[ Who were these people? Sure, they had the faces of people he knew, people he trusted... but these were not the people he knew back then. It couldn't have been. Such bloodthirsty people... No faith in humanity? Even Kaede? She who was so full of hope and desperate to get them all out at the start? ]
No...
[ It's Shuuichi's broken voice that cracks his heart in two. Of course, he'd seen it before. In fact, he'd made it happen himself. A painful reminder of his own manic desperation to ruin the killing game, and the failure it was.
So if it was all a lie... what was it all for?
His chest aches. His head hurts. He even feels ill. ]
She wanted to take responsibility and really show them the truth in the only way they'd be able to understand: more flashback lights.
But even watching Kokichi writhe in despair was making her sick. She'd come all this way to inflict the same torture she put on the five survivors on someone who died? She can't see inside his head, but she can only hope he's at the top of the roller coaster.]
I... I swear. When it's over, you'll understand!
[Shuuichi starts to cry. Not even a full-face cry like a normal person. He just stares at the images of the 'people' around him as tears streak down his face.
"Is this what the outside world wants?"
Maki and Himiko aren't much better. Monokuma starts talking about how this is all what the world wants. The world is peaceful. It wants to watch the group get hurt, die, and then feel sorry for them.
"So what are we supposed to do?"
Shuuichi is having a breakdown. Tsumugi taunts him that no matter how much he grows, he's just gone back to being the weak Ultimate Detective. It's impossible to stop the killing game.
...However.
A person who's been quiet speaks up.
Keebo.
"I will not give up hope, until the very end! We can't give up. No matter what, hope is always within reach!"]
[ Watching his beloved want to tear his heart out, watching him despair twists his heart. Knowing the truth.. the real truth now only makes it more cruel. The people he knew and trusted... the people he liked and tolerated... all ache with the same despair he feels now... it twists knots in his chest and stomach. He hates seeing Shuuichi like this. It only makes him feel more guilty.
But the robot.. the dumb, stupid robot speaks up? He actually finally had the guts to say something? He can't help but feel a sick sense of pride, despite how much he teased him... This had been kind of what he'd been pushing him toward in his own weird way. Whether or not he had any influence on it isn't really relevant, but it does make him feel a little better.
Maybe it's not so bad after all.
Still, all he can do is whine and tug at the roots of his hair in agony. ]
[Tsumugi can only grit her teeth as he tugs away, obviously trying to get rid of the memories with pain.]
[And in the memory, Keebo starts to say his inner voice is telling him to trust in hope, Tsumugi interrupts him again.
"Oh, your inner voice? That's the voice of the outside world."
Every time Keebo listened to his 'inner voice', he was hearing the results of an audience's survey. That when he started to destroy the school, it was just because his antenna had been broken off. Keebo then has his own meltdown that what he thought was his conscience was just... an audience answering survey questions. Tsumugi then reveals her real plan:
If she can make Keebo fall into despair, she can make the entire world fall into despair too! Fiction will turn from reality into fact, and destroy reality itself!]
[ Still, none of this makes any amount of sense. Her plan... what was the point? He can't get his head around it no matter how hard he tries.
Finally, once it really settles in, he looks up at her again, his face red, eyes swollen with a streak of blood running from his nose. He looks a mess. ]
That... that was your plan? Your whole...nnh.. evil scheme?
...I don't know what part of the memory you're at, but yes, it was stupid! I'm trying to confess, Kokichi, not torture you!
[Despite the revelation, Keebo doesn't falter.
"If that's the voice of the outside world, then the outside world actually wants hope!"
Tsumugi is confident in denying it, but concedes Monokuma broke a rule. So why not once last vote?
"This final vote will determine... Between Keebo and I, which one of us should get punished?"
If Keebo is punished, then the killing game will continue until two are left. But that effectively means Himiko, Maki, and Shuuichi will be able to live in the academy. There will be no more murders, because even if they make flashback lights, they'd know they were fakes. There's protests.
"Th-Then at least put us back how we were!"
But, Tsumugi reports to Himiko it's impossible. You can't erase memories with flashback lights. Only overwrite old ones. Or erase their persona completely and create a new fictional character.
...Then finally Tsumugi mentions the other option. If Tsumugi is punished, the killing game will end completely. However, the rules must still be followed.
Two people will need to sacrifice themselves for the last two to go free.
There is absolutely no hesitation from Keebo.
"I sacrifice myself! ...If it will bring hope to everyone and the outside world, I will gladly sacrifice myself."]
[she'll come back to try to offer him the napkin, but...
Keebo, meanwhile is continuing to argue with Tsumugi. The world wants hope. He will trust in hope. Hope will always win. Tsumugi tries to counter that even choosing hope will be pointless without another sacrifice, and then... Maki speaks up.
"I'll sacrifice myself. ...Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will kill you!"
Maki declares she's going to be the second sacrifice. There's more back-and-forth as Tsumugi points out even if Himiko and Shuuichi are set free, there's no where they'll return to as their memories are all fake. But, Keebo is still undeterred.
"No, once the audience sees this ending. I'm sure they'll help us! Everything is going to be okay! I'm sure we'll find hope--"
And then...
"What do you mean, hope?"
Shuuichi finally speaks up again, and compared to the despairing wreck he was moments ago, he now looks absolutely resolute.
"I... I refuse. ...It's because of hope that this whole thing is happening!"
"Hope itself is the villain here."
"We suffer because of hope."
"Tsumugi isn't trying to make us despair."
"She wants us to trust in hope!"
"So, I say no, I reject that hope!"
Keebo and everyone else just stare at him, like he's lost his mind.]
[ He smacks her hand away. The last thing he wants right now is her help.
But what Shuuichi is saying doesn't make any sense. Another thing he can't seem to wrap his head around. But then, he can't see the processes of his beloved's brilliant mind.
But still, he trusts in him. Just like he's always done. If anyone can beat this crazy bitch, it's him. ]
["The reason this madness has gone on fifty-three times is because of hope!"
"It's because the audience wants hope!"
"They want to see hope defeat despair in the end!"
"It's Hope's Peak Academy all over again!"
"So if we fight for hope, we'd just be giving them what they want!"
"And the killings will never end!"
There's a brief moment Shuuichi's words start to pierce through. Monokuma tries to interject and rush them to decide their vote, but... Shuuichi isn't having it.
"I have to know something before we vote."
Tsumugi for her part is looking very suspicious, hiding her face.
"...What is it?"
Shuuichi puts the puzzle pieces together. 'Sacrificing' themselves doesn't mean Keebo and Maki's lives will be taken. It means they'll be forced to participate in the next killing game. Maki will be the next Ultimate Survivor, and the game will go on. All because the audience wants it.
"I won't forgive this game that treats us like toys. And if this is what the world wants... then I reject that world! I'll fight the world that inflicts suffering for entertainment!"
[ Now it's finally starting to make sense. And yet, he still hates it. He's right, of course. It's terrible. It's all terrible. Attaboy, Shuuichi! He knew he could count on you.
And once Shuuichi has made up his mind, he knows it's not long before the others follow suit. ]
...Maybe? Are you at the part where Shuuichi refuses to vote?
[Shuuichi's argument is working. Tsumugi is trying everything she can to get them all on track, but Keebo gets convinced enough to say he won't trust the outside world. Himiko says she won't let them use her life for some dumb show. Even Maki says she won't believe her feelings will fake... there's a glance at Kaito's portrait marked with an X.
"Our lives will have significance... and hopefully...my feelings will have significance, too."
Tsumugi is arguing harder and harder. It looks like Shuuichi's touched a real nerve. It's becoming clearer his plan might actually work... but Tsumugi continues to deny it. As far as she's concerned, there's no way to end the killing game.
"Like I told you, it's not going to stop. 'Cause that's what the world wants."
"Then we have to change it!" comes the counter, from Shuuchi.
"There's no way you can change it! Fiction could never change the real--"
There's an interruption, this time from Keebo. "You don't believe in the power of fiction?"
It just... gets a very confused sound from Tsumugi.]
[ He chuckles weakly. Of course Shuuichi would think that way. Of course he would vow to fix it.
Who knew that shy detective would be so influential? A bearer of hope? They've got her on the ropes. He almost wishes he had been around to see it but... this is almost as good.
He's not sure what to say, but he's curious now. He just has to let it play out. ]
[Keebo and Shuuichi are asserting they do have the power to change the outside world. That they won't give the world hope or despair. Tsumugi... just watches. Before finally asking.
"Are you serious?"
Then, it's Maki who gets the next jab.
"Are you getting flustered? Your costume changes are less frequent now."
It's very clear Tsumugi is flustered from what she blurts out next. She's apparently looking for any string to pull.
"Are you crazy!? If you do that, only I, the mastermind, will survive, y'know?"
Everyone asserts they don't care. Start the voting time. Both Tsumugi and Monokuma are outright looking for ways to delay and cajole them, but it's not working. They're united.
Tsumugi then starts interrogating Keebo about if the outside world is really going to accept the killing game ending forever. He replies he doesn't care anymore. But then... there's a flash of electricity.
The audience took a survey and decided Keebo's personality was a problem. He's now going to follow their orders as an automaton.
"The outside world will not except an ending without hope or despair."
It certainly puts Tsumugi in a smug mood again. The idea that killing games will continue, forever--!]
[ He can't believe what he's seeing. A suicide pact just to end the killing game? Just a few minutes ago he would have been furious. Absolutely livid. But seeing the game progress and how things had fallen into place bit by bit, even Kokichi isn't sure he would have disagreed with them had he been behind a lectern either.
They'd essentially beaten her. And that alone is satisfying enough.
But to actually watch them absolutely refuse to play, to FINALLY do what Kokichi had been trying to get them to do from the very start... to simply not play and end it all... Frustrated as he is, he's still immensely satisfied and proud.
Ah, but there's still the matter of the dumb robot. Of course that's what happens, and his frustration is palpable. Those idiots... When things were getting this good? Then, he can understand the frustration of a favorite series suddenly ending with no real satisfying resolution. ]
[Keebo, uses his last amount of self control to tell the group that it is the outside world that is the real enemy. Shuuichi takes the initiative again. He'll have to argue with them through Keebo:
"Keebo, let me hear the voices of the outside world! And let them hear me!"
Keebo somehow does so. And... what they have to say is not nice. At all.
"This isn't my danganronpa!"
"I'm a long-time fan!"
"I'm gonna be pissed if there isn't a happy ending!"
[The argument between Shuuichi and the 'world' through Keebo does end. The comments have gone silent, but did that indicate they'd gone away? Tsumugi was convinced they hadn't. That the killing game would continue.
"Let's give it everything we've got! Presenting... one last voting time!"
And there it is. The panel. Everyone is staring, but... it is a true prisoner's dilemma. After all that, knowing their lives are at stake, could they follow through? Especially when Tsumugi would win... but then, the time runs out.
Himiko is the first to announce she didn't vote. The rest confirm, but then Maki speculates... if Tsumugi votes for Keebo, and Keebo votes for Tsumugi, then that's just a tie. But, before any of them can explore that possibility, Tsumugi speaks up. She speaks in a tone most like the normal Tsumugi that Kokichi knows.
"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. I didn't vote either."
Maki is shocked to her toes, but Shuuichi isn't surprised at all.
"Just as I thought... you wanted hope to win."
Tsumugi simply shrugs it off.
"That's not it. We're friends, aren't we? There's no way I would abandon you guys."
Out of all of them, it's Himiko it infuriates the most.
"Friends!? You've got no right saying that now!"
It seems Tsumugi's change of heart ends there as she starts laughing like Monokuma.
"Puhuhu! I turned over a new leaf. I'm not lying. It's the truth."
But then it's a slip back to exposition. It doesn't really matter who Keebo voted for at this point. Keebo is the only voter and will survive. Therefore, hope wins.
"But Keebo said earlier that he'd sacrifice himself and take the punishment, right?"
Then Tsumugi's eyes take an utterly dead look to them.
"So we're going to punish him. He'll be participating in the next killing game."
Objections are shouted but Tsumugi just brushes them aside, before she settles back down.
"Well, since I didn't vote. I'll be killed with you guys..."
She stares out, with as much resolution as Shuuichi had been showing.
"But I'll accept my death."
"If you guys are willing to die to stop the killing game, I'll die to continue it."
"Even if it's just fiction, I gave my life to make it."
"I've given my life... to danganronpa!"
Everyone starts shuddering. Except Shuuichi who was... smiling. At long last, Tsumugi tells Monokuma to present the results.
The panel to announce the votes and who will be executed slowly lowers...
...And then there's a completely blank slate. With a message announcing: ATTENTION: NO VOTES]
[Memory-Tsumugi starts to have a breakdown. The tables turned, Himiko taunts her while Tsumugi desperately tries to appeal to the audience... but they're tuning out. One by one.
"Your words can't reach them anymore."
Shuuichi sums it up perfectly as the final displays clear, and then turn off entirely.
"No one wants you around anymore! No one wants to hear your sick twisted stories anymore!"
Tsumugi can only gawk, and mumble, and laugh nervously. Himiko suddenly tries to say maybe they don't need a punishment... but Tsumugi, Monokuma, and even Shuuichi disagree. Shuuichi especially that their sacrifices need meaning. Otherwise there's a chance people will want more killing games. Tsumugi admits she never expected an ending like this, so she doesn't have a punishment ready. She'll just leave it to Keebo.
"I worked hard to keep this going for fifty-three seasons and now it's all over..."
"Well, that's fine... If this is a world without killing games now..."
There's a moment where all of the life just utterly dies from her eyes.
"I don't want to be a part of it."
"I have no interest in a world without danganronpa."
Meanwhile, the others are working their ways to bravely face death.
GAME OVER: Tsumugi, Shuuichi, Himiko, and Maki will receive punishment. Time to destroy the Ultimate Academy.
There's an impressive explosion as Keebo shoots forward in a jet pack, blasting laser beams and destroying all of the academy.
Tsumugi can be seen... but, where did the other three go? They're not around at all.
"Junko" stands with Monokuma, waving and smiling as if giving a send off... before the cosplay fades away. Revealing Tsumugi with a quiet and very sad face.
--and then, without ceremony, a rock is blasted from above the archway they're standing under. A gigantic boulder crushes them both utterly. Only blood seeping from under the rock remains of Tsumugi Shirogane and Monokuma.
The memory flashback light... ends.
(oh and Tsumugi said something about cosplaycat criminals at some point but who cares.)]
[ It's no wonder that people had tuned out, disappointed. Had he been in the audience, he might have, too.
But no, he's stuck here.
With her.
He can't pretend it wasn't at least a little satisfying to see her die. After all, everyone surely got to see him die, right? It's only fair.
But what happened to the others? There's a pang of despair in his heart, knowing they might not have made it out. With no killing game, no one to monitor the rules or mete out punishment.. maybe they didn't even get punished at all?
No... he can't hold onto that hope. And even if he did, there's no way she could tell him. ]
So... that's it, huh? Everything that happened... the pain, the friends we lost...
It was all because of you and some bloodthirsty fuckers.
A lot has changed. I've been here for... a while. My experiences have changed me. Being inside killing games where I'm a participant and not the mastermind has changed me. Being around good people and Kaito before you arrived has changed me.
So... yes. Even if you don't believe it, I am sorry.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-02-14 11:34 am (UTC)[The memory keeps coming. (we forgot Himiko's breakdown, but details)
"Even that thing Kaede said that moved Shuuichi's heart... that was a lie! Because the real Kaede said:"
And, there's a tape of Kaede, telling the camera she's perfect for a killing game: she has no faith in humanity.
"And who could forget Kaito's inspiring line!? ...That was a lie! Because the real Kaito said..."
Oh no. There he is. A slightly manic look in his eyes. Looking very much not like himself.
"I'm not just gonna be in Danganronpa, I'm gonna kill everybody and win! Once I've got fame and fortune, I don't gotta worry about what's impossible!"
Followed by more cackling from Tsumugi about it all being a lie, as the others gawk. Until, Shuuichi...
"Why...am I here? Why did I even survive this long?"]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-15 04:05 am (UTC)No...
[ It's Shuuichi's broken voice that cracks his heart in two. Of course, he'd seen it before. In fact, he'd made it happen himself. A painful reminder of his own manic desperation to ruin the killing game, and the failure it was.
So if it was all a lie... what was it all for?
His chest aches. His head hurts. He even feels ill. ]
Make it stop... Please... please make it stop!
no subject
Date: 2023-02-15 05:33 am (UTC)She wanted to take responsibility and really show them the truth in the only way they'd be able to understand: more flashback lights.
But even watching Kokichi writhe in despair was making her sick. She'd come all this way to inflict the same torture she put on the five survivors on someone who died? She can't see inside his head, but she can only hope he's at the top of the roller coaster.]
I... I swear. When it's over, you'll understand!
[Shuuichi starts to cry. Not even a full-face cry like a normal person. He just stares at the images of the 'people' around him as tears streak down his face.
"Is this what the outside world wants?"
Maki and Himiko aren't much better. Monokuma starts talking about how this is all what the world wants. The world is peaceful. It wants to watch the group get hurt, die, and then feel sorry for them.
"So what are we supposed to do?"
Shuuichi is having a breakdown. Tsumugi taunts him that no matter how much he grows, he's just gone back to being the weak Ultimate Detective. It's impossible to stop the killing game.
...However.
A person who's been quiet speaks up.
Keebo.
"I will not give up hope, until the very end! We can't give up. No matter what, hope is always within reach!"]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-15 07:30 am (UTC)But the robot.. the dumb, stupid robot speaks up? He actually finally had the guts to say something? He can't help but feel a sick sense of pride, despite how much he teased him... This had been kind of what he'd been pushing him toward in his own weird way. Whether or not he had any influence on it isn't really relevant, but it does make him feel a little better.
Maybe it's not so bad after all.
Still, all he can do is whine and tug at the roots of his hair in agony. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-16 03:35 am (UTC)[And in the memory, Keebo starts to say his inner voice is telling him to trust in hope, Tsumugi interrupts him again.
"Oh, your inner voice? That's the voice of the outside world."
Every time Keebo listened to his 'inner voice', he was hearing the results of an audience's survey. That when he started to destroy the school, it was just because his antenna had been broken off. Keebo then has his own meltdown that what he thought was his conscience was just... an audience answering survey questions. Tsumugi then reveals her real plan:
If she can make Keebo fall into despair, she can make the entire world fall into despair too! Fiction will turn from reality into fact, and destroy reality itself!]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 04:49 am (UTC)Finally, once it really settles in, he looks up at her again, his face red, eyes swollen with a streak of blood running from his nose. He looks a mess. ]
That... that was your plan? Your whole...nnh.. evil scheme?
That...
That's fucking stupid.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 04:54 am (UTC)[Despite the revelation, Keebo doesn't falter.
"If that's the voice of the outside world, then the outside world actually wants hope!"
Tsumugi is confident in denying it, but concedes Monokuma broke a rule. So why not once last vote?
"This final vote will determine... Between Keebo and I, which one of us should get punished?"
If Keebo is punished, then the killing game will continue until two are left. But that effectively means Himiko, Maki, and Shuuichi will be able to live in the academy. There will be no more murders, because even if they make flashback lights, they'd know they were fakes. There's protests.
"Th-Then at least put us back how we were!"
But, Tsumugi reports to Himiko it's impossible. You can't erase memories with flashback lights. Only overwrite old ones. Or erase their persona completely and create a new fictional character.
...Then finally Tsumugi mentions the other option. If Tsumugi is punished, the killing game will end completely. However, the rules must still be followed.
Two people will need to sacrifice themselves for the last two to go free.
There is absolutely no hesitation from Keebo.
"I sacrifice myself! ...If it will bring hope to everyone and the outside world, I will gladly sacrifice myself."]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 05:00 am (UTC)Nnh!
[ Another painful flash and flood of impossible memories. Stupid rules...
But Keebo? He would actually do something like that? Why? That stupid robot actually would...?
So then that means... Shuuichi actually might be okay out there somewhere? ]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 05:03 am (UTC)[she'll come back to try to offer him the napkin, but...
Keebo, meanwhile is continuing to argue with Tsumugi. The world wants hope. He will trust in hope. Hope will always win. Tsumugi tries to counter that even choosing hope will be pointless without another sacrifice, and then... Maki speaks up.
"I'll sacrifice myself. ...Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will kill you!"
Maki declares she's going to be the second sacrifice. There's more back-and-forth as Tsumugi points out even if Himiko and Shuuichi are set free, there's no where they'll return to as their memories are all fake. But, Keebo is still undeterred.
"No, once the audience sees this ending. I'm sure they'll help us! Everything is going to be okay! I'm sure we'll find hope--"
And then...
"What do you mean, hope?"
Shuuichi finally speaks up again, and compared to the despairing wreck he was moments ago, he now looks absolutely resolute.
"I... I refuse. ...It's because of hope that this whole thing is happening!"
"Hope itself is the villain here."
"We suffer because of hope."
"Tsumugi isn't trying to make us despair."
"She wants us to trust in hope!"
"So, I say no, I reject that hope!"
Keebo and everyone else just stare at him, like he's lost his mind.]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 05:06 am (UTC)But what Shuuichi is saying doesn't make any sense. Another thing he can't seem to wrap his head around. But then, he can't see the processes of his beloved's brilliant mind.
But still, he trusts in him. Just like he's always done. If anyone can beat this crazy bitch, it's him. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 05:49 am (UTC)...
["The reason this madness has gone on fifty-three times is because of hope!"
"It's because the audience wants hope!"
"They want to see hope defeat despair in the end!"
"It's Hope's Peak Academy all over again!"
"So if we fight for hope, we'd just be giving them what they want!"
"And the killings will never end!"
There's a brief moment Shuuichi's words start to pierce through. Monokuma tries to interject and rush them to decide their vote, but... Shuuichi isn't having it.
"I have to know something before we vote."
Tsumugi for her part is looking very suspicious, hiding her face.
"...What is it?"
Shuuichi puts the puzzle pieces together. 'Sacrificing' themselves doesn't mean Keebo and Maki's lives will be taken. It means they'll be forced to participate in the next killing game. Maki will be the next Ultimate Survivor, and the game will go on. All because the audience wants it.
"I won't forgive this game that treats us like toys. And if this is what the world wants... then I reject that world! I'll fight the world that inflicts suffering for entertainment!"
"I...refuse to vote."]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:01 am (UTC)[ Now it's finally starting to make sense. And yet, he still hates it. He's right, of course. It's terrible. It's all terrible. Attaboy, Shuuichi! He knew he could count on you.
And once Shuuichi has made up his mind, he knows it's not long before the others follow suit. ]
So... so that's how you lost, is it?
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:05 am (UTC)[Shuuichi's argument is working. Tsumugi is trying everything she can to get them all on track, but Keebo gets convinced enough to say he won't trust the outside world. Himiko says she won't let them use her life for some dumb show. Even Maki says she won't believe her feelings will fake... there's a glance at Kaito's portrait marked with an X.
"Our lives will have significance... and hopefully...my feelings will have significance, too."
Tsumugi is arguing harder and harder. It looks like Shuuichi's touched a real nerve. It's becoming clearer his plan might actually work... but Tsumugi continues to deny it. As far as she's concerned, there's no way to end the killing game.
"Like I told you, it's not going to stop. 'Cause that's what the world wants."
"Then we have to change it!" comes the counter, from Shuuchi.
"There's no way you can change it! Fiction could never change the real--"
There's an interruption, this time from Keebo. "You don't believe in the power of fiction?"
It just... gets a very confused sound from Tsumugi.]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:10 am (UTC)[ He chuckles weakly. Of course Shuuichi would think that way. Of course he would vow to fix it.
Who knew that shy detective would be so influential? A bearer of hope? They've got her on the ropes. He almost wishes he had been around to see it but... this is almost as good.
He's not sure what to say, but he's curious now. He just has to let it play out. ]
[and, maybe cram more into each comment if he's popcorning]
Date: 2023-02-17 06:14 am (UTC)"Are you serious?"
Then, it's Maki who gets the next jab.
"Are you getting flustered? Your costume changes are less frequent now."
It's very clear Tsumugi is flustered from what she blurts out next. She's apparently looking for any string to pull.
"Are you crazy!? If you do that, only I, the mastermind, will survive, y'know?"
Everyone asserts they don't care. Start the voting time. Both Tsumugi and Monokuma are outright looking for ways to delay and cajole them, but it's not working. They're united.
Tsumugi then starts interrogating Keebo about if the outside world is really going to accept the killing game ending forever. He replies he doesn't care anymore. But then... there's a flash of electricity.
The audience took a survey and decided Keebo's personality was a problem. He's now going to follow their orders as an automaton.
"The outside world will not except an ending without hope or despair."
It certainly puts Tsumugi in a smug mood again. The idea that killing games will continue, forever--!]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:21 am (UTC)They'd essentially beaten her. And that alone is satisfying enough.
But to actually watch them absolutely refuse to play, to FINALLY do what Kokichi had been trying to get them to do from the very start... to simply not play and end it all... Frustrated as he is, he's still immensely satisfied and proud.
Ah, but there's still the matter of the dumb robot. Of course that's what happens, and his frustration is palpable. Those idiots... When things were getting this good? Then, he can understand the frustration of a favorite series suddenly ending with no real satisfying resolution. ]
It.. can't end like that. It can't.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:29 am (UTC)[Keebo, uses his last amount of self control to tell the group that it is the outside world that is the real enemy. Shuuichi takes the initiative again. He'll have to argue with them through Keebo:
"Keebo, let me hear the voices of the outside world! And let them hear me!"
Keebo somehow does so. And... what they have to say is not nice. At all.
"This isn't my danganronpa!"
"I'm a long-time fan!"
"I'm gonna be pissed if there isn't a happy ending!"
"What about Little Miss Assassin's punishment!?"
"This guy should've died instead of Kaede!"
"Just kill each other already!"
"We want more of the killing game!"
"Hopefully there's another season..."
"We want more of the killing game!"
"WE WANT MORE OF THE KILLING GAME!!"]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:37 am (UTC)Entitled fans. Brats. Sadists. All of them.
Never mind the fact that he still has to come to terms with the fact that apparently he was just like them at one point.
Now's not the time for that. Later.
So now what? They hear the audience's desires... but what does that actually mean?
Will their will hold steadfast and keep them refusing? He has to know, dammit! ]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:45 am (UTC)"Let's give it everything we've got! Presenting... one last voting time!"
And there it is. The panel. Everyone is staring, but... it is a true prisoner's dilemma. After all that, knowing their lives are at stake, could they follow through? Especially when Tsumugi would win... but then, the time runs out.
Himiko is the first to announce she didn't vote. The rest confirm, but then Maki speculates... if Tsumugi votes for Keebo, and Keebo votes for Tsumugi, then that's just a tie. But, before any of them can explore that possibility, Tsumugi speaks up. She speaks in a tone most like the normal Tsumugi that Kokichi knows.
"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. I didn't vote either."
Maki is shocked to her toes, but Shuuichi isn't surprised at all.
"Just as I thought... you wanted hope to win."
Tsumugi simply shrugs it off.
"That's not it. We're friends, aren't we? There's no way I would abandon you guys."
Out of all of them, it's Himiko it infuriates the most.
"Friends!? You've got no right saying that now!"
It seems Tsumugi's change of heart ends there as she starts laughing like Monokuma.
"Puhuhu! I turned over a new leaf. I'm not lying. It's the truth."
But then it's a slip back to exposition. It doesn't really matter who Keebo voted for at this point. Keebo is the only voter and will survive. Therefore, hope wins.
"But Keebo said earlier that he'd sacrifice himself and take the punishment, right?"
Then Tsumugi's eyes take an utterly dead look to them.
"So we're going to punish him. He'll be participating in the next killing game."
Objections are shouted but Tsumugi just brushes them aside, before she settles back down.
"Well, since I didn't vote. I'll be killed with you guys..."
She stares out, with as much resolution as Shuuichi had been showing.
"But I'll accept my death."
"If you guys are willing to die to stop the killing game, I'll die to continue it."
"Even if it's just fiction, I gave my life to make it."
"I've given my life... to danganronpa!"
Everyone starts shuddering. Except Shuuichi who was... smiling. At long last, Tsumugi tells Monokuma to present the results.
The panel to announce the votes and who will be executed slowly lowers...
...And then there's a completely blank slate. With a message announcing: ATTENTION: NO VOTES]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:51 am (UTC)He can't believe after all of that they'd...
Wait.
No votes?
Kokichi on the floor can't help himself but to laugh. She lost. She well and truly lost! ]
S-Serves you right, you wretched sow.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 06:56 am (UTC)[Memory-Tsumugi starts to have a breakdown. The tables turned, Himiko taunts her while Tsumugi desperately tries to appeal to the audience... but they're tuning out. One by one.
"Your words can't reach them anymore."
Shuuichi sums it up perfectly as the final displays clear, and then turn off entirely.
"No one wants you around anymore! No one wants to hear your sick twisted stories anymore!"
Tsumugi can only gawk, and mumble, and laugh nervously. Himiko suddenly tries to say maybe they don't need a punishment... but Tsumugi, Monokuma, and even Shuuichi disagree. Shuuichi especially that their sacrifices need meaning. Otherwise there's a chance people will want more killing games. Tsumugi admits she never expected an ending like this, so she doesn't have a punishment ready. She'll just leave it to Keebo.
"I worked hard to keep this going for fifty-three seasons and now it's all over..."
"Well, that's fine... If this is a world without killing games now..."
There's a moment where all of the life just utterly dies from her eyes.
"I don't want to be a part of it."
"I have no interest in a world without danganronpa."
Meanwhile, the others are working their ways to bravely face death.
GAME OVER: Tsumugi, Shuuichi, Himiko, and Maki will receive punishment. Time to destroy the Ultimate Academy.
There's an impressive explosion as Keebo shoots forward in a jet pack, blasting laser beams and destroying all of the academy.
Tsumugi can be seen... but, where did the other three go? They're not around at all.
"Junko" stands with Monokuma, waving and smiling as if giving a send off... before the cosplay fades away. Revealing Tsumugi with a quiet and very sad face.
--and then, without ceremony, a rock is blasted from above the archway they're standing under. A gigantic boulder crushes them both utterly. Only blood seeping from under the rock remains of Tsumugi Shirogane and Monokuma.
The memory flashback light... ends.
(oh and Tsumugi said something about cosplaycat criminals at some point but who cares.)]
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 07:02 am (UTC)But no, he's stuck here.
With her.
He can't pretend it wasn't at least a little satisfying to see her die. After all, everyone surely got to see him die, right? It's only fair.
But what happened to the others? There's a pang of despair in his heart, knowing they might not have made it out. With no killing game, no one to monitor the rules or mete out punishment.. maybe they didn't even get punished at all?
No... he can't hold onto that hope. And even if he did, there's no way she could tell him. ]
So... that's it, huh? Everything that happened... the pain, the friends we lost...
It was all because of you and some bloodthirsty fuckers.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 07:09 am (UTC)As in: I regret. I would take it back, if I could. I'd do anything to undo all of it.
But, I can't.
--So that's why I've shown you this. So I can take some small amount of responsibility.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 07:11 am (UTC)You expect me to believe that?
You... You said you would die to keep it going. You gave up everything just for the hope that someone would continue your fucked-up legacy.
And you want me to think you're Sorry?!
How fucking stupid do you think I am?!
no subject
Date: 2023-02-17 07:16 am (UTC)So... yes. Even if you don't believe it, I am sorry.
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