Hope's Peak Academy was governed by a board of directors and a headmaster. All things considered, both factions shared power and had few large disagreements. The only time there ever was strife between the two would be during the process of scouting potential students. Both could easily agree on athletes, famous people, or students who had made substantial profits from their talents. After that, you could usually find some sort of argument popping up. It was pretty much tradition for every year to have a student that the board didn't want, and a student that the headmaster didn't want. The headmaster would choose someone with a controversial talent ("Jin, he's yakuza for God's sake!"), and the board would choose someone with a massive reputation but a shitty personality ("She is literally abusing her classmate!"). One side would pretty much ignore the other, and invite the student anyway. While the headmaster stuck to his usual methods ("Damn it, why do we need another lucky student?"), the board decided on something a little different this time ("How the hell did you guys even find out I had a daughter in the first place?"). In the end, both students had been accepted, and after the new students had some time to settle in, Kyoko Kirigiri decided to confront her father.
Said conversation happened to be the reason why she was silently seething as she walked through the halls. She had decided to talk to him as if she was a student talking about the beginning of her semester. Easy enough, right? No, he just had to stop her right as she was beginning and started reminiscing about her mother. What gave him the right to speak as if he were in charge? He was her headmaster, yes, but she hadn't seen him in over ten years, and he treated it as it was him who approached her! She had put the Kirigiri family name at risk of dishonor by gaining publicity so that she could attend this school, and he acted like it was nothing! Worst of all, even though he knew nothing about her, he still managed to push all her buttons like it was nothing! Whatever. She had gotten what she came here for, so all she had to do was leave this school and return to her grandfather. If nothing else, it would hurt his reputation because no student has ever left Hope's Peak before graduation since its conception. She wasn't very enthusiastic about the reception her old school would give her for coming back from the greatest school in the country after dropping out, but she couldn't really bring herself to care. She had every intention of calling her grandfather and requesting to leave as soon as possible. If she were lucky, she could probably catch a flight as soon as tomorrow- and there's someone else walking down the hall. She really does not want to deal with anyone right now. She just hopes he ignores her and keeps walking. No such luck, as the boy known as Makoto Naegi has a compulsion to befriend everyone he meets. (Serial killers and affluent progenies notwithstanding)
"Oh, hey. Kyoko isn't it? You're in my class, aren't you? I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, but you always leave class so early, I haven't managed to catch you before you disappear for the day."
"What do you need from me?" Looking back on it now, she admittedly did leave little room for anyone who wanted to speak with her to have a chance.
"It's just uh…nobody really knows your talent, and I was kinda curious, you know? I tried finding out about you on the thread, but I didn't even get your name until I came here."
"I could ask the same of you."
"Huh?"
"Everyone else at this school has made it abundantly obvious what their talent is, and yet you haven't. I did not check the thread, but I believe I can guess what talent each student has. As for you, your lack of trying to con me into paying lucrative fees for fortunetelling or dropping your anime porn has made me unable to discern your talent."
He laughs nervously at this. "Yeah, I guess I haven't done anything like that. My talent's nothing special anyways. I won the lottery to gain entrance into this school, so I received the title of Ultimate Luckster."
"I see, so they decided to see how an average high school student would fair in an environment designed for cultivating talent."
"That's... a pretty accurate description." The conversation reaches an awkward stop at this point, as Makoto's instincts tell him that trying to make small talk would be bad, so he decides to wait for her to speak up. This action is appreciated and rewarded.
"Ultimate Detective."
"Huh?"
"You wanted to know my title, so I told you. I was invited for being a detective."
"I guess that makes sense. That's probably why you're one of the smartest people in our class. Being a detective and all, that means you need to have knowledge in a lot of fields, right?"
"That's correct." Kyoko thinks for a second, then suddenly makes up her mind. "As for other students doing well academically, why would that be? This year has no students that were invited for academic abilities. Why do you think that certain other students are doing well?"
A little caught off guard by her question, he takes a moment to respond. "Well, for the students that stand out, there's Kiyotaka, Byakuya, and Chihiro. Kiyotaka is the Ultimate Moral Compass, and success in school means a lot to him. Byakuya got invited for being the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, so he probably wants to keep up his good name. As for Chihiro...programming involves a lot of math, doesn't it?"
"Correct. I came to a similar conclusion. While this isn't necessarily difficult to figure out, you need to pay attention and analyze the specialties of each person, and how they relate to a seemingly unrelated topic."
"So uh, did I just get tested by the Ultimate Detective?"
"Yes."
"Did I pass?"
"I suppose so."
"You suppose so? Is there any way for me to turn that into the definitive yes just before it?" he asks kind of jokingly.
"Probably not. That wasn't very difficult, after all." She pauses for a second. "Well, I don't think everyone in the class would've been able to come to those conclusions."
"Why do you say that?"
"All of your answers involved knowing the talents of your classmates. In all honesty, I doubt all of your classmates would care to know about each other. You only know out of your interest in others. After all, you're the only so far who has questioned me on my talent."
"So you're saying our classmates don't know anything about each other, because they don't want to know?" At this, she nods. "That's crazy! We are way more social than that."
"Some of you, maybe, but have Byakuya or Mondo tried to talk to you?"
"Well, no, but I'll prove it to you! In homeroom tomorrow, I'll introduce you. I know anyone would think it would be cool to meet an actual detective, and once they know that people like you are here, they'll realize how interesting our other classmates are." At this, she just kind of stares at him. He said this whole thing with a straight face and with conviction, as if he actually believed what he was saying. He did not exhibit any signs of lying, which means he was planning on going through with this. Only a short while ago, she had been planning her flight back to her old home, but imagining his disappointment if he wakes up tomorrow finding his plan ruined, made her change her mind.
One more day couldn't hurt, could it?
A/N: Hahahahaha yes, I am back in the zone! The last two chapters were kinda iffy, but this one, I can be proud of. So I know I said character equality, but I have to write out the scene mentioned above, or I'll probably cry. It worked out better than I thought, though. I actually have a foundation to write this story on, these first few chapters were just the warm-up. It won't be the next chapter because I'll just say "while Kyoko and Makoto were talking" and go on from there. These chapters just keep getting longer and longer, so that's pretty good.