The new Hope's Peak Academy. Future Foundation's greatest accomplishment. The symbol that would forever prove that hope truly springs eternal, even in the face of Armageddon.

It would still be some time before the school would be open for applicants, but construction was almost complete. And as such, the academy's soon-to-be Headmaster was taking it all in.

Makoto Naegi, Ultimate Lucky Student and Ultimate Hope. Survivor of two Killing Games. The hero who beat Junko Enoshima. The man who redeemed the Remnants of Despair, even if the world never knew about that last one. And now, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy. It was a lot for him to take in.

Fortunately, he wouldn't have to face it alone. A fact that quickly returned to his mind with the sound of boots against tile floor.

"Headmaster, the others are waiting for you."

Naegi turned. Kyoko Kirigiri. Ever since the Future Foundation's Killing Game, he found himself overwhelmed with joy every time he saw her. "They can wait a little while longer."

"Admiring your new domain?" she asked. "A bit pretentious of you."

"Not that," Naegi explained, trying to correct her, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Something involving the Academy?" Kirigiri wondered, "As I said, I'm happy to serve as Dean of Students. And the interviews for teachers are going well."

"That is great news, but it's more about you than the Academy. Don't tell me you've forgotten," Naegi replied.

Kirigiri pondered this for a second. "About me? Wait... you don't mean?"

Naegi nodded. "Happy Birthday, Kirigiri!"

Kirigiri chuckled. Naegi always made a point to wish her a happy birthday, regardless of the situation. It would've been annoying had it been anyone else.

"I know you don't like to make a big deal out of your birthday," Naegi continued, "but since no one else ever does anything for your birthday, I feel kind of obligated."

"You're the only one who even knows when my birthday is," she reminded him.

Naegi rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but I still wanted to make sure it was one you'd always remember."

"Naegi, we're making our biggest step towards undoing Enoshima's despair yet. Of course I'm going to remember today," Kirigiri joked.

"I know, but I want you to remember it as something personal. I wanted to give you the best birthday gift you've ever gotten," Naegi replied.

Kirigiri's eyes narrowed. "How? The world isn't really equipped for gift-giving anymore."

Naegi smiled. "I know. That was the problem. I wasn't sure if there was anything I could get for you, but... then I remembered this."

Kirigiri's eyes went wide as she saw Naegi pull a slip of paper from his jacket pocket. The paper was at least a few months old and stained with tears.

"You kept the letter?" she asked, incredulously. "I assumed you would've gotten rid of it after..."

"I thought about it," Naegi explained, "but I couldn't bring myself to do it." He gripped the letter a bit tighter. "When I thought you were dead, I was devastated. I couldn't even fathom what I was supposed to do next. But then, Asahina found this sticking out of your journal."

He handed the letter back to it's author. "I wouldn't have been able to keep going without this."

Kirigiri read over what she had written.

Dear Naegi,

If you're reading this, then I assume you've discovered my NG Code the hard way. I apologize that this was the way it had to happen. I know you're probably wondering why I didn't tell you sooner. Part of me wanted to, but I knew that if I did, you would do something reckless trying to save me. I couldn't bear the thought of that, so I hope you will forgive a bit of selfishness on my part.

I know you're likely beside yourself with grief, but please don't let it consume you. That's not who you are. As I said back at Hope's Peak, you're the kind of person who can move past this sort of thing. And I know from experience you can bear the pain and move forward. You're even better at that than me.

If I can make one last request, it's this: Please don't blame yourself. I don't blame you. I have no regrets about the time I had with you. Having you in my life has been the greatest gift I ever could have asked for. So when you look back on the time we had, try to smile every now and then. For me?

Love, always and forever,

Kyoko Kirigiri

P.S. Yes. The answer was always yes.

Tears welled up in the detective's eyes as she read the old letter. She looked back up at Naegi and saw he was barely mustering a smile of his own.

"I can't tell you how happy I was that you were alive. But it made me feel guilty for reading the letter."

Kirigiri shook her head. "Don't be. If the cure hadn't worked, I wanted to make sure you had some kind of closure."

"Thank you," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "But the one part that never made sense to me was the postscript."

Kirigiri suddenly felt nervous as Naegi took a deep breath.

"I was just left wondering how you knew, but you always could read me like a book," the new Headmaster said.

He dropped down to one knee. "By now it's a formality, but..."

Kirigiri smiled wider than she even thought was possible. "Oh God," she choked out.

Naegi took out a small box and opened it. "Kyoko Kirigiri, will you marry me?"

She rushed over to the kneeling man and hugged him, sobbing with joy. "Yes! Always and forever, yes!"

He handed her the ring, not putting it on her himself. "I wasn't sure if you'd want to put the ring on over the gloves, because then you'd have to take it off to take off the gloves and..."

"The ring is to show everyone else," Kirigiri interrupted, slipping it over the leather boundary, "my hands are just for family."

She kissed him, with all her heart.

"Just for you."

Naegi smiled. And for the first time in his life, he truly believed he had Ultimate Luck.

AN: So this started with just me wanting to write that letter ever since Kirigiri "died", but I wanted to wait to see what happened, because I never lost hope that she'd be okay. Once she turned up alive I thought the idea would be lost to time, but then I learned it was Kirigiri's birthday (because I don't care enough to keep track of that sort of thing) and decided to write this in tribute. Besides, there's always room for more Naegiri fluff.