open/close all folders
Current Employees
Seto Kaiba
- Adaptational Heroism: While Kaiba already received this treatment in canon when comparing his incarnations from the original manga to the second anime, this fic goes even further than that via toning down or even removing some of his more selfish and ammoral actions. One major example would be his plans to blow up Kaiba Corp island at the end of Battle City: In canon he considered blowing up the island after he was eliminated from the Battle City tournament without anyone knowing (which would have killed everyone on it), and only stopped after Ishizu and Mokuba got through to him. In this fic; the idea of blowing up the island prematurely never crosses his mind and only plans to do so after the tournament when everybody is safe and sound.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Calling him a "nice guy" is still a stretch, but Kaiba here comes off as a lot more noble and considerate of others than his canon self. He expresses soft spots for Chihiro, Chiaki and Makoto every so often and treats them with more kindness and respect than he does Yugi and his friends. Also, while he still seeks to obtain the three Egyptian God Cards from Yugi and Marik, it's not out of the means to fuel his own ego, but more of to ensure that they are sealed away for good for the protection of everyone else.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
- In Chapter 48, he gives one of these to Makoto for a job well done dueling Noah.
- He gives another one to Mikan in Chapter 62 when she won't stop crying.
- And one to Monaca in Chapter 136 when she couldn't stop crying either.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The guy is highly confident and smug about his dueling skills, and is damn sure to make it so that you never forget it.
- Berserk Button: As per canon, the pride of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is very important to him. He did not take kindly when Monokuma implied that he was the series mascot and not Blue-Eyes.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards Mokuba, as per canon. Mokuba's welfare is about the only thing that could get Kaiba shaken up.
- Big "WHAT?!": Just like in canon, this is his reaction to hearing Yugi lost in his duel (and to him his King of Games title) against Rafael. Unlike in canon however, he discovers this at the DOMA headquarters rather than phone so he does not get the chance to Rage Quit on him like he did there.
- Break the Haughty: He ends up on the receiving end of this a couple of times throughout the story: Whether it is being told off by someone "weaker"/with less power and influence than he has, or by others getting ahead of him in finding breakthroughs during important moments.
- Cherry Tapping: What his victory over Joey in the Battle City pretty much equates to: After a long duel of both of them exchanging strong monsters after strong monsters, Kaiba clinches the duel with a direct attack from none other than his Saggi the Dark Clown.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has a very sharp tongue, though he doesn't even use the veneer of politeness a Gentleman Snarker has.Kaiba: I'm sorry, what were you saying? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my victory.
- Demoted to Extra: Zigzagged during the Orichalcos arc. While his role and influence stay exactly the same as it was in canon, all of his canonical encounters with Alister have been left entirely off-screen not unlike Yugi's canonical duels during the Battle City arc.
- Despair Event Horizon: After losing to Yugi in the Battle City semi-finals as per canon, he breaks down emotionally in his office thinking he has nothing anymore. Thankfully Chiaki arrives and snaps him out of it not long afterwards.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Comes across this situation towards the end of his duel with Chiaki: Either he calls of Obelisk's attack, but loses to her and thus lose his chance to seal away the Egyptian God Cards, or he attacks for the win but at the huge cost of Chiaki's safety. Thankfully Chiaki eases up his worries, telling him to go through with the attack.
- Friendship Denial: He's like this way towards Chiaki, even though pretty much everyone can agree the two of them are friends.
- Graceful Loser: During the epilogue of the Orichalcos arc, he accepts that both Kirigi and Chihiro ended up being the ones in the right as opposed to him.
- Honor Before Reason: Despite barely winning against him, Kaiba declines to take Byakuya's best card, The Wicked Dreadroot, and tells him to gear up for their rematch in the finals, where Kaiba will gladly take it from him then. The only reason is because he thinks the rematch would be "too unfair" if Byakuya lost his best card before it. Mokuba makes it clear as to Kaiba's use of this trope.
- I Hate Past Me: Has shown distate for how he was back in the past - where he risked everything to win, even at the expense of others.
- Infinity -1 Sword: Obtains the Wicked Dreadroot from Joey after defeating him in the Battle City Finals.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he still maintains his canonical aloof and arrogant persona, his interactions with Chiaki, Chihiro, and Makoto are notably less hostile than with Yugi and his group of friends. Especially noteworthy is the fact that when Hajime carries a sleeping Chiaki to the stadium on his back, Kaiba actually seems worried about her. Of course, this being Kaiba, he's not about to admit to it.
- Last-Name Basis: With virtually everyone he meets. Him using the opposite is usually a sign that he is close to someone and/or is someone worthy of his respect.
- Mirror Character:
- To Byakuya. Each of them accuses the other of riding on others' coattails to get where they are, while declaring that they had to work hard to get to their current position. Thing is, that declaration is true in both cases—Byakuya had to fight his own siblings to get to the top of the Togami Corporation, while Kaiba was an orphan who had to win his way out with chess.
- Believe it or not, this trope also applies to him and Joey of all people. Both come from broken homes and are proud older brothers with terrible fathers. The main difference between them is Kaiba's richness and success while Joey still struggles in poverty.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When he breaks down in front of Chiaki towards the end of Chapter 56, he goes as far as to fling his deck (containing his prized Blue-Eyes White Dragons) at her, causing the cards to scatter all over the floor. It's a clear sign that Kaiba is not right emotionally at all.
- Pet the Dog: Aside from his moments with Mokuba as per canon, he has a lot of these moments with the Danganronpa characters throughout the story, which only prove to humanize him a lot more than in canon. Most specifically are his various interactions with Chiaki, Makoto and Chihiro.
- Towards Chiaki:
- When they first meet back at Hope's Peak Academy as part of Kaiba's test runs for his Duel Disk system, Kaiba is nothing but polite and respectful towards her despite maintaining his aloof and stern character, and even softens up around her. He even goes as far as to give her a few words of encouragement regarding the gamer's own problems and parts with her on good, civil terms.
- Throughout the first part of the Battle City finals, he expresses open concern for her injured legs as seen when she and Hajime first arrive at the rendezvous spot to gather the finalists and also during their duel in Chapter 37 when he feels like the duel might be too much for her, specifically: his hesitance to attack her directly with Obelisk to win the duel (See Friend-or-Idol Decision above). In addition Mokuba even mentions to the others that whenever he talks about her, he seems a lot more positive compared to when he talks about Yugi and his friends.
- Towards Makoto:
- When he first meets the younger boy in Chapter 29, he gives Makoto his autograph no strings attached after Makoto makes it clear that Kaiba is his personal hero who got him to start playing Duel Monsters since Kaiba isn't that much older than him.
- During the Virtual World arc, he even allows Makoto and Komaru to sit with him at the breakfast table. Later on when he and Makoto end up traveling together during their stay in the virtual world; he gives Makoto some words of encouragement over the latter's insecurities over being a good big brother and even takes this literally in chapter 48. See Affectionate Gesture to the Head above.
- He also applauds Makoto for his amazing performance against Yugi during the Battle City finals, even telling Makoto that that he's getting a personal invite next time he holds a tournament and that should the younger boy have any problems regarding fees and expenses, he can turn to him.
- Towards Chihiro:
- Even as early as the start of the fic, Kaiba holds the programmer's skill at very high regard (despite him being an intern) with how he is able to trust him in taking part in some of KaibaCorp's more complicated matters. By Chapter 51, he even considers the option of hiring him full-time in the future.
- In Chapter 34, Kaiba lets Chihiro hold Obelisk. Granted, it was for a very good reason, but this is Kaiba we're talking about. Later on in that same chapter, when he finds Chihiro covered in soot, he hands Chihiro a towel.
- During the Orichalcos arc, not only has Chihiro been officially employed under him; but he also does not take it against the programmer when the latter takes action without his permission (such as involving Kyoko Kirigiri into his investigation). In fact after Chihiro's progress, he even gives him a raise. Additionally at the end of the arc, when Chihiro was worried that he would fire him, Kaiba not only doesn't fire him but admits he was wrong and entrusts Chihiro with further responsibilities later down the line. The scene even ends with the implication that he's having a coat made for the young programmer with a similar design as his.
- He's also a lot less aloof towards Mikan whenever they interact with how he's a lot more gentler towards her (well as gentle as Kaiba can be) and how he genuinely respects her skills as a nurse.
- See Affectionate Gesture to the Head above for a literal use of this trope.
- To a minor extent: In Chapter 59, when he, Chisa and Kyosuke list the demand to make the "Ultimate Duelist" title an annual title and to have Hajime transferred to the Main Course as such; Kaiba briefly mentions how Yugi would also make for a wonderful addition for Class 78.
- Towards Chiaki:
- Put on a Bus: During the Canada Nationals arc.
- The Rival: To Yugi, obviously, but also somewhat to Byakuya, given that their companies are competitors. Kaiba doesn't really recognize him as a true equal, but still gets irritated by him.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Any questioning Hope's Peak may have of his talent as Ultimate Duelist, thanks to his loss to Yugi, is quickly evaporated by Kaiba's generous donations, amounting to thirty percent of their revenue. Although, Kaiba is still incredibly talented.
- Screw Destiny: As in canon, Kaiba is a firm believer that he alone determines his own fate. To no surprise, this puts him at odds with the Pharoah.
- Slobs vs. Snobs: The snob to Joey's slob.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's cold to strangers, straight-up rude to Yugi and his friends, but also shows a kinder side around people he likes or respects (Yugi nonwithstanding). Chihiro, Chiaki, Mokuba, and Makoto all get to see it, while Mikan gets part of it when he pays her a compliment.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- After watching Sonia get savaged by the Winged Dragon of Ra and administering some failed tests on Obelisk, he has decided to lock the god cards away forever, rather than want them for his deck. This is especially noteworthy, because it's something his canon counterpart would never even think of doing. Inherently though, on top of that, Kaiba is also highly respectful of Chiaki and even seems to have a soft spot for Chihiro Fujisaki. Chiaki states that she believes it's because Yugi and his friends piss Kaiba off, so he's always in a sour mood around them.
- Considering that the events of the original manga happened in this fic's continuity, he took several of these after said events.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- He gets one from Chiaki after he still insists on continuing the Battle City finals, undermining Mahiru's condition and even ignoring the threat that Yami Marik brings to everyone else.
- He also gets a second one from Chisa (via communication line) who makes him realized that he just broadcasted Sonia getting obliterated by the Winged Dragon of Ra on international television.
- World's Strongest Man: In this story's universe, he is an Ultimate much like the Danganronpa characters, specifically his title is "Ultimate Duelist".
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: While dueling Monokuma, Kaiba agrees with him on the point of the
MST3K Mantra existing within Noah's Virtual World and Duel Monsters in general. He then states that he never wants to agree with Monokuma on anything ever again.
Mokuba Kaiba
- Distressed Dude: During the Virtual World arc, once again as per canon. Joey even lampshades it when he and the others find out.Joey (sarcastically): Show of hands, who's surprised?
- Morality Pet: To Kaiba, again as per canon.
- Undying Loyalty: To Kaiba, as per canon.
Chihiro Fujisaki
- See his entry in Class 78 for more details.
Noah Kaiba
- Cruel to Be Kind: This is the reason he kept raising the prices Sweet Orchard had to collect to bring Miho back—because he knew the Awful Truth that neither he nor Miho could leave, and wanted to protect her from finding it out.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: His dueling strategy is using cards that pour thousands upon thousands of life points into him, ensuring he can take lots of damage without even blinking, while his Spirit Monsters harass you.
- Dirty Coward: He uses Mokuba as a human shield in his duel against Kaiba, as in canon.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He truly cares for his Only Friend, Miho. Even during his duels with Kaiba and Makoto, where he comes very close to crossing the Moral Event Horizon, he's still kind to her.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: It's heavily implied that, like Miho, he's been going insane from being trapped in the virtual world for too long.
- Heel–Face Turn: Has his at the end of Chapter 48, after seeing that Gozuburo's true colors and a lot of patience from Makoto and Miho.
- Honor Before Reason:
- When the virtual world arc starts, he only targets those who are actually able to duel, allowing the injured to stay behind with their nurse. He was also right about to lampast Johnson for cheating in his duel before Celeste's luck kicked in and turned it around.
- He also refuses to give anyone access to Hajime's body, saying he'll honor the deal he made with the Steering Committee.
- Subverted hard in Chapter 48, where he tosses aside honor and morals in his duels.
- Hypocrite: He looks down on Johnson for cheating against Celeste, but has no problem doing the exact same thing against Kaiba.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Think just because he cheats he's a wimp? Think again; his strategy is very sound, using Spirit Monsters in combination with Spring of Rebirth to consistently perform hit-and-run attacks and raise his life points.
- I Surrender, Suckers: After losing to Makoto, he tries to cheat his way back to the real world by attempting to take his opponent's body by force as in canon. Unfortunately for him, Kaiba introduces him to fist before he can do so.
- Jerkass: Very much so, as Chapter 48 shows.
- Kick the Dog:
- As in canon, he uses Mokuba as a human shield against Kaiba and then turns them to stone right as they were about to reunite.
- During his duel with Makoto, Noah decides to start turning his friends to stone for every turn Makoto fails to defeat him. He does this for no reason other than to be a dick, with the crowner being turning Makoto's sister to stone and then mocking him.
- Kick the Morality Pet: In an interesting way. He's been raising the money Sayaka's group has to pay to bring Miho back...because he doesn't want to lose her. While sweet, it's ignoring Miho's own wishes, and contributed to her thought that people have forgotten about her. Makoto even comments it's the exact logic of a spoiled kid—not inherently malicious, but still hurtful. Plus there's the whole Cruel to Be Kind thing...
- Lonely Together: He and Miho were all the other had while trapped in the virtual world.
- Noble Demon: Antagonistic he may be, but Noah has standards he'll follow. Leaving alone people he has no qualms with is one, as is sticking to his word, and he's protective of Miho, who he does care about. Subverted hard during his duels with Kaiba and Makoto, though, as he throws away every one of his morals to try and win.
- Older Than They Look: He's chronologically a teenager, but is stuck in the body of a child.
- Pet the Dog:
- He initially tells everyone at the tournament that he wants them all off the blimp. When Mikan timidly steps forward and explains that she's a nurse and can't leave her injured patients, he amends this so she can stay to care for them. He also allows Espa Roba to stay with his brothers and Gundham to stay with Sonia.
- To Miho in general. He's furious when he thinks the Big Five might go after her and is completely sincere when he apologizes for lying to her, stating he was trying to protect her from the Awful Truth.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Tends to rapidly switch between mockery and throwing tantrums. To be fair, he never actually got the chance to grow up, and might actually be insane.
- Spoiled Brat: Literally whines that he's entitled to KaibaCorp and shouldn't have to work hard for it.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In canon, he sacrifices himself to stop Gozaburo and the both of them perish alongside his Virtual World. Here, his data gets salvaged by Chihiro and placed onto his laptop.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In the face of Makoto extending the hand of forgiveness, what does Noah do? Try to steal his body. Fortunately Kaiba stops and punches him in the face.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He straight up deletes the Big Five, Hobson, Kemo and Emma from existence after Leichter fails to defeat Kaiba, claiming that once Izuru is created he'll just make a deal with the Steering Committee to borrow him for his company which is actually a lot earlier than when he does it to the Big Five in canon.
The New Employee
- See Hajime Hinata's entry in Class 77-B for more details.
The New Business Partner
- See Monaca Towa's entry in Hope's Peak Academy for more details.
Former Employees
The Big Five
Gansley
- Killed Offscreen: Not exactly killed, but Yugi still duels and defeats him entirely off-screen.
Word of God is that it would go the same way, and he didn't want to show a Foregone Conclusion.
Crump
- Adaptational Heroism/Adaptational Villainy: His sadistic delight in his opponent slowly freezing to death is absent—as is the actual freezing. However, at the same time, he had a sympathetic backstory about his Abusive Parents and only finding comfort in penguins. None of that is mentioned here.
- Adaptational Wimp: In canon he proved himself to be quite the forminable opponent against the inexperienced Téa. In this story however his opponent of choice is the more skilled and experienced Chiaki who was in control throughout their duel and proceeds to steal the win from under his nose.
- Dirty Old Man: Unnervingly, he specifically mentions wanting the body of a teenage girl, and looked up Chiaki's breast size before deciding on her. She's understandably grossed out by this.
- Good with Numbers: Not only was he once KaibaCorp's head account, he actually attended Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Mathematician.
- Smug Snake: He remains arrogant about his ability to win all throughout his duel with Chiaki, right until the end.
- The Spock: He uses number-crunching to calculate his odds of winning and predict what his opponent is going to do.
Johnson
- Amoral Attorney: He was a lawyer while he still had his body, hosts his duel with Celeste in a courthouse, and uses a lot of legalistic terminology. He also cheats the entire time except when her luck overrides it at the end.
- Fixing the Game: As in his canon duel against Joey, he rigs his duel with Celeste so that all her die rolls and bets go south. However, her talent is so strong that this eventually stops working.
- Fusion Dance: His deck relies on these.
- Hypocrite: He expresses disgusts with gamblers for wasting their lives, mocks the notion of luck, and claims the house always comes to collect. What stops this from being Even Evil Has Standards is that Johnson is perfectly willing to cheat himself in order to win.
- Insistent Terminology: He repeatedly addresses Celeste with her real name, Taeko Yasuhiro.
- Smug Snake: Like Crump, he lords a superior attitude over his opponent the whole duel.
- This Cannot Be!: He mentally exclaims "inconceivable!" when Celeste's luck begins beating his fixed die rolls. Then again when he realizes he's about to lose.
Nezbitt
- Arms Dealer: He was in charge of KaibaCorp's technological, and especially weapons, development, while Gozaburo was around.
- Child Hater: He despises Kaiba wanting to pander to children with KaibaCorp, and sneers that technology shouldn't be wasted on games for them.
- The Comically Serious: His stoicism and seriousness in the face of Ibuki's increasing energy and noise volume makes him come off as this.
- Humongous Mecha: Becomes one when he fuses his deck master with Machine King, creating Perfect Machine King.
- Hypocrisy Nod: He looks down on Duel Monsters as a stupid children's card game, yet as Ibuki points out, is playing it himself. He actually agrees with her, lamenting that it's his only choice and once he gets back to the real world, he'll never touch a duel disk again.
- Ironic Echo: The first time Komaru takes damage during the duel, she refers to it as a minor setback. When Nezbitt takes damage later, he does the same thing. Ibuki takes the opportunity, in typical Ibuki fashion, to hang a lampshade on this trope's use.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Has a very dim view of humans, favoring machines over them and believing that they're utterly inferior to robots.
- This Cannot Be!: Screams it word for word when Ibuki annihilates him.
- Villain Has a Point: When his opponents are incredulous over his dismissal of games, Nezbitt counters that games won't protect people from armies or war. While he's wrong about restricting technology to only adults, he does have a point, and with Junko lurking in the background they may very well need real weapons.
- Would Harm a Child: His target for a new body is Komaru, who, since this is set around the time period of Danganronpa 3's Despair Arc, is a pre-teen! Of his three opponents in the duel, she's the one he most focuses on attacking, and he shows her no mercy.
Leichter
- Killed Offscreen: Like Gansley, his duel with Kaiba happens off-screen, though he at least gets to show up.
Other Former Employees
Kemo
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Assumes the form of Minoan Centaur.
- We Hardly Knew You: Is defeated by Nagito and digitized into cyberspace not long after his (re)introduction.
Emma
Crump's niece and former head programmer of KaibaCorp. An original character made for the fanfic. As Johnson ends up dueling Celeste instead of Joey, she becomes Joey's opponent.- Greed: Her fatal flaw in that by cutting safety corners to make a profit, Kaiba fired her after she almost set him on fire. This also plays into her gameplay style in that she'll make any sacrifice, including her own life points, to gain any sort of advantage. And, as lampshaded by Celeste, this leads to her defeat.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Cut safety corners to make more money and nearly set Kaiba and Mokuba on fire. Kaiba promptly fired her for her actions.
- Magical Girl: Her deck revolves entirely around spellcasters, including the fruit-based magician girls. Her deck master is even Chocolate Magician Girl.
- Unwitting Pawn: Her entire role is this as she wasn't even originally involved in the arc until Monaca Towa tipped her off about the situation. Monaca then sabotaged her virtual reality pod and used Emma's duel with Joey to help improve Junko's dueling skills.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Duels one duel against Joey and loses before she's digitized into cyberspace. Noteworthy in that, unlike the only other original character in the series, Eliza se Arc, Emma probably isn't coming back.
Hobson
- Superpower Lottery: Out of the deckmaster abilities presented in the story, his is arguably the most broken out of all of them outside of Noah's Shinato. His Witty Phantom's deckmaster ability allows him to once per turn, look at this opponent's hand. He then has the option to take one card from their hand and force them to discard another.
Gozaburo Kaiba
- Ambiguous Situation: Since the missile strike is completely omitted in this story and his defeat from Kaiba's hands happens off-screen; it is unknown what happened to Gozaburo at the end of the Virtual World Arc if he simply defeated or had his mind deleted.
- Arch Nemesis Dad: To Kaiba as per canon.
- Even Evil Has Standards: See Offing the Offspring below. He regards Byakuya's suggestion as "disgusting".
- Killed Offscreen: His defeat by Seto's hands goes entirely off-screen (save for a brief cameo) to pave more focus to Chiaki's Hajime-rescue storyline.
- Offing the Offspring: Byakuya theorizes that this is what he did to Noah, knowing full well the kind of man Gozaburo was back in the real world (a theory that horrifies everyone, including Kaiba). Gozaburo however proclaims that despite that Noah was a spoiled brat, he would never actually plot to get rid of him. However he does admit that Noah's accident was indeed convenient for him as it got an incompetent heir out of his way and made way for a more worthy one in Seto.
Roland
Scott Irvine
