The meeting-room seemed smaller than usual this evening. The production team glanced at each other awkwardly from their seats around the table, not sure what exactly was making the room seem more crowded. It could have been the two guests, outsiders, sitting among them, but it was more likely the 42 members of The Cast that, while not physically present all at once, were still listening.
The Queen of Despair herself, Junko Enoshima, was currently pacing the length of the table, heels clacking and blonde pigtails bouncing. "So, like, the memo was that you people are having issues with a certain part of the 52nd season?" she asked briskly. "What's the deal?"
"Well, things didn't exactly go according to plan in Season 51," an editor was quick to answer. "We had a character volunteer to stay at the Ultimate Academy in order to let the last two escape."
"Amazing!" Junko was instantly replaced by a young man in a long olive-green coat with a mop of white hair, his green eyes shining. "Finally, an Ultimate that truly understands the full meaning of sacrifice for hope! Who is this person?"
"Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate Guitarist," someone else called.
"Awww YEAH!" The man was replaced by a young woman whose appearance could only be called loud, with the pink and blue streaks shot through her long black hair and the piercings all over her ears and face. "Ibuki approves, guys! He gonna be part of next season's plot?"
"That's what we're currently trying to decide," a writer replied. "The majority of the silent survey we've taken says that he should return in Season 52, but... we're still not certain that it's a good idea."
Ibuki frowned, but the disappointment in her pink eyes turned into a calculative gleam when they flicked to red. The loud outfit and hair became somber, styled frilly black and white. "Rantaro Amami is unpredictable," she stated, tone thoughtful but firm. "A gamble in human form. Season 51 was a smashing success, but the end was not the one planned. Keeping him is what the public wants, but his presence in this zero-sum game could end in disaster."
"Yes, Celeste, that's exactly it." The head of the production team looked over clasped hands at the young woman. "We're just trying to figure out if the high stakes are worth it."
"Well, you know my opinion of high stakes," Celeste chuckled, form flickering.
She was replaced by a man with pink hair and oddly sharp teeth, who was wearing a beanie and a yellow construction jacket. "So, how big of a disaster are we talkin' here?" he asked, scratching his face.
The bright pink and yellow faded to varying shades of purple, and the young woman stood straight. Most people in the room sat straighter as well, Kyoko Kirigiri's very aura demanded attention. "I would like to have all of the details before continuing with the discussion of what we are to do with Amami-san," she stated firmly, her violet eyes flicking toward the two guests sitting at the foot of the table. "As well as know what these two are doing here."
"Of course, Kyoko." The head of the production team nodded. "Senta, if you would?"
"Right." One of the writers stood, picking up his notes. "Rantaro was supposed to be the victim after the fifth trial, as this season was to end with only two survivors. As anyone could have picked up from this conversation, it didn't work out that way." He shuffled his notes. "Rantaro was the laid-back coward of the group, you know, the one that usually survives?"
"And we wondered why you guys were superstitious about changing things up," the pink-haired man muttered, having replaced Kyoko again.
He flicked a larger man with a substantial amount of brown dreadlocks and disheveled clothing. "Superstition is healthy! Prevents stuff like this from happening most of the time."
"Shut up, Yasuhiro, you're polluting the air with stupidity." The member of The Cast changed yet again, to another well known figure. The tall blond man pushed up his glasses, blue eyes glittering coldly. "Continue the report."
Senta nodded. "He had a daily routine that involved him going out at night that was extremely helpful in some of the cases, since he was often witness to suspicious events. He started deviating from character during the third case, however. He would give clues without hesitation, and after the second trial, never argued with Takara Asuka unless he had hard evidence that would prove the man wrong-which was only once or twice during the entire season due to Takara being the the protagonist. No roundabouting like the rival character is infamous for, and we're lucky we didn't have an outright helpful character planned."
"Like myself, you mean." Kyoko was back, studying Senta with interest.
"Yes. We confirmed the public's theory of Rantaro having a character arc, and they loved him for it, but we were disturbed to say the least."
"Of course." Kyoko was replaced by a woman wearing somber black clothing and an equally black surgical mask. She shifted nervously under everyone's gazes. "Such a large variable in an equation as explosive as a Danganronpa plot has the potential to be disastrous... or at least change the results entirely."
"Which it did." Senta reached into his bag, pulling out a tape recorder. "I'll let Takara explain."
Everyone unconsciously leaned forward as he pressed the play button. "The incident took place as follows," the protagonist of Season 51 began, and everyone immediately recognized it as the closing argument. "There were only four of us left, and together, we agreed that spending the rest of our lives in this accursed academy was preferable to seeing anyone else die. All of us except for this case's victim. Hikaru knew that Rantaro had a certain routine that he followed every night without fail since the day we came here, and he apparently wanted to get out of this academy so badly that he felt as though sacrificing all of us was worth it, starting with Rantaro. "He got his weapon, a hammer, from the warehouse. When Rantaro passed by the bushes, he was lying in wait, and he jumped out at him. Rantaro, however, saw it coming. Blocking the blow with his guitar, which was then shattered to pieces, Rantaro ran away as fast as he could, Hikaru giving chase too slowly to prevent Rantaro from locking himself in his room. If Hikaru given up there, he might have survived... "Knowing that Rantaro wouldn't be coming out and knowing he couldn't break the lock on the door without electrocuting himself, that realization made him come up with another plan. He headed down to one of the power panels on the first floor, shattering the glass with the hammer and beginning inexpertly mess with the voltage levels. "I'm not sure what exactly woke me up, Rantaro slamming his door or Hikaru shattering the glass, but I heard a noise and was unable to go back to sleep because of it. Most of these cases have happened at night, so I figured that I'd better go check it out... we all promised not to begin the killing game again, but when has that ever worked out in the past? So I left my room and called out. Hikaru, startled by it, grabbed the wrong wire or something of that nature... and was electrocuted. I hurried down the stairs just in time to see him take his final breath. "Hikaru Mori, the Ultimate Pole Vaulter, was killed by an accident of his own creation. There will be no execution today, Monokuma."
"It would have been if Rantaro hadn't confessed to what Hikaru was doing right off the bat and his involvement in it," Senta replied. "All Takara and Hibiki had to really puzzle over was whether or not he was telling the truth. Something that paid off for them in spades when you showed up in AI form and gave them the lowdown of what was supposed to happen with the graduation process."
"So Rantaro took the fall like he was supposed to for the sake of his friends." Everyone stared in shock as the new Cast member knelt down next to the tape recorder, gingerly picking it up. Her dark blue hood with cat ears was up, and her pink eyes were so filled with thought and emotion that they were unreadable. "How are Takara and Hibiki doing, by the way? Did you actually let them out?"
"Yes, and they're doing... well enough," the head of production replied. "Takara sent me a rather strongly worded letter about actually keeping Rantaro in the Ultimate Academy, but with the public's response-"
Her cheeks puffed out slightly, stopping him from continuing. "Takara knows what you're planning to do... probably."
One of the two guests shifted in her seat while the other simply sighed, drawing the room's attention to them once again. "Are we actually moving into a plot discussion now that we have all of the backstory out of the way?" the one who had sighed asked tonelessly. His amber eye that wasn't hidden under a wave of his equally brightly colored hair was narrowed slightly. "You received our letter, obviously, we wouldn't be here otherwise."
"Yes..." the head of production frowned. "And though it was vague- on purpose I'm sure- it sounded like you wanted to have him planned as a major character for this season."
"Most of your issues with keeping him in the show could probably be resolved with this idea," the other guest offered, her hands pressed together in front of her chest.
She then said something that would indeed be a major spoiler for the season if it actually got implemented, so we're thickening the fourth wall that has totally existed this entire time for a second here so you can't hear it. Puhuhuhu.
The entire room was instantly in an uproar. "It would work, though," she protested.
"How, exactly?" an editor demanded. "We'd need a female protagonist, and you're suggesting that he survive the entire thing."
"Do you really think that your fans would be pleased if he survived one killing game only to die in another?" the male guest questioned, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. "The discussion boards all believe that he'll survive this game, it's not even a spoiler if it happens."
"That still doesn't fix his unpredictability-"
"Fixing his unpredictability with that suggestion is actually far more plausible than you think."
The entire room immediately fell silent at the quiet, cold voice that had entered the discussion, staring at The Cast member currently standing on the table. His uniform was unremarkable, a simple suit and tie just like what everyone else in the room was wearing, but his hair was black, thick, and fell to his knees like a shroud, and his red eyes were staring keenly at the two guests. The man lifted his chin slightly. "Izuru," he greeted the Cast member.
"You get what we're trying to say, then?" The young woman asked.
"I would assume so." Izuru turned back to the head of production. "Honestly, I'm shocked that this idea hasn't occurred to you."
"We've never done a-" a writer protested.
"The female protagonist isn't part of the issue, that's simply their way of pleasing the public." Izuru waved a hand dismissively. "Rantaro's unpredictability stems from his survival instincts, does it not? Specifically him having them when he's not supposed to. So let him keep his instincts."
"But those instincts stem from-"
"His personality that was supposed to be completely erased?" Izuru arched an eyebrow, and the room fell silent again, looking at each other awkwardly. "Let me guess... his skills as a guitarist waned drastically once his personality began to change?"
"...Yes," Senta admitted. "He's still Rantaro, but at this point, "Rantaro" is his own person, not someone we created."
"A mix of what he was and what he was intended to be, you might say." There were some more silent awkward glances. "Well then, you may want to edit his past into something that's a little more believable to him. Change his talent to something he was truly skilled at before he entered the Ultimate Academy. Memory loss is nothing new in this series, personality loss is something else entirely." Izuru shrugged. "I don't believe we've had an Ultimate Adventurer yet, and that is something that would truly fit him."
Everyone in the room looked at each other. "That... could work," Senta admitted.
"It would be interesting," another writer added excitedly, and the entire room was suddenly throwing ideas back and forth.
No one noticing the look the male guest and Izuru exchanged, the small smirk playing on the man's lips, or how the young woman stared down at her hands in her lap. Izuru began pacing around the table as they talked, flickering between character after character, all of them seeming to have a quiet discussion separate of everyone else in the room. People that never showed up in these discussions appearing, such as Makoto Naegi, Chihiro Fujisaki, and Hajime Hinata, even Chiaki Nanami appearing again, before Hajime stilled on the table, thinking, before Junko came back with a coy smile. "So long as it's interesting, right?" she giggled, catching the room's attention again.
Izuru came back, eyes closed as he nodded. "So long as it's interesting."
"Well then, I guess that's that!" Junko raised her hands excitedly before placing them on her hips. "The plan of the outsiders pleases us greatly!" she declared. "We wish for it to be implemented, this will truly be a killing school semester to remember."
"As you say, then, Junko," the head of production agreed with a smile. The two outsiders exchanged a glance, the man still smirking and the young woman giving a small nod.
"Then let's get this show on the road!" Junko roared, and the entire room erupted into cheers.