#chapter 1 trial

[aventurineswife]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐦 𝐈 𝐍𝐨𝐰?

You awoke in an unfamiliar place, the weight of nothingness pressing down on you. Your body lay on something soft, far too soft compared to the jagged edges you had last felt. The air smelled different—cleaner, almost otherworldly. The warmth around you was more gentle than the oppressive heat that had surrounded you before. Slowly, you opened your eyes, but the world was hazy, blurred, as though you were still trapped in a half-dream. You tried to move but found that your limbs felt stiff, uncooperative. Something heavy pressed against your chest.

You blinked and found yourself in a room made of polished, gleaming metal. The floor was smooth, warm beneath your feet, and as you pushed yourself upright, you became aware of the rhythmic hum of machinery beneath your feet. A train. The faint sound of engines filled your senses, reminding you of the distant hum from earlier, just before you’d… arrived here.

But where was this? What was this place?

A muffled voice broke through the fog of confusion, soft but firm.

"Hey, you’re awake."

You turned your head, every movement sluggish, and saw a figure standing in the doorway, framed by the dim light streaming from outside. They were dressed in casual attire, though the expression on their face was serious, focused—like they had been waiting for you to stir.

“You should lie back down,” they said. "You’ve been through a lot. We weren’t sure if you’d make it."

The voice was warm, but there was an undercurrent of tension. You tried to speak but only a hoarse rasp escaped your lips. They stepped closer, eyes narrowing in concern. "Easy now. You’re safe."

Safe. The word echoed strangely in your mind. Were you safe? Your memories were fragmented, but one thing was clear—your world had fallen apart. The city, the chaos, the Stellaron. You had to get back. You had to know what happened.

But before you could voice that thought, a soft sound came from the far side of the room. A woman—young, with pink hair that bounced as she moved—stepped forward, her eyes wide with curiosity and energy. Her gaze landed on you and instantly brightened.

“Oh! You’re up!” she exclaimed, though her voice held a slightly nervous edge. "Are you okay? You look like you’ve been through… well, a lot." She hovered near you, her camera dangling from her neck, but her hands trembled slightly as she took a step back. “I’m March 7th,” she added, as if her name was some kind of badge. “I’m, uh, a photographer. And a warrior! I think. Mostly a photographer, though.”

She smiled brightly, her cheeks flushed with excitement, but there was a flicker of something deeper in her eyes. A curiosity. A drive that mirrored your own.

Before you could say anything, the figure from the doorway spoke again. “March,” they warned, their tone softer but firm. "Give them space."

March gave an exaggerated sigh but stepped back, leaving you some room to breathe. You could feel her eyes on you, though, full of questions. You turned your gaze to the one who had spoken, and they nodded slightly, as if reading your confusion.

“I’m Welt,” he said, his voice smooth and quiet, with a calmness that contrasted sharply with the chaotic thoughts still swirling in your head. "And this is the Astral Express. You’re safe here."

The words barely registered. Astral Express? What was this place? A train, yes—but why were you here? You opened your mouth to speak, but the words faltered. Everything felt too new, too foreign.

Welt seemed to sense your disorientation. He crouched down slightly, looking you over carefully, but with a hint of something almost paternal in his gaze. “We’re still figuring out what happened to you. And where you came from. But we’ll help you, if we can.”

“But my world—” you began, but the words caught in your throat. What had happened to your planet? The Stellaron outbreak—was it still happening? Was everyone gone?

The train suddenly shuddered, and the soft hum of the engines faltered for a moment, as if in response to your panic. The floor beneath you vibrated, and the faintest tremor ran through the walls. Welt’s eyes narrowed slightly, and March's expression turned serious.

“Stay here,” Welt ordered. "You’re not alone, but you need to rest. You’re not ready for what’s out there yet.”

March’s voice cut through the tension. “You might want to take it easy, yeah? You’ve been out of it for a while. But if you’re up for it, we can show you the rest of the train.”

Before you could respond, there was another sound—a soft chime that rang through the train, like a bell from far away.

The walls hummed again, and then a new voice interrupted, clearer now, almost an intrusion in the quiet.

"The situation's getting worse," the voice said, cutting through the uneasy silence like a knife. It was sharp, direct—almost too familiar.

You turned sharply toward the sound, and there, leaning against the wall just beyond March, stood a young man with dark eyes, his gaze unreadable. His posture was rigid, defensive—like a guard, and he exuded a quiet, unshakable presence.

"We're approaching the edge of the affected zone," he continued. "The Stellaron’s influence is still spreading, and our scans show the planet’s core destabilizing. We’re not safe yet."

The weight of the words hit you hard. The planet—your home—wasn't safe. It might already be lost. Your stomach tightened with the realization that nothing was certain, not even your survival.

But despite the growing dread clawing at you, something—someone—urged you to keep moving forward.

"We're going to need your help," the man said, his eyes flicking over to you. "Whatever brought you here, it's connected to this."

You opened your mouth to protest, but nothing came out. You didn't even know how to begin. Your mind was still reeling.

"Let's go," Welt said, his voice firm but not unkind. "We'll figure out what's happening together. You're not alone in this."

As the door to the compartment slid open, revealing a passageway lined with glowing light, the unsettling hum of the engines filled the air again. You couldn't help but follow, despite the confusion gnawing at you.

But somewhere deep in your gut, a warning echoed: You might not want to know what comes next.

[Navigation]

[lavenderfairiez]

happy birthday jason grace

[kismet-cat]

you ever think about how sissel spends three chapters of the game back to back trying to save two deeply depressed guys with zero self-esteem? how he sees right through jowd's insincere self-pitying apologies; and how he's so promptly over the justice minister's disguised negative self-talk, eventually trying to set him on a better path by telling him to not go so hard on himself?

with hindsight, i'm surprised sissel never comments on it all feeling... familiar.

[ablogofloveandtrash]

I had too much fun making this hehehe. But fr though, Damon does NOT hate Diana. Maybe they could be rivals or something but it's pretty extreme to call hatred at this point in time, especially if you paid attention to the pathos route.

[corviiids]

based on how i approach plotting ive come to the conclusion that even if i were morally and logically okay with becoming kira i would get the death note and think "okay, im going to make sure i come up with the perfect plan so i can't get caught", spend several months on it, refuse to execute it because it's not foolproof yet, and simply never get around to it. if ethics and reason didn't stop me from becoming kira then sheer procrastination would do the trick

[momentomori24]

Damon keeps being shown with a red apple in both a lot of the promotional material as well as the opening intro, which feels very intentional considering the way this game takes a LOT of inspiration from the bible. The red apple represents temptation, in case the temptation of committing a murder to escape alive. Eva, just like Eve, was the first to bite the apple. And after her, her only other companion followed suit.

Damon's animal motif is the snake. Manipulative. Conniving. Untrustworthy. A traiter and a deceiver. Motivated by self interest. He's the snake, the root cause of the reason humanity was banned from paradise. He's constantly depicted holding the apple, never biting into it, as if still contemplating about whether to give in to the temptation of it all.

My biggest prediction for Damon is that he'll be the last murderer. That he'll perform the final kill and escape at the expense of all of them, the very way he accused them all of being predestined to do from the start.

[screwnames-ihatenames]

I wanna read a rewrite of toa where literally nothing is different but it’s second person cause we still get Apollos thoughts which are amazing BUT we get the intricacies of his mind I wanna know how stressed he felt and how he truly felt about everythingggggg no more unreliable narrator I want overly reliable narrator it should be tmi levels of reliable

Second person Apollo fics would be so fuuun

[whattheskyknows]

My earliest drv3 memory is when my younger sibling walked into the room the same time as Rantaro's body discovery played and when they asked what was happening I told them he was sleeping,,,

[review-anon]

Thoughts on the TDP finale?

//Alright its time.

//I have watched the bits I missed and with enough time to think about this; plus TA being my push notification to get this done, its time to talk about TDP's Deadly Life, the final class trial, the ending of Tetro Pink, the buildup to Tetro Blue and my overall thoughts.

//This is gonna be a BIG one, in fact its gonna be so big I'm actually gonna divide it into various parts so you don't get overwhelmed by it.

//As always thoughts are below the cut.

Part 1: Chapter 5's Deadly Life + Class Trial

//So just as a recap, to say the BDA was a sign things were going to shit was the understatement of the century. Not only was Mai, the one person keeping everyone together and making sure they had a cool head, is the victim here, but we have Ken and Yanagi locked in medbay, the investigation time is cut in half due to Tamba's stupidity, nobody has the stomach to investigate, and on top of that, whoever killed Mai was like Okazaki; they planned her death for a very long time.

//We don't get any noise about Mai's solo vote which means that her death must have rendered it null and void, or if it has been transferred to someone, the Masterminds aren't telling who it is gone to, wouldn't be the first time they didn't tell shit. But we don't have time for that as we got a investigation to do and we need to speedrun it. Tamba and Wada are on Team A and Hiroaki and Ojima are on Team B.

//Right off the bat, the investigation is off to a great start since Hirokai's first priority was to go to the arsenal and see if anything has been stolen from there and the answer is yes, since the entire arsenal has been completely emptyed. That is not a good sign since who would require the entire fucking arsenal to kill Mai? Yes she's a tough girl but she's also a lot weaker then normal due to taking all those punishments, if there was any good time to kill her, it was now. Hiroaki's first thoughts is to check all the rooms big enough to hold an arsenal and this runs into the first major problem;

//Yep a good chunk of the rooms are rigged with door traps that upon opening go boom. Naturally Ojima is like we can't investigate as we could die, but Hiroaki having grown wise to when Okazaki did it, said that with all the rigged rooms, the explosives cannot be non-lethal as if they tried to kill everyone, Monomoko would step in. Not that everyone is harm free since Wada gets a head injury from a door trap, which on top of his malnurnation is not a good sign indeed. Whoever we are dealing with; they are a dastly mastermind indeed.

//As for Tamba and Wada they are the autospy people and after Tamba gets Mai's body out of the pool and they examine her, the two notable things is that Mai has a massive stomach wound akin to Nagito in Goodbye Despair that goes right through her, the nature of it implies that a sword was used but who would get a sword? There's also cuts in her hands, which implies Mai was still alive when she got implied and tried to free herself, but failed. No surprising that Mai fought back, since she wouldn't go down easily.

//Sorry but as soon as I heard that Mai got stabbed all the way through my mind went to this.

//The other notable thing we find in Tamba and Wada's investigation is Wada unveils what his reward was. Again, if you require a recap, during Loyality Game students were given a choice to take a personal reward in return for a punishment that affected the entire group; 3 rewards were taken, one which is unknown who took it, resulted in nobody being allowed in their dorms, the second which Tamba took halved investigation time, and the third which Wada took resulted in everyone getting a cut, the most notable being Ken losing a eye. Its here we see what Wada's reward was; he was given excluvise access to the sercuity feed of the school. That...at first glance sounds like an OP rewards. Aside from Wada doing his best FNAF roleplay, it means that Wada would know who EVERYONE's moments were during the events of last night, which means all he needs to do is see the killer do their business and case closed, right? Well as you can tell it didn't work like that.

//For starters these cameras work a lot like the cameras in Among Us where not everything is recorded so there's blindspots, blindspots that the killer took advantage of. The second is that due to the fire from last chapter a lot of the cameras got destroyed during it so a lot of rooms don't have footage in them and lastly the camera in the pool AKA the most important one, was outright destroyed by the culprit as they knew if it caught the moment Mai died, that would be a open-and-shut case. But a few things were confrimed. Firstly Hiroaki's and Ojima's alibis are solid since the camera catches them together the whole time so neither of them could have done it. Secondly, Mai's last moments was shortly after she left Tamba and Wada to check on something as the cameras catch her going to the resource room but she never exits it. And lastly Wada himself was caught going into the arsneal and comes out...which looks mighty shady. Still its useful information.

//Poor Yanagi and Ken don't get out of the medbay during the entire investigation as the fact while Monomoko unlocks all doors during it and medbay remained shut, means that the culpirt must have locked Ken and Yanagi in there, hence why they can't get out. Ken suggests to Wada and Tamba when they come looking for them to go and get some alchoal to burn through the super glue and get them out, before though Yanagi asks the pair who has died, and when Wada apologises deeply, he knew right then and there...that Mai was the victim of the case, and Yanagi completely shuts down during the rest of the investigation, as proven when Hirokai and Ojima came to check on them as its Ken who spoke to them, not Yanagi. Kinda feel bad for him as he confessed his love to Mai and she never got a chance to answer back.

//And that's all they found which is a big pile of nothing. So to recap how fucked the cast are; they lost the most component person within the group, the smartest person was locked in medbay with the guy who was the closest to the victim, the investigation time has been halved, Tamba has a broken leg, Wada is moments from passing out, Ojima is trying really hard to prevent himself from zoning out and Hiroaki was about to go high before Ojima stopped him. On top of that, there is little to no evidence to prove who killed Mai and its VERY clear that Mai's murder was premediated as fuck. Truely these have to be THE lowest odds any cast has had going into a Class Trial. And it gets even better when just before the Class Trial starts, Wada just passes out due to malnuration and stress.

//The opening is just as great since we have Wada passed out, Ken and Yanagi who have zero clue what's going on since they were locked in medbay all the time and couldn't investigate, and naturally Tamba and Hiroaki pick this to be the best time to contuine their chapter wide bitchfest against each other. Naturally neither Ojima nor Yanagi are happy about this and tell them to stfu and keep the unneccessary arguing to a mimium. So once everything has got back the the first topic is the arsneal and where the hell it could have gone, especially with all the door traps. Its quickly figured out that the door traps were made from bombs from the arsenal and the culpirt set them up to deteer investigating and then Wada tried to bring up the cameras and this was too much for Yanagi and Ken since neither of them know what's going on so he wants them to focus on topic at a time.

//I find it hillairous the two people who did jackshit during the investigation are the ones guiding the discussion since they have their heads in gear; for Yanagi its so he wants to avenge Mai and for Ken its due to his general IQ, once Mai's body was discussed its said she was bleeding a lot but her body was clean but then again, she was discovered in the pool so the water probably washed the blood out. Also Wada's ill health is confirmed to be because he hasn't eaten since Watari died so about a week ago, which naturally causes panic. This is proof not that its needed that Wada has a severe eating disorder and if he hasn't hoarded food, he will not eat. Yanagi WAS gonna keep an eye on his but with him having a concussion, he probably has forgotten about all of it.

//Questions arise who took Wada's food stash but the problem is not only does nobody have any clue, but the dorms weren't checked then again they were locked since Decision Game so much like the Arsneal the food stash has seeemly vanished into thin air. Plus the only people that Wada has let into his room has been Ojima and Ken, which is interesting to consider....

//We have another Tamba vs Hiroaki argument which gets shot down but its here we finally find out what Tamba's reward was, which was appernately worth shaving the investigation time; and that was she got a skeleton key that would allow to access every room in the school, including the ones which were locked at night. And remember, the pool room door was unlocked when Wada and Ojima went there even though the morning announcement hasn't occurred, so things don't look good at all for Tamba especially when she claims she slept in the Laundry room all night since it was safe and locked.

//Wada also gets suspected since the cameras caught him going to the arsenal which looked suspecious but he explains the reason he went there was to grab a gun for self-defence, after all if Chiba could use a gun so could he. But this also confirms the arsenal didn't vanish during that time so it must have gone missing shortly after Wada took his Neutral Special.

//Of course the big question becomes how did Mai go from Resource Centre to the Pool. Well there's a simple solution in that since the floors are so unstable, she could have just gone through one of the holes to another room. After all, as I can testify from personal experience if the floor is rotted away enough you won't cut or break your leg.

//With such little evidence everyone need to recount their timeline of events to point out any inconsistancies, which paints a timeframe that after Tamba and Hirokai had their pissing match, Hirokai ran off and Wada and Ojima went to look for him, Ken and Yanagi went to medbay where they got locked, Mai was with Tamba for a bit but she left to go somewhere. Wada and Ojima split up since Ojima figured Hiroaki was in the baloney, Wada went back to Tamba and went to go and get some stuff to make a cast for her, which was good enough to allow her to walk. Ojima and Hirokai talked and eventutally they fell asleep. Wada and Tamba went to find Mai, they split up, Wada grabbed a gun from the arsenal, then he and Tamba fell asleep. Wada found Ojima and started looking for people and well...found the body.

//At this point the class has hit a dead end before an epithany is reached; whoever stole Wada's food stash, was the same person who has been fucking with the cast all week, and also the one who killed Mai, with that the entire cast starts to recount all the strange events and how they could happen. With Hiroaki's reward, Okazaki more or less said she stole it so anyone could have gone into her room, get it and bring to Hiroaki, with his allegics with it being confirmed he's allergic to soy milk, it would be super easy to swap the soy and normal milk bottles around content wise so Hiroaki would be pouring soy milk into his coffee, but a dead end is reached since not only does that not narrow it done, but its done so generically that anyone could do it, heck Tamba was the one who suggested the milk swap. So it all backs to her note and the big issue is that its typed...yet the only printer in the school was destroyed by the fire last chapter but then when asked about the other notes Mai has gotten, its confimed they were handwritten and were on her person so they could get destroyed in the pool. Its then a horrid truth realises it, the culprit hasn't been planning for just a week; they have been planning for a lot longer then that, as their schemes started in Chapter 4 its just Watari's suicide beat them to the punch there, thus explaining how the note was made, it was made before the printer got destroyed.

//Some more talking reveals that there's a good chance what the 3rd reward was, we know Tamba's was a skeleton key to access all rooms, Wada's was access to the sercuirty cameras but the 3rd reward, the one which banned people going to their dorms, it was proposed that the reward was a blueprint of the entire school building, which includes where all the secret passways the staff have used where. Suddenly why the Arsenal and Wada's food stash couldn't be found makes more sense, they were in a secret passageway. It also explains how Mai could have died and got to the pool, the culprit used the secret passageways. But even with this knowledge, Hiroaki knows someone is lying, can't be him or Ojima since they have airtight alibis. Can't be Ken or Yanagi since they were locked in medbay all this time; so it boils down to Wada or Tamba and since Wada was caught on camera going into the arsenal to get a gun, which had he have the secret passageways he wouldn't have done, means he's okay since that more or less clears him, which means the only person it could have been...is Tamba.

//Now I knew Tamba was not the culprit ignoring the IQ for a moment, there was just too many unanswered questions on how Tamba could have killed Mai, but I have to applaud the culprit as this was SUCH a convincing fakeout, to the point that had something not happened, Tetro Pink would have joined SDRA2 as the second Fangan to have a wrong verdict. And even Hiroaki's own logic has holes since his whole "Tamba Culprit" theory relies on her being able to open doors with the skelton key but according to him, she lied about her reward and actually had the blueprints. Tamba also had TWO despair sprites as not only she breaks down but also as Hiroaki's logic manages to convince the entire class this was right, but since my culprit guess was Ken, I was watching his behaviour, and he wasn't saying anything, which was very sus indeed. Ngl this part of the stream became a mess for me since TA went into her reguarly scheduled breakdown since well...prior to this stream I expressed my concerns that we were due a Blackened victory and naturally she said no and I needed to stop being such doom and gloom, but I think those words I said to her ate away and caused such a meltdown, even with Bubbles saying there was a massive runtime left, and she kept sobbing as much as Tamba and we got to the voting but then Monomoko said this;

//"Are you absolutely sure you want to vote?"

//That...gave Hiroaki pause as he noted to Ojima that Monomoko has NEVER said that before which means...he was wrong...Tamba is not the culprit and had they voted Tamba, they would have died. Monomoko saving the cast was a natural conclusion since throughout Tetro Pink, she's shown she's more then just a mascot as she's a thinking being with thoughts and empathy, and has often gone behind the Mastermind's backs to aid the students which means for one last time, Monomoko has managed to save them, and while this would piss off the Masterminds, we don't care they suck, and TA made such a loud cheer when this fake out was revealed to be a fake out. Also props to Hiroaki, he might have been wrong but as soon as he realised something didn't add up, he immeidately tossed aside his own theory and owned up to his mistakes. So now Tamba HAS to be innocent but then we go back to the same problem as before; nobody could do it. So the gaze is shifted to Yanagi and Ken as the question became how they got locked in medbay and turns out a gurney was used to block the entrance which due to all the lights being off, there was no way for them to check, and if there was a secret passageway as soon as one of them went asleep the other could go out and kill Mai, but between Yanagi and Ken...who?

//I think this one is obvious there is no way Yanagi is gonna kill the very woman he did a love confession to, plus while Yanagi does have the smarts to fuck with people, and it explained why Tamba and Mai didn't get physically harmed, it would also mean the culpirt has to fake their own injuries and Yanagi was vomiting which is something you cannot fake. Ken on the otherhand was high and all we have is Mai saying "Yep he's high" with no evidence where the drugs that made Ken trip balls, come from. Plus he didn't even describe his symptoms, meaning he could fake being high. And as soon as realisation kicked in literally everyone pounced on Yanagi to stop him from literally beating Ken to death for what he did, and well Ken confessed, he did it because he lost all hope after Kamimura died, the one person he cared about and who cared about him was gone. And as far as he knew nobody else cared about Kamimura. This of course wasn't true, both Tamba and Mai had fond memories of Kamimura and missed him deeply too and Watari before she went off the deep end herself, tried to reach out to Ken as she knew how tough it must be when Kamimura died, but when depression hits it clouds your judgement. Plus he lost his medication, he was getting sick of everyone around him and finally, he learnt they were being watched and people were enjoying their suffering, this all meant he tried to take everyone down.

//He messed with everyone to make it so they couldn't solve the class trial, he went for Mai since she was the easiest to get when thoughts of escape hit her, and he also made Ojima not zone by claiming he hurt him while zoned out, which he never did it was fake. Plus he explioted the zoned out state to make Ojima drunk which is such a violation that no wonder he felt disgusted. Literally everyone was disgusted with Ken for what he did but I will say this first and forthmost;

//Ken might be the single smartest culpirt ever in the history of Danganronpa.

//And that IS a compliment as Ken planned for EVERYTHING, he had every possible variable under control, he weakened everyone so they couldn't fight back, he got the victim running off on her own, he killed her in a way that couldn't be traced back to him, he also had a alibi waiting, and he explioted realtionships so a wrong verdict could be drawn. The ONLY reason Ken failed was because the mascot stepped in and that wasn't something he could have predicted. This is much better then Kanade's "Oh Sora had a hunch and she dropped some antibiotics." In fact I have this to explain how awesome this was.

//And even his dying moments was awesome since when Ken was about to be executed, rather then do a tearful goodbye, or say a final fuck you to the cast, he did a fuck you to the Masterminds by leaking the Tetro Blue Roster. HOW Ken found this out, is unknown but the point is he knew it and he started listing names and this caused Head Scientist to freak out so much that she ordered Monomoko to start the execution.

//Ken's execution is...kinda similar to Nagito's execution in all fairness which makes sense since both were killed in Chapter 5 and I bet while it was going on, Ken was happy since he was gonna be with his lover soon.

//And that was the Class Trial and yeah HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT as this was SO close to a Blackened win due to the lack of evidence, the stressed out mindsets of everyone, and a convincing fallgirl since Tamba killing Mai made more sense then Iroha killing Setsuka. And really the only reason they failed was due to the mascot stepping in which was something that was foreshadowed for some time now.

//I am also pleased I have a perfect streak on culprits since I guess Ken killed Mai and did it to fuck with the Killing Game and I was right! Okay so I didn't get the fact he was hating everyone since the 3rd chapter, but in terms of Culprits I'm 5/5 which I NEVER get really, normally I get one or two wrong. Here's hoping this streak contuines into Tetro Blue!

//In terms of Trials this is a 9/10 for me since the emotion, the tension and the twists were all so good and such a fitting finale to a amazing fangan.

//And that's the first part which is the entire Chapter 5 Deadly Life and Class Trial! Next part will be the Tetro Pink Finale and my final thoughts so see ya then.

[skeletons-and-roses]

[cnl0400]

Idk I'm still not invested in the SF storyline, like I said before in another post, RAD always feels so barren because the lack of another "normal" students, you have the student council and the exchange students. The only "normal" student we have Is technically Mephistopheles, and since all of them are friends, there's really not a lot of conflict you can have without it feeling pointless. We know that since we have 7 wishes, every brother Is going to win a wish... I don't want to see Diavolo lose 7 times lmao

The next week we are going to the Celestial Realm (suposely, I don't think God will let them enter lol) so this lesson feels pretty much filler for the next week lesson, that *might* be more interesing idk

[affluent-havoc]

Sooo, I finished Chapter 1 of THH and I got THOUGHTS! Spoilers ahead so keep that in mind! For one, fairly decent chapter. Trying to keep count of how many days have passed in game cus I've been curious about that. So far it's been 4. Another thing is that, every time I see Byakuya, I just laugh a bit because it's so strange for me seeing him in his natural habitat. Furthermore, I got thoughts on the dialogue. Fairly fine there's times I've cringed, mostly with Hifumi. Can totally get why some don't like him. Not one for all the inuendo's he makes and his very insistence of using cringe gamer lingo in unnatural ways. Personally headcanoning that's his way of coping with the situation but I suppose me saying that is also MY way of tolerating him. I will be sure to actually interact with him though so I can fully get a grasp on his character, what he's about in his FTE's, and if I can safely say if I actually dislike him or if it's just mildly cringy. Another note on the dialogue is that one scene very much made me uncomfortable a bit. 'Twas when Sayaka ran off after watching her motive video and Monokuma came in like "Oooh Makoto! You got a boner" and started describing stuff but also describing his own bare stuffing like, I'm a visual reader so that was just awful. Felt that scene was off too. I get having levity, but at wasn't necessary levity in the situation in my opinion. Meanwhile, regarding the investigation, I had fun running around and judging everyone. I totally get why some of them are where they are but seriously. Some of these losers weren't even trying to make sense where they were standing. Sakura and Mondo make sense cus they were on body guard duty (pun intended), Chihiro said they felt bad for leaving Junko's corpse so I get that. I suppose Hiro was too scared and freaked out to move so that's why he stayed in the gym too. I get Toko running off to a random classroom as well, saying she didn't wanna help cus she's bad at blood. Leon I get too cus he's ya know, the killer. Prob has no clue where to go and is just watching from afar. Watchin in the sense of like, the door being closed. Cus he's not in the room and the door is shut and all. The others though? No clue. Why is Taka just standing in the hallway? What is he doing there? Trying to calm his nerves? His dialogue doesn't really suggest that though. Or, why is Celeste in that one room with the big vault door? Is she admiring it or something? At least got to your room if you're not interested in helping, girl! Byakuya cracks me up the most cus he is LITERALLY right near his door! Just go in your room if you're gonna be useless, my dude! Or at least sit on the floor, cross your legs, and twiddle your thumbs on the floor, why don'tcha! Personally, I feel that it'd at least be fair if one of these losers was in the bathroom or something! Would be a small but of situational levity AND make sense! Not that they all know at the time that the trial area would have no where to sit and they'd be standing for hours debating or anything. A restroom break makes sense though! Get a little anxiety shit out before it all goes south! Speaking of which, no clue why it mentioned in text there were seats. There's no seats in the trial room. They all stand there. No clue why that was mentioned. Unless that meant the ground which, I mean I guess that works. Finally, I wish to mention the gameplay I had as well. For one, I chose mean mode for my playthrough to spice things up! Went well besides a few misclicks. Hands got a bit sweaty even though I know what happens and all. The BTB at the end. though? Took me so many tries that it tanked my grade from an A to a C! I at least think that was the main cause. Would not be surprised. One last thing btw, Byakuya is oddly helpful here. Legit understandable! Makes reasonable deductions and all! Agreed with his takes! I swear I'm not just defending him for the sake of it! He's legit just fine here. Not for looong though~! Chapter 2 is afoot!!

[demonboyhalo]

*picks up the talentswap au and runs away with it in my mouth*

NOO MY SPRITE EDITS AND EXECUTIONS!! 😭 I STILL NEED TO POST MY TALENTSWAP FIC SO I CAN SEE PPL REACT TO ALL THE DEATHS 😭😭😭😭

[dandeeliion]

i wrote a fic :) the premise is the theory of a warped photo ! dick grayson, investigative journalist, is kidnapped by roy harper, ward of oliver queen and sometimes vigilante-adjacent figure. (tragically) accustomed to the kidnapping scene — courtesy of one slade wilson, the brains, brawn, and father of the wilson crime family empire — dick knocks roy’s plans into slight chaos

[hey-heigo]

Chapter 9

oh god oh fuck he's back

SEE HERE FOR GENERAL WARNINGS AND FIC SUMMARY

Some pre-chapter notes:

Hey Byakuya I'm glad you had your little reconciliation moment. We're still in a killing game though so don't forget

There is not as much of a focus on the other chars...trying to change that for the future because they're just as fun to write

Toko, girl...I do love Toko as a character but as a person she does some questionable stuff. This hasn't changed for this fic

@moonlighttogami betaread this!!

Content warning tags: Monokuma shows up to move the plot. I'm not sure what to tag this one with to be honest...canon compliance stressful events I guess?

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“So you guys are…like, better now?”

It’s Asahina who asks this, walking boldly up to where he’s sitting at breakfast the next morning. He raises an eyebrow at her, setting down the piece of toast that Makoto had delivered him.

“What on earth do you mean?” He asks right back. He has the feeling of eyes, following his every movement. It’s annoying, but he supposes it makes sense; being locked up in a building with no new information meant the common masses would be slavering for entertainment. Relationship drama, or gossip thereof, was one way to sate that need.

“Oh, you know…you guys seemed like you were arguing before,” She says casually, rocking on her heels. “Like, you would leave any time he was in the same room, you wouldn’t talk to him, and he stopped bringing you breakfast…” She trails off, voice ending in a pointed lilt.

“I don’t know what assumptions you’re making, but I’m not interested in feeding your delusions.” He replies coolly. Let them draw their own conclusions. “Why not bother Makoto about this?”

“What do you think they’re doing?” She jerks her chin behind her. Makoto is surrounded on all sides by Yasuhiro, Owada…and Ishimaru, who for some reason seemed oddly friendly, especially with Owada. The weight of three, overbearing personalities seemed to be physically crushing the boy, as he tries to avoid Mondo’s belting, burlish questions by ducking into his cereal.

He wonders if Makoto was looking at him, probably making pleading eyes for assistance, and purposely looks away. He quietly congratulates himself for his forward thinking; after waking up some time before seven (warm and tangled up in sheets and limbs, and with his internal clock thrown entirely off-course), he immediately kicked Makoto out, shoving the groggy boy bodily out of his room, specifically to avoid drawing this kind of unnecessary speculation.

(He worried, afterwards, about whether he had inadvertently ruined their recently repaired deal. But then Makoto said ‘good morning’ when he entered the cafeteria, and then brought him breakfast as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. And suddenly, it felt somewhat foolish of him to have been concerned in the first place.)

“Like I said. Draw your own conclusions.” He hums, lifting up his mug for a sip of coffee. It was bitter and watery, but there’s some slight improvement from before; his constant hassling of Ishimaru must have yielded results. “Is that all? Can you leave now?”

Asahina wanders off, apparently annoyed that he won’t reveal anything more. With her absence, he suddenly becomes aware of a presence behind him, and as he sets down his mug, he manages to identify the person by smell. 

In the time since becoming blind, it seemed that his nose had sharpened, though that wasn’t necessarily a pleasant adjustment. He sighs, “What, Fukawa.”

The shuffling footsteps that had been inching steadily closer to him stop, then scurry off. What a strange one. He suspected that she was of the same crowd as Fujisaki, an admirer that has confused expected appreciation of superiority for romantic infatuation. For the time being, she was still relatively harmless, and somewhat useful in how attentive she was, cleaning up after him at mealtimes. He could have Makoto chase her off later…somehow or another.

Breakfast was drawing to a close. People began putting away their dishes, meandering towards the exit. Byakuya stands up and begins walking towards the library, and not long after he enters the hallway does he hear the sound of footsteps, sneakers squeaking to catch up to him, and allows himself a small smile.

___

Ding dong, bing bong.

He pauses outside of his room door, looking up in the direction of the sound. How odd, but he didn’t think it was ten PM already…he’d been very careful to have Makoto pay attention to the time on his wristwatch, so that they would leave the library with ample time to spare. He glances over his shoulder, and sees Makoto standing in the middle of the hallway, staring confusedly at the nearest speaker.

“Ahem! School announcement, school announcement.” Monokuma’s voice grates from the speakerphone. “Nighttime is quickly approaching, but before it arrives... All students, please gather in the gym immediately. Emergency! Emergency!”

This…could only spell trouble.

Around them, their peers were beginning to peek out of their rooms. Some of them seemed to be trembling. A clamor of anxiety was beginning to build, people voicing their worry for what could be coming next.

“I-It’s not a b-b-body, right?” He hears someone stutter behind him, along with the sound of audible counting.

“No. We’re all accounted for.” Kirigiri's voice cuts through the hubbub. “But we better get moving. It’s not a good idea to defy him here and now.”

Her words help snap people into action. He walks on ahead, ignoring Makoto, who had begun to drift over to him. He still needed to maintain some semblance of normality, after all, and having the other boy hover over him too much would grow too annoying. That conversation from breakfast was still on his mind.

The gymnasium is the same as he last remembers it, save for the removal of Enoshima’s body. From what he can tell, even the floorboards that had been pierced through have been replaced. How meticulous. He wonders if it was Monokuma that took care of the repair, and is struck by the sudden ridiculous image of the bear toddling around with a box of tools and some wooden blanks before wondering if there was something wrong with his head beyond his eyesight.

Speaking of Monokuma, the insufferable toy wasn’t here yet. The others murmur among each other, uneasy and on edge.

“What could he possibly want?” Ishimaru wonders aloud. His unusually relaxed, easygoing demeanor from earlier today was gone, replaced with the stiff, high-energy nervousness that he usually displayed around Monokuma.

“Indeed. What might await us this time?” Celeste hums, calm as ever.

Nothing good, I’m sure. He thinks to himself. But really, there was only one possibility that was in his mind.

“It’s likely a new motive.” He says, and at that, a hush falls over the group. They all knew what that meant.

“A-a-a-” Yamada trembles where he stands. “A new motive?!”

“Nooo…not again!” Yasuhiro moans, hands fisting in his own hair. “And not after the earthquakes last night!”

The ripple of anxiety that had been running through the group is interrupted by confusion. “...Earthquakes?” Makoto asks.

“Yeah! There was, like, a lot of rumbling last night.” The clairvoyant nods emphatically, hair bouncing like the branches of a tree. “I was sitting around in the main hall last night, meditating, when I suddenly heard a lot of, like, loud booms and stuff. I totally thought it was construction or something at first.”

“Construction…?” Asahina tilts her head. “Would it be the mastermind trying to build something?”

“I mean, I don’t know if it was construction for sure. It was just, like, kinda loud, you know?” He waves his hands, as if trying to support just how ‘loud’ it was by movement alone. “Like, I’m surprised no one else heard it!”

“The rooms are all soundproof.” Kirigiri interjects now. “Most of the rest of us were in our rooms by ten o’clock.”

“Y-yeah, I know, but- wait, does this make me seem suspicious? But no one’s even dead!” The few shreds of interesting information he had to offer were gone, and now all he spewed were inane words again. “I just lost track of time and was staring off into space! Serious!”

They continue to prattle on, and Byakuya tunes them out. Construction noises…he’s not sure what it could imply. Nothing good, surely, if there’s been no sign of the rescue that Asahina had talked about earlier, then that meant the mastermind’s domain extended past the mere limits of the school - the noises Yasuhiro heard were also supportive of that.

“Hey hey heyy, everyone!! What’s everyone talkin’ about?”

A voice pierces the air, and they turn just in time to see Monokuma vaulting onto the podium. It’s a cartoonish sight, but Byakuya feels tense, an uneasy chill building at the base of his neck. And judging by the sudden stilling of the others around him, it seemed that he wasn’t alone in this reaction.

“What Hiro heard wasn't the sound of construction...but it could have been an explosion!” The thing laughs. “Or maybe a machine gun! Puhuhu...That can kinda sound like construction in a way!”

“What are you talking about…?” Makoto asks, and Monokuma rolls over in another fit of giggles.

“Ah-ah-ah! You won’t get that out of me so easily! You might as well try gutting me for stuffing first!” It wags a paw at them. “It’s a secret little secret, y’hear?? And speaking of secrets…”

It digs behind its back for a moment, and seemingly out of nowhere, produces a stack of what looks like large, blank, white cards, fanned out in its paws like a blackjack hand. “Ta-dah!!”

Byakuya fights the urge to squint. Subtly, he steps quietly over to Makoto’s side. “What’s it holding,” He hisses quietly.

“Envelopes…with our names on them?” As Makoto responds in a whisper, Monokuma tosses the envelopes, and they scatter over the floor.

“Everyone pick up yours!” The headmaster orders, and a few people hesitantly obey. “If you don’t, you’ll regret it~!”

Damn. Byakuya stares at the mess of papers scattered around them. He could crawl on hands and knees for a million years, and never find it… “Why should we?” He snarks, glaring at Monokuma. “What’s this all about, anyways?”

“Ohh, good question, little heir!” The bear nods, like a pleased teacher contemplating an enthusiastic student’s question. “Well, if you don’t want to hurry and grab your envelope just yet, I suppose I’ll give you an explanation. You see, I’m a bit bored these days…every single day is so blah and humbug, you know? I’m suuuree you understand!” It waddles, kicking at a few of the envelopes at its feet. “Gosh, it’s got me so frustrated, I’m about to start tugging all my threads out…that’s how bad I want some stimulation, y’hear?! Something rife with danger and intrigue!!”

With those words, Byakuya feels that dread, cold and dripping, crawling down his back. Somewhere behind him, Owada snarls. “The fuck’re you getting at? Spit it out!”

“Patient, be paa-tient! Goodness, it’s not good to be so angry all the time!” Monokuma shakes its head. “But I’m a good headmaster, so I suppose I’ll just go ahead and be frank for my eager lil’ students. Y’see, it’s taking too long for another blackened to show up, and I’m getting so, so, sosososo bored…so, I’ve come up with a new way to motivate you all!” It twirls, and gestures once more towards the envelopes. “This time, I’ve collected up some of everyone’s most embarrassing memories and secrets! And I wrote them up and put them into pretty little envelopes for you all to read through!”

The chill in his back turns icy, and his gaze flicks down to the envelopes scattered on the hardwood floor. Around him, he can hear others diving for their envelopes, snatching them up hurriedly - but he can’t move. Even if he tries, he won’t find it - he can only hope that Makoto had found his, and wouldn’t betray him by reading it. Or else…

And others have started reading already. He hears gasps, terror, disbelief, the crumpling of paper. Before him, Monokuma looks up, tilting its face in an impression of curiosity.

“Oh? What’s this? Not moving?” It reaches out and pats at his knee, and he takes an involuntary step back, disgusted. “What, are you Jesus or something? Free of sin? You think you have no dark or dirty secrets to hide?”

Ironically, it was this stupid taunt that brought him back from his growing panic. Calm down, he snaps at himself. He’d do himself no favors making a fool of himself here.

He forces his face into a sneer. “I’m not the kind of person to be moved to kill by such a pathetic motive.” He says loudly, so everyone else could hear. “You’ll have to do better to make me participate in such a miserable excuse for a game.”

“Still not impressed, I see? Such a shame…” Monokuma looks down, apparently unhappy by this declaration. “And I worked so hard on these too…oh well. Whether or not you look at it matters, if you don’t mind someone else reading it…right, Miss Fukawa?” 

There’s a squeak. Byakuya’s head jerks to the right, where he remembers seeing Fukawa last. Sure enough, the girl is hastily shoving something back into an envelope - one of two envelopes, that she has clutched in her hands-

He’s crossed the space between them before he’s even aware of what’s happening, and grabs the envelope out of her hands, fingers crumpling the paper. Before him, Fukawa flinches and cows, shrinking down. “U-um, I didn’t-I was just…”

He glares, and her words die out. Behind him, Monokuma cackles. “Puhuhu! Oh, that’s too good!” It rolls on the floor with laughter, feet kicking merrily. “This is just like a reality drama! …But, it’s not what I’m after.”

The toy wiggles its legs for a moment, then toddles back onto its feet. “Everyone! You have twenty-four hours! If no one is blackened by then, I’ll reveal everyone’s secret to the whole, wide world! Wouldn’t that be so embarrassing??”

“We’d never kill over something like this!” Makoto’s voice pipes up. He’s standing there, hands clenched at his sides. “Sure, this is something I’d rather not want people to know, but…it’s not something to take someone else’s life over!”

There’s a brief pause, and then a small chorus of agreement. “He’s right!” Ishimaru shouts. “Your plan is doomed from the start! No one’s going to murder someone for this kind of thing!”

“Oh, is that what you really think?” The air in the room seems to chill by several degrees. Monokuma’s voice, previously playful and lighthearted, suddenly takes a sinister tone. “Well…whatever! If that’s the case, I’ll be revealing anyone’s secrets in twenty-four hours anyways, to make myself feel a little better. Everyone…farenotwell!”

And he turns, waddles off, and disappears into the depths of the gym.

__

In the end, they decide to simply ignore it.

Perhaps ‘ignore’ is the wrong turn of phrase here. Byakuya thinks bitterly, as he watches the other begin walking out. In truth, they had hesitantly tried suggesting sharing secrets now, to eliminate the motive, but several (including himself) were strongly opposed to the idea.

In the end, Ishimaru sent them off with a hesitant, awkward suggestion to ‘not act too hastily’, which was about as much as he could offer in this situation. Byakuya grabs Fukawa’s shoulder as she begins to leave, feeling his skin crawl at the very touch of her.

“Ah- huh?! Um…” Her head jerks, between him and the door, and begins squirming in her shoes. “M-mister Byakuya…”

“Give me your envelope.” He says coldly, and she freezes. “Well?”

“U-um…I can’t…” He grabs it from her hand, and she squeals. “W-wait-! L-let me prepare my h-heart-”

“Makoto.” He turns to the boy standing a ways behind him. “Come here.”

Makoto trots over, and Byakuya thrusts both envelopes in his face. “Which one?”

“Uh…” He hesitates for a moment, then points to the one that Byakuya had already been holding.

Byakuya shoves Fukawa’s envelope back towards her, and she fumbles for it a little too late. It flutters to the ground. “Stay away from me.” He spits. “And if I hear any whisper about the contents of this envelope, I’ll make you regret ever being born. Do you understand?”

He turns before she can respond, marching towards the door. Makoto’s footsteps dog after him.

“H-hey, wasn’t that a little…harsh?” He asks, quietly. Byakuya shakes his head.

“Hardly.” He grits out. If anything, he should have been harsher. His hand is still clenched tight around the envelope, the edges digging into his palm. The fury from earlier simmers; he could hardly believe the audacity that girl had dared to have.

He doesn’t even know what was written in his own envelope, and he doesn’t think he’s interested in reading it either. At the very surface level, it would be something about the blood competition that his family had held for the title of heir, and the lengths he had gone through to win it. If the mastermind had been really scouring for something embarrassing, he supposes it could detail about how he once spent a period of his life disguised as Polaris, though that was hard information to come by. Either one would be annoying to deal with once revealed, but it wouldn’t kill him. It was hardly the worst thing a Togami has done in the course of history, and as heir, any such information would be suppressed before it could reach any important ears.

But, it would be considered a blunder on my part. A blot on his perfect record. He chews at the inside of his cheek, feeling the raw and bloody flesh from the other day run over the grooves of his teeth. To allow such a thing to happen would reflect poorly upon him, draw doubt onto his position.

It’s not like killing was the better option, however.

He sighs, and stuffs the paper into his pocket. Better to put it out of his mind for now; if time runs out and it gets revealed, he’ll just have to figure out a way to deal with it then. He’s gotten out of tighter spots. And no matter how much he and Makoto had smoothed things over, he still couldn’t trust the boy to the degree of having him read it out to him, especially if it was a secret that could affect the family name.

For the time being, it was time to go to bed, and mull it over in his sleep.

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[borkthemork]

Been watching a playthrough of Eden's Garden's Intro, and not gonna lie, they did a great job really getting me invested in Damon Maitsu. Not only is he an inversion of the previous DR protagonists by being confident of his skills off the bat, but the writers did well to balance it so that even if he comes off as conceited to people, the trial's writing with Cassidy Amber, Wolfgang Akire, and the way people react with the Killing Game really made me understand that he makes a lot of great points that puts him in the collision of others, and why he feels this way. He isn't wrong in disproving the idea of living in the false hope that Ultimates, people with much to lose, won't kill. He also is willing to stand up for Eva when no one else listened to her, which shows he isn't doing this mainly out of conceit or apathy, but that he doesn't want people to be in toxic positivity, he wants people to be ready for the games, and not be ignorant to them