A/N: Here's Chapter Two of "Kiki Learns the Truth!" Please read and review, and enjoy!
The Ultimate Detective and The Ultimate Hope Gaiden: Kiki Learns the Truth!
Chapter Two: Makoto Explains the Truth!
Kiki sniffled, weeping as she laid on her bed. Hogo whined next to her and nudged her cheek, licking her in concern.
Kiki wrapped her arms around her dog and sniffled "Thank you, Hogo. At least I know you'll never lie to me or betray me. How could she do it, Hogo? How could she do that to Dad? And why isn't he furious with her? Does…does she even love us at all…?"
Knock Knock!
Kiki groaned before she buried her head into her pillow, letting go of Hogo before she yelled "Go away!"
"…Do you want to die?"
Kiki gasped as she instantly sat up and called "Sorry, Maki. I thought you were…"
"I know who you thought I was…they told me. We're all worried about you, Kiki. I promise, your parents aren't with me, so can you please open the door so we can talk, just the two of us?"
Kiki bit her lip, weighing the decision in her head before she sighed "…It's unlocked."
The door gently swung open, allowing Maki to walk in before she closed the door behind her, all while carrying her daughter in one arm. Kiki reluctantly sat up as Maki walked over to the bed and sat next to the distraught teenager. The two sat in an awkward silence, Kiki averting her gaze from the former babysitter before Maki at last broke the silence with a sigh.
"Your parents told me about what happened, about what you saw in school today…and about the fight you just had with your mother."
"…How could I even trust her after that? She sold him out when he needed her the most, just to save her own skin. I thought she loved him…loved us…"
"The need to survive can make people do regrettable things." Maki replied sadly. "You know that your mother was one step away from being executed by Monokuma. Is it really so surprising that she made a choice that she later regretted?"
"Then why didn't she tell me before? Or explain why she threw Dad under the bus back then?" Kiki demanded, still furious with her mother.
"People's pasts can be difficult to face for a lot of them. Everyone has a part of them that they view as unacceptable, something they'd readily cast aside if they had the option."
"Yeah right." Kiki snorted. "I bet you never did anything like that…"
"You have no idea the things I've done, the parts of my past I wish I could erase!"
Kiki gasped and turned to face Maki, whose red eyes were glaring at the young girl, burning with trauma and anger.
"Remember that crossbow you found in one of my boxes when I moved in? The one I said was just for decoration?" Kiki nodded before Maki sighed and admitted "Well, once upon a time, it wasn't. Kiki, before I met Kaito, I used to be an assassin."
"An assassin?!" Kiki gasped before Maki nodded.
"That's right, an assassin. Do you understand what that means? I'm a trained murderer; my hands are soaked with the blood of people who did nothing to me. That didn't mean they died without reason, but the fact remains that I killed them. It wasn't until I met Kaito and became a professional child caregiver that I turned my life around. Obviously my past as an assassin would kill business, so I keep that to myself. The only one who knew before your parents was Kaito."
"Maki…"
"…Kiki, talking about these darker parts of your past…it's hard…It's damn hard, no matter how many years go by. That's why your parents never told you the truth. How difficult do you think it would have been to tell your own child that your parents were one step away from killing each other?"
…Impossible… Kiki reluctantly admitted as she looked down at her sneakers. "I…I'm still angry at her, Maki. It still doesn't change the fact that I feel betrayed and hurt. I still…I still don't know whether Mom's love for me and Dad is true or not."
"…Why don't you ask him that?" Kiki's eyes widened as she stared at Maki, who explained "He would have been the victim, and he can explain things that your class video didn't show. He'll be able to tell you whether your mother's love for you is true."
Can I really? What if Mom's got him wrapped around her finger? Could he lie to me too…? Kiki shook her head and decided No, Dad wouldn't lie to me. At the very least, I can trust him to tell me the truth. Kiki sighed and reluctantly agreed "Okay, I'll…talk to Dad."
"…I'll tell him you're ready to talk." Maki replied as she stood up and walked to the door.
Without another word, she closed it behind her, leaving the confused teenager alone with her thoughts.
Knock Knock!
"Kiki? It's Dad, can I come in?"
"…Door's open."
Makoto gently opened the door to his daughter's room, smiling uneasily as he walked over and sat down next to her.
An awkward silence passed between them before Makoto sighed and apologized "Kiki, we're sorry we didn't tell you about this before. We always taught you not to keep secrets from us, and yet we proved that we were total hypocrites. We don't blame you for having your trust in us shaken a little."
"It just…" A tear trickled down Kiki's cheek as she sniffled "It just makes me question all the times Mom said she loved me, loved us! How…how do I know those weren't lies too, if she was willing to implicate you to save herself?"
"Oh, Kiki…" Makoto embraced his daughter sadly as he told her "I promise, your mother loves us both. She hated implicating me and voting for me as the blackened, but there wasn't any other choice. And…it was a choice that I made too."
Kiki stared at her father incredulously, who nodded in confirmation and began to explain.
"The mastermind set up a trap that implicated only me and your mother as possible suspects. But there was no true culprit; it was all fabricated to get your mother killed. Fake evidence was planted in her room to make everyone suspect her."
"…The locker key, right? For the one that contained that bundle of arrows?"
Makoto nodded and confirmed "Yes, that's right. Before the trial, Byakuya forced Kyoko to surrender her room key because she couldn't tell us her Ultimate talent, due to her amnesia at the time. Kyoko brought that up to drive suspicion away from her, claiming that she couldn't have gotten in her room because of that…but that was a lie."
"A…lie…?"
Makoto nodded and continued "You see, she told me not long after she surrendered the key that she stole a key from Monokuma that would open any door in the school. I was the only one she told. At that point, I was in possession of a very dangerous piece of information, one that had the power to save or end our very lives."
Oh kami, talk about pressure…
"In the end, I decided to trust your mother; I kept that little nugget of information to myself. With the others believing her account, they started to think that I planted the evidence when I investigated her room with Byakuya. Of course I knew that I was innocent, and your mother did too, but when I tried to point out how this trial could be a trap…"
"Monokuma declared time up, right?" Kiki finished, recalling the class video.
"Yeah; the trial came to a premature end, and we were all forced to vote. I refused to vote, and I never asked your mother how she voted, but even if she voted for me, I didn't hate her for it, because of what happened after I fell into that trash pit."
"…What happened after that?" Kiki asked hesitantly.
"Well, I'm not sure how long it was, but after my execution, your mother jumped down the garbage chute to rescue me."
"She…she did…?"
"Yeah, she brought me food and water so I could get my strength back, she helped me escape the trash room, and she even bargained with Monokuma to protect me from a second execution. She got us a re-trial which allowed us to expose and defeat the mastermind. Despite what you might have thought, and even though she thought it herself at the time, your mother never abandoned me, Kiki."
Kiki looked down at her sneakers, her face contorted with guilt at what she said to her mother over what was a simple misunderstanding.
"So, it…it's true, then? Mom…really does…love me…?"
Makoto nodded and told her "That's right, Kiki. Your mother always loved you, and even before you were born, the one thing she feared most of all, was being hated by her own children." As Kiki stared with widened eyes at her father, he continued "She had nightmares, Kiki, nightmares about you screaming at her and wishing you'd never been born. It motivated her to do her best to raise you and your siblings, and every day you told her you loved her was one more day that she was fulfilling the promise she made as a parent."
Kiki grit her teeth and clenched her fists, barely able to keep the guilty tears at bay as she realized just how much she had hurt the woman who loved and raised her.
"I know it must hurt to know that you misread your mother's feelings. That's how she felt when she realized that she had misread your Grandpa Jin's feelings about her."
Oh, that's right, she and Grandpa Jin weren't on good terms for about a decade… Kiki realized, recalling that memorable bedtime story from when she was a little girl.
"That's another reason why your mother took such care in raising you, made sure she never missed anything of your milestones growing up. She didn't want to repeat her father's mistakes. She never wanted you to feel resentful to either of your parents, like she was towards her own father."
And I almost destroyed that in a heartbeat…I have to make things right! "…Dad…?" Makoto watched as Kiki stood up and told him "…I need to apologize to Mom."
That's my girl. Makoto thought as he stood up.
"Well, let's go see her then, shall we?"
"Ano…Mom…?" Kiki asked hesitantly as she approached her sniffling mother.
"K…Kiki…?" Kyoko cried weakly as she shakily raised her tearstained face, making Kiki kick herself for making her mother so distraught over nothing.
"Mom…I…I'm sorry about what I said. I…I don't hate you, honest. I was just…really angry and upset, and I said something I didn't mean. So…I'm sorry…oof! Mom?!"
Kyoko pulled Kiki against her in a bear hug and sobbed into her shoulder.
"Mom, what's wrong? I apologized, shouldn't feel like crying…"
"…These are tears of relief!" Kyoko cried. "I'm…I'm so sorry, Kiki! Your father and I should have told you the truth…before you had to see it in class. Can you ever forgive us for being too scared to be honest with you about our past?"
"Mom…" Kiki smiled softly, embracing her mother and rubbing her back as she told her "I forgive you. I can't imagine how hard it would have been to even bring this up. And I'm to blame, too. If I hadn't gotten so angry after seeing that video…"
"Speaking of which, perhaps we should have a conference with the principal and your teacher." Kiki and Kyoko looked up at Makoto who continued with a serious expression on his face "We absolutely should have told you the truth before you learned it in school, and it's absolutely our fault for kicking the can down the road all these years, but you still never should have had to watch that video." Makoto's eyes darkened as he nearly growled "Nobody should have to see what your mother and I saw."
Finally recomposing herself, Kyoko stood up and nodded, agreeing "Yes, horrors like that should never be witnessed by human eyes, let alone by middle school students. I think it's about time we had another parent-teacher conference with the principal to discuss Nihonbashi's education policy."
"Alright, I'll go make the call right now." Makoto agreed as he dug out his cell phone and dialed a number before he held it up to his ear.
"Hi, Mikoto Utsugi? This is Headmaster Makoto Naegi of Hope's Peak Academy."
Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy?! Dad almost never uses his full title like that. He must be really serious if he's using it now… Kiki thought with dread as he continued to speak to the secretary.
"You want me to what?!" Principal Kotaro asked incredulously as Makoto and Kyoko glared at him while Kiki barely resisted the urge to squirm nervously in her seat.
"We want you to amend the curriculum for the history of the Killing School Life in Nihonbashi high school to mandate a textbook-only approach." Makoto stated calmly, unwavering in his resolve.
Taiga sighed and tried to reason "Headmaster Naegi, current school policy mandates that textbook education be combined with audio and video footage whenever such material exists. It's in effect so students can get more than a theoretical education about history; they can see what it was really like. Such hands-on experience is beneficial for deterring a repeat of history, is it not?"
"Principal, I was there when it happened. I saw every horror that occurred in that school, and I can tell you that it was so traumatic, that nobody should ever have to witness what we did. I don't like invoking my title to get my way, but this is one of the few things I will gladly use it for. So I am demanding as Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy that you agree to our request."
"And if that's not enough to convince you, then we will also demand these changes as survivors of the Killing School Life, as parents who have children learning this material in school." Kyoko narrowed her eyes as she continued "When my daughter here saw footage of the Killing School Life in class, footage I had no idea was even part of the curriculum, mind you, she came home horrified, distraught, angry even!"
As Kyoko needed to take a rare, deep breath to compose herself, Makoto explained "Principal, I understand the need to teach the next generation about the Tragedy and what happened during the killing games. Believe it or not, I agree with you to an extent. But nobody should have to witness even a recording of what we witnessed with our own eyes."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you myself." The others turned to face Nagisa, who continued "But you refused to heed my warnings and mandated I show the footage in my class anyway. And now look at this; you have two angry parents, survivors of the first killing game and chief administrators of Hope's Peak Academy no less, telling you that this approach has traumatized one of the students."
"Principal…" Makoto sighed "This has to stop. Please, don't let any more kids come home crying like my daughter Kiki did."
Taiga stared into Kiki's eyes, making her shiver nervously as she felt like he was searching her soul. At last, his eyes softened as he sighed.
"I can't change the curriculum when the unit is already almost over. But…I will restructure the curriculum requirements for the Killing School Trip and the Towa City incident to comply with your request. And I will phase out the curriculum requirement for the Killing School Life at the end of the year."
Nagisa nodded and advised "Mr. and Mrs. Naegi, if it had been up to me, my class would have never seen that footage at all. But what's done is done; the principal's compromise is a good one considering the current circumstances. I suggest you take it; it really is the best deal you're going to get. I promise, I'll be there to help Kiki and the other students process the footage from the final trial when we go over it in class."
Makoto and Kyoko bit their lips in hesitation before they sighed and nodded at each other.
"Very well." Makoto relented. "I don't like it, but I know when to cut my losses. Principal Kotaro, I'll accept your terms."
As everyone stood up, Taiga smiled and shook his hands, apologizing "I'm sorry my lack of foresight led us to this conclusion. Naegi-chan…" Kiki stood up straight as he finished "I apologize that my errors led to you having problems at home."
"Oh, i…it's okay, really. You had good intentions, I know that."
"…You're too kind, Naegi-chan. Alright, I'll send out the memo this afternoon. If we work diligently, we might be able to pull off this last second curriculum change."
Nagisa nodded and promised "I'll work with the other teachers to amend their curriculums as well."
"Thank you, Nagisa." Makoto thanked before he finished "Well, we'll be on our way then. Kiki, let's go home."
"Coming!" She called out as she walked after her parents, leaving Taiga and Nagisa in the room alone.
"Alright, Kiki." Makoto began as they sat in the living room together. "Before you learn about the last part of the Killing School Life, your mother and I want to explain our perspectives of it to you. Then at some point, your Aunt Komaru and Aunt Toko are going to come and tell you about the Towa City incident. Afterwards, your Uncle Hajime is going to explain about the Killing School Trip."
"They were involved in those incidents?" Kiki asked in shock before Makoto and Kyoko nodded sadly.
"That's right, they were. And we're gonna tell you the truth. No more secrets, I promise."
"O…okay…" Kiki took a deep breath and steeled herself before she said "I'm ready Dad."
"Alright, so after your mother rescued me and bargained with Monokuma for a retrial, we then went to the dining hall to regroup with the others. When we got back…"
