Naegi wakes on a desk in a classroom.
Not so unusual; he's done this many times before. Before he ever found himself thrown into a Deadly Game by a Killer Teddy Bear. No, what makes this stand out is that the last thing he remembers is getting ready to leave with the other survivors, planning what they were going to do for their first night of freedom... and then he wakes on a desk in a classroom he thought he was leaving behind for good, and when he goes to investigate? He finds everyone alive and well — including those he clearly remembers dying.
Somehow, he's back to where they started. But... surely this is a good thing, right? Maybe this time... this time they can get it right...
Set after the events of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Riona's fanfic And Again
turns Makoto Naegi into a Groundhog Peggy Sue, returning to Monobear's game against his will. Will his knowledge of what's coming help save the others, or only make matters worse...? Will he ever get everything 'right' — and even if he manages that, will that really free them...?
Spoilers for the original game are unmarked.
This Danganronpa fanfiction contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Played with when Sakura murders Togami. While a reasonable move given the victim's Jerkassish behavior in canon, Naegi still breaks down in horror, since unlike the others, he's aware that they never actually killed anyone the first time around.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the final loop, Asahina kicks Monobear away from Chihiro, followed quickly by Sakura, Mondo and Mukuro returning armed with the SHSL's Soldier's weapons cache.
- Big "NO!": Invoked by the Mastermind, once confronted.Oh, I know! You can stab me and I can die in your arms and you can yell ‘NO’ at the ceiling, even though the ceiling didn’t do anything. It’ll be great!
- Butterfly of Doom: Though Naegi's actions are always well-intentioned, he can't always predict the results. Perhaps the best example of this is the first loop, where Sayaka successfully graduates because the others find him too suspicious.
- Chekhov's Gun: A near-literal example. Ikusaba's collection of guns is briefly mentioned at the beginning of the final loop when Makoto visits her to warn her of Enoshima's impending betrayal. It later becomes important when the students use said guns against the horde of Monokumas.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Unlike in the IF novel, the Monobear army is swiftly defeated when Mukuro and Leon triggers the bomb in one of the units and throws it at the rest of the bomb-filled army, which is conveniently arranged in a tight cluster.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several, but Leon takes the cake.Kuwata: Do you want to pick a fight with a Super High-school Level Soldier? ’Cause I don’t. Oogami, you go.
- Defiant to the End: In the first loop, Togami goes out swearing revenge on Monokuma to his last breath.
- Determinator: Regardless of how dark things get, Naegi refuses to give up hope. It never takes him long to pick himself up after starving literally to death, getting shot, getting shot again, and having all his work thrown back in his face as not good enough over and over again.
- Demoted to Extra: Hagakure and Yamada get about three lines each and have no plot focus whatsoever.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Even after learning that Mukuro was working with the Mastermind, Mondo still moves to protect her from the others' wrath. (Whether or not she needs the protection is beside the point.)
- Dungeon Bypass: How do you open up the gates to the higher levels of Hope's Peak without murdering anyone? Answer: The private arsenal of a SHSL Soldier.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: It takes several loops and a lot of pain and suffering, but Naegi manages to live up to being SHSL Hope and find a way to keep everyone alive.
- Everybody Lives: In the last loop. And that does mean everybody, even Enoshima.
- Excellent Judge of Character: Kirigiri. In the first loop, she's the only one to realize Makoto is telling the truth about Sayaka's frame job (not counting the fall guy himself), while in the final loop she's the first one to point out that Mukuro has been double-crossed by the mastermind and has everything to gain by helping them.
- Fastball Special: Mukuro sets Leon up for one of these by tossing him a ticking Monobear, which he then uses to clear a path.
- Fate Worse than Death: After Sayaka successfully graduates, as she is returning to the surface Monobear restores her memories. The students left behind hear her screaming all the way up. Then Monobear "lets" her watch the live footage of her friends all starving to death.
- For Want Of A Nail: Typically, the different things occurring in each loop are a natural outgrowth of the changes Naegi makes.
- Loop 1: Naegi accidentally makes Sayaka suspicious of him, leading her to make Fujisaki her fall-guy. Her murder plot goes off without a hitch, she graduates from the academy, and Makoto and co. are all left to starve to death.
- Loop 2: Naegi successfully averts the first murder. Ikusaba is still killed, and Naegi forgets about Sakura being The Mole, leading her to kill Togami. She confesses, eventually leading Enoshima to throw in the towel and free the remaining survivors.
- Loop 3: Naegi bullheadedly confronts Ikusaba, and is unceremoniously shot dead.
- Loop 4: Same as loop 2, except Naegi saves Togami from Sakura, only for him to be murdered by Genocider Syo.
- Loop 5: Naegi tells everything to Ikusaba, turning her against Enoshima. Enoshima overhears them and decides to wipe Naegi's memories, forcing Ikusaba to kill him and send him to the next loop.
- Loop 6: Same as loop 5, except Naegi does the Internal Reveal in Ikusaba's room, where there are no cameras. Ikusaba dodges her execution, leading Enoshima to throw her under the bus. Naegi and Ikusaba lead everyone in battle against Enoshima, and Everybody Lives.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Naegi finds himself having to attempt this after Sayaka murders Leon. He fails.
- Groundhog Peggy Sue: The premise of the story makes Makoto into this.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Ikusaba gets hit by this several times. In the final loop, she manages to make a full turn without getting killed for it.
- Honor Before Reason: In the first loop, despite getting away with her murder of Leon, Sayaka decides to stay with the other students rather than escape with her life. Monokuma is having none of it, though.
- Hypocritical Humor: Monobear mocks Naegi for his lack of strategy in sending the strongest students off to grab weapons, leaving the weaker ones at his mercy. Then his army gets blown up when they clustered too tightly together.
- Instant Death Bullet: Zigzagged and justified. In the third loop, Ikusaba shoots Naegi in such a manner as to make his death slow and painful in order to please Enoshima. In the fifth loop, Ikusaba wants to sent Naegi to the next loop as quickly as possible, so she shoots him in such a manner as to kill him instantly. Being the Ultimate Soldier, Ikusaba would certainly have the knowledge and skill to pull such maneuvers.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Combined with Mercy Kill when Mukuro tells Naegi there's no cameras in her room, then murders him so he won't risk getting his memories erased.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the first loop, Sayaka successfully frames Fujisaki and graduates- but not only was she guilty about the plan from the start, Monokuma makes things worse by returning her memories (so she realizes that she'd murdered her dear friends) and giving her a live feed to her classmates dying of starvation. They can hear her screaming as the elevator takes her out of the trial room.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- The first time around, Naegi's attempt to avoid the first murder just makes Sayaka suspicious, and there's a lot less evidence to pin Leon's death on her.
- When Naegi does manage to prevent the first murder entirely, it leads to Sakura fufilling her role as the mole and killing Togami.
- Avoiding the second murder means that Togami can't use it to reveal Syo's presence, and the serial killer soon goes Bloodstain Fever on him.
- Trying to tell Junkuro he knows what's going on leads first to his death for knowing too much. Twice.
- Finally, Monobear mocks him about this after he decides to send Sakura and Mondo with Mukuro to retrieve her arsenal, leaving all the 'weaker' students vulnerable to death by Monobear. Subverted when Asahina still manages to kick his ass.
- Playing the Victim Card: This is how Sayaka gets most of the others on her side during her trial, acting wounded by Naegi's accusations.
- Pull the Thread: In the first trial, Sayaka does this to Naegi.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Naegi naturally has this as part of the set-up. The Mastermind wants to see if this could be erased by another dose of Laser-Guided Amnesia whenever she finds out about it. This forces Ikusaba to kill him.
- Save This Person, Save the World: Over time, Naegi begins to wonder if the key to ending the time loops is ensuring that Mukuro Ikusaba doesn't die.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After regaining his bearings, Makoto decides that his purpose in the time loops is to ensure that Everybody Lives.
- Shout-Out: When Ikusaba reveals herself as Enoshima's twin sister, Yamada asks if it means they cause Naegi to transform into a legendary phantom thief.
- The Slow Path: Whenever he doesn't get killed, Naegi deliberately chooses to complete every loop even after something goes wrong, just in case the others still need his help or he doesn't get reset this time.
- Suicide by Cop: Makoto briefly considers bringing the fourth loop to a premature end by attacking Monokuma and getting himself killed, but decides against it in case he doesn't get to reset again.
- Uncertain Doom: Befalls Ikusaba in one of the loops in the form of a Bolivian Army Ending.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- The Mastermind throws a hissy fit when one game ends with only a single murder/execution where the culprit confessed immediately, and her attempt to stir things up with a faked murder fails.
- Later on, she subverts this, finding the Despair of being betrayed by her own sister too glorious to get properly enraged over.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Naegi falls into this in the first loop when trying to convince the others that Sayaka's responsible for murdering Leon.
