Hiyoko Saionji

Hiyoko Saionji (西園寺 日寄子 Saionji Hiyoko) is one of the characters featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. She has the title of Ultimate Traditional Dancer (超高校級の日本舞踊家 chō kōkō-kyū no  “N ihon buyō-ka ” ).

She was murdered by Mikan in Chapter 3 due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Appearance
Hiyoko is a very petite girl with long, blonde hair that is generally seen tied into curved twin tails. At first sight, Hajime remarks that her voice and her appearance don't give off the air of a high schooler at all. In the game, she has gold eyes and keeps her hair up with two hairties, both of which consist of a green ribbon with a cat face in the middle. She is dressed in an orange, traditional furisode kimono with a white floral print pattern, and a green obi sash is tied around her waist and secured with a bow at the back. She undergoes a growth spurt in the real world. Afterwards, she is instead dressed in a pink kimono with a red sash, her hair put up in one ponytail instead of two, and a hair tie or pin with pink flowers and holds a fan. She also wears zori (Japanese sandals). Her outfit reflects the fact she is the Ultimate Traditional Dancer.

Personality
Her cute appearance, voice, and (initially) her way of talking give off the impression she is innocent and childlike. However, in her introduction alone, it is quickly revealed that she is cruel with a malicious side in how she squishes ants while telling Hajime that they make a satisfying popping noise if done correctly, and even invites him to join her. Later at the beach, she goes around trying to step on and trample the crabs, laughing as if it were just child's play, showing an alarming fascination with violence. She also constantly judges others and patronises them with rude insults, with Mikan and Kazuichi being the most common victims. She often takes a jab at Akane as well, though she, unlike Mikan or Kazuichi, doesn't get frustrated but rather actually takes her pranks into serious consideration. Hiyoko is able to manipulate the others to do her bidding easily. She proves this when Akane agrees to investigate the motel on the third island under her request.

On the other hand, she loves Japan and its cuisine very much, and does show some innocent and childlike traits like her liking for gummy candy or konpeito. She is also prone to tears when humiliated, such as in Chapter 2 when Akane says something smells and it turns out to be coming from Hiyoko. She also seems to hate it when people don't side with her, such as in one of her Free-Time Events when she tries to get Hajime to go and beat up Kazuichi with her. She also often passes off her crying as fake tears, though Hajime notes that it probably isn't true.

Hiyoko becomes attached to Mahiru Koizumi after the latter helps Hiyoko take a shower and shows her how to tie her obi, even referring to Mahiru as 'big sis' afterwards. Though reluctant at first, Mahiru went along with it and became close to Hiyoko.

Hiyoko also hated being deceived. It proved in Chapter 2 and when she felt annoyed and flustered by not-actually Monokuma's invitation that has been made by Nagito. In Chapter 3, Hiyoko told to Hajime that she hated being deceived.

After the events of Chapter 2 and with Fuyuhiko's apology and subsequent re-opening of his wounds, Hiyoko attempts to change herself for the better, becoming somewhat less hostile and not insulting as much (except to Mikan, to whom she is just as mean to as ever).

History
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Prior to the Tragedy
Hiyoko's Free-Time Events reveal that she lived with her grandmother and is heiress to the Saionji Clan, which is also the head of the school of traditional Japanese dance. Being the heiress, many people were jealous of her to the point of bullying her, such as poisoning her food or putting needles in her shoes when she was a young child, amongst other horrible things. In addition, her grandmother, though she treated Hiyoko well, only cared about pride of the family, to the point where Hiyoko couldn't even see her own parents. Because of her past, she considers herself a part as the noble class, and everybody else as meager slaves.

In Chapter 2's Class Trial, it is revealed that Hiyoko was in fact,  “B-ko ”  in the Twilight Syndrome Murder Mystery, implying that she was close friends with Mikan, Ibuki, Mahiru and possibly Sato during her time at Hope's Peak.

Much later, Hajime finds a news article in the glitch version of Hope's Peak Academy that shows an older, much more mature-looking Hiyoko, showing that their time spent on 'Jabberwock Island' was actually a memory of their time when they first came to Hope's Peak while in reality, their bodies had matured around 2–3 years (approximately).

Island Life of Mutual Killing
Hiyoko can first be found hanging around at the Farm. Hajime notes that she was poking at the ground repeatedly for some reason, which later turns out to be that she was crushing (popping) ants. Later, Mikan and Kazuichi quickly turn into easy targets for Hiyoko's cruelty. Otherwise, she does not have much of a significant role in either Prologue or Chapter 1.

At the beginning of Chapter 2, after everybody gathered at the Restaurant, Akane suddenly speaks up and tells everyone that she smells something bad. Although everyone was confused at first, the smell turns out to be coming from Hiyoko, who becomes frustrated and begins crying. She admits that she hasn't been able to take a shower for the few days, due to the fact that she is unable to properly wear her kimono by herself and that it isn't her fault that she smells. While most of the others go off to investigate a new island, Mahiru offers to help Hiyoko, who immediately happily drags Mahiru off to take a shower with her. If Hajime has a certain item with him at this point, he will go to peek at them taking a shower together. For the rest of the chapter, Hiyoko has a close bond with Mahiru, often hanging around her and referring to her as 'big sis'.



Later, after Mahiru's murder in the Beach House, Hiyoko acts suspicious and runs away when Nagito tries to question her about whether Mahiru tried to talk to her before her death. It's revealed that Hiyoko was one of the Twilight Syndrome Murder Mystery character, called as B-ko. During the Class Trial, Hiyoko is initially heavily suspected as to being the culprit. She immediately denies all the accusations in tears, yelling that there would be no way that she would've killed her big sis. Thanks to Hajime and Chiaki's efforts, it is determined that all the evidence that seemingly pointed to Hiyoko were actually traps set by the true culprit to frame her instead. She admits that she was actually the first witness to the body of Mahiru, and ran out the Beach House in panic. Thanks to a multitude of testimonies from Hiyoko, Kazuichi, and Chiaki, Hajime arrives to the conclusion that Peko was the murderer. She is found guilty and executed, with Fuyuhiko heavily injured in the process.

Later, in the beginning of Chapter 3 after Fuyuhiko's injury, Hiyoko snuck into the Restaurant before anybody else in the morning and made a sinister-looking memorial to honor Mahiru, to which she had thought that everyone would be happy over. However, her expectations were ruined when everybody, not knowing Hiyoko had made it, commented that the memorial was creepy and unsettling to the point that even Gundham thought it was evil. Not wanting everyone to know that she had made that 'creepy and unsettling' memorial, she goes with the flow and comments about how Mahiru wouldn't like it at all as well, until Chiaki points out that the memorial was surely made with an honest intention. Hiyoko begins crying and admits she made the memorial because she thought Mahiru would be lonely, and apologizes for how it looks since the only thing she can do is dance. Hiyoko then asks for them to not burn it, to which the others agree, keeping it up for Hiyoko and Mahiru's sake.

When Fuyuhiko comes back to the group, Hiyoko openly shows her distrust and dislike of him, as he is essentially the cause of Mahiru's death. Despite that, after Fuyuhiko apologizes and bows down to the floor at the expense of re-opening his wounds, and later seeing him earnestly trying to change for the better, she forgives him and tries to change herself for the better as well.

After Monokuma's announcement of Chapter 3's motive, the Despair Fever, is given, Hiyoko along with Kazuichi, Gundham, Sonia, and Chiaki move to the Motel near the Hospital so they can keep in touch with those staying at the Hospital. Hiyoko, however, locks herself into her own Motel room and initially doesn't come outside because she doesn't want to contract the Despair Fever. Later, Sonia finds her door half-open and goes to check up on Hiyoko, who she finds with her clothes half-on and crying. She attempted to wash herself and put her clothes back on the way Mahiru had taught her properly how to do, and yet she wasn't able to, causing her frustration.

At Sonia's recommendation, Hiyoko went to the Livehouse and planned to use the full-body mirror there to fix her kimono. However, she witnessed Mikan murder Ibuki on the way and she was murdered by Mikan with a slit to the throat.

Mahiru Koizumi
Hiyoko's friendship with Mahiru blooms in Chapter 2, when the latter helps her take a shower and then wear her kimono correctly. Since then, Hiyoko regularly referred to Mahiru as her 'big sis' or 'big sister Mahiru'. Although Mahiru was initially reluctant to be dragged around by Hiyoko, it is evident that Hiyoko greatly looked up to the other as she was devastated by Mahiru's death, and later made her a memorial. Even after the events of Chapter 2, Hiyoko tries to take a shower and put her clothes back on by herself since Mahiru had taught her with so much patience, and was extremely frustrated to find out that she couldn't.

Mikan Tsumiki
Hiyoko is quick to latch onto Mikan, but not in a friendly way. Mikan quickly became a common target for her bullying. She constantly makes rude remarks towards Mikan without any particular reason to do so. It was shown that their relationship had been the same even before the Pre-Despair Incident when they were all students of Hope's Peak Academy, evidenced by the Twilight Syndrome Game in which they were A-ko (Mikan) and B-ko (Hiyoko). In Chapter 3, Hiyoko ends up being murdered by her.

Hajime Hinata
For the most part, she is neutral towards Hajime, but during her Free Time events they get a little closer.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
Beside the other people that were fallen victims of her bullying, Fuyuhiko was also targeted by Hiyoko. She often called him a coward yakuza, or an ugly baby-faced yakuza. Later at the end of the chapter 2, Hiyoko developed a feeling of hatred for him. She blamed Mahiru's and Peko's deaths on him and Hiyoko still refused to apologize to Fuyuhiko after he lost his right eye. Even when Fuyuhiko gave her and the others an awkward greeting she still refused to apologize to him, and even cornered him, which caused Fuyuhiko to jab his own stomach to show his guilt to her. Finally, Hiyoko agreed, forgave him and chose to coorporate.

Quotes

 * “ You're juuust like a stock character, Big Bro Hajime. Both your face and outfit are so plain... Teehee! Even if you disappeared, no one would notice. ”
 * “Honestly, everyone on this island is a huuuge weirdo! Ah, except big sis Mahiru! ”
 * “ Hey! Do you know how stressful it is to have listen to someone to talk to you when you're not interested in them all?! ”
 * “ Big Bro Hajime... you're such a nice person, aren't you? Carelessly promising impossible things... And being so easily fooled by fake tears! ”
 * “ It's so much fun to trample such pretty things down with your own two feet and ruthlessly tear them to pieces! ”
 * “ That thing you call 'friendship' is just bunch of weaklings plotting together. This world is divided between with a chosen noble like me, and those who serve us as slaves. That's why I don't need to team up with something like friends... ”
 * “ I'm just saying, we should all cherish the things that are close to us, right? I mean, your thoughts might become a little old-timey if you spend too much time meddling with 400- old history.. But what's wrong with old-fashioned thinking? Of course.. I'm not saying new trends are always bad, especially in Kabuki Dancing. But certain things should be protected at all costs! ”
 * “ I really do love dancing and Japanese sweets and Japanese foods, and just like that, I really do love... Trampling down the filth! ”
 * “ You're unrefined, common human being Big Bro Hajime, so of course you wouldn't understand... You have to make it a habit to be mindful of the very tips of your fingers at all times! That's also the very first move in dance! ”
 * “ We’re just… ignoring the situation we’re in. It has nothing to do with friendship or cooperation or solidarity… The weak get killed one after another… Anyone can betray at any moment… And that’s why we can’t trust anyone. That’s what this place is all about. ”
 * “From her face, brain, style and personality, the only good thing here are her ears! ” (thought about Ibuki Mioda)
 * “What am i going to do?! Just listening him to speak is embarrassing! ” (thought about Gundham Tanaka)
 * “You sure you're not exaggerating about your 'powers'? Aren't you just a breeder? ” (to Gundham Tanaka)
 * “She showed me how to tie my obi... She was so nice to me. Why would I ever kill her?! Why did it take you so long to get it?! You're all stupid! Stupid stupid stupid stupid! ” (thought about Mahiru Koizumi)

Trivia

 * Saionji (西園寺) translates to “Western garden temple” while Hiyoko (日寄子) means “Child who brings forth day”.
 * Her e-Handbook states that she likes bubble wrap. She also hates sour food and being scolded.
 * Her title is often translated as the Ultimate 'Classical' Dancer. In original Japanese, she is known as the Ultimate 'buyō-ka', or a master of buyō dance, which is a traditional form of Japanese art that combines the act of moving to a rhythm and dancing.
 * Hiyoko has a bit of a sweet tooth; she mostly eats gummies. However, she never eats yellow gummies, due to her dislike of sour food.
 * Her Bloodtype is B.
 * At some point during the game, the remaining students find out that about 2-3 years have passed since their actual enrollment at Hope's Peak Academy after a glitch in the New World Program reveals a newspaper article featuring Hiyoko in her actual current appearance - considerably taller and much more adult-looking.