Maki Harukawa 春川 魔姫

Player Name: Kalyn
Age: 28
Contact: ovals
Timezone: EST
Other character currently in game: n/a

Character name: Maki Harukawa
Age: 17
Canon: Danganronpa V3
Canon point: End of ch 5
History: Wiki link

Three key adjectives: Independent, cold, serious

Influential Events: (This should list out at least 4 major events that have been crucial to this character's development. Explain how this event has changed your character, and don't focus heavily on the history of events. We're looking to see your interpretation, here!)

1. Maki Harukawa... Super High School Level Child Caregiver.
Like the other 15 students brought into the game, Maki awoke in a crumbling school with little memory of why she was there or what had happened to get her there. All she had was a name, her childhood memories, and a title-- And an additional, fake title. She introduces herself as the SHSL Child Caregiver, while also claiming to hate children, and immediately sets herself apart from the other students, not seeming to want to be involved or close with any of them.

While at the school, she's informed by a ridiculous, black-and-white robotic teddy bear that in order for them to leave the school and get all their memories back, one student must not only kill another, but also get away with the murder at a class trial. This makes everyone understandably nervous, but Maki keeps her cool about it all. It's Kaede that tries to rally them all, though Maki isn't particularly interested, and tries to keep to herself, claiming Kaede to be too naive and optimistic for how much stock she puts into the whole "if we all work together we'll find a way out!!' thing.

Kaede's subsequent death after being found the murderer of the first trial makes her even more cynical. She didn't seem too affected by the death, simply watching and accepting that it happened and the killing game would continue.

2. Exposure

Following the first trial, everyone was given "motive videos" to encourage them to kill the next time around. The problem was that everyone got someone else's video. While it's unknown what was on Maki's video, what is known is that it exposed Maki's true Talent as the SHSL Assassin. Hoshi, who got her video and knew that she had his, threatened to expose her if he didn't get the video. She gave it to him, but that might have been what led to the next death--specifically, his own. She doesn't seem to bear much guilt about this either, though there is some regret and wondering if she'd refused, if maybe he would've been spared.

Maki keeps her secret, until after the trial when Kokichi exposes her in front of everyone. She kept it secret because she knew that, in a murder game like this, she'd be the first one suspected and that people would be suspicious of her. She isn't wrong, as the others grow increasingly worried and afraid of her. Knowing this would happen, Maki decides to remove herself from the problem to begin with and lock herself up in room. In her mind, this is simply how things are and how they were inevitably going to go; her cold attitude had already been a deterrent in her making any friends among the students, and the violence she displays when Kokichi initially threatens to expose her doesn't help. Her immediate response to a threat is to try and choke him to get him to stop, much to everyone's shock and horror. Seeing this reaction again just helps to reaffirm her belief that she's something less than human and she cuts herself off accordingly for the sake of both her own feelings and to spare everyone else from having to deal with her. If she cuts them out, she doesn't have to worry about getting hurt, nor being accused of the inevitable next murder, which might doom them all.

3. The Three Musketeers.

But locking herself up for the duration of the killing game isn't going to cut it. Kaito takes it upon himself to force Maki out of her shell, forcing her along to his nightly training sessions with Shuichi. Though she claims it's useless and seems annoyed with their attempts to befriend her, she still goes with them and promptly shows them both up by finishing her exercises leagues ahead of them. Despite her reservations, she slowly starts letting her mask come down around them. She begins to relax and open up, admitting that her former life as an assassin was terrible, and how she was forced into it to save the other children at the orphanage from going in her place instead.

She begins to work with them on the subsequent cases, helping Shuichi out with his investigations and deductions. She even makes a few attempts at humor, though Shuichi can never tell if she's joking or not since her default is a "Do you want to die?" That normally she does sort of mean on some level. When Kaito and Shuichi have a fight and begin awkwardly avoiding each other, Maki takes it upon herself to investigate things, and to also continuously try to repair their friendship. Though she's not good at it, being a little too blunt and very "just work it out already!" exasperated with them, she values the relationship the three of them have and recognizes how well Kaito and Shuichi are for each other. She really comes to value their friendship and think of them as her first actual friends.

4. Chapter 5

Following the supposed revelation that Kokichi is a Remnant of Despair and the Mastermind behind the game, Maki decided to take matters into her own hands to end the killing game once and for all. She takes a poisoned crossbow to confront Kokichi in the hanger, but her plan is thwarted by Kaito stepping into the line of fire--literally. She poisons Kokichi, but also accidentally poisons Kaito and rushes to get the antidote.

When she returns, the shutter to the hanger is closed, so she tries to pass the antidote to Kaito through the bathroom door, but Kokichi takes it and supposedly drinks it, telling Maki that there's going to be a class trial for Kaito's death and Maki would be the murderer. Kaito tells her it won't happen and tells her to run, which she reluctantly does.

It turns out someone DID die, but there's a mass of confusion on who the murderer AND the murder victim actually are. When Kaito is found to have survived and killed Kokichi, he's set to be executed and Maki is forced to confront her feelings for Kaito and acknowledge them for the first time. She breaks down sobbing, claiming that she's never had friends before, never had anyone give her a nickname, and never fell in love with anyone before. Kaito encourages her to continue on living and to smile for him, and claims that since she found it in her to like someone like him, then maybe one day she could learn to like herself too.

He dies and Maki retreats to the courtyard where they would train, only to find Shuichi there as well. The two talk and agree to continue living on and, for Kaito's sake, to end the killing game once and for all before being joined by the other survivors for a training session.


Link to Samples: Link to Sample 1; Link to Sample 2;

Chosen path: Cleric
5 Abilities:
1. SHSL Assassin. Maki has a strength and endurance far beyond a normal high school girl, capable of easily holding someone like Kokichi up by their neck, off the ground, and completing multiple push-ups, sit-ups, etc. in record time without breaking a sweat. She's also capable of using multiple types of weapons with ease and is no stranger to killing.
2. Acolyte
3. Cure Wounds
4. Sacred Flame
5. Silence
Why this path?: Maki in canon is an assassin, with all that entails. Kaito is the one who helped encourage her to be something more than that, and Maki herself admits that if she could, she'd want to quit being that and maybe be an actual SHSL Child Caregiver. A Cleric seems a step in the right direction towards helping people instead of harming them.

Also it's just REALLY funny since it's the exact opposite one would expect for her.