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richassholeOut-of-Character Information
Name: kiz
Are you over 15?: yes
Time Zone: EST
Personal Journal:
kizlvl100Reliable Method of Contact: kizlvl100 - plurk
Other characters in the game: Green, Kyogre, Dachora, Jin, Cammy, General Guy
Link to slot request if 6th, 7th slot: 7
In-Character Information
Name: Byakuya Togami
Game/Series: Dangan Ronpa
Teacher/Student/Other: Student
Canon Point: Post Dangan Ronpa
Age: 18.
Grade Level/Class Taught/Job: Junior
Dorm or Living Arrangement: Dorm
Personality:
In terms of the most nightmarish student in his class at Hope's Peak, Togami probably comes in fourth. Considering the three above him are a 1) megalomaniacal, murderous psychopath, 2) her terrifying, mercenary twin, and 3) a serial killer, that's saying a lot. He's not horrendous because he kills people, or because he's obsessed with the idea of despair, though. He just has a shitty ass personality. Simply put, Togami's kind of a narcissist. But it's not a "look in the mirror, cry about how beautiful I am" kind of narcissism, it's a realistic kind. In his mind, it's fairly obvious why he's better than everyone else, however if no one else can see it, that's fine too. There are just some people that don't understand greatness, and actions speak louder than words. The combination of this and his outrageous net worth equals a boy who never has to pull punches. He knows by now that he can get whatever he sets out to get using nothing but his own brilliance, so why bother to sugarcoat anything at all? And besides, what would he gain by being nice to some common- ass student in the hallway? If you don't have anything to contribute to Togami's life, prepare to be dismissed. If you do, prepare to be scrutinized.
Since Togami values the power he holds, he can recognize it when others have great potential. Naegi is an example of this kind of person. He baffles Togami, as he's so dreadfully ordinary with an occasional spark of razor sharp logic. If he sees a trait like this in you, he'll work his hardest to exploit it, to bring it out at any possible moment. Not because he's looking to get you to live up to your full worth, but because he wants to know how big of a threat you are. Who does he need to keep his guard up with, and who can he safely toss out like garbage? Most people, even if greatly talented in one way or another, will fall into the latter category. He can't use you, so don't attempt to impress him. It'd be like trying to impress your housecat.
Even though his affluence plays heavily into his swagger, it's not as if Togami is an idle rich. He fought tooth and nail for his right to inherit his family's business, and didn't even rest when he got there. Much of his fortune was self made, so he puts a lot of faith in his ability to set his emotions aside, and do what needs to be done. To rely on his intelligence and his cunning ruthlessness to get him where he wants to be. He has a huge ego, but it goes hand in hand with the abilities to back it up. Every single thing in the world has a price, and it's not always money they're looking for. There's no point in getting attached to anything, whether that thing be an object or a person. Attachments are weaknesses that the bloodthirsty sharks of the world can sink their teeth into. Togami's worked his ass off to make sure that the people around him think of him as one of those sharks. Don't trust him? Good, there may be hope for you yet.
He's no stranger to mind games just for funsies, such as when he lead his classmates to believe that the murderer of Chihiro Fujisaki was someone that it wasn't. Considering he did this just to see who the smarter members of the class were, and considering this misdirect involved him picking up his peer's dead, bloody body and crucifying it, some of his actions may point to there being a crack in the finish, so to speak. He's not emotionless by any means, but most of his interactions with others echo a child pulling the wings off a fly just to see what happens. It wouldn't be wrong to think of him as slightly sociopathic.
But as mentioned before, he does feel. He feels uncertainty, anger, and indignity most of all. He's never been as scared as he was at Hope's Peak, but the fear didn't even really set in there until the true bleakness of the situation began to rear its ugly head. He had never truly felt helpless before the moment where he discovered his whole family had been wiped off the face of the earth, and if not for Naegi, he probably would have stayed in that hole. The subject of his family will still be a touchy one for him. He had no great familial love, but they were still his identity. The other Hope's Peak kids that know the truth about them should probably steer clear of that conversation piece. But his reaction to things that catch him off guard is usually to puff his chest out more, like bracing himself in the face of a powerful wind. Helplessness is repulsive. He will go down fighting viciously.
In terms of dealing with those who dumbly strive to break down his wall, his treatment of them is positively sadistic. The relationship between himself and mega- masochist Touko Fukawa is a perfect backdrop for this trait. He orders her around callously, insults her on a regular basis, and commands her to do humiliating things like sit in one place until he returns, or keep her mouth shut for days on end. He derives no great pleasure in any of this, as people like Fukawa are as desirable to have around as a rotting corpse would be. He simply sees people who would submit themselves to such abuse as less than human, to be used as a tool. No big deal, and if you don't like it, take it up with them.
He doesn't think of himself as a Super High School Level Heir, which is what he was listed as in Hope's Peak's records. He believes he's better suited to the title Super High School Level Perfection. That sums him up pretty magnificently. Essentially, there is no one in the world more perfect than him, because that's the truth in his own mind, and Togami's mind is the only one that matters.
Backstory:
Byakuya Togami was born into a theoretical war zone. His family was the proud namesake of the multi- billion dollar company, the Togami Conglomerate. In other words, he was born to be the GREATEST. Byakuya was one of fifteen half siblings whom, the second they were old enough to, were trained to become the heir of the Togami family. See, there was no real security when it came to picking an heir-- the head of the family (Byakuya's father, in this case) would impregnate women all over the world, who would give birth to the candidates for future head. Y'know, like any normal family.
These candidates would compete to see who was most worthy, and all but the best one would be straight up excommunicated from the family afterwards. Byakuya was the youngest among them. He had no strong relationship with any member of his family, even as a child. His siblings never spoke kindly to him (or to each other, for that matter), due to the competition. His relatives on his father's side of the family remained cold and distant, just in case he wasn't the one. Even his mother was wary around him, thinking that any wrong move in her parenting would lead to little Byakuya falling short of the absolute best.
Lucky for his mom, interpersonal relationships were not high on the list of things her son desired or valued. Underestimated because of his youth, Byakuya's cunning, shark like business know how set him apart from the rest, and he emerged the victor. The heir. And since he earned the title fair and square, he was going to own it. In his teenage years, he not only maintained the Togami family fortune, but added to it, earning 400,000,000,000 yen in day trading alone, a skill he referred to as "a boring game". It's only natural that others would take notice of his exceptional skill.
That's where Hope's Peak Academy came in. A place where the hope of tomorrow would be fostered. A school that only accepted those students that could be considered the very best at what they do (well, not only them. But that's a story for another app
But there was a catch. You could graduate! Tell me more, Monobear! The only way you could graduate is to murder one of your fellow students, and get away with it. Trials would be held after a murder, and if the student body was unable to figure out who the culprit was correctly, everyone but the triumphant murderer would be executed post haste (If the murderer was correctly guessed, he or she would be the one executed, and school life would continue without them).
Oh. Uh. That wasn't great news. A chill of unease and distrust rippled though the students at this revelation, and they would never be the same. Personally, Byakuya was distrustful from the very beginning, but he wasn't worried. He had been through this before. He fought tooth and nail to become the heir to the Togami family, he could emerge the victor in any competition. He immediately began to scout who the most difficult to fool would be, but there was not much he could tell about anyone's intelligence until they were tested.
CHAPTER ONE:
The first test came not long after they arrived. As 'incentive', Monobear gave each student a DVD to view. Byakuya didn't think much of it, but upon viewing it found himself with more questions than answers. On the video was the main hall of his home, full of family and Togami employees, all saluting another successful deal of some sort. But wait, when was this? He didn't remember this happening. The next instant, the video glitched. When it reset itself, the main hall was empty and in tatters, full of splintered wood and ominous bloodstains. Byakuya felt his blood run cold for a moment before his systems came back online. Of course, Monobear was just trying to get to him. This was an editing trick, recreated in a studio, something like that. No way it was real.
Not everyone felt that way, unbeknownst to Byakuya. One of his classmates, Super High School Level Idol Saiyaka Maizono, couldn't handle the contents of the tape, and frantically constructed a plan to graduate, to murder baseball player Leon Kuwata and frame it on "lucky" everyman Makoto Naegi. Things didn't work out so well for her, and after a struggle with Leon, she ended up being the first to die.
The students seemed to be in disbelief that someone among them had actually gone through with the proposed Monobear plan. One particular student, SHSL Fashion Girl Junko Enoshima was especially outraged, and decided enough was enough. She attacked Monobear head on, something that was entirely against the rules. For her efforts, she was rewarded with an attack of his own, a dozen spears than ran through her body, killing her.
It was the first time Byakuya had ever seen anyone die. He was unable to tear his eyes away. It was absurd, and horrendous, and... fascinating.
Monobear insisted that the other kids begin an investigation into Maizono's death. If Enoshima had shown them anything, it was that Monobear was definitely not messing around. Eventually, a trial was held, and Naegi, hungry for justice, put the clues together to point the finger at Leon.
He was executed.
No one felt good about it. In fact, they felt pretty terrible about it. Full blame couldn't really be placed on either Leon or Maizono, after all. It was really Monobear forcing them to do this. Never again could they let the evil force keeping them there destroy the bonds of humanity that blah blah blah. That stuff really didn't matter to Byakuya. He wasn't about to pretend like watching Leon get bludgeoned to death in front of him didn't scare him shitless, but no one had to know that. What was really on his mind was Makoto Naegi, the boy he quickly dismissed as nothing special, who had pulled a guilty verdict out of his ass. It could have been a fluke, but he would need to keep an eye on him.
CHAPTER TWO:
As promised, life went on. Byakuya had found himself an irritating, faithful puppy in the form of Super High School Level Literary Girl (author), Touko Fukawa. She had become deeply infatuated with him almost immediately. But it wasn't all bad. She did end up revealing something very interesting to him-- she had a split personality in the form of the infamous serial killer Genocider Syo, who made a practice of leaving very emblematic crime scenes behind. Fukawa asked him to promise not to tell. She didn't want anyone else knowing, or Syo coming out to play. She was worried Syo might like Byakuya a little too much. He promised, which really just meant he would file it away in the ol' brain bank for blackmail or other use later.
The other kids had become annoyingly dependent on each other, which struck him as stupid, since they had only known each other for a short time. Anyone could crack at any given moment, so he tried to distance himself from everyone as much as possible. One such isolation found him in the library, reading by lamp plugged in with an extension cord. The other kids eventually found him, and the SHSL Hacker, a meek girl by the name of Chihiro Fujisaki, started mouthing off to him, so he slung some attitude right back in her direction. SHSL Gang Leader Mondo Oowada came to her defense, almost bringing the confrontation to blows, but the situation dissolved as quickly as it started. Fujisaki's helpless, timid reaction was interesting though. Even more interesting when weighed against her reaction to Monobear's next incentive. Each student was given an envelope, and inside that envelope was a secret that could be revealed, one they could possibly kill over. Togami's was pretty much inconsequential, not even close to worth killing over, but not everyone felt that way.
One night, when walking back to his room after everyone else had gone to bed, he passed by the girl's locker room, only to see Mondo Oowada stalking out in a hurry. Inside he found Chihiro Fujisaki's dead body. And with it, an opportunity. Now he would truly know which of his classmates were dangerous, and which were duds. He used the extension cord he had brought into the library to hang Fujisaki from the equipment, crucifying her, and wrote "BLOODSTAIN FEVER" on the wall behind her in her blood. This set up was Genocider Syo's calling card, and when the other students discovered Fujisaki's body, he lead Naegi right to a file describing what Syo's crime scenes looked like. Then, in the trial, he dropped the bomb that Fukawa herself had confided in him of her split serial killer identity. From there, he wanted to just sit back and watch the puppets dance.
It was so obvious that Fukawa had committed the crime, even when Byakuya himself knew who the real culprit was. It was a gamble, but if someone spotted the holes in the argument, they would be the person to look out for in this competition. Sure enough, thanks to Kirigiri and Naegi, the other students realized that the crime scene had been fabricated by Byakuya, and were now suspecting him. But then came a twist not even the heir expected-- Fujisaki wasn't killed in the girl's locker room, she was killed in the boy's locker room, only accessible by the male students. Fujisaki wasn't a girl, he was a boy. Byakuya's shock read clearly on his face, and Naegi could tell that he couldn't have murdered Fujisaki without this knowledge. It was only a matter of time before the clues pointed to Oowada, and he confessed in shame.
He was also executed. Byakuya's experiment worked, kind of. On the other hand, all of his classmates now lost any shred of trust they had in him prior, with the exception of Fukawa, who felt betrayed but couldn't stay mad for long. This didn't matter much to Byakuya. He wanted to operate alone.
CHAPTER THREE:
Fujisaki may have died, but he left behind a legacy in the form of an artificial intelligence program on his laptop aptly named Alter Ego, wearing Fujisaki's face and speaking in his voice. Just like its master, Alter Ego was eager to please and happy to help. Super High School Level Doujin Author Hifumi Yamada was instantly enamored with Alter Ego's cute smile, shy mood, and inability to exist in three dimensions. He was eager to spend some alone time with the program, but the other students very decidedly did not want to give him the chance. In fact, Alter Ego had a much more important job to do-- to supply the kids with more information of who was keeping them captive, for one. However, there would be more distractions, both with Monobear's new incentive being a simple (but large) cash prize, and with SHSL Hall Monitor Kiyotaka Ishimaru's complete inability to function after the betrayal and subsequent execution of his best friend, Oowada. Though neither situation interested Byakuya much, each of them met a resolution in their own way. Ishimaru's issue would be resolved by Alter Ego itself, delivering a message to the comatose hall monitor in Oowada's voice, formulated from intel Fujisaki gave him program regarding the gang leader. Simple words of encouragement from his dearly departed "brother" lit a spark in Ishimaru, and he was filled with a sudden new energy, a new combination of both souls together.
The money issue was resolved by a murder.
Here's what happened. SHSL Gambler, Celestia Ludenberg was assaulted by a mystery person in a mecha costume. She was knocked down with a hammer, and supplied a photograph of the mecha- man dragging Yamada away. Yamada was found in the library, bleeding from the head but otherwise okay. He was told to stay in the infirmary while the rest of the students left to investigate. Not long after, they heard a scream, and Celes, Naegi, and SHSL Swimmer Aoi Asahina returned to find Yamada dead on the ground from another head wound. Byakuya wasn't aware of this, as he was off with SHSL Wrestler Sakura Oogami and Fukawa, investigating elsewhere, and they had their own set of problems when they discovered Ishimaru's dead body in a completely separate room. When Naegi came to find them to report on Yamada, it became clear that both boys had died around the same time.
Okay, stay with me... Byakuya, Oogami, and Naegi (Fukawa was left behind in the room with Ishimaru's body, as she had passed out from the sight) ran back to the room with Yamada's body, only to find it missing. Celes and Asahina had left it alone to go to the bathroom, since Asahina felt sick, a condition that was worsened upon learning of Ishimaru's death. At the realization that they had just left an unconscious Fukawa alone while there was still a murderer on the loose, they ran back to the other crime scene. Fukawa was fine, but Ishimaru was missing!! What the fuck, right?! After a brief search and rescue mission, they were both found in the art supply room with some tarp.
Byakuya had done some thinking. The only students not with them in this little Scooby Doo ghost house chase were Kirigiri and SHSL Fortune Teller Yasuhiro Hagakure. Naegi, obviously infatuated with Kirigiri, insisted that he had an alibi for her, so really that just left Hagakure. But how had he done it? The heir was ready to roll up his sleeves and get down to business, but was interrupted by an emotional Asahina, casting stones about being too cold and calculating while standing over the dead bodies of his classmates, some bs like that. Like a Disney princess, she knelt down next to Yamada's body and began to cry. A single tear landed on the nerd's cheek, and... he opened his eyes. But only for a moment. He mumbled some nonsense about having met his classmates before this week, and when asked who did this to him, all he could gasp out was "Yasuhiro" before passing away.
So obviously it was Hagakure. This trial would be an easy one. BUT WAIT, IT WASN'T HAGAKURE AT ALL. Here's the truth (deep breaths, everybody): Yamada and Ishimaru were both obsessed with Alter Ego, and wanted more time to talk to it, even when the kids had decided the program was too precious to draw attention to. This is where Celes came in. She fed Yamada some horse shit about Ishimaru planning to take Alter Ego, and possibly kill to get it. Yamada couldn't abide, so he formed an alliance with the gambler. They lured Hagakure into a meeting, knocked him out, and dressed him like a mecha to take an incriminating picture, and to put him out of commission for the investigation. They left a note to Ishimaru to meet in the room that would later become a crime scene, and Yamada killed him with a hammer. Yamada and Celes marked themselves up to make it seem like they had been assaulted. When he was left alone in the infirmary, Yamada opened up a blood packet, covered himself in it, and faked his death. Both bodies were found at the same time. Naegi left to find the others, and Celes led Asahina away from Yamada's body. Naegi led the kids away from Ishimaru's body, and in that time Yamada got up, and moved Ishimaru to the art supply room. When the other students split up to find the missing bodies, Celes found Yamada and murdered him herself. Yamada's blunt force head trauma jostled some mysterious memories loose, and for some reason he became aware that Celes' real name was Taeko Yasuhiro, which explains his dying words.
Phew. Okay. So. Obviously she was executed. Moving right along.
CHAPTER FOUR:
There was a mole in the house, someone working undercover for Monobear. No one had any idea who it was was, until Monobear called a meeting to discuss the matter. As if he was saying something like "I didn't eat breakfast today", he laid it out bluntly: Sakura Oogami was the traitor among them. Everyone was surprised... Except for Naegi, which shocked Byakuya even further. He said he saw her and Monobear fighting one night, but didn't want to say anything because Oogami was his friend. What a sap. Oogami didn't deny it, though she seemed ashamed, and left in despair after apologizing to Asahina for not confiding in her.
It wasn't long before her body was discovered in the recreation room, sitting upright, blood on her forehead, but a smile on her face. Many of the students began acting strangely.
Here's what happened. (Thanks, Naegi). The reason Asahina wanted to throw the other kids off course was because she had a conversation with Oogami earlier, and the wrestler had confessed that she felt guilt at being the cause of her classmate's infighting. She wanted to speak to Byakuya, Hagakure, and Fukawa in particular. To try and apologize, and reassure them that their friendship was important. Instead, Hagakure smashed a bottle over her head, tried to blame the murder on Fukawa, and then Syo smashed a bottle over her head, cleared away the evidence, and booked it outta there. Oogami was only trying to make amends. Asahina found her bloodied up, and upon Oogami's request, had gone to get her some protein powder. When she returned, the door was locked and Oogami was dead. Asahina found a despaired suicide note on the floor, and thus decided that everyone had pitched in together on this murder, therefore everyone deserved to die.
Funny thing, though. The note Asahina had found was written by Monobear. He had Oogami's real suicide note, which was much less about depression, and much more about honor, friendship, and one final gift from her that would be the first step to Monobear's downfall. She wanted to make it very clear that it was a suicide, and not a murder. Asahina was shocked, and horrified. But rather than blame the swimmer, the other students began to realize, more than ever, that they had been distracted with the murder game, and that focusing on something like graduating was only going to lead to their downfall. The real enemy was the mastermind, and it was time to change courses. Even Byakuya, who had been looking at the school life of mutual killing as a competition, like the very one that got him his title of heir, knew he couldn't continue on. Oogami was given her life for a cause, and Asahina had almost given her life for her friend. This wasn't a competition anymore. He was angry. He was being controlled, and no one controlled a Togami. It was time to end it. Punish the mastermind. Now all united in this cause, the students refused to convict anyone for the murder. So, Monobear brought in a special guest to serve as the condemned.
Alter Ego.
And there went their ace in the hole, their covert information gatherer. But all the kids were on the same page now, so they were ready to TAKE ON THE WORLD.
CHAPTER FIVE
Operation TAKE ON THE WORLD began. Post trial, more classrooms were opened as well, so the kids started their search there. Byakuya was determined to find something worthwhile, and find he did. An entire classroom, full of gore and blood, chalk outlines of bodies long since taken away littering the floor. A massacre happened there. The plot thickened. When they reconvened, they shared what else they had found. Fukawa had found a tremendous knife, which she forced into Naegi's hands. It became fairly obvious that Kirigiri had some important piece of information that she was refusing to share, which began to look mighty suspicious. Byakuya insisted that she give him her room key, or give him her information. She chose the room key. The next day she was absent from the morning meeting in the cafeteria, but before they could really start to speculate, Monobear popped up, mumbling something about how someone stole his treasure.
The day was uneventful. Kirigiri never showed, and Naegi, flushed to his ears, whimpered something about feeling sick, and shuffled off back to bed. It seemed like it would be a waste, but before returning to his own bed that night, Byakuya went to the gym to look for Monobear, wanting to see if there was anything he could learn about Kirigiri. Monobear just stood there, staring straight ahead. Upon closer inspection, it seemed he was powered off. He called the other kids out to the gym (everyone came but Kirigiri and Naegi), and they began to dismantle the robotic Monobear together. Byakuya couldn't find any kind of mechanical failings, so the reason for his sudden malfunction was unclear. They stayed there all night, and when Naegi came to meet them the next morning, Hagakure finally discovered an unarmed bomb inside of Monobear. The whole process lead to more questions than answers, so Byakuya made the decision to say "fuck it" and try to break into the Headmaster's office.
"We're approaching the climax. Pull yourself together," he snapped at an uncertain Naegi, and off they went. They determined that the best way to break down the heavy wooden doors was a pickaxe that Naegi and Hagakure had found in the garden, and Fukawa went to retrieve it. Unfortunately, she didn't return as Fukawa, she returned as Genocider Syo, arms empty. She did report, however, that there was something much more interesting than a pickaxe in the garden. There was a dead body!! They dashed over to see, and sure enough, there was a body covered in a backwards lab coat and lucha mask, stabbed right through the middle with the giant knife that Naegi had been keeping in his room. They were unable to tell who it was because of the coverings, but the body was definitely wearing fake nails and high heeled boots. Syo went to take off the mask, but that triggered an explosion, sending the manic serial killer flying, and the body unrecognizable. But it was pretty obvious who it was, wasn't it? Kirigiri, the only one who wasn't there with them, must be the body in front of them. But Byakuya had another option-- it was the body of the mastermind! Hagakure mentioned that Alter Ego had told them that the headmaster of the school was a man in his late thirties, which the body obviously didn't belong to. Then, Naegi piped up.
Apparently, Kirigiri had shared some info with him on her suspicions about the mastermind. That it was a high school student, just like them. A girl by the name of Mukuro Ikusaba, SHSL Despair, and the sixteenth student in their class. This caught them all off guard. When they examined the body closer, they found a high tech looking key, and a strange tattoo on the victim's hand. The key matched the data processing room, so off they went again. The place looked like a bizarre control room, every screen showing a different room in the school. It seemed to be where the mastermind was watching them from. There was also a television there. Eager for a taste of the real world, Hagakure got a signal, and turned it on.
It didn't matter how many channels he flipped through, it was all the same, just footage of the six of them from above, staring at themselves on television. Hagakure insisted the TV wasn't connected to an internal camera feed. They didn't even have enough time to question the meaning of it before Monobear suddenly reappeared, looking good as new. Turns out that he had multiple bodies. He assured them that the TV was indeed picking up a signal. Their school life was on TV, being broadcasted all over Japan. All of the terrible things that had happened, on display for anyone who would watch. After dropping that bombshell, he insisted that they had better get to work on figuring out the murderer attached to the body in the garden, because they were going to have a school trial like usual. This changed everything-- if Monobear was still up and walking, that meant Mukuro was still alive, and the dead body really WAS Kirigiri.
And the killer, as usual, was in this room. They continued to investigate the crime scene, but Bykuya made sure to inform Naegi of something important: Asahina, Fukawa, Hagakure and himself all spent the night in the gym together. The only people unaccounted for were Kirigiri and Naegi, and on the assumption that Kirigiri had been killed... Naegi had to have been the murderer. Naegi seemed shaken, but asked Byakuya if he could use the key to Kirigiri's dorm. This is where they found the student file of Mukuro Ikusaba, with one oddity-- she was listed as a SHSL Soldier. This was elaborated on when the two students examined the headmaster's office-- the locked door was opened by Sakura as a parting gift. The rest of Mukuro's file spoke about how she vanished from her family at a young age of her own volition, and came back a mercenary, part of the Fenrir group.
Fenrir... Byakuya had heard of that, from some hired missions involving them and the Togami conglom... I mean, he read about them somewhere. Their trademark was a tattoo on the body of every member of a wolf. Didn't he see something like that somewhere recently... ? (YES. HE DID. ON THE HAND OF THE DEAD BODY.) The other hint were Mukuro's measurements. This seemed to be a key to discovering the identity of the body in the garden. Byakuya sent Naegi to check it out. After the other boy left, there was a message from Monobear about any students wanting a hint to meet him in the Gym. Of course, he obliged. The hint was a photograph. BUT NOT JUST ANY PHOTOGRAPH: It was a picture of the whole class. The whole class at Hope Peak's pool, during a P.E class... ? He didn't remember this ever happening. Even more shocking was the realization that he wasn't even in the photo. So... this was it. The whole class, they were all hiding something from him. It was never about the mastermind. They were all in on it!
He went into the trial with this information, along with the sudden appearance of Kirigiri, who as it turns out had been off conducting her own investigation. During the trial though, it became clear that all the students had photos like this, with the exception of Kirigiri, because she didn't go to the Gym. Monobear had almost succeeded in turning them against each other again. Hah. Fool me once...
Er, actually, maybe spoke too soon. See, the trial didn't go so well. Grasping at straws as to whom murdered Mukuro Ikusaba, and after a back and forth between Kirigiri and Naegi, the latter was eventually sentenced to death. He went into his execution, though none of the other students really thought that he had done it. Luckily (ha), the boy was saved at the last moment by Alter Ego, who apparently had uploaded its program into the mainframe before the laptop got destroyed. Alter Ego stopped the execution, and dropped Naegi down into the garbage room, where Kirigiri would later safely retrieve him.
CHAPTER SIX (thank god)
Once Naegi got back, all that remained was to draw out the true murderer of Mukuro Ikusaba-- the mastermind. A short investigation followed, but this time the students went into the trial with clear minds and a strong bond. Even Byakuya was united with the others in the face of the true enemy.
The bond remained, but their confidence shattered quickly in the face of the truth.
The truth was, this was all meaningless. Clues that Naegi and Kirigiri had found together only cemented this fact: they had all been here before. As it turns out, they had been there for two years. One year of school, and one year of confinement after something ominously called The Worst, Most Despair- Inducing Event In The History Of Mankind happened. The pictures they had found most certainly had happened, they just had their brains wiped clean of the memories.
They had been killing each other. Killing friends that they had for years. But hey, chin up! There was still someone here that wasn't dead after all. Junko Enoshima. Junko Enoshima, twin sister of Mukuro Ikusaba, the SHSL Soldier that has dressed up like her sister and pretended to be her. Junko Enoshima, who had murdered her twin sister in front of everyone, though they believed it was her who had died. SHSL Despair Junko Enoshima, the mastermind.
She informed them that she had kept them here for this game, in the prison that they had created themselves to keep the remnants of the despair incident out. This event, as it turns out, was essentially the end of the world. Byakuya couldn't believe it, but then Junko chose to single him out. The Togami Conglomerate, shining star of the business world.
Destroyed. Gone. Kaput. He was the last member of the Togami family alive.
After that, things went kind of blurry. Junko mentioned that she would allow them to stay in the school to live out the rest of their days, with clean air, and safe from the horrors of the outside world. The price would be Naegi's life. As much as each student hated to admit it, there seemed to be no other choice. Byakuya could feel his will slipping away.
But then, Naegi started talking. It was like turning on a light switch. Gone was the small, non- intimidating everyman that they had all known, and in his place there was a brave, wise, compassionate figure of hope. All of a sudden, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Despair could suck it, they had hope. And what do you do with hope? You keep Naegi alive, and you sentence goddamn Junko Enoshima to death.
She didn't take the news too harshly.
The important thing was, that she left behind the switch to open the front bulkhead. Because the air purifier in the school was shut off when she died, they had to leave. And so they headed out, into the real world...
EPILOGUE
... And it was pretty much what she said. The Event had happened, but there were pockets of resistance. Because the tribulations of the Hope's Peak kids had been televised, one such organization was very keen to help the survivors stay afloat. They each became a part of the resistance in their own right, and Naegi was sent off to find places where the Event may not have touched. A while after he left, the other kids heard news that such a place had been found, thanks to an odd, fuzzy news report involving a kid that looked a lot like someone they used to know.
Off they went towards FDC, in a slow trickle. Byakuya obviously pushed himself ahead of the rest. If Naegi could handle it, he could more than handle it.
Anything Else?:
SOME ASSORTED FACTS:
- Wow time to earn back all his money. Stocks.
- Six feet tall. Deal with it, Naegi.
- Nearsighted-- the one thing that is less than perfect. Used to have a dozen pairs, but left them all behind in Hope's Peak.
- Hahaha don't call him Byakuya. YOU HAVEN'T EARNED IT.
- Speaks all the languages. Okay, not all, I guess. Obviously mentioned in game are Japanese, and French. He's also fluent in English, Spanish, Mandarin, German, and Russian because super businessman powers. He had been working on Portuguese and Korean when he went to Hope's Peak. In all the languages he is fluent in, he speaks with super high school level perfect accents.
- His vice is the violin. He's very skilled, due to years of sitting in his room and playing when stressed. He'll need to buy a new one when he gets to FDC.
In-Character 1st person sample:
Whomever deals with the dorms-- You made a mistake. You put me in a room with another person. I'm sorry, did I not make it clear enough on my registration form who I was? I understand that most people here have never heard of the Togami Conglomerate, which isn't something I can control, as alarming as that is. But just because you're all a bunch of mouth breathing, moronic cavemen doesn't mean that you can't take a hint when it's stuffed into your sweaty palms so forcefully. I'll give you another chance: I DO NOT SHARE ROOMS. Turn off whatever preschool level educational dreck you're watching on television, put one foot in front of the other, come to my dorm, and toss everything belonging to this abhorrent stranger into another living space. One where he's not sitting so close to me that we're sharing carbon dioxide.
Oi, Naegi. You're not busy this afternoon. You're coming with me into the city, I'm replacing my violin and I need someone to distract the street trash, someone common.
In-Character 3rd person sample:
Togami awoke to murmuring, and a slight weight on his right shoulder. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, slowly recognizing his surroundings. Right. He was on a train. How long had he been asleep? The countryside moving by in the window looked nothing like the starved landscape of back home. He didn't even know where he was anymore. When he and Asahina had gotten on the train, they were the only ones in the car. Now it was a little over half full, every other person looking very much like the commute was business as usual. Perhaps... Naegi really had found a place far enough away to have escaped SHSL Despair. But what did that have to do with Ishimaru, or their other dead classmates... ?
Wait a minute. Asahina. His gaze drifted to his shoulder, to discover that the weight was in fact the expert swimmer, still dozing, head rested on him for support. He let out a quiet gasp, and tried to shake his arm up enough to push her off, but to no avail. She groaned lightly, and snuggled in closer. Togami huffed, and tried not to take it personally. She was definitely dreaming of the safe presence of someone else. Maybe Oogami, he thought, and was surprised to find the thought laced with a light regret.
He was aware of the murmuring, again. He looked across from them to find that a couple of boys their age or a bit older had taken the seats. One of them grinned, and pointed at Asahina.
"Beautiful girlfriend. Lucky man," he chuckled in heavily accented, broken English. Togami spoke in French as he placed his glasses back on.
"She's not my girlfriend."
The boys looked slightly surprised, and responded in kind. "She's not? Does she have a boyfriend?" There was a twinge of hope in the question.
"She's my wife," Togami answered. Two sets of eyes immediately darted to the heir's bare ring finger. "We don't wear our wedding rings while working," he said, anticipating the inquiry.
The other boy spoke up. "You seem kind of young to be married. No offense or anything."
"Haven't you ever been in love?" Togami asked, fighting the urge to retch at his own words.
They shrugged, eyeing the duo's matching, sharp black suits. "What line of work are you in?"
"We're assassins," Togami replied curtly. And that was the end of that conversation. He read the rest of the way into the FDC station.
Later, when Asahina would tell him she dreamt of Paris, he would roll his eyes and say nothing.