1. How do you feel about fanart?

I like it! I’ve seen a lot of cute art of myself and my friends. I’m not suuuper fond of most ship art, but that’s just a personal preference, and I ignore it.

2. How do you feel about fanfiction?

I like fanfiction about my canon, but I don’t really read fanfiction about myself. It just tends to not really depict me the way I see myself, or has me as a minor character anyway.

3. What does the fandom usually get right?

It’s been a long time since I’ve engaged with fan material of myself, so it’s hard to say. I guess that Naegi is important to me, and that I did try to become close with the rest of my class. But that also feels a bit surface-level... I’m just not sure.

4. What does the fandom usually get wrong?

Maybe just my level of shallow cheerfulness. But even then, this might not be wrong for canon, it just feels wrong for me. Sometimes I’m written like I don’t really have deeper thoughts and opinions past my outer shell. But I don’t blame them for it, considering we barely saw any of myself in canon, even in supplementary material. I didn’t talk that much about my actual experience.

5. What do you miss about your world?

Honestly, not much. It was very similar to this world, and was pretty stressful to be in. I gave up so much of myself to become an idol and continue being able to work and sing. While being on stage was fun, and being able to share my songs and see everyone’s joyful faces was fulfilling, I wouldn’t choose to go through all that again just to be there.

6. Who are you missing right now?

If anyone, it’d be Naegi. During pre-despair times, we were good friends. I didn't feel comfortable with many people, since I was wary about being taken advantage of, but I guess his kind intentions eventually got to me? I distinctly remember taking his hoodie one day and running around the school with it, hiding my face. I wouldn’t have done that unless we were close. And it makes me feel bad when I engage with my canon and see the awful times they always give him. Let him rest!

7. Is there anyone you hope to never see again?

Not a huge amount, but Leon, I guess? I mean, if we compare the “hope to never see again” feeling to some people I knew as other kintypes, this is an extremely minor feeling, but I was never particularly comfortable with the guy, even pre-despair. I would be courteous when speaking to one, but I wouldn’t seek one out, you know?

8. How canon-divergent vs. canon-compliant are you?

Largely compliant, a little divergent. For example, I had a younger sister. In canon, they almost gave me a younger sister in Ultimate Despair Girls, but scrapped her because they said it wouldn’t make sense given my backstory (having become an idol because I was extremely lonely and often alone at home). However, having a sister actually doesn’t contradict that fact. I lived with my father, while my mother lived with my younger sister. They had divorced and cut contact with each other, and I didn’t know about my sister’s existence until after I’d become an idol. Afterwards, we sometimes met in secret and became close. This is probably the biggest divergence.

9. What were your gender and orientation in your timeline; was your identity canon?

I don’t honestly know. I was a girl in canon, I was probably a girl in my own canon as well? As for sexuality, I have no idea; it never implied anything in canon, and I don’t recall ever having interest in others that way. Whether this means I was aroace or just so focused on my job that I intentionally suppressed feelings like that, I have no idea.

10. What helps you feel closer to your source (in a positive way)?

Singing, some dancing, speaking with canonmates. Haven’t been able to do the last one in years, since the ronpakin tag dissolved... But I do still sing. Don’t dance much, since I am a bit uncoordinated and it feels uncomfortable, but it does bring positive feelings when I allow myself to do so.

11. Do you use your name from your source?

Not really, no. When I was active in the ronpakin community, it was not long after I had joined the fictionkin community, so I was still going by Mirai primarily. Also, it’s a little more awkward to use as a name; it isn’t as ‘undercover’ as Mika, it’s a bit more obvious that I’d be using it due to some kind of link to a character.

12. How do you feel about doubles?

Pretty terrible with them. When I was younger, seeing one would send me into a fit of unreality. Nowadays, I have no idea how I’d deal with Maizono doubles in particular, but I’m still not too keen on seeing them. No actual reason, unlike some other kintypes, just makes me uncomfortable.

13. Is your fiction-based identity spiritual, psychological, or something else?

Don’t align with any particular origin at the moment.

14. What’s the biggest difference between you and your canon self?

I’m not sure if this is the biggest difference, but my canon self is described as being cheerful and kind, even if she does hide her true feelings and intentions. However, I am usually much more subdued, don’t like interacting with others, have a resting irritated face, etc. When it comes to my own memories, I do remember not feeling much emotion; it was pretty muted when I did experience it, and the cheer I showed was intensely exaggerated for the purpose of not failing my job. So it isn’t that far from my memories, but I would say it seems to differ from my canon self.

15. What’s the biggest similarity between you and your canon self?

When we were younger, this would have definitely been how much we didn’t have our own solid sense of identity, and relied on our mask to avoid conflict with others. But I’ve been working to try and not fake things as much, so I’m not sure if this is the biggest similarity anymore. Our liking towards singing...?

16. Do you prefer when people are familiar or unfamiliar with your source when they meet you?

Don’t care. Familiar is fine, but considering I died so early on in the story, them being familiar with it doesn’t tell them all that much, anyway. So it’s not necessary.

17. What’s your favorite thing about your source?

This is a hard one. When it comes to the fandom, I’d say the level of creativity and OC-based communities and roleplay groups. But the source itself? I guess the trials are very interesting; I think the way they work, with all the evidence you have to find and lies you have to pierce through, is enjoyable from a story perspective. Also, I like seeing everyone’s talents and how they execute them.

18. What’s your least favorite thing about your source?

Maybe that it sometimes can go a bit overboard with fanservice and iffy use of character traits? Maybe it’s hard to explain, but characters can sometimes be given very stereotypical versions of the real-life thing that they may experience, and this can make some characters seem over the top. I guess that seems to just be the Dangan Ronpa style, though.

19. Do you own any merch of your source?

I have small Monokuma and Chiaki charms on my bag that I got from a random gachapon, as well as a Monokuma plushie that my friend got me some years ago.

20. Do you feel comfortable in your fiction-based identity?

Being Maizono is probably the kintype that I’m currently least confident in, honestly. It’s a bit complicated. Technically speaking, anything you currently identify as is a kintype. However, there are some experiences like these that I don’t usually call kintypes, even though that’s what they are by definition, because of how little they affect my day-to-day life.

When I was younger, I had Maizono shifts much more frequently, and this was intertwined with the need to fake a cheerful or pleasant appearance. My usual self’s expressions are pretty flat; they only change with things like extreme excitement, irritation/anger, and fear. As such, I often had to plaster a mask of calm or cheerfulness on my face in highschool and some of college, when I awoke to being Maizono. Being in situations like this triggered shifts.

Now, then the pandemic hit, and I was a lot more removed from other people. I didn’t have to fake things as much. Because of this, and actively trying to understand who I am beneath a mask and emptiness, Maizono shifts weren’t triggered as much, and I haven’t had them pretty much at all in the past few years. As such, shifts of other kintypes tend to overpower what I experience in daily life.

Therefore, I feel a lot more awkward talking about it; I feel like this experience isn’t something extremely relevant to me right now, so can I even call it a kintype, even though I do still see myself as Maizono? I don’t know. At the same time, I feel like I can’t remove it from the list of fictotypes I usually have; both because I worry about questions, and because in the end, I am Maizono, and just not being affected by it much right now. But, I’ll honestly just have to live and see; it’s fully possible that when I am in an environment that demands more of a mask from me, that these shifts will start occuring again.

21. Who are you open with about your fiction-based identity?

Fictionkin-friendly spaces, and I think the friend I had in highschool who knew I was Ivlis also knew I was Maizono. But we aren’t really in contact anymore.