They happily waved at the soldiers and other citizens and entered their plane.

"Ryo! Direction: Africa!" Makoto cheered.

"Roger that sir! Taking off." He went to the cockpit.

Both Ultimates took off their vests and sat down on the couch.

"How is your hand?" Kyoko asked.

"The painkillers are doing their job." Naegi smiled.

"Glad to hear that... We didn't eat for quite a while." She stood up and went over to the small kitchen corner. "I'll cook us some instant noodles."

"Sounds good!.. By the way, I was wondering, if you didn't have holidays before high school then what did you do during the summers if you weren't on vacation?" Makoto questioned.

"I was learning how to be a good detective with my grandfather." Kirigiri answered.

"Well but you're not good, you're the best one." Naegi assured.

"That's because he was desperate for me to be. I was his little obsession." She told.

"That sounds like he was forcing you to learn didn't he? What did the lessons look like?" Makoto asked.

"They were divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The first one looked like you would expect it to: listening to his passionate lectures, studying from books, and doing tests. Afterward, I had to use that knowledge in action. Grandpa was setting up cases and I had to solve them. Sometimes he was even killing animals for the sake of my training." Kyoko confessed.

"Huh? T-that's insane! How could he do that?! How could he force a child to investigate dead creatures?!" He shouted.

"It was the price of becoming the best, he said that it was necessary and I agree. It did teach me many things. I didn't resist learning because I love him and couldn't let him down. He was strict but he took great care of me, besides I was into it back then. But after I was called an Ultimate I lost the passion, I became a tool for hire." Kirigiri explained.

"So you were working before you even first entered Hope's Peak?" Naegi questioned in surprise.

"Yes, I was given many commissions from rich people, most of them were murder cases but once they even ordered me to investigate a potential betrayal." Kyoko told.

"Y-you had to watch cheating couples?!" He asked even more startled.

"I didn't need to, there was plenty of evidence." Kirigiri denied.

"Damn.. so whoever your future partner will be he certainly won't be able to cheat on you." Makoto chuckled when she smirked. "But is it even legal to hire a minor for cases like this?"

"Probably not. But in the world of aristocrats law doesn't mean that much. They needed to know the truth, and I provided it to them." She stated.

"Still that doesn't seem right for your mental health.. Wait so, if you were successful with them then you probably had tons of money right?" Makoto questioned.

"I gathered some fortune but didn't spend anything, I was focused on work most of the time. Anyway, the bank that I kept it in collapsed during the most tragic- you know how she calls it.." Kyoko said.

"So you worked all your childhood? W-what about friends?" He asked.

"..That's a story for another time." She smiled, sat at the table, and put down two bowls with chopsticks. Makoto got up and joined her.

"I recently noticed that digging up my past became your new hobby." Kirigiri shared her observation.

"Can't help it, it's really fascinating, unlike mine. It's not that I'm complaining of course but, I'm kind of jealous of your ambitious backstory.. I- I don't mean that you're not ambitious anymore, just to be clear." Naegi chuckled nervously.

"Don't worry I won't sulk." She said jokingly after she swallowed a bit of her food. "You better start eating your meal if you want your hand to recover." Kyoko recommended.

"You're in a good mood aren't you?" He assumed and began eating.

"You only see giant Junko blowing up once in your life, well maybe twice if you count that virtual one." Kirigiri pointed out.

"Well let's hope that there are no more of her monuments left to detonate." Makoto said between gulps.

After they finished eating they got back on the couch.

"You won't have to feel guilty if you don't give them your speech, they probably don't know English or Japanese so they wouldn't understand a word." She assumed.

"It's fine Kiri you already persuaded me already, I won't take the risk again..." Naegi assured.

"I'm glad that you understand." Kyoko appreciated.

"...Hey so it seems like we finally have some free time right? That is a pretty rare occurrence heh. What do we do?" He asked.

"Whatever you'd like." Kirigiri passed the choice back to him.

"Hm.. what about that cassette player over there? We could listen to some music if there are any tapes included." Naegi walked up to the cupboard with the device on top of it. "This plane seems to be new but I'm pretty sure that this hardware is outdated." He started browsing the shelves inside the furniture. "Ah, there we go." Makoto took out a cardboard box and put the player in it. Then he sat back down and placed the stuff he brought between them.

"Let me see.." Kyoko grabbed the device and started examining it thoroughly.

"So, what type of music are you into?" He began browsing through the cassettes.

"I enjoy listening to some calm melodies from time to time. Studies have shown that it can help to de-stress and improve sleep. From my experience, I can tell that it works on some people, including myself. Assuming that it's not a placebo effect." Kirigiri explained.

"Well that's interesting but don't you like to listen to music to improve your mood or, just for pleasure?" Naegi asked.

"The only pleasure I know is some good coffee with a piece of chocolate." She stated

"Let me guess, coffee because it improves your performance?" Makoto assumed.

Kyoko smirked.

"You can't live like this, without any joy, treating emotions like they're some weakness, you're no longer a detective. This mindset doesn't apply to your current work, neither to your new lifestyle." He told.

"Emotions are our disadvantage Makoto, they manipulate us, change our way of thinking." Kirigiri argued.

"That's not true, they guide us. They make us feel the way we should feel. You can't be scared of them, nor renounce them." Naegi expressed himself.

"They are responsible for one hundred percent of our mistakes. That's all I need to know. Even though you're right, I can't fully get rid of them no matter how hard I try. This means that there can easily be better detectives than me, just biologically modified." Kyoko speculated.

"I do not agree, emotionless detective is just a robot, who can't understand people and their motives like you do with just gazing at their face for a second. If they wouldn't feel emotions neither they would be able to understand them." He assumed. "You are the best the way you are Kiri, I just want you to enjoy life to its fullest from now on, after you've been through, you deserve it.

"I would say that you enjoy it enough for both of us already. Not even a sniper shot can bring your mood down." Kirigiri joked.

"It seems like." He chuckled.

"Thanks, Makoto. I'll think over what you said... You can choose the tape you want and we'll listen to it together." Kyoko proposed.

"Sounds perfect to me." Naegi smiled and continued browsing the cassettes. "There's not a single Japanese song, all of them are in English and I know none... Oh, this one seems like it's your type." He inserted a tape and pressed the play button. Suddenly the room got filled with the sounds of ocean waves and singing seagulls in the background.

"It's not music but it is relaxing." She lied back on the couch and closed her eyes.

"It is calming me down for certain." Makoto yawned and did the same as his friend.

...

Kirigiri opened her eyes and got surprised by the fact she didn't wake up in her room. Then she saw the cardboard box and the player lying on the ground. Last but not least, Kyoko noticed Makoto's white shirt under her head.

"Are you gonna admit it now or what?" A familiar voice has spoken.

The Ultimate Detective slowly got up and realized that she has slept the night on her friend's chest. Because of that, she felt a sudden blood rush flowing through her cheeks.

"It must've been that he felt to my side, dropped the stuff on the floor, and then I felt to his side.." She thought.

"Yup! Imagine if you were the first to fall and then him!" Junko chuckled sitting on a chair. "You better cover up this blush before he wakes up! Orrr, you can just lie back on him and act like you know nothing. He seems to be pretty comfy, look at the clock." Enoshima suggested.

"It's.. We slept for 10 hours?!" Kirigiri ran to the cockpit. "Ryo w-what's the status, where are we?"

"We're pretty close to Algeria. Flying over the desert right now." He informed.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Kyoko questioned.

"It's just, I saw you sleeping cuddled to each other, and I couldn't wake you up, too cute." Ryo smiled.

"That was a coincidence, not going to occur again." She assured.

"Yeah, no doubt." Their pilot smiled even wider.

"W-what was a coincidence?" Makoto walked up to them and asked with a sleepy voice.

"NOTHing, i-it was nothing." Kirigiri went to her room.

"Uh, did I miss anything?" Naegi questioned rubbing his head.

"Not much." Ryo looked back straight ahead without losing his smirk.

"Okay then.." He walked back to the main room and tidied the tapes.

"Huh? This cassette lasts only 14 minutes. I must've been really tired to fall asleep on the couch, or the studies are right heh." Makoto thought to himself and put the stuff back in its place.

"So did you check it?" Junko asked.

"Check what?" Kyoko questioned and swallowed her pill.

"If he got hard while admiring my statue obviously!" She shouted.

"I'm not answering rhetorical questions. I shouldn't even talk to you at all." Kirigiri stated.

"But somehow we still chat, because we're besties right?" Enoshima cheered.

"I don't know what are you up to with all of this silly talk but I can guarantee that won't manipulate me in any way." She assured.

"That's a pretty confident thought from someone who called me the most intelligent person on earth.. Anyways, catch you later cutie!" Junko grinned and faded away.

"I really need to set a daily alarm on my watch to-" Suddenly an incredibly loud bang interrupted her thought. At the same time, energy from an undetermined impact made her fall down on the floor. All she could hear was ringing in her ears.