Zenkichi Hirabayashi

***Zenkichi Hirabayashi*** was a character featured in the longterm ***Danganronpa: NIHILMANIA***. He was the ***14th participant*** and served as the ***Chapter One Blackened***.

## Personality

Zenkichi is a very loud, passionate individual. Though he may not be the brightest, he certainly isn't an idiot, either. Zen tries his best to be positive and outgoing, but is easily frightened when faced with danger and quickly panics. In most situations, Zen is kind and friendly to those around him, yet he tends to get slightly aggressive if faced with pressure. He has expressed interest in things such as skateboarding or roller-skating, but despite his extroverted nature he does not appear to have any friends outside of one being briefly mentioned.

Overall, Zenkichi appears to be extremely loud and excitable, if not a little cowardly, and someone who tries to give their all in anything they do.

## Danganronpa: NIHILMANIA

### ***Prologue*** - *The Hosts are Proud to Introduce...*

**Zenkichi Hirabayashi** awakens inside a coffin alongside everyone else, panicking near-instantly before pushing the door open and realizing that he was in-fact NOT buried alive, or locked inside at all. He steps out of the coffin and joins everyone else in their confusion.

Zenkichi is quick to deny the idea of sharing names, instead opting to continue panicking and then making an attempt to steal a painting stuck to the wall. He fails, of course, and quickly gives up.

While everyone brainstorms ideas on how to escape the room they're trapped in, Zenkichi suggests for everyone to scream at the top of their lungs all at once in an attempt to catch someone's attention. His idea is quickly shot down by the majority, but **Emira das Geheimnis** tells him that she liked the idea and wants to employ him. Zenkichi, jumping at the job opportunity, shares his name immediately despite being one of the few to protest the idea. As Zen shares his name, his coffin number, 14, is engraved on the wall. This gets everyone to share their names, and eventually the door opens once everyone has introduced.

Zenkichi begins to follow Emira, his new boss, around as they leave, accompanying her along with **Kumi Ayukawa** and **Seele Vollerei**. The participants enter the auditorium and the hosts soon reveal themselves, briefly knocking Emira unconscious for snooping around the stage. Zenkichi, Kumi, and Seele all attempt to catch her, yet Seele is the only one to succeed while Zen and Kumi end up creating a dogpile.

The hosts, **Anthony "The Sun" Almond** and **Fumihito "The Moon" Kawashima** (and later **Tân "The Star" Futsūko**), reveal the situation and explain the killing game, that being "you must kill someone and get away with it in order to leave". Zenkichi obviously quickly panics and predicts the worst, and hearing other participants openly consider the terms only makes it worse. However, Kumi suggests sticking together to avoid death, and Emira adds that it's like "moving in a pact like wolves". This successfully helps Zen calm down enough.

Anthony accidentally tosses a grenade onstage, mistaking it for a smoke grenade, which causes everyone to leave the auditorium through the fire exit. Zenkichi inhales a lot of smoke, but manages to escape as well. He rejoins Emira, Kumi and **Karma Andrade**, and the four ascend the staircase into the city streets.

Or, at least.. ***something resembling a city***.

## Quotes

*"Oh, no! It's JESUS!"* - In the prologue. During the hosts' introductions upon hearing the word "Enlightenment".

*"We either gotta DIE or play SHERLOCK HOLMES??"* - In the prologue. Hearing the killing game's main rules.

*"I'd rather be a wolf than SUPER DEAD."* - In the prologue. Panicking, but less. But still panicking.

*"Haha. Hahaha. Heh. Anyway."* - In Chapter One. Mischievous giggling while doing a miniscule amount of tomfoolery in the doctor's office.

*" :( "* - In Chapter One. :(

*"...little gay square?"* - In Chapter One. You don't get an explanation for this one.

## Trivia

* The name Zenkichi (全吉) means good luck. His surname, Hirabayashi (平林), means peaceful forest.
* Zenkichi's voice claim is Ace Markey from Danganronpa: Despair Time.
* Zenkichi actually wears a pink hoodie underneath his leather jacket, but Ray was too lazy to fix it.
* There was a reason Zenkichi's birthday was made August 4th, but **Ray forgot** and **cannot find it**.