Hiyoko Saionji

Hiyoko Saionji is a student of Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B, and a participant of the Killing School Trip featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Her title is the Ultimate Traditional Dancer (超高校級の「日本舞踊家」 lit. Super High School Level Classical Dancer).

She, along with Class 77-B, return in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School to explore their school life leading up to The Tragedy.

Appearance
Hiyoko is a very petite, slender girl with long, blonde hair that is generally seen tied into curved twin tails. At first sight, Hajime remarks that her voice and her appearance don't give off the air of a high schooler at all. In the game, she has orange eyes and keeps her hair up with two hair-ties, both of which consist of a green ribbon with a cat face in the middle.

Hiyoko is dressed in an orange, traditional furisode kimono with a white floral print pattern, and a green obi sash which is tied around her waist and secured with a bow at the back. In her official artwork, she is instead dressed in a pink kimono with a red sash, her hair put up in one ponytail instead of two, tied up with a Kanzashi with pink flowers and holds a fan.

Hiyoko goes through a significant growth spurt during her time at Hope's Peak, which she completes before the beginning of her second year. When older, Hiyoko is shown to be much taller and bustier. She has only one ponytail tied back with a black scrunchie. Hiyoko also wears a yellow kimono with a pink rose-outline pattern and a purple obi sash. She also wears zori (Japanese sandals). Her outfit reflects the fact she is the Ultimate Traditional Dancer.

As the Ultimate Despair, she keeps her hair free.

Personality
Hiyoko's cute appearance, voice, and (initially) her way of talking give off the impression she is innocent and childlike. However, in her introduction alone, it is quickly revealed that she is very direct and cruel with a malicious side in how she squishes ants while telling Hajime that they make a satisfying popping noise if done correctly, and even invites him to join her. Later at the beach, she goes around trying to step on and trample the crabs, laughing as if it were just child's play, showing an alarming fascination with it. She is also described to stomp on and tear out flowers for her own amusement, even though she mentions that she likes pretty things like flowers.

While not violent towards people, Hiyoko often shows similar mean behavior towards them as well. When Hajime Hinata refuses to squish ants with her, she immediately mocks him by grinning maliciously and calling him a wuss. She constantly judges others and patronizes them with rude insults, and sometimes with swearing, with Mikan Tsumiki and Kazuichi Soda being the most common, as well as the easiest victims. She often takes a jab at Akane Owari as well, though she, unlike Mikan or Kazuichi, doesn't cry or get frustrated but rather actually takes her pranks into consideration due to being very gullible. One time, when Hiyoko was stomping flowers, she was annoyed by Akane's questioning and claimed that "stomping and kicking your food before eating it gives you a lot of more protein". Then, Akane actually started eating the flowers, though she stated they didn't taste that good. Due to Akane's gullibility, Hiyoko notes that she isn't that fun to bully. Out of everyone, she appears to dislike Mikan the most, and she has mentioned that it's because she suspects Mikan is only acting to get attention, which is partially true.

Hiyoko appears to feel a sense of superiority, claiming that other people exist to serve her and she doesn't need friends. Because of this, Hiyoko tends to manipulate others to do her bidding easily, like telling Akane to investigate the motel on the third island under her request. During her Free Time Events, she also orders Hajime around and wants him to be her slave. If she doesn't get what she wants or if other people actually talk back to her, she tends to cry crocodile tears loudly like a child, though her tears are sometimes genuine. It seems that she is somewhat spoiled due to being an heiress of her Clan, and as a result, she cannot do some things by herself, like tying her own kimono. In Danganronpa 3 Hope Arc, when her class fights against the Super High School Level Elite Task Force, Hiyoko appears to be the only one panicking and unable to defend herself, instead, shouting for help.

Due to coming from a traditionalist family, Hiyoko loves Japanese traditions and culture very much and tends to act condescending or even openly insulting towards other cultures. She considers many Japanese things "delicate, refined and high quality". She is especially fond of Japanese cuisine and candies, claiming that many foreign ones are too sugary and gross and the people eating them are gross as well. She has described some other countries as worthless and compared their people to stupid animals, thinking that Japan doesn't need to import from them. As a rarer good trait, however, Hiyoko is stated to be willing to protect old traditions in danger of disappearing and she thinks people should take good care of the things close to them. She has also stated that she knows her thinking is old-fashioned, but she doesn't intend to disagree with new directions, just to protect old ones that need to be protected.

Notably, Hiyoko is shown to act very different towards Mahiru Koizumi after becoming attached to her when she helped her take a shower and showed her how to tie her obi. Afterwards, she refers to Mahiru as "big sis" and acts very affectionate towards her, often happily wanting to hold her hand or hug her and even give her a kiss. Though reluctant and a bit embarrassed at first, Mahiru went along with it and became close to Hiyoko, and the two are seen almost always together. Hiyoko has stated that she likes Mahiru because she is normal and not weird like the other students. In Island Mode and her Free Time Events, she also grows fond and protective of Hajime as a big brother figure, because he reminds her of her father who is very dear to her.

Hiyoko has been through a lot in her childhood due to her status as an heiress, explaining some of her mean personality. With her overbearing grandmother, and jealous people playing lots of cruel and even potentially life-threatening tricks and threats on her, she became very distrustful of other people and seemingly developed her mean personality to defend herself. The only person she trusted and felt safe with was her father, who was different due to being related to the family only through marriage. Due to her past, Hiyoko absolutely hated being deceived, as shown in Chapter 2 when she felt annoyed and flustered by Monokuma's invitation that was actually made by Nagito Komaeda. In Chapter 3, she told directly to Hajime that she hated being deceived by others.

After the events of Chapter 2 and with Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu's apology and subsequent re-opening of his wounds, Hiyoko attempts to change herself for the better, trying her best to become less hostile and insulting, and understanding and accepting Fuyuhiko's apology for Mahiru's and Peko's death.

In Danganronpa 3, it's shown that her personality became slightly better during her school years, with her being occasionally nicer towards Mikan and even seeming secretly protective of her. This is most likely because she now had many friends she can trust, which is something she didn't have before.