Characters / Dueling Trigger Finger - Class 77-B

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General Tropes

• The Ace: Being Ultimates, all of them excel and are the best at their respective fields of expertise.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite their talents and statuses as Ultimates, they are all still teenagers with their own respective personality quirks that make them stand out but in no way diminish their accomplishments and capabilities.

Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura

• Almost Kiss: With Chiaki in Chapter 50 during their reunion, courtesy of their avatars de-synchronizing and sending them back to the real world.
• Badass Boast: He delivers an epic one to Marik after beating his Rare Hunters for the first time.
  Hajime: I will take you down! Send one Rare Hunter! Send them all! I'll make sure that none of you harm Chiaki, or any other duelists like this again!
• Badass in Distress:
  • Has his mind sent to the Shadow Realm by Yami Bakura after exhausting himself against Bonz, resulting in Chiaki dueling Yami Bakura in a Shadow Game to save him.
  • He also loses to Tengan in Chapter 42, resulting in his mind being digitized in order for the Steering Committee to start the Kamumkura project early leading to Chiaki and Nagito rescuing him.
• Badass Normal: Like Makoto; he has no previous dueling tournament wins or renown, yet he makes to the Battle City finals. And unlike Makoto, he doesn't even have Ultimate Luck to help him out.
• Be Yourself: His arc is about accepting himself as he is and acknowledging that, while he may not have an Ultimate talent, there are still things he can do well. It's finally completed in Chapter 50, where he resolves once and for all to be happy with who he is and not throw away his future.
• Berserk Button:
  • Hurting Chiaki is one, as he's pissed when Marik's Rare Hunters kidnap her, to the point of shedding his self-deprecation (mostly, but he still bounces back).
  • When he works out that Marik is using duel monsters to hurt people, all for the sake of getting rare cards, he explodes.
• Big Damn Kiss: The Almost Kiss mentioned above becomes this in chapter 59.
• Casting a Shadow: His signature card Blackland Void Dragon, as well as his Five-Headed Dragon.
• Deadpan Snarker: When his confidence is up, his sassy side comes out.
• Deal with the Devil: He got Five-Headed Dragon from the Steering Committee, as part of his participation in the Kamukura Project. They come to collect their due in Chapter 42.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Defeats Marik in Chapter 57.
• Diving Save: Does this to save Chiaki from almost falling off the blimp after she gets direct attacked by Obelisk.
• The Dreaded: Becomes this to many of the characters when it is revealed that he owns Five-Headed Dragon, leading many to assume there is more to him than it seems. They're right.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After climbing through thick and thin throughout the Battle City tournament, including nearly having his entire personality overwritten; Hajime's fortune finally turns around for him when thanks to Kaiba, Chisa and Munakata's bringing up his case to the Steering Committee, he gets his wish and is accepted to the main course as the Ultimate Duelist under Class 77-B.
• Expressive Hair: As in his game, his ahoge seems to reflect how he's feeling. Taking a bad hit in a duel makes it droop, for example.
• Fusion Dance: His deck primarily focuses on Fusion Monsters, which is thematically appropriate for the subject of the Kamukura Project. However, since he does not have all the required materials in his deck, he runs multiple Fusion Substitute monsters to fill in their spots.
• Grand Theft Me: Inverted. Part of the Steering Commitee's deal with the Big Five was that Hajime was off-limits for snatching, as they need him for the Kamukura Project. Instead, when he loses his duel, he loses his mind.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In the virtual world, he has access to every card he could ever want, including the many powerful monsters and required fusion materials he was unable to buy in the real world. He's not able to stop himself from grabbing them, and only later realizes his fusion substitutes were what let his deck be as versatile as it was. Overall, being less familiar with what he had and being more restricted in his fusion summons contributed to his defeat and the subsequent early beginning of the Kamukura Project.
• Hope Spot: He comes this close to winning in his duel with The Stern Mystic, aka Kazuo Tengan. Unfortunately, a spell card and Nobleman Eater Bug defeat his deck master, Blackland Void Dragon, costing him the duel. Even worse, upon losing his mind is digitized so the Kamukura Project can begin early.
• I Just Want to Be Special: He's still signed on with the Kamukura Project here, out of desperation to be someone talented and worthy. By the end of Chapter 50 and the Battle City finals, he eventually learns to be proud of who he is and stand with his head held high. He also gets his wish thanks to Kaiba, Yukizome and Munakata's efforts, allowing him to join the Main Course and Chiaki's class under the title "Ultimate Duelist".
• Insecure Love Interest: Even though he's gaining confidence, he still sees himself as inferior to Chiaki, as shown when he tells her that "compared to me", she should be moving on in the finals, not him. No longer the case as of Chapter 50 where he finally learns to be proud of who he is.
• It's Personal: He wants to take Marik down because of what his Rare Hunters and Shadow Games have done to Chiaki and Class 77.
• Jack of All Trades: In both dueling and real life. Hajime's deck is able to switch between offense and defense rather well, but he doesn't seem to have a particular preference. As for Hajime himself, his desire to find a talent has led to him trying his hand at many different things. Even if he's not a master at any, he still has a varied skillset: besides dueling, he's a great gamer, a fast runner, and strong enough to carry Chiaki with ease.
• Last Dance: Of sorts. He agrees to go to the tournament with Chiaki not because he expects to win, but because he's aware the deadline for the Kamukura Project is getting closer and he may not have many more chances to spend time with her.
• Nervous Wreck: One of his weaknesses is his tendency to slip into this; as long as he's confident in himself, he does great. If he becomes filled with doubt, he falls apart.
• Nice Guy: He's a generally kind, friendly and dependable guy explaining why many of his (future) classmates and other characters instantly warm up to him, and why Chiaki fell for him.
• Official Couple: He and Chiaki confess and have an Almost Kiss after she saves him in Chapter 50.
• Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he realizes The Stern Mystic is about to win their duel.
• Relationship Upgrade: With Chiaki as of Chapter 50.
• Screw Destiny: During the 4-way duel to determine the semi-finals, Yami constantly tells Hajime that it's his destiny to beat Marik and Hajime needs to help arrange that. Hajime responds by knocking Yami out of the duel and taking Marik as his own opponent. He doesn't care whether he can win or not, he wants a shot at Marik and thinking his loss is a Foregone Conclusion irritates him.
• Self-Deprecation: The poor guy does not have many kind words for himself.
• Ship Tease: Plenty with Chiaki as per their home series: Both of them are never far apart from one another, care for each other's well-being when the other is in danger (Chiaki when she was kidnapped by the Rare Hunters, Hajime when he was sent to the Shadow Realm by Yami Bakura), and have a lot of intimate moments with one another throughout the series. In Chapter 42 he begs the Stern Mystic to let him have just a little more time with her and outright says she means a lot to him. This all culminates at Chapter 50 where both of them get a Relationship Upgrade via confessing their love to one another and having an Almost Kiss moment and Chapter 59 where they officially become boyfriend and girlfriend.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to Marik, mixed in with Badass Boast.
• Took a Level in Badass: Hajime's self-confidence goes up a notch as a result of his Character Development during the Virtual Arc. In addition, it seems like the incomplete Kamukura project has given him a sharp boost to his other skills.
• Walking Spoiler: Let's just say very plot-important things happen to him.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Chiaki does this to him frequently, encouraging him to have confidence in his talents and who he is.
  • Both he and Chiaki give one of these to Nagito in Chapter 85, as the latter drowns in his self-induced inferiority.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Why the Steering Committee moves to neutralize him and begin the Kamukura Project early. They were fine with humoring him and letting him join the tournament; but an ordinary, talentless student not only lasting as long as he did, but outlasting the Ultimate Gamer? That just won't do.

Tropes that only apply to Izuru:

• The Ace: Due to possessing every single talent imaginable considering he was created to be the Ultimate Hope that would usher the world towards a golden era. In his only duel, he is shown to always be one step ahead of both Chiaki and Nagito (both far from amateurs/pushovers as the Ultimate Gamer and Ultimate Lucky Student respectively) to the point that the former only wins the duel because he let her and only after the latter sacrifices himself for the duel to get that far in the first place.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In canon, he debuts around the middle of Danganronpa 3's Despair Arc, with his appearance pushing the overall storyline forward. In this fic, however, he appears as the final opponent of the Virtual World Arc, which takes place WAY before his canonical appearance.]]
• Adaptational Wimp: In canon, Izuru's abilities and capabilities border on superhuman with him possessing every single talent in existence at their highest capacity. In this fic however, due to the integration process being halted prematurely by Chiaki and Nagito's efforts, Izuru only awakens at 62% and while he is still more than able to keep both Ultimates at bay; the incomplete process means he isn't as "perfect" as he is in canon. This later translates to Hajime himself as while Hajime does gain enhanced abilities that allow him to be more flexible, it does not make him any better than those who are more specialized in their respective fields.
• Affably Evil: As affable as Izuru gets, but he's pretty mild and polite when Chiaki and Nagito wake him up. At first he intends to go back to integrating into Hajime's body and ignore them; it's only when they make it clear they're not going to let him that he agrees to duel.
• Alas, Poor Villain: After losing to Chiaki as Izuru, Izuru starts expressing his fear of the unknown and wonders what will happen to him afterwards. Even though she wanted this outcome to save Hajime, it makes Chiaki feel sorry for him.
• Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear what happened to Izuru after he was defeated; even he's unsure whether he'll cease to exist, be stuck in the virtual world forever, be reborn, or something else.
• Anti-Villain: Izuru's priority is the hope of the world, which isn't a bad goal in of itself. But his existence threatens Hajime's, which isn't something Chiaki is okay with.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Wears a fancy business suit.
• Disappears into Light: Happens to him after he loses to Chiaki.
• Final Boss: Of the Virtual World Arc.
• Graceful Loser: Izuru has no particular anger about losing, only wondering what's going to happen to him.
• Irony: In canon, Izuru finds what he cannot predict, aka the unknown, interesting. Here, likely due to his very short life of maybe an hour, he finds it frightening.
• Not So Stoic: His face doesn't change, but Izuru is very surprised at whenever Hajime influences him—notably when he calls out Blackland Void Dragon's attack and when he returns Chiaki's hug.
• Split-Personality Takeover: A weird case, as Izuru was never intended as a split personality, but to be the only personality. But since the project was interrupted, he's only 62% integrated; enough to be dominant, but also for Hajime to still be in there.
• The Stoic: His expression doesn't change at all after he's introduced.
• Tragic Villain: As in canon, but for different reasons. He's essentially an antagonist because he's fighting for his existence and muses that he didn't ask to be created. Even Chiaki feels bad for him.

Chiaki Hinata-Nanami

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Much more of her background prior to Hope's Peak Academy is revealed in this fic, specifically showing the effects her gaming skills have had on her and her relationships with others. And well...let's just say they are far from being happy.
• Almost Kiss: With Hajime in Chapter 50 during their reunion, courtesy of their avatars de-synchronizing and sending them back to the real world.
• Amusing Injuries: Hugely subverted. Around Chapter 28, Chiaki injures her leg very badly in her Shadow Game with Yami Bakura. The injury is so severe, it almost costs her her spot in the Battle City Finals, as well as risks her being permanently crippled should she over-exert it. As a result, Mikan accompanies her and Hajime to the finals to do periodic checks, and Chiaki sits out on spectating the finals until her match.
• Anti Meta Game Character: A non-video game example. Chiaki's deck and playstyle is designed to be "counter-meta" in response to how the majority of characters build their decks around high-ATK beatstick monsters. As a result, she designs her deck around that fact as the most efficient strategy to win. Deconstructed by the fact that Chiaki doesn't like dueling like this, which adds to her philosophy that games should be enjoyed.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Chiaki always analyzes her opponents based on their card choices and moves, all while setting up the pieces of her winning formula along the way - both of which play huge contributing factors to most of her victories.
• Badass Adorable: While a kind, friendly, cute gamer girl, Chiaki is undoubtedly among the most skilled duelists in the series, being on par with Yugi and Kaiba themselves. She is also not afraid to stand up to otherwise stronger/more intimidating characters such as Yami or Kaiba when giving them a piece of her mind, all without backing down or losing her composure whatsoever.
• Badass in Distress:
  • In Chapter 12, she gets abducted by two Rare Hunters, requiring Hajime to duel both of them in order to save her.
  • She also loses her soul to the Orichalcos upon losing to Nagito, thereby being comatosed for the whole Orichalcos arc.
• Badass Normal: Compared to the other high-ranking duelists in the story such as Yugi, Kaiba, Hajime or Yukizome: Chiaki is for all intents and purposes, a muggle. She has no connections to the ancient past that would allow her to wield a Millenium Item nor an Egyptian God Card, no hidden talents, nor is a secret reincarnation, she is simply a highly-skilled gamer.
  • During the Battle City arc, she is able to prevail over Yami Bakura in his shadow game, later she also comes extremely close to defeating Seto Kaiba after the latter had summoned his Obelisk the Tormentor.
  • During the KC Grand Prix arc: She stands up to Junko's machinations despite the latter putting her what is essentially a pseudo-Shadow Game and ultimately wins their duel. She also defeats several highly-skilled duelists throughout the tournament including Byakuya and Joey and actually comes very close to defeating Yugi himself.
• Berserk Button:
  • Anyone who disrespects games and/or uses gaming to endanger or terrorize people's lives, it's about one of the few things that would cause her to break out of her regularly calm and gentle demeanor.
  • Do not dare mock, disrespect, and/or mistreat Hajime whenever she is around.
• Big Damn Kiss: The Almost Kiss mentioned above becomes this trope in chapter 59.
• Big Eater: She's able to put away an entire pizza by herself, much to Hajime's amused bafflement.
• Big "NO!": Her reaction upon seeing Sonia lose to Marik.
• Class Representative: Of Class 77-B, as per canon.
• Cooldown Hug: Combined with Cry into Chest. She throws herself at Izuru in this fashion near the end of the duel, when he's about to attack and obliterate her, and begs him to let her save him and Hajime. It works.
• Curbstomp Battle: Delivers one to Leon, despite losing half of her Life Points; she had complete control of the duel every step of the way. She later repeats this towards Crump in Chapter 39.
• David Versus Goliath: How her initial duels tend to look like most of the time due to her focus on monster effects compared to her opponents who favor high-ATK beatsticks. No longer the case in her later duels.
• A Day in the Limelight: After being eliminated from the first round of the Battle City Finals, and losing her soul during the Orichalcos Arc, Chiaki finally gets her time to shine during the KC Grand Prix arc, showcasing her true prowess as the Ultimate Gamer leading to her ultimately winning the whole tournament, and even the honor of dueling the King of Games himself for his title, and nearly succeeds.
• Despair Event Horizon: Briefly goes through this in Chapter 49 when it seems like she and Nagito are too late and that Izuru has completely overwritten Hajime's personality. Thankfully, Nagito reassures her not too long afterwards.
• Determinator: When she sets her mind into something, nothing and I repeat nothing will stop Chiaki from wavering in her resolve.
  • In Chapter 28 when she duels in Yami Bakura's shadow game. By the end of the duel she can barely stand, having been electrocuted, bitten and knocked around, and absolutely refuses to bow to Bakura's will using The Power of Friendship to draw one last card, summon her favorite monster to win the duel, and save Hajime.
  • This trope comes in full force throughout the Virtual World arc upon learning about Hajime being captured and subjected to the Kamukura project, as Chiaki braves through many dangers, even going as far as to duel Izuru himself all in order to rescue Hajime. This determination is even enough to move Nagito into get serious with his efforts.
  • Comes to full circle again in the KC Grand Prix arc in her duel against Junko, where despite getting caught in a pseudo-Shadow Game where the pain inflicted to her is real no thanks to Junko's Dark Castle of Despair card, Chiaki pushes through all the pain inflicted upon her, her determination unwavering against Junko.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Invoked and Played for Laughs. When Chiaki loses consciousness after Hajime saves her from almost falling off the blimp due to Obelisk's attack, Hajime thinks this has happened...only to realize she just fell asleep.
• The Dreaded: To Seto Kaiba of all people. Chiaki is the only other duelist besides Yugi capable of pushing him to his limits and even before their duel in the Battle City finals, shows visible worry about his chances against her to the point of specifically altering his deck should he face her. His concerns hold true come their duel at Chapter 37: she has him on the ropes for most of the duel, with Kaiba only winning at the skin of his teeth.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: She (or more specifically her soul) assists Hajime against the Great Leviathan while Hajime is inside it during the final battle of the Orichalcos arc.
• Friendless Background: Prior to meeting Hajime and the rest of Class 77-B, she lived in her own solitary world as a result of her gaming turning people away and at worst driving them into despair. This explains part of her large attachment to Hajime as he was the first person (besides Eliza) to not turn away from her talent. It's also what drives her to the Despair Event Horizon when she thinks her talent has driven away even Hajime in chapter 49, when she thinks she's too late to save him from becoming Izuru.
• Fusion Dance: Uses a mix of her deck and Hajime's Fusion-based deck during her duel against Izuru in Chapter 50 as a way for her to have Hajime by her side in spirit and to get through to him. She also runs a couple of Fusions in her new Thunder Dragon hybrid deck as revealed during the Canada Nationals arc.
• Gamer Chick: As expected of the Ultimate Gamer.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Gives a really big one to Kaiba in Chapter 56, after the latter loses his duel with Yugi, complete with a strong slap to the face when he gets too far in his despair. Suffice to say, it was more than enough to shock the CEO back to his senses.
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger:
  • Does this to cap off her Bad Ass Boast to Kaiba during the last turns of their duel in Chapter 37, clearly emulating Phoenix Wright when doing so.
  • She later repeats the gesture twice in Chapter 49: First when she defeats the duel computer, and later when she and Nagito challenge Izuru to a duel in order to get Hajime back.
• Graceful Loser: True to her nature of playing games for fun, Chiaki is one who never takes her losses badly.
  • She takes her loss to Kaiba during the Battle City Finals with dignity and pride, even applauding Kaiba for not letting their friendship get in the way of the duel and stating to Hajime later on that she considered it the best duel of career.
  • During the KC Grand Prix arc, she also graciously accepts her loss to Yugi, even though she was extremely close to defeating him.
• Happily Married: To Hajime by Chapter 95.
• The Heart: Amongst her classmates, hence why she was chosen to be their class representative in the first place. Her losing her soul during the Orichalcos arc causes a huge amount of morale to collapse amongst the surviving students.
• Heroic Will Power:
  • In Chapter 28 despite being caught in a Shadow Game against Yami Bakura, Chiaki is able to push through and defeat him.
  • She then later doubles on this later in the KC Grand Prix in her duel against Junko.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Her duel with Izuru has her constantly appealing to him, and the Hajime in him. It ultimately works.
• I Let You Win: Izuru could have won the duel with Chiaki, but her pleading touched him enough that he gave her one turn's grace.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Thrice so far, all pertaining to Hajime.
  • When she sees Hajime perfectly all right after her victory over Bakura's shadow game, she suddenly hugs him, breaks down into tears and starts muttering nonsensical gibberish while trying to tell him how scared she was.
  • See Despair Event Horizon above. Chiaki was crying her eyes out when she thought Hajime was gone.
  • And number three is when she reunites with him in Chapter 50.
• Jack of All Stats: While being the "Ultimate Gamer" means she highly-skilled at a large variety of games; Chiaki can still be outmatched by characters who highly specialize on a particular game. A good example of this is Seto Kaiba, who as the "Ultimate Duelist" is more than match for her in Duel Monsters and it is suggested that Chiaki has actually yet to beat him in a duel despite coming in really close.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Upon learning about the Kamukura Project, she immediately charges in to save Hajime...without any plan on how to do it, as she admits in Chapter 46. Fortunately for her, Chisa has an idea.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Goes into this whenever she is finally ready to go for her winning formula and/or her Berserk Button gets pressed.
• Lonely at the Top: Her gaming and dueling skills have led her to a life of incredible isolation; all her victories left her with nothing but a hollow feeling, people either didn't want to play with her because she always won or became so obsessed with defeating her. And sometimes her opponents take losing to her so badly, that they went down darker paths feeling disillusioned about their skills. Sadly, this included her own parents.
• Morality Pet: Chiaki is one of the few characters Kaiba is remarkably nice to, and is also another one who brings out the better side of him.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Leave it to the Ultimate Gamer to make something as inputting a hidden code for a secret character out of memory during a fighting game tournament feel intense and heart-stopping.
• My Fist Forgives You: At the end of the Orichalcos arc, she forgives Nagito for taking her soul and betraying everyone to join Dartz. However she does still give him a good chop to the head just for good measure.
• Nerves of Steel: Chiaki has a tendency to takes most of what happens around her in stride. In duels, she rarely loses her cool and composure even when it seems like she's at the disadvantage or when she is facing against opponents like Celeste or Kaiba. Outside of duels, she won't flinch at the sight of Kaiba's glare, and isn't afraid to call out Nagito's bigotry towards Hajime or Kaiba prioritizing his personal interests over the welfare of everyone else after Yami Marik sent Mahiru to the Shadow Realm. Even wandering a virtual artic wasteland is no big deal for her; she simply treated it like one of her platform games, leading Crump to silently exclaim "does nothing really faze this girl?"
• Nice Girl: Chiaki is kind, friendly and caring towards everyone she meets which endears her to her classmates, Hajime and even Kaiba. Gundham even gives her the nickname "The Thoughtful One" as a result of this. She was also willing to forgive and feel sympathy for Izuru Kamukura when he was about to disappear despite his existence being a threat to Hajime's.
• Odd Friendship: The free-spirited Chiaki who plays games for fun surprisingly gets along with the no-nonsense play-to-win Kaiba. Not like Kaiba himself will admit it though.
• Official Couple: She and Hajime confess and have an Almost Kiss after she saves him in Chapter 50. As of Chapter 59, the two are officially boyfriend and girlfriend. As of Chapter 95, they're husband and wife.
• Parental Neglect: Both her parents would neglect her for long periods of time due to being so engrossed in their gaming habits, leaving her to starve and be deprived of other necessities over time. While this changed for a while when Duel Monsters was introduced, it eventually led to her parents playing without her, as she easily came to surpass them in it just like with gaming. This is why Thunderclap Skywolf holds such sentimental value to her as it represents a time where her father actually paid attention to her.
• The Power of Friendship: During Chapter 28, when she is literally dying on the ground against Bakura's Shadow Game, she suddenly hallucinates all of her friends telling her to stand up and stand she does! It's implied that, thanks to this trope, she didn't have to look at Monster Reborn to know she drew it. Her friends helped her draw it.
• Punched Across the Room: At the end of her duel with Kaiba, Obelisk's attack sends her flying off the arena and almost off the blimp. Luckily for her, Hajime catches her.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She gives Byakuya one heck of one during their duel in the KC Grand Prix arc, citing how the Togami heir's lack of a heart and companionship being the reasons she is confident she'll win the duel, as well as why he hasn't reached the Duel Monster milestones he was seeking.
• Red Baron: According to Celeste, Chiaki has the nickname "The Comeback Queen" in the underworld, due to her careful planning and tricky deck granting her a great ability to bounce back in duels.
• Relationship Upgrade: With Hajime as of Chapter 50.
• Ship Tease: Plenty with Hajime as per their home series: Both of them are never far apart from one another, care for each other's well-being when the other is in danger (Chiaki when she was kidnapped by the Rare Hunters, Hajime when he was sent to the Shadow Realm by Yami Bakura), and have a lot of intimate moments with one another throughout the series. Her chapters near the end of the first round of tournament further confirm she's having romantic thoughts about him. This all culminates at Chapter 50 where both of them get a Relationship Upgrade via confessing their love to one another and having an Almost Kiss moment.
• Shock and Awe: Her signature card Thunderclap Skywolf. She also used a Thunder deck during her duel against Crump in the Virtual World. Starting from the Canada Nationals arc, she fully revamps her deck to a full-on Thunder deck focusing on the Hunder family and the Thunder Dragon archetypes.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Bluntly tells Yami to stuff it after he starts going on about destiny in Kaiba's face.
• Spirited Competitor: Chiaki solely plays games for the sake of fun whether she wins or loses. As a result, she feels disheartened whenever she comes across people who act like winning is everything to them and that they see losing as a Fate Worse than Death, leading to her being isolated by others.
• Stepford Smiler: Type A variety. Beneath her kind, caring and friendly personality is actually a lonely and guilt-ridden young girl who plays games mainly to numb her pain and to retreat from the world around her.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Even though his existence threatens Hajime's, Chiaki ultimately doesn't have a grudge against Izuru. She's even sad at the thought she won't get to meet him again, and hopes they can someday.
• Weak, but Skilled: Compared to most duelists, Chiaki initially does not have much going for when it comes to monsters with raw power. Her highest-ATK monster is only at 2500, and she only has at the bare minimum four monsters whose ATK exceeds 1500 in her whole deck. However, a lot of her monsters have nasty effects that allow them to get past stronger monsters and/or cripple the opponent in some way, and when combined with her Spells/Traps, her extensive knowledge and experience with the game, and her careful strategizing, this makes her one heck of a difficult opponent to face against. Drops the "weak" part later on after she revamps her deck.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Plays a Chaos deck in the title match against Yugi at the finale of the KC Grand Prix.

Nagito Komaeda

• Affably Evil: While working for Dartz, Nagito still remains ever the more genuinely respectful towards his fellow Ultimates (Hajime aside) and other similarly-talented individuals.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: He values hope as the ultimate good and anything as okay if it's in the name of hope. Despair is hope's archnemesis, but is okay as long as it is used as a stepping stone for hope—despair for it's own sake is not. Not only do his classmates have trouble wrapping their heads around his philosophy, even the villains are confused by it.
• Born Lucky: His Establishing Character Moment in this fic is drawing all five cards of Exodia on his first turn. In fact, his deck is so stocked with Ritual cards and Exodia because he trusts his luck will get him to draw whatever he needs. Oh, and three of those Exodia pieces are Yugi's that Weevil threw overboard on the way to Duelist Kingdom. They just washed up right next to him, water-damaged but still usable, and were exactly the three pieces he didn't already have.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers one to Andrew of Duel Links by winning in just one turn as a result of him summoning Exodia. He later repeats this feat against Byakuya a few chapters later, then against Kemo in the Virtual World via his Deckmaster's ability and against Ace Konami in the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix.
  • In reality: A fair number of Nagito's duels end up being this, from both sides of the spectrum. Due to the way his luck works: Duels involving him can either end with him being the curbstomper or the curbstompee.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: When spectating Yugi and Kaiba's duel in Chapter 56, he gets a bit...too excited for his own good. In response, virtually everyone around him suddenly keeps their distance.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even he doesn't like the Kamukura Project, albeit because he thinks any hope born of it would be false. ...But in a more 'conventional' show of morals, he later admits that erasing Hajime's sense of self, talentless as it may be, rubs him the wrong way.
• Face–Heel Turn: He joins Dartz to make his classmates' hope shine brighter during the Orichalcos arc.
• Graceful Loser: Well as "graceful" as Nagito can be. When he loses to Hajime during the Battle City finals, he's utterly ecstatic that he possibly unlocked Hajime's talent.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Tends to do this a lot, repeatedly claiming that he is merely a "stepping stone" used to foster everyone else's hopes. This goes up a whole new level in Chapter 50 where he sadly muses how despite his resolve to be Chiaki's equal, in the end he was merely a stepping stone towards her hope.
• Hidden Depths: He surprises Chiaki with a profound display of wisdom when he comments that he doesn't believe having all the talent from the Kamukura Project is worth the trade-offs; maybe it'll make you amazing, but if you lose your entire sense of self in the process, what's the point?
• Jerkass Has a Point: As rude and harsh his comments may be, one cannot deny that there IS some merit to his words. Case in point: When he uses his "stepping stone" analogy to describe Yugi's friends, Yugi tries to protest that his friends are his power thanks to the support they give him...which only proves Nagito's point right in how their support equates to them being his "stepping stones". Not to mention in the bigger picture: It's Yugi and Yugi alone who directly fights his enemies and who gets all the fame and glory.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Which part you get depends on whether you're an Ultimate or not. To his classmates, Nagito is supportive and perky, if very strange; to "normal" students like Hajime, he's extremely rude and bigoted.
• Kick the Dog: Has a frequent tendency to do this to those he doesn't deem "great" or "worthy" enough, with Hajime and Joey being among his targets.
• Knight Templar: As always, he's a fighter for hope first and foremost, and doesn't care what he has to do or allow to promote it.
• Lack of Empathy: While he might want to encourage his classmates to do their best, Nagito doesn't have much regard for their personal feelings. His response to Gundham breaking down over Sonia's comatose body is to blithely tell him to use her as a stepping stone for hope, which Gundham furiously calls him on.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: In Chapter 49 he decides to forego his talks about being others' stepping stone and faces down Izuru alongside Chiaki with him even busting out Black Luster Soldier as his Deckmaster. Sadly subverted in the next chapter where he sacrifices himself to save Chiaki relatively early in the duel with Nagito even lampshading the subversion of this trope.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He's shocked and horrified when he defeats Chiaki in their duel and the Seal of Orichalcos takes her soul; he dueled her to elevate her hope and force her to summon one of the dragons, not actually win.
  • He also feels this way after defeating Rebecca and claiming her soul considering that throughout their duel he was genuinely complimenting her skills.
• Mythology Gag: His defeat of Chiaki resulting in the latter losing her soul during the Orichalcos arc tcould be one to their victim/murderer dynamic in the second game where Nagito's actions led to Chiaki (or specifically her AI) getting executed in order to save the surviving students. To add to this, Nagito never actually wanted to defeat Chiaki, but instead elevate her hope further much like how he wanted her to be the sole survivor out of the remaining students in canon.
• Personality Powers: By his own admission, his deck is crafted to embody his ideology, with his low-level monsters serving as stepping stones for his Ritual monsters. In a more subtle example, he uses the Demise and Ruin lines of Ritual monsters, both of which can be summoned with Cycle of the World, almost certainly a reference to how his luck operates in an unending cycle of good and bad.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He has several moments that are immediately negated by Kick the Dog, but finally gets a real one when he asks Chiaki why she likes Hajime. No rudeness, just curiosity. And after listening to her explain why, he simply promises to redouble his efforts on helping her save him, even if he doesn't like Hajime that much.
  • He gets another genuine one in Chapter 49, where he promises to give his all to help Chiaki in the duel against Izuru and overall acts like a true, supportive friend.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: He's very prejudiced against anyone who isn't an Ultimate, sneering that they can never measure up or become anything more than stepping stones. Even Joey, who Nagito acknowledges as belonging in the tournament, is dismissed as nothing compared to the "real" duelists.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives a rather brutal one to Weevil Underwood after defeating him in a duel, telling him how he's worthless as a stepping stone. That's about the worst non-despair crime in Nagito's book. Jerkass Weevil may be, it was still incredibly harsh.
• Secretly Dying: Like in canon, he has frontotemporal dementia meaning he may not have much time left to live. He informs Hajime and Chiaki of this at the end of the Orichalcos arc.
• Seen It All: His reaction to Marik taking control of a Rare Hunter and telling him about the Millenium Rod is a simple "Okay." He doesn't see the point in questioning what's happening right in front of him.
• Sherlock Scan: He's able to quickly work out how Weevil tricked Yugi just from one sentence. He later deduces Odion isn't the real Marik from a few oddities in his performance.
• Stone Wall: His deck encompasses several high DEF monsters to Stone Wall his opponents until he can use them as Tributes for his Ritual Summons or until he gathers all five pieces of Exodia. Nagito refers to them as his stepping stones leading to his desired hope (the Rituals and Exodia) and the despair of his opponents.
• Summoning Ritual: Runs Ritual Monsters as his main powerhouses.
• Taking the Bullet: In Chapter 50, he sends his Deckmaster Black Luster Soldier to intercept an attack from Izuru's Tyrant Neptune that would have defeated Chiaki which destroys it and in the process eliminates him from the duel and the virtual world.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Nagito doesn't have much going for him when it comes to skills and strategy, opting to simply wait out the duel until he reaches his win conditions. However, the power of his Ritual monsters, Exodia, and his luck make him quite the formidable threat to anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to face him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: More than once, and from multiple sources, Nagito is called out on either his beliefs, his bigotry, or his Lack of Empathy.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: He resolves to be Chiaki's equal in the duel against Izuru, only to be taken out early by sacrificing himself for her. In short, he tries to not be a stepping stone, but gets relegated to it anyway.

Gundham Tanaka

• All of the Other Reindeer: During his younger years, he was shunned by his fellow peers for both his preference to hanging around with animals and his eccentric personality. Even his peers who were civil with him told him that it was better not to be seen with him and thus distanced themselves from him. It is only until later in his life that Tai Takemaru and eventually Sonia that he found such close bonds with.
• Amazon Chaser: His response to Sonia's anger is to comment on how lovely it is.
• Anti-Villain: He knows accepting Dartz's offer is wrong, knows he's going to stain his soul if he does, and does it anyway because he wants to help Sonia.
• Bash Brothers/Odd Friendship: With Espa Roba.
• Batman Gambit: His Deal with the Devil is this; he knows turning evil and stealing the soul of one of their classmates will infuriate Sonia back into action, thus helping her become her old self again. And it works.
• The Beast Master: Fitting for the Ultimate Breeder, he uses a Beast Deck.
• The Berserker: Gundham is usually composed and strategic, but if he's angry, he falls back onto tactics of ruthlessly attacking and doing nothing else.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Despite his appearance and his Supreme Overlord persona, Gundham in reality is a good-natured, well-meaning guy.
• Deal with the Devil: Becomes an acolyte of Orichalcos for the power to save Sonia.
• Face–Heel Turn: In the Orichalcos arc, though this is just a ruse. He only played out the part to save Sonia.
• Friend to All Living Things: Animals gravitate towards him, befitting of his status as the Ultimate Breeder.
• Go Out with a Smile: When he loses his soul to the Orichalcos at Sonia's hands, he utilizes this trope as there is nothing more for him to regret, having saved Sonia from herself.
• Good All Along: He reveals this to everyone after his defeat in the Orichalcos arc, even if it does not justify the actions he did for Sonia.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Gundham makes no excuses for what he did to get Sonia back on her feet, even if the others, especially Akane and Nekomaru, hate him for it.
• Large Ham: It wouldn't be Gunhdam without being one. Naturally, this results in him engaging on Ham to Ham Combats against Espa Roba and Sonia.
• Legions of Hell: Befitting his chuunibyou persona, he also runs Fiend-Type monsters alongside his Beasts.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Sends out his "Four Devas of Destruction" whenever he goes into this.
• Love Makes You Evil: He accepts Dartz's offer because he wants Sonia to recover from her PTSD.
• Manly Tears: He sheds a few when Sonia is sent to the Shadow Realm.
• Mythology Gag: His defeat of Nekomaru resulting in the latter losing his soul during the Orichalcos arc tcould be one to their victim/murderer dynamic in the second game where Gundham is exposed as Nekomaru's (or Mechamaru's) killer in the game's fourth chapter.
• The Nicknamer: Rarely addresses anyone by their actual name, instead referring to them by nicknames/titles he made up, the majority of which are every bit as grandiose as his own "Supreme Overlord of Ice".
• Parental Abandonment: If the words of the kids in his flashback can be taken at face value, his father walked out on him and his mother when he was just six-years old.
• Put on a Bus: Sits out at the KaibaCorp blimp during the Virtual World arc in order to look after the comatosed Sonia, as well as to keep an eye on Marik. He later returns in Chapter 47 to confront Marik personally.
• Revenge Before Reason: He's furious when Marik sends Sonia to the Shadow Realm, and becomes single-mindedly focused on defeating him. So much so, it almost costs him his duel with Mai, as he wasn't really paying attention and had forgone strategy in hopes of getting through it as fast as possible.
• Say My Name: "MARIIIIIIIIIIIIK!"
• Ship Tease: With Sonia. Her defeat by Marik's hands and his reactions afterwards speak for themselves. He also spends the entire Orichalcos arc trying to lift her out of her PTSD by joining the bad guys.
• Spirited Competitor: He lives for theatrics, and doesn't really care about winning or losing duels as long as he has a good time. Marik excepted.
• Suicide by Cop: Gundham's actions in the Orichalcos arc are purely this. After making his deal with Dartz he spends the entire arc goading Sonia into taking his soul so that she can rise up from her trauma due to her time spent in the Shadow Realm.
• Unstoppable Rage: Lord help you if you manage to piss him off, because he will not rest until he bowls you over. Sadly for Gundham, getting lost in his anger makes him forego all logic and reason.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: A meta version, but he gets a chance to live out his declarations of magic and shadow when he and Marik fight in the Shadow Realm via his hamsters turning into the demonic forms he claims they have.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: During the Battle City Finals, Gundham was literally an attack away from defeating Marik once and for all, unfortunately the damage to his soul takes its toll on him as he collapses mid-attack. To add insult to injury, Marik even takes his Dark Sword of Morningstar as his prize from his unconscious, collapsed form.

Sonia Nevermind

• Adaptational Badass: Mainly in the case of the Sonia character from Yu-Gi-Oh! canon, who (obviously) was not a warrior princess much less a duelist.
• And This Is for...: Declares "This is for Mahiru!" when facing Marik, as he had briefly tossed her in the Shadow Realm prior.
• Ascended Extra: Downplayed. While Sonia has always been a major supporting character in Danganronpa canon, this trope mainly comes into play in a meta sense when it comes to the Sonia character who is Rafael's little sister in canon.
• Badass Normal: Participates alongside the legendary dragon wielders during the final battle against Dartz, and proves herself just as capable of matching up to them.
• Berserk Button: Insulting the occult, as Yasuhiro finds out.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sonia is a cheerful, rather easygoing person that is polite and friendly to everyone. One thing she isn't though is a pushover when it comes to dueling. Bandit Keith found that out the hard way. Mai even brings up the trope when Joey finds out Sonia's in the finals and she's smiling sweet as ever.
• Composite Character: In this story, she and Rafael's canonical younger sister Sonia are the same character thus making her and Rafael siblings.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers an incredibly swift and brutal one to Yasuhiro after the latter presses her Berserk Button.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Her monsters certainly look intimidating, and she herself expresses interest in the occult. But otherwise she is a kind and friendly person.
• Death or Glory Attack: During the RPG battle against Dartz, knowing that she was on her last legs: Sonia has her Darklord Desire cast an incredibly powerful attack on Dartz's Orichalcos minion, but at the expense of damaging the rest of her soul as Sonia immediately collapses and loses her soul afterwards.

• Lady of War: Sonia is ever so graceful and poised in dueling, her monster preferences reflect this mainly composing of knights and fairies.
• Nice Girl: Is polite, charming, and easily gets along with everyone. Case in point, shortly after being introduced to Hajime (who gets into a rocky start with Nagito regarding his Reserve Course status), Sonia is among the first ones to assure him that she and the others do not share Nagito's beliefs and immediately offers her friendship to him. A flashback also shows that she was the first one among their class to approach Gundham and open her hand of friendship to him; not caring, and actually being enamored by his personality and interests.
• Omniglot: All Novoselic royalty are required to master 30 languages. While 11 are mandatory, the prince or princess gets to choose the remaining 19 for themselves. One of Sonia's choices was Ancient Egyptian, allowing her to properly summon the Winged Dragon of Ra.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: She has one that also overlaps as a Catchphrase; when she is about to deliver the final blow in duel, she always exclaims "Bow to your princess!"
• Related in the Adaptation: She and Rafael are siblings in this story.
• Sacrificial Lion: She is Yami Marik's first victim which showcases to everyone that he is not someone to take lightly.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: She's so traumatized by her time in the Shadow Realm that she can't duel anymore; she cries when she tries to duel Chiaki for fun, and spends a lot of her time listlessly in her room from the PTSD. Fortunately she slowly gets better overtime and fully bounces back during her duel against Gundham. Taking a large (harmless) blast in her duel wih Aiko during the Grand Prix seemed to help her bounce back fully.
• Ship Tease: With Gundham. Her defeat by Marik's hands and his reactions afterwards speak for themselves. She also refuses to admit that Gundham could be so evil in the Orichalcos arc, ultimately getting over her PTSD just to save him from his self-destructive path.
• Tranquil Fury: When Sonia gets angry, she doesn't yell. She only speaks in a very calm, furious voice, with the anger clear in her eyes.
• Warrior Princess: She's a princess who has, in her words, been exposed to minor forms of torture as part of a coming-of-age ceremony. Pain doesn't scare her, and she is a fearsome duelist. She even almost manages to beat Marik.

Ibuki Mioda

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Not shiny per say, but while talking a mile a minute about friends in danger and putting together a rescue party, Ibuki slows down the speed of her speech and asks about the tasty smelling food.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's very silly and carefree, but has a fantastic ability to duel, keeping Joey on his toes for their entire match. She later keeps Nezbitt on his toes in the three-way duel, even delivering the killing blow after setting up an excellent surprise combo.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Nezbitt certainly thinks so.
• Genki Girl: As always, Ibuki is full of energy, bouncing from place to place and tackling everything with a bright smile. Lampshaded a few times.
• Like Brother and Sister: Tells Mai she feels this way about Joey, effectively sinking their ship.
• Motor Mouth: Engaged in this at one point when she arrived back at school to ask for help rescuing Joey from Rare Hunters somuchsothatherwordswerentspacedoutproperly.
• Nice Girl: While her personality gives the appearance of shallowness, Ibuki is very kind, consoling a distraught Natsumi after the latter loses to her.
• No Indoor Voice: Volume control is not in her dictionary. Téa even lampshades it. Nezbitt also finds Ibuki's volume to be far too loud, asking if she comes with an off switch.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She becomes completely serious when she realizes she's about to lose her duel to Natsumi, sincerely thanking Joey for being a good friend, saying their band is a lot of fun, and asking him to take care of it.
• Perky Goth: Dresses like a heavy-metal punk, is very energetic and sweet in reality.
• Pungeon Master: She likes cracking puns, like this:
  Ibuki: And now, Blowback Dragon attacks! Blowback Cannon Blast! Bye-bye Gearfried, it's been...a blast!
• Ship Tease: She and Joey hit it off pretty well after their introductory duel together, much to Mai's concern. That is until Ibuki reveals to Mai what she really feels about Joey (See Like Brother and Sister above).
• Shock and Awe: Her strongest and rarest card Thunder King, the Lightningstrike Kaiju. Appropriate given her attire and talent.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: In order to best showcase how much more serious and dramatic the Orichalcos arc is, it's befitting that Ibuki would be one of characters rendered soulless during the beginning stages of the arc. Her lack of wacky humor, as denoted by Miho, would be a levity for really tense situations.

Mahiru Koizumi

• Break the Cutie: She's briefly sent to the Shadow Realm, watches several of her friends be sent there, her friend Sato loses her soul, and then she loses her soul again, courtesy of her friend Hiyoko. And according to the timeline, this all happens in less than a month!
• Brutal Honesty: She does not mince words, like when she dresses down Joey for starting to give up in front of his sister, but she has people's best interests at heart.
• Camera Fiend: Befitting for the Ultimate Photographer, heck at one point she even weaponizes her camera when she and Serenity were running from the Rare Hunters.
• Cool Big Sis: Towards Hiyoko and later on Serenity.
• Fiery Redhead: She has short red hair and is very fierce.
• Nice Girl: At her heart, Mahiru is a motherly and caring person, even to those who don't deserve it. For example, she protects Celeste, who she didn't even know beyond "traitor", from being sent to the Shadow Realm by Marik.
• Put on a Bus: Sits out at the KaibaCorp blimp during the Virtual World arc in order to look after Serenity, as per Joey's request. She later returns in Chapter 47.
• The Reliable One: Outright called this by her classmates (mainly Gundham), which is why she's sent to pick up Serenity and gets involved in the whole plot from there.
• Shower of Angst: Has one after she's briefly sent to and rescued from the Shadow Realm.
• Talking the Monster to Death: When cornered by Rare Hunters with no escape route in sight, Mahiru falls back on what she does best—scolding. It's her hope that if she confuses them enough, they'll leave her alone. She's wrong, but fortunately Duke is nearby.
• Taking the Bullet: Instinctively jumps in front of Celeste, protecting her from Yami Marik's attack that would have sent the other girl to the Shadow Realm. Thankfully she gets better...sort of.
• Team Mom: She worries about all her friends and classmates, and immediately takes Serenity under her wing.

Mikan Tsumiki

• Cute and Psycho: Briefly comes off as this in Chapter 47. After enjoying her quality time with Mahiru so much, she finally vents out her frustrations with Hiyoko's treatment of her leading her to become unhinged and overly emotional.
• Hidden Depths: She proves to be very serious when it comes to her nursing duties, as seen when she insists to Noah on staying on the blimp with her patients.
• Honor Before Reason: Tends to Yami Marik's injuries from his shadow game with Gundham despite him being their enemy and the one responsible for sending Sonia into a coma, with her monologue commenting that as nurse it was her duty to help people who were hurt.
• Hospital Hottie: She's the Ultimate Nurse and is definitely quite the cutie.
• Insecure Love Interest: Well, the feelings are thus far only on her end, but Mikan doesn't hold out any hope of Kaiba even being nice to "a fragile, dirty thing like me."
• The Medic: She's the Ultimate Nurse, and actually escorts Serenity out of the hospital. Naturally, she puts her skills to good use at other times, helping Chiaki with her injuries and looking after Marik's comatose victims.
  • When Yugi and Kaiba seem injured during their duel in Battle City, she quickly arrives to check on them, displaying none of her usual hesitance or clumsiness. That returns after its confirmed the duelists are fine.
• Mirror Character: Her and Hiyoko. Both are victims of bullying and never had anyone to look out for them. They just deal with it differently. Hiyoko cops a tude and yaps like an angry chihuahua while Mikan cries and begs for forgiveness. When Hiyoko realizes just how similar she and Mikan are, the two set aside the former's history of bullying the latter and decide to be close friends.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Platonic example. In Chapter 47, she expressed her plans to murder to Hiyoko - who she felt was getting in the way of her blossoming friendship with Mahiru, claiming she deserves to be her best friend and not Hiyoko.
• Nice Girl: Mikan has a heart big enough for the world. For instance during in the Virtual World arc, she was even willing to tend to Yami Marik's injuries despite what he did to Sonia and citing that as a nurse, she could not stand and watch people suffering, no matter who they were. Granted this doesn't change anything as Yami Marik still declares he will destroy her along with everyone else (though at least he does say he will destroy her last), but it's still the thought that counts.
• Prone to Tears: Mikan cries. A lot.
• Put on a Bus: Sits out at the KaibaCorp blimp during the Virtual World arc in order to look after the comatosed victims. She later returns in Chapter 47.
• She Who Fights Monsters: Mahiru snaps her back to her senses by bringing up the implications of this trope in Chapter 47, telling Mikan that what she would be doing to Hiyoko would be no better than what Hiyoko does to her.
• Ship Tease: She squeaks and blushes around Kaiba, and can't look him in the eye—partially because he intimidates her, but also, as she confides to Chiaki, because she likes him.
• Shrinking Violet: The poor thing is painfully shy, with even lower self-esteem than Hajime.
• Yandere: Briefly becomes a platonic version of this towards Mahiru in Chapter 47. When she expresses her desire to have Mahiru as her best friend, she even goes as far as saying she'll eliminate Hiyoko as well as carve the reminder onto Mahiru's arm.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu

• Berserk Button: Don't bring up his height.
• Casting a Shadow: Uses primarily DARK monsters.
• Graceful Loser: Despite all his anger and bravado, when he loses to Joey, he's able to take it well even complimenting and comparing his bravado using such a luck-based strategy.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's yakuza, swears a lot, and makes threats, but is ultimately a moral guy who looks out for his classmates. Natsumi and Dartz both try to get him to join Doma, but he throws it in their faces in disgust and rage.
• The Napoleon: Compared to his classmates and other characters, but don't you dare bring it up him else you want him fitting you for cement shoes or cutting off the fingers of your hand.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He cusses up a storm in his introduction, then cusses one up even further when Joey asks him if he'd like to watch his language with a lady present. He swears up one heck of a storm in Chapter 65, when he refuses Dartz's offer to join Doma.
• Underestimating Badassery: He and Peko target Joey Wheeler during the first round of the tournament, thinking him to be an easy target without his Red-Eyes. Both of them proceed to lose, eliminating them from the tournament in the process.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He really lets Natsumi have it for joining Doma.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Actually attempts this on Dartz, instead of going for dueling. Unfortunately for him Nagito's presence causes his gun to be jammed.

Peko Pekoyama

• Cuteness Proximity: Has this reaction to Joey's Scapegoats during their duel, to the point of being reluctant to attack them. It takes Fuyuhiko snapping her back to her senses to resume the duel (even if she's still troubled at their destruction).
• Despair Event Horizon: Crosses it when Fuyuhiko loses his soul in their triangle duel against Gurimo and she realizes she has nothing to avenge him with.
• Not So Stoic:
  • She practically has a Squee attack when she sees Joey's Scapegoats.
  • Fuyuhiko losing his soul provokes intense rage and loss of composure from her.
  • She cries Tears Of Happiness when she gets to hold Hajime and Chiaki's son, who doesn't cry when looking at her.
• Underestimating Badassery: She and Fuyuhiko target Joey Wheeler during the first round of the tournament, thinking him to be an easy target without his Red-Eyes. Both of them proceed to lose, eliminating them from the tournament in the process.

Nekomaru Nidai

• I Coulda Been a Contender!: His heart condition prevents him from getting involved in highly intense duels when the hologram system is active due to the strain it and the tension of any given high stakes duel puts on his heart. He's a pretty competent duelist without the handicap as shown when he wins a classroom tournament that had eliminated Battle City contestant, Fuyuhiko as his opponent in the finals.
• Team Dad: Generally plays this role amongst Class 77-B befitting his character and his talent, such as when he offers to look after the rest of the class while Chiaki, Chisa and their other classmates are away during the Battle City arc.

Hiyoko Yukizome (formerly Saionji)

• Ambiguously Gay: Chapter 62 has a lot of subtext that she's in love with Mahiru.
• Ascended Extra: From a minor recurring character in the Battle City arc, to a major supporting antagonist in the Orichalcos arc.
• The Bully: To poor Mikan. [[spoiler: She gets over it after some character development.
• Bratty Half-Pint: As usual, as per canon.
• Deal with the Devil: In Chapter 62, Dartz offers her the power of the Orichalcos to have power and stay in control, and she agrees.
• Face–Heel Turn: In Chapter 62.
• Happily Adopted: Once Chisa adopted her as her younger sister, Hiyoko had never felt any happier.
• Hidden Depths: Hiyoko states in chapter 89 that if she could have any other talent, she'd want to be the Ultimate Cheerleader because it has a similar motive for dancing: inspiring others.
• Jerkass: As per canon, she's extremely unpleasant.
• It's All About Me: In Chapter 62, her best friend Mahiru is upset because Sato has lost her soul, triggering her back to her own trauma in the Shadow Realm. Instead of trying to comfort her, Hiyoko throws a hissy fit that Mahiru isn't spending time with her. Brought to ridiculous degrees in Chapter 72 which shows just how self-centered she really is.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Hiyoko learns that she and Mikan never had anyone on their side to protect them and it was arguably worse for Mikan since Hiyoko at least had her father. Both of them are victims of bullying, they just handle it differently. See Took a Level in Kindness below.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: She was already unpleasant to begin with, but ho boy does she amp up the bitchiness in the Orichalcos arc following her Face–Heel Turn.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Post-Orichalcos arc. While it's still not much and Hiyoko still retains her snarky and bratty attitude, much of the malice within it has been reduced.
  • It gets upgraded during chapter 89 where she and Mikan make amends with each other.

Akane Owari

• Big Eater: As per canon.
• Big Sister Instinct: Chapter 65 mentions that she threw a lot of threats around Hope's Peak so that her younger siblings would be fed and cared for while she was away.
• Ms. Fanservice: Her features have been noticed by a couple of characters such as Tristan and Byakuya.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: She begs Nekomaru not to go after he loses his soul to Gundham in Chapter 64.

Kazuichi Souda

• Abhorrent Admirer: Sonia considers him one, thanks to his obsession with her.
• Hopeless Suitor: Towards Sonia as per canon, making the fact that he was unable to qualify for the Battle City tournament while she spends the whole tournament being friendly with Gundham very upsetting for him.
• Pet the Dog: He gets a nice moment of inspiring a traumatized Sonia to try and appeal to Gundham, not even caring that he's helping his romantic rival; he just wants her to feel better and Gundham's duel to stop.

Teruteru Hanamura

• The Friend Nobody Likes: A mild example, while neither his classmates nor Yukizome have openly expressed anything resembling dislike; they merely tolerate him due to his talents at best but are outright disgusted with his lecherous ways. During Chapter 67, both Hajime and Yukizone even admitted in the darkest depths of their minds that they wished it was him whose soul was taken by the Great Leviathan instead of their other friends.
• Supreme Chef: As expected of the Ultimate Chef, he even cooks up a feast for the rest of his classmates who are watching the tournament/who were eliminated and is also why he did not enter himself.

"Ryota Mitarai"/Ultimate Imposter

• Due to the Dead: After the real Ryota dies, he resolves to keep living in his identity as a way to honor him.
• No Name Given: As in canon, "Ryota Mitirai" is only the disguise he is currently using and the Ultimate Imposter never had his own name in the first place.

The real Ryota Mitarai

• Death by Adaptation: Suddenly dies of malnutrition an natural causes at the end of the Kaiba Corp Grand Prix.
• The Ghost: So far, hasn't appeared at all in the story. Sadly only shows up in chapter 133 having died with Mikan and Imposter finding his body.
• Too Powerful to Live: Ryota's brainwashing video would be a gamebreaker, so the writer had to remove him to prevent it from falling into Junko's hands.

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