A/N: This oneshot takes place after "Kiki Comes Home!" and "Shuichi Comes Home!" Please read, review, and enjoy!
The Ultimate Detective and The Ultimate Hope Gaiden: Burying the Hatchet!
*Knock Knock*
"Sokyu, answer the door, please?"
"On it, Pops!"
The young man opened the door, greeted by an older, brown-haired man with hazel eyes and an ahoge. "…Can I help you…?"
"Ohayou, I'm looking for the Akafuku residence?"
Sokyu blinked. "…This is the Akafuku residence…but why are you looking for it?" Sokyu's brow furrowed the more he looked at the man's strangely familiar face. "Come to think of it…have we met? You look kinda familiar, but I can't think of where I met you…"
The man chuckled "You must be thinking of my daughter-"
Sokyu immediately froze, finally connecting the dots. "You…You're Kiki's…dad…?!"
The man nodded, confirming, "That's right, the name's Makoto Naegi. And you must be Sokyu, right?" Seeing the nervousness in Sokyu's eyes, Makoto laughed. "Relax, I'm not here about your…incident with my daughter. I was actually wondering if I could speak to your father?"
Sokyu bit his lip, still anxious about coming face-to-face with Kiki Naegi's dad, but nodded and opened the door. "Follow me to the living room, sir."
"Sokyu? Who was at the…door…" Shutaro trailed off, seeing the all-too familiar face. "Y-Y-Y-Y…You…?"
Makoto nodded, showing the former convict a polite smile. "Yes, it's me, Makoto Naegi. You're Shutaro Fukuka, right? I was wondering if we could talk?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Shutaro turned to his son. "Sokyu, go to your room so Naegi-san and I can speak."
Giving a slight bow, Sokyu left the living room. Once he was out of earshot, Makoto walked to a nearby chair and sat down, looking into the eyes of the man he exposed in his childhood.
"Your son seems like a polite young man, Fukuka-sensei."
Shutaro bit his lip, caught off guard by both Makoto's friendliness and the use of the unearned honorific. "He-Headmaster Naegi…you and I both know I was never your sensei. If anything, you've earned that title, not me."
Makoto chuckled, further keeping Shutaro on edge. "Well…accomplice to your brother's crimes or not, for a time, you were employed as an assistant teacher at Hope's Peak Academy while I was enrolled. So, whether you believe you deserved it or not, you are eligible to be called sensei."
Shutaro sweatdropped. "I…I don't understand…why are you being so nice? I thought you would have hated me after what I did. Is this some kind of ploy to get revenge for helping my brother try to kill you and that Kirigiri girl?"
Makoto shook his head. "I can understand why you'd think that…but no, I don't have any desire for revenge. What you did…yes, it was wrong, but it honestly doesn't even make the Top Ten list of worst things anyone has ever done to me."
Shutaro bit his lip. "Right, right…you were one of the survivors of The Tragedy…"
"I'm sorry…" Shutaro looked up, surprised to see a sad, sympathetic look in Makoto's eyes. "I'm sorry you lost Jutaro during the chaos of Junko Enoshima's despair."
"W-Why are you sorry…?!" A genuinely confused Shutaro inquired. "After what he did to you…even if it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to you…I'd think you'd be glad he was gone…"
"Fukuka-sensei." Makoto stared into his eyes with the same kind of seriousness that he did when unraveling the Akafukus' crimes. "I know what it's like to lose people you love, even ones that committed terrible acts. I almost lost my parents and sister in the Tragedy, and many of my friends lost loved ones of their own. No one should be happy about someone losing a brother."
Shutaro blinked before he finally chuckled, a tear trickling down his cheek. "Headmaster Naegi…you really are too kind."
"Please, call me Makoto. I'm not speaking to you as the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, and I've never been one to flaunt titles."
"…Okay…Makoto…" Shutaro cringed at the awkwardness of speaking so casually to a man he once helped his brother try to kill. "So…why are you here, then, if you're not here to get revenge on me?" Shutaro's face blanched as another thought crossed his mind. "Are you here to get revenge against my son for nearly killing your daughter?"
Makoto frowned and took a deep breath. "No, I'm not here to get revenge on anybody."
"I-I don't understand…" Shutaro admitted, confused by the grown man's mercy. "Even if you've forgiven me, I can't imagine you and your family wouldn't hold a grudge against him for what happened. You nearly lost your daughter because of my son's hotheaded temper! If it were me, I would have hated forever the person who took my son from me…"
"Shutaro…" Makoto spoke gently, realizing this was a delicate, emotional subject. "…I've never been one to hold grudges. My wife is another story, and my younger children are…less than pleased with your son's actions. But we've all talked about it, and…we've all agreed to drop it. Even if I was on board with some kind of retribution, my daughter has pleaded with us to not press charges against Sokyu, and since she was the one actually harmed, we're respecting her wishes."
Shutaro let out a sigh of relief, overjoyed that Sokyu wouldn't be facing legal consequences for his actions in the Killing School Semester. "You and your family have shown us kindness that we don't deserve. If only I had let him attend Hope's Peak-"
Makoto's eyes lit up. "Sokyu wanted to attend Hope's Peak Academy?"
Shutaro averted his eyes. "He…did…but I was…afraid you'd make the connection between him and me and Jutaro. I believed that if word got out…he'd be even more ostracized than he was. And he…always had trouble making friends. He was always the outcast in whatever school he went to. And…I thought it'd be just…worse if he attended Hope's Peak. Maybe if I had just let him apply…he'd have met your daughter and her friends sooner…he could have been their friend before all this happened…"
"…I understand why you did what you did…" Shutaro looked at Makoto in surprise, who smiled at him. "You wanted to protect your son, give him the best life you could. Any decent father wants that for their children. So, even though your judgment in this case was admittedly a little paranoid…I don't judge you for it. Besides, it seems like your Sokyu came out of it a polite, young man."
Shutaro's lips tugged into a smile. "When he came home, I still couldn't believe how much his personality had changed. He was always to angsty and rebellious. I lost track of how many times he yelled at me and stormed off…" Shutaro's eyes drifted. "…If only I had been able to save my wife…I could have been a better parent to Sokyu…"
Makoto smiled sympathetically. "Parenting teenagers is hard. Even Kiki wasn't entirely easy during her teenage years."
Shutaro nodded appreciatively at the young headmaster. "I suppose there's truth to that…I'm just glad meeting your daughter turned out to be a positive influence on him. When I asked what made him change so much, he couldn't stop talking about how she had gotten him to open up and trust people again."
Makoto's eyes beamed with pride. "I'm glad to hear our intersection has been fruitful for your son's growth."
"So…" Shutaro began hesitantly. "…Why are you here, then…? I can't imagine you came here to talk about our children over tea."
Makoto chuckled, shaking his head. "As fun as that sounds, I just came so we could…bury the hatchet, so to speak. I wanted to put what happened with you and Jutaro behind us."
"I'm still awestruck you've forgiven me so easily, even if your wife hasn't."
"Well, Kyoko holds grudges for a while. I think I'm the only one who she's forgiven while the other party is still alive, and even then, I had to work for it." Makoto chuckled, scratching his cheek. "My daughter and I, though, we think that holding all that negativity inside for years doesn't help anybody. So, while there are exceptions…we prefer to let bygones be bygones."
"I…I see…" Shutaro sighed. "…Forgive me for being curious, but…who are your exceptions…?"
Makoto bit his lip. "For me…it would be Junko Enoshima. She was a classmates who I cared about, but I couldn't forgive how she forced me and my friends into trying to kill each other, not to mention brainwashing the world into despair and destroying countless lives."
"…And your daughter…?"
"…" Makoto sighed. "A former classmate of hers, her best friend, and the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester."
"…Tsumugi Shirogane…"
"Kiki feels…conflicted about it, just like I was with Junko. Tsumugi was an irreplaceable friend to her, and she can't just wipe that clean. But she also can't forgive Tsumugi for trying restart the Killing Games and causing numerous, unnecessary deaths. Part of her also blames herself for not being able to stop Tsumugi's plans before the Killing Game started."
"I see…poor girl…"
Makoto nodded. "We're coping as best we can, taking things one day at a time. All we can hope for is that Kiki and the other survivors can learn to bear the weight of the trauma they've endured, learn to live their lives without being chained by their pasts."
Shutaro nodded. "Makoto…you truly have my sympathies. And…thank you and your daughter for bringing my son back to me. Is…is there anything I can do for you…?"
Makoto turned to Shutaro with a serious, somber expression. "Promise me you won't take your son for granted. Treasure each day you have with him; we never know when it'll be our last."
Shutaro gave a solemn nod. "I promise, Headmaster."
Satisfied, Makoto stood up. "Well, I'd best be going then. Thank you for your time, Fukuka-san."
With that, Makoto stood up and walked away. Once the door closed, Shutaro sighed, and stood up, making his way to his son's room to fulfill his promise to his former victim.