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acacia-may · 1 year

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Happily Ever After [Danganronpa UDG Fanfiction]

Description: Nagisa knows he shouldn't be working so hard on his day off. Luckily, his young daughter is there to remind him to take a break by talking him into playing the role of "prince" in her most recent fairytale game.

Fandom: Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls (UDG)

Genre: Family Fluff, Cotton-Candy Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Slice of Life, Future-Fic, Wholesome

Characters and Relationships: Nagisa Shingetsu and His Daughter. The other Warriors of Hope are mentioned and so are Toko and Komaru. There are no pairings explicitly included or mentioned.

Rating: G

Warnings: Some vague references to Nagisa's childhood trauma and the events of UDG. Some spoilers for UDG are included. Monaca gets roasted a little bit by Jataro's storybook (but she's not mentioned by name). However, this is mostly nothing but fluff. It might give you cavities.

Word Count: 3198

This story was written for @light-wynd! 😊 Wyndi, I absolutely loved the beautiful drawing of an older Nagisa you made inspired by my headcanons, and I hope you will enjoy this story just as much as I enjoyed your art. 💕 For this story, I was really inspired by your prompt and your art, first and foremost, but I also took inspiration from another one of your art pieces which depicted Nagisa as a prince. I also really tried to incorporate Jataro's lovely fairytale retellings from in the game itself into this story as well. When you said that you might like to read about the dynamic between Papa Nagisa and his more upbeat and extroverted daughter, this was what came to my mind. I really hope you enjoy it and that it is what you were hoping for/what you had in mind when you mentioned the prompt. Thank you so much again for such beautiful art! Cheers!!💖

Story below the cut.

Nagisa’s brow furrowed at the report he had been working on for the past several days. He knew it would probably be best to just leave his work at the office, but after a night of interrupted sleep—tossing and turning while worrying over it, he decided to work on it some from his home office. His mouth twitched in the corners as he imagined what his closest friends would do if they found out he was working so hard on his day off. His laptop would probably end up in the bushes outside his window.

Nagisa sighed. He should probably take a break.

“Papa! Papa!” As if on cue, his young daughter, Kei, darted into his office—skipping and twirling around in a sparkly princess dress. She leaned her elbows on the side of his desk staring up at him with wide, blue eyes. Even after all of these years, it was still so surreal to Nagisa to see his own eyes staring back at him from his daughter’s face—especially with such joy and life in them. “What’re you doing?”

“Just catching up on some work.”

Kei tilted her head at him curiously. “Why?”

“It needs to be finished soon.”

Nagisa rubbed his tired eyes until his reading glasses were left lopsided. When Kei had been very little, she used to play with them—grabbing at the frames with her tiny hands whenever Nagisa had tried to read to her. Shortly before she had turned one, she had tried to put one of the lenses in her mouth but had luckily been stopped. He chuckled quietly. She had always been such a curious child. Even now, as she stared perplexed at his computer screen, her eyes were wide with wonder and curiosity. However, her little brow furrowed thoughtfully, and she frowned.

“Are you okay, Papa? You look sleepy.”

Nagisa couldn’t hold back a breathy laugh, but he reassured his daughter. “Maybe a little sleepy, but I’m fine.”

“Do you want to take a nap?”

Nagisa shrugged. A nap sounded nice, but it would probably make it harder to fall asleep that evening. Plus, who would keep an eye on the kids if he was asleep. He shook his head. “No, thank you. I’m not that sleepy, but”—he sighed— “I should probably take a break.”

Kei’s smile quickly returned. It was bright and beaming as it spread between her rosy cheeks and reached her eyes. Nagisa couldn’t quite understand how his daughter found so many things to smile about, but he wished he could see the world like she did. To Kei, even the smallest of things were exciting and wonderful. Earlier that week she had woken him up early in the morning—exuberantly tugging on the sleeve of his pajamas to come see the birds building a nest in a tree outside her window after they had woken her up with their singing.

“Then, can we play, Papa?” asked Kei as she twisted the skirt of her dress—swaying back and forth almost as if she was dancing. Nagisa quirked an eyebrow at her, but his mouth curved in the corners.

“Do you want to play princess again?”

Kei nodded enthusiastically—her long pigtails bobbing up and down. “Yes! Can you guess which princess I am?”

Humming thoughtfully, Nagisa tilted his head pretending to inspect a particularly giggly Kei. “Hm…Let’s see…” He made a show of narrowing his eyes and stroking his chin as if he was deep in thought which only made his daughter laugh more. “You have a very beautiful dress and a lovely tiara.”

“Thank you,” replied Kei with a short curtesy which upset a much-too-big crown she had nestled between the hair antenna she had asked him to style into her hair for reasons that had always escaped him.

“But”—he paused, staring at the indoor shoe Kei triumphantly shoved under his nose. “It seems you are missing a shoe, Your Highness.” Kei giggled. “Are you Cinderella by any chance?”

Giggling even harder, Kei shook her head. “No. Guess again, Papa.”

Nagisa’s brow furrowed—actually perplexed this time instead of just play-acting for his daughter’s amusement. “You’re not Cinderella?” he repeated in confusion.

“No.” Kei shook her head again before adjusting her lopsided tiara. “I’ll give you a hint. I’m kind of like Cinderella, but better.”

Nagisa hummed. He had quickly learned all of his princesses thanks to Kei—or at least he thought he had. He considered listing all of the princesses he knew: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, The Little Mermaid and so on, but he was fairly certain those could all be ruled out as options. Sighing, Nagisa conceded, “I don’t know. Which princess are you, Kei?”

“That’s okay, Papa.” She reassured him with a smile which only widened as she declared triumphantly, “I’m Cinder-Kotoko.”

Nagisa’s eyes widened. “Cinder…Kotoko?”

His daughter, however, did not seem to pick up on his confusion as she cheerfully hummed and nodded. “She’s my favorite princess. She’s like Cinderella, but she wanted to go to the ball because she wanted to go to a party and to dance not to meet the prince or anything. But then the evil stepsister was being mean to the prince, so Cinder-Kotoko told her to stop, and they became friends.”

Kei tilted her head at him perplexed as he stifled a laugh. He imagined the real “Cinder-Kotoko” would probably approve of this version of the story. His brow quickly furrowed at the thought, however, as he suddenly remembered a similar story Jataro had made up years ago, back when they were all still children. Did he tell it to Kei by chance or was it “Cinder-Kotoko” herself?

“Kei, where did you hear about Cinder-Kotoko?”

Giggling, Kei’s face lit up. “In the storybook Aunt Toko gave me.”

Nagisa quirked an eyebrow. Ms. Fukawa? That was unexpected.

“She says it’s a test, so I didn’t show you because I don’t want to cheat on the test.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant by that,” chuckled Nagisa. Ms. Fukawa worked in publishing so, if he had to guess, it was likely an advance copy of a new children’s book she had given to Kei to test out. Kei, however, was a bit too young to understand that, and her eyes narrowed at him in confusion. “It’s not a test like you take at school,” he explained. “She wants to test out the story to see if you like it.”

“Oh…” giggled Kei burying her face in her hands. “I see. I like it very much! It’s my new favorite story. Do you want to see, Papa?”

Nagisa nodded, and Kei skipped off to get the storybook—after Nagisa reminded her to put her “glass slipper” back on before she tripped and fell, of course. Kei quickly returned with a beautiful storybook. Its title “Cinder-Kotoko” was written in flourishes of calligraphy, each letter emblazoned with gold as they curled around the painting of a fancy shoe on the cover. Nagisa couldn’t hold back his smile at the subtitle: “Written by Jataro Kemuri and Toko Fukawa. Illustrated by Jataro Kemuri.” As far as Nagisa knew, Ms. Fukawa had never written a children’s book in her life, but as she was the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, Nagisa was sure that she could write well in any genre regardless of the target demographic. What he didn’t understand, however, was what Jataro could have possibly said to convince her to help him write his storybook in the first place?

Jataro, like the rest of them, had grown to look up to Ms. Fukawa as a sort of elder sister or, Nagisa supposed, more accurately, a teacher. After all, it was really Ms. Fukawa who had taught them most of their life skills as well as how to assimilate back into society after their destructive rampage. To this day, as far as Nagisa was aware, Masaru still called her “Toko-sensei” because she had taught him how to fry an egg and, according to him, he is “eternally in her debt for it.” Nagisa too had a lot of respect for her himself, though he could never tell how Ms. Fukawa felt about him and his friends besides that they were “little terrors” when they were younger. While he liked to imagine she had a sort of familial affection for them all now, he would have never thought she could be convinced to help Jataro with one of his projects. Maybe she just wanted to sell more books? Maybe Komaru talked her into it? Nagisa sighed. He supposed it didn’t matter much, but he had to admit he was curious.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Kei gushed over the book, pulling Nagisa out of his thoughts. She excitedly began to flip through the pages. “This is something that’s different too, Papa”—she pointed to a page of “Cinder-Kotoko” in a twirling ballgown next to a man in velvet robes and a long cape with a magic wand—“This is Cinder-Kotoko’s Fairy Godfather. He’s like a Fairy Godmother but better.”

Nagisa chuckled. The “Fairy Godfather” looked an awfully lot like Jataro, though he wasn’t sure Kei had noticed.

“He gave Cinder-Kotoko a pretty dress so she could go to the ball, but it’s a magic dress so the evil stepsister won’t know who she is,” Kei prattled. “This is where I left off in the game. Now I’m going to the ball to make friends with the prince because he’s lonely.”

“Lonely?”

Kei nodded solemnly. “He wants to have friends, so he’s having a big party, but he doesn’t like parties.”

Nagisa tilted his head. If he remembered this story correctly, Masaru should be the prince, and he loved parties. Clearly Jataro was making some revisions.

“Can you be the prince, Papa?” pleaded Kei with wide eyes. “Cinder-Kotoko and the prince are friends at the end, and you’re my friend.”

Something ached in Nagisa’s chest, but he managed to nod at his daughter who beamed and twirled around in her sparkly gown. “Okay. What do I have to do to be the prince?”

Kei grabbed his hand and began tugging him out of the office into the living room. “This is where the ball is. The prince is dancing with the evil stepsister, but he doesn’t want to.” Kei shoved a pillow into his hands. Nagisa frowned.

“Does your brother know you took his pillow for this game?”

Kei nodded. “When I asked him if he could play with me, he was reading so he said he was busy but that I could use his pillow instead. It’s perfect for the evil stepsister because it’s green.”

Nagisa paused. “Green?” he asked aloud, almost in spite of himself. Kei nodded again.

“The evil stepsister’s hair is green. She’s not very nice, but she pretends like she’s nice because she rescued Cinder-Kotoko from a dragon… But really she just wanted Cinder-Kotoko to do all her chores, and she’s really mean to her.” Kei paused. “She wants to be the prince’s only friend, but the prince wants to have other nice friends too. But she won’t let him dance with any of the other people at the party.”

Nagisa’s mouth twitched. This certainly sounded…familiar… Though, if he was being perfectly honest, he wouldn’t have suspected that Jataro had this level of pettiness in him.

“But don’t worry, Papa. She gets banished to outer space at the end.”

Shaking his head, Nagisa stifled the laugh that reverberated in his chest. He was a grown adult and should not find this as funny as he did. Truthfully, he felt guilty for finding it funny at all.

Luckily, Kei didn’t seem to notice as she continued, “But right now the prince is having a fight with her because he doesn’t want to dance anymore so you say…‘Thank you, but I don’t want to dance with you anymore.’”

She stared up at him expectantly, and Nagisa cleared his throat and in his best impression of a prince—and Masaru—told the pillow stepsister, “Thank you, but I don’t want to dance with you anymore.”

“But then she gets mad and says that you have to dance with her, and you say, ‘No.’”

Kei paused and waited until Nagisa repeated, “No.”

“But she won’t stop bothering you so then, Cinder-Kotoko comes over.” Kei cupped her hand over the side of her mouth and whispered, “That’s me, Papa.”

Nagisa smiled and nodded as Kei took a few very dramatic steps forward. “He says he doesn’t want to dance with you anymore, so you need to stop.”

When Kei took the pillow and threw it across the room, Nagisa could no longer hold back his laughter. He quickly apologized to his very confused daughter. “Sorry. Did she…um…run away?”

Kei nodded. “But the prince is sad because he thought she was his only friend.”

Nagisa tried his best to look solemn. He wasn’t sure how well he was doing, however, as he had always been a terrible actor.

“It’s okay,” reassured Kei or, Nagisa supposed, Cinder-Kotoko, taking his hand. She smiled brightly at him. “You can make new friends. She wasn’t a very nice friend to have anyway, but I can be your friend.”

“I’d like that very much,” Nagisa replied. He hoped his daughter wouldn’t mind his ad-libbing too much.

Kei giggled before she curtsied at him. “I came to the ball because I want to dance. Do you want to dance?” Nagisa paused waiting for Kei’s direction. “You do,” she whispered to him.

“Yes, thank you.”

Kei turned on a waltz that sounded vaguely familiar—from an adaptation of the actual Cinderella perhaps, and he took her tiny hands and swayed back and forth as best he could to the rhythm of the song. Nagisa wasn’t sure it could be called dancing since it was mostly Kei twirling circles around him, but he tried his best for her sake. Kei didn’t seem to mind, however, as she laughed and giggled—spinning around him in her pretty princess dress.

Still, he eventually apologized with a sheepish smile, “I’m afraid I’m not very good at dancing.”

“It’s okay, Papa. The prince in the storybook isn’t either, but Cinder-Kotoko teaches him. I can—” Kei stopped as the music came to an end. Her shoulders stiffened, and she looked around with a gasp. “That means the ball part is over, Papa. Cinder-Kotoko has to go home before midnight.”

Nagisa nodded understandingly. “That makes sense. I’m sure it’s way past her bedtime.”

“Papa,” groaned Kei, but she laughed. “You’re supposed to say ‘Wait. Do you have to go? I don’t know your name yet.’”

“Oh…uh…” He stumbled but tried to repeat the lines as best he could though, even he could admit they sounded stiff, awkward, and robotic. “‘Wait. Do you have to go? I don’t know you name yet.’”

“I have to go,” exclaimed Kei before taking off one of her slippers and handing it to him. “She leaves her shoe behind on accident though.”

“Ah so does the prince go look for her now?”

Kei shook her head. “No. The hero goes to look for her.”

“The hero?”

“He’s the captain of the guard and the bravest person in the whole kingdom. He tells the prince that he will give Cinder-Kotoko her shoe back because that’s what a hero does.”

Nagisa quirked an eyebrow. He could almost guarantee that if he opened up that storybook this “hero” character would look a lot like Masaru. But wait… if Masaru was the hero—who was the prince?

“Kei…er…Cinder-Kotoko?”

“Yes, Papa?” she giggled.

“What does the prince in the storybook look like?” he asked, curiosity finally getting the best of him. Kei tilted her head before her face lit up in a bright beaming smile.

“He kind of looks like you, Papa, because his hair is blue and it sticks up on the top like little horns.” She pointed to his hair antenna before descending into giggles and reaching for the storybook—opening up to a page with the prince who, sure enough, did look like him—crown nestled between his little hair horns and all. “You’re kind of like him too, Papa, because you’re smart and you’re nice and you take care of us. The prince is smart and nice and takes care of his friends.” She paused before blinking at him with sincere, wide eyes. “Are you a prince, Papa?”

Nagisa chuckled. Jataro seemed to think so—or perhaps it was Masaru or Kotoko who had suggested him for the role? Maybe even Ms. Fukawa? Regardless, it certainly wasn’t a role he would have ever given to himself. He could think of several people far more qualified than him to be fairy tale princes. Still… Nagisa felt a warmth spreading through his chest, and he met his daughter’s eyes and smiled.

“No, I’m afraid I’m not a prince,” he admitted. Kei frowned, before Nagisa added thoughtfully, “But I think I could be a king…”

“A king?”

Humming, Nagisa nodded in agreement. “Because my daughter is a princess.” His mouth twitched into a smile as Kei’s face positively lit up.

“You mean it, Papa? Is that me?”

He nodded, and she squealed in joy and delight—startling him by throwing her little arms around him and hugging him tightly. Once the initial surprise wore off, Nagisa’s face softened, and he leaned over so he was closer to his daughter’s height and pulling her close to him.

“I love you, Papa.”

Nagisa sniffled. There was still a pang in his chest and something misty in his eyes every time she said it. He hoped that she would never have to learn why—would never have the cruelty and unfairness of the world steal that light, that joy, and that wonder from her eyes. However, he knew that he couldn’t shelter and protect her forever, no matter how much he may want to. Someday when she was too old for dress up, pretend balls, and princess stories, she would learn that there were children who said those words only to be met with deafening silence—who waited and waited for an “I love you too” that would never come. All he could do was ensure that his daughter would never be one of them.

“I love you too, Kei,” he said as he ran his tender hand through her hair. He could feel her laugh as she curled into his chest before pulling away from their hug at last.

“Do you want to know how the story ends, Papa?”

As his daughter stared up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, a smile tugged at Nagisa’s mouth. He already knew how the story ended.

Of course, he couldn’t speak for Cinder-Kotoko, the brave hero, or the fairy godfather, though he hoped with all his heart that they were happy, as happy as the once lonely prince. He wasn’t lonely anymore and his world was bigger, brighter, and better because of the smile of the little princess who called him “Papa.” And as she positively beamed at him now, he had no doubt that some way, somehow, and by some miracle, he got to live happily ever after.

#nagisa shingetsu #nagisa my son my boy 💙#he deserves the world #danganronpa udg fanfiction #family fluff #my writing

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acacia-may · 1 year

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Hello yello, it's me again, hope you're having a wonderful day so far! If it's not a bother, could I get a response from you about Nagisa in the numbers ask game?

10 and 23 since those are his birthday numbers. If it's no problem, I'd love to hear about 2 as well. Thanks again for everything you've written and done!

Hi friend! Aww you're so sweet. 🥰 I really should be thanking you for all the great Nagisa and Warriors of Hope content and for your ask. I would absolutely love to talk about my son, Nagisa! 💙 (I love that you picked his birthday numbers too! That's great!) Thank you so much for the ask, and I hope you're having a wonderful day as well. Take care and cheers!!😊

I'm including this picture from aminoapps and this gif from getyarn just because I can.

Questions from this Character Ask Game

Answers and Headcanons are below the cut. (Warnings: Spoilers for UDG and vague discussion of childhood trauma & abuse)

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

This is kind of a complicated answer because as my sister would say I "did not experience Danganronpa like a normal person" 😂 so I apologise in advance for the ramblings. My younger sister was super into Danganronpa especially Ultra Despair Girls and when she told me about it (and suggested I play UDG), she actually told me a little about Nagisa and that she thought I would really like his character. (A/N: I have quite the collection of favourite characters who are high-strung, overachieving perfectionists). I usually don't play a lot of video games, but I was curious so I decided to compromise and read the manga for UDG (which definitely gave me a different perspective on things than my sister, I think, because there were some changes...but that's another story). Since I kind of went into the story with more information (from my sister) and the feeling I would probably end up liking his character, I think I had a more positive view of Nagisa much earlier on than I would have otherwise.

The big moment I started really liking him though was probably when he swooped in to protect Kotoko which was a much bigger and more dramatic thing in the manga than in the game. [A/N: There was definitely a bit of confusion there because my sister was really perplexed by why in my mind Nagisa and Kotoko were such close friends whereas in my sister's mind (from the game) she was much closer friends with Masaru. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of Masaru in the manga so I didn't really start to like him nearly as much until I played the game, but I digress...] Anyway... I'll include some of the frames just for reference.

So yes, Nagisa gets his heroic moment where he protects his friend and then he tries to help Komaru and Toko out of the city. If that isn't enough, he then starts to go into his backstory, and everything just clicks that he really is such a good kid at heart, he's just been corrupted and manipulated due to Junko (and Monaca) exploiting his trauma and taking advantage of the fact he was broken, vulnerable, and starving for love. He suddenly becomes a very tragic character, and I just wanted to adopt and protect him. My poor boy. He's been my son ever since.

And I will say it was such a fun perspective to go into the UDG game already liking his character because it was so exciting any time he and the other little hope warriors showed up. My sister was making fun of me (in good fun) when we were playing because I was very afraid cautious of the Monokumas (A/N: I'm not usually a fan of shoot 'em up games) and wouldn't never run (because you can't aim the weapon & run at the same time), so I was really just constantly shuffling around slowly, hiding behind things, and literally jumping during the jump scares. (A little pathetic, sure, but I was trying to survive here). But then we get to Chapter 4 when the objective is protecting Nagisa, and it completely cured me of my animatronic-robot-bear-phobia. I went full "Mama Bear" mode (no pun intended) running around destroying those things left and right like "Not My Son!!" My sister teases me about it to this day and says, "I'm so glad you finally learned how to run." 😂 Good times.

10. Describe the character in one sentence

This one is a bit difficult for me since I tend to be really wordy and also because I'm imagining Nagisa trying to describe himself in one sentence and I really don't know if he'd be able to do it--he'd have to fight that tendency to write a whole dissertation with subheadings and a table of contents. 😅 I'm going to have to fight that too, but I'll try my best...

Nagisa is wise beyond his years and an old-soul: highly intelligent, responsible, and conscientious, and though he can be perfectionistic, overachieving, and hard on himself and is burdened with deep internal pain from a childhood of abuse, he cares deeply for his friends and genuinely wants to make the world better so that other children don't have to suffer in the way that he did (he is misguided on this point, but his culpability is diminished given that he was a severely traumatized child who was taken advantage of and manipulated into criminal activity when he was vulnerable and he feels genuine guilt and remorse for what he did).

[A very long sentence 😅]

23. Future headcanon

I really want good things for Nagisa in the future and would love to see him reach a healthy, more well-adjusted place when he grows up. I know it's basically the apocalypse, but I really like to think that he and the other Warriors of Hope do eventually get the therapy they so desperately need and actually get to heal after all of the horrible and traumatic things they've all been through. In terms of more specific headcanons here are a few:

When they are all young professionals/working adults, Nagisa, Jataro, and Masaru are roommates which is often a bit of a comical arrangement since they are really so vastly different as people despite sharing a living space. Nagisa can be a little intense when it comes to keeping the apartment clean and organized, for instance. (To be fair, Masaru and Jataro are both kind of slobs if left to their own devices). However, he wants things to be fair and for everyone to do their part so he devises a chore chart to track who is supposed to clean what that week. Jataro and (especially) Masaru tend to act kind of like big kids, so Nagisa resorts to having incentives (like paying to get them ice cream) if they do all their chores. [Bonus: Masaru often complains to Kotoko about the chore chart, and she thinks it's kind of ridiculous à la 'You're a grown man--why don't you just buy your own ice cream?' but Masaru insists it tastes better when someone else is paying for it. 😂]

Nagisa eventually earns a Ph.D and works for Future Foundation. (As much as his friends like to teasingly refer to him as "Dr. Nagisa," it actually takes a while for them to all adjust to other people calling him "Dr. Shingetsu" all the time). Nagisa takes a lot of pride in his work developing and implementing air filtration systems worldwide. He is always very excited and enthusiastic whenever he talks about it, but his work is so complicated that none of his friends are entirely certain what it is he does exactly. He quickly rises through the ranks at Future Foundation until he works under the direct supervision of Togami who thinks he's very a conscientious employee and trusts him enough to put him in charge of several important projects. Since Nagisa still struggles with his perfectionism, he often ends up working long hours and has to fight a lot of self-imposed stress. His friends often take it upon themselves to remind Nagisa to take care of himself, and they periodically try to get him out of the apartment to do fun things. Nagisa's idea of fun, however, would be much more akin to staying home and relaxing with a good book.

I'm going to take some inspiration from you and also have a few headcanons about Older Nagisa as a dad since I would absolutely love to see him settle down and have a family of his own one day, when he is ready.

Nagisa's family is the most important thing in the world to him and his children are his pride and joy in life. He strives to be the best father he can, and he is incredibly devoted and attentive though he does have a tendency to worry about his children very much. When his son takes after him with similar worries, self-imposed stress, and perfectionism, for instance, Nagisa is very concerned, and it hits him particularly hard since the last thing he wanted was for his child to have the same kinds of burdens he does. However, he helps his son through that and reassures him that he has a father who loves him regardless of his successes or failures. It is incredibly important to Nagisa that his children never doubt that his love for them is unconditional and will never need to be earned by living up to any expectations--he will love and support his kids no matter what and just wants them to try their best.

Despite having several children in the house, Nagisa's home is not particularly chaotic and loud since most of his kids aren't particularly rambunctious. His eldest daughter has a big personality, however, and often gets Nagisa to play all kinds of dress up games and tea parties with her. She also often asks him to style her hair into little antenna like his, and though he doesn't quite understand the appeal, he tries his best as hairdresser.

His eldest daughter's more happy-go-lucky and generally upbeat and cheerful personality sometimes causes Nagisa to wonder if he and his friends may have been like his little girl if not for the abuse, and the thought breaks his heart a little. His younger daughter is much more quiet and pensive than her sister and was adopted by Nagisa and his family after being rescued from an abusive situation. Coming from the background that he did, Nagisa is very sensitive to his daughter's trauma as she slowly begins to heal and is welcomed into the family.

When Nagisa's kids are very, very little they love to play with their dad's hair antenna and his reading glasses (which he eventually has from squinting at his work from hours on end).

Nagisa tries his best to be a very involved and attentive father who always makes sure to spend time with his family despite his busy schedule. One of his favorite activities for his family to do together is reading aloud to his children before he tucks them in at night.

#nagisa shingetsu #shingetsu nagisa #nagisa shingetsu my son my boy 💙#nagisa shingetsu headcanons #thanks for the ask!#repo net the great #character ask game

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acacia-may · 1 year

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🌹

Hi Sprinkles! Thanks for the ask! 🥰 Here's a couple of lines from a Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls story I've been working on:

“What the heck, man? I’ve called you five times,” huffed Masaru’s voice on the other line. Nagisa could hear high-pitched mumbling in the background. “Oh, you think it was six times?” He paused, Nagisa assumed, talking to somewhere else who was there with him before his voice got louder, as if he was turning back towards the phone and corrected, “Six times, Nagisa!”

“Sorry…I was in a meeting.”

Masaru sighed. “Yeah, I think he’s going to come, don’t worry.” Masaru’s voice was muffled, and it took Nagisa far longer than it should have to realize that he was still talking to whoever was there with him. “I don’t think now is a”—he paused—“I promise I’ll tell him about your squirrel later.” Pause. “No, I’m not going to forget about it.”

#Sprinkles!! 💖#thanks for the ask and for playing #I know how much you love the Warriors of Hope so I thought you'd like this #Masaru and Nagisa have a great friendship I think #nagisa shingetsu my son my boy 💙#masaru daimon #nagisa shingetsu #warriors of hope #danganronpa udg

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acacia-may · 1 year

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The Fighter

Description: Kotoko Utsugi had once been "The Fighter" of the Warriors of Hope, and now, nearly 20 years later, she supposes the title still suits her. She doesn't know any other way to be. After all, they say we become what we needed most in our darkest moments.

With the help and encouragement of an old friend, however, she'll begin to her realize that maybe even "The Fighter" deserves to be fought for every once in a while.

Fandom: Danganronpa (Specifically Ultra Despair Girls)

Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Healing, Character Study, Future Fic (nearly) 20 Years Post-Canon.

Relationships: Kotoko Utsugi & Nagisa Shingetsu Friendship almost 20 years in the future with a little bit of the Warriors of Hope platonic friendship as well. A/N: I wrote this as a platonic work about their friendship, but as they're both 30 years old here, I guess you could take it in a more romantic-ish(?) way if you just really wanted to see it (maybe?). That was not my intention in writing, however, and in my mind, this is Friendship Hurt/Comfort (Nagisa is just awkward--bless his heart).

Characters: Kotoko Utsugi (POV Character) and Nagisa Shingetsu. Masaru Daimon and Jataro Kemuri are mentioned but do not physically appear in this story.

Rating: T for Thematic Elements and Some Language (Please see "Warnings" below for more details).

Warnings: Vaguely implied/mentioned childhood trauma and abuse. (A/N: This is hurt/comfort, but the past childhood trauma and abuse is only implied as vaguely and subtly as possible while still being treated with the sensitivity and gravity it warrants). Unhealthy coping is mentioned. Healthy coping is also mentioned. A very brief scene involves an adult character being hit on when they do not want to be by another adult (NPC) character who is not respectful when rejected. Another brief scene involves an adult character punching another adult character—followed by non-descriptive depictions of some minor injuries and mentions of blood. Legal/of age drinking is also implied/mentioned. Self-Worth Issues. Insecurities. Kotoko is a jaded and unreliable narrator (A/N: I like to think they characters are in a better place psychologically here (nearly 20 years after Ultra Despair Girls and having begun to get the therapy they so desperately need), but they still have a ways to go and don't always cope in the best/healthiest way. Healing is a journey).

Word Count: 2771

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another site.

Note: This story was written for @nothing-to-see-here-bye-yall and is my first work in the Danganronpa fandom so I'm a little nervous. I really loved Ultra Despair Girls, even though there were so many elements that were just heartbreakingly sad, and I just hope I've done these complex characters and their friendship justice in this piece.

Story below the cut. Thank you for reading!

Kotoko focused on counting the backsplash tiles behind the bar counter—mismatched and uneven with a tendency for cracking and falling off. The bartender, a friend of hers, had let her take a piece of broken tile home a couple of months ago, when it had fallen off the wall on her thirtieth birthday. The barkeep had insisted it was lucky, but Kotoko hadn’t been too sure. And now that she was trying her best to drown out the unwanted attention of the thug who had just walked up to drunkenly hit on her, no doubt, she was certain that even now she was too cursed to be lucky.

“I’m not interested,” she said again. Between the loud, rowdy noises of the bar and the blasting background music, she could barely make out what he was saying, but he clearly wasn’t getting her message to back off.

Kotoko caught the watchful eye of the bartender who was refilling the beers of a rowdy group at the opposite end of the bar. She nodded at Kotoko, and then whispered something to a waitress who headed to the kitchen, probably to get the chef, a big, burly man who was rumored to be ex-special ops, to keep this patron in line or throw him out if he got out of hand.

In the meantime, she added, “Besides, I already have somebody” particularly loudly for good measure in the hopes of getting rid of him. It wasn’t true, of course, but her friends were always game to step in and pretend to be her fake significant other if she needed to deter some drunk dirtwad and his unwelcomed interest in her. Luckily, she had just so happened to run into Nagisa in the bar an hour ago, and he was quick to jump in, leaning back in his barstool to glare at this bar thug who merely scoffed at them.

Kotoko could hear that dirtbag’s next words plainly above the low roar, and they made her feel sick. “I can show you a better time than this scrawny shrimp.”

“She said, ‘no’ so back off.” Nagisa rose from his seat at the bar counter stepping in front of Kotoko. From her high barstool, she was “taller” than him for the first time in nearly two decades, but as tall as Nagisa was—which Kotoko supposed was relatively average for a grown man—that drunk jerk towered over him when he raised himself to his full height.

“You gonna make me, pipsqueak?”

“Nagisa…” Kotoko reached out her hand, but before she could grab his arm it flew forward, his fist colliding with the man’s nose. Nagisa was slim, lanky—nowhere near brawny enough for a bar fight, and he looked almost ridiculous starting one in his three-piece business suit. He might as well have hit the man with his briefcase, if he had had one. His opponent was visibly surprised but unamused and returned the punch with a right hook that crashed into Nagisa’s cheek when he turned his head in an only partially successful attempt to dodge.

Luckily, Chef quickly broke it up before things got too ugly, but Nagisa was already worse for wear. As the chef kicked that thug out of the bar, the bartender ushered a bruised Nagisa into the backroom so Kotoko could tend to his wounds before they headed out.

With a frown, she shook her head as she tried to clean off his face with some warm soapy water. “You’re probably going to have a black eye now,” she sighed. Nagisa winced as she pressed the cold compress to his cheek. “What were you thinking? You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

Kotoko could have almost sworn she saw Nagisa’s mouth twitch in the corners, but he said dryly, “I guess we’ve come a long way if you’re worried about me dying now.”

She couldn’t tell if he was being completely serious or not. Sure, there had been a time in their lives when they couldn’t have cared less what happened to them, but almost twenty years had passed since they had tried to make their “Children’s Paradise.” They were adults now, and after nearly two decades of court-ordered therapy, they had accepted that. As far as Kotoko knew, none of them had a death wish anymore, least of all Nagisa who was probably the most successful of their group with his job coordinating the implementation of air filtration systems with the Future Foundation’s laboratory. Or something like that… Kotoko never could keep up with him when he talked about his work—whatever he was trying to say got muddled in all kinds of technical jargon. Masaru’s job with Fuyuhiko’s independent security contractors and Jataro’s work in the field of prosthetics were much easier to follow and understand. The boys didn’t ask her much about her work with the newly restored child protective services. She had once tried to explain that she mainly worked with orphans or children who had been displaced or had gotten separated from their families in the more dangerous, lawless portions of their slowly rebuilding world, but they knew, had always known, her reasons for choosing that line of work. She was their “Fighter” after all, and she fought for those children now, protected them like no one had protected her friends…like no one had protected her.

It was her life’s purpose or raison d'etre as Nagisa would probably say, and in that, she was happy—or at least, she was learning to be, even if some days were still enough to drive her to the local bar, a real hole in the wall joint in the basement of what used to be a department store. While Towa City had been built back up over the last twenty years, there were parts that still remained rundown and ruined. This was one of them. She was surprised to run into Nagisa there, considering he spent most of his time in the shiny, new city center, but maybe he had had a rough day at work as well. Regardless she was sure he must be having a rough day now considering the bruised and bloodied condition of his face.

“I’m sorry,” he said running his hand through his hair. “I really didn’t mean to start a fight. I just—I saw the look on your face and I just…” He stopped. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t worth it,” she insisted quietly, wiping the blood off his jaw. She shook her head and frowned. His lip was busted too.

“It was to me. I couldn’t just sit there and watch that pr—Ow!” Nagisa winced as she pressed the rag to the bleeding corner of his mouth.

“Sorry.” Kotoko paused, shaking her head again. “You need to hold this here—otherwise you’re going to stain your suit.”

Nagisa nodded, and his hands reached up to take the compress from her. His fingers were long, spindly and surprisingly cold. Kotoko didn’t suppose that the cool night air blowing through the small open window in the storage room was enough to leave his hands so chilled. She flinched and pulled her hand away.

“Kotoko, are you alright?”

Her brow furrowed. “I’m not the one who just got punched in the face.”

“You’re trembling…” His voice trailed, and he held out his free hand to her, recoiling it into a fist in the last second. “I’m sorry. Can I…? That is…do you want me to—hug you? It’s okay if you don’t…just you look shaken so I thought I should ask.”

“I’m fine, Nagisa. Really,” she insisted, but her voice wavered. “Besides, pricks like that don’t harass me nearly as much now that I’ve changed my hair…” With it cut pixie short and dyed dark black, she didn’t attract nearly as much attention nowadays, which she preferred.

“So that’s why you dyed it…?” he half-asked, half-stated. Kotoko nodded.

“Don’t you like it?”

Nagisa shrugged. “It’s nice. I just…kind of miss the pink, I guess…” he admitted, far more honest than he probably would have been if he had been completely sober, Kotoko thought. His face fell and something sorrowful passed over his eyes. “I wish you didn’t have to change yourself to feel safe.”

Something ached in Kotoko’s chest. She wished that too. She wished a lot of things… She pushed the thought away with a shake of her head. “You’ve always got to make everything so deep, Nagisa. I like my dark hair. Sure, it isn’t adorbs, but that’s why…” She stopped. “Look this isn’t even about me. This is about the fact that you’ve gotten yourself beat up ‘defending my honor’ or whatever after I tried to stop you.” Waving her hand, she rolled her eyes at those words.

Nagisa rubbed the back of his neck. “I said I was sorry. That’s the first time I’ve ever even done something like that...”

“Probably too much vodka.” She crossed her arms with a huff. “I don’t think drinking agrees with you—it makes you impulsive and reckless. It’s weird, and I don’t like it—you’re supposed to be the responsible one. We don’t need another Masaru.” Masaru didn’t drink, ever. He had never really discussed it with her, besides to tell her off for turning to the bottle when life got a little too hard, but she had always assumed he was afraid of the type of person he would become if he did start drinking, the type of person liquor might make him. She was sure Nagisa understood what she meant though. Masaru was impulsive enough without it. “But at least he’s brawny enough to pick a fight. You don’t see a lot of scrawny businessmen going after thugs twice their size like that. You should stick to destroying people with logic and statistics.” Her mouth twitched teasingly, but Nagisa changed the subject with a sigh.

“Have you talked to Masaru lately?”

“He called last week, but only for a couple of minutes. He’s in another relationship apparently...” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Nagisa, however, did not.

“That seems to be his drug of choice these days.” He shook his head bitterly before his face softened, and his voice grew quiet as he apologized, “I’m sorry. I know that must be upsetting to you.”

Kotoko took a deep breath. “I’m not mad at him. I understand he’s just looking for love or acceptance or whatever…” She huffed, but her shoulders slumped. “I just…I just wish we were enough for him—that the love of his friends was…” She stopped and stared at her hands. “But I guess not.”

“I don’t think it’s personal.” Nagisa sighed. “Jataro’s in love now too—or thinks he is. Somebody he works with at the lab—with shiny glasses or something…”

“Do you think people like us can really even fall in love? To bring someone normal into this mess…” Her voice trailed, and Nagisa shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe. I don’t think it’s impossible.”

“Oh? You have the great love of your life stashed away somewhere?” There was a certain unintended bitterness that seeped into her words. She frowned as she watched the tips of Nagisa’s ears turn red.

“I think my work is probably the love of my life.” He chuckled lightly, almost sheepishly. “Married to the job, I guess…”

Kotoko almost snorted a breathy laugh. “I thought out of all of us, you’d want to settle down, have a ‘picket fence’ life.”

Nagisa paused and stared down at the ground. His voice grew so quiet she could scarcely hear him confess, “I don’t deserve to be so happy.”

Kotoko sighed. Drinking made him honest too. She had forgotten about that. “Don’t say nonsense like that. You were always the best of us. If you want something, you should go out and get it. Don’t just sit around punishing yourself for something that happened 20 years ago.”

“If I get in a relationship, where will that leave you? I think we’d be better off sticking together—let Masaru and Jataro work out all that stuff.”

Kotoko frowned. He had completely ignored and evaded everything she had just said. He certainly had a knack for that. She supposed he had a point though. Her friends knew all too well that a romantic relationship was something she didn’t want, probably could never want, not anymore. If her boys all settled down that meant she’d be alone, and while she didn’t think she would mind it much, it might be nice to have another friend who stayed perpetually single with her.

“I suppose you do give off that married to the job vibe…” shrugged Kotoko. “Though you also give off that ‘doomed to be in love with someone he’ll never have’ vibe too”—she paused—“Promise me that’s not the case.”

Nagisa’s cheeks flushed, but he said, “It isn’t.”

“Good. I don’t want you hung up on Monaca or something forever.” Kotoko stopped abruptly, realizing only from the look on Nagisa’s face what she had just said. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine,” he cut her off quickly and abruptly. “I haven’t thought about Monaca in years.”

Truthfully, Kotoko hadn’t either. Even so, the question which followed slipped out before she could stop herself. “Do you ever…imagine what our lives would have been without her?”

“What lives? We’d be dead,” Nagisa replied with a bitter dryness. “As much as I struggle to forgive her for everything that came after, I can admit that we are alive today because of her and Junko. And I think that maybe that’s worth something…” He paused and met her eyes. “I mean just look at you—at everything you’ve done for those children. Without you, they would have had no one to fight for them.”

Kotoko’s face grew warm, but she frowned. “Oh, so I’m a fighter now…? I thought I needed you to defend me?”

Nagisa let out a long, heavy sigh and swallowed hard. “Look, I really am sorry about earlier. I know there is a lot of fight in you, probably more than any of us, so…I really wasn’t trying to step on your toes and fight your battles for you. I’m sorry if it came off that way…I guess, I was just thinking that sometimes if a person spends all of their time and energy fighting for other people, they don’t have enough fight left in them for themselves.” The tips of his ears turned red, and he added hurriedly, “And I don’t mean that in an insulting way…I just…”

“Or,” she quietly interrupted him. He stopped, and she could feel him turning to look at her as she twisted her hands and continued. “Or they don’t think there’s anything left in them worth saving…They’re just too broken…”

“That’s not true,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at him, but as she stared down at the ground, she noticed his hand hovering almost sheepishly above hers before he asked, “Can I…hold your hand?”

Kotoko nodded, and he took it. His hand was warm now and clasped hold of hers with a sturdy, reassuring squeeze. When she finally looked up at him again, he said, “There is so much in you that is worth protecting, and I’d do it again, in a second.”

His face softened, and he smiled at her with something so kind, so earnest in his eyes that she wanted to believe him. And maybe she would someday. Maybe someday she’d grow out her hair again, letting in fall in long, pink locks that Jataro would want to braid and play with like he had used to do when they were kids. Maybe someday she’d get out that pink sweater Masaru had gotten her for her birthday and let him take her dancing in that park in the city center where someone, somehow, found the strength to play live music even in their bleak, post-apocalyptic world. Maybe someday she and Nagisa would come back here to this bar and sit and talk for hours and she would put her armor aside for just a moment and allow herself to feel safe, to feel protected, to feel happy with him by her side. But for now, she just smiled and rested her head on his shoulder with a grateful, “Thank you.”

In the comfortable silence that followed, she began to think that maybe Nagisa was right after all. Maybe even the fighter deserved to be fought for every once in a while.

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