Hi! I'm very, very sorry for how long the epilogue is taking me. Like always, it wound up needing to be way more complicated and possibly lengthy than I initially wanted it to be. But I figured I could at least give you guys something interesting! WARNING: MAJOR LDOD SPOILERS UP TO THE VERY END OF THE STORY. DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED CHAPTER 6 (unless you just really don't care, at which point, I have to wonder why you're here).

The Inheritance list was something I thought out decently in-depth. As a refresher in case people forgot, Inheritance was the passing-on of memories and responsibilities. White Daisy Room had a lot of outside moderators, but one of the killing game participants needed to stay informed to make sure nothing seriously wrong happened. Now, they could obviously just elect one member to be the Inheritor and be done with it. But what if that person was "killed?" It would make things a lot more complicated. So they came up with the Inheritance list. If the first Inheritor 'died,' Hibiki would return the memories of their plan to the next available person on the list.

They were very specific about who ought to go where on the list. Some people were natural picks for a leadership position like that. Others were absolute last resorts, and yet others were ranked so low on the list that they basically CAN'T become the Inheritor. I wanted to share that list one more time, this time with my/their rationalization for the placements. I hope you find this enjoyable!

Gou: There are a lot of reasons why Gou was the most obvious choice for Inheritor. He's physically competent, which increases his chances for survival (he's among the strongest AND the fastest members of the team). He's a natural leader, able to rally the group and keep morale high, especially because he's good at making sure each person feels listened to and special. He's close to Hibiki. They've known how to cooperate with each other for years now. Lastly, he's the most willing to throw his life away in the end, and he wanted to protect the others from having to legitimately die if a Forced Shutdown happened. He was voted in, but begged when Hibiki considered otherwise.

Chimon (1st Draft): Chimon was who Hibiki personally wanted to be the main Inheritor, and it may seem like a weird choice considering he's the most vulnerable to attacks-- as he himself claims in the story, if anyone wanted to kill him, he would not be putting up any kind of fight. However, by far Chimon's biggest advantage is that he understands people (especially White Daisy Room, whom he's spent a lot of time with). He's very persuasive and manipulative. And because he lacks the ability to love people, he's not NEARLY as sensitive or quick to doubt the plan as Gou is. He's basically your best bet when it comes to a purely deceptive strategy-- which appeals quite heavily to Hibiki, who's pretty damn similar.

Wakumi: Wakumi is hands-down one of the most suited for pure, raw survival. She may not be as fast as some other members, but she has unique combat experience that nobody else does. She's very committed to the plan, because if anyone is keen on revenge, of course it's going to be Wakumi. She's good at both taking and giving orders, even if she pisses people off in the process. She's not the best FIRST choice, but she may be the best BACKUP Inheritor. Becauseeeee... she's so indignant naturally that her personality/behavior won't really change once she gets her memories back, making it so that the group probably wouldn't be all that suspicious of her.

Sayuri: She and Keiji have a lot of the same pros as one another. Sayuri is cunning, able to come up with very complex schemes (as evidenced by her trial) and would therefore be a challenge to pin as any sort of traitor. This also means she could hypothetically do some of Hibiki's dirty work without breaking any rules. Her intense curiosity also helps, in that Sayuri is a lot less moral than she thinks she is and ultimately wouldn't have too many issues with what's going on behind the veil if it means something interesting will happen. She's not, however, very physically capable, nor is she the best at leading groups. She naturally acts a little invasive, making some members uncomfortable.

Keiji: Keiji is Sayuri's match when it comes to pure intelligence, and I would posit that he's also better at changing up his plans if some unexpected factor comes into play. Lastly, he could potentially carry the group through a trial without them suspecting he knows too much. There are problems, though. First of all, his sense of smell is very poor, and this also affects his sense of taste to a moderate degree, which means he's a little more susceptible to traps than others (like what actually happens). Additionally, he's likely to alienate and/or piss off the group, making it substantially more difficult to convince them to do what he wants.

Joanie: Joanie is sort of a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation. She's not the world's most intelligent plotter, but she can make throw together a solid plan as well as figure something out if the plan falls through. She's stronger than at least half of participants, and can definitely put up a fight if needed. Her social skills are probably her best asset (though for the first few weeks, nicotine withdrawal might get in the way of that) because she's an understanding, forgiving, and pretty relatable person. She is, however, the person on the list so far who is least committed to the plan and most likely to get swayed away from it. Additionally, her asthma may prove deadly if a fight goes on too long. She's probably the last genuinely "good" option, so now we're into the "mid-tier" Inheritors.

Yuu: He's an odd case. Yuu is also sort of a jack of all trades, at least in a physical sense. He's decently strong, one of the faster members of the group, and has good stamina. He's also easily one of the stealthiest members. Another benefit to him is his keen attention to detail. He can notice if anything seems off, catch himself if he's about to make a mistake, and report any oddities to Hibiki. He's not the best at managing team situations, though, and he severely lacks confidence in his leadership abilities. He's also probably the most geared toward personal survival-- even though he would know it's a simulation, there's a small chance he'd care more about his own safety than the plan.

Tozen: Perhaps surprisingly and perhaps not, Tozen's worldview mixed with Hibiki's influence makes him QUITE keen on the revenge scheme, making him a good lackey on the maintenance and leadership front. But that's sort of more in theory. In practice, Tozen wouldn't be super happy to do anything violent or cruel towards his friends, despite knowing it's a simulation. He's solidly strong, decently intelligent, and has good people skills outwardly. But, perhaps similar to Yuu, he's actually pretty cowardly, and he's prone to lying and running away from his problems under pressure. He's a little bit of a wildcard: a powerful ally when things are going smoothly, tricky to keep a handle of when they're not.

Azumi: Our resident Team Mom is, well, a Team Mom. She, similar to Gou, has a deep affection for the team, but she has a very different set of social skills than he does. She's less of a leader and more of a caretaker, in part because she usually tries to avoid admitting when she doesn't know what she's doing. This can make her seem stubborn and inflexible, which doesn't make for the best leader (as Kana says, being a leader also means being a listener). She's in the top quarter for strongest participants, and her acrobatics make her capable of physical feats that would prove impossible for anyone else. She's also diligent, dutiful, and thorough. But, like Tozen, she's a smidge squeamish and doesn't really want to see her friends come to harm.

Ren: Ren is basically the last person Hibiki feels comfortable handling this job. Anyone further down on the list would have major problems doing so. Ren doesn't really have any outstanding qualities that would make him a good Inheritor. Ironically, despite showiness being basically his thing, his best trait would be his everyman nature, blending in and being whatever emotional role he needs to take. This would keep suspicions low. However, he's not particularly physically effective (he's not the WORST, but definitely by no means the best), and though he is pretty smart, he's at risk of seeming too competent and therefore suspicious if he handles too much. Lastly, there's his heliophobia. In this situation, he would be aware that the sun can't hurt him in the simulation. But, in order for the simulation to look real to his loved ones, he HAS to pretend to be at least somewhat afraid of the sun. Therefore, if something happens in the garden or outdoor sporting area, Monoinu units might have to handle it.

Monterio: Both dancers would be ranked substantially higher were it not for one thing: they're basically incapable of keeping a secret this big from one another. And if one has their memories while the other doesn't... the whole plan relies on whether they can convince each other to go along with it. And that's a HARD sell, even from each other. Were it not for that, Monterio would be a really good Inheritor. He's in a three-way tie for physically strongest (with Gou and Wakumi) despite being one of the slowest. He's rational, level-headed, and observant. He's not very creative or flexible, but if Hibiki comes up with the ideas, Monterio can go with it. The trickiest part would probably be rallying the troops. Monterio is relatively introverted and doesn't try to force many issues by nature. If he acted too out of character, Kana would start to pick up on it.

Kana: Once again, she'd do much better if she were alone. During the killing game, she always did consider herself one of the leaders, and that's in part because she's one of the best at it. She's overall mid-tier physically, but she would be very effective at throwing suspicion off of herself and may also be capable of subtle manipulation. For both dancers, though, even if they could keep a secret from each other, there would be a decently high risk of them going rogue. The thing about them (and Yuu, actually) is that if they started to seriously reconsider the plan, they probably wouldn't tell Hibiki. They'd just start sabotaging stuff.

Chimon (Post Chapter 4): He's just as competent as before, but now that he has his ability to love back and he's attached to the group, it would be nigh impossible to convince him that the revenge scheme is a good idea, even with all of his memories of the past. IF you can make him follow along, he would still be scarily effective, but he's ALSO likely to start trying to ruin things from behind the scenes. At this point in the story, the only way it's even POSSIBLE for him to be the Inheritor is if he and Fujiko are the last survivors (since everyone lower has already "died").

Fujiko: Hibiki does not have respect for Fujiko. He thinks she's sweet, but he never really got to see her authoritative side. She couldn't carry trials without looking majorly suspicious, she's not strong and not particularly quick (third or fourth weakest participant), and Hibiki fears that she would have a massive Freudian slip and accidentally give away the plan to everyone.

Haruto: Similar to Fujiko. He is slightly stronger, and quite a bit quicker, but his survivability still takes a hit due to his clumsiness. He's also significantly more impulsive than Fujiko, and neither of the two of them have the heart to let their friends suffer for an extended period of time. He will very likely wind up giving away the plan, either by accident or on purpose. Hibiki thinks Fujiko is a better bet mostly because she's easier to predict.

Nari: Nari would normally be trusted far more to not screw everything up. She has a very good head on her shoulders and she's not likely to have any ACCIDENTAL issues. She's mid-tier athletically, but is one of the stealthier members. However, she hates being in the spotlight and therefore doesn't like the idea of having a leadership role. Additionally (and this is the dealbreaker) it's possible that she may give away the plan out of desperation literally in the first hour because of her claustrophobia and cleithrophobia.

Hachi: Aside from the fact that she's spacey and also very frail and easy to pick off, there are even MORE reasons to avoid Hachi being in the Inheritor seat, and so it is quite literally impossible for her to be so. For one, the group wants to give her at least a little bit of time in blissful ignorance. Not a whole lot of good comes from losing a year's worth of memories, but if that represses the trauma you remembered recently... not quite as bad. If she were the Inheritor, not only would that leave her in her most emotionally scarred state, but it also may make it so that White Daisy Room hints trigger her. Overall, she was already not the best pick for this, but the group wanted to protect her and make things easier on her, if only just for a little while.

And that is the list! I never even remotely planned on killing Gou, but I did briefly think it would be a cool idea to have a "Mastermind Swap" midway through like the V3 Protagonist Swap. That's part of why I had Traitor Wakumi. In-universe, Hibiki could very easily tell that Gou was not really on board with this anymore, and, realizing that everyone was refusing to kill each other after Trial 4, felt very pressured to push things along, so he enlisted Wakumi. She was already pretty pissed off at the group and in a bit of a self-sabotaging tailspin, so despite her stubbornness, she wasn't too hard to convince.