#hinaenami

[theamityelf]

I gotta get messy about some of my favorite Makoto ships now. Give me a minute, lol.

Imagine Makoto is dating Byakuya.

They came together during school; Makoto's perfectly normal but powerfully principled personality appeals to Byakuya despite himself. He stops trying to swat him away, and welcomes his company with less and less frost. It becomes natural to see them together. They start dating, almost matter-of-factly. They're happy.

But Byakuya knows how this ends. There was a time when he had every intention of keeping Makoto at his side for as long as he wanted him there, in his employ or however else, while he did his duty as a Togami and had a lot of heirs, etc. But now, he's been dating Makoto for a while, and he can't ignore the feeling that Makoto is destined for a wholesome, domestic life. A spouse, maybe children of his own. Someone who can give him their attention and heart. Something monogamous.

He breaks up with Makoto. He doesn't tell him that's the reason, but basically he starts to feel like keeping Makoto tied to him is too selfish even for him. (But he spins it in his head to where this was inevitable.) He's cutting Makoto free, and really a Togami shouldn't be dating someone so kind normal anyway.

Then Makoto starts dating Hajime. And Nagito. And Chiaki. At the same time.

And Byakuya realizes that he never asked Makoto how he feels about polyamory.

Now he has to watch as Makoto receives visits to his dorm and is walked to class by people who Byakuya "knows" are more fitting for him. Upperclassmen with genuine smiles, insignificant talents, and open arms. (And the reserve course student, of all things.)

In actuality, whole character arcs took place to get that polycule to where it is now, but to Byakuya, it just looks like Makoto effortlessly found the people who would actually make him happy. And Byakuya could just mope quietly about it, but he's not that selfless; he's rude to Hajime and Nagito, and he legit might perform a hostile takeover of a game company just to "indefinitely postpone" the release of a game Chiaki has been looking forward to. (I'm sure he tells himself he has a different reason for doing this, but his ears absolutely perked up when she mentioned the game in his earshot, and it was a short walk from thinking, "What game is that, anyway?" to "You know, the Togami Corporation might benefit from...")

Chiaki does confront him about this, by the way. He did not expect a confrontation from her, but he gets one, and Hajime is right there with her.

And I'm thinking Chiaki specifically chooses to confront him when Makoto isn't there, because she doesn't want Makoto to feel bad, but as luck would have it, Makoto and Nagito are taking a pleasant walk and they happen upon the confrontation.

Makoto is dismayed that his friends– specifically, his s/o's and his ex boyfriend –are arguing, while Nagito just stands back and watches, trying not to laugh at the petty drama.

[theamityelf]

How would Hajime, Makoto, and Komaeda dynamic after Komaeda framing Makoto? And if the fun house motive still the same would Komaeda found out Makoto title? How would he react and their change in dynamic? How much it would change chapter 5 because I don't think he would risk a literal symbol of hope

Great questions all around.

I feel like when it's revealed that Nagito framed Makoto, and more broadly that Nagito orchestrated for the killing game to start, Makoto would be really horrified and hurt and looking for an explanation from Nagito, while Nagito is in that state he entered in the latter half of trial 1 where he falls really hard into his hope thing while his personal relationships are crumbling.

So Makoto is like, "Nagito...did you really frame me? Were you really trying to start the killing game?"

And Nagito is just like, "I had to be sure. What Monokuma said suggested you could be an important player in all this, despite being a mere Lucky Student. So I had to test you a little."

"What Monokuma said? You mean...?"

(Flashback to Monokuma saying "If you were just a lucky student..." or something of the sort, because for some reason I'm writing this like an actual Danganronpa game.)

Cut back to Nagito with a big smile, like, "And you performed wonderfully! Far better than I expected. The hope of the spotless outshone the hope of-"

"Nagito," Hajime finally interrupts, looking at him like he's never seen him before. "He's asking why you would do this. Why would you do that to him, to [first victim], to any of us?!"

"Ah...[first victim] really did get the short end of the stick in all this, didn't [they]? I do blame myself for that. Or, I suppose...I blame my luck. But none of that matters anymore!"

"You blame your luck?" Makoto repeats. "You mean-?"

"Getting to see all of you work together like this, to see the Ultimates all contribute and rise to the occasion!"

"Nagito, does that mean [first victim] wasn't the intended victim? Who did you mean for Teruteru to kill?"

(Because I think he still would have arranged for Teruteru to be the murderer, no matter who ends up dying. And also because I want Makoto to pick up on the assumed subtext of that case.)

"I wasn't in control of that part. Things just played out the way they were meant to."

And then Monokuma butts in, like "Now then! Time for the extra special, heart-pounding punishment!" or whatever that speech is, and the subject is dropped.

After that, Makoto and Hajime bond over their messy feelings about Nagito. When they find out Nagito has been tied up, Makoto is the first to bring up, "But he has to eat! And...go to the bathroom! We can't just dump him in a room and forget about him. Hajime?"

Hajime just looks conflicted. It's not like he wanted them to tie Nagito up, but dumping him in a room and forgetting about him sounds better than having to deal with what happened between them.

Mahiru is the one who says, "Makoto's right; it's wrong to just tie him up and leave him there without food." (Maybe to Kazuichi and Nekomaru, she adds, "And if you two are going to start acting like wild animals this early on, then you should run your decisions by the rest of us before acting on your own.")

And I don't want to steal Mahiru's moment of going to check on Nagito, so I think I'm going to have her suggest to Makoto that he bring Nagito some food, and Hajime tags along when Makoto goes because he feels he shouldn't have to go alone to see the guy who gleefully framed him for murder.

Nagito is super excited to see both of them, and Hajime is just as restrained as in canon, and Makoto is his own version of restrained, which contains a more imploring side than Hajime really has; he still want Nagito to just explain himself and agree to not cause trouble. Really, he wants to just untie him, because he doesn't like seeing him like this, but Hajime is like, "No, this is for the best," and also he doesn't want to cause more violence.

So he just makes a point of visiting Nagito from time to time, to make sure he's okay and not lonely. Chiaki goes with him, so it becomes this weird vibe where Makoto and Chiaki are having free time conversations and Nagito is just tied up and also there. Very much that scene in UDG where he's like, "Ahh, friendship. 😊"

After Nagito is untied, he's in a perpetual state of third-wheeling either Hinaegi, Hinanami, or Naenami. (Especially in investigations.) Actually, a perpetual state of either fourth-wheeling Hajime, Makoto, and Chiaki together, third-wheeling one of those pairings, or pairing himself with whichever one of them is alone at any given time. Like, he pretty explicitly favors their company.

Hajime and Makoto are the closest within that cluster, kind of inevitably, since Nagito is Nagito and Chiaki can't help being a little bit distant. Hajime feels this complex mix of concern that Makoto's willingness to engage with Nagito (or really anyone) is going to get him hurt and worry that he'll trust Makoto and be betrayed again. In a way, he is both scared for and of Makoto, and both of those things require trust.

As for the Chapter 4 stuff, Monokuma still gives them the information on the killing school life at rollercoaster time, before the fun house, so the group at large learns that Makoto was in a previous killing game then. I'll say Nagito finds out that Makoto is the Ultimate Hope from that book, and promptly his treatment of Makoto goes from "You're cool, you exceed my expectations, I believe in you," to "Actually you're amazing; everyone should learn from Makoto; we're so lucky to have him here, even if he's unlucky to be in another killing game."

Whenever he talks to Hajime, during that period of time between finding out about the killing school life and the Final Dead Room, there's a tone of, "You must feel so lucky that you traded up. You almost got stuck being friends with me, but now you're friends with the Ultimate Hope instead. I'm so happy for you! And Makoto made a good choice, too." And whenever he talks to Makoto during that time, there's a tone of, "I'm so lucky you wanted to talk to me! We can talk about anything you like! Ah, you're hungry. That's no good. If you want, I can probably get someone to kill me. That way, you can get out of here! No? Okay, I guess we'll just wait..."

Then after the Final Dead Room, he learns about the Remnants, and he gets super hostile to them and himself. Now, not only is Makoto amazing, but everyone around him is both unworthy of his company and a huge threat to his life.

(I wanted to keep those revelations separate, so that we can see every stage of his treatment of Makoto: the friendly but un-invested way he treats him when he's just another lucky student, the intrigued way he treats him when he might be more, the sycophantic way he treats him when he's the Ultimate Hope, and the fanatically devoted way he treats him when he's the Ultimate Hope among Remnants of Despair.)

His treatment of the others is about the same as in canon, except more wary. In canon, he has scorn for them, but he doesn't particularly have anything to lose to them. He wants the traitor to win, but it's more important that everyone else lose. Now, he has the Ultimate Hope here, and not only is the Ultimate Hope not allowed to die on his watch, but also his own sense of self, and his sense of his own use, has a tangible outlet. He doesn't have to weed anybody out in a last ditch effort to put his life to use.

I think his interactions with Makoto take on a desperately self-destructive edge at this point. Kind of a "You should insult me! Call me trash!" energy. And Makoto is able to diffuse the feverish rambling, but that just takes him down to a low energy, "You really shouldn't waste your valuable attention on someone like me."

But I like to think, with all these raw feelings flying around, Makoto is able to get some honest answers out of Nagito. He might have to go behind Hajime's back to have that conversation, but I think Nagito is so convinced of his own idea of hope that he might expect Makoto to be on his side about the others deserving to die, once he finds out that they're Remnants of Despair.

In fact, telling him might be a despair thing, too; kind of punishing himself by, in his view, making sure that Makoto hates him and wants him dead. That way, Makoto will agree to let Nagito help him win this game, as hope is meant to triumph over despair, and he can finally do something right with his life.

But of course, Makoto doesn't react the way he expects; he doesn't want anyone dead.

[theamityelf]

I can only imagine how shit will go down if any details of the First Killing School Life may come to life with the other students in the makoto in sdr2 au. God save us all if Nagito finds out after the Final Dead Room. I can only imagine how that trial will go. And the pain Hajime might have in having to choose between Makoto or Chiaki because its one of them. He knows. But did Makoto's luck win out in the end making it Chiaki or did Nagito's making it Makoto?

LOL, SUCH A SADISTIC CHOICE, I LOVE IT!

[theamityelf]

Seriously, though, the way Makoto was like "We don't have to force conversation; we can just kind of coexist here, if you want," with Sayaka just further proves to me that he would be so compatible with Chiaki.

Like, I can imagine the two of them outside in their free time at Hope's Peak, and she's playing video games with her head in his lap, and he's people watching and waxing poetic in his head. Occasionally she wordlessly opens her mouth, to be fed snacks, at most going "Ahhh" if he doesn't notice she's doing it.

And Hajime would be the one who's like, "Is someone going to say something??"