Additional Tags: Guillt, Redemption, Naegiri, Trust, Betrayal, Angst, Spoilers, possible ooc, Atonement
Pre-Story Notes/Update:
Welp, if anyone said 2017 was going to be bad, it's been great for me so far. I finished Tales of Berseria in 6 days after release and now Halo Wars 2 is out on PC! (Not the best RTS for PC I know but, I grew up with Halo so I couldn't resist) Not to mention, I also got my hands on my friend's 3DS so I could play Ace Attorney Spirits of Justice so yeeea... I've been devoting a lot of time elsewhere .
Anyways, back on the topic of fics, I thought I'd try my hand at some Naegiri stuff and a different POV while writing. I hope everything flows well to you readers and enjoy!
(I spent 20 minutes sitting here staring at my screen thinking of an appropriate title... how do y'all figure out these things? D:)
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An Ultimate Atonement
It was a mess. Everything was a mess Kyouko thought as she stood in front of the door overlooking the room full of trash. Piles and towers of garbage and trash bags littered the room, almost forming a maze by itself and the smell down here didn't make things any better for her. She took a deep breath in an attempt to regain her composure. Ever since Kyouko found the masked assailant in Makoto's room, things did not go the way she had ideally wanted. She needed to find the truth, just like every other trial that has happened so far and that's when she remembered her talent. Recalling her previous behaviour and other information she found with the headmaster's key, she was logically able to deduce her talent and title as the Ultimate Detective, and that it was her job as the Ultimate Detective to investigate everything and find the truth.
However, what frustrated her was that, everything about the last trial was in the opposite direction of the truth. The body was still had some mysteries, the murder weapon was still up in the air and there were still other possibilities that had yet to be considered. Adding up the recent events, the most logical conclusion that Kyouko could come to was that the mastermind had planned to kill Makoto and pin the crime on herself, effectively removing them both from their plan. It was a risky move that revealed an important piece of information to Kyouko: The mastermind was beginning to lose their sense of security, and that both herself and Makoto were threats to the mastermind in some way.
And all this had led Kyouko to where she was now: Inside of another huge room that resembled the trial room, but full of trash and marks of destruction everywhere. It had only been several hours since Makoto's "execution", and the possibility that he was still alive started eating away at Kyouko. Eventually, the built up discomfort forced her into action. She formed a theory that Makoto must be below the trial room somewhere, and the only other place that could possibly get her below the trial room was the same place the trash was thrown out. Since Kyouko happened to be on trash duty, she decided to 'borrow' some pillows from her deceased classmates and took the leap of faith.
It has been several minutes since she landed and she has yet to start her search. Normally, her natural instincts would have caused her mind to be focussed on other priorities such as the purpose of the room and the possibility of more rooms below, but right now, it was focussed on finding Makoto. Her eyes scanned the room from where she stood and when the lucky student wasn't in immediate sight, she took a breath and began walking into the maze of trash.
Kyouko began walking in a clockwise direction, knowing that eventually, she'll make it back to her starting point without getting lost. Navigating the trash filled room almost felt like walking in deep snow, and despite having keen eyesight, Kyouko still ended up tripping a few times due to the amount of trash present. Her outfit quickly became stained in her trek around the room, but she didn't care. Some garbage and debris wasn't going to stop her from finding what she's looking for.
She nearly jumped at the sight of the head of a large Monokuma bot sticking out the side of another trash tower however, the nearby circuits and hardware that scattered around it relieved her. Kyouko continued her walk around the room. There were dried blood, broken concrete and more pieces of Monokuma bots amongst the sea of garbage the detective was in but not a single body was found. When she finally completed her first round of the room, she was slightly exhausted from her search.
Everywhere she looked was filled with trash. Not a trace of Makoto nor the desk he sat in was found in her first trip. She felt a heavy foreign feeling within her as the thought that she may have been wrong about his whereabouts begins to nag her. It was the same one that she felt while she watched Makoto slowly head towards his 'demise'. Kyouko shook her head to alleviate the feeling; the possibility of her being wrong has yet to be proven. She looked towards the center of the room. It was going to be difficult to navigate in the middle, so she opted to head in a straight direction until she reached the far wall and walk back to where she began.
It took several rounds before the detective found anything significant, each subsequent trial adding to the discomfort inside. In the middle of the fourth attempt however, she finally found something that supported her theory: a recently shattered desk. Kyouko examined every detail of it, scrambling for any clues that could lead her to her objective. The amount of garbage around the desk made it more difficult for her to pick out tiny details and her exhaustion didn't help the cause either. In the end, she wasn't able to find any clues on the whereabouts of the lucky student, but she was at least able to confirm that it was the same desk she saw hours ago.
When Kyouko made it back to the door again, she sat down on the stairs as her exhausted body demanded a rest. She stared emptily into the field of trash as her mind immediately went to work on figuring out where he was. With the desk confirmed to be down here, it narrowed down the number of possibilities that Kyouko needed to consider, but there were still quite a few. Makoto could be hiding somewhere in the sea of trash, or he could be constantly changing his position, or maybe Monokuma came down here to finish the job.
She slightly flinched at the last possibility and to Kyouko's surprise, she didn't think that this would have had an emotional impact on her. It shouldn't have. But the feelings she's having right now on top of her usual suppressed feelings suggested otherwise. A sense of urgency and worry began to cloud her heart. Kyouko took a moment to suppress her feelings and closed her eyes to instead focus on listening to the room, hoping to catch something that can lead her to her target.
What was supposed to be a listening session rather turned into an emotional struggle within herself. The moment she closed her eyes, Makoto's big smile illuminated her mind and the emotions she sought to suppress fought their way back out. Kyouko let out a long sigh as she decided to re-evaluate her own emotions to cope with the discomfort since logic and deductions were her forte.
Looking at things that way, she couldn't deny that there she did have feelings for Makoto, whatever those feelings were. Even when she tried to suppress them, they always seem to come back so the natural conclusion was that it was a strong feeling. There were only so many strong feelings that Kyouko knew and after a long process of careful evaluation and elimination, she was left with infatuation.
The idea that she was infatuated with someone made her snort in amusement. Although she wasn't one hundred percent confident that her conclusion was right, it was the most logical one she has come to. "Once you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever remains must be the truth" she mentally recited a foreign memory.
It was an odd feeling, one that produces a yearning of sorts and yet also contains so much uncertainty that Kyouko couldn't feel comfortable with. It was her job to figure out the truth, to shed light on the unknown and even though sometimes she would have to take a risk in uncharted territory, she just didn't know how to approach this one. Maybe she'll cross that bridge when she—
In a moment of sudden realization, Kyouko's palm shot up towards her forehead as she almost forgot what she was doing in the first place. Feeling uneasy inside, she got up and began her search for the missing luckster once again.
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Eventually the detective once again, found herself sitting by the stairs with her head rested onto her arms. Hours has passed by since her first search and still the luckster was nowhere to be found. She sighed into her arms, physically and mentally exhausted from both the search itself and the foreign struggle within her.
Emotions really were a dangerous thing to deal with, but like everyone else, Kyouko was human. It was inevitable that she would eventually have to deal with them, but now was the worst possible time for them to show up. Her heart felt like it was being torn in two and despite being exhausted in every single way, there was still the urge to continue searching.
Her grip on her sleeves tightened as the pain and concern grew inside. It took a lot of willpower to not give into the emotions and begin another trek into the trash filled room, she needed a break lest she fall exhausted in the middle of the garbage. With that in mind, Kyouko slowly forced herself into slumber.
….
….
….
….
*Thump*
….
….
*Thump*
….
….
The scene played itself over and over in her mind, each 'thump' causing a spike in heartrate and concern.
*Thump*
….
….
*Thump*
….
….
Makoto was sitting on the desk that slowly carried him to his demise. Sweat was dripping down his head and fear was riddled all over his face. Kyouko couldn't help but feel powerless to help him, a tinge of despair began to blossom within her.
*Thump*
"No… No…."
*Thump*
"Why him? ….. I…. left him to die…"
….
*Thump*
….
Makoto's eyes darted around, desperate for anything that can save himself. When his eyes looked up however, his whole body has stopped quivering and his pupils lost its focus. His head slowly dropped down, his eyes stared blankly towards Kyouko.
*Thump*
"Its…. My fault…."
*Thump*
….
Kyouko instinctively glanced towards the monitor in front of the contraption, expecting alter ego to show up and save him again. However, this time, no such thing happened.
*Thump*
"I… was looking forward to doing more with you…."
*Thump*
The desk was now getting dangerously close to the block and Kyouko found her pulse to be racing at this point. She looked towards Makoto, his eyes that were once full of hope, now lifeless, stared back at hers.
"No….Please No..!"
*Thump*
"I'm sorry…. Please!"
*Thump*
….
Kyouko watched the desk slowly slide into position directly under the block. She grabbed the metal fence in an attempt to rip it open but it stood unwavering. The block has rose back to its initial resting position and was about to come crashing down again. She watched the block start to drop, accelerating downwards into the desk and the boy below.
"Nooooooo!"
*Thump*
The detective shot up with a scream, sweat was dripping down her forehead and her breaths were heavy. Kyouko wiped the tears in her eyes and took a breath of relief as she realized she was still in the trash filled room somewhere below the trial grounds.
*Thump* *Thump*
The sudden sound made Kyouko instinctively flinch. She blinked a couple times in confusion, trying to process if she had just imagined that sound or not.
*Thump*
There it was again. It was definitely not her imagination, something was making noise down here and it wasn't her. She immediately scanned her surroundings, expecting a Monokuma bot to show up. A pint of fear and worry started to worm their way into her heart.
*Thump*…. *Thump* *Thump*
It was distant and the inconsistent rhythm of the noise echoed around the room, making it hard to auditorily pinpoint its exact location. Kyouko listened for a few more seconds, then minutes as the noise repeated itself with no distinguishable pattern. The inconsistency of the noise was likely not something Monokuma would do, and considering the amount of trash down here, it was even less likely that Monokuma would be here at all. If it wasn't Monokuma then maybe….
Her heart jumped in excitement at the next possible answer, but it made also made her feel quite uncomfortable. Years of detective training has conditioned her not to jump to conclusions, yet this time it feels so tempting to just give in to her intuition. Kyouko looked down at her gloved hands, a constant reminder of what emotions and trust had done to her. It was one unfortunate incident, one that carved a scar deep into her heart and yet, here she was willing to give it another go.
Makoto was a dork. A very considerate, oddly intelligent and clumsy one at that. He's surprised her again and again throughout the past few days; for such a normal boy, he has overcome trial after trial and stood defiantly in the face of despair, not an easy feat for a typical teenager. His tenacity has also given him the privilege of being the only person able to converse with her since most other people would have given up due to her cold behaviour.
However, one thing Kyouko couldn't deny was that Makoto has already earned her trust. For one, he was a lot stronger than he looks, despite being shorter and smaller than her. In addition, every time she had come under fire of suspicion from the other students, he was the only one willing to defend her, even during the last trial, she knew he didn't call out her lie because he believed in her.
She pictured his smile again in her head. The bright and innocent smile that everyone had attributed to Makoto brought warmth towards her heart, a feeling she haven't had in a long time. Kyouko looked out into the sea of trash again, the noise still irregularly echoing the room.
"A smile of hope….?
….
No….
…..
Maybe… He is Hope.."
As that thought exited her mind, she began her search for the source of the sound with the slightest smile on her face.
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Her search this time was much like her previous rounds. Everything was still where she had last seen them, the only difference was the irregular thumping that echoed the room. As she continued to navigate around the trash-filled room, the noise slowly became clearer and easier to pinpoint.
It didn't take long for Kyouko to locate the source of the noise, the head of a large Monokuma bot half buried in trash. It sounded as if something inside made contact against the inner surface of the head. Despite the circuits and other mechanical parts that littered around the bot, she was still cautious on her approach due to the possibility of danger.
Kyouko kept her eye on the head as she closed in to the bot. It didn't seem like it was acting on its own, so something inside was making the noise. She carefully knocked onto the metal surface, curious as to what was inside. The response that followed was one she did not expect: a string of muffled cries emitted from inside the Monokuma head. She pressed her ear onto the surface in an attempt to make out the cries.
"…. there? I… here! And I… help!"
The voice inside was weak, but was just loud enough for Kyouko to make out the key words. There's only one person who could possibly be inside the Monokuma, the same one she had condemned to their fate.
"Naegi-kun! I'm getting you out of there!" She yelled into the metal surface.
Without waiting for a response, she immediately got to work on figuring out how to remove the head. She climbed onto an exposed surface of the body and began looking for any loose surfaces. With all the mechanical parts lying around, there must have been an opening at one point. Her heart slowly began racing as she continued to look and push around for the opening.
Kyouko's gloved hands eventually found themselves pushing onto the head, which managed to nudge it in the slightest way. She backed up and looked at the half buried Monokuma head. There was a lot of garbage to clear before she could attempt to roll it off. She sighed as she began to push away the trash bags that covered the Monokuma while the muffled voice below continued to cry out.
The labour of removing the bags of garbage eventually led Kyouko to discarding her blazer. Every time she removed a couple of bags, several more would roll downwards to replace them. Despite her inner dress shirt quickly becoming stained with grime and dirt, she continued to work away at the trash one bag at a time. When Kyouko had finally cleared enough of the bags and other garbage, she created an improvised rope by tying together empty trash bags and other discarded pieces of fabric.
She climbed back to the top of the Monokuma and carefully wrapped the improvised rope around it and slowly sea-sawed it back and forth to lower the rope to the centre of the head. Once the rope was in place, Kyouko wrapped both ends of it around her hands and tugged at it to make sure it was sturdy enough. She slowly increased the force of her pull little by little, careful to not pull too hard that the entire head will roll over her. Eventually however, she had to put her entire weight into pulling the rope before the head started to bulge.
After a few forceful tugs, the head finally rolled off of the body. Kyouko quickly dived out of the way but it bounced above her and continued to roll towards the ground. Amidst all the chaos, a scream of fear filled the room. The detective could just barely make out an ahoge before a soft body landed on her, sending them both tumbling downwards towards the ground.
When Kyouko came too, she felt something squirming beneath her. One look at the body immediately drained her of all energy as relief swept through her, causing her mind to go blank. Without thinking, she immediately wrapped her arms around the smaller boy, small streams of tears escaping her ironclad mask that she had wore for years. The boy startled by the unexpected turn of events, struggled to process what was happening, but managed to recognize the one person he had come to trust in the school of despair.
"K-Kirigiri-san?" Makoto cautiously called out.
"Q-Quiet." She replied with a shaky voice.
"Erm… You're.. kinda on top of me…" He tried.
"I-I don't care." She snapped.
When Makoto felt something wet drop onto the back of his neck, his compassion and understanding immediately kicked in, his arms slowly rose to return the embrace. The two stayed in that position for a few minutes until Kyouko broke away and spoke.
"Y-you don't hate me?" Kyouko hesitantly asked.
"Wha-? Of course not! You didn't do anything to—" Makoto tried to explain before getting interrupted by Kyouko.
"I condemned you! I betrayed you! And you could have died if Alter Ego did not interfere with the execution!"
"Hey, I'm still alive. That's the important thing right?" Makoto offered. Kyouko dipped her head in response, her bangs covering her eyes.
"That still does not overlook the fact that I betrayed your trust…" She dejectedly continued.
"Kirigiri-San, we both know that that last trial was rigged in the first place." He explained.
"How can you be that foolish? You nearly died in my place!" She shot back.
"Look Kirigiri-San, I believed in you throughout the trial. I believed that you wouldn't have committed such a crime and I'll continue to believe that because I know you won't ever do such a thing." Makoto said with confidence, stunning Kyouko into silence for a couple seconds. She grabbed her wrist in one hand and looked to the side.
"You…You're too kind Naegi-Kun… How can you not hate me?"
"Like I said, it's not your fault. If anyone's at fault here, it's Monokuma's fault for putting us in this situation in the first place." He replied with his signature smile. Kyouko looked at him for a second before finally conceding to him.
"*Sigh* I.. I guess you're right. Forgive me for losing myself there."
"Ahh, it's no problem! Haha… So I take it that you came down here to rescue me?" He asked.
"Correct. I noticed that the hole you fell down led deeper into the ground, and the only other location in the school that had a long way down was the place where we throw away our trash bags. There was only one way for me to test my theory so I jumped down with a few borrowed pillows." Kyouko explained.
"W-What? But what if you were wrong? That's a long drop too! Are you hurt as well?" Makoto cried with concern.
"I am fine. However, I also brought some food but I left it back at where the large door was." She replied.
"W-Wow Kirigiri-San… y-you didn't have to…" He sheepishly said before his stomach let out a growl.
"It appears that I indeed did have to. Besides, it was only the right thing to do after what I've done." She stated.
"K-Kirigiri-San…" Makoto tried to talk before Kyouko held up her hand, signalling him to stop.
"It's fine. What's done is done. And, there's more important things I need to tell you. Come, I'll tell you on the way back." She explained.
"A-alright then." He conceded.
"By the way, how did you end up in there?" She asked.
"Uhhh… my luck failed me?" Makoto offered. Kyouko raised a brow at him, which prompted Makoto to sigh and explain.
"Ok it was like this. I landed not too far away from the bot and after feeling exhausted from looking around for an exit, I just thought that resting in there was a good idea. At least until its head rolled back onto the body."
"And you're expecting me to believe that?" She shot back.
"H-Hey! What else am I to say?" He cried.
"Hmph. Your luck never ceases to amaze me. Alright, let's go." Kyouko said with a smile and extended her gloved hand towards him.
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"Are you seeing this Mukuro-Nee? Oh I can almost feel your despair from here! Kyaaa~!" Junko said with ecstasy as she watched the detective and lucky student make their way out of the trash filled room, smiles on both their faces. She turned back to another monitor, one that overlook the garden.
"First you let that poor excuse of an idol take him away, and now the detective with daddy issues? You really are a disappointment sis." She said as she placed her hand on the screen where her sister laid on the ground. After a second of silence, Junko broke out laughing again.
"Kyahahaha! Oh dearest sister! I really can feel your despair from here! Oh how great it feels!" She cried out in the control room as she grabbed herself in an attempt to stop the shaking. When Junko settled down again, she looked back towards the trash room but Kyouko and Makoto were no where to be found.
"Ahh. They'll come looking for me soon. Hmmm…. How should I do this? Should I execute both of them? Or should I just finish the job this time?" Junko mused. As she thought about her next course of action, her eyes subconsciously found themselves back looking at Mukuro's body. Her eyes dilated a little bit as for the first time, Junko didn't know what she was feeling. Just before she could figure out what it was, her mind seemed to have answered her previous question.
"Oh I know! Since you loved him soooo much, I'll give him a second chance! Oooohhh the possibilities are endless! First I'll give him some false hope of a final showdown of sorts, then crush all of his hope with the despairing truth of the world! Wow! That was soooo easy! I'm sure Kirigiri-Chan figured out something anyways! Puhuhuhu! I'm getting excited just by picturing the look on his disgusting face! Kyahahahahaha!"
The laughter of the ultimate despair echoed throughout the night.
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End Notes:
Once again, thanks for making it to the end of the fic! That last tidbit with Junko was just something I decided to throw in there on a whim but Naekusaba is still my OTP :)
Anyways, I hope the extended conversation in the end was alright. There are only so many different ways one can write "he said/she said" before it becomes stale so I hope I didn't do too bad of a job there.
And now future plans? I have a mid-term next week that I gotta focus on for now but after that, I should have some leeway to write another fic before my final for this semester. I'll also be flying to China for a week so I'll be praying that those hours on the plane are gonna be productive ones with my laptop.
Also... I feel like all I write is angsty stuff... I should try something warmer for a change...