A/N: And now the plot really picks up. MAJOR spoilers for DR0 and DR2 inside; proceed with caution.
"Now what?"
Nanami glanced at Hinata, annoyance written on her face. Once again, Mario fell in a pit- he'd been doing that a lot lately. "Only you have the power to mess up the Ultimate Gamer," she complained, and turned her attention back to the television. She'd moved the Wii U and its games to the TV room adjacent to Hinata's room; this was to avoid any possible bugs in her own room and meant that for the first time since he arrived Hinata and Nanami were sitting in close proximity to each other in a non-car setting.
It was the first Sunday since their last meeting with Komaeda, one that neither of them had mentioned since. "I mean it, Nanami-san," Hinata replied, "Masaru's out, and my boss doesn't have any assignments for me besides keeping an eye on him."
"Go visit Mikan, then," Nanami said. "Or anyone else from Hope's Peak."
"Do you even know where she lives?" Hinata countered. Nanami shrugged.
"All I know is that her shifts end at seven," Nanami replied. "Go talk to her then. Just let me concentrate."
"Right."
Three hours later, Hinata was waiting in yet another restaurant (one of Hanamura's) for Mikan Tsumiki. Unlike the black sheep restaurant, it was well-lit and catchy pop music was being broadcast through the restaurant, and most importantly the waiters and waitresses all had exposed faces; like the black sheep, it was crowded, filled with young people, and had plenty of heavenly-smelling food.
Tsumiki had already arranged for Hinata's table, and Hanamura had come off of work to sit and chat with Hinata while they waited for her. "So I heard you moved in with Nanami-san," Hanamura commented; he was sitting across from Hinata.
"Yeah, I did," Hinata replied. He looked around the restaurant again, hoping to see if Tsumiki was almost there.
"I'm surprised to hear that. Didn't think Nanami-san would be up to it," Hanamura said, and he glanced down at his cutlery. "I mean, after what happened..."
"After what happened?" Hinata said, arching an eyebrow at the chef.
Hanamura chuckled. "Do you really want to know?"
"I don't want to hurt her. Did I do something?"
Hanamura frowned. "I heard you were bad, but this clinches it," Hanamura said. Hinata blinked. "Of course you did something, you idiot! Do you know what Nanami-san did!?"
"It's not your secret to tell, is it?" Hinata said, though he had a sinking feeling in his chest. "It's hers. Let her tell me, not you."
"Hinata-kun, Hinata-kun, you really need to have more sense," Hanamura said. "You really need to know about what happened so you can avoid situations in the future, yes?"
Hinata stared at Hanamura. "You don't get it, do you?" he snapped, "it's not your right-"
"You caused her to end up in the hospital! You! Not me!" Hanamura snapped back. "Admit it, Hinata-kun!"
Hinata gaped at Hanamura. After a lengthy pause of almost a minute, Hinata finally said, "hospital?" People in the crowd didn't notice the argument.
Hanamura sank into his seat and smirked. "Yes, Hinata-kun, the hospital. Now, this is all hear-say, and I'm not gonna tell you who said it, but here's what happened: after you left, Nanami-san came down with some depression. You know, not unexpected, I heard her family had a history of depression or something, but over time she got better. But then, when she moved back into her apartment- after you left she was living with Koizumi-san- she tried to kill herself!"
"W...what?" Hinata whispered, sinking into his seat in horror. Kirigiri's warning from two weeks ago sprang to mind again.
"Yeah, that's what happened. I heard she got better over the last three years or so thanks to Ryouko Otonashi, aka the world's best psychiatrist nowadays, so..." Hanamura said. Hinata curled his hand into a fist. Hanamura was treating this all as gossip.
And then Tsumiki arrived. "Hi, Teru-kun, Hinata-kun," she said, and she sat next to Hanamura. She quickly kissed him on the cheek then turned her attention to Hinata. "You two getting along?"
Hinata sighed and leaned onto the table. "We've gotten along wonderfully," Hinata drawled. Hanamura smirked, while Tsumiki blinked.
"O-oh, I see!" she said, and she attempted to smile. "Teru-kun, what were you talking about?"
"We were discussin' Nanami-san's attempted suicide a couple of years ago," Hanamura said. He pulled a comb out and started combing his hair. "I don't think she told him about it."
Tsumiki frowned. "Hinata-kun," she lectured, her eyes narrowed, "it's not your place-"
"Tell that to your boyfriend," Hinata spat. Hanamura blinked and Tsumiki glanced at him. "Look, Tsumiki-san, can I ask you-"
"Well, look who it is!" someone interjected.
Hinata, Tsumiki, and Hanamura glanced up. A man with a not-fully-buttoned shirt, messy, medium-length black hair, and a loose tie stared down at them. "D-dr. Matsuda!" Tsumiki squeaked, "it's nice to see you here-"
"I always come here, every Tuesday," Matsuda replied. "Hello, Tsumiki-san, Hanamura-san, and... Kamukura-san, was it?"
Hanamura and Tsumiki both glanced at Hinata. "No, my name is Hajime Hinata," Hinata said, cautiously.
"Of course, of course!" Matsuda said, and he walked off, laughing.
"Who was that?" Hinata said, as soon as Matsuda fully vanished into the crowd.
"Dr. Yasuke Matsuda," Tsumiki said. "He's the world's best neurosurgeon."
"Ultimate Neurologist?" Hinata said. Hanamura and Tsumiki nodded.
"And don't tell anyone," Tsumiki said, leaning forward, and her eyes darted towards the crowd, "but he's high up in that terrorist group Komaeda-kun warned us about."
Hinata blinked. Again. Komaeda was warning people? "That and something 'bout 'hope powering through despair', but hey, who cares, right?" Hanamura said. He resumed combing his hair. "Now, Hinata-kun, you've gotta tell me and Mikan-chan about America, we're considering it for the honeymoon..."
The sun had set when Hinata arrived at Nanami's apartment. His conversation with Tsumiki and Hanamura had descended into hundreds of questions about California, most of which Hinata had been unable to answer due to his severe lack of sightseeing while in LA; if they were disappointed, they did not show it. For Hinata, though, two things were on his mind: Nanami's attempted suicide from three years ago, and Matsuda's comment.
Hinata could hear gunshots in the TV room, and assumed that Nanami was up playing video games again; his priority was packing up and leaving so that he wouldn't hurt her again, or trigger any memories or such other bad things that could happen. He opened the door to his room and, not even bothering to turn the light on, he reached under his bed and pulled out one of his suitcases. Then he began stuffing it with clothes.
The door creaked open, and the lights flicked on. "What do you think you're doing?" Nanami said flatly.
"Nanami-san, I'm leaving," Hinata said, not looking at her. "I have no right to be here, all I'll do is bring up bad memories, and, well..." He cut himself off, and kept packing.
Nanami walked up behind him and grabbed one of his arms with a tight grip. "You're not going anywhere," she stated. "If anything's going to bring up bad memories, it's you leaving again."
Hinata looked up at her. Her expression looked determined. "If you're worried about me," she said, and Hinata noticed that her voice was very... emotionless, slow, and focused, "then I'll have you know that Dr. Otonashi and Dr. Matsuda have already helped me through my... issues." She let go of him.
"How?" he said. From what Hinata knew of psychology, that should be impossible… or at least, very difficult.
Nanami shut the door and then sat down on Hinata's bed. "Hajime-kun," she said, "depression and despair are Dr. Otonashi's specialties. But if anything's going to remind me about that, it's you leaving me again."
"We're not together," Hinata said, but he dumped the clothes out of his suitcase and closed it with a snap.
"No," Nanami replied, and, looking into Hinata's eyes, she said, "but neither were we when you left. Listen, just humor me. Don't leave. It's dangerous for you, it's dangerous for me, and I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night panicking that you'd run off again like I already have. If it really happened, it'd be far worse."
And with those words, she left Hinata's room and shut the door with a sharp click. Hinata stared down at his suitcase and then stowed it away. He put his clothes back in the closet, and then left his room to watch Nanami play her shooting game.
Neither of them mentioned what happened in Hinata's room.
The next day, after a quick check on Masaru revealed that even Masaru's goons weren't lurking around as usual, Hinata left for KDL's offices and was ushered into Kirigiri's office. Unlike when he had first arrived, there were quite a few clients waiting to meet with her today; a reporter that he vaguely recognized from the news, a man wearing a US military uniform, a police inspector who looked bored to tears.
Every so often, a client would emerge from one of the offices and one of the Kirigiris would come out and wait for Maizono to quietly motion one of the waiting clients. It reminded Hinata of an American doctor's office. Eventually, an hour after he arrived, the police inspector left Kirigiri's room and Maizono motioned for Hinata to follow her into Kirigiri's office, where Kirigiri was typed on her computer.
"Hinata-san, Kirigiri-san," Maizono said, and she left Hinata standing in front of his boss's desk.
Kirigiri looked up from her computer and then closed it with a click. "Hinata-san, sit down," she ordered. Hinata obeyed. "You wanted to see me?"
"Sir, who is Yasuke Matsuda?" Hinata said.
Kirigiri looked at him, her fingers laced together, as if she were contemplating her next course of action. "Yasuke Matsuda," she said slowly, "was the 'Ultimate Neurologist' and renowned for his work involving memory."
"I know that, Kirigiri-san," Hinata said. "Is he the reason you couldn't let me go to the hospital?"
Kirigiri nodded after a moment. "He is indeed," she elaborated, "we also believe that he is one of the founders of Despair."
"Why?"
"He was a close friend of the currently missing Junko Enoshima, the founder of Despair," Kirigiri said. "But, that has very little to do with your assignment. I doubt that even with Masaru's funding Matsuda would go to his apartment."
"Ah, no, I met him in a restaurant while meeting with two old friends from Hope's Peak, Teruteru Hanamura and Mikan Tsumiki," Hinata explained. Kirigiri's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "And when we met, he called me Izuru Kamukura..." Kirigiri's eyes widened by a much larger margin.
"So, he called you Izuru Kamukura," she said, and she leaned back in her chair and put one hand up to her mouth. "Izuru Kamukura... I haven't heard that name in so long," she mumbled.
"When was the last time?"
Kirigiri's hand moved away from her mouth and began drumming on the desk. "It was... seven years ago. I was only in my third year there, and I had a meeting with my father- I don't remember what it was about, he was probably going to chew me out after he found out I'd spent the night in Makoto's room or something- but just as I arrived, he left the room, muttering something about an operation."
Hinata nodded. He remembered what Kirigiri was referring to- seven years ago, he had been in an accident of some sort, and when he'd woken up in the hospital, the headmaster, Jin Kirigiri, was there to greet him. It had happened shortly after his parents and sister died in a car crash, and according to the doctors, the stress of the operation and accident combined with the death of his family had induced some memory loss.
However, that had all been a long time ago; Hinata barely thought about it anymore.
"Done thinking, Hinata-san?" Hinata nodded. Kirigiri resumed, "I noticed that'd he'd left a folder on the desk and, cautiously, I read its label- 'Ultimate Hope'. Underneath it was a name, Izuru Kamukura. Then my father arrived, grabbed the folder, and left," Kirigiri said. "Afterwards, I looked up who Kamukura was. He was the founder of the school who served with distinction in both world wars, wrote extensive books of both fiction and nonfiction, was an accomplished poet and a consummate painter, and an expert at sculpting with works of art in museums from Paris and London to New York and Tokyo."
"When did he die?" Hinata said.
"1959, after serving the American government for a little over a decade," Kirigiri said. "He also remained a very influential figure, and yet served as the headmaster for the entire modern history of Hope's Peak up to that point, along with hand-picking his successor, even though he could've retired around the time World War II began."
"But what's this about Ultimate Hope-"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Kirigiri said, and she resumed her earlier thinking position. "I think we might have to visit my father, then. Go get Makoto, he should be out of his meetings now, while I assign another agent to watch Masaru's camera for today."
"Yes, sir." Hinata stood up from his seat and exited Kirigiri's room.
The only difference between the Hope's Peak of the 78th class and the Hope's Peak of the 87th class was the elevator. The students were as... diligent as ever, all sitting around or standing around and talking or texting or following their own pursuits. Few and far between was the student actually studying, though to be fair, it was only the third week of September.
Hinata and the Kirigiris were now standing in front of the headmaster's office. Both Hinata and Makoto Kirigiri stood behind Kyouko Kirigiri, staring expectantly at her- after all, she was the headmaster's daughter, not either of them. Or at least, that's what Hinata assumed Makoto was thinking- he was the son-in-law, so...
"Alright," Kyouko said, speaking up for the first time since arriving (Hinata and Makoto had kept up a running commentary through the halls), "Makoto, you knock on the door and speak with... him."
"Come on, Kyouko," Makoto pleaded, "you were talking to him just two weeks ago-"
"For five minutes," Kyouko said. "Please, Makoto. You know I don't like talking to him." Makoto sighed, and at seeing his face, Kyouko warned, "And if you keep that up you'll be sleeping on the couch."
Hinata shook his head, embarrassed at his boss's reaction, and she snapped, "And if you keep that up, Hinata-san, then I'm going to dock your pay."
"That's illegal, Kirigiri-san," he replied, but Kyouko ignored him and watched as Makoto knocked on the door three times.
They heard a shuffling sound and then the door opened. An average-sized man with wire glasses, graying hair, and a lined face greeted. His eyes swept the group, then his face lit up. "Kyouko-san! Makoto-san! Dropping in so unexpectedly for once-" he exclaimed.
"Hello, Kirigiri-san," Makoto replied, and he bowed. Hinata copied the gesture, and Jin Kirigiri bowed back. Kyouko, in contrast, remained rooted to the spot.
"And, you are- Hajime Hinata, I remember now, from the wedding, such terrible business," Jin said, turning to Hinata, "and from your time at school too, naturally-"
"Actually, father," Kyouko said through grit teeth, "I just wanted to ask you about something. Something important. For work."
If this was supposed to lower Jin's spirits, it did not work. Beaming, he ushered them all into his office and then shut the door. "So, how're my grandkids?"
"We've only had one kid, father," Kyouko said. "And until this little business is cleared up, I doubt Makoto and I will be having any more."
"I know, I know," Jin said. "So, Kyouko-san, Makoto-san, Hinata-san, please take a seat, take a seat-" he said, and he gestured to some chairs in front of his desk. "So, this is about that Despair business, eh?"
"You know?" Makoto said, obviously surprised.
"Yes, I was told by Ikusaba-san," Jin said.
"And where is she now?" Makoto added. Jin shrugged.
"It was just a phone call, she said I could even tell anyone from KDL, wouldn't make a difference," Jin said. "I don't understand it- you guys have police powers but-"
"We don't have the ability to try people or prosecute the state's cases," Kyouko replied, "and Gundam Tanaka's trial showed that even a low-level member of Despair was still almost impossible to convict even on an obvious crime. For some reason, Despair has the prosecutors in their pocket."
"Ah," was Jin's only reply. "So, then, what did you really want to talk to me about?"
"Izuru Kamukura," Kyouko replied.
Jin's eyes darted to Hinata and then refocused on his daughter. He was also noticeably paler. "This... is not the place to talk about that," Jin said. His eyes then twitched towards a stuffed, half-black, half-white teddy bear sitting in a corner, and then back to his daughter. "It was a failure. That's all you need to know."
"Ah," Kyouko said, and she stood up. "Well then, I guess we'll be going now-"
"No, no," Jin said, "please, ah, Hinata-san, tell me about your classmates, I haven't heard from them in ages, oh, and Makoto-san, tell me about Saya-chan-"
"Sure," Makoto said, and he pulled his wallet out. Kyouko sighed and sat down again- Hinata knew from experience, back when he was investigating Athens and Sparta, that once Makoto got started on his daughter he didn't stop.
"So, in summary," Hinata said as they left Hope's Peak, "we learned nothing."
"No, we learned about what's going on in Hope's Peak right now, what the Headmaster- er, my father-in-law- is getting for Saya-chan's birthday and Christmas, and when he'll be visiting next," Makoto said.
"And we also learned everything we needed to, too," Kyouko added. Both Makoto and Hinata stopped and stared at her. She turned around- they were now right outside the gate- and she said, "it was in his eyes. When I asked him about Kamukura-"
"They darted towards me," Hinata said.
"Right," Kyouko replied, "you are Izuru Kamukura. Ultimate Hope. The only hard part is- what does that even mean?" She resumed walking. "Of course, if Kamukura is a split personality or something, it hasn't manifested. And it won't interfere in your job either, of course, so you can return to work tomorrow."
"Then what about that teddy bear?" Makoto said. "The half-white, half-black one?"
"I've seen those colors before, actually," Hinata said. This time, Kyouko stopped and wheeled about to face him; Makoto simply turned to face him. "At one of Chef Hanamura's restaurants, one Komaeda brought me to twice. And Sonia Nevermind was wearing one of those masks too."
"Meaning that there's a good chance that it has a connection to Despair," Makoto surmised. "Well then, I guess that means your dad's been bugged, Kyouko?"
"So it seems, and not just him," Kyouko said ominously. Once again, the three resumed walking, albeit in silence. Then, as they reached the parking garage, Kyouko said, "I will look into this Kamukura business on my own. Hinata-san, just go back to work, Makoto, you just work too. I'll have this cleared up in no time."
"Are you sure, Kirigiri-san?" Hinata said.
"I don't want to see you get hurt," Makoto added in a small voice.
In a rare display of affection (for Hinata, anyway- she was plenty affectionate with her husband), Kyouko turned around, smiled, and put her gloved hands on Hinata and Makoto's shoulders, stopping them from walking, and said, "Don't worry, Makoto, Hinata-san. Things will turn out well."
A/N: Before you ask, yes, I'm doing my research, and yes, Hinata is screwed-up himself, something that should become obvious in later chapters. But, if you have any questions, ask away!