Meruko Mifune

**Meruko Mifune** (三舟 メルコ) is a character featured in *Danganronpa Kirigiri*. She used to be a psychic "Supergirl" with an ability to bend spoons and other metals with her mind.

She is one of the participants of the Norman's Hotel Duel Noir, having been lured to an auction in because she believed she could acquire vacuum tubes for her hobby.

## History

### Prior Life

Meruko, as a child, claimed that she was able to bend spoons with her mind. Her parents brought her to a television station where it was broadcasted and, thus, she became famous for it until the mass media got bored of her and started to slander her name, calling her abilities fake. Despite that, she was able to move past it as she grew up, though she was adamant that her powers were real.

### Norman's Hotel Case

Meruko came to the auction because she heard she could get a special vacuum tube there. Yui asks Meruko if she's still able to bend spoons with her mind. She thinks she does, but nothing happens when she tries to do it, thus disappointing both Yui and Yuzen. When 6PM arrives, she is present for Norman's explanation of the auction, being utterly confused by the rules at first and teases Yuzen over the loss of the money he had gotten for a loan (and getting promptly insulted with the nickname of Pumpkin-Head). Still, once she learns how deadly their new game will be (in addition to witnessing Taehime's death), she begins to cry and wishes to just go home.

For the first auction, she decided to not bet after seeing the grand display Susei made as he went in first, which proved to be a good move as Suisei bid all his money to ensure he got the Detective's Right. When rooms were decided, Meruko got the third one. At night, Suisei let her and Yui out of their rooms, with the intent of releasing everyone from there rooms. However, before that could happen they saw a figure turning the corridor. Yui and Suisei gave chase, but Meruko was left with the orders to stand watch and yell out whoever came by. During this time, ended having a conversation with Yuzen and Sae for about twenty minutes.

The next day, after Akio had been killed, Meruko meets with the others with discussion about what had occurred last night. During this, Shinsen had accused Meruko of being the culprit on the basis that she was out in the hallway alone. However, both Yuzen and Sae defended her alibi by pointing back to their conversation last night. Thus, Shinsen relents, leaving Meruko annoyed, but not willing to press further with her name cleared. When Seiunsai tries to get them to boycott the auction, Meruko sees through the ploy and goes to bid in the second auction, but, in the end, Yuzen acquires the Detective's Right. After hearing that Yuzen wouldn't bother protecting them, she breaks down crying and is more than willing to 'please' him if it means safety when he makes such an offer. This earns a scolding from Sae, who believes that women should be the one using men and not vice versa, but doesn't quite stop such a thinking, instead asking for ten million in exchange of 'pleasing' him all night long. However, nothing comes form it and, thus, Meruko is stuck in her room, crying all night.

When the next day comes along, Meruko, alongside the surviving participants besides the detectives and Yuzen (who stormed off after being accused of the killer) are interrogated if they had done anything wrong, since the target of the Duel Noir's are those who have done serious crimes. Aside from cheating to win toys when she was a kid or believing people who made spoons would hate her, she has no wrongdoing to report compared. During the third auction, she didn't bid and it was won by Yui who went on to quickly let her and the survivors out of their rooms once she able to, thus preventing a murder that night.

During the fourth day, both Kyoko and Yui had deduced that Sae was the culprit and in order to complete the requirements for her Duel Noir it was Meruko that needed to die. In order to foil her plans, Kyoko had informed Meruko, who was gladly willing to work with her in order to be safe. With all their combined funds they were able to get Meruko the Detective's Right, thus ensuring she would be safe that night, though there were concerns from Yui and Yuzen since they were all seemingly out of money. Thankfully, for that final auction, Kyoko used her hidden one million yen she got from the deceased Taehime to acquire the Detective's Right, thus foiling Sae's plans for good.

When Meruko demanded to know why Sae wanted to kill her, Sae retorted that her father created the television that Meruko was on and garnered fame. However, once people began believing her powers was a hoax, the blame was placed all over Sae's father until he committed suicide when she was twelve. Thus, she wanted to exact vengeance on Meruko. That night, Meruko spent it with the other survivors sans Sae in order to wait out the Duel Noir until morning when it was over (alongside the fact that Sae had a gun that she could use against them, so they couldn't apprehend her). There she happily spent the night playing cards with Yuzen.

### Meruko's Fate

Unfortunately, when morning came, Meruko was shot by Susei in the cafeteria, who planned to steal all the money from the Duel Noir and get rid of any witnesses of his crime. However, she is able to cling on to life and appears when Suisei is about to shoot Kyoko and Yui. There, Meruko commands Suisei's gun to "bend". Suisei attempts to shoot her again, but his gun suddenly strangely doesn't fire. She collapses, but the gun still doesn't work causing Suisei to throw it, where it hits her back. Due to having succumbed to her injury, she is unresponsive. Ultimately, she saved Kyoko and Yui's lives as she managed to distract Suisei long enough for the entrance hall doors to open, thus allowing them to escape.

## Appearance

Meruko has short, greenish-blond hair, styled in a bob cut, and green eyes. She wears what appears to be a green sleeveless dress and has a pendant around her neck.

## Personality

Meruko is a kind, ditzy young lady, often coming across as even more emotional and childish than the two schoolgirls involved in the Duel Noir. She is also rather eccentric, as along with being a former psychic, her hobby is collecting vacuum tubes. She is a staunch believer in her powers and quite proud of them, becoming defensive when others think otherwise and dejected if she can't get them to work. When the situation is revealed to be deadly, she easily breaks down into crying and just desiring to go home. Compared to the others, she can be rather dim, but is more than willing to cooperate with others for their safety and doesn't hold onto grudges for long, given how she let go the matter of Mikado accusing her of being the culprit. Even when she is mortally wounded, her actions are to try and save the life of others rather than worry about her own.

## Trivia

* Her last name (三舟) means "Three Ships".
* Meruko's given name is written in katakana, and so its meaning is purely phonetic. It should be noted that it is very uncommon for a Japanese person to present their name in katakana, allowing for the possibility that despite sounding so, her given name isn't actually Japanese.