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Tsumugi Shirogane was who the letter was addressed to. Her teacher slid the letter over to her across their desk.
"Tsumugi, I'm proud that you gathered the courage to submit your writings."
"Of course, why would I miss out on the opportunity?"
The results are in, and this letter would reveal if she made the cut. It was Danganronpa’s final season, the last time she could submit her writing ideas and be known for her talent. She dedicated her whole life to fiction. Her escape. To be a part of one of her biggest comforts was a dream, and the letter in her hands was going to determine if she was to be able to work on her favorite series of all time, or stay stuck dreaming and writing in the back of her classrooms all day. She slowly tore open the envelope, pulling the letter out. Unfolding it, she read,
“Dear Tsumugi Shirogane,
Thank you for submitting your draft for Danganronpa’s final season! There has been a tie between you and another person's drafts. We have come to the conclusion to air two more seasons, your’s and the one you tied with. However, for the final two seasons, we will be having a special twist of using real people and using new patented technology to transform people into characters that have been written. In return for using your script, we would like you to come on board as V2 and V3’s mastermind. Please keep knowledge of these new ideas confidencial. We are looking forward to hearing from you. We would love to have talent like you on our team. -Sincerely, Team Danganronpa.”
It felt like ages, reading and rereading the letter in front of her. She couldn’t believe it. A choice to become a director of a season of the show that comforted her through some of her hardest times. It felt like a dream come true. A huge smile cracked on top of her face. She ran to her desk, sitting down in her seat.
"Hey Mugi! Whatcha reading? Heard the teacher called you up to the desk, how'd ya fuck up this time? Doze off again?"
"No Kaede, I actually got my draft accepted for Danganronpa!"
Shirogane was embraced by Kaede, squeezed half out of her mind. She hugged back. Kaede had been her friend for so long, supporting her throughout her journey of her draft of Danganronpa and the process of making the draft. Kaede's favorite part was helping Tsumugi write relationships, as Shirogane was woefully unskilled in writing them. Akamatsu especially liked helping Tsumugi write the relationship between the pianist and detective. Kaede had a thing for sappy love stories, and it was evident in how she wrote the romance sections of the script.
“You finally got your draft accepted Tsugi! You’ve been waiting for this for ages! Are you going to be working at Team Danganronpa? Are you gonna be paid? I can’t wait to see you at interviews about the script! Anything special about the last season you wanna tell me?”
The letter said to keep everything confidential. At the same time, she wanted to tell Kaede. Akamatsu Sama was with her throughout everything when it came to writing. She deserved to know.
“Would… Would you promise not to tell anyone?”
“I swear on it Tsumugi. I’ve been with you through thick and thin with this script, I won’t give up on you now.”
“I’ll tell you the details in private after class.”
Tsumugi entered the bathroom stall in the back. It reeked in the bathroom, but quite honestly, being in here so many times, with my script hand while writing makes the smell more bearable, as you get used to it after a while. Kaede walked into the back stall with her.
"Can you tell me the secret now?" Kaede said with a grin on her face. Tsumugi was nervous, but Akamatsu was with her through so much, she can keep a secret.
“Okay, here’s the twist. There’s gonna be two more seasons, and they are gonna use real people. I’m supposed to be in both seasons as the mastermind, I think they are gonna change my original ending with a fourth wall break plot twist. While that’s not how I’d go out with this series, it makes sense. They plan on using some technology to turn people into the characters.”
Kaede was quiet for a good bit. Tsumugi was concerned, she knew it was a lot to take. Tsumugi was quick to accept it, it was a small price to pay to finally show her talent to the world. However, she was nervous for Kaede. They had been through so much together, middle school, high school, countless nights up writing and talking. She was gonna miss Kaede if she had to go through with this plan.
“Are you sure you are gonna go through with this? I don’t question your determination, if you had any less resolve I’d stop you, but would I even be able to?”
“...No, you wouldn’t.”
It was quiet for a second, like time had frozen to a standstill. She didn’t want to hurt Kaede, but she knew Kaede had been cheering her on throughout this all. Not just for her pride, but for Kaede’s pride, she was gonna make the best season of Danganronpa.
“C’mon Tsumugi. Let’s go back to class. If you’re gonna be participating in some death game, let's at least try and be happy before you start working on Danganronpa. Maybe we can go for some mochi later. You’re as stubborn as a cockroach, I know you won’t give up too easily!”
“What’s stubborn as a cockroach mean?”
“I’m teasing you, let's get back to class Mugi!”
We made our way back to the classroom, just on time to hear Saihara and Kokichi arguing. Tsumugi, Ouma, and Shuichi were some of the more prominent Danganronpa fans in their classroom.
“C’mon Shuichi, are you seriously giving me the silent treatment because I told you Kyoko wasn’t a good character?”
“Yes Ouma. I am.”
“Damn, you’re so BORING Shuichi!”
Tsumugi chuckled. This place was fun enough to miss when she is gonna go off to work for Team Danganronpa, she’ll give it that much credit. She could enjoy her time here, before she went away.
Tsumugi shook the hand in front of her. She had the job, finally. It started at a high wage, and if she could survive whatever the fuck of a game was in front of her, she would be set for life. Her draft was going under the revision process as they spoke. They were changing up the blackened for her chapter three from the Ultimate Inventor to the Ultimate Anthropologist, and having the Inventor die as the fourth chapter victim. They also choose to give the anthropologist some incestous backstory without articulating anything regaurding WHY the anthropologist was like that, which Tsumugi DID NOT approve, but now the draft was in their hands. There were no names for these characters, they were waiting for auditions for the killing game to come in, and they would use their real names. They added a new character and scrapped her original character of the Ultimate Historian, and replaced it with someone who would survive the fifty second game, only to be killed in the first chapter. Her mastermind character, the Ultimate Hypnotist, was also replaced for herself, now to be the Ultimate Cosplayer, who would deliver a fourth wall break plot twist if discovered. If she wasn’t, she was supposed to make it where the protagonist was the reason for them all being stuck in the killing game. She didn’t mind having to become the Ultimate Cosplayer, she actually cosplayed a fair amount in her free time.
“Thank you for joining our company, Miss Shirogane. Our writing team needed talent like you.”
“Of course sir. This is my dream after all. I’m happy to be on board.”
“Well then, welcome to the team.”
Tsumugi nodded her head to her new supervisor before following him to her new office.
Sitting through auditions was boring. She heard the same thing, it was all a chorus of ‘I want to be in Danganronpa’ without any actual motivation behind their words. She had already casted most of the cast. Shuichi and Kokichi had auditioned. While she wanted to scoff at them for being dumb enough to audition for a killing game, they were one of the few that actually had heart. She was onto audition number nine hundred and seventy four. The last person to audition was someone by the name of Keebo. He certainly had resolve, and he most likely would be casted as the first chapter protagonist if no other auditions rolled in. If someone else would be casted, she could make him a blackened or the traitor, that would be interesting enough.
“NEXT!”, Shirogane called out through the room. The door slowly creaked open, and the voice that spoke sent a chill through her spine.
“Hello, I am Kaede Akamatsu, and I will be auditioning for the role of the Chapter One protagonist.”
Tsumugi sat in shock. Kaede wasn’t dumb enough to put her life on the line for this. She knew Kaede disagreed with Shirogane putting her life on the line for this, but why was Kaede auditioning? No, nothing made sense.
“Kaede… What are you doing here? We planned the script together, you know this is gonna kill you.”
Akamatsu stayed quiet.
“ANSWER ME KAEDE!”
“It’s because… I love you Mugi. You’re my best friend, and I want to keep supporting you. I know what’s gonna happen to me, but no matter what, we are gonna do it together.”
“Kaede, please, listen to me, don’t do this.” Tsumugi choked out through tears that were starting to well up below her eyes. “I love you too, but please, don’t do this. I’ll cast you as the main protagonist, I can keep you from dying during this game, but please, don’t do this.”
“Tsumugi. Just cast me as the first protagonist. I can do it. Please. I let you choose to let yourself get killed in this damn game, let me join you.”
After the silence that lasted for what seemed like forever, Tsumugi spoke.
“Okay. You can have the role.”
And those words are what Tsumugi regretted saying as she watched everything crumble in front of her. Shuichi managed to call her bluff, and as the annihilation of Danganronpa continued on, she stood quietly, feeling a bit of peace pass over her. All of her work. It’s come to a close. She muttered her final goodbye as the rock loomed overhead.
“Goodbye Kaede.”