A/N: Well, here's the final chapter in this twoshot, as asked by one of my followers on AO3 and Tumblr. Please read and review, and enjoy!

The Ultimate Detective and The Ultimate Hope Gaiden: Kiki Gets Lost!

Chapter Two: Sayaka and Leon Visit the Naegis

Makoto heard the soft noise of Kyoko's footsteps as she walked down the hall, a slumbering Kiki cradled in one arm while Mokubo was held securely in her other.

After finally tracking down Kiki, the Naegi family went straight to the admissions building to let the park staff know that Kiki had been found. Once the search had been called off, they all went back to their car, buckled their children in their booster seats, and drove back home to their mansion. Both children had fallen asleep in the car ride, Kyoko volunteering to tuck both children into their beds.

And so there, Makoto stood in their living room, a pensive expression on his face as he mentally recounted Kiki's tale.

A blue crane…a blue-haired girl…but we didn't see any such person when we found her. Although, we did see that blue crane for a second, so I can't doubt that Kiki saw a girl with blue hair. But if so, she likely wasn't human…or at least, not of this plane. So…a ghost, maybe? Wait…a blue-haired ghost…could Kiki have been rescued by…

Makoto's shock musings were interrupted by a sudden squawking; turning to the window, he saw a blue crane, just like the one they say later today, lodged between the window and the wall. Flashing back to a time when he had to free a crane back in middle school, he walked up to the window and opened it.

"There there, it's okay. How'd you get stuck in there anyway? Look, you're free now, girl."

Once the window was open however, the crane flew in and flapped around the living room, leaving a panicked Makoto to chase after it.

"Hey, hey, come back here girl! Settle down, or you'll break the furniture!"

His attempts to corral the loose animal were interrupted by the sound of a giggle emanating from the crane, making Makoto freeze in place as he remembered just who that laugh belonged to.

No…no way! There's no way! IT CAN'T be…

As if to confirm his suspicions, the crane was then enveloped in smoke, dissipating a second later to reveal the blue-haired girl that came to Kiki's rescue; a girl whose death had haunted Makoto's dreams.

"Sa…Sayaka?"

Giggling to confirm his suspicions, Sayaka confirmed "Yes, it's me. I'm that crane." Taking out an aqua blue piece of silky fabric, Saya teased "Here! As promised, I made you a cloak!"

Makoto blinked, shocked that this was indeed the ghost of Sayaka Maizono in his living room. His legs suddenly felt wobbly, threatening to collapse from under him.

…Yep, that's Sayaka all right… "I…I need to sit down…" Makoto croaked, shakily moving to Kyoko's rocking chair as Sayaka took a seat on the sofa across from him.

Makoto took a few deep breaths, collecting his nerves as Sayaka smiled at him. Once he felt like he had accepted the reality in front of him, he began to speak.

"So…was that you, earlier today? Did you rescue my daughter?"

Nodding, Sayaka answered "Yep, she's a real cutie by the way."

Blushing at having his former crush compliment his daughter, Makoto thanked her "Then we all owe you, Sayaka. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't been there to protect Kiki. That's her name; Kiki Naegi."

Before Sayaka could respond, a familiar feminine voice rang down the hall as their owner's feet made little earthquakes that grew louder as she came closer and closer.

"Makoto, who are you talking to? Kiki and Mokubo are asleep, and I don't remember permitting any guests to come…over…"

If Kyoko had anything more to say, it dried up in her throat upon coming face-to-face with the spirit of her deceased classmate.

Turning to her husband, Kyoko calmly asked "Makoto…has the stress gotten to me, or am I seeing Sayaka Maizono sitting on our sofa?"

Shaking his head, Makoto assured her "No, you're not hallucinating. That really is Sayaka in our house. Take a seat on the sofa, honey; this might be a long conversation."

Ignoring Sayaka's giggles at his romantic pet name for her, Kyoko gingerly sat down next to Sayaka, glancing uneasily at the former Pop Idol. An awkward period of silence passed between the three before Kyoko hesitantly broke it.

"Does anyone want to fill me in on what's going on?"

Makoto answered "Sayaka came in through our window. Apparently, she was the blue crane that Kiki was talking about. She led Kiki to the garden we found her in and kept watch over her."

So…Kiki wasn't just imagining it? Turning to her deceased classmate, Kyoko thanked "Thank you…you protected my daughter from harm, so you have my deepest gratitude."

"Oh, it was nothing, really!" Her smile transforming into a frown, she looked down into her lap, tugging on the bow on her chest as she confessed "Truth is…I owed it to the both of you."

"Wh…what do you mean, Sayaka?"

Sayaka looked up to Makoto's concerned, frowning face as she addressed his inquiry "For what happened in Hope's Peak. Both before and during the Tragedy. You poured your heart out to me back then and I broke it. And then, when we lost our memories and I tried to frame you for murder because I couldn't handle Junko's motivation."

"Sayaka…"

Turning to Kyoko next, she continued "And Kyoko, both times you picked him up and put him back together again. And both times…" She turned to look at them both as she finished "Both times, you never showed an ounce of resentment towards me after the fact for what I did. So…I felt like I owed it to you both to pay you back. And when I saw from up there…your daughter getting lost…I just knew I had to help."

His eyes softening, Makoto soothed "Sayaka…Kyoko and I are grateful for what you did for us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, but we weren't going to hold either case against you. You're entitled to your own feelings, and if you didn't want to be with me, then you had every right to say no. And as for that second thing, Junko threw us into hell back then. She thrust us into a choice that none of us were emotionally ready to make. I didn't approve of your choice, and I won't deny that it really hurt when I found out what happened during the trial…" Sayaka winced with guilt before Makoto finished "But I knew it couldn't have been easy for you, so I refused to hold a grudge."

Kyoko took this opportunity to chime in "I know what it's like to carry an enormous weight of guilt on your shoulders, to bear it every day."

Makoto looked to his wife in concern, already figuring out where her mind was headed.

My execution…

Kyoko shook her head and smiled reassuringly at her husband before turning back to Sayaka and continuing "But take it from me, don't beat yourself up over it every single day. Acknowledge that it happened, learn the lessons to be learned from it, but don't let it weigh so heavily on you, Sayaka. What's done is done, so let's move forward."

A tear of happiness trickling down her cheek, Saya smiled, wiping her eye as she accepted "Okay!" Standing up, she announced "Well, I should probably get going back to the afterlife. The dead aren't meant to linger with the living, after all."

Nodding, Makoto and Kyoko smiled as Makoto replied "Thank you for stopping by, Sayaka. How is…how's the rest of our class?"

Smiling, Sayaka waved off "Oh, we're doing fine, up there, don't worry about us, Makoto!"

They were interrupted by a flapping sound coming in from the distance. Turning their heads, Kyoko and Sayaka, as well as Makoto who sat where he was, saw a red crane flapping in through the still open window.

The red crane! Makoto and Kyoko realized as it came to a stop next to Sayaka, the former Idol grinning at the majestic bird.

"Speak of the devil; come on, then. Introduce yourself properly, old friend."

Nodding its head, the crane disappeared in a puff of smoke, a teenage boy with red, spiky hair, a red goatee, and blue eyes.

The boy grinned at the two gaping parents, exclaiming "Yo, Makoto! Kyoko! What's up?"

L…Leon Kuwata?

Sighing, Makoto's head dipped down as he moaned "I'm gonna need a nap after this…" Hearing his two deceased friends giggle at his expense, he smiled as the two sat back down on the couch, Kyoko sandwiched between the two, Makoto reluctantly smiled as he guessed "So, you were the red crane that led us to Kiki, right Leon?"

Leon nodded and confirmed "That's right, man!" He then pouted and grumbled "I wanted to transform into a phoenix, but Sayaka shot down that plan."

Rolling her eyes at Leon's complaining, Sayaka teased "Phoenixes don't exist in real life anyways, Leon. It's strange enough to be approached by a crane, let alone by a mythical flaming bird!"

Continuing to put, Leon objected "Why should that matter? We're ghosts now; since when do we have to be concerned about obeying the laws of reality?"

Shaking her head, Sayaka continued "It would also have scared their daughter; cranes are cute and huggable. We wanted to make her feel secure so we could lead her to safety, not frighten her into getting more lost."

Sighing, Leon rubbed the back of his head and conceded "…Yeah, you got me there…"

Makoto and Kyoko just sat there, dumbfounded by the banter between the two former students.

"You two are getting along awfully well, considering…"

Sayaka and Leon smiled sadly as they addressed the elephant in the room "We've had a few years to come to terms with what we did. We've talked it out, and we agreed that it was ultimately Junko's fault that we did what we did. Besides, we'd rather not be spending the rest of our afterlives feeling miserable, so we decided to just move on from it."

Smiling, Makoto answered "I'm happy for the both of you. So…thank you both, for rescuing our daughter and guiding me and Kyoko to her."

"Ah, it was nothing, dude! Besides, how could I not help someone as cute as your little girl?"

Slapping him on the back of the head, Sayaka chided "Leon, she's eight, not one of those teenage girls you constantly bragged about switching careers to woo!"

"Owww!" As Leon nursed his head, he defended "Come on, Sai, I was just playing! I'm not fatty, you know that!"

Though slightly unnerved by his joking attempt to hit on their daughter, Makoto and Kyoko soon smiled at seeing their old friends banter again.

Clearing his throat, Leon continued "In all seriousness, Sayaka and I want to thank you, for what you did after we died. You could have gotten angry, depressed, lashed out, and nobody would have blamed you. But Makoto, you…you decided to not only forgive us, but you carried our hopes and dreams with you. You held your head high, you got the others out of there alive, you saved the freaking WORLD and now you're the Headmaster of our old school!"

Smiling along with him, Sayaka nodded, praising "We're all really proud of you, Makoto." As Makoto blushed from their praise, Sayaka turned to Kyoko and continued "Thank you too, Kyoko, for continuing to stand by his side and keeping him grounded."

Blushing slightly, Kyoko looked down at her lap, replying "…It's fine."

Getting up again, Sayaka and Leon nodded to both of them, walking up to Makoto and embracing him in a group hug.

Wrapped up in their embrace, Makoto closed his eyes, shedding a single tear as he apologized "I'm sorry I couldn't save you…both of you…"

Leaning back from their group hug, Sayaka raised a finger to wipe the tear track from his cheek as she and Leon smiled warmly, their faces silently telling him It's not your fault, Makoto. Don't beat yourself up over our fates any longer!

Sayaka explaining "Leon and I have to go now, but thank you for everything, Makoto. We loved seeing your wedding!"

Blushing harder, Makoto returned the embrace, squeezing them tight as he confessed "…I'm glad you guys could make it. It really meant a lot to me and Kyoko."

Separating from the former Lucky Student, the two then moved to embrace Kyoko, making the former Detective gasp in surprise, her arms hanging loosely at her sides.

"Come on, Kyoko; you too!" Sayaka urged. "I know you're capable, so give us a hug before we leave!"

Sighing, Kyoko allowed a small smile as she wrapped her arms around their shoulders, permitting herself to enjoy the moment. Before long, they separated, Sayaka and Leon stepping backwards.

"See you someday, Makoto, Kyoko!"

"…Just not too soon, alright dude?"

With that, the two vanished in a puff of smoke, their respective crane forms reappearing. Squawking, they flew out the window and into the horizon. Kyoko stood up to stand next to her husband, the husband and wife intertwining their fingers as they watched their friends fly away.

Thank you Sayaka, Leon! See you again someday!