Unsurprisingly, there's plenty of these moments in this story. Usually pertaining to Character Death.
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A New Hope
- The flashback to Mahiru's death in Chapter 11, and Rantaro's death when it's revealed he was brainwashed into it.
- An in universe example in chapter 13, as most of Hajime's group reacts this way over Mahiru's death.
- Tenko discovering Himiko's hat - which is all that's left of her after the piranha's were done with the body.
- Nekomaru's farewell and final message.
Together as one.
- Chihiro panicking when it looks like Miu's been killed in chapter 33. Fortunately, she was just knocked out.
- In Chapter 33, as a result of a Truth Serum, Mikan opens up to Hajime what's under her bandages: deep, ugly scars and burn marks as a result of all the bullying and abuse she underwent growing up, and some self-inflicted. Hajime himself starts tearing up just from the sight of it all, but especially when she starts calling herself worthless trash and that she doesn't deserve his kindness. Thankfully turns heartwarming when Hajime comforts her.
- Reaction's to Ibuki's death in chapter 35.
- Followed by Leon's (and Kanon's) final moments. With some Nightmare Fuel for good measure.
- Yasuhiro's goodbye, especially Angie's reaction to it.
- Sonia's reaction to Gundham's death.
- Followed by Angie's final moments as she realizes how she was lied to and manipulated.
- The second half of chapter 61 swings between happy and sad as who of the five kidnapped victims is revealed to have lived or died. Same for the last scene of chapter 62. Even Makoto is left feeling despair!
- Kaede's breakdown. She was the one who convinced Sayaka to walk right into the trap and get her killed. She flat out tells Shuichi that she would give her hands up to take it back.
- In Chapter 68, several of the students are affected by fear gas to hallucinate their fears and regrets. Makoto and Kazuichi respectively see Sayaka and Sonia with the fatal scars from Korekiyo's deathtraps, chiding and mocking them for failing to save their lives (with Kazuichi crying in fear). Then there's when Tenko sees Himiko, but the former denies that the latter is actually alive even though she really wants Himiko to come back. (It becomes Heartwarming in Hindsight when after Tenko is killed by the disease motive, she finally reunites with Himiko as a ghost.)
- Kirumi's desperation to take the blame for Hiyoko's killing of Gonta in Chapter 70.
- The flashbacks to Gonta's murder. Gonta saw Hiyoko (whose true identity, Kotoko Utsugi, was resurfacing) cowering in fear from her hallucinations and tried to help her, proclaiming he was a gentleman. Unfortunately, the word "gentle" triggered Kotoko's Trauma Button, causing her to shoot him in a panic with the nail gun. His last words to her are heartwrenching.
- The next chapter has the continuation of the flashback, showing how Peko accidentally fired the killing blow after she was confronted with her past. She encounters a hallucination of Lord Kuzuryu, who tells her how her parents were unable to pay a debt for the Kuzuryu Clan, so they were both killed, with her mother begging him to spare her daughter's life. Even if it was true or not, how did Peko know about this?
- After Peko confesses to her crime, she requests for Celestia to look after Fuyuhiko in her stead, then comforts the openly crying Fuyuhiko, telling him not to give up for Natsumi, and muses that she will die as Peko Pekoyama, not a hitwoman or a servant. Like Gonta, Peko's last words have her apologising to Fuyuhiko.
- The disease motive has several:
- Hifumi dying peacefully from the disease, which Kotoko laments.
- Tenko's final moments, in which both she and Shuichi have the disease, but she saves Shuichi from the disease at the cost of her own life. Fortunately, her spirit is finally reunited with Himiko.
- Kyoko's reaction to Ryoma's death in chapters 77 & 78.
- Mondo confessing to killing Ryoma so Akane would live. When he makes his last apologies, he apologises to Makoto for hitting him and putting him in the infirmary, showing that Mondo still hasn't gotten over it.
- Since Chihiro and Akane, the people closest to Mondo, were bedridden at the time of the trial and Mondo's execution, they never got to see his death. They are devastated when they find out.
- The murders of several of the dead students' hostages.
- Ruruka murders Hifumi's sister Fujiko by forcing her to eat a poisoned cupcake while Kaito (and Mikan's) grandmother begs for her life.
- Takemichi and Gundham's mother beg Chisa to kill them and spare the other but Chisa ignores their pleas and gleefully kills them both.
- When Shinobu Togami kills Gonta's family, Aloysius Pennyworth tells her that Byakuya would be ashamed of how she's sullied the Togami name. Shinobu tells him that the Togami name is meaningless now.
- Izayoi visibly reacts when Chisa kills Ruruka.
- Sakura's death, the reactions to it (including Kenshiro's in Towa city), and Alter Ego's death shortly afterwards, all like in canon.
- Akane trying to attack Monokuma out of the despair of having lost so many people close to her.
- Kaito's reaction to Maki's death. Also her final thoughts as she dies.
- The truth behind Maki's death. She gave in to the Hostage Motive and after confessing and making love to Kaito, she leaves the room and leaves Kaito behind, filled with regret as she searches her planned victim, Nagito. She spots "Nagito" in the same room where she was killed, only it was actually Kiibo, who was hijacked by the mastermind and forced to kill Maki. The Mastermind gets away scot-free and undiscovered, while Kiibo gets executed as the Blackened for a murder he was mind-jacked into comitting. Everybody's reactions to Kiibo's death just twists the knife further.
- Nagito's final moments, along with the turmoil Kaede and Shuichi go through as a result.
- The girls connected to Hajime don't get it easy when Izuru resurfaces. At one point Mikan tearfully begs him to let Hajime come back.
- Usami's execution. Fortunately, there's a Hope Spot when the camera feed cuts out before the fatal shot, so she might have survived. Survival confirmed.
- The girls connected to Hajime don't get it easy when Izuru resurfaces. At one point Mikan tearfully begs him to let Hajime come back.
- Various points of interaction between Makoto and Sayaka's ghost, ending with her abruptly fading away as she's brought back to life.
- Sonosuke being freed of the brainwashing as he's dying of his injuries."Ruruka I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. This wasn't suppose to be how things went."
- Chapter 106: The interactions with the dead students (and Chisa) in the virtual world.
- It continues into Chapter 107, with Kyoko's father and the OC cast. It paints a bittersweet What Could Have Been that leaves a few students unwilling to leave.
- A small one nestled in the chapter: virtual!Nico is able to guess that the scenario they're in (herself included) isn't real. Keep in mind, the Final Horizon chapters covering Nico's death (which chronologically takes place two years in the future from this story, but still) had been published shortly before this chapter.
Virtual!Nico: Sometimes my talent is a curse.
- It continues into Chapter 107, with Kyoko's father and the OC cast. It paints a bittersweet What Could Have Been that leaves a few students unwilling to leave.
- Everyone slowly falling victim to the simulation in chapter 108. Not to mention Ryoko losing control to Junko again.
- Seemingly.
- Pretty much anything concerning Makoto, Junko (and by extension Kazuichi, who's lost another Love Interest), and Kokichi in chapter 109, even if a Surprisingly Happy Ending does ensue for Makoto (for now).
- A small moment; Hina is so distraught by the trial she votes for herself, refusing to act against Makoto at all.
- Kyoko finds her father.
- The Mastermind's backstory is this and Nightmare Fuel: He's Makoto Naegi. After being injured in the labyrinth trying to save his friends at the Hope's Peak incident, Junko found him and nursed him back to health. He was forced to watch as a clone of himself, created by Jibo Momota, took his place with his friends and life with no one the wiser. Falling to despair as a result, he ended up leading the Killing Game to get revenge. The reactions from the rest of the cast, especially those closest to Makoto, just add to it.
- Chapter 112 has moments throughout: seeing how far gone Mastermind!Makoto is, him being willing to kill his clone when he offers him a chance at redemption, the turmoil of the others as to whether or not they can save the clones of their dead friends (and then not only losing them anyway, but discovering they'd already been brainwashed into Despair), and the fact that in the end, Mastermind!Makoto is left behind to die after rigging Hope's Peak to collapse (then accidentally getting stabbed by his own knife).
- Ryoko's death right after leaving Hope's Peak. Even if it does ensure Junko never resurfaces* , it still leaves the others (especially Mukuro and Kazuichi) devastated.Ryoko: At least I got to see the sky just this once.
- The opening of the epilogue before Kizakura's arrival is this and Nightmare Fuel in general. Seeing how far Munakata's fallen (even capturing his friend Juzo with intent to execute him for 'treason' as well), seeing the Survivors faced with a firing squad immediately after escaping the collapsed school, everyone's seeming final interactions before the end...
- Then happy tears as they reunite with their loved ones.
- The opening of the epilogue before Kizakura's arrival is this and Nightmare Fuel in general. Seeing how far Munakata's fallen (even capturing his friend Juzo with intent to execute him for 'treason' as well), seeing the Survivors faced with a firing squad immediately after escaping the collapsed school, everyone's seeming final interactions before the end...
Final Horizon
- Charles finds his crush, Nico, drowned. His reaction says it all.
- Not to mention the flashback to the murder: the Guesser realizes why Rei has come, and pleads desperately with her friend not to give in to her blackmailer's demands, saying she'd already worked out Rei's hidden darkside and accepted it anyway. It looks like Rei will actually give up ... then she follows through anyway, much to her clear displeasure.
- At the trial, Hikaru desperately tries to get himself executed in Rei's place. For a minute, it looks like Monokuma will actually take him up on the offer ... then he takes Rei anyway and slices her up with razor wire.
- Hayate's death and the reactions to it (especially from Alice).
- Shuhei and Giselly nearly getting sucked out a window into space. Giselly tries desperately to throw out a Dying Declaration of Love, but can't before nearly getting sucked out. Fortunately, an airlock closes before they're killed.
- Chapter 26. Alice is suspected of being the mole and locked up in a sanitarium, Akiko feels betrayed by the girl she liked (and had been about to confess her feelings to when she found the 'incriminating evidence'), Sayaka gets to hear from Makoto and Mukuro again, only to be told they can't come save those on Horizon Station...
- Chapter 28: Sayaka dies. Again. In front of everyone. The author even confirmed it was partially for the sake of 'another dose of despair before the climax'.
- When Makoto hears about the news of Sayaka's death, he blames himself for failing to save her again. note Aoi and Mukuro comfort him, but he admits to them that he's afraid that he'll give in to despair like his original self. He eventually decides to tell Saki the Awful Truth about what happened to her sister, and promise in Sayaka's honor that he'll try as hard as he can eventually save the Killing Game's participants.
- The montage of everyone pre-Killing Game is this and Nightmare Fuel.
- How little Wei thinks of himself after losing his leg. Not helped when Akiho dies and he can't do anything without his chair.
- Giselly's final moments.
- Jun's penultimate scene. The toddler has had a terrible life so far, to be certain.
- And Despair's still not done with them.
Sea of Tranquility
- Mallory's reaction to Miyaki and Mikhail's deaths.
- Rene: I want to go home.
- And it turns out he might have actually been innocent (still a jerk though).
- Ren's one word opinion of his actual (nice-sounding) voice: 'disgusting'.
- Evan is the one to find Hikari's body. There's a reason the arc's called 'Tears of Jupiter'.
- Sierra's relationship with her family isn't too good. Sex-related matters aside, they apparently think of her as 'worthless'.
- After already suffering through one Killing Game, the survivors of Class 80-A are now stuck in another one.
- Miyaki's friend Shuhei arrives . . . to discover she's dead already.
- Mallory is found dead in Chapter 19.
- Xia and Shiori saying goodbye in Chapter 21.
- Shiori hits a Despair Event Horizon, wanting to kill Dylan for his actions. It smacks uncomfortably close to how Makoto fell in New Hope's backstory.
- In chapter 23, Choko is full of guilt after Xia was executed for a crime she didn't commit. She talks to Misuzu about how the incident reminds her of her Dark and Troubled Past (which also crosses with Nightmare Fuel). When she was young, her parents were convicting a criminal but then he tried to hold her hostage and threatened to shoot her. The criminal was about to turn the gun on her father when Choko knocked the gun out of his hands. In the chaos, Choko's father was shot dead while her mother shot the criminal and covered everything up for her, but the poor girl had to live with the belief that she accidentally killed her own father for the rest of her life. She tears up just thinking about it.
- In Chapter 25, Misuzu finds her recently-deceased friend Ren's diary and finds out about his tragic life. He had a troubled childhood where his mother abused him both physically and verbally, leading to him growing to hate his real voice, while his father cared for him and showed him anime, which lead to his passion for voice acting. In his time in the Killing Game, he was affected by Miyaki's death until Misuzu comforted him, leading to him falling for her and believing that he could trust her to hear his real voice. In the entries before his death, Ren writes about how the others are planning to kill Dylan after the horrible things he did until he is cut off abruptly while writingnote . Misuzu begins to cry afterwards while Kakeru tries to help her. Zalicka states that she's more focused on the investigation, prompting Kakeru to call her out for not caring.
- In Chapter 26, it is confirmed that the Extra Eight (Evan, Sierra, Mirielle, Tae Min, Yukiko, and the late Hikari, Mikhail, and (apparently) Dylan) are all Artificial Ultimates. More specifically, they're all Artificial Humans created by (presumably) Jibo Momota, and have likely never left the moon. Meaning that they all have to cope with the realization that their entire lives and memories are fabrications, on top of everything they've already gone through in the game.
- In Chapter 27, Tae Min is broken from the revelation that his life and memories were fabricated. He tells Choko the reason behind his hyperactivity and passion: in his story, he was in Project H.E.R.O. with his friend-turned-boyfriend Se-Jin, and they were both separated. The ones in charge told him that if he worked hard enough, he would be able to reunite with Se-Jin again. On a happy note, the interaction ends with Tae Min and Choko having a Ship Tease.
- In Chapter 29, Zalicka nearly considers murder when Monokuma gives her the threat of her beloved snakes and Mr. Bun Bun becoming food now that most of the livestock is dead. Jason arrives and offers to talk to her about her decision, so she tells him about how she thinks of her snakes like offspring and refuses to let anyone harm them. When she asks him if he's going to turn her in, he declines because he refuses to put her at risk. Eventually, Zalicka's front begins to fade as she starts to feel guilt for her selfishness. Also counting as Heartwarming, the first thing she says after her Heel Realisation: "Thank you, Jason."
- Anh and Mirielle's deaths are both tragic for different reasons. Anh was murdered just as Zalicka had just realised just how much she had took for granted in the Killing Game (especially him), and Mirielle is barely conscious enough to say her last words to a crying Sierra before losing her consciousness, with Alice being unable to save her.
- Chapter 30 is full of it:
- Evan is killed by a deliberately-set trap when investigating, giving Hayate and Wei flashbacks of Ringo. When Jason hears about it, he worriedly sheds a tear and asks if Evan suffered a painful death.
- Poor Zalicka is devastated by Anh's death, and expresses her regrets for not being there with him.
- Sierra crosses the Despair Event Horizon and believes she has no more reasons to live since Mirielle is gone. She starts to hear Mirielle's voice and assumes she's just Hearing Voices until she finds that Mirielle's spirit is communicating with her through the mask. Sierra finds herself in the afterlife of all the Lupins throughout history and finds Mirielle's spirit as well. She asks Mirielle if she can stay with her forever, and the latter tells her that they can't communicate unless she becomes the next Phantom Thief. Sierra admits that she considers killing herself after receiving the title, but Mirielle reassures her and tells her that if she doesn't have a life, she can make one for herself. This causes Sierra to regain her hope and accept the offer, but it also means that Mirielle's spirit must move on. The former Ultimate Phantom Thief sheds a Single Tear as she transfers her title to Sierra.
Mirielle: Lupin the 7th is dead. Long live Arsene Lupin the 8th. Until we meet again, my love.
Kuma Kuma Land
- Laris is clearly affected by the death of the Novoselicean royal family (particularly Sonia), and the general state of Novoselic as a whole.
- Everyone feels bad after Patrick's found guilty. Some even sympathize with him given what his motive was.
- Patrick confessing to the others about his motive and tragic family life. His father divorced and left the family, so he had to look after his little sister Sarah. He was blackmailed into murdering someone under the threat that Sarah would be killed like his cousin Mallory was in Sea of Tranquility. In the flashback, it's shown that his would-be victim Otto had the same intentions after he also had his family threatened.
Patrick: Don't look at me like that. Like you don't know whether to pity or hate me. (holds up a picture of Mallory's corpse) This is my little cousin. She was naïve and thick headed, but she was fucking innocent and deserved more than this shit! After my piece of shit father walked out on my mom, I was the man of the house. Looking after my sister Sarah was my job. ... My motive gave me until daybreak to kill or my little sister would end up like Mallory. And there's nothing I wouldn't do to protect her. - Patrick's last words are "No, Sarah! I'm going-" before he is Killed Mid-Sentence. He died knowing that he was unable to save Sarah, and going by what happened to Kanon...
- On a smaller note, Madison admitting she has Prosopagnosia (an inability to recognize faces), which has kept her from making any actual friends.
- In the paintball game, Kanade joins Mallory and Kitai in another case of the undeserved death of an endearing innocent. Naruhiko doesn't take it well when he finds her corpse.
- In the subsequent trial, it's discovered that Maddie accidentally killed Kanade without realizing it, having fired a secretly-rigged paintball behind her while running. Maddie is understandably devastated to learn this.
- Not helping is she only discovers this after getting away with it, everyone else having voted wrong. This also leads to what could've been last words from everyone else as they're sucked into a death game. Fortunately, they actually manage to survive unscathed, albeit still trapped in the main Killing Game.
- Being a culprit who got away with her crime, Maddie has to leave the park. She's still very remorseful about being responsible for Kanade's death, but the others (especially Naruhiko) forgive her Accidental Murder as Yushikuma was the only one to blame. As they say their goodbyes, Sigmund requests for her to find someone to care for his sisters in case he doesn't make it, Utano tells everyone that they have been the closest thing to real friends to him.Madison: Th-Thank you all for everything. I don't know the odds right now, but I hope we all see each other again.
- Shiho, Kaizoku and Laris telling each other about their pasts:
- Shiho's father was a Mad Scientist who would use his own daughter as a test dummy for dangerous diseases and she would eventually be cured, which happened so frequently that she became Afraid of Needles and small spaces from all of those experiments.
- When Kaizoku was eleven, he wanted his father Kokai's approval so badly that he jury-rigged a boat engine to please him but it blew up, accidentally killing Kokai and leaving Kaizoku with the burn scars that he has today. When confronted, he blamed his father for the fatal explosion because he was afraid of taking the blame. His sister Kaisui was the only person he cared about after that, as his mother knew that it was his fault and resented him afterward.
- Laris had to kill many Despairs in order to protect Novoselic before they could raze it to the ground. She felt fear for the first time and believed that her training couldn't amount to anything. Her father, the King of Novoselic, told her to flee the kingdom and she did, causing her to believe that she was nothing but a Dirty Coward and that she had completely failed Novoselic.
House of Horrors
- Ariana's reaction to finding Hikyou's corpse in Chapter 4. When it came down to it, she really did care about him.
- The sheer fact that Kitai, a seven year old, was murdered. It goes to show that not even children are safe when it comes to Killing Games.
- Kiyomi actually breaks down after realizing she was controlled by the Slender Man to kill someone. And then she's killed horribly and left trapped in the mansion.
- Brooke nearly shooting herself at sundown, having lost the will to live with Dr. Momota, the only one who could've gotten rid of her talent, dead. She ends up stalling too long, and when she tries again after going through another agonizing transformation, the bullet just bounces of her scales.
- Sonia and Teleios get to say a final goodbye to Gundham's ghost.
- Sabishī is the one who finds her friend-turned-betrayer and fellow Killing Game participant, Brooke, dead with her head blown up. She has trouble processing her response to it....Sabishī was angry at you, but Sabishī never wanted this.
Railway of Despair
- Emziel's reaction upon discovering Gundham died in the events of A New Hope. He faints, and when he awakens he's uncharacteristically screaming in denial, later on lamenting that Gundham would be disappointed in him.
