Chapter Text
“...Participants of the 53rd Killing Game, Saihara Shuichi and Oma Kokichi have announced a spin off!:
S: “It’s been about 3 years since the game we starred in ended. So when team Dangan Ronpa got in touch with me and Oma again— naturally, we were intrigued with what they had to offer.
O: “They want me and my beloved to appear in a non-canon spin off!... Where we go back to the ‘past’ or whatevs.”
S: “We aren’t actually going to the past, of course. Time travel is impossible. They have the entire cast’s characters saved onto the simulation. Personalities and all. Almost like Dangan Ronpa If”
Unfortunately, that’s all they could share with the fans, legally. No release date, no other information at all..”
So… here they stood, in front of the all too familiar, yet intimidating, vr headset. Accented with lime green. It felt nerve wracking, even if they did agree to this.
Suddenly, Oma pipes up.
“Pretty weird they told us to come in formal attire, hm?” He adds his two cents, though if you look deeper, it’s clearly said in order to relieve some of the previous, looming awkwardness.
Saihara chuckles, raising a hand to his mouth, “I don’t think it's that abnormal?” he raises a brow, “I mean, if you think about it, most of the things we wore as a class were pretty formal. Suits, uniforms, etcetera. With the exception of you and others.”
“Orrrr it just makes us seem older?”
“That too, I suppose.”
“It was pretty funny how frustrated they were with me when I showed up in the shit I usually wear though, you gotta admit. Right, Shumai?” Oma coos out.
He was right, the producers seeing Oma’s black shirt with the collar raggedly cut to his shoulders, and his stupid jorts that he accidentally ordered a size too big.
. . .
“What is weird is how we were so against Dangan Ronpa when we were actually in the killing game and yet we’re going back.” Saihara comments, the tone instantly darkening, “Though, I guess everyone has a love-hate relationship with Dangan Ronpa. It got us famous, afterall.”
Oma stays quiet. This isn’t at all unusual; after he died ingame, he had been dealing with cognitive overload and dissociation. All the victims and culprits were— afterall, they did die. Even if it was in a simulation, that trauma they experienced transferred to their real bodies. For example, Akamatsu, Hoshi, and Iruma all have trouble breathing at times. Amami has trouble with memory and has frequent migraines. That's psychical stuff, most victims had problems coping and have mental issues.
That’s not saying the survivors were safe— all of their personalities were ‘merged’ with their pregame selves and ingame selves. This causes every survivor, including Saihara, to have frequent mood swings and personality shifts out of nowhere.
“Hey Oma?” Saihara starts, “You wanna stretch out a little bit before we put the headsets on?” He asks compassionately, grabbing Oma’s wrist.
Oma’s unfocused, almost glossy eyes snap back to reality, suddenly focused on the headsets right in front of them. Saihara’s glad that his therapist taught him a few tricks to ground Oma… and at times himself if he’s having a meltdown and or a panic attack.
Oma giggles, putting his arms behind his head and swaying slightly, “Pshh… yeah? When I woke up from the simulation the last time I coulda swore I heard my bones creaking!!” He whines.
“Ah, same here.” Saihara grumbles, as he recalls how long it took to get used to his actual body after a while of not using it..
“Welp! As long as it gets me new gigs in movies or shows!” Oma shrugs, beginning to stretch out his legs. “I haven’t gotten a new role in sooo long…”
“That's a lie and you know it, Oma…” Saihara sighs, affectionately, of course.
“Hey! The simulation just finished booting up! We’re gonna need you to put the headsets on soon!” An intern yells out from… god knows where.
The duo instantly deadpan at the sudden pressure.
They glance towards each other, uncommon information, they are actually dating. But before they were placed on set, they were told to tone it down inside the simulation, as to not ruin it for the shipper side of the fandom… or whatever.
So… they know they can't enact in much physical intimacy, normally that wouldn’t be a problem. Neither of them were… too clingy, or sappy. Normally… but with the knowledge that they CAN’T no matter how much they’d want to, only serves to crave the touch of the other even more.
Both of the glances from the pair were laced with longing, and at least a hug but… of course, none of them would mention it. They were both disgustingly bad at communicating what they wanted.
This was only problem one, of course. The team requested for them to read the notes on their characters before arriving. That they did— and they have to act all normal, but defensive, and with a hint of malice underneath it all. Now the ladder, they didn’t have a problem with… but acting ‘normal’? That was trouble, especially with the aforementioned problems with their psyche.
“Well,” Oma scanned the headsets, “These aren’t gonna put on themselves, right, Shumai?”
“Oma.” Saihara growls out before pausing, taking a deep breath, “Sorry— You’re right. Let's get this over with.”
They eventually sit down side by side. They both pull the headsets onto their heads.