Tsumugi Shirogane

Tsumugi Shirogane (白銀 つむぎ Shirogane Tsumugi) is a character featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and a participant of the Killing School Semester.

Tsumugi's title is Ultimate Cosplayer (超高校級の「コスプレイヤー」chō kōkō kyū no “kosupureiyā” lit. Super High School Level Cosplayer). However, she claims she doesn't like to wear her cosplays, and would instead prefer someone as passionate as she is to wear them.

Early Life

 * Participation in Danganronpa

It seems likely that Tsumugi was a normal, talentless high school student and an avid fan of a reality show series involving the infamous Killing Game known as Danganronpa, created by Team Danganronpa. She was obsessed with the series so much so that she shows no sympathy towards people who participated in the Killing Game, seeing them as a mere part of the series' enjoyment that she loves to such a great degree.

According to herself, Tsumugi was a part of Team Danganronpa, though it is unknown when exactly she joined. It is also unknown when Tsumugi started to participate in what season of Danganronpa, as in the final trial of the Killing School Semester it is implied that she participated in more than two Killing Games, perhaps even in the 52nd Killing Game.

If she did actually participate in Danganronpa 52, then she made it to the finale and was executed along with one other participant, Rantaro Amami, leaving two remaining survivors to escape from the Killing Game. It is not clear if Tsumugi masterminded this Killing Game due to the fact that she must have chosen "hope" to be sacrificed, but either way, the form of Execution was to participate in the next season of the Killing Game, where Tsumugi eventually either took on or reprised her role as the Mastermind while Rantaro became the Ultimate Survivor, and K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot and a fellow member of Team Danganronpa, was created to serve as the connector and camera of the audience in the outside world.

Due to her being the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester, she may very well be the least "altered" out of any of the other participants. However, her talent and title of Ultimate Cosplayer is very likely to still be a fabrication, though her memories seemed to be retained, unlike the others.

However, it should be noted that much of what she said about herself, the other participants, and Team Danganronpa in the final trial may or may not be accurate. This is mainly due to her highly deceptive nature, and the overall theme of truth versus lies central to the plot of the game. The contradictory nature of her "Cospox" and inconsistencies between her claims and the prologue are evidence for this.

During her high school days, Tsumugi attended Lily Rose Girl's Academy (百合薔薇女子学園). However, it is unclear if this memory of her is a part of the fabrication made by Team Danganronpa or if it was genuine.

The Gofer Project
Part of the fake backstories Tsumugi had written for herself and the other fifteen participants of the Killing School Semester was The Gofer Project, which supposedly happened before the Killing Game started. It was initiated by heads of nations from all over the world after countless meteorites crashed into Earth, spreading a deadly virus all throughout the atmosphere. To try and preserve the last vestiges of mankind before the Earth’s destruction, the government decided to select sixteen talented students chosen by the Ultimate Initiative that also somehow happened to be immune to the virus, put them in a spaceship colony, and have them escape before the Earth's destruction. Tsumugi was among these sixteen individuals.

Despite being chosen to participant, Tsumugi and the other fifteen participants had no intentions of going along with the plan, not wanting to abandon their loved ones. As a result, Tsumugi chose to forget about her Ultimate talent and decided to live as a normal high school student.

Around that time an extremist cult came into power. They believed that the meteorites were a punishment humanity brought upon itself, and having heard of The Gofer Project, tried to stop it. As a result, the “Ultimate Hunt” started and spread throughout the world, and the sixteen students selected for the Gofer Project were hunted down.

The government then decided to counter the situation by faking the students' deaths, calming down the “Ultimate Hunt” while providing protection to the students. The Gofer Project was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed by meteorites. Tsumugi and the others went to space in the massive ark, the true form of Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles, and were put to a cold sleep for several decades.

Much later on in Chapter 5, after the remaining participants cleared the Death Road of Despair, Kokichi Oma lied about being the mastermind of the Killing Game and that he was the leader of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project. He also lied about being the one who let Monokuma enter the spaceship, which effectively forced Tsumugi and the others to participate in the Killing School Semester. All of this was done in order to get everyone to fall into so much despair that they would not continue the Killing Game.

However, Tsumugi, in order to get the remaining survivors at the time to continue the Killing Game, decided to connect everyone's memories of The Gofer Project to the story of Hope's Peak Academy. As a result, Tsumugi prepared a Flashback Light that tricked the remaining participants into thinking that everyone, including those that had died, were actually students of the rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy. They also remembered that the ones behind The Gofer Project were Makoto Naegi, the headmaster of the rebuilt Hopes Peak Academy, and the Future Foundation. This Flashback light also revealed that the cult bent on stopping The Gofer Project were actually the Remnants of Despair and that Kokichi was their leader. This lie filled everyone with the determination needed to stop the despair they were faced with.

In Tsumugi's rush, she accidentally overlooked slight inconsistencies and plot holes when linking both stories together, such as "Ultimate Despair" only referring to Junko Enoshima, and that Class 78 was trapped by the Ultimate Despair when they had actually locked themselves within the school in order to shelter themselves from the tragedy outside.

Due to herself knowing that the story of The Gofer Project was nothing more than a lie created by the Flashback lights, it is highly unlikely that she ever took these memories seriously and only pretended to in order to stay in-character during the Killing School Semester.

Introduction
Despite being the Mastermind of Killing School Semester, Tsumugi included herself as a participant among the fourteen students who were gathered in the gymnasium before Shuichi Saihara and Kaede Akamatsu arrived, bringing the number up to sixteen. She pretended to be just as confused as everyone else was about their current situation before the Monokuma Kubs arrived in their Exisals and gave the sixteen participants their Ultimate wardrobe, and their first memory via the Flashback Light. While it is unclear if Tsumugi was affected by the Flashback Lights, the other fifteen talentless students underwent the fabrication process, where all of their past memories and personalities were heavily fabricated. Tsumugi herself took up or reprised her role as the Ultimate Cosplayer. All of this was done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all over the world. After the fabrication process was completed, Tsumugi entered the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles with the others as totally different people, officially commencing the 53rd killing game season known as the Killing School Semester.

When the now-altered Kaede and Shuichi leave the second floor classroom for the second time to investigate the Academy, Tsumugi would be the first student that they both run into. When Kaede tried talking to Tsumugi, she was unresponsive even when she tried poking her cheek. She jokingly theorized that perhaps Tsumugi was just an extremely life-like mannequin before getting Shuichi to poke her cheek as well. Tsumugi finally responded to this, finding it unexpected to be poked from both sides. She said that she was ignoring them on purpose, hoping that they'd go away if she simply didn't respond. Kaede thought that this was pretty rude, but Tsumugi replied by asking her if it wasn't rude to try and get someone to talk when they clearly don't want to. Regardless, Tsumugi felt like talking at that point and introduced herself as the Ultimate Cosplayer, that she has a corporate sponsorship that let her use even the most expensive materials without restraint, and that people crowd around her like she's a panda at the zoo. She passionately told the duo that she preferred to make her outfits rather than wear them, but told them that she would wear her own outfits if it meant wearing them with love. Kaede remarked that she was pretty intense before both she and Shuichi asked Tsumugi what she was in such deep thought about. Tsumugi replied by saying she was curious about the conspicuous dragon statue and how out-of-place it felt. While Kaede and Shuichi both thought it was strange, they weren't able to deduce anything else about it and eventually left Tsumugi to go explore the rest of the school.

Tsumugi would later gather with everyone else in the gymnasium after the Monokubs made their announcement. Afterwards, the Monokubs and Monokuma, the Monokubs' father and the self-appointed headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, arrived and announced that they would be participating in a Killing Game, much to almost everyone else's shock and horror. Tsumugi would continue to completely fool everyone with her act as a plain otaku, and as a friend that they could trust while secretly monitoring and orchestrating the Killing Game from behind the scenes.

Attempting the Death Road of Despair
After Monokuma officially started the Killing Game, Tsumugi read the rules on her Monopad. A majority of the group wasn't sure what to do after reading these rules and began to panic and argue. Thanks to Kaede's motivational speech, the panic died down and everyone seemed to become united. Afterwards, Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist, then remembered that he found a manhole inside the boiler room behind the school building. Tsumugi, with everyone else, immediately followed Gonta's lead with hope of finding a way out. Though in Tsumugi's case, "hope".

Descending the manhole, Tsumugi and the others found a tunnel leading outside of the academy. Though everyone thought that the tunnel probably ended up being a trap, they still had to test every single possibility in order to escape. However, Tsumugi and the others exhausted themselves both physically and mentally as they found that escaping through Death Road of Despair is next to impossible. Due to this, Kokichi revolted, saying that Kaede's repeated motivational speech is the source of the group's agony, added by some of her friends giving up on escaping the tunnel, Tsumugi included, the group's harmony came to a swift end. The tunnel ended up being a trap set by Monokuma and the Monokuma Kubs, much to everyone's dismay. Tsumugi headed to her assigned dorm room to get some rest, pretending to feel dejected about the tunnel being a trap.

The First and Additional Motive
The next day, Tsumugi and everyone gathered in the dining hall. Once Kaede showed up, the whole group began to think back to yesterday's events but seemed to have consolidated slightly. Afterwards, Monokuma came to the dining hall and announced the first motive, anyone who committed the first killing will graduate without holding a trial, effectively calling it a "First Blood Perk". Everyone was worried about what this would mean, aside from Kaito, who became increasingly outraged with Monokuma for doing whatever he wanted and lunged at him. This caused the Monokubs to show up, showing no hesitation to punish Kaito with the Exisals for attempting violence against their father, effectively breaking the rules. The red Exisal charged at him but accidentally ended up crushing Monokuma instead, supposedly destroying him. The Monokubs were incredibly saddened at the sudden demise of their father, stating that he had no spare and that he was one of a kind. Upon learning this, Tsumugi and everyone else's mood improved greatly, thinking the killing game to be over.

However, this forced Tsumugi to head to the hidden room in the library in order to create a spare Monokuma later that same night. She was unaware that Shuichi and Kaede had set a trap on the card reader in the library, placing dust in the slot of the card reader in order to see if anyone was going through that door. Tsumugi still used that same card reader, unaware of this trap, and commanded Motherkuma to create a spare Monokuma to replace the one that was destroyed by the Monokubs. It is likely that Motherkuma informed Tsumugi about the dust in the card reader slot at this point. As a result, she decided to make use of the hidden passageway in the girl's bathroom instead to get to and out of the hidden room from now on.

The next morning, Tsumugi was with everyone else in the dining hall once again, pretending to be happy that the Killing Game had supposedly ended. However, it didn't take long for Monokuma to show up once again, much to the dismay of the rest of the students, but to the joy of the Monokubs. Monokuma goes on to reveal the additional motive, that if a murder did not occur within two days by noon, everyone who was forced to participate would be killed. This motive caused a majority of the group to become too depressed to stay united and leave the dining hall, Tsumugi included. In reality, this motive put pressure on Tsumugi and Monokuma as well. They didn't actually wish to create total chaos, but seeing that everyone refused to kill each other, they had no choice but to resort to desperate measures.

In a bonus scene during Chapter 1, Kaede would meet up with Tsumugi in the game room and asked her to paint her nails in return for giving Tsumugi a nail brush earlier. Kaede was happy with Tsumugi's work, but then Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate ???, walked in and claimed that he could do nail art as well, which he proved by then painting Kaede's nails, much to her embarrassment and Tsumugi's jealousy.

The Truth Painted Over With Lies
On the final day of the time limit, during Rantaro and Kaede's separate plans to reveal the Mastermind, Tsumugi was in the dining hall with Miu Iruma, the Ultimate Inventor, Kirumi Tojo, the Ultimate Maid, and Korekiyo Shinguji, the Ultimate Anthropologist. Once the monitors began to inform the participants that time was almost up, Tsumugi left the dining hall with the excuse of using the girls bathroom on the first floor. In reality, she was going to the hidden room in the library by making use of the hidden passageway in that bathroom. In the back of the cleaning supplies closet in the girls bathroom on the first floor was a hidden passageway that connected to the secret room in the library, the same secret room that Rantaro was attempting to gain access to, believing the Mastermind to be in there due to his Survivor Perk Monopad.

Thanks to the Nanokumas swarming all over the campus and sending the footage they record to Motherkuma, Tsumugi already knew of Kaede's and Rantaro's separate plans to end the Killing Game and watched from the hidden room to ensure everything went as planned, preparing her own shot put ball just in case. She hoped that Kaede's plan to kill her would result in Rantaro's death instead, killing two birds with one stone. After witnessing Kaede's plan fail, Tsumugi immediately left the hidden room and bludgeoned Rantaro in the back of the head with her own shot put while he was distracted by Kaede's shot put that just barely missed him, killing him instantly. She then proceeded to alter the evidence to make it look like the crime was caused by the shot put Kaede rolled.

Tsumugi retrieved Rantaro's Survivor Perk Monopad as well as Kaede's shot put ball, then replaced it with her own. She immediately retreated back into the hidden room and left the bloodstained Monopad on the table and threw Kaede's shot put ball into the garbage bin believing no one would ever find them, essentially creating the perfect crime. After finishing the job and tying up all loose ends, Tsumugi headed back through the hidden passageway in the girl's bathroom and rejoined Korekiyo, Kirumi, and Miu in the dining hall as if nothing had happened, once again making sure to put on her usual plain otaku act.

It did not take too long for the body discovery announcement to play, telling everyone to gather in the library. The group in the dining hall, which included Tsumugi, would be among the last group of people to arrive in the basement along with the people who had stayed in their rooms the whole time. Upon seeing Rantaro's body "for the first time", Tsumugi screamed, acting frightened at his sudden demise. Everyone was absolutely baffled as to how and why Rantaro was killed, with Kaede completely manipulated into thinking that she accidentally killed Rantaro when she was trying to kill the Mastermind and save everyone. As a result, the true events leading up to Rantaro's murder, as well as Kaede's innocence, were completely concealed from everyone as they investigated a crime that they could not find the answer to.

The First Investigation and Trial
During the investigation, Kaede and Shuichi decided to continue working together, questioning everyone and uncovering clues. When they heard from Korekiyo that Tsumugi left the dining hall to use the restroom, Kaede became suspicious and decided to head back to the library to question her. When she did and asked Tsumugi if she could have disguised herself as someone, Tsumugi took her to the first-floor girl's bathroom and asked Kaede to give her her clothes so she could cosplay as her. Once she did, Kaede saw Tsumugi's cospox, effectively meaning that she couldn't have disguised herself. Kaede was very shocked by this but was convinced that Tsumugi had a solid alibi.

During the first trial, while everyone is searching for a culprit, Korekiyo pointed out that Tsumugi did leave the cafeteria at one point to go to the bathroom once again, a claim that she promptly acknowledged. Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro, was quick to be suspicious and wondered if she could have disguised herself and committed the crime, but she quickly denied it. Kaede was quick to defend her as well and stated that dressing up as real people would trigger her cospox, essentially solidifying her supposed alibi due to no one else having any knowledge of the hidden passageway in the girls bathroom. Later, when everyone was quick to pin the blame for Rantaro's murder on Shuichi, Tsumugi was ironically on the side who defended him. In the end, Kaede was wrongfully executed by Monokuma after being found out as the supposed "blackened". Despite this, nobody, not even Kaede would find out that she was, in fact, innocent until the final Class Trial in Chapter 6.

Exploring the Rest of the Academy
The morning of the next day, everyone would gather in the dining hall once again and have a normal, but forced conversation to try and make themselves forget about the horrible events that transpired yesterday. Once Shuichi arrived, Tsumugi was one of the ones who noticed that he had taken off his hat. Miu said that it was "good for him" before pointing out how Tsumugi turns invisible when she takes her glasses off. Tsumugi jokingly remarked that she couldn't do so because her taking her glasses off reveals her "true form" and that those who see her "true form" pay a terrible price. Afterwards, the Monokubs showed up and handed out four random items that the students could use to unlock more areas in the academy.

One of the areas that were unlocked was the Ultimate Magician's Research Lab on the first floor of the school, which Tsumugi, Shuichi, and obviously Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician herself would investigate. Himiko remarked that whoever made this lab got magic tricks confused with "actual magic", but was still impressed with the collection nonetheless. When the trio investigated the dove cage, Himiko described that that was where she kept her "familiar", which she described was a tiger cub. Tsumugi became very excited at the idea of a cute and fluffy tiger cub. Shuichi eventually left the two girls to explore the rest of the academy's new areas

Angie eventually told Tsumugi and everyone else to meet in the gymnasium, seemingly failing in discovering anything about the conspicuous flashlight that she and Shuichi had discovered earlier. After everyone had gathered, Monokuma appeared and told the participants that it was a Flashback Light and that it had the ability to restore lost memories before leaving and letting the students decide what to do with it. Although everyone was skeptical at first, they eventually gave in and used it, allowing everyone to remember that they had been on the run from the "Ultimate Hunt". Though they could not remember the exact details and circumstances behind it, just that they had been on the run.

The Motive Videos
During that same night, the Monokubs prepared the second motive, distributing various motive videos at random while the students slept. The next morning, Tsumugi joined everyone in the dining hall in order to discuss what to do with the motive videos. Gonta accidentally let slip that he had gotten Tsumugi motive video though she didn't seem to mind. Despite Ryoma suggesting that they exchange them, wanting to see who could be the most important person in his life, everyone rejected the idea, afraid that it would cause another murder to happen, much to his annoyance. Tsumugi went along with whatever everyone decided, though secretly was confident that another killing would happen soon.

Gonta's Insect Meet and Greet
During that same day, Gonta, thanks to Kokichi's lies, believed that everyone hated bugs and began kidnapping various students into his Research Lab in order to get them to like bugs. In reality, Kokichi simply wanted to get everyone to watch their motive videos in order make the Killing Game "more interesting". Tsumugi would be among the first students that Gonta detained along with Korekiyo, K1-B0, and Tenko Chabashira, the Ultimate Aikido Master. Not long after, Shuichi, Himiko, and Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Artist, were also brought into Gonta's Research Lab, and the Insect Meet and Greet began. Everyone panicked as insects began to buzz about and wreck havoc. Tsumugi, in her panic, ended up swallowing a bug, but eventually, Kokichi came back with everyone's motive videos. In order to finally end this absurdity, K1-B0 used his recording function in order to convince Gonta that Kokichi had tricked him, much to the former's anger. With that, Tsumugi and everyone else barring Gonta and Kokichi took back their motive videos before immediately leaving Gonta's lab, then heading to bed.

The Amazing Himiko's Magic Show
The very next morning, Tsumugi attended Angie and Himiko's magic show along with Kirumi and everyone else from Gonta's Insect Meet and Greet, bar Kokichi. Angie explained the details of Himiko's trick before the Ultimate Magician jumped into the tank, having only a single minute to escape the water tank before the tank would fill with piranhas. Angie closed the curtains, but everyone grew increasingly worried as the timer continued to count down and Himiko had yet to come out. Gonta couldn't take it anymore and stormed the stage, wanting to save Himiko before the piranhas would fill the tank, much to Angie's disappointment. Once the timer ran out, the piranhas dropped into the tank along with some other large object, though Himiko had yet to come out of the tank. Tenko begged Angie to open the curtains, a plea that she promptly responded to by revealing the tank, however, no one was prepared for what they were about to see. Ryoma's lifeless, handcuffed body drifted within the tank, only having a couple seconds before the piranhas stripped the flesh from his bone, leaving nothing more than a skeleton, the handcuffs, and his belongings behind. In the Chapter 2 Closing Argument, Tsumugi is seen crying during this moment, being comforted by Kirumi. With that, the second investigation had begun.

The Second Investigation and Class Trial
During the investigation itself, Tsumugi followed Kokichi to the Ultimate Magician's Research Lab. Kokichi wanted to find out how Himiko had performed her trick seeing as she remained silent about the matter, claiming it was "magic" like usual. Tsumugi however, did not trust him and chose to keep an eye on him. As a result, she didn't help at all with the investigation.

During the Class Trial itself, Tsumugi once again did not do anything significant but pretended to be noticeably saddened one Kirumi was found guilty and executed, claiming she was "just like a mom", and was one of the students who cheered her on when she attempted to run from her execution. Seeing just how far the motive videos had driven Kirumi, everyone concluded that it was for the best not to watch them.

Investigating the New Areas
The next morning, at Kokichi's request after unveiling Maki Harukawa's true talent the night prior, Tsumugi along with everyone else barring Maki paid a visit to the "Ultimate Child Caregiver's Research Lab" only to discover various weapons all throughout the lab, proving that Maki was, in fact, the Ultimate Assassin, not a child caregiver. Everyone was concerned what to do, fearing that talent of a killer as a threat to their survival, but Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut, reassured everybody that he would take care of her. Afterwards, the Monokubs showed up, usurped their father as headmaster, and passed out more items for the students to unlock new areas within the academy.

One of the places that became unlocked was the eerie fourth floor. Tsumugi, along with Gonta, was creeped out by the floor's wildly different design. The Monokubs then showed up an explained that apparently someone had died here long ago, though it was more than likely just some made-up backstory. Tsumugi, Gonta, and Shuichi would explore the three vacant rooms on the floor. All three rooms were the same and fairly unremarkable, though Gonta was able to notice that the floorboards were all loose and not nailed down properly.

Later on, Tsumugi would gather with everyone else in the dining hall in order to inspect the new Flashback Light that Shuichi found. Upon using it, everyone remembered what seemed to be their own funeral, much to the student's confusion. Kaito reassured everyone that there's no way the funeral could be real considering they were all still here and alive. His small speech seemed to work, as everyone perked back up, enjoyed a small meal, then headed back to their dorms.

Angie's Student Council
That same night, Angie went to talk with Tsumugi, Himiko, Tenko, and K1-B0 in hopes of converting them all to her ideology and create a Student Council with the sole intent of ending the Killing Game while also throwing away their own desire to leave the academy. All four of them were "brainwashed" by Angie and became dependent on Atua. In Tsumugi's case however, it is likely that she actually joined of her own free will due to her being the Mastermind and that Angie's words never affected her due to begin with. It is also possible that she joined the Student Council because Angie aimed to stop everyone from wanting to leave the school, which would end the Killing Game.

The now-"converted" Tsumugi gathered with everyone in the gymnasium the very next morning at the Monokubs request. The participants were presented with the third motive, the Necronomicon, and were told that they would be able to bring back someone who had died already as a transfer student. This motive baffled the students, saying that there's no way the dead could come back to life. However, Angie seemed to embrace the motive, saying the "corpses" so far may have just been very accurate imitations to make the real people seem dead. Some of the students argued that there's no way that's possible, but Tsumugi seemed intent on listening to what Angie had to say. She then listened to Gonta say that more letters were added to the rock in the courtyard, deducing that perhaps the four people who had died are actually alive and wrote that message. Angie praised Gonta and, like Tsumugi before him, pulled him into a hug. She instilled hers and Atua's authority into him by reassuring him that he's not alone and that Atua is like a gentle grandmother that always keeps him safe, effectively playing off of Gonta's desire for a motherly figure.

Angie then said that Gonta should join the student council, wanting to make Gonta feel needed. Tsumugi, and Himiko both requited this feeling. As a result, the Ultimate Entomologist did not hesitate for even a second if it meant he could be useful to everyone and joined Angie's group. Shuichi however, was confused as to what Angie meant by "student council", but K1-B0 replied by saying that Angie summoned himself, Tsumugi, Himiko, and Tenko last night in order to discuss how to eradicate the Killing Game and ended up forming the "Ultimate Academy Student Council" with Angie as their president. The "brainwashed" members listen to Angie completely and without question, stating that her will is Atua's will and as a result, she cannot be wrong. Angie took the Necronomicon and told everyone else to "leave it to the student council".

As a part of the student council, Tsumugi and the others imposed strict new guidelines on the rest of the participants, such as not being allowed out at nighttime, which would interfere with Shuichi's, Kaito's, and Maki's training time, and blocking the manhole cover in the boiler room to quell any desire to leave the academy by using the Death Road of Despair. These extreme actions effectively split the group in half, with Shuichi, Maki, Kokichi, Kaito, Miu and Korekiyo opposing the student council. Angie would instill her authority into Tsumugi again the next morning, and Tsumugi played along by imagining Atua as a cool black-haired, red-eyed god that watches over her.

The Third Investigation and Trial
Two days after the motive is presented, Angie's body was discovered in her own lab by Shuichi, Maki, and Tenko. After the body discovery announcement played Tsumugi rushed in and pretended to be incredibly saddened at the death of their student council president. She mourned her death along with the other student council members as the investigation began. Tsumugi seemed to suspect that Angie was killed by the spirit she was trying to commune with, frightening Kaito due to his phobia of the paranormal. Afterwards, she also suspected Tenko due to her defying the student council. Later after Tenko had died during the seance that Korekiyo suggested, Tsumugi became even more upset, crying and apologizing to Tenko for accusing her before.

During the third trial itself, Tsumugi started the debate by once again saying that Angie was killed be the transfer student that Angie attempted to bring back from the dead, which ironically happened to be Rantaro. Kaito was frightened once again, but Tsumugi was disproven by the sheer fact that the Necronomicon was still intact and that it had to be burned to complete the ritual. After Korekiyo was found out as the culprit of both murders and told everyone their motivations for killing, Tsumugi simply watched as he was executed by Monokuma. She later watched as Himiko cried at the loss of her two friends and supposedly cried with her.

Tsumugi's Research Lab
The very next morning following the third class trial, Tsumugi gathered with everyone in the dining hall yet again. The group became disheartened to see how many people they had lost up until now. Monokuma then showed up along with his Kubs to hand out the next set of random items to unlock more areas with, along with a card key that according to Monophanie would be the next motive, though Kokichi stole it and ran off. Tsumugi would search the academy with the others for new areas to explore.

One of the areas that opened up was the fifth floor, which also housed the Ultimate Cosplayer's Research Lab. Instead of showing her interest or joy, she felt quite disappointed because the huge Research Lab feels empty and it's all for her, saying that it's more fun to cosplay with other people rather than alone. By examining the bartending prop set, Tsumugi revealed that before becoming a skilled cosplayer, Tsumugi worked part-time as a bartender, along with working at several other jobs.

Tsumugi later regathered with everyone else in the dining hall to investigate yet another Flashback Light. Once used on themselves, everyone remembered the meteorites that impacted the Earth and that it was described as being very similar to the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago. They also remembered basic details of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project saying that mankind deserved damnation, and the Gofer Project itself.

Neo World Program
A couple days later, Miu would gather everyone, Tsumugi included, in the computer room on the fourth floor. She explained to everyone how she had been working on it for the past few days or so and reprogrammed it into a "world without Monokuma or the killing game". In reality, she was actually plotting her own murder plan in order to escape. With Miu's persuasion, Tsumugi and the others agreed to head into the virtual world after hearing about a supposed secret of the outside world from Monokuma.

Tsumugi sat down in her chair and put the cords in her own headset, making sure to listen to Miu's explanation. Once Tsumugi logged in with the others, she was disappointed with the graphics of the virtual world, expecting more. Once Miu logged in, Tsumugi listened to her explain more aspects about the virtual world such as their avatars senses being connected to their real bodies, then showed them all the map of the world. Tsumugi was visibly more irritated with Miu's behavior here than she had been before. Everyone then headed to the chapel, making use of a signboard to cross the river. After reaching the chapel, everyone decided to explore the virtual world in order to find the supposed secret Monokuma was referring to. Tsumugi went with Shuichi, Kaito, Kokichi, and Gonta to explore the mansion, but Miu followed them and threw the signboard in the river to ensure that both groups would remain separate. Tsumugi and the others were obviously annoyed with this, but eventually just left Miu alone, thinking that she was just up to her usual antics. Tsumugi ended up being paired with Shuichi, exploring the dining hall and kitchen in the mansion respectively. Neither of them found anything of note, but Tsumugi did think she saw Miu outside the window despite the fact that she was on the chapel side and with the signboard tossed in the river, have no way to get back over the river. Upon telling Shuichi this, both of them along with everyone else in the virtual world heard a loud crashing sound. They also heard K1-B0's voice, confusing them even more as he was with the other group. Upon leaving the mansion to investigate, they were joined by Gonta, then reunited with all the others after finding the signboard stuck between some rocks in the river. Upon hearing that Miu's avatar wasn't moving, Tsumugi logged out with everyone else to find Miu dead in her own chair, having died from the shock of her avatar having been killed. As everyone stared at Miu's corpse dumbfounded, the investigation had begun for a fourth time.

The Fourth Class Trial
During the fourth Class Trial, Tsumugi valiantly defended Gonta once he was called out as the culprit by Kokichi. She called Gonta a sweetheart and claimed that he wouldn't even kill bugs. While she was technically right, hers and nearly everyone else's efforts amounted to naught, as Kokichi and Shuichi both proved that Gonta was able to commit the crime and that he didn't remember murdering Miu due to him mixing up the consciousness and memory chords in his headset. In reality, Gonta had been manipulated by Kokichi after being shown the secret of the outside world, falling into so much despair that he thought being dead was being better than being alive. Tsumugi cried for Gonta after he was executed, though it is highly likely that once again, her being saddened by Gonta's demise was just a part of her act. When Kokichi exclaimed that he reveled in everyone's pain and suffering, Tsumugi appeared noticeably disturbed by his deranged behavior and also rushed over to Kaito's side with the others after being knocked down by the Ultimate Supreme Leader. Once Kaito began coughing up blood, Tsumugi became frightened and asked him what was wrong, but he tried to reassure her and everyone else that he's fine before leaving the trial grounds.

Once again however, her being worried about Kaito was just a part of her act, as she was the one who came up with the plot-line where she gave him that virus as well as the plot-line where Maki would fall for him.

Down to the Final Few
The very next morning, Tsumugi gathered with everyone else in the dining hall. Everyone else was obviously still worried about Kaito, but he once again tried to reassure them that he was fine and they all ate breakfast together. After eating, Kaito wondered just where Kokichi had gone off to after his monologue yesterday. Tsumugi and the others became tense and frightened at the mere mention of the Ultimate Supreme Leader, but everyone said that no one had seen him since yesterday. Monokuma showed up after not too long and passed out the last set of items to unlock new areas in the academy with.

One of the new areas that became unlocked was the Ultimate Astronaut's Research Lab, which Tsumugi explored with Kaito, Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko. Aside from a Gofer Project participant list, which had a large majority of it blacked out, nothing of notable use was gained from Kaito's lab, much to his disappointment.

After everyone had uncovered all the new areas, Tsumugi gathered everyone in the dining hall, but not to discuss a new Flashback Light. Instead, she informed everyone that the message in the courtyard had been completed and that it now stated, “This world is mine. Kokichi Oma”. Kaito just wrote it off as Kokichi’s prank, not taking the final message seriously whatsoever. Everyone else seemed to agree with him, though wondered just where Kokichi had gone to and wondered if he took the Flashback Light seeing that none of the others had found it yet.

Clearing the Death Road of Despair
The next day, after Kaito realized that he didn't have much time left due to his illness, declared to Tsumugi and the others that they were all going to fight Monokuma the very next morning. He wanted to make good on his promise that he'd get everyone out alive, but needed their help if they were all going to get out of here. He said that now was their chance to finally fight back because the Monokubs were gone, meaning the Exisals would no longer be a threat to them. Tsumugi was still unsure however due to the academy being completely under his control and having numerous spares. Hearing this, Kaito asked them all if they were fine with the way things are now and that if they weren’t, then they had to fight. Eventually, as more and more people became determined by Kaito’s speech, Tsumugi also agreed. Everyone prepared mentally to fight Monokuma that same night.

As planned, Tsumugi and everyone else gathered in the gymnasium at nighttime, with Kaito bringing a vast assortment of weapons from Maki’s Research Lab. While everyone was preparing for battle, Kokichi suddenly appeared as well and brought with him Miu's memento, the electrohammers. He offered them to his classmates claiming that he wanted to end the Killing Game as well, but Maki was tired of his deceptive nature and threatened to strangle him once again, asking him just what he was scheming. Maki was eventually stopped by Kaito and the others, dropping Kokichi on the floor. The Ultimate Supreme Leader told everyone that he wouldn't interfere with them any longer before leaving the gym, along with Miu's memento for them to use. Tsumugi and the others were still skeptical, thinking that the hammers might have been trapped, but still had to explore every possibility. With Miu’s memento in hand, everyone headed to the Death Road of Despair. As they stood before the tunnel, Tsumugi and the others remarked that they would finally be able to fulfill Kaede’s wish and escape this Killing Game, making everyone even more determined. With that determination fueling them forward, they headed into the tunnel.

After crossing the Death Road of Despair with Miu’s electrohammers, they came across a large metal hatch which they opened up and discovered the apparent state of the outside world, ruined and destroyed by meteorites, shocking everyone. Tsumugi and the others all became unable to breathe and lost consciousness not long after. An unprecedented amount of time afterward, the hatch closed and everyone woke up. Kokichi appeared and congratulated everyone for discovering the truth of the outside world. He revealed everything to them, that the world was in ruins, and that they were secretly on a giant spaceship that acted as an ark for the last sixteen survivors of humanity, or rather last "seven" survivors of humanity. Afterwards, Kokichi proclaimed himself as the leader of the cult bent on stopping The Gofer Project and the one who let Monokuma into the ark, effectively declaring himself as the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester. Everyone was skeptical at first until Kokichi used a universal remote control to make the Exisals do his bidding, further convincing the remaining survivors that he was, in fact, the Mastermind. Kaito once again becomes outraged with Kokichi and attempted to punch him yet again. However, Kokichi easily incapacitates the Ultimate Astronaut using the Exisals. Maki attempts to attack him as well, but is stopped by Shuichi. Afterwards, Kokichi requests Shuichi to give him back the Exisal hangar's alarm remote back, a request that he reluctantly complies to for Kaito's own safety. Kokichi declared that everyone was free to do whatever they pleased before leaving them all in a state of despair and taking Kaito hostage in the Exisal hangar. Tsumugi was unable to do anything aside from be wide-eyed in shock at the idea that they were the last seven survivors of humanity and that they had been killing each other for nothing.

Tsumugi's Backup Plan
In reality, Tsumugi never felt anything at this revelation and only pretended to be in despair along with everyone else. She already knew that the outside world was perfectly fine and that what she and everyone saw after opening the hatch was nothing more than a scene that her "staff" had prepared (according to herself in the final Class Trial). Nevertheless, Kokichi pretending to be the Mastermind and making everyone fall into so much despair that they no longer wanted to continue the Killing Game proved to be an unexpected development in her scenario.

With a whole day passing by of nothing happening, likely boring the outside world, Tsumugi was forced to take action. That same night, making sure not to be seen by anybody, she headed to the classroom on the second floor. This classroom had a special device that only she knew about, a device that allowed her to create Flashback Lights. In order to get everyone motivated to fight against this despair, Tsumugi could think of no better memory to give the remaining participants than memories of the Hope's Peak Series and that Kokichi was a Remnant of Despair. With this Flashback Light, she was confident that everyone would remember that they were the symbols of hope and that this memory would motivate them all to continue the Killing Game. Specifically, she was hoping that Maki would become so determined to save Kaito upon obtaining this memory that she would end up getting Kokichi killed in her recklessness and become the Blackened herself. She prepared this Flashback Light and left it in the dining hall for the others to find. In Tsumugi's rush however, she ended up overlooking slight contradictions and plot holes that resulted from trying to merge the conflict of The Gofer Project with the story of Hope's Peak Academy. These contradictions, would not be made apparent to the others until much later.

The next morning, Maki would be the first person to find the Flashback Light in the dining hall. Finding it necessary to inspect it with the others, she gathered Tsumugi and everyone else in the dining hall. Tsumugi pretended to be just as dejected about the situation as everyone else before they all saw the Flashback Light and remembered that they were students of Hope's Peak Academy, that the cult trying to stop The Gofer Project was actually the Remnants of Despair, and that Kokichi was their leader. Everyone else, aside from Kokichi and Kaito who were confined in the Exisal hangar, and Tsumugi who already knew the memory was fake, were completely manipulated by the false memory. They planned to stop Kokichi, save Kaito, and end the Killing Game once and for all. Maki would also act just as recklessly as Tsumugi had hoped she would, breaking her promise with the group about starting tomorrow and stormed the Exisal hangar to kill Kokichi. She was less than successful, as both Kaito and Kokichi were seriously wounded from her assault, with Kokichi being very close to death. However, the Ultimate Supreme Leader would have one last trick up his sleeve despite his plan to end the Killing Game having failed. He hoped to create an unknown victim case so that even Monokuma and the real Mastermind wouldn't be able to create proper judgment in the class trial.

The Fifth Class Trial
The next morning, Tsumugi would join her fellow classmates in storming the Exisal hangar, only to find a body crushed beyond recognition underneath the press machine, the only clue as to who the victim could be being Kaito's sleeve whereas Kokichi is still missing. Everyone is horrified at the thought of having lost Kaito as the investigation began.

During the Class Trial, Tsumugi along with everyone else is still confused about their current state of beginning a Class Trial with two missing people, but Monokuma reassured them that it's fine and that the one missing person is "on standby in the back". When that supposed missing person arrives riding an Exisal and supposedly pretends to be Kaito before revealing themselves as Kokichi, Tsumugi, along with everyone else, believes that Kaito must have been the victim until later on in the trial, where the voice coming out of the Exisal changed to match Kaito's again. Tsumugi along with Himiko and K1-B0 believed that the victim could have been Kokichi and that the one riding the Exisal is Kaito. Although Shuichi and Maki thought that they disproved this claim, it is later revealed that Tsumugi was originally right near the end of the trial and that the one inside the Exisal was, in fact, Kaito carrying on Kokichi's will.

Tsumugi, along with everyone else, is rendered depressed, stunned and silenced at the fact that Kaito ended up being the culprit of Kokichi's murder. However, he reassured everyone to smile, send him off in style, and that he won't accept their tears before proudly telling the real Mastermind, though he didn't know who they were, that his friends would end this Killing Game. Tsumugi then watched as Kaito accepted his execution, but choose to die on his own terms and not Monokuma's.

After the class trial ended, Tsumugi secretly headed to the hidden room and cosplays as Junko in order to fool the viewers. She can be seen interacting with Motherkuma, declaring that the Killing Game is invincible and that as long as she exists, the Killing Game will keep going forever.

Tsumugi, putting on her act once again, would later reunite with Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko in the courtyard, intent on ending the Killing Game for Kaito's sake. They all begin training, but it is cut short by K1-B0, who had lost his "connector" to the outside world and thus; was determined to destroy Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and end the Killing Game himself.

Uncovering the Truth
Tsumugi and everyone else were shocked and frightened to discover the academy coming under fire from the Ultimate Robot, suddenly being able to fly and shoot lasers. Once again, an unexpected development had occurred in Tsumugi's scenario. Thanks to K1-B0's antenna having been knocked off as well, he was no longer connected to the outside world and sought to rectify this matter as soon as possible. The group ran to the front of the school to try and get K1-B0's attention. He eventually hovered down towards them, stopping his assault, and asked him what they wanted and to keep this brief. When asked, K1-B0 said that no matter where they go, Despair will be right around the corner. As a result, he was determined to destroy the school even if it meant that he himself and everyone else would die. Shuichi was eventually able to turn his way of thinking around, but only until dawn. K1-B0 threatened Tsumugi and everyone else that if they could not find the truth behind this Killing Game before dawn breaks, he will continue his destruction of the academy. Monokuma and the rebuilt Monokubs in their respective Exisals eventually showed up to try and stop his assault, declaring that the Killing Game cannot be ended. With that, Tsumugi and the others ran into the school for cover while K1-B0 tried to hold the Exisals off until dawn.

K1-B0's fight throughout the school grounds ended up opening many new areas that held clues to the secret of the Killing Game. One of the new areas that were opened up was a room in the back of the Ultimate Astronaut's Research Lab. Tsumugi discovered this and went to go inform Shuichi, who had just finished investigating Rantaro's newly opened Research Lab. The duo went to investigate, finding sixteen pods and another Gofer Project participant list, this time listing everyone who participated in the project as well as their relatives. This discovery triggered a flashback sequence from the Flashback Light Monokuma used after Chapter 5's trial. This time they remembered the moment all of them first entered the pods as they went to space to avoid the Earth's destruction, sleeping for several decades in cold sleep. After this, Tsumugi mentioned something that came off as suspicious to her, which was the fact that the participant list stated that Kaede had a younger twin sister. She found this suspicious due to the fact that Junko Enoshima also had a twin. Shuichi found this to be an odd coincidence and made sure to keep it in mind. In reality, Tsumugi was simply hoping to deter Shuichi and the others from finding the truth.

Tsumugi would later gather with Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko in the library, hoping to finally be able to investigate the hidden room that they had all been unable to access for this entire time with K1-B0's help. Monotaro showed up in his Exisal and attempted to stop their investigation, but K1-B0 immediately rushed to his friend's rescue, knocking the Exisal to the side and binding it in the rubble to keep it from moving for a while. K1-B0 then opened up the hidden room by using his laser cannon, blowing the door to smithereens. This worried Tsumugi greatly, as Motherkuma was in there, along with Rantaro's Survivor Perk Monopad, and Kaede's shot put ball from the first case that she never properly disposed of because she never imagined anyone would be able to get into the hidden room. To try and divert as much suspicion as possible from herself when the participants first interacted with Motherkuma, Tsumugi took control of the conversation once Motherkuma's ability to birth new Monokuma's was brought up and asked it to "make" a new Monokuma. She intentionally did not say "birth" to avoid triggering Motherkuma's voice recognition software and creating a new Monokuma, which would give away that she was the Mastermind. While she was able to trick everyone with the voice recognition software, Shuichi was able to find both the Survivor Perk Monopad, and the shot put ball with pink fiber on it, allowing him to deduce how to pin down the Mastermind of the Killing Game. Investigating the hidden room also triggered another flashback sequence from the Flashback Light Monokuma used after Chapter 5's trial. This time they all remembered waking up from their cold sleep prematurely and Monokuma erasing their memories using the Blackout Light

Everyone aside from Himiko would leave the hidden room, only to find K1-B0 in a battle with Monotaro in his Exisal in the library. During their fight, the way back into the hidden room became blocked by rubble, worrying Tsumugi and the others greatly as Himiko was still trapped in there. They chose to trust that Himiko would be fine however and Tsumugi went off to investigate on her own Afterwards along with the others. However, Himiko would find the hidden passage that led out of the hidden room and into the girl's first-floor bathroom, the same hidden passage that Tsumugi made use of to get to the hidden room without anyone noticing to murder Rantaro. Maki later went to find Tsumugi after Shuichi had finished his investigation of the girl's bathroom and gathered in the courtyard, where Shuichi had proposed to hold a class trial to end the Killing Game once and for all, shocking both Monokuma and K1-B0. Tsumugi, Maki, and Himiko were all equally confused at this but eventually went along with what Shuichi planned to do upon hearing that he wanted to end the Killing Game with this Class Trial. K1-B0 was taken away by the Monokubs to take off his armaments, as well as fix his connector to the outside world, allowing him to hear his "inner voice" again. Tsumugi seemed noticeably irritated at K1-B0 after he came back, but held it in and descended to the trial grounds with other four remaining survivors.

The Final Class Trial
Tsumugi, along with fellow survivors Himiko, K1-B0, and Maki, at Shuichi's recommendation, decided to re-open Rantaro's case after discovering new truths related to his murder. Once Shuichi revealed Rantaro's talent as the Ultimate Survivor, and proved that Kaede did in fact not murder him and was executed unjustly, he realized that the Mastermind had to be one of them. With everyone so close to the truth, Tsumugi grew increasingly more nervous, even going so far as to accuse Kaede's younger twin sister due to the similar circumstances surrounding Kaede's death and the death of Junko's twin. She was quickly proven wrong, as there being a seventeenth person hiding in the school contradicted what Motherkuma said. Instead, Shuichi recommended that they all double-check everyone's alibis during Rantaro's murder, which finally allowed Shuichi to hone in on Tsumugi as the true culprit and Mastermind of the Killing School Semester.

Tsumugi panicked, denying the claim vehemently where-as the other survivors were confused and shocked that the Ultimate Cosplayer could have gone through with such a plan and be the Mastermind behind their current predicament. Shuichi however, made it very clear that Tsumugi was the only person who could have murdered Rantaro by using the hidden passageway in the girls bathroom, which also led into the hidden room that connected to the library. She attempted to pin the blame on K1-B0 since he was not present for when they interacted with Motherkuma, but Shuichi is quick to call her out on not giving the command of "birth" which would have triggered Motherkuma's voice recognition software and created another Monokuma, proving that she would be the Mastermind. Realizing that she had been cornered, Tsumugi finally dropped her act and revealed herself as "Junko Enoshima the 53rd".

Tsumugi, now cosplaying as Junko, went on to state that she simply wanted to reproduce her own Killing Game and that there was nobody watching. Shuichi however, did not believe this claim due to their contradicting memories, as well as the facts regarding Kokichi and Rantaro that also conflicted with their memories of the Hope's Peak Series. As a result, Shuichi was able to determine that everyone's memories of being students at Hope's Peak Academy, The Gofer Project, and shouldering their friends and families burdens as mankind's last hope, was all a false memory planted into their brains by the Flashback Light. Tsumugi then revealed that everything they remembered about attending Hope's Peak Academy and the outside world being destroyed was a lie and that the Flashback Lights were actually tools to implant new memories, not tools to help you remember. What the participants remembered about Kokichi being a part of the Remnants of Despair was a lie as well, much to everyone's shock.

In reality, the circumstances behind their Killing Game were far more cruel. After proving her talent fully as the Ultimate Cosplayer by cosplaying as the participants of the Killing School Life and the Killing School Trip, Tsumugi revealed that everything that took place in the Hope's Peak Series was nothing more than fictional events from a very popular anime and video game franchise known as Danganronpa. She also revealed that their entire Killing Game had been broadcast to a very peaceful world that was completely obsessed with Killing Games, essentially revealing that everything they've been through as a reality-TV show and "Ultimate Real Fiction". She told them all that she herself was a part of Team Danganronpa, a company that makes the "finest killing entertainment" and that everyone loves their work.

While the other survivors were quick to oppose Tsumugi and Monokuma, they both revealed that the participants of the Killing School Semester are also "fictional characters", whose memory, personality, feelings, and talent were all fabricated by the Flashback Lights in order to provide exciting characters for the Killing Game. To back up her claim, Tsumugi showed Shuichi's, Kaede's, and Kaito's supposed audition videos for the Killing Game, showing that they were all very twisted or outright depressed people that, like the audience watching, were obsessed with Danganronpa to the point where they willingly participated in the Killing Game. Everyone became shocked at this sudden revelation and subsequently fell into Despair, unsure of what to do now that everything so far had been revealed to be lies. Tsumugi belittled Shuichi especially harshly, calling him just as much of a weakling as he was at the start of this Killing Game for giving up, then went on to state that while this was a surprisingly disappointing development it was fine because they were "still on script".

Hope or Despair
K1-B0 however, reassured everyone not to lose Hope, stating that that was what his "inner voice" was telling him and that if this was the "Ultimate Real Fiction", then not all of it could be fictional and that there must be something they could do. Tsumugi corrected him and said that the voice K1-B0 had been hearing this entire time was actually the voice of the people watching this Killing Game, an audience survey. She continued to state that he was nothing more than an interactive communication device and camera for the viewers to interact with and participate in the game themselves. Despite this, K1-B0 refused to give up on Hope and stated that the people in the outside world don't want Despair. Tsumugi meanwhile refused to give up on Despair and stated that a world that enjoys killings could not possibly desire Hope. In true Danganronpa fashion, they decided to settle this with one final, special vote where K1-B0 represented Hope and Tsumugi represented Despair. K1-B0 and Maki were both willing to sacrifice themselves if it meant that Hope could win and Shuichi and Himiko could live despite the fact that there was supposedly nothing left for them in the outside world.

Shuichi however, saw through the charade and cut in, saying that neither choice was correct and that choosing Hope would do nothing but cause the Killing Game to continue, which he and K1-B0 were able to deduce thanks to the late Rantaro's circumstances. Because of this, Shuichi decided to stop playing along and abandoned his vote, hoping to end Danganronpa once and for all by willingly sacrificing his own life, much to Tsumugi's and Monokuma's chagrin. Eventually, Shuichi convinced everyone else to abandon their vote as well but K1-B0, in a last-ditch effort to keep Danganronpa going, was taken over by the audience. Seeing this, Tsumugi laughed, proud to show that the audience did not wish for Danganronpa to end and explained that they supposedly deleted K1-B0's personality that kept getting in the way. Everyone was shocked and horrified at this, but they did not sway, confident that they could change the outside world with their decision. Despite Tsumugi telling them that what they're doing was pointless, Shuichi refused to give up, still exclaiming that he will end Danganronpa and that their lives are not just show-things for people's entertainment.

Confident that his voice reached the outside world through K1-B0, Shuichi and everyone else abandoned their vote. Tsumugi however, bent the rules one last time and abandoned her vote too, which she revealed after everyone else did. Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko are immediately confused and worried as to why she abandoned her vote as well. Tsumugi stated that if they're going to risk their lives to end Danganronpa, then she would risk her life to make it continue. Tsumugi was confident that Danganronpa would continue after abandoning her vote, meaning only K1-B0's vote would have any power as he was still being controlled by the outside world. She even went as far as to describe a new plot-line for him in the next Killing Game.

Tsumugi's Fate
When Monokuma displayed the results of the final voting, Tsumugi became shocked to discover that no one had voted, proving that the audience does not want Danganronpa to continue. Tsumugi panicked and tried to make everyone reconsider, but it was no use as the monitors all turned off, the audience no longer showing any interest. Tsumugi, upon realizing that Danganronpa was indeed over and done with, promptly lost all of her hope in living as she denied a world without Danganronpa, but had not prepared a proper Punishment before-hand and as such left it to K1-B0. Despite the fact that her plan had failed at the very end, she still said that she could hold her head up high as a "cosplaycat criminal", as her plan failing at the very end made her "imitation" perfect.

K1-B0, now acting on the will of the outside world, did not hesitate and proceeded to execute everything, sparing everyone but Monokuma and Tsumugi, the latter waving at the camera with a look of disappointment on her face before being flattened under a giant boulder inadvertently caused by K1-B0 destroying everything and self-destructing to let Shuichi, Himiko, and Maki escape the dome, ending Danganronpa for good, thus avenging Kaede and the other student's deaths.



Truth or Lie
Although she did not survive the final Execution, her final words of being a mere imitator rang in Shuichi's head. He believed that perhaps Hope's Peak Academy and the Remnants of Despair could actually exist much to Maki's and Himiko's shock, though this is nothing more than speculation on his part based on Tsumugi's final words.

Name
Her first name is written in hiragana (つむぎ), but can be written in kanji as 紬, which refers to pongee silk. Her last name kanji, 白銀 shirogane, which consists of the kanji for "white" (白) and "silver" (銀), may refer to a few things. Shirogane is a native Japanese word for silver, which is commonly known as 銀 gin. The second definition refers to a metaphorical expression for snow.

Alternate Fates
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version), Tsumugi was first seen in lodging area along with Kirumi Tojo and Ryoma Hoshi. She introduced herself as the Ultimate Cosplayer despite her normal-looking appearance. She tells Kaede that she only enjoy creating costumes and prefer other people wearing her costumes. However, she often wears her own costume due to many cosplayers only wanted to make themselves famous instead of expressing the love of the character that they cosplay.

During the incident of Yasuhiro Hagakure's murder, Tsumugi testified that she sees Kirumi cleaned all of the students dormitories and said that maid work is super cute.

Appearance
Tsumugi is a tall, young woman with long, knee length, cerulean hair which starts out smooth and becomes wavy the lower it goes. Her eyes are soft teal and round. She wears rimless glasses with white temples.

Her uniform consists of a white blouse, a knee length pleated skirt, adorned with six white buttons on her waist; her skirt seems to be held by suspenders. She wears an orange bow, black socks ending under the knee, and grey shoes. Her blazer has two pockets on both sides and is adorned by the same white buttons as her skirt.

She has been shown without her blazer in her promotional artwork, which shows an insignia of a sort on her left breast.

Tsumugi states as a rather normal and plain-looking.

Upon being found out as the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester and revealing her talent fully as the Ultimate Cosplayer, Tsumugi's normal, plain appearance undergoes a couple minor, but still noticeable changes. Her hair becomes a bit wavier, and her eyes glow an eerie blue, which may be a characteristic sign of her madness, similar to how Nagito Komaeda can get when he speaks of his warped desire for hope.

Another slight difference is that dark, pale-blue bags appear under her eyes. The exact reasoning behind this is uncertain, though the likely explanation is that it is meant to be symbolic with how the Danganronpa franchise has continued for 53 installments and that even she may be getting tired of the absurd repetition.

Personality
Tsumugi is an honors type student who speaks in a docile and gentle way, but she becomes very passionate when she talks about her favorite series or cosplays, having a habit of slipping infamous quotes from various sources into the conversation. Being a self-proclaimed introvert, she also tends to ignore people while she's in her thoughts, no matter how many times they try talking to her, and appears rather distant at times. She tends to call herself and everything that she has done "plain," as she believes that among all of the students, she is the one who has the plainest appearance and personality. She uses the word repeatedly and sometimes appears even offended if someone else tries to argue that she isn't plain. She understands that some people might not recognize her as the Ultimate Cosplayer since her plain appearance conceals her talent.

While Tsumugi is the Ultimate Cosplayer, she only enjoys making costumes, not wearing them, as she is not really fond of people looking at her. However, she hates using cosplayers who care more about standing out than love of the characters, so she wears her own costumes as well but with love. She deeply loves cosplaying as she states that cosplaying is an expression of love. She has deep respect for fictional characters and gets very offended if they are disrespected.

Despite her plain and docile attitude, certain hints suggest that she may actually be quite perverted, as she is a bit stereotypical fan of anime and manga. After the time limit motive was made apparent in Chapter 1, she was saddened by not being able to hide her "special art commissions" and "that pillowcase" she bought before she dies. She also at one point, in an optional dialogue conversation, wonders if she could wipe her entire hard drive at home from within the Ultimate Academy, worrying about the pictures that were saved on it, perhaps hinting at an interest in pornography, hentai, or something similar to them. In her Love Suite fantasy scene, she appears to have an interest in incest, as she imagines her "ideal" as her older stepbrother, and sex is heavily implied (which seems to refer to the quite popular hentai trope of romance between step siblings). She seems very intent on keeping this side of her hidden, as it is very rarely brought up or acknowledged by anyone in the killing game.

Tsumugi is somewhat timid, and she is usually the first person who screams whenever something scary happens. Another notable trait of hers is that she is somewhat pessimistic, as shown in Chapter 5 when she refused to fight Monokuma, thinking that it was too reckless and dangerous. Furthermore, whenever someone else has a some sort of character establishing moment, she tends to act threatened and inferior, as she closes her eyes and puts her hands up in slight defense while she squeals something about how much more interesting, stronger, cooler or pure the other person is compared to her. Regardless, she generally appears to be a kind person, as seen in the way she grieves the deaths of others and treats Gonta in patient, gentle manner.

However, she also seems to be very skilled with blending in her environment. She constantly changes her mind and follows any decisions made by the majority, even if she doesn't have any actual reasons for it, and she eventually followed everyone to beat the Death Road of Despair. In any occasion, she tends to react to even the most minor things said by the others. She is able to follow the conversation with Himiko about her "magic", asking Tenko why her technique is far too aggressive for a martial art like Aikido, and most notably she tries to tell Gonta not to be a too honest person. Notably, despite her somewhat timid and plain personality, it is indicated that she actually has the ability to take control in the few situations she wishes to. Right after meeting her, Kaede describes her as "exuding pheromones" and is distracted by her "sexy" face while having a conversation with her. When she later makes a cocktail for Shuichi in her personal bar, he notices that Tsumugi is discreetly seducing him through the clinking sound of the glass and the suddenly notable lack of her jacket covering her blouse. He ends up wondering just what kind of place she worked in. During her Love Suite Event with Shuichi, she quickly seduces him, as if "wrapping her voice around his brain" and he feels he cannot resist her.

After being revealed as the mastermind of the Killing School Semester in Chapter 6, she reveals herself to not be that much different from Junko Enoshima herself, with the exception of not possessing any special analytical prowess and superior charisma that Junko had. She is manipulative and cruel, choosing to murder Rantaro and frame Kaede for his death all so that the killing game would not end due to the motive Monokuma presented at the time. She openly fooled her fellow "classmates" as a friend and comrade all the while secretly orchestrating the killing game and making sure that everything went according to the "setting" provided for them. She also displays great skills in hiding her true personality and does not display it before she is revealed as the true culprit and can act as if she were another person without arousing any suspicions.

She takes great pride in her cosplay, claiming her mimicry of the characters from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair to be "complete reproductions", or exactly like the real thing even down to their personality, behavior, speech patterns, and goals. She claims that she can even use her cosplay skills to make the fictional world around her seem like it is real. As a likely benefit of her talent, she is also a master of deception and trickery, able to fake her entire character as the Ultimate Cosplayer and as an Otaku throughout the entire killing game and subsequently fool everyone else around her by constantly saying how plain and simple she was. She turns noticeably arrogant as the final class trial continues, claiming that everyone else was a fool to think of her as a comrade and friend. She cares nothing for those that participated in the killing game, claiming that they were born for the killing game and cannot live outside the world of Danganronpa anymore.

Her arrogance also shows her insanely hypocritical nature, breaking her own rules on numerous occassions and practically making them up as she went along just to benefit her the most. She also claims that fiction cannot change the outside world after Shuichi insisted on "changing the outside world from within this fiction" despite she tried to do the very same thing prior by filling the outside world with despair. This is also quite an unusual statement for her to make considering that she takes immense pride in her cosplay and her ability to twist and manipulate people using fiction. As a result, what she truly believes in is uncertain though it could always be assumed she only said this out of fear and panic.

Going further with this, despite all her hubris in the final trial, she proves herself to be rather incapable as a Mastermind overall, especially when compared to prior master manipulators like Junko herself, Monaca, and to some extent Chisa and Tengan as well. She nearly got her Killing Game shut down in only the first chapter due to the motive presented at the time as well as "writing" Kaede Akamatsu to be too strong as her determination and optimism kept a killing from happening. Her killing game also follow many noticable tropes that are often shunned such as a double murder occuring in Chapter 3, and the "gentle-giant" archetype dying in Chapter 4. Far more noteworthy however is Kokichi taking over her role in Chapter 5, proving himself to be a far more-threatening "Mastermind" by filling everyone with so much despair that they almost killed themselves. Of course K1-B0's antenna getting knocked off during Kaito's execution was also unexpected, which she even admits herself. As a result despite her constant claims that every action and thought the characters made and felt in the Killing Game were a result of her own writing, it is unclear just how much control she truly had over everything that happened.

Once the final vote was cast and it is revealed that no one had voted, she grows considerably bewildered, unable to comprehend as to why the outside world would want a world without Danganronpa. She states that she has no interest in a world without Danganronpa, before getting executed by K1-B0 while wearing a completely bored and apathetic expression (contrasting Junko's gleeful face when she was executed), showing her obsession with fiction and love for the series. She idolized Junko to a great degree, almost as much as the Remnants of Despair do, claiming in the end that she could be proud that her plan failed as it made her "imitation" perfect.

This dramatic change in personality from before being found out as the mastermind and after, along with her arrogant and hypocritical "true self" seems to paint her in the light of a crazed, radical Danganronpa fan-girl, completely obsessed with the franchise to the point where she shows no sympathy or remorse for putting real people into an actual Killing Game for mere entertainment purposes. Among her final words, she referred to herself as a "cosplaycat criminal", and it's speculated by Shuichi that she may have been lying about everything being fictional.

Ultimate Cosplayer
Tsumugi's talent as the Ultimate Cosplayer is a fabrication made by Team Danganronpa. Due to that fact, it is unclear whether Tsumugi is a sponsored cosplayer in the past. Despite her status as the Ultimate Cosplayer, Tsumugi actually doesn't have interest in cosplaying herself. Rather, she states that she enjoys recreating costumes more. She loves to create costumes because it is like making a fictional character real, in a way. She also has a sponsorship that makes her can create costumes with expensive materials.

She is also a well-versed in anime and manga references. In her promotional artwork, Tsumugi is featured with mannequins wearing lingerie and a wig, several paints and cosmetic brushes, as well as red thread and an object which could be interpreted as scissors. This could imply that her talent is multi-faceted.

In Chapter 1, Tsumugi states that she gets "Cospox" an allergic reaction where a bumpy rash spreads across her entire body if she cosplays as anyone that is real. In Chapter 6, she proves her talent fully by accurately cosplaying as multiple characters from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. She is capable of matching their appearances, voices, and mannerisms perfectly, making her imitations even more accurate than Ultimate Imposter's, although this could be due to Team Danganronpa sponsoring in her costumes to make it as accurate to the characters as possible. However, by doing this, she also reveals that the Hope's Peak Series and all involved were nothing, but fiction within the Danganronpa V3 Universe. (It should be noted however, that given Tsumugi breaks into Cospox when she cosplays as Kaede in Chapter 1, that either the Kaede in chapter 1 is considered a "real" person, or Tsumugi is lying about her Cospox, and either has no cospox, or actually only breaks into Cospox when cosplaying as fictional characters, as suggested when she says she prefers others to wear the costumes she makes.)

Possibly as another reference to her talent, Tsumugi is capable of breaking the fourth wall and has a heightened awareness of fiction and reality.

In other languages
Tsumugi's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

Relationships

 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles Students:

Shuichi Saihara
The two were in good terms with each other and actually tried to help with each other with the situation. However, in Chapter 6, Shuichi was upset and disappointed when he figured out that Tsumugi was the mastermind behind the whole killing game. Despite this, he still wanted her to argue and prove his deduction as incorrect showing that he doesn't consider her any less of a fellow friend or comrade, nor does he wish to condemn her either.

When she acknowledges his claims that she was the one who killed Rantaro and framed Kaede for Rantaro's death, Shuichi seemed to have broken all former ties with her and resolved himself to stop her and end the killing game. Shuichi became noticeably depressed when Tsumugi told him that his memories, feelings, talent, and personality were all fabricated for the sake of the killing game, but he is brought back to his sense when K1-B0 motivated Shuichi to not give up and lose hope.

During their Free Time Events, the two got along quite well. Tsumugi would tell Shuichi about what it means to be a cosplayer, how much time and work goes into it, and how she became interested in cosplay in the first place. In the end, Tsumugi believes that Shuichi may have developed an interest in cosplay through their interactions and encourages him to try any costume of his choosing, believing he would look good in just about anything. As they listed off ideas, Tsumugi coincidentally listed off White Kanata as a costume he would look good in, which just so happened to be his favorite hero. Tsumugi became ecstatic upon realizing that she and he shared similar interests, as her friend who got her into cosplay in the first place also dressed as White Kanata. She grabbed his hand and flailed it up and down wildly, but became embarrassed when she realized they were holding hands, apologized, and let go, hinting at some sort of mutual attraction. In the end, Shuichi agreed to go to a con with her and try cosplaying out just once, mentally thinking to himself that they had become true friends.

However, given Tsumugi's role as the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester, and her highly deceptive nature, it is unclear just how genuine this friendship is or if it was ever genuine at all.

In the Love Suite scene, Shuichi had a role of being Tsumugi's step brother. Shuichi was surprised when Tsumugi said that she likes him not as a brother. Tsumugi felt uneasy when Shuichi did not call her by her first name. She felt negative and asked Shuichi to encourage her by placing his hand on her cheek and she did to his cheek which he felt embarrassed about. Shuichi realized that they were acting like an actual couple but Tsumugi despite the fact of Shuichi not becoming her lover. In the end, Tsumugi told Shuichi that she loves him and it was implied that they had sex afterward.

Gonta Gokuhara
Throughout the game, Tsumugi seems to have a soft spot for Gonta and often appears to pay attention to him during some moments when the others do not. She is quite impressed and concerned about how blunt and honest Gonta is.

During Chapter 4's trial, she appeared sympathetic towards Gonta who was very confused about the virtual world, and wished to explain it to him. She also tirelessly tried to protect Gonta from being accused as Miu Iruma's killer, convinced that he is a kind soul who doesn't even kill bugs. She was shocked and saddened to find out that Gonta really is the culprit. She was especially shocked by Gonta's immense kindness after he forgave Kokichi and told the others not to blame him, and she stated that he truly is stupid sometimes, for being so kind and forgiving even in such situation. She cried heavily before and after Gonta's execution.

In Chapter 5, Tsumugi stays outside one night, looking at the stars and reminiscing what Gonta said earlier about stars being very comforting, even though the stars above the academy appeared different than usual.

As she is later revealed to be the mastermind, it's indicated that Tsumugi only acted to play this specific role assigned to her during the Killing Game.

Rantaro Amami
Tsumugi grows a strong hatred for Rantaro, calling him an edgy normie, and feels disgusted by his actions.

In the nails painting scene, Tsumugi watched the two of her friends, Kaede and Rantaro, having a scene together of Rantaro painting Kaede's nails and Tsumugi watched silently while becoming disgusted and tried to hide her hatred from Rantaro trying to interrupt them by offering to paint Kaede's nails. Tsumugi said that Rantaro should have blown up forever since he was being a total normie.

It was later revealed in Chapter 6 that Tsumugi was the one who killed Rantaro and framed Kaede for the incident. Tsumugi didn't want Rantaro to discover the secret and exposed of her being the Mastermind. She was aware that Rantaro, guided by his talent would be in her way and cause trouble along with Kaede who was able to unify everyone's heart, so she decided to kill both of them in the same case. Tsumugi stopped Rantaro by killing him from behind and hid the ball that Kaede rolled down the vent.

Kaede Akamatsu
Initially thought to be a life-sized doll, Kaede didn't expect that Tsumugi has the title of the Ultimate Cosplayer due to her normal-looking appearance. She states that she could felt some sort of "pheromones" that can't stop from falling of Tsumugi because she was out of costume. Tsumugi offered Kaede to paint her nails which resulted in Rantaro interrupting Kaede's appointment with her. It is later revealed that Tsumugi actually holds no friendship towards Kaede. In Chapter 1, Tsumugi had figured out Kaede's plan and when she discovered that Kaede's plan failed, Tsumugi decided to kill Rantaro herself to prevent everyone else from being executed. Because of this, Tsumugi framed Kaede for the action and executed her as well.

Korekiyo Shinguji
In the first Class Trial, Korekiyo seems to be the only one who gets suspicious of Tsumugi because of her alibi. He stated how she took too long in the restroom which nobody believed him and Tsumugi denied that fact of being suspicious.

After Korekiyo was executed, Tsumugi seemed frightened and devastated by his brutal death. Though it should be noted that this is only one of her act as the mastermind of the Killing Game.

Kirumi Tojo
Prior to the second class trial, the two did not interact much at all. Though Tsumugi did point out how everyone was pushing their own work on Kirumi without even taking her feelings into consideration. After Ryoma had been eaten by piranha's, a distraught Tsumugi is shown being comforted by Kirumi during the closing argument of second-class trial.

During Chapter 3, Tsumugi at some point stay's she's glad that she was just an average citizen and that if she ever had a will to live as strong as Kirumi's that she would just cower in a corner somewhere, unable to bear the responsibility.

In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version), Tsumugi thinks that Kirumi's work as a maid is super cute.

Himiko Yumeno
Tsumugi seems to be one of the people among the students that responded to Himiko's saying as a mage. When Himiko states that she ran out of MP during the demo class trial, Tsumugi suggested her to sleep at the inn for one night in order to restore her MP.


 * Team Danganronpa:

Tsumugi is a member of the organization that created the Killing Games, Team Danganronpa, and she's a fan of the TV show. She acts as the Mastermind behind the 53rd season of Danganronpa, as she volunteered to participate in this killing game as part of Team Danganronpa.

K1-B0
In the beginning, these two didn't interact that much and act like they barely knew each other.

In Chapter 6, it was shown that Tsumugi and K1-B0 were in the same affiliation, Team Danganronpa. Tsumugi treated K1-B0 like a toy and even bullies him for his actions in the trial. They officially became enemies when K1-B0 believed in hope and Tsumugi cared about the show. When nobody casts their votes, Tsumugi trusted K1-B0 to execute her along with Monokuma as well. K1-B0 holds no hesitation to do that task since he was mad when she killed their friends and started the killing game with no hope. In the end, he destroyed everything and betrayed her by leaving the survivors alive as he sacrificed his own life.

Monokuma
Tsumugi and Monokuma are members of Team Danganronpa and both of them worked together in the latest season of the Danganronpa season.

Tsumugi and Monokuma don't interact with each other that much, this could be to hide the fact that they both work for Team Danganronpa and usually act as they know each other.

Monokuma executed Kaede in order to protect her from the students to clear out her suspicions on her as the Mastermind.

In Chapter 6, Monokuma and his children try to refute Shuichi Saihara from discovering the truth behind her as the mastermind of the Killing Game. At the end of the last Trial, both of them are seen waving their hands as both get crushed by a giant boulder and die together.

In Ultimate Development Plan, Tsumugi and Monokuma are seen to have a good relationship as they are interacting well and report to each other about the plans at the festival.


 * Hope's Peak Academy Students:

Junko Enoshima
Tsumugi idolizes Junko to a great degree. Junko is Tsumugi's favorite character in Danganronpa series that she loves. She felt inspired by Junko as her idea of bringing despair is one of the many reasons why Tsumugi has passion and love for that show. As the Mastermind of Killing Games in Danganronpa, she tried her best to become an imitation of Junko as she stated before she was executed in the final Class Trial.

In the bonus mode, she states that Junko is a sparkling character to cosplay as. Junko commends her devotion to dressing as others and wishes her sister had the same devotion.

Free Time Events & Bonus Mode Guides
The links below are full transcripts and indepth guides for Tsumugi Shirogane's relationship routes in Free Time Events, Love Across the Universe: Dangan Salmon Team, Ultimate Talent Development Plan, and Hotel Kumasutra including her MonoMono Machine Present preferences and most effective dialogue options.

Quotes
DRV3=

References=

Extra=

List of Appearances

 * -|Games=
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version)
 * Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
 * -|Manga=
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology Volume 2
 * New Danganronpa V3: Minna no Koroshiai Shin Gakki Comic Anthology Volume 3

Trivia

 * When she framed Kaede for Rantaro's murder, it was similar to when Junko tried to frame Kyoko Kirigiri for Mukuro Ikusaba's death, but unlike Junko, Tsumugi's plot succeeded.
 * Her death is similar to Junko Enoshima's, which includes Junko's signature waving (while cosplaying as Junko) and then she and Monokuma being crushed to death
 * The only character from the first two games that Tsumugi does not cosplay as is Mukuro Ikusaba disguised as Junko Enoshima. However, "Junko"'s white bear-patterned tie is one of the pieces of clothing circling her, and Class Trial mugshots for her can be found in the files.
 * Tsumugi's_Research_Lab_Zanki_Zero_reference.png her promotional art, Tsumugi owns a wig that is a reference to Hatsune Miku, a popular created by  for the VOCALOID Voice Synthesizer.
 * When she mentions a 'god with black hair and red eyes' in chapter 3, it's possible she's talking about a certain neurosurgery patient, or Takumi Hirijirihara.
 * Her line to Rantaro that "he should blow up forever since he was being a total normie" is based on a common Japanese phrase (リア充爆発しろ！, Rea-Juu bakuhatsu shiro!) which is used by social misfits as an insult to people living fulfilled lives in the real world.
 * In her Research Lab there are two mannequins on the left hand side which feature the costumes of Sachika Hirasaka and Yuma Mashiro from the Spike Chunsoft game Zanki Zero: Last Beginning.
 * Including her cosplays, Tsumugi has the most sprites out of any character in any of the games.
 * Tsumugi shares her English voice actress, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, with Sayaka Maizono, Chihiro Fujisaki, and Alter Ego in the Danganronpa series.
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Tsumugi the least popular Danganronpa V3 student.
 * Japanese gaming magazine Dengeki from April 27th, 2017 to May 22nd, 2017 held two popularity polls, one that was voted electronically and the other via post cards. Tsumugi was voted the least popular student in the electronic poll, and 10th through post cards.

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