Satomi Aoba

**Satomi Aoba**  (青葉 さとみ) is a character featured in the light novel *Danganronpa: Togami*, being a major character in the first volume that tries to survive during the World Domination Proclamation. Satomi is a famous young woman who was once a part of Sayaka Maizono's idol group. She and the other members were the closest people to Sayaka, which is why they became Captives for part of *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc* 's first motive.

## History

### **Prior Life**

Satomi used to be part of a nationally famous idol group alongside Sayaka Maizono. Although how exactly the idol group was formed is unknown, Sayaka stated that she had done many bad things in order to become an idol, so it is implied that this goes for the whole group. While the group was popular, Satomi's rank in popularity was four out of five, making her one of the least popular of her group.

One day, Satomi left Japan to head to a town in Prague. Unfortunately, it was during that time where the World Domination Proclamation begun, and by the time Satomi had arrived, the town itself would have been left, seemingly, empty.

### World Domination Proclamation

Arriving in the town, she would eventually spot's a male shut-in, otherwise known as the Moleman running. Believing he was an enemy, she attacks him with her suitcase. During the attack, the Moleman eventually manages to kick at Satomi, stopping it and getting her to see reason. From there, the two eat a meal together while trying to talk things over.

Apologizing for the attack, Satomi asks what happened to the town, in which he explains that he does not know, the two then conversing for a while before Satomi explains what has happened while he was asleep; Bringing up Byakuya Togami and his *World Domination Proclamation*, stating that if no one kills him, he is going to take over the world. To add in his 'proof', he crashed a satellite into an island in the Mediterranean. The Moleman goes on a rant on Byakuya's character and his attitude, then wishing he was enrolled in Hope's Peak, stating he has no talent, but a dream when asked by Satomi. She then relayed the events, with the Moleman stating that he was asleep when the 'World Domination Proclamation' was declared.

The Moleman then raises three questions: Why target in the middle of nowhere? Why did the townspeople disappear, and why did Satomi hit him? When he asks, Satomi replies she's on a trip to forget about her broken heart and attacked him because she wasn't sure if he was an enemy. As for why the townspeople disappeared, she was on the verge of investigating for it.

Satomi then leaves, with the Moleman tagging along to check where the townspeople vanished off to. Breaking into a house, they both entered a room, not before a crucified student was found suspended with scissors on a wall. The same search for other houses yielded the same result, with a student each killed in a similar fashion. Satomi concluded that the first victim was like Genocide Jack's doing, while the Moleman remarks that the second's was in line with a killer under the name of 'Stabbin' Jack'. The Moleman notes that the police and even the Zero Class Detectives registered under the Detective Library were unable to solve those cases, and rumors say that some of the cases were passed onto the JDC- Japan Detective's Club, or the ER3 Comprehensive Research Center. He notes it was likely this was all done as a result of a copycat killer.

They later investigated fifteen more houses and found fifteen more corpses killed in a bizarrely different fashion-, with the only similarity being a locked room scenario. They then left to an empty supermarket, going wild with their grabbed supplies. Satomi initially wanted to part ways with the Moleman, believing her had no use to her. Desperate, the Moleman insisted that he knew the geography and how to drive, as a way to prove his worth to her. Satomi suggested that they go elsewhere, but then he claims he has no car to transport her with, but knew how to resolve it. Nearing an old Toyota Corolla, he bent some wire into a fish hook shape, using that as a tool to unlock the car and start it up, not before a sound emerges from the distance, with Satomi following it. It seemed that the noise was a couple of children discussing about dismembering a corpse. As they reached the European styled room, the rest of the group switch places as they introduce themselves, going by the name of ' Hope's Peak Academy Affiliated Junior High School Mystery Research Society' which consists of the Club President (SJHSL Mystery Maniac), Vice President (SJHSL Mystery Fan) and a girl that acts as the club's Treasurer.

The Moleman laughs at this, stating that although Hope's Peak has other schools affiliated with it, even after 'graduating' from those affiliated schools there still is the barrier of being scouted, and even still, many go onto a completely normal high school afterwards. The kids of the group are perplexed by his laughter, and Satomi speaks up, asking if they are related to the terrorism. They explain that Byakuya is like an upperclassman to them, and how they can spread 'salvation' to the world by doing what they do. They also explained that they copy crimes from mystery novels as well. To top it all off, they concluded that they kill for their sake of the 'Operation: Global Locked Room Transformation'. Their motives utterly baffles the Moleman for how utterly insane it was.

As the Club President starts to talk about how they will kill the two, the Vice President interrupts him. The Vice Prez identifies Satomi as being an idol from Sayaka Maizono's group and starts gushing about her. He starts going on about her popularity, in a rather insensitive manner, but Satomi is able to kepe her cool (though the Moleman believes she's just used to people badmouthing her). The Moleman then takes the distraction as an opportunity as flips the table in order to make their escape. Satomi remarks that what the Moleman did was rather cool, with him internally agreeing with her.

Later on, they are still driving off in the car, listening to Satomi Aoba's CD recording of 'It's Gotta Take Some Skill to Be an Idol', a song that Satomi was particularly proud of given that it was the time (though Moleman can't stand given its theme on talent). Satomi notes its the first time she's been on center stage and it was to counterattack against other idol groups like S-nery and Mix Juice. They've been on the run for two hours, stopping by supermarkets and hospitals in search for life, only to find none. The general plan for the Moleman is to head to the airport, though Satomi is somewhat unsure the airport would be running. When they talk about potential destinations, Satomi mused on how she broke the rules in order to leave, not caring about her destination, but got wrapped up in the Proclamation as a result.

They go into talks about dreams for the future, with Satomi being a believer in them and believing without the drive of jealousy against those already in high ranks, one can't make their dreams come true. In turn, the Moleman was quite disillusioned and notes that while Satomi is clearly great as an idol, she must not have as much talent for it compared to the likes of Sayaka and the two above her in terms of rank. There's silence, but Satomi chuckles and states she never once thought of herself as inferior. He muses over this, believing his life as a 'moleman' was better since he couldn't be hurt. However, he contemplates that if the world is in disarray at the moment, he could theoretically do whatever he pleased. Yet, he was still driving safely. He notes that it wasn't because of laws, but rather because he wanted to.

The Moleman contemplated on his past and the concept of regret. He looks back on his life, stating that he had his hopes 'crushed' by Hope's Peak. He used to believe in his own talent, waiting patiently for the opportunity, even dropping out to begin the process over again. On the day of his graduation ceremony, a talent scout arrived, only to pass by him and extend their opportunity to a first year who then was enrolled as the SHSL Cook. Satomi then repeated her advice to him, stating that his lack of willpower was the problem.

Following hearing a press conference from Hope's Peak Academy on the proclamation, the Moleman states that the speech was 'the worst thing he's heard'. He says that it was nothing honest and it was only to suppress a scandal, politically operating. Their car has garnered a fair amount of distance into a town, in which a strange sight of a few people caused both the Moleman and Satomi to laugh in relief. Unfortunately another car veers into their way, with his consciousness fading. He then recovers after an unknown amount of time, setting sights on Satomi's injured state of body, heavily bleeding.

He starts taking in the destruction of the area, their current situation being as a result of the imposter Byakuya dropping a satellite in their vicinity, alongside dealing with Satomi's continuous bleeding. He attempts to use one of her shirts to wrap around her wounds, speaking to her in an attempt to calm her. Satomi could only weakly joke he should have called her name a bit sooner and tells him not to touch her hand before passes out. A Jeep caught up with them and in it was the Myst'ry Research Society. The president gloats of their time fleeing as their opposition pleads for help, wanting to save Satomi from bleeding out.

The rest of the group gloats over his soon to be loss, before revealing the Despair Novel. They wanted the Moleman to read the novel and succumb to madness of despair. However, the Moleman refused to give in and ripped up the novel. Taking Satomi into the jeep (with the kids watching in the back to jeer), he sets out to find someplace to treat her. The Moleman drives into the nearest city, only to be met with another traffic jam on the way to the hospital, in which he gives up and dashes to the hospital by foot, realizing that the interior was full, he gave in and left. Attempts to search for more yielded the same results, driving him more into despair.

Driving along another road, he identified a female Hope's Peak Academy student on a one way street, uncaring as he runs her aside with the vehicle. Getting out of the vehicle, the Moleman loses it and begins to assault her, beating her down with stomps to her head and stabs with a survival knife from the vehicle's dashboard onto her arm. Just as the sight of blood meets him in response, the girl regained her composure and retaliated, leaving the Moleman defenseless as he struggles against her grip. When asked to name himself, he does so: His name is Suzuhiko Ōtsuki the ex-Super High School Level Hitman.

As the girl he attacks blacks out, Suzuhiko rampages throughout the area, slicing everything he sees in his vicinity. This includes the research society and Byakuya's captors, but Satomi ended up being missed. Prior to his death, the President asked about her, with Suzuhiko mentioning that he believes that she she was lying about her broken heart. The President is relieved the hitman recalls her, but Suzuhiko announces Satomi will be killed regardless before slicing the president in half. Before he could go through with it, Blue Ink prevents this by calling out to Suzuhiko.

It's unknown what happened to Satomi following this incident, but given her eventual involvement in the next event, its implied that Satomi was eventually rescued and given treatment. Given the location was at Despair High School's base, it's possible they would be responsible for recovering her.

### K2K System

Due to the K2K system obfuscating the text for Blue Ink, and Suzuhiko's *Ambush Technique* also misrepresenting the dialogue from his perspective (which in itself may also be a K2K fabrication), it is unknown how much of the above text is fabricated.

### *Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc*

#### Chapter 1 - To Survive

Satomi and the rest of Sayaka's idol group members are shown in Monokuma's incentive video given to Sayaka. In the video, she and the other idols collapsed after Sayaka went to Hope's Peak Academy. It's unknown if Satomi was ever recovered following the end of the Killing School Life.

## Alternate Fates

In Danganronpa 1・2 Beautiful Days Satomi is minorly referenced when Sayaka bakes some cookies that she wanted to send to her "Idol Friends" who she says would have been performing abroad without her at the time.

## Appearance

Satomi has an appearance noticeably similar to Sayaka's, this being said with her skin shade, hair, and eye color. She is seen wearing a sleeveless pure white dress-like attire with knee high tights and a headband of some sort placed atop her head of somewhat short hair. Her description in *Togami* paints her as having an elegant and refined fashion sense, as well as carrying a heavy carry-on bag.

## Personality

During her allyship with the Moleman, Satomi came across as a polite, easy-going, determined and optimistic young lady, often contrasting his cynical nature with her positivity towards life. She often criticizes his bitterness and hermit lifestyle. She believes that dreams are reached based on how envious of high ranking figures one is, and one's own belief that they can become high ranked themselves. She often calls the Moleman 'inexperienced' due to his beliefs and actions, though its in a semi-teasing manner. Despite her politeness, Satomi can be rather blunt, such as initially wanting to part with the Moleman because she believed there was no benefit in partnering with him. Satomi had no qualms in going for forceful methods into resolving her problems, such as attacking the Moleman when she was unsure of his alignment in the crisis or breaking a window in order to get into somebody's house. Satomi has a professional attitude, more than likely from her time as an idol, thus allowing her to remain level-headed, even when somehow is indirectly insulting her. Satomi dislikes her hand being held, even when in a life or death situation, a trait likely stemming from her training as an idol prohibiting such a relationship with her fans. Due to her idol training, Satomi is capable of answering statements that could paint her in a bad light, usually by either bowing her head or responding vaguely.

She believes that laughing, even in when you don't want to, helps calm the nerves and apologizing immediately is the mark of someone that's 'inexperienced' in life. Satomi genuinely likes being an idol and was proud of the day when she finally went on center stage to counteract other idol groups. However, she is aware of unpopularity to the masses, and that people were more of a fan of the group as a whole than her. Satomi usually tries to not let it effect her and never once believed she was inferior compared to her teammates. While she claims that she came overseas to mend a broken heart, her talk with the Moleman leans credence that she had left simply from a desire to break away from her current life and see the world, though was uncaring to her destination.

### Sayaka Maizono & Ayaka Haneyama

Satomi was in Ayaka and Sayaka's Idol Group. They appear to have been close friends. Sayaka has mentioned that she has been performing with Satomi and the other three members of their idol group since they were young, and that in a way they are all friends but also rivals. On her group, Satomi notes that, despite not being as popular, she never felt as if she was inferior to the rest of her team.

In Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp, from Sayaka notes about the leader of their group, who was on the far left of her whenever they were on TV and that she was 'adult-like, cool, and reliable', it heavily implies that Satomi was their group leader.

**World Domination Proclamation**

### Moleman

Despite their clashing personalities, both Satomi and Moleman developed a solid bond towards each other. Initially, they got off to a rocky start considering Satomi attacked him and didn't consider him all too useful to stick around with. However, after some convincing, Moleman was able to get her to change her mind. Moleman, while he did think Satomi was beautiful, he was critical of the girl's positivity towards her life and belief that things could work. However, over the course of the event, he is gradually influenced by her optimistic mindset to change his way of thinking and make an attempt at challenging life instead of hiding.

While Satomi pokes fun of his cynicism or his 'inexperience', she will be forward when he does do something cool. Satomi usually tries to advise him to move forward or be positive life, in spite of its challenges or it seemingly being useless. Both strove to get away from the destruction in Prague and escape via an aiport. Unfortunately, following the accident, Satomi is left extremely wounded, which causes the Moleman to become quite worried over her life. The Moleman valued his new friendship to the point that he rejected the society's attempts at converting him with the Despair Novel and desperately went looking for a place to treat her.

Upon his main personality taking over, while his memories of her did briefly carry over to Suzuhiko, the main personality held little care for her and would have murdered her if given the chance.

**Enemies**

### Myst'ry Research Society

Given their responsibility in slaughtering the Moleman's village, being apart of the instigators behind the World Domination Proclamation, and how they wanted to kill her, Satomi is opposed to the society and their actions. Satomi was rather confused by their manner of speaking, such as saying 'Myst'ry' instead of 'mystery'. Still, despite being on opposing sides, Satomi was patient and professional in regards to the Vice President fanboying over her once he discovered that she was an idol. However, his obsession with her would end upon noticing the extent of her injuries, looking at her in disgust.

## Trivia

* "Aoba" (青葉) means fresh leaves, which is noted by the Moleman when he first looks at her.
* "Satomi" (さとみ) in hirigana has no meaning, however converted to kanji means "village" or *聡 (sato)* meaning "intelligent, clever, bright" combined with *美 (mi)* meaning "beautiful".
* Satomi says that she has been to Bumbun Kumbang and has went to Rishiri Island for a shoot.