Danganronpa: Ray of Despair

Danganronpa: Ray of Despair (Japanese: 弾丸論破デイの絶望 Danganronpa: Dei no Zetsubō) is a fan fiction based upon the Danganronpa series of murder-mystery visual novel video games for the PlayStation Vita. Ray of Despair features a brand new cast of characters as they are forced by Monokuma and other members of Ultimate Despair to kill the traitor hiding among them, with no indication of whom that may be. It is the spiritual successor to Zetsubo Dangan, which this replaces.
==Characters==
All characters are listed by order of appearance.
===Killing Game Entrants===
:Emi Hisakawa - Ultimate Figure Skater - ♀
:Itsuki Kobayashi - Ultimate Poet - ♂
:Kaoru Akiyama - Ultimate Juvenile - ♂
:Hanako Hayashi - Ultimate Gardener - ♀
:Hayato Mori - Ultimate Racer - ♂
:Ayumu Nakamura - Ultimate Writer - ♂
:Haruka Minami - Ultimate Hiker - ♀
:Izumi Takenaka - Ultimate Spy - ♀
:Hayate Mizushima - Ultimate Surfer - ♂
:Liu - Ultimate ??? - ♂
===Ultimate Despair===
:Monokuma - Hope's Peak Academy Headmaster - ♂
===Future Foundation Members===
:Makoto Naegi - Ultimate Good Luck - ♂
:Byakuya Togami - Ultimate Affluent Progeny - ♂
:Kyoko Kirigiri - Ultimate Detective - ♀
:Yasuhiro Hagakure - Ultimate Clairvoyant - ♂
==Chapters==
===Chapter 0===
Makoto Naegi holds his hands above his head as he stretches out in his chair. He swivels around before turning back to the computer monitor that glows in front of him. He taps on the keyboard a few times and opens up a new window. He stares at the grid that cuts through the white background of the new window. He jumps up quickly, now in a panic. Byakuya Togami looks up at him over his glasses from across the room. Before he is able to ask, Makoto spins around the monitor, saying four words:
“We’ve got another one.”
Byakuya closes the book he had been reading, slamming it closed with a single hand. “I had believed as such.” With a look of shock passing over Makoto’s face, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny explains: “Makoto, how many students do you believe were attending Hope’s Peak Academy at the time of the incident? Certainly more than two classes.”
Makoto spins the monitor back around as he sits down, nodding. “We need to help them!”
With a smirk, Byakuya adjusts his glasses. “And we will. Now tell me, where is Kyoko Kirigiri?”
Not really paying attention, Makoto taps his keyboard, “How should I know?”
Byakuya glances at him, and Makoto shrinks down in his chair. “You two lovebirds always keep tabs on each other.” Makoto blushes, and Byakuya rolls his eyes as he approaches the wooden door. “Now, I’ll ask you again: where is Kyoko?”
Makotos sighs. “‘Hiro needed help showing the new guys around, so he asked Kyoko.”
Byakuya throws open the door dramatically, before strolling down the bright hallway that is the Future Foundation headquarters.
- - -
Emi Hisakawa, her red hair glimmering off the lights above, sits up in a small, wooden chair. She looks around the room she is sitting in- dim, orange lights illuminate the room around her, dulling the already brown walls and floor to an almost black colour. She tries to move her arms, though finds her wrists tied to something. Looking down, she finds that they are tied to the chair’s arms. She struggles for a few seconds, before deciding that all attempts are futile and giving up. “Damn.” she mutters, barely audible even in the silent room.
A deep voice sounds out from behind her. “Ah, so you’re awake.” Emi cranes her head as far around as possible, seeing another man tied to a similarly wooden chair. She shivers slowly. “Who are you?” she asks slowly, weary of this man.
The silver haired man sighs. “I’m trapped, tired, angry…. First, let’s get out of this predicament, then we’ll do introductions.”
Emi nods, before sighing. “I guess that makes sense.”
The man looks over his shoulder for the first time, seeing a single dull gray eye that dots his pale, white skin. His other is hidden by strands of hair. Very monochrome, Emi thinks. “Any ideas?” he asks.
Emi leans back on her chair, and sees that the legs are not bolted to the ground as she had thought they may have been. “Just one.” she says, leaning as far forward as she can. She stands on her feet and slowly shuffles backwards towards the man. She sits down beside him, her hand only millimetres away from his. She pulls at the rope wrapped around his hand, loosening them, before he finally breaks his hand free and undoes his other one. He stands up quickly and thanks her, before quickly undoing her ropes. “I’m actually surprised you did that.” Emi says, rubbing her wrists. “I would have thought that most boys would have just left me after I freed them.”
The man smiles, before pointing to himself in a sort of cocky way. “Itsuki Kobayashi is nice enough to help people in need.”
He sticks out his hand. “Like I said, my name’s Itsuki Kobayashi. And this pretty lady is…”
It suddenly occurs to Emi that this is the first time either of them are able to get a good look at each other. Itsuki’s hair is long and shaggy, with a large portion drooping to shade his eyes, with his right eye completely covered. He wears a long, grey-purple trenchcoat with grey-brown pants dripping over his dark brown shoes like gravy over fries. She grabs his hand politely. “Hisakawa. Emi Hisakawa.” she says with a smile.
As Emi looks over Itsuki, he does the same to her. Emi’s red-pink hair is tied into a ponytail using a blue decoration that has a star embedded into it. She wears a dark red, sleeveless blouse with a white shirt underneath- covering her arms. She also has on a similarly coloured skirt, with white yoga pants underneath, disappearing into red shoes. “May as well call you Candy Cane, huh?” Itsuki says with a smirk, before bursting out into laughter. Emi can’t help but mimic him.
Itsuki looks over Emi’s shoulder and his face drains of emotion. “What the...?” he mutters, before storming past her. She spins as he passes, and sees what he does: the door is open. A group of people stand in the marble-coated room behind them. Most of them are talking, but Itsuki isn’t walking towards them. He’s walking to one guy in particular, who stands like an outlier on a graph. He looks up as Itsuki approaches. “Well well well, if it isn’t Kaoru Akiyama.” he slaps the guy on the shoulder, almost brotherly, but when Emi approaches, she sees that he has a look of anger. “What have you been doing since you’ve gotten out of prison?”
What? Emi thinks, shocked. “You two know each other?” she asks him, shocked.
Itsuki rolls his eyes. “Well, we did go to school together for three years, before he went to prison for attempted murder.” He scowls. “Somehow, he was accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy under the title Ultimate Juvenile.”
Hope’s Peak!? “I was accepted into Hope’s Peak as well.” Emi says. “Ultimate Figure Skater.” she adds with a smile.
“Well, well. Must be a coinkidink.” Itsuki smiles. “May not look like it, but I’m the Ultimate Poet.”
Kaoru eyes him up and down skeptically, before muttering “you look emo enough.” which gets a glare from the Ultimate Poet.
A girl walks over to them. “As I had suspected.” she says. “We’re all supposed to be attending Hope’s Peak Academy starting today.”
“Then,” Emi thinks aloud. “Where are we?”
Itsuki taps his chin a few times. “I don’t remember reading about being tied up as a part of the entrance ceremony. Which means, we’re not at Hope’s Peak.”
The girl smiles. “Just as I thought…. again. You also woke up tied to chairs, correct?”
Itsuki nods, and Emi finds herself nodding along with him. Even Kaoru nods as he stands behind them. The girl continues. “This definitely isn’t Hope’s Peak.” she sighs and walks away, slumping against a wall to think, her eyes locked on the ground in front of her the entire time.
A boy wearing a rubber tracksuit, almost as if he’s getting ready to race or something, walks up. “Sorry about her. She’s been overthinking everything since we woke up in the same room. She’s Hanako Hayashi, by the way.” He sticks out his hand, his left hand scratching his chin as he does so. “I’m Hayato Mori. Ultimate Racer.” Emi detects a slight accent in his voice, and asks him about it. He combs his orange hair with his fingers. “I thought you might catch up on it. I’ve lived in America most’a my life. Just moved back a few months ago.”
Itsuki pipes up. “Ultimate Racer, huh? So, what do you race? Go-karts? Cars?”
He smirks. “Amateur stuff. Nah, I race planes. Occasionally a classic car race, and sometimes even a bout on horseback. Mostly planes, though.”
“Wow.” Itsuki says with a smile and a whistle. “Jealous.”
Emi hears a yawn from behind her, and spins around to come face-to-face with a black haired individual around the same height as her. Rare, considering her short stature, but she doesn’t act surprised at that. “Kyaaa!” she squeals, jumping back away from the boy with tired eyes.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” the new boy says slowly. “I’m Ayumu Nakamura.” Yawn. “Feel free to call me ‘Mu, though. My folks call me the Ultimate W	riter.”
Emi regains her composure, before profusely apologizing. “I’m Emi.” she says, afterwards. “Emi Hisakawa.”
Silence sits upon them for a few minutes, before Mu wanders off, muttering quietly. “Nice to meet you.” He too slides over to the same wall as Hanako, sliding down it to sit on his butt. She looks up at him, before moving away from him as subtly as she possibly could: by doing so very quickly.
“Guess we’re doin’ intros now then, huh?” A loud voice booms from my side, and I turn to see a tall, athletic woman with dark skin and black hair. She wears a black t-shirt and red shorts, with a large green backpack strapped around her. “Well then. My parents named me Haruka Minami. Far off and distant is what Haruka means, for ya knuckleheads.”
A chorus of introductions follow her’s: Emi, Itsuki, Kaoru, Hayoto and even Hanako from across the room. “Ultimate Hiker” Haruka says, when Hayoto asks her about her ‘Ultimate’ title. She steps aside, and a girl steps out from behind her. She’s as thin as a twig, and was so silent that none of the others had even noticed her. “This is the Ultimate Ninja.” Haruka says, motioning towards the girl. “She squeaked out her name earlier: Izumi Takenaka.” she turns to the quiet girl dressed in a black jumpsuit, with her black hair cut short to act as a crown around her neck. “She’s mute. Apparently.”
Emi noticed the contradiction first. “If she’s mute, how did she tell you her name?”
Haruka holds up a notepad with Izumi’s name written in big, neat letters. “Any more questions?”
“Yeah, I do.” another new voice pipes up. He wears a black tank top with blue swimming trunks with orange markings on it, and beige sandals, with a black toque hiding his messy blonde hair. Hopefully underwear rest under his trunks, Emi thinks. “Who’s he?” he points towards the shadows of the room, where another man stands, glaring at them.
“First off.” Kaoru growls. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Did I not introduce myself?” the beach bum asks, taking off his hat to scratch his head. “Well then. Mah name’s Hayate Mizushima. People like to call me the Ultimate Surfer. Never lost a surfing comp. Not one.”
Tired of introductions, Emi points to everyone, listing through the names once more. With a grumble she finishes with “everyone got the names down now?” With a nod, she turns back to the shadow man. “Now, who’re you?” she calls to him.
He speaks one word: “Liu”. His voice is deep and raspy, as if he’s wearing a gas mask, but no such thing is present.
“Okay then.” Itsuki says after a moment of silence. “Anyone else we should know about?”
Hayoto stops him for a second. “Wait. Do any of you know what Liu means?” Heads shake all around, before she explains. “It’s a Chinese surname. Liu means….” she stops, as if for dramatic effect, before lowering her voice to say:
“...to kill.”
===Chapter 1===
Before anyone else can react, Hayate turns to Liu. “You kill a man?” he asks quickly, thinking obviously he wouldn’t call himself Liu without a reason. Liu slowly drops his head, looking downward before stepping into the light. His black hair is shaved to stubble on his head, though he has the beginnings of a beard and moustache peppering his face, with a scar cracking his skin just above his eye. Under his right eye is a small tattoo: a small tear.
Hayate gasps when she sees it, “so you did!” she calls out. Liu holds his hands out in defence, but doesn’t speak. Hayate looks at him wearily, before stumbling backwards. “So? Why’d you do it?”
Liu sighs. The nine other students don’t think he will speak, and remain silent forever, but… “Self defence.” His voice is more of a frog’s croak than a man’s voice. It’s deep and raspy, and it physically looked like it pained him to talk. Emi winces as he speaks.
Hayate also seems to notice his pain, and doesn’t push for more details. The small little ninja, Izumi, does not seem to understand, her hand flying across pages faster than the others can even read. When she has a stack of four or five pages, she hands them to Liu, who reads them over carefully. When finished, he gestures for her pen, and she hands it to him. He writes one sentence with a smile, which she hides from the other students: “Let’s talk later.”
Hanako clears her throat loudly, startling the group. They all turn to her. “Great. Now that we’ve done introductions…” she looks at the nine faces staring back at her, before raising her voice as if in a cartoon. “Where are we and what are we doing here?”
Emi pokes her head up. “You said this wasn’t Hope’s Peak, correct?”
“Unless they’ve remodelled, I don’t think so.”
“Then let’s take a look around and look for answers!” she squeaks.
Hanako nods. “Right.” she looks around the room frantically. Four walls covered in marble, five wooden doors, all opened, and a giant spiral staircase. “I guess upstairs would be the best bet, huh?”
Hayato rolls his eyes and whispers under his breath: “Okay Little Miss Bossy”
Quickly, the ten students hurry to the staircase. When they reach the bottom, Hanako speaks up. “Well, who first?”
Hayate crosses his arms. “Ya’ serious? I’ll go.” He slowly puts his left foot on the bottom step, before rushing up the rest of the stairs. He stops at the top, creating a sound that echoes down to be others below. Haruka asks him first “what’s up?”
Hayate yells down below, telling the others to join him. With weary nods, they slowly ascend the staircase, travelling in a straight line, their left hands resting against the stairs’ railing. Soon, they reach a section where all the lights are cut, and they express cries of outrage. “You there Hayate?” Haruka calls up ahead, and the students hear a quick “yes” before travelling onwards. When they reach him, they find two unexpected things:
One: a large wooden door.
Two: two Japanese letters - 未来 - carved into the ceiling, glowing a pulsing red... 
“It’s as if they’re illuminated by lava!” Itsuki says with awe.
Kaoru looks up and sees the symbols. “Mirai” he says. “Future.” The others turn to him, but he continues to stare at the ceiling. Kaoru sees two more symbols carved into the marble ceiling, though they are not illuminated. He pushes past the other students, earning rude comments, before reaching the landing. He looks up and points: “There.”
The others look up, and soon they see the two hidden symbols: 財団. “Anyone know what they say?” he asks, though gets no response. “Figures.”
Hayate walks past him. “‘tever dude. Let’s try this door.” He puts his hand around the crescent shaped handle, and pushes. While he didn’t suspect it would, the door easily opens. “Would’a look at that.” he says with wonder. The others crowd around the open door and quickly see what he is referring to.
Statues. Two large statues, one of a bear. One side seems to be of a darker shade than the other, and the eye seems as if it was torn out, replaced with a scratch. The other statue was a girl. Two twintails poking off her head, held in place by small versions of the bear’s face. “What the?” Kaoru says.
Emi steps past them all, pointing to the girl. “Junko Enoshima, I believe.” she turns back to surprised looks on everyone’s faces. “Model? She appeared on hundreds of magazine covers around the world? Ultimate Fashionista?”
The Ultimate Hiker raises an eyebrow at that. “Ultimate? As in, one of us?”
Emi nods. “I think she was invited to Hope’s Peak. I doubt she accepted, though. She was already world-famous.”
Itsuki smirks. “You don’t strike me as the fashionista type.”
Emi glares at him, angrily. “Figure skating is really only popular during four months. I have to do something during the other eight.”
Hayato doesn’t pull his eyes away from the bear statue, even when the others burst into conversation about this Junko chick. “What’s up with the bear? Doesn’t it seem, like, evil or something?”
A chorus of “yeah”s or “I guess so”s ring out, before…..
“What?”
A new voice. Coming from the statue’s mouth. Haruka’s mouth drops. “Did that statue just talk?”
“I’m not a statue!”
With that, both statues crumble to the ground, kicking dust up into the air. The students cough and cough. Liu most of all, due to his bad throat. When the cloud of grey particles clears, they see it.
The bear.
A small bear. Black on its left, and white on its right. Its left eye appears to be a large red scratch that glows ominously, while its right a normal black sphere - like one you’d find on a plushie. It has a protruding navel that extends from its stomach area, and claws jutting from its short, stubby hands.
“The fuck?” Hanako’s jaw drops. She’s unable to say anything else.
“A stuffed toy?” Hayate asks skeptically.
The stuffed toy then, quicker than anyone can comprehend, rushes towards the Ultimate Surfer, its claws held before the man’s face. “I’m not a stuffed toy.” it growls angrily in a high voice that doesn’t match its emotions.
“Okay then…” Emi says slowly. “Who are you?”
The bear retracts its claws, standing up several steps back. “My name is Monokuma, and I am the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy!”
Haruka spurts out gibberish, before finally calming down and saying “headmaster of Hope’s Peak?”
“That’s right!”
“So,” Hanako starts, reclaiming her sanity. “We are at Hope’s Peak?”
“Ehhh” Monokuma says. “Not quite. You see, Hope’s Peak Academy consists of several buildings scattered around the city. There’s the main building that stands in the city’s core, and a teacher’s building situated across the street.” he looks at all of the faces staring at him patiently. “We’re in a more… archival building.”
“Archives?” Kaoru says quickly. “Like history of the school and whatnot?”
Monokuma nods. “That’s right. We’re just in the lobby and meeting area.”
Kaoru, a surprising history nerd, pushes forward. “Where are the records?” he asks quickly, walking up to Monokuma like a sad, hungry puppy.
Monokuma laughs, a sound that repeats over and over in your mind like a record player: upupupu. “I’ll tell you after one of you does me a favour.”
Kaoru looks up expectantly. Something gleams off Monokuma’s good eye, and he snickers. “All you gotta do is….”
He pauses.
“Kill someone!”
He says it so casually and happily.
“Say what?” Haruka asks, the first to speak after a long silence filled only by Monokuma’s annoying laughter.
“You heard me.” he says once more. “All you gotta do to open the door, is kill someone.”
A puff of smoke appears where he stands, and Kaoru reacts first, running towards him angrily- ready to attack. “You fucking teddy…” he growls.
He trips over his own feet, and looks around. Scattered around him, in a perfect circle, sit ten envelopes. Each has a name on it:
-Emi Hisakawa
-Itsuki Kobayashi
-Kaoru Akiyama
-Hanako Hayashi
-Hayato Mori
-Ayumu Nakamura
-Haruka Minami
-Izumi Takenaka
-Hayate Mizushima
-Hideyoshi Watanabe
Kaoru picks up the last one. “Who’s Hideyoshi Watanabe?”
Liu raises his hand before growling. “I hate it.”
Kaoru tosses him the envelope, with a smirk. “Whatever you say, Hideyoshi.” Liu growls as he says this, removing the gadget from the orange envelope.
He tilts his head. A small, tablet-like device rests in his hand. He presses the power button, and a logo pops up.
e-Handbook
“Well, let’s see what we’ve got.” Haruka says, clicking her own on. They all do the same, and navigate the main menu, clicking the one they deem as the most important:
The rules.
Category:Fan Fiction
Category:Mature Games
Category:Danganronpa (series)
Category:Danganronpa Fan Fiction