Danganronpa: Antebellum

**Danganronpa: Antebellum**Gallery

***Danganronpa: Antebellum*** is an in-progress English fangame created by British developer Rippilie. The game currently contains a prologue, two completed chapters, and a third chapter in development. The theme of this game is **Redemption vs. Corruption**.

## Gallery

📷 For more images from the game, see Danganronpa: Antebellum/Image Gallery.
🎥 For more videos from the game, see Danganronpa: Antebellum/Videos.

## Plot Synopsis

"16 students wake up in a strange, seemingly abandoned ancient laboratory- a strange haze appears to fill the entire building... but slowly and surely it becomes unnoticeable. This 16 students have all committed a crime sometime in their life and have been on the run from it for a while... not like they'll let their fellow students know it. Soon enough they find themselves thrown into a killing game in this strange laboratory and one by one start to get punished for their crimes..." **- Official Synopsis**
## Plot Summary

### Prologue

     A narrator briefly describes what it means to possess an ultimate talent before introducing himself as Shinku Kutsuki, the Ultimate Writer, who has had a knack for writing since he was a child and has been featured in many publications. Shinku adds that he never wanted to cause any harm with his work and ponders how he wound up in the situation that he did. It is revealed that Shinku is standing in a courtroom during his sentencing before the screen becomes distorted and fades to black.
Mysterious Laboratory

A brown-haired woman and a purple-haired man watch over Shinku, poking him and speculating on whether or not he is alive before he finally regains consciousness. The energetic purple-haired man offers for Shinku to join their "guild" before tossing a twenty-sided die and rolling a 20, accepting him. He introduces himself as the guild’s magician, Dracul Tremblay, the Ultimate Dungeon Master. Dracul sheepishly explains that the "guild" is for the sake of lightening the mood, as much like Shinku, he and the brown-haired girl don't know where they are. Shinku questions why Dracul seems to know him, and Dracul tells him that he is a huge fan of his fantasy novels before announcing the guild’s next mission, finding a way out, and urging the brown-haired woman, the guild’s reluctant healer, to formally introduce herself.
The woman begrudgingly states her name and talent: Ismene Circe, the Ultimate Mythologist, a famous academic who assumes Shinku has heard of her, being a writer himself, though she downplays his accomplishments, believing modern literature only plagiarizes the legends of old. The three guild members make the decision to leave the room they woke up in and search for other potential captives and clues on their whereabouts and the reason for their kidnapping. Heading out of the door, Dracul attempts to hold Ismene’s hand, which she rejects. The three realize they are currently in a laboratory or hospital. While Ismene and Dracul bicker about their captor’s motives and Dracul’s reckless optimism, Shinku notices another person in the distance.
The three are approached by the person in the distance, a strangely dressed woman who excitedly tells them not to fear, for she can defeat their captor with her love. Dracul offers for her to join the guild, which she declines, explaining she already belongs to a team of loyal friends. She introduces herself as Melody Pretty, as well as her "civilian form," Maiko Yuzuki, the Ultimate Voice Actress. Maiko decides to stand guard and gather additional information. Dracul begins to ask Maiko if she is content standing alone but is interrupted by the sound of loud shouting from another room. Maiko urges the three to investigate the argument.

Shinku, Dracul, and Ismene enter the next room to find a short and young-looking girl harassing and insulting a fearful man. Dracul intervenes in the rather one-sided argument, and the girl wanders off, pouting. Dracul asks his guild members which one of them has the highest empathy stat and is willing to comfort the man before deciding that Shinku should approach him first and that he and Ismene will pitch in second, in spite of Ismene’s protests. The man’s eyes suddenly light up as he spots Ismene’s laurel wreath hair ornament, complimenting her choice of leaves, to which the aloof and condescending Ismene becomes flustered. The man then introduces himself as Mint Byrne, the Ultimate Herbalist.
Dracul decides that he, Ismene, Shinku, and Mint should split up in search of more people and reconvene at a later time. After Ismene and Mint leave the room, Dracul stays back with Shinku for a moment, apologizing and worriedly explaining that he is only trying to raise spirits with all of his jokes about being a part of a guild. Shinku reassures him, and they part ways. Shinku then directs his attention at the young-looking girl from before.
Noticing that the girl appeared to feel guilty for her previous actions, Shinku decides to cheer her up, only for her to begin teasing him too. Shinku advises her to be more careful with her words, believing that she is a child, but she takes offense, snapping that she just looks and acts like one. She forgives Shinku quickly, though, because he looks friendly to her, and she apologizes for her previous behavior, introducing herself as Emilia Carmine, the Ultimate Arsonist. As Shinku raises an eyebrow at the criminal nature of her alleged talent, Emilia sighs, confessing that she is really the Ultimate Pyrotechnician but believes it makes her sound like a nerd, promising to kick anyone who calls her by her true title.

In the hallway, next to a wall of lockers, Shinku encounters a sleeping boy and decides to wake him up. The boy, embarrassed, awkwardly recites a handful of facts related to sleep. Shinku switches the subject, introducing himself; in turn, the boy tells Shinku his own name and talent, Kotaro Chishiki, the Ultimate Encyclopedia, inviting Shinku to ask him any question. Shinku asks him if he knows where they are, to which Kotaro has no answer, but he does tell Shinku he saw other people in different areas of the lab before falling asleep again, a device slipping out of his pocket in the process. Shinku notices he has a device in his own pocket labeled "Monopad" with information on the other individuals he has met and a map.

Shinku enters the bio-dome to find a small purple-haired girl who excitedly runs towards him, asking him a bombardment of questions and addressing him as her "new big bro." Shinku tells the girl his name and struggles to answer all of her questions, including his favorite ice cream flavor, color, weather, and what he thinks about bunnies. The girl calls herself Takiko Ushina, the Ultimate Little Sister, a sibling for hire who will do anything to make others smile. She promises Shinku that the two of them will become as close as family, throwing a flower crown on his head.
Shinku heads to the sterilization center, focusing on a boy he recognizes from television, who peppily recites his name and talent, Taka Takahiro, the Ultimate TV Personality. Shinku remembers that his grandmother watches one of Taka’s shows, to which Taka sighs, explaining his goal to reach out to younger audiences. A girl who had previously been hanging from the ceiling giggles, jumping to the floor with perfect posture. She laughs at Shinku and Taka’s awkward conversation, continuing to playfully tease the latter before introducing herself as Asuga Hino, the Ultimate Ringleader.
In the kitchen, Shinku notices a rather large and imposing figure, shaking, he approaches them, wondering if they may be his captor. To his surprise, the stranger warmly greets him, telling Shinku his name, Eiichi Sakaguchi, before looking away in shame, requesting Shinku not mock him for his talent. Shinku promises, shaking Eiichi’s hand. Eiichi cheers up, telling Shinku that he is the Ultimate Gacha Player.

Shinku’s conversation is interrupted by cackling ringing out through the speakers throughout the laboratory. An unknown voice orders all ultimate students to report to the lecture hall or face punishment.
Outside the doors to the lecture hall, Shinku notices a girl humming to herself and asks her if she saw Dracul and Ismene. She tells Shinku that she met them and that there should be twelve students present in the lecture hall. She introduces herself as Yui Aoide, the Ultimate Conductor, a member of the first orchestra to perform at the South Pole.
Shinku enters the lecture hall and reunites with Dracul, who warns him that the next two people he needs to introduce himself to are challenging to communicate with: a white-haired girl and an orange-haired man. Shinku attempts to speak with the white-haired girl, only for her to cut him off, bluntly stating her name and title, Alora Asami, the Ultimate Chemist, refusing to speak any further, informing Shinku it is of little importance to her. Shinku notices the orange-haired man observing Alora from afar, lost in thought, commenting to himself on her beauty. As Shinku tries to get his attention, the man tells Shinku he is already familiar with him before apologizing for his rudeness and explaining his years-long search for the perfect muse, in which he researched many ultimate students, including Shinku, only now finding one. He laughs and introduces himself as Kiyoshi Ainara, the Ultimate Sculptor, who focuses on creating statues inspired by human emotion.

Assuming there are no more students to introduce himself to, Shinku turns to speak to Dracul but is suddenly interrupted by yelling and laughter coming from outside the lecture hall. The two individuals arguing enter the lecture hall, continuing to act out a shouting match between two parents, ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Stacy', roping Kotaro and Emilia in as their ‘children’. The two break character, laughing before ‘Stacy’ freezes, noticing Takiko, running towards her, and wrapping her in a hug.
Shinku’s attention is drawn to the strange girl, who signals for him to come lean up against the wall with her. Shinku introduces himself to her, to which she playfully teases him about his talent before introducing herself as Lyra Shatel, the Ultimate Debatist, a member of a debate club. Lyra explains she only met the man she was previously joking with earlier that day, as they had woken up in the same room, but she does know Takiko, having been her babysitter and dating her older sister, Sachiko, in the past.

Mononeko Appears

As soon as Shinku wraps up his final introduction, the same voice from the mysterious announcement is heard from behind the stage, seemingly annoyed by the students’ conversations. This source of the voice, a black and white robotic cat, enters from backstage, introducing itself as Mononeko, the students’ doctor who will "cure them of their sins," revealing that all but one of the students had previously committed a crime and avoided punishment, having been brought to the laboratory where they will stay indefinitely to be "redeemed" and have three of their crimes exposed each week. The single loophole, Mononeko explains, is that if any of the students manage to murder another without anyone finding out, they will be permitted to leave the laboratory, and the rest of the students will be executed. Mononeko then makes their exit.
Silently, the majority of the students exit the lecture hall, leaving only Shinku, Ismene, and Dracul behind. Dracul reassures the two that he does not care what either of them has done in the past, to which Shinku explains that he cannot remember what his crime could be. Dracul confesses that he remembers his crime: shoplifting from independent businesses that needed the money, contributing to many of them shutting down. Ismene, worried about what the two would think should they find out her crime, states she is not strong enough to accept responsibility for her actions and is running away. Dracul runs after her, leaving Shinku alone.

As Shinku lies down on the bed in his dorm room, he is interrupted by the monitor in his room displaying a broadcast from Mononeko of the first three crime reveals, the first of which is Ismene’s. Mononeko claims that Ismene led her former professor into the woods and stabbed him, killing him for a ritualistic sacrifice. The second is Kotaro’s, who faked his grades and bribed prestigious schools into accepting him. Finally, Mint, who buried evidence of crimes others had committed in his garden in exchange for money and committed health insurance fraud by paying for someone else's medication with his insurance. Distraught, Shinku begins to write down the events of his day.
In a flashback sequence, Shinku concludes telling a story he created about his younger sister, Akari Kutsuki, but notices she has not asked him to tell it again as she normally does. Akari asks him if he thinks she is destined to become an ultimate too.

### Chapter 1: Finders, Keepers, Losers, Reapers

 Shinku wakes up the next morning and immediately reads the rules of the killing game on his Monopad. As he places his MonoPad down, he hears a knock at his door. He opens it to find Lyra and Rei, who ask him to come to the dining hall for breakfast at Dracul’s request. The two leave Shinku no choice but to come with them.

When they enter the dining hall, they find the rest of the students gathered. Yui is the first to greet them, asking them to try some of the lavender-flavored muffins Mint baked for breakfast. Dracul notices Shinku, approaches him, pats him on the back, and asks the others to welcome him. The others discuss the muffins before Mint suggests they discuss the killing game, only for Maiko to interject and ask to discuss Mint’s crime. Emilia comes to his defense, surprising both Mint and Shinku.
Ismene then enters the dining hall and is met with cold silence before Alora addresses her as a murderer and Rei and Yui begin to make antagonistic comments towards her. In spite of this, Dracul urges everyone to give her a warm welcome, but is responded to with disapproval before Ismene decides to leave. Dracul runs after her, and the others begin to gossip about Ismene before Shinku scolds them, suggesting that Ismene may not even be the only killer among the group. Kotaro attempts to change the subject to the muffins he and Mint baked, and Emilia instead asks him about his crime, to which he begins to cry. Taka suggests that the muffins may be poisoned, and Shinku decides he has had his fill of the hostile conversation, running into the hallway in search of Dracul and Ismene.
Shinku finds Ismene leaning against a wall in the hallway, with Dracul standing beside her. She accuses Shinku of coming over to mock her. Dracul becomes upset thinking about how the others attacked Ismene in the dining hall, but she shrugs it off, believing none of them would have the courage to do what she did if they were in her shoes, insinuating that she takes a sense of pride in the murder she committed. Shinku is apprehensive, but Dracul promises to hear Ismene out if she wants to talk about what caused her to commit her crime.

Ismene explains that when she was a young girl, she was enrolled in a private academy but was isolated from most other students as a result of her education being meticulously tailored to ensure her the best chance of success in life. This led to an intense amount of pressure being put on Ismene to maintain perfect grades, and she dedicated all of her waking hours to studying. One Thursday afternoon, when Ismene was sixteen years old, her much older professor asked her to meet him after class. When she met with her professor, he began to flirt with her and put his hands on her, threatening to give her a bad grade on her most recent essay, in spite of its quality, if she did not visit him at his apartment later that night to "talk it over." At night, Ismene sent her professor a text luring him into the woods where she killed him.
Without saying a word and in spite of Ismene’s protests, Dracul gives Ismene a hug. He promises that he and Shinku are there for her no matter what, and Shinku joins in on the hug. Ismene thanks them, telling the two that if they need her, they can knock on her door seventeen times so that she knows it's them, and heads back to her dorm room. Shinku tells Dracul he admires him for always seeing the best in others, and Dracul tells Shinku to call him "Drac," while nicknaming Shinku "Shin."
That night, Shinku has trouble sleeping; he decides to go and check on Ismene but is stopped when he heads to the door by a hallucination resembling his sister, taunting him.

In the morning, Shinku is woken up by a loud knock on his door to find Taka, Mint, and Kiyoshi standing outside his dorm room. Taka states that a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has arisen, and Kiyoshi explains that all of the girls have congregated in the sterilization center in secret, as Ismene promised to do something to get them to forgive her, bringing Kotaro with them. They ask Shinku to come with them. In the sterilization center, they find the girls gathered in a circle around a frightened Kotaro, with Takiko holding a knife, apparently sacrificing Kotaro in order for a god to grant their wishes, disappointing Taka.

First Motive Reveal
After their gathering, Mononeko would turn on the monitors and complain about the lack of killing. They would tell the students to check their Monopads for a surprise, being motive videos of the students' loved ones, before saying goodbye. Shinku would see his motive video, depicting his sister, Akari, and the incompetence she feels due to having an Ultimate for a brother. Mononeko taunts Shinku that they held friends and family hostage for all the others, but can't do that for Akari as she is being held captive in a place they can't get to. Mononeko also tells him the person who caused her to be held captive in the place she is, is one of the others.
Shinku stumbles out of his dorm room to find Dracul. Shinku confides in him that he is scared, and Dracul tells him he is too, but he has to remain strong for him, Ismene, and the others. They are interrupted by Asuga, who tells them that she did not watch her motive video, instead stuffing her Monopad into a potted plant until later. Dracul offers to keep watch over her Monopad for her with Shinku, to which she agrees before leaving to check on Taka. Shinku asks Dracul how he is feeling, and he deflects the question, instead asking Shinku to return Asuga’s Monopad to her.
In Asuga’s dorm room, Shinku finds her standing with Taka on the bed crying as Maiko pats his head and promises to protect his pet fish, Man, who had been taken hostage, seemingly unaffected by her own motive video, and Kotaro curled up in the corner, shaking, seemingly traumatized by the ritual that had been performed on him. Asuga joins in on hugging Taka, telling Shinku to leave her Monopad on the table. As he turns to leave, Maiko tells him that Yui asked to see him the next day in order to organize a special event.

Party Planning
The next afternoon, Yui arrives at Shinku’s door, explaining to him that in order to take everyone's minds off of the motive, she is planning to throw an elegant tea party in the bio-dome, already recruiting Takiko to find outfits for everyone and Kotaro to do the cooking. Shinku agrees to assist Yui in planning the tea party, with his first task being to announce the event to the students in the lecture hall.
Shinku and Yui announce the tea party to the rest of the students, and while initially met with apprehension, all but Alora and Kiyoshi agree to attend, as the two claim not to feel any sympathy towards their hostages. Yui announces that Ismene is not allowed to attend, to which Ismene agrees, despite Dracul's attempts to convince Yui to let her join. Following the announcements, the students disperse, aside from Shinku and Yui. Yui then tasks Shinku with accompanying her to the library to retrieve the folding tables and chairs from the room.

While picking up the folding tables, Shinku notices an empty box, pointing out to Yui that it is both empty and completely devoid of dust, unlike everything else in the room. Mononeko unexpectedly appears beside the two, asking them not to look in the box any longer and inadvertently implying that what was previously in the box may be being used in a murder plan.
In the hallway, on their way to the kitchen, Yui asks Shinku to help her investigate something that has been bothering her: the creepy dolls placed on the high ledges throughout the laboratory. Not taking no for an answer, Yui climbs on top of Shinku's shoulders to reach one of the dolls. Before Yui can grab the doll, Shinku's legs give out, and the two fall to the ground, alerting Alora, who tells them it is to be believed that the dolls are actually cameras, as they are placed out of reach and in opportune places.
In the kitchen, Shinku and Yui find Kotaro and Eiichi working on baking pastries for the tea party and find a note left by Maiko indicating that she has left temporarily to assist Takiko with assembling the party outfits. Kotaro informs Yui that all of the pastries will have to be vanilla-flavored as it is the only flavor for which they have all of the ingredients available, and that he is working on creating a six-foot-tall cake.
Yui leads Shinku to the bio-dome, where she asks Shinku what he thinks of the other students. Shinku says he does not mind anyone; Yui questions why he likes Ismene, and Shinku explains that Ismene and Dracul are the people he feels safest around. While beginning to set the table, Yui asks Shinku who his hostage is, telling him that hers is her father, before beginning to cry. She accepts Shinku’s attempts to comfort her and tells him he can leave until the party if he would like.

In his dorm room, Shinku notices someone trying to cram something under his door. He finds Takiko, who is delivering his costume for the tea party. Shinku changes into his new outfit, looking in the mirror confidently, before a hallucination of Akari reappears, taunting him. Shinku begins to panic but is brought back to his senses by the sound of the clock chiming, announcing the tea party.

The Tea Party

Shinku makes it to the bio-dome to find all but Kiyoshi, Alora, and Ismene attending, all wearing the party outfits given to them by Takiko. Dracul notices Shinku and runs to him excitedly, but is intercepted by Yui, who grabs Shinku’s hands and asks him to dance. The students have a conversation about their tea party costumes but are suddenly interrupted by the sound of screaming, which they identify as Ismene’s voice. Dracul volunteers to leave the party and investigate, encouraging the other students to stay behind and eat the food that Kotaro had just arrived with. Shinku offers to go with him, and Dracul asks him to stay behind and protect everyone else.
The students remaining at the party begin to eat the pastries prepared by Kotaro and Eiichi, remarking how good they taste, save for Maiko, who disappointedly states that she cannot eat them because of her gluten-free diet, electing to eat the fruits instead. Shinku notices that he is beginning to feel tired, as Maiko announces the same. Shinku then collapses.

First Body Discovery

An unknown amount of time later, Shinku regains consciousness and finds Dracul’s corpse, disemboweled and missing both of his eyes, leaning against Kotaro’s six-foot-tall cake, his intestines torn out and tied around it, his eyes on top. Dracul’s body is peculiarly dressed in his normal attire rather than his tea party costume. Mononeko immediately makes a body-discovery announcement.
Yui complains about her party being ruined, and Shinku loses his temper with her, blaming Dracul’s death on her incompetence. Shinku quickly apologizes for lashing out at her, but not before Rei silently smiles at him. The students notice that, like Dracul, they are all back to wearing their regular clothing instead of their party outfits. Mononeko arrives and explains that due to an error on the killer's part, staining their tea party costume with blood, Mononeko changed everyone back into their everyday clothes.
Shinku begins to panic, regretting letting Dracul investigate by himself, before remembering that Dracul had left to check on Ismene after hearing her scream. At that moment, Ismene, Kiyoshi, and Alora arrive at the bio-dome having heard the body discovery announcement. Ismene begins to cry upon seeing Dracul’s corpse. Maiko leaves the bio-dome claiming that she is going to be sick. Shinku begins to hallucinate again, this time seeing and hearing Dracul, telling him not to investigate so that Shinku may die and reunite with him, along with Akari. Ismene puts a hand on Shinku’s shoulder after he snaps out of it. He asks her why she screamed during the tea party; she claims not to know what he is talking about, stating that she was with Alora the entire time in her dorm room.
While investigating Dracul’s body, Shinku begins to tear up. As he moves to hold Dracul’s hand, he notices rope burn marks on Dracul’s gloves and boots. When he attempts to speak to Maiko, he finds her vomiting and decides to leave her be. When Shinku approaches Mint, Mint offers his condolences, handing him a hydrangea, to which Shinku thanks him, ruffling his hair. Mint notices that one of the flower bushes in the bio-dome is damaged, and coincidentally, it is an Aconitum, a flower that Mint states is highly toxic and can cause someone to lose consciousness, among other side effects. Only enough to knock out one person was taken.
In the trash room, Shinku finds Alora, who is investigating a bloodied baseball bat, which she identifies as the murder weapon based on the thickness of the blood, indicating it is the oldest blood on the scene. He also finds an unidentifiable smashed piece of machinery with a purpose that Alora is only able to determine as storing some kind of data, and the student’s tea party outfits discarded by Mononeko.
Shinku runs into Eiichi in the food court after he picks up a vanilla bottle leftover from Kotaro's baking and tries to taste it before Eiichi stops him, telling him it does not taste as good as it smells, and apologizes to him about what happened to Dracul. Shinku asks Eiichi if the bottle really contains vanilla before sniffing it and beginning to feel sleepy. Eiichi notices a scalpel lying in a puddle of blood within the food court. Shinku would then ask Eiichi who had gotten the ingredients, mentioning an empty box in the library that had something taken from it.
Shinku heads to Ismene’s room, which is currently a mess with only Kiyoshi on the scene. Shinku notices wine stains on the carpet and a broken bottle under Ismene's bed.
Mononeko makes an announcement, calling the patients to the lab side and concluding the investigation period.Once the remaining fifteen arrive at the lab side, Mononeko shows them the ladder which leads to the trial grounds.

Class Trial

Upon the start of the trial, everyone aside from Shinku, Alora, Kiyoshi, and Ismene believed Ismene killed Dracul. Ismene is temporarily absolved of all blame due to her alibi, which was affirmed by Alora and Kiyoshi. When Ismene’s scream becomes the forefront of the conversation, she is once again blamed. It is then found that the scream was recorded in order to lure Dracul away from the party alone. After realizing that the person at the party must not have eaten the chloroform-tampered pastries in order to stay awake, Maiko is accused of being the killer because she mentioned her gluten allergy earlier during the party. Because of Maiko's talent as the Ultimate Voice Actor, it is deduced that only she could have recorded herself screaming in Ismene’s voice. Along with the fact that she was one of the volunteers who fetched the ingredients for the pastries, Maiko is correctly identified as the killer.

Leading up to Maiko's execution, Mononeko announces the three additional crimes committed by the patients. First is Taka's, that he tampered with evidence at crime scenes in order to create more compelling mysteries for his true crime programming. Kiyoshi’s, which was that he kidnapped eleven girls to use as inspiration and models for his sculptures and collected blackmail on them so they could not report him to the police. Maiko’s was the last, in that she acted as a vigilante, killing individuals that she perceived to be criminals, though the police only recognized her as a serial killer.
Upon Maiko’s request, Mononeko shows the remaining patients Maiko’s motive video. Because Maiko had no friends or loved ones that she cared for, her motive, rather than revolving around a hostage, threatened to have Maiko's prized voice role as Melody Pretty in the eponymous anime series replaced. Mononeko suggests that, ironically, because of Maiko's impending death by execution, Maiko's beloved anime series would likely have to be cancelled altogether.

Execution

Maiko is executed in "Un-Magical Girl", where she is forced to read lines such as "I killed a man" in a recording studio. After correctly reading her lines, Mononeko presses a green button, and a spear is shot through her legs. The third line she must read is "I am not Melody Pretty". Unable to read the line aloud, Mononeko presses a red button, engulfing the recording studio in flames and burning Maiko to death. The only thing to survive is Maiko's tiara.
Following Maiko's execution, the despair of the rest of the patients arguing over the most recent crime reveals and the grief of losing Dracul causes Shinku to lose consciousness.

A flashback of Lyra talking with Akari Kutsuki, Shinku’s sister, plays out. Lyra gets the attention of Akari, who is initially wary of her, and offers to make a deal with her. After asking Akari if she really wants to be an ultimate, Lyra asks her if she is good at impersonations.

### Chapter 2: Ring Around the Posers

 Shinku wakes up in a dream taking place in his home, playing D&D with Dracul. When Shinku starts to cry at the sight of him, Dracul assures him he can stop the campaign, but Shinku says he’s okay. They resume playing when Maiko comes in with a cake, triggering Shinku’s anxiety at her presence. Dracul congratulates her on her baking skills, and she gives them each a slice of cake. Dracul tells him to get Akari. Upon going to Akari’s room, he’s met with a hallucination of her telling him he couldn’t save them. A hallucination of Maiko as a white angel and Dracul as a winged devil covered in eyes join in, the trio taunting him.
His nightmare is interrupted by Taka and Asuga at his door, Taka having taken on a cartoony ‘evil’ persona. Taka drops a piece of lego on the floor in front of Shinku and tells him to cower in fear. Shinku is confused, telling him that stepping on the lego won’t hurt as he wears shoes. Taka tells him that Ismene wished to see him, then leaves. Asuga explains she believes Taka’s strange behaviour is a coping mechanism, and she’s going to be Taka’s minion. She apologises for his behaviour and leaves.
Once Shinku goes to her dorm, Ismene coldly asks him what happened after the scream at the party, and Shinku tells her Dracul went to investigate it while the others partied. Ismene sums up the situation; that Shinku let Dracul investigate alone while everyone else was distracted at a party after a motive. When Shinku tries to defend himself by saying he helped at the trial and couldn’t leave her to die, she says that he did it to Dracul, the hallucination of Dracul interrupting her. Shinku would know she was right, and he’d leave upon her request. He then goes to sleep.

The Second Motive
After waking up, he's met with Mononeko on his bed. They ask him to name a classmate, and Shinku says Eiichi’s name in a panic. Once Mononeko leaves, Shinku hears a group of people outside his door; Lyra, Rei, Kiyoshi, and Yui. They wonder why Mononeko needed a name from each of them, Lyra jokingly proposing it’s a dating show, Kiyoshi saying they could be naming targets. Shinku interjects their conversation, and Rei asks him if Mononeko had been to his room. Shinku replies they had, and they exchange information about what they know. Mononeko then interrupts them while holding a sword, telling them to break up their conversation interspersed with insults to Rei about his face paint. Mononeko then swings the sword into the wall very close to Lyra, prompting everyone besides Shinku and Lyra to return to their dorms.
Lyra reminds Shinku it isn’t healthy to hole himself up in his room, telling him she'd found a game and wanted to play it with Takiko, asking him if he wanted to join. He obliges, joining the card game with Eiichi, Takiko, Emilia and Lyra.

It's a very intense game of uno, Emilia boasting about getting a reverse card and forcing Lyra to draw, but Lyra has a blue card. Eiichi is forced to put down a blue reverse, allowing Lyra to make Emilia draw four. Eiichi compliments Lyra on her skills in uno, and notes that Emilia’s temper needs work if she is to win. Emilia changes the colour to yellow, prompting Takiko to then unexpectedly win by putting down a yellow six. They all then engage in another round that wasn’t as relaxing as Shinku had hoped, but enjoyed nonetheless.

Once Shinku gets back to his dorm, he is met with Mononeko holding a MonoPad in their mouth. They explain that due to Shinku choosing Eiichi’s name earlier, he is awarded Eiichi’s dark secret as motivation. Shinku reads Eiichi’s secret: he lied to his parents by telling them he was putting the funds from winning game tournaments towards a fund to move out, but instead wasted it on unrelated things and had no plans to move out. Mononeko leaves by the time Shinku reads the secret.
Shinku goes to Eiichi’s room to get the truth. Eiichi is surprised but happy he’s seeing him. Shinku mentions it's about his secret. Shinku tells him what it is, and Eiichi explains he never wanted to leave home due to his love for his parents and being a shut-in, spending the money primarily on boxing lessons for a little girl he knew named Alya. He says he wants to get out to see and support her in the UK, resolving to act as a support to others because his Ultimate isn’t that important. Eiichi then begins to warn Shinku of someone he knew from before the killing game before they’re interrupted by Asuga knocking on his door. She needed to take them to the food court.

Taka's Ultimatum

They go to the food court, seeing everyone else there too. Taka suddenly bursts out of the fridge, then appoints Asuga to lock up all the food cupboards and the sink, leaving them without anything to eat. Taka explains that they won’t unlock the food until all the secrets have been revealed. When Alora says it isn’t necessary, Taka shows Alora’s secret that he had received to the others; Alora was responsible for creating Mononeko’s mechanisms. Ismene asks Alora to explain. Alora tells them that her friend Lillith’s cat had died, so Alora built her a new one. She also says that the AI was incapable of talking the way Mononeko does, presuming someone had hacked the machinery. Taka is satisfied with her explanation and wants the rest, but Lyra says she won’t say anything until she consults with the person whose secret she received. Kiyoshi is particularly annoyed, calling Taka pathetic and asking if he’s still trying to be entertaining, mentioning the families of the murder victims in his crime are mentally scarred. Taka retaliates by saying that his kidnapping victims are also mentally scarred. Kiyoshi says it was for his talent, and Taka says the same thing. Kiyoshi states that as Ultimates, they’re above the “common folk” and that it’s not their fault if some people get hurt for it. He’s also angry about how he’s ostracised for his crime while Taka is shrugged off. Shinku is anxious at all the talk of talent.
The argument comes to an end when Asuga throws stink bombs onto the floor. Asuga and Taka put on gas masks for protection while the others scattered in different directions. Shinku takes refuge outside the food court with Emilia and Mint, Emilia crying because of the lack of food. When Mint tries to comfort her, she lashes out at him, admonishing herself for being weak. Mint calms her down before Shinku interjects, Emilia scolding him for not noticing Mint was crying, even though it was the opposite. She sarcastically asks Shinku if he thinks she actually cares about their friendship, to which he says yes. She responds by telling him to shut up, then asks him if he’d like to join them in looking for alternative food sources. He agrees, and Mint proposes to ask Alora to purify some dirty water from the biodome. After some anxiousness surrounding the biodome from Shinku, the trio go in.
Emilia and Mint splash each other with water jokingly, then grab some buckets to carry it. Shinku is initially worried how they’ll be able to carry so much, and Emilia says he should worry about Mint. Mint says he’s quite strong as he used to ride his bike with “his Primrose” on the back, further clarifying Primrose is his boyfriend. He reminisces on his relationship with Primrose, fondly saying he was a troubled person who Mint helped to get better, but they broke up before the killing game started. Emilia sympathises with him as she’d been getting over a breakup. Mint seeks advice on how to get over it, but Emilia says if he was like her, he wouldn’t. Once they have the water ready, they need to get through the food court, Shinku offering himself up to be a distraction to Asuga and Taka.

Once in the food court, Shinku distracts Taka and Asuga by saying he needed cat food. Taka makes him say “I’m a little cat boy” repeatedly while Emilia and Mint sneak through the food court, rewarding him with cat food directly in his hand. Shinku then runs out to meet with Mint and Emilia, who laugh at him for his distraction idea. Shinku, embarrassed, asks them to keep it a secret, but Emilia makes no promises.
When the trio get to Alora’s dorm room, Mint eventually tells her that they need her to purify the water they’d brought. Alora initially refuses, and Emilia angrily states that she owes them for creating Mononeko’s machinery. Mint finally manages to get through to Alora by mentioning how some of the medication she created helped his little sister in relieving the symptoms of her illness, triggering a flashback of Mint conversing with his sister, Lavender, about her illness, assuring her she'll become healthy and offering her to test some of Alora's medication.

The flashback ends, Alora allowing the trio into her room and letting Shinku and Mint closely observe the process of water purification as Emilia watches from the doorway. She then shows the trio how to do it along with verbal instruction, though Shinku gradually tunes out her explanations. Alora then states she requires solitude when performing experiments, and Emilia, Mint and Shinku leave.
Their next objective is to find food, opting to go to the library. When they get there, they find Eiichi and Kotaro standing in front of the door and not letting anyone in. They explain they’re guarding the library so no one finds supplies for murder, and in her anger, Emilia points out that it was Kotaro who wasn’t paying attention when Maiko got the supplies to kill Dracul. Mint and Shinku diffuse the situation by explaining they wanted some food, and Eiichi and Kotaro let them in, keeping an eye on them.
They look for the food, Mint and Emilia having found apples and flour in there previously, but all the food was gone. Eiichi then investigates with Kotaro trailing behind him, and they too come up short. Mononeko comes through the vent, saying they’d thought to help Taka with his plan by removing all the food from the library for “extra motivation”. Eiichi asks why Mononeko appears to care about their rehabilitation when they seem so eager to show off their bad behaviours, and Mononeko replies that they wish to have as many people alive as possible, but that those ready to reoffend must be punished as a way to “weed out the parasites”. Mononeko also calls the victims weak as they couldn’t defend themselves, leading Shinku to rant about how Dracul wasn’t weak. Mononeko taunts Shinku for looking like the next person to snap, and bids them farewell until the next body discovery.

Mint, Shinku and Emilia resolve to confront Asuga about the food, finding Rei, Yui and Takiko in the hallway. They were in front of a bulletin board with a picture of Dracul smiling and playing D&D with his sisters, and a picture of Maiko smiling. Emilia questions if they have pictures ready for all the students for if they die. Rei would wonder if one of the students put the pictures up to frighten people. Takiko questions why it’s so scary, stating they’re still friends with ‘Maimai” and “Dracie”. Yui comments on how content Maiko looks in her picture, and Rei says it’s easier to separate the two sides of Maiko’s personality. Shinku’s hallucination of Maiko taunts him with how he chose the verdict, Dracul finishing the sentence with that it led to her death. Maiko then asks why Shinku let Dracul leave alone, Dracul telling him that he knew someone was planning something. Maiko finishes by telling him that it’s no wonder Ismene hates him, and Akari suddenly asks him if he regrets what he did to her.
Shinku takes a break in his dorm to lie down, leaving the others in the hallway. Rei stops him before he goes, telling him that they have full reason to blame him for what happened, sensing Shinku’s grief will overtake him soon enough. Maiko and Dracul continue to taunt him before he falls asleep.
In the dorm area the next morning, Shinku meets with Emilia and Mint, the former having seen Asuga near her dorm and wanting to talk. They cautiously enter Asuga’s dorm and ask her if she can tell Taka to loosen up his plan, and she’d respond that she’s trying, but that Taka’s convinced the only way to reduce the risk of killing is to have all the secrets out. Shinku trusts Asuga in her knowledge of Taka’s condition and plan. Rei then knocks on Asuga’s door, telling them he has a proposal to make and asks them to meet him in the main dorms.
They find everyone else gathered in the dorms and Rei makes his proposal: a hypnosis show. Rei explains he could hypnotise Taka into stopping what he’s doing. Takiko is worried he would take away Taka’s free will, but Rei tells her that he can’t make someone do something that goes against their morals. Asuga pipes up that if he did a show Taka would want to participate out of fear of missing out. Kiyoshi questions the legitimacy of the show, alluding to the tragedy of Yui’s party, who then deflects the blame to Shinku for not going with Dracul. Mint then stands up for Shinku. Some of them had reservations about security, so Eiichi offers that he and Kotaro guard the doors so no one sneaks anything in. Emilia offers that she and Mint help Rei set up the show, and Rei appoints Kiyoshi to bring rope in case people get violent. Shinku thanks Mint for standing up for him before he’s dragged away by Emilia.
Shinku finds that Alora had finished purifying the water and grabs a drink bottle as Takiko does the same. The pair talk about Alora, and Takiko mentions that she and Alora “go way back” as her big sister helped test her medication to pay for medical bills. She offers him some konpeito candies, and he eats some as she says her goodbyes. Shinku thinks about helping set up the show, but is interrupted by his hallucination of Dracul reminding him what happened the last time he did that. They taunt him with the prospect of planting supplies to murder and escape, and Shinku frantically apologises. He falls backward into Lyra, asking for help, and Akari asks if he deserves it. Lyra hands him a bottle of anti-psychotic pills and he questions whether he should blame himself. Lyra tells him not to, and that Ismene had troubles as well.

Rei's Show
When Shinku goes to the lecture hall for the show, Kotaro gives him a pat down for weapons and gives him the all-clear before Shinku steps inside. Everyone tries their best to socialise except for Yui, so Shinku talks with her. She tells him she’s not talking with people as they’d bring up how her party turned out. Their conversation ends, so Shinku went to Ismene. He apologises for his actions that led to Dracul’s death before going to leave, but Ismene stops him. She thanks him for apologising and standing up for her in the trial, not wanting to add to the guilt Shinku was facing. Lyra interrupts their talk, telling them the show was about to begin. Ismene asks to sit with her.
Rei starts the show, calling for three volunteers. Taka immediately does so, and Rei asks Alora and Eiichi to join. All three of them take to the stage, putting their arms forward with their index fingers up upon Rei’s request. They focus on the space between their fingers, and Rei places magnets between them. He instructs them to sense the magnets pull their fingers closer as he snaps his fingers, making them sleepier. They drop into a trance, and Rei tells Taka to forget his plan to hide the food and be a cat before whispering something in his ear. Taka immediately starts acting like a cat. Rei whispers something in Alora’s ear before telling her she’s a dog, and Alora immediately acts like a dog. Rei whispers something into Eiichi’s ear, then tells him he wants to hug every cat and dog he sees, prompting Eiichi to hug Taka and Alora. Rei then asks the audience if they wish to wake them up. With a click of his fingers, the trio woke up.

Eiichi released them. Taka was now unable to speak, and Alora is suddenly very peppy, asking Lyra to dance. Alora gushes about how beautiful life is, and Lyra questions what was going on. Kiyoshi then restrains her with rope, angrily admonishing Rei for changing his muse. Kiyoshi resolves to keep Alora with him until the hypnosis wears off. Yui wonders what changed about Eiichi, and Rei says that he “must’ve forgotten”. Asuga says she’ll unlock the food and won’t let the now-silent Taka leave her side, and Kiyoshi leaves with Alora. The group then eats dinner together, and Shinku goes to bed feeling content.

Second Body Discovery

After waking up, he finds a note on the floor of his dorm, reading “I know what you did to her, meet me in the medicine storage”. Shinku obeys the note and heads to the medicine storage. He finds Emilia there, looking very angry. She says his sister’s name, then explains that her sister had also gone missing, and Emilia had thrown everything away to try and get her back. When he tries to apologise, Emilia brandishes a knife, telling him not to give fake apologies when it’s his fault Akari went missing. He tries to reason with her, but she says he let his sister get hurt. When he says he did care about Akari, she doesn’t believe him, lunging at him with the knife just as Mint walks in and protects Shinku. Emilia tells him to move, but he refuses, telling her about a note he received that said she knew something about Lavender and being unable to save her. Emilia grows angry at Mint, saying she’s sick of people who hurt people who put their faith in them. Mint pleads with her to stop, but she instead lunges at the both of them.

A Body Discovery Announcement soon sounds, knocking Emilia out of her anger-induced trance. Mint puts the knife out of her reach. The trio run out in search of the body, finding Asuga and Yui in the hall. Asuga mentions she was in Lab 1 due to a note she received, and Shinku figures everyone got a note. There were a lot of people around the lecture hall, so Shinku goes to investigate, finding Eiichi’s dead body hanging by rope against the wall, and Taka lying on the ground.
The screen then cuts to a flashback of Eiichi talking with someone about a Mononeko unit that stopped working after someone visited him. The person he’s talking to asks if they can have it, and he says yes. They then ask him if he’d seen the news about all the Ultimates being exposed as criminals, and he comforts them by saying it’s not either one of them. They then start to ask how “he’d like to be-” before the connection shuts off.

Everyone is shocked at the scene, and Kotaro runs to Eiichi in despair and lashes out at the others in anger. Yui and Asuga walk in, Asuga reacting similarly to Kotaro and holding Taka in her arms. Taka then wakes up, still unable to speak. Takiko, Ismene and Rei then come in. Asuga angrily tells Rei to undo the hypnosis. Rei tells her to take it as practice for if the smarter among them die, and she goes to patch up Taka’s injuries in the infirmary.
Mint and Emilia walk in, both shocked at the turn of events. Ismene questions their lateness, but Shinku tells her he was with them. They mention the notes they received, Yui saying she received one and met with Asuga. Ismene also received a note, as did Takiko. Lyra got one too, and says Kotaro also did before Emilia mentions she got one and called Shinku. Kiyoshi and Alora didn’t get one. Mononeko then appears, scolding them for not investigating before leaving. Alora rushes out in search of Mononeko, Kiyoshi going after her.

Investigation
When investigating Eiichi’s body, Shinku finds bruises all over his skin and his fingers covered in blood. Kotaro thinks he fought his assailant. Shinku also sees small cut strings around Eiichi’s arms tied to the spotlights and other objects. When he talks with Takiko, she points out that one of the spotlights was at a different angle during the hypnosis show and was now pointing to Eiichi’s torso. She wonders why the spotlight had been moved.
When speaking with Ismene, she’d tell him to investigate the vent by getting on her shoulders. He sees a piece of fabric clogging it. They get into an argument involving Shinku’s indirect involvement in Dracul’s death, and Shinku then leaves. Emilia notices Mint’s gardening scissors on the ground. When he sees them, Shinku asks her if she still wishes to kill him, and she responds she doesn’t know. Emilia calls him a sister killer, and he shouts that he didn’t kill Akari. With that, Emilia goes back to normal and hides Mint’s scissors in her pocket.
When talking with Mint, they discuss the spotlight that was used to knock Taka unconscious. Mint points out it didn’t have any strings attached to it, indicating it was used at the last minute. Shinku would lastly talk with Yui, who was standing in front of a curtain. She notes some footprints on the curtain, saying someone climbed up. She calls for Kotaro and lifts him up, allowing him to stand on top of the wall. When up there, he sees empty water bottles and a maintenance door that leads to the rest of the lab through the pipes. He is overcome with the urge to jump off the pipes, leading Yui to rush up and pull him back to the lecture hall.
Shinku then takes Kotaro to the infirmary, finding Taka and Asuga struggling to communicate. Shinku explains why he bought Kotaro, and Asuga then tearfully rants about how everyone throws their problems onto her even when someone just died. Shinku then offers to take him somewhere else, but Asuga tells him it’s okay. Asuga then tells Shinku the clocks in all the rooms were messed up. Shinku wonders where to investigate next, and Kotaro points him to talk with Lyra. When walking past the sterilisation room, Shinku hears Alora splashing around in the water and Kiyoshi supervising her. Shinku talks with Alora, who isn’t very helpful at first, but when she splashes water at Kiyoshi, he notices a beige substance in the water. He then gets a sample of the water for Alora to later analyse.
Shinku’s last objective is to find Lyra, so he goes to her room. Her room is empty but messy, and Shinku finds everyone’s MonoPads on her bed. Under her bed, he finds a Hope’s Peak yearbook. He flicks to the page of her class, but she's not there; the Ultimate Debater listed is a boy named Callum Nilson. He’s then interrupted by Mononeko on the monitors, telling them to come to the elevator to begin the class trial.

Class Trial
Rei leads the beginning of the trial, asking where everyone was directed to due to the notes. They all explain, finding everyone had an alibi. Taking note of the times, they find the culprit must've been on Lab side 1, further narrowed down to Asuga and Yui as Ismene, Rei and Takiko stayed in the infirmary too long to commit the murder. Due to their meeting running later, the discoloured water being from pale foundation Asuga wouldn't use, and Taka's witnessing of the murder while being unable to commit it himself as he couldn't speak, Yui is voted as the killer.

After Yui is voted, she laments the loss of her ideal fate of surviving the killing game and being a star. She explains her history with Eiichi as best friends and eventually falling for him, and her increasingly unstable behaviours towards him when he rejected her. When he rejected her one too many times, she decided she needed a new “prince”, and killed him. Lyra is quick to judge her for it, so Yui retaliates by exposing she’s actually the Ultimate Con Artist.
Mononeko then shows the newest trio of crimes: Lyra, Emilia and Yui. Lyra’s crime was that she was part of an organised crime group, specialising in selling narcotics to people for money. Emilia’s crime was arson, burning down her father’s hospital and causing hundreds of casualties. Yui’s crime was her actions towards Eiichi; stalking, physical and sexual harassment, even calling a swat team on him.

Execution

Despite her anger, Yui is executed in “Chaque rose a son epine”. She conducts an orchestra of Mononekos for an audience while wrapped up in thorny vines. As the show goes on, the audience becomes agitated and throws rocks at the Mononekos, destroying some of them. The more dissatisfaction the audience feels, the tighter the vines around Yui get, a vine around her neck tightening until it decapitates her.
After the execution, a hostile argument quickly breaks out over everyone’s crimes, Shinku eventually having enough of it and pleading that everyone accept that they’ve all done bad things. He pleads to try and work towards redemption, and some of the others agree, but Rei posits that that kind of optimism is what the mastermind behind their situation would say.

The screen then cuts to Takiko sitting in front of a military guard. She states her name and Ultimate, and the guard tells her she’ll start work to “benefit them” from tomorrow. He then wonders why the government picked Takiko to send, as she wasn’t very knowledgeable of her objective, and the screen fades out.

### Chapter 3: Tinker, Tailor, Liar, Traitor

 Shinku walks to Eiichi’s house with Akari, Dracul and Maiko. Eiichi had shut himself away, and they ponder how to get him to come out. When they get there, they see Yui at the door. She tells them he’d only been opening his door for food, so she appoints Shinku to get some. Once he does so, Maiko rings the doorbell. The door opens, and the world goes red. Akari taunts him about his past actions.

He takes one of Lyra’s pills, then is revealed to be standing in front of the bulletin board. Two more pictures had been added, one of Eiichi smiling with a young girl, and one of Yui smiling creepily. Emilia soon joins him, and he questions her about the photos, but she snidely tells him if she wished to look at the photos, she would. However, she doesn’t want him to leave. Shinku asks her about her crime, and she says Mint won’t talk with her anymore. Emilia eventually leaves.
Shinku then goes to the food court, finding Taka and Asuga making ‘Sugi Juice’, a mix of milk, chocolate, vinegar and tomatoes. Shinku is terrified to find it’s delicious. When he questions why Asuga cooks, she responds it’s because she cooks for her circus to be a good big sister, saying her younger brother is the one person she’s let down.
The screen cuts to a flashback of Taka announcing the winner of a beauty pageant, and Asuga’s brother’s stage name, Kohana Shinjushitsu. Kohana starts to give a thanks speech, but changes it, giving a speech about finding a way out of a dark life, but his mother cuts the camera. Asuga is fired up by the end of the flashback, saying she wants to escape to help him. Taka then says he has someone he wants to escape for, and another flashback starts, showing Taka in his room, talking with his pet fish, Man. Taka acts like Man is speaking with him in comfort.
The flashback ends, and Taka laments the fact the thing he’s had the most connection with is a fish. He becomes despondent, explaining that he’s so eccentric because he’s desperate for a younger audience. He then comes to terms with his shortsightedness towards his actions and their results, telling Asuga he loves her for being around. He then resolves to apologise for his actions, telling Shinku to gather everyone in the hallway.
Once he gathers everyone, Taka announces his apology for his actions to the others. As soon as he’s finished talking, the ground splits in half and the ceiling collapses. Shinku is trapped on one side of the debris along with Kotaro, Rei, Asuga, Takiko and Mint. Alora, Kiyoshi, Emilia, Lyra, Taka and Ismene are trapped on the other side. They decide to set up beds in the food court, and Takiko reveals Monocoins in her bag she can use to trade for sheets. She explains she found something secret, and that Mononeko gave the money to her to keep quiet. They all break up to do their own thing; Mint heads to the biodome, Rei and Kotaro go to the food court, and Shinku goes to the fitness centre to check on his washing bedsheets.
The dryer in the fitness centre doesn’t work. When he goes to hit it, he’s stopped by a hallucination telling him not to hit it as he might hurt his hand. The hallucination doesn’t remember who they are, but wants to keep him safe, calling themselves “Friend”. Shinku then heads to the food court, where the others have set the beds up. When he tries to sleep later that night, his insomnia makes it difficult, so Friend tells him to imagine an island filled with cats, counting as he goes along. With that, Shinku falls asleep.
The screen cuts to Lyra’s point of view on the other side of the lab, remembering how she became involved with her organised crime group. The flashback cuts to her group convening in the library, eventually deciding to room in pairs. Taka and Kiyoshi room in Lab 1, Alora and Emilia in Lab 2, and Ismene and Lyra room in the infirmary. Ismene drags Lyra to the infirmary, then becomes very serious, pointing out Lyra had been distant. Lyra states Rei had tried to protect her since the trial, and that she’s scared to be around Ismene because she believes Rei would hurt her, thinking she was trying to hurt Lyra. Once night fell, Lyra is met with a hallucination of Yui. Yui taunts her with her past sins, mentioning Callum’s death, and the screen fades to a flashback of Lyra’s past.
The flashback starts with a boy, Callum Nilson, getting mugged by a man and a woman. Lyra jumps in, and the woman recognises the symbol of Lyra’s gang. The pair run off, and Lyra tells Callum she’ll explain who she is if he gets noodles.
The screen shifts back to Shinku’s point of view, having been forced away from his writing to accompany Asuga in her quest to find money from the secret in the biodome. Takiko stops them, not letting them through unless they pay a fee. Shinku and Asuga manage to get in and find Mint, who points out there are two doors to the biodome. Asuga posits the secret Takiko found is in the cave near the grotto, but the trio find nothing but plants. Asuga then dives into the pond, Shinku following her. She pranks the others by faking getting dragged underwater, then leans against a rock wall. The rock wall gives way behind her, showing a door with a keyhole. Mononeko then suddenly shows up, threatening to kill all three of them if they didn’t leave.
Mint proposes the door is a way for someone “with more power” to get from side to side. He also offers to look out for anyone going to investigate there in case of a traitor, to which Rei suddenly shows up and theorises one of them could be the mastermind. Rei leaves, and Asuga and Shinku leave shortly after. Shinku then hangs out with someone, but after he’s done, Friend voices their concerns, saying the others would leave Shinku and hurt him. When Shinku angrily asks Friend if they want their time in the spotlight, Friend goes quiet, wondering why the mention of a spotlight hurts them. Shinku then backtracks his anger, slipping back into blaming himself for Dracul and Eiichi.
The screen fades into another of Lyra’s flashbacks, where two of Callum’s friends, Amie and Micha, interrogate him about a ‘friend’ he brought to their debate club, referring to Lyra. When Lyra shows up, Micha greets her as “Pippi”, and mentions she transferred to their school from Holland last term. Callum wishes to talk with Lyra alone, and she explains that the real ‘Pippi’ was meant to study there, but wished to travel Europe instead, so Lyra acted as her.
Lyra then wakes up greeted by Ismene, who orders Lyra to accompany her on a patrol of the lab to check everyone’s alive. They first go to the lecture hall, then the library to eat. Once at the library, Lyra explains her past to Ismene, including getting kicked out and meeting Callum. When Callum went missing, she attended Hope’s Peak in his place using forged documents, but a few months in her forgery was revealed, and she was forced to act as a double agent. She blames herself for Callum and Sachiko’s deaths and Takiko’s suffering, leading to the hallucination of Yui tormenting her with her habit of getting people around her killed.
Ismene yells, knocking her out of her hallucination, and their talk ends. They go to Lab room 2, finding Taka bothering Alora. Lyra and Ismene take Taka off Alora’s hands. Once out of the room, Ismene calls out to Kiyoshi, who had been hiding behind a doorway. Ismenes propose to have a gathering to keep tabs on all the people in their group, Kiyoshi helpfully connecting the idea to the parties that had gotten people killed.
If Lyra agrees to the gathering, Taka posits a spa day, including makeovers. Alora and Emilia do Kiyoshi’s makeup despite his complaints about the lipstick, and Lyra does Ismene’s nails and makeup. Once Lyra’s done with Ismene’s nails, she moves on to Kiyoshi, who further complains about having “his human rights compromised”. Soon, everyone but Alora had been given a makeover.
After the gathering, Lyra goes to the infirmary to sleep. She moves to Ismene’s bed, engaging in their usual banter until Ismene mentions being unknowing if the Lyra she’s talking to is real. Lyra responds that she’d lie about herself, then use another substance or person to quell her self-hatred. Her affection for Ismene, however, might be real, terrifying her. She then asks Ismene if her affection towards her is replacement for Dracul, but Ismene disproves those thoughts. Ismene then resolves they help each other through their addictions. Lyra jokingly refers to herself as “Lyra Circe”, and the pair’s flirting become more charged, until Taka bursts in the room complaining about Kiyoshi’s sleeping habits.
Taka slides between them, the trio quickly falling asleep. Lyra remembers meeting Sachiko in a drug deal, pointing out how Lyra takes any money Sachiko earns to feed Takiko. She then points out Lyra’s Hope’s Peak jacket and orders Lyra to meet her at the park the next day.
The screen then cuts to Shinku in the medicine storage, having found another bottle of pills to help him. Friend says that if Shinku really didn’t hate them, he wouldn’t take the pills, manipulating him by using his habit of blaming himself for the deaths. Asuga comes in to check on him, Shinku harshly stopping her from doing so. Asuga leaves, and Shinku does as well.
Shinku wanders to the food court, finding Kotaro. Kotaro gets him some tea to help his mind, but Shinku is suspicious of the tea after Kotaro starts acting weird. He calls the others cruel and praises Eiichi, guilt-tripping him into drinking the tea.
If Shinku decides to drink the tea, the second bad ending of the game is triggered. Shinku’s immediately met with pain and falls unconscious. The screen then shows Kotaro talking to an unknown someone who says he “just killed all of them”, mentioning Kotaro forged a suicide note. This implies Kotaro is the sole survivor of a class trial after having framed Shinku’s murder as a suicide and getting everyone executed. Kotaro pleads with them to let him leave, but the unknown person resolves to do the killing game again, asking Kotaro if “he would like to be a-” before an ending card shows. This ending is called “New Little Lamb”.
If he chooses not to drink the tea, Kotaro tells him to drink it as it would get him killed. Rei then walks in, Shinku explaining what had happened. Rei then posits the psychological question of who’s to blame for the tea murder; Kotaro who brewed it, Rei who gave it, or Shinku who drank it. Shinku then drinks the tea, only to find it was orange juice. Rei had slipped a cup of orange juice when he picked it up, and tells Kotaro he’ll guide him through the lab from now on. Friend asks Shinku why he did what he did, but Shinku doesn't know.
After hanging out with someone, Shinku’s in the food court, his hallucinations telling him to “join them”. Akari questions if he’s “running again,” prompting the screen to switch to Lyra’s point of view. Lyra reminisces her relationship with Sachiko, a flashback appearing of the pair in a fancy restaurant. Lyra lies and says they got engaged, getting them a free table and meal. She then wakes up to Taka shouting. Taka and Ismene had gone on patrol, finding everyone alive.
Ismene and Lyra later go on an evening patrol. Before they enter any of the rooms, Ismene confesses she missed having Lyra accompany her. While they were talking, Lyra smelled drug gas, rushing Ismene into the lecture hall. When Ismene goes in, the door locks behind her. Lyra rushes to the library, the door locking as soon as she was inside. Mononeko was on top of a bookshelf, and even they didn’t know what was going on. They explain the gas came through the vents, but that it was only on their side of the lab. When Lyra asks if they’re powerless, Yui mentions how familiar the situation is for Lyra, and the screen goes into a flashback of Lyra repeating Sachiko’s name in distress before being caught by Mr Shedo, implying Lyra’s remembering the time she found Sachiko dead.
The screen fades to the other side of the lab, this time in Asuga’s point of view. She walks into the food court, finding a note Shinku left, assuming it’s a love confession. She takes a look at it, finding it’s a note saying “I’m finally going to do it. I’m finally going to help. I’m going to repent. Goodbye, everyone. Please try to forgive me.” She rushes out of the food court, finding Rei and saying “it might be too late”. Rei immediately understands and goes to help her look. She finds Mint alone in the cave in the biodome. She frantically tells him, and the pair rush out, searching through the trash room and fitness centre, but are unable to find Shinku. Rei can’t find him in the hallway, and Mint can’t find him in the shop either. Kotaro comes in asking what’s going on, but Rei points out they hadn’t checked the medicine storage.
It then switches to Shinku’s point of view, hearing banging on the other side of the door. Friend tells him not to listen, and Dracul, Maiko and Akari tell him to join them. Asuga then suddenly appears, slapping the pills out of Shinku’s hands. He shouts that he deserves it, he gets attached to people who die and is ashamed of what he sees in the mirror. Asuga tells him they wouldn’t want him to die and be ashamed, gripping his shoulders and snapping him out of it.
He questions what he was doing, saying he hadn’t been well for a while. Asuga and Mint take him to the cave to relax. When they get to there, they find Emilia’s body tangled up in vines in the pond and a bloodstain on her head. Mint and Shinku are in disbelief and Asuga tearfully questions how she got to their side of the lab. Mononeko sounds the Body Discovery Announcement, another announcement playing right after.
The screen switches to Lyra in the library after the gas clears. She exits the library to go to the lecture hall, but is stopped by Alora in the hallway, telling her to come with. Alora leads her to a door and opens it, and the pair see Taka’s dead body in a chamber filled with water and a model of a monstrous water creature. Alora tells her to get someone else to trigger the announcement, but the Body Discovery Announcement for Emilia plays. They discover there’s a second body.
The screen fades to black, an unknown person saying “I did it.” They also “miss [someone]” but “that’s the nature of these things.” They then tell another unknown person that “[they] agreed to be the traitor” before the screen cuts out.

## Killing Game

### Rules

2. If you wish to escape the lab you must murder one of your fellow classmates and get away with it in a class trial.
3. Once a murder occurs an investigation shall occur. a short time after that a class trial will commence, participation in these trials is required.
4. If the correct blackened is chosen in a class trial, only the blackened will be executed and the rest of you shall continue your treatment.
5. If the incorrect blackened is chosen in a class trial, all other patients shall be disposed of & the blackened may escape.
6. In the case of multiple blackeneds in quick succession, only the first blackened will be executed.
7. Failure to vote in trial will lead to serious injuries.
8. You may not dig up a grave in the garden under any circumstances.
9. Attacking your docter shall lead to your crime being instantly revealed and immense punishment.
10. A **Body Discovery Announcement** will occur when 3 people have seen the body.
11. You will get one Monopad, if a patient damages their Monopad then the food supply will be cut off for a day.
12. Robbing from the Monoshop shall result in your crime instantly revealed.
13. You are strictly prohibited from smashing any of the test tubes from leftover experiments in the laboratory.
14. Rules can be added as Mononeko wishes.

### Death Order

 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3

**Taka Takahiro**Unknown by TBA

## Creation and Development

### Pre-Development History

Early development of Danganronpa: Antebellum began in 2019, and at various points in time, Rippilie has shared early story elements and scrapped character designs from this time. For example, a cruise ship, a Greek temple, an airship, and a doll house were all locations considered for the story; a character who was the Ultimate Makeup Artist and painted paintings using makeup was to be included, as was a character who would have been the Ultimate Director as well as the mastermind of the game, and an Ultimate Gamer. A plot device involving the "haze gas" mentioned in early material, which would have given each member of the cast unique supernatural abilities, was also abandoned early on.

On July 11th, 2020, it was announced that beta designs for all of the cast aside from Shinku had been created and were then shared as a proof of concept, with the note that they would be altered and revised in the future. Over the course of the next month, the character designs were finalized, including Shinku's. A casting call for voice actors was launched On October 21st, 2020, and concluded on December 1st, 2020. On March 3rd, 2021, it was announced that development on the prologue had concluded, with a trailer being released three days later, on March 6th, 2021.

### Release

The prologue was officially launched on GameJolt on March 11th, 2021, and a YouTube walkthrough was uploaded to the official YouTube channel on March 24th, 2021.

### Release Dates and Versions

 Chapter 3 (Daily Life)October 28, 2022DOWNLOAD | * Version 1.0: First release.
* Version 1.1: Updated Free Time Events, Added 2 new endings, Added 5 extra scenes.

## Videos

Danganronpa Antebellum- Official Trailer (A Danganronpa Fangame)**(Released: March 6, 2021)**Danganronpa Antebellum Prologue RELEASE**(Released: March 11, 2021)**
## Soundtrack

Beautiful Corruption- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: March 7, 2022)**Covalent- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: March 13, 2022)**WW91ciBmYXVsdA==- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 3, 2022)**Ionic- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 6, 2022)**Results- Inconclusive- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 17, 2022)**Put on the cat ears- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 20, 2022)**She won't forget- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 21, 2022)**Don't Deny Fate- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 22, 2022)**That goddamn cat again- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 23, 2022)**At Your Service!- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 24, 2022)**Before The War- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 25, 2022)**Jpeg Junkie- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 26, 2022)**Climax Reasoning- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 27, 2022)**Taka's Treacherous Tune™- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 28, 2022)**Controlled Reaction- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 29, 2022)**It'll be okay- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: April 30, 2022)**Hymenaeus- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 2, 2022)**Useless Bliss- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 3, 2022)**Practice Makes Perfect- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 4, 2022)**Pygmalion- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 5, 2022)**Arson is a girl's best friend- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 6, 2022)**I haven't slept yet- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 7, 2022)**Falling star of the show- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 8, 2022)**The stars are so pretty- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 9, 2022)**Her theme- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 10, 2022)**Rent a braincell- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 11, 2022)**Redeem this corrupted world- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: May 13, 2022)**Trial Theme- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: June 19, 2022)**Hangman's Rush- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: June 25, 2022)**Trial Theme (Heat up)- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: July 8, 2022)**Logic Rush- Danganronpa- Antebellum (Fanmade OST)**(Released: July 22, 2022)**

## Trivia

* The titles of each chapter are all loosely related to children's games and nursery rhymes.
	+ The title of Chapter 1, "Finders, Keepers, Losers, Reapers," is a reference to Finders Keepers, an adage primarily used by children meaning that whoever finds something lost is entitled to hold on to it.
	+ The title of Chapter 2, "Ring Around the Posers," is a reference to Ring Around the Rosie, a nursery rhyme.
	+ The title of Chapter 3, "Tinker, Tailor, Liar, Traitor," is a reference to Tinker, Tailor, a counting game used to decide who is "it" in a game of tag.

## External Links

* **Official Gamejolt:** Danganronpa: Antebellum
* **Official YouTube:** @danganronpaantebellum
* **Official Twitter:** @DanganronpaAnte
* **Official Instagram:** @danganronpa\_antebellum

## References

1. ↑ **Danganronpa: Antebellum on Gamejolt**: Official Synopsis