Chapter 3 Culprits

Chapter 3 Culprits is the polyship between Celestia Ludenberg, Korekiyo Shinguji and Mikan Tsumiki from the Danganronpa fandom.

Canon
All three haven't interacted as a trio. And, they are from different games. Korekiyo also being from a different saga. The only instance of interactions between characters involved came from Celestia and Mikan's event from Ultimate Talent Development Plan, as well as both Celeste's event with Korekiyo and his event with Mikan in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp.

However, all of them share a great number of similarities. All three are the culprits of Chapter 3 of their respective game. All of them being directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of two victims, with Celestia killing Hifumi Yamada whom she previously manipulated into killing Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Mikan killing Hiyoko Saionji and Ibuki Mioda, and Korekiyo killing Angie Yonaga and Tenko Chabashira.

All three are known for having the unsympathetic motive for murder, with the motives of all the other chapters in each game usually being at least less villainous. All three are also known for showing off their true colors upon being revealed as the culprits, causing them to shout their equally known catchphrases: Celestia's "Because, because, because!", Mikan's "Forgive me, forgive me, just forgive me already!", and Korekiyo's "Apologize, apologize, apologize!".

With the exception of Celestia, both Mikan and Korekiyo killed two students because of their love for someone else. Both were also forced to kill the second victim, who just happened to be an unwanted witness to their crime.

In Mikan and Celestia's interaction in Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Mikan catches Celestia's eyes as she gathers participants to bet on the boys' basketball event. Mikan is very surprised that Celestia notices her. She then goes on to thank Celestia for talking to her. Because Mikan needed to go back to the nurse's office to treat other students, she couldn't gamble with Celestia. She was very sorry about this. Celestia titled this as unfortunate, and watched Mikan "scamper away".

Korekiyo also has events with both girls in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. In Celestia and Korekiyo's event, the two are entranced by a twilight by the sea. Shinguji wished they interacted more often as he feels they would get along, although he fears his Sister wouldn't like her. This does not bother Celesste at all as she doesn't care about whether she likes her or not. In Korekiyo and Mikan's event, the two talk about his sickly Sister spending all of her time in the hospital. The Ultimate Nurse gets overly excited over the idea of taking care of her for a long period of time, which frightens Shinguji and makes him believe she's not suitable to take care of his Sister, causing Tsumiki to worry whether she said something weird.

Fanon
The ship is a rarepair to the fandom, as most of polyships are. It's shipped because of the similarities between all three of them. Some fans believe Korekiyo and Mikan could bond over their common love for someone else and teach Celeste to care for others as well.

Interestingly, as a result of the unsympathetic motives of their cases; the very reason why they're shipped together is also often the reason for why they're hated by some fans. They all also have their own respective popular ships, which lessers the popularity of this one. Examples for Celestia include Celesgami or Celesgiri; Amaguji or Shinnaga for Korekiyo, and Band Aid or Hinamiki for Mikan. Although there are currently no works on A03 of this trio, they're shown together on a fair number of fan art as a result of their similarities and their common role as Chapter 3 culprits; hence the name of the ship.

With Ruruka being Future Arc's counterpart of a Chapter 3 culprit, killing two people for an unsympathetic motive, she's sometimes included in the polyship with the trio. However, such a version is even more of a rarepair as a result of the anime not being as popular as the main three games.

Fandom
TUMBLR

Variations

 * Kiyeste refers to the ship just between Celestia and Korekiyo.
 * Mikeste refers to the ship just between Celestia and Mikan.
 * Tsuguuji refers to the ship just between Korekiyo and Mikan.