Maki Harukawa

"Kids are...weird. They come to me on their own. I'm not that good at taking care of them... I'm not that friendly either..."

- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo)

Maki Harukawa (春川 魔姫 Harukawa Maki) is a character featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and a participant of the Killing Game Semester.

Maki has the title Ultimate Child Caregiver (超高校級の「保育士」 chō kōkō-kyū no "hoikushi" lit. Super High School Level Nursery School Teacher). She was raised in an orphanage, where she learned to take care of children.

Early life
{{Spoiler/for|Danganronpa V3|
 * Before Joining Danganronpa

Maki Harukawa is a normal talentless high school girl who participated in the 53rd Season of Danganronpa, a famous worldwide reality show made by Team Danganronpa.

Maki and the other talentless fifteen students undergo the fabrication process, where all of their past memory and personality were heavily fabricated. She also received the talent and title of Ultimate Assassin—and later on faking it during the game as the Ultimate Child Caregiver. All of this were done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all around the world. After the fabrication process done, Maki and the others entered the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles as a whole different person, officially commencing the 53rd killing game season known as the Killing Game Semester.

During her high school days, Maki attended Brave Heart Hall High School (勇心館高校). However, it is unclear if this memory of her is a part of the fabrication made by Team Danganronpa.


 * Fabricated Past

After she successfully participated in the 53rd Killing Game, Maki's memories and past were fabricated by Team Danganronpa as follows.

Maki was an orphan and her talent was recognized while she was helping out at the orphanage that raised her. However, she did not choose to take care of children and doesn't even like children. She was simply made to help out.

However, Maki was trained to murder people in the time she was in the orphanage, winning the title of Ultimate Assassin secretly while hiding it under her false title; the Ultimate Child Caregiver.

The Gopher Plan
Part of the fake backstories created for Maki and the other fifteen students was the Gopher Plan, which supposedly happened before the killing game started. It was initiated by the government after countless meteorites crashed into Earth. To try and preserve the last vestiges of mankind before the Earth's destruction, the government decided to select a number of excellent human beings, put them in a spaceship, and have them escape.

Maki and fifteen other high school students were chosen to participate. Not wanting to abandon their loved ones, they attempted to escape from the plan.

Around that time, an extremist cult came into power. They believed that the meteor crashes were a punishment humanity brought upon itself, and having heard of the Gopher Plan, they tried to stop it. As a result, the “Ultimate Hunt” started and spread throughout the world, and the sixteen students 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 Gopher Plan was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed. Maki and the others went to the space in a massive colony spaceship, the true form of Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles.

Kokichi Oma, one of the participant of the plan, declared himself as a member of Junko Enoshima's Remnants of Despair who masterminded the Killing Game and let Monokuma entered the spaceship, effectively forcing Maki and the others to participate in the Killing Game.

Maki was able to received the complete memory about The Gopher Plan in Chapter 5 via Flashback Light. }}

Killing Game Semester
{{spoiler/for|Danganronpa V3|With all of her memories fabricated and being trapped in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, Maki would be in the library, where she met once again with Kaede Akamatsu and Shuichi Saihara. After obtaining the Monokuma Kubs' notice to go to the gym, she and the other students would witness the arrival of the Supervisor of the Killing Game, Monokuma, who explained the rules to each one, which were to commit the " Perfect murder "to get out of the academy. After all this, Maki looked suspiciously at the other students.

Maki and the others saw the school rules of the Killing Game Semester they were witnessing themselves. In that, she was one of those who see as Kaito Momota was about to break one of the rules of the Academy, which is to damage the MonoPad that was given to each, however, he was warned by Rantaro Amami to not break it. Panicking over the stressful and confusing situation they were in, Maki and the other students were led by Kaede Akamatsu to discover a way out. Gonta Gokuhara would claim to know where the exit was, so Maki followed along with the other students.

Maki got angry with Kaede and kept cold and distant with her, reminding her that there is no chance of leaving from the academy trying again the same thing. After Monokuma's accidental "death" at the hands of the Monokuma Kubs when he chose that the first reason would be that there would be no trial, Maki and the others enjoy peace in the academy, however there was some uncertainty in the students that it was over. Maki for her part, still had "finished" the game of slaughter continued reminding to Kaede the pressure that put on her and the others in the minigame of the sewers.

When Monokuma was "resurrected", he decided it was time to put an extra motive, which would be that if students who were forced to participate in the killing game did not murder someone within two days they would all be executed. Astonished at this, Maki replied that she never hoped and it was obvious that the game was not over. All of them would leave the dining room to their rooms after the new news. Knowing that there was a Monokuma Unit producing machine in the academy, Maki and the others knew that it was not enough to destroy it, but to do away with those behind it.

In the final day of the time limit, Kaito held a strategy meeting in the basement's game room to discuss a plan to fight Monokuma after the time limit end and he managed to gather six participant, including Maki. The others being Rantaro, Gonta, Himiko Yumeno, Angie Yonaga, and Tenko Chabashira. The seven of them was about to discuss how to defeat Monokuma, the Monokuma Kubs, and their Exisals. Before the strategy meeting started, Rantaro left from the group, saying that he need to use the bathroom.

Soon after, the body of Rantaro was discovered in the library. Maki and the others then told by Shuichi and Kaede, including Rantaro that they found a hidden door behind a bookshelf. In the class trial, Maki and the others found out that Kaede is the culprit behind the murder of Rantaro.

After Kaede has been executed, Maki later asked what's Monokuma's true goal in hosting the killing game. She and everyone else later return to their respective dorms.

The Wallflower
Upon discovering her Research Lab on the second floor, Maki prohibited anyone to enter it and shut herself inside. It was to protect her true talent as the Ultimate Assassin and not making the situation even worse if anyone discovered it.

However, her effort ended up in failure as Kokichi Oma singled out her true talent as the Ultimate Assassin shortly after the second Class Trial ended.

Maki's Decisive Plan
After seeing the Flashback Light and supposedly remembering that Kokichi Oma is a part of the Remnants of Despair, Maki made use of her electric hammer that Miu Iruma made and stunned an Exisal, which she immediately commandeered to bypass the electric barrier in the Exisal hanger, where Kaito Momota was being held captive by Kokichi. She was determined to kill The Ultimate Supreme Leader and end the killing game once and for all.

Upon seeing Maki come in, Kokichi made a rush for the Miu's remote control that could control any electronic device, but was immediately shot in the back by Maki with a poison-tipped arrow from her crossbow, bringing him to his knees. Kokichi belittled her, asking her why a killing game that should have already ended is continuing, claiming to not know anything about the Remnants of Despair. Maki, tired of hearing Kokichi spout supposed nonsense, shot the killing blow, but Kaito intercepted it with his arm, much to her shock. She immediately left the hanger and made her way to Shuichi Saihara's Research Lab to retrieve the only antidote.

When she made her way back to the hanger, she found the shutter had closed thanks to Kokichi to prevent her from coming back in again, so she went to the small bathroom window instead and tried to give Kaito the antidote through there. When she attempted to pass him the antidote however, Kokichi stole it and supposedly drank it all much Kaito's annoyance and Maki's horror since she knew he he would die of poison if he didn't get the antidote. Kokichi boasted about there being another class trial where Maki would be Kaito's killer. Maki was stunned, but Kaito reassured her that she was going to live before telling her to run away. She tried to get back in by breaking the control panel to the shutter with her knife, but to no avail.

Later, when everyone was getting ready to storm the Exisal hanger and defeat Kokichi, Maki did not have her electric hammer with her due to already having used it to commandeer an Exisal, though she kept this fact to herself and said she'd be fine with just her knife. When they opened up the hanger, everyone was horrified to discover an enormous amount of blood leaking from underneath the press machine alongside Kaito's jacket sleeve hanging out from the press, setting off the assumption that he was crushed to death. Maki was rendered silenced and came to the conclusion that she must have killed him because of her poisoned arrow.

Confusion and Conclusion
During the class trial, Maki was very quick to deny any claims that the victim was anyone other than Kaito and even got annoyed when Shuichi would try to say otherwise. When the "surprise guest" originally showed up in the Exisal and was initially believed to be Kaito, Maki was stunned until the person inside made themselves out to be Kokichi, having brought a recording of the supposed victim being crushed by the press with them, which appeared to be Kaito.

As the trial progresses, and Shuichi reveals Maki as the third party that infiltrated the hanger, it is revealed that she was willing to sacrifice anything, including the lives of her fellow survivors, in order to defeat Kokichi. After this fact is revealed, she decides to the reveal the truth about what happened inside the hanger between Kaito and Kokichi to everyone else in the trial. Eventually, the full truth about Kokichi's plan is revealed and that even Monokuma does not know the true culprit of this case. Maki tells Shuichi that she will think correctly from now on because she herself is unable to accept that she could have killed Kaito.

However, once Shuichi reveals that the only other person Kaito could have swapped with to pull off this case was Kokichi, meaning Kaito would still be alive, Maki was quick to take the blame for the crime once again due to being unable to believe that Kaito would kill someone after constantly saying that he would never kill someone. Eventually however, Shuichi is able to fully deduce Kokichi's full plan and Kaito comes out of the Exisal, revealing himself as the true culprit of this case.

Maki is initially angry, asking Kaito why he was the one who killed Kokichi after saying that killing was wrong time and time again. Kaito then proceeded to tell her and the others the full details of Kokichi's plan and why he went along with it in the first place. Once Kaito started coughing up blood however, Maki panicked. Monokuma was quick to want to execute him, but Maki refused to let him get killed regardless of whether or not he was sick. Monokuma then reveals that all five of the Monokuma Kubs have been reconstructed and are active once more, meaning that all five Exisal are once again under their control and will defend Monokuma. Maki is not phased by this, but Kaito tells her to stop, to which she responds to by tearfully telling him that he was the first person to call her "Harumaki", and the first person she ever ended up liking. Kaito apologizes to her about not being able to spend more time with her due to his condition, but reassures her that if she could like someone like him, then she could even learn to like herself. Upon hearing this, Maki breaks down in tears.

Following Kaito's execution, Maki made her way to the courtyard where they would always go to train together. She finds that Shuichi was already there, and the two shared a short, but emotional conversation, agreeing that they should be grateful to Kaito for everything he had done for them and vowed to carry on his will and end the killing once and for all. Eventually, they were joined by Tsumugi Shirogane and Himiko Yumeno, they all decided to train together. This moment however, was eventually interrupted by K1-B0, who had lost his "connector" to the outside world and thus; making him wanted to end the killing game for good and was determined to destroy Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and end the killing game himself.

Uncovering the Truth
Maki along with fellow survivors Shuichi, K1-B0, Himiko, and Tsumugi decide to re-open Rantaro Amami's case after discovering new truths related to his murder. Once Shuichi revealed Rantaro's talent as the Super High School Level Survivor, and proved that Kaede did in fact not murder him and was executed unjustly, Shuichi realizes that The Mastermind has to be one of them and, by double-checking everyone's alibis during Rantaro's murder, hones in on Tsumugi as the true culprit and mastermind of the Killing Game Semester.

Maki along with the other survivors are confused and shocked that the Ultimate Cosplayer could have gone through with such a plan while she denies the claim vehemently. Shuichi however, makes it very clear that Tsumugi is 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 Mother Monokuma, but Shuichi is quick to call her out on not giving the command of "birth" which would have trigger Mother Monokuma's voice recognition software and created another Monokuma. Maki tells Tsumugi to argue Shuichi's claims if she wants everyone to believe her, but is unable to do so. Maki along with the others watch as Tsumugi slowly breaks and re-introduces herself as "Junko Enoshima the 53rd".

Maki is quick to want to kill "Junko", thinking that it will end the killing game, but she claims that the killing game won't end with her death. Tsumugi, now cosplaying as Junko, went on to reveal that everyone's memories of being students at Hope's Peak Academy, the The Gopher Plan, 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. In reality, everything they remember about attending Hope's Peak Academy and the outside world being destroyed was a lie. What they remember about Kokichi being part of the Remnants of Despair was a lie as well, stunning Maki.

In reality, the circumstances behind their killing game are far more cruel. After proving her talent fully as the Ultimate Cosplayer by cosplaying as some characters from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Tsumugi revealed that everything has been broadcasted to a very peaceful world that have been enjoying watching the students of Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles kill each other, essentially revealing everything that they've been through as a reality-TV show and "Extreme Real Fiction". She also reveals that everything that took place in the Hope's Peak Academy Saga were nothing more than fictional events from a very popular anime and game franchise known as Danganronpa.

Maki, along with the other survivors, were quick to oppose Tsumugi and Monokuma, but they both revealed that the participants of the Killing Game Semester are also "fictional characters", whose memory, personality, feelings, and talent were all fabricated in order to provide an exciting setting for the killing game. Tsumugi reveals herself as working for Team Danganronpa and goes a step further and shows Shuichi's, Kaede's, and Kaito's, audition videos for the killing game, showing what sort of people they were prior to participating. Upon being told that her feelings for Kaito were all fabricated, Maki seems to have an emotional breakdown and questions what everything up until now was for.

K1-B0 however, after hearing what "the voice inside of him" has to say, reassured everyone to not lose hope. Tsumugi corrected him and says that the voice K1-B0 hears is the voice of the people watching this killing game and that he is nothing more than an interactive communication device and camera for the viewers to interact and participate in the game themselves. Despite this however, 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 decide to settle this with one final, special vote where K1-B0 represents hope and Tsumugi represents despair.

However, Shuichi saw through the charade and cuts in, saying that neither choice is correct and that choosing hope would do nothing but cause the killing game to continue. Because of this, he decides to stop playing along and abandons his vote, hoping to end Danganronpa once and for all, much to Tsumugi's and Monokuma's chagrin. Eventually, Shuichi convinced Maki to abandon her vote, she came to the conclusion that even if everything is fiction, that she'll believe in herself. She stated that if she couldn't do that, there would be no meaning for her existing here. She said that if she can make fiction change reality, that it then wouldn't be fiction and that it would give Kaito's life meaning, choosing to believe her feelings for him were in fact real. She resolved to use her own life as a weapon and abandoned her vote along with the others.

In a last ditch effort to keep Danganronpa going, K1-B0 is hacked by the audience. Tsumugi is proud to show that the audience does not wish for Danganronpa to end and explains that they supposedly deleted K1-B0's personality that kept getting in the way. K1-B0 is able to take brief control again and tells his fellow survivors that their choice is not the wrong one and that they can change the world before the hacking takes him over again. Maki tells K1-B0 to hang in there, but Tsumugi tells everyone that what they're doing is pointless. Shuichi refuses to give up, still exclaiming that he will end Danganronpa and that their lives are not just show-things for their amusement. Maki encourages Shuichi and tells him that he might be able to change the world.

Confident that Shuichi's voice reached the outside world through K1-B0, Maki and everyone else abandoned their vote. Tsumugi however, bends the rules one last time and abandons her vote as well, which she reveals after everyone else did. Everyone is 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 will risk her life to make it continue. Tsumugi is confident that Danganronpa will continue after abandoning her vote, meaning only K1-B0's vote will have any power as he is still being hacked.

When Monokuma displays the results of the final voting, Tsumugi is shocked to discover that no one had voted, proving that the audience does not want Danganronpa to continue. Tsumugi panics and tries to make everyone reconsider, but it is no use as the monitors all turn off, the audience no longer showing any interest. Upon realizing that Danganronpa was indeed over and done with, promptly loses all of her hope in living as she denied a world without Danganronpa, but she had not prepared a proper execution before hand as as such leaves it to K1-B0.

Maki along with her fellow survivors take cover under some rubble while K1-B0 executed everything and blows himself up, creating an opening in the glass dome for his fellow survivors to escape.

Maki's Fate
Maki survived the final execution along with fellow survivors Shuichi and Himiko by hiding under some rubble. She is the first to come out of the rubble and take in her surroundings, Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles had been completely obliterated by K1-B0. The remaining survivors wondered what would become of the fictional world now, but none of them had an idea of what to do now that everything was over. Maki questioned at first why they were still alive, but Himiko and Shuichi both stated that it must have been the outside world's will that let them survive. To Maki and Himiko's surprise however, Shuichi states that what Tsumugi said to them about the outside world may have been a lie, and that Hope's Peak Academy and the Remnants of Despair might actually exist, though he has no proof to back up this claim. He also does not think that he would willingly participate in a killing game no matter how mad of a world he was living in, but once again it is mere speculation, though Himiko states that Kaito's insight might be rubbing off on him. Despite not really knowing what is truth and what is lie however, Maki along with her two remaining survivors resolve themselves to go out into the outside world and see the truth for themselves, and that if a lie had changed the world, then the story would not end. }}

Creation and Development
Maki's birthday (February 2) coincides with Japan's national holiday, the day before the beginning of spring. A special ritual holds during this day to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き).

This is a joke to her given name kanji (魔姫), which means demon princess. Maki's first name is a reference to the ritual mamemaki, while her last name, Harukawa referenced to the Spring (春 haru) season.

Name
Maki's given name, written 魔姫, means "demon princess" while her last name, 春川 Harukawa, means "river of spring".

Alternate Fates
In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version), Maki was seen in the hallway giving her short introduction to Kaede Akamatsu as the Ultimate Child Caregiver. She states that even though she's unsociable and hates children, they loved her. This is somewhat become a mystery to her, speculating that maybe because she took care of them well. Kaede commented that the children could see Maki's true soul and thinking that she's actually capable of deep love.

Appearance
Maki is a young woman of common height with a rather slim physique, although she does possess some muscle. She has red eyes and long, dark brown hair that she chooses to keep in pigtails held by two red hair ties. She has bangs, as well as two small strands of hair that fall at the sides of her head, the one falling at her right side being a bit longer. Maki also has a beauty mark under her left eye.

She dons a scarlet-colored sailor outfit accompanied by thigh-high socks of the same color, a black plaid skirt with a slight green tint, and brown ankle boots. Her accessories include a black bracelet, small, circular earrings, a white hairpin at the side of her head and a flower pin on her right shoulder.

Personality
Maki appears to have a very serious personality, as she doesn't really seem to smile much if at all. The only notable exception is the poster which shows her with a mysterious smile, having a finger over her lips, which is a sign of secrecy.

Despite her cute appearance, Maki is described as a hostile misanthrope of few words. She is very aware that she comes across as unfriendly and prefers to be alone. In general, she dislikes people and thus she is not very cooperative, and can be stubborn. She talks very little, so when she does, she states things clearly and she appears to be very confident about her arguments. She also has a sharp tongue, and sometimes talks in a cold sarcastic manner. While not the type to assertively act on her own, she is stated to have guts and willing to take action when it suits her.

Despite her distant and unfriendly personality, Maki is good at taking care of others. She is very popular among children, even though she dislikes them. According to Kaede Akamatsu, Maki is actually capable of deep love, something that children might be able to see, explaining their attachment to her. She also shows a more caring side when she accepts gifts and is invited by Kaede to spend time together.

Ultimate Child Caregiver
Having been raised in an orphanage, Maki is very skilled at taking care of others, as she was ordered to take care of the younger children. She is loved by many children, even though she herself doesn't like kids. Kaede has stated that the children may be attached to Maki because they could see her true soul and capability of deep love. {{spoiler|In reality, Maki has no real talent in caregiving and simply chose to use that as the cover story to hide her real talent since she really did have to take care of those younger than her when she lived as an orphan.

Ultimate Assassin
Maki's true talent is that of the Ultimate Assassin (超高校級の「暗殺者」chō kōkō-kyū no "ansatsusha"). Trained as a child under the threat of having her orphanage be targeted if she failed, Maki developed a proficiency with multiple types of weapons and powerful strength and endurance. She is also capable of using numerous weapons without difficulty.

However, Maki's talent as the Ultimate Assassin is a fabrication made by Team Danganronpa, as well as her fake talent. Due to that fact, it is unclear whether Maki is a professional assassin or a child caregiver in the past. }}

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

Relationships

 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles:

Kaede Akamatsu
After Maki reveals her title as the Ultimate Child Caregiver to Kaede, she states that she hates children despite the fact that they love her. Kaede, however, mentioned that the children could see Maki's true soul and that she is actually capable of deep love.

Quotes

 * -|DRV3 Demo=

Danganronpa V3=

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

Trivia

 * Maki, along with K1-B0 and Kaito, was the first new character revealed for Danganronpa V3 in November 2015. However, their names and talents weren't revealed until ten months later in September 2016.
 * She was originally speculated as a possible protagonist (and thus the first female protagonist in the numbered game series) before Kaede Akamatsu was introduced as the main protagonist.
 * Maki's hairstyle is similar to one of Komaru Naegi's beta designs.
 * Maki's Japanese voice actress, Maaya Sakamoto, is married to Korekiyo Shinguji's Japanese voice actor Kenichi Suzumura.
 * Maki's English voice actress, Erica Mendez, also voices Nagisa Shingetsu.
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Maki the 9th most popular Danganronpa V3 student.

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