Danganronpa Epitome: Cross Your Aching Hearts

> *Two friends decide to watch the worst season of the hit TV show Danganronpa. Or: Twenty years ago, Michelle Kang woke up in a mansion with no memory of how she got there. Or: Team Danganronpa dislikes DR17 for some reasons less than others.*
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> *So come on, relax, and enjoy the show - these two have heard this story a thousand times before, and so have you.*
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> *Welcome to the seventeenth season of Danganronpa!*
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## Danganronpa Epitome: Cross Your Aching Hearts

Artwork for Cross Your Aching Hearts, created by crowkerus.

### Status

In Progress

**Danganronpa Epitome: Cross Your Aching Hearts** is a semi-illustrated script format Fanganronpa created by crowkerus. It is a companion fic to Danganronpa: A Stormy Last Hurrah. (The stories can be read in any order, and both contain some spoilers for the other)

## Characters

### Participants

     Leon Mercury KahananuiSuper High School LevelAstronomer
     Fuugo WabukiSuper High School LevelWheelchair Racer
     Hyouka IenobuSuper High School LevelBassoonist

## Rules

* RULE #1: All students are required to stay on the grounds until the killing game ends.
* RULE #2: When a death occurs, time will be granted for students to investigate. All areas currently available will be accessible during the investigation period.
* RULE #3: If the blackened is correctly identified during the class trial, only they will be punished.
* RULE #4: If the blackened is incorrectly identified during the class trial, everyone but the blackened will be punished. The blackened will then be free to leave the grounds, and the killing game will be concluded.
* RULE #5: When at least three innocent students discover a body, the Body Discovery Announcement will play.
* RULE #6: No more than three victims per killer.
* RULE #7: In the event that there are multiple killers and multiple victims, only the first killer is regarded as the blackened, regardless of discovery order.
* RULE #8: Participation in class trials is MANDATORY. No exceptions!
* RULE #9: Nighttime hours are considered from 10 pm to 8 am. While students are not required to stay in their personal rooms at these hours, it is strongly recommended that they do so and exercise caution.
* RULE #10: Trespassing into unopened areas of Monotama Manor is strictly prohibited.
* RULE #11: Violence against your lovely and talented host is also strictly prohibited.
* RULE #12: As is property damage.
* RULE #13: Failure to comply with any of the aforementioned rules will result in punishment.
* RULE #14: These rules may be amended at any time.

No official rules were made about nighttime hours, but Monotoma said in Chapter 7 that "for the sake of safety and all you all might want to set some ground rules about sleeping or so forth. Also note that the mansion undergoes regular blackouts to conserve electricity! Except the kitchen! That has a sensor which will turn on lights if you go inside at night."

## Motives

* **Motive 1: Mau-ling**
	+ On the second day of the killing game, Monotoma announced that, every two days, the students would be gathered in the lounge for a meeting. During this meeting, Monotoma would randomly select one person, who would then have to select which student Monotoma would attack. They could change their mind, but it would have to be done quickly. The injury would be different each time, and immediately treated to prevent it becoming fatal, but it would involve significant damage.
		- The first participant chosen was Yumeji Vinh, who chose Yahiro Amane as the victim. Yahiro's attack resulted in the loss of his right eye. Two days later, Erika Aspen was selected. Aspen initially chose Isaku Umitsu as the victim, but Isaku was pushed aside by Qiongjie Chen, taking a severe wound to her right arm.
* **Motive 2: Embarrassing Meow-mories and Shame-fur Secrets**
	+ Trying various twists on a classic motive, this rendition of a secrets-related motive involved a new tab on students' Monopads. The Secrets tab displayed sprites of all participants in the killing game, with certain sprites lit up if a student had access to them. Students were initially given access only to their secret and one other student's, but a Reveal button on the screen would make the secret available to all other participants, as well as revealing it to the world at large. To encourage students to take this opportunity, Monotama promised "a million yen (or equivalent in some other currency) for a person of your choice" to any student willing to reveal another's secret. Additionally, all secrets would be revealed to the world if a murder did not occur by 10pm three days later.
	+ To give students an idea of the kinds of secrets that would be revealed, Monotama immediately revealed the secrets of Orias Young, Hyouka Ienobu, and Leon Mercury Kahananui. Immediately after the meeting's conclusion, Michelle Kang's secret was revealed by Denzel Madera.
		- Orias Young is resentful of his younger brother for having a more stable childhood than he ever had.
		- Leon Mercury Kahananui’s missing mother intentionally refuses to contact him or his mom.
		- The only reason that Hyouka Ienobu was scouted for Hope’s Peak is because her twin brother turned down the scholarship.
		- Michelle Kang has intentionally driven away every friend she's ever had.
			* Denzel Madera received this secret, and revealed it immediately after Monotama concluded his explanation, hoping to use the financial incentive to benefit his family.
		- In public, Denzel Madera is nearly always lying.
			* Ikuyo Mamitsuka received this secret, and revealed it shortly after Denzel chose to reveal Michelle's.
		- The serial killer Lover Boy, who's killed 7 women in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is Yahiro Amane.
			* Isaku Umitsu received this secret, and shared it with Michelle Kang, worried for his safety and hoping Michelle could offer insight into Yahiro's personality. He eventually revealed at accident at dinner on the night the secrets were to be revealed.
		- Isaku Umitsu has a fictional persona, the Literary Bandit Umitsu-sama, and is very embarrassed about it.
			* Michelle Kang received this secret.
		- Qiongjie Chen doesn’t know that whales are mammals.
			* Yumeji Vinh received this secret, and revealed it as "punishment" when Qiongjie escaped house arrest.
		- Mallory Anand’s requests for his paintings to be removed from galleries have so far been ignored.
			* Nariyuki Ganka received this secret, and revealed it by accident as the two were talking in the library.
		- Instead of a racing accident as she claims, Fuugo Wabuki broke her tooth from daring her sister to throw a rock at her.
			* Krystal Anderson received this secret, and revealed it with Fuugo's permission at dinner on the second day of the motive.
		- Emi Kusada has intentionally sabotaged herself at every competition she’s attended in the past two years.
			* Erika Aspen received this secret, and revealed it at the same dinner, at Emi's insistence.
		- Erika Aspen isn’t even his real name.
			* Yahiro Amane received this secret, and revealed at some point on the third day of the motive.
		- Krystal Anderson spent her winnings from Conniption Fitness on a sword, only to find it was for display only.
			* Qiongjie Chen received this secret, and revealed at some point on the third day of the motive.
		- “Viral Sensation” is not Yumeji Vinh’s real talent. “Sleeper” is slightly closer, but not all there.
			* Emi Kusada received this secret, and revealed it at dinner on the night the secrets were to be revealed, at Yumeji's insistence.
		- Ikuyo Mamitsuka is set to inherit her family’s farm after she killed her older brother.
			* Mallory Anand received this secret, and kept it quiet for most of the motive. At the dinner before the motive's end, Ikuyo eventually asked him to reveal it, after pressure from Yahiro.
		- Following a middle school election, Nariyuki Ganka was hospitalized for a suicide attempt.
			* Fuugo Wabuki received this secret, and was adamant about not revealing it, to the point that Nariyuki themself was the one to do so, taking her Monopad at the dinner before the motive's end.