Peko Pekoyama

Peko Pekoyama (辺古山 ペコ Pekoyama Peko) is one of the characters featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. She has the title of Ultimate Swordswoman (超高校級の剣道家 chō kōkō-kyū no kendō-ka).

Appearance
Pekoyama wears a black or dark turquoise schoolgirl uniform with a red tie or ascot. Her skirt is somewhat short, and wears dark tights underneath with white shoes. She has long, silver hair that she ties up into two braids on each side of her head. White ribbons hold each braid at the sides of her head, and two red ties hold each braid together at the bottom. Her eyes are also bright red. She is constantly seen carrying her shinai (bamboo sword) around with her in a dark turqoise sheath/wrap with a silver/white design on the back. At one point in the game, she admits that her appearance has been mistaken for cosplay before, and strange cameramen have tried to take her picture.

Personality
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Pekoyama comes off as a very serious and stern woman who shows little to no emotions. She speaks with an authoritative tone of voice, and she is mostly business. However, she is not antisocial or unwilling to stay around the other students, even agreeing to attend Togami's party in Chapter 1. In her first Free-Time Event, she reveals that she has a strong affinity for animals, though they themselves do not share the same feeling.

Near the end of Chapter 2, it is suddenly revealed that she is the personal bodyguard and hitman of  Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, having been taken in and raised like so by the Kuzuryuu family. She sees herself as not a human being, but rather as a tool, with her only purpose in living being to protect and follow the orders of Kuzuryuu.

History
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Pre-Despair Incident
As a baby, Pekoyama was given away by her own family and taken in by the Kuzuryuu Family, a known yakuza group. From young, she was raised alongside the family's young son and eventual heir, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, and trained to be his personal hitman and bodyguard. She became extremely loyal to him, eventually viewing herself simply as a tool to follow her young master's orders.

Island Life of Mutual Killing

Initially, Pekoyama and Kuzuryuu showed no signs of having known each other prior to coming to Dangan Island, on behalf of Kuzuryuu's orders. Despite that, when Kuzuryuu constantly refused to join the others and stayed a lone wolf, Pekoyama was usually the one who went to give him messages or saw him around the most. She attended Togami's party in Chapter 1 and offered to stay in the surveillance room to keep an eye on the screens. However, as she later states, she left the surveillance room and locked herself in the restroom due to sudden stomachaches. This is confirmed by Nidai, who found the door to the restroom locked when he was suffering from indigestion during the party. Due to the power breaker having been in the surveillance room, Pekoyama was initially suspected in the first trial for causing the blackout, though that accusation was quickly proven wrong.

Monokuma's motivation in Chapter 2, the Twilight Syndrome Game, caused Pekoyama to murder Mahiru Koizumi in order to save Kuzuryuu who had sought revenge for his younger sister. Kuzuryuu became angry at Koizumi when he went to talk to her, but before he could do anything, Pekoyama turned up and attacked Koizumi instead, killing her instantaneously by blunt force trauma to the head with a metal bat. Before she killed Koizumi, she brought Saionji to the crime scene then drugged her to frame her for killing Koizumi. After ushering Kuzuryuu away, she left the bat and a mask of a cartoon heroine at the scene, along with some red herrings to turn the suspicion to Saionji. Despite that, at the Class Trial, Hinata singles out Pekoyama as the murderer against Kuzuryuu's protests. She doesn't try to defend herself, but rather, suddenly 'reveals' herself as Kirakira-chan, a serial killer revolves around justice and murders criminals that Sonia had mentioned. She goes on a long-winded (and somewhat comical) rant about how murder to preserve justice is justified, causing the students to hastily vote her out as the culprit. Too late, Sonia provides evidence as to why Pekoyama couldn't possibly be Kirakira-chan as the serial killer was not Japanese in the first place.

As the voting had already ended, it is revealed that Pekoyama is actually an acquaintance of Kuzuryuu, being his personal hitman and bodyguard. She had everyone vote for her on purpose as in her scenario, she was only a tool and Kuzuryuu was the true culprit, and he would be able to escape alive which was her sole goal from the beginning. However, Kuzuryuu refutes this and denies Pekoyama's existence as a mere tool, instead saying he wanted her to stay as a true human being and his friend. Though seemingly somewhat disappointed, Pekoyama expected that that would happen. Resigned to her fate, Pekoyama is taken to her execution. Though Kuzuryuu came to the middle of the execution and Pekoyama attacked Kuzuryuu with her sword and cut his right eye out. Pekoyama then shields his body in order to protect him from being killed in her execution.

Execution

 * Main Article: Rambunctious Girl

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu
It is revealed at the end of Chapter 2 that Pekoyama was raised in the Kuzuryuu household, and was assigned to be Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu's personal hitman and bodyguard, meaning she was always around him since young. She orchestrated Koizumi's murder in an attempt to save Kuzuryuu from the Island and send him back home. In the Dangan Island alternate ending, she has feelings for Kuzuryuu. In the main story, she's still very close to him, willing to protect him at all times. In the Sixth 'Trial', he heard her voice speaking to him to snap out of despair.

Quotes

 * "A self-introduction? ...All right. I don't mind."
 * "I am known as Peko Pekoyama. It's nice to meet you, as well."
 * "...I troubled myself to come call you two over, but to think I would be given the 'monster' treatment..."
 * "Are Monokuma's words just now truth? About us all having amnesia.. about a traitor in our group?"
 * "Then I should go relay the message about the party tonight to Kuzuryuu."
 * "The order I received, as well as my reason of living, is to fulfill the role as the young master's 'posession'."
 * "No matter what you all say about it, I am but a tool for the purpose of assassination. If the young master wishes to have a person erased, then it is only natural as my job as a tool to obey."

Trivia

 * Pekoyama's voice actor, Kotono Mitsuishi, also voiced Sailor Moon. She was one of the few voice actors specified by the creators to portray a specific character.
 * She also shares the same birthday as Sailor Moon, June 30.
 * The mask she claims to don in her trial shares characteristics with one of Japan's most prominent mascots, the one for Milky (a soft flavored milk candy), including the outward sticking tongue. The mascot's name is 'Peko-chan'.
 * "Pekopeko" can mean obsequious or servile, and the Kuzuryuu family raised her to be Fuyuhiko's tool.
 * She likes the color black and hates candy.
 * Free time events reveal that despite her fondness for animals, they always seem to run away from her.
 * In the Dangan Ronpa 1-2 Reload Artbook, Pekoyama and Ishimaru are portrayed together side-to-side wielding Shinai. The vast similarities in their appearances imply they are based on the concept of Yin-Yang, and are perhaps blood-related to an extent. Upon retrospection, Pekoyama shares characteristics similar to that of Yin, and Ishimaru expresses traits that are similar to Yang.
 * Her Bloodtype is O