Saioumatsu

Saioumatsu is the poly ship between Shuichi Saihara, Kokichi Oma and Kaede Akamatsu from the Danganronpa fandom.

Canon
You first meet the two male characters whilst playing as Kaede. Shuichi was the first to wake up with our protagonist, thus immediately becoming the token deuteragonist supporting her. After Kaede snapped Shuichi out of his state of panic, the two had a brief discussion on where they could be after waking up in the classroom, introducing themselves to each other as "ordinary students" before they're interrupted by an Exisal breaking into their classroom and chasing them to the gym, where Shuichi leads Kaede to.

After the duo get their memories, they're transported back to the same classroom and are forced to re-do their introduction sequence, this time introducing themselves to each other as the Ultimate Pianist and the Ultimate Detective for Kaede and Shuichi respectively. The two follow each other and meet all of the other characters together, one of said character's being Kokichi Oma, who immediately sparks both Shuichi and Kaede's interests due to his mischievous and eccentric behaviour after introducing himself to the two as the Ultimate Supreme Leader, one of which who runs an evil secret organization with over 10,000 members, before immediately claiming himself to be a liar and that the whole "10,000 members" thing mightn't be true. Kaede and Shuichi question Kokichi on this matter, but he isn't very responsive.

Further into Chapter 1, Gonta announces he remembered he found a manhole in the boiler room behind the school and all 16 of the trapped students follow him. After he lifts the manhole cover off with ease, the group go down and discover the Death Road of Despair. Kaede, determined to escape the Killing School Semester before it starts, convinces everyone to try it. After several failed attempts, Kokichi gets angry at Kaede and blames her for the groups agony, as everyone around her, including Shuichi, are mentally and physically drained.

More into Chapter 1, Shuichi finds a hidden passageway in the library and informs Kaede about it. The two investigate it together and come up with the idea that maybe one of the students inside the academy with them is the Mastermind of the killing game, prompting Kaede to come up with a plan to kill said mastermind in order to help everyone escape. While waiting for their plan to come together, the two share a heartwarming moment as Kaede comforts Shuichi with her hand on his.

During Chapter 1's Class Trial, Kaede protects Shuichi and lies for him when he is accused of being the Blackened, the reason he wasn't defending himself being because he figured out Kaede is the killer and remained silent in order to protect her. Kaede notices this, and then urges the distraught Shuichi to convict her as the Blackened.

After Kaede is proven guilty for Rantaro's murder, Kokichi comments to Kaede that she "really was...not boring," and Shuichi attempts to grab her hand to save her as she is being dragged away by the token first execution neck-grabber.

Kaede meets Kokichi for the first time in the prologue, when he is teasing Keebo; When Kokichi mentions in a childish tone that Keebo is a robot, Kaede is surprised and asks him if it is true. Her first impression of Kokichi is that of a “mischievous little kid who is bothering one of his classmates”. After Kokichi introduced himself as the Ultimate Supreme Leader, she was intrigued and began asking him about his unusual talent, saying that she didn’t understand it well and asked him to explain it. He then said that he was “just” the leader of a secret organization containing more than 10,000 members, and she was very impressed at first, but after Kokichi was revealed to be a liar, she started accusing him of lying about almost everything he says. When she asks him if he was lying or not about his organization, he replies “Nishishi... I'm not telling youuuuu!”.

For Kaede, she did find Kokichi a little mysterious because of his carefree and mischievous personality, sometimes wondering what he was planning, and although he can be difficult, really wanted to get along with him. In Kokichi’s introduction, both in the demo and in the game itself, Kaede clearly recognizes on to a certain level that some of his annoying attitude is just his way of teasing others, and that he doesn’t seem particularly malicious or evil. More specifically, she describes him as “having a childish side that makes him hard to hate”. Kaede is one of the only people who was kind to Kokichi and deeply cared about him, and she was also one of the only people Kokichi never hurted in any way, due to her early death in the story. For Kokichi, Kaede appeared to be one of the students he was more interested in, as he appeared to have fun while talking with her and sometimes was seen becoming more serious and enigmatic while they were talking alone, which seemed to indicate that he had some form of respect for her. He seems to enjoy her company and also likes to tease her mischievously as he loves to do with everyone, having mentioned several times how he didn’t consider her boring.

Throughout the game, most of the interactions between Kaede and Kokichi contain a moment where Kokichi tries to help Kaede by offering her a lot of perceptions she hasn’t thought of, like opening her eyes to things because he cares about her and wants to protect her from the killing game because he knows that with this way of thinking, she is vulnerable. For example when he questions Kaede’s common sense in their FTE, or when he points out that not everyone thinks like her when Kaede pushes the group to finish the Death Road of Despair. He also once questioned Kaede and Shuichi’s relationship to be so “close”, and said that he personally felt more anxious around people who share everything with each other than with strangers. Considering that earlier in the conversation Kokichi told Kaede that for now they were just strangers, this seems to indicate that he felt somehow safe around the pianist. When Kokichi becomes more serious trying to explain things to Kaede, she seems to think about it after the conversation but doesn’t say anything, realizing that he maybe was right. When everyone gathered at the Death Road of Despair, Kokichi made Kaede believe that he was a hide-and-seek pro by inventing a story, that Kaede didn’t believed anyway. When Kaede encouraged everyone not to give up, Kokichi was saying the same thing right after, encouraging the others with almost the same words as Kaede’s to help her. He also remarked to Kaede that she wasn’t anyone to stop people from rebelling in the dining hall, adding that, by the same token, “he wasn’t nobody to stop her from stopping them”. He then encourages her to stop them, saying that he believes in her, which Kaede takes as a lie.

During the trial, Kokichi was the first to discern Kaede’s lies, and brought them up to advance the debate. He also tried to prove to Kaede that Shuichi was the culprit, but Kaede managed to refute his argument. Kokichi then tried to come up with a counter-argument, but failed and admitted that he was wrong. He apologized to Kaede and said “''Uhh... Guess you're right. Sorry, I didn't think that far ahead”''. When Shuichi accuses Kaede of being the killer of Rantaro Amami, Kokichi has a very different reaction than his usual temper. He seems sad and even tries to defend Kaede, saying that it’s “pretty unfortunate“ with an angry tone, and that he can’t believe it’s Kaede, because that she kept pushing them forward and urging them to cooperate, so it seems strange that she would kill in cold blood. After Shuichi explained why she didn’t killed in “cold blood“, Kokichi remained silent and spoke little during the rest of the trial. After Kaede is found guilty for the murder of Rantaro, Kokichi explains her why she fell right into Monokuma’s trap, and that even if it was to protect everyone, she started the killing game the second she “let murder fill her heart“. After Tsumugi and Gonta accuse him of being too hard on Kaede and says that he shouldn’t talk to her like that, Kokichi says that he feels guilty for not having been able to do anything to prevent Kaede from killing Rantaro, calling himself useless. While he was saying he felt guilt for not being able to save Rantaro and Kaede, his other classmates and especially Shuichi were sure that Kokichi was lying, so he acted accordingly, claiming that it was a lie. Even though he knows that what Kaede did was bad, he still seems grateful to her for saving them from the time limit, saying that if she hadn’t done anything, everyone would have died. After Monokuma announces that Kaede is going to be executed, Kokichi looks at Kaede with a neutral and serious look and says that she “definitely wasn't boring”. It is important to note that this is a notable and rare compliment from Kokichi, and that he said this to only a few people. Not to be boring is a fundamental value for him, and he doesn’t think that about everyone. Also, the way he looked at Kaede often seemed to express the truth and authenticity of his words in him. In the Japanese version, he says “赤松ちゃん、じゃあね. キミはつまらなくはなかったよ. ” “''See you later/next time, Akamatsu-chan. You were not boring.” Kokichi’s last words to Kaito before he died were similar as the ones he said to Kaede before her execution: "At least I... wasn’t boring, right?"'' After her punishment, he says “I... I can't believe this happened to Kaede... I liked her s-so... m-muuuuch... WAAAAH, KAAAAEEEEDEEEEEEEEE!!!!” and starts crying, but this is quite different in the Japanese version since he says “う、嘘だ・・・オ、オレの・・・大好きな赤松ちゃんが・・・!“ “''Ugh... Is that a lie...? My... My beloved Akamatsu-chan...!“. The kanjis used for a passage of this sentences are “大好きな Daisukina“, and “大好きな赤松ちゃん“ “My beloved/favorite Akamatsu-chan”''. Daisuki(na) is used to describe a strong love for someone, although it can be romantic as well as platonic. While he usually uses the term “Daisukina/My Beloved (name)-chan“ to tease other students, he said this line after Kaede’s death, when she was no longer among them to tease her, so there is a strong chance that his words were genuine.

Even if it is not explicitly shown because of Kokichi and his constant habit of lying, Kaede’s death has affected him a lot. It seems that Kokichi shut down soon after Chapter 1; Even though during Chapter 1 he seemed to express himself honestly with Kaede and the others and then cover it up by pretending it was a lie, from Chapter 2 on, he didn’t seem to open anymore at all. If during Chapter 1 he was not really trying to prevent the murders, only after Chapter 1 and Kaede's death, Kokichi immediatly tried to find a way to end the killing game; In Chapter 2, he made sure that the killing game didn’t resume by manipulating Gonta, and stealing all the students’ motive videos. In Chapter 4, he used Gonta and Miu to make everyone die without knowing the truth of the outside world, thus stopping the killing game, but failed. In Chapter 5, he sacrified himself like Kaede for the same reason she did - to stop the killing game, having pronounced similar phrases as Kaede’s before her execution, as if Kokichi still remembered those words even in Chapter 5. For example, Kaede said “End this ridiculous killing game, survive and get the hell out of this place” before her execution, and Kokichi said “The reason why I pretended to be the mastermind... Was to end this boring killing game” before his death. Kaede also said “I definitely won't let that happen, even if it costs me my life” during her trial, and Kokichi said to Kaito “There are no depths i won’t sink to... Even if I have to sacrifice myself“. Nowhere is it mentioned that he did all this for Kaede, but it’s undeniable that he did it as a result of her failure and her last wish, since he wasn’t interested in ending the killing game before her death and suddenly wanted to end it after Chapter 1. Kokichi continues to think and talk about Kaede from time to time, such as when he is the first to mention her in Chapter 2, asking Shuichi if he took off his hat because of “the effect of Kaede’s death“. In Chapter 3, if the player chooses to talk to Kokichi after the meeting with Angie about the Necronomicon, Kokichi will tell Shuichi that he doesn’t really want Rantaro to be the one to come back to life, and that he would have preferred Kaede to resurrect, pretending that it was to make Shuichi happy, but then say it’s a lie. Kokichi is usually known for choosing logic over emotions, and even after everyone thought that the most logical choice was to resurrect Rantaro, Kokichi still wanted Kaede to come back. Kokichi also mentioned to Kaito during his last words that he had to kill him, so he and Kokichi could ruin the killing game as tribute to “those who died“ and that way “they could finally rest in peace“. This is a parallel to Kaede and Kokichi’s first Free Time Event, in which Kokichi asks Kaede if she came to him to offer her life as a tribute for him. In Japanese, he says “''We have to end this killing game. That way, even the dead can be remembered.“'' The main theme of Danganronpa V3 is “Truth vs. Lies“. Kaede and Kokichi are both the representatives of this concept like two sides of the same coin. Both openly represent a concept to other students, but they also represent each other’s concept in some way: Kaede represents the truth, trying to reach the truth of the mastermind and protect everyone all the time, teaching Shuichi how to face the truth. Kokichi represents the lies, always lying to hide his true feelings and intentions. Kaede, on the other hand, never lies about her feelings, but she may try to lie in the case of reach the truth, representing her concept of truth quite “badly“. Kokichi represents his concept badly too, because even if he says every time that he lies, we know by his last words that he only lied about lying, that he lied to himself, and the truth is he didn’t like the killing game at all, while his entire character was based on the way he enjoyed the killing game - which means that every word he said during the game can be interpreted as a lie or as the truth, because that’s how you hide a truth: by pretending it’s a lie. A big difference between them is also their trust, since Kokichi never trusts anyone during all the killing game, while Kaede’s main values are to believe in everyone. That’s highly possible that Kokichi was trying to trust Kaede as the leader of the group and someone that everyone could trust (which is why he seemed to respect her a lot), but lost that trust after realizing that Kaede died trying to openly help everyone, using her in the 4th trial as an example of how “trusted people“ can still kill, by saying “信じた“ ("believed in") A closer translation of this phrase would be “the person(s) we believed in“. He also suggested at one point in Chapter 2 that “Kaede’s death was something everyone had suffered from“, including him. After Chapter 1, Kokichi then started to trust Shuichi Saihara, the closest person to Kaede, and began to search for a way to stop the killing game without others suspecting it, not to repeat “Kaede's screwup“ according to him. The Lies VS. Truth theme goes even to their deaths which are both more or less lies from the group’s perception; Kokichi tried to pretend his dead body was Kaito Momota’s, but everyone discovered the truth and Kokichi’s secret plan. While the group thought Kaede’s plan to kill the mastermind in Chapter 1 had worked, they later realize during the 6th trial that the truth they had found was in fact a lie, and that the real culprit was the mastermind.

In Kaede and Kokichi's respective relationships charts, Kokichi comments “念だったね!” “What a shame!” for Kaede, referring to her refusal to become a member of his organization. Kaede comments “力し合おうよ!“ “Let’s help each other!” or “We should cooperate!“ about Kokichi, proving that even if he can be hard, she still wants to work with him, trust and believe in him even is he’s a liar.

Danganronpa V3/Free Time Events
Their first Free Time Event starts with Kokichi saying he doesn’t want to die and that Kaede can stay by his side for a while. Kaede will think “''Is Kokichi going to be okay? Maybe I should stay by his side...”'' in the english version, to which Kokichi asks her if she if she came to him to offer her life as tribute for him but then tells her not to worry, that it would be boring to kill her now so he won’t do anything of the sort. The rest of the Free Time Event is spent by Kaede trying to prevent Kokichi from trying to do anything “stupid“. At the end, Kokichi asks why Kaede approached him in the first place, to which Kaede replies that she just wanted to do so, and was fine if Kokichi didn’t want to spend his free time with her. He then says he’d never turn down an invitation from her After that, Kaede sighs thinking it’s a lie, and Kokichi tells her that if he’s mean to her, it’s Kaede’s fault, because she forgot about him. He claims that they met before the killing game, and blames Kaede for forgetting their first meeting, while he tells her that he has never forgotten her and that he has been thinking about her this whole time. In one of the 3 options of response, Kaede says “''W-wait a minute! I don’t remember ever meeting you!“ to which Kokichi replies “So you did forget! You completely wiped me out of your memories! How could you be so heartles...?” and Kaede will think “Is Kokichi genuinely sad? Have I really forgotten about him?!” the last choice is "Are you thinking of someone else?” and Kokichi replies “There’s no way i’d mistake the Ultimate Pianist for anyone else!” for what Kaede replies “I guess that's true...“ Kaede then blames herself and apologize to Kokichi, asking him to refresh her memory so that she can remember him. Kokichi replies that they met while he was run away from his enemies; Kaede secretly protected/sheltered him and raised enough money to finance his escape using her talents as the Ultimate Pianist. He will add to this that he ended up betraying her and sold her to his enemies, and that she was swiftly killed after that. Kaede understands that this is a lie from Kokichi and he confirms that the only place they met is at the Academy for Gifted Juveniles and say “Akamatsu-chan is a good-natured person to be deceived by such a lie~!“ in the Japanese Version, which has been completely mistranslated into English, “I can’t believe you fell for that, Kaede. You’re such a sucker”''. After questioning Kaede’s common sense, he then apologizes.

Even though Kokichi made Kaede understand that his statements were lies, there are a few things that suggest he wasn’t lying, because in the second choice option, when Kaede asked him if he was lying about the fact that he was thinking of her and that they met before the killing game, Kokichi looked her in the eyes in a serious tone (which often seems to prove the truth in him) and told her “''... No. I wish I was... but even I’m not that good at lying. Ahaha... I may be a Supreme Leader, but my lies have standards.“ Even Kaede, who knows Kokichi is a liar and suspects him a lot of lying with every word he says, commented internally about how he seemed really serious about it''. If we consider that he didn't lie, then it means that the two may have known each other before the killing game, so as pre-game Kaede and Kokichi, but it’s also possible that he remembers Kaede because of the falsified memories created by Team Danganronpa. During their second Free Time Event, Kokichi warns Kaede that it is dangerous to wander alone, and then pretends that Keebo is behind her with a knife for Kaede to stays with him so that she is not in danger anymore. He then accuses her of wanting to kill him, after which, if the player chooses to spend time with Kokichi, Kaede will have to chase after him, which amuses him. Afterwards, Kokichi asks Kaede for a favour', which is Kaede working for him as an agent in his secret organization', as he believes Kaede will go on to “represent Japan as a pianist” and thus she could go abroad without any suspicion, and meet as many powerful figures as she likes. When she tells him she don’t know about that, he replies “''Don’t worry! I know you definitely can do it! You’ll be hyped up all over the world!” He then tells her "...So, Kaede, lets make a deal! Join my organization, and together we’ll do as we please to all the stupid plebs in this world. Let’s sit on top of the world and look down on everyone else... And if we just wanna watch the world burn? That’s fine, too! We’ll light the whole thing up! The Ultimate Supreme Leader and the Ultimate Pianist joining forces sounds pretty sweet, huh?"'' In response, Kaede questions the existence of his secret organization, to which he retells Kaede that he is a liar. At the end of the event, Kokichi says “''But y’know I'm only saying this cuz I actually care about you, right Kaede? You can keep thinking like that, but don't come back crying to me when things don’t go your way.”''. Kaede then refuses to be an agent of his secret organization, which ends with an unaffected Kokichi. We find out later with his Motive Video that he considers his organization as his close friends and family, and that they are the most important people in his life, meaning that Kokichi asked Kaede to be part of the most important people in his life. It’s also important to note that Kokichi mentioned that Kaede “would work with him once she’d become the former Ultimate Pianist”. Considering that the Ultimate Students are no longer “Ultimate Students“ only after graduating from high school, this line implies that Kokichi planned to remain friends with Kaede even after the killing game, and provided a long-term future with her. For a character who is afraid to trust others and refuses to be close to anyone, it’s to be taken into account that Kokichi actually trusted Kaede, at least before she committed her crime.

Kokichi will only initiate 2 FTEs in Chapter 1, with Kaede. After Kokichi has completed 2 FTEs, he will still accept gifts, but will not initiate any further Free Time Events. However, there are a few introductory sentences for the player to do the Free Time without the event. One of these is Kokichi who wonders why the school building has barred windows, and wonders if it’s so they can't escape, but since they can enter the courtyard, maybe it’s actually just for decoration. When Kaede proposes him to spend time together, Kokichi replies “''No thanks! ... Just kidding.”'' Kaede will then spend the rest of her Free Time being tricked by Kokichi’s lies, without however leaving. The second is Kokichi being worried about the time limit imposed by Monokuma, because they will all die. He then wonders what Monokuma is going to do; End this killing game, or start a new one? When Kaede asks him if he wants to spend time with her, he tells her not to worry, implying they will have a lot of time because he’s not going to die anytime soon, half-jokingly. Unfortunately, they didn’t have that much time, because of Kaede’s death in Chapter 1.

Danganronpa V3 Manga/Anthology Comic
In Danganronpa V3: Anthology Comic Vol. 1, Kaede wants to help Kokichi see Keebo’s “human” side so that they can finally get along. Kaede dresses Keebo in a Kimono, but Kokichi points out to Keebo that his school uniform screams robot, and that it’s weird to dress a kimono over it. Kaede finally fails to change Kokichi’s mind. Later in the manga, Kokichi had made a joke about Gonta becoming the first victim of the killing game, so he and Kaede go together to Gonta’s dormitory with Kaito, Angie and Shuichi to see if Gonta is okay. When the Monokubs arrived a little later, Kaede asked Monokid why he’s harassing Monodam so much, to which Monokid replied that he’s keeping himself healthy and that it’s to externalize the stress. Kokichi then said “''I totally get it! Beating up on inorganic objects like robots really clears the head!”'', referring to his habit of harrassing Keebo. After Kokichi told Gonta that the insect he found was a drone beetle, Gonta started a monologue about why calling it a drone beetle was wrong. Kaede listened to Gonta talk and seemed interested, but Kokichi fell asleep behind Kaede following Gonta’s monologue. Later, Kaede tries to comfort Himiko by asking Shuichi to “solve the case” because Himiko had a dream about Kokichi harassing her, so Kaede and the others go to talk to Kokichi about it. Kaede then tells Himiko that she shouldn’t pay attention to Kokichi’s torment. A little later, Tenko hits Shuichi with Himiko in his arms, leaving Kokichi and Kaede alone apart from the group. The two look at each other and Kokichi asks Kaede if her plan worked, to which she replies “I guess?”. In another story in the same chapter, Kaede opens a conference to collect testimonies of all the victims of Kokichi’s pranks. After hearing the testimonies, Kaede starts the “Operation Catch Kokichi“ “Starting operation Catch Ouma-kun!”, and says that she will do her best to catch Kokichi. She then goes to talk to some students to help her in her mission and after getting ready, Kaede spots Kokichi and tries to chase him until she comes across Maki strangling him. Kaede then tied Kokichi with a rope and he says “C'mon guys, I was just playing heel to increase the group's unity~ Isn't tying me up a little too cruel?” “Well it's a lie, anyways!” and Kaede makes a comment about how it still made everyone cooperate to catch him. Kokichi then raises his hands sharply, which unties him from the rope while saying “Got ya!”. Kaede throws herself on the rope, but Kokichi manages to escape. The chapter ends with Kaede on the floor, saying “''Geez! Seriously. We never know what Ouma-kun’s thinking...”''

In Danganronpa V3: Anthology Comic Vol. 3, Chapter 3, when Kaede is looking for a way to avoid a potential murder, Kokichi tells her that they could just fly up on Keebo’s back, which gives Kaede an idea. She asks Keebo if he has his own feelings even though he’s a robot, and after Kaede being called robophobic by Keebo, Kokichi says "I got it, Akamatsu-chan is fed up with how much of a sucker Ki-boy is, just like I am!", to which Kaede replies "that’s not it!". Kaede then tells everyone about her plan and they all agree to educate the Monokubs to stop the killing game. Kokichi is in charge of making Monotaro think he’s his brother. Kokichi does pretty well at first, and Kaito points this out but then Kaede says “''Ah, but that’s bad! Look at Ouma-kun’s face, he seems to be having a hard time resisting the urges to say "It’s a liiie~““ in the end, Kaito and Shuichi put themselves in front of Kokichi to avoid him to speak, and Kaede’s plan is a success. The next day, the Monokubs killed each other and Kaede says that it was different from what she had imagined, to which Kokichi replies “Told ya robots were useless!“''.

Later in another chapter, Kaede, Rantaro and Tsumugi are discussing what Rantaro’s talent could be, when Kokichi interferes in the conversation and asks if they are talking about something fun. Kaede asks Kokichi if he wants to know Rantaro’s talent too, and he replies “Well, duh!“. At the end of the story, Kaede tells Rantaro "We should all cooperate with each other from now on!" to which Kokichi replies that he will continue to doubt everyone to tease Kaede, and she yells at him “Seriously, Ouma-kun?!“ to which he replies “''Aw, don't be like that! Nishishi~“''.

Bonus Modes
In the non-canon trial of the game demo, Kokichi makes Hajime be quiet so that Kaede can continue her explanations. He then tells Hajime that if she was the only one talking, they should be done with the trial soon, and singles out Kaede many times during the trial.

Whether in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp, Danganronpa V3: Ultimate Talent Development Plan or even in Salmon Team, Kokichi and Kaede don’t have any interactions/events together, mainly due to Kaede not being the protagonist anymore. Salmon Team being focused on Shuichi’s FTE with the others, it’s impossible to play as Kaede and thus to have access to the rest of her Free Time Events with Kokichi, or to the non-canon events Salmon Team Graduation Event, Love Hotel and Harmonious Heart. However, even if in Salmon Team, the protagonist is Shuichi, this doesn’t mean the other students can’t spend time together and invite each other on dates - although this will never be shown on screen. In UTDP, Kokichi and Kaede have no events together either, but were classmates who studied at Hope’s Peak Academy together for three years. However, in one of Kokichi’s Death Cards in Danganronpa: Talent Plan is written the sentence “Well... You definitely weren’t boring.” as his signature phrase, that being the line he says as his last words to Kaede. It is written on his third and final Death Card, which is supposed to be the student’s most important card, with a line written on it they said during the game that they hold dear. For exemple, Korekiyo talks about his lover/sister, Kaede talks about the impact of her final wish, Himiko talks about the impact of Tenko’s death, Shuichi about the promise he made to Kaede, etc. So it seems like Kokichi’s dearest line through the whole game was the last words he said to Kaede. His first card also contained the sentence he said to Kaede in response to a question from her, in his introduction.

In Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp’s Hifumi Yamada Events, Hifumi comes to see Kaede to talk with her about a fanfiction idea he had. He plans to write a romance (少女漫画 Shōjo in Japanese) between a pianist and an evil leader (“leader of evil forces“). The romance is between a pianist who fight evil forces at school with her band, but has a secret crush on the leader she fights, her feelings being reciprocated on the leader’s side since it’s a romance. When Kaede hears Hifumi’s idea, she tells him that she relates to this pianist and that the “character resonates with her so much“, saying in japanese that the character is “the same as her“. After that, Kaede helped Hifumi writing the romance. It should be noted that Hifumi takes inspiration from the real traits of his classmates or other students to write his fanfictions and his characters, as seen especially in his interaction with Shuichi and Kyoko, so the fact that Hifumi came to see Kaede proves that he obviously refers to her in his romance. It may seems too that Kaede might actually have a crush on some evil leader, and Hifumi seems to see a potential relationship between this certain leader and Kaede. Nowhere is it mentioned that the Evil Leader in the romance refers to Kokichi, but with Kaede representing the Pianist, the only person who can represent the Leader is him, with his talent being the Ultimate Supreme Leader since he is the only person whose talent is so close to the character, often referring to himself as “leader of evil“. Also, the main plot of the romance, “the pianist fights the evil leader with her band“ is a direct reference to the main game, in which Kokichi was introduced as the main antagonist, and Kaede as the protagonist. Even if initially in Danganronpa V3 Kaede didn’t seem to show such feelings towards Kokichi - opposite to him, the fact that Hifumi was inspired by Kaede to create a character canonically in love with the leader she fights to write a romance in reference to the main game should indicate that Kaede seemed to have, somehow, feelings towards him.

“S

For the rest of the game, you play as Shuichi, giving Shuichi and Kokichi their own separate moments.

Kokichi has notable moments in canon where he shows interest in Shuichi. In one interaction, he claims that he "loves him the most", and that he's his favorite. Even though he claims it's a lie right after that, this exact same sentence can be found in his Love Hotel Event.

In chapter 3, if you choose to talk to Kokichi in a random moment before the seance, he'll say that he'd rather have Kaede back instead of Rantaro, because it would make Shuichi happy. Since Kokichi is known to choose logic over emotions, this is an unsual thing for him to say.

In Chapter 4, right before the body discovery of Miu Iruma, Kokichi propose to Shuichi to join him and help him end the killing game, while leaving Kaito behind. Not believing him and mad that Kokichi called his best friend an idiot, Shuichi leave the virtual world they were in.

Kokichi then has an non-skippable dialogue where he says that he's sad over being rejected, but that he'd do anything when he finds "someone he likes", referring to Shuichi. This scene appears to be a confession in the original version of the game (Japanese Dialogue), when Shuichi is referred to with "the man I fell in love with".

In Kokichi's Free Time Events with both Shuichi and Kaede, he invites them to join D.I.C.E, his secret organization. Knowing that he considers the members of DICE as a part of his family, that holds a lot of significance to Kokichi. As usual, he says it's a lie when asked more about it, but Kokichi is rarely shown to ask anybody to join his organization other than them.

In Kokichi's last Free Time Event with Shuichi, the protagonist is shown to care about Kokichi, as he immediately goes to tend his small wound once he got hurt by the knife game. After that, Kokichi laughs and claims that he stole his heart, and made him constantly think about him. Shuichi then tries to take his hand, but Kokichi refuses to. This is a parallel to their gradutation event, where Shuichi does take his hand, and make a comment about how warm his hand is.

In Kaede's last Free Time Event with Shuichi (Salmon Mode), they are shown to be having a piano duet, after they had trained together in the other Free Time Events. They seem to be blushing, and Kaede makes him promise that they'll keep this relationship even after they get out of the academy.

In the Love Hotel Events, Shuichi and Kaede are portrayed as a couple in Kaede's fantasy, and Kokichi and Shuichi are portrayed as a detective and a phantom thief. It is important to note that in those scenes, Shuichi takes the role of their ideal lover, so it does not necessarily prove anything about any relationship. But it is important to add that Shuichi notices not being somebody else in Kokichi's fantasy.

Fanon
Saioumatsu sailed likely for the same purposes as Naegamigiri and Komahinanami did - because their dynamic consists of the protagonist, his implied love interest, and his rival. Sometimes, it was because fans were stumped on whether to ship Saiouma or Saimatsu. As a result of such dynamics, the polyship is among more recognizable ones in the fandom, although it's still not as huge in popularity. Some fanarts will show Kaede and Kokichi flirting with Shuichi, with him being flustered.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * The trio shares the "male protagonist, his implied love interest and his rival" dynamics with Naegamigiri and Komahinanami.
 * Like in Komahinanami's case, the love interest and the rival die, leaving the protagonist as the only survivor of the group. Furthermore, the rival dies as a victim in Chapter 5.

Variations

 * Amasaioumatsu refers to the ship between the three and Rantaro Amami
 * Saimatsu refers to the ship just between Shuichi and Kaede
 * Saiouma refers to the ship just between Shuichi and Kokichi
 * Oumatsu refers to the ship just between Kokichi and Kaede