#archsimp playthrough

This...

This guy?

(...)

Gosh you know we tend to think about Teruteru's whole lying thing surrounding the urban aesthetic and looking important but in a way I guess we could also see it from a lens of having these tragedies as their catalyst, as in, the lie beginning also with how momma will be okay all the time

Teruteru's dynamic with lying is a strong component in Chapter 1 with what the way he's immediately trying to deny reality the moment he's thrust into a killing game, but an important part about this whole dynamic to begin with is how it ties into one of the themes that will be brought up throughout the game: the duality between belief and doubt.

Hajime:

she though???

her though???

doing a lil arms crossed >:(

An entire killing game AU was waiting for us the entire time and that AU is called the "Sonia bulldozes both Kazuichi refusing to make her clean and Nagito's attempt at a random draw because she really wants to experience this cleaning thing for the first time thus Nagito has to say he loves cleaning and so Sonia, Nagito and Teruteru are in the old mansion and Nagito has to start the killing game somehow" AU

Hajime:

I think Hajime questioning it here is reasonable: why would Byakuya's cottage have a clue about his murder? It could, but it's not entirely intuitive. Nagito would know though that the cottage might just have his letter inside still, which would be a clue for this murder.

Because of this, I find it doubtful that Nagito is actually scared someone would attack him. Rather, he is one of the sussy bakas involved himself, but this reasoning pulls in Hajime as a necessity, meaning that Nagito has an interest in bringing Hajime to Byakuya's cottage. It would be a sad place for a date, so I think that it's likely Nagito is trying here to make sure Hajime accompanies him to Byakuya's cottage so that Hajime intercepts the threatening letter and takes it as evidence for the class trial. My train of thought is in the post-trial dialogue where Chiaki reasons Nagito wants to complicate the mystery: I feel like, by Hajime knowing about this letter, it would deepen the mystery behind his death and also give the means to face it in the context of the class trial. Rather, it would match up to me on how Nagito's been nudging Hajime on different types of discrepancies found in the investigation.

Hajime:

Nagito of course isn't actually doubting Hajime to begin with, but it takes on a different layer when it turns out it has zero to do with trust and everything to do with the fact that Nagito already knows exactly who the killer is. Nagito can't even imagine Hajime being the killer because Nagito already knows the killer, so when Hajime is arguing that he could be the subject of suspicion, Nagito is able to easily dismiss that, and comes in with a line that he'll say in the class trial:

Which wow wording okay but this is the argument Nagito uses in the class trial as to encourage everyone to not proceed with finding out the killer, and considering how Nagito talks later on about how beautiful it is that the Ultimates are standing up to despair, that it's likely that this take from Nagito isn't truthful or at least, that he doesn't really think everyone is better off dying. This is also because it's being paired with another untruthful context, where Nagito wants to shut down the matter of Hajime being suspicious: Nagito would never doubt Hajime because in fact he would never doubt anyone because in fact he'd rather die believing everyone is super cool than pointing fingies!! It's also in hindsight a bit contradictory: if Nagito would rather die believing in others, then how come he's afraid of going outside due to thinking he'll be in danger? Is it that the mastermind would attack us, Nagito?

Hajime:

This line is a little weirdly translated here, where Hajime is THE chosen one singular and insisting on this point but the line is somewhat more like:

As I thought... You're sure strong. Just as you'd expect... From someone chosen by Hope's Peak Academy...

So it's a bit milder and has more deliberate repetition, as Nagito is actually harping on the same thing with pause in between

But more importantly here Nagito is responding to Hajime saying the investigation is for the sake of living by remarking on his strength. I think it's interesting that he's being seen as strong for wanting to press on and live in this situation. The argument Nagito makes where it's better to believe in others and die than to doubt them and live is one that he uses in the class trial to invite weakness and lead people to giving up. Hajime tanks this and isn't fazed, instead feeling like living is the entire point. Maybe because Hajime could shut down this argument, Nagito can feel like Hajime is strong, that he's not being dissuaded by these words. However, that could technically be something we could direct back at Nagito: in other words, would Nagito feel like the weak would succumb to this? That they would rather cling to that belief than to keep doubting and living that way? And would that say something about Nagito himself? That maybe Nagito would feel more comforted being able to believe and die? Mayhap... Though from there would be a level of speculation that I personally wouldn't dig through lightly unless you wanna partay with it we love to partay.

I've seen the translation of this last line being put to question before where supposedly intentional romantic subtext is being ommitted from this scene. However:

なんか…こいつと話してると調子が狂うな…

I don't know why, but... every time we talk, I don't really know how I'm supposed to react...

Green specifically gets put under scrutiny for the phrase 調子が狂う. This phrase generally means that you're being thrown off by something like out of sorts due to that thing, and so applies for situations when like I don't know someone is telling you something out of left field or playing with your emotions that way, so you're flustered or agitated. Here, the context is exactly that Nagito was just saying in front of Hajime that he would rather die believing in people than living in doubt, a pretty heavy statement to be dropped and seen at face value, only to joyfully redirect the conversation back to Hajime like let's go go go to Byakuya's cottage, so it would be intuitive to understand that Hajime is using this moment as basis to comment on how Nagito can throw him off when he's talking to him. In other words, I would find it difficult to take this to mean that Hajime is flustered or that this term is being used romantically necessarily. The official English translation chose to make it so that Hajime doesn't know what to say when faced with Nagito, which I'd arguably consider more accurate in this instance. Personally I guess off the top of my head I'd translate it like:

You know what... This guy really throws me off whenever we talk...

So like there can be variation here but I think you're seeing the idea here, personally I think the meaning in the official English script is okay.

Cute levels of condescension

Okay Komaeda I'll open the map right now ! :D

Hajime:

(really out here skipping a bunch of Monokuma dialogue for image limit reasons sorry friends)

This is a classic and iconic Nagito Komaeda moment where he calls Monokuma without much hesitation to open the door to Byakuya's cottage, prompting Hajime to also be surprised that Monokuma just appears when Nagito calls him. It's a classic, but it's also notable from a personal research standpoint because to me it's adjacent to Nagito's general practical mindset and how that aids in his lack of scruples: here he has a goal which is to get inside Byakuya's cottage and he knows Monokuma can most likely open the door, so he simply goes for it and calls him where maybe someone else would consider the dangers or not be keen on doing so. However, Nagito just does it for the purpose he is aiming for and in the process looks to Hajime as if he knows how to deal with Monokuma. In the end, though, he's just doing what would be the quickest shortcut to what he wants to do right then and there.

Entering the room and talking to Nagito nets this singular line. By itself, it just makes one wonder whether it's the cool acting gig or if he's really reflecting on it, but this latter hypothesis to me gets more interesting when we go look at the envelope inside the room

omg we could have also analysed handwriting from this all along

Nagito write on a piece of paper right now

This scene has a whole Nagito exposition marathon where a lot of this I'm fairly sure is word for word what he'll say in the class trial about Byakuya and what his thought process must have been, but I am running into unfortunate image limit issues and so will become a scribe for this hot second to give you the exposition since it ties into the rest of the scene:

Nagito: Maybe... This is why Byakuya suddenly decided to throw a party...

Hajime: Huh?

Nagito: "The first kill will happen tonight." Because someone made this threat to Byakuya... he gathered everyone in one area, and was extremely cautious about all the dangerous items. He was trying to create a scenario in which everyone could monitor each other. He thought... if he did that, nobody would be able to kill anyone...

Hajime: So... he believed this crazy letter?

Nagito: He couldn't ignore the possibility of this happening, even if it was just a worst-case scenario. Remember what Byakuya kept saying? How he "wouldn't let anyone become a victim."

Nagito describes something that he probably also found notable about Byakuya: his promise that he wouldn't let anyone become a victim. Nagito had commented about Byakuya's strength the morning after he sent the letter, and seemed to have been overall impressed by Byakuya. We can see that he took note of the strength of this promise and had it as a basis for why he would believe Byakuya would act on his own, and that he would be against the possibility of breeding distrust through revealing Nagito's letter.

Hajime: He couldn't overlook that slim possibility... just to keep his promise? Then... why did he keep it a secret? If he had just told us...

Nagito: He probably couldn't... He probably thought... That was also a worst-case scenario.

Hajime: What do you mean?

Nagito: If everyone knew what was in this letter, whether it's a lie or not... Everyone would have likely begun to doubt each other, and at that point there would be no turning back.

Hajime: S-So Byakuya... tried to do something about all this all by himself, without telling anyone?

Nagito: His strong sense of responsibility... is the only explanation I can think of.

And we can find here that he describes what he observed as Byakuya having a strong sense of responsibility. From there, Nagito constructed a scenario where Byakuya would find himself wanting to get everyone in an area, knowing Byakuya wouldn't reveal the letter. Where I'm going with this is that Nagito was maybe truthfully observing Byakuya closely from the get-go, and used the pieces from this observation to make his move where he wanted to guide Byakuya's actions because he found Byakuya to have the qualities that would lead him to act that way. This has relevance for my particular research nerd agenda to denote Nagito's judgement of character and emotional intelligence, and what he would have been eyeing when thinking of his plan. Probably, he threatened Byakuya with the belief that he would be too strong and with too strong a sense of duty to let it spill thus securing a scenario where Nagito could take advantage of his caution.

But so after that whole exposition Hajime boils it down to what I think would be a reasonable conclusion to take:

This is a simple assumption where the person threatening Byakuya with a murder would probably be the actual murderer. Hajime isn't accounting for the quirky guy in the room with him being actually I don't know more like the almost murdered but this is where personally the Byakuya's cottage arc reaches the juiciest part yes everything else was just the prelude for over here to me personally:

It's this part where sweaty and sadge Nagito Komaeda is backtracking away from the relevance of this letter, going as far as to say that it could just be a prank. On replay (not this one but previous) I thought that was especially interesting: why say something like that at this stage of the investigation? Nagito wanted to show Hajime this clue, or else there would be no need to insist on going to Byakuya's cottage, making up an excuse about how he's afraid of being in danger. This is meant to tie into the mystery and of course be relevant, but when Hajime accuses the sender of being the murderer, Nagito is saying that it actually could just be a random ay lmao from some person, and how it's fully unrelated. I'm not making up the hesitation or at least Hajime agrees with me and goes on his own monologue about the iconic Byakuya's cottage scene:

Hajime points out this hesitation from Nagito, but assumes that it must be because Nagito doesn't want to believe there is a killer. We people from the future know that's not the case. We people from the future know that Nagito is exactly the person who knows about the killer, and the sender of the letter to begin with. However, when Hajime immediately assumes that the sender is also the killer, Nagito does not have the same composure as before when making stuff up. Personally, I believe that Nagito is hesitating because he is being as if accused of being the killer by Hajime in this scene.

We could say that the practical consequences of Hajime wrongly assuming that the sender is the killer could be bad, but then again, Nagito was benefitting from and not minding all that much Hajime assuming that the portable stove didn't matter or that there's no way to go under the floorboards from inside the building, but he is shifty about the sender of the letter being seen as a suspicious person. We know from the class trial that Nagito tries to take up the role of a red herring, but what I think can be worth the food for thought is that he didn't start out that way. Nagito at first is trying to make it so everyone gives up voting to begin with, a move that doesn't put him under scrutiny if successful. I'd say Nagito could be considering the chance of failure, but to me I feel like maybe this bit in Byakuya's cottage is where he could be feeling it in practice, as in, the idea of being branded as a killer, and that maybe this is what had him fearful. Then, considering of how he is like in Byakuya's cottage, I end up thinking that maybe, knowing that Nagito was meant to be the victim, that the fact that Byakuya ended up dying and Nagito surviving could have weighed on him in some way, where he felt remorse.

The idea of sending the letter seemed at least serious enough he's venting to Hajime the next day, and he expressed respect for Byakuya, who as far as he was planning would remain alive. It's likely that he wouldn't have wanted to become Byakuya's killer, and wouldn't want to be seen as that either. And that also, he could have been thinking about how he would be perceived by everyone on this matter. I mean, Nagito was planning on dying here, so if dead, he wouldn't have to worry about everyone else, but what now? Now he's the guy who planned a murder and Byakuya is dead when it should have been him. I think about this part of the game a lot because I consider the possibility of Nagito's actions in the game reflecting much more nuance regarding Byakuya's death than it initially seems from memories of Nagito's way of addressing Byakuya in the class trial. I think there could be a duality at play here, where Nagito's plan, and subsequently Byakuya's death were both things that were actually not light to Nagito at all. I think there could also be different ways of interpreting this and it'd be cool to see people stepping forward to tell me, but I personally find myself thinking about the way Nagito is hesitating here to be related to how actually, Nagito does feel bad about Byakuya's death, and he also might find it actually scary that he would be perceived as a murderer.

Additionally, Hajime here is livid thinking of the profile of this possible killer, who's actually the guy right in front of him. Just as Hajime is saying, Nagito was able to quickly and with relative accuracy profile Byakuya to plot a murder, which says a lot about Nagito's intelligence. Without knowing it's Nagito, Hajime is disturbed at the calculating nature of this person, and I think it also bears thinking about.

When Nagito leaves, too, he doesn't leave very lightly either. He tries to find something for Hajime to do, before trying to separate from him (some screenshots will be from the backlog sorry sorry sorry):

He also in the middle advises Hajime to go check on Mikan as per usual, but while he leaves with a smile, Hajime is left alone to narrate this so the player gets an idea of Nagito's face that wasn't conveyed quite through the sprite:

Nagito was looking pale as he left, even after when it seemed like he would have recovered his composure, to the point Hajime briefly worried about him. It matches up the idea that Nagito doesn't want to accompany Hajime at this moment, saying he wants to be alone. Nagito's spoken to Teruteru already, though I suppose we can say that he could have gone up to him to coordinate stuff, but I feel like there could be a double meaning here of Nagito needing time for himself not just to prepare for the class trial and how he'll act in it, but also emotionally prepare for it, because he isn't okay at that moment. Either way, he leaves Byakuya's cottage affected by something in some way. To me, regardless of whether you'd have my take or not, I think it's very interesting food for thought how he seems to be affected in this particular moment, and another reason I'll want to pay attention in the class trial where he'll say things that will sound very mean to Byakuya which direct hate at himself.

Mandatory sexiest komahana lines of all time post