Sato

Sato (サトウ) is a Hope's Peak Academy Reserve Course Student and a good friend of Mahiru Koizumi. She is a key subject in the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and later featured in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School.

Appearance
Sato had violet eyes and long, dark-green, wavy hair that reached past her shoulders. She wore the Reserve Course uniform, which consisted of a long-sleeved dress shirt, a red necktie, a black-pleated skirt, and brown shoes with matching socks. In the photograph Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu received in-game, she had dark-brown hair, and her uniform had short sleeves and a brown skirt instead of a black one.

It has been revealed that she had a scar on her left arm after getting into an argument with Natsumi Kuzuryu a long time back.

Personality
According to her reasons to why she had killed Natsumi, she was a heavily possessive and defensive person who would do anything to protect her friends, especially Mahiru Koizumi, from being hurt. She had a tendency to act like a leader with her friends, and she was very decisive and unwavering in her thoughts. She also appeared to have a short temper, as she easily lost her cool when Natsumi threw empty threats or insults at her.

Once Sato murdered Natsumi to protect Mahiru, she became unhinged and set up her death to be caused by a pervert who broke into the school and offed her. She denied she ever did this, however, attempting to convince herself and the others around her of this. When Hajime Hinata directly questioned her about the situation, she became incredibly distressed. Eventually, she ran away from him and screamed after he told her that Natsumi had a strong will to live and never would've given up, implying that Sato felt gut-wrenching guilt for murdering Natsumi, even if she hated her.

Prior to The Tragedy
Sato was friends with Mahiru in middle school. When Mahiru attended Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Photographer, Sato followed her there by joining the Reserve Course.

Episode 03 - A Farewell to All Futures
Sato made her first appearance after she had been eavesdropping on Hajime and Natsumi's conversation. She slammed her hand on Hajime's desk, telling Natsumi not to plot something bad to her friend from the Main Course, Mahiru. When the two started to argue, Hajime fruitlessly attempting to help, Mahiru came in and tried to stop them. Sato told Natsumi to stop bullying Mahiru just because her photography skills are far better than Natsumi's were. She insulted Natsumi and tried to make her realize that bullying Mahiru can't make her get scouted by the Main Course, which angered Natsumi and caused her to attempt to punch Sato before Mahiru took the latter out of the classroom.

In the hallway, Sato told Mahiru that Natsumi needed to stop bullying her. She also complimented Mahiru, saying that she was the hope of Photography Club and someday her photos would spread around the world, foreshadowing Mahiru's action when she fell to Despair and became a member of the Ultimate Despair. Afterward, both of them ate the hamburger steaks Mahiru had made.

Sometime later, Sato met with Natsumi again to warn her that her underhanded and violent methods would not get her into the Main Course. When Natsumi only mocked her, Sato became angered and attempted to hit her before Hajime came to the scene and stopped her from doing so. Natsumi angrily told Sato that she would kill her and left. After Hajime followed Natsumi, she shuddered, muttering darkly to herself that she'd do anything to protect Mahiru.

The very next day, Natsumi was found murdered, and Sato and Mahiru both met at the fountain to discuss what might have happened. Mahiru was unsure, but Sato attempted to convince her otherwise of being Natsumi's killer. She lied about it, and also showed off a scar on her left arm that she sustained in a fight between her and Natsumi back when they were in the Photography Club. Mahiru was convinced, as she trusted her friend, and left. Afterward, Sato sighed in relief.

Hajime, who had seen them talking, decided to approach Sato and ask her about the truth of what had happened to Natsumi. Sato became deranged, mocking Natsumi in death by saying she likely committed suicide from losing her will to live. Hajime objected angrily at this, defending Natsumi and describing her motivations. Sato became terrified, riddled with guilt at this, and she fled the scene screaming.

The very next day, Sato was found dead, as she was murdered in vengeance by Fuyuhiko, Natsumi's brother.

2nd Day
Sato, nicknamed as "Girl E," was first seen in classroom 1-A with Mahiru Koizumi (Girl D), Hiyoko Saionji (Girl B), and Ibuki Mioda (Girl C), discussing the murder that occurred the day prior when Mikan Tsumiki (Girl A) came late to the meeting. Sato grew panicked when Mahiru showed the picture of Natsumi's corpse (Unnamed victim), so she took the picture, ripped it apart, and removed the image from her camera's memory card. She then told the rest of the group that the murder had nothing to do with them and advised them to keep the body's discovery a secret.

When Sato was just about to go home, she heard someone saying “I won't...let you...forget...” repeatedly. Sato freaks out, yelling, “FORGIVEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEE,” and runs away. The voice responds with “Never...” and the scene ends with a bloodied black screen saying, “I will never forgive you”.

4th Day
The scene began with Hiyoko, Ibuki, and Mahiru standing up in front of a classroom, freaking out. When Mikan asked what happened, Hiyoko unhappily suggested that she enter classroom 1-B, and when she entered, she found Sato's body leaning against the wall, near a bloody metal bat.

1st Day
Sato was first seen again after Mahiru, Hiyoko, Mikan, and Ibuki heard the sound of shattered glass coming from upstairs where they found Sato standing in front of the music room. Sato stated that she was just walked past the music room when she heard the sound of glass breaking inside. The music room door was locked and the group couldn't get inside. Ibuki believed that someone was inside the music room as she tried to enter the room.

Sato suggested to the group to borrow the key in the staff room, so Mahiru sneaked into the staff room and grabbed the key for the group. However, something unexpected happened when they enter the room: they found the corpse of Natsumi, lying dead on the floor.

The group quickly panicked, but Hiyoko suggested to remain calm, as she found out that the girl who was lying on the floor had recently been killed and that the killer may still be around. Hiyoko decided that the culprit probably locked the music room's door from the inside and then, after murdering the girl, broke the window and escaped through it.

The group decided that the culprit panicked after clubbing the girl, so the culprit accidentally broke the aquarium and made the gravel scatter all around. It was proven when Ibuki took the key, which had been in the staff room as usual, and showed that the only two ways to lock the music room are from the inside or with the key from the staff room. Ultimately, the group reached the same conclusion: the culprit escaped through the window.

Sato convinced the group that the pervert committed the murder because her swimsuit has been stolen recently. In the end, the group decided not to get involved in the case and left the corpse one by one, the last being Mahiru, who still seemed confused about what happened that day.

3rd Day
Sato was first shown approaching Mahiru, who had been waiting for her arrival in the Academy's backyard.

Mahiru wanted to show Sato a picture that she took just yesterday: a picture of a broken flower vase in the classroom next to the music room. Mahiru thought that the noise of breaking glass yesterday was not the sound of a window breaking, the culprit didn't escape through the window, and, finally, Mahiru knew that Sato was actually the culprit.

Mahiru decided to clean up the evidence by erasing the picture she took yesterday. Finally, Sato confessed to her crime and told Mahiru that the girl she murdered yesterday had been giving Mahiru trouble. Sato knew the girl was Mahiru's junior at the photography club in junior high and couldn't stand that the girl was using her parents' status to bully others anymore.

At first, Sato tried to just talk to the girl, but then the girl said she was going to go after Sato too, so she got angry, and before she knew it, she was strangling the girl and she lost consciousness, so before the situation got even worse, Sato killed her. Sato became flustered and left Mahiru alone.

Before Sato left the school, she dumped the picture that Mahiru took into the garbage can behind the school buildings. Suddenly, Fuyuhiko, the victim's older brother, came to check out what Sato just dumped into the garbage can. He also heard rumors that Sato was with the girl on the day of the incident. When Fuyuhiko checked the picture of the broken flower vase, he became surprised and suspected Sato even more. He stated that the girl who was killed by Sato was his sister. The screen turned black as Fuyuhiko said, "I will never... I will never forgive her!"

Relationships

 * Middle School:

Mahiru Koizumi
Mahiru was Sato's best friend since her former middle school Photography Club. Because Mahiru attended Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Photographer, Sato followed her there by joining the Reserve Course. Mahiru cared for Sato very much and always went to the Reserve Course building to eat lunch with her. Sato was very protective over Mahiru and went as far as to kill Natsumi in fear of her hurting Mahiru. Mahiru cried over Sato's death when she was killed.

It was implied that Sato may have had romantic feelings for Mahiru. She was very protective of her, to the point of appearing somewhat obsessive. During one scene, she insisted that Mahiru had great talent and that her photos would become famous (in the English dub, Sato described it as the beauty Mahiru brings into the world), of which Mahiru was surprised and flattered. The two then continued to talk about their food, both of them appearing quite joyful. In the English dub, Natsumi also mocked Sato's behavior towards Mahiru by calling her "lovesick". Within this implication, Sato's feelings appeared to be one-sided, though this has not been confirmed.

In Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, when Mahiru (Girl D) went to Sato (Girl E) to talk about the murder, Sato assumed Mahiru was going to confess her love to her, which further implied Sato's potential romantic feelings.

Natsumi Kuzuryu
Sato and Natsumi had known each other from their last school and always had a negative relationship. Sato disliked Natsumi, who was rude to others and acted like she was better than them despite being a Reserve Course student.

After multiple threats from Natsumi (which were most empty threats), Sato became convinced that Natsumi was evil and swore to protect Mahiru, which eventually led to her murdering Natsumi. Afterwards, she became deranged and lied about Natsumi's death, claiming she didn't murder her and that she had been miserable anyway. After hearing Hajime's words about Natsumi's will to live, Sato ran away screaming, possibly feeling guilt for murdering her.


 * Class 77-B:

Mikan Tsumiki (Girl A), Hiyoko Saionji (Girl B), and Ibuki Mioda (Girl C)
In Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, it was revealed that Mikan, Hiyoko, and Ibuki were some of Sato's best friends prior to her death. They, along with Mahiru, spent most of their time together at Hope's Peak Academy.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu (Boy F)
Not long after his sister's murder occurred, Fuyuhiko discovered the culprit, angering him. He decided to get revenge on Sato and killed her in the same fashion as his sister: by hitting her on the head with a metal bat.

Quotes

 * -|DR3=

Trivia

 * In Danganronpa 2, Sato's name is spelled in kanji as "佐藤", but Danganronpa 3 instead spells it with katakana as "サトウ".
 * According to Twilight Syndrome, she joined the Archery Club while at Hope's Peak Academy. It is unknown if she had an interest in archery or if this was something added to the game by Monokuma, as it is not brought up in Danganronpa 3.

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