Autumn Michelson

> "*I didn't come here to make friends. I came here to stay at the top of my field. Either you're an obstacle to my success or you simply exist. There will never be an in-between."*
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> -Autumn (Chapter 3)
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Autumn Michelson is a character in the first season of ***Escape the Ronpa.*** Her title is the Ultimate Designer.

## Personality

Autumn tends to come up as cold and uncaring. She often causes a lot of the drama and tension in the game, as well as pick on the participants, particularly Tristen, but it doesn't truly pick up until chapter 2 where she goes on an ableist rant, one that she later says she doesn't even believe a quarter of it. However several moments throughout the story have implied that this is merely a façade and that deep down, she puts on this persona because she's afraid to get hurt.

After Penelope's execution, Autumn becomes a bit kinder to Tristen who was the most impacted by the execution, despite being hypnotized to remain asleep during it, She tells Tristen that she believes emotions are reactions to events as opposed to entities of their own, hoping to give her a bit of comfort.

## Escape the Ronpa

### Chapter 1: Make It Ooze With The Unthinkable, Don't Stop 'Till You Come First

#### Daily Life

Autumn wakes up in the gym with the others. Afterwards she settles in the lounge where she browses the magazines, noting that there's an odd trend to keep promoting. She also mentions something about designing trials just as Roxanna walks in. Later on she's the one who gets Roxanna and Roman from the dining hall to take them to the multimedia room for what turns out to be a set of five motives.

#### Deadly Life

In the gym, Autumn's the first to suspect Tristen on the basis that she found the body. For the investigation, she looks in the kitchen with Erica and Addison. Being an expert on design and remembering the order of the knives on the knife rack, she notices that one is missing. During the trial, she backs up Dooper's claim that she'd been in the kitchen the night before. She's also the first to have a weak spot in her statement in the trials.

#### Aftermath

It's unknown what Autumn did after the trial.

### Chapter 2: Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself, I'm a Man of Wealth and Taste

#### Daily Life

Autumn is assigned the role of the Disco Dancer in this chapter. For the preparation for the circus, she creates the costume designs. Later that evening, she stops by Fatman Slims and chats with Addison, who's trying to figure out which secret Monokuma picked out to use against her. The two also gossip about who they think will be next to die and Autumn talks bad about Tristen, (one of the two she believes could die next) not realizing she's there until it's too late. After Tristen rushes out in tears, Autumn claims that it's not her fault Tristen's so sensitive and that, in a killing game, worrying about whose feelings they hurt is a waste of time.

#### Deadly Life

Autumn speaks out against Tristen leading the investigation before backing down. After Tristen talks to her about emotional walls, she goes into her room and cries until the trial begins. Near the end of the trial, she goes on a rant directed at Tristen before getting talked down by Abigail. When the culprit is revealed, she is relieved that justice can finally be served.

#### Aftermath

Autumn helps out with the carnival that Roxanna had organized.

### Chapter 3: Tell Me Something Or Can You Be Sure? That The Next Time We Head For The Door

#### Daily Life

Autumn is given the roll of the Engineer and apologizes to Tristen for her rant the next morning. However when offered friendship, she denies it, saying that she didn't come to Hope's Peak to make friends, but instead to stay at the top of her game. At brunch, no one puts her down as a possible ship with Remus and says that she ships him with Science. During the dancing, she and Addison argue over who's leading and eventually she escalates a discussion of the next murder, fear-mongering, while claiming that the others are deluding themselves by refusing to talk about or even acknowledge the possibility, as well as that she's helping them by getting their guards up. When the others leave, however, her façade shatters and she starts crying and asking what she can do so that she can see her family and friends again.

After the motive is given, Autumn takes initiative in announcing that they keep an eye on the couples, singling out Tristen in particular by calling her "mentally unstable." When the rest of the group leaves to go comfort Tristen, Erica tells her that if she's not careful, she'll be the next one in a body bag.

During the dinner, Autumn speaks out against multiple people, saying that she can't wait until the day they drop dead where they stand. When the others rush to the bathroom, Autumn seems to go missing until it's revealed that she told Tristen, Abigail, Roxanna, and Penelope about Remus' death, causing Tristen to engage in self-injurious behavior. When the others manage to calm Tristen down, she returns and tells them that there's an arm and a leg hanging out of the cupboard of the Baking Room. She's the one who opens it and reveals Erica's body.

#### Deadly Life

Autumn takes exceptional initiative in this investigation *and* the trial, pointing to the possibility that she knows something the others don't, even going as far as to tell them to wear gloves and dust for fingerprints. During the trial, she is the very first to initiate a Rebuttal Showdown and settles the case by revealing that Erica couldn't have committed this murder and then killed herself unless she was under the influence of strong hypnosis, as she had such a strong opposition to suicide; it's something that she claims gives a major tell as to who the murderer is. This initiated the first Argument Armament before Autumn finally summarizes the case, much to Tristen and Penelope's dismay. However, even Autumn shows dismay and regret for this, as she thinks that she's not cruel enough to want it.

Before the execution, there's a discussion as to whether or not Penelope actually committed murder, as the only fingerprints on the supplies were Erica's. Autumn points out Charles Manson as an example of how murder by proxy is still technically a murder, which solidifies Monokuma's decision to execute Penelope. When Penelope returns with Tristen in a trance, she charges Autumn with not antagonizing or bullying Tristen for at the very least the next few days, as she knows Tristen will be in an extremely-vulnerable emotional state, which could lead to *her* committing suicide. Autumn agrees and tells Penelope that, in hindsight, she's a decent person.

#### Aftermath

Autumn tries to comfort Tristen near the dining room, by telling her that she believes emotions are reactions to facts as opposed to separate entities.