Ms. Naomi Laurent was the head of Marketing, and in the vacuum left behind after the death of the previous head writer, she had clawed her way into control of a great deal of the storytelling. The idea to put the whole killing game in the virtual world had been her idea, of course, and considering the move to not script the games, it was easy for her to nose in and insist that marketing should determine what characters be created. She had explained in painstaking detail to everyone, including the useless CEO himself, that this season was crucial to salvage the public image of the Dangan Ronpa Corporation. As such, it was important for every major choice to be made through the lens of marketability.

It had been child's play to get Due to fold and let her do as she liked. He didn't want to be in charge of even as much of this as he was, and everyone knew it. With Shirogane dead due to her own incompetence and much of the senior staff having left for greener pastures, that left only Nezumi to thwart her. In a normal season, as head of the Cinematography Department, he'd answer to almost no one except the writers. This season, however, his whole department was essentially redundant. As a result, he had been looking for ways to start trouble on a near daily basis. Programming was sick of having to hear from him, nosing into their business the whole time, demanding input on visuals, the angle of view for nearly any possible scene the crew could imagine, prodding them over all manner of fiddly nonsense that did not seem to have any impact at all on the programmers or graphic designers.

Yet, as desperate as he was to keep Naomi from taking charge, there was simply no argument he could make to assert that his department had more reason to do so than Marketing.

The only thorn in her side now was the survivor trio who'd been brought in as consultants. She'd been relieved to discover that Hikari had so thoroughly entrenched herself among the programmers that she was paying no attention to anything else, but that left… those two. The ones who'd killed Tsumugi Shirogane. They were children, but they were crafty. She knew she would have to watch them carefully so they didn't ruin the revival of the single most important piece of media the world had ever known. It had been their foolishness that had brought the show to a halt, their absolute arrogance in assuming their lives were more important than world peace.

There had been riots when the official cancellation was announced. Buildings burned, property destroyed, even a few deaths. People all over the world needed the outlet of the killing games. In the few years since the last season had aired, tensions were high enough that rumors of war floated for the first time in decades. Naomi did not, of course, believe such ridiculous rumors, believing them to be no more than childish nonsense, but it was truly telling that such things could even be believed. She considered it her duty to bring back the killing game as quickly as possible, to prevent further damage to the peaceful state of the world.

As such, she made a tactical decision that surprised even her. She invited Shuichi and Maki to her office when it came time for the first round of major decision making. She would have preferred to keep them out entirely, but Naomi was well aware that their cooperation now would make the process much smoother down the road.

The pair were visibly suspicious when they entered her office. She didn't blame them. She had sold children's playsets of the murder scenes of their friends and t-shirts with their faces. She'd sold ad space so that people could be urged to order pizza or go on vacation while watching them fight for their lives. In their shoes, she knew she would hate herself as well. Unfortunately for them, there was no room for personal grudges here.

"You… invited us?" Shuichi asked, fiddling nervously with a notebook but trying to sound calm.

"Yes, that's right. Please, take a seat," Naomi told them with an easy smile, setting aside the file she'd been pretending to read when they came in. "We need to make a final decision on this season's cast. I think it to be in the show's best interest that you be invited to participate in the selection process."

Shuichi looked at her curiously. "Shouldn't that be up to the...writers?"

Naomi shook her head. "No, of course not. You know by now that we're going unscripted, and that there are almost no writers left on staff. We want to ensure that our group this season is particularly… marketable."

Maki smiled wryly. "So you asked us here, because if we approve your choices, the Institute will back our decision, and there won't be any dissent from our organization."

"Exactly so." Naomi replied, pleased they'd caught on so fast.

"That makes sense. But don't expect us to just give you whatever you want. I was asked to consult on the cases and ensure that the murders are interesting, but I'm also here to make sure you don't create anyone who's too traumatized or too… bizarre to make it in the real world. There aren't going to be any Korekiyos or Ryomas ever again." Shuichi told her firmly, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Yes, yes, of course." Naomi waved her hand dismissively. "We'll need a more positive season for the grand revival anyway. We have a responsibility, here at Team Dangan Ronpa, to help soothe the tensions around the world. People are angry, lashing out and shattering decades' worth of peace, without the killing games. Broken people make for good television, but they are certainly not the unifying force the world needs right now."

Maki rolled her eyes. "Tell me you don't believe all that crap about the killing games creating world peace. The end of the show didn't cause the unrest, the revelation about the horrors your show was creating did."

Naomi scowled. "Believe what you like, but we have been contacted by the governments of seven different countries, begging us to bring back the killing games before tensions boil over. My job here is to make sure we do the best we can to help."

"Okay, okay. We're not here to fight over this. As long as you listen to us, I'm sure this will be fine." Shuichi shook his head slightly at Maki.

Maki scowled and murmured an insult under her breath, but looked away, something Naomi noticed with interest. It seemed that the girl still listened to him even after their season was over. Everyone tended to expect that personal dynamics would shift and change, now that they were no longer being scripted to act a certain way. Certainly previous seasons had fallen apart that way. Friends and lovers became enemies or strangers, and enemies became friends. Hikari and Jonas had been a particularly fascinating example of such a shift in dynamic. Naomi couldn't help but wonder whether Tsumugi's desperate attempts at scripting her season back on track had gotten that strong by the end, or if the pair were simply inclined to stick together.

"Of course." Naomi replied with a calculated smile. "Would you like to start by laying down any guidelines you would like us to follow during the creation process?"

Shuichi and Maki traded glances. "I did mention no profoundly broken cast members. Everyone should have the option to go back to being who they were, but no one should feel like that is their only choice, and no cast members should be made that aren't safe to release into the world."

Naomi nodded. "That is a perfectly reasonable place to start. What else?"

"On that same note, no one's writing plots for them, but they do need to be all written so they can make friends and connect with people. I've gone through records of the past twenty seasons of the show, and the worst things always seem to happen as a result of people feeling alienated from day one. Loners and conflict within the season are natural, but no one should wake up and find on day one that it will be impossible to connect."

"That's… not entirely practical without scripting. I'm sure you realize?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Sure, yes. But all of them should at least be capable of connecting with others. To reduce the strain on everyone, they need to all have someone they can lean on." He smiled at Maki for a moment.

"Alright." Naomi made a note of that. "Anything else?"

"More… practical details about group makeup than anything else." Shuichi admitted, flipping through his notebook. "I… well…" He glanced over at Maki.

"The group can't be too cohesive, or else no one will kill each other." Maki said flatly. "But the group needs to be balanced enough that no one has a way higher chance of being killed than anyone else. Since there's probably going to be at least a few who are softer hearted than the others, we should include at least one stronger one who'd be inclined to protect them."

Naomi grinned a predatory grin. "Glad to see you're taking your job of setting up for murders seriously, Mr. Saihara."

Shuichi stammered and looked uncomfortable enough that Maki glared at her. "Stop that. We're not your toys, we're your equals now."

"My apologies." She sighed and shrugged. "That was meant to be encouraging. Your time here does not have to be unpleasant. I am genuinely glad to see the two of you getting into the swing of pre-production. It can be fun."

"Fun?" Maki repeated, her voice hollow and her gaze furious. "You think this is fun?"

"Maki, it's fine." Shuichi told her urgently. "Let's just get this over with."

"Very well." Naomi replied, returning to her more typical, business-like tone of voice. "I'm suggesting we aim for roughly one third of our cast to have physical talents, one third mental, and the last third emotional slash artistic. Is that acceptable to you?"

"That... does seem like a reasonable spread, yes." Shuichi agreed, taking a deep breath. "Perhaps… since Mr. Pham has said you're aiming for more of a spooky murder mystery vibe, we might include paranormal Talents? If the whole thing happens within a computer, that sort of thing seems like it would be easy to arrange, right?"

"That could work well." She agreed. "Perhaps one or two. Nothing on your 'Ultimate Mage', of course, but there's plenty of options to work with." Naomi pulled a white board out of a nearby cabinet, propping it up for Maki and Shuichi to see the sixteen numbered spots already written down. "So, split into thirds, with one or two supernatural talents. Those would be emotional, I would think?"

"Emotional or mental, depending on the talent, I would think." Shuichi supplied. "And some kind of guardian. Maybe an Ultimate Bodyguard?"

Naomi wrote that down. "Mmm, yes. We can work with that."

"It's probably not a good idea to have a programmer or computer whiz Talent at all," Shuichi went on. "You probably don't want someone who could figure out what's going on from within the program. Miu took control of the Neo World program while we were inside of it. A proper programmer could do a lot worse."

Naomi made a note of that as well. "I think it's best if we avoid repeating last season's talents for the most part, although the writer's room has a couple repeats they've already written up, and do seem to be quite promising. An Ultimate Artist, as I recall, and a couple others."

Shuichi and Maki looked at each other. "Angie… wasn't exactly primarily an artist." He replied after a moment. "I don't see why not?"

Maki nodded her agreement, finally speaking up again. "The personalities are what's really important, not the Talents. As long as they're different enough from what's come before. And don't use any of ours."

Naomi nodded. "I assure you, all three of your Talents have made it onto our 'do not repeat' list for the foreseeable future. We don't want anyone thinking about you three while watching the new season."

Maki smirked at Shuichi, who merely nodded. "Alright, then. That's good. There should be someone who can help take care of people, to minimize emotional strain. A psychologist, perhaps?"

Naomi pulled a thick file out of her desk and flipped through it thoughtfully. "Hmmm. Yes, I like this. The writers room had a very interesting profile already created for an 'Ultimate Caretaker.' I imagine that would do nicely?"

"Oh, yeah, that would do well. Are those the... character profiles they've created? Can I see them?"

Naomi set the file down in front of Shuichi. "Take a look. There's quite a lot of fun ones. Some of them are rejects from old seasons, ideas that didn't fit our tone, or who just didn't make it for various reasons. They can all be edited to suit our purposes, of course, so don't get too hung up on the details."

Maki reached over and took a handful of papers from the file to look through. "What kind of assholes do we want? We should decide that right away. Picking out what the pricks of the group will be like gives us the chance to pick people who won't be as bothered by them"

Shuichi sighed. "Definitely not someone like...Kokichi. More low-key, maybe? To avoid the isolation issue."

"What about this one?" Maki put down a file labeled 'Ultimate Filmmaker'

"She doesn't seem so bad." Shuichi replied, glancing through it.

Naomi smiled. "So you're going for selfishness, rather than outright malevolence?"

Maki shot her a glare and refused to voice her point directly to Ms. Laurent, instead turning back to Shuichi, continuing on, "Exactly. Instead of one or two overwhelmingly villainous people, we can scatter several crappy people who will still connect with the group."

"We'll still need a defined villain." Naomi pointed out.

"You've already got Monokuma and the Monocrew. If you're trying to stress unity, don't put a giant fracture in from the beginning." Shuichi replied confidently.

"Mmm, you may have a point there." She tapped the dry erase marker thoughtfully. "So, three or four selfish or otherwise casually villainous characters...yes, of course, I see it now. That works for me."

Shuichi nodded. "We've got a good framework for who to choose at this point. I'm not sure if Maki and I need to sit with you and choose every single person who will be a part of the cast."

Maki glanced over at her companion in a way Naomi couldn't quite decipher, then nodded decisively. "Are we good here, then?"

Naomi sighed. "If you would rather not be involved in the final selection, I can certainly do it without you. Are you sure?"

Shuichi frowned. "This isn't really my area, but... please allow us the opportunity to review the final cast list before any decisions are made. I think we deserve the right to have final say over that at least. For now, though, I'd probably be of better use getting back down to Mr. Pham."

"Very well then." Naomi stood and shook Shuichi's hand, and although she expected the rejection, made an attempt to shake Maki's as well. Of course, the Ultimate Assassin refused, and Ms. Laurent smiled her most professional smile. "Thank you both so much for your time."

A/N: Another chapter down! If your Ultimate was mentioned, I hope you liked the teaser. If your Ultimate was not, don't worry, I've still got great plans for them. In other news, I've got ten Ultimates now. I need a minimum of five more to get the killing game going, so we're not too far off. Please keep them coming! If you've already submitted one, you're welcome to submit again. I've got a three chapters planned before the games start, but the sooner my cast is fleshed out the better, so keep them coming. I'll see you in two weeks!