Chapter Text
“Mom, you gotta listen to me. I’m not going home!” she yells.
“No! YOU have to listen to me! You are going back home with me!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“Why do you need us anyway!? I am just going to cause a problem. Just go home alone and adopt some new kid. You can even pick their personality this time.”
“Because you are my daughter! You are my child. I don’t need any other reason! Come home and don’t put your life in this stupid death game!”
“No! Just go home! You almost ruined Sis’s chance of getting in. I’m her twin for Fuck’s sake! I can’t go back to school anymore.”
“We’ll move then! Why do you want to die so much!? How is a game like this worth your life!?”
“I've already explained this to you a thousand times and you don’t care! GO HOME ALREADY!. I can take care of myself.”
“NO! I’m not going back without at least one of you!”
“Well,” she shrugs, “You are going to.”
“No, she won’t,” Tsumugi interrupts. Kaede’s family all turns to her. They see Tsumugi nonchalantly pouring herself a glass of wine. “If she can’t convince you to go back too, she will be shot right here,” she says as she takes a sip.
The yelling stops. The background sound becomes louder; the air conditioner, the sound of plastic in the room, the breathing, all of it is not heard by the family.
“Wh-What?” Kaede asks.
“If she can’t convince your sister to go home with her, I’m going to shoot her here,” Tsumugi answers. She brings up her laptop and starts typing. “Hmm, I guess we have a slot at studio 4 for 4 hours. Maybe 5 TVs? What if they cut the cords? How much was the budget for water and electricity again?” she mumbles to herself.
After some minutes, Tsumugi's typing is the loudest thing in the room which she notices. “Oh! Have you decided on what to do already? That’s fast. So, are you going home or not?”
“N-No! We have not decided yet!” Kaede’s sister quickly shouts. Her face has a large amount of sweat running down. Her hands are shaking and her voice is not stable. She quickly glances at her mother and back to Tsumugi.
“Well, hurry up then. I don’t have much time. If you can’t reach an agreement then I will choose myself,” she says as she continues to type on her computer.
The mother sees a glimmer of hope; her daughter is hesitating, her kid still prefers her alive. “W-We decided to go home!” she shouts.
“W-Wait! We have not decided yet!”
The mother turns to her daughter and their eyes meet. “A-Are you really considering killing your mother?” she whimpers. She sees guilt in her daughter’s eyes while the daughters see fear in hers.
“N-No, I-I didn’t…”
“Th-Then we can go home. Right?”
“N-Not yet…Th-there has to be another way.”
“C-Come on. She said that this is the only way, right? W-We have to go home together. There is no other way else."
“Th-There must be a way, we can make a new way. We must be missing something,” Kaede's sister says with desperation.
“Wh-What are you talking about!? This is the only way. This is the only way for all of us to have a chance of surviving.”
“B-But…I’m this,” she clenches her fists, “This, THIS! THIS CLOSE! I’m this close to getting into the game! SHE GOT IN BUT I DIDN’T!! Why!? Why!? We are twins. What makes she better than me!?”
Kaede only looks at her in guilt. She never knows what her sister is thinking. The gaps in their skills are not big. There are things that she is better at and things that her sister is better at but it’s never enough for her to care.
“Music skill,” Tsumugi answers. “We have plans for a pianist, you aren’t that good at it so we cut you out.”
“C-Come on, there is something in the world you just can’t get," the mother interjects. "It’s okay to give up. Let’s go home first.”
“N-No! I’m not going home until I get to be in the show!”
“That’s at least next year! Your agreement with her is at least next season and your sister has to survive that! Your chance of getting in is basically 0!” the mother says. After finishing that sentence she realizes that her daughter is going to die and she just says that she has accepted it already. She bites her tongue and quickly continues before her daughter comes up with something to disagree with her. “We can go home,” she says slowly. “You still have a chance of getting in next time.” She hates herself for having to say that.
“Next time?”
“Y-Yeah! Next time! I don’t know when next season will come but you can sign up again next time.”
“...But I might not get in…”
“Th-Then…” the mother grits her teeth before saying with a forced smile “Then try again! As long as you are alive you can audition again.”
“...Really? I can try again?”
“Yes!”
“Would you try to stop me again?”
“N-NO! I promise I will not! I’m very deeply sorry that I did. I-I love you and you will be an adult already once we are home. What you decided to do with your life is only your business.” She pleas to her daughter somberly.
“...That’s a lie, Mom.”
“N-NO!” she quickly argues. Her acting quickly disappears, and her fear and desperation emerge for her daughters to see. “I-I will-!" she chokes on her saliva. "*pants* pants*I might not understand but I will not stand in your way anymore.”
“I don’t believe you. You have no reason to keep your word after we are home.”
“That’s true. But what do I have to gain from going against you? Die? You don’t respect my order anyway. I don’t have any way to force you to not get in the show. Please just go home and live together for at least until the next season.”
Kaede’s sister's eyes perk up. She becomes silent while murmuring to herself. “...4…possible…wrong. OKAY!” she shouts. “No, That’s wrong!” she yells at her mother. Tsumugi sighs right after hearing that.
“H-Huh!?”
“You can just leak it like this again, living with you will lower my chance of getting in!”
“Th-That’s true but… Please…I don’t gain anything from stopping you.”
“That was the case this time too! And you just said that you don’t need a reason for not wanting me to die.”
“Th-Then…I-I will move away! You can live by yourself after we get out! There! I don’t have a way to mess with your chance anymore!”
“That’s it?”
“Wh-What else can I do? Please, let’s go home together.”
“...This isn’t like you. I know that you will not keep your word. You will lie and trick me to somehow not join. You will change the audition paper I will mail, you will sedate me to miss the audition date, and you will break the internet to make me not able to sign up.”
“I WON’T!!” she cries out in desperation.
“HOW WOULD I KNOW!?" her kid shouts back. "I never expected you to leak Sis’s email, I never expected you to spy on our email from the beginning. You never give us what we want, you never try to understand!”
“I-I’m sorry,” the mother says with tears in her eyes.
“And now you want me back!? No! I’m not going home. The chance of me getting in is much higher now than just re-auditioning.”
“I-Is that all you care about? Come on, life isn’t just Danganronpa. You don’t have to throw it away for one thing.”
“...I care about that more than you.”
“NO! I-I mean…I’m your mother! Please don’t do this, PLEASE!” she says while rushing toward her kid to reconsider. However, the pain and wound on her leg causes her to stumble and fall.
“Mrs. I have decided.”
“No no no no no no!" the mother cries from the floor. "Come on! Wh-What do you want!? I will do anything! Do you not like the current house!? I will take on a loan, I will scam all of our family. You can live luxuriously as much as you want! W-Want to kill someone!? I will kidnap someone for you! Please don’t do this! We are family right?” the mother frantically attempts to beg for her final chance at life.
“...No. I will stay.”
“Please…[Redacted]. I beg of you please don't do this. I-I don't care about me but...I don’t want you to die,” she begs.
“...I want to...no. I just don't want to live, especially in this world.”
The mother remains silent from shock. During this time Kaede calls Tsumugi. "Hmm?" Tsumugi says as she peeks her head from the computer.
“I would like to stay here please," Kaede's replacement answers.
“Oh! I thought it would be a bit longer. Oh well, then the paper is…not here?” she says as she searches her desk. “Well, I will go print it. Please wait for a minute please.” Tsumugi walks away.
They don’t talk. The silence room allows them to think of their situation. The mother is going to die, and the daughters are going to participate in a death game and die. None of them are fully satisfied with this result but only one of them is crying over the result. Kaede Akamatsu is quietly crying tugging herself into the sofa.
“I’m back!”
“...”
“...”
“Sign here, please. Don’t forget to read it thoroughly, wouldn’t want to regret your decision, would you?”
“...”
“...”
“...That’s too fast. You didn’t read it, did you? People's lives are on the line here you know? Be a bit more cautious next time.”
“...sorry.”
“...”
“That’s fine. I will get someone to accompany you to your room. Do you need anything from your home? We will be there today, want to go too?”
“...sure.”
“...”
“Great! We will bring you and your sister there after this. Please wait a bit while I make some phone call.”
“...”
“...”
“...Yeah, Yeah…No…Yeah…5 people…cleaner too…”
“...”
“When are you going to kill me?”
“Hmm…please hold for a second. I need to deal with something…No…No…Yeah, I guess we are done now.” She hangs up. “You’re lucky that I am done right there.”
“A-Are really going to kill her?”
“...Just end it.”
“Wow. It’s not nice to be suicidal. Of course, kid. That was the deal, right?” Tsumugi walks to her guard and gets a gun from him. “Life is plainly precious, Y’know? Why throw it away for some kid like this? They don’t even love you back.”
“...”
“...You gave us no choice.”
“I did though, she just didn't pick you, it's plain to see, but I don’t really care…” She points her gun directly at her face. “Is it worth it? Is dying trying worth it? Is your effort worth it? Is loving your kids worth it?”
“...mom…”
She smiles one last time. “No matter what happens. No matter what my kids choose. No matter how much I hate their decision. I will never regret loving them.”
Tsumugi forgets to bulletproof her sofa so she has to buy a new one. Some of her pillows are stained with blood despite covering it with plastic and that’s a full day of laundry. So she has to buy new ones. She also forgets to inform the morgue, so she just donates the organs to charity, she has the daughters' consent. The form will be forged later if there is no real one from the mother.
The finance comes to question her. “Why are there 3 more pillows in the order? Did something happen in the school? The size also changed, which pillow broke? The movie room or the dorm?”
Tsumugi rarely gets her time off but since her schedule has been shifted she gets some time to relax. She has a lot of things she would like to do but that takes more time than the free time she has so she just drinks herself to sleep. She doesn’t want to do this that much but she has nothing better to do since for some reason Kaede is not in an acting headspace.
Some weird report comes in. The execution team has some budget problems, specifically the supreme leader one. That one requires a guillotine and thousands of actors to cut off his head. The space required is too much to show the amount of people there. There are 3 possible ways of dealing with this, 1) just get more budget 2) change up his execution or 3) Just gamble on him not killing someone. She goes with the third option, she makes Kokichi not going to kill someone by giving him a no-killing rule and cutting off his execution entirely.
Her fiance hears her idea and comes to suggest that they cut off her execution too. “Just use someone else’s unused execution instead,” they say.
HR called her today. Apparently calling the finance team stupid and deserve a mental exam is too far. The mental exam already is a yearly company’s free health check-up program, the finance guy failed by the way. Oh! It’s not that. Maybe it’s the fact that she threatened to kill them. Not that either? Oh! It’s because she yells at them.
Since the storyline is done, she can now give Rantaro the survivor pad to write his message. If Kaede is ready then they can also start filming her scene.
The hotel is taking too much of the budget but she can’t cut it since her employees also live here. Good Thing that the participants don’t live on the common floor, they get the basement.
Walking past the past participant is a weird experience.
“DIE!”
“Die!”
“I love you…NONONONONO! SHUT UP!!!”
“LET ME DIE!!”
Walking past new participants is also a weird experience.
“AHHHH!!! You are here!!!”
“I love you!!!”
“Mrs. Director. I have an idea I would like to share with you. So…if you live under the sun for too long your skin will turn tan, right? SO! I wonder if I could put poison in the sun-”
"...Hi..."
“Hi, why are you here?”
“You still have not finished your survivor perk.”
“Oh! I have homework? Sorry teacher. But I think I missed the class. Can you teach me again? I promise I will pay attention this time.”
“...Busy. Just watch some of the recordings, or do you want the memory?”
“...The memory.”
“Wow, I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“I heard that there is a new memory implant thing. It’s called flashback light, right? You need a guinea pig too. I just thought, “Ehh, I am not being treated any better, if it breaks then good!” and decided that I would do it.”
“...Here is the memory information, we…have a limited amount of flashback light we can make. I can’t waste it here.”
“...Boo. Why ask? What a shitty teacher.”
“I will call your caretaker to deal with this. A question before I go, do you know a blond-haired girl?”
“Kaede? I do why?”
“How was she allowed to meet you?”
“...I think her caretaker took a break and she wondered here.”
“...”
“One mistake warrants a fired? What a bad company.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I’m leaving.”
“Bye! See you next time!”
Tsumugi quickly walks away from him while hiding the fact that she still hasn’t checked the memories in the flashback light. And she will not thank him for reminding her.
Tsumugi notices something wrong with Rantaro's survivor perks message so she calls his caretaker.
“Why does he know about the hidden room?”
“It’s in his map.”
“No, I meant like how does he know it’s the place the mastermind will use to make more Monokuma?”
“We give him the info about the storyline.”
“...Why?”
“It is your order.”
“I remember, which one of the storyline did you give him? The space one or the actual outline of the show?”
“...The latter.”
“...”
“...I apologize.”
“...You are on thin ice.”
Tsumugi doesn't notice that Kokichi's lab is missing in Rantaro's map, however.
Kaede is not ready so…The Ultimate Cosplayer time.
The set is not ready…Drinking time.
She has to check the memories in the flashback light. This can not fully clear all of the problems since the media she gets is in video and text form, she doesn't know what is memory file format and she definitely cannot physically check it. Now, there are 15 files for her to read- 15? Which one is missing? She now noticed that Rantaro's file is fully corrupted so depending on how fast the team can make a new one, either amnesia plot or 2 talents plot (adventurer and survivor).
K1-B0 still has his memories. It’s a big folder so if she wants to check she has to go to the mechanic department. That’s the easiest to check though so she checks her hope robot first.
OK, Idabashi didn’t clean the folder. There is still her picture in the file. The base memories are AI-made so she can’t decode them but the common knowledge contains Danganronpa and that will have to be manually removed. The easiest way is by asking K1-B0 to do it himself.
“You want to talk to him?”
“Yes, I need to remove his history knowledge, his existence knowledge, and his involvement with Danganronpa. Also, I look exactly like the character Tsumugi, please don’t let our picture be in his memories.”
“Boo, you are no fun…Here. K1-B0 is awake.”
“...Hello professor. How may I help you today…It appears that my motor function may be inaccessible to me. May you assist me?”
“Nah, I shut that down for now. We need to talk to you today. Checking your memory and all that.”
“We? Oh, Apology for not noticing your companion. Hello, my name is K1-B0 but you may call me Keebo. What are we going to talk about?”
“I will get straight to the point, do you know me?”
“...Please wait for a second…Ah a hit, you are Tsumugi Shirogane, correct? The mastermind of the upcoming killing game in the Danganronpa franchise- Wh-Why are you hitting Professor Idabashi?”
“Ouch! What!? What did I do wrong, you son of a bitch!?”
“I sent the memory exclusion list 4 months ago! FUCKING READ!!!”
“That’s another match! The memory exclusion list is in my memory bank.”
“...Huh? I forgot to execute it?”
“The format of the file is a text file. So no professor, you can not execute the memory exclusion file.”
“Well…This probably won’t take long. So…are you-”
*Bam!*
HR called her today. To her surprise, it is to congratulate her on punching Idabashi. They wish they could do it too but a conflict between these 2 is usually get physical so it's fine only for them. This is a good day. She is done with only 1 participant's memories. Idabashi also is called to the HR department. He confirms that he will punch her too if she deserves it even if she is the director and his boss.
Other memories are too long for her to check alone so she creates a team to check it for her. Her involvement in this is to read their concern and approve or deny their suggested change.
Kaede's favorite food is causing an allergic reaction to the actress. Change approved.
Shuichi actor has a scar. Request to add some incidents to explain. Change denied, too much work.
Rantaro’s memories require a lot of changes. Change approved, just make him another Kyoko.
Ryoma fought a mafia gang so they suggest either making the fight a wipeout or adding the scar to the actor. Change approved, just make Ryoma doesn’t remember the fight and remembers only the aftermath.
Kirumi has no problem that she cares enough about.
Himiko’s past magic trick won’t work because of some science. Change denied, it’s magic.
Angie. The actress has a tattoo. Change approve, apply tattoo removal.
Tenko has a male as her master; request to change the gender. Change denied, it’s funny.
Kiyo himself is neither strong nor smart enough to kill 100 girls, please lower the number. Denied.
Miu's personality will make the sponsor hate her. This has no change suggested so she ignores it.
Maki, some of her assassination attempts’ results differ from reality. The guy will become unconscious. Change approved, either remove it or change something…actually that is too much work, just remove it.
Gonta. Bugs fact wrong. Changed approved, correct it, please.
Kokichi's past contains too many friends. Change approved, lower it to 10.
Kaito’s parents' death date is inconsistent. Changed denied, she doesn’t care.
Why do they have a flashback light for her?
The cosplayer is not alcoholic, please change the actress's personality, recommend changing the actress. Change denied, fuck you.
She still needs to capture all the participants before the character announcement.
“Boss, we have confirmed all the participant locations.”
“Great! I will send out the meeting location. Do you need a tank as an escort?”
“Nah…Well maybe.”
“That’s a yes. Please be ready. I don’t know who will show up uninvited. Also, it's our property, authorized to break the law up to level 5, however, do not use explosives unless in retaliation, the reconstruction will be expensive.”
“So…4 people can’t make it to the designated place: Kirumi, Himiko, Kiyo, and Maki. Please go take them to their room as soon as tomorrow ends.
“Boss, I don’t know who those are. Please say their talents next time.”
“Just check your file.”
“...Mom. Can you…uhmmmm. Take me to this place tomorrow? I-I kinda promise my friends to meet them there.”
“...When?”
“So we are going to do some homework and some gaming. So maybe around 6 in the morning and come take me back around…20 o’clock?”
“...Sorry. You can trust me.”
“What? Mom? Why are you crying? I-I just want to hang out with my friends.”
“...I love you.”
“Mom?”
“The time is at midnight, right?”
“...You know?”
A hug happens.
“I-I am so sorry for not being a good enough mother for you to trust me. I approve of you joining the show. Don’t worry about anything else.”
“...I love you too.”
“...I’m proud of you. Tomorrow might be the last day we will be together but don’t worry. I will be happy.”
“Thank you, Mom. I will win just for you. Like the school festival.”
“*Chuckle* A 3rd place winner doesn’t exist in this season of Danganronpa.”
“Then I will get first!”
“...I believe in you.”
"...You might be able to visit me sometime."
"Huh?... Yeah, I will try to convince the director."
1 month until the game starts and the usual riots happen. Kinda annoying but since the protester can’t use violence it’s fine. Tomorrow she will announce the cast so that will drown out all of the riot.
The participants are all here. They all get put in a helicopter and fly to the hotel. Tsumugi isn’t there. She is required to announce the cast live. She wears a suit with a big Monokuma head.
The reaction is amazing, subjectively. Objectively it’s fine but this is her season and the fact that people also like it makes her extremely happy. Though, it could have been better.
Since the announcement also shows the face of the character, their family starts contacting them. The participants are allowed to talk to them but just have to keep something secret. Visitation is fine but they are required to be assessed first.
Oops, they couldn’t shut their mouth. Kaito messes up during his conversation with his family.
“Oh!? Now you want me back!? No way I’m going back. You guys are not on the list! You’re not going to get my money! That goes to the tea-”
*Beeps!”
“Hey! Don’t cut my- AHHHHHH!!!”
“Sorry, Mr. Ultimate Astronaut. That’s a piece of information not meant to be shared. This shock is just a warning, next time we will confiscate your phone. Do not mess up again.”
“Ouch Ouch… Hey! That fucking hurt! If I die from this you will be in trouble.”
“That will not happen.”
“Boss, they almost leak it again.”
“Agh…Who is it this time? Kaito again?”
“You are ¼ right. Maki, Ryoma, and Kiyo also.”
“If they are too much. Report their problem to me, I might approve of knocking them out until the game.”
“Understood. Do I need to tell them that?”
“Plainly.”
Kaede is finally ready to film her stuff. Dragging her to the studio is not hard but she needs to smile. Kaede must enjoy playing piano but for some reason she is sad. She associates playing piano with her broken family, which is interesting and should make her happy but for some reason, Kaede is not. Tsumugi and her team don’t understand that at all.
“...Kaede, you need to smile. I don’t want to edit it in post.”
“...Okay.”
“...Hmm…” she considers this take. “The smile is calm and gentle…Should it be wider? Eh, this is fine. Next!”
“Oh. Uhm…I have not practiced this piece before. It might sound a bit…unrefined. Is that okay?”
“Sight read is fine! Just make it look good enough!”
It sounds good.
“You can keep the costume,” she tells Kaede.
“...Thank you.” Her reaction is less tame than Tsumugi expected but that’s fine, this depressed girl will be written over anyway. She is more worried about the paperwork that is rushing in.
3 weeks until the show starts but nothing is fully ready. Some of the light in the academy starts to die on its own. The pool has a big leak around the middle. The best she can do is just put some concrete over and not raise the water.
Another problem arises, the stage maintenance team cut the grass, it's normal to maintain the place but since the theme needs the grass to be tall it's a problem. Hopefully, 3 weeks is enough for it to grow.
How much food do they need? Monokuma is the one who will clear out the food and refill it but she still needs multiple trucks to transport the trash daily. The previous season's contractor has not recontinued their contract so she needs to find someone else fast. If she can't a new position will open for a special janitor trucker. How much is 16 people's daily food weigh again? How much is 16 people's worth of food for 2-3 months cost again? She can't remember what food has she approved, and whether it will be out of season during the game or not.
New problem, the mechanic team discovered a weakness in their Ultimate Robot. His antenna is easily breakable. There is no time to fix so they just hope this won’t matter.
The sickness they intend to put in Kaito’s character has some weird properties which are that it’s not dramatic enough, and cancer that doesn’t cause internal bleeding near the mouth is not impressive. They need to change it quickly. They end up using 2 diseases in combination, so Kaito is 100% dead before the game ends. The actor is required to not be informed of this.
Ryoma’s hair is too long. He needs a haircut.
Ryoma’s hair is too short…Luckily the character’s design already has a hat.
Someone trips that fire alarm. They practice the protocol to maximum proficiency. It’s still annoying to have to run out carrying the Hope robot though.
2 weeks left and she is still not ready. She still has not filmed most of the participants’ past graphics yet, also her own stuff.
“Boss. Apology through and through. This is fucking stupid.”
“Why? The entire studio is mine for today. We can get everything on the list done.”
“...Ignoring the fact that this filming session will take 10 hours and the crew will want to kill you afterward, I will read out a list of people who you hire for today. 20 babies, quote, some teenagers that have the sex and skin color like the participant Hopefully with the right hair, unquote.”
“Yeah?”
“I will now read what prop you “need”. You wrote “Baby shit, not fecal matter but like baby stuff just some baby thing.” and “Wig for babies, wig for adults.” This is a first draft material, like, this is not a formal list this is a scan of words in your notebook, what is going on? Are we rushing?”
“...You did an amazing job at bringing it.”
“Are you planning to just put wigs on babies? That will look terrifying.”
“...”
“...I need performance-enhancing meth.”
“If you need to then do it…please help.”
The reason she uses the entire studio is that she intends to film every character scene that can’t be filmed from the real actors, and their backstory. Also, she has to do her own scene as well.
“Yeah…I like cosplay…” Tsumugi smiles in an interview.
She waits and waits…
She waits. This time a bit more annoyed.
“Cut already!” she shouts.
“O-Oh! Uh… CUT!”
“Why do you need me to tell you!? Don’t forget to cut that out too. Now! I need to see what’s on the camera.”
“...Sorry, boss.”
“*Tsk* Too much nerve. I smile too little…Soooo. Ok, I got it. AGAIN!”
This is the longest filming session out of all the V3 characters.
The convention scene is convenient to film since today there are many other actors to help her. The problem is the baby breaking the costume. If it won’t be used again then it’s fine, it is not fine.
Good thing that nobody died today. Some are injured though.
10 days until the show starts. All of the participants have gathered in one place for a medical exam. The medical history shows that most of them are bad at taking care of themselves. Tetanus shots have been ordered for all of them, most of them are booster shots, and some are not.
Also, some people discover their new allergen, good thing that none of those are bugs.
Today is the most important day of her life so far. She needs to give the participants a form to give their possessions and prizes to after the show, by "she" she means her employees.
16 digital papers are in front of her. 14 is normal, as normal as normal can be. The survivor didn’t put anyone in. The cosplayer did not sign. There is one more paper for her to deal with. Does the Robot need the winning rewards? At least it’s empty.
Rantaro wants to change his will toward a war-mongering tyrant. "Please kill them all," he noted. His suggested change is approved.
The cosplayer finally signs her paper, she decides to give her rewards in case she dies to no one.
Today is the most important day of her life so far. She needs to move. The substitute director will be taking her office when she is in the game and she must give them space.
“...Boss, this is sad.”
“...”
“Come on…you can just live in the hotel.”
“...Too far.”
“No, it's not."
"I can't work from there."
"Doesn't matter! It’s happening in 2 days. The new guy won’t even be here until then.”
“I still need to be in the office.”
“Please don’t sleep in the HR office.”
Today her coworkers hate her presence. They have just been together for 1 day but having the boss sleeping in the next room while working does make HR work a lot more difficult. People usually won’t open up when their boss sleeps right next to them.
HR wants her to leave. She gives them 2 days' notice. They take her pillow. She wants to cut their pay but they will inform HR the moment she threatens them. Their boss won’t help them though.
Today is the most important day of her life. The game is finally starting. K1-B0 is getting booted up and every participant has been transported to the academy. The flashback light is done. The costume is done. Now all 16 ultimates are all together for the first time officially in the academy's gym. The first costume they are instructed to wear to the site is a school uniform.
"Hey! Now that we're all here I would like to say that I can not wait to kill all of you and win!" Kaito suddenly announces. His words are met with glare from his competitors.
"Heh, you are not killing the best assassin in the world," Maki says.
"You wait and you will see about that."
On the other side of the gym is Rantaro surrounded by his fans. Guards are monitoring them.
"Rantaro! I really enjoy your role in the last game," Himiko says.
"Th-Thanks."
"What is your favorite chapter? I-I think that the best chapter in Danganronpa 52 is definitely chapter 5!" Shuichi says.
"Ahh...I don't know...I don't really care about that."
"Then which execution is the best in your opinion?" Kirumi asks.
"...I-I-I... I don't remember," he struggles to give them an answer.
"See!" Tenko says. "If you have been in a death game, it will mess with you mentally."
"But he is strong," Shuichi argues. "It has been 10 months already, he should have gotten better by now. It is his character." The word character rings repeatedly over and over in Rantaro's head. He then stops talking.
There is a woman glancing at him from across the room, a blue-haired schoolgirl who is standing in front of a robotic boy.
"How is your body? Is everything okay?"
"Uhm, yes. Thank you for asking. My name is K1-B0 but you can call me Keebo, nice to meet you."
"Hi, you are not going to remember me anyway. My name is Tsumugi."
"Hello my name is Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis player," he says from behind Tsumugi.
"I am Miu Iruma, the Ultimate Inventor, you better remember my fucking name."
"No, he will not," Ryoma says. "We are going to forget all of this anyway."
"Hey! I know that but it's still rude to forget me, specifically me."
"Just you?" Kokichi says as he jumps on Miu's back. "I'm going to cry if you forget me too, Keebo!" Kokichi then starts tearing up.
"Ah! Sorry, I promise I will not forget you."
"R-Really? You won't forget me?"
"Yes! I will do my best. Professor Idabashi has put the best memory disk in my body, The rememberer V3-1443.final.final.final.final will prevent me from forgetting everything that you have says to me. So you can be assured that I will always have you in my mind."
"What's my name?" Kokichi asks.
Keebo then starts remembering. He can not find a hit since Kokichi never gives him his name. He starts to panic. "Uhm Uhm...ahh..."
"Y-You forgot already!?" Kokichi cries.
"The robot is stupid...good. The audience will get something to do," Tsumugi says to herself.
Gonta is alone in one corner of the room, observing everyone; he had expected to be in a conversation since his large body would pose the biggest threat. He notices 2 people who are standing alone staring into space, he knows them as the sad piano girl and the sad weird mask boy, he knows this from his caretaker. He's bored so he goes to talk to them, Kaede and Kiyo are close enough for him to talk to them both at the same time.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Gonta Gokuhara. I get to be the Ultimate Entomologist this season. Who are you guys?"
"...Hi...I am...no..." Kaede says.
"Huh?"
"I am," she breathes in, "Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist," she breathes out. She then reaches her hand out for a handshake.
"Nice to meet you," Gonta says and shakes her hand. "And you?" he asks the other boy.
"...Hello, my name is [Redacted]. I got cast as the Ultimate Anthropologist."
"Hi, nice to meet you," Gonta says with some skepticism, he does not recognize that name on the list. Gonta then tries his best to continue the conversation. It does not go as well as he hoped. Kaede answers succinctly while Kiyo keeps changing the subjects to something else.
"So, what are you guys' favorite season?"
"44."
"3-future. Do you think it's okay to kill doing what you believe is right? Do I deserve to live more than other people?"
"Well, it's completely okay to kill doing what you believe is right. You just have to be right too. If you do that I think you deserve to live, right?"
"...Maybe... letting mom die is the right thing. I deserve to live," Kaede says while staring blankly at the ground.
"...95 friends. 95 bodies. 95 friends. 95 bodies. 95 friends. 95 bodies."
"Hello?"
"I am better at piano so I didn't have to choose. Sis wanted to kill me, Mom wanted me kidnapped, and I let them die. I deserve to live. Th-This...Feel so good!" Kaede starts smiling.
"Please stab the head. The skull is strong, please stab harder. Cut her throat. Slice her throat. Make a loop down, bring it back, spiral ground, through the crack, pull it bound. Now you have a noose to make it look like a suicide!" Kiyo then starts giggling.
"Guys?" Gonta then tries to control the conversation. He fails.
"She let mom die! For crumbs of chance! And I didn't even have to do that!"
"Leave it to burn, leave it to rot, leave it to break, leave it to be eaten. 95 people bid farewell to this earth for me to mutilate their bodies."
"M-May be we should talk about something else."
"I heard them scream after the first bang. I heard them scream after the second bang. I heard them cry after the third bang. I didn't hear them cry after the fourth bang..."
"The first girl was nice and pretty, she liked sewing dolls, so I asked her for help and she agreed to help you with your dolls, sister. The second girl was brash, loud, and rude but she liked to travel..."
"I don't want to work at Danganronpa anymore," Gonta tells Tsumugi.
"Well, good for you. Kiyo made that up, by the way, we just let him pretend to kill corpses, he never gets to talk to them."
"Have they had any therapy?"
"They have, this is the improved version."
"The clock is ticking, my sin will be removed in 10 minutes," a depressed girl says loudly.
"IN TEN MINUTES I WILL BECOME A MONSTER!!!" a masked kid suddenly shouts.
"Nope, the schedule says 15 minutes," Tsumugi says without looking at them.
Angie misses her costume, she wants to see herself in a divine light again, not some boring high school girl. So she walks around talking to the staff. She doesn't want to talk to her competitors because they will not understand the perfection that is Angie Yonaga.
"Wow, is this the Monokubs?" Angie asks after squashing down to their level.
"Yes! Do you have a problem with that!?" Monokid says.
"Not at all! You guys look cool!"
"R-Really?" Monotaro and Monophanie say together.
"Yes, you look amazing."
"Th-Thanks."
"...And?"
"What? You said we are cool. Now leave," Monosuke says.
"MONOSUKE, IT'S NOT NICE TO NOT RETURN COMPLIMENT," Monodam says.
"Yes! Compliment Angie too!" Angie says.
"Fuck NO! This bitch is just fishing for a compliment! I am going to kill you stupid Monodam!" Monokid says. He starts beating up Monodam.
"OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, ANGIE, I THINK YOU LOOK NICE."
"Aww, Monodam like you, I think you look nice too," Monophanie says.
"Thank you," Angie smiles at them.
Rantaro hates all of them. He wants to kill them all. "Wow, that's cool," he says to the conversation he's supposed to be a part of but hasn't been paying attention.
"So, that's why I think it's appropriate that our first chapter would end with me killing someone. It will set the tone, will show how everyone can die, and if I win, I win," Kaito says.
"But I want to kill first!" Maki argues. "I'm killing you first."
"No, you got your kill, it's someone else turn," Ryoma says.
"She had killed? What a cheater" Himiko complains.
"Hey!" Rantaro suddenly shouts. "If you guys really want to kill...what are you waiting for? Just do it."
"Huh, we're not an idiot," Himiko says. "I'm not going to kill for no money."
"You speak like an assassin...and a coward."
"Hey! I'm not a coward," Himiko argues.
"Yes, you are. Your hands are clean. That means you are a coward."
"No, your hands are also clean! You are a coward."
"...Want to bet who will kill first?"
"Fine! Bring it on!"
"I'm joining this bet too," Kaito says. Maki, Ryoma, and Shuichi follow.
"How are you going to remember this?" Kirumi asks.
"No problem," Rantaro says. Then he yells "Hey! Director. We are making a bet. Can you make a contract for us to sign?"
Tsumugi groans, "What do you want?"
"We want to bet who will kill first. Can you give us a contract so we do not forget?"
"Ugh! Fine, how many?" she signals her employee to print some paper.
"Six or more people."
Tsumugi workers give her the paper to proofread. She doesn't see anything wrong with it see she goes to hand it to Rantaro.
"Thanks, this form looks really well made, has this happened before?"
"Yes, sign it."
"How? We don't have a pen."
She annoying hands him a small pen, which is a sharp object. The moment his hand grabs it he quickly opens the cap and then grabs Tsumugi by her hair and pulls her close. To his surprise, it's a success since she didn't expect it. She falls face-first into his arm which is not what he wants but he has to make do. He quickly stabs the pen at the back of her neck.
It fucking hurt. That stab hurt. But the pen is not deadly, his full force can't stab it deep enough. Tsumugi's scream causes everyone in the vicinity to look at them. Rantaro now has to do as much as he can so he pushes Tsumugi down to the ground and tries to stab her in the eye. This time security intervenes in time and stops him before Tsumugi becomes blind.
"Ouch! Ouchh, how is my neck? Is it deep?" she asks her security. It's not much but it's bleeding.
"Hah, I guess I should have picked the small girl as a target. I would have caused more damage than this," Rantaro says while being confiscated of his pen.
Tsumugi gets a chair to sit in and lets the medical team sterile her wound. "Next time you should pick an easier target. Aim a little lower, pick someone without glasses."
He scoffs. "All of the participants this time suck, they are all bad. How should I choose? They can't even protect you. Last season, my friends would definitely be able to protect you."
"H-Hey! We just did-" Tenko tries to defend herself but gets cut off.
"Shut up," Rantaro says and smirks at her. "You don't deserve to be here, kill yourself. That goes for all of you here," he says as he looks around. He plans to bring down the mood and he succeeds. Everyone starts to doubt themselves. Their idol insults them this directly causes some problems with their self-esteem.
"Everyone, you plainly don't need to listen to this lunatic. He can't even kill me. If you still want to bet just sign the paper then we will start with the season and you will get your memory.
"I still want to sign it," Rantaro complains.
"Use a brush, I am not letting you get a pen ever again."
They give the script to the actors to act in the prologue they get some time to prepare. Once the time is up, the camera starts, the black light flashs, then the flashback lights. Now that the memories are installed, hopefully, this season goes well.
“Boss, the stream is a little…quiet.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, there is no background music.”
“She didn’t deal with that?”
“Yeah…what do we do?”
“O-Ok! This is probably urgent. Uhmmmm, give the responsibility to the…Uhmm stage department? Or would the mechanic team be better since it’s with the robot?”
“Why not the stream team?”
“O-Oh! Those exist? Y-Yeah. Do that.”
“Understood, I will be taking my leave then.”
“...I hope this is the only problem the streaming robot will cause.”