David Chiem (Death is Inevitable)

## *David Chiem

* Death is Inevitable
* Project Under

> *"That's... fine. No-one ever needed me for anything anyway. They needed my smile, my words, they needed me to do their fucking bidding so they didn't have to. They needed me, but they didn't need **ME**. This me. Not the fake, sparkly piece of shitty plastic wrap that I hide in. The real me. Nobody needs that. Nobody EVER needed that. And it looks like, no matter what I do... I-...I'm cursed to be tethered to this body that's useless unless I choose to smile and wave." - Spiraling after Akihiko states that he "never needed' David.*
>
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***David Chiem*** is a character in the *Your Turn to Die: Death is Inevitable* story. He made his first appearance in Chapter 3a Part 1, claiming to be one of the dolls that helps the participants with the Murderer Game. However, in truth, David was lying about this, and he is actually a human that is working for Zipper Death Network who was appointed as a spy to make sure the death game ran smoothly. Despite working for the company, after surviving the banquet, he is betrayed by one of its members, Akihiko, and forced into the Main Game. Death is Inevitable was cancelled, but it is implied that David survived the death game and promptly went missing after.

In the sequel to Death is Inevitable, Project Under, David was planned to return at the end of the longterm to rescue the remaining participants.

## Appearance

For Death is Inevitable, David maintains his canon appearance, with the added bonus of dangling star earrings (and likely freckles as well, seeing as his Project Under design has them).

In Project Under, it is noted that he looks more outwardly cold and intimidating in contrast to his welcoming and gentle appearance of the past. David has removed his hairclips and grown out his hair a bit, so much that it covers his right eye. There seems to have been an attempt to gel it back on the left side. His hair is also a bit wavier, his ahoge is drooping, and he has gained grey patches in his hair, presumably from stress he endured over the 3 years between DII and Project Under. The stars have vanished from his eyes and he has visible eyebags. David's dangling star earrings have become simpler star-shaped earrings. His bowtie has been traded for a regular tie. While it isn't visible in the non-colored drawing, he presumably has slightly tanner skin and freckles.

In his first beta design, David's hair appeared more curly, with hair deliberately covering his right eye, and the hair on the left side being held back with 2 yellow clips. He maintained his dangling star earrings, white shirt, rolled sleeves, and suspenders, however, he wore a tie, and his belt was much higher. His pants were slightly baggier with 2 buttons at the top, and he wore tall black heeled boots with buckles.

In his second older design, his hair was much fluffier, and the stress-induced grey patches were visible due to the image being fully colored. Instead of trading his bowtie for a tie, he simply undid his bowtie and opened his shirt at the collar. There was a scar on his nose, but it was deemed an insignificant detail and removed in the new design. The newest design for Project Under David, he kept the grey hairs, tanner skin, and freckles of this older design.

## Personality

Endlessly kind, understanding, and bursting with a positive aura, David certainly confirms his title as an inspirational speaker is well-warranted. No matter the situation, he always does his best to be gentle with the participants, and expresses a desire to be helpful to them. Whenever someone is sad or afraid, David will step in and attempt to provide encouragement to ease their worries and make them feel better about what's to come.

However, this means David doesn't really see a problem with lying to sweeten the truth. Even though he is apprehensive about working for Zipper Death Network, he still chooses to fake being a doll, and, when he still believed Akihiko cared about him, he acted like he was against Akihiko in order to further obscure his intentions. He also pretends that he "discovered" the elevator's functionality, even though it's very likely that he knew it worked the whole time and just wanted to seem more helpful without much effort.

Despite appearing confident and outgoing, David is an introverted man at heart. He's pretty easily flustered by positive attention and admiration, and will behave awkwardly and shyly in social situations he isn't equipped to take on. Contrary to what his talent would suggest, he doesn't like being around large groups of people for an extended period of time, and would sometimes much rather be by himself.

David's positive act is, in truth, a mask. He is secretly much more pessimistic, irritable, and wields a shorter fuse in terms of his sanity. He's pretty lazy, meaning that if there's something that can be done with minimal work, he will take that option most of the time. He doesn't like pandering to people, and often muses that he'd prefer to be in bed, sleeping in solitude. In canon, it's indicated that David suffers from depression because of his family's history with it, which can explain this "true" side of himself, and his inclination for keeping it under wraps.

The most glaring example of David breaking character is after Akihiko betrays him. He has a complete meltdown, laughing maniacally and screaming at Akihiko, holding absolutely nothing back as he berates his ex-colleague for lying and tricking him into a false friendship. His boiling rage quickly turns into quiet, anguished disbelief as Akihiko ends their alliance for good. He begins to bitterly chuckle and sob, realizing that he was a fool for thinking anybody needed his real self, and that nobody would get any use out of him if he didn't "cover himself in fake, sparkly plastic wrap". This shows that his stress and depressive insecurities that come with his talent can affect, and most likely HAVE BEEN affecting him to a very intense degree. For the rest of the longterm following this moment, it's probable that David wouldn't see the need to return to his persona, and would continue to act as his true personality.

In Project Under, David is a lot more disgruntled and irritable. As shown by his greying hair, David gets stressed extremely easily, and most of his time is spent being angry, depressed, or anxious. He seems to be a bit more violent and relentless, however, he is also shown to be a more careful and calculating individual as a result of being betrayed. He is very distrustful and dismissive of anyone who isn't Xander, to the point he can hardly go into public anymore due to his intense anxieties surrounding his interactions with other people. He is, in fact, so protective over Xander, that Xander's disappearance is the reason he decided he needed to stop the death game in Project Under. He is much more pessimistic, is constantly afraid of bad things happening, and all around shows a lot more symptoms of the depression and anxiety he had worked so hard to mask over the years.

However, while David does appear to have become a much colder, ruder, and unstable character, he also shows growth leading up to and after Project Under, and becomes more genuine/less prone to lying. He had garnered a more unapproachable and frightening demeanor and manner of speech as a result of sealing himself away from society with Xander for 3 years, though, this is likely just his resting expression and personality. As inferred from his post-Project Under interactions with Akihiko, David appears to be nonconfrontational - and at some points pretty shy due to his hesitance to be verbal with Akihiko and the fact David's voice became quiet while finally apologizing to him. Some of his internal dialogue exemplifies traits of overthinking and he looks to be more awkward and unsure when speaking. David has clearly developed a lot and feels immense regret over his actions in Death is Inevitable. While apprehensive over whether he can really change, he does seem to have garnered some semblance of confidence when it comes to re-entering the world after Project Under, and he even smiles when the reconciliation with Akihiko goes smoothly.

Other than the portions that have changed and developed over the course of his character arc, David still maintains aspects of his true personality that he kept hidden under the persona; such as an introverted nature, perpetual exhaustion, sardonic speech, people-pleasing urges, intense self-loathing, and tendency to lash out.

## History

### Early Life

Much about David's early life is unknown, as well as how he managed to get affiliated with Zipper Death Network. However, during his time there, he befriended Akihiko, since Akihiko expressed genuine worry about David's health behind his persona.

### Your Turn to Die: Death is Inevitable

#### Chapter 3a

David is introduced to the cast like the rest of the dummies - rising from a coffin. He is quick to get on good terms with the cast due to his polite and encouraging nature, and reveals that it is because he is an inspirational speaker. As part of the Murderer Game, David is paired with Takumi through their collars, and the two of them travel together for the majority of this portion of the chapter.

While in the art room, David and the rest of the dummies are asked about how they became dolls, and if they died in the first trial. This is the first case of David slipping up, as he responds that he "lost" the first trial instead of saying he "died" in the first trial. Nobody seems to notice, so his cover is not blown. Akihiko appears on one of the paintings, telling everyone that he should look familiar to them. David is a bit confused, but in an effort to keep everyone from panicking (and to obscure his affiliation with Akihiko), David says that it is likely just a scare tactic Akihiko is using to make them more desperate and thus unprepared when it comes time for the Murderer Game to end.

Izuku seems a bit frightened and upset by the whole ordeal, so David takes a few moments to console him and help him feel better. It's unclear if David did this to be kind or if this was simply to mask his true identity further - though, it is implied to - surprisingly - be the former. Afterwards, Chihiro explains the happenings of the death game so far, and once learning that Sara was killed, Joe begins to freak out, and leaves the group behind. David is one of the few people that follows along to try and calm Joe down.

As the cast investigates the locker room, David is the first to "notice" the different material on the ceiling (It can be inferred that he already knew, and he simply pointed it out to seem more useful to the cast). He claims it almost looks magnetic, and Chihiro agrees. Chihiro, realizing that it is the last room they have to explore, says that they weren't able to find a place Akihiko would stay, which means it's very likely Akihiko is hiding behind the locked door they found. David commends Chihiro for their deduction skills, and Chihiro is quite flattered. Similarly to Izuku, he most likely did do this out of genuinely good faith rather than to make himself seem less suspicious.

David and Takumi wander off on their own, and while alone, David subtly influences Takumi to allow him to take the reigns and lead them to an elevator. He lies about discovering it by chance, and upon figuring out that it's functional, the two of them return to the rest of the cast to drop the good news. David says that "he" got it to work, but after receiving a dirty look from Takumi, changes it to "we". This displays a bit of David's hidden selfish nature. It is also one of the first scenes where David can be considered a bit suspicious, especially after figuring out he only wanted to "find" the elevator so the cast could make it to the banquet quicker.

There have not been enough roleplaying sessions to confirm what happens beyond this point, but some future events have been summarized:

During the banquet, David is the sole survivor of the "dolls". Akihiko tells the cast that there was one more person they had to drill in order to completely win the banquet, and reveals that it was David. David emerges from the drill chamber and explains everything - how he is an affiliate of Zipper Death Network, how he had fooled all of them into thinking he was a doll, and how he was now going to continue helping Akihiko run the death game to the end.

However, Akihiko shuts him up, and corrects David, telling him that since he's a human and not a true floormaster, Akihiko would be forcing him to join the cast in the final main game as a participant. David laughs at first, believing he is joking, but after Akihiko confirms his betrayal a second time, David's demeanor turns a lot darker, and he asks Akihiko what happened to their "promise" that they made before the death game. Barely giving Akihiko a chance to reply, David spirals into an enraged breakdown, grabbing Akihiko by the collar and berating the floormaster for lying to him.

Akihiko insists with a smile that he's only doing what he's told. David begins to cackle manically, calling Akihiko out for shifting the blame onto Zipper Death Network, realizing that Akihiko tricked him into believing that he was more merciful than the other employees, and saw David as nothing more than an asset to be tormented and thrown away rather than as a friend. Akihiko had been planning to abandon and leave David to die since the beginning of their "friendship", and that sets David off even more. He continues to yell at Akihiko, referring to him as a "brainless ant colony" that only does what he's told.

After waiting for a defense from Akihiko to justify his manipulative actions, David starts to laugh again, figuring that he doesn't have one. He refuses any apology from the floormaster, and decides that if Akihiko is going to throw him to the dogs, then he'll just quit ZDN his own accord before he can do that. Akihiko leaves him with a cutting remark: that he "never needed him", referring to David by his last name to signify the true end of their parasitic relationship. This causes David to freeze up entirely, and the argument ends.

The chapter ends with David continuing to laugh bitterly, before breaking down in tears, as he comes to terms with the fact that Akihiko had been using him and abusing his trust to satisfy Zipper Death Network.

#### Chapter 3b

It is unknown what occurred in the main game or at the end of Death is Inevitable, but it is known that David managed to survive the main game despite being outed as a traitor, and escaped along with the rest of the remaining cast.

#### Post-Game

After escaping the Death Game, David leaves the cast behind and goes off the radar. During this time, he reunites with a college classmate named Xander Matthews, and the two of them start living together and developing a relationship. During this time, David learns how to use a firearm, grows out his hair a bit, and gives up his life as an inspirational speaker entirely. His disappearance receives news coverage, and said news reports were going to be utilized as foreshadowing at some point in Project: Under.

3 years after the original death game, Xander is kidnapped to be a part of the Project: Under killing game, and David ventures out to find where the game is being held and rescue him.

### End of the Longterm

At the end of Project: Under, David was planned to return to stop the death game and rescue the remaining participants (mostly Xander) while wielding a gun. Not much else is known about the rescue scene, other than the fact that he apparently complained about the amount of "evil blonde people" - meant as a reference that poked fun at Akihiko's betrayal in Death is Inevitable.

Xander was planned to survive the death game, and their relationship would've likely been expanded upon during the rescue scene.

### Post-Game

David resumes living with Xander, and begins to slowly but surely return to society and become more comfortable showing his face to the world again.

At some point not long after Project: Under, David encounters Akihiko again, and the two of them reconcile and apologize to each other for their wrongdoings during the Death is Inevitable death game.

## Relationships

### Akihiko

Prior to the death game, Akihiko and David had become friends. David didn't like anyone else at ZDN, inferring that they all took him for face value and saw him as nothing more than a servant to do extra tasks for them. However, Akihiko was different in his eyes, since the man displayed concern and a genuine desire to be around David and treat him like an actual person. They trusted each other a lot, so much so that Akihiko got David to agree to act as a doll, despite the high risk that came with the role. At this point, David was unaware of Akihiko's intent with him, and believed that Akihiko was going to keep him safe no matter what.

However, after the banquet, Akihiko reveals David as the group's traitor and forces him to play the Main Game. David, realizing he's been betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust, breaks down at his "friend". After Akihiko cuts ties with him, David grows resentful towards Akihiko for tricking him, activating his insecurities, and putting him in danger when he promised he wouldn't. Though, he still expresses some form of remorse for their destroyed friendship, even though he believed Akihiko only did it as a means to an end. David longed for someone to trust him in the way Akihiko pretended he did, and it shattered him to know that he'd likely never get something like that.

However, after Project: Under, David and Akihiko coincidentally meet again in the cafe Akihiko works at. The two are mutually too shy to speak with each other again, so they communicate through notes on napkins for a while. David finally garners the courage to follow Akihiko and pull him aside for a conversation. He apologizes to Akihiko for snapping at him and treating him like a villain when he was really only following ZDN's orders. Akihiko apologizes as well, and the two get on better terms. They aren't quite friends, but it is very much possible that they will rekindle their friendship in the future.

### Izuku Midoriya

David and Izuku were on good terms. Izuku was feeling a bit upset, and when everyone else was too occupied to help him, David offered support to lift his spirits.

Even though he was still lying about being a doll at this time, it's implied that David did truly view Izuku as a friend, and meant the words he said.

### Chihiro Fujisaki

Similarly to Izuku, David and Chihiro had positive opinions of each other. David complimented Chihiro's insight skills and intelligence while in the magnetic room, meaning he has a lot of respect for them.

## Quotes

*"It's definitely possible. You have quite the brain on you, Chihiro. I'm very grateful to have you here with us. Don't forget that, alright?"* - Complimenting Chihiro in the magnetic room.

*"Please, have no fear. Akihiko just intends to confuse us and make us worry. Whatever he's just told us has no other purpose than to catch us off-guard. Let's not get too down about it, okay? We won't let him win!"* - Motivating everyone in the art room.

*"Ahaha, well, I won't lie, I am. As much as I would like to sleep, I don't really like being plagued with the thought that after a break, I have to go right back to working again. That's why it's better to do a straight shot, beginning to end. At least, that's what I think. No need to allow my opinion to sway you, though."* - Talking to Akihiko in a flashback.

*"You're telling me to TAKE IT EASY?! After ALL THIS GODDAMN TIME, YOU LED ME TO BELIEVE I'D BE SAFE, and NOW?! Now... ooowaahahahaha... hhhhahahahaha...!"* - Going insane after the banquet. (1)

*"You have the audacity to blame it...on ZDN?! It was YOU who fooled me into thinking I had someone I could TRUST! Someone who CARED about me, someone who bothered to preserve my wellbeing- you TRICKED ME INTO THINKING YOU WERE NOTHING LIKE THEM, AND HERE YOU ARE **BOWING AT THEIR COMMAND LIKE A BRAINLESS ANT COLONY!** Do you feel NOTHING?!"* - Going insane after the banquet. (2)

*"...nothing. Nothing! Hhahaha- That's it? You have **nothing**?! So you do feel bad, huh? Do you? Well, guess what? You can't fucking go back now, can you?! You've already screwed this, Akihiko. Do whatever the hell you want to me, I DON'T CARE! No amount of 'sorry' or any attempt at a take-back will ever sway me back to your side. I'm DONE with ZDN. I'm done with YOU. I'm done with THIS- THIS-...**BULLSHIT DEATH GAME!** No matter what happens next, this isn't my GODDAMN PROBLEM ANYMORE. You're in charge, and you're on your own now, Akihiko. ...**do you realize that**...?"* - Going insane after the banquet. (3)

*"...mmmmh. This is weird... really weird. I didn't think it would happen like this. I-I had spent the past 2 years thinking you were unforgivable, and here I am, apologizing to you. If 23 year old me saw me doing this, he'd kick me, but... ...i-it's the right thing to do. Because we both... fucking SUCK, dude. We really suck. And I'd suck even harder if I had done this sooner, because it would just be a stupid grudge-holding dumbass ripping a 'sorry' from your throat for the sake of self-satisfaction. And I couldn't live with myself if that's what happened. ...I can barely fucking stand living with myself enough as it is." - In a timeskip scene where he reconciles and apologizes to Akihiko after Project: Under.*

## Gallery

CG of David spiraling after Akihiko betrays him.Project Under David's Beta Design.Older Design of David in Project Under.Emote of Project Under David pointing a gun at the camera.
## Trivia

* Despite his canon sexuality in Danganronpa Despair Time being Bisexual, this roleplay took place before the confirmation. As such, this iteration of David was headcanoned and roleplayed as a Homoromantic Asexual man.
* At one point during Chapter 3a, David says "Akihiko wants us to use our brains", followed by a bracket comment reading *"But, David, you're a doll. You don't have a brain...?".* This is one of the biggest pieces of foreshadowing to David being a human before the reveal.
* The one that taught him how to use a gun during the 3-year gap between Death is Inevitable and Project Under was Xander.
* After Death is Inevitable, David began to suffer from insomnia as a result of nightmares, explaining the constant eyebags he has in his Project Under design.