Warning:
This story is contained with spoilers from Danganronpa V3. If you haven't, please move away now.
Another note, please remember that this fanfiction has the genre of "Canon Divergence" according to Archive On Our Own. Meaning, there will be changes within the game.
It's a threat. It's a really big threat, per se. Tsumugi Shirogane created a threat to Ki-Bo that there will be no Killing Games anymore once the Ultimate Hope is executed.
That Cosplayer Wannabe is quite persuasive! Cosplaying here and there, which is creepy considering that she's pretending to be every single Danganronpa character just to lure the three. Good thing the Team wasn't in there or one of them would have a heart attack when she's playing their favorite character right in their faces.
And it's not just the Team who got goosebumps by our 'Executive Producers' way of acting as Tsumugi Shirogane, but also to our audiences, most of them were in the use of live streams online (not 'On The Line'. that is so 2013). We also broadcasted the show's 'finale' all over the world, live via satellite!
America, Korea, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, yadda, yadda, yadda...In short, our reality-fiction television show is a worldwide phenomenon. We could even see the news airing about the events on V3, it's becoming a top trend in every social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or even Tumblr, and Kumafare when our 'Ultimate Hope' went rogue when he malfunctioned right after Kaito's (stupid) execution.
We could see our robot's distressed face, all of us were able to see him shaking on his podium despite the fact he tried to hide it because the robot's representing as 'Hope' itself in V3. He's adorable that's for sure, the audiences even asked the Team whether the robot's new mascot or something compared to Monokuma and the new Monokuma Cubs. Too bad they weren't satisfied when the Cubs were nothing but useless children just to get themselves killed at the executions, unlike the adorable humanoid robot, whose existence does help increase the ratings, but that's because we need the audience participation for the robot to at least do something.
And that's where you come in.
You, the audience, will be given the participation in the final class trial.
You will be given the privilege of being the player itself, right in the comfort of your home.
As an audience, you now have the power to give our characters their destiny.
One will live.
One will die.
Who will it be?
Despair?
Or Hope?
Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer, our New Killing School Life ringleader?
Or Ki-Bo, the Ultimate Robo-, no, your...our...Ultimate Hope?
Who should be executed?
Make your decision.
Every vote counts.
TIMES UP
What is she doing?
"Once we end this killing game, we could stay here together forever!" Not Aoi Asahina smiled before Tsumugi quickly changed to the bratty Ultimate Traditional Dancer, Hiyoko Saionji with her petite arms raising high in the sky in joy, "Let's stay here forever!" she squealed. Himiko winced at the Traditional Dancer's enthusiasm, questioning why Team Danganronpa even selected her in the first place.
Hiyoko then became the Ultimate Pop Sensation, Sayaka Maizono, "There will be no more killings once you make a decision."
It's a trap.
Ki-Bo couldn't stop getting this feeling of fear right inside him. What Tsumugi was trying to do to his friends...she's trying to make the three betray him.
"Let's stay here together forever..." Mikan Tsumiki, the fan service Ultimate Nurse, that 'Beloved Despair' coursing through her veins again. Ugh, why did that darn cosplayer dress up as her?! Good thing Tsumugi changed into the Ultimate Programmer, Chihiro Fujisaki before Mikan could do anything compromising again.
"Together...all of us together."
Everyone...you can't stay here...
Their voices were starting to ring inside Maki's head. She wanted to think for herself, but it's all too noisy to think. So now the rules changed again?! Though at the same time, it does sound…pleasing. Even though she didn't show it, a slight pang made her open her mouth. "You mean…we're going to live here….forever?" She asked 'Chihiro' before he changed into the outside world's favorite Ultimate Gamer, Chiaki Nanami.
Not again...
"If you want the killing game to end here, just execute Ki-Bo. And you won't have to worry about killing anymore...we could all just live here together…" Tsumugi cosplaying Chiaki Nanami said with a "reassuring" voice, it mocks the viewers online just to see their so-called 'Waifu' talking like that, but that's part of the thing ya know?
Please...don't kill me...
"Well? Shall we?" Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Photographer, asked them once more before turning into Junko Enoshima again.
I beg of you!
"Together...forever?"
DON'T KILL ME!
The robot slammed his hands onto his podium loud enough that Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko were alarmed from his sudden outburst.
"DON'T FALL FOR HER TRAP!"
His shoulders went up and down slowly as if he was synthetically breathing, and his twitching hands slowly curled into fists, he didn't face his three friends but they could see how angry he was at them.
When Ki-Bo looked up, he gave them a deadly glare. This was the first time they had ever seen the robot got really REALLY mad, and it's not the kind of anger whenever he refutes any of the 'robophobic' remarks against him. From that look, a mental note was sent into their brains. They do NOT want to see him that angry.
"You can't end this killing game, not by Despair..." Ki-Bo muttered, he sounded calm but irritated also. His synthetic face was turned to the three, but he didn't look like he was mad at them anymore, as he quickly calmed down.
But his own emotion wasn't calm at all, it appeared more to the robot as being completely 'tired, but still fighting'
"It's by Hope!" He proved it.
Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko gasped at the word.
"Hope?" Himiko asked in depression
"Hope?" Shuichi eventually questioned that choice
"Hope?" Maki got the small spark of this...proclamation
MASS PANIC DEBATE
START!
Truth Bullet: Hope
"The world outside craves Despair!" The cosplaying Tsumugi boasted her power as Junko Enoshima the 53rd.
"The killing game will live on forever!" Monokuma in the background talked to the audience while the panic debate is ongoing.
"..." Shuichi is silent while tears are continuously flowing below his eyes.
"This killing game will end in Despair!" Tsumugi turned back into her plain self.
"Danganronpa!" The bear cheered.
"..." Himiko stared at the ground while having nothing to refute for.
"Everyone wants to feel Despair!" The phony cosplayer taunted when she became Junko.
"And the audience absolutely loves me!" Monokuma said in pleasure.
"..." Maki bit her lip, wanting to ignore the villain's despairing words.
"Despair is Danganronpa!" Tsumugi's saliva drips down on the podium.
"Sometimes I even look like this!" Monokuma's stuffed body is morphed into something humanistic with his chest and arms are given some additional muscles.
"..." The Ultimate Detective remained speechless.
"This Despair's gonna screw up reality itself!" She said with her arms folded while her fingers formed a hand sign of horns.
"This is my 53rd appearance too!" Monokuma continues on ranting.
"..." The Ultimate Assassin's eyes slowly raised towards Ki-Bo's direction
"This time, the theme is the Despair of a Bad Ending!" - Refute "HOPE"
"And we've got merchandise! Be sure to check out the webpage!"
"..." The red-haired mage tries to hold back her tears.
Ki-Bo cried out, "Hope lives on!"
Break
"I am not going to give in to Despair! … Hope... Hope will never fall into Despair!" Ki-Bo cried out when he faced Tsumugi, determined to end the Killing Game by choosing Hope, no matter what.
Even though he was aware that no matter what happens, he's still going to sacrifice himself.
I know what will happen to me after that, but...I just want everyone to be free from this game!
Tsumugi, still in Junko's clothing, tapped her high-heel boot on the ground, her arms were crossed and her eyes were closed. Based on what the robot saw from the body language of Junko Enoshima cosplaying Tsumugi seemed impatient about something, but he couldn't tell what made the Wannabe Mastermind irritated.
Why isn't Tsumugi taunting me like the last time?
She then looked at the monochrome bear who was sitting at the highest podium, the bear was also showing some signs of impatience. Ki-Bo saw Monokuma tapping his paw on the armrest, though that was all he could see from the judge itself.
Are they...waiting for something?
Then...what?
"Boring."
The only word the Ultimate Despair had said, even though the said Ultimate was a fictional character.
"B-Boring?!" Ki-Bo was startled, the Trigger Happy Havoc character was desperate to have Despair. If she said that word, then there's something bad would happen.
"Yes! Boring!" Monokuma stood up from his throne, he stomps his feet like the bear was a whiny child. "Boring! B-O-R-I-N-G! Boring! As in, this is getting dull and not exciting. This thing isn't going anywhere without anything entertaining! UGH! Can you stop being boring and get on with the final vote already?!" Monokuma sat back on his chair, exhausted from his childish rant.
The Ultimate Cosplayer disguised as Junko nodded her head with an eerie smile, "You know what, Monokuma? You're right! This is getting Despaaaaringly booooriiiing!"
The silent three looked up at Tsumugi, their former friend who murdered Rantaro, framed Kaede, and drove the others into their deaths. Now, what is she up to?
Butterfly Effect #30
On Set.
"It has been said something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world."
- Chaos Theory
Junko then turned into the Ultimate Cosplayer herself, Tsumugi Shirogane.
"Let's not do the final vote then."
Shuichi suddenly snapped from his long trance. "What? ...You're just going to forfeit the voting?" he asked the Danganronpa 53's Ringleader. How could she say that so calmly? They were in the middle of a life or death situation! The cruel vote on picking who should die went off as a joke?! What's with this woman?!
"What...kind of a SICK JOKE WAS THAT?!" The fictional Ultimate Detective's hand curled into a fist, then pointed an accusing finger to Tsumugi. "You...How could you say that as if you're making a stupid prank on us?! You betrayed us, drove our friends into murder, and set up this stupid game just for your disgusting entertainment! How could you do this to us?! Don't you have any emotions?! Do you not care at all about what you did to us, you...monster?!"
Ki-Bo looked at Shuichi in grief, the Ultimate Detective was the one who got affected by the game the most. He got kidnapped, lost Kaede, had to went through so many trials and sent his classmates to their demise, and here he was nothing more but an obsessed fan of a good for nothing killing game show.
Tsumugi, however, wasn't swayed by Shuichi's sermon. "Geez, Shuichi, it's as if the world was crumbling down; which it is, by the way. You overreact too much! I already forbade any of us to vote, you don't have to go through a stressful time in choosing which one of us should die! So stop acting like a crybaby! The fans didn't like you whining like that since episode one!" She pointed to the floating comments that appeared to be bad.
"Oh man, he's crying?!"
"Not again..."
"Everyone cover your ears!"
"What a crybaby!"
"Maybe he should be executed instead of Ki-Bo!"
"Can't he just shut up for once?"
Shuichi winced at the malicious comments, he wiped his teary red eyes and became silent once more. Himiko was even disgusted on how people on the Outside World treated her friend like that, and Maki questioned this new twist in regards to forfeiting the voting.
"Hey! If you said that you forfeit the voting, then the game won't end!" Maki remembered the system of the class trial, it'll never end unless the time's up or one of them already voted for the blackened.
"Yeah, why?"
"So how would the game end, then?"
Tsumugi smiled a normal smile, but everyone knew that there's another twist that would happen and they had to brace themselves for it.
"We'll let the audience decide themselves!"
W...what? ...WHAT?!
This made the four jumped in alarm. They already know how the audience from the Outside World had treated them, and it was bound to be dreadful. Tsumugi looked at Ki-Bo and gave the robot a taunting smirk, "While you were yapping all around with your stupid and boring Hope, our Team had set up and even more exciting challenge for our fellow viewers. So, instead of us voting, it'll be them instead!"
No...why now?!
Ki-Bo hands began to shake, what could be worse than a sadistic audience controlling the story this time around?!
"Also, the voting just got closed a while ago, and the Team was now calculating how many votes they got!"
"You mean that everything was a diversion?!" Himiko shrieked as Monokuma stepped in to make an announcement.
This can't be...
Times have changed, Robot Boy
"Attention Danganronpa viewers! This is Monokuma, your Despairingly adorable game host!" The bear enthusiastically waved his hand at where the Nanokubs cameras had set their miniature cameras.
"Voting was officially closed minutes ago, and Team Danganronpa has finally calculated your votes. Puhuhuhuhu! With your votes, the final cast will know the verdict of this heart-throbbing game! Who will be chosen to be the Executed? Will our viewers pick Hope, or will they pick Despair? Will they pick Ki-Bo, the Ultimate Hope? Or will it be Tsumugi Shirogane, V3's Ringleader and the Ultimate Cosplayer? Who's it gonna be? Who's it gonna beeeeee?!"
Above Monokuma's throne was a large flatscreen television lowering itself close.
Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko looked at the screen with their breaths hold; the fate of the two representatives rests within the viewer's hands.
Tsumugi looked at the Ultimate Hope with a glare nonchalantly as Ki-Bo couldn't take his eyes off the television as the tallying of votes begin to process.
RESULTS
Ultimate Pianist, Kaede Akamatsu
Ultimate ? ? ?, Rantaro Amami
Ultimate Inventor, Miu Iruma
Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Oma
Ultimate Hope, Ki-Bo - IIIIIIIIIII
Ultimate Entomologist, Gonta Gokuhara
Ultimate Detective, Shuichi Saihara - I
Ultimate Cosplayer, Tsumugi Shirogane - IIIIII
Ultimate Anthropologist, Korekiyo Shinguji
Ultimate Aikido Master, Tenko Chabashira
Ultimate Assassin, Maki Harukawa
Ultimate Tennis Pro, Ryoma Hoshi
Ultimate Astronaut, Kaito Momota
Ultimate Magician, Himiko Yumeno
Ultimate Fine Artist, Angie Yonaga
VERDICT
"KI-BO"
Oh, how he wished that whatever he saw was a Lie...
Chapter Beta Read by: PlummyPlums
Author's Note:
Okay, so this is the vote statistics not only from this site, but also on Archive On Our Own, Tumblr, and a little bit in Facebook.
Tsumugi got lots of votes in AO3 with the number of 3 votes, while Ki-Bo got 2 votes.
But in here, we got 2 votes for Tsumugi, 1 vote for Shuichi, and 2 votes for Ki-Bo. So it's a little bit of a tie.
I also showed this on my Facebook, I got 1 vote for Tsumugi, and 2 votes for Ki-Bo
While in Tumblr, just in case we couldn't really get the majority vote for Ki-Bo. So the likes were actually representing the vote for Ki-Bo, in which I got 5 'likes' which will be 'votes' instead.
I'm actually nervous in posting this chapter, because I was following the exact segment of the Final Class Trial. Because V3 was still in Japanese, I had to look for translation videos or even interpret what I see on the situation. The Mass Panic Debate was the hardest one because I had to put on what they said during that segment.
The next chapter will be intense for me because this will be really off with the official game completely since I'm going to make progress on Ki-Bo's execution, but I'm gonna do the post-trial segment first before we're going to the main execution. I already got an idea on his execution and it might not be the one you'll expect because of what happened on the Mass Execution in the finale.