#archsimp

Omg I get to yap about komahinanami!! Yayy

Honestly since I think of them literally all the time I'm not sure about specific so mmm some no despair ideas:

I think they wouldn't get married in a traditional way. Not only because I'm pretty sure it's not legal to marry two people, but I think they would enjoy it being a thing between them and maybe the people they're closest with. As in they exchange vows on the beach or sitting on their bed and only make a party with class 77 (maybe a few more people). I feel their promises would be very sweet

I really enjoy the idea of Chiaki and Nagito doing some internet bit in front of their chronically offline boyfriend and Hajime questioning what lead him to this point (he loves them a lot)

On a similar thought, Hajime being stressed out about exams. Like three books on the table, 20 tabs open, on his third coffee cup/ energy drink, trying not to bang his head on the table. And Chiaki and Nagito are there for emotional support because they basically live together at this point. They're also both smart so I think they could help him with writing summaries of his textbooks, and he definitely asks them to ask him questions before his exams

OH! I think they have designated fluffy pajamas both on Nagito's and Chiaki's house! Like at some point they bought some for Hajime and just keep them on their closet for when they have sleepovers. On the same vein, Hajime knows what their favourite cup and spoon is and makes sure to pass them to them when they come. On Nagito's house they have some fancy ceramic with cool designs and he's happy because he can finally share them (he thinks they're pretty). Chiaki puts stickers on their cups

(speaking of sunflowers though... Hajime Hinata vibes.........)

BEAUTIFUL awww i love this gif... and honestly I was going to say that sunflowers make me think of Hajime too <333 thank you archsimp, maybe I'll talk a little about coming to like Hajime!

I feel like with Hajime, I always liked him as a protagonist, but I didn't fully understand him until my second playthrough of the game. When I was first playing the game, I thought my blorbo was going to be Kuzuryu (who I still do like), and I tried very hard to not like Komaeda because I KNEW I was going to be obsessed with him and didn't want to be predictable... but when the game was over, I knew I was obsessed with Komaeda and wanted to write fics with him.

I began to ship komahina after I'd completely finished the game; I'd been very interested in their dynamic all along but it didn't really come into shipping territory until a few days after stewing in post-game feelings, if i remember right. I started reading a lot of fics, but most of them really did emphasize Komaeda's character more and I still didn't' have a very good grasp on Hajime. I wanted to write something with them, but I didn't really know what to do with him. I feel like I only had a grasp on his "everyman protagonist" qualities at that point and didn't really know how to make him unique or how to be anything more than just a support in a Komaeda-centric story. I also don't feel that I had a very good grasp on Komaeda's character at that time either and I felt very lost. I had a lot of feelings but little understanding.

I think I got an ask about any chiaki moment that I liked but I answered fast because I didn't remember. What I said was the time she put glue on her mouth and the "I'm not a shortcake. I'm Chiaki". I think that besides the fact that it's a cute line on its own, it's a particular standout to me because it's the reason I ship soniaki! kinda. What happened is that shortly after I finished the game, I was scrolling through pinterest and saw that combo with "I love soniaki" or "soniaki is so cute" on top and I went "Wow, I didn't think of that. It is kinda cute"

Then I think the obvious answer th ch6 speech. Something I like about it is Chiaki's tone specially at the beggining, I feel it leaves the scene pretty open to interpretation on whether this is some sort of leftover chiaki code that glitched, just Hajime's mind looking for some sort of guidance, a memory, and things along those lines. I went to look at my screenshots to dig up any specific lines... ahem

She's basically saying that even if she isn't remembered, the positive impact she had on them would still be real. And as long as that impact is real, a part of her would still live on on the people she cared for. Maybe it's just really moving for me, I feel that sometimes we understimate the impact we can have on others, but just trying to be nice or trying to help or understand or whatever means something to people. I may not talk to a friend anymore, I may not even think about them, but that doesn't make the time we spent together any less important.

There's a part of you on everything you said, everything you made, anyone you spoke to, everything you loved, so of course Chiaki's will will live on with the people she loved :) it's also like, even if everything seems to be going wrong and the future looks just as scary as the past, there's someone that believes in you, someone who wants the best for you, that has to count for something.

Fuck. Okay Chiaki, I'll do my best

Before I yap too hard and forget I think my favourite art of her in-game may be the beach one. All the girls look really nice there like look at Sonia and her pretty smile and hair

Just look at how soft she looks... But the chiaki ch6 smile rules

As of sprites I agree with you, Chiaki smiling hand on chest has been my favourite sprite since forever. I think her smile looks very pretty, and also like she's feeling proud or comforted. It screams "Thank you... I believe in you, guys" to me.

Outside of game I really love how she looks in that anime scene where she's in the bed, it makes her hair looks different and very endearing to me

Thank you archsimp!! Sorry for taking a bit with this! I wound up doing all my asks for LAFF mostly since I am trying so hard to continue it...

14: Talk about the fic’s opening scene & how you approached it

For the opening of the fic, I tried my best to match how Hinata might have been feeling in canon right after the first trial. The story is supposed to be a semi-canon rewrite and semi-canon divergence, so I wanted to match things as best as I could at the beginning. The beginning scene is the day after the first trial but before Hinata would go to see Komaeda in the old building. I wanted to try to establish Hinata's feelings about Komaeda at this point, his anger and disappointment that someone he thought of as a kind friend would do something like this--but especially his feelings of personal betrayal, as if Komaeda did what he did specifically to spite him. And because of that, I wanted to also plant some seeds of Hinata missing the "old Komaeda," where when he later gets the opportunity to see little bits of that "old Komaeda" showing some kindness to him again, he'll seize the opportunity to try to get that friendship back.

I also gave Hinata several moments where he casually dissociates but just moves on and pushes through it. I see points in the game where he has a lot of dissociative tendencies, so I wanted to establish those here and sort of foreshadow that his dissociation is only going to get worse as the fic goes on. Also, I wanted to get into how Hinata often hangs back and will let other people do the talking or take control of a situation, but when it becomes clear that he's the only one willing or able to do something, he will step forward and do it. Basically I think I just tried to turn the opening chapter into a Hinata analysis while establishing the main plot device fdhjkffd but I did make the mistake of making Hinata take a shower without getting into his dislike of showers... I had missed that back then, I'm a fake Hinata fan.... I feel like if I go back and add a detail though then it will really stand out fdjhhjkfd so I'm divided on doing that. Maybe I can justify it that he was so out of it and dissociating that he forgot he didn't like showers or something fdhjkfdfd

27: Share a piece of lore you made up for the story

Since I have both Hinata and Komaeda as trans men in this story, I made up some details about their pasts/relationships with their families, although not all of it actually really makes it into the fic. It's also probably not all completely canon-accurate since I'm sure they were both intended to be cis dfhkjdffd (ignoring their bathing suit sprites) so a lot of these are sort of personal and just tied into my interpretations of them/aligned with canon as best as I can

For Hinata, I imagined that it's very tense in his home with him transitioning and he is sort of walking on eggshells around his family. Their disapproval adds more pressure on him to do well academically, to stand out in some way and find a way to not be scrutinized regarding gender and to instead be accepted for being talented. If he had a good enough talent, he wouldn't be criticized or hated. Of course, if you had a family like that, no matter how hard you work you won't be accepted, but when you want validation or love then you'll cling onto anything. This is part of why he's a lot more dysphoric than Komaeda, because he wants that validation and acceptance so badly and is afraid of being "found out" or a "fake".

Hiiii I saw this earlier but couldn't properly answer at the moment but I've been thinking about this all month!!! I actually wanted to write down the idea I had for this but didn't make the time so I will do it here

I think they'd tell him happy birthday and give him a hug/gift at 00 or maybe when they wake up in the morning. I feel Nagito would be happy that his friends/partners care so much about him that even if he doesn't think too much of his own birthday, they take it as a chance to tell him so. I feel like he'd be grateful that they spend time and "put up" with him at all, so this is like an extra, but it seems to make them happy too so it's okay

Then the day moves on pretty normal but hinanami separates a little now. Hajime goes to run errands and invites Nagito with him but besides a few comments about his birthday nothing seems weird, maybe he talks a bit with Chiaki on the phone. Once they go back, they pick up Chiaki who's carrying a bag and go for a walk.

Except they deviate from their usual path and go to a new hidden spot. I'm picturing something like a high place with nice grass, just perfect to watch the sunset fall on the city/island. It's beautiful, they thought Nagito might like it and he does. When Nagito turns back to them, they're putting down some things to sit down and a cake (It might be store bought but I choose to believe they asked Hanamura to make it specifically for Nagito's birthday and had to convince him to not make something too big). And also they can take pictures

Basically a lot of words to say I like the idea of them taking him out for a calm picnic date on a pretty place. I think I made this with the assumption that Nagito might prefer something more quiet or intimate to celebrate his birthday than the traditional party (though knowing his classmates, he will not escape that) but you can always switch things up!

Coming up with something on the spot, I think that in some HPA setting, they (mainly Chiaki) might plan an outing with the whole 77-b class (like on all those dr3 photos) after school so Hajime can come too. Or maybe just the three of them. I like the thought of them planning a sleepover the day before so they can be with him the first moments of his birthday.

Maybe they could play some kind of escape game/murder mystery in a universe where that isn't in bad taste. I can imagine Hajime and Chiaki discussing what they'll do being we are gonna ask him what he'd like to do but we also these have 5 options for him to pick in case he just tells us "whatever you want!"

Ohh they can take him to the merry go round or to a library or to some kind of art expo where they also sell pretty trinkets. I feel Nagito would like pretty trinkets. And if they don't something on their own I feel like they'd try to coordinate everyone

Not just in terms of its wording, but also in comparison to how he's referred to it pre-Chapter 4 files and even post-Chapter 4 files. I was wondering if mayhaps you have any thoughts about how this comes across like if it comes from the heart for Nagito or is part of the whole gig of threatening the bombs on the island, what it could mean for him etc unless you might prefer not to go over stuff you haven't replayed on the latest playthrough you have and if so I'm sorry you can ignore the ask 😰

aww i would never ignore an ask from you archsimp ^-^ i'm sorry for taking so long with this! Chapter 4 and 5 is an area where I still struggle to understand Komaeda completely, since we never get to learn exactly what he saw in those files, so I feel like I could definitely be wrong here and my ideas might change when I get to chapter 4 and 5 again. But one thing that I sort of use as a rule of thumb for writing Komaeda is that there's always some fragment of truth in anything he says. I feel like overall he is such an honest person and rarely lies. So while I think he's lying here to some degree, I feel like maybe the emotion of what he's saying could be coming from the heart.

One thing that I think is really interesting about what he's saying here in these screenshots is that apart from Mikan with Ibuki, picking one of her patients in her care as a victim, none of the other killers really "scapegoated the weak" in their killings. Mahiru's death was tied to past revenge more than anything, Gundham and Nekomaru fought to the death while respecting each others' strength, and Teruteru accidentally killed the wrong person. Not only that, but the group unity overall stayed really strong with everyone still coming together after every death to mourn the people they lost, and eating breakfast together every day. Komaeda himself was the only person who was really left out of this group unity. And in Teruteru's case, Teruteru justified killing Komaeda to himself because he thought it was okay to kill someone "scary" who was threatening the group.

So, I sort of wonder... maybe Komaeda's lashing out about how he himself feels? He's hamming it up on purpose to get people scared of his bomb threat, but... he viewed himself as being "the weak" all along, and he was scapegoated, where people could maintain their trust in each other while putting their fears and worries onto him. Not only that, but... we know with his "ultimate hope" after-death speech, that he wanted to be viewed as a sort of saviour figure. I feel like his speech here was meant to scare them, but maybe he could be sort of trying to turn things around into supporting that view of himself. still calling himself "the weak" but fully believing that he's going to change everything and end the killing game. At the same time though, it is sort of a vast change from the way he was speaking and acting even after seeing the files initially. So I feel like in the end, maybe he is putting on an act, but speaking as much truth about himself as can be contained in a speech that's meant to incite everyone's fears.

Lightspeed indeed!! Hii thank you for asking Edit: I added images and links but they somehow aren't working so let me try again

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

I'm gonna say nanamiki because I saw them sometimes while digging for Chiaki fanart but my brain couldn't think beyond pink+purple. Then we had a conversation where you mentioned the interaction where Mikan said Chiaki invited her to play games together and it made her really happy and I was like ohhh

M - Your favorite fanart or fanartist

I have a few here, big names like smallix, gothcowboyz, hajihiko, rosieyart . I also really enjoy looking at wikoymi's art and clayxbread mentioning a mutual hi don't kill me. And OH I DO HAVE A FAVOURITE FANART LET ME-

I had to go to xhs to look for the artist but I love these two matching pieces so much they're so beautiful

I like this person on tiktok too

Also this one I found on Pinterest but I don't know the artist

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

I was about to skip because my taste in ships is pretty "vanilla" but I remembered Sonia x Hajime x Komaeda and I am on board. I haven't tried to look into them but I have a feeling if I did I would find your textwall and maybe one fic.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t

Honestly I wish I could be a multishipper in general... I always see so many fun and cool komaeda and hinata ships and I can see the appeal for all of them, but once I reach "OTP levels" for a ship where I actually feel the urge to write for them, I can't ship anything else anymore without feeling kind of sad. I think it's just because of how I wind up conceptualizing my stories for these characters where I sort of build a "personal mythology" for the characters and ship. I've only ever had two other ships reach this level for me where I loved them this intensely and felt the urge to create for them, and I couldn't multiship for them either.

I can multiship when it comes to characters who I don't have strong ideas for, even if I like the character... like for example, Amy from Sonic the Hedgehog, I ship a bunch of things with her. But it's because I don't have a concrete "mythology" for her, so all the ships I think about for her are a lot more abstract and just fun casual ideas. If I sat down and tried to write things for her, I probably wouldn't be able to multiship anymore for her either. I know how strange this sounds and I feel kind of bad about it </3 but yeah... i wish I could like other ships involving my favourites but it's impossible for me...

N - Your favorite fanfiction or fanauthor

It's hard to pick an absolute favourite because there's so many amazing DR works!! But as_the_crow_flew was one of my first komahina authors that I read when getting into the fandom and definitely inspired me a ton, their kmhn dynamic is so good and you can tell how much they study the characters! their hinata is always on the brink of a nervous breakdown, just the way I like him <333 I love all their fics but their currently updating story Nothing Comes As Easy As You is something I really look forward to! It's kind of a smut character study with a lot of retrospective looks at the NWP and really explores kmhn's postgame relationship and their issues well, and they have really messed up sex, I love it haha.

Y - A fandom you’re in but have no ships from