Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own the Kagerou Project; Jin (aka Shizen-no-Teki-P) does.


Doppelganger Route

Shintaro Kisaragi was never quite the same after Ayano Tateyama's death.

The guilt and depression from her suicide had led him to shut himself off from the rest of the world. Over time, those emotions gave rise to self-loathing, and a constant wish and longing for another chance to see her again. He spent entire days and nights thinking and dreaming about that wish. His virtual companion, Ene, said that it was "seriously frightening" and that he "needed to let go of the past." None of her words reached Shintaro, however, and one day, he simply snapped, choking Ene to death in a blind fury.

Of course, he broke down soon afterwards; all of the pain and guilt from the past year or so had made a reappearance, this time multiplied a thousandfold- he had done the deed with his own hands, after all. In grief and pain, he opted to end the pain and madness, taking his own life in the process.

And, when he blacked out from the blood loss, he saw her.

At first, he recoiled, thinking that this was just another dream.

But then, he started to slowly, carefully, step forward-

– but then that damned doppelganger took his place, had stepped in front of him with so much confidence that it made him sick with envy. And as the doppelganger stepped forward, he found himself pulled back by some invisible force. Try as he might, he couldn't stop the force from pulling him away from the two of them.

It wasn't fair, he thought to himself.

He'd gone through more pain and suffering, and he deserved to be with her more!

He still tried to reach out, tried to move forward, but, just as quickly, he was plucked from the room by the invisible force.

No, don't leave me!

And then he woke up, lying in his bed. Envy and rage still filled his mind, alongside the wish- the wish that the doppelganger had stolen from him.

So when a mysterious voice promised him his wish and revenge in exchange for a favor, how could he refuse?


Shintaro was ready.

He'd spent the previous few routes simply observing, watching the Mekakushi-dan's members react to each day's events. He watched as they came together, lived together, and bonded as a group. He watched as they played, laughed, and cried together.

And, of course, he watched as it all came raining down on their heads thanks to his partner.

His partner was the twisted, empty shell of a former friend: a teenage boy with black eyes, yellow hair, and no apparent goals except to simply kill everyone in the Mekakushi-dan in as terrifying a way as possible. Shintaro had to hand it to the guy- his modus operandi was direct, stunning, bloody, and a bit viscerally entertaining for Shintaro. He particularly enjoyed watching his doppelganger get torn apart (both physically and mentally) by "Kuroha" (as Shintaro had taken to calling his partner).

But none of that could compare to what Shintaro planned to do. While Kuroha's methods were effective, they lacked a certain degree of finesse that Shintaro desired. They also tended to lack the amount of drama and mental trauma that Shintaro wished to see- even though Kuroha's victims undoubtedly were crying (if not dead) during his "playtime", they typically didn't have too much time to grieve or suffer mentally.

This time, though, that would change.


His day begins with a trip down to an abandoned warehouse.

A large black truck is parked inside. Crates are strewn about. Several men are standing inside, chatting idly.

"How do you think this is going to turn out?"

"Pretty well. I mean, remember those two idiots a while back on the news? They got their ransom, we're several times better equipped, and we've got more people."

"But they only took one guy hostage. We're taking an entire mall hostage."

"Floor of a mall. Very different from an entire mall."

Shintaro takes advantage of their distraction to sneak into the ceiling, above the hall leading to their "prep room". There's a man standing guard in front of the door to the room. However, Shintaro knows that the man is going to leave to use the bathroom in a few seconds- and there he goes. Shintaro sneaks into the room, careful not to expose his presence.

The prep room contains all of the men's equipment, from their guns, to their Kevlar vests, to even their clown masks. However, that's not what he's there for. He instead walks past the equipment, and over to a coffeemaker.

This outfit of men had a tradition: before leaving on any kind of heist or mission, they'd drink a cup of coffee. It makes sense, from Shintaro's perspective: the coffee would wake them up and make them more alert during their activities.

The pot's filled with coffee. He decides to add something extra to it.

Extra caffeine. Not enough to kill them, however- just enough to make them slightly more jittery and a bit quicker-thinking.

He exits the way he came, before the guard can come back.

Later, when they drink before setting out, none of them notice the added caffeine.

But their hands do start shaking a bit more.


Next, he follows his doppelganger to the mall.

He worries, for a bit, about someone mistaking him for his doppelganger, but he manages to evade detection- until the terrorists come, anyways. He's then tied up, and dragged down to the TV section as a hostage. He sits away from Kano and Seto, and makes himself as inconspicuous as possible- he knows that the others are watching the hostages and looking for an opening. As everything starts to fall and the terrorists panic, he knows that his doppelganger's plan is starting.

He smiles as his own plan goes off without a hitch. One of the terrorists, jumpy from the coffee from the warehouse, reflexively begins firing at the nearest moving thing- a figure, clad in red. However, his shots go wide, and barely miss the running boy. They ricochet off the metal shelves, and hit the hostages, instead.

And as the boy in red runs to his goal, the boy in green slumps to the floor, bleeding.

Mary screams, but it doesn't register for the red-clad Shintaro until after he's done connecting Ene to the mall's systems. As he turns around, he catches sight of the poor boy bleeding out on the floor. His eyes go wide, and he runs towards the group now gathering around Seto.

As he kneels down, one of the group- the blonde-haired boy- looks up, and yells at Shintaro.

"Didn't you say that you'd have a "one-hundred percent success rate"?!"


The Mekakushi-dan, aside from Shintaro, ends up returning to Apartment 107.

Mary immediately runs off to her room; Kido and Momo follow her. Kano just stays in the living room. The black-jacketed Shintaro observes the four for a while, before traveling to his doppelganger's house and observing his reaction to events.

Shintaro blames himself for Seto's death, and Kano blames him as well. The black-clad Shintaro also notices that an old emotion seems to be welling up inside of Kano: resent.. On the other hand, the other three (physical) members who were there blame themselves for Seto's death. Ene's just confused and wondering why everyone's crying; she can guess that something went wrong at the mall, but she doesn't know the exact details. Her confusion was not helped by Shintaro leaving his phone at the mall in his haste to get away.

Ene eventually manages to get back to Shintaro's desktop, and is about to start yelling when she notices Shintaro curled up in a small ball by his bed. He's muttering something to himself, and the computer's microphones are just sensitive enough to pick his words up.

"It's all my fault..."

And all at once, Ene understands what happened.


The next day starts with the boy in the black jacket paying a visit to a local delivery hub. He dons a red jacket, and walks around the back, to the truck bays. He walks over to one of the trucks in particular- it's the same as all the other trucks, save for the license plate. He lifts the hood of the engine up, and installs a device onto the truck's brake line. It's rather simple; a small explosive charge, linked to a remote detonator located in his pocket. The charge would remove the truck's ability to brake.

He lowers the hood again, and walks out, with his hands in his pockets.

Further down the street, he takes off his red jacket in exchange for his usual black one.

A few minutes later, a truck driver walks in from the rest of the hub proper. He thought he had the day off, but the boss asked him to come in- one of the other deliverymen had been killed in the terrorist attack yesterday. He hadn't known the kid well, but saw him around the hub occasionally. He seemed like a lively young fellow. The truck driver shakes his head softly as he begins the day's work...

"What a waste of a life..."


The day also brings a new face to the Mekakushi-dan. He's not enough to fill the void left behind, but he does help take their mind off things, if only a little.

Momo found the new member while walking home to get Shintaro and, presumably, bring him over to the apartment. She wasn't looking where she was going, and promptly walked right into the little boy. Just as he's about to yell at her, his eyes spontaneously flash red, and he freezes. She notices this, promptly forgets about her original objective, and drags the boy, Hibiya, back to Apartment 107. For a fleeting moment, out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a figure wearing black- and freezes. When he turns his head to get a better look, the figure's gone.

Back in the apartment, the new member's arrival is met with an undercurrent of anger; they all think, to varying degrees, that Momo's trying to make them forget about Seto. However, none of them vocalize this point, and reluctantly allow Hibiya to join them. Hibiya himself is somewhat uncomfortable with the Dan right now, but settles in somewhat with the help of Momo. The two of them eventually end up going outside again to buy groceries.

Meanwhile, at the Kisaragi residence, Ene is still trying to get Shintaro to open up and start talking about what happened the day before. Suddenly, someone knocks at the front door; Ene convinces Shintaro to see who it is. He opens the door, and both are surprised to see the knocker- a boy clad in all-white, with equally white hair to match. Shintaro's surprised by the odd color scheming. Ene's surprised because it's someone she knew. The two are shocked into a silence for a few seconds. The visitor stays equally silent.

The silence is broken by Shintaro.

"Um.. hello?"

"Can you help me? I'm looking for someone."

"Why are you asking me? Can't you just go to the police? Hey, wait, do I even know you?"

"My name is... Konoha-"

"Just help him, Master!"

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!"


The three of them end up wandering the town for a while, in silence. Konoha wasn't much of a talker, Ene seemed unusually fidgety and nervous, and Shintaro decided to take in the rare chance at silence in the midst of these hectic days. Konoha nearly catches sight of the boy he's looking for several times, but repeatedly lost sight soon after amidst the crowds on the street. Shintaro also thinks he sees his sister walking amongst the crowds at several points, but quickly dismisses that possibility- there weren't any rabid crowds chasing her.


Eventually, they stop to rest in the evening. They haven't had any luck finding the boy. Shintaro and Ene ask Konoha a few questions about the boy, his appearance, etc. However, they eventually return home after telling him to go ask the police to help look for Hibiya Amamiya.

Meanwhile, Hibiya and Momo walk down another street on their way back to Apartment 107. Hibiya's in the middle of complaining to Momo when a masked man runs up to him, grabs him, and starts carrying him off as Momo pursues him.

Just up the street, a truck driver's on his way to his last delivery of the day. In his haste to get the job done, he speeds up the truck a little; he's going just over the local speed limits when he hears a muted popping sound from his engine. Thinking it to be nothing, he keeps going- and promptly slams on the brakes when he sees the white van and people up ahead.

To his horror, he finds that the truck doesn't slow down.


Hibiya's just been thrown into a white van when Momo manages to catch up with the kidnapper.

Guess running from all those crowds did something good for me, after all.

She's just about to grab the kidnapper and try rescuing her newfound friend, when the kidnapper turns around and pushes her to the ground. She, however, manages to grab onto one of the kidnapper's pant legs and trips him before jumping to her feet. She's about to quickly open the van's doors when she hears a deep, loud horn from behind her.


Back at the apartment, the rest of the Dan slowly gets more worried as time goes on.

"I wonder what's taking so long."

"Ah, don't worry, Danchou. I'm sure she's just been held up by fa-"

Kano's interrupted by a message on Kido's cell phone, from Ene.

"Turn on your TV. Now."

She grabs the remote and turns on the TV, while wondering why Ene seemed so serious.

The TV's already been set to the news channel, somehow.

"Breaking news this evening: A group of three men and children have been found today, crushed under a broken truck..."

"Police investigators found the truck laying on its side, with three crushed bodies underneath it."

"One was found to be the body of a notorious local kidnapper, presumed to be the van's owner."

"Another has been determined to be the body of eight year old Hibiya Amamiya, presumed to be the kidnapper's victim."

"The third body was that of world-famous idol Momo Kisaragi, who appears to have been trying to open the doors to the van before the truck collided with it."

"Investigators have also released a CCTV recording of what appears to be a saboteur installing some kind of device on the truck involved in the crash."

A recording of a truck bay then played on the TV, showing a young man in a red jacket walking up to a truck, lifting up the hood, and placing a device inside.

"Wait a second, that looks like-"

"-the guy from the mall. The one that killed..."

"No. That wasn't his fault.. It was an accide-"

"It wasn't an accident! His plan got Seto killed!"

"Kano, please..."

The recording then showed the man lowering the hood and walking away calmly.

"The remains of what appears to be the device have been recovered by police; the device apparently disabled the vehicle's brake line."

"The investigators have stated that more information will be released as it is received and verified."

"The whole country is mourning the death of Kisaragi Momo. In several cities across Japan, thousands have gathered, bearing candles, photos, and memorabilia..."

"...for more updates as they occur, see our website at..."

Kano had decided, then and there, that he needed to do something about that guy in red.

He'd been responsible for far too many deaths already.


It's 11 PM. A young man, dressed in red, simply lies on a bed, unmoving save for his breathing.

He's tried to sleep; every time, however, people appear to him in his dreams. The green-hoodied kid, Momo, and Hibiya all make appearances in his dreams, and each time, he wakes up in a sweat, and inevitably, only scant minutes have passed during his attempted slumber.

Ene, thankfully, has decided to leave him alone for now. She said that "Master needed time to think on his own."

He can faintly hear a creaking noise from below as he tries to fall asleep yet again.

When he inevitably wakes up a few minutes later, he can see a figure with blonde hair, catlike eyes, and a black hoodie standing over him. "It's one of the friends of the boy from the mall. I wonder what he's doing here...oh. That explains it," he thinks. The "explanation" is a large kitchen knife, raised over Shintaro's neck. The two of them remain stock still for a moment or two, silent. Then, the figure brings the knife down towards Shintaro's exposed neck.

He doesn't try to dodge the blade. He could have rolled to the side, evaded the attempt on his life.

But he doesn't.

Deep down, he thinks.

I deserved this, didn't I?

Out of his bedroom window, he can see a black-jacketed figure, standing under a streetlight.

Wait, hang on. Is that-

The kitchen knife interrupts his thoughts before he's able to complete them.

Shintaro smiles as Kano stabs his doppelganger inside his own home. Even better is how the doppelganger seemed to have a brief look of confusion on his face- no doubt from looking at what was, for all intents and purposes, himself.

The black-jacketed Shintaro- now, the only Shintaro- walks away, with his hands in his pockets. Most of his work is done now- except for the final part.

For this, he's going to need to take a leaf from his partner's book.

Kano would have loved to ask Shintaro questions, had he had the time.

Questions such as:

Why did you kill your sister and the boy in the van?

Why did you feel so confident in yourself two days ago?

Why didn't you save my nee-chan?

Why did you try to forget her?

Of course, he can't ask them now. For one thing, Shintaro's dead.

For another, making too much noise would attract unwanted attention.

He decides to leave the body where it lies- moving it would be too troublesome. The stabbing left a lot of blood lying around, with some- actually, a lot- of it on his hoodie. That wasn't too concerning- he could simply change his appearance to that of a less bloodstained Kano. This had the advantage of hiding the knife as well. He leaves the Kisaragi residence looking more or less none the worse for wear.

Ene returns to Shintaro's computer not a few minutes later- she had heard a minor commotion and was curious as to what it was about. When she looks past the screen to ask Shintaro, what she sees horrifies her.

One anonymous tip later, and police are swarming the residence.


Kano arrives back at Apartment 107 still looking no worse for wear.

He knocks on the door, and Kido answers. Mary's sitting on the couch behind her.

"Oh, it's you. Seriously, where were you? You left without telling us."

"Ah, it was nothing~. Was Danchou woo~rried about me?"

She stamps on his foot. It hurts- he falls to the ground in pain.

"That wasn't it you idi-"

Kido takes a look at Kano, and freezes. Her eyes go wide, and she recoils a bit.

"Oh god. Kano, what did you do?"

At first, he's a bit confused as to what she's talking about, but then the realization hits him.

That hurt.

So now, instead of talking to a mostly clean Kano, Kido was talking to a bloodstained Kano who was clutching a kitchen knife that was also covered in blood.

He hastily gets up, and attempts to explain (or perhaps, excuse) himself.

"Wait- wait, I can explain-"

He's interrupted by the TV, apparently left on from earlier yesterday.

"...Police have discovered yet another death today. Local resident Shintaro Kisaragi, brother of well known idol Momo Kisaragi, was discovered just a few minutes ago with a large knife wound in his neck. Officials say that they are uncertain of whether the death was a murder or a suicide, but that the most likely scenario was that the boy committed suicide after his sister's death..."

Kido's looking at him in horror now. She's slowly stumbling backwards, away from him.

"No... no... why? Why would you do that to him?"

Mary's crying again in the background. Kano's not sure why- maybe because of the news? That wouldn't make sense, though- he didn't think that Mary had much of an attachment to Shintaro.

However, he's got more pressing things to worry about. Such as the fact that Kido's still asking him "Why?".

"He murdered everyone else! He deserved it!"

"How are you so sure of that?!"

"I- I just know, dammit!"

When he says that, she stops for a moment. Then, she speaks again.

"...Get out."

"What?"

"I said, get out. Get out, dammit!"

"Wait, why?"

"JUST GET OUT!"

And so, he's thrown out of Apartment 107.

Unfortunately, he has no idea what to do next.

Try to go back in? Beg for forgiveness?

He eventually decides on coming back in the morning, after she cools down.

The deceiver thinks and wonders as he starts to walk away from the door.

He'd never seen Danchou react like that before. If she ever expressed anger, it wasn't anything too bad, just minor annoyance at the worst. But that... that was actual anger.

He would have thought more, if it weren't for the hot bits of metal that pierced his head at that moment.

Kuroha was right. This gun really was something.

Just- bam. In one shot.

Shintaro decides to just leave the corpse where it lay- for simplicity, as Kuroha had said.

The door opens, and Kido Tsubomi steps out. She takes one look at the corpse with her grief-stricken face, and freezes in shock. Then, she looks up, and sees what she thinks is a dead man.

And then she falls backwards, propelled by the force of the bullet that pierced her heart.

Shintaro looks down at the smoking gun, smiles, and walks into the apartment.

There isn't anyone inside, save for Mary, who is still wailing. Her cries abruptly stop, however, when Shintaro, his black jacket now painted a colorful blood-red, walks into the room. They look at each other.

"What.. I thought you were-"

"Thought I was what? Dead? My partner? Sorry, but he won't arrive until later. And I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

"Why did you-"

"For fun, mostly. Though I do have other motives that you'll have to guess at. In any case, don't you have something to do? A wish to make?"

"How- how do you know..."

"Oh, about the wish? Easy enough: my boss told me. But anyways, shouldn't you get around to pressing that reset button? You still have time, you know."

And she does exactly that, the snakes gathering around her before she disappears in a flash of light.

It is around this time that Kuroha steps into the room.

"Very well done. Is my weapon damaged?"

"No, not at all. They didn't put up very much of a fight. Here it is, in any case."

"Ah, thank you. So, I guess I'll see you in the next route?"

"I suppose so. Do you have any plans?"

"No. Do you?"

"Somewhat. I wanted this route to be longer, more drawn out and agonizing. But I suppose I had to start somewhere, right?"

"Indeed. Well, I'll be off then."

"Alright. See you later."

And so the possessed android left, the black-jacketed boy following not long after, drawing the route to a close.


Right, so this was inspired by a WMG on TVtropes that stated that the ultimate villain of the series would be Route XX-Shintaro, filled with envy for his Route 1 self.

While the idea never came to pass, the idea of a villainous Shintaro intrigued me, and I started thinking of various scenarios that he would cause- and the idea grew from there.

Do note that I'm a mostly new writer, and that I've mostly written this in the wee hours of the morning and while in varying degrees of sleep deprivation- if you have any qualms with the writing, don't hesitate to tell them to me in the reviews!