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The fairy lights around them shine softly, with small orbs floating in the air. None of this light dared compare with the beautiful woman in front of him, though.
“Remember, Saihara-kun. You’re more than capable!” The blonde smiled beatifically.
Even when she wasn’t using magic, she seemed to be made of the most beautiful magic particles in the world. Saihara wouldn’t be surprised if she were secretly of royal blood.
Akamatsu Kaede held his hand, and he couldn’t breathe.
“Trust in yourself.”
He swears he will. More for her sake than his. He wants to make her proud, wants her to think he is worth her attention.
“Hey, Saihara. If you ever need any help with magic, just ask me.” Yumeno said with such confidence that it made him forget not only that she was younger than him, but also that she was pretty bad at magic herself.
“Uh… thank you, Yumeno-san. I appreciate it.” He meant it, though.
Her beaming smile made him feel like he said the right thing — a feeling he was getting more and more lately with this group of people.
“Fufu, let your senpai help you.” She moves in a way that would be a little jump, were it anyone but Himiko.
Saihara smiles.
“Senpai, huh.” That voice is already so natural to hear daily, but it still makes both jump a bit.
They turn around to see Ouma playing with a coin, one of the many late loot. Interestingly, for a thief, he never cared about keeping any of the treasure. He had this coin of a clown before he joined the group, and it was the only thing he carried aside from his lockpicking. The boy was the biggest mystery Saihara had ever encountered. Always saying weird things, like the one just now.
“Interesting word,” Ouma commented as he checked his nails, like he was referencing the weather.
Saihara never got him. What was so interesting about class hierarchy? Even though Yumeno wouldn’t ever qualify as a senpai to him, truth be told. Maybe a cute kouhai.
“By the way!” Ouma went between them and smiled like a cat. “You two never studied together? Even though you’re both wizards? And all wizards go to the same school?”
Now that he mentioned… that was true. But Saihara didn’t remember (or think) much about the past, anyhow. Besides, he knew he was a wallflower. No one who met him ever noticed him… until this group, that is. And he’ll admit he wouldn’t have noticed Yumeno-san if she were just lazing around all day in classes either.
Ouma adds, still smiling. “Is senpai a term for wizards? Not a word I heard before.”
Saihara frowned. Surely he must have had? Every school had the same hierarchy and activities… right? Only the uniforms were different… no, wait. Why would everyone go to the same type of school when they were from different countries? And professions?
“Exactly.” Ouma’s words made the wizard realize he was mumbling aloud again (a bad habit he was trying to stop, though Akamatsu said it was cute). “Funny how we all call each other too, no? So respectful, even with lower-class people.”
Again, Ouma was playing with words only he understood. Did he mean how they used surnames and respect forms? Well, even if he were of a lower class and his… profession, it was right to call him Ouma-kun.
The wizard didn’t really understand what the thief was getting at.
With that, Ouma winked and went to annoy Momota, leaving Saihara to his questions — and Yumeno to her prescheduled nap before Chabashira found her to act as her self-assigned bodyguard.
“So, Momota-kun,” Saihara curses how pale his skin is, showing his blushes all the time. “Why did you decide to be an adventurer?”
Momota’s caricature smile and thumbs-up pose always made his heart skip a beat. This group of good-looking adventurers was a dangerous one to the heart, indeed…
“The world is too big to stay at home, man! And I gotta discover it all!” The young man rubbed his goatee. “’ Course, I need to go back now and then to check on gramps and grandma… but they understand. They know my dream.”
Saihara nodded as if he too understood. Honestly, he wasn’t close to his parents, who were always off traveling, but his uncle was nice (when he was around). His detective stories were always interesting, even though they didn’t actually contain any magic-related anecdotes.
Feeling bold, the wizard ventured, “And what is your dream, Momota-kun?”
“Go to space, obviously!”
His smile was so contagious, Saihara couldn’t help but smile too.
But…
“Can you go to space?” It was the first he heard of it.
“Of course! There’s no way no one went before, man! I’ll make it there, you’ll see!”
And with Kaito’s confidence, everything did seem possible. Somehow, Saihara felt the warrior was right. He felt like people had gone to the moon and other stars before. Even though his books didn’t contain any of that. It just felt like it was real.
These weird feelings kept popping up now and then, even though he didn’t really search for them or think about them for too long. Like some weird déjà-vu.
Imagine being your best self. Better even! How about a powerful version that can reduce opponents to dust! Do you fancy yourself a warrior? A mage, perhaps? With a flick of your fingers, you can destroy mountains or create water. Or do you just want to sneak around and steal? All of that and much more work!
Immerse yourself in a heart-pounding adventure in a fantastic universe, help people, fight god(s) and save the world!
What, every game has that? Perhaps, but now you can live it! You can feel, smell, and really be immersed in that world with Danganronpa’s latest VR technology!
It’s no longer fantasy. It’s reality. Make it happen. Be your best self today.
Send your audition tape to Danganronpa™ today.
It’s never too late to live the life you always wanted in a completely different world!
He keeps remembering Akamatsu’s words.
“Trust in yourself.”
Especially now, as he sees her dead eyes staring at him. Soulless.
The beautiful princess, now a hanged corpse.
The group dragged him from his room and made him go on adventures, no matter what. Momota was insistent on making him and Harumaki his sidekicks, while Tsumugi adamantly defended adventuring as the fix for a broken heart.
How could two dead comrades be considered a broken heart?
Saihara still couldn’t understand how Rantaro, their most capable hero, ended up dead out of nowhere. And Akamatsu just admitted to killing him, as if she’d planned it out of nowhere. It made absolutely no sense.
Still, for the group’s sake, he kept going on the adventures. Not only he wasn’t the only one hurting, but there was also a mystery there that needed solving. And he was a detective, after all! His uncle's stories would help now, even if his training at school didn’t.
Other words still haunt him, mainly from Ouma. The rogue became introspective and increasingly cruel with his remarks, as if paranoid with everyone around him. Still, he kept talking with a few of their comrades (Saihara himself, Miu, Gonta… but not Momota, to the warrior’s rage). And his remarks became increasingly off.
Right during the first investigation, where Ouma insisted on going by himself, he mentioned offhandedly to Saihara how convenient it was that a detective wizard just happened to be in the group. Especially as the other wizard was useless, a jab at poor Yumeno-san, who took it to heart.
From then on, Ouma would stick to Iruma nonstop while avoiding K1B0. Always asking about inventions and completely uninterested in the adventures or any quests. As if it were all a chore now. But he suddenly sprang alive during investigations and was unendingly cruel when discussing who the culprit was.
“Funny how our adventures are now just mysteries of the week, huh? Hope they’re enjoying it.”
Saihara wondered who this ‘they’ could even be.
The walls extend into a vast nothingness. The light of the flames flickers as always, but something seems off. As if light didn’t always look this perfect, this constant. It was such a weird thing to notice, much less nitpick, that Saihara never voiced this to his companions.
After all, what type of weirdo kept noticing how flames flicker and reflect? Especially during missions in dangerous, dark, and mysterious dungeons.
Those were always his favorites. Though there were so many places to explore and things to see, Saihara had always been a fan of dungeons (even more than the underwater adventures). He’d never been in one before during his mage era days, but somehow they always seemed familiar. As if he’d spent hours imagining and going through dungeons… which made no sense. An apprentice could never go to dungeons, and he never even dreamed of this type of place.
But somehow, it still seemed very familiar. And it’d been so much fun. Going with a group of — dare he say it? — friends and exploring every nook and cranny, finding treasure, helping people, and getting recognized for it. Especially him, who’d never done anything praiseworthy really. Even at school, he was just another student, always trying to hide from the world. Thank the gods wizards had big hats. It’d always been so easy and so comfortable to just use the brim as his personal shield.
Akamatsu threw that all away. Quite literally, she once grabbed his hat and demanded that he look at her during one of his worst self-confidence attacks. Thinking back, it was silly that he panicked and wanted to hide from failing (multiple times, mind you) to hit any of the monsters. He felt useless in that entire fight. Akamatsu was a master in both magic and brawn, and she never failed. Saihara just wanted to hide. But she didn’t let him. Their talk-to-heart, her putting her confidence in him, holding his hand… it’d been the best day of his life.
Dungeon adventures were fun. Every day was a new thing, and even though there were group fights, it was always (kind of) solved, and the next big thing was always right around the corner. No time to keep to himself. It’s the most he’s ever talked to people.
He’d never had so much fun in his life.
That is, until the killings started.
This no longer looked like the typical dungeon; they went on adventures weekly. Even though the layout was technically the same, it felt so different. It was like a prison. No longer a place of exploring and adventures.
Before, their group would split, and they’d even compete for who got the most spoils (Ouma’s always won, and no one knew how he managed it since his group was always different). Now, no one dared venture in small groups, much less by themselves.
Guess that’s what happens when you stray away from the tram only to end up a cadaver in an empty hallway.
Saihara gulped. He couldn’t let himself be bothered. It’s happened so many times already, he should be used to it. But how could one ever get used to seeing his teammates' lifeless bodies and eyes just... staring up at him?
Judging him for his incompetence.
Yelling at him, “How are you unable to find the culprit? What the hell is all your intellect and studies for if you can’t even solve this?”
Her dead eyes haunted him day and night, awake or asleep. Mocking him. “What a disappointment.”
And he was one. There was no denying it.
He scrubbed his eyes and tried to breathe in and focus. No, he had to calm down. Akamatsu trusted him! Beautiful, bright, hopeful Akamatsu, who gave him a reason to keep believing. She was gone now... but he had to keep going. To honor their promise.
How was it that the one person who showed him brightness was responsible for killing her fellow teammates? Granted, the demon did tell them they had a time limit, but still... Saihara could not believe it. It was clearly someone else.
Every time they found a killer, and they investigated, fought about it, and discovered the truth seemed like the end.
As they’d finally discovered who started this whole mess, the old days could return. Where people could trust each other again and go to lots of new places. Not be stuck in this endless dungeon with a new corpse appearing each week.
But every single time, someone would die.
They never managed to find who it was, even now when so few of them were left: himself, Harukawa, Yumeno, Tsumigi, K1b0, and… he prayed, Momota.
Momota couldn’t be dead. Not after everything that happened. He was the second person who gave them hope. Showing a better future could be found. He took over the mantle left behind by Akamatsu only to… be captured and stuck in a cell.
Despite everyone else’s comments, Saihara (and Momota) never believed the mastermind was Ouma. His detective and mage instincts told him it wasn’t the always lying thief, even though it seemed so obvious.
Saihara sighed angrily. What good did that serve him? Trusting someone he thought was a teammate, only for the villain to come up and capture their hero.
He should’ve seen it coming. But still, he never did, even with the signs all there.
The rogue had changed, becoming paranoid and more explosive after Akamatsu’s death. But who hadn’t changed after that, really? As time went by, it kept getting worse. But Ouma had been a team player through and through. He was the one who often discovered the clues and gave hints during discussions, even when he pretended he didn’t.
Saihara still remembered how Ouma reacted when he mentioned how the thief should’ve been the detective in the group. The smaller boy widened his eyes and scoffed angrily, saying it wouldn’t fit. Saihara still didn’t understand what that meant.
There was no denying it now, though.
Ouma captured Momota. Their own teammate — they couldn’t really call him a friend, after this, not like he ever felt like one — captured one of their own and admitted to the killings of everyone before.
They couldn’t let it stand. Even though it felt… off. Just like the flames flickering, which seemed more and more… strange, really, was the word that Saihara could find. Everyone else seemed strange, too. As if they were all hiding secrets.
Harukawa-san, even as an assassin, opened up so much thanks to Momota-kun and now seemed like she’d reverted to the person from the beginning: closed off, angry, combative. She didn’t even want to aid in the investigation. Yumeno-san, of all people, seemed like she did something wrong (but he could never believe she would kill). K1B0 and Tsumugi-san were so antsy, which was understandable. But as if they also had things no one should be privy to.
Saihara didn’t know what to do. He missed every one of their dead friends. How much he wanted Akamatsu or Momota’s bright, inspiring words and unwavering gazes as they inspired him to keep going for the truth. Hell, even Ouma’s taunts and jokes led him to conclusions, and he missed even those.
He had to discover what was going on, though, no matter what.
A chubby monochromatic bear pops onto the screen and starts talking before there’s even a chance to catch one’s breath (or read the logo).
Magic, sword fighting in faraway, luscious fantasy landscapes so inviting to the eye! A veritable high fantasy medieval paradise, but with our very own Japanese talent! This, ladies and gentlemen, is Danganronpa v3: The Fantasy Games!
But, you may ask: Monokuma, we’ve seen this before. An adventure in a magic world has been done!
Quite true, my little loyal fans!
It has been done! Many seasons, in fact!
So, this time around, we brought in a new twist: a mystery killing game in this fantastic world!
Our heroes are being killed off, one by one, and yet no one knows who it is!
Did you get it right in last week’s voting? Tune in to find out more!
Highest rated episode: The Thief King Mastermind & The Captured Hero with 8.4 million views.
Highest rated character historically: Kokichi Ouma, who outranked season two’s Komaeda Nagito — the longest highest character so far.
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“Hey, man.”
Ouma doesn’t turn around as he hears Momota’s voice at first. It’s already alien enough to be in this room.
So much metal, glass, and electric lights.
No magic candle lights, no practical magic spells like teleportation, funny mascots that speak and cheer you up, or dungeons waiting to be looted.
Just an empty, cold room with a big mirror that reflects the two young men. As if they were criminals in some cop show. The type of show that suddenly Ouma remembers, as if it’d always been a part of his life.
As if life had always been filled with cellphones, boring schools filled with even more boring people worrying about stupid exams, orphanages, and having to spend hours on a train to get anywhere.
And no nice comrades to go on adventures with, idyllic villages where people ask for your help and give you (a lot, depending on how rich they are) rewards, where the world doesn’t seem to end, and every new quest makes you feel better and stronger.
He was Ouma, the master thief.
Here, he’s Ouma Kokichi, the nobody orphan who isn’t particularly good at any subject. The once leader of a friend group that dissipated as everyone got adopted but him. A loser, all in all.
Though a loser in the real world.
Looking at Momota now, he feels even more pissed off. The wannabe hero (and astronaut, now he remembers the damn word! He couldn’t remember it at all during that time they were inside that demonic VR world!) looks just as he did in that fantasy wannabe world. The annoying asshole is actually ripped and tall outside the simulation, too.
At least that goddamn awful goatee was real. Small mercies, Ouma tries to calm himself.
The last thing he needs is to get annoyed at Kaito when they’re finally back.
If only the place to be back in was a home. Not even paradise, just a place that felt like home. Turns out the real world is just as empty as that fake scenery that surrounded him for weeks.
“Ouma, hey? Are you hearing me?” Momota, as always, cannot read the mood.
Sighing, the no-longer thief king turns to the no-longer warrior adventurer.
“Yes, idiot Momota-chan.”
The space nerd smiles happily, just like he looked back in the fake world.
Maybe some things weren’t that fake.
“Good to know you’re still the same.” Momota’s eyes look tired and aged. Though he looks much healthier than before. Seems like the disease was only inside the VR world.
The grand door opens unceremoniously, and a group of suited people enters, serious and stressed. At the front, an old woman who smells of cigarettes meters away frowns deeply.
Ouma smirks sardonically.
“Hi, Tsumugi-chan.”
At Momota’s immediate gasp, the old woman’s eyes turn murderous with complete disgust.
“How did you know?” She asks in a raspy voice.
Lucky guess, Ouma thinks. What he says is, “I know many things.”
The very much not looking Tsumugi orders them to get up.
“Your little… The game was not appreciated. You two are both effectively out of the game and will not have contact with the rest of the players. You are also not to discuss anything with outsiders.”
Momota is still reeling from the reveal that this old woman was their nerdy, cosplay-loving fellow teenage adventurer. Ouma is long past that. Seething but wanting to appear nonchalant, he has to annoy them more, absolutely.
“Until the end of the season… right?” He smirks. “You need the most popular characters. How would the poor fans react?” He mocks cries.
The rest of the suits look as surprised as Momota, while the woman is nonplussed. She has a better poker face outside the game, somehow. Should’ve added that in the simulation to be less obvious, Ouma thinks.
“We will find your sources.” She adjusts her glasses and turns to the employees behind her. “Remember, you have signed contracts, boys. You will be taken to our dormitories and stay here, food and funds provided, until the end of the season.”
How Ouma hates this is the exact reason why he even signed up for this stupid game. Well, there were more reasons, like desperate teenage escapism, but not like he would ever admit to that.
He hates how little his real self can fight. The in-game thief was a brave leader of the best thieves in all lands, a top-notch jester, and a strategist unlike any other. The reality of him is a scrawny, small teenager.
Glancing at Momota Kaito (if that is even his name), he curses him again for having the physique of his in-game character… and the goddamn charisma.
He really hates how he just accepts following those suits and staying in the dorms, as this godforsaken company knows full well he had nowhere else to go.
Momota-chan never stops annoying him, 24/7 (as long as they permit). Even though these facilities have every video game known to man and a bunch of other places to play sports, the astronaut wannabe will not leave his side.
It’s as irritating as it is nostalgic.
Momota Kaito is his real name, and his character was very much him, except a little less dramatic. But his hero complex, love for his grandparents, and the ego are all very much real.
It makes Ouma hope the rest are the same. How he hopes they’ll still want to talk to him. Especially Gonta, Miu, and Saihara chan… hopefully, at least someone won’t hate him.
Akamatsu was removed from the game early enough that she would still like him… maybe? But if she saw everything he did in the game, she must’ve been as disgusted as everyone else.
Momota Kaito seems to be a mindreader as well as having many talents.
“Are you thinking about the rest? Can’t wait to see them, man.” He smiles as he lazes around reading some teen girl magazines with no shame in the world.
Ouma wonders if he’d hide those from his sidekicks to keep up his manly persona. Considering how only Ouma knows his deepest, dark secrets (i.e., his sexuality, which is neither a secret, nor deep, nor dark, regardless of what silly Momota thinks).
“Sure, sure.”
Momota knows him well, though, since he just smiles and goes back to his usual argument of how they’d love him and yada yada. They had these same discussions almost daily already, and Ouma doesn’t feel obligated.
Changing the subject, Momota instead asks again, “How did you know it was a game?”
Not the first time he asked this, but one of the few times Ouma felt like answering, if only a little bit.
“As I said, physics doesn't quite work. Weird light, water, nature. Looks unnatural.”
Momota nodded. “Yeah, the grass didn’t have the right smell.”
Ouma rolls his eyes, forgetting how Momota and Gonta were nature boys.
“Saihara-chan noticed too, but he was too much of a chicken to think more.” He keeps going before Momota valiantly tries to defend his noble sidekick. “We all knew Japanese stuff in a European fantasy setting, which is soooo stupid. Guess their mindwashing didn’t work well since I remembered a bunch of stuff from my childhood.”
It helps that he lied blatantly about it all, so they didn’t quite know what to filter out with their oh-so-advanced tech. Plus, some pain inflicted on the body doesn’t go away so easily within a VR simulation. Not like he’d ever talk about it.
“Amami knew something was up, which is why he was eliminated. Akamatsu was just a part of the heroine, and she still got eliminated. And instead of you, who screams hero,” Ouma blatantly ignores Momota’s shining eyes at the extremely rare comment, “Saihara was entrusted with the mantle. And, come on, wizard detective? What the hell?”
Oh no, he was now going on one of his rants.
“Clearly, it was some sort of popularity thing. The people in the group who were least interesting were offered first. Except goddamn Tsumugi. That chick was off from day one, I tell you, Momota-chan. She clearly received something when she was in those hours-long cleric ritual shit. Angie, too, by the way, I wasn’t sure who was the mastermind then with the two hearing stuff from their creepy ass ‘god’… ugh… Always making the random shit references that didn’t work in that world, and everyone just got it. Pushing some fucking producer’s envelope or something for sure. And don’t get me started on the classes… most didn’t even make sense!”
He was full-blown ranting now, which he hated. Usually, someone shut him up by now (usually Harumaki or Iruma-chan) or they just stopped listening (everyone else).
Momota surprised him again — he was doing that much too often for comfort lately — by nodding and agreeing.
“Yeah, like you.”
“Excuse me?” Ouma turned with a little bit of murder in his eyes (not a word he wants to hear again, circumstances in hand).
“Dude, you’re nothing like a thief. Sure, you got lockpicking skills,” as they both knew from their many adventures trying to enter every room in this prison-like facility, “but you’re not the robbing kind. Unless you were like some Robin Hood. But it didn't match you, that’s all.”
Momota said, ‘that’s all’, as if he didn’t say earthshattering stuff.
“Oh? And what, pray tell, does sage Momota-chan think would fit me?” And the ex (not even fittingly) thief is ready to fight — verbally or physically.
“A bard, obviously!” Momota says, as if the water is wet.
Ouma is so shocked he doesn’t know how to reply, all fight escaping him.
“Man, you’d be great as a bard! You always wanted to solve stuff by talking. No violence, no stealing, just plain old talking. Plus, you like singing, and you’re good at it. You were always trying to cheer us up and doing crap that helps everyone’s skills instead of shinin’ by yourself.”
No, Ouma did not blush. No one can prove it. He has to bite back.
“Unlike someone who couldn’t help showing off all the time?”
Now it’s Momota’s turn to blush. Good. “Shut up, man. You know what I mean.” He mumbles offhandedly that he wasn’t that bad.
“Sure… Well, not like warriors, fit you either.”
Momota perks up. “Then what does?”
Ouma answers as if thinking this for the first time, as if he’d never endeavored such thoughts. “Hmmm… maybe something with magic? Or a duty? You looove a good dramatic hero story. It’d be nice to have a deity to fight against, no?” Not for. Against.
The ultimate hero experience. Proving himself against everyone in all planes. Showing everyone how moral and strong he is. That is too tempting for Momota Kaito. And they both know it. Kaito is actually big enough to admit it, which makes Ouma even angrier.
“Let’s play our own game, Ouma. Ditch this joint asap and have our fun.”
Ouma can think of many games they could play. But he knows what the other means.
“No, thanks. I’m done with VRs.”
“Obviously, never shit like this again. At least we’re loaded…” A small mercy for both of them, they know. “I’m talking about the real stuff. Pen and paper, man. Only our minds go.”
Blinking like a small child, the smaller one is ready for his fake crying. “I don’t know what sort of nerdy ass game you’re talking about, Momota-chan. I’m not a loser.”
“Drop it, dude. You’re more of a nerd than I am.”
“Not more than Saihara-chan.”
“True.”
They laugh a bit at their hands. If they knew tabletop roleplaying games, they knew for sure Saihara was a fan. And probably really good at it.
“So, let’s play. Bring everyone and have fun.” Momota smiles like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “Well, everyone but her.” He says as if he’s mentioning the worst demon in the lowest levels of hell. Not that far off.
It’s so tempting that Ouma wants to trick himself into believing such a fantasy. He really wants to live in a world where such a thing would be possible.
“Not like any of them will ever want to see me again,” Ouma admits. And he hates how they’re back to this topic yet again.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Because you have some screws loose.”
“So do most of ‘em. To join that game, let’s be real.” Momota is sometimes very wise.
Ouma has to admit it’s true. No one would want to join a VR fantasy game and waste at least a full year (with a promise of many more) of their so-called youthful years to be motionless and smelly nonstop. “But you forget, stupid Momota-chan… they hate my guts.”
“Less than they hate Tsumugi.”
“Lowest fucking bar in the world.”
The sci-fi nerd laughs loudly at that, as if Ouma is the best comedian in the world. Yet another low bar. “Still better than nothing.”
Ouma sighs and lies down on his bed, staring up. He used to get uncomfortable at these moments, but Momota grew on him.
Like a parasite.
“Always a dreamer, huh, Momota-chan?”
“Ouma, I’m serious. They’ll accept you when they calm down.” After a pause, he asks what they’re both thinking. “You’re worried about Miu and Gonta, right?”
No response.
“They don’t hate you as much.”
Sure.
“I mean it. I chatted with them and-“
“What?? You know we can’t with that damn NDA!” Ouma narrows his eyes. “How exactly did you do it if we can’t give phone calls aside from the assigned ones?”
He knew for a fact Momota spent his time always with his grandparents, even when he had actual friends waiting for him in the outside world.
Ouma had no one to call.
“Screw that. No way these assholes can keep me from my friends.” Momota wanted to keep the secret, but with Ouma staring at him, he knew it would be dead silent until he revealed his secrets. “The cleaning ladies helped me find their rooms.” He winked.
Ouma is speechless. Figures Momota’s charisma is off the rails even in the boring real world. He should be the bard… even though it is the class Ouma loves the most (and always has).
He has to smile. A real, non-calculated one, for once. Feels like years since he did it. It probably has been that long.
“Your friends, huh?”
“Yours too.”
Which is true. Even if they hate him, Ouma does consider all of them (not Tsumugi) as real comrades. Friends… as cringy as that sounds.
A home game with friends and no cameras sounds really inviting.
Dangerously so.
But if Momota can handle him — and has done so, constantly, for days now — maybe the others can too.
God, Ouma really wants some friends. That had been the real reason he even joined that silly fantasy game.
He wants to believe it can happen. Sitting down at a table with people who like him as he likes them, laughing at his jokes, getting surprised at the twists and turns, and trusting each other at the end of the game. Eating silly snacks, rolling dice, and indulging in a fantasy world and characters. But with real people. With actual friends.
It seems like a dream.
But he’d been in a dream world, and it did not hold up. Especially as an organization plays with them as they please.
So maybe it’s time to gamble on the real world.
Glancing at Momota, he knows he at least has someone on his side. And a (fun) game to be had.