Bad Dream

fem rei <3

...I dunno. That would kind of make Makoto a bit of a hypocrite. If we're being completely honest, Nagito was probably one of the least destructive Remnants in terms of personal body-count. Makoto giving everyone else a free pass, including Sonia who would have been committing atrocities as a head of state, and then singling out Nagito because one of the people he hurt was someone close to Makoto personally would be petty as hell.

Uh… No it wouldn’t?

Makoto didn’t give all the remnants a “free pass” he’s saving them from the brainwashing that Junko put on them so they no longer are ultimate despairs. He’s fully aware of their crimes but that doesn’t matter to him. It doesn’t matter to the entire world. The entire world will still see them as monsters, Makoto’s opinion on their crimes isn’t relevant.

I never said Makoto fully hates and does not forgive Nagito. What I said was that Makoto would feel uncomfortable if the topic of Komaru was brought up in the same room with Nagito. It would remind Makoto of what happened to his sister in UDG and how the Warriors of Hope, the Monokuma units and even Nagito all put Komaru’s life at risk. I think Makoto would be perfectly fine with talking to Nagito about literally anything, other than Komaru.

And sure, maybe Nagito did cause the least amount of deaths compared to everyone else. But he directly endangered the most important person to Makoto. His sister. His only family that he knows that is still alive.

If you think just think that someone having resentment for another person that actively caused harm to that person’s family is petty? Then I think you just given yourself away, replicant human.

Akane, I know it wouldn't help saying that...you were brainwashed and you didn't know what you were doing nor could you stop. But...they probably know that it wasn't really you in control. At least, you wouldn't do that on normal circumstances.

Bwaaaaaahhh! *hic, hic* Bwaaaaahh!

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It's okay. Let it all out Akane, let it alllll out...

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*hic*......*hic*....*sniff*......

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Does it feel good? To finally let all that out? Not only your memory as a remnant, but the trauma and hardships you had to endure at such a young age?

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*sniff, sniff* A....A bit....?

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Good.

Now, it is important to remember that that wasn't really you.

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But...But it was me-

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Not it wasn't. That was only to brainwashed monster that Junko had infected to do her bidding just as the rest of your friends.

You've told me about yourself Akane. How you did everything in your power just to ensure the safety and protection of your younger siblings. How you tried to stop Monokuma all by yourself. And how you griefed when Nekomaru was taken from you...

That is you, Akane. A kind, selfless woman who will do anything to protect her friends and family.

While it can be said that you shouldn't do that all the time, as your life is just as precious...

But those traits are what define you as...you. The real you....and I'm sure your siblings know that as well.

The road ahead may be dangerous and filled with thorns, but I believe you can be up to the task. To try and live for their stake.

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........................*Akane wipes her face*

Yeah.....yeah I....think you're right....Thank Miss Miaya....

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You're welcome Akane.

The whole “smol bean”, “cinnamon roll”, and “potato” stuff gives me the major ick.

Soo... this probably wont get any attention but i dont want it to get lost between all the other ideas in my head-

As someone who's least favourite game is Goodbye Despair (shocking, right? I almost got doxxed on tiktok for this.) One of the many reasons why i dont like it is the atmosphere. In THH, the students are trapped in a school. Windows and doors are completely shut with metal plates, as we know. It creates a really claustrophobic atmosphere and makes it feel actually like a scary situation. Like, just imagine the dark halls of an empty school at night. During a killing game. Creepy.

In v3, we have another school. This time the windows and doors are not closed off. They have a huge garden, and some other buildings in it. But what makes it feel, again, claustrophobic is the huge dome/cage thing over them. Also, i think it fits so much with the "its actually fiction" plotline, like its not claustrophobic in the traditional sense. I think you'd feel less trapped, but more small and insignificant.

But in Goodbye Despair, i just dont get the same "trapped" feeling. Yes, they are in an island. They cant go anywhere. Except its a much bigger area than the other two, and definitely more comfortable. Though the "creepy" aspect still exists, due to island being abandoned. So, here's my alternate setting for Dr2! Of course this is just a idea, an AU of sorts... Im not trying to claim my version is better or anything lol.

What if Dr2 started in a cruise ship. It starts with class 77 on their way to the jabberwock island (for rehab since they are remnants). But before they could reach the island, monokuma stops the ship in the middle of ocean and starts the killing game. I think it would be scarier at night and more claustrophobic than an island. Since its in the middle of ocean, they could add a rule like "you cant kill a student by throwing them to the water" And someone will exploit the rule by throwing a dead body to the water. The cons of my idea is that chapter 4 wouldnt exist, which is one of my favourite chapters/trials in the whole series. And maybe Nagito bombing the hotel(?) In chapter 5 would be...uh..tricky. because if he bombs somewhere in the ship, it could start sinking. Actually, thats interesting too. The ship starts sinking, very slowly. So during chapter 5 and 6 they are racing with time. And the game ends with makoto,kyoko,togami coming to save them in little boats.

Oh I’m a sucker for content about Makoto perpetuating the cycle that caused the apocalypse in the first place because it’s whats been expected of him and taught to him, like at the end of dr3 anime how he becomes the principal of the same establishment that did HORRIFIC human experimentation and perpetuated a system that crushed anyone deemed ordinary under its weight. The school ends up taking no blame for its very real and intensely horrific acts because they simply blame despair for it, so of course now that the Ultimate Hope is running it that means all the despair is gone and now Hope will happily shine again. Neatly sweeping under the rug the covered up murders and torture done in the name of that hope before. It wasn’t the system, it was a few wildcards, trust the system Makoto, it’s all you’ve been told works isn’t it? Society has to have Hope’s Peak Makoto, the two are one in the same isn’t it?

In the end his title of Hope and the expectations forces him into the same blindfold of “for hope” that allowed Izuru to exist. All he knows and really is allowed to know thanks to future foundation is that he is Hope and has to make more Hope and that as such Hope’s Peak must exist as a symbol of that Hope. Which is why when I write post danganronpa 3 content and acknowledge the canon of “he principal now” I have characters who actively oppose and fight against the re-installment of such a system because it’s just such a bad idea but the propaganda and hope worship is so intense Makoto doesn’t even consider how it might not be a good idea.

Hope and Despair are just so entwined you cannot be an ultimate hope without understanding and being able to use ultimate despair. The two concepts are so twisted together that Junko can cause massive hope if she chooses (ie warriors of hope) and Makoto can create great despair (accidentally letting a second killing game happen thanks to his illegal terrorist rehabilitation program) not to mention hope to one is despair to another, and there really is no way of predicting which way the pendulum will point to until after the act of potential hope OR despair is taken. Ultimate Hope? Ultimate Despair? The talents are one in the same at the end of the day. Anyone deemed to be an Ultimate Hope is one thought of “greater good” away from the next Tragedy. Makoto is no different, and the system will inevitably push his morals to that point if no one intervenes.

I would like to hear the essay about how hope peak is bad!

In order to understand why Hope's Peak is intrinsically bad, you have to look at the reason it was founded first off. Not for the betterment of talented students, but for researching them for the Kamukura Project which can basically be summed up as, to quote @prompt-master, who helped me with this, "unethical hidden experimentation of a minor with the interest of erasing his identity and turning him into a human tool." Pretty fucked up, enough to make the statement that Hope's Peak irreparably sucks on its own. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We also see in DR3, SDR2, and in THH that Hope's Peak actively covers up murders for its students. This includes both Syo and the whole situation with the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case in DR3 and SDR2, wherein quite a few murders were just...brushed under the rug by HPA. (There's also the student council KG, but IIRC they never figured out who did it.

Also, there's all the failed Kamakura Project test subjects. All in all, there's quite a few deaths that Hope's Peak has under its belt.

We haven't even mentioned the psychological effects of HPA yet, especially on the world around them.

First up, the normal complex. to quote Prom once more, “the normal complex is a term...to explain the phenomenon of how EVERY SINGLE nontalented character in the series shows some form of low self esteem regarding how normal they are. Hinata, Naegi, and Komaru are the biggest examples of this. It doesnt matter how special they are, they will always see themselves as normal and lesser because they were raised on the belief that talent=worth”. In a society where Hope’s Peak exists, this is just...how things are.

There’s also the exploitation of the Reserve Course students. Yes, Komaeda’s view of them might be an extreme example, but it’s very indicative of the climate towards them--someone in the reserve course will never be a talented student, no matter how hard they try. However, they can still graduate from HPA, which is still an honor--so people keep funnelling INSANE amounts of money into the program. And then they can use the reserve course students as guinea pigs--because who cares if someone untalented goes missing?

And they don’t even TEACH there. In DR3 it shows how the only real requirement is that they prove their talent at the end of the year. In fact, quite a few students just skip most of their classes. 

Also there’s the fact that Kirigiri is the daughter of the principal and it’s HER class that was given shelter. That’s like, nothing compared to everything else in here, but it’s still incredibly suspicious just knowing about Hope’s Peak in general.

Tl;dr: From its inception, Hope’s Peak Academy was not meant to help its students, only to conduct unethical research on them and exploit those it deems “untalented” to further said research. This is only, like, ONE reason it’s super fucked up.

alright my kings queens and peeps in between, here be the first infodump of the student council au characters ! before we get into the read more, allow me to note that nami and akira’s gang are @suspectunderinvestigation’s ‼️ pls hit them up w a follow and check out their fics bc honestly this au wouldn’t be possible w/out them ‼️‼️

i also want to note that while these characters do be in existence, I’m gonna try not to hyperfixate on them haha. The focus of the story is still Akechi, Adachi, Akira, and some choice p4 characters who I won’t say anything abt yet so if that’s something that worried u,,, do not worry (and trust me you’ll love these guys anyway <3)

and now let’s get right into the news

starting off, here are some general notes

This takes place during Akechi’s third year at Yasogami, making Akira a second year. Everyone else in the council is a third year. In the gang, Toura is a second year and Shiro is a first year.

The student council race is an important plot point in of itself so I won’t go into too much detail. Besides Akira who was added on late term, any members who aren’t committee heads ran for student council and lost to Akechi.

Akira’s gang is called the Black Masks for irony purposes. They existed before Akira came in, but Akira asserted his dominance almost immediately. Akira has certainly upped the ante for crime (petty thievery, grand thievery, traffic violations, intimidation and general violence, yknow , the usual)

Any crimes Akechi commits are typically swept under the rug by the rest of the student council under the guise of “for the greater good” (the greater good is, stealing tamagotchis for student council appreciation day which he totally did not make up just now)

The student council does not solely rely on Akechi for intimidation, although he’s a big driving force. The main goal of the student council is to stomp out all crime (i.e., Black Masks), improve the student body, and protect the school from shadows.

Oh did I mention shadows? Yes well :)

Due to Adachi never getting caught, the fog never dispersed and the “game” kept going. Except, well, after Souji’s departure, the game wasn’t very fun anymore. So things calmed down.

Not only that, but due to the threat of the encroaching fog, life for Adachi and Akechi mostly became defending themselves for some time.

After Akechi’s ascendancy to student council president, shadows begin to flock around the school. The rest of the student council notices this and decides to investigate. Their investigation leads them to the conclusion that they need Personas.

Everyone’s Persona is based on a Japanese myth and I apologize in advance if there’s anything offensive in the design or anything. I will work to redesign or change the Personas entirely as needed.

(and I also recognize that some of these are already in SMT but I’m using the Loki excuse since none of them are the Personas of major characters or anything lmao)

And in terms of plot notes that’s where I’m stopping for now ;)

So with all that being said, here’s some more specific notes,

Momotaro is a fake Persona much like Robin Hood. Since Robin Hood falls more in line with Persona 5’s trickster theme, Momotaro is meant to blend in with the Japanese mythology of Persona 4.

Akechi is gunning to take over Inaba. The game might have stopped for Adachi, but Akechi is very certain that with the right moves, he could rule the small town, and not just Yasogami.

The double-staff is just a reworked UV light, stolen from Junes. Hitoshi, who works at Junes, watched him break it out of the ceiling it in awed silence.

Hitomi and Hitoshi are twins and had been planning to run for student council president and vice president since they were kids. So. Losing was a pretty big blow to their egos, especially Hitomi’s.

Being extremely anal about losing to Akechi, Hitomi typically doesn’t agree with him on anything at all, being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.

Hitoshi doesn’t really take the same attitude as Hitomi, but he doesn’t particularly like Akechi. Unfortunately for Hitoshi, Akechi typically hangs around him at his job in order to cover up thefts, and so Akechi subconsciously sees him as a friend necessary ally.

Cho ran for student council solely because she has a crush on Hitomi. She was already promised position of secretary, so she doesn’t particularly mind how the race went and holds no grudge against Akechi.

Eika and Kenzo are childhood best friends. They run their committees without a lot of interference from the council.

Yuugo on the other hand is often consulted by the council to dish out discipline on the student body. Yuugo pretends he doesn’t like to dole out punishment, but having been in a gang in the past, for whatever reason, it brings back good feelings. Thus, Akechi and Yuugo have a pretty solid relationship compared to the other committee heads.

Yuugo was once a Black Mask himself but quit after he started working at Tatsumi Textiles, which, he only started doing because he thought he could get some tips/mentoring from Kanji. Unfortunately, the tips and mentoring he got were square in the opposite direction of how to get away with gang activity.

Nami is an enigma. She’s the new kid who transferred to Yasogami in her third year, so nobody knows a whole lot about her. She makes fast friends with Akechi though, and starts working night shift at Moel Gas Station.

She’s a big fan of Jack Frost. Some of those shadows seem to… flock to her…

Akira is pretty much your baseline Akira, except for the fact that without that initial Metaverse intervention, he had no other way to vent his frustration with getting sent to Inaba, so he just. Joins a gang.

Also, under his probation, he lives with Naoto. Although Naoto is aware of Akira being in the Black Masks, he assumes they’re more lowkey than what they are because under Akira’s leadership, they’re a lot better at covering their tracks. (Being friends with the student council president/nephew of a detective/best friend of the daughter of the head detective helps quite a bit!)

Morgana also exists here but as far as anyone knows he’s just a cat. Just a cat ;)

Sumitomo is Akira’s second in command and his muscle. When their scooters need repaired, Sumitomo’s the one on it. The gang as a whole are saving up money for actual motorcycles, but for now, most of the money they steal goes to repairs.

Sumitomo and Akira have a pretty close relationship and thus far this has been my favorite thing of the AU:

Also, Sumitomo can’t keep a pair of clothing free of tatters to save his life, hence his nickname.

Toura was at Yasogami before Akira, but people often mistake her for his sister. As if she could ever be related to that dweeb tho lmao. She calls herself Ace anyway in reference to this because, well, she might not be his sister by blood but 🥺. Also, she is the brains of the operation.

Shiro is sort of the baby of the gang and keeps a baseball bat with him even in school for protection and also because he thinks it will make him fit in more.

He has a soft spot for animals, which leads him to decisions like

Others often tease Shiro for his hair, having gone prematurely white, but he finds solace from this in the gang. They call him “Snow” (affectionate) and would kill for him given the chance.

And that’s all we’ve got for right now! Hopefully this clears some things up and also helps paves a road for a comic/fic in the future !! If you have any questions hit up the inbox !! Happy to provide any elaborations ;) ‼️

(and any chance for doodles is very very welcome :3 !!)

a moment of peace, after the end

the cool kid 😎