A/N: Here's Chapter Twelve of "The Naegis' Secret Diary!", covering Episode Ten of Future Arc. Please read, review, and enjoy!

The Ultimate Detective and The Ultimate Hope Gaiden: The Naegis' Secret Diary!

Chapter Twelve: Death, Destruction, Despair!

Kiki groaned as her eyes fluttered open, the girl finally rousing from her slumber. She stretched her arms up as she yawned before she rubbed her eye with her fist.

"Ah, good, you're awake."

Kiki gasped, her drowsiness now gone as she turned to Tsumugi, who was smiling with relief as she stood by Kiki's bedside.

"Tsumugi, what are you doing here?"

"You mean you totally forgot?" Tsumugi asked as she cocked her head. "We were reading your parents' diary together when you started bawling. You were so distraught, you cried yourself to sleep and passed out."

"Passed out…? What are you…?"

At that moment, the memories of the previous night came rushing back to her, causing Kiki to blush in embarrassment.

"Ano…thanks, Tsumugi. S…Sorry for how I acted…"

Tsumugi shook her head and assured her "No, it's okay. You had every right to be distraught after what we read."

Kiki nodded, unable to disagree with the cosplayer no matter how much she wished she had her mother's emotional restraint.

"Well…" She began as she swung her legs over the bedside. "I just hope nobody heard me last night…"

*Knock Knock*

Kiki groaned as she hung her head and muttered "Why me…?"

She got to her feet and reluctantly lumbered to the door, opening it to reveal Kirumi and Shuichi on the other side.

"Oh, Tojo-chan, Saihara-kun."

"Good morning, Naegi-chan." Kirumi greeted politely. "Saihara-kun and I heard a loud crying sound coming from your dorm room."

Great…they did hear me…why couldn't Dad have kept the soundproof rooms when he rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy?

"I could not hear the exact words, but Saihara-kun deduced that you must have been distraught." She then held out a large plate with toast, eggs, and apple slices as she offered "So I took the liberty of bringing you breakfast in bed."

Kiki blinked before she looked down at the plate, then smiled at Kirumi appreciatively.

"Thank you, Tojo-chan."

"You are welcome, Naegi-chan. If there's anything else you require to cope with your distraught emotional state, please let me know so I may fulfill your requests."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. Honestly this is more than I would have ever asked for."

"Ah, I see. Then I shall see you in class, Naegi-chan."

With that, Kirumi walked away, leaving a bashful Shuichi behind. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a CD case, offering it to her.

"Ano…I don't know if you need it now, but Kaede gave this to me one time before she moved overseas. It's one of her favorite piano songs, Clair De Lune. She said it was a soothing song that calms your heart. I figured you might have more use for it than I do."

Kiki's cheeks flushed pink before she smiled gratefully and replied "Thanks, Saihara-kun. I'm okay now, but I really do appreciate the gesture."

"Oh, no worries. Alright, I'll see you in class then, Naegi-chan."

As Shuichi walked away, Kiki closed the door. She turned to Tsumugi, who was smiling cheekily at her before Kiki sighed in exasperation.

"I know what you're going to say, so just drop it. I do not have a crush on Saihara-kun."

"I wasn't going to say that!"

"You were thinking it." Kiki shook the thought before she asked "Anyway, what happened to my parents' diary last night?"

"Oh, after I woke up, I picked it up off the floor and put the bookmark in. I then put it in your drawer for you."

"Oh, thanks, Tsumugi." Kiki smiled gratefully before she told the cosplayer "Alright, I don't mean to kick you out, but I do need to eat my breakfast and get ready for class, so…"

Tsumugi nodded understandingly and agreed "Right, I understand. I'll go get dressed then. See you later, Kiki."

"Yeah, goodbye, Tsumugi." Kiki replied as she watched Tsumugi close the door behind her.

With that, Kiki walked back to her bed and sat down. She picked up her chopsticks and began to eat her tamagoyaki.

"Oh, this is so good!" Kiki gushed, her eyes sparkling with glee as her taste buds sang in joy.

She continued to eat much more voraciously, seemingly addicted to Kirumi's amazing cooking.

"Are you sure you want to continue reading?" Tsumugi asked worriedly as they settled on Kiki's bed. "I wouldn't blame you if you needed to use an Escape Rope for tonight."

Kiki smiled and assured her "Thanks, but I'm feeling okay. Alright, let's get started." She opened to the bookmark and began to read "After Munakata' vice vanished from our ears, we were left alone to grieve over what we believed to be your mother's death. However…"

As Hina cried over Kyoko's body, Makoto moved his right palm and wiped away Kyoko's blood. He looked at the blood smeared on the edge before he wiped his eyes with the opposite hand.

"Wait, what're you…?" Ryota asked as Makoto stood up and turned around.

"I'm going to confront Munakata. Once and for all. This bloodshed has to end."

"The man's insane!" Ryota pointed out.

Makoto ignored Ryota's warning, requesting "Do me a favor. I'd like you to stay with Asahina."

"So that' sit? You're walking away?" Ryota demanded angrily. "You're just gonna leave Kirigiri's body here? I thought the two of you were supposed to be friends! She's dead! How can you brush something like this off so easily?"

How can you possibly think I'd brush this off?! Makoto thought as he grit his teeth in anger and frustration.

He took a moment to calm his nerves before he turned to Ryota with a sad smile.

"I'm not just brushing it off." He turned to Kyoko's body and admitted "I adored her." I loved her…more than anyone else in this world. I dreamed of marrying her, starting a family with her…and now that'll never happen. "She saved my life more than once. She kept her Forbidden Action secret so I wouldn't do…something rash." She knew that I'd sacrifice myself for her if I knew, because I already did the last time…

Makoto flashed back to the fifth Class Trial of the Killing School Life, when he allowed himself to be voted as the blackened so Junko's plan would backfire.

"She died protecting me from myself. Kirigiri entrusted me with her last hope. So I'll fight. I'll push forward to honor her."

He then felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn in surprise to see Hina smiling at him despite the tears in her eyes.

"Go for it." She encouraged. "I believe in you. Give it all you've got."

Makoto nodded before his face turned serious and he instructed "Wait here."

"Sure, let me just move the barricade out of the way first." Hina offered before she walked up to the piece of furniture and pushed it aside with barely any effort.

"Thanks. Alright, wish me luck." Makoto muttered before he opened the door and walked out, leaving Hina and Ryota alone.

Makoto wandered the halls, stopping in place as he finally allowed the tears to stream down his cheeks. Once he finished crying, he wiped the tears from his face before he resumed walking. He stopped in his tracks as he saw something resembling a human body, sliced cleanly in half.

Director Gekkogahara…no, the robot posing as her. Munakata must have destroyed it. Makoto realized as he circled around the pieces of its body.

"Whatever happens next, promise not to turn your back on hope."

"Don't you worry. It's what I do." Makoto muttered as he resumed his walk down the hallway. "Blind optimism. Perk up." He reminded himself as he felt his nerves tense up. "You're far from alone. The hope you carry was given to you by everyone."

He stared at the blood smear on his hand, reminding himself of why Kyoko was no longer among the world of the living.

"That's how it works, how hope gets passed on." He clenched his fist as he vowed "Munakata, one way or another…I will stop you."

"Dad…he honored Mom's sacrifice…" Kiki muttered. "He was determined to carry on and put an end to it, even though he was still grieving!"

"I gotta say, I have to admire his determination, especially when his grief was so raw!" Tsumugi commented. "It's like when Edge's anger against Rubicante allowed him to unlock his secret abilities!"

Kiki nodded, agreeing "Yeah, Dad always had a talent for standing strong even when things were the worst."

"Yeah, but what did he hope to do against Munakata?" Tsumugi wondered. "You dad's a total pacifist, and Munakata has his super-katana! He'd cut your father down like soft butter!"

"Well, Dad must've had a plan, or else he wouldn't be here today." Kiki pointed out as she turned the page. "Let's keep reading and find out." She cleared her throat and continued "At last, I arrived in the monitoring room. I stepped on some broken glass and…"

"So you've come." Kyosuke stated with a widened eye.

"That's right." Makoto narrowed his eyes as he replied seriously "No second guessing. No stalling."

"I've never had the luxury of uncertainty." Kyosuke shot back, his head still turned away from Makoto.

"There's no point in us killing each other." Makoto stated as he walked forward. "I've come to ask for your help. We can end this game together."

"Your words carry no weight." Kyosuke shot back as he finally stood up and turned around. "I've told you this. We're dancing in circles here."

Once Kyosuke drew his blade, an unflinching Makoto rejected "You couldn't be more wrong."

Kyosuke grit his teeth and activated his blade before he charged. Makoto dodged out of the way, ducking under Kyosuke's swings before he ran for the nearby door.

Makoto closed it behind him, leaving Kyosuke alone as he walked through the hallway.

Think, Naegi, think! That door won't hold Munakata for long, where…there!

Makoto powerwalked to the nearby door, opening it before he entered the room.

"Well…that didn't go well." Tsumugi deadpanned.

"I still think Dad has a plan." Kiki replied optimistically. "I think we can infer that Dad left that last door open. That means that he wanted Munakata to follow him."

"Huh?" Tsumugi cocked her head in confusion as she wondered "But why would he want that?"

"Let's find out." Kiki's eyes focused on the next paragraph as she continued reading "I want into the next room and waited until…"

"Is this where you'd prefer to end it?" Kyosuke questioned as he walked into a steam filled room, spotting Makoto's silhouette in the fog.

At that moment, the water sprinklers turned on, dousing them both in water. Kyosuke looked down to see a puddle of water flowing towards his feet.

Now! Makoto thought as he dropped two live electrical wires into the puddle, causing it to sparkle with electricity. That should…huh? Where'd he go? His katana!

At that moment, Kyosuke stabbed his katana into the puddle. Makoto grunted in frustration as the puddle turned to steam before he cried out in pain.

What the…the chuusen? Makoto realized as a single dart pierced his left leg.

He hissed as he gripped the wound to ease the pain. He looked up to see the sparkle coming from Kyosuke's wrist, confirming Makoto's hypothesis.

Gotta…get away… Makoto thought as he turned around and hobbled out of the room, using the remaining steam for cover.

Once the steam evaporated, Kyosuke dropped down from the ceiling and picked up his katana. He glanced around the room until his eye focused on the trail of blood Makoto left behind.

Can't run now even if I didn't have this stupid bangle on my wrist. Makoto thought as he trudged through the hallway, his leg crying out in pain as he dragged it. "So close." Makoto muttered as he noticed a fire extinguisher lying on the ground. Wait…that's the one Hina threw at Munakata when he was fighting the Great Gozu! He glanced around the room, the cogs turning in his brain as he realized I have an idea!

Makoto watched, crouching from his hiding spot as he gripped the extinguisher nervously. Kyosuke's footsteps echoed in his ear as the vice-chairman walked closer and closer to the hidden former luckster.

Closer…closer…NOW!

Makoto leapt out, bellowing and raising the extinguisher above his head. Before he could attack Kyosuke with it, the swordsman merely kicked Makoto in the stomach, pushing him back and forcing Makoto on his knees.

"If you intend to take your quarry by surprise, don't leave a trail of blood."

Well, it was worth a try…! Makoto thought as he got to his feet with a pained groan. "I'm not done." He insisted as he aimed the extinguisher at Kyosuke, only for nothing to come out of the nozzle. "What? Come on!" He groaned, frustrated. That's right, it didn't work for Hina either!

"Doesn't seem to work." Kyosuke taunted. "I'd say your notorious lucky streak has run its course."

Refusing to give up, Makoto threw the extinguisher at Kyosuke, only for him to bat it aside with his blade. At that moment though, steam finally emitted from the extinguisher before the pressure caused it to fly right at Kyosuke. All he could do was turn his head before it hit him in the back, stunning him as steam covered the corridor.

"Damn! Where's he gone now?" Kyosuke coughed before Makoto bellowed and dove at him, startling the vice-chairman as the two tumbled down the chasm.

Makoto landed flat on his back, on top of some debris while Kyosuke landed a few feet away. As Makoto groaned in pain, Kyosuke walked up to him, katana in hand. He raised it above his head and bellowed as he brought it down towards Makoto, intending to end the former luckster's life. At the last moment though, he stopped, gritting his teeth as the edge hovered a mere inch from his nose.

"Damn you, Makoto Naegi." Kyosuke cursed.

"Why'd you stop?" Makoto asked rhetorically as he opened his eyes. "You can't kill me, can you? I knew you would be drawn to this place. After all, we've been here before."

Makoto flashed back to his prior encounters with Kyosuke when he escaped with Hina and the Great Gozu, as well as when the vice-chairman cornered him in the monitoring room.

"The first time, you let me get away. And when you cornered me in the Monitoring Room, you broke the glass to get in. I found out your Forbidden Action. You can't open doors. That's the reason you can't kill me right now. If you did, you'd be trapped in here."

Kyosuke's silence was all the admission Makoto needed as he removed his blade, allowing Makoto to finally sit up.

"Now then, can we please talk?"

"There's no point." Kyosuke denied after a tense silence.

He stabbed his katana into the ground as he approached Makoto.

"Listen, I'll make you a deal, all right?" Makoto tried to bargain. "Hear me out and I'll open the door. I promise." Makoto wheezed as Kyosuke grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"Enough!" Kyosuke growled. "You're the enemy!"

"No, I'm not! Believe me!"

Kyosuke roared and tossed Makoto aside, causing him to groan in pain as he landed roughly on the concrete floor.

"When did despair first get its hooks into you?" Kyosuke interrogated as Makoto groaned in pain. He walked forward and questioned "Was it the Mutual Killing Game at Hope's Peak that seduced you into darkness?"

"No." Makoto denied as he got on his knees. "Listen, I'm not on the side of despair!"

"Don't lie to me." Kyosuke growled as he lifted Makoto by the front of his shirt.

"We shouldn't have been at odds." Makoto grunted. "We can beat this…Together…As a team."

"You keep saying that. Need I remind you while you paid lip service to vacuous platitudes, your friend Kirigiri died!"

Makoto gasped for breath as Kyosuke released him, causing the former luckster to fall flat on his face.

"You still don't get it? Someone you loved gave her life upholding your naïve ideals! Despair must die. Doesn't matter who the mastermind is. I will do whatever must be done to thwart them. No sacrifice is too dear. No cost too great. That is true hope!"

"That's not true." Makoto denied, narrowing his eyes as he struggled to get up, groaning in pain. Kyoko's life was already too great a cost, along with everyone else who died in this game! "That isn't hope!" He looked up at Kyosuke's condescending expression as he continued "Listen to yourself! All you're talking about is ending despair, that's it! Even if that's possible, it's not the same! You've got tunnel vision. Despair's all you can see. Where's hope? It's not even part of the equation!"

"Don't turn this around." Kyosuke revealed "Chairman Tengan told me everything. In my heart, I know what Tengan said was true. All of us are tainted. In the end, even Yukizome gave in. When the children died, she asked me, Who could do such a thing? And I was a fool. She answered her own question in a photograph. She was the one responsible."

No…Director Yukizome…killed children…?! Makoto wondered, his eyes widening as Kyosuke looked towards the ceiling, as if he was begging the heavens for answers.

"When did it happen? When did she first succumb?" He looked down as he admitted "I once believed her immune." He raised his head to glare at Makoto as he resolved "It doesn't matter. Every trace of despair shall burn. Even the memory of it will turn to ash."

"Stop talking like that!" Makoto cried as he got to his knees. "She was a person!" Even if you're right and she did do those things, that doesn't mean she wasn't a person with hopes and dreams! She shouldn't be unremembered! "She meant something to you."

Makoto groaned as he struggled onto his feet, glaring with determination and conviction at Kyosuke.

"I don't care what she did! She's worth more!"

"You know nothing! Nothing!" Kyosuke growled in grief as he hoisted Makoto by the collar and shoved him against the nearest wall. "Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!" He cried as he repeatedly punched Makoto in the face, blood pouring from his forehead onto Kyosuke's knuckles.

"Yes I do!" Makoto weakly averted his gaze as he emotionally admitted "I know…If Kyoko had turned to despair…betrayed every last one of us…" Tears welled in his eyes as he continued "…I know, even if I had to resort to killing her, I would always be grateful for the person she was. I'd always think of her as someone I couldn't possibly have lived without!" I loved her…I loved her with all my heart!

At that moment, Kyosuke's face changed, his vengeful, malicious expression shifting to one of surprise and shock as Makoto's Truth Bullet shattered the contradiction he had been living under.

"Chisa." Kyosuke breathed in grief as he finally released Makoto. "When? How did it happen?"

He grit his teeth before screaming in anguish, mourning the love he had lost, just as Makoto silently mourned the detective he loved and lost. As he finally let his tears flow, the vice-chairman felt his knees wobble. He backed away and sat down on the rubble that Makoto had previously laid on.

"I'm sorry, Kyosuke."

"Where did we go wrong? How could I have known it would all end up like this?"

A somber silence passed, the two mourning their respective loves before the door opened and Hina's voice echoed in their ears.

"Naegi!"

Makoto finally collapsed, his knees giving out as he slid down the wall and landed on his rear.

"Oh Kami, are you okay?" Hina cried as she and Ryota ran up to him.

She fell to her knees and rested her hands on his shoulders before he smiled and chuckled "You're not really that good at waiting."

Hina grunted and glared at the despondent Kyosuke before she demanded "The killing is over! Do you hear me?" She held up Kyoko's notebook and revealed "I know who the Attacker is. It's all here."

Makoto and Kyosuke's eyes widened in shock as they took in what Hina just said.

Kyoko…did she…did she really solve the mystery…before she died…?

"At last…" Kiki sighed in relief as she replaced the bookmark and closed the diary. "The killing's over, but it came at too high of a price and cost too many lives." And nearly took away my mom!

"Yeah, but at least now everyone's working together." Tsumugi commented. "That's gotta be something, right? Now it's only a matter of time until they escape!"

"Yeah, now I see how Munakata had a change of heart." Kiki agreed, reconciling the Kyosuke Munakata she had just spent over two weeks reading about with the one who had saved her life last year.

"So, you wanna keep reading?" Asked excitedly. "I'm kind of excited to see what information your mother left behind."

"…Not tonight, I don't think. I wanna get to bed a little early tonight."

"…Stupid cliffhanger…" Tsumugi grumbled, crossing her arms in a pout.

Kiki giggled as she decided "Tomorrow, okay Tsumugi?"

"Okay…" Tsumugi sighed as she swung her legs over the bed and stood up. "Sweet dreams, Kiki."

"Good night, Tsumugi." Kiki smiled as Tsumugi walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. "Alright, time for bed." Kiki yawned as she put the diary on her bedside table.

Once she crawled under the covers, she curled up and allowed her eyes to close. Her room faded into darkness as she slipped into slumber.