. On occasion you’d trade advice, but the both of you felt it almost wrong to assist one another. You both loved helping others, but also valued self-improvement above all else which included your own improvement. Both of you were simply so self-reliant any assistance would simply be a hindrance from improving yourself in some way. Even so, your chats together were your favorite. You both understood one another in ways most others simply could not even begin to comprehend.

·       You always spent time with one another when you were taking breaks. Taking breaks was vitally important, even for workaholics such as yourselves. You both would change your schedule so they could align. Often, you’d make a day of it, going out and trying something Hajime had shown you recently such as going for a walk through a botanical garden, going to the cinema, or just lazing about on the beach. These were rather awkward but fun excursions, the both of you not exactly sure how to relax in a way similar to others. Often the awkwardness could looked back on with laughter at how silly it’d look to others.

·       By chance the pair of you had but a short break for an hour or so you’d most often exercise, something light for you like a thousand push-ups or curl-ups and other such things while Kirumi would speak of her past experiences as a maid. One time it’d be how she saved he client from a literal army, the next being about her setting up a whole wedding due to the caterer just being plain awful at their job. You’d so curiously ask her questions such as what catering was or how to bake a cake so you could gave one to one of our classmate’s for their up coming birthday. Kirumi loved answering your every last question, it was one of the few things she could do to truly help you without getting in the way. She’d eagerly teach you any and all skills you were unfamiliar with, and you rather liked knowing Kirumi was enjoying this so much. You’d think of any possible skill you were lacking and asked her to be your teacher and in exchange you’d teach her battle and fighting tactics even she didn’t know.

·       You adored being able to help one another, and you’d search out excuses to do so.

·       “So what you’re saying is you’re out of work.” “Indeed.” “Meet me at the front gate, sixteen o’clock.” That was all that needed to be said for the both of you to be there right on time, down to the exact second. Not a word was exchanged as you lead her down the streets through town. Though you enjoyed your chats with one another, you didn’t speak too often. Speaking wasn’t needed to build a connection with one another. Being together was enough most of the time.

·       “Hey General.” “There you are Y/N, oh Tojo? So Y/N brought you here too, that’s why they’re late today.” Kirumi found herself in a rather cozy building, many people with various injuries, along with Shuichi as well. Most of them sat at one main table where biscuits and tea sat on a platter. “So this is the General’s other new friend. Come in, come in. Everybody’s welcome to the drop-in center. Come have some tea and share some stories.” “The Generals says you have quite the yarns to tell.” Both you and Shuichi knew what was to come next. “If you so wish. And if the tea is low, I shall make more.” Kirumi immediately made herself at home, serving all the ex-soldiers so attentively. You and Shuichi simply started some training while everyone else ooed and awed at Kirumi and her skills in seemingly everything. It was fun for the pair of you to see the others amazed by the girl both of you were used too, no longer surprised by anything she could do, she could take over the whole galaxy and neither of you would bat an eye, to the both of you she could do anything.

·       Due to the both of you being rather stoic neither of you ever really confessed your feelings. After graduating high school you were just together, no matter the distance or time you’d always reunite with one another eventually. Kirumi often worked with soldiers, helping them get back onto their feet after war. You’d do the same when you weren’t fighting. You both were a perfect duo, doing all you could to make life easier for your soldiers and getting them to a place where they no longer needed your help. The pair of you were simply perfect together.

#izuru kamukura #hajime hinata #kirumi tojo #izuru x reader #hajime x reader #kirumi x reader #Mod Gundham #danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #Super Danganronpa 2 #danganronpa2 #danganronpa v3 #New Danganronpa V3 #danganronpav3 #danganronpa imagine #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa 2 imagine #danganronpa 2 imagines #danganronpa v3 imagines #danganronpa v3 imagine #dr imagine #dr imagines #dr 2 imagine #dr 2 imagines #dr v3 imagine #dr v3 imagines #danganronpa x reader

[thelemoncoffee]

An au where the characters swap personalities, but not completely; they keep some part of them from their original personality as well as keeping their own talents. Like- a 80% personality swap

This is a fairly old Au that I did a shit job at describing when i made it, but I had the doc with what i wrote on it, so I just copy-pasted what was on there. I had no clue how to rewrite this in a way that made more sense

I'm sorry- this is all over the place- here's the swaps

[Kokichi - Shuichi]

Kokichi is basically an emo leader who has bad anxiety issues and doesn't fully believe in himself. He's still hyperactive and childish, but does get serious when the time calls for it. He tends to use his childish nature as a coping mechanism for his anxiety, trying to play his worries away.

Shuichi is a confusing, theatrical liar of a detective; tending to make himself seem alot bigger and better than he is. He's shy but due to his evil theatrics he comes off as eerily quiet at times, as a result people get really anxious near him. he finds it kinda funny that people are scared of him, considering he's completely harmless and just wants to pull pranks

[Kaito - Maki]

While Maki's tamer, she's got some serious determination and spunk, and because she's still an assassin, she's more dangerous when you piss her off than Kaito ever was. She tends to protect her sidekicks (Kaito and Kokichi) with her talent rather than feel bad about having it 

Kaito's serious and spits out threats alot, often coming off as snarky in arguments, but the worst harm he can do is basic hand to hand fighting he learned for self defence. Just because he's not as dangerous as Maki, doesn't mean he hasn't tried to kick shuichi's ass a few times for some of his stunts

[Rantaro - Miu]

normal Miu and Rantaro; everyone knows that Miu is a slut, and everyone thinks despite what he says that Rantaro is a fuckboy

Now it's reversed, now we know Rantaro is a fuckboy, and everyone thinks that Miu is a slut despite her not actually being one. Rantaro is a fucking massive bi flirt (male leaning), and Miu is just trying to work on her inventions in some sort of peace

[Tenko - Himiko]

Tenko is a great Akido Master as always, but, she's lazy as fuck, and lounges around more than practices her skill. She tends to run out of energy quickly, making up excuses to not do much such as "i need to save my energy for fighting". She still hates boys, but she isn't as vicious about it, just voices that she wants them to keep their distance

Himiko is high strung and tends to make a fool of herself as a result, she tries to bring magic into everything. She herself doesn't believe her magic is real, but tells kids it is to make it that much better for them. She saw how lacking in spunk Tenko was, and decided to try and get her to be more assertive and active, making herself Tenko's bodyguard despite her not needing it. Himiko is usually the one to snap at boys for getting too close to her, Tenko tries to stop her but it usually doesn't work

[Kirumi - Angie]

While ever the loyal maid, abiding by directions, Kirumi is more laid back than a usual maid. She tends to enjoy herself as she serves, joking around with everyone both in and out of work. Although she can get a bit too ahead of herself at times, stumbling off track, she acknowledges when she gets too much, and reels herself in before it's too late

Cold and analytical, Angie is; while her mind is buzzing with beautiful creative thoughts, she nearly never shows it, preferring to keep her voice down and her aura calm. Being more so spiritual than religious, she wants to have a relaxed and peaceful aura, believing it helps her create better quality art if she isn't buzzing with energy as much on the exterior as she is on the interior

[Gonta - Ryoma]

Gonta's a pretty terrifying guy, he's buff, looks mean, has gone to prison and back, but he isn't all that bad. While he's become a jaded hull of who was once a happy guy, he's alot more peaceful since he returned from jail. He spends his time studying the one thing that seems to always bring his mood up, bugs; they fascinate him, a beautiful distraction from his own internal woes.

Ryoma on the other hand, is alot of sunshine packed into a pint sized man. He tends to enjoy the world around him alot more than most; eyes sparkling at the shiny things, and his odd amount of energy being poured into either playing tennis, or trying to get up onto something so he can see whatever snagged his attention this time better. 

[Tsumugi- Kiibo]

Tsumugi's very overzealous about her talent, wanting desperately for Cosplay to become a much more mainstream artform, and pushing for it to be so. She claims often that it isn't just a hobby, and more so a lifestyle, going off on people who such as hum poorly of cosplay for one second. She wants to be seen as an equal to tailors, and fashionistas, rather than a member of a lowly halloween knock off kink. 

Kiibo's…. A dork- to say the least. He loves humans and has found himself hyper fixated on them to an unhealthy extent: often using his views on their greatness to degrade himself, saying things along the lines of "i'm just a plain old robot, I'm nothing compared to people". He tries to behave more human-like to make up for his lack of flesh, getting into the internet culture and practically becoming a meme parrot; trust me, if you don't know memes, half the stuff he says will not make sense.

[Korekiyo - Kaede]

Korekiyo's a pretty confident guy, often finding himself proud of the work he does; he likes to encourage others to do their best, but his odd addiction to learning about human habits leaves people's personal space feeling a tad invaded.

Kaede on the other hand, is a whole 'nother bag of what the fuck; her eerie demeanor often throws people off, considering at first glance she doesn't look all that weird. She considers the dark and twisted beautiful, and takes pride in her ability to offset people with her array of dark and haunting songs she knows how to play by heart. 

They do have different designs, but I never actually finished the design descriptions, nor did I save them to the doc. The only things I remembered were shuichi weards his hat backwards, kokichi has emo bangs, Kaito keeps his hair down, and Kaede wears a really pretty black dress that fades to a deep pink at the bottom.

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #all characters #too lazy to tag everyone #au prompt #au idea #au #personality swap au #kai prompts

[thepetulantpen]

(Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s my annual Saimota fic. As usual, keep an eye out for saimota fanart by @fancy-kryptonite​)

The anticipation leading up to Valentine’s Day is persistent, all-consuming, and, above all, irrational. It builds and builds past the point of overthinking and well into sleepless nights.

Holidays are always like this- a sort of performance anxiety to be happy, to make a day special. In a sense, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. He knows it can’t possibly be perfect, so he ruins it for himself before he starts.

It reaches a breaking point in the form of him mentally throwing up his hands, tired of debating with himself. There have been enough grand, somewhat ridiculous gestures over the last few years. No one is expecting him to do anything elaborate, least of all Kaito- who Shuichi finds sprawled out on the grass, a pile of books abandoned at his side. Unconcerned with the holiday a few days away.

“I was thinking we could try something normal this year.”

Kaito raises his head, not confused by the non-sequitur, but mildly offended- insofar as any of Kaito’s expressions can be called mild.  “I thought our other dates were normal?”

“Simple. I meant simple.” Shuichi can’t help smiling- only Kaito would consider scavenger hunts and secret love letters normal. He sits down beside Kaito, trying not to crush any of the books, borrowed far past their return date. “Easier to plan.”

Kaito looks relieved, and ecstatic- the latter of which is not particularly comforting. “Right, right. I’ve got the perfect thing.”

That’s fast, even for Kaito. Shuichi tries not to let it get to him- he hasn’t thought of anything specific yet. “Well, I figured we could each pick something- you take the morning, and I’ll take the afternoon?” Hopefully, that’ll give him enough time. “If you don’t mind. I mean, I could go first, if you’d rather.”

“Nah, I’ve got it covered.” He pats Shuichi on the back, with his usual lack of awareness of his own strength. “I won’t disappoint you, sidekick.”

I’ve really got to talk him into a new title.

He certainly sounds confident, but Shuichi has never known Kaito to not sound confident. He’d been thinking coffee or movies, but if Kaito has something perfect, then Shuichi has to step up his game. There’s only a day or two left- what could he do in that time?

“Shuichi? Did you hear me?” Kaito leans into his line of sight, waving his hand in front of Shuichi’s face. There’s no telling how long he’s been doing that for. He must take Shuichi’s expression for an apology, as he repeats himself, “I’ll text you the details. It’s a surprise, so don’t try to detect it, alright?”

Oh, good. Another thing for me to obsessively think about it. 

“I won’t, I promise.”

Kaito doesn’t look convinced. Shuichi can’t say he is, either.

…

Despite Kaito’s insistence that Shuichi would guess before they got there, the escape room ends up being a pleasant surprise. The waiting room is charming, filled with props to take pictures with and a massive winners board, and the hallway is filled with unassuming doors labeled with puns related to their theme. Their room is, fittingly, made out to be the scene of an old-timey murder- Shuichi and Kaito, wearing the deerstalker hats hung near the door, being the detectives called in to solve it.

It only occurs to Shuichi about halfway through that he’s spending Valentine’s Day rifling through blood-stained documents about a fictional murder while Kaito yells nonsense guesses to word puzzles from across the room. He wouldn’t have it any other way.  

“What if we arranged the dominos in a star shape? Is that anything?”

Shuichi glances up from the nearly illegible pages that have been unceremoniously shifted to his responsibility and finds Kaito juggling a tin of dominos and an armful of paintings that had once been on the walls. Those, at least, were meant to come off. 

“Uh,” Shuichi hesitates, caught between about three puzzles at once- one of them being Kaito, in general, “It couldn’t hurt?”

Kaito grins, obviously happy to do something. The paintings are scattered across the table, now crowded with other clues jumbled beyond recognition. From a glance, Shuichi can see that the lines painted on might actually make a star- but he doubts someone’s been assigned to watch the camera and wait for them to artistically arrange the dominos.

Kaito is not stupid. He’s practically an astronaut and, aside from that, he can be brilliant with people, far more insightful than Shuichi. It’s just- he tends to think in the abstract, approaching problems in a way no one else would. Meaning that the people who made these puzzles would never arrive at the solutions Kaito picks out. 

It doesn’t help that he refuses to use their hints, under any circumstances. The employee running the room had only egged him on by telling him no one had ever solved it in time without using a hint- Shuichi had accepted their fate, after hearing that. 

The intercom clicks on, the false cheer of their game master giving them a five-minute warning. Kaito scoffs, confidence never dulled, but the tension in his shoulders betrays him- his hands, over the dominos, have stopped, apparently realizing it’s not getting him anywhere. 

Shuichi had told himself, while they were waiting for the room to reset, that he wouldn’t take over. It’s supposed to be a casual game between the two of them, no pressure to win. Plenty of people fail these things, and they still have fun.

He has a feeling Kaito is not one of those people. 

“We still have plenty of time,” Shuichi assures, surprised to sound so confident, “I think the dominos are color-coded. Take these,” he hands off one of the papers, still running through combinations on the others, “and give organizing them a shot.” 

Kaito gives him a mock salute, but rises to the task. As predicted, he moves through the dominos quickly- giving Shuichi time to hurriedly unlock the next two safes. He’s had those figured out for a while, having thought he would have more time to guide them to the right answer. 

The solutions themselves are not terribly difficult. Nothing like solving crime, in any practical way, but they force him to slow down and connect all the pieces, adding up how every seemingly unrelated item fits together. 

“I’ve got it!” Kaito grins, the triumphant click of dominos set in the right position- a key to another code. “What’s next?”

“It corresponds to the filing cabinet,” he’s practically on autopilot as the clock ticks down, the flash of red numbers in his periphery, “I’ll take the desk drawers.”

It puts them shoulder to shoulder, both rapidly setting combinations and trading half-shouted numbers, unnecessary given their closeness. Kaito finishes first, so he gets to watch over Shuichi’s shoulder as he guesses the last clue. 

For a second, it looks like he’s gotten it wrong, that he’s failed them both, before the lights flicker dramatically. They all go out, save for a hidden projector that lights up one wall with the image of a wailing ghost- ah, he’d forgotten they were supposed to be avenging some spirit. He’ll admit, he wasn’t listening very closely during the introduction, distracted by Kaito’s grin as he took in the room. 

Kaito jumps about a foot in the air- clearly, he hadn’t been paying much attention either. Shuichi takes his arm, hoping to keep him from stepping on any of the discarded paintings.

“The necklace,” Kaito yells over the sound effects, wide eyed, “she wants the necklace!”

On impulse, Shuichi dives for it, digging through the pile they’ve accumulated, and tosses it to Kaito. He doesn’t present it to her so much as he holds it up as if it’s a crucifix he could use to exorcise her. The projection, unlike a real ghost, thankfully doesn’t mind his rudeness.

“I may finally be at peace.”

Figures that Kaito would be the one to bring peace to the ghost. It makes Shuichi smile, even as the lights are turned on abruptly, bringing an anti-climactic end to their adventure. The clock is paused at 17 seconds- not exactly a record to brag about, but he’ll take it. 

On their way out, Kaito elbows him to get his attention. “So, how long did you know the answers?”

Shuichi smiles and says, “Not long.” Which, judging from his expression, Kaito translates to “since we got in the room.”

Kaito doesn’t seem bothered, not like Shuichi thought he might be. If anything, he looks delighted. 

“We made a fantastic team, as usual. Under my guidance, of course.” He messes up Shuichi’s hair, a habit he didn’t bother kicking once they started dating. “With our smarts combined, we could do anything. You could be the first detective on the moon, you know?”

“I don’t know, maybe my calling is in paranormal investigations,” he teases, pretending not to notice Kaito’s grimace, “we could go on ghost hunts together.”

Kaito scowls, and Shuichi presses on, baiting the hook, “Unless you’re scared?”

“No man, nor beast, has ever bested me.” Kaito’s frown is close to genuine indignation, offended that Shuichi would consider him below ghosts. “Ghosts don’t even have bodies. I’ll take on a ghost, any time, any day.”

Luckily for Kaito, Shuichi thinks it’s unlikely he’ll ever have to deliver on that promise. “We’ll save that for another weekend, then.” He picks up the pace, leading the way, for once. “I’ve got something a little more romantic than a ghost hunt, this time.”

If Kaito looks inordinately relieved, Shuichi is generous enough not to notice.

…

Most people can tell when Shuichi is overthinking something. Most people know that answer is “always”. 

Kaito can tell when Shuichi is thinking of overthinking something. The calm before the storm, the buzz of energy that has him tapping his foot incessantly while staring into space. It started well before their date, carrying into the weekend of Valentine’s Day.

It all hits in the form of an over-packed backpack and piles of printed maps, stacked in the backseat. Shuichi has a schedule, complete with an annotated map of their hiking trail and final destination.

“We should make it there just as it gets dark enough to see stars. It’ll be a perfect view.”

The emphasis is obviously placed on perfect, Shuichi’s smile just a bit forced. Kaito gives the map a once-over- credit where credit is due, it looks as close to the perfect spot as you could get- and gives Shuichi a smile. “I’m sure it’ll be great.”

He may not be a detective, but it’s not hard to figure out that anything Shuichi comes up with will be incredible. It’d be difficult to have a bad time with Shuichi; any time spent with him feels like time well spent. The beautiful hiking trail is only a bonus. 

Kaito wouldn’t be surprised if Shuichi’s plans were flawless, every second mapped out. Every funny looking tree, every set of tracks in the ground- all set up for Kaito to notice, or for them to use as landmarks. Shuichi could say he’s set the stars on a timer, and Kaito might just believe him. If anyone could do it, it’d be Shuichi.

The sky, however, seems to have other plans. 

The clouds start rolling late in the afternoon and stick around stubbornly after the sun sets, filtering reds and purples through grey film. At certain angles, Kaito can see the moon in their gaps, but there’re hardly any stars persevering through. Dark grey shadows move over what might have otherwise been a fairly bright sky, now dimmed to a heavy static. 

It's remarkable in its own right, patterns of grey standing out starkly against the abyss of the night sky. It feels like the clouds are the only thing between them and limitless space, a simple barrier to surpass. Kaito only feels more drawn to it, eager to peel back the layers to see the stars for himself.

“I checked the weather,” Shuichi mutters, miserably, “I had three backups, and I was sure this one would be clear skies. I even looked up the constellations you could see from here-“

“That’s alright.” The grass has started to cool rapidly in the darkness, no springtime warmth remaining to greet them. Kaito lays out his coat to sit on, instead, and leaves Shuichi the more generous half. “It’s a great view, like you said.”

Shuichi squints at him, suspicious. “You can’t see any stars.”

“Stars aren’t the only thing I came here to see.” Kaito puts an arm around Shuichi’s shoulders, pulling against his side. He’s never embarrassed to be close to Shuichi, but he’ll admit he likes it best when it’s just the two of them, no distractions, no threat of self-consciousness. “It’s perfect.”

Shuichi looks down, hiding a smile. “Next you’ll be dropping cheesy lines with star metaphors.”

“There’s nothing wrong with star metaphors!”

He should be offended when Shuichi laughs at that, but he can’t bring himself to pretend. Shuichi’s laugh is reward enough- even if, objectively, star metaphors are among the best romantic gestures.

He’s still got work to do, as Shuichi sits silently beside him, staring at the galaxy print of Kaito’s jacket to avoid looking at the sky. It’s obvious he’s under the impression that he’s failed somehow, which just won’t do. As the hero to his sidekick, it’s Kaito’s responsibility to let him know he’s wrong- just, perhaps, not in those exact words.

Kaito nudges Shuichi and leans forward, craning his neck to get the best view of the clouds above them. “You’re underestimating the sky. Look, there’s always something beautiful to see.”

He points at the formations of clouds, shapes made of negative space against the moonlight. Their tops are highlighted by the escaping light, scattering over the uneven, cottony surface. Shuichi’s head tilts to follow him- it reminds Kaito of the escape room, focus taking over his expression. It’d almost feel out of place here, beneath the clouds with nothing of substance to analyze, if Kaito wasn’t used to seeing it all the time, for anything from figuring out a new coffee machine to spoiling a detective show by guessing the killer early.

“That one looks like a bear,” Kaito takes Shuichi by the shoulders, directing him to the cloud in question, “See? The other clouds are like the salmon it’s chasing.”

Shuichi doesn’t manage to sound very convincing, but he tries his best when he agrees, “I think I see it.”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you you’re a terrible liar, Shuichi?”

Shuichi elbows him in retaliation, turning away from the stars to look up at him. He’s going for disapproving, but Kaito can see through him, far easier than seeing through the cloud layer. 

Somedays, it’s hard to believe that Shuichi bothers to hang around with him. Kaito considers himself good company, but for Shuichi? He’s not sure he qualifies- and yet here they are, under the stars. Or clouds, as it is. 

“One day, I’ll bring you to see the stars up close. We’ll go high above the clouds and into the night sky.” Kaito holds him closer, no longer interested in looking at the sky. “Just the two of us.”

“I’d like that.” Shuichi leans more into him, pushing for room on Kaito’s jacket. When he smiles this time, he doesn’t hide it. “I’ll have to consider space for next Valentine’s Day.”

He doesn’t sound serious, like he doesn’t completely believe Kaito will be able to pull it off. That’s alright- he has plenty of time to prove him wrong.

Kaito’s not being completely honest, anyway. Space isn’t his ideal Valentine’s Day- and it’s not an escape room, or star-gazing, either. It’s by Shuichi’s side, wherever that might be. If it’s watching reruns of mysteries he’s memorized the solutions to, or teasing him for his choice of black coffee, or just laying on the grass, staring up at the same sky.

The promise of another Valentine’s with Shuichi makes it all worth it. Kaito doesn’t need much else- though, he’s still looking forward to sweeping the clearance section of chocolates.

#Valentine’s Day #saimota #shuichi saihara #kaito momota #danganronpa v3 #pseudo-sequel to my other saimota fics #this is very rough but ill probably do another round of edits before i post on ao3 in a few days

[mochiiwrites]

“Hey, Maki-roll!” Maki Harukawa heard the cursed nickname from across the classroom. She begrudgingly turned towards the direction of the voice.

“Kaito, I told you not to call me that. What do you want?”

Kaito smiled so brightly that it could rival the sun.

Maki hated how that bright smile made her heart flutter.

”Just wanted to ask if you would go stargazing with me!”

Stargazing with her? Why would he want that?

“Why?”

“’Cause, we’re friends! Duh!”

Maki wasn’t used to having friends. Strangely, when the word ‘friend’ left Kaito’s mouth she felt...strange. One half of her was glad he considered her a friend. But the other was...dissatisfied. She quickly dismissed her feelings. ”Feelings are overrated.” She thought solemnly to herself.

”C’mon! The skies can't be kept waiting by the Luminary of the Stars! Ah, and his trusty sidekicks, Maki-roll and Shuichi!” Kaito quickly snatched Maki’s hand and dragged her outside. The sudden contact made Maki’s face feel...warm. She couldn't possibly be getting sick. She didn't understand. She never did understand feelings, anyway.

”Where are we going?” The ’child-caregiver’ deadpanned.

”We gotta get Shuichi first! He’s coming too! Plus, it'd be a great opportunity for some training! We are the training trio, after all!”

Maki smiled fondly at the mention of the dumb nickname for the three of them. Kaito always gave dumb nicknames, it was endearing though. It was weird of an assassin to think so fondly of someone. It would help if her heartbeat calmed down, too.

---🗡🌟🔍---

The pair finally stopped at Shuichi’s dorm. Kaito raised his fist to knock, or so Maki thought. Turns out, Shuichi’s dorm was slightly open, and Kaito hit it open completely.

“Hey, sidekick!” Kaito called, unnecessarily loudly.

Shuichi nearly fell out of his chair, his hat, however, slipped off his head. “U-UWAH! K-Kaito, what are you doing?”

“It’s training time! And I’ve got something planned for us afterwards!”

“It’s a little...early, isn’t it? Don’t we usually train at night?”

“You should know by now that Kaito’s rather...impatient, detective.” Maki stated, leaning on the doorway in her usual uninterested demeanour.

Kaito gasped in mock offence, “Maki! That’s so meeeeeaaaaaan!” He whined, similarly to how a child would.

Shuichi straightened his cap and mentally prepared himself, “I suppose you’re right, let’s go.”

Kaito immediately seized his companion’s wrists and bolted to their training site.

“K-Kaito! Slow down!” The pair pleaded, but their cries were unheard.

---🗡🌟🔍---

“88...89…90...Maki...how do you do...this so…quickly?”

Shuichi choked out, losing count of his pushups in the process. Maki had already finished and Kaito...claims that he did, but Shuichi saw that he hadn't.

“I have my ways. You're at 96 now, so you're close to done.”

“C’mon sidekick! You can do it! The impossible is possible!”

“...All you gotta do...is make...it…so!” Shuichi flopped onto his back and breathed out a shaky sigh. Once he caught his breath, he turned to his astronaut friend.

“Kaito, you didn't even finish your pushups.”

“What? I did! I don't think you know what you're talking about!”

“I do know, Kaito Momota, that I have a witness! Right, Maki?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny your statements...idiots.” Maki playfully teased them as she laid down on her back, joining Shuichi in the same position.

“MAKI!” The two males whined. Maki caught herself smiling. Kaito fought back a giggle but failed, causing the three to laugh.

---🗡🌟🔍---

The three lay in the field they had trained in. They were laying down in comfortable silence until Maki eventually broke it.

“Hey, Kaito?”

He hummed in response.

“Do you know anything about constellations and such?”

“He’s an astronaut, not an astrologer. I don't think he would.” Shuichi bluntly stated.

“Why do you have such little faith in me, sidekick?” Haiti pouted. “Well, in a way, you're both right! I know a bit about that kind of stuff but since I'm an astronaut I don't really focus on that.”

“Really? So what do you know?” The brunette girl questioned.

“Well, my sign is ‘The Bees’ so-”

“Kaito” Shuichi giggled, “That's not a real thing.”

Kaito quickly sat up and turned to the detective, ”Well how would you know? I'm the one with the space talent here!”

“Fine, fine, go on.”

“You see all those stars? That’s all ‘The Bees’! And people born under the constellation of ‘The Bees’ have a name, breathe air, have emotions… Ya know?”

Maki decided to play along, “Do they think thoughts?”

“Hell yeah, they do!”

“Would you like to know what I'm thinking?” Shuichi suddenly spoke, after a while of looking down and playing with the grass.

The other two nodded.

Shuichi looked up and softly smiled, “I'm glad that we’re friends.”

“Aw, Shuichi! C’mere guys! It's time for a training trio group hug!” Kaito opened his arms and wrapped them around Shuichi. He released one and extended it, waiting to embrace Maki. Maki hesitated.

“You do realize that the ‘training trio group hug’ would include you too, Maki?”

“I know.”

Maki slowly stepped forward and accepted Kaito’s embrace. Shuichi put a hand on her back and she held the boys tightly.

Though the night was cold, Maki Harukawa had never felt warmer.

#DRV3 fanfic #maki haruwaka #shuichi saihara #Kaito momota #Platonic #Non Despair AU #Training trio #Out of character #mochiifics!

[dangan-meme-palace]

PokeV3 AU – Boys!

Rantaro

Flying Type

His theme is loosely based on travel.

He got delibird because he canonly likes to bring back souvenirs. Mantyke was his first pokemon and hes been using it to travel around on the water. The rest he got just by traveling to different parts of the world.

Rantaro is a traveler for sure, but when he finally settles down I imagine he would become a pokemon breeder and he studies for that while traveling.

His family is different than canon so heres some info on them too:

His dad is like a green haired Saxton Hale. Used to adventure a lot but then settled and became a business man, and a surprisingly good one at that. He owns the poke center chain and a certain mansion where he let's people visit and battle the staff for fun. Absolutely loves the fact that his son is adventurous like he was and will pay for whatever he needs. Not worried about Rantaro because he turned out all right, so why wouldn't his son? Adventure runs in his veins haha! He's just a happy go lucky guy that really loves his kids and supports them.

His mom is VERY worried about Rantaro in stark contrast to her husband, and gets mad that her husband is so carefree about their own child. She waits impatiently for the day Rantaro finally settles down so she doesn't have to worry anymore. Very doting and cute!

His sisters arent lost, they're the poke center nurses!

Ryoma

Fighting Type

His theme is competition and teamwork!

Ryoma used to be one of the youngest people in the elite four until his pokemon got stolen by the antagonist team. He barely made it out alive, but lost his pokemon and hasn't been the same since.

Would only adventure if someone gave him hope that he could find them again. The adventure ends when he finds them all because he'll want to go back home and settle down now that he's finally got them back.

He wouldn't necessarily get back into the elite four after finding them because he's just not as enthusiastic as he used to be about fighting, but he would probably become someone that gives advice to young trainers around his town.

He used to be super famous when he was in the elite four, and everyone knew him for his competitive spirit and his good sportsmanship. Lots of people still remember him and wonder what happened to make him quit so suddenly.

While he's still missing his pokemon he would hate it when people would be like "omg weren't you in the elite four?!?!" but when he gets them back he just kinda cracks half a smile and chuckles, not really answering but also not saying no.

Korekiyo

Ghost Type

His theme is ancient culture to absolutely no one's surprise.

Frosslass was given to him by his sister. He found golett, yamask, and duskull in different archeological digs that he visited. Banette and misdreavus just took a liking to him, so they joined up with him. He's surprisingly really good with ghosts types? They just like him for some reason...

Korekiyo is an anthropologist like in canon.

His sister is alive but she's really frail after her health took a dramatic turn and has to stay home instead of exploring like she used to. She was super into ice type pokemon, but cant go catch them because her body can't handle the weather anymore.

Kork wants to show his sister the world she cant go out and see anymore and so he travels and brings back souvenirs and pictures for her. She's a little sad she can't go with him, but tries to keep her spirits up despite not being able to fulfill her dream and supports her little brother's dream instead. She's still getting used to the thought of not being able to adventure like she used to.

She was a kinda famous ice type trainer that was about to make it big before her health started failing.

Her health problem is hereditary and her mother died from it when Korekiyo was born because her body couldnt handle the illness and giving birth to Korekiyo at the same time. She won't die as long as she's careful, which includes not going into cold areas and not engaging in strenuous activity. Only the girls in the family get it, and no one really knows what it is.

They dont know where their dad went, but he left after their mother died because he couldn't stand the grief.

Gonta

Bug Type

Fun bug fact: he somehow managed to accidentally catch all the bug types people that freak people out (spider, centipede, wasp/bee hybrid, bugs with pinschers, the parasite one, etc). People have run away from battles with him before and he feels bad about it but cant figure out why they ran.

Gonta doesn't really battle so much as he goes looking for new bug type pokemon. Really enthusiastic about bug types and helps his professor by giving him all the field notes he writes.

Oddly doesn't seem to have any parents? The professor has basically adopted him at this point and they don't talk about it.

Kaito

Dragon Type

His theme is any pokemon he thinks is cool.

Kaito wants to be the champion and if he calls someone his sidekick it means he wants to have them be in his elite four.

He has a penchant for doing things he thinks other people would find cool. Probably has a fucking cape and sunglasses. Wants what Leon has so fucking badly but ends up looking like an egomaniac and a try hard on accident. Totally lies about his adventures to try and look cooler to people, but little does he know that no one ever believes him.

Hasn't actually traveled much despite what he may tell you, but you could get him to tag along as long as there are no ghost types involved. He's scared of them.

Hates cold weather.

Kokichi

Ghost Type

His theme was childish looking pokemon, but then they evolved so it's mischievous pokemon with cool and spooky lore

If the dex entry mentions anything about children, odds are he's caught it already. He's a magnet to those types of ghost pokemon for some reason.

The way he caught his drifloon was cuz it thought he was a little kid and tried to steal him lmao

Kokichi "haunts" (read: terrorizes the townsfolk of) whatever place he's at until he gets bored, then he goes to a new place and starts again. He's another one that oddly doesn't seem to have parents.

He gets excited by adventure and challenges, but I dont think he would leave his country unless he had people he really cares about ask him to go with them, and he'd only go because he doesn't want them to leave him. He'd eventually come around to the idea of traveling and really enjoy it, you just have to give him some time to adjust.

Kokichi in this AU gets really attached to places/things/people that leave an impression on him and doesn't wanna let them go kinda like how ghosts possess places and things and dont want to leave until they get exorcised or find closure. Luckily for Kokichi he "definitely doesn't" let himself get attached to things anymore. I wonder why...?

His tragic backstory is that he's always had an affinity to ghost types and that freaked everyone out so they basically cast him out when he was younger and he's lowkey traumatized by it. Was kinda raised by ghost types in an abandoned, haunted mansion after that because they liked him a lot. Raised in that place but eventually forced to leave because it was so decrepit that it finally collapsed.

Once he meets someone he likes who actually likes him too, he sticks to them like glue and doesn't let go. So much for not getting attached.

Scared of bug types.

Likes Falinks and Pawniard even though they're not ghost types.

Kiibo

Electric/Steel Types

Kiibo is human in this AU. He's a technology enthusiast and a huge fan of Miu's work.

Knows a lot about pokemon like Shuichi and would absolutely geek out with him, but his interest is mostly directed towards steel and electric pokemon rather than all of them, unlike Shuichi's interest in ALL pokemon.

Heir to his father's tech company and that's how he met Miu; she works for his dad. They're really good friends and have been for years.

Magearna has been passed down through his family.

Shuichi

Psychic Type

Shuichi is a pokemon fanatic and is probably in a pokemon fan club.

Studies all day about everything from type matchups to berries but gets overwhelmed and forgets everything he's learned until he really gets into the battle.

Not bad at battling when he's not overwhelmed.

He's good to have around because he's basically a walking wiki page.

He has a knack for finding pokemon and his life goal is probably to try and discover new species or types of pokemon.

His uncle is a detective and he still lives with him like in canon. He's tracks down lost pokemon more than anything though because those are the only cases he really enjoys working on. I imagine he would be like a lost pet/pokemon detective when he's older because that's his specialty.

Solved a big case involving the antagonist team when he was younger and wears a hat to hide his face so they don't recognize him and try to get revenge. Really, really hopes that it will eventually blow over.

He would be nervous about traveling very far, but looking on the bright side of things he gets a change in pace, some new experiences, a chance to avoid the antagonist team, and new friends. He would accept for those reasons, but he would only go with someone he trusts.

#PokeV3 AU #i changed the lore while writing this so im sorry if its not cohesive. i iust keep coming up with better ideas

[viscariaa]

Day 5 - Saiouma Week - Flowers - Helpful Advice

Ship: Oumasai/Saiouma

Words: 1274

Type: Fantasy AU/Fluff

Trigger Warning: Swear words

Posted: 08.06.20

Description: After an argument with his knight, Kaito, Shuichi heads into the castle gardens. And unexpectedly finds good advice! 

“Sidekick! Where are you going?” Kaito yells after the blue haired prince.

Shuichi stomps out of the castle, angry tears spilling on the stone ground. It was a peaceful night, crickets singing with the stars above them, not matching the betrayal inside Shuichi’s heart. He grips onto his sword around his hip with the urge to cut something down. He could hear Kaito chase after him, but he doesn’t stop. 

“Kaito had one simple order. One fucking job. The first order I ever gave him in all my life and he decides to ignore it.” 

He picks up the pace before turning a sharp corner and running behind the castle. Panting, he reaches the castle garden, the hedges inviting him in with the sweet scent of flowers. As Shuichi is about to enter the garden, a hand on his shoulder stops him. 

“Sidekick-” 

“Don’t call me that,” Shuichi growls, shoving Kaito off. 

Kaito looks at the usually calm prince in disbelief. Shuichi’s honey eyes were brimming with fury, his white puffy sleeved shirt under the blue vest was stained with tears, his black pants and boots tainted with dirt. 

“Prince Saihara. Why are you mad?” Kaito steps back. 

“You disobeyed my order.”

“I got new orders from your father and-” Kaito tries to explain before getting cut off by Shuichi. 

“You’re my knight, aren’t you?! I gave you an order to not harm any of the guild members or the leader!” Shuichi inhales a breath, “and you decided to slaughter the entire guild along with Maki and Himiko!” 

“They were resisting and the King said ‘if they are resisting, end them’, besides they have been causing all sorts of trouble around the kingdom!” 

“Trouble!?” Shuichi shouts, “they do harmless pranks, but they still help the kingdom by doing quests!”

“Prince Saihara, stop making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Why do you even care what happens to DICE?” Kaito clenches his fists, ready to draw his sword. 

“These are my people’s lives!” Shuichi steps towards Kaito, “how could I not?!” 

“Prince Saihara, you need to calm-” 

“As my knight...you should know how important it is-” 

“Shut the hell up!” Kaito screams, “as my friend, you should know why I can’t disobey your father!” 

This made Shuichi stop. He forgot all about Kaito’s feelings, he shivers remembering his father’s words to Katio. 

“Dare disobey me and I’ll hurt your precious Maki Roll.”  

He got too caught up with his feelings for DICE's leader. Kokichi Ouma. His secret lover. “Shuichi, listen to yourself! You hurt Kaito! How pathetic…” 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Kaito! I-” Shuichi places a hand over his mouth before Kaito bows. 

“Talk to me when you calm down more, Sidekick,” Kaito says before walking off, leaving Shuichi alone with his thoughts. 

“No use if I say sorry now...he’ll only think I said it only because I have to…” 

Shuichi starts to sulk into the garden, his footsteps becoming sluggish amongst the green grass. After walking through rows of white roses, he reaches the middle of the garden, where a huge willow tree is. 

He slouches his back against the tree before falling down, hugging his knees while releasing salty tears. Guilt creeps up on his shoulders, “why...am I...so...careless...I’m such...an...idiot…”

“Why is my beloved with such a pretty face, crying?” 

Shuichi jumps up and draws his sword, scanning for the voice. Then, he spies Kokichi hanging upside down from a tree branch, his black clock making him look like a bat. His purple vest, white long sleeve shirt and pants were tattered and bloody. The crossbow on his back is like a pair of wings.   

“Whoever is doing this! Show yourself!” Shuichi gets into a fighting stance, his eyes darting at every moving shadow. 

“Oh, Beloved! No illusion magic! It truly, truly is me! Or is it?” Kokichi jumps down from the tree, his brown boots landing softly onto the grass, and begins to approach the unconvinced Shuichi. 

 “Prove it to me! Where’s your evidence?” Shuichi spits out, “why would anyone do this? Is something trying to trick me? Is it Himiko? Did Kaito tell her about the fight we had?” 

Kokichi stops before laughing, “remember when we first met...I stumbled into the garden, knocking on death’s door. Despite your father, you snuck me into the palace and nursed me back to health! Or when we were going to DICE for the first time and on the way, I guess you heard my stomach grumble, and bought me loads of grapes!” 

Shuichi faintly smiles at the memory, but continues to hold his grip on his sword. “A-are you really...alive?” 

“Along with half of DICE…” Kokichi pulls his black cloak closer to him, looking away from him, causing the clown mask on the side of his head to cover his face. 

Shuichi places his sword back in its sheath before running to embrace Kokichi, both boys falling onto the ground. “I’m sorry! I really am! I ordered Kaito not to attack! But...but...but my bastard of a father-” 

“It was bound to happen, beloved. I was able to get out 5,000 members and myself, of course. I should have been more prepared to handle an attack!” Kokichi sighs. 

“It’s still my fault in the end!” Shuichi sobs into Kokichi’s chest, smelling his usual scent of grapevine.

“Awww, no it’s not! You can’t control your father's actions! Buttttt-” Kokichi wiggles out from under him, sitting in a criss cross position and stares at him with childish eyes. 

“You can control yours,” Kokichi flicks his forehead. 

“Did you hear my argument with Kaito?” Shuichi leans against him, their shoulders touching, “I thought you didn’t know?” 

“Oops! That was a lie! Nishishi~” 

Shuichi resists rolling his eyes, “I wouldn’t have expected anything less…” He slightly lifts Kokichi’s mask only to give him a quick peck on his lips. 

Kokichi giggles at Shuichi’s affection, “I may hate that idiot! But, I know how close you two are! Hopefully, not cheating on me~” Kokichi wiggles his eyebrows, suggestively. 

Shuichi lets out a loud ‘ahem’ to cover his blushing face, “never would.”

Kokichi feels butterflies in his stomach from the taste of trust, “a-anyways, don’t worry, DICE will be able to recover from this! It’s going to take more than an idiot, an assassin, and a wack mage to defeat us! You and dumbass Kaito just need to step back and see from their point of view!” 

“Kokichi, that was really good advice coming from you!” Shuichi praises his boyfriend. “I’ll give Kaito a chance to calm himself down and we’ll discuss it! Thank you, Kokichi!” 

“P-please, it was nothing!” Kokichi crosses his arms while smirking. “As much as I’ll love to stay...I have to help DICE out as its evil leader! We have to get back to mischief or they’ll get restless and you know how they get!” 

“I’ll try to visit as soon as possible...and help out…” 

“I’d appreciate that! Or will I?” Kokichi stands up, his back facing Shuichi, “now I have to get back to doing evil stuff! Bye-bye, Beloved!”  

“Goodbye, Kokichi,” Shuichi watches him climb the willow tree before jumping on top of the hedges and out of the garden.

“He really knows what to say at the perfect moments...” Shuichi mutters. 

The wind starts to blow, sending off petals into the night sky. He rubs his hands together, hoping to bring warmth to them. “I guess I’ll have to pay him back…” Shuichi walks out of the garden, towards the castle, ready to apologize to Kaito.

This doesn’t have as much romance between the two of them, but I hope it will satisfied your saiouma/oumasai needs. I’m almost done with the next prompt so it’ll be releasing tomorrow! Based off Prompt #5 - Flowers by @saiouma-events (even though I drifted off a bit too much lol). Sending a virtual hug! - December       

#saiouma #oumasai #fantasyau #au #fluff #shuichi x kokichi #drv3 #danganronpa #wriiting #fanfic #flowers? #writers block hit hard #kokichi x shuichi #i tried #saioumaweek2020 #Day 5: Flowers/Talentswap

[shidoukanae]

YGO! Questionnaire

Tagged by @cipher-wise​

Favorite series:

My favorite series based on what I watched and enjoyed would have to be Arc-V!!! It's honestly the series that got me to adore YGO when previously I'd seen YGO as, and I chilidishly quote, "uncool". Everything about Arc-V is pretty much wonderful: Yuya's presence as a "everyone MUST be happy" kind of character in a plot that discusses themes of war, revenge, and despair is absolutely refreshing (especially when Yuya's ideals of happiness are stripped from him and made a mockery of by, *coughs* one of my favorite characters in the franchise *coughs*). 

I love how the four Yuu boys are a wonderful combination of "protagonists" (/anatagonists) and how they each play off of each other's weaknesses and strengths, often acting as mirrors to each other in their individual dimensions while having amazing interactions (Yugo and Yuri, anyone? Yuri and Yuya?).

I admire how the endgame plot is a perversion of Yuya's ideals: he gets what he wants, showering happiness upon all, but that "happiness" is corrupted into the notion of entertainment. While Yuya seeks to provide people with smiles and laughter, to give them hope to work together through tough times and to stay strong in the face of adversity, his "counterparts" in the endgame are really good at acting as Yuya's mirror: showing that his style of performing can also be used to appease the bloodthirst of one's own self and that happiness can be corrupted into self-deserving power.

...Hard to put that into exact words without spoiling a lot of things but, gosh, let's just say that Yuri and ____ are the perfect mirrors to Yuya in terms of what his entertainment dueling style is meant to be.

The plot over all is pretty good! I won't lie and say it stands strong all the way throughout the story but the first half is amazing and there are some pretty strong episodes in the second half (Yugo and Rin, the parasite episodes in general, Yuri Yuri YURI). I can definitely say that the humor is there, the characters are amazing (if nothing else, watch for the Yuu Boys, the Bracelet Gals, and Shun versus Sora!!) and having come into the show around episode 104, I was pleasantly surprised by the trip Arc-V brought me and how it played with its protagonist, giving him hope, kicking him down, and toying with his mind - just like the way a warzone might to any idealistic individual.

In terms of other series, I like VRAINS but only up to like episode 19 (or the end of the Data Bank arc). It had potential and I kept hoping it would get better but the plot was constantly floundering, there are plot holes abundant (sewer monsters, ugh), character development is inconsistent not to mention very shallow, VRAINS has some of the best side characters but they're kicked to the curb by a bland protagonist and a villain that could've been so much cooler but they made him a sympathetic mess.

...I have a lot of gripes with VRAINS but, if it were to ever be rewritten with clear goalposts and plot twists in mind (not to mention development on ideas like Charisma Duelists because at the end of the show I still have not a fucking clue what a Charisma Duelists is or was) I would say it has potential to become my favorite series but Arc-V clearly beats it for me in every category lmao.

Zexal’s also really good too!!! I don’t get all the hate behind it because it’s actually really interesting and engaging (also IV’s definition of fanservice is literally the only type of fanservice I will ever accept) and I think I’ve even cried a couple of times during the course of the plot which is like,,, shocking considering it’s not a show I thought I’d cry over (I cried in Arc-V too but goddamn does tiny Yuya just want to make you tear up lmao). This show is really good emotionally and it’s literally so stupid how Kaito carries a lot of the early and middle game of the show yet most of the meat of the plot doesn’t begin to unravel until the second season.

Also, if you ever want to watch a show of 100+ episodes that is so masterfully written that there is foreshadowing for stuff in like episode 130+ on EPISODE ONE, please watch this. Literally there are so many hints of what is going to happen in the future in the early episodes and you won’t really be able to tell what those hints are until you’ve finished the show but goddamn when you go back and rewatch things it does indeed feel amazing how much foreshadowing they threaded into the show without you ever knowing...(please don’t search for spoilers if you intend to watch this. I went into the show knowing some spoilers tho not all and, while I was still pleased by what I watched, I honestly can agree the show is A Lot Better without knowing ANYTHING)

Favorite Protagonist: Yuya. For sure, out of all the series, Yuya. 

He’s a refreshing protagonist, especially considering he shines in a world of war and despair. He’s also someone who you empathize with right at the start and want to hope in, especially since he is the “happiness” in a word of “madness” and “sorrow”. He’s not someone out to save the world (not really, anyways), but his actions touch on the lives of others anyways, giving people in a hope in a world that is otherwise cruel and heartless. Also, it really helps that he’s able to pull you into his world of “egaos”, making you believe in him and root for him despite how cheesy his ideals may or may not sound.

Also love how, despite being the centerpiece of “happiness”, Yuya isn’t allowed to always be happy :> Not spoiling plot related things but if you like protagonists going off the rails insane at times, Yuya’s definitely a fun protagonist for that!!!

Favorite Rival:

Kaito Tenjou!!! Literally the best rival in the series that I’ve seen. Everything about him is literally perfect ngl. From the way he’s chillingly introduced, with the spine-tingling whistles and cruel, almost merciless nature, to the way he slowly becomes sympathetic while also remaining a terrifying presence whenever he appears...I love him????

Favorite BFF:

Does Shoichi count? Because like...he’s Yusaku’s closest friend and ally in the series and I generally don’t pay attention to the other BFF’s in the other series (or at least, the ones I can recall bc I know in Zexal that Yuma has a whole group of friends lmao).

But I like Shoichi!! He cares about Yusaku a lot, is pretty damn cool as a sidekick hacker, his sideplot with his brother was actually honestly endearing and I loved the mystery about him. His early-game jokes w/ Ai to tease Yusaku were also a good laugh.

Favorite GFF: 

Not a girl friend forever for the main protagonist (although she like...lowkey confessed to him...though that plot really never went anywhere so I still don’t know what the fuck THAT was about) but,,, Ema Bessho,,

If y’all knew me back in my peak YGO days when VRAINS was airing,,, this gal was and STILL is my favorite girl of the YGO series. Even though she was pretty much done dirty imo I still love her (even despite considering she’s been made a damsel-in-distress at least three times, she’s only ever won one duel on-screen despite being supposedly good at dueling, ngl they could’ve done so much more with her but tbh she’s mostly just an asset to solve problems at whim and barely gets character development/does nothing but watch and spectate stuff late-game).

Even though she’s like...the unfortunate side character who’s probably meant to be more fanservice than interesting, in the first 19 episodes (and even the Revolver vs. her fight as well as the one time she meets Aoi IRL early-game) made her out to be a lot cooler and complex than she ended up being. I mean,,, a hacker gal who’s self-serving, cynical, and cold-hearted taking on the tasks of her (potentially ex) boyfriend while being really nice to his sister to the point she baffles even herself,,, we could’ve had a really unique and cool character to play around with here but instead we got...cool-ass character with potential to be something more reduced to a spectator with nothing better to do than idolize the main protagonist and have a plot with her brother that honestly detracted from her character more than it added to it imo.

Also Ema could’ve been a female Yuri but,,, nope,,, they decided she was better as a background piece instead TwT

Favorite Villain: Yuri.

Literally Yuri.

I could choose the leather jacket w/ fluff boi in a certain series because hot damn was that guy convincing AF that he wasn’t an evil psychopath (and even while knowing that he was, I still got fooled into thinking he was a good guy somehow omg) however,,, I’ve always held a love for Yuri and the way he’s been portrayed.

Despite ALWAYS being the bad guy, the show has always made this purple fucker into the most entertaining character on-screen. He even beats Yuya sometimes in terms of how entertaining he is - that’s literally how good he is,,

Also his facial expressions are amazing, he’s a VERY VALID threat to the main cast (and his creeper levels are not only off the charts but literally called out by the main female protagonist herself lmao), and he acts as the perfect foil to Yuya, battling not to entertain others but to entertain himself.

Also, he likes killing people.

No this is not a joke.

He literally likes killing people. And is pretty sadistic about it, too.

(^^^^ for those who don’t get the joke, “Fusion” is pronounced “Yuugo” which sounds similar to “Yugo” which is what,,, Yuri is making fun of,,, more context is needed of course but this is a Great Running Gag)

Favorite card:

I don’t know if it actually exists as an actual card but...that crystal dragon from the YGO movie with the glass pyramid. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon...it’s really pretty...I love it...

Favorite Episode:

I’m...too lazy to search for names of these episodes but I can give brief summaries of them,,, because I can’t choose,,,

Arc-V: Shun vs. Sora (ALL episodes). Hot damn if you have never watched YGO but want to try and see for yourself why people like it: WATCH THESE EPISODES. I can’t explain how amazing these episodes are and, while I admit jumping straight into them might have you missing out on some important context (such as who Shun is or why Sora’s battle tactics lead to revelation) it’s honestly an amazing fight regardless. The battle starts off plain enough - there’s obvious tension, it seems like a typical fight of a battle royale, etc. - my god does the battle ramp up in emotional tension and promptly kick you in the gut with not only how blindsided you’ve been, but it also showcases just how cruel these “entertainment duels” can really get.

Any episode with Yuri. Literally any episode he’s in. 

I think this is like...episode 8 of VRAINS...but whenever it is that Akira hires Ema to find the reason why Aoi just...straight up got knocked into a coma. Literally this is my favorite episode when it comes to Ema. The way she makes fun of Akira even while aware of his situation,,, her cruel selfishness and desire for money bubbling to the surface, the way she confesses how she can’t be trusted willingly and still asks Akira why he’s hiring her,,, god I love this episode in terms of what Ema could’ve always been.

Episode 13 (/14?) of Zexal!!! This is the episode Kaito appears and when the show REALLY picks up. Kaito is a fun bastard of a rival and tbh I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting chills of him walking in, debris frozen in time all around him, as he approaches his victim, whistling an eerie children’s tune as he gets ready to close in for the kill,,,,

Favorite Deck to Use:

I don’t...really play the game itself but...I have used a couple of decks and I guess you can say I really love Raid Raptors??? First of all, those warbirds make really fun sounds I love ‘em in the anime but they’re also just fun to use in general (even tho I used a,,, very basic deck for them,,, I love them still).

Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum or Link:

XYZ bc it’s really the only summoning method I’m used to lol :P. Also XYZ loyalist I guess???? 

Years in fandom: roughly five to six years iirc? I mean, I was a fan of the early day YGO and watched it as a kid but not active enough to be in the fandom for it lmao. Also not in the fandom atm because Sevens lost my attention (it’s a good show!!! I’m just unfortunately more a fan of things with serious plots and darker themes and it’s hard for me to stomach slice-of-life shows that don’t focus on a mature and engaging plot). However, Arc-V and Zexal holds a special place in my heart (as does VRAINS, begrudgingly) and so I occasionally find myself wandering back to these shows like right now,,, 

#yugioh #Arc-v #Zexal #honestly Arc-V feels like the type of show beginners should watch if they want to get into YGO #granted it might take all the way up until Yuto and Shun to get into the show #but once you hit Shun versus Sora oh my god does the slowburn really feel worth it #it will also probably surprise no one that I have several OC's based on who Ema Bessho could've been and despite how much I hate how she's- #been written in canon I've taken ideas I've had for how she could be better written and slapped them onto characters for my own story uwu

[mythgirlimagines]

I had this hilarious dream where it turns out that Shuichi and Tsumugi are half siblings, Maki’s Shuichi’s cousin and Kokichi’s Shuichi’s nephew. Can you please do V3’s reaction to this, including the characters in mention?

Very interesting dream you’ve got there

Rantaro Amami:

He was not expecting all of these relations to come to light.

All of them related to Shuichi?

That seemed almost absurd.

Kaede Akamatsu:

Wow, all of them were related to Shuichi?

He had no idea, either.

That was so crazy, she had to believe it!

Ryoma Hoshi:

He hoped they would treat each other like family.

Sometimes a person just needs a family to lean on.

They could be that for each other.

Kirumi Tojo:

She was intrigued, to say the least.

Having so many familial relations in one class was an anomaly.

Hopefully that would get some of them (Kokichi) to behave better…

Angie Yonaga:

Hmm, very interesting indeed!

It almost made her miss her own family, though.

She wished they could’ve come with her to Japan.

Tenko Chabashira:

If any of those boys hurt Maki or Tsumugi…

Family or not, she’d come for them.

They’d better treat them like family.

Korekiyo Shinguji:

Very interesting indeed.

Familial relations definitely seemed to develop from seemingly nowhere.

Perhaps they’d be a good family unit.

Miu Iruma:

She cracked many jokes.

Now, though, if she messed with one of them, she messed with all of them.

And where was the fun in that?

Gonta Gokuhara:

He was very happy for them!

It made him think about his own families.

Maybe he should visit them soon.

Kokichi Ouma:

How was he supposed to know that his dad was Shuichi’s older brother?

Although, this was an interesting turn of events.

Secretly, he was happy to have someone like Shuichi in his family.

Kaito Momota:

His sidekicks were related? That was great!

He was glad they were all a big family.

It gave them more people they could count on.

Tsumugi Shirogane:

She never knew that she had a brother!

Well, half brother, but it counted!

She was excited to become more of a family!

Kiibo:

Families sure could be big.

And, apparently, kind of complicated.

But that was interesting to learn about.

Shuichi Saihara:

He had no idea about any of this.

His uncle certainly didn’t mention Shuichi had an older brother, nor that he had an aunt!

And a half sibling… His family suddenly grew!

Himiko Yumeno:

Wow, she didn’t know they were all related.

That was kinda cool, though.

She wished her family was bigger.

Maki Harukawa:

She didn’t think she had any family at all.

To learn she was related to Shuichi?

That was almost too good to be true.

#answered ask #anon #headcanons #rantaro amami #kaede akamatsu #ryoma hoshi #kirumi tojo #angie yonaga #tenko chabashira #korekiyo shinguji #miu iruma #gonta gokuhara #kokichi ouma #kaito momota #tsumugi shirogane #kiibo #shuichi saihara #himiko yumeno #maki harukawa #danganronpa #ndrv3 #family au

[heroes-trash]

personality + powers (theory)

far as i know / have heard, there are 4 possible explanations as to why a person has the power that they have.

the first two are almost the same, really: random chance and genetic inheritance. why they’re the same? because the chance of inheriting (not to mention, expressing!) the exact same traits one of your parents had is pretty low irl as well. much higher is the chance to have something similar, but not rarely are children rather different from both of their parents.

the other two are the ones the show propagates, and while they’re not at all alike, they’re still intertwined: convenience and personality.

the convenience theory is brought up by Daphne in the scene where she, Matt and Ando debate what’ll happen if Ando receives the serum - Daphne is convinced it’ll give him something he needs, citing it’s what happened to her and claiming it also describes Matt’s situation. but the way she says it... it could also make a rather good case for a personality-based theory, and that’s also the one i see most often in fandom.

which is why under the cut, i will go through every single powered character on the show (who we know a reasonable much about) and do a quick analysis of how well each of the latter theories fits them ^^

credited-as main characters:

Peter: personality-based seems more likely, as he is a very giving/empathetic person, and he wants to be extraordinary

Claire: if her ability had activated in Meredith’s burning home, i’d have argued for convenience, but a simple cut in her palm (however deep).... nah. neither seems to apply much here in fact

Hiro: personality-based maybe, because of all his heroic dreams

Matt: Daphne claimed he’d ‘always’ worried was others thought of him, so you can kind of argue personality... but mostly i suppose convenience, in his job as well as possibly generally because of his dyslexia (although he was adamant about not using it to his advantage that way)

Mohinder: one could argue convenience if you consider the fact that some guys tried to rob him when he was still dozing after the injection, and the first thing he did was defend himself against them... but you can defend yourself with many abilities. i once read that his ability amplified him because he’d always ‘had more in him’, and while cheesy, maybe that’s true? so personality-based for him i’d wager

Nathan: his ‘high ambitions’ are basically a running gag at this point, and the comics never fail to overstate how much he’d always loved flying - hell, even the show hints at it. so personality-based for him for sure

Sylar: while we can’t be certain when exactly he activated (at the latest eclipse, or even in his early childhood?), it’s undeniable he is fascinated with complex things. personality-based again

Angela: her powers have often been convenient, but also pretty hit-and-miss; especially at the start, fatally so. and unless you make the stretch to her taking responsibility (= being farsighted) young, i don’t really see personality-based either, so neither seems to really apply

Micah: we first see him use his power to help his family, but he surely had it before - he seemed confident with it already at that point. he’s smart, and very interested in electronics; though we can’t know for sure which came first (see Sylar), personality-based is likely here too

D.L.: arguably a good example for convenience, as he (according to some deleted scenes, anyway) first manifested when he was desperate to get out of prison 

Isaac: as apparently you don’t need to be able to paint to be a precog painter (see Peter’s stick figures), i don’t see how either much applies here...

Elle: again neither looks very likely, unless you stretch personality-based to electrifying-slash-prickly (and she activated at nine so ,,,)

Monica: she’s ambitious and wants to be more successful than her family before her, and support them and herself - so is that convenience or personality, now? i’d argue convenience, because nothing in her suggests she specifically wants to copy other people

Samuel: frankly we don’t know enough of him to argue for either, but it’s definitely not convenience-based because he literally activated before he was born (much like Nathan and Malina), sooo

Ando: funnily enough, although Daphne argued so hard for convenience, i’d say it’s a personality-based case for him - he is the devoted friend, the designated sidekick in the best way. or is that convenience again after all... bit of both maybe

Niki: i’m not quite sure about convenience here honestly, as we don’t really see her first first time of using her ability (Jessica threatening her (their?) father was an early one, but the first?? no, how would she even know?) - and it’s even kinda implied in the comics that the triplets all started expressing theirs as teenagers or even younger - but the strength of an abuse survivor....... yeah i’d go with personality-based

Maya: she’s a bit whiny and occasionally bitter sure, but there’s nothing in her personality to suggest she wants to commit mass murder every time she’s upset. it’s not even convenient, really [well it was in Exodus but ,,,] so [for the timeline we wound up getting] i’d argue neither

Adam: what i couldn’t claim for Claire, absolutely applies to him - his ability literally saved his life upon first manifesting, so convenience here for sure. (although he’s pretty persevering, in a very weasle-y way...)

Tracy: again with the comics implying the triplets activated as teens / even kids!!! but discounting that.... personality-based, i guess? what with her ice-cold career-orientated attitude... sure there’s some convenience in the mix, but there are a lot more convenient ways of getting rid of a journalist than killing him, so :’D

other relevant characters, introduced in S1:

René: convenience is straight out of the window here, considering his primary ability activating got his people killed/abused, and his secondary ability activating killed those oppressors (which only on first glance sounds good) - but personality-based? i’m not sure either... he’s an unsuspecting little fellow, but that’s not quite enough... and he uses his ability to fight against ability abuse he experienced as a kid, but i’m still not sure. thoughts? i’ll tentatively say neither...

Molly: neither really fits, far as we know

Charlie: she has a strong interest in learning and we can at least assume that didn’t just start when she discovered she was good at it - so i’d say personality-based

Claude: i’d tentatively argue for convenience, as he isn’t exactly the most subtle fellow... and has been obscuring his identity even before he started working for the Company (!!), so he’s likely running from smth, for which his ability is definitely very useful

Sanjog: we absolutely don’t know enough about him to argue for either, although he does seem to embrace his ability, so maybe he wanted something like this....?? really all speculation though

Charles: he seems like an empathetic, kind man - so telepathy isn’t the biggest stretch for personality-based. it is however some stretch, so how about convenience? well; we do see him using it to stop (well...pause) racist regulations and police brutality......

Linderman: very classic case of convenience-based, as the first time he activated, he healed his dying mother

Ted: neither in my opinion - his ability isn’t even slightly convenient for him, and he is stubborn not unstable far as we at all know

Hana: possibly neither, possibly a bit of both, as she is a descendant of fighters and a spy herself - but then that’s too wide a field, a lot of abilities could help with that... i say neither

Eden: convenience, as she first used it to escape her oppressive home

Paulette: we don’t really know enough about her to argue for either

Meredith: neither seems quite likely - her ability hasn’t exactly brought her much luck, and she has a strong character but not exactly fiery enough to quite play into that cliché, either

Kaito: very likely personality-based, as his ability plays right into his career ambitions (in fact pretty much was what made him so successful so fast)

Candice: something both, something in-between, maybe? she dreamed herself away, and dreamt of punishing her bullies, and she could do both with this ability

other relevant characters, introduced in later seasons:

West: he enjoys being special, but apart from that, there is no real evidence that can be used to argue for either

Alejandro: [if you even assume he has an ability, i personally have some Doubts] probably personality-based, as he is Maya’s other half one way or another

Bob: his ability is objectively convenient, but i’m still not sure an argument can be made for either, as too little (= nothing) is known about his childhood, and neither about his character except ambitious/controlling and kind of a loser when it comes to relationships (divorced and often the fifth (or seventh) wheel when younger)

Maury: another case of too little information for either - he seems to submit to strength/authority rather easily, and only ever committed petty crime, so one can’t argue for criminal mastermind either

Doyle: i don’t think there’s been any information on how he activated (correct me if i’m wrong), and while he does use his ability to compensate for being unsuccessful in forming,, Any kinds of relationships, i still wouldn’t say it’s necessarily personality-based (and something this broad definitely doesn’t qualify as convenience)

Alice: her ability isn’t exactly what you’d call convenient :’D and personality-based would probably be something more fairytale-esque for her, so that’s out as well

Alex: he’s a swimmer, so a bit in-between i suppose (we once more don’t know enough to argue semantics)

Samson: we definitely don’t know enough about him or what he was like before activating (is this ‘putting animals/people to sleep’ thing even part of his primary ability, or does is that just his preferred hunting tool like telekinesis is for his son?)

Luke: we don’t know how he first activated, but maybe personality-based works if you stretch it to ‘destructive teen’...?

'Baron Samedi’: both seem plausible if he’s always dreamed of ‘making it big’ (in his way), which i think we can safely assume, but once more we don’t know nearly enough about his childhood, and technically there’s a lot of ability that are good for demonstrating strenght... maybe he first activated in a firefight (with the Tonton Macoute?).........?? but that’s pure speculation

Arthur: he has always been ruthless and controlling, and never for a minute believed that people with abilities should stick together by default - being able to take them away from others to strengthen himself fully plays into his personality imo

Ishi: apart from apparently being a nurturing, sweet mother, we know little of her... i’d tentatively argue for personality-based, but who knows how she activated?? too little information, again

Daphne: convenience for sure, there’s a reasons she made a case for that

Knox: general question - is ‘circumstances X grew up in’ still convenience or personality already?

Jesse: same as Knox pretty much, we can’t know

Flint: i’d carefully say unstable temperament -> personality

Scott: again a bit of a what-came-first question: he wanted to be ‘’better’’, but did he always want that or did that only come from past failures and the resulting fear for the future? we don’t know because we barely know him

James Martin: i’ll stick my neck out for personality-based, that he’d longed to be somebody else, somebody significant for a while even before activating (i mean - why else impersonate others instead of just improving himself?)

Emma: mostly convenience-based, but as she has a general affinity for music and soft things... in-between, maybe?

Edgar: IF he was indeed the commitment-averse guy Lydia described, i’d say personality-based, but i’m honestly torn about that and don’t have any other significant things, so i won’t speak a final verdict

Rebecca: convenience for sure, for hiding and revenge

Lydia: assuming here she indeed activated young, this is another difficult one - maybe she was always empathetic, maybe not??

Joseph: his ability sure is convenient, but it’s absolutely unclear whether other people perceived him as pleasant/trustworthy because he made them feel that way (literally) or whether that links back to his true character. he seems like a responsible guy overall, but that doesn’t get you to either side of the coin, only an in-between

now i left out some of the most obviously inherited ones / ones that at least have a heritable component. those are, in short: Peter(-Arthur), Matt(-Maury), Sylar(-Samson), (Maya-Alejandro?), Ted(-Mindy), Meredith(-Flint), and the Bowman family

and i also left out Reborn, which works a lot more with heritable abilities, but this post is really long enough already :’D

so, final summary (regarding convenience vs personality):

convenience-based: 11

personality-based: 15

both/in-between: 4

neither: 12

too little information: 14

which makes for a pretty even split that lets one argue for whatever they prefer, honestly XD still hope this was enlightening/interesting to read, and looking forward to all of your opinions!!

#nbc heroes #primatech #heroes theories #do you disagree with any of my verdicts? (or do you have any questions? i know i referenced the comics a lot) #(i had to otherwise 'too little information' would've been like;; half ?? lmao)

[elyvorg]

Consider the following scenario: Around chapter 3, Tenko comes to Kaito to ask him to help Himiko. How do you think things would turn out? -As in, do you think the two could become the motivational buddies of Shuichi, Maki and Himiko?- (Also you're literally the only person I can ask this to, and thank you for providing such detailed Kaito content)

Aww, you're welcome! I'm thrilled to be considered the go-to source for Good Kaito Thoughts. (Though this is going to be at least half Tenko and Himiko thoughts, of course, and I don't profess to be as much of an expert at that, but I'll do my best.)

(also whoops, this got long, probably should go under a cut)

First, this'd need a couple of prerequisites: that Kaito's phobia doesn't exist so he isn't non-functionally mentally ill for most of chapter 3, and that Tenko's degenerate males thing is toned down a touch such that she's willing to acknowledge that Kaito is a good person and ask for his help with relatively little hesitation.

(This is sort of like what happens canonically when Tenko gets desperate enough to stop Angie's ritual that she asks Maki and Shuichi for help, and would have included Kaito if he'd been feeling well. But in that case, it was definitely more about "Angie is dangerous and might cause a murder if we don't stop this", rather than being specifically about helping Himiko. And I also get the sense that if there hadn't been at least one girl involved then Tenko maybe still wouldn't have asked them.)

Would This Work?

So, if we assume that, A, Tenko was even more focused specifically on helping Himiko than she already was in canon, and, B, was willing to ignore her prejudices and swallow her pride enough to ask Kaito for help, (and C, Kaito wasn't mentally ill and was able to help), would Kaito's input have been enough?

The thing is, Tenko was pretty much already doing all the right things to try and help Himiko in the first place. She'd recognised that the problem was Himiko struggling to express her emotions and had been trying to encourage her to do so, including suggesting physical training. This is a lot like Kaito's type of approach! There isn't that much that Kaito would have done differently to how Tenko did it. Him lending his input to this would mostly just have resulted in doubling the amount of enthusiastic persistence directed at Himiko, which... since Tenko being such an overwhelming personality was probably part of why Himiko didn't respond to her for so long, that might actually make things slightly worse on its own.

That said, Tenko was also not helping things by having a lot of her interactions with Himiko be unnecessarily overzealous romantic come-ons, which just made Himiko less inclined to want to listen to her in general and meant Tenko had given herself more of an uphill battle when it came to her genuine selfless attempts to help. I'd think the best thing to do about this would be for Tenko to apologise for having sometimes made things about her and make it clear that the most important thing to her right now is helping Himiko and this isn't about Tenko at all. However, I'm not sure if this is an issue that Kaito would actually properly pick up on in order to suggest that Tenko do this.

See, when it comes to understanding what a potential sidekick's struggles are and the best ways to help them overcome them, Kaito is great at it and seems to put a lot of conscious thought into it - but that's the part Tenko was already perfectly good at, too. When it comes to the process of reaching out and offering that help in the first place to encourage someone to begin to change, however, Kaito appears to pretty much just instinctively wing it, with no particular game plan other than "be persistent" and, maybe a little more specifically, "invite them to training". So I don't know if he'd necessarily have any better ideas than Tenko herself had of how to go about this - except, of course, for inviting Himiko to training.

Kaito's whole training thing really is a very effective way of getting through to someone in the first place. While the exercise itself is only tangentially connected to the actual point of self-reflection and emotional growth (especially in Maki's case), it's the directness of Kaito's approach that makes all the difference, because it prevents the potential sidekick from failing to notice or pretending not to notice that he's trying to help them. Just the fact that Kaito makes it a whole Big Thing where he very directly says, "I want to help you, this is how I'm doing it, if you want to get stronger then all you gotta do to take the first step is do some push-ups with me" presents the potential sidekick with a very obvious choice to make over whether they want to face their issues and try to change. In that position, anyone who really does want to change deep down is almost certainly going to take him up on that, whether or not they've been brushing off his other, less "official" attempts to reach out and help.

So maybe Kaito inviting Himiko to training, with Tenko alongside him backing up what he's saying - or leading the speech, even - about how this is all to help her, would indeed have got through to her. There are hints that, towards the end of chapter 3's daily life, Tenko has begun to make Himiko quietly wish she was more willing and able to listen to Tenko's advice. So it appears that the initial desire to change was already there in Himiko - it just sadly took Tenko's death in canon for her to actually acknowledge it.

However, there's also the massive spanner of Angie in the works here. With Himiko being brainwashed into clinging to Angie's escapism as an unhealthy coping mechanism, she was getting a free ticket to take the easy way out of her problems and run away from feeling like she needed to really change. If there had been no Angie in canon, Tenko would probably have been able to get through to Himiko while she was alive without even needing to ask anyone for help. But with Angie being a factor, even if Tenko and Kaito combined forces and invited Himiko to training to very directly present her with the option to change, I really kind of think Himiko would have just refused. She'd have been able to tell herself she doesn't need to change when she's already got Angie and Atua.

Tenko would be dismayed, but I think Kaito would get it. His sidekick thing can only work on people who want to change. Kaito can nudge and persuade, but he can't force people to make that choice; they have to ultimately do it of their own volition. If Himiko really isn't ready for this, there's nothing else Kaito can do. So he'd probably end up advising Tenko to just be patient and keep an eye on Himiko, letting her know that she's still there for her and the offer's still open if she ever changes her mind.

...And then case 3 would happen and Angie and Tenko would die and Himiko's arc would proceed roughly as it did in canon anyway, bleagh. Except for the fact that Kaito would have a lot more personal investment in this, because even if she never quite became his sidekick before, the fact that he extended that offer would still be important to him. I doubt he'd want to just leave her now that she has made the choice to change, even if she doesn't specifically need his help for it any more, and so he'd probably invite her to training in chapter 4 after all, despite the painful lack of Tenko.

(While we're here, let's talk a little about why Kaito never actively tried to make Himiko his sidekick in canon. Presumably, during the first three chapters, it was mostly out of seeing that Tenko was already kind of trying to work on that herself, and then that plus the whole Angie thing meant that Kaito didn't think it would be a good idea to butt in when he'd only get in the way. Then the reason he never invited Himiko to training in chapter 4 when she'd lost Tenko was perhaps because Himiko didn't actually need any extra nudges like Shuichi and Maki did at the beginnings of chapters 2 and 3; she was already going full-throttle and had firmly begun to make her efforts to change. ...That and, by that point, Kaito must have been mentally exhausted just looking out for two sidekicks while also suffering from and hiding his own problems, so he probably didn't really want to increase his burdens even more. Not that he'd have ever admitted that.)

If This Worked

But hey, never mind the fact that my conclusion to the question of whether this'd work is "probably not, thanks a bunch Angie", let's also think about what would happen if this had somehow worked anyway. A five-person team of training buddies sounds pretty adorable, after all!

(...Well, for this to last for any appreciable amount of time, we'd need Kiyo to not up and murder Tenko like an asshole, please. I guess it's possible that if they'd already got through to Himiko before Angie's death, she wouldn't have felt the need to talk to Angie with the seance and Tenko wouldn't have died? I dunno; that might be something Himiko would still want to do for closure even if she was already expressing her emotions more healthily. Ugggh Kiyo sucks. The only meaningful purpose he serves in the story is because someone had to kill Angie and Tenko for the sake of Himiko's character development, so if Himiko's development was going to happen anyway without those deaths, can Kiyo just not be here at all, please? Please? Or be someone slightly less shitty who murders just to escape and therefore stops at Angie.)

But anyway, yes, this five-person training team is fun to think about, because Kaito and Tenko really have a lot in common and it's a shame Tenko's prejudices mean they never get to interact much in canon to show this off. They're both so very Good in terms of their general overzealous enthusiasm and determination and desire to protect people. Tenko is also surprisingly like Kaito in that, though she seemingly needs to literally Aikido throw someone to do it, she can be pretty good at reading people and picking up on their struggles (even - gasp! - if they're male).

That said, Tenko doesn't make a point of going out of her way to help anyone who needs it like Kaito does, not even just among the girls (she sees Maki as a threat at first), and it's only because of her massive crush on Himiko that she also gained a selfless desire to help her. Still, maybe her collaborating with Kaito on this could help her learn that she's actually really good at motivating people in this way and it feels rewarding even when the target isn't her crush, making her want to use her skills for this more in future!

(Imagine if, in an effort to understand her better and see why Kaito believes in her so much, Tenko politely asks if she can Aikido throw Maki to get a read on her. She'd be kind of wary about what Maki would do if she did it without warning, after all.)

Plus, Tenko is also a big advocate of the idea that physical training can help someone with mental problems, just like Kaito! She might even have a slightly better idea of an actual systematic approach to training than Kaito... but then again, maybe not, because her Neo-Aikido does seem pretty haphazard. So we'd probably end up with these two ridiculous dorks who have no idea how to run a targeted exercise regime just throwing their enthusiasm all over the place and probably bickering and being competitive while they were at it, and poor Shuichi, Maki and Himiko would just have to try and keep up with them somehow. That'd be... quite the spectacle. (Maki would wryly comment that it's like having two Kaitos when one was more than enough... but she wouldn't actually mind.)

Naturally, I also find it interesting to think about how Kaito would be affected by this, especially since, while Shuichi, Maki and Himiko would all be considered his sidekicks, Tenko would be something more like a "co-hero" alongside Kaito in this arrangement. There's a lot of potential inherent in the idea of Kaito forging an important relationship with someone who's not a sidekick to him. If a friend of Kaito’s who was in the position to properly view him as an equal was also emotionally mature enough to see what he's doing wrong and point out that he really needs to talk about his own problems too, that would Change Some Things. However, as much as she'd be doing her best to help, and even if we assume her gender prejudices just didn't get in the way here at all, I... don't think Tenko's that person.

(Can you tell this is something I've thought about quite a bit, albeit never with Tenko. Imagine if Kaede had lived and she and Kaito had teamed up in their mutual desire to support everyone - they'd also have been great influences on each other, stopping the other from getting too self-destructively selfless.)

(Though, hey, what if Tenko Aikido threw Kaito at some point, probably more out of boisterous competitiveness than trying to get a read on him, except then she suddenly realises, "wait a minute, you're sick, what are you doing training them when you should be looking after yourself?" And his sidekicks kind of can't help but agree with her despite his attempts to deny it, because Kaito definitely looks to be in more pain than he should be from that. And then they escape and save his life, like they always would have if they'd known. Man, if only.)

Also, even though Tenko is nominally someone else in the "hero" role here, I can't quite see Kaito's unreasonable standards for heroes kicking in towards her. This is just an instinctive sense I get that I'm not completely sure of the reason for - perhaps because of the way Tenko initiated this by asking him for help? So she kind of is like a sidekick to him, too - just a sidekick in the specific art of being an inspiring and encouraging hero. Man that'd be so confusingly not-black-and-white to Kaito, a lot like Shuichi is to him in this regard as well. What do you mean she's both at the same time??? That’s not how this works!!!

There's also the fact that Himiko would be a sidekick alongside Maki and Shuichi (whether or not Tenko died), which might change things a little for people other than Himiko herself. Maki would be watching Himiko work on trying to express her emotions in a context that's being paralleled with the struggles Maki's trying to overcome. So maybe this could have got Maki to more consciously think about expressing her own emotions, which is something she has difficulty with too after having repressed them for so long, but that she doesn't precisely ever make quite such a conscious effort about in canon like Himiko does.

Also, if we assume that Kaito's issues are relatively unchanged and trial 4 still goes basically the same as it does in canon, Himiko being his sidekick could make a difference for early chapter 5. In canon, when she's not even his sidekick, Himiko still indicates that she's thought a little about Kaito's feelings and what he might be going through, as well as just how his behaviour is making Shuichi feel. But if she'd been actively a part of that sidekick group and had seen first-hand how Kaito's sidekicks - namely Shuichi - look up to him and learn from him, Himiko in particular would have had the capacity to potentially piece things together and figure out the real reason Kaito was avoiding Shuichi. After all, she's been in exactly the same position as Shuichi is here. (This is about my hot take on Himiko's FTEs that I discussed in one of my commentary posts, which I still enjoy thinking about. Kaito has parallels and connections to so many characters in this story and it’s great.)

#danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #tenko chabashira #kaito momota #himiko yumeno #maki harukawa #shuichi saihara #training trio #kaito's hero issues #thanks for the ask! this was fun to think about #i love thinking about aus with the training trio #but i don't usually involve other characters without a specific reason to #so i'd never considered this one before! #v3 aus #Anonymous

[soroneir]

laaate Oumota Week Day 2: Monster (Hunter) AU for @oumota-events. Quest gone awry! Check out my Deviantart to see it in full detail, because it was originally 4000px wide and Tumblr shrunk a bunch of details out of existence.

Design notes:

When I saw “monster AU” I thought of one of my favorite games, Monster Hunter, and started thinking about what their armor would look like... and then I had to draw it.

Kaito and Kokichi are both hunters, and despite their initial differences they build up a great cooperation over time, melding their different styles to take down prey with ease. Most of the time.

Here they went to MH3U’s Flooded Forest to take down a Duramboros. Because I like Duramboros, and its verdant habitat compliments their purple. :D They managed to harvest part of the tail club (something you can do in-game), but now it’s charging, oops.

Kokichi: Light Bowgun

Weapon: As someone who does much of his work from behind the scenes during the game, he had to be a gunner. I chose the light bowgun because it’s the most mobile gunner weapon, suiting how he can appear out of nowhere. The weapon’s design is almost entirely based on the red rainbow-shooting raygun drawing in his room, with just the little mask tying it to his armor.

Ammo: Pellet and crag are generally useful ammos that I thought fit his personality more than the other basic ammos. Thunder is a reference to the electrohammer/bombs, and poison is obviously a reference to chapter 5 (yeah he doesn’t administer any poison, but I had to, and it’s purple). Paint lets him keep track of monsters, something he’d surely be good at, given that chart in his room and his general observantness. Demon boosts your ally’s attack stat, and, well, he riled a lot of people up. :D

Armor: As a gunner armor, it’s on the light side to allow for movement, being made mostly of thick cloth and leather. It’s loosely based on a pierrot outfit, with the puffy sleeves, pom-poms, and wide collar. The belt straps and checkered hip cape are from his canon outfit, and his breast is emblazoned with DICE’s logo. His left shoulder and gauntlet have game elements, marbles and chess. The boots are typical of trickster characters, and the devilish helmet represents his antagonistic role.

Kaito: Hunting Horn

Weapon: Straightforward and hasty, he’s a true blademaster, rushing headlong into combat. But he primarily plays a support role in the game. Hunting horn is the obvious choice, allowing Kaito to boost his friends while bashing his enemies in the face. The bell shape, slightly unstandard for hunting horns, is based on a spaceship engine. But the color scheme is based on his Argument Armament design.

Songs: The horn’s notes are purple, green, and red, making it strong in both offense and support. He can give a small health boost, enough to lighten a dire situation (such as lifting Shuichi out of his immediate grief after chapter 1). Or he can greatly boost recovery speed, offering long-term healing (through training)! The final song is Attack Boost L(arge), motivating his sidekicks to have the energy to fight harder.

Armor: Blademaster armors need to be tough to withstand damage, so his is made mostly of metal. It’s inspired by spacesuits, with the bright orange parts taking their color from the garment, and moon-worthy boots. The half-helmet protects his ears from roars (similar to Kokichi’s earplugs). His cape is obviously an alteration of his coat, and it’s held around his waist with a full moon buckle. To soften the sci-fi feel and add a touch of adventurer, I put fur trim on his cape and boots. The sharp, triangular edges of his star pauldron and kneecaps give a cool look. Look closely and you’ll see that his armor is peppered with nicks, dents, and gouges, each mark reflecting a time he got too reckless and was tossed across the battlefield.

I had a ton of fun designing for and painting this!

Bonus doodle for those who read all this:

#danganronpa #monster hunter #oumota #oumotaweek2019 #kokichi ouma #kaito momota #duramboros #ndrv3 #I don't think I've ever spent so much time on a painting #the power of love compels me... #can you not full view anymore? #so small and blurry even in a separate window :( #cw light blood #crossover #art

[some-dr-writings]

Korekiyo and Nagito x SHSL Military General

Korekiyo Shinguji:

·       “Simply beautiful.” Korekiyo found himself saying those two words often around The Super High School Level Military General. Everything about such a person was simply so, how could anything else describe them.

·       At first he had heard the rumors of you, the strict, stone cold, military general whom had taken over their entire class. With a simple snap of the finger you’d summon your entire class, utter one word and they were already off obeying your coded command. Your every movement was stiff, yet effortless. Everything had a deliberate purpose, even a twitch of the nose. You had such control over everything and everyone around you, all bending to your will.

·       Kiyo was content simply observing you at a distance, and yet a part of him wanted to disturb your space, to know you better. Though from a single glance he could tell idle chit-chat was not something you’d partake in, so he was fine. What did surprise him though was you approaching him.

·       “I need your expertise.” “AH! Oh… It’s you.” He took a deep breath, placing a hand over his heart. “You startled me. I hadn’t even realized you had come in. How may I help you?” “Anthropology, you study human beings, their culture and traditions, the origins of those, that is what you do, correct?” “Indeed, it is.” In one swift movement you took off your hat, holding it over your chest before bowing. “Please teach me. The better I understand people, I may better understand my soldiers and our targets. I must learn all I can to make conflict end with minimal damage to all sides. I must learn how to form people into as powerful, independent, a team player, and dependable as they can be so that they may survive, even without my direct guidance. That is my sole goal in life, would you assist me in my endeavor?” “… Simply beautiful. I would love to help in any way I can.” And that was how you had begun to regularly meet with Kiyo and visit him in his lab.

·       Any and all stories Kiyo would tell you or any artifacts he’d show, you’d always take detailed notes, dissecting them in order to find the humanity behind such fables, find what compelled people to do what they did. Kiyo could not but help to notice how you did seem to have a preference for specific tales, ones of trickery such as Odin and his many escapades. It was not for the aspects of humanity it explored, you seemed to simply enjoy it for yourself, something… quite rare.

·       All you did was for others. That selfish love of being the one to protect others or bring them joy, that part of you reminded him so much of his classmate Kirumi, so much so, he introduced you two, thinking you could get along well together, and that he was right on. You and Kirumi instantly clicked, often meeting with one another, exchanging advice and stories. You allowed Kirumi to assist you when you were leading your classmates in study or work and even went out of your way to seek her out. You both did what you loved out of this, assisting others and leading them into becoming their best selves. Seeing such a friendship blossom was extraordinary, especially so between two amazing individuals such as yourselves.

·       You seemed to change a little after meeting Kirumi. You were still stark and quiet, rarely speaking, but on occasion he found you’d just sit beside him as he read or went about his own business, both keeping to yourselves while still keeping one another company. Soon though you became more direct. “Follow me.” And that he did, even keeping in time with your foot falls. Soon he found himself on the field where Kaito, Shuichi and Maki were as well. “Oh, Shinguji’s your new sidekick?” “…” “Alright then! Let’s get to training!” Every evening there after you had brought Korekiyo to those raining sessions, strictly making sure he improved every day. Then you also took him to watch Himiko’s magic shows, play tennis with Ryoma, whom Korekiyo thought would not play the sport again till he spotted you speaking with the man, of course a person like you could lead Ryoma back to his old passions. You got Kiyo to regularly spend time with just about everyone, one day he’d be playing piano with Kaeda as he discussed the history of the piece they were playing, the next you and he were in a week long prank war with Kokichi.

·       “Here.” Kiyo looked between you and the clothing you had passed to him, most notably those boots. “Be at the front gate of the school dressed in these in half an hour.” Without another word you simply left. When he got to the gate you simply walked away from him to follow. You went hiking. “Winded already?” “N-No… Just… catching my breath.” “I know you can do better, keep up.” You simply marched on as Kiyo tried keeping up. Eventually you had reached the top of the small mountain. “Ah, the city.” You could clearly see it, along with Hope’s Peak. “Keep up hiking. Seeing the greenery should be enough motivation to keep going.” “Oh, you won’t be joining me? I may forget, you know.” “You will not. I train all those under me to be independent and be able to survive without me.” “… So, you’re saying you won’t be around?” “…” You didn’t speak for a moment, your gaze unwavering from the city with your arms crossed. “All day every day you simply tended to your books and artifacts or watch others. You care not for your own health. That cannot do. I… I wish you to survive and have connections. And I certainly believe you wish to live to see the beauty of humanity firsthand. That you cannot do when dead or bed ridden from lack of caring for yourself. Even if introverted, humans are social creatures, so you need to speak with others on occasion on topics other than your passions. You must learn of others, how they see the world in order to connect. Because of you and Kirumi, and others… I’ve learned that making connections is so vital, even if it will hurt in the end, some connections are worth making.” Finally, you locked eyes with him. “My country calls for me, I must protect them, but I… I wish to see you in particular… See you… thrive. Experience the beauty of humanity firsthand, no longer be a bystander. Become unrecognizable when next we meet, become the greatest person you can. Do not die, and do not stagnate. Keep improving and learn what you taught me.”

·       “I see, you shall be leaving then…” “… Hmm? What’s the matter, it’s unlike you to become so down cast.” “I have? Well… I love you. You are the most amazing person I have met. I’ve taken advantage of our time together, and seeing it… Y/N?” You still so stoically stood there, but your entire face was flushed pink. “you… love me… I, y-you can go on, why did you stop?” He laughed. He laughed in that almost strange way only he did. His eyes were half lidded, and you saw the crow’s feet in the corners. He was so clearly, gently smiling, you felt as if your heart would beat right out of your chest from the mere sight of it. “Adorable.” “I…” That blush only darkened and darkened, as you had instinctively taken a step back, fearing being so vulnerable in the moment, yet… liking it also. You… you never allowed yourself to be vulnerable like this, or at least so rarely did, you had almost forgotten the feelings. You buried your face into your hands. Kiyo simply took your hands into his own, gently leading them down so he could see that slightly wobbly smile, and the red that so elegantly dusted your cheeks.

·       Not even a week later and you disappeared as if you had never even attended the school. Despite the years that had passed Korekiyo made sure to stay connected too his high school classmates. Kiyo had taken to traveling with Rantaro who was searching for his sisters, Shuichi who was putting his detective skills to use in searching for them, and Kirumi who acted as Shuichi personal maid believing with the right assistance he could become a truly amazing person. They were a rather fun group to travel with. In the evenings when time permitted, he and Shuichi would do some exercises and reminisce on the training they had done in high school. Any time they found themselves in your home country, Kiyo couldn’t help but wonder how you were the whole time. Kiyo and Rantaro would often chat through the night when in your country, Rantaro of his sisters and Kiyo of you. They also spoke of the travels they had taken before high school. Being with them… it was simply amazing, and Kiyo was eternally thankful for all you had done for him, and he was the determined to not disappoint your expectations for when you’d meet next… you just had to meet again.

    Nagito Komaede:

·       Many were confused to see the Super High School Level Military General always hanging around Nagito; you never spoke with him, you didn’t even seem to like him, you were just always near him, even when he left campus you still followed him. Eventually rumors had begun sprouting up that the pair of you were in a relationship of some sort, but even that didn’t make sense. If any asked, you never said a word. Some asked Nagito but even he didn’t know, he just accepted the fact that you were around now.

·       “… Weapon, I can hold my tongue back no longer.” You spoke! Nagito was amazed! In your following him around, you had also dragged him around so that you could do your own work and though that Nagito saw your command in action over and over again, but with your gaze locked to his own, that sharp voice resonating deep within himself… the experience was unlike any other. “Am I to see you as human, or a weapon, I do not know any longer.” “Oh? A weapon?” “Yes, a weapon.”

·       Nagito felt his breath getting caught in his throat, his heart pounding against his rib-cage in a steady pace, like a taiko drum. It were as if his other senses had gone numb, they existed only for you, your intimidatingly kind visage, your solid unwavering voice, even touch, he could only feel the barest, slightest bit of your body heat. There was only you… So, THIS was the power of the Super High School Level Military General. No wonder all listened and heeded your every last breath.

·       “Clearly you hold no self-worth, always calling yourself ‘trash’, always doing everything you’re told by others you see as superior, us ‘Ultimates, beacons of hope’ as you’d phrase it. You have no drive or ambition other than pleasing ones you see as great… That…” You simply stared at him for a moment, you just didn’t move at all. “… I find myself compelled, compelled to take you under my wing, get you to see yourself for how truly amazing you are, and yet I too fear that. If you gain personhood, you would become the most dangerous weapon the world has ever known. You don’t just have luck, you can influence it and predict it to an extent. If you gained self-worth and ambition and decided to use your talent you could destroy the world single handedly. If you wanted too, and yet you are also just as dangerous in your current state. In this state you’d willingly go along with any and all who’d wish to use you as the weapon you are, and with no substantial will of your own, you would be used without fuss and all the while not worry about any destruction you’d cause, believing hope would overcome any despair or tragedy no matter how great. So… to attempt to give you will so you’d be less likely to be manipulated by others, or leave you as you are so you grow no ambition of your own. That is what I cannot decided. As I see you now, I know not what you think, if you gained any ambition what you could possibly want. My goal in life is to protect everyone, even my enemies, and you… You are the greatest threat I have ever met. Your ‘luck’… the travesty it could cause is worse than any atomic weapon I know of and I must be rid of you.” “… It sounds like you could solve this by killing me. Nobody could use me than and I wouldn’t be able to want to use my luck.” Many would find it strange just how matter-of-factly Nagito had stated that, and yet, being around him for so long you were not surprised.

·       What… what happened? Nothing about you had changed, and if you had, it was so subtle Nagito did not notice. He was terrified. Something in him screamed to run and hide, yet he was frozen. “Life is never to be weighed lightly. From the tinniest flea to the smartest and biggest whale. Life is never to be spoken of, let alone treated of so flippantly. Even that of your most despised and hated of enemies… At times, death is the only option, but if there are others that exist, they must be taken into account. Life… Life is the weightiest thing in existence. Never underestimate the impact the death of any single creature can have on everything. All life matters, even yours, though you yet to see it. You may deny it but heed my words. You matter. You matter more than you can ever realize. So, should there be a way to defuse the catastrophe that is laying dormant, only building more the longer you exist, I WILL find out how.” That terror that entrapped him faded and he felt as if he were gasping for breath after almost drowning. “You, I yet know what to do with, but for now we shall be retiring to my room so I may go through with planning.”

·       Then you turned and walked away. Nagito followed, in aw and amazement at you! You were truly a force to be reckoned with, simply astonishing! Though he didn’t believe he deserved it, if you saw fit to exchange so many words with him, he was truly honored. And he could not wait to see what decision you’d come too; he was quite looking forward to see what you were going to do to him.

·       “I need more data. I can not come to a conclusion. We shall proceed as we have before.” Despite saying that, things were never quite the same after that day. You would talk to him on occasion. Not much, but those brief exchanges were captivating none the less. Nagito became your assistant of sorts, keeping count as you did pushups or other exercises, or tidying up and cleaning so you could focus on more important things such as training yourself or others, perhaps even cooking or bringing you food so you didn’t have to interrupt that mental exercise you were trying out. Always being around you, he was kind of forced to pick up some of your habits in order to keep up, like trying to keep pace on your morning jogs. It became a sort of challenge for you to protect Nagito from his bad luck. You tried your damnest to stop the chaotic results no matter how small, whether it affected others or not.

·       Despite how Nagito always went on and on about how he was trash, you were impressed with how smart and capable he was, even going over military strategies with him. This quickly spread to other things. You started playing board games, seeing if your strategizing could out do the boy’s good luck, even playing luck-based games to challenge yourself into finding some strategy, even if it were underhanded. No matter what you tried though, Nagito was unflappable, much like yourself. Playing games with him became your favorite pastime- TRAINING! It was training… not for fun. Though relaxing is important, so plaything with him served a dual purpose… yeah, th-that’s it.

·       It was late spring on the cusp of summer. “Hey! Y/N! That’s thirty laps!” You waded in the water for a moment, catching your breath before allowing the crashing waves to push you to shore. As the gulls cawed you marched up the shore across the reds, purples, and oranges of the setting sun behind you so beautifully reflecting off the sand. There Nagito stood, a towel draped over his arm, a small bowl of ice cream in each hand. “A small burst of energy before I can get you a more calorie rich meal. “… I thank you.” Nagito simply passed you a bowl before patting your face with the towel, then wrapping it around you… Sometimes he wondered if you always had that light blush on your cheeks. He had been with you for so long, it was difficult to separate how you looked back when you first had met to now. He thought he’d remember, but he just wasn’t quite sure. Though he found himself deliberating on this because it seemed that blush was spreading… “Something the matter Boy? You’ve been staring for a while, and just… kind of holding the towel over my shoulders.” “a-ah! So, I have! I, I deeply and sincerely apologize. I just love yoooooouuuuu-” Oh no. “Your face! I love your face!... So much!” Internally Nagito was screaming about how he just let that slip out despite how he just so calmly smiled like this was an everyday occurrence. Truly, he was a mess of a person. “Y-you too?” Then you squeaked, realizing what you just said. And there you both just stood starting at one another. “Dinner, we’re supposed to get dinn… dinner…” “Y/N?” “Boy, how long have we been dating?” “Huh?” “We’ve been inseparable, and… we do more than train like watch movies an… stuff, so…” You then just walked away. “W-wait, Y/N!” “I can’t speak, I’m eating ice cream!”

·       Even after years the pair of you were still inseparable. The only time you seemed to be apart was when you went to war, but no matter the distance or trials you faced, you’d always return to him. As for Nagito… he thought this was for the best, after all, you were a humanitarian, if realistically possibly you’d protect life, so a person as dangerous as himself always under the watch of someone so amazingly strong… always protected by you from the world and even himself… the thought sent his heart a flight.

#korekiyo shinguji #nagito komaeda #korekiyo x reader #nagito x reader #Mod Gundham #danganronpa #danganronpa 2 #Super Danganronpa 2 #danganronpa2 #danganronpa v3 #danganronpav3 #New Danganronpa V3 #danganronpa imagine #danganronpa imagines #danganronpa 2 imagine #danganronpa 2 imagines #danganronpa v3 imagines #danganronpa v3 imagine #dr imagine #dr imagines #dr 2 imagine #dr 2 imagines #dr v3 imagine #dr v3 imagines #danganronpa x reader

[lynneshobbydomain]

Pancake Night (Day 5 of Momoharu Week)

Prompt: Memories/Dreams

Rating: T

Summary: Coming out of the simulation meant learning how to handle their own ghosts. It was just a matter of time before Shuichi had to ask for help for his.

You can read under the cut or go to my AO3

The bell above the diner jingled, alerting everyone in the vicinity that Kaito and Maki had entered. Maki was already unwrapping her scarf and Kaito was pulling his gloves off. The winter was a little more harsh during the night than it was during the day, but they had gotten a text saying that tonight was Pancake Night, and Kaito tried not to miss any of those if he could. Maki didn’t usually dare come to any of them, since Kokichi was mostly there, but...if anything, if it was Shuichi who requested it, then Maki was for sure coming even when Kaito told her that Kokichi might be there too, considering.

Shuichi normally didn’t request the sacred pancake nights. Like Kaito, he tried to be at every single one of them too, regardless who requested it. Even if they ended on bad terms, or they weren’t considered friends, Shuichi tried to reach out to everyone, and Kaito adored that in his sidekick. It meant that he was growing as a person. It meant that he knew now that it was okay to be vulnerable. He was just a little surprised that Kaede nor anyone else was coming to this. 

Then again, Kaito didn’t think Shuichi used the group chat to ask for his or Maki’s appearance. “Yo.” He greeted as he walked over to the table. Maki had already taken off her coat and was folding it in her arms, watching the two boys. Kokichi was sitting next to Shuichi, blowing a paper wrapper from the end of his straw and Shuichi had been in the middle of trying to grab it out of his hands. “You guys already ordered?”

“Aw Momota-chan and HaruMaki showed up to date night. I’m a little disappointed.” Kokichi whined. Kaito had half of the mind to punch him, but Maki had other ideas, already sliding into the booth and giving Kokcihi a stare. It was clear that there was still bad blood between them, despite the simulation. Kaito already put his ghosts to rest, but...that didn’t mean everyone else did. “Awaaahhh! HaruMaki’s scary!” Kokcihi burst into crocodile tears as he clung onto Shuichi.

Kaito took a good look at his sidekick, and he could see Maki’s expression shift as well. He slid into the booth next to her, and he could already tell that Maki was thinking the same thing he was. Ignoring the loudmouth beside Shuichi, he spoke calmly. “You look dead Shuichi.”

“Ah, yeah.” Shuichi didn’t tug down his hat, nor did he try to avert his gaze. He was calmly patting Kokichi’s hand, in mindless thoughtfulness. “It’s…” He trailed off and Kaito nodded encouragingly.

“Pancake night.” Kokichi said, drying his eyes and looking at his hands bored. “You the rules of it.”

The rules of it were simple. Whoever called Pancake Night was the one that was allowed to vent about anything. From the smallest little thing that happened that day, to the biggest most gruesome thing that was in their mind. Some people couldn’t handle the reminders of the game and usually didn’t come to these nights, but...those who did usually were the ones that needed it the most. The last person who requested it was Himiko and she had been...in a very rough state. Kaito was afraid of letting her leave the restaurant. He was going to have to remind himself to call her tomorrow if Shuichi didn’t.

“You look like shit.” Maki decided to cut through the tiptoeing and Shuichi’s hands tightened into fists. “Nightmares? Dreams?”

“A bit of both. It feels ridiculous…”

“Nothing about this is.” Kaito assured. “Just talk to us man. We’re here for you.” He reached over and grabbed Maki’s hand and Maki squeezed slightly. Kokichi looked like he was ready to start up something, but a quick look from Maki froze that instantly. 

Shuichi thought for a moment, the silence lingering. It was a good thing since the waitress swung by to get everyone’s drink order as well as the usual double stack of pancakes that were going to be split among them. Kokcihi asked for strawberry and blueberry syrup as always. “I keep going back there.”

“To which part?” Kaito asked, already getting an idea of where this was going.

He wasn't wrong to assume. “Mostly to you and Kokichi’s death.”

Well...that explained why Kokichi was there then. Kokichi didn’t seem to be phased by it. He probably expected it. Kaito on the other hand leaned back into the chair and glanced over at Maki. It was a common conversation between them as well. Maki didn’t talk about her nightmares or dreams, but he knew when she cuddled against him, it was about him. He knew when she went to the gym early morning and before he could even offer to come it was about the plan, about the switch. About confessing her love to him and realizing that it was never going to come true.

It was luck. It was really pure luck that the simulation was what it was. Otherwise, Kaito was going to miss out on so much. Maki was the one that spoke, sharp and cool. “It sucks.”

“Ahaha. Yeah. But I wasn’t trying to make you guys feel guilty or…” Shuichi trailed off. Kaito pursed his lips together, watching his sidekick shuffle through his thoughts. “Or feel like you did wrong. What you two did was...brilliant. I just…”

“Feel guilty.” Kokichi decided to save him from the suffering. “Shumai you’re a lunatic. You’re not supposed to feel guilty about that.”

“You always take more responsibility than you should. You’re going to wind up dead from a heart attack if you keep doing that.” Maki frowned, watching Shuichi with firm red eyes. “You always try to take the guilt when it’s not yours to carry. No wonder you’re not sleeping. How are you sleeping when every time you look around there’s a ghost in the corner.”

“Maki Roll come on.” Kaito frowned at her. “That’s a bit harsh. Shuichi can’t help what his brain comes up with! That’s why we’re here! We just gotta figure out how to change the mindset.”

“Don’t you two ever think about it? Dream about it?” Shuichi asked and it made Kaito freeze.

Kokichi didn’t fare much better. Kaito noticed that the careful mask the trickster wore was falling at the seams. “Of course I don’t.” Kokichi said after a moment. “Why would I dream about something that I did on purpose? Silly beloved.”

Maki made a face at the nickname, but Shuichi rarely reacted to it anymore. It was probably said so much, it lost all meaning. Kaito on the other hand knew that this was important. “Well if Kokichi is going to be a coward about it, then it’s up to me to step up to the plate and be a man about it.” Kaito punched his fists together in his determined gesture and he could feel Maki’s gaze linger on him. Whether it was out of fondness or if she was just exasperated at his antics like usual, Kaito didn’t notice. At the moment, he couldn’t afford to pay attention to that right now. “Yeah I have nightmares.”

Maki may not talk about hers, but she had been across the dining table when he had woken up with air leaving his lungs and seeing stars that were fake and childish linger in behind his eyelids. She was there kneeling in the bathroom, rubbing his back as he lost all contents of his stomach when he felt like he had to be coughing up something. She was there when looking up at the sky was too much and gave him an existential crisis about whether or not he was truly alive or truly dead. 

Kaito wasn’t afraid to peel back his layers. “It sucks, like Maki Roll says, but…” he trailed off. “I think the worst part of it is waking up and wondering if you’re really there. There are times I think I should be in a spaceship going to my death, and there’s times I dream about pushing that button.” He glanced at Kokichi. “As annoying as you are, and as much as I don’t mind punching you, I don’t want you dead.”

“Awwww I’m loved.” Kokichi gushed.

“Stop talking.” Maki gave Kokichi a firm glare. 

“Kokichi sometimes dreams about the hydraulic press, but…you know how he is.” Shuichi gestured.

“Again. Why would I be bothering any of you about any of this?” Kokichi’s mask once more slipped over his face.

“Because we’re all guilty of something.” Kaito pointed out. “We’re not going to blame you, Kokichi if you have nightmares, but...you’re not what Pancake Night is about right now. We’re trying to focus on Shuichi.”

“N-no it’s my fault.” Shuichi held his hands up. “Maybe my nightmare was a-”

“Stop.” Maki said forcefully and Shuichi slumped back into his seat. Kaito glanced at his girlfriend who was watching their best friend. “You don’t get to take their sins. What they did is on them.” She pointed at Kokichi first, and then Kaito. “Believe me. I already had my words with Kaito about how I felt. We’re just waiting for you to snap. You’re too mild-mannered. You don’t get angry often enough. When we ended Danganronpa, that was the first time I’ve actually seen you livid.”

“You should’ve seen it when he told me about his Ultimate Talent. Got right up and angry. I never thought he’d bite!” Kaito commented.

“You made fun of my beloved?! For shame Momota-chan!” Kokichi placed a hand over his heart and dramatically fell against Shuichi’s shoulder. “I should have my men come after you for that you know.” 

Maki paused for a moment, clearly annoyed that she had gotten off track with where she was going with her story. Finally she spoke, placing her arms against the table and leaning in. “Look, Shuichi.” She stated. “I get why you had Kaito and Kokichi come here. You want to apologize to them. Like it’s going to make the guilt and the nightmares go away. Himiko called Tenko the other day and they had a long conversation about the very same thing you’re trying to talk about now.” Both Kaito and Kokichi clamped their mouths shut, watching Maki and Shuichi. “You’re not reacting correctly.”

“Not…” Shuichi gave Maki a cool look. “I was supposed to be smarter than that. I ruined their plans.” He was starting to tick off the flaws off of his fingers. “I couldn’t think of who was under the hydraulic press until too late, I couldn’t figure out that it was Tsumugi who was roleplaying as the mastermind. I’m a detective! A useless one at that!”

“Is...that what you really think?” Kokichi asked.

Kaito already heard this once before. “Shut up.” He knew he was getting glares from Kokichi and from Shuichi and decided to raise his voice a little. “Where’s the confidence that you had when you ended Danganronpa?! Come on, man. You know how to keep your chin up! Look at what you were able to do! You caused them to bankrupt. There’s no more killing game. No more hospitalized kids. I know you get letters from previous players who are thanking you on bended knee and yeah, you deserve that kind of recognition! You did everything you could with all of the information that you were provided. I made you my sidekick for a reason right?! You did just fine in that trial. Sure it had it’s hiccups, but we’re all human. We can’t plan for every little thing.”

Shuichi blinked at him as though it was the first time he was truly seeing Kaito. Kaito decided to point one more thing out to him, just to be on the safe side. “Besides, you two were supposed to look out for each other. You made sure to help Maki realize that it wasn’t going to be her fault that it was going to happen. I was already dying. Kokichi was already dying. There was just...someone was going to die. We chose the way we knew it should go.”

“I’ve been telling him that, but my beloved doesn't believe me.” Kokichi glanced at his nails, offhandedly. “I sure hope he believes you.”

“N-no I belive you both it’s just-”

“The brain sucks.” Maki interjected. “We get it. You need to call these nights more often, Shuichi. Before you look like you’re about to fall out of your seat.”

“Told you!” Kokichi singsonged.

                                                           X

Leaving pancake night meant going back through the briskness of the winter’s cold chill. It was nearing dawn now, and Kaito felt exhaustion settle bone deep. They waved Kokichi and Shuichi off at a corner and now Maki and Kaito were walking side by side together as they headed back to their apartment. Kaito was grateful that they chose someplace close to the city to live. It was weird to see it dead without all the people around, the neon reflecting against the windows and streets with a will to entice them to look. There weren’t white noised conversations that could drown out the soft hum of the cars or the thoughts that were currently whirling in his mind.

Kaito stuffed his hands into his pockets as he thought about what had just transpired. He knew that Shuichi was suffering. He thought about his nightmares, about his own dreams, and he thought about all the good that came out of the killing game too. He should’ve mentioned that. Maybe he could text it to Shuichi, or maybe if the next time the conversation came to light, he could push him towards that direction too. There had been so much good that came out of something terrible, and bloodsoaked. He looked over a Maki who was adjusting her scarf to keep herself warm. He reached down and gently took the scarf from her hands, adjusting it for her and tightening it.

Maki stayed quiet and let him do as he pleased. When he was satisfied that she would be kept warm, he reached and took a gloved hand into his, intertwining their fingers together. “You’re thinking.” Maki said, calm as snow that was slowly drifting on the breeze. “About what?”

“Oh...just wondering if I’m dreaming right now.” Kaito commented.

Maki’s expression turned just slightly annoyed. “You’re an idiot. You’re not sleep walking.”

“No. But tonight’s been a good night.” Kaito grinned at her. “Even if we had to go to Pancake Night. It was a good night.”

“How...was it good?” Maki huffed, her breath turning into fog as she looked up at him. Red eyes held curiosity.

“I was thinking about what Shuichi said about the nightmare, but...it wasn’t all that bad. I feel kind of bad that I didn’t tell him that. There were a lot of things that were good that came from it. If you know where to look.” Kaito explained.

Maki seemed to understand his train of thought, for she looked away immediately and pulled her hand from his grip so that she could grab her pigtail and start tugging at it furiously. The scarf hid the pout and puffed cheeks, but Kaito had that expression memorized. He knew that she was flustered and she knew that he was talking about her and Shuichi and all the moments in between. 

He knew that not everyone focused on the moments in between. The nightmares were louder than their hopes and their dreams and their passions. Kaito wondered if maybe he should start trying to encourage them to remember what made them all Ultimates to begin with. Even if their talents were fake, the passion that they had behind them was real. It was easily demonstrated with himself, Shuichi, and Kokichi. They just needed the rest of the class to follow. Though, Kaito did wish that Maki wouldn’t follow an assassin's way of life as her passion or goal. Though he couldn’t blame her if she did. 

“That was cheesy. Gross and cheesy.” Maki sighed after a moment, letting her pigtail go. Her words didn’t mean much as she reached and took Kaito’s hand back into hers, lacing their fingers back together in a simple lock and grip. “You have other Pancake Nights to do that. Shuichi’s on your phone too. You have methods of reaching him, if you’d just take them.”

“We should get back into training.” Kaito mused thoughtfully. “Have him work out more with us. That’ll get rid of the nightmares for sure.”

“No that just represses them.” Maki was exasperated and fond. “Though it might help him get some sleep.”

“God he needs that.”

“You need that too.” Maki replied bluntly and Kaito laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “You should be taking your own advice.”

“I know, Maki Roll, I’m not good at that am I?” Kaito grinned and Maki wondered if he took anything seriously. Kaito just couldn’t let other people worry about him for too long. “How do you fight off your nightmares?”

“They’re not real.” Maki replied simply. “I’m here now. I’m not going to waste another second or another minute trying to fight something that’s not true.” 

“No dreams to counter it?”

“This is my dream.” Maki pointed at him and then pointed at their hands. “Even if it is messy and full of nightmares and waking up to cold beds. I wanted this. So I’m going to stick with you and stick with us. Assassins don’t get to have happy endings, Kaito. As far as I’m concerned, this is a happy ending that’s lasted me a long time.”

“Oh.” Kaito’s cheeks burned a bright red, but his grin was toothy and shining. “Wow, Maki Roll, I didn’t think you’d get this passionate.”

“Shut up.” Maki tried to tug her hand away from him, but Kaito squeezed instead. She relented after a moment, squeezing back painfully, making him wince. “What about you? How do you fight your nightmares off?”

“I have you.” 

“I’m scarier than your nightmare.” Maki deadpanned. 

“No that’s not what I was trying to say!” This time Kaito really did let her go. “I was saying that I have you. You chase away my nightmares just by being there with me. By supporting me. You’re a true sidekick Maki Roll, and an awesome girlfriend. You mean the world to me. I’m not going to let some measly nightmare get me down, when I got the girl of my dreams supporting me! Anyone else would be jealous.”

Once more Maki’s cheeks puffed but she didn’t reach for her pigtails this time clearly too flustered to do anything. “You’re still an idiot.”

“Whatever you say, Maki Roll. Whatever you say.” Kaito reached and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her close to him as they headed back to their apartment.

#spaceassassins #momoharuweek2020 #kaito momota #maki harukawa #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #momoharu #angst #vr au #nightmares #survivor's guilt #friendship #hurt/comfort

[sinfulwonders]

👀

Alright here is a portion of a longer series I had planned. I have about 7000 words of it done, and I think it’s about halfway completed. Here’s the first 1500 words or so of it. I like the idea, so if y’all are interested I’ll post the rest of what I have and continue to work on it.

An Error

53 seasons in and you’d think Team Danganronpa would have perfected the flashback light technology. And they thought they had. But as Tsumugi Shirogane watched Shuichi Saihara stumble and fall, fainting in a heap on the ground, she knew that something had gone very wrong. 

Shuichi awoke, feeling soft linens surrounding him. He arose, finding a few of his fellow killing game inmates standing over him. He looked around to realize he was no longer in the dining hall, but rather his own room.

“Hey, my sidekick is finally awake!” Kaito beamed down at the boy.

“Y-yes. What happened?” Shuichi stuttered.

“We used the flashback light…” Kiibo looked down at the ground as he began to speak, “Do you remember anything Saihara-kun?”

Shuichi gasped as he was hit with a flood of memories.

“A-a funeral! For us!” He stammered, breathing heavily.

Kaito nodded, “We faked our deaths to get away from the ultimate hunt apparently.”

Shuichi scanned the room, eyes running over the faces of the people that came to check on him. All solemn.

“I-I think that’s all I remember,” Shuichi decided, wracking his brain for more.

He could have sworn he saw Tsumugi’s lips curl into a smile.

But he blinked and it was gone, only concern in her eyes, just the same as everyone else.

“Why did I faint?” Shuichi pondered aloud as he laid back down.

“You were the only one.” Maki stated bluntly.

Shuichi blushed a little at that, “Well…I’m sorry for worrying you all.”

“No, you’re fine, bro! But we’ll leave you to get some rest!” Kaito gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and the group exited.

Shuichi was alone. He quickly drifted off to sleep.

 “I’ll always be with you. I’ll protect you. K-”

A flash of lavender. A burst of light.

“Agh!” Shuichi burst from his blankets, sweat dripping down his face, “Was that a dream?” He wondered aloud.

“RISE AND SHINE URSINE!”

Shuichi jumped a second time as the morning announcements played. He felt exhausted, like he hadn’t slept at all. He groaned and made his way to the dining hall.

He entered to see the normal hustle and bustle of the last couple days.

Although it is much less organized than when Kirumi was still around-

Shuichi silently chastised himself for thinking about the former maid’s recent death.

Just get something to eat.

He made his way into the kitchen, opting for a couple of pieces of toast and a small glass of orange juice. He leaned against the counter and closed his eyes, sighing as he waited for the toaster to relinquish his bread at last.

POP!

He plated his bread after spreading a light layer of jam over the pieces. He turned around to head back to the kitchen, but stopped as Kokichi Oma stood directly in front of him.

“Promise you’ll stay with me?” Kokichi asked, a tear threatening to fall from his eye.

“W-what?” Shuichi took a step back.

He looked so small. So innocent. So honest. And strangely enough, younger.

“I asked if you had brain damage from hitting your head yesterday, but I guess I got my answer!” Kokichi’s face was curled into a devious grin.

The tears were nowhere to be seen. Kokichi stood there with his confident posture and cocky attitude just as he usually did. Just the normal Supreme Leader that Shuichi knew.

What was that?

Kokichi frowned, his brow furrowing slightly with concern as he examined Shuichi’s fearful expression, “Saihara-chan, what’s wrong?”

Shuichi snapped back to Kokichi, and he made his face as neutral as possible, “N-nothing.”

He held onto his plate tighter as he hurried out of the kitchen.

Kokichi raised an eyebrow at the boy, “Interesting…” he whispered.

 Shuichi tried his best to listen to Kaito and Maki’s conversation, but his mind was racing and his head kept pounding. He kept hearing it over and over again. Kokichi’s voice, so much weaker than his usual as he said, “Promise you’ll stay with me?”

“I’ll always be with you. I’ll protect you. Ko-”

Shuichi felt a knock on his head, “W-what?”

“Earth to Shuichi! Are you tryin’ to go to space before me?” Kaito teased.

“Space?” Shuichi frowned in confusion.

Kaito sighed, “Cuz your head is already in the clouds. Man you’re really out of it today, Sidekick.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess my head still hurts a bit from yesterday,” Shuichi apologized, “I think I’m going to go lie down.”

Kaito and Maki gave him concerned looks, “Let us know if you need anything.”

Shuichi smiled and made his way slowly to his room.

 He glanced down a hallway as he walked and stopped dead in his tracks.

“S-Saihara-kun…”

“Mmm…what is it?”

Shuichi stared, flabbergasted, as he saw Kokichi and himself leaned against the wall of the hallway. Kokichi was pressed against the wall, breath ragged and face flushed as the other Shuichi held him there. They were wearing dark school uniforms, both similar except for Kokichi’s being untucked. Shuichi began to work at the buttons as he attacked the boy’s neck with his mouth, nipping and sucking, leaving several marks.

“S-someone’s going to s-see,” Kokichi panted through moans.

Shuichi’s eyes widened as he saw the evil looking grin on the other Shuichi’s face, “Let them. Let everyone know that you’re mine.”

Kokichi moaned and Shuichi purred into his ear, eyes tinted with animalistic lust. Shuichi barely caught what he said.

“I own you Kokichi Oma.”

Shuichi turned away from the hallway and ran, blindly, away, still hearing passionate moans behind him.

He didn’t stop running until he got to his dorm. He slammed the door shut and plopped on his bed, face buried in a pillow. He felt so dirty for watching that scene unfold. So dirty for imagining it.

But why did it feel so real?

He hadn’t realized that he thought that way about Kokichi. He had thought of the supreme leader as a nuisance, a danger, and even a potential ally, but after seeing that fantasy(?), he couldn’t get the purple haired leader out of his head. He pushed his blushing face further into the pillow.

Maybe it was something to do with the flashback light. But these couldn’t be memories. We were so different in them.

Shuichi contemplated until sleep overcame him.

He awoke with a jolt, a click rousing him from his sleep. He looked up to see the supreme leader himself standing over him.

“Oma-kun!?” Shuichi cried out, a little unsure if he was about to be murdered.

“Nyeheehee!” cackled the leader, “Good afternoon, Saihara-chan!”

Shuichi shot the boy an irritated glare, “What are you doing in my room?”

Kokichi gave him his best impression of innocent puppy dog eyes, “I knocked! But there was no answer! I came in here to make sure you were alive!” He smirked at the detective, “And this is the thanks I get?”

Shuichi rolled his eyes, turning over on his side to face away from the boy.

“Waaaaiiiit!” Kokichi feigned crocodile tears as he wailed, “I have something important to show you!”

Shuichi slowly turned back towards Kokichi. His eyes gleamed.

“Nyehehe, ever the detective!” He grabbed the detective’s hand, pulling him out of bed.

At his touch Shuichi instantly felt hot, recalling the scene in the hallway earlier. He jolted back, recoiling from him.

Kokichi’s face went blank, just observing him passively.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Shuichi stammered.

Shuichi stood on his own, towering over the small boy in front of him.

“S-Saihara-kun…” Kokichi’s lustful voice echoed in his head from earlier, and Shuichi flushed a deep red.

He desperately wanted to slam the boy against the wall and take him right now. Ravage him until all he could do was scream his name.

“Saihara-kun!”

Shuichi breathed heavier as his eyes bore into the widened Kokichi’s.

“What is going on?!” Shuichi screamed, causing to Kokichi to flinch, slowly taking two steps back.

“What are you talking about?” Kokichi asked, voice gentler than he ever thought it could be.

“E-ever since the f-flashback light, I’ve been seeing things… Things that don’t fit with my other memories…” Shuichi stammered slowly.

“What are you seeing?” Kokichi probed a little further.

Shuichi glanced up, Kokichi’s hair no longer had the purple tips and his uniform was plain and dark. His face was red, eyes half-lidded and needy.

Shuichi blinked quickly, shaking his head, and he was back to normal.

He stood shaking, staring at the purple eyed boy in front of him.

“…Y-you.”

Shuichi felt his world go black.

-----

Kokichi was curled up in the fetal position, whimpering. Helpless. Seemingly endless faceless forms kicked and taunted the small boy.

He wouldn’t have to be alone anymore. I have to save him.

The sounds of skidding feet and smacking of fists were all around me. I couldn’t register that I was the one punching.

Thud after thud, and then the skittering of cowards. Fleeing.

Warmth. Pink. Blood sliding down my fist and face.

“Saihara-kun…why?” The gorgeous violet eyes made it worth it.

I collapsed, taking in the small boy in my arms. Cradling him like he was the most precious thing in the world.

“I’ll protect you, Kokichi.”

“Saihara-chan?” Shuichi flickered his eyes open, finding himself on the ground and Kokichi standing over him, “I don’t think I’m the one that needs protecting right now…” He observed, with a small grin on his face.

“What?” Shuichi blinked, slowly rising to his feet once more.

“You said ‘I’ll protect you!’” Kokichi giggled, “Pretty cute if you ask me! Does my Saihara-chan care about me?”

Shuichi turned beet red and tried to ignore Kokichi’s teasing, “How long have I been out?”

“Oh just a couple days.”

“A couple days?!” Shuichi cried, suddenly in a panic.

“Nyeheehee! It’s a lie! Don’t worry it’s just been a few minutes,” Kokichi laughed as Shuichi grew calmer.

“O-oh. Good,” Shuichi sighed.

“Wow you were so quick to believe me, Saihara-chan!” Kokichi beamed, “What if that second statement was a lie?”

Shuichi frowned, “I guess I just trust that you’ll be kinder to me in this state…After all, I’ve fainted twice in two days.”

Kokichi grinned.

#ask meme #wip #oumasai #danganronpa

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Bonus 3.1 - Dangan Salmon Team (Kaito Edition)

This is postgame content, so people shouldn’t be reading this without having already finished the main game anyway. But just to be safe: while this is non-canon character stuff, I will sometimes be mentioning events that happened in the main story, so there will be spoilers for the main game.

First of all, can we talk about the ridiculous title of this game mode? “Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team”. Or, in Japanese, “Year-round Space Variety Love Show: Dangan Red Salmon Gang”. The salmon part is just your average Danganronpa weirdness, but on the other hand I do like the inexplicable space theme they’ve also got going. I like to think this is less because of the fake story about them being on a spaceship, since they don’t try and push that angle at all in this AU, and more just because Kaito, did you know Kaito is the most important character.

The title screen of this mode really leans into that space theme, too. It’s even got a rocket! And most importantly the rocket has a window, remember how Very Important it is for all rockets to have windows.

(In other Inexplicable Space Theming for this game, there’s a BGM piece used during trials that’s called “Class Trial Space Edition”. SPACE. Space is important in this game, you guys.)

For clarification, since the title does not remotely explain the point of this, this is the social interaction side mode in which you can get the FTEs of everyone you didn’t do during the main story (not that that’s what I’m here for) and then also some extra bonus interactions. Those bonus bits are what I’m here for, specifically with Kaito, because it’s me, and Kaito is the only character I like to such an extent that I even want to cover this bonus fluff for him. The title is about space, so clearly spending even more time with Kaito in particular is the entire point of this game mode, right?

This mode has the most half-assed introduction explaining its premise which I’m not going to go into in detail because it doesn’t deserve it. The gist is that things begin as they do in canon, except then Monokuma abruptly decides to cancel the killing game and have a reality dating show instead because apparently that’s what the outside world would prefer. The couples who end up together get to leave!! which is gross and manipulative and amatonormative and unfortunately very believable as something a shallow audience like this one might want to see. And, sure, it is an improvement on them being made to kill each other, but this is definitely still some level of fucked up. If any romances did form during this, how could the people involved be sure their partners’ feelings were really real and not just faked so that the two of them could escape? How could they even be completely sure about that for their own feelings? This would result in the most unhealthy of relationships.

Kaito:  “Hey, what the hell are you talking about!? Telling us to fall in love or whatever? What do you want us to do!?”

Okay I said I wouldn’t do this in detail but I do like that it’s Kaito in particular who objects to this specific idea. If people are being forced to fall in love, then it’s not people acting on their own feelings at all! Kaito doesn’t have any specific opinions about romance that we’ve ever heard, but this is from his principles about being true to yourself.

So… that’s the thing about this mode. While it makes sense with the overarching V3 twist that this is just to entertain a shallow TV audience, it leaves things with this uncomfortable patina of being all about romance. Even though the free time events are exactly as they are in the main story, and most of what the game calls “dates” aren’t explicitly romantic either, that’s still apparently supposed to be the goal. And while I just talked about how messed-up this setup is for forming romances, which could at least be potentially interesting to explore if they acknowledged that, the narrative plays it completely straight because of course it fucking does. It’s not only the in-universe audience that’s being amatonormative here.

Kaede’s FTEs in particular, since they only exist in this Amatonormativity Mode, really lay on the romance more heavily than I think they would in any other context, which makes me not want to cover them even though I otherwise might like to because Kaede’s one of my favourite characters. (As far as I remember, they’re not bad or anything, it’s just Not My Jam.) And it seems that some of the characters’ ending scenes for this mode also embrace this annoying idea and shoehorn more romance in them than they really should have. For example Maki’s ending scene is mostly fine until it suddenly insists that she and Shuichi are romantically into each other, which is provably not in line with canon because Maki becomes equally close to Shuichi in the main story and there are no romantic feelings on either end there so why should this be any different. And it’s not just her ending scene: a small handful of Maki’s dates and other dialogue specific to this mode try and make her all stereotypically tsundere towards Shuichi in what I can only assume is a very tiresome attempt to hint at romance between them, and ugh no get it away leave Maki the fuck alone she does not deserve this.

However, this game is also reasonably heteronormative, and while heteronormativity is of course objectively terrible and needs to go away, it does mean that when things are also being amatonormative (another thing that is equally terrible and equally needs to go away), there’s only 50% as much amatonormativity as there could be. So, since Shuichi and Kaito both happen to be guys, all of Kaito’s scenes in this mode remain completely platonic. While Monokuma didn’t mention this and everything in the flavouring of this mode is trying to pretend this is totally all about romance, apparently any people who become epic inseparable platonic friends also get to leave? Which I am very happy about, because I would not want to cover this otherwise. I don’t like it when my adorable friendships are diminished with romance, dammit.

So now to complain about the other awkward thing about this mode, which is how horrendously artificial and inorganic it feels to actually play. For one thing, we’re playing as Shuichi, but he’s already removed his hat and is apparently also already Kaito’s sidekick as we’ll be seeing, even though literally none of the character development and interactions that were required for Shuichi to make that progress has happened. And that shouldn’t have had time to happen offscreen either, since Monokuma declared that there’ll be a 10-day time limit for people to partner up, and then you get dropped into the game on Day 1. It’s just really hard to buy this AU as a properly justified and backed-up story.

Then there’s the fact that all the other characters you can hang out with just stand in a fixed spot in the courtyard – always the same spot every day – apparently just waiting for Shuichi to come and talk to them. If you do an FTE and not a “date”, they will then stay in this exact spot (apart from rare exceptions in which the FTE itself involves going somewhere in particular) for the whole event, despite that this might be awkwardly in earshot of another student who’s busy standing unmoving in their own spot nearby. There’s no sense of this being a story and not just a game – no hints of any kind of other friendships or community forming or any of these characters acting like people beyond just existing for Shuichi to get close to.

Which, okay, is pretty understandable since this is just a hasty bonus mode mostly slapped in here to make getting everyone’s FTEs easier than replaying chapters of the main story. But even so, there’s Kaede’s and Rantaro’s FTEs and then all of the “date” scenes and graduation scenes which are all scenes that only exist in this AU – that’s precisely why I’m here covering Kaito’s ones in this commentary – and so it would be really nice if they’d actually put, like, any effort at all into making this AU feel like a real story to give these scenes a more robust context. As it is, these scenes mostly just feel like context-less snippets of character insight, and if anything really needs more context then you have to use your imagination and come up with it all yourself.

But anyway, I’m here to talk about practically everything Kaito ever says and does, and I’m damn well going to do it regardless of how little context I get for it.

First, actually, while wandering around the courtyard I learned that you can talk to the two Exisals that are at work there, one of which is the good old red Exisal, and Monotaro actually has something kind of interesting to say. (Shocking, I know.)

Monotaro:  “I’m the red Monokub! That means I’m a main character, so I don’t tell lies! …Hm? But then, why do they call them ‘bright red lies’? Are lies red? Does that mean I’m a liar?”

Obviously I always figured that Kaito got the red Exisal because it’s the main character’s one and therefore the most fitting for a hero like Kaito (plus there wasn’t a purple option). But this is an interesting potential extra reason why they chose that colour! I can only assume this is a Japanese saying because I’ve never heard it before, but that’s neat if it’s really a thing.

Kaito’s designated Unmoving Courtyard Spot is sadly not the training spot. Instead, it is worryingly close to the gates to the casino. Kaito, no.

Dates Hangouts

So the main bulk of content unique to this mode is a series of mini-scenes you can get with each character after having maxed out their FTEs. The game refers to these as “dates”, but screw that, I’m going to refer to them as “hangouts” despite what the game calls them because the romantic connotations of the word “date” annoy me. Let’s hang out with Kaito! In a… slightly different sense of hanging out than what happens for his FTEs.

You get to choose one of five locations to hang out in, and then the game gives you a set of three options to pick for that place, which will vary in how much your hangout partner enjoys it. If you then later hang out with that person in the same place, it’ll give you a second set of three options, and then a third set the next time. Once you’ve had all three sets for a given location, it won’t give you any more options and you’ll just get a generic “we hung out for a while” textbox. So within one playthrough of this mode, for each character, you can only see three out of the nine mini-scenes for each place, or only fifteen out of the forty-five in total. Which is fine if you’re just trying to max someone out and get their ending, because that takes a minimum of five scenes if you get the best outcomes. But if you’re trying to see all the scenes, it’s a bit inconvenient.

What I’m saying is that I’m going to have to do three separate playthroughs of this mode to get all of these for Kaito. I do not envy whichever wiki writer went and compiled these for literally every character, but I am definitely thankful to them for removing the need for anyone else to do this, and for allowing me to see all these scenes beforehand without doing this myself. (I’m doing it myself here anyway because it feels more natural to me to transcribe the lines from my Vita after doing it for the whole game, but at least I wouldn’t have had to if I didn’t want to.)

Some of these are just going to be me fairly superficially going “hee look at Kaito being a dork”, and some will be me discussing how Good Kaito’s principles and outlook are some more. But the biggest reason I wanted to do this is that some of them go deeper than that and are relevant to his issues in some interesting way. They’re pretty delightfully subtle about it, as Kaito’s issues usually are because he refuses to talk about them, but they’re very present even in this context of just hanging out with Shuichi, since Kaito’s issues revolve heavily around his relationship with his sidekick.

For the sake of not having this be a completely disjointed read, I’ve grouped these hangouts not by the arbitrary categories of which location they take place in, but rather by some of the general ideas relating to Kaito’s character or outlook that I end up discussing with them.

First, though, just a couple of odd ones out that didn’t quite fit into any of the upcoming categories.

[A/V Room]

-      Watch a horror movie

Kaito:  “L-Like I’d watch something so uncool. What’s so fun about watching fake g-g-ghosts? Don’t get me wrong! I’m not s-scared or anything!”

Yep, this was of course a bad idea. The purpose of Kaito being written with his phobia is irrelevant in this non-killing-game AU, but since the writers changed their minds about doing the killing game after creating the characters, he still has it anyway.

While a player would choose this knowing full well it’s the wrong option, at least this isn’t Shuichi deliberately being a dick, because in this AU he wouldn’t know about Kaito’s phobia. He probably innocently thought Kaito might enjoy the thrill or something.

(Observe how “Kaito has a phobia of ghosts” is something that doesn’t fit into any of the categories I’ll be having here, which all have some kind of connection to meaningful parts of his character. Tsumugi, you’re a bad writer.)

[Library]

-      “Let’s make a tower of books”

There’s only one thing of note about this one, which is this:

Kaito:  “Let’s make a tower of books that’ll pierce the heavens!”

This is a delightfully blatant Gurren Lagann reference and I love it. They knew. They knew exactly what they were doing with Kaito’s character, and then some.

Astronauts and space

Obviously a necessary category for Kaito. Let’s talk about SPACE and his astronaut training!

[A/V Room]

-      Watch a documentary on athletes

Kaito:  “Seeing this makes me remember my astronaut training. Astronaut training involves just as much exercise as athletes do.”

It’s neat that he enjoys this because it reminds him of his own training. Kaito really would not normally slack off with exercise; the only reason it seemed like he was doing that in the main storyline is because he was sick!

Kaito:  “I wonder how all those guys who trained with me are doing…”

Yeah, uh, about that…

Kaito:  “Alright! Thinking about that made me super motivated! We’re definitely gonna get out of this place, you got it!?”

Oh dear, Kaito now especially wants to get out of here so he can see his friends from astronaut training again. They… don’t exist. Neither do his grandparents. When everyone escapes in this AU, they are all going to very abruptly learn that they’re “fictional” and none of their loved ones are waiting for them at all. That is not going to be fun for them. (And they’re going to learn that off-camera, in a way that is no longer part of this “story”, so the audience isn’t going to see how fucked-up this is and nothing is going to change.)

Since they’ll still have memories of their loved ones that feel real to them, and yet they can’t ever actually see them again, it’s basically going to be feel equivalent to if their loved ones had all died while they were in here. They’re going to be grieving for people they know in their heads never even existed. That did also apply to Shuichi, Maki and Himiko in the canon ending, but it’d have been a lot less significant next to all their grief for the real people whose deaths they actually experienced. In this AU, though, it’d be a much bigger thing.

(On the other hand, their pasts being fictional is still a good thing for Maki at least (whose best friend was already dead in her memories). And Kaito would still definitely take that opportunity to be happy for her even as he’s reeling from his own loss.)

[A/V Room]

-      Watch a documentary on aliens

You’d think this’d be the one Kaito would enjoy the most of the three options it’s part of, but it really, really isn’t.

Kaito:  “I totally get why you’d be interested in this documentary.”

Of course. Everyone should be interested in aliens, right?

But, alas, he goes on to say that he found out some time after having watched it himself that it was all fake.

Kaito:  “The day I found that out… I’ve never felt despair like I did that day… How dare they mess with my adventurous heart…”

Turns out, the only way to make Kaito feel despair is to give him false hope that aliens exist, and then take it away. That’s adorable.

(Obviously he doesn’t mean real, proper despair, though. Kaito is literally incapable of feeling that; it’s like his superpower – remember when he convinced himself the destroyed outside world maybe wasn’t the truth with no evidence purely for the sake of not giving up? But still, it’s amusing that he uses that word.)

I wonder how convincing the documentary even was in the first place. Wouldn’t surprise me if it emphatically wasn’t and Kaito only believed it out of childlike optimism when he really should have been able to tell it was fake already, because he’s a dork like that.

[A/V Room]

-      Watch a documentary on bugs

Kaito:  “I remember a while back there was some theory that bugs came from space. All life came from the ocean and as far as I know, there aren’t any bugs there.”

Kaito, no, that is not how evolution works. Apparently whatever science credentials he has do not extend into biology. There being almost no bugs in the ocean any more doesn’t change the fact that they evolved from ocean-dwelling organisms just like all life did. There are no humans who live in the ocean either, but that doesn’t make humans aliens.

Kaito should sit down with Gonta sometime and learn about the evolutionary biology of bugs. He’d find it interesting (even if it does mean no bug-aliens), because he finds everything interesting! And it’d mean Gonta would have someone he could actually talk to about bugs who’s genuinely interested and not secretly squirming from revulsion.

Kaito:  “That theory got shot down, but I always get so pumped up by stuff like that!”

I should hope it got shot down, because it didn’t make any goddamn sense. It can’t have even been a proper scientific theory in the first place. But of course Kaito just liked to be able to imagine there’s already aliens on Earth. Nothing’s stopping him from still pretending bugs could be secret aliens just to amuse himself! Fictions are exciting even though you know they’re not true!

[Dining Hall]

-      Drinking green tea after a meal

Kaito:  “Yeah! Green tea’s great! A piping hot cup of fresh brewed tea is seriously the best.”

While I’m emphatically not an expert on these things because I don’t drink either beverage, I would have pegged Kaito as more of a coffee person than a tea person. Maybe it’s just because tea is a lot more of a thing in Japan than coffee. Or he gets it from his grandparents.

Kaito:  “But now that I think about it, you can’t drink fresh tea out in space, huh? It’s so obvious, I never even considered it… Well then! I’ll just enjoy it as much as I can on Earth!”

Oh no, what do you mean that going to space might be kind of harsh and empty of luxuries and not the best thing ever in every conceivable way!? He really has not wanted to consider any of the downsides of it at all. But at least he keeps a positive outlook about it now that he’s realised it, because he’s Kaito.

(Maybe Kaito likes tea so much that making himself a nice cuppa is one of the first things he does when he gets back to Earth… and then he promptly drops and breaks the cup because what is gravity.)

[Library]

-      “Let’s study”

Kaito:  “Yeah! In order to become an astronaut, you gotta study hard!”

Reminder: Kaito is not an idiot, and despite being kind of oblivious about certain things, is actually very book-smart!

Kaito:  “Let’s start by studying language! And don’t let me hear you say you don’t need it.”

And it’s so him that this is the thing he wants to encourage Shuichi to study. Communication is vital in all walks of life, not just in being an astronaut!

Kaito:  “There’s nothing unnecessary in this world!”

I still love this philosophy of his. Kaito is so good.

[Library]

-      “Let’s look through photographs”

Kaito:  “Photographs of the planets, huh?”

Yes, Kaito, Shuichi definitely meant this, he couldn’t possibly have been interested in any other kinds of photographs except those of SPACE.

Kaito:  “When I think about actually being there and seeing them… I get the chills!”

THE ROCKET HAVING A WINDOW WAS VERY IMPORTANT

(not that he saw planets through it, but just being there and seeing it himself was so so worth it for any part of space)

Kaito:  “Just you wait, planets! I, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, am gonna see you with my own two eyes!”

He’s such an optimistic dork. Just like with his bold claims to Kaede about how he’s going to meet aliens, this is probably not a thing that’ll happen within his lifetime. Maybe Mars, but not, like, multiple planets. But hey, let him dream!

[Courtyard]

-      “Let’s relax in the sun”

Kaito:  “It’s been a while since I was able to get some sun. Ever since I was a kid, I’d think about the universe while sunbathing.”

Oh, Kaito. He would turn sunbathing into an excuse to think about space, even though he can’t see the stars when the sun’s out.

Kaito:  “But these days, I’ve been so busy with training, I haven’t had time to relax. Thanks to you, I remembered how important it is to relax sometimes!”

Yes, Kaito, it is important to rest sometimes and to not push yourself too hard. Of course that’s something he’d only think about when somebody else reminds him of it.

[Library]

-      “I’m getting sleepy”

Kaito:  “Yeah, it’s pretty quiet in here. But the silence of a library is nothing compared to the universe, y’know?”

Somehow, Kaito finds an excuse to make this about space, too. What a dork.

Kaito:  “After all, the universe is just one big silent room. If you went up there, you’d probably be sleepy all the time.”

You’re… not doing a great job of making space sound inviting, Kaito. What happened to all the passion and adventure there’s supposed to be out there?

[A/V Room]

-      Play dominoes with the movie boxes

Kaito:  “I may not seem like it, but I’m pretty good at setting up dominoes! During astronaut training, we had to do dexterity exercises.”

More fun little tibits about the kind of skills astronauts have to learn!

Kaito:  “I, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, will make a domino setup that will shock even you!”

But even so, it’s not the “Ultimate Astronaut” but rather the Luminary of the Stars who’s good at this, because he still much prefers the latter title for himself.

Also,  the “even you” is interesting. Why would Shuichi in particular not usually be shocked by an epic domino setup? Does Kaito’s secret idolisation of Shuichi even extend to thinking he’d be inexplicably good at this? (Kaito’s secret idolisation of Shuichi shouldn’t even be nearly as much of a thing in this trial-less AU, though.)

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s go in the freezer”

This is one of those very odd, why-would-Shuichi-ever-actually-suggest-this options. But it works on Kaito!

Kaito:  “Did you know… In astronaut training, you have to be able to survive in subzero temperatures! If it’s a competition to see who can hold out the longest, I won’t lose!”

More astronaut training things! And of course Kaito would turn it into a competition. Though it is a bit much of him to think that Shuichi should do this even though he has no need to train in this particular dangerous way, but Shuichi did inexplicably suggest it, so, uh.

Kaito:  “The loser has to say how many girls he’s had a crush on!”

…I don’t know about this line, though. While I don’t headcanon Kaito very strongly this way because there isn’t any actual evidence relevant to it like there is for Maki, I like to believe it could at least be possible for Kaito to be aromantic. This might just be me wanting to project onto him, admittedly, but the way he puts so much investment into his platonic relationships, including having an especially committed type of them in the hero-and-sidekick thing, is very enjoyably non-amatonormative of him. It just doesn’t feel right to me that Kaito would care that much about crushes – and, in particular, even less so that he would care about someone else’s crushes, which are really none of his business unless they choose to tell him about them. Peer pressuring Shuichi into admitting to anything of that nature when he might not be comfortable doing so really, really doesn’t seem to me like the kind of thing Kaito would do.

I don’t really have any actual evidence with which to argue that this is definitely out of character for Kaito, so this could just be me here – but it seems quite possible that this is an example of a line that kinda belongs in this next section.

The clueless intern

Remember that clueless intern last post who somehow ended up writing a handful of Kaito’s lines in the demo despite having only a very shallow grasp of his character that misses everything important about him? (That’s totally why those out-of-character parts in the demo happened, shush.) Well, apparently they were also given a few of his hangouts to write, as well. I feel it’s important to point out which few of these involve things that Kaito shouldn’t actually be saying.

[Gym]

-      “Let’s play basketball”

Kaito:  “You got guts to challenge me at basketball! Didn’t I tell you? My basketball skills are universe-tier.”

So why wasn’t Kaito in the basketball club in middle school? Because Ryoma needed to die, of course. (I suggested soccer as his alternate favourite sport in my Kaito-isn’t-into-tennis AU, but basketball, as another team sport, would make just as much sense.)

Kaito:  “World-class athletes try to be my apprentice just to steal my skills.”

It’s potentially interesting to see him use the word “apprentice” here, when really that word would be a much more accurate and representative word for what he calls a “sidekick”. I guess in Kaito’s head, an apprentice is something totally different and only there to learn tangible skills such as this, without any kind of emotional support being involved? …Orrr the writer for this hangout just doesn’t know what they’re doing at all; that’s also possible.

Kaito:  “But… my muscles are cramping, so I can’t really play basketball right now.”

See, I don’t like this. This whole thing was Kaito boasting about something he knows is not true with no intention of ever even trying to back it up, and making an excuse that is blatantly nothing but a lie. That is not remotely what Kaito is like, despite that he might seem that way at a glance. He may talk big, but the intent behind his words is always genuine, and for every instance in canon of him making what seems like an excuse to get out of backing up his words, it’s actually because he is literally sick and doesn’t want his sidekicks to know that. Meanwhile, this here seems like it was written by someone who knew almost nothing about Kaito’s character, briefly saw the part where he talks big, and interpreted it in the most superficial and typical way possible rather than actually understanding him at all.

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s bake something”

Kaito:  “Sorry, I’m not really in the mood for sweets. I need something… more manly. Something that’s gonna fill me up.”

This is the only actual time in the whole game, aside from the very first Misogyny Bullet that was also provably out of character, where Kaito talks about manliness in a way that seemingly is about stereotypically masculine things, if sweets apparently aren’t. This really isn’t his usual definition of the concept, and as such it also reads as out of character that he’d use that word here.

Kaito:  “If you eat too many sweets, you’ll become a spoiled person.”

Still, at least he also has a more meaningful reason for not liking sweets much. Plus, you’d think that as an astronaut, he’d want to eat healthier stuff that’d keep his strength up.

(All this said, though, based on his gift preferences, Kaito does at least like ice cream.)

[Gym]

-      “Ah, maybe we should take off our clothes?”

Another one that, what the hell, writers, Shuichi would be way too shy and awkward to actually suggest this even if he did secretly want to, this is blatantly just in there for some eyerolly shipbait. I would ignore this one entirely, but… we kinda need to talk about this.

Kaito:  “Huh!? What are you talking about!? Save that stuff for the girls! Or wait, did you come out or something and not tell me!?”

Okay, so originally my plan for talking about this line was to say that I have no idea where the hell some people get the idea that Kaito is homophobic. This is the only line of his in the entire game that actually addresses the topic of homosexuality at all, and it’s apparently him being upset at the idea that Shuichi would have come out and not told him. His sidekick’s supposed to be able to tell him anything! He’d want Shuichi to trust him enough to be the first person he tells about something like this! Of course he’d be supportive about who Shuichi is!

…But the expression Kaito’s actually making for these lines is a kind-of-horrified face which definitely does not allow for that reading of it, and no, fuck off, fuck you, game, Kaito is better than this, he would be supportive of his sidekick, and of everyone, no matter what. This is Danganronpa’s occasionally-shitty writing temporarily affecting Kaito in a way that is not in character for him and I will hear nothing else.

See, okay, maybe I can accept Kaito having passively picked up bigotry like this through cultural osmosis as he was growing up (perhaps through his grandparents’ old-fashioned views, although people use his grandparents to justify Kaito’s supposed bigotry way too much when they should just be pointing out that it’s not actually in character for him to think that way at all as I’m about to do here and have done previously on the topic of misogyny). But that’s only a view Kaito would ever have in the background without really thinking about it. Kaito’s principles (his concept of manliness, even!) put a lot of focus on thinking for yourself and not just mindlessly going along with what other people think without deciding on your own if you agree with it. So as soon as a situation came along in which he actually consciously noticed his passive bigotry, Kaito would question why he even thinks that way and realise it’s wrong.

Remember, Kaito believes more strongly than anything that everyone is important and amazing and deserves to be the hero of their own story. He puts so much value in communication and co-operation between all different walks of life (he speaks English and Russian fluently and learned the cultures along with the languages), and even hopes for communication between humans and aliens if they exist out there. The moment Kaito were to consciously catch himself feeling inclined to think that some people apparently don’t deserve respect just because of something arbitrary about them that isn’t hurting anyone else, he would immediately stop, go “what the hell is wrong with me, that’s bullshit”, and work on training his brain to stop thinking that way at all. Kaito’s not perfect, but he’s always trying to be the best he can be, and this would be no exception. Anyone who thinks Kaito wouldn’t do this doesn’t properly appreciate his character, and that includes the writers of this game when they’re being like this.

[Library]

-      “Let’s read a dirty book”

Another one that Shuichi shouldn’t actually have any in-character reason to pick, because he is evidently not this kind of person, remember when that was literally a vital plot point?

Kaito:  “Hehe! Of course! It’s weird for guys to not look for those kinds of books in a library!”

The way Kaito phrases this… kind of almost suggests that he’s not actually doing this because he wants to, but just because peer pressure and society has made him think he’s supposed to want to. I’d like to say this is something the writers are deliberately trying to hint at, but that makes very little sense for Kaito in particular, because that’s not thinking for himself.

And if Kaito is supposed to genuinely believe that obviously all guys should be like this… then that’s also kind of gross and another thing I refuse to accept is actually in-character for Kaito to think. Shitty Danganronpa writing, leave Kaito alone.

Mentions of manliness

But anyway, let’s move on from those brief instances of out-universe bad writing and see some more examples of what Kaito’s concept of manliness actually means. He brings it up in a few of these hangouts, and all but that earlier one have a perfectly good understanding of it.

[Courtyard]

-      “Let’s get some fresh air”

Kaito:  “Yeah, it’s a hundred times better than the stale air inside. A man’s gotta be in a wide-open space, y’know? Staying indoors for too long will turn you into a narrow-minded person.”

Oh, look, Kaito explicitly does not want to be a narrow-minded person. Cough cough like not a sexist or a homophobe, cough! He even connects being open-minded to his concept of manliness, because of course this is along similar lines to that! Be true to yourself – and to do that, think for yourself!

Kaito:  “That’s why I’m gonna go to the universe and be a universe-minded guy!”

Also, SPACE. But this actually makes a lot more sense than you might think – some astronauts have described something called the Overview Effect. It’s an overwhelming feeling they get when first seeing the Earth from space: the sense that all of the fights and prejudices and differences between humans down there are so insignificant in the grand scheme of how beautiful our planet is and how small we are in the vastness of space, and that we need to work together to protect our precious tiny blue dot. Did you know that astronauts are good? It’s not just Kaito; all astronauts are good.

[A/V Room]

-      “We should focus on reality, not movies”

Kaito:  “Right on! That’s my sidekick! A man should chase real passions, not sit around watching fake stuff!”

Since Kaito’s idea of being a man is all about being true to yourself, it follows that he’d also think a man should focus more on things that are real! At least, I guess, in terms of “chasing passions”, aka the things he wants to do with his life. We already know plenty about how much Kaito enjoys believing in fictional things like magic and kids’ games just because they’re fun.

Kaito:  “Hell yeah! I’m fired up like crazy now! I’ll teach you all about the universe as I imagine it!”

Kaito. Buddy. The universe as you imagine it is not reality either. You dork.

[Courtyard]

-      “Let’s go back inside”

Kaito:  “Huh? Why’d you pick this place if you were just gonna go back? It’s not manly to keep changing your mind like that!”

Be sure of yourself! Only decide on something if you know you’re going to stick to it, and if you do change your mind after that, it should be for a good reason!

[Dining Hall]

-      Sleeping after a meal

Kaito:  “Yeah, you get it! As expected from my sidekick! They say sleeping after eating makes you fat, but you can’t fight instinct!”

Oh, dear. According to Ryoma’s comments on this same option (and you’d think he’d know better than Kaito), sleeping after eating is indeed unhealthy. But Kaito tells himself it’s a good thing to do anyway because it’s what he feels like he wants to do. And he’s happy that Shuichi agrees with him on this, even though it’s not actually a good thing to agree with him on.

Kaito:  “And now that I said that… I’m feeling sleepy myself… Alright! I’m gonna listen to my instincts and sleep like a man!”

Sounds ridiculous, but actually a correct use of Kaito’s concept of manliness! He’s listening to what his body wants him to do, which totally means he’s being true to himself, right? …Even though in this instance he apparently shouldn’t be.

Exercise and training

This being Kaito, the options suggesting some kind of exercise are some of his favourites. Well… usually.

[Dining Hall]

-      Exercising after a meal

Kaito:  “I know that’s best, but don’t you get sleepy after you eat?”

Apparently Kaito is perfectly aware that it’s a bad habit of his to sleep after meals. Come on, Kaito, if you know it’s bad, you should be trying to break that habit, instead of justifying it to yourself because it can technically be argued to be manliness!

This hangout is one of the bad-outcome ones, and maybe the reason why is just that Kaito apparently really wanted to be validated by not being the only one with this bad habit.

Kaito:  “I guess even though you’re my sidekick, we’re pretty different sometimes…”

But… it seems like it might just be the more general thought that he’s different from Shuichi that’s bothering Kaito here, as if he’s worried Shuichi might be less inclined to be his friend if he felt Kaito was too different from him. (Hold this thought – there’ll be more along these lines in the next post.) Being different doesn’t stop you from being friends, though, Kaito! He and Shuichi are very different from each other in a lot of ways, but that’s what makes them such a good team, because they complement each others’ weaknesses so well.

[Gym]

-      “Let’s warm up a bit”

Kaito:  “Yeah, it’d suck if I got injured and had to give up on being an astronaut. Let’s work on our warm ups, then. Oh, hold on. Is it possible to get injured doing warm ups? If that’s the case, then we better do some pre-warm up warm ups.”

Kaito… does not seem to be all that knowledgeable about how physical training actually works. (See also: his totally very “systematic method” for his sidekicks’ training.) Maybe he really should watch that documentary about athletes. Or sit down with Ryoma and learn a thing or two from him… except, ha ha, that’s not going to happen very easily now is it.

(…Not that I know any better myself whether Kaito’s right to be worried here. I may do daily exercise now thanks to Kaito, but I also have a very systematic method for it, which is of course to say that I don’t and have no idea what I’m doing.)

You’d think Kaito should know this stuff, but, well, maybe his in-universe writers were slacking off while giving him memories of the physical part of astronaut training. Which should have been a difficult mistake to make when you consider that Team Danganronpa must have this character-creation thing down to a science by now and that sport-based talents are very common. They should have a standard “general athlete knowledge base” section of Flashback Light data that they put into every sporty character’s Flashback Light, which should have included Kaito; they’re clearly aware that astronauts train just as much as athletes since they gave him knowledge of that fact. But apparently someone was sleeping on the job.

[Courtyard]

-      “Let’s dance!”

Kaito:  “Huh? Dance with you? Why? It’s not like I don’t want to, but… Well, whatever! If you’re suggesting it, I’m sure you’ve got a good reason!”

Let’s pretend Shuichi was suggesting this as a different kind of exercise, even though Kaito should probably have realised that’s why and have said so and been on board with it for that specific reason. Kaito should enjoy dancing in particular, too, because it’s all about expressing yourself!

(Honestly, the lack of Shuichi having any of his own dialogue in these past the initial options, leaving the hangout partner essentially just talking to thin air, is kind of awkward sometimes.)

[Gym]

-      “Let’s do some muscle training”

The obviously correct choice for when you are in a gym with Kaito!

Kaito:  “Alright! Let’s do 500 push-ups! We’re gonna go non-stop, so get ready!”

That is a big number. I can maybe imagine reaching 500 with a lot of breaks to rest – like, a lot – but non-stop? Yikes. Especially for Shuichi, who’s still new to this.

Kaito:  “Huh? That’s too many? 500 should be a piece of cake for my sidekick! Don’t complain, just do it!”

But of course Kaito pushes Shuichi into at least trying anyway.

Kaito:  “The impossible is possible! All you gotta do is make it so!”

Ayyyy! He still wants this to be known even in the bonus mode. If Shuichi believes 500 non-stop push-ups are possible, he’s a lot more likely to be able to do it than if he’s already written it off as impossible, after all!

…I doubt Shuichi managed to get anywhere close to 500. But then, I also doubt that Kaito did either, so after they both inevitably collapsed in exhaustion, they probably agreed to get there more slowly with breaks after all.

(If Maki were here too, though, she could totally do 500 non-stop without breaking a sweat.)

[Courtyard]

-      “Let’s go for a run”

Kaito:  “Yeah, sounds good! I haven’t been able to do my daily training since we came here.”

Surely he has been doing his daily training since he started training Shuichi under whatever circumstances kicked that off in this AU? Ugggh this AU and its lack of a proper contextual story for any of this.

Kaito:  “Let’s run like we’re chasing our pasts!”

Usually when Kaito has a line that appears kind of ridiculous and there-to-sound-cool, there is actually some kind of meaningful substance to it that makes sense in his head. But I’m not sure what he could mean with this one here. Kaito’s generally more about people putting their pasts behind them and looking to the future, after all.

Kaito:  “Detectives need stamina too, right?”

Well, they do if they’re going to be having cases that involve things like capturing alligators, apparently. (Man, Shuichi should tell Kaito about that case. He’d enjoy a story like that, no doubt.)

Principles and advice

Some of these hangouts lead to Kaito showing his delightful principles about keeping a positive outlook on things. (This is partly because quite a few of the obvious-bad-hangout-partner options involve Shuichi grumpily complaining for no good reason, which Kaito would obviously take issue with.)

[A/V Room]

-      Watch a comedy movie

Kaito:  “Movies like this are great for turning your mood around. When you’re down, all you gotta do is let out a laugh and everything’s good!”

It’s interesting that Kaito apparently likes comedy movies not exactly for their own sake, but rather because they’re good for cheering you up. What Kaito has just implied here (definitely without having meant to) is that he can in fact feel down sometimes and has found that things like this work for pulling him out of it.

Kaito:  “If you’re down all the time, then your dreams might get away from you!”

After all, you shouldn’t just wallow in your sadness when you could be doing whatever you can to stay positive!

[Gym]

-      “Let’s train… our minds…”

Kaito:  “Yeah! It’s got nothing to do with exercising, but your mind’s important!”

Of course Kaito thinks this! Although, what does he mean it’s got nothing to do with exercising? The whole point of him getting his sidekicks to exercise is to help with their mental health!

Kaito:  “If you can’t visualize your goals, you’ll never be able to achieve them.”

If you can’t believe the impossible is possible, you’ll never be able to make it so!

Kaito:  “That’s just what I’d expect from my sidekick! You get what’s important!”

Aww, he’s so happy that his sidekick already understands the type of mindset he likes to advocate.

(Fun irrelevant fact: I had Kaito use the sentence “You get what’s important!” in a piece of extremely silly Kaito content on my main blog just because it sounded like the kind of thing he might say, while not remembering at the time that he says that exact sentence in the actual game. I was quite amused when I saw this line again.)

[A/V Room]

-      “I might fall asleep…”

Kaito:  “Well, sure. If you grab some boring movie or something. But if you decide that’s gonna happen from the start, then it probably will. If you always expect the worst, then you’ll always get the worst!”

Kaito’s philosophy is just so good. He always encourages people to try and have a positive outlook, not just because it’ll help them feel better, but because it actually matters to what they’ll be able to achieve. You have to believe the impossible is possible before you’ll ever be able to make it so!

[Library]

-      “This is boring…”

(This is another one that doesn’t make any sense for Shuichi to say. He likes novels; he would not be bored in a library.)

Kaito:  “Really? There are so many books here, there’s gotta be some that interest you. Before you start complaining, try looking around a bit more.”

Don’t just pointlessly complain when there’s something you could be doing to make things better! Don’t give up before you’ve even tried!

[Library]

-      “Sure is dusty in here”

Kaito:  “Yeah, but instead of complaining, you should do something about it. If you’re gonna be my sidekick, then you gotta know that much.”

I like that this one isn’t just Kaito’s don’t-complain principle, but is also him asserting that any sidekick of his should already know about this principle of his and be trying to follow that advice. People only become Kaito’s sidekicks once they’ve made the choice to try and change themselves and make their situation better, after all. His principles about not complaining when you could be doing something are basically the same idea as that.

[Gym]

-      “I’m tired…”

Kaito:  “Huh? You haven’t even done anything yet. If you keep talking like that, I won’t hold back, even if you are my sidekick!”

This is presumably more of Kaito’s don’t-complain principle going on here, except this time he’s not even mentioning the principle itself and is just assuming his sidekick should know better and being annoyed that he’s still complaining anyway.

I should note, though, that if Shuichi complained about being tired in a different context, Kaito would definitely take it very differently and see it as a sign that something’s wrong with him and offer help like always. But in this context, in which Shuichi has just invited him to hang out in the gym and then immediately gone “oh but I’m tired” before they’ve even done anything, it does just come across like he’s being lazy and flaky and doesn’t actually want to exercise, in which case why even come here if you’re only going to complain?

Somewhat relevant to this is Kaito’s stock dialogue when a hangout has the worst possible outcome, which the above hangout is one example of.

[Worst outcome]

Kaito:  “C’mon, man… Don’t go forgetting a sidekick’s responsibilities. I’m heading back…”

He expected his sidekick to know better than to change his mind and complain for no reason like this! A sidekick doesn’t have nearly as many responsibilities as the hero does, but Kaito does expect them to understand some of the most frequent advice he gives and be making at least an effort to follow it. To be his sidekick, they’ve got to be trying to change.

There are literally only four hangouts that have a “worst” outcome for Kaito, so it’s really not often at all that Kaito gives this response that implies that he’s disappointed in Shuichi like this. One of the others is the one from the manliness section where Shuichi wanted to go back inside as soon as they’d gone to the courtyard, which is a similar thing of changing his mind and complaining about the decision he literally just made – the kind of thing that Kaito already expected his sidekick to know better than to do.

(Another of the worst outcomes was Shuichi suggesting a horror movie – that one’s not at all Shuichi’s fault and has nothing to do with Kaito’s principles, but I can understand Kaito getting upset enough about it that he somewhat forgets himself in his reaction to it. The fourth one is one that’s coming up later.) 

Heroes and sidekicks

My favourite category! Time for some hangouts that hint at Kaito’s issues about heroes and sidekicks, either in a general sense or specifically in regards to his relationship with Shuichi.

First, though, Kaito’s response when a hangout has only a bad-but-not-worst outcome is relevant to this topic as well. As I mentioned, the worst outcome is very rare – most of the time, if he doesn’t have a good time, he’ll just say this:

[Bad outcome]

Kaito:  “Are you tired or something? If you’re not feeling well, just rest. My sidekick’s fatigue is my fatigue. I’m… gonna head back first.”

Obviously, it’s not that the hangout made Kaito feel bad or anything. It’s just that apparently Shuichi looks tired, and Kaito’s looking out for his sidekick by suggesting he should go back and rest! And then it’s totally just a coincidence that Kaito heads back first.

(“I’ve projected my own fatigue onto you in order to hide the fact that I’m the one feeling tired” sure is one way for the phrase “my sidekick’s fatigue is my fatigue” to technically be true.)

On some level this could be Kaito trying to hide the fact that Shuichi showed him a bad time so as to not make Shuichi feel guilty for being a bad host – after all, it’s only very rarely that he gives the worst-outcome dialogue that makes it seem like Shuichi did anything wrong. I feel like if that was the only issue, though, Kaito would be more open about it and just say something like “I didn’t have a great time, but hey, it’s not your fault, don’t worry about it, I’m still up for hanging out with you again”. But that would still be Kaito all but admitting that something actually made him feel down at all. Which is obviously not a thing that ever happens to Kaito, right?

[A/V Room]

-      Watch an action movie

Kaito:  “Action movies are fun cuz you don’t have to think too hard to enjoy them.”

…Because they tend to just have the heroes winning by saving the day in cool ways and being uncomplicatedly awesome?

It is such a delightfully relevant detail that Kaito prefers his fiction simple. If he appreciated more nuanced fiction, if his favourite kinds of stories were instead the ones where the hero’s character is more of a focus and you watch him go through hardships and struggle and grow and still manage to be a hero in the end anyway, then things in canon would have been very, very different.

Kaito:  “And there’s a bunch of ‘em that use the universe as their stage!”

Of course, this is an even better reason to like action movies: because SPACE.

(The writers could so easily have had this hangout be nothing but Kaito taking the excuse to talk about space movies, and nothing would have seemed amiss. But they put that first comment he made in there too. I love Kaito’s writers so much.)

Kaito:  “Alright! I’m gonna tell you all about my favorites! You ready to take notes!?”

And then… they don’t even watch any space action movies, it just turns into Kaito excitedly telling Shuichi all about his favourite ones. What a dork.

(At least, if Shuichi really did take notes, he can use that list when they’re living a normal life on the outside and he suggests a space movie marathon with Kaito on the 31st of October for no particular reason.)

[Library]

-      “Let’s read manga

Kaito:  “Adventure manga are the best! They’ve got so much passion in them!”

Heh, of course Kaito’s favourite genre of manga would be that.

Kaito:  “You should read all the famous adventure manga, Shuichi! Since we’re pals, it’d be great to read through some together.”

And then it’s cute that he wants to bring Shuichi into this thing he’s interested in, too! Shuichi does like novels, so while maybe he doesn’t usually read much manga, he should still be able to enjoy them! It makes me happy to think of them doing regular kinda-nerdy friend things together like this. Kaito even referred to them as “pals” and not “hero and sidekick”, which is very rare for him!

(I’m imagining, as they read through one of Kaito’s favourite manga, that Shuichi with his more nuanced appreciation of fiction comments that the hero isn’t very interesting because he keeps winning too easily without much effort. And Kaito is internally all “???????? He seems like a perfectly good hero to me??? Why does Shuichi think he’s supposed to be struggling?”)

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s cook something”

Kaito:  “Oh? You can cook, Shuichi? That means I can cook too! My sidekick’s skills are my skills, and my skills are my sidekick’s skills!”

Uhhhh Kaito that’s not how this works. “Your X is my X, my X is your X” definitely does not apply to this. Does that also mean that Shuichi can speak fluent English and Russian and pilot a spaceship?

Being happy that your friend can cook because then you can enjoy his food whenever he feels up to making something is one thing, but this is not quite how you express that, you dork.

(Ask him to teach you, Kaito! It’d be a fun thing to learn, just like how to build a crossbow!)

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s drink something”

Kaito:  “H-How did you know I was thirsty? Insight like that is just what I’d expect from the Ultimate Detective.”

Really? Because insight about the way someone’s feeling is really more the kind of thing that one would expect from you, Kaito.

Kaito:  “Or maybe… it was your sidekick powers that tipped you off! If that’s the case, then I’m proud to have such a great sidekick!”

What does “sidekick powers” even mean? …Perhaps it’s Kaito-speak for Shuichi being such a great friend that he can pick up on his friend’s needs. But even if that’s what he means, Kaito has to word it in a way that’s about Shuichi being his sidekick, because he very rarely actually refers to Shuichi as his “friend”.

…The third and by far most likely option, of course, is that it’s pure dumb luck and Shuichi just happened to want a drink himself without realising Kaito did too. But Kaito has to go and make this about the sidekick thing and use it as an excuse to shower praise onto Shuichi like the encouraging hero he is. He’s such a dork.

[Gym]

-      “I’ll be the referee”

Kaito:  “Huh? If you’re the referee, does that mean I’ll just be exercising by myself?”

Saying you’ll be the referee is probably supposed to be interpreted as the lazy way out of having to do any exercise yourself. But somehow Kaito doesn’t take it that way and admonish Shuichi for not wanting to train.

Kaito:  “Haha! So the sidekick wants to see the hero’s full potential? Then why didn’t you say so!? I’ll show you everything I got!”

Because he takes it this way instead. Obviously Shuichi wants to see how awesome the hero is! Being the most awesome so that he can set an example and inspire his sidekicks to try and reach his heights is exactly what a hero is supposed to do!

I love the “why didn’t you say so?”, implying that this really is not at all why Shuichi suggested this, yet Kaito is automatically assuming it is because that’s definitely how heroes and sidekicks work.

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s have some tea”

Kaito:  “Yeah, let’s grab some tea and have a heart-to-heart.”

Yes, this is totally going to be a two-directional outpouring of emotions and issues here.

Kaito:  “Don’t you keep any secrets from me! Sidekicks and heroes shouldn’t have secrets between them, y’know?”

Oh, Kaito, you wonderful hypocrite.

It is a little surprising that he’s so adamant that Shuichi shouldn’t be keeping anything at all from him, since he advocated during trial 3 that people are always going to have some secrets and that doesn’t mean they’re keeping them out of malice. But I suppose since Shuichi is his sidekick, the whole point is that Shuichi is supposed to trust him with anything and everything, and if there was something Shuichi wasn’t willing to talk to him about, it’d mean Kaito’s not being a good enough hero.

And obviously, as the hero, Kaito definitely also trusts Shuichi with everything that’s going on in his head, right? Definitely.

[Library]

-      “I want to scream really loud!”

Kaito:  “Huh? That’s not like you, Shuichi. You’re not the type to be rude like that. You don’t gotta force yourself, y’know?”

Pfft, look at Kaito pointing out for us that this is one of the out-of-character options for Shuichi. It’s kind of a shame that he doesn’t take this further like he does for some others that we’re about to see.

[Dining Hall]

-      “Let’s try fasting”

Kaito:  “What!? If you do that, you’ll die for sure!”

…I feel like this might be an odd translation thing, because fasting is obviously not something that kills people. Kaito is open to other cultures enough that he should perfectly well know this.

Kaito:  “Do you have a fever? Don’t push yourself, alright?”

Yeah, if you’re sick, you shouldn’t push yourself, Kaito.

(…It’s not clear whether or not Kaito actually has the virus in this AU, because that would depend on whether Team Danganronpa changed their minds about doing the killing game before or after infecting him with it. But even if he does, his symptoms wouldn’t quite get far enough along for him to realise he’s dying within the ten days this takes place. And since he’s going to get out of here in ten days, that’s plenty of time to get himself to a hospital once he’s outside, so he’d be fine.)

Kaito:  “If you’re not feeling well, it’s because of my poor management.”

It is very Kaito that he turns this into assuming something must be wrong if Shuichi is inexplicably suggesting something like this, and so he starts worrying about him. It’s also very painfully Kaito that he’s blaming himself for it – he considers himself thoroughly responsible for his sidekicks’ wellbeing, and so if something’s wrong, it must be his fault somehow for not being a good enough hero, right?

[Gym]

-      “Let’s burn this place to the ground”

Another “what the hell, Shuichi?” option. But this one Kaito takes quite seriously.

Kaito:  “What? Hey, c’mon, that’s not you, man. What’s wrong?”

Which is to say, he immediately takes it as a sign that something wrong with Shuichi, because Kaito is good and always concerned about his sidekick’s wellbeing. If Shuichi actually did ever suggest this, it probably would be because he’s very upset about something.

Kaito:  “If something’s wrong, all you gotta do is talk to me about it. If it’s something you won’t talk to me about, then there’s nothing I can do…”

And I love that this then turns into Kaito being really worried that there might be a problem that Shuichi won’t talk to him about, which would mean he’d be powerless to fix it. He can’t bear the idea of not being able to help, especially not when it’s his sidekick, whom he’s always supposed to be able to help.

(It’s almost like someone not talking about their issues and therefore being impossible to help is precisely the problem with you, Kaito! But of course that’s not an analogous problem, Kaito’s the hero so he’s not supposed to need help, what are you talking about.)

Unfortunately, since this is a “what the hell, Shuichi” option, and since Shuichi gets no further lines in these, there’s not really anything that’s actually wrong with him and so we can’t further explore this idea of Kaito feeling like he’s unable to help his sidekick. It’s just a fun look at how the possibility of being powerless like that is something he’s really scared of.

(The wiki says this option is a worst outcome, which would be an extra sign of just how awful Kaito feels about this… but the wiki is wrong and this is actually only a bad outcome. The worst outcome dialogue, about Shuichi forgetting “a sidekick’s responsibilities”, could sort of work here – one of his sidekick’s responsibilities is to tell him whenever something’s wrong, isn’t it? But on the other hand, this hangout lingers on the note of Kaito feeling helpless to support Shuichi, which is not a state of mind in which he would want to blame Shuichi for anything. Meanwhile, the “you’re totally the one feeling tired, right, and there’s nothing at all wrong with me” bad-outcome dialogue is perfect for this situation. So maybe this is why this is nominally only a “bad” outcome even though it would definitely be making Kaito feel more awful than any of the “worst” ones do. I am totally not overthinking this.)

[Courtyard]

-      “I want to get outside as soon as I can”

Kaito:  “Well, that’s obvious. What’s really on your mind, man? If there’s something you’re worried about, just talk to me.”

Here’s some more Kaito delightfully deciding that Shuichi must clearly have a different problem to this that’s what he really wants to talk about. Perhaps the reason he decides that is because the problem of getting out of here isn’t something Kaito can actually help with other than being positive about it, so he wants to turn the conversation onto something he can help with.

Kaito:  “Your worry is my worry! My worry is your worry!”

Hee. He only says this once in canon, but I love that it’s here again. It is still so delightfully hypocritical.

Kaito:  “If I can ease your worries, mine will be eased too!”

This is extremely true and accurate, though. A lot more literally so than it would be for most friends who support each other, because almost all of Kaito’s own worries revolve around whether he’s able to help Shuichi with his. The best way for Kaito to feel better really is for him to know that Shuichi is okay and that he helped Shuichi be okay. The counterpoint to this, of course, is that if Kaito feels like he can’t ease Shuichi’s worries, then his own will only get worse.

In fact, this basically proves that when Kaito says “My worry is your worry,” he really is just thinking of it as another way of wording “Your worry is my worry”. He’s saying that what he worries about the most is how to help with whatever’s bothering Shuichi. That line is not and never was Kaito trying to actually claim that he’d be happy to share if he had problems of his own.

And even when Kaito does have worries entirely of his own, like when he’s dying in canon, the feeling of being able to support Shuichi means so much to him that it at least manages to distract him from his own worries and therefore sort of ease them in a sense. Though what that really ends up doing is making Kaito increasingly convinced that his own worries are insignificant next to Shuichi’s, which is incredibly not healthy and part of the reason he died.

Being stuck here

And finally, to finish off this post, a few of the hangouts actually reference the vague semblance of a “story” we’ve got going on by mentioning the fact that they’re trapped in here.

[Gym]

-      “Let’s renovate the place”

Kaito:  “What, you wanna make this place more comfortable or something? What if you start liking it here? Weren’t we gonna work together and escape this academy?”

It’s neat how Kaito makes this about escaping and warns Shuichi not to get too attached to this place.

I guess by “work together” to escape, given the context, Kaito’s specifically talking about how they’re working towards escaping by hanging out and becoming close enough friends with each other? (let’s keep pretending Monokuma mentioned platonic relationships at all, shush)

[Courtyard]

-      “I’ve gotten used to being here”

Kaito:  “Yeah, me too. But that doesn’t change the fact that I wanna escape!”

Despite the previous one that had Kaito asserting it’d be bad for Shuichi to get used to being here, in this one he’s willing to acknowledge that he’s done that too, even though he doesn’t like it.

Kaito:  “Life is short! I don’t have time to waste loafing around here.”

did you know Kaito’s parents died

Kaito:  “Don’t get complacent! If you start to enjoy a place like this, then you’ll never find new horizons!”

Here’s more of Kaito just having a generally Good outlook on life. People shouldn’t be telling themselves they’re okay with a situation that isn’t what they really want (just like Maki was doing before she met him), because then they’ll get stuck in that rut and never be able to get themselves out of it! And so, even though he is finding himself getting used to this place, Kaito’s determined not to let that stop him from wanting to move on and not look back once they get out of here.

[Courtyard]

-      “What a great view…”

Kaito:  “Really? I don’t think so. I mean, I’m the guy who’s gonna fly off into the universe. I can’t be content with a view like this. I gotta see bigger and better things!”

I’m going to assume this is meant as basically an extension of the idea that Kaito doesn’t want them to get used to being stuck here and not try to escape; the view from the Academy isn’t anything particularly special, after all. Because it’d be sad if Kaito wasn’t able to let himself enjoy some of the prettier views on Earth just because they’re not space. You can still enjoy a thing even if you know there’s an even better thing out there! Kaito is definitely the kind of person who should be able to understand that. There’s nothing unnecessary in this world!

(but also have I mentioned how very important it is that the rocket had a window)

[Courtyard]

-      “Staying here forever wouldn’t be so bad”

Kaito:  “Huh!? What the hell are you talking about!? No way we’re staying here forever! Even if you are my sidekick, I won’t let you off the hook for saying that!”

This one reads to me less like Kaito’s trying to encourage Shuichi to be less defeatist and more like Kaito is angry on his own behalf. It’s almost as if Shuichi is trying to tell him to give up on getting out of here. Hey, Kaito, what’s so great about space anyway? Maybe you should just never go there after all.

(This is the last of the rare absolute worst outcomes. Kaito does not approve of having this idea suggested to him, and his sidekick should obviously have known better than to try and make him be okay with giving up like this.)

And while you might think Kaito is so optimistic that the thought of staying here forever would never have even occurred to him, it is a thought that’s been plaguing him, even though he’d never admit it out loud. More on that next time when we reach the main event here.

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #bonus content #salmon team #commentary

[detectivesplotslies]

On your face

Description: Kaito and Shuichi have a short conversation about reading people’s faces. 

Word Count: 685

Read it on AO3

“So, what did you figure out?”

Shuichi blinked, and glanced back over to Kaito, sitting across from him. The astronaut trainee was sitting lazily cross-legged, holding a white puzzle piece in his hand, about half of the milk puzzle on the table between them assembled, not that Shuichi had been helping much. He’d been lost in thought for a while now. Kaito turned the pieces between his fingers, grinning.

“What?”

“I said, what did you figure out? Need me to speak up, Shuichi?”

“No, I heard you fine,” Shuichi stammers. Kaito definitely didn’t need to up his volume. He was easily loud enough to hear from the next room over most days, and next to him Shuichi always sounded like he was whispering.

“Good, then we don’t need to get your ears checked! Can’t have my sidekick getting caught unawares.”

Shuichi’s face burned red in embarrassment as he tried to backpedal the conversation. “I meant, what do you mean by that?” “I meant what I said, You figured something out, and I was curious what it was.” “But how do you know. ” “Hah! So I’m right, you did!” “Kaito, how did you know, I didn’t say anything.” Kaito scratched at the back of his head. “Well yeah, you get all quiet when you’re thinking hard, but I saw you doing it so I waited a bit. Guess you didn’t even notice. When you were done, I wanted to know what it was about. Not like I was gonna interrupt, what if I ruined my sidekick’s brilliant deduction!”

“You saw it on my face?” Shuichi touches his cheek self-consciously, close to where he used to pull at his hat. How long was he watching? “Yeah. You get this look, sort of unfocused eyes, like you’re looking at something that isn’t there and slightly down when you’re thinking really hard. Usually you don’t react to much anyone else when you do it too. I saw your eyes snap back into to focus, so I knew you’d gotten your conclusion.” Kaito gestured towards his own eyes with the puzzle piece as he explained. Shuichi stared at him. Did he really do that? “So you read people?” A phrase he recalled Kokichi saying popped into his mind. “Like a tell?”

“Sure, like a tell! Not just for lying though, and different people got different ones. When you’re co-operating with a team, you gotta learn how they handle things, especially if you’re gonna be a leader. The more you’re with each other the more you notice. Like Maki Roll, she stares right through you when she’s thinking hard, and looks away when she’s done. You’re kinda opposites, actually, come to think of it.” “Really? I never noticed.” Kaito rolled his eyes and placed down the puzzle piece, then reached over to muss up Shuichi’s hair, to the detectives yelp in protest. “Well of course you don’t, you’re always looking at people’s feet. Shoes aren’t gonna tell you anyone’s inner thoughts! Now I know I’m not the detective here, but here’s some advice, from a hero to a sidekick. You gotta use all the tools at your disposal! And people hold more clues than stuff sometimes. Might be tough, but I think you could do it.” Shuichi swatted Kaito’s hands and tried to fix his hair, face still red as Kaito chuckled. “I can try,” He managed.

“Good. But you’re not getting out of this with just that. You still haven’t told me what you figured out!” “Oh.” Shuichi’s hand covered his mouth, and he looked away.

“C’mon, you don’t gotta be embarrassed, Shuichi. I promise, I won’t laugh.”

“...I just figured out the punchline to the joke Kokichi made at breakfast this morning.” Kaito’s eyes widened a bit and he visibly bit his lip, in a weak attempt to keep that promise. It didn’t last long and a laugh broke free. Shuichi told him to knock it off in embarrassment, but eventually the laughter was contagious enough for him to laugh at his own ‘brilliant conclusion’, the puzzle between them long abandoned, probably since before Kaito started watching his face.

#saimota #ndrv3 #shuichi saihara #kaito momota #fic #mostly just a dumb conversation #can be read a platonic #it's vaguely in-game #my content #sorry for posting more of my dumb writing #my writing