Danganronpa/D4DJ One-Shots

The Ultimate Protector

The novelty of the D4-V4 2.0 waxed and waned, and especially in light of the flashing lightning bolts outside, Shiyake could not see the joy anymore than he could see through the darkness.

Damn it! He jolted as another crack of thunder rolled across the sky. It's all Ichihoshi's fault!

Her consciousness was part of what supported the D4-V4 2.0 along Hope's Pinnacle's 4D cellular network. That meant her natural fear of storms was now "programmed" into the minds of every other user of the D4-V4 2.0 as well. It made sense, of course, why Lumina would fear storms, but Shiyake still looked down on it.

I was supposed to be the one UNAFRAID of thunderstorms! He tried to boast to himself, thinking bravely of his past, his genesis. His parents were on the run, baby Aoi Miyake in the backseat. The family's love was strong enough to stand against all of society, but even they were powerless against the merciless, icy, winter wind. The car careened down the long, dark, winding, mountainous road. Sheer luck alone kept Aoi Miyake alive long enough for help to arrive. Not EMS, but Shiyake.

"N-no... NO!" A consciousness split the second the crash occurred. Even though Shiyake would take years to fully develop, it was he who remembered what happened in the hours following their parents' tragic deaths. It was blistering cold, the winter wind still howling above them, and he could hear the rumbling of thunder as it shook the very earth upon which they lay, or maybe it was only other cars passing by... The lightning, after all, could've been headlights or high beams...

No matter what it was, though, it was a trauma only Shiyake could bear, hence his name, "Fourth, House of Death". Aoi forgot, never spoke of it, or him, for years. She healed and grew while he remained and protected. He was a harsh, fierce, demanding brother at first, but he had to be, in order for Aoi to survive. She was too soft, too quick and eager to please, and it was dangerous. He had to put them first, because she never did!

And how funny, it took a Killing Game in which they both lived and died in order for them to finally make peace. That was even why he was back to going by "Shiyake" now. In the Killing School Transfer, it was ALTER-EGO, blatantly stolen from the name of the club he and Aoi used to work at with the rest of RONDO. Back then, he hadn't trusted any of Aoi's classmates. And for good reason! One of them nearly killed her, and took an eye to boot! But now it felt as though their roles were reversing. At first, Shiyake was willing to trust some of the others with his "real name", but to slowly acquire a fear of storm as well? It was going too far!

I wasn't ready to integrate... I am the Persecutor, Protector Altar!

A voice cut through his thoughts, but for the first time, it wasn't from within his head. "Shiyake..."

"Aoi?" He looked up to see her, his sister, as she used to be, standing there before him. She was putting the D4-V4 2.0's avatar customization features to good use. So was he. Even though he technically never had a body until the D4-V4 2.0, it was habit for him to masquerade as the version of him that he always pretended existed, even though it was only inside Aoi's head.

He was her inverse, a long-haired, feminine man to her short-haired masculine woman. Anything to balance her out and differentiate them as much as possible, so that he could be as different from her as possible. To be everything that she was not on the night their parents died... That was why he wore a crisp, clean, white button-up while she wore baggy, black sweaters. While she smiled, he scowled.

Poor Shiyake... She was grateful for him. He really was just like her big brother, after all, there for her when no one else was able to be. But now she was finally seeing how stuck in the past he truly was. Scared of storms or not, he was always itching for a fight, not because he was naturally violent, but because he was always on the alert for danger, anything that could harm him or her. It's over now, I promise...