#like unless something goes off the rails in upcoming chapters I can see it work out

[no-brain-just-akutagawa]

I thought let's write a fic about higuchi and tachihara running into each other during the events of dead apple and I think I ship them now ksjvhcks

[galaxiasus-a]

PRE-GAME VERSE

Disclaimer that this contains spoilers for a lot if not at least a portion of NDRV.3, specifically Chapter 6. By no means am I saying this is the ‘canon’ alternative either, however, it is canon on my blog for this particular verse, and all events listed I’ll try and go into as much detail as I’m able to so it can hopefully make sense in NDRV.3′s canon timeline. There is also going to be talk about suicide and abuse.

For starters, we don’t know a whole lot about what happens to the cast in pre-game other than what we little we see of only 3 of them in Chapter 6. I don’t consider the prologue a good source of information because you can clearly see the differences in personality in not only in Saihara but Kaede as well. To explain things a little easier, Kaede still has her optimistic personality that she’s more known to having throughout the first chapter in prologue while how she acts in her audition video clearly is… anything but that. Monokuma has yelled to the Kubz about screwing up the memory process so while some things have stayed the same for everyone such as claiming they don’t have a talent, they have done their job in changing at least more than half of their personality already.

I’ll summarize what exactly pre-game is as best as I can. Pre-game is where supposedly hope takes control of despair and there isn’t a lot of major crime around like murder. This all has to do with ‘DANGANRONPA’ where people fight for survival on live TV for everyones’ joy and entertainment. It’s where people all across the globe love to see other other’s being treated as pawns, most of those pawns being that they willingly volunteered to be a part of the sick and twisted game. In a way, really there’s more despair than any actual sign of hope. And in some people’s eyes, they can see that. One of those people is Saihara himself.

Saihara views the world as nothing more than black and white. He is filled with so much distrust in not only in himself but the people around him. He sees them as ravage animals who are constantly going after blood, either to taste it or just to see the sight of it. His true opinion of the killing game is indifferent; it doesn’t involve him in any way, he isn’t a part of it, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t enjoy the thought of harming others however, and has a strong dislike for those that do. He keeps to himself more and doesn’t speak to anyone unless it’s for something important like work. Everything around him is nothing but darkness. He feels alone in this said darkness and views his purpose is to die. There is nothing in this sad little world that he wants to be a part of, nothing that’s out there for him to gain, nothing out there that gives him a reason to live. There is no one he legitimately cares about. He goes to sleep every night hoping that he won’t wake up the next day. If he does it’ll be just another slow day where people talk about nothing but the next upcoming death in a stupid killing game. A day where he has to deal with people who never really care about him nor give him the time of day anyways. He has no true purpose in this world and he wants to get out of it. He’s just stuck in this darkness that was caused by not only the people around him but also himself and there is no way for him to get out of it.    

He was forced to participate into the killing game. He was forced to make an audition video and forced to land in a place where death is around every corner. He lied on said audition video when he talked about being such a huge fan of it because due to the fact every single person on the planet loves the game he simply decided to join in the crowd. It isn’t until he talks about murdering someone that he starts to get excited. It isn’t until he talks about something that can lead to his own death that he starts to show interest. He does go off the rails quite a bit when he starts talking about the mastermind, but that’s mostly his own despair and adrenaline talking. One common thing masterminds have is how fueled and overcome they are by despair that they see no life especially their own as worthy and Saihara is no different. However his goal wasn’t take another life per se, his goal was to die. If he was going to be a part of this game, he realizes, then this could finally be his chance to die. He has planned executions for himself before. He has fantasized what his death would be and what it would feel like. He wants to die in the most satisfying and most gruesome way only ‘Danganronpa’ was capable of, and if he had to take a life in the process then so be it. Due to the fact that most of them have willingly volunteered to do this then he won’t care if they’re gone. They signed up for this. They were prepared for the consequences.

Saihara does have a talent, though it is an unconfirmed one, meaning, he is extremely well at what he does but he doesn’t view any of it as talent worthy. What he “does” exactly is detective work, though the small stuff like finding kids and pets. Him already being a detective or at the very least training to be one is why he said he wanted to be an Ultimate Detective in the first place. He doesn’t explain why he wants to have that title, if you want to use the “a detective hasn’t been a blackened before” as a reason that just further proves my previous theory that he’s suicidal and all he wants to do is to die in that game. Him wanting to be the Ultimate Detective is the best role for him since he has read about cases of murders and he knows how to solve them, what better way to die than to plan the perfect murder and then get executed in the process.

He doesn’t even expect himself to win the game, most of his focus was on his own death and how it could happen.

If Saihara finds a reason to live, would he be better? Saihara is lonely and scared of the dark world he lives in. He thinks no one would ever care about him and there would be no one for him to trust because everyone is lowkey at each other’s throats. He craves the feeling of wanting to feel alive again. He hates waking up every day and the first thought on his mind is ‘how can I die today’. He craves the “good feeling” he notices most people have; the feeling of being cared of, of being happy to being alive, of knowing that someone is supporting and wanting them to be alive. The good feeling is something he desires most, almost as much as his desire to finally stop breathing. But because he’s convinced that that good feeling would never come he decides to stick in his spot surrounded by darkness until Death finally decides to pay a visit.

And once that good feeling finally comes, he will do anything to prevent it from leaving.

Say this “good feeling” came from a person. He would constantly be around them and giving them gifts to ensure they think he likes them. He doesn’t give much thought in their personal space so chances are he would be right outside their house or wherever they live waiting for them either just to hang around them or give them another gift. He would be as close to them as he possibly can and make sure they keep safe. He would lie to them about their friends and family, throwing claims that only he truly cares about them and everyone else is plotting their demise. He would try and keep them far away from others and spat lies about anyone they think is a good person. He would use the fact that he’s involved with police work as an advantage and as a reason for them to trust his word more over someone else’s. He would go as far as to lie that someone they know has past offenses to show they’re actually dangerous. It would escalate to him preventing them for going outside for too long, and eventually keeping them trapped altogether. He would claim that he’s doing this for their own good, because he’s the only one that cares, because he knows what’s best, because he is the only one they can rely on. He would threaten suicide if he ever finds out they’re thinking about leaving. He would point out that there is no one else left out there who would put up with them and take them in. He would point out that everyone around them is a liar and dangerous and no one would actually care about them. He would die if the “good feeling” leaves.

In reality, he doesn’t care about the other person. He only cares about the “good feeling” they give off. He’s more in love and obsessed with the “good feeling” instead of the person themselves. He is purposely tying them up with strings and pulling them down for his own personal gain. He does not care about the person themselves and only cares about the good good feeling. He does not care about them. He will act as nice and caring as he can to the person, doing a lot to take care of his special little toy, while also doing everything he can to keep them with him and prevent them from running away. He only pretends to lure them closer into his own little trap.

Why he acts this way is more out of desperation and fear. He doesn’t view the things he does as anything bad, he believes he’s saying the truth when it comes to talking about how the people around them are nothing more than animals wanting to kill. He doesn’t view the things he does as pure abuse because he doesn’t see it, because he isn’t harming them. He would never resort to physical abuse. He would never want to actually hurt them. He thinks this would cause the “good feeling” to “break” and they would run away. He views them as a fragile comfort object that he doesn’t ever want to crack, because that would mean the chances of the “good feeling” going away would increase. He doesn’t see that he’s breaking them mentally, nor does he actually care. They’re not leaving, and that’s what matters to him most. That is, until the “good feeling” dies away, if it ever does. That will be one he views them as another disgusting person that he can’t trust and abandons them. They will be, in his eyes, a worn out toy that needs to be thrown away and forgotten about.

I’m not here to say this excuses his actions. I’m not here to say that the things he does are good things. I’m not here to say give him pity points and forgive him because boohoo he’s lonely. There is no “love” involved towards his victims. I’m here to say that he is an abuser.

The point of pre-game is where the students’ “true colors” are shown and what they were like before their personalities have been altered for the sake of the game. So the Saihara we all know and love would of course be drastically different from pre-game. Despite this there are some similarities; both have low self confidence in themselves, both are pretty depressed ( one however being worse than the other ), both have a deep wanting to be loved and cared about, and both are more on the quiet and reserved side. There is however one huge similarity that they have in common.

Lying.

During the trials we see that Saihara is actually a good liar, not as great as Kokichi but a good enough one to fool most if not all of his classmates. He’s able to analyze the situation and twist not only certain scenarios but the words people have said before to create something entirely different than what actually happened and make it believable. Unlike Pre-game however this more for everyone’s sake and to continue the trial forward with more answers that possibly came up because of his lying and get closer to figuring out whodunnit. Unlike pre-game, he feels some form of guilt because of this lying. Lying is more of a last resort to him. Lying is something that he seems to be used to doing, something he probably doesn’t realize. Where he got this sort of practice from isn’t clear. He could have just always carried this skill that came in naturally and hasn’t found a use for it until the trials. But it could also be something that’s been carried over from this alternate personality.

Saihara would put everyone before himself, especially a person he cares about, while pregame Saihara never truly cares about anyone else and only the “good feeling” a person or something can give. Saihara would want the people he cares about to be happy even if it means separation between the two, pregame Saihara cares for no one and would stop at nothing to make sure his comfort object stays no matter what. Saihara sees both despair and hope in the world, pregame Saihara sees no hope in anything and and keeps the mindset that the world will be nothing but filled with despair. Saihara, in general, is a very caring and compassionate person who wants to help others. Pregame Saihara is none of those.

Again, this is something you don’t have to fully agree with. But I explained for the most part how this pre-game verse is going to be handled on this blog as best as I can. Pre-game Saihara is, by a lot of accounts, dangerous.

[itsworn]

This 1971 Gremlin Runs Easy 8s on a Turbo Small-Block Chevy

Bill Moss’ Chevy-powered 1971 Gremlin embraces the ethos of maximum power and minimum bling.

Novelist C. S. Lewis once wrote, “You never know what you can do until you try, and very few try unless they have to.” When Bill Moss was repeatedly beat in heads-up street races back in the late ’80s by a warmed-over ’87 Buick Grand National, his arm was begrudgingly twisted to try something new. At the time he was running a naturally aspirated ’80 Chevy Monza powered by an Olds 350, and the idea of getting his ass handed to him on a platter by a V6 had a sobering effect. That unsavory experience ignited his inquisitive spark, and it led to the purchase of an ’87 Buick Grand National.

As with most vehicular acquisitions when there is a family to consider, those usually come with some strings. “I told my wife Dawn we could buy the car and make it a family hot rod to enjoy,” he explains. Since the whole turbo thing was new to him, he started doing mods to the Buick with off-the-shelf parts and quickly had it running in the 12s. As part of the purchase deal, it also saw frequent use as daily transportation for the wife, until it was stolen.

That setback led to a similar replacement: an ’86 Grand National which would point him in a completely different direction personally and professionally. Not designated as a daily driver from the outset, the ’86 went under the knife right away and it quickly surpassed its predecessor in terms of performance. At the time he had also started his own repair business, so that gave him the space and means to further develop the car. As a result, he was all-in and fully immersed into the whole turbo scene to the point that by the mid ’90s he was getting Grand Nationals from across the country to have engine work done. Over the years his Buick evolved into a solid 10-second car—and then boredom set in.

That monotony was the manifestation of wanting to try something new again, something off the beaten path much like the Buick had been years before. That offbeat candidate was just down the street parked at the transmission shop. It was a ’71 AMC Gremlin that had been mildly massaged into a bracket racer by the shop owner. Moss was hot for the car but the guy didn’t want to cut it loose. He explains, “I wanted to buy it and put a Grand National motor in it.” It was, at some point, detuned and given to the guy’s son to get his feet wet with some bracket racing, but that arrangement didn’t last very long. Moss recalls, “He rang me up because his son had gotten into some trouble in school so he sold the car out from underneath him.”

When he rolled the Gremlin into his shop, it was running a Chevy 350 with a two-barrel and a Turbo 350 transmission. It did have a Ford 9-inch rear already in place but beyond that it was fairly stock. While the original plan was to drop a Buick mill in, he points out, “I ended up turbocharging the 350 first. I just changed the intake manifold and fabricated a single turbo kit for it and ran it through a 4-barrel 750 Holley. It was pretty fast and I drove the hell out of it on the street. It was low boost, right around 10 pounds, but it made power and it was running in the high 11s. I added a 100 shot of nitrous to it and ran that for about one year and then broke it.” He went back to the seller a year later and bought a 400 Chevy small-block and dropped that into the Gremlin. “It was nothing crazy,” he notes. “It was running 11:1 compression. I bought it for 500 bucks and dropped that in. I put twin Caterpillar turbos and ran that for about six months and blew it up really bad. The only thing I could save was the intake manifold.”

While he was still running that combination, on the engine stand in the shop was a 383 stroker that he was building for the Buick. Moss notes, “I had a twin-turbo 383 built around a stock 350 block and Dart Iron Eagle 230 heads ready to drop into the Grand National and change it over to a Chevy, but I ended up putting that into the Gremlin. I was still running the Caterpillar turbos and it was nothing really crazy, but it was a consistent low 10-second car and was still very good on the street. I ran that combination for about 10 years before I even changed anything.”

During that time he also had the novel idea of doing some flying mile runs with the Gremlin. For that attempt he swapped out the Turbo 350 with a Turbo 400 mated to a Gear Vendors overdrive unit and a set of 2.73:1 gears. Aero aids consisted of a homemade air dam screwed to the front bumper and a pair of roof rails. His maiden outing was at the Maxton Mile held at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport in North Carolina in 2011, where he received his certification with successive passes up to 175 mph.

The brackets for the supports for the wing that Moss installed for the flying mile runs are still in place and will see some use again in the near future when tries to take the Gremlin past the 250 mph mark.

Impetus for change often comes from the strangest of places and in late 2011 at a show in Wildwood, NJ, that push was egged on by a bunch of import guys. When asked, he states, “I was on the boardwalk and a couple of Honda kids were talking crap. They asked how fast it goes and I told them it was in the low 10s. They told me, that’s it? My buddy’s Honda goes faster than that. That pissed me off so I decided to make it go faster.” That was accomplished with the installation of 70mm turbos, a FAST EFI system, and two water-to-air intercoolers. That pushed the times down into the low 9-second range, but he points out, “I couldn’t handle the car, it was all over the place.” The culprit was a bent rear that needed to be swapped. With that replacement he also took the opportunity to install a set of Caltracs traction bars and split mono-leaf springs, which made a huge difference. That allowed the car to properly hook up and it was reflected in the times when it started running consistent high 8-second passes.

The front bumper on the Gremlin isn’t pristine and shows plenty of battle damage over the years. Visible along the edge of the bumper are the screw holes where the front air dam mounts to when he has attempted the flying mile runs.

As a result of that increase in power, in 2012, he decided to give the flying mile another go at the Ohio Mile in Wilmington, OH. With the huge bump in performance, he was able to push the Gremlin to the 202-mph mark, which was then followed up with a 207.940-mph pass. Two more trips back to the Ohio Mile in subsequent years didn’t give him the result that he was after as a result of a combination of too much downforce added by a wing mounted on the rear hatch, and severe cross winds during both events.

The large pipe mounted where the fuel filler once resided is the exhaust tip for when he runs the Gremlin on the street. This pipe was a flea market purchase that he believes was once used in the medical field but looked perfect as an exhaust exit. Moss and his sons fabricated the two chrome pieces mounted on the right of the exhaust. The inspiration for these came from watching some of the build-off shows on TV.

Along the way, a few things broke and in preparation for a Super Chevy event Moss decided to refresh things a bit, which included the installation of a different cam. He says, “I picked up about 300 horses with that cam. I had the car dynoed and it was putting out 1,320 horses at the wheels.” That bump in power dipped him down into the low 8-second range but it also created massive wheel stands. At one event in 2016, with his son Brian behind the wheel, the car caught too much air, came down hard, bent the oil pan, and broke the oil pump pick-up, which eventually grenaded the motor. As with the previous engine swap, there was already a 406 Dart Little M-based mill on the stand under construction, which is the current combo in the car. The heads, cam, and lifters were scavenged from the damaged motor and installed in this new combination.

Once it was buttoned up and dropped in, Moss spent many hours with his buddy Dale Cherry at Injection Connection in Horsham, PA maximizing the tune on the dyno. This new mill bumped the Gremlin’s rear wheel horsepower to 1,430. That down time to replace the motor was probably a blessing because that year Moss flew under the radar with an 8.50 cert cage as he dipped well below that threshold with a best quarter-mile run of 7.90 at 176.44 mph. In the beginning of 2018, he gutted the interior and fabricated a 7.50 cert cage in preparation for the next Gremlin chapter: increasing output to the 2,000 horsepower mark at the crank and making another attempt at the flying mile with a goal of eclipsing the 250-mph mark.

The stuffed animals on the dash are purchases made over the years at the Wildwood, NJ car show. Moss’ sons have placed them there so he has never removed them for fear of bad luck.

Looking back at the road traveled, Moss reflects, “It’s a real street car. It’s all steel. It has all stock front suspension and for what it is, it makes a lot of power, and it’s not phony power because it backs it up with e.t.s. You can’t go that fast without that kind of power.” It has also been a journey that he has traveled with his sons, Billy, Brian, and Kyle. All three have embraced the art of fabrication and have started creating their own unique rides, one of which we will be bringing to the pages of Car Craft in an upcoming issue.

TECH NOTES Who: Bill Moss What: 1971 AMC Gremlin Where: Southampton, PA

Engine/Induction/Transmission: The Gremlin is on its fourth engine since Moss purchased it back in the mid ’90s. The foundation for the current setup is a Dart SBC Iron Eagle block with an Eagle 4330 steel crankshaft, Eagle H-Beam connecting rods, JE forged 9.5:1 pistons, and a Comp Cams custom ground solid lifter camshaft. On the top end there is a set of Dart Iron Eagle 230 heads that have been slightly ported on the exhaust side. Induction is handled by an ACCEL fuel injection intake, FAST EZ-EFI 2.0 fuel injection, 105mm Accufab throttle body, Motorcraft 160 lb/hr fuel injectors, and a pair of 76mm Precision Turbo turbochargers running at 30 lbs of boost. Shifting comes via a Powerglide transmission with a Neal Chance 3,400 stall speed converter. On the exhaust side, Moss fabricated a set of 1 7/8 headers. For street use the exhaust exits via the centrally located pipe at the rear.

Electronics: Spark management in the engine bay is handled by an MSD distributor, MSD crank trigger, MSD HVC II coil, and 8.5 mm MSD spark plug wires. With the installation of the new cage in ’18, Moss moved all the electronic hardware in the interior to a panel on the passengers side door opening. Mounted is the MSD Programmable Digital-7 Plus ignition controller and the FAST XFI 2.0 ECU.

Rearend: Chassis/Suspension: Tucked in the back is a Ford 9-inch rear with 3.50:1 gears and 31-spline Moser rear axles. Up front, the suspension is stock AMC with Viking double adjustable shocks. At the rear Caltracs traction bars, split mono-leaf springs, and double adjustable Viking shocks complement the Ford rear.

Brakes: After a run where the parachute failed to open, the stock AMC brakes were upgraded at all four corners with the addition of Wilwood 6-piston calipers and 11.75-inch rotors up front, and Wilwood 4-piston units with 10-inch rotors at the rear.

Wheels/Tires: At one point Moss drove and raced the Gremlin on stamped steel wheels and hubcaps. Those have given way to Weld Racing wheels. Up front they measure 15X4 and are wrapped in 26×7.50-15LT Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires. At the rear they measure 15×10 and wear 29.5/10.5R15 Mickey Thompson Pro Drag radial tires.

Paint/Body: The body on the Gremlin is all steel. The rear wheel openings were already modified when Moss acquired the car and have been widened further by him along with the installation of a set of mini tubs. The car is painted in what he describes as Maaco Yellow. It was already sprayed in that shade when he took possession of it, but it originally rolled off the assembly line painted in Surfside Turquoise, a ’71 AMC color.

Interior: There are some vestiges of the original Gremlin interior still in place like the dash and door panels, however, Moss has recently installed a 7.50 cert cage in the car, and it also has a Kirkey full containment seat installed. This was a requirement as part of the certification process for his flying mile license. Other additions include a Pilot steering wheel, Simpson racing belts, and a Hurst shifter.

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