#saikoto

Ah, good questions all around!

Kaede and Kyoko

I think Kaede would think Kyoko is really cool but also get openly irritated with her whenever she withholds information. Like, Kaede would constantly be saying "Where'd you get that?" "How'd you find that?" "How do you know that?" "Tell me!" Until she just resolves, "Screw it, I'm following you around. If you're not going to tell me what's going on, then I'll just see for myself what you're up to."

It's Kyoko's secretive nature versus Kaede's refusal to be ignored.

Kyoko would be annoyed because this pianist is taking a jackhammer to her subtlety, but she learns how to operate within the new parameters, sometimes placating Kaede with information, sometimes avoiding her. I don't know whether they'd become friends, because Kyoko really values her boundaries and Kaede is way more persistent in that regard than Makoto is, but it's possible.

Shuichi's hat

In the AU where Shuichi is in THH, I could see Taka saying "It's rude to wear a hat indoors," but dropping the issue when Shuichi insists. And a little later, he takes the hat off in some pivotal moment as a gesture of friendship towards Taka (and because he's become more confident from being Taka's friend, because Taka's belief in working hard rather than being innately talented is really good for him). Or he takes the hat off when Taka dies, as a kind of tribute to his memory.

In the AU where Makoto is in V3 with Shuichi, I don't think there's a pivotal moment where he takes the hat off; I think it just falls off while he's doing push ups with Kaito and Makoto (...and Maki, depending on where we are in the timeline), and he makes the decision to leave it off because he realizes he's fine with not wearing it, now.

Shuichi, Makoto, Kokichi, and Kaito

I think, as far as Shuichi and Makoto, they fall into a natural rhythm pretty quickly. There is a feeling of interdependence there that isn't really codependence; it's just incredible synergy. It's simple things like Shuichi observing a tripping hazard before Makoto trips over it, and Makoto giving Shuichi positive reinforcement when he needs it, and Shuichi remembering and noticing things about Makoto so that he knows him well despite how little he talks about himself, and Makoto serving as backup to Shuichi during investigations, making observations and generally modeling for Shuichi that it's okay to question his friends and identify the culprit. They make each other feel special and valued, they're both just really genuine and they care about each other.

(The main disconnect between them is that Makoto will not lie in a trial. When Shuichi tells a lie that involves him, Makoto will be super evasive and uncomfortable if anyone questions him about it, and if Shuichi tells a lie to give him an alibi or otherwise clear him of suspicion, he'll feel really guilty. I feel like they'd talk about it afterward.

"You don't have to lie for me."

"I knew you weren't the culprit, and making sure they knew you weren't the culprit brought us to the truth faster."

"I know it worked out in the end, but...still. It doesn't feel right."

"...I know."

That said, if Chapter 5 happens the same way, I think Makoto would start lying way earlier than Shuichi. Like, as soon as he realizes Kokichi's objective was to defeat Monokuma, I think Makoto would go right to helping confuse things, and Shuichi would get quiet for a bit to figure out what Makoto is doing, and then he'd go along with it. They try to bring about the conclusion that the crime genuinely can't be solved.)

Kaito cares about them both, and they care about him, but his posturing gets in the way of letting him be as close to either of them as they are to each other. They both consider him a friend, but he has made himself the vinegar to their honey. If he punched Shuichi or Makoto in the face, the other would seriously take issue with it, regardless of whether it's just his tough love "Man up!" stuff.

And like I mentioned, Kokichi needles Kaito about this. It's kind of a mirror situation, where both Kokichi and Kaito are failing to let themselves have straightforward, positive relationships with their friends. Kaito feels kind of insecure because they both excel in ways he doesn't- Shuichi by being an amazing detective, and Makoto by being vulnerable while still being strong. But they both think he's really cool. The three of them and Maki have some great moments working out together at night.

Shuichi has a less generous outlook toward Kokichi than Makoto does. Kaito's view is that Kokichi is just a guy who's a jerk, Shuichi sees Kokichi as an enigmatic villain, and Makoto believes that Kokichi is ultimately on their side and trying to help them. Mainly because when an action of Kokichi's can be read as beneficial (despite the way Kokichi does it), Makoto will notice it and take it into account.

Also, any attempts Kokichi makes to prank, trick, or mess with anyone in the killing game will somehow affect Makoto no matter what. Like, Makoto is a confounding factor in any prank, because somehow he will manage to set something off that wasn't meant for him, or accompany someone who was expected to be alone, etc. Naturally, he passes out right along with Shuichi when Gonta grabs them for the Insect Meet and Greet, but also he gets absolutely ruined by those bugs. Like, even more so than Himiko. This results in Kokichi pulling little pranks just as a way to observe his luck and figure out how to work within and around it, because if unpredictable stuff keeps happening around Makoto, that's bad news for any plan Kokichi tries to make. (Shuichi sees this as Kokichi bothering Makoto just for the evulz.)

If Chapter 4 happens the same way as in canon, Makoto will be really shocked and hurt by what Kokichi did to Gonta. I think Makoto will still mention that Kokichi was put in a difficult position, as far as being targeted for murder and not having a lot of recourse, but I still think he would say that Kokichi crossed a line.

I'm imagining Kokichi covering up his shame and hurt by snarking, "Oh, did Makoto finally stop believing in my better nature?" and just generally lashing out and mocking him.

(It's okay, you did anon it!)

I'm glad you specified pregame Shuichi because I kinda struggle to see "regular" Shuichi being into knifeplay. Particularly as a dominant. I suppose he'd *get* cut, maybe?

Ooooooh, I love it. Let's see. Let me try not to let my character biases factor in here, lol. (And you can obviously ask for elaboration on any of this, because clearly I'm not going to be super focused. Pretty much just stream of consciousness.)

In all scenarios, at least some of the deaths would happen differently, to different people, by different people, etc.

The Shuichi in THH scenario depends so heavily on which character he attaches himself to right away, lol. Unless we mean Kaede in THH?? Okay, that gets its own section. Yeah, let me section this...

Shuichi in THH

Like I said, this one depends on which character he attaches himself to right away. It could be Hina for her positivity and energy; she's probably the closest to Kaede, there. It could be Taka, who is also high energy and has the added bonus of being called the Ultimate Moral Compass. Shuichi really wants someone to be decisive and strongly believe in something when he feels he can't, and I can see Taka being that person for him. Where Shuichi's scared of doing the wrong thing and hurting people, he can feel assured that what Taka believes is generally going to be right.

Also great because, for all his passion, Taka's actual observations about the school are generally very surface level, so having Shuichi tag along will give him more information to report in his booming voice, while Shuichi gets to chill in his shadow.

When Taka and Mondo have their sauna showdown, I think Shuichi wouldn't go to bed when nighttime comes; he is more loyal to Taka than the nighttime promise. So he'd see the whole inception of the Ishimondo friendship, and I think it would take him a while to trust Mondo. There would be definite "Are you sure about this guy?" energy between him and Taka once Mondo is rolled into their friend group.

And due to Shuichi's overlap of being unfailingly loyal and super harsh when someone brings it out of him, I think the moment Byakuya talks crap about Taka, Shuichi would be the entire Byakuya Hate Squad.

Toko and Genocider would be interesting, because I think Shuichi's fear of convicting someone and ruining their life or getting them killed would interact in an interesting way with the prospect of Genocider Syo, who has gotten away with tons of murders because no one caught her...but then also Toko, who is just a temperamental artist who doesn't want to kill anyone and I bet Shuichi's read "So Lingers the Ocean". I think Toko and Syo would be a reason for Shuichi to confront his feelings about punitive justice. They're practically two diametrically opposed arguments in one body: Syo kills because she likes to, she doesn't regret it, she will keep doing it if no one stops her, but Toko has no choice but to be involved in it, etc. Idk. It's still a bad look for DID representation, so maybe we can take or leave that whole plot thread, but it would do interesting things for Shuichi's character, thematically.

He and Kyoko would work together frequently on investigations (in more of a parallel play kind of way) but not really develop the same bond of trust that she had with Makoto. They trust each other's competency, but beyond that they're not especially close.

Also, when Junko reveals this is a battle of hope versus despair, he would tear apart her whole argument. Like: No, this is a battle of whether subjecting people to absurd conditions might make them hurt each other, and the answer is obvious. Grow up.

It'd be interesting, lol.

Kaede in THH

In this case, I think she'd start off fully believing that someone is going to rescue them. She meets Byakuya and she's like, "Perfect! There's no way someone won't come looking for this guy. This will all be over soon." Since the situation in THH is more grounded than in V3, I think she wouldn't be nearly as serious about getting out until after the first motive. And even then, she's not the one who starts the killings; I still think that would be Sayaka.

I don't think any of the THH motives would really get Kaede, so she might not kill anyone.

I think she would flirt with Chihiro. She would think Chihiro is the cutest thing, and she would say so, and Chihiro would blush profusely. I think those two would get really close, and Kaede would encourage Chihiro, in Chapter 2, that they're already strong in their own way, which would cause them to really focus on using their talent to help the group.

She would also flirt with Mukuro, for however long that lasts. And she would be excited about Sayaka; another musician!

I think Kaede would absolutely match Toko's energy so hard. Toko would definitely have crap to say about her looks and probably her proportions, and Kaede would throw it right back. Honestly same deal with Syo. They would be the toxic yuri to end all toxic yuri. (This is my first time saying "toxic yuri". Did I do it right?)

I hope she makes it long enough to see the music room. She would have a field day with Junko.

Makoto in V3

Finally, this. Wait, actually...

Makoto in V3 replacing Shuichi

Yeah, it occurs to me I have to split this one, too. Okay. I think if Makoto were in Shuichi's place, he would also partner up with Kaede. I think when the whole "tunnel escape" sequence happens, he would suggest that they go to bed and try again tomorrow before everyone reaches the "Screw this forever!" threshold.

I like to imagine, as a result of this, trying the tunnel escape would be a daily thing for a while. Just a scheduled thing that the group regularly does together, much like breakfast. They might give up on it after Chapter 1 or 2, but I just imagine it lasting longer as an activity than in canon.

He wouldn't notice the bookcase thing, so whatever Rantaro was planning would happen. I think, in that chain of events, Makoto and Kaede notice Kaito's little gathering taking place and go see what's going on there, someone spots Rantaro opening the bookshelf or just sees the bookshelf opening, and they reach the conclusion that the mastermind (or Monokuma) is making their move, resulting in a kerfuffle in which Rantaro is killed. Something like that.

I'm not saying who killed him just now; the sequence of deaths is its own thing.

I like to imagine that Kokichi calls Kaede and Makoto the team's mom and dad.

I think Kaito would be unsatisfied with Makoto's manliness, but I don't know that he'd invite him to workout sessions like he did with Shuichi in canon; I think, where Shuichi reads to Kaito as actively unconfident and in need of boosting, Makoto more reads as overly apologetic and easily manipulated/malleable. And depending on how long Kaede survives, I think Kaito would be less likely to treat Makoto as his sidekick than to just say that he, Kaede, and Makoto are all a powerful trio. (Maki does get roped in eventually, but it starts with them.) After all, Makoto isn't an accomplished detective; he's just a normal guy doing his best. And even when he does a really good job, it doesn't make Kaito all that insecure. The vibe is just different. (An Ultimate Detective effortlessly surpassing Kaito's efforts versus an Ultimate Luckster surpassing Kaito's efforts through high efforts of his own.)

The lack of Shuichi means the group does not have a detective. I think a result of this will be that Kokichi would be a bit more active in guiding the protagonists towards clues.

Maki still falls in love with Kaito, and she's also super protective of Makoto, mainly because he's short and can't take a hit. (If Kaito ever punched him, he would pass right out. But I don't think Kaito does punch him.)

Whenever Tenko talks to him, he reflexively apologizes. It's a running gag. His narration will be like, Why am I apologizing? and This was a pretty weird conversation...

Makoto in V3 replacing Kaede

Now, in this case, I'm imagining Makoto manages to trip out of the locker, does a full tumble over Shuichi, and bumps his head on a desk. Just full disaster stuff right off the bat, and Shuichi panics like "Are you okay??" and checks his head, makes sure he didn't bump it too badly, etc. I'm specifying this because Makoto won't be as energetic right out the gate as Kaede, but I do think Shuichi would really like and trust him if he stayed with him for longer than a second, so this is a contrivance to make sure Shuichi stays with him for longer than a second. Some luck, if you will.

(It might not be totally necessary; if they wake up in the same room, it makes sense for Makoto and Shuichi to stick together through the introductions. But this is just to make sure, lol.)

In this version of Chapter 1, they try the escape tunnel a normal amount of times and then give up on it, never to attempt it again (until Electrohammers).

Shuichi notices the bookcase, and they do set up the cameras, but there's no shot put ball trick. Rantaro dies a different way (likely orchestrated by Tsumugi) and the cameras are crucial evidence in the trial that follows.

Because of the steps needed to get to the camera plan, there's a running gag where Miu sees Makoto and Shuichi as her subs. Kaito sees Makoto and Shuichi as his sidekicks. (In this version, the nightly workouts do happen.)

Kokichi tries to make Kaito jealous of Shuichi's closeness with Makoto. (Kind of like, "Why would Shuichi need you when he has Makoto?")

In both versions, I like to think that Tsumugi relates to Makoto on the basis of plainness...or competes with him over it, to his confusion.

And in both versions, I think Makoto finds Angie really cute at first and they hang out a few times, before she starts the Student Council thing. He's kind of her friend. When he doesn't join her, it lowkey hurts her feelings a lot, but she expresses this by casually calling him a heretic.