Fanfic / Danganronpa: Yakuza Arc

Clockwise, from top: Hideki Minamoto, Hajime Hinata, Maaya Umebayashi, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, Peko Pekoyama, Natsumi Kuzuryu, Matsushige Kuzuryu and Takuo. Art by ProjectCubixDuc

What if Hajime Hinata managed to save Natsumi Kuzuryu? What if he managed to get to know her better (much better) afterwards? When his path leads him amongst Yakuza clans and the politics of the underworld, will he be able to survive?

Danganronpa: Yakuza Arc is a fanfic trilogy detailing the route of a Hajime that prevented the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, and became involved in the Kuzuryu Yakuza Clan as a result. Violence, diverged canon, a variety of OCs, and even a bit of romance ensues.

The trilogy stands completed as of September 2019. The individual parts can be found here, here, and here.

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Tropes in this trilogy include:

Across More Than One Part

• Action Girl: Peko, of course. Eri, the bodyguard of Hideki, as well.
• Adaptational Badass: Of a sort. Hajime never undergoes the procedure to become Izuru Kamukura, so never gets all of his badass traits, but gains several levels in badass due to training first with Peko and then with high-level Yakuza.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Hajime ends up being best friends with Fuyuhiko and Peko in this timeline.
• The Berserker: Rile Hajime up enough and he becomes one, sometimes to his detriment, but sometimes to his benefit. In his fight against Hideki, going berserk early hurt him, but later in the fight, after getting his Heroic Second Wind he goes this with Hajime blinding Hideki with blood from Hajime's own stab wound before wailing on Hideki and then nearly stabbing him in the head him wins him the fight. Later, Hajime goes berserk on a Korean gangster and brutally kills him with a hammer after he and his partner had been tortured. In his fight against Takuo in Part 3, after realizing that if he defeated Takuo sooner, he could have gotten a antidote syringe for Natsumi, it causes Hajime to go berserk, but he gains no ground on him and eventually gets disarmed.
• Bodyguard Crush: If there's a opposite sex bodyguard situation, this is going to happen. Hajime and Natsumi, Peko and Fuyuhiko, Eri and Hideki, Ichiro and Maaya... There isn't one where this didn't happen.
• The Cameo: Several characters, like Gundham, Mikan, Hiyoko, or Nagito are introduced seemingly to have either Natsumi or Hajime think about or react to how weird and/or annoying they are.
• Character Development: Whoo boy, do Natsumi and Hajime get a lot of development over the series. Natsumi's influence on Hajime and his influence on her change their characters vastly. Natsumi changes from being basically a female Fuyuhiko, but even more brash and abrasive, to being much nicer and well rounded. Due to him getting more confidence due to interactions with her and her family, he never undergoes the Izuru Kamukura procedure. Someone else becomes Izuru.
• Combat Pragmatist: One of the main things that Hajime learns from Peko during their sparring and training sessions is this. He wins against two people that would normally have killed him because of this. He wins against Hideki because he threw some of his own blood in Hideki's face before beating him down and nearly killing him. Against Takuo, after being disarmed, Hajime uses a laser scalpel to rush Takuo as Takuo was rushing him and nearly disembowel him.
  Peko: “Cheated? There is no such thing in real combat, Hinata. In the real world, when faced with death, people will use anything they can to survive. What incentive is there to follow the rules when it will only get you and your loved ones killed? You must learn to use your environment as a weapon. Be aware of everything around you. If you don’t take advantage of it, your opponent will. That is a reality of this world and that is what I want you to take away from this exercise," she said, reaching down to offer Hajime her hand.
• Cool Old Guy: Well, not too old, but Satsuo, Natsumi and Fuyuhiko's uncle counts. He's jovial, a good cook, a former Yakuza
• Damsel in Distress: Natsumi gets one in each part. Hajime rescues her in the first two and she kills Eri as Eri was trying to choke her out in Part 3.
• Explosive Leash: Killing Game participants all have one, in the Student Council Killing Game and the Killing Game in Part 3. Satsuo uses one of them, that he got off of Matsushige's body, to rescue Peko from being executed.
• First-Episode Spoiler: The very first chapter of this series makes it clear that thanks to an absent Izuru Kamukura, Junko Enoshima dies to Nagito's gun during their confrontation in the Despair Arc. The first chapter of the 2nd part includes Peko killing Mukuro after Mukuro learns of Junko's death.
• Fix Fic: Because of saving one "bratty, abrasive, defective girl", Hajime saves the events from most of the Danganronpa canon from happening.
• Genre Shift: Part 1 is mostly about Hajime and Natsumi's time in Hope's Peak and their getting closer and rebuilding her social skills. Part 2 has only a little bit of Hope's Peak and focuses more on the Yakuza world and Hajime becoming increasingly involved in it. Part 3 is a Killing Game, because it can't be a Danganronpa without a Killing Game, after all.
• Heroic Build: It's mentioned several times how Hajime fills out his clothes more and more through his training first with Peko and then through his training to become a Yakuza with Takuo.
• How We Got Here: Most of the first two parts cover what happens before the prologue of Part 1.
• It Gets Easier: Hajime gets told this by Takuo after Hajime killed 2 Korean mafia thugs and goes into a Heroic BSoD. Ironically, the only person shown or mentioned killed by Hajime is Takuo himself in Part 3, and Hajime doesn't seem terribly broken up about it. In Part 3, after Natsumi kills Eri, Fuyuhiko thinks about mentioning this as well and to ask Hajime about it.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Throughout the story, sometimes Hajime will say his catchphrases from the trials in Danganronpa 2, like "No! That's wrong!" or mentioned as cutting through the words of the person he's talking to.
  • Hajime, Chiaki and some of the other characters from the games are sometimes mentioned as making poses like their sprites did in the games.
  • In Chapter 10 of Part 1, Natsumi prostrates herself in supplication while apologizing to Sato for her bullying, similar to how Fuyuhiko did so early in Chapter 3 of Danganronpa 2 while apologizing for his role in the events of Chapter 2, though she doesn't attempt seppuku.
  • In Part 2, while being threatened by thugs looking for Natsumi, one of them points a knife at Fuyuhiko's right eye and says "I think he would look good with an eyepatch.", which is what he has over that eye from the third chapter on in the game.
  • In Part 2, Nagito says that he thinks that he, Hajime and Chiaki would be "a formidable trio" when investigating together, and they're the three most competent people at the class trials in 2 and at investigating.
  • The Trial in Part 3 practically ramps this up with Hajime's inner monologue and words, so that you can almost hear the Danganronpa 2 trial music.
  • Monokuma calls Fuyuhiko "baby gangsta", just like Akane did in the 4th Trial.
• Only One Name: Takuo is only ever referred to by his first name. Hajime asks Yudai what his last name is and he says Takuo doesn't have one. Like Peko, he was taken in by the family while an infant and trained since birth. However, Part 3 shows that he does have a last name, Kuzuryu. He's the son of Oyabun Matsushige Kuzuryu's elder brother Daichi and Maaya Umebayashi, technically making him the heir of the Kuzuryus.
• Reformed Bully: Natsumi lessens her bullying after nearly being killed by Sato. She drops it altogether late in Part 1, becoming The Atoner. However...
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: She's still hot-headed and not about to be cowed by anyone.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • Hajime and Natsumi become an Official Couple at the end of Part 1.
  • Peko and Fuyuhiko get one in Part 3.
• Rescue Romance: After he saves her life from Sato, Natsumi is unsurprisingly much more fond of Hajime.
• Series Continuity Error: Invoked. Fuyuhiko and Natsumi's mother, Kaguya, is mentioned as having been dead since they were very young, and before Natsumi could really remember her. In Danganronpa 2's Free Time Events, however, Fuyuhiko mentions his mother and father getting into huge fights and his father being hot-headed, which also isn't apparent in the fanfic. This is because in this timeline, she was killed during the "Night of Retribution", where in the original timeline, she survived due to Satsuo having his brother spare her. This also explains why Fuyuhiko is alright with underage drinking, since in this timeline, his father isn't The Alcoholic.
• Ship Tease:
  • There's a lot between Natsumi and Hajime, unsurprisingly, before they become an Official Couple at the end of part 1.
  • Fuyuhiko and Peko get a lot between the two of them, before they also become a couple halfway through Part 3.
  • Hajime gets some with some other girls in the first half of Part 1, notably with Chiaki and Mahiru, and even a little bit with Peko.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Chiaki mentions Hajime having a scar on his forehead, she jokes that "I thought it meant that you’re a wizard now."
  • Just before the Student Council killing game, Monokuma mentions being the most famous bear besides "The one with the shovel" and "the one with the picnic baskets". A little later he says "Say, you’re walking along one day and some gangsta is dissin’ your 'flygirl'. Just give em’ one of these."
  • The Yakuza rules about not harming women and Hope's Peak rules of Main Course students not being able to talk to Reserve Course are referred to as “More like guidelines than actual rules.”
  • Shinta Masuichi is killed by being pushed into a shark tank and Hajime thinks it's like something "out of a cheesy spy movie.", possibly referring to either The Spy Who Loved Me or Austin Powers.
  • Yudai's body is found with a chainsaw on the end of his right arm and Hajime thinks it looks like it's from a “sleazy horror movie”. Later, when it's shown in a flashback from Yudai's point of view in getting the chainsaw arm, he says “Groovy.”
  • Monokuma calls Fuyuhiko "Boss Baby", twice.
• Sympathetic Murderer:
  • Nagito successfully kills Junko in the Prologue of Part 1. Any Danganronpa fan has very little cause for sympathy for her many crimes.
  • Peko kills Mukuro in the Prologue of Part 2, in self-defense.
  • Hajime kills 2 men and seriously wounds a third in Part 2. However, they worked for the Korean mafia and had captured him and his partner Takuo. Then after that, they tortured them both for fun.
  • Natsumi kills Eri with a antidote injector to the eye as Eri was trying to choke her to death.
  • Peko kills Hideki by running him through with a katana. But she killed him because he was going to kill Fuyuhiko and he had been brainwashing Peko for months, as well. Plus, he was masterminding the Killing Game, which ended up killing 11 people, including himself.
• Tsundere: Natsumi is a classic version of this to Hajime. Naturally, it becomes more deredere as their relationship progresses.
• Yakuza: Naturally, it involves them since Natsumi is the daughter of the most powerful Yakuza in Japan, Matsushige Kuzuryu, the Oyabun of the Kuzuryu clan. Hajime starts working for the Kuzuryus, first protecting Natsumi and in Part 2, after saving her a second time and preventing a clan war, the Kuzuryus offer him a chance to join their business, which Hajime accepts. The end of Part 2 has Hajime, Natsumi, Fuyuhiko and Peko all get their tattoos and become official Yakuza.

Part 1

• The Atoner: Late in Part 1, Hajime convinces Natsumi to turn over a new leaf and stop being a bully. She readily apologizes to the class, but is more reluctant to apologize to Mahiru and Sato, but Hajime manages to convince her. After some explaining and yelling and crying on both Mahiru and Natsumi's parts and a slap from Mahiru, Mahiru forgives her. Sato doesn't forgive Natsumi, but accepts her apology and agrees to end their feud. She also apologizes to Natsumi, for you know, trying to bash her head in.
• Beach Episode: Well, beach chapter, but Chapter 8 fits most of the criteria, with plenty of Fanservice and Ship Tease moments.
• Big Brother Instinct: Fuyuhiko warns Hajime that if he hurts Natsumi, "there will be hell to pay." and that it won't be Fuyuhiko that beats him up, it'll be Peko. Hajime is understandably not fond of that outcome.
• Big Damn Heroes: Hajime arrives just in time to save Natsumi from being killed by Sato, getting at least 2 ribs broken by her bat and then she breaks his arm which he threw out to protect Natsumi from being killed. Mahiru then pulls this trope before Sato could do any more harm to Hajime or Natsumi and Sato drops the bat.
• Big Damn Kiss: Hajime kisses Natsumi in the final chapter of part 1, showing her that he was with her for more than just because her father was paying him to be her bodyguard.
• Break the Haughty: Much of Natsumi's character arc is brought about by her nearly being killed by Sato. First, she is scared shitless by Sato nearly killing her and Hajime. Then Fuyuhiko apparently reamed her a new one offscreen. Hajime then dealing a pointed, yet calm breakdown of what happened and her role in it while she's at her most vulnerable causes her to be able to redeem herself.
• The Bully: Natsumi is this when introduced. Like a lot of other bullying tropes, why she's one is thoroughly dissected in part 1.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Junko gets a Double Tap from Nagito in the prologue.
• The Dulcinea Effect: Hajime certainly didn't count Natsumi as a friend, and basically just ate lunch with her because neither had friends. He could also barely stand her, due to her bitchy, bullying attitude, but he couldn't let her be killed by Sato.
  "Why he would put his life on the line for this bratty, abrasive, defective girl, was beyond him. Nevertheless, he was determined to protect her."
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Downplayed in that she's not evil, just a bully, but Natsumi's first response when Hajime asks her if she's alright as he's in the hospital from defending her is to yell at him to "Shut up! Just shut up!" and ask "What the fuck is wrong with you?” before saying he could have been killed because she's "just a fuck-up!". Hajime then gives a calm, but pointed breakdown, that yes, she was at fault, but that "You made a mistake, and you’re gonna have to live with that, but that doesn’t mean that you deserved to die. It doesn’t mean you’re an evil person. You can still learn from this." This causes her to tear up and Hajime was shocked at how emotionally vulnerable she was at that point.
• Fanservice: There are a handful of drawings done similarly to the official Danganronpa art style and one happens to be of a bikini-clad Natsumi.
• First Kiss: Hajime and Natsumi get theirs in the final chapter of the part.
• Freudian Excuse: Natsumi became a bully because the other kids feared and ignored her, even while in Kindergarten and Elementary School. Fuyuhiko taught her to not take crap from anyone, so she decided to become a bully and give them a reason to fear her.
  Natsumi: I didn't care if they hated me anymore. They were just going to do that anyway. At least I could make them respect me. That's all I needed, and that has gotten me where I am today. So why bother changing now?
• Friendless Background: How Hajime and Natsumi initially connect. Other than Chiaki, Hajime has no real friends, and because of her personality, Natsumi is this too, initially, and even Hajime doesn't consider her a friend. They become friends, and then more, after he saves her life.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Hajime convinces Natsumi to try and make friends with Aiko Umesawa, a girl she's acquainted with from swimming. About everything that could go wrong does so, notably her being Mistaken for Thief, Mistaken for Gay and Sustained Misunderstanding all occur. Hajime even likens it to a train wreck. The class then jeers and insults Natsumi, leaving her crying and running out of the classroom. It takes Hajime convincing her to apologize to the class and explain that she's trying to turn a new leaf that Aiko realizes her mistake and apologizes to Natsumi for her mistake and the two become friends.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Hajime brushes off Fuyuhiko telling him to not eyeball his sister, saying that he's not that into her. Cue her coming out in a bikini and Hajime openly staring at how nice she looks in it.
• Intimate Lotion Application: During the Beach Episode in Chapter 8, a bikini-clad Peko brings sunscreen with her and requests the assistance of someone to apply it on her back. Fuyuhiko volunteers, but the Nosebleed on his face betrays his intentions and Natsumi intervenes and shoots him down, then drags Peko away so they can apply it on each other.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Fuyuhiko calls out this trope by name about Hajime and Natsumi while he and Hajime bond over drinking.
  Fuyuhiko: I'm not fuckin' blind. I see the way you two talk to each other. You bicker like an old married couple and you’re always together. Seriously, you may not realize it, but you are way closer to her than anyone else has ever gotten.
• Luminescent Blush: Fuyuhiko, when a bikini-clad Peko is on his shoulders, had a "complexion of a boiled lobster". Hajime was likely the same with as flustered as he's mentioned being at having a bikini-clad Natsumi on his shoulders. Later, Hajime wraps his arms around Natsumi's waist while they're on jet-skis and causes her to do this. When they switch places and "He felt her two firm orbs press against his back", this is very strongly implied when Hajime freezes up after that.
• Mistaken for Gay: Natsumi throws out numerous homophobic slurs at Mahiru and Sato before she gets nicer and Hajime initially thinks that Mahiru and Sato are a couple as well, before Mahiru clears it up that she's not homosexual, though Sato is. Later, ironically and semi-hilariously, Natsumi gets mistaken for being gay when her poor social skills make Aiko think she was hitting on her.
• No Social Skills: Natsumi has very poor social skills due to her being a friendless bully for years. Hajime works with her to help her rebuild her social skills and get new friends after he convinces her to change her ways.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Hajime when he puts two and two together after Mahiru says that Sato doesn't play any instrument after he saw Sato carrying some kind of instrument case into the building. Then he remembers Natsumi had been worried about an appointment after Hajime convinced her to "bury the hatchet" with Sato and Mahiru and then the threats that Sato and Natsumi made. He immediately breaks off his conversation with Mahiru and runs off to find Natsumi.
  • Natsumi, when she also finds out Sato is going to try to kill her.
  • While in the hospital for his broken ribs and arm from defending her, Natsumi brings Hajime a bento box of food. Then Chiaki comes in with a bento box and a game for him, with Natsumi questioning his relationship to Chiaki and Chiaki asking Hajime if he's "a player". Hajime frantically denies it, which Chiaki accepts after a little bit. Just then, Mahiru arrives with a bento box for Hajime... Cue Stunned Silence from Hajime, Chiaki and Natsumi and offscreen finger pointing and "wild accusations" from everyone, mostly Natsumi, he's able to extricate himself from the situation. Hajime later relates this situation to Fuyuhiko as a funny story while they bond while drinking together.
• The Paragon: Much like a lot of his Free Time encounters in Danganronpa 2, Hajime is really good at getting people to better themselves. This is especially evident with Natsumi.
• Relationship Upgrade: Hajime and Natsumi have their First Kiss in the final chapter of part 1, showing this.
• School Bullying Is Harmless: Hahaha! No. Natsumi's interactions, both positive and negative, with Mahiru and Sato throughout Part 1 deconstruct this trope thoroughly as Mahiru and Sato talk about the mental and psychological harm that Natsumi's bullying did.
• She's Not My Girlfriend: After he saves her life, quite a few people think that Hajime and Natsumi are an item. Hajime corrects them sometimes. They do become a couple at the end of Part 1.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Naturally, given the premise of the What If?, Natsumi survives the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case due to Hajime arriving in time to save her. Sato also survives, due to her not succeeding in killing Natsumi and Hajime using the "favor" owed to him to prevent any further repercussions to her or her family by the Kuzuryus. Hajime thinks the fact that she now has a criminal record, as well as being expelled from Hope's Peak is punishment enough.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Downplayed, since she isn't evil, just a bully, but other kids mostly stayed away from her from fear, due to her being from a powerful Yakuza family. So, a very lonely Natsumi decided to make them have a reason to fear her and became a bully.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Thanks to Hajime's influence, Natsumi gradually becomes more and more nice. She does still have some bitchiness and brashness, but is much nicer.
• When She Smiles: When Hajime first saw Natsumi genuinely smile, it sent shivers down his spine.
• Yubitsume: Satsuo has one from leaving the Kuzuryu business, though he's still close with the family.

Part 2

• Arranged Marriage: The Kuzuryus and the Minamotos, a rival clan, arrange one between Natsumi and Hideki Minamoto, the heir of the Minamotos early in Part 2. Naturally, it ends up falling through.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hideki at first seems like an okay guy, not forcing himself on Natsumi in their arranged marriage and seems to take it well when Hajime confesses his love for her and seemingly magnanimously offers to take the fall for the arranged marriage not working out. He then kidnaps her and Hajime, revealing that he was never going to marry her and was instead going to film killing her, or it's strongly implied do worse and then kill her to start a clan war between the Minamotos and Kuzuryus.
• Blatant Lies: Hajime claims to Chiaki he got his forehead scar from tripping. She's such a Nice Girl that she doesn't call him out when she mentions she's seen videos on YouTube of him bloody and running from thugs in a large mall.
• Bludgeoned to Death: Hajime earned his Yakuza nickname "Hinata the Hammer" by incapacitating one Korean mafia thug with a hammer, and killing another, Okada, with it after they captured him and Takuo.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: After capturing Hajime and Takuo and then torturing them, the 3 Korean gangsters decide to leave them tied up in a soundproof room with no guards. Unsurprisingly they escape and the 3 gangsters get killed afterwards.
• Boom, Headshot!: How Takuo deals with Shiratori, the third Korean gangster after the gangster was severely injured by Hajime.
• Career-Ending Injury: Takuo becomes a Pencil Pusher after his right arm and hand was pulverized by Funaki.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Takuo and Hajime are on the receiving end of this after getting captured.
• Death by Adaptation: Ryota Mitarai gets killed by Junko's "confidant" at the end of Part 2.
• Determinator: Hajime is repeatedly sliced by Hideki, and this is after he had received a beating by some of his gang members as well as a Tap on the Head to get him there, before being stabbed in the stomach. However, he manages to get a Heroic Second Wind and manages to beat down and nearly kill Hideki, while sustaining more injuries. He manages to stay conscious long enough to untie Natsumi.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Mukuro gets killed by Peko, instead of being killed by the Spears of Gungnir in 1.
• Eye Scream: One of the thugs at the Akutagawa Mall threatens to blind Fuyuhiko's right eye, saying he'd look good with an eyepatch.
• Fatal Family Photo: One of the Korean mafia thugs has one of his pregnant wife and two children that Hajime finds after he killed him. It's part of the reason for his Heroic BSoD.
• Fingore: One of the thugs looking for Natsumi threatens Hajime with this if he doesn't reveal Natsumi's whereabouts. Luckily Fuyuhiko interrupts them before they "only" cut Hajime to the bone on his finger.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Hajime and Takuo's interrogation dynamic is this in the only one that's shown.
• Heroic BSoD: Hajime was in one after he killed two Korean mafia gangsters and caused the third to end up killed by Takuo after Hajime and Takuo were captured and tortured on a mission that went wrong. It took meeting up with Natsumi again to break him out of it.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
  • Why Natsumi initially breaks up with Hajime and agrees to the Arranged Marriage, since she thinks he'll very likely be killed protecting her.
  • Poor Chiaki definitely has feelings for Hajime, but due to his romance with Natsumi, that can't come to anything. She even assists Hajime in getting back together with Natsumi when Natsumi breaks up with him due to the danger he gets put in with her. She wishes the best for him and her when they part ways after graduating. For Hajime's part, he still cares deeply for her, as evidenced by him backing down 3 thugs into giving back her game system after they stole it. Later, he angrily grabs Nagito's throat when he endangered her life by bringing her with him to kill Junko (even though Nagito didn't want her to come but Chiaki insisted). Things never end well for Chiaki...
• In Love with Your Carnage: When Hajime handily beats up three men that were harassing her, then intimidating them into running away, Natsumi was staring at him in awe. They have what is implied to be Their First Time after that.
• Just Toying with Them: How Hajime and Peko feel about what their opponents are doing to them in their respective fights against Hideki and Mukuro. They only win because Hajime throws some of his own blood into Hideki's eyes, and Mukuro learns of Junko's death and gets sloppy.
• MacGyvering: After he and Natsumi are kidnapped by Hideki and some of his thugs, Hajime breaks out of the trunk of the SUV he's locked in by forcing the trunk lid open with a car jack and a tire iron.
• Mood Whiplash: Hajime has stopped Natsumi from leaving with Hideki by giving her an Anguished Declaration of Love and stops their Arranged Marriage and Hideki graciously offers to take the fall for it failing to go through. Natsumi and Hajime spend a bit happily in each others company. Then Hideki shows his true colors and he and some of his thugs kidnap Natsumi and Hajime.
• Never Suicide: Ryota's murder was made to look like a suicide, but Kyoko is skeptical of that.
• Pistol-Whipping: Happens twice to Hajime, first while they are attacked by thugs at Akutagawa Mall and Hajime tries to defend Natsumi and Hideki from one. The second is when Hideki shows his true colors and one of his gang members pistol-whips Hajime and knocks him out.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: Invoked Trope. At the Akutagawa Mall, one of the thugs attacking Hajime, Natsumi and Hideki throws off Hajime, aims his gun at Hajime's chest and pulls the trigger... and nothing happens as the bullet is a dud. Unlike most examples, this is referenced later as being an incredibly rare one-in-a-million fluke.
• Scrubbing Off the Trauma: Hajime takes frequent showers while in his Heroic BSoD, after he killed two people and was pretty responsible for a third, but he always still felt unclean.
• Second-Act Breakup: Hajime and Natsumi break up when she seemingly agrees to the arranged marriage. It isn't until Chiaki has Hajime see Natsumi's point of view of the danger he was in from protecting her that he runs off and confesses his love for Natsumi.
• Slashed Throat: How Hajime kills Funaki with a scalpel. To be fair, the guy had it coming. First he tortured Hajime and Takuo and then as Hajime had a scalpel at his throat, bragged about his crimes to Hajime before taunting Hajime that he wouldn't do it. Hajime did it.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: In Chapter 14, we get to see an interaction between Hiyoko and Natsumi as they wait for Mahiru. It's every bit as snark and insult-filled as you'd expect.
• Spanner in the Works: Hajime becomes this for Hideki; losing a duel to a random high schooler, only walking away alive because said high schooler spared him, completely torpedoes any support he was building for his attempted clan war.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Due to Izuru not coming into existence and Junko having to alter her plans, half of the Student Council survives their killing game. Notably, instead of becoming the first victim, Natsumi's friend Aiko ends up surviving and killing Tomohiko, accidentally removing the pin in his collar before he can kill her, unlike what happened originally with him tricking her and killing her. Naturally, she and the rest of the survivors go into shock after Monokuma reveals there wasn't any real stakes and no one had to die.
  • Due to Nagito succeeding in killing Junko for the same reason as above, Chiaki also survives to graduate, the reserve course doesn't commit mass suicide, amongst other numerous deaths that are prevented from Junko's early death. All of them ended up spared due to Hajime saving the life of a girl he barely knew.
• Their First Time: Hajime and Natsumi get what's implied to be theirs in Chapter 13 after he shows off his new skills in dealing with some punks that hassled them and she appreciates his new physique after training 4 months non-stop. However, he did show no hesitation at spending the night with her early in Part 2, though, so it's not confirmed it's their first time.
• These Hands Have Killed: Hajime stares at his hands as they are covered in the blood of two of the Korean gangsters that he's killed and he immediately goes to a sink to try and wash them off and all the other blood that he's covered in.
• Too Good to Be True: Hajime thinks that everything worked out a little too well at the end of Part 2 for stopping Junko's schemes.
• Training from Hell: Hajime's training from Takuo is this to get him up to speed in 4 months, since he's just an average high schooler who had around a year of training under Peko at that point.
• Use Your Head: Hajime headbutts several people during Part 2. He headbutts Hideki, breaking his nose, and later headbutts Okada, one of the Korean mafia thugs. Takuo headbutts Funaki while tied up as well.
• Villainous Valor: After losing their fight, Hideki takes a badly wounded Hajime to the hospital, before he can bleed out.
• Volleying Insults: Natsumi and Hiyoko's interactions usually go like this.
• Wham Episode: Chapters 11 and 12 of Part 2, which details Hajime's first actual mission for the Kuzuryu-gumi. The mission to recover money that went bad showing to the readers and Hajime the kind of life he was getting into.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While Hajime is in a Heroic BSoD after killing two Korean mafia thugs, Takuo tells him that he's not a monster.
• Your Head Asplode: How Tomohiko dies in the Student Council Killing Game, after Aiko accidentally pulls the pin in his explosive collar as he was trying to remove the pin in hers.

Part 3

• All for Nothing: The whole Killing Game is a shit show that nobody benefits from, and even Monokuma acknowledges this, with no broadcast and nothing really to benefit him or Junko's cause. Hideki, the mastermind, is killed before the game really starts. The survivors don't benefit, since Peko has to be executed (though she gets saved), and she was only the traitor due to being Brainwashed and Crazy.
  Monokuma:Puhuhuhu! I know right? What a shit show! Nothing in this game went the way it was supposed to! Hideki messed up the game my beloved creator worked so hard on, only to be killed himself before the game even started! Looks like nobody got what they wanted out of this game. Everyone’s a loser! Including me!
• Arc Number: 2358. It's the code to the safe in the explosive room and Izuru Kamukura used it in their lab, as well.
• The Atoner: Fuyuhiko uses the antidote he had been given by his uncle on Peko, saying his regrets about what his family did to her since infancy and that she never had a choice in joining them, unlike everyone else. It's after this that they share their First Kiss.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Peko became this after Part 2, due to Hideki using Junko/Ryota's brainwashing technology through Mukuro's phone on her. It's what causes her to be the traitor in the Killing Game.
• Characters Dropping Like Flies: About every named Yakuza from the previous parts take part in this Killing Game, and 11 of the 15 participants end up dying, as well as Monokuma.
• Chekhov's Gun: The "Sacrificial chamber" Hope room. Hajime wakes up there with Hatoyama and later he uses it to get a antidote injector to save Natsumi's life.
• Coitus Interruptus: At the end, Peko walks in on Hajime and Natsumi in the middle of some intimacy. Hajime attempts to say This Isnt What It Looks Like and Natsumi tries to claim he was showing her some “takedown moves” while they happened to be naked.
• Connected All Along: Takuo turns out to be the son of Daichi Kuzuryu and Maaya Umebayashi, technically making him the true heir of the Kuzuryus, rather than Fuyuhiko. It also makes him first cousin to Natsumi and Fuyuhiko.
• Consummate Liar: Maaya is this. Around half of what she says is a lie and the other half is true.
• CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: After Hajime had to wait for Natsumi's heart to stop to get a antidote injector in the "Sacrificial chamber", he injects the antidote straight to her heart and then performs CPR to resuscitate her. Unlike some examples, it's noted there is a powerful stimulant in the antidote, so it could work like an adrenaline shot to resuscitate her, rather than just the CPR.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Eri gets killed by having a antidote injector stabbed through her eye and the antidote pumped directly into her brain by Natsumi as she was trying to choke Natsumi to death.
• The Dog Bites Back: Brainwashed and Crazy Peko was used by Hideki to set up the Killing Game and used as the Traitor. However, when he was going to kill Fuyuhiko, she used a loophole in the rules he gave her to kill Hideki before he could do so.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the pain, suffering, and loss they were put through, Hajime and Natsumi, alongside Fuyuhiko and Peko, manage to make it out the other side alive and together.
• Everybody Knew Already: Fuyuhiko asks Hajime if he thinks he's a moron who didn't know that Hajime was dating his sister. He then states that it's about the most obvious thing in the world and he's known there was something between the two practically since he met Hajime. He then tells Hajime that he couldn't think of anyone he'd want with his sister more than Hajime.
  Fuyuhiko: You’ve proven yourself ten times over. You put your life on the line for her… I've lost count of how many times. For fuck’s sake, man. I’ve got high standards, but I’m not a maniac! There’s never gonna be another guy I’m gonna trust as much as you. I think you and Natsumi belong together… and I’m happy for you guys. That being said, I’d rather not hear about what you guys do when you’re alone.
• Face Death with Dignity: Attempted by Natsumi. In a Despair room with Eri, Natsumi knows she stands little chance against her, since she doesn't know how to fight, but Eri certainly does. Natsumi stands up and wipes the blood off her nose after Monokuma says it's a Despair room and she attempts to fight as best as she can. Subverted in that she doesn't die, as she's being choked out by Eri, she uses an antidote injector to stab Eri's eye and the injector automatically injects the antidote directly into Eri's brain, killing her.
• First Kiss: Peko and Fuyuhiko share theirs in Chapter 9.
• Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Hajime and Natsumi engage in this after surviving the Killing Game. They then get interrupted by Peko. After Peko leaves, they shrug and go back to it.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: How Maaya is killed by Satsuo pushing her into a laser beam.
• Handicapped Badass: Takuo is still a badass and racks up 3 kills in the Killing Game despite lacking full use of his right hand and arm. He nearly kills Hajime, but Hajime nearly disembowels him with a laser cutter and finishes him by beheading him.
• Heroic BSoD: Natsumi goes in one after she kills Eri. She breaks out of it a little after being comforted by Hajime and crying into his chest, but is still in a fragile headspace in the next round and breaks down immediately when it's revealed she and Hajime are in a Despair room. When she manages to talk Hajime out of cutting himself open to find the number, she gets better and she's mostly out of it when she's able to save them by "randomly" guessing the code.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Matsushige sacrifices himself so that one of his kids could get an antidote injector. While Natsumi isn't able to use it to cure herself of the Obelisk Agent, she is able to use it to save her life by using it to kill Eri as Eri was trying to choke her out.
  • Satsuo mortally wounds himself detonating Matsushige's collar to rescue Peko from being executed.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Hajime says about the knife that was stabbed into Hideki to disguise the murder weapon and Hideki's cause of death and Peko says it's from the "Sacrificial chamber" room. Natsumi then points out that Peko was never in the Sacrificial chamber room.
• Karma Houdini: Izuru Kamukura never gets any comeuppance for their role in the Killing Game.
• Malevolent Masked Man: The "Mastermind".
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": All 14 people when they realize they've been put in a Killing Game.
• Moe Greene Special: Fuyuhiko kills Monokuma with one.
• Off with His Head!: How it's implied Hajime finishes off Takuo. Unlike a lot of examples, it's mostly a Mercy Kill by this point, after Hajime had mortally wounded him.
• Red Shirt: The retelling of the "Night of Retribution" has Satsuo telling them about how he, Matsushige, and five other guys gun crashed a Minamoto summit. Four of the five red shirts get killed.
• Related in the Adaptation: Kaede Akamatsu from V3 is strongly implied and later confirmed by the author in the comments to be Natsumi's twin sister in this universe. The parable that Eri and Masuichi heard referred to a queen having twin girls and giving up one child to distant relatives. Later, it's revealed Kaguya Kuzuryu's maiden name was Akamatsu and Kaede and Natsumi look very similar and their official birthdays are only a day away from each other, with Kaede being the older of the two and V3 mentions she has a younger twin sister. If Kaguya gave birth around midnight, Kaede and Natsumi's birthdays could technically be a day apart, which is all a reference to a fan theory due to all of their similarities.
• Sworn Brothers: In the final chapter, Hajime and Fuyuhiko perform the sakazuki ritual to become this, just like they did in Fuyuhiko's final Free Time event in Danganronpa 2.
• Take That!: Monokuma says that he'd love to be a divorce lawyer, mortician, or a DMV worker.
• Treacherous Advisor: Takuo gets a bit unhinged and is more bloodthirsty than usual after he learns that he's technically the rightful heir of the Kuzuryus and potentially the Minamotos as well as the first son of Matsushige's older brother Daichi and Maaya Umebayashi. He schemes with Maaya to take over both clans when the Killing Game is done. Their scheme is unraveled when Maaya is killed by Satsuo and Takuo is killed by Hajime.
• Undignified Death: Hideki gets killed because he failed to fully think through his plan as the mastermind and left a pretty obvious hole to not kill him in his rules for Peko during the Killing Game. Unsurprisingly, she killed him the first chance she had and then had him crucified in Fuyuhiko's place next to the words "Usurper Prince".
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: The new Izuru Kamukura “forced the hand of God” in creating this timeline by forcing Hajime, Natsumi, Peko, Fuyuhiko and Satsuo to be the ones to survive the Killing Game and survive up to that point, which includes hugely improbable events like Natsumi randomly guessing a 4-digit code and the gun of the thug that tried to shoot Hajime at the Akutagawa Mall misfiring, which is a roughly 1 in 100,000 chance.
• Worth It: Hajime says this in the final chapter after having some Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex and Natsumi comments that Fuyuhiko would kill Hajime for what they were doing. Cue Peko entering the room as they are both still naked.
• Would Hurt a Child: Kaguya tried to drown 4-year old Fuyuhiko, which is why their parents were estranged when the "Night of Retribution" occured.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Deliberately invoked by the new Izuru Kamukura. Everything that happened, however unlikely, happened because it had to happen for their universe to exist.

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