Disclaimer: The Dangan Ronpa franchise belongs to Spike Chunsoft inc. and not me. If it did, no one would have died and they would have all lived happily ever after ;D.

(A/N: This fic will always use male pronouns to refer to Chihiro, with the exception of sections that are in the POV of a character who doesn't know their secret. If this makes you uncomfortable, please don't read this! The last thing I'd ever want to do is offend anyone.)

Hiding To Be Stronger

Kids have a lot of interesting ideas.

Some are good, some are bad, but rarely do they change your life forever.

That was not the case for Chihiro Fujisaki.

He was bullied for as long as he could remember. His bullies would mock him for being small, for being sickly, for looking "girly", for being a crybaby and well… he really didn't like to think about what they said. Fortunately, he had loving parents who tried to talk to his school and get them do something about the problem. Unfortunately, the school did nothing.

"Oh, kids are just being kids!" they told his parents, "Your son should learn how to stand up for himself!"

He tried his best to stand up to them, he really did. But his bullies were all bigger and stronger and scarier and louder than he was. He would always end up crying and injured whenever he tried to deal with them. In the end, the bullying continued and his life was still miserable.

Due to both his fear of bullies and his illness, he ended up spending most of his time at home, on the computer. Eventually, he became a programming genius, surpassing even his own father in skill. But he was also very lonely. His parents were great, but he longed for friends his own age. He was tired of being trapped at home, afraid and lonely.

But that was about to change! The twelve year-old boy thought he had figured out the solution that would end all his problems.

He would start middle school dressed as a girl.

"No one makes fun of girls for being weak and girly!" he thought, "If they all think I'm a girl, I'll never be bullied again!"

As you can see, the logic of twelve year-old boys isn't exactly the best.

But when someone has to go through what he did, logic takes a second place to fear when it comes to protecting yourself.

So, as they were eating dinner, he planned to casually tell his parents of his genius plan.

Well, the "casually" part ended up not working out, but everything else (sort of) did.

"Ummm… mother… father… can I wear a girl's uniform to school?" he asked nervously.

His parents simultaneously raised their eyebrows and exclaimed "WHAT?!"

"But you're such a handsome young man!" his mother said, "Unless you mean that you're a girl ins—"

"It's nothing like that…!" Chihiro replied, "Well you see… I think that if I go to school as a girl, then people won't make fun of me for being... w-w-weak and girly! Since, they'll think I'm a girl… you know? And that way, I won't have to depend on you guys to protect me anymore! You won't have to go talk to teachers and-"

"That's an interesting idea, son," his father interrupted, "But I'm sure that kids will be nicer and more mature now that you're in middle school. You don't have to worry."

"But what if they're not? What if—what if they're bigger and meaner and scarier! What if they still pick on me…?"

His parents looked at each other and sighed. There was a long pause, but finally, his mother spoke.

"Chihiro, if you wear girls clothes to school and the other students somehow find out that you're a boy, you'll probably be bullied again. Your father and I really don't want that to happen to you."

She took a deep breath.

"But well, if you really want to dress as a girl, then we'll see if we can arrange it somehow," she said.

And they did. Somehow (he really had no idea how) his parents managed to register him as a girl, and get him a girl's uniform.

And so on the first day of school, Chihiro Fujisaki showed up to school as a girl.

He really didn't mind wearing a girl's uniform—it was just clothing after all. Wearing a skirt did feel rather strange, but anything new to you feels strange, right? He would get used to it. Eventually. Hopefully.

At least nobody made fun of him for once, which was a huge relief. He apparently made a very convincing girl.

The only thing that happened was that his Japanese language teacher held him behind in class.

"Fujisaki-san," she said sternly, "I noticed that you used the pronoun 'boku' when introducing yourself. If you want to be a proper Japanese young lady, I highly recommend you use something less boyish, like 'watashi' or 'atashi'."

"O-okay… I'll remember that," he replied, looking slightly downcast because someone noticed that something was "off" about him.

"That's all I have to say, dear. Feel free to go home now."

She smiled, in a vain attempt to cheer him up, and he smiled back at her awkwardly.

"Wow, I was right!" Chihiro thought as he was walking home, "It's not so hard being a girl. The only person who thought I was weird was that teacher, and not even she really suspected anything. My life will definitely be better from now on."

He would always remember what the teacher said. The next day, he tried to refer to himself with "watashi" and "atashi", but it just didn't feel right. In his heart, he knew that he would always feel like a boy. He could never quite get used to the idea of referring to himself as a girl.

He decided that it would be best to simply avoid using pronouns for himself from then on. That was the great thing about the Japanese language—you could always find some way to work around these things.

And that was how Chihiro's life as a girl began. But it would not be as easy as he thought.

(A/N: I don't know much about Japanese language, but I can assure you that I did do a wee bit of research on pronouns and such— all the pronouns I mentioned are common Japanese first-person pronouns. Also, in canon, I read that Chihiro avoids using first-person pronouns when talking to others, but uses the masculine "boku" in their thoughts. Even though this is a non-despair au, I decided to stick with that aspect of canon. Also, feel free to give me advice about Japanese culture! I really don't know much about it, so I would appreciate if you guys tell me when I mess up. And as always, please review! I love reviews, especially in-depth ones! )