#chi in the background plotting to get someone killed in a game

[sharpsuite]

Chishiya has this thing where he's going to absolutely deny being jealous even when he's being the most possessive menace around.

[pxiao]

Reasons I’m glad V///R is dead and gone forever

So V//R is dead and cancelled and my only reaction is FINALLY. Since VR is gone and we can finish forgetting the forgettable show and get rid of all our salt. You’re free to add to the post but there are rules. 

1. DO NOT TAG IT SO THE FANS CAN SEE. As much as I hate the show and the fandom even they don’t deserve to see people bashing the show in their tag. 

2. Don’t write the name of the show or the characters. Use /// or ---- in the character’s name like Yu///saku so the tumblr search can’t pull them up

ok good? Good. 

Everyone but Yu///saku is worthless. 

Seriously when have any of the characters actually progressed the story? Potentially only SB have done anything truly worthwhile. Everyone else was just to die to build tension for Yu//saku. And if you’re asking for RE///volver. OHHH I have a section just for him, don’t you worry.

Sto//rm Acc/ess aka Yu//saku is such a shitty duelist that the MINORITY of his duels has him not cheating. 

SERIOUSLY it’s written that Yu//saku can get a random extra deck monster with his skill BUT the issue is despite it being “random” Yu//saku ALWAYS gets the monster he needs to win. NOT ONCE IN THE 100+ EPISODE HAS HE GOTTEN A USELESS CARD. ALWAYS THE ONE HE NEEDS. Totally doesn’t seem like plot armor. And you know it wouldn’t be as big of an issue IF HE DIDN’T USE IT FOR EVERY SPE///ED DUEL!!!!!!!! For a character that the show likes to say is “invincible” he sure isn’t good enough to win with the deck he built. It got ridiculous with his duel with G/oo in season 2 where G//o countered his skill BUT A//i revealed it had a secondary effect that let him draw a card AND still get a new extra deck monster. 

Plot twists: 

They fall into two camps, “we already knew you dumbasses” or “THE HELL WERE YOU GUYS SMOKING!” Essentially the twists are obvious like A///i was based off of Yu//saku’s data as why wouldn’t he be. Or the dumb ones like Spec///tre beating A///oi or somehow Spec//tre had CONSCIOUS TREE AS A MOTHER. There have been a few twists that I can count that surprised me but they lead to other twists that fall back into stupid.  

the “Plot” just plain doesn’t exist.

 It’s just things happening with some connecting plot lines BUT they rarely lead into each other. Light///ning revealed that his plan was happening THE EXACT SAME TIME as season 1′s finale. A//i being the villain is more due to Light//ning’s simulation somehow proving that A///i will destroy humanity than the fact that A/i’s the only Ig//nis left. And each season’s arc has no connecting plot either. Season 1 can be broken down to Yu//saku gets A//i which has him meet the “main cast” and then Yu///saku go to S//OL for info that was TOTALLY pointless. Which is isolated from Re//volver setting a virus that traps you on the internet which leads to Re//volver learning Yusa//ku’s face AND MEETING HIM but does jack shit with that info. And then Re///volver’s final plan happens that was based on timing than anything else. 

Does that seem disjointed? YEP because there is no narrative at all, things are just happening. There is a vague connection at best but none of the characters’ actions actually affect how the story goes. THE FRUSTRATING PART IS THEY SET UP MOMENTS WHERE THEY COULD HAVE BUT THEY DIDN’T. SEASON 2 AND 3 IS THE SAME THINGS JUST HAPPEN AND THEN YU//SAKU HAS TO SAVE THE FUCKING DAY. V/R has no rhyme or reason why things happen, they just do and let me tell you, that’s fucking boring.

The Yu//saku praise

 My fucking god. Look the protagonist getting praised isn’t new, it happens with each series BUT the issue is the volume that Yu//saku gets and how early he gets it. Most protagonists have to wait till at least the second series before the population love them. Yu///saku got it by the THIRD EPISODE. BY. BEAT. A. MOOK. He was called a hero, people were saying he was hot, people were copying his avatar. AND IT NEVER STOPPED. EVERY OTHER EPISODE HAS SOMEONE SAY HE’S AMAZING, STRONG AND SOOO IMPORTANT. 

An A//oi episode in season 1 has a less than five minute section just to show that a kid HERO WORSHIPS YU//SAKU AND WAS IT. The kid appears with an avatar based on PM, PM saves him and tells the kid to trust him to save and then the kid logs out. AND THIS HAPPENS CONSTANTLY. “YU//SAKU IS INVINCIBLE”, “YU//SAKU IS MY HERO!”, “EVERYONE DEPENDS ON YOU YU//SAKU”. IT’S BEEN AN ENTIRE SHOW OF PEOPLE SINGING YU///SAKU’S PRAISES AND THE WORST PART OF IT IS, HE DESERVES NONE OF IT.

The setting. 

Let me ask ... THE FUCK IS IT. What even is Link Vr//ains? Is it a game, a site, a program? WHY IS IT ONLY IN DE///N CITY? WHY IS DESTROYING IT WILL LEAD TO THE ENTIRE INTERNET CRASHING???????? Link Vr///ains is something that NEEDS to be explained but the show NEVER DOES. HELL IT NEVER EVEN TRIES. 

The girls

Jesus christ ... the girls are .... just sad. A///oi ... my fucking god A//oi. A///oi’s personality starts and ends with “onii-sama”. NEARLY EVERY MOTIVE OF HER’S IS I WANT TO DO SOMETHING FOR MY STEPBROTHER. Everything else is a passing fancy. Mi///yu? Yeah nice motivation but that’s why her two duels as BM in season 2 is more about her relationship with Ak//ira than her “friend”. 

Em//ma’s backstory was absorbed into BS’ despite the fact he was a new addition when Em//ma was around since season 1. 

Vir//ya is just a bit character meant to fill out the remain KOH, since their return in season 2, she haven’t done anything of value. 

Qu///een ... why is she there? I mean she appeared in a Bikini ... in virtual reality. seriously there is no point in that shit, and then did nothing besides watch over Ear//th’s death and then lost to A//i when her skill was named honey trap. 

Mi////yu is so unimportant we haven’t gotten a scene of her out of flashback despite being a lost chi//ld.   

Back to A//oi, it’s not even that A//oi isn’t important,sadly that’s not uncommon in YGO, it’s the fact EACH TIME SHE TRIES TO DO SOMETHING, THE SHOW PUNISHES HER FOR IT. She tries to be a symbol for people, it’s stupid why she trying but still, Spec///tre reveals he was toying with her the entire time and she had no chance. She tries to get stronger in season 2, SB beats cause she doesn’t have an Ig//nis and then she does nothing for half the season. She tries to save her “childhood friend”, Bow//man beats her and takes her consciousness so Yu//saku has to save her ... again. She tries to protected Ak//ira, A//i beats them and only takes A//oi to taunt her over her failure. THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SHOW, ANYTIME A//OI TRIES TO DO ANYTHING, THE SHOW BEAT HER UP AS IF TO SAY, YOU SHOULDN’T DO ANYTHING EVER. Great message there. 

Simulations

You know as people there are plenty of reasons that conflict starts, greed, hate, anger, lust, desperation to survive, hunger. And how does conflict start in V/r? FUCKING SIMULATIONS. EVERY SINGLE CONFLICT IN THIS SHOW IS BECAUSE OF A SIMULATION. K//OH are a thing cause Kog///ami did a simulation that showed that the Ig//nis are learning TOO FAST AND WILL CAUSE THE END OF HUMANITY. Ligh///tning turned evil because he learned no matter what he can NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH HUMANITY CAUSE OF A SIMULATION. A///i turning “evil” because he’s doom to end the world cause of you guessed it a SIMULATION. Simulations are just tools and are NEVER THE FINAL RESULT. There are too many variables to truly make an 100% accurate simulation BUT HERE THEY ACT AS IF SIMULATIONS ARE A FUCKING GOSPEL. IT’S STUPID AND INCREDIBLY LAZY THAT THE CAUSE OF ALL the conflict in this show is because of independent simulations.  

Mental illness

As a person with a mental illness and went to therapy I can say this, VR doesn’t deserve any brown points for covering mental illness. If anything VR touching mentally illness takes points away. I have already said my piece on how poorly VR tackles mental illness. But my take away is this when it comes to mental illness VR is a absolutely horrible.

Rev///ovler

Re//voler is in all honestly a shitty character despite what his fans think. He’s an asshole that has no drive of his own. He admit he does this all BECAUSE OF HIS DAD. The one time he did do something of his own accord, turn his dad in, he later regretted so much that he refuses to do it again. LOOK I can understand missing your father despite the fact he’s trash, human relationships are complex BUT RE///VOLVER BEING “FATHER I WILL NEVER EVER GO AGAINST YOU AGAIN DESPITE THE FACT YOU KIDNAPPED KIDS AND THEN TORTURED THEM BECAUSE YOU FELT SAD HUMAN WILL EVENTUALLY GO EXTINCT ONLY TO TURN ON YOUR CREATIONS” IS FUCKING STUPID. And then he goes the EXTRA MILE OF ASS and says to Yu//saku’s face that he REGRETS SAVING HIS LIFE TWICE. And he never apologized either. 

Also his “development” is forced as shit, Revo//lver never develops onscreen or shows signs of changing, just the show and characters say OH YES RE//VOLVER CHANGED.... IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.  Honestly after his return in season 2 where he showed he DIDN’T CHANGE, then he tries to help Hom//ura despite telling Yu//saku he regrets saving him. WHY THE CHANGE. HE HAS SEEN NOTHING THAT MADE HE FEEL SYMPATHY FOR THE LOST KI//DS. BUT HE’S ALL OF A SUDDEN KIND TO HO///MURA. AND THEN AFTER HE LOSES TO LIGH//TNING AND SAY’S A/I NAME, ONLY TO SNAP BACK IN SEASON 3 AND WANTS TO KILL A///I. What I’m saying is, he has no real character development, you can tell what the show WANTED him to become but my god they were too lazy to actually show him changing. 

Yu//saku

OH BOY this is going to be long. Yu//saku is by far the WORST WRITTEN PROTAGONIST IN YGO HISTORY.  He has no personality and no real background besides HE WAS TORTURED, POOR HIM!!!!! Seriously what was his life like before the Lo//st Incident. What did he like to do, did he have friends, where the fuck are his parents. There is no information about him, past or present. Like his current “personality”, WHAT IS IT besides he’s stoic/emotionless. He’s not nice or even mean anymore. He has no likes or even dislikes. All we know is he’s determined ... and that’s it. Yu//saku is a blank slate for the viewers to project on. Yu//saku is honestly NOTHING. 

Honestly, Yu///saku isn’t strong as he cheats the MAJORITY of his duels, he isn’t smart as rarely does he do anything that’s smart, wanting to brutal force the solution and he doesn’t follow his own advice. 

Yu//saku: Bonds are important and the only thing that are absolutes

Yu//saku then fucks off for 3 MONTHS NOT TELLING ANYONE

And like Re//volver, his “development” is forced as hell. He just says things that make no sense for him to say. Yu//saku shouldn’t say revenge doesn’t help WHEN IT OBVIOUSLY DID. The show was supporting him and he got the guy that kidnapped him killed and then he got better. HELL JI//N WAS SAID TO GET BETTER ONCE THE K//OH WERE BEAT.   

[dove-annarchie]

A Slow Damage headcanon theory compilation by Ann

It’s late and I’m supposed to write short stories instead of a long rant about a game that’s not even out. But after watching the Slow Damage PV another hundred times and seeing that the N+C fandom is kinda dead. I decided to add my little, possibly going to remain unseen theories/headcanons/speculations/guesses etc. for the fans waiting for something new.

Note that nothing of what I’ve written is to be taken at face-value, it’s just my speculation and feel free to correct me on anything or share your theories with me. Anything to make this agonizing period of waiting a bit less agonizing!

First, these guesses wouldn’t be as strong without @shinocchidesu’s text decode on the PV and the inverted sketches @bara-mink (sorry, for some reason i couldn’t tag you :C) made to get a new perspective on the images, and they look clearer!. Kudos to them!

To start this trip, I may warn you this is gonna be long as heck. Be prepared.

We’ve got to start with the ambience. N+C has something like a track record regarding crapsack worlds, dramatical murder and maybe false alkanet being the exceptions (and even then, Dmmd was dark as fuck despite the cheery, colorful world it was in). Togainu no Chi was a post-war dystopia, Lamento was a story in a world that was slowly dying, and sweet pool’s world was fairly ordinary but the darkness on the plot was the product of the characters’ doing.

Slow damage seems to be the game where both the characters and the world around them are grimdark as hell.

Taking the PV at face value, the characters seemed suspicious, the music and effects were unsettling and the background left an impression (at least in me) that nothing was fine. Looked kind of like a decadent city, or a red-light district, just an urban zone full of crime. If I had to compare it to explain myself better, think of Dragon Palace in Omerta Chinmoku no Okite (another BL, mafia themed VN).

(what looks like an urban environment in the pv):

(omerta’s dragon palace, for comparison):

A crime-filled ambience is an ideal place for a dark plot with troubled characters.

Moving along with the characters, we see 4 of them (at least if there’s not a hidden twin, clone or doppelganger). None of them look 100% sane to me. The flashing visuals and slightly off-key music and sounds are likely to hint that at us, or maybe it’s the kanji, for the Japanese-speaking people? They’re either very involved with crime, or their hands aren’t clean enough to disprove any guilt. At least for me, since these are my deductions.

Moving on, I’m going to talk about the people we see in the PV. Starting with:

My thoughts about him? When there’s crime, there should be cops. He looks like a detective or cop to me. He also seems to be middle aged, or older than the MC at the very least. Old enough to have been a father? Who knows. But he reminds me of Motomi (TnC) and Kiryuu (Omerta) for some reason. I’ll call him Kiryu for now.

The words deciphered by shinocchidesu in their post read:

Sins, guilt, depression, self-loathing, to hide something, mask.

If I tie this to his assumed position in the law, Kiryu must have committed a crime himself and/or gotten someone killed. It was either an accident or intentional, whether in a moment of weakness or fully aware of what was going to unfold. In any case. It seems like Kiryu desperately wants to hide it, or forget it. Or the disgust he felt with himself after doing it.

Affection, mercy, silence, determination to be…

What if his route is like a healing process, maybe not just for Kiryu, but also for whatever the MC went through before? Maybe by taking his route, if he has one, we can make him move on or remind him that the past is in the past, and that he can still find worthy things in his life (Like the MC?). he’s going to feel more positive with the MC around him, he may quickly take a liking to him. Maybe because he reminds Kiryu of someone from his past? Is being romanced by the MC like a chance to symbolically or internally fix everything that went wrong?

Next is…

My thoughts about him? Looks like the typical pretty boy every anime media must have. Longish hair? Check. More delicate face structure? Check. Mischievous smile? Check. He also seems to have piercings, or maybe it’s the rough lines of the sketches. I’m going to call him Shi for now, read the explanation ahead.

The deciphered words read:

Unrestrained, unstoppable pleasure, blood, bone, flesh, violence.

This doesn’t spell good.

I’m going to stretch my deductions a lot and state that maybe Shi was (or is) a cannibal, or a serial killer. I see him as a hedonistic fuck who doesn’t care about other people’s wellbeing as long as he’s having a blast. Maybe he was under the influence of drugs. All of this spells that Shi was an outright criminal, the kind of pleasure-seeking person who will go to the extreme just to feel new sensations, even if they’re morally wrong. Shi wants to feel thrilled, he has no barriers or chains. He’s a free man and not even the police can keep him from having his way. He’s sassy, brash, carefree and confident. Has a joyful and fun façade to hide his bloodthirstiness and the misery it caused him.

Or we can take the other side and imply he was being forced to be like this. Maybe he was part of a cult or a very toxic group who indulged in killing and intoxication. He’s used to this, even if he doesn’t want to be. Maybe the MC can help him withdraw from his passions or push him deeper into it while joining him. I still don’t have this clear.

Self-denial, build and rebuild, hidden aesthetic.

Shi lives very frugally. Because of his criminal status he has to constantly relocate, but it’s not like he has important things to leave behind. Much like Nine told Aoba in dmmd re:connect, Shi can build and destroy his (outer) world whenever he wants or needs to and he doesn’t lose much by that. The build and rebuild part can also apply to his possible murderous intents, since he destroys lives in order to build up his pleasure. Possibly being with the MC may inspire a desire to settle down, despite the risk, and having legitimate reasons to do the opposite. A possible bad end might be joining in the bloody debauchery and being dominated by Shi?

Next one…

My thoughts about him? A classic character; the kichiku megane. Other than Ugajin (also from Omerta) and the yaoi manga with that name, I cannot make any comparisons due the fact I haven’t seen many examples of this archetype. Unless he turns out to be a caring, if amoral sweetheart, I’m betting my cat’s life that he’s going to follow the trope to a T. Stoic, sadistic, cruel and uncaring, but smart, sophisticated, desirable and maybe hiding a very tiny good heart. He looks like a high-ranking criminal, or yakuza or mafia or I dunno, he looks not like a lowlife thug, but more like an evil hidden-in-plain-sight kind of criminal. He can afford to look elegantly amoral. It took me a while to give him a decent placeholder name, so I’m just calling him Kenji for now.

Let’s analyze his phrases.

To put on, not being himself, inerasable past, acted out truth, hatred towards their own.

This one’s a little more complicated to me even if it seems to be explicitly spelled out. Kenji’s self-hatred must stem from a typical traumatic experience. Maybe his family/race/clan/group did something awful and he was one of the few who regretted letting it happen? And that’s why he’s involved with crime? Because he sees himself as nothing but another apple that rot far away from the tree and he can’t do better than commit more crimes?. A little part of himself knows that while he’s scum, or at least related with the real scum, he didn’t commit atrocities like his kind so he can afford to be a little bit better. He desperately tries to distance himself from his clan, erasing his past and not wanting the horrible truth to be discovered. He doesn’t need to have a higher moral ground, he’s content with not doing horrible things directly. And he clings to that.

Cruel, thorough confrontation, continuous obsession.

Rule of three dictated these might refer to Kenji’s relationship with the MC. While MC doesn’t look like a career criminal, he’s still at the very bottom of the barrel, living in the crime-ridden urban settlement on a filthy studio (assuming he’s an artist). While Kenji can flaunt of being sophisticated and respected. If the kichiku megane aspect is played straight, Kenji won’t limit his cruelty with the MC, maybe seeing him as just another ruffian undeserving of even mere eye contact, much like he sees the people working for him. MC will keep clashing with Kenji, causing the yakuza to become enticed and attracted to the young (?) smoker. As if he’s “deserving” of him. I don’t have much else, sorry.

And finally…

Now let’s go with the hooded person, who I’m assuming it’s the MC, and if he isn’t and turned out to be the main antagonist or some shit like that, welp, then screech in my ear and call me Rachel.

I’m basing my guesses from the teaser images rather than the kanji.

The first one is simplistic. We see a person in a hoodie sporting a macabre smile, standing in the middle of a street with distorted figures which must be buildings. The colors are limited, classical red, black and white, aiding the macabre aesthetic of the picture. The black figures seem to sink onto the ground and lose consistency. As seen on the N+C website, the title of the game is written twice; once in white and then in black, right over the white katakana in an irregular way that may be meant to add to the “instability” of the image.

I don’t see much symbolism other that this being N+C’s way of saying “yo, we gon fuck your mind up but you gotta wait for it ;) also if you don’t speak Japanese then you’re doubly screwed fam”

The second one is more complex and gives us a very good look at the aspects and symbolism. We see the hooded person in much clearer detail. Looks definitely masculine (it’s a yaoi game, duh). He’s sitting on a stool, in a crooked posture, looking depressed and defeated, smoking while avoiding eye contact with the camera. Smoking was believed to reduce stress, but that was debunked a while ago, so he has pent up a ton of anxiety added to the usual problems with his already underprivileged lifestyle. Behind him there are numerous canvases (assuming he’s an artist, or at least a hobbyist) with a huge black one right behind his back, they show no images other than empty whiteness and some shadows, their meanings being that either he gave up, those easels are representing emptiness and gloom, he became disillusioned and he’s reflecting on stuff, or that there are multiple problems in his life that are unimportant or self-inflicted and thus cause him small amounts of misery but not to an extreme extent, and this one big black canvas right behind his back represents factor that started, prolonged or keeps fueling his bitterness and internal struggle.

I want you to save me./Do you want to be saved?

In a world of crime, a young man has the chance to make things right. Anything he could do may make things better or worse. Is he talking to himself? Is someone else asking him that? All the above?

By who? By me?

He’s doubtful and depressed. He started at the bottom and he’s still in the bottom (that was unintentional). But can he push his frustrations aside and face the music?

That concludes my analysis and helped quench my impatience a little bit. I should repeat that this is not to be taken at face value nor I’m saying this is 100% canon official information. It’s just another guessing game to see if I can give you an idea of what to expect. I dunno, I just wrote this for fun C: thanks for reading!

[goldstarzzz]

V3: The RPG

Everyone knows Junko loves playing high-stakes games with her classmates, but sometimes even she can enjoy something for the more casual player.

I wrote this a couple months ago as a late birthday present for @jinjojess, but since V3 just released in English, I decided to post this. Warning, this has MAJOR V3 spoilers, so don’t read if you haven't finished the game.

Words: 2241 Rating: Teen (like honestly, it's general but there are swears so) Characters: Tsumugi Shirogane,Shuichi Saihara, Yasuhiro Hagakure, Junko Enoshima, Touko Fukawa, Hifumi Yamada, Sakura Ogami, Kyoko Kirigiri, Makoto Naegi, Mukuro Ikusaba, Byakuya Togami (mentioned), Leon Kuwata (mentioned), Maki Harukawa (mentioned), Himiko Yumeno (mentioned), Ki-Bo (mentioned), Chihiro Fujisaki (mentioned)

The atmosphere was tense as a terrible realization was looming among everyone’s minds, it had finally become clear to the ‘students’ of Gifted Inmates Academy that their belief that they were the last survivors of humanity and former students was just a lie that had been implanted in their minds by the Ringleader of the Killing Game they were forced into, the girl with the Super High School Level Cosplay talent known as Tsumugi Shirogane. The truth behind everything had become apparent to the student, but it was a truth that seemed so impossible to them that they couldn’t quite grasp it, even with how obvious it had become.

 "If what I had said about my inability to cosplay real people is true, then what does that mean about Hope's Peak Academy?" Although Tsumugi had lied about many things, she remained steadfast that she was unable to cosplay as real, living people and yet there she was, disguised as Makoto Naegi, the supposed Super High School Level Hope of the Hope’s Peak Academy Killing Game. Any possible options were wiped out by the fact that she was able to dress this way without getting sick, there was only one answer for here question.

 Elsewhere, far away (in a manner of speaking) from the trial that was happening with the students of Gifted Inmates Academy, a voice whispered ("Wait... Enoshima-chi, am I reading this right?")

 ("Yeah, just read it already,") another voiced responded hurriedly.

 "Could it be that it's... fictional?!" the Super High School Level Detective Saihara Shuichi finally responded to Tsumugi’s question. Almost as if it was a direct response to his answer, Shirogane changed costumes. Her speed was remarkable, in the blink of an eye, she managed to completely change her look from Naegi to Byakuya Togami, the Super High School Level Scion.

 "That's right, the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History never actually took place in reality. Yeah, Hope's Peak and the Future Foundation and the Remnants of Despair, they don't exi-"

 "A-all right, I've heard enough of this!" Another voice from elsewhere broke through the scene that was going on, completely disrupting it.

 "HUH?! Aren't you supposed to be dead?!" Junko Enoshima said testily, clearly annoyed by the sudden intrusion.

 “Y-you know that’s not what I-I’m talking about!”

 In Hope’s Peak Academy’s Rec Room, Touko Fukawa was trying her best to look confrontational towards the group of six that were huddled around a table filled with notes and drawings and character sheets. Hifumi Yamada, Sakura Ogami, Kyoko Kirigiri, Makoto Naegi, Yasuhiro Hagakure, and finally Junko Enoshima turned in their chairs to look at the girl who had been lingering about listening to their roleplay.

 “You’re weird meta narrative was b-bad enough, but I won’t have you dragging Byakuya-sama’s name through the mud with that terrible impression of him!”

 “Hey, don’t blame me, I’m just following Junko Enoshima-dono’s instructions, being the Ringleader isn’t as fun as you’d think it’d be with the DM basically breathing down your back,” Hifumi Yamada sighed. As the Super High School Level Doujin Writer, he’d just wanted to play as a character that shared his love of fiction but that was pretty much pinned down when Junko revealed to him that he was the Mastermind and had to try to blend into the background. Now that they were at the forefront of everything, he barely had any control over what she did.

 “Actually, that’s a genuine point of criticism for me as well,” Kyoko spoke up, “Quite honestly, I haven’t really been putting any effort into playing for a while. I wasn’t expecting much challenge from the mysteries you set up, so that wasn’t an issue for me but… Forcing my character into a romantic subplot with Kuwata’s wasn’t the direction I was hoping to take Harukawa.”

 “Hey!” Junko pretended to snap, she knew that her friends would get pissed off like this at the last minute but honestly she had too much fun fucking with them in the game and this final outburst was almost entertaining even with how predictable it was. The feeling of being frustrated at not being allowed to play how you wanted and the feeling of being totally cornered by your friends in a heated argument, they were despair, they might’ve been a mundane kind of despair, one that wouldn’t normally satisfy her, but they were definitely despair.

 “I wouldn’t have had to force you guys into so many weird spots if you’d break out of your comfort zone. Look at Ogami, she’s roleplaying as a tiny magician girl who barely puts effort into anything, her total opposite, and how many times have I pushed her into a weird spot? Basically zero.”

 “I don’t appreciate being used as an example like this,” Sakura said, “While it’s true that I took our game as an exercise to try to put myself in a different mindset, I don’t feel that everyone else should be forced into a characterization that feels alien to them or makes them feel uncomfortable. Besides, my character has barely had any major effect on the overarching plot.”

 “Yeah, I haven’t really spoken up about this,” Makoto started to speak up, “But that whole shift that Ki-Bo did earlier in the chapter was kinda the opposite of what I was going for with him. And to have it turn out that the character that I’ve been playing as it completely dependent on some inner conscience before turning into someone who’s as disagreeable as that…”

 “Naegi-chi, you’re completely overreacting, all of you are,” Yasuhiro laughed, “Enoshima-chi has been fine about controlling out character, sure sometimes she needs to keep things on the rails, but she’s been a great DM. I have literally no complaints about how my character has been handled at all!”

 “W-what are you talking about?! You’re literally the worst out of all of us!” Touko shot out.

 “Yeah, Junko Enoshima-dono has basically been sock-puppeting your character from that very beginning,” Hifumi joined in, “And you’ve just been taking credit for solving all the mysteries by yourself!”

 “Hey?! What are you guys talking about? Everything I’ve done has been totally all me! Enoshima-chi hasn’t given me any direction at all!” Yasuhiro waved his hands panickedly in a dismissive notion, accidentally revealing the notes that Junko had told him to follow.

 “You’re h-holding the script in your hands right in front of us, you moron!”

 “Well… Why do you even care about all this anyway, Fukawa-chi?! Fujisaki-chi killed your character off two whole chapters ago!”

 “I-I’ve already invested hours of my life into this stupid game already, there’s no way I’m not going at least see the dumb ending,” Touko said, “Besides, I couldn’t find where Byakuya-sama wondered off to… A-actually, I haven’t seen anyone else all day except all of you and I’m having some writer’s block so I don’t really have a choice but to listen in.”

 “Come on, Hagakure. You really haven’t been paying much attention,” Makoto said, “I mean, you didn’t even pick up that everything we’d been told was a lie and even I was able to piece together that much. Although, I’m sure Kirigiri had pretty much figured everything, right Kirigiri?”

 It was then that everyone realized that Kyoko had slipped out of the room while everyone was caught up in their arguments without any noticing. The realization of her sudden absence tripped the conversation, causing a silence in the room.

 “Well it seems that we won’t be able to finish our game today after all,” Sakura spoke up, “Enoshima, given the discussion that has been inflamed, perhaps you could share the ending that you had in mind for the conclusion of your campaign since I don’t think anyone seems to be interested in continuing with this storyline any longer.

 Junko was bored. She should’ve expected this (in fact, she did expect this) but the charm of that mundane, everyday despair she felt had quickly worn off and her excitement had waned to nothingness. Junko quickly glanced at the clock and wondered where Mukuro was. Knowing her useless sister, she’d gotten cold feet and Touko’s inability to find anyone was just because everyone was avoiding her gross smell.

 “Well…” Junko explain in intricate detail exactly what she had planned out: about how this was DanganRonpa V3, DanganRonpa 53; how she didn’t know roman numerals fucking worked; how those who survived were at the mercy of their audience and how they’d sacrifice themselves to give the audience an ending they didn’t want by destroying the school with them inside; and how they’d miraculously survive through the falling rubble while Tsumugi and Ki-Bo perished, “And then the campaign would close with you questioning if what Shirogane told you about your personalities being fake was even true in the first place.”

 Junko looked around the room at everyone: Touko and Hifumi both had dumbstruck looks on their face in disbelief of the terrible ending Junko had in mind for their characters, Makoto rocked back and forth in his seat slightly with an indecisive look on his face, Sakura’s front was readily readable but Junko knew that she thought the ending was bad but was keeping her criticism to herself. She noticed Touko take a look around the room herself. Upon seeing Hifumi’s shared expression, she spoke up.

 “O-okay, when you make me share a literary opinion with a hack like this who only writes immature garbage, then it sh-should be obvious that you cannot in any way or form craft a story. The e-ending was fine enough even if it was a little rough until that epilogue j-just completely destroys what you were working for.”

 “Not to mention this campaign feels like the sequel to a game that doesn’t exist yet. I mean this is the fifty-third Killing Game and yet we don’t know about a single one other than that one of them apparently involved alternate version of us? In fact, I don’t get what you were going for with that at all, why did it use some alternate history where we were locked up into Killing Game instead of safe in the bunker? This whole game it just doesn’t work at all, Junko Enoshima-dono.” Hifumi added to Touko’s criticism and Sakura silently nodded in agreement.

 “I don’t know…” Makoto said, coming to Junko’s defense, “I kind of liked it a bit. It’s a little hokey, but I’d really prefer that everybody not die in the end. If I had one criticism, I’d probably have Ki-Bo turn out to be all right after all and be able to function without Team DanganRonpa’s interference. Like… Maybe one of the upgrade Iruma gave him ended up letting him be able break their control and be free and they found him, still alive in the rubble. Something like that. It’s like a surprise plot twist, but in a happy way.”

 Everyone stared at Makoto.

 “Yeah, you get totally get what I was going for there, Naegi! I just wanted an ending that made all the dreary despair leave you heart. To let the players know that from there on out everything would be okay. It’s an ending where hope wins,” the words that came out of Junko’s mouth physically pained her and she loved it before dryly adding,”…Again.”

 Almost as if on cue, a small round canister rolled into the room and clinked against the table where everyone was gathered.

 “Huh, what’s-“

 “Ugh, finally she’s here,” Junko said as she quickly pulled out a gas mask from under the cushion of the chair she was sitting on and strapped it over head, “It’s about time you arrived, Mukuro!”

 The canister exploded into a gas cloud that started suffocating Junko’s classmates and slowly caused them to become sluggish and lose consciousness.

 “Junko-chan, I’m here,” Mukuro Ikusaba, the Super High School Level Soldier and Junko Enoshima’s twin sister, muffled through a mask as she walked the cloud of gas that was overtaking the room. Mukuro hadn’t talked to her sister since her character was murdered in the game, but today was the day that they had set to finally put their plan into motion and so, after waffling about whether she should start to go through with it or not before talking to Junko, she stuck to what they had arranged.

 “I’m sorry that I’m a little late… And for killing you in the game.”

 “Yeah, yeah, I’ll pay you back for it later, now shut up and go find Kirigiri since she slipped out of here while you were off being useless, I’m gonna speechify here.”

 As Mukuro left the room to hunt down her last remaining classmate, Junko cleared her throat to speak with her semi-conscious classmates, “None of you guys need to worry about how fucking terrible that roleplay was (and yes I know it was fucking terrible for you guys to play through, do you really think anyone with a basic grasp on the ability to DM would godmod characters that much and lead it to such a mediocre ending), for when next you wake, you will have forgotten everything… Well not everything everything, more like everything since we first came to this dump three years ago. Oh and don’t worry, I’m taking all of your criticisms of New DanganRonpa V3 into account for our next campaign: DanganRonpa: The Academy of Hope and the High School Students of Despair. Think of it as a prequel!”