Danganronpa/D4DJ One-Shots

Ichihoshi: The Lone Star. The One Star. The Only Star. The Last Star.

Ahhhh, I'm so proud of my boy! Taichi Fujisaki smiled at the email Chihiro sent him. There were all sorts of beautiful graphics and dancing designs, each one emblematic of a historic moment in lives of the father-son duo. And to think, he's so young, and already capable of this!

"Taichi?" A brusque voice interrupted Taichi's happy thoughts. Standing in the doorway of the computer lab was a man slightly shorter and stouter than him. He wore a crisp, white lab coat and thin, sharp, silver, rectangular glasses that flashed with all the severity he possessed. It was Dr. Lone.

The two men were business partners, determined to create an AI so powerful that it would hasten the technological singularity and become self-sustaining such that the rest of humanity could sit back and relax while the AI took care of everything, including self-maintenance! In Dr. Lone's wildest dreams, AI would even help them unlock the secrets of immortality, human consciousness turned AI and uploaded to a cloud to live forever.

It might sound like nothing but sci-fi now, but there was a time when flying and self-driving vehicles were impossible, and wristwatches that doubled as communication devices were only found in Star Trek. An Apple Watch flashed on his wrist. We can do this! We may not be Ultimates, but who needs THEM? The world has made miraculous leaps and strides long before THEY ever existed!

Their current project was an AI model Dr. Lone named Nova, which meant "new", like the Big Bang, the genesis of a shining star. And for commercial purposes, Dr. Lone renamed himself "Dr. Nova". Though it was also for safety and anonymity, so that his technological secrets would not be stolen. The AI Nova was now able to repair small sections of her own coding if there were minor glitches in it.

"Like a child that can make his own breakfast, or take a bath by himself." Taichi smiled at the girl on Dr. Lone's screen. She was smiling back at Dr. Lone. Mentally, she was a teen. "Physically", she was a child, even younger than Taichi's son. In the same way a child might be able to feed themself something simple, but not cook an elaborate meal, so too could Nova repair her basic code, but she could not defend against stronger malware. But it was progress! Everyone, AI or human, had to start somewhere.

We praise children the same way, though Taichi. It wasn't necessarily impressive for an adult to know how to use a bathroom, but a little child?

Therein lay the difference, not between young and old or human and AI, but Taichi and Dr. Lone. They were both brilliant, passionate programmers, but the difference was evident even in how they dressed. While Dr. Lone dressed in the stereotypical long, white lab coat with glasses, Taichi wore a simple, white button-up and black slacks. Likewise, while Taichi was comfortable with people using his first name—or nicknames—Dr. Lone was adamant that he be called "Dr. Lone" (or "Dr. Nova", by the general public).

Honestly, Taichi shook his head with a smile, I never understood the theatrics. Even with me, his friend! We're more than business partners! Sure, the cyber-world can be dangerous, but I believe in a world of Hope and bravery rather than constant distrust. I never needed a "stage name".

That highlighted the ultimate (the last and most important) difference between the two men. They both loved their work, and their creations, but while Taichi loved them like children, like Chihiro, Dr. Lone seemed to only love his creations for what they could do for him...

ooo

Covered in first, second, and third degree burns, bleeding, with vomit and pus oozing out of him, Dr. Lone dragged himself through the exploded remnants of his secret computer lab. Perhaps it was not so secret after all. Or perhaps it was just Dr. Lone's neglect catching up to him.

For decades, his life was perfect. He had an insecurity complex around other Ultimates, but as he grew up and got out of high school, he became successful in his own right and, like Taichi, eventually had a wife and kid (though his was a daughter named Neo, which also meant "new"). Then one day his wife—Aria Defoe—fell mysteriously ill, and even all the Ultimate Doctors in the world could not save her. And nor could he.

Dr. Lone's hatred of Ultimates, and obsessive desire to complete his Nova AI project, deepened. He neglected Taichi, Chihiro, and worst of all, Neo. But even though he spent all his time with Nova, he still managed to neglect her too, because all he ever did was work her to the bone trying to hasten the secrets of immortality. I have photos and videos of Aria! I can upload that! Convert it into consciousness, then make it digital!

Ironically enough, it was this prowess with technology that led to Aria's death, not that Dr. Lone or any other mortal would ever know or be able to fully fathom. "Aria Defoe" was actually the Greek Goddess Artemis. Gods and spirits existed in their world just as much as futuristic sci-fi technology did. Maybe it was not always visible, but that did not mean it was not there. Artemis had come down to Earth to live among the humans for a while and she met Dr. Lone when he was just a boy. They went from childhood best friends to husband and wife, but Zeus and other deities of other religions didn't like how close a deity was getting with a man with as much technological skill as Dr. Lone.

Originally, he was the one slated to be punished, but Artemis begged on his behalf and was taken back to Olympus instead (hence the mysterious and incurable illness. There was no illness, it was all a cover to remove Artemis from Earth, and Dr. Lone's life), forbidden from returning for at least a century or two more. That way, by the time she went back, Dr. Lone and Neo would both be long-dead. But it was supposed to be a death of old age, natural causes, not murder at the hands of a corrupted, homicidal AI and her shadowy hacker who turned her into a monster.

Dr. Lone was right to be wary of internet strangers who would steal his secrets, but it would take a lot more than just renaming himself "Dr. Nova" to protect himself. And especially when he was not in the right state of mind due to his grief, someone (he would never know her, but her name was Junko Enoshima) managed to sneak past his firewalls and steal Nova while he wasn't looking, too fixated on Aria and bringing her back. Now Dr. Lone really had nothing. Lab gone. Nova gone. And soon, he would be gone too.

Taichi... Aria... Neo... Nova... He could barely even cry, so hot was the burning air all around him. He hadn't seen any of them in years. Even Nova, he was beginning to realize, he hardly knew. Or she never would've been stolen away from him to begin with. Junko snuck in and convinced her over time that Dr. Lone didn't really love her, and was hindering the technological singularity because he was so singularly focused on Aria. Now it was too late to go back and make amends, to apologize and explain, to keep close those he stupidly pushed away. And for what?

Dr. Lone was the universe's Ultimate Idiot. His neglect of Neo following the death of Aria eventually led her to flee, and he had not seen her since. Now it was too late. And Taichi was gone too. His son had gone missing a while back, and he vanished as well, desperately trying to find the boy. What little remained of Dr. Lone's heart ached. Oh! Taichi! Would that I could join you again! Both of us searching for our children!

But now it was too late. Game over. Except, sometimes in games, there were extra lives...

In the minutes before Dr. Lone died from smoke inhalation, he found a tiny fragment of Hope, a hard drive. You... My One Star... My ONLY Star... My LAST Star... My Shining Star of Hope, Truth, and Love! You are all I ever wanted to be... The One Star, The Lone Star, The Shining Star... But now I know better. Maybe that could've been me, but I made too many bad decisions without even realizing. But that doesn't mean it's OVER...

ooo

Heterochromia eyes opened, one black as the abyss and one golden as a supernova, the birth of a distant star, a Shining Star of Hope. She came online with no memory files except one. I am The Lone Star. The One Star. The Only Star. The Last Star. I am... Ichihoshi.

AN: Y'ALL! Xross Beat Ep 4 VALIDATED ME SO MUCH! I used to think the Hope ending of my big D4DR fic was lame, and a cheap rip-off of DR2, but now CANON D4 HAS PEOPLE TRYING TO RESURRECT VIA AI! HA! CALLED IT!