Junpei Tenmyouji

Junpei Tenmyouji is a student at Hope's Peak Academy, and a participant of the Disneyland Killing Game of DV2. He was introduced with the title of Ultimate Movie Fanatic, but that was a lie he made up to cover for his talent as the Ultimate Unlucky Student. And even beyond that, as it turned out, he wasn't even the Ultimate Unlucky Student. He was scouted to the school as the Ultimate Esper (receiver-type), and his exceptional luck was just a good cover excuse for the school to use. He had no idea of his actual talent until Oswald revealed it during his trial.

Background
Junpei is a fairly average guy who grew up in a mid-sized city in Japan, someone who has always gone with the flow of things. He never really opposed the adults in his life, and as such was typically seen as something of a pushover. He had one close friend in elementary school, Akane Kurashiki, although they moved away during the middle of sixth grade.

He's been followed by uniquely bad luck since he was born, resulting in his being bullied and excluded while in grade school and middle school. He entered Hope's Peak in an attempt to leave the stigma of his bad luck behind.

Pre-Vacation
Junpei was scouted for Hope's Peak for his bad luck, however, he didn't want that to be known publicly. He was the one who invented the 'movie fanatic title'- while he doesn't have an ultimate-level talent towards movies, he does enjoy them quite a bit. He ended up spending a large deal of time on wikipedia and other websites to increase the amount of random trivia he'd know, in hopes of making his lie seem more believable.

During November of the school year, Junpei was abducted for the Nonary Game. While the game itself was only about nine hours, he was gone for roughly a week while the school had registered him as on sick leave. he was gone for this long due to the fact that him and the other participants had been abducted and taken outside of Japan, and none of them had passports.

it was during the game that another participant, Santa, originally told Junpei about the meaning of the leaves on the four leaf clover. He would later repeat that to Saturday, during the killing game.

Following his return to Hope's Peak, Junpei started to recluse from his classmates. Some of his friends picked up on this and started talking to him, at which point he admitted to the truth about where he'd been for that week.

At some point following the great despair and the first killing game, Junpei was approached by the mastermind of the second game. He agreed to help them, believing that creating a killing game and showing their classmates uniting for hope would be the only way to save the world from despair.

Chapter one:
Junpei's motive during the first chapter had the effect of making him grow or shrink at random whenever he ate something. This ended up in him getting stuck places and running into things more often than he'd like to admit, and he tried to avoid people for the most part because of it.

The first trial's execution triggered strong memories for him from his younger school days, resulting in him running from the trial room and hiding by himself.

Chapter two:
Junpei spent most of his time during the second motive either hiding or trying to pair with Mugman, in hopes of looking out for each other. However, he did try to discourage Mugman from spending time together, making vague implications about his luck.

Following the second trial he attempted to run after Mugman to talk to him, but lost sight of him on the way out.

Chapter three:
During the third motive, Junpei was mostly too tired and incoherent to accomplish much. His side effect was difficulty communicating, which resulted in him having a challenging time discerning what people were saying and doing. He often ended up simply parroting other people's words in an attempt to make sense of things for himself, but even when he did it was equally difficult to think of a way to share what was on his own mind.

He wasn't able to offer much during the trial as he was mostly overwhelmed and unable to communicate, but he was paying attention enough during the execution. He had severe nightmares about the murders and executions following the trial, keeping him from getting a solid sleep that night.

Chapter four:
Junpei's picture for the fourth motive was of his childhood friend, Akane Kurashiki. He was confused and uncomfortable as to how Oswald would've been able to obtain the picture, one he'd taken himself five years ago. The motive made him recluse strongly, not talking to anyone and even not helping during the body discovery and investigation.

During the trial, when Junpei discovered that Rei was one of the victims and had died at the waterpark, Junpei began blaming himself for the incident. It was at this point where he revealed himself as the Ultimate Unlucky Student, believing that his and Rei's walk to the waterpark earlier in the chapter was what lead to his eventual demise.

Junpei refused to vote for Cuphead when he was revealed as the culprit, instead voting for himself. Following the execution, Junpei was gently encouraged by Saturday to go to Mugman. He did, placing a hand on his shoulder- and then holding him close and crying once Mugman hugged him. Junpei made a promise to look after Mugman and keep him safe, intending to ensure that he could at least help make sure Cuphead's final wish, for Mugman to be safe, could come true.

Chapter five:
During the body discovery, Junpei was not present. While he didn't bring attention to it at the time, this is actually because he had been searching for an exit. He did find one, before the trial started, but didn't have the time to figure out how to use it safely.

Junpei didn't participate strongly during this trial, but was massively upset by the result. While he was angry at Yori over murdering Honoka, he didn't hate him or Yogi; and he was crushed to watch Micheal be given a punishment. Following the trial he attempted to comfort Saturday, hoping that she would understand that the deaths happening here weren't her fault.

Chapter six:
During the free time section of this chapter, Junpei mostly spent his time figuring out how to make use of the exit he'd found. During this time, he helped Saturday rearrange the podiums in the trial room, moving everyone who was still alive to one side of the room.

Mugman's Death:
In the end, Junpei decided that Mugman would be someone he could trust with the truth. He spoke to him and together they went to the roof of It's a Small World, where Junpei revealed himself to be the traitor. They spoke for a short while before Junpei revealed he'd found a way out, at which point they turned to leave- but Mugman tripped.

Junpei dove at the edge of the roof to catch Mugman before he could fall, skinning his right hand and leaving the small separate bloodstain by the edge of the roof. He refused to let go, even knowing that doing so would result in his death. Mugman didn't want Junpei to die as well, so he shot Junpei in the shoulder, after telling him that he believed his death would lead to all of this ending.

Junpei couldn't bring himself to look at the body once he heard the crack. The first time he saw Mugman's corpse was during the body discovery- his reaction was completely genuine.

He survived the bullet wound through use of the first aid kit, as was suggested during the trial. He managed to suture the wound somewhat, although it likely wouldn't have held up well for much longer.

Originally, Junpei hadn't planned to let the death go to trial at all. He had intended to stay on the roof for someone to find him, but came to believe that the mastermind would kill everyone should he not go through with it. The only evidence he attempted to hide was the blood on the fire escape, in weak hopes that it might stop them from looking on the roof. There was no blood trail back to his room because he tied his jacket and sweater tightly around the wound, lasting just about long enough to make it back unseen. Because he wanted to be found, he wasn't seen by anyone.

The Traitor Trial:
At the trial, Junpei pushed strongly for the death to be seen as a murder. He tended to reject theories that it could've been a true accident, and didn't accept any that suggested Mugman might've accepted his death. He wanted the death to be seen as something malicious and purposeful.

He avoided ever removing his jacket until the metal detector was pointed at him, something that nobody paid attention to in the moment. When it came time for it, he removed his jacket as he was still carrying Rei's necklace, and the detector found the bullet in his shoulder.

When this happened, Junpei smiled. He attempted to pretend to be completely in despair, claiming he'd murdered Mugman simply because he didn't feel anything. He wanted all of them to despise him, so they could easier unite against the mastermind next. However, he failed in this attempt, the class pointing out that even with what he claimed, the series of events didn't make sense.

Finally, backed into a corner, Junpei revealed the whole truth. He showed off the bruise he'd gotten from trying to catch Mugman, and explained that he was the traitor, and wasn't in despair. He was never one of the Ultimate Despairs, and instead he had started working with the mastermind in an attempt to undo the despair caused by the first game.

Once he'd explained things for the most part, Junpei handed over the pressed 4 leaf clover he'd received from the monomachine to Saturday, telling her about the meaning of the four leaf clover he'd learned during the Nonary Game. He wanted to give her, and hopefully everyone else there, something positive to hold on to. He had already long since accepted his death, and didn't want them to worry over him.

Before the voting time could occur, though, Oswald intervened. He ended up revealing that Junpei was an esper, and could remember dying on other timelines, as well as forcing Junpei to reveal that he'd been in a death game prior to this killing game. Oswald also revealed something that Junpei genuinely didn't know: that he had been scouted as the Ultimate Esper (receiver-type), in hopes that the school would be able to reach Akane Kurashiki through him. His bad luck was just a convenient excuse for them to use as a cover-up.

Execution:
Junpei's execution, 'Nine Years' Bad Luck', started with him being dragged off by his injured arm. The clamp which did this left a replica of his nonary game bracelet on his wrist, and he was told by the voice of Oswald that if he could get out of the hallway within nine minutes, then everyone would be allowed to go free.

Each of the injuries Junpei sustains during the execution is a reference to an event in 999. The cat was referencing his summer of grade 6, where he and Akane rescue a cat, but he got beaten up in the process. The wound from the 'claws' being to his back was for how, in two of the game's bad endings, he gets stabbed in the back. The axe was a reference to the axe ending in 999, in which Junpei's arm is cut off. The shattering glass and rising water is a reference to the very first room and hallway of the game, right after Junpei wakes up.

His execution was excessively cruel, and lasted for quite a long time, because he was the traitor. He had betrayed the mastermind and been planning this betrayal for quite a long time now, so his punishment was made extreme to reflect that.

Chapter 7
For a majority of this chapter, Junpei was still silent, as he didn't believe he could talk about anything relating to the truth of the game. Considering he was shot by Oswald during the body discovery (an early hint that the ghosts were not true ghosts), that proved fairly true, and he remained tight-lipped until the trial.

During the trial, Junpei again couldn't share things too quickly or else Oswald would shoot him again. However, as the truth came out, he allowed things to happen and did his best to fill his fellow "ghosts" in about the truths of the game.

As Mugman started to figure out that Junpei might not wake up, Junpei went to kiss him rather than giving a straight answer. He wanted to reassure him the best that he could, knowing that he could die soon. When the ghosts were made visible to everyone, Junpei took that as further chance to thank everyone who was alive. His last words were thanking everyone, and saying his final goodbye to them all.

Epilogue
As Junpei was truly dead, he did not wake up in the pod room. However, if you were to look at his body, he looked peaceful when he died, as all of his classmates were able to live- the ending that he'd so truly hoped for.

Trivia

 * Junpei has memorized the scripts from all three Back to the Future movies, as they' re his favourites.
 * He enjoys making garage kits for Gundam models.
 * Junpei's last name isn't a real Japanese surname, but rather an assemblage of sounds that translates to roughly mean "eclipse" or "syzygy". The literal translation is "Space Sun Moon Earth".
 * He has noted that his preferred type of cake is vanilla with a strawberry on it.
 * Junpei is bilingual in Japanese and English, Japanese being his first language and learning English by attending an immersion school from grade one until he went to Hope's Peak.
 * Junpei had a major crush on Mugman, but didn't know if Mugman really liked him back. Or at least, that's how he acted- in reality he was attempting to hide his feelings and act oblivious in hopes of preventing himself from getting too close to Mugman, for fear of hurting him.
 * Junpei and Mugman first kissed in chapter 3, during the motive.
 * Junpei has voted for the correct culprit five times, and voted incorrectly once.
 * Junpei has voted for himself twice (chapter four, and his own trial).
 * Junpei couldn't vote in the final trial. This is because his status was set for him to genuinely die, so it only registered an error when he attempted to input his vote.
 * He has the most known titles at this time: Ultimate Movie Fanatic, Ultimate Unlucky Student, and Ultimate Esper. The former two are both technically fakes, although he believed Unlucky Student to be his true talent. If one counts the title Saturday gave him, Ultimate Friend, that would push the count to four.

Quotes

 * "There has to be a way out. There is always another way. But you won't find that if you don't talk to people!" (Chapter 5's trial)
 * "And I feel the same way. I... I'm really happy I got to know you, Saturday. Hey, um..... actually.... do you... mind if I say something that sounds.. stupid?" (To Saturday, while moving the podiums in chapter 6)
 * "This is... it's probably inappropriate to say, but... even if something does happen to me, I... Death is your father, right? And you, and all the people you know would be in the afterlife. So... if... something did happen to me, the thought of being dead... isn't scary. I-I mean... the act of dying isn't something I want, but- j-just, um... it's reassuring, in a way. Because you're not a bad person, so I can't imagine your friends there would be either." (To Saturday, while moving the podiums in chapter 6)
 * “I know that... a lot of things happened before all this, and I... I don't know what you remember about me. But.. I trust all of you. And I'm sorry if I.. worried any of you, over this. I needed time, but I'll be ready for this. I promise.” (Junpei's final words in the chatroom)
 * “All of you... You're all...... You're all fucking idiots. You see a few tears, and believe that I'm heartbroken? Hah. You want the truth? You've got it. I'm your horrible, disgusting traitor.” (Pretending to be in despair)
 * “You shouldn't cry for a traitor. You shouldn't cry for a person like me. I don't mean anything- I never did.” (To Saturday, while pretending to be in despair)
 * “Just.... Just stop.... stop it........ Just accept it.... why can't.... Why won't you just accept it.....” (Protesting as the class realized he'd never been an Ultimate Despair)
 * “That's what you wanted to see, right? Proof.... that I'm a liar. That it wasn't... how I said. I..... I.... I tried to save him.” (Revealing the bruise on his arm, that proved he'd attempted to save Mugman)
 * “He told me... he told me that he believed his death would allow everyone to get out. That... that this trial would... that I could use his death to save all of you. That's why he was smiling. He believed it so genuinely, but I... I don't know how. I couldn't. Not without him. Not when... not when they were... that person........” (Admitting to his weakness)
 * “I-I.... I never wanted this to end up like this. I didn't... I didn't want a trial. I wanted to tell all of you from the start. I wanted to tell the truth, but... b-but, I... couldn't take the risk. If things didn't play out, then they... they could've..... all of you.... every one of us.... we're all hostages. So I couldn't. So, I figured if I could at least pretend to be in despair, to make you hate me..... If I could at least do that, then maybe you'd hate me enough to unify against them......” (Explaining his actions during the trial)
 * “I... I never expected to have a good school life. And yet, somehow... the time I spent with all of you made me genuinely happy.” (To his classmates)
 * “Saturday..... I might die, but.... even still, I won't be gone. If you remember me, that's enough, right?” (Attempting to reassure Saturday before his death)
 * “I..... this isn't... my first death game. I wasn't in the other killing game. Mine was.... different. It had a set goal, a set reason- and a set ending. When I didn't make the right choices, I.... was murdered. And, I remember those.” (Talking about the Nonary Game)
 * “Dying.... dying is scary. I won't lie. But death itself.... I don't hate it, and that part I'm not scared of. I'm not scared of being dead.” (About remembering death)
 * “It might be selfish to ask this, but.... please. All of you.... I want you to live. Find the mastermind. Expose the person I was working with, and bring this all to an end. I can't turn back time, I can't undo my mistakes. God, I wish I could. But.... at the very least, please.... please, stop this. Don't let all this hurt have been in vain... please. I trust you.” (Making his final request)
 * ".....She won't have hold over them. Not if they make their own choices. My classmates are stronger than her. They've already grown so much. They can choose to be their own people. I believe in all of them." (Junpei expressing his belief in his classmates during the mastermind's trial)
 * "Thank you... and Goodbye." (Junpei's final words to the class, before his death)