Delinquents are among the lowest groups inside a social hierarchy, known for having a rebellious streak and the tendency to start immense brawls between each other. They crowd to each other, sticking like glue due to their similar personalities and backgrounds as they are juveniles fighting against a bitter world. As the pack mentality exists, people feel safer in gatherings for protection and a familial structure that may disappear until adulthood. If these teenagers are lucky, these friendships carry on themselves and onto a tight bond theyâre fortunate to have.
  Lone delinquents exist as well, Sadamu is no exception to this role he plays in life. Long ago, he never embraced his status after defending himself again and again, realizing heâs stuck in a never-ending cycle of repetition. Tormented, taunted, called indecent and inappropriate names, insulted for his appearance, and thrown into a passive-aggressive battle heâll never win. Instead of climbing up into positive popularity and acceptance, he stole an old baseball bat from his local high schoolâs team and wielded it for self-defense. Due to this, heâs popular for all the wrong reasons; infamous, is what heâd call it.
  Sadamu grew tired of this relentless treatment, after being exposed to this dishonor and unkind behavior; he snapped in a burst of rage. His fury kept a lot of people away from him, other than a timid clothes-weaving hobbyist who stuck around him daily. Heâs dangerous, but thereâs a bubble in his mind waiting to pop about why? Is he really that approachable for some people?
  He twirled his long, ebony black hair with a twig-like finger, deep into his thoughts. Humanity wasnât his favorite group to be around, as humans are naturally born selfish and unkind; if not treated, ruggedness can occur. Maybe, this is why Danganronpa exists. To have live action actors define a murder mystery drama where others could see themselves in the victim or murderer. In a way⌠itâs traumatizing to his eyes, as those deaths are tragically realistic and the entire script⌠those actors are uncannily talented at their craft.Â
  Humanityâs cruel fascination with death disgusted him, to where Sadamu despised Danganronpa. He wondered how those who went into hiding are coping with their situation? Sadamu hummed in confusion as he walked across the pathway carrying his bookcase in his other hand. Somebody approached him? He heard another guy speak, of course, looking straight backwards is his first action before peering down at the shorter teenager.
  Naturally, his stare is fearsome and cold-blooded. It faded away quicker once he realized who and what he was dealing with. Damn, this one talked a lot!
    â⌠Cosplay?â, he inquired in his harsh and whispered tones. This is some nerd, isnât it? âI had no fuckinâ idea what you were talking about at first, kid. But, Iâm not a cosplayer.âÂ
   He completely turned around to face Shuichi, tightening his green tie and snorted behind his mask, â⌠But, youâre complimenting me a ton and itâd be rude if I fought you because of that. This hair of mine isnât a wig. I maintained this through⌠daily usage of shampoo and conditioner.â
   âEven if it will be gone once Iâm older, itâs best to have it sooner than later.â Others didnât enjoy his feminine looks due to their fragile natures, oh well! Whatâs Sadamuâs solution? Beat them up! Heâs quite flattered by the other boyâs enthusiasm, lending his flip-phone over and putting a hand in his pockets.
  âYou can take a picture with me!â Because heâs never had a single one in his life. âBut, you can join me on my way home, companyâs real great. What kind of shit do you like? You sound a lot like a nerd. Are you?â
   âI wonât judge you for it, if you are!â
Delinquent cosplay was one of the most common (and easiest) costumes that one could make, especially with multiple manga genres focusing on (a less realistic version admittedly) delinquent culture, or shoujo/shounen manga love interest/side kicks. They made exceptionally good romance options (jerkass with a heart of gold trope, the gruff aggressive guy that secretly had a soft spot for cats, redemption arcs, they were FILLED with ideal romance tropes!) for fangirls to swoon after, and the anti-hero cool kid made a perfect protagonist or helper character for shounen manga to allow boys to see how cool fighting was. Naturally, Shuichi was inclined towards murder mysteries and of course, Danganronpa, but he seen quite a few stories involving them! After all, delinquent gang members made good red herrings for the various school murders he read about- What better initial suspect was there, other than someone with a literal bat filled with nails?
Face masks of course, were simple enough to acquire. Dollar stores and pharmacies sold them everywhere. School uniform templates flooded the internet, or people could budget cosplay with their own uniforms from school (or simply modify them if they wished to go the extra mile). But simple cosplays often meant that they were..for lack of a better word shitty, with noticeable exceptions being beginners using cheap, glossy cloths just because they believed it looked good or because it was pretty on the fabric roll, but when they went to sew it all together (special mention went to the horrifically hand sewn outfits with very very obvious and uneven stitches) it just turned gaudy, kitschy and horribly disgusting. Shuichi looked down upon those types of cosplayers, ones who didnât fully invest themselves in their craft. In his humble opinion, it was better to not do it at all, than half ass a cosplay. Shuichi knew his own limits, and thus unless if he was about to commit intense amounts of time, research, and work into a cosplay, heâd prefer going to cons in just a t-shirt with badly painted on artwork of characters. That way, he could show his support and alliances without having to sacrifice face in the cosplaying community. But they still remained good entry level ones, provided people werenât going to slam satin everywhere just because it looked cool at the checkout line and took their time instead of speedrunning their costume the day before. But that also meant that professional cosplayers or ones that remained of a higher caliber, or people who wished to compete shied away from the classic delinquent look. Complexity accounted as a major part of grading a costume in a cosplay competition, meaning that even an exceptionally well crafted cosplay of a delinquent remained unlikely to win any prize. Theyâd be lucky if they managed an honorable mention through the acting portion. But Shuichi majorly appreciated the classics! Especially if someone was willing to either grow their hair out exceptionally long, which required typically intensive care to ensure it didnât tangle or catch on anything. And god forbid how much care and brushing and maintaining it took to keep even short wigs in decent shape. Cheap Rapunzel-length hair could reach the hundreds of dollars, even in rather shabby quality, and high quality wigs of course grew to exorbitant prices. Making sure the wigs didnât frizz up and tangle and knot as best as you could, and having to carefully condition and detangle and fix every inch of the wig, multiple times, in a multitude of steps, and knowing there was a strong possibility that by the time you finished the bottom, the top was already starting to frizz up again? Long wig hair took intense willpower and both physical and mental stability that made people who maintained it braver than any US Marine.
But wow, even this guyâs icy glare was on point! Shuichi admired how dedicated and in character this person was! He almost felt like he was speaking to a real delinquent! He almost wondered if he should ask for an autograph, or this guyâs Instagram or something. Shuichi might have just met him now but Shuichi was an instant fan!Â
The strangerâs voice suddenly caught his attention, which admittedly came out more raspy and quiet than how Shuichi expected. Perhaps that was how the character spoke in the anime? The guy appeared slightly confused and irritated, however Shuichi suddenly realized his stupidity! Of course! This must have been one of those LARPing events or the guy was really trying to remain as in character as possible! Some guy from some anime probably didnât know what cosplay was! How foolish of him! Heâd probably have to wait until after the event was over and the guy changed out of the costume for further inquiries. He was about to apologize and ask when the person was free, until the other part the other guyâs sentence hit him.
Well! That was certainly awkward, haha! Shuichiâs cheerful excitable chatter drew to an instant halt, and instead of gushing and being probably the happiest and most excited he had been all day, Shuichi vaguely wondered if he was literally going to die in about five seconds. Of course, the first thing that came to mind was the body discovery announcement jingle playing the second that the actual real delinquent swung the bat and ended Shuichiâs weak schoolboy physique with a single swing. But now wasnât the time for that!! He had to apologize before the guy could decide that killing him was worth it! After all, how else was he going to attend a real Danganronpa killing game, or at least try to audition for one!!!
âAh, well uh! Please forgive me, Mister...! I thought with the hair, and the outfit, and everything that it was because of some, uh, event!â Shuichi was totally going to end up dead, wasnât he?
When Sadamu turned around, Shuichi flinched slightly, expecting himself to fully die in that very moment. However once he heard the stranger suddenly laugh, his terror turned into curiosity, and he hopefully glanced up towards the much taller guy. Wait. Wait. So Shuichi wasnât going to die? He always believed the delinquents to, like his manga, be standoffish and challenge people and fight others for absolutely no reason, at least until they obtained their character development and thoroughly went through their character arc. Shuichiâs timidity faded, before turning into excitement with every word that Sadamu stated.Â
Not only was the guy not going to kill him, but the delinquent appeared to be...rather nice! Shuichi was meeting an actual delinquent! Not a cosplayer, not some guy from some anime, but he was actually talking to one! And he wasnât getting killed for it! His downcast eyes relit themselves and began to glimmer with glee and awe. Nobody was going to believe this! Shuichi Saihara, got to speak with a delinquent and walk home with him! This was, this was so cool! Shuichi was almost bouncing up and down with joy, but he tried to restrain himself. After all, he couldnât risk the other guy seeing how excited he was and end up deciding that he didnât wish to walk home with him! Shuichi instead focused on Sadamuâs words, nodding eagerly. âWoah really? I read itâs pretty, no totally difficult to keep it all in top condition-ah, the pun wasnât intended! But thatâs pretty miraculous! Do you use one brush, or brush and comb? Fine tooth, probably? But ah, if there was some knots in your hair,Iâd assume that the snares would be difficult to deal with with finer toothed brushes! Uhh, regardless, thatâs pretty neat! Although, I guess thatâs true! Better to have it long now, so you donât regret not having it when youâre older! Or, having less of it actually! To be fair though, most of the adults I know lose almost all their hair on the top of their heads, like they have massive bald spots. Iâm pretty sure Iâll have that when Iâm older, my family lineâs mostly the same, but-Ah maybe thatâs not a good conversation topic!â Shuichiâs eyes lightened when Sadamu offered to let him take a picture with him, and he hopped slightly on his toes, barely able to contain his excitement. âWould I ever! Iâm surprised youâd even offer! But I mean, if youâre willing to, Iâd be estatic-no uh, overjoyed-no, itâd be cool!â Satisfied with his more âchillâ word choice, he took the flip-phone gingerly, before moving over and snapping a few selfies and sending it to his phone number. Ah, well that meant that Sadamu knew his number and probably would figure out where Shuichi lived once they were walking home...But Shuichi was too giddy to be even faintly concerned about this matter! He quickly returned the phone back to itâs rightful owner, before jumping up again. âIâd be happy to-no, itâd be cool? Either way, of course Iâd be willing to join you if you want!â However, once Sadamu called him a nerd, even through his extensive glee and excitement, he had to set the record straight!
âActually, Iâm not a nerd, per say! Nerds are the people in class who study extensively, and get straight As, people with glasses who look and are incredibly intelligent! So Iâm not really a nerd! The term is otaku, someone whoâs really really into anime, manga, cosplay, and the like! I mean, geek is also close enough but definitely not a nerd!â Shuichi really wasnât helping his own case here. âBut, if youâre talking about the types of cosplays I like...as long as theyâre crafted with intent and care, Iâm a fan of all of them! Although, I donât think I could be a judge, really! Iâd probably accidentally be biased and all, but really! All of them are good! But--Oh! You donât happen to be a fan of Danganronpa right? Itâs like, the best thing ever! I mean, some people call it overrated and a sell out, but theyâre totally wrong! Everything about it is incredibly cool and interesting and, can you believe people can come up with this kind of thing?âÂ
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