Intro: Hello everyone, and welcome to my first fanfiction ever made! I'll try to make this intro short for those who'd like to skip the sum up of the author note I prepared before knowing I can't really dedicate a whole chapter to it.
Here's a little information for you lovely readers to see if this story would be your cup of tea or not.
1: This story is an AU of Danganronpa 1: Trigger Happy Havoc, where Chihiro basically feels a big disconnection with himself. This is the consequence of a Headcanon that I will explain later. And my story will revolve around this idea: What would change? what would remain? Can even unrelated events change? After all, an experience done twice within the same environment can have multiple outcomes.
2: This will be a quite long story. It begins from Danganronpa 1: Trigger Happy Havoc, and I plan on doing a continuation going through Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.
3: I must say that while I enjoy writing it, I can feel my non-existent writing skills weighing on the chapters. I am not English and also am a terrible typist, so please point out any grammar/vocabulary/misc. errors that I would make. I try to proofread all of my chapters but I already know that some of them will still slip through.
4: There will not be romance in this FanFiction. I may change my mind later if I get comfortable enough to write one, so please don't yell because you are an Ishimondo/Naegiri/any ships shippers. I'm just really uncomfortable with Romance (with a big 'R'). I'm not against it, I just don't have enough experience/knowledge on how a relationship works, so including one as of now would be awkward at best. Sorry again if you can't support a story without a relationship featured in, but I just can't do it right now.
5: I will read all your comments. Good/bad/ugly/etc..., everything is welcomed.
All the main points are already laid out, though I haven't yet decided on who'll live and die.
Italics = Thoughts of Chihiro.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danganronpa, its plot and its characters. Kodaka and Team Danganronpa do. I only own my own plot. So please don't sue me...
Chapter 1: In the Arms of Morpheus
He was nervous. It was his first day of High School, and Chihiro Fujisaki was nervous. He really couldn't stop fiddling in his seat. Who could have blamed him though, it was not every day that you got to go at Hope's Peak Academy, the most prestigious high school in Japan, the school that scooted their students always in the search of talents. An invitation to attend the school definitely wasn't planned by the Fujisaki family.
As his father, Taichi Fujisaki, drove toward the school, Chihiro let himself reflect upon how he got there.
It had been a fairly average day of April, a Thursday if Chihiro remembered correctly. The boy was already back from St. Elbandia Academy, and was feeling pretty well, considering he hadn't got any remarks about how cute he was in his uniform, which Chihiro, considering he was a boy in a girl's uniform, wasn't taking as a compliment. Despite his classmates not knowing, these types of comments only tended to bury himself further into his weakness. What would they have said if they knew his secret… they would probably have reacted like all his previous schools, the bullying starting once again, leaving him and his dad no other option but to move out again. Chihiro decided to stop thinking about it.
He was on his computer, learning some new lines of code to enhance his very own creation, an AI capable of learning enough to become self-aware of its nature. Maybe after that he could work a bit on one of his other programs. He's already been praised by numerous people about his achievement at the computer science fair he went to, exclaiming that he made cutting-edge lines of codes in the field of AI and in coding programs in general, but Chihiro wasn't particularly interested in being praised for something he did for himself. He was just glad that a company actually reached out to him after the first demonstration of his work, and asked him to work on a project for the cyber security of said company. It had been stressful though, signing that confidential disclosure, but Chihiro was glad to help a firm through his hobby.
As he was typing on his computer in his dark room only illuminated by the blue light of the screens, he heard a knock at the front door. Strange, he thought, dad normally never comes back so early from work… is it someone from school? Chihiro quickly opened a program to consult the feed of all the surveillance cameras, which his parents installed all around the house as safety measure, to check who was at the door.
To say Chihiro had been surprised was an understatement. The person at his home's door was a fairly young man with mid-long blonde hair with a hat that covered his eyes. Chihiro couldn't see more to the man, since the camera's resolution wasn't of the best quality. With these meager informations, Chihiro couldn't recall any of his father's coworkers or of his school's staff looking quite like that, so Chihiro began to feel a bit scared. He didn't really like the concept of a stranger knocking randomly at his home.
Chihiro watched as the man patiently waited at the front door for someone to open to him. After debating with himself for a short amount of time, since in the end he didn't really look frightening to the boy, he decided to go out of his room, straight to the door, and opened it to the stranger.
The man on the door immediately locked his gaze on the small student.
"Am I at the Fujisaki household?", he said.
"Y-yes." Said Chihiro nervously.
"So you should be Chihiro Fujisaki right? Is your father in the house, I have something to discuss about with you both." Chihiro frowned a little at that, why would someone want to see him and his dad? Seeing as the man had the look of someone holding important news, he decided to play along.
"R-right, come in. My dad isn't here yet though, s-... s-sorry. But he should come back soon. May I ask for your name sir, I never saw you in this town before." asked Chihiro, still feeling uneasy around the other man. Now that he had a better view of the adult, Chihiro felt like he recognized him from somewhere... not from school, not from his dad's work, the only other place he could think of was at the computer science fair where he showed his work... was he really there at the time? Chihiro doubted it was case, but where else could he have met this guy. Maybe he was seated in one of the front raws.
"Alright shorty. My name is Koichi Kizakura, I'm a representative from Hope's Peak Academy, and I'm here to get you enrolled." casually said the man, well Kizakura.
"Wh-WHAT!?" squeaked a flabbergasted Chihiro. That really was unexpected, Chihiro knew his faculties in programming exceeded the norms, but to be recognized by an institution such as Hope's Peak was really something he hadn't foreseen. Why would Hope's Peak want a stupid little programmer anyway. I'm just a weakling. In a matter of seconds, a thousand insecurities began to wash over Chihiro.
The man didn't bother to reply, obviously accustomed to these types of reaction. Instead he just entered the Fujisaki's house and Chihiro guided him to the living room, so they could wait for Taichi to come back from work. After making themselves comfortable, the 2 individuals fell in a somewhat awkward silence, only broken by Koichi's questions about Chihiro and his talent, and Chihiro's short answers.
Eventually, his father arrived, to first be surprised by the presence of Koichi, and even more so by the reason of his visit.
With his father and Kizakura, the 3 discussed the possibility of Chihiro going to Hope's Peak, Kizakura stating to Taichi that his son was gifted, and that it would be a shame to waste this talent away.
After a few hours of debating, it only ended in Chihiro's father saying to Koichi that they would think about the proposition, the latter replying that it was alright as long as they answered by e-mailing Hope's Peak within the following month.
After Kizakura's departure, the Fujisakis had a long conversation. The matriarch of the family, who was a businesswoman, was working a lot oversea, so the family added her through the phone to include her as well. It went well enough as far as chihiro was concerned, his mom mostly agreeing with her son's wish to go to Hope's Peak Academy. Taichi, while being supportive of his son, pointed out that they likely would have to move out to Towa city, which was alright for the boy, it was only the fifth time moving out, he became used to it, and Chihiro wasn't really attached to their current city anyway.
The following months felt like a blur to the soon-to-be Hope's Peak student. His dad asked for a mutation near or in Towa city, which was kindly granted by the company he worked for.
They quickly sent a confirmation to Hope's Peak, which replied a day after by sending an e-mail stating that they would expect the new SHSL programmer in their school by the beginning of September in Class 78th.
Taichi, now familiar with the procedures, didn't take long to sold their current home and find a new house within Towa city. They packed during the holidays to get the time to install and adapt to the new city. Chihiro liked his new town. Towa city was huge compared to where he was before!
And here he was now, almost at the front of the famous Academy.
Unlike his previous schools, Chihiro already somewhat knew his new classmates. They were almost all listed on the website of Hope's Peak, which was a blessing and a curse to the programmer. On one hand, he could already prepare meeting them, but on the other hand, some of them already scared him by their pictures and description.
N-no, this time I'll be strong, this time I will not cower away from them. He repeated these thoughts in his head.
It was time now, Chihiro went out of the car, wished a good day to his dad, and started to walk toward the entrance of the school. He looked around, attempting to see if anybody was already there, but nobody seemed to have arrived to Hope's Peak. Nobody's here… am I that early? He tuck out the PDA, which was in his forest green jacket, checked the time, and found it was 7:36 am. While it may be early compared to 8 am, which was the designated time, but it really surprised the programmer that there was literally no students. Maybe everyone is already there and he was just late. What a way to make a first good impression..., he thought sourly.
While reflecting on the lack of students, Chihiro began to step in the building. But only after a few steps in, everything around him began to melt, to distort, to mix together. The SHSL programmer was hit by a sudden tiredness, and before he could react, he fell into nothing but pure untainted darkness.
Author's note: Well here we go, here's the first chapter of my story. For Chihiro's mother... well it is said in Ultra Despair Girls, through Taichi in the note left where his corpse is supposed to be that he wants to ensure the whereabouts of his wife and kid. However Chihiro in Danganronpa 1: Trigger Happy havoc doesn't even mention her once, which can be interpreted very differently, but for me, it would mean that she wasn't there a lot, but not negatively as Taichi still mentions her. Again, it can mean anything, but I decided to interpret it in my own way. She will not appear again though, as she was barely mentioned as a character, and that she is not there in any games.