SHIP NAMES

The Boring Ones
Tozzumi (Tozen X Azumi)
Tozren (Tozen X Ren)
Sayuu (Sayuri X Yuu)
Rennari (Ren X Nari)
Fujikana (Fujiko X Kana)
Enomori (Ren X Kana)

The Non-Boring Ones that I actually ever talk about
Life Partners (Kana X Monterio, duh)
Sparrow Shipping (Wakumi X Joanie, named after Captain Jack Sparrow)
Keijam/Plum Jam (Keiji X Joanie)
Trivia Fight Night (Keiji X Joanie X Wakumi)
Untied Shoes (Haruto X Yuu)

The Non-Boring Ones that are either completely platonic or that I've never considered enough to talk to people about
Cheerleading (Gou X Yuu. It's because their names combined— Gouyuu— is pronounced "Go You!" And their friendship is basically them gassing each other up anyway)
Legendary Gamers (Platonic Dancers, Fujiko, and Chimon)
Yuzu (Platonic Yuu and Azumi. It may seem boring but it's NOT because Yuzu is a fruit and I find that fun.)
Music Notes (Ren X Keiji or Platonic Ren and Keiji. The ship name is better than the ship, imo)

There are probably more but I can't come up with any off the top of my head.

Some Fun Facts that prove I don't have a life /j Also, spoilers for Chapter 6 and everything that came before it.

I never changed my list of survivors, which meant I knew Chimon would be one. His key necklace was originally just an aesthetic thing, but I immediately latched on to something. I knew that at some point, I wanted his key to be plot-relevant, so once I formalized plans for Chapter 6, I made it unlock the Vault and kickstart the investigation. Therefore...
The Vault was a Locked Door of Despair. And all of the truth behind it was revealed because of Chimon's key, which was given to him to symbolize following your heart. The love and personal growth of the characters are what made sure everyone could escape and eventually start to recover.
Corny? Absofuckinglutely. But I wouldn't be myself if I didn't go for stuff like that.

Also, for some level of beta that I legitimately didn't even remember until I looked back at a SUPER old Google Doc... the very first name I gave to this story was Danganronpa: Key From Within. DRLDOD/LDOD is a way better acronym than DRKFW, so I think I chose correctly.

I originally made all these characters for a Togafuka fic that I still have up here called "Life is Better." However! One character in particular predates it. It's a very, VERY beta version of Azumi. I made her for an OC X Chihiro fic that I didn't wind up liking enough to even finish the first chapter. She's three years old now, technically!

I like to joke to myself that the garden was mega-cursed. Hachi, Nari, and Keiji, the three people who initially explored the garden before meeting everyone else, were the first three people to die in the killing game. Furthermore, Keiji moved Hachi's body to the garden and the parsley that Sayuri used to kill Keiji was from there. Ren's panic attack was out there (though, to be fair, you can't really blame the garden for that). The scene right before Tozen's death has him in the garden. Granted, the characters go to the garden quite a few times without it causing doom. But it definitely caused a surprising amount of problems XD