Fanfic / Project Rewrite

Project Rewrite by sophie_enoshima is a completed Danganronpa fanfic based on the visual novel adventure game Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

As the title indicates this is a rewrite of the game, but it's actually an in-universe rewrite. To wake the others from their comas, the five survivors reset the simulation and start the killing game over, but only Hajime and Chiaki remember what happened the first time around. It features the same cast of sixteen students; though as to be expected there are major changes. This work is is considered to take place in an alternate universe, at the same time also remaining canon.

There are major spoilers for both Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as well as spoilers for the anime: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy.

Beware, spoilers may be unmarked.

Project Rewrite contains examples of:

• A Friend in Need: Hajime always tries to help everyone, no matter what. Monokuma knows this and calls Hajime out on this. He knows Hajime won't be able to resist it and thus is not afraid to tell him that he will kill Hajime at the ruins when everyone's there because he knows Hajime will wait for all of them.
• Alternate Universe: Stated in the notes, the writer considered the story to be an AU fanfic.
• Anyone Can Die: True to the series, this is a free-for-all, including the protagonist.
• The Atoner: After Mahiru and Kazuichi die because of him, Fuyuhiko surprises himself by feeling guilty and starts making nice with the other students.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • Hajime tries to help Mikan feel more welcome this time around. It turns dark when Nagito exploits her growing crush and preexisting Yandere nature to kill Twogami in Hajime's name.
  • This is then complicated a bit by The Reveal in Chapter 27 that Mikan may have been subconsciously recalling the first Mutual Killing Trip and in turn, her affliction with the Despair Disease. As pointed out by Hajime, this addition may have made her fall to despair much quicker.
• Better to Die than Be Killed:
  • After accidentally killing Mahiru, Kazuichi opts for suicide rather than be subjected to one of Monokuma's executions.
  • Somewhat implied at the end of Chapter 27 by Munakata when he tells Hajime not to fight against his plan, lest Future Foundation have to get their hands dirty by personally killing class 77-B. Hajime doesn't agree with his sentiment.
  • This becomes a major trope in the last two chapters as Hajime realizes that they have better chance at waking up if they kill themselves while thinking about how the simulation isn't real than by trying to survive thirteen hours with the Junko AI without being killed. This is also the reasoning of Fuyuhiko, who inspired Hajime, when he's forced into holding a bomb on a time limit that Junko says she could detonate at the slightest provocation. He'd rather die on his own terms than drag the other survivors down with him.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Nagito's views on hope and Hajime due to the latter claiming to be Ultimate Hope. This bites Hajime later when Nagito claims his actions were done for Hajime. This morality becomes more understandable after his conversation with Hajime after he manages to find his way into the ruins.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Once the in-game Chapter 3 rolls around, Hajime contracts the Despair Disease and can't lie when asked a question.
• Can't Live Without You: Part of The Reveal in chapter 27 is that if Hajime dies, the rest of the class dies with him. We see this in the aftermath of Hajime drowning before Fuyuhiko and Gundham in chapter 31.
• Cassandra Truth: Monokuma repeatedly hints to Hajime that Future Foundation is not on his side, which turns out to be true. Given that it's Monokuma, Hajime doesn't listen, and Monokuma knew he wouldn't, which is why he told him in the first place.
• Collective Groan: Whenever Nagito starts rambling about hope and despair.
• Drama Bomb: When the fourth trial yields no execution, Monokuma compensates by revealing to everyone that Hajime lied about being the Ultimate Hope, turning the others (except Chiaki) against him. And then he does it again by revealing the existence of Izuru Kamukura and his role in the deaths of the student council, turning the others against Hajime even more when they realize who Kamukura is.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Akane and Kazuichi who survived in canon both die as the blackened, ironically.
  • Though not explicitly stated, Ryota Mitarai, who survived the events of Danganronpa 3, had kicked the bucket off-screen, going by Munakata being the only Future Foundation branch leader to survive that killing game.
• Death by Irony: Once again, the Ultimate Musician is killed by a wound to the throat that would prevent her from singing.
• Evil Gloating: At this point do you even need to ask?
• Exact Words: Hajime interprets the Cassandra Truth moments listed above as Monokuma saying that Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya are not on his side, forgetting that they were working against the rest of Future Foundation to help him and his friends.
• History Repeats:
  • The Imposter, Nekomaru and Mahiru end up as victims in Project Rewrite, following suit from the game.
  • Mikan ends up being a murderer for the second time, this time killing The Imposter. Munakata states as much in his broadcast.
  • Both Akane and Ibuki contract the same Despair Disease as they did in the original game.
  • AI Chiaki's personality is the same as the first simulation and Chiaki retains her memories of the previous killing game. Munakata reveals this was done intentionally to hamper Hajime's efforts to save everyone by having AI Chiaki pose as a distraction.
  • As of Chapter 28, Ibuki once again dies from a throats related injury after being tricked into going somewhere, the music venue in the first game and out of her and Hajime's hiding spot in the second, by her killer.
  • Nagito discovers the secret of the funhouse again; however, he also found the exit to the funhouse as well.
  • Lampshaded by Hajime's fears that Nagito is going to pull a similar stunt to the original game when he brings weapons with him to the ruins. Nagito gets a good laugh out of this near the end when he regains his memories of the first game and discovers why Hajime was so wary of him bringing weapons.
  • Once again, Chiaki dies from her attempts to save her classmates from death.
  • The Junko AI returns and offers a similar deal of letting the survivors go in exchange for their comatose friends' bodies.
• For Want Of A Nail: Because they were helping with the rewrite, Makoto, Kyoko and Aoi are not present for the final killing game, which leads to Munakata ending up as the Sole Survivor due to Makoto not being present to talk him down. Munakata even mentions how he was pretty sure they were supposed to be in the game, but the rewrite kept them away.
• Genius Bruiser: Peko Pekoyama has been shown to be one the strongest and intelligent students in the game. This is especially highlighted in Chapter 27 when Peko was the only one to make the connection between Hajime and Izuru being one and the same. She later confesses this to Hajime in private while he is held captive. Even moreso, she is trained in first aid that ultimately saves Nagito's life.
• Hope Crusher:
  • When Munakata reveals himself, he goes out of his way to drive home how everything has been working against Hajime from the beginning. He may not look like it, but given how elaborate his whole plan was, the reader can tell that Munakata enjoyed putting Hajime in a lose-lose situation. Subverted hard as of the final chapter, Munakata experiences the killing game from Danganronpa 3 and has had his world view tilted on its axis in the events that, unlike canon, led him to be the lone survivor.
  • Unsurprisingly, Monokuma is attempting this as of Chapter 28 by letting Hajime go after killing Ibuki with the knowledge that he intends to kill Hajime once he reaches the ruins just to make Hajime see his own death kill his friends. His attempt fails due to a siren disabling his clones which allows the survivors sans Nagito to enter the ruins unscathed.
• Idiot Ball: Fuyuhiko, why did you trust the word of a known manipulator like Junko?
• Idiot Hair: Naturally the protagonist, Hajime Hinata, though he's usually far from stupid.
• In Another Man's Shoes: After being the Sole Survivor of a killing game of his own, Munakata realizes just how horrible they actually are, especially once he learns that there was no actual killer, and realizes just why Makoto did what he did. He apologizes to Hajime afterwards.
• In Spite of a Nail: Hajime, Fuyuhiko, and Sonia all still reach the end of the game.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • After the conclusion of the fourth class trial, Fuyuhiko confronts Hajime at breakfast after the events of the previous night. Understandably he makes some valid points, despite being unaware of the entire situation
  Fuyuhiko: “I can’t do this, I’ve gotta say something.” “When you convinced me not to kill Mahiru, you saved my life. For that, I’m pretty grateful, and it means I owe you one.”I don’t like owing anyone anything, especially to traitors like you.”“So, I’m gonna give you some advice like you gave me, and then we’re quits.”“What are you doing in here, Hajime?”“I don’t know what you are anymore, whether you’re just a liar, or a traitor too. Either way, it’s too dangerous for you to be here. If anyone else is gonna die, then it’ll be you. Gah, just by sitting here you’re irritating everyone enough to make us wanna kill you. If all that crap was true, how you wanna keep the death count down, then stay away from the restaurant, stay away from us.”“Get yourself a mini fridge, stock up on food, eat when no one else is around - I dunno. But what I do know, you’re putting your life at risk sticking around here. Keep yourself to yourself, and you might have a chance of making it out alive. But c’mon, you need to stay away from us.”
  • Later, Monokuma calls out Hajime's impulse to help his classmates with no concern to consequences or his own safety when he explains what he has planned for Hajime
    Monokuma: "See, Hajime, I want to prove to you that you’re your own biggest downfall."
    “You’re so busy playing the hero, you’re willing to let others die. You don’t realise it, but it’s what happened this entire game.”
    "If you hadn’t rushed into the rewrite, you could have planned things properly, and I’m sure less of your friends would be dead. Instead of waiting with Sonia at the ruin, you rushed after Chiaki, despite the fact she has zero chance of surviving...because she’s a computer program! If you hadn’t been so selfish, Ibuki could still be alive."
    “I know what you’re like, Hajime! You won’t go inside that ruin until they’re all there; Fuyuhiko, Peko, Nagito, Gundam, Chiaki…”
    “You’ll wait and wait, and that’s when I’ll come along and kill you! Playing the hero will cost you your life!”
• Manchurian Agent: Munakata allowed Chiaki to keep her memories in order to distract and emotionally manipulate Hajime, which she didn't realize until the countdown to Jabberwock Island's destruction had begun.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: What Chiaki is in relation to Hajime. It takes a darker turn when Munakata reveals that her purpose was to distract Hajime from noticing that the Neo World Program had been repurposed as a death trap.
• The Millstone: Nagito, as to be expected. Every one of Hajime's attempts to avoid a murder are thwarted when this guy throws his own unpredictable two cents into the plan.
• The Mole: Just like the first time around, the students are aware of the presence of a traitor on the island.
  • Both Hajime and Chiaki are working for the Future Foundation; however, it is important to note that while the Future Foundation is not portrayed to be evil the other students are led to believe that the Future Foundation is the enemy and anyone working in conjunction with them is considered to be the same.
  • Chisa's status as a spy for the Remnants of Despair lurking within the Future Foundation is brought up in passing at the end of the story.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Graduating from Tengan's killing game caused Munakata to realize how wrong he was in his extremist thinking.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Hiyoko tries to help Teruteru when Nagito stabs him, but when pulling the knife out causes him to start losing blood, she desperately shoves it back in, killing him and leaving her responsible for the murder.
  • In the latter half of The Reveal, Munakata iterates that he intends to have Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya arrested for their efforts to return the Remnants of Despair back into their former selves.
  • Chiaki's efforts ultimately costs her her life via sacrificing her energy that could be used to fight off the bug inside her in order to upload her data and memories of the New World Program to try and wake the comatose members of the 77th class.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Munakata's video message to Hajime is what tips Makoto and co that something is off (although Kyoko was already suspicious) and they work to get the pods off the island before it can blow up.
• Off the Rails: Hajime invokes this several times while attempting to avoid a murder.
  • Chapter 1: Changing the location of the party prevents Twogami's death, but leads to Teruteru getting knifed by Nagito, and Hiyoko being executed for it on a technicality.
  • Chapter 2: Destroying the Twilight Syndrome Murder Mystery game leads to Monokuma revoking their rights to the cottages, leading to Twogami's death by Yandere!Mikan at Nagito's behest.
  • Chapter 3: Different people get the Despair Disease this time, and Akane kills Nekomaru while under the effects.
  • Chapter 4: Hajime refuses to let everyone go to the Funhouse, so Monokuma brings back Twilight Syndrome Murder Mystery as a stage play, giving Fuyuhiko motive to kill Mahiru and also telling him he'd be able to spare any other student from execution if he gets away with it. Long story short, Hajime succeeds in talking down Fuyuhiko, but fails to expect that Nagito was planning on killing Mahiru as to escape the island with Hajime. Not only that, but Kazuichi ends up killing Mahiru by accident when he mistakes her for Fuyuhiko.
  • Chapter 5: Having successfully made everyone but Chiaki lose faith in Hajime, Monokuma invokes a battle royale amongst the remaining students.
  • Chapter 6: In Hope's Peak, Chiaki dies trying to give her classmates a chance to survive and the Junko AI takes over her dead body. Then, after Junko stabs Nagito and gets Fuyuhiko to hold a bomb, to avoid being hunted down and killed by Junko, the remaining students opt to drown themselves while trying remind their brains that they are in a virtual world to try and wake up from the program.
• Offscreen Inertia: Averted. So distracted are Hajime and Chiaki by the affairs in the Neo World Program, that they forget about Future Foundation wanting to kill them until the final days.
• Oh, Crap!: This basically occurs every in-game chapter. Notable examples include:
  • Chapter 1: Teruteru's disappearance and subsequent death being discovered.
  • Chapter 2: The footsteps the students heard when they were forced out of their cottages.
  • Chapter 3: Hajime slowly realizing he has contracted the Despair Disease.
  • Chapter 4: When Hajime realizes that Twilight Syndrome Murder is reintroduced via theater performance as the motive in the fourth chapter.
  • Chapter 4: Hajime's secret being revealed as a substitute for the execution at the end of the fourth class trial.
  • Chapter 5: The final motive and Izuru Kamakura being mentioned to the surviving students.
  • Chapter 5: Kyosuke Munakata has a prerecorded message sent to Hajime that, in short, reveals that the whole rewrite was a set up and that Jabberwock Island was rigged to self-destruct on the 20th day.
  • Chapter 6: The Junko AI has taken over Chiaki's dead body and has given the survivors and ultimatum: get killed by her while trying to wait for the rewrite to finish or let her take over the bodies of the comatose students in exchange for their freedom.
• Peggy Sue: Technically, no time travel has actually happened. But the Jabberwock Island simulation has been reset to square one, with only Hajime, Chiaki, and Monomi remembering the original events.
• Properly Paranoid: From the beginning, Kyoko had a feeling that the rewrite was Too Good to Be True. Considering that it's later revealed to have been a way for Munakata to kill the Remnants of Despair without getting his hands dirty, she was right to worry.
• Red Herring: As to be expected with this franchise.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: Hajime Hinata having no Ultimate/SHSL talent and being on the reserve course.
  • Similar to the game, this is revealed to the remaining students; albeit, at the end of the fourth class trial, which fosters hostilities between Hajime and the others, starting in chapter five.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Hajime's goal is to try and save more of his classmates by going into a backup of the Neo World Program.^note  A variation of Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory is in play with only Hajime going back into the program with his memories intact.
• Spared by the Adaptation: While it is a simulation, Peko, Gundham, and Nagito all survive until the end of the simulation this time, whereas they died in the original game.
• Ten Little Murder Victims: Though the concept of Dangan Ronpa is far more complex, it does make use of numerous features from this trope including: being trapped in a certain location with no means of escape and general distrust among the cast.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Directed towards Hajime, after his reveal as a reserve course student, starting from the end of chapter 24. All from Nagito, the examples listed happen in chapter 25.
  Nagito: “I don’t know why you’re wasting your time talking to him.” “He’s nothing more than a traitor, a student from the reserve course. As well as lacking in talent, he has no loyalty either. He isn’t your friend, he won’t help you.”
  “You sat an entrance exam too, yes, I know.”“Monokuma paid me a visit, answering my questions. But sitting an entry exam doesn’t justify the fact you don’t have a talent.”“You’re either born into this world talented, or you’re born into this world useless. No many how many entrance exams you sit, or how much money you pay, you will never be talented.”
  “Why are talentless people like yourself always so ignorant?” “And to think, I was willing to sacrifice the lives of true ultimates to let you escape. Perhaps I’m the biggest fool of all. Though don't worry, it's not all hopeless from here. Try hard enough, and you might even be able to live on as a stepping stone, your talentless body might be good for something."
  “You think I’m the rude one? Notice, that I’m the only one at this table that’s bothered to acknowledge your presence.” “Then again, I don’t blame the others. Ultimates shouldn’t have to waste their time talking to someone as worthless as you. I’m only forcing myself because I’m not truly talented."
• Two Rights Make a Wrong: This story basically embodies this trope, especially after The Reveal that the rewrite was fixed. Though Munakata most likely predicted the 78th class survivors would jump on such a second chance.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After everything Hajime's done to keep the gang together and alive, you'd think more people than just Chiaki would stay on his side when Monokuma exposes his lie about being the Ulimate Hope. Downplayed later, as nobody except Nagito is actually mad at him, and most of the people he talks to clearly want to trust him again.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 27: The rewrite was not a plan created by Makoto Naegi, but by Kyosuke Munakata. The entire scenario was rigged from the start to make all of the Remnants of Despair kill each other, leaving Future Foundation's hands clean. If that failed, Jabberwock Island will self destruct while they're still in the simulation. Munakata personally leaves a prerecorded message to inform Hajime of this right before the countdown begins.
  • Chapter 28: Everything is thrown to chaos soon after everyone is caught up to speed on the rewrite. First, Chiaki is revealed to have a bug slowly killing her from the inside. Next, the third island sinks while Nagito goes missing. Finally, Monokuma declares that he has decided to stop following the rules and decides to kill everyone, punctuating this with an army of Monokuma clones. He takes his first official casualty, Ibuki, and tells Hajime that he's going to kill him at the ruins just to make Hajime watch all his friends die because of him.
  • Chapter 31: AI Junko has been biding her time waiting for Chiaki to die and has now taken over her dead body. She forces the survivors to choose between becoming her prey over the next 13 hours before the rewrite completes or agreeing to letting her take over the comatose students as per the original game.
• You Can't Fight Fate:
  • No matter how hard Hajime tries,^* Changing the party location, smashing the 2nd motive to bits, and even convincing Fuyuhiko to stand down he just can't seem to prevent the others from killing each other.
  • Deliberately invoked by Munakata during The Reveal at the end of Chpater 27, everything happening during the rewrite was orchestrated in a way to ensure the Remnants Of Despair would perish in one way or another. He wants the 77th class gone.