ouroboros

by Buttercup_ghost

Summary:

Yuto and Chiaki talk about talent.

[Danganronpa Zero Month Day Twenty-Seven: Spy.]

“Hm… You know, spies are really popular in video games.”

“Oh, really? One day I’ll be just as popular as a video character!”

“Huh… But isn’t that kind of contradictory?”

“What do you mean, Big Sis?”

“We’re the same age.”

“Your point?”

“Well, I just mean… You’re such a good spy cause you don’t have a presence, but you’re pursuing spy work to gain a presence… You’re good cause you’re not noticed, but you’re using that skill to gain notice… aren’t you just a snake eating it’s own tail?”

“And what about you, Big Sis? You hate talent, but you love your own. Isn’t that contrary, too?”

“I don’t… hate it, I think… I just feel trapped by it, you know…”

“Trapped by something you love so much?”

“Well… sometimes I wonder if I have stockholm…”

“Every Ultimate does, Big Sis! That’s what talent means! At least I’m trying to make the best of it. What are you doing?”

“I don’t really… need acknowledgment…? I just need my friends, you know. I don’t need the world to see me if they do.”

“Ah, but Big Sis, that IS acknowledgement! Everyone needs someone to see and validate their existence! It doesn’t matter if it’s on a micro or macro level— everyone needs some kind of eyes on them! That’s how you recognize yourself, too! You need to exist in another’s eyes; everyone does. And Big Sis, how did you make those friends? Can you tell me that?”

“…With video games.”

“With your talent! If I’m an ouroboros, so are you! We’re both spiders caught in our own webs!”

“I didn’t make this web. I didn’t choose this. I don’t want to be trapped!”

“But you love the web, don’t you? You did choose this, Big Sis! Just as me! Every day you play games, that’s you, choosing this! We can’t escape talent, Nanami-nee. It’s what we are.”

“But aren’t you trying to escape the web too?”

“Hm? How do you figure?”

“Your talent is not being noticed. But you’re trying to be noticed. To be acknowledged and validated through others eyes, right? Isn’t that just you trying to escape the web?”

“It’s me trying to have my cake and eat it too, Nanami-nee! But I’m clever enough to cut the cake in half, you know. To save some for later.”

“You can’t only eat sweets.”

“I think we’re mixing too many metaphors, Big Sis!”

“Do you really think an ouroboros will succeed in its goal, Kamishiro-kun?”

“I think the snake has to at least try!”

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 27 of Danganronpa Zero Month 2025