Since This Post Is Kind Of An Anchor Point For This Whole AU, Here’s A TLDR For The Whole Plot!

May I pitch a fun "alternative chapter 5" in place of "oh Sakura just didn't die". What if it's something along the lines of "She enters a deathlike state that fools even Monokuma" and essentially pulls a Romeo & Juliet on them with only Hina in on the plan (she still does the whole disrupting the crime scene thing because *acting*) and Hina eventually wakes her back up... of course neither of them are chemists and it takes a few months for Sakura to wake up (thus allowing for an Upgrade Tree!)

See, that’s pretty interesting but I don’t know if the two of them would be able to convince Monokuma since he could hear everything while they’re talking about the plan. Even if they go somewhere like the bathhouse where he couldn’t see or hear it, he would know something fishy is up. Sakura was currently betraying him and that should be enough to lead him to believe she would be pulling something drastic.

Though, I do think there could’ve been more fun things done with the chemicals in the room. Could you imagine if someone with vague chemical knowledge used them to make an explosive substance??? Goodbye data lab door, we’re gonna go kick Junko’s ass directly.

But also this ask reminded me of something I’ve forgotten about for a while. It’s an idea I had before even starting the Roaring Cherry Blossom stuff. It was closer to “what could Sakura’s Revenge look like?” with the emphasis of making a spinoff that could fit into canon somehow. In the end, I kind of just took the gameplay idea and drew it for RCB but now that I think about it again…. It might not be a bad idea as a different way to start RCB instead of making it strictly an AU of DR1. I'd like to know what y'all think.

That’ll take a little bit to explain so bear with me. And also, @bananacreamphi it’s REALLY funny that you sent me this *during* the time I was typing this down xD

It’s not the exact same but you might want to read below ;D

Long read with a few colored drawings below!!

For the rest of this, I will refer to Roaring Cherry Blossom as RCB for shortening sake. If any of you reading don’t know what it is, make sure to see my tag that has all of my AU drawings or click this link to start looking!

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Okay so, in this version, Danganronpa 1 happens. Same survivors, same deaths, same apocalypse. People are fighting for their lives, the Remnants are running rampant and the future foundation is struggling to fight them back.

But, here’s the thing. When the remnants went to Hope’s peak to retrieve the parts of Junko’s body, they also decided to desecrate the bodies in the bio lab for despair reasons. While opening and examining all the bodies, they notice that all of the bodies but Sakura’s are at a point of no return…...and Mikan gets a great idea.

What if she revives Sakura and brainwashes her to become another remnant?

She did briefly work under Junko and she could get it right this time. The remnants would have one more strong fighter on their side and would massively catch the enemy off guard.

So they take her back to the remnant’s base and set up a brainwashing room directly in the medical room. Mikan revives Sakura with her medical knowledge, she wakes up immediately being brainwashed into thinking everyone she knows and loves is dead and that she failed her family’s legacy. Nekomaru welcomes her to the team, and we begin the tutorial of learning the controls. You would have reeeally brutal attacks at first, Nekomaru would be empowering you to not hold back and just murder as much as possible.

Here was a drawing of her I made in late 2020 that I decided to redraw with her RCB clothing, enjoy.

I don’t think she would have the Kanabos at first but I think it looks cool xD

It would also be cool to see what life was like on the remnants’ side and how camaraderie could show up with people who’ve fully succumbed to despair. Nekomaru and The ultimate Imposter would be the general leaders I’d say. The first to motivate the group in battles and the other focused on infiltration and enemy Intel.

But anyways after some time going on missions and wreaking havoc, Sakura finds out about the future foundation and that her friends are still alive; sparking a speck of hope that is enough to start messing with her thoughts. When bringing this up to the others, they recommend she go and destroy the source of the issue to bring her the despair that she needs. She lets Hiyoko destroy whats left of her home and next comes planning how she is going to kill her friends. (maybe delving into the thoughts she had during the time she was a spy in DR1)

For the sake of this, let’s say she goes with a plan that revolves around baiting them out from the foundation and picking them off one by one. Long story short, Sakura gets very close to killing Makoto but the foundation pulls out everything in their power to knock her out. (say, chain binds, chemicals, stunning explosives, or tranquilizers perhaps)

…...And now Makoto gets a great idea.

We will take Sakura and test out the current version of the Neo World Program. If it works on her, then we can be sure it will work with the others.

They bring her to the room, memory-erasing happens and the brainwashing is removed. Sakura regains consciousness in Jabberwock Island like Hajime did and is very confused. (She would likely have her DR1 outfit on)

She soon finds Usami, and maybe even Chiaki, to explain why she’s here and how to escape. Artistic rendition because I like this idea C:

She does the Usami chores while getting a little more interaction with the digital characters and “graduates” from the trip. There could also be a moment where the foundation members from the outside communicate with her inside of the program to give her more context and to assure her she's not just stranded in some island.

Then she comes back out, has a touching moment with her friends now that she’s back to normal, and gets straight to work finding the remnants like regular RCB. But, this time she knows how the program works and can vouch for it if she ever needs to convince someone.

Man, imagine how the reunion with Kenshiro would go once she reaches Towa City.

So yeah, this is another option without making an entirely new AU of DR1. I hope this didn’t stray too far from the original point, I just thought it would be fun to finally write it down! C:

I would like to know you guy’s thoughts on this too, maybe it’s a little too much Idk xD

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Since this post is kind of an anchor point for this whole AU, here’s a TLDR for the whole plot!

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DR1 happens

Dead Sakura is taken when remnants took Junkos parts

Mikan revives Sakura and turns her into remnant

Remnants cause havoc and gets attention of Future foundation

Sakura tries to capture Makoto, the foundation manages to knock her out

Makoto brings Sakura to the Neo World Program and undoes the despair

Now the game’s goal is to find and capture all the remnants to put them into the Neo World Program too

I’ve drawn lots of this idea, so if you want to see more into the game, look at my pinned post!