#kamuegi

I guess the seeming-inevitability of Izuru taking some level of interest in the fact that Makoto was also given the Ultimate Hope title feels like fertile ground for an emotional journey in an emotionless character.

Plus, Makoto's role in the first game is thematically an answer to Izuru Kamukura. Not from a meta perspective, of course; Izuru didn't exist to the audience at the point when Makoto became Ultimate Hope. But in-universe, Izuru was the product of skewed values and Makoto was the antidote to those values.

The making of Izuru was "You don't have to care; you just have to be excellent." Makoto is, "You don't have to be excellent; you just have to care."

(Again, thematically. The actual way that killing games work goes against this in a pretty big way, but that feels unintended. The universe of Danganronpa maintains that talent is a very specific thing that Ultimates have and Makoto does not, so his victories are understood to be in spite of a lack of talent, not proof of talent.)

It's similar to why I ship Makoto with Nagito; Nagito's hangups about talent mean making him fall for Makoto resolves something or challenges something instead of enabling his hangups. Izuru's beliefs about talent and the world would be challenged by giving him feelings about Makoto, and it's interesting to see what would come of that.

(If you think I'm scared to impregnate this luckster with my words, you are mistaken. 😁)

Okay, so let's tackle all variations of this.

Komaegi

If Nagito isn't the father, his reaction is very "The seeds of hope are flowering!" His devotion to Makoto extends to the unborn child. This child is the future and the enduring nature of hope. Hope keeps on going, so of course the Ultimate Hope must multiply!

Ideology aside, he is also attracted to how cute Makoto looks when he's pregnant. This is a situation where Nagito's hope-fervor and his regular human feelings of love are mixing together in a lethal blend. The love of a hope that reproduces and the love of Makoto's bloated face and body feel like the same thing. Everything's just amazing, and also suddenly Nagito's weird food crimes are aligned with Makoto's pregnancy cravings, which is even more amazing! He's eager to wait on Pregkoto hand and foot, and he insists on getting Mikan to check on the baby's health, etc., as often as everyone will tolerate, if not more.

If Nagito is the father, he's half-horrified about the whole thing. It's still "The seeds of hope are flowering," but it's also "Oh no, it came from me, what if the 'me' aspect ruins everything??" In this case, he expresses little to no special concern for the baby until after it's born. And even then, it takes time. During the pregnancy, his hypervigilance is 100% dedicated to making sure Makoto is healthy and safe. (He often thinks that, if the fetus dies, then that's his own fault for indulging himself/tampering with Makoto in the first place.)

After the baby is born, Nagito begins to express affection towards them, but early on it's still filtered through Makoto. When he compliments the baby, there's always a spoken or unspoken clarification of "They're like you." After having the baby around has become the norm in their household, his expectation of tragedy begins to thaw somewhat and he starts to let himself love them as his own child. And then he falls hard. None of which is relevant to the maybe-pregnancy-kink focus of the question, but there it is, lol.

Kamuegi

Izuru knows Makoto is pregnant before Makoto does, and I'm being so honest when I say I think there is some length of time (maybe a minute, maybe an hour, maybe a day) where he earnestly thinks, If I brewed him a certain kind of tea, I could abort it for him and we could maintain our comfortable status quo. He wouldn't even have to know.

He decides not to do that, but his initial feelings about the pregnancy are similar to if Makoto had a tapeworm. It's something he has to medically accommodate. When Makoto finds out he's pregnant (on his own; Izuru doesn't tell him), there's an initial excitement from him that falters after it occurs to him that he hasn't seen any reaction from Izuru.

And Izuru never wants to ruin Makoto's happiness, so he uses positive and affirming language to talk about the pregnancy and the fetus. When next he has a moment of privacy, he closes his eyes and deliberately decides to incorporate a baby into the new paradigm. Moving forward, he will treat the baby as a part of them. At first just out of pragmatic obligation, but he too will come around in his own time.

He falls in love with Pregkoto before he loves the baby specifically. He likes the way Makoto's body changes. He likes feeling the changing expanse of Makoto's belly, his doughy cheeks, the sleep-talking, the bedwetting, all of it is somewhat exciting to him.

Maybe at some point, Makoto asks, "Will the baby be like you? I mean-"

"They altered my body, not my DNA," Izuru answers. "It will be like Hinata."

"That's okay, too." Makoto smiles at him, clearly fishing for a returning smile, which causes Izuru to add:

"But it will be as spoiled as you are, I suspect."

"Hey!"

And Izuru does smile, a little.

Hinaegi

If he's not the dad, then Hajime probably feels somewhat insecure about someone else having a kind of anchor in Makoto.

If he is the dad, then Hajime will be thinking a lot about whether he's someone the baby can be proud of.

Either way, Hajime is more hands-off than Nagito and Izuru, while also being just as involved. Like, instead of setting up a million sessions with Mikan, like Nagito does, or keeping track of Makoto himself, like Izuru does, Hajime will just nag Makoto like, "Did you see Mikan yet? Did Mikan say you can do that? Didn't Mikan say that stuff was too salty?"

Maybe Makoto jokes, "If you like Mikan so much, why don't you marry her?"

And Hajime quips back, "Please. If anything, I'm marrying you off to her. Then maybe you'd actually take your vitamins."

Also, Hajime will be a nightmare, in the delivery room. Nagito might try to be far away from the delivery room, to avoid luck mishaps, and Izuru would just deliver the baby himself, but Hajime would be in there stressing out and maybe taking his stress out on the doctors as needed. (Verbally, of course.)

Kamukomaegi

Okay, this Izuru is processing the baby as a positive right away because Nagito is so immediately obsessed, and this Nagito is processing the baby as a positive right away because Izuru is there to mitigate any disaster he might bring. This one's just snuggly.

Well, there's still the anxiety that they'll care about the baby and then lose it. Izuru regularly evaluates his own degree of emotional compromise to make sure he's in the right place to both love the baby if things turn out well and help the others mourn the baby if things turn out poorly. But there's no initial lack of affection for the fetus or facades about it.

Any time he feels the baby kick, Nagito gets absolutely wildly giddy. (And the baby kicks more often when his hand is there. Like his tendency to win coin flips.)

One night, they're all curled up in bed together, Izuru's arm wrapped possessively around Makoto's baby bump, Nagito just generally clinging. They've been laying like this in silence for long enough that any one of them would be forgiven for assuming the other two were asleep.

Nagito murmurs, "A part of me wishes he could just be pregnant forever."

Makoto laughs, under his arm. "I don't."

"Oh?" Nagito teases. "You finally enjoy my cooking. And you're literally stuffed full of potential." His hand drifts down to Makoto's belly, rubbing slow circles in awe.

"I've been wetting the bed for the first time since I was ten."

"Not for the first time since you were ten," Izuru says.

"Sometimes you can just let me lie."

Izuru shifts both Nagito and Makoto's positions to give both of them better back support. "If we miss it, we can always get him pregnant again." He's nuzzling Makoto's cheek, so he might be joking. Maybe.

"I've just decided tomorrow is vasectomy day," Makoto says. Nagito laughs and nips at his ear. Izuru is smiling and still nuzzling.

Komahinaegi

This has the vibe of Nagito and Hajime exchanging a panicked glance over Makoto's head. They are stressed and overcompensating by bickering about pregnancy stuff and baby stuff.

"Far be it from me to argue," Nagito begins.

"And yet...?" Hajime sighs.

"Shouldn't we be a little more regular in monitoring his blood counts?"

"Here we go again. Mikan said once a month from now on is fine."

"Mikan has many patients. We have one. It's her job to make time for everyone; it's our job to make her make time for him."

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dangan Ronpa Series, Home Safety Hotline (Video Game) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kamukura Izuru/Naegi Makoto Characters: Naegi Makoto, Unnamed Responder (Home Safety Hotline) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fae, Fae Kamukura Izuru, They/Them Pronouns for Kamukura Izuru, (Kind Of) Epistolary, outside pov, Naegi Makoto Has Zero Survival Instinct Series: Part 13 of DoMAYstic 2026, Part 2 of Fairytale Week 2026 Summary:

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dangan Ronpa Series Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kamukura Izuru/Naegi Makoto Characters: Naegi Makoto, Kamukura Izuru Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, They/Them Pronouns for Kamukura Izuru, Established Relationship, Cat/Human Hybrids Series: Part 11 of DoMAYstic 2026 Summary:

Good question!

I think one (kind of oversimplified, but still helpful) vibe-difference that serves as a good starting point for this is:

Hajime's attitude is kind of like, "I'm (only) human, and that's bad/useless."

Izuru's attitude is like, "I'm not human, and that's good/useful."

And Hajizuru's attitude is like, "I'm not human, and that's bad/useful."

Regular Hajime has insecurities about his inherent state of being but is overall pretty confident and secure in his own actions and behaviors.

Izuru is confident and secure in his inherent state of being and also confident and secure in his own actions and behaviors.

Hajizuru is insecure about both his inherent state of being and his actions and behaviors.

All of them are highly competent, but only Izuru and Hajizuru are expressly skilled, and only Hajizuru is expressly proactive.

~~What this means for the ships:~~

Hajime/Makoto: Hajime has more of a tsundere side than Izuru and Hajizuru. This is because Hajime is the most easily embarrassed. (Hajizuru is the most easily ashamed, and Izuru is the least of both.) Holding hands, receiving compliments, in general acts of sentiment might cause Hajime to roll his eyes or squirm in some way. That's not really a thing, for Izuru or Hajizuru.

Makoto brings out a protective side in all three of them. The way I've characterized Hajime specifically, in previous Hinaegi posts, is that he's someone who will form a barrier between Makoto and his peers where Hajime gets to vet who's allowed to access Makoto. The tone of it isn't domineering or forceful; Hajime just has a way of flatly shooting down suggestions that he deems ill-intentioned or bad for Makoto. (And Makoto might argue with him about it, or he might not, depending on the situation.) This contrasts with Izuru, who is sharper in his deflections. If Hajime will shoot people down with a dry comment, Izuru will do it with a terrifying glare and unspoken threat of violence. Hajizuru takes after Hajime more, in this regard.

Izuru/Makoto: Under most circumstances (meaning, outside of any character development that might happen), Izuru is someone who believes that his value is in being the way he is. Being supremely talented and pragmatic.

In the early stages of liking Makoto, he enjoys watching Makoto strive, because the idea of having human limitations and making mistakes and being subject to inconveniences might intrigue or entertain him on some level, but once he's really in the thick of liking and caring about Makoto, that'll often be expressed in the form of using his talent to do things for him. Elevating him above the indignity of effort.

I said that he's not highly proactive, and by that I mean, Izuru doesn't have too much of a self-directed interest in changing the broader status quo. If he's in a relationship with Makoto, he's not thinking too many steps ahead about it. The novelty of caring about someone is enough. (More on that in the Hajizuru section.)

Also, Izuru is more distinctly selfish than Hajime and Hajizuru. This manifests as possessiveness and a lack of care for societal norms. He'll act within the constraints of what Makoto can accept, but he does not really care about other people's preferences. The other two have shades of this, but for Izuru it's the most extreme. Again: no shame or embarrassment. Hajime will do whatever doesn't embarrass him (meaning whatever doesn't make him feel too vulnerable or stupid), and Hajizuru will do whatever doesn't too badly shame him (meaning whatever doesn't make him feel too much like a vile monster). Izuru will do whatever he can get away with.

Hajizuru/Makoto: He thinks so many steps ahead. Hajizuru (who probably goes by "Hajime", but he has elements of Izuru affecting his cognition) is proactive in that he's a character who will say things like, "We need to move out of this house, for these reasons, by this means." Where Izuru will just perform routine maintenance on whatever leaks or breaks, Hajizuru will find them a new place to live that has better amenities, better neighborhood, better access to whatever and whoever he considers necessary.

Hajizuru is the one of the three who cares the most about morals. Even when he finds it necessary to act immorally, he's the one who's most keeping track of the moral implications of anything he does. He is measuring himself against the idea of a good, sentimental human who cares deeply about doing the right thing, and he's using the idea of this person as a model for what behaviors are most valuable in the moment.

So like, for any given course of action, he's weighing the Izuru option (the most pragmatic way of getting the desired outcome) against the Good Person option (the most moral thing to do, full stop) to try to find his path. Most tellingly, he is not trying to reconcile between Izuru's way and Hajime's way; Hajime, as a human with a human personality and a human's capacity for kindness and harm and mistakes, is not something Hajizuru tries to factor in. (Again, outside of any character development that might happen.)

And going back to the relationship-specific stuff, Hajizuru is the one who most needs Makoto's validation. Hajime appreciates Makoto's validation (but doesn't really believe him), Izuru devours Makoto's validation, but Hajizuru specifically needs to be told he's seen, acknowledged, and valued as a person who's allowed to have wants and needs.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dangan Ronpa Series, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kamukura Izuru/Naegi Makoto Characters: Naegi Makoto, Kamukura Izuru Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Despair Era (Dangan Ronpa), Pre-Relationship, Nonverbal Communication, They/Them Pronouns for Kamukura Izuru, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks Series: Part 10 of DoMAYstic 2026, Part 5 of Bloodstains Summary:

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dangan Ronpa Series, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kamukura Izuru/Naegi Makoto Characters: Naegi Makoto, Kamukura Izuru Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Despair Era (Dangan Ronpa), Pre-Relationship, Nonverbal Communication, They/Them Pronouns for Kamukura Izuru, Wound Tending Series: Part 9 of DoMAYstic 2026, Part 4 of Bloodstains Summary: