Chapter Text
(“during summer vacation, in August,”->“after their failure,”)
“You've got that wrong!”
BREAK!!
♫ - Gyakuten Kenji 2: Pursuit ~ Wanting to Find the Truth (Orchestral version)
With a pointing finger, Naegi prepared to destroy Kirigiri's final attack. “You're good at explaining things away, and you managed to lock down most of my evidence, but your story needs two things that can't both be true! First, you need me to be in the school during a time when not many other people are. Second, you need that to happen after Kamukura was judged a failure! His modifications took three months starting at the beginning of the school year, and then he had two months of testing.” He held up a fist and counted off on his fingers. “April, May, June... July, August. He did three D-course simulations in that time, and I bet he did a bunch of easier ones too. With the modification process taking up so much of the system's resources, and needing operators there to monitor those other sims, there is no possible way my being there would go unnoticed! And there's no other time period long enough to do it after that!”
Kirigiri took half a step back. “It must have been during the previous summer, then. As a prototype.”
“Yeah, right! Even I can tell that's bullshit!” Kuwata said, pointing a finger at his temple. “If they had this guy as a prototype, they would have just used him instead of the other one!”
“Besides...” Celes drawled. “That would make him a creation of the board, not the Headmaster.”
“Enough.” Naegi squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He was starting to feel exhausted. “I wasn't going to bother with this, but I'm not going to let things go on any longer. I'll lay out this whole case to make everything clear.”
“Ooooh.” Yamada smirked at Kirigiri. “You made Makoto Naegi-dono go >_<. You are certainly in for it now.”
Instructions: Climax Logic is rather different from how you remember. Since this scenario has multiple characters taking action separately from each other over long periods of time, instead of a single running comic you now have a set of lines, one for each of the most important characters and groups. But just like before, use the hints provided to fill in gaps with data points, but with the added complication that some points need to be added to multiple lines to show when multiple parties are involved. Sometimes you will be asked to select a piece of evidence that pertains to that data point as well. It's set up so that the timeline is the same on each line, so some will have large gaps where that person did nothing, but the parts you need to pay attention to will always be clearly marked. Or at least that would be the case, but as I'm sure you've guessed, we ran out of money again. So we're skipping straight to the part where you explain it all.
Climax Logic
♫ - Climactic Return
“Here is the truth about this case.” Naegi said, slowly cracking open closed eyes as all the various threads spiraled and spun together in his mind. He stared half-focused in Kirigiri's direction. He imagined a young man, tall, broad-shouldered, and with a confident bearing. “Thirteen months ago, Hope's Peak put into action a plan to artificially enhance a human being's talents, using decades of research and a machine capable of communicating directly with the human brain.”
The grand figure of the young man was placed into a capsule, and shocked by endless bolts full of tiny text and formulae. But beneath him there was a whirlpool draining away names and faces. “The procedure had the reward of tremendous talent, and the price of losing his past life, both of which he accepted when he started.” After a time he stumbled out and fell to the ground, dripping sweat. He looked shocked to be surrounded by shadowed figures holding papers covered in red X's. “But after three months of modifications and two months of testing that were cut down from six, for whatever reason it was decided that he did not live up to their expectations, and he was sent to learn and maybe grow with the other Hope's Peak students in his grade year.” The other Hope sat in the back of a room, separate from a group of gray figures of various sizes, with one more who had a shock of messy white hair standing by him.
“Meanwhile, despite any suspicions of guesses anyone might have had, I was just a normal student at a normal middle school... with no idea how my life was about to change.” He imagined himself, with his ahoge shaped into a question mark, surrounded by people of all the colors of the rainbow. “And then 'something' happened.” The image was replaced with just the question mark hair. “I don't want to say what, and it's not really important for all of you to know. After that, Headmaster Kirigiri invited me to attend Hope's Peak, and I accepted immediately. This was after the normal recruitment period.” A gray person, featureless except for a big smile painted on its face, held its hands over its heart as Jin offered a letter to it.
Naegi and the other Hope stood with their backs to each other, while above them towered five people with faces like angry drama masks. “But the academy's board of directors, angered by the failure of their project, and not wanting competition with their future attempts, intervened.” Records were deleted with a giant cartoonish eraser, pamphlets showing his picture were burned, and a man with fox ears and a tail grabbed Naegi by the shoulders. He led the boy forcefully downwards, and threw him into the same capsule the other Hope had been in before. “They tricked me into the simulator, where I met what I thought was all of you for the first time.”
Naegi stood in front of the blast doors covering the exit of the fake school, looking around in awe at the fourteen classmates that surrounded him. But then it all changed. He stared in horror at ten bloody piles, one without even a body to go with it, just a few scraps of cloth. Bits of people splattered even up the walls. In the corner, a tiny, pitiful mound of crushed electronic parts. The Naegi of the past closed his eyes briefly, lowering his head in remembrance, then opened them along with his arms to reach out to the few friends who remained. Especially Kirigiri, the girl surrounded by light. He turned, and pointed dramatically at the doors, which opened before him to pour light all over them. “I watched you kill each other one by one, then be killed in retaliation. That horrific tale was supposed to frighten me, so that I'd drop out and never come back. But I refused to give up Hope, and eventually I was able to mess up the computer's plans enough to escape and win. With that, I earned my place in this school in a way nobody could deny.”
Next came a utterly confused Naegi in a small, concrete room with only a single table and two chairs. Naegi sat in one. Three people sat or stood across from him. Suddenly, Naegi jumped to his feet shouting, threw a tape recorder on the floor, broke his chair on the desk, and punched the walls over and over. Then he appeared in bed, restlessly tossing and turning while a girl stood at his bedside. “After I returned to my real body, I was enraged by losing the few people I managed to protect, then even more enraged by the truth that nothing I experienced was at all real, no matter what it felt like. It took me a long time to process that, while Tsumiki-san did her best to keep me from starving myself.”
Then he was wandering into a classroom, meeting his classmates all over again. The imagined Naegi turned blue screamed with his hands over his mouth at the sight of them, while they all did the same. “I was still pretty out of it when we met for real. I must have seemed pretty strange. It's not hard to see why I got your attention, with some help from the Headmaster. Soon everyone was trying to look into my past.” Naegi, once again with the question mark hair, was distantly surrounded by shadowed eyes, wide and shining, and above it all was the board again. “With the entire student body investigating, the board saw an opportunity, or perhaps a necessity. They didn't want what they had done to come to light, so they sought a way to pin their actions on the Headmaster, eliminating him and leaving me without my strongest protection against them. To that end, they chose a student to act in their stead. The student with the most reason to follow their plan.” The board stood alone with Kirigiri, though as they looked down at her, she looked with contempt at them. “They gave her hints and evidence, counting on her to spin the strongest tale she could out of the uncertainties of the situation.”
Finally, everyone appeared together in the debate theater. The board hovered over the proceedings, dangling strings over them, not seeming to realize that the strings were all cut. “But their proxy knew that the case they gave her was weak. She planned to use a publicly viewed trial to stir up emotions in her classmates and the people watching, no matter what the board wanted. I'd bet they're wishing right now that they could stop us without seeming to confirm everything that's being said. But you don't care about that at all, as long as you take down your target. Isn't that right, Kyouko Kirigiri!” Naegi shifted forward and accused her with a pointed finger.
COMPLETE!!
♫ - Class Trial (Turbulent Edition)
“Trying to overturn me!?” Kirigiri's shout immediately followed Naegi's conclusion, her face turning red and purple, with teeth bared. He startled, and started to lower his hand. She wasn't even close to done. The tips of her gloved fingers scrapped down the podium before her. “What is your problem!? Isn't it obvious that I'm trying to do my job here!? And yet you butt in on every little thing I say!”
Naegi stared at her in disbelief when she spoke like that. Her voice wasn't all that loud. It wasn't an undignified screech. And yet it was filled with barely contained cold fury at being defied. One more piece of the old Kirigiri he once knew faded away. He steeled himself, clenching his fists, and widening his stance. If she was going to be like that, fine. There was one last thing that he'd wanted to avoid revealing if possible. But to bring this to an end, he would.
Machinegun Talk Battle!
♫ - M.T.B.
Kirigiri quarter-turned away from him, but her glare remained. “That's untruth. All of it. Obfuscation. Half-truths. Non sequiturs. I've literally never heard of flimsier evidence!!! What kind of person gets convinced by this piffle!?”
Naegi's jaw clenched. “There isn't a single person here who doesn't have reason and insight!” To his surprise, he thought that might not even be much of an exaggeration.
But he quickly found himself having to shout over the irate Sleuth. “You don't know what you're talking about. Your brain must look like the contents of a burial urn. Take it from a professional. Any prosecutor who saw a case this ridiculous would laugh you out of the building!”
“I'm not prosecuting anyone!” Naegi said, gripping the top of his podium. “I'm just trying to protect the Headmaster! From you!!”
♫ - Super M.T.B.
She made a sweeping gesture with the back of her hand. “There's a conflict brewing in this school. You've picked a side. Yes, I approached this trial with calculation to ensure my win. But your manipulation has exceeded mine by far!”
Naegi's slammed his palm in frustration. “You have no evidence of that!!! Because it never existed in the first place!”
Her chin lowered aggressively. “And who would believe that!? After what you've done today!? Nobody would!!”
Spreading his arms to the whole assemblage, Naegi's voice continued to rise. “I have everyone here who believes me!”
♫ - Super Final M.T.B.
Kirigiri scoffed, though it sounded more like vomiting. “Feckless dilettantes, to a one! I've seen you scurrying about, capturing them in your orbit, digging into them to find out how they tick!”
That made him briefly look away in disgust. “What does it matter!? The truth is the truth if you don't have an agenda!”
His foe pressed herself forward. “My agenda is justice!! Wrongs must be punished!! If we can't do that, what is the point of society!?”
Naegi matched her. “You don't even care who gets hurt along the way! Anything to win!”
♫ - End
She drew her self up to her full height, her face seared red. “You say I don't care what I have to do to win? Based on what facts!?”
*Super Duper High School Luckster
>*Kyouko Kirigiri's Grudge
♫ - Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Class Trial (Future Part)
“This will prove it!”
BREAK!!
Naegi pointed his hand, fingers splayed, at the girl across from him. “Kirigiri-san, I wasn't going to reveal this, but you just won't stop if I don't! She has a huge grudge against her father, the Headmaster!” He swept his hand out towards the man. “He abandoned her as a child... and I admit that that's not a good thing to do... but this is way over the line! All her lies and tricks... Holding a public trial... Using doubt instead of real evidence... It was all to hurt her father, even if she lost. So beware anything she says! None of it can be trusted!”
Ishimaru looked at him in surprise. “Is that really the reason she started this? A personal grudge from years ago?”
With crossed arms, Oogami clenched a fist around one elbow. “To lead us to prying into Naegi-kun's dark past over such a thing. Unforgivable.”
“It's not...!” Kirigiri started, but cut herself off. She looked down for a moment, but before she did Naegi thought he might have seen the beginning of tears in her eyes. “Evidence! Where the hell is your evidence for that claim!?”
Through gritted teeth, Naegi replied to the fraud before him. “You. Have. Proved. It. Yourself.”
♫ - End
“That's enough, Kirigiri.” Togami suddenly said.
She jerked around to face him. “You...”
He looked her in the eye firmly, with arms crossed. “You simply did not have it. You know to continue is futile. You'll just have to try something else.”
She stared at him for a long moment. Finally, her head lowered again. “Fine. I have no further arguments.”
♫ - New World Order
Naegi looked down as well, sighing in relief. It was over. That would be the end of his longest day since leaving the simulation. He wasn't happy about what he'd had to do, but he still felt a bit giddy from manage to make it through. His face was tingling.
Akiyama looked around the circle as neutrally as ever. “We've run rather long, so if nobody has anything else to say, let's move right ahead with the votes.” He looked down at his ElectroiD. “I see we already have several people named to be censured. Everyone please vote yes or no on each of them. Remember, this is a serious matter. A person may be fired or expelled because of this, depending on the judgment of the board, or in the case of the board itself, the collective permanent faculty. A two-thirds majority is required to censure. Since we have nineteen people present, including myself, that means thirteen votes.” Unnoticed by anyone, he then exchanged a glance with the Headmaster.
...Right. Naegi still had to do that. Honestly, he'd rather just skip it, but he figured the results wouldn't be announced until everyone made their views known. He was surprised when he checked his ElectroiD. He expected the board and the Headmaster to be listed. But Kirigiri's name was there as well. Who put that on there? He shook his head. Trying to figure that out wasn't worth it. Neither was guessing at which way the votes would go. He'd just vote, and wait for the results.
Hope's Peak Headmaster Jin Kirigiri->No
Hope's Peak Board of Directors->Yes
Kyouko Kirigiri->No
Apparently, Naegi was one of the last to have his say, because the results popped up almost immediately. He held his breath as he read them.
Hope's Peak Headmaster Jin Kirigiri: 2/19 (Fail)
Hope's Peak Board of Directors: 12/19 (Fail)
Kyouko Kirigiri: 9/19 (Fail)
“Th-This is...” Ishimaru raised the results up to his face to make sure he was reading them right.
“Phhheh, and it was so close too! What a waste.” Enoshima drawled.
Naegi looked straight ahead. It wasn't his ideal outcome, but he was fine with it. He'd stirred up enough trouble already. And as for Kirigiri, she was staring at her father. The look on her face was fury beyond measure. It figured. Apparently she only managed to convince one person. He wondered who that could possibly be. Togami? Maybe. Then again, he didn't seem very convinced by anything.
“All three votes fail. There will be no censure handed down at this time. And with that-” Akiyama started to say, only to be interrupted by Kirigiri storming out of the room, shoving a door open with her shoulder in her haste to leave. The moderator cleared his throat and tried again. “And with that, I, Shin'ichi Akiyama, bring this school trial to a close. A video record will be made available to any students or staff who wish to review it. Everyone, please enjoy the rest of your evening.”
The Headmaster made a cutting gesture to the camera to tell the staff to end the broadcast. Immediately, chatter broke out among the remaining students.
Ishimaru patted Naegi on the shoulder. “You may not have won, but that was still extraordinary. You should be very proud.”
Leaning over his rail, Kuwata agreed. “Yeah, man. Those stunts you pulled were friggin unbelievable!” He held his hands up. “I mean, figuratively speaking. Ain't no way I'm doubting you.”
Naegi gave both of them weak smiles. “I did well enough.” He looked down at his podium, thinking about Kirigiri. About how wrong she was. She didn't know how much her father thought of her. There was nobody else who could have created her special profile in the simulator. He'd bet that the man also programmed it so that if she appeared, it would let her know the truth. Like with that photo, and the password in his simulator office. “I just wish...” He trailed off. To his surprise, his podium and rail were suddenly falling away from him. “Huh...?”
“Naegi-kun!” Someone slammed into him from behind. For some reason, the lights on the ceiling were now in front of his eyes. Tsumiki's face soon blocked them, but her colors were all weird, like he was looking at her through a prism. She was saying something to him, looking all worried. It was strange that he couldn't make out her words.
----------
Naegi dropped his duffel bag on a table and plopped into a chair with a heavy sigh. He looked around the dark cafeteria, thinking about all the missing friends that should have been there to witness that day. The ones he hadn't been able to save.
The sound of footsteps coming from the entrance made him perk up. He knew there shouldn't be any more danger, but the locked down school still made him nervous. But it was only Kirigiri, returning from the third floor. He rose to greet her with a relieved smile. She looked as serious as ever.
“It's just as Enoshima threatened. The air purifier overloaded. Even if we had the parts and expertise, it's likely beyond repair, and it's releasing a lot of smoke. We probably don't have as long as we thought.” She said.
Naegi nodded. “Well, we should be good to go anyway.” He picked up the bag and slung the strap over his shoulder. “I filled another couple of these with food. Shou broke into Mukuro-san's room to try to find some weapons. Asahina's getting medical stuff. What about Alter Ego?”
She tucked her hair behind her ear cutely. “Togami-kun and I found it in the computer systems, but we don't have anything we can carry it away in. But it assured us that the school will remain powered for a while yet. It should be possible for us to return for it later.”
It didn't feel right to Naegi to just leave him behind, but if they had to, then so be it. But they would definitely return someday. The two of them picked up the remaining three duffels from the kitchen and headed to the foyer, where everyone would be waiting for them.
“It feels a little surprising that we managed to make it to the end.” Kirigiri said as they walked.
“It's not the end.” Naegi said, grinning at her. “This is the beginning. Whatever is out there, as long as I've got the five of you, I know we can handle it.”
Kirigiri closed her eyes and lowered her head demurely. “And I'm sure as long as we have you, we won't give in to Despair, no matter how hard it gets. You'll save our spirits, as you always have, Hope.”
Naegi was still smiling when they came to the exit, and the massive blast doors covering them. But that's when his face fell in confusion. Nobody else was there. In a sudden burst of panic, he spun around. Where had Kirigiri gone?
----------
Naegi blinked his eyes open with a start. 'When did I fall asleep...? Oh no, the trial!' He sat up in a hurry. He had to get to the trial! But his head spun from the sudden movement, and he had to put his hand down on the bed to steady himself. When he did, he felt a sudden twinge. Looking down at it, he saw an IV needle sticking out the back. He followed it back to the bag of clear liquid dripping into his system. He wasn't in his room, but in a smaller bed surrounded by a blue curtain, still fully dressed. This would have to be the school doctor's office, then.
That got him to stop and think. Of course, the trial was already over. And he won, more or less, didn't he? He didn't dream that...
A frown appeared on his face. He wished that had been a dream. He didn't want to know that the real Kirigiri was capable of the kinds of things she did. It wasn't murder by a long shot, but she had still shown deliberate cruelty in her actions.
At least she hadn't been there to see him faint. Everyone else did, though. At least, he assumed that was what happened. He hadn't eaten much all day. The stress of the situation just turned out to be too much. At least he didn't have a flashback in the middle of everything. How embarrassing.
The curtain popping open, and a head peeking in, startled him again. He blinked in silence at his little sister for several seconds, before she pulled back. “Mom, dad, he's awake!”
It only took a second for the curtains to be pulled back, and for Naegi to be surrounded by concerned family members asking how he was feeling. His mother tried to smooth down his hair as she often did, and he just let her. He wasn't going to raise a fuss when they now knew that he'd been keeping things from them. Things that some part of him really didn't want them to know.
“I'm okay, really.” He tried to say.
“You passed out for six hours, Makoto.” His mother fretted at him. “Of course you're not okay.”
Six hours? That long? He didn't think the trial was that rough. He turned to his sister. “How long have you guys been here? I hope you didn't miss that concert.”
“You missed the concert. I was already in it by the time they managed to find mom and dad to tell them what happened. And something really awesome and unexpected happened in it too!” Komaru said, puffing up her cheeks. “You looked so cool in that trial thing that I thought it had to be some kind of staged show at first! You can't follow that up with knocking yourself out!”
“She's right. Don't change the subject, Makoto.” His father scolded gently. “They've told us that you've lost three kilograms since you started here.”
“Indeed.” Jin said, joining them by the foot of Naegi's bed. “You gave us all quite a scare. We thought there might be something critically wrong with you, instead of just low blood sugar and electrolyte levels.”
Naegi sat up a little straighter. “Headmaster. I'm sorry if I messed anything up.”
The man just waved him off. “There's no need to apologize to me, though you might want to say something to Tsumiki-san. She wants to lock a collar around your neck that will sound an alarm if you don't stop skipping meals.”
Naegi's father frowned at him. “That may not be such a bad idea.” He turned back to his son, still very serious. “The Headmaster and Akiyama-san have been explaining a few things to us. About you, and your talent, and why the change has to be kept secret. I can't say I fully understand it. And I don't know why you didn't just tell us about this. And I especially don't like that you apparently have enemies now.” He laughed sardonically. “Imagine that! A child of mine is important enough to have honest-to-goodness enemies. And more so, I can't stand what they've done to you. But... I know you'd never give up on being here. Isn't that right?”
“...Yes.” Naegi said, quietly but firmly.
“That's my boy.” His father clapped him on the shoulder, beaming pride and worry through his eyes. “You never were one to run away. I'm not sure about this, but I am so proud of you for standing up for what you want, and what you believe in. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you on that big screen.”
Naegi had to blink away the burning in his eyes. “Was it really that good? I mean, it wasn't even that hard. Her case was weak b-because she was trying to prove something that wasn't true. I really am sorry for not telling you anything... I just didn't want to worry you.” It was a lie. The reason he kept them in the dark... was so they wouldn't be touched by this strange world he found himself living in. Now he couldn't help but worry that they'd be drawn in too.
“It's okay, sweetheart.” His mother said, touching his other shoulder. “But you've got to take better care of yourself. It's not worth making yourself sick over.”
He gave her a smile too, though he wondered how much she really understood about his role as Hope. Even he didn't really understand it yet. “I'll try. I'll try harder. Th-Though, the collar thing may be a bit too much.” And he meant it. But there were other things he wanted to talk about. Looking forward, his eyes found Akiyama slinking in the Headmaster's shadow. He hadn't noticed the lanky boy until his father had mentioned him. “S-So, uh, Akiyama-senpai knows about all this?”
Smiling mysteriously with lidded eyes, the third year stepped forward. “The Headmaster told me everything when they had a bit of trouble finding a moderator for the trial. I managed to convince everyone well enough that they decided to pretend that I was neutral, though the board thought they might have some sway over me. The reason being that if I weren't a student here, I'd be in prison right now. They thought I wouldn't want to rock the boat, so they could at least count on my being scrupulously unbiased. Unfortunately for them, I can't stand their kind of corrupt tinkering in the lives of others.” Though he barely shifted, Naegi suddenly thought the boy looked like he was contemplating making the board his next meal when he spoke about them.
Jin crossed his arms, a bit smugly. “Akiyama-kun is the Con Artist who turned a multi-level marketing corporation's own tactics against them and drove them out of business. He was poised to nudge things in the right direction at any time it was needed to ensure the truth prevailed. Fortunately, you did well enough that he didn't have to intervene too much for you, Naegi-kun. The board might have taken that as a reason to throw out the results.”
Naegi's mouth tightened, and he looked down. “The board... I guess it's too bad that we didn't manage to censure them.”
“Actually, we would have, if Akiyama-kun and I didn't both vote no.” Jin said matter-of-factly. Naegi looked up at him in surprise. Why would he do that?
The Con Artist explained. “With the level of evidence you presented, and the fact that they weren't there to defend themselves, if we had censured them our complaint would have gone to the permanently faculty, where it would be dead on arrival. But... since the call to censure them only barely failed by a single vote, people around here are going to gossip and remember it for much longer. We agreed in advance to aim for this result. It was the best possible outcome we could foresee.”
Naegi was impressed. They actually managed to figure out who would vote in what way with that much certainty. That must have been the strength of a third year student. His father was shaking his head.
“That kind of thing is just above me.” He said, shifting towards his son. “Well, I don't think they're going to let you out of here tonight. We should probably leave you to get some more rest. The Headmaster kindly offered to put us up in a couple of the empty dorm rooms, so we can talk some more first thing in the morning before the presentations start up again. Okay?”
“Actually...” Naegi said quickly. “I need to speak to the Headmaster about a few things first. Privately, please.”
None of his family looked all that happy about it, but they acquiesced. He let his mother kiss him on the forehead, and then they all filed out, except for the Headmaster who sat on the end of the bed by Naegi's feet.
“Well, it's been quite a day, hasn't it?” Jin offered.
“Yeah...” Naegi acknowledged, feeling like he'd been trampled. “I'm glad my parents didn't try to pull me out of school.”
“If they had tried, I would have had to inform them about the fee. The school has to invest a lot in preparations to study the students who attend here. So the contract of attendance contains a clause that says if you drop out, there's a price to pay.”
“R-really?” Naegi blinked in wonder. Did Oogami know about that when she was thinking about leaving? “I must have missed that part.”
“Most people do.” Jin frowned. “It's part of why I hate paperwork so much. But I'm sure that's not what you wanted to ask. Go ahead, shoot. I'll try my best to give you a good answer.”
Naegi fell silent for a moment, hesitating to broach the topic. “...Izuru Kamurkura. You said he failed, right? What... exactly did you mean by that?” And what did it mean for the possibility that Naegi would fail?
“Ah...” Looking away at the curtain, Jin seemed reluctant to speak about him. “Well, how do I put it briefly? He is a genius, academically anyway. He easily mastered any material we placed before him. Every simulation he was put in below the D level, he won, and the three D-course sims he did, he managed to survive them until he fell into some trap or another that put him into a holding pattern state, which is amazing... for a normal student. If I had to sum up the reason for his failure, it's that his performance was incredibly competent, but utterly uninspired. And he was completely apathetic to his successes as well. Whether it was because everything bored him, or his lack of memory, or some other fundamental flaw in the process that created him, he showed no impetus towards wanting to accomplish anything. No desire to develop his innate skill into a practical talent.” He sneered in disgust. “The board thought that he would leap out of his pod and start solving problems left and right. Instead all they got was a barely animate machine that eats input and shits out monotonous prosaicisms.”
Naegi squirmed uncomfortably. The way the Headmaster got when he spoke about Kamukura disturbed him. “You really don't like him, do you?”
The man's face softened into a mere frown. “I don't like what we did to him. I hate what we turned him into. An educator should lift students up, not eradicate them in favor of an idealized superhuman. We destroyed that boy's identity, stole his memory. It wasn't on purpose. But it wasn't something they tried to avoid either. You see, the way it works is by bombarding the brain with stimulus. Not like what you'd see in a regular simulation, or memories, or really anything that your mind would recognize as a human experience. No, the machine instead manipulates and cajoles your synapses using carefully calculated signals that resemble the internal processes that our research determined leads to the development of talent.” Staring into the distance, Jin suddenly looked terribly sad. “They did warn him it could happen. Yet that boy didn't even hesitate to offer himself up. And then we failed to give him what he wanted more than life itself.” His head turned to look at Naegi. Or look through him. “You children are all so precious. But sometimes it can be so, so easy to ruin you with just a single thoughtless mistake.”
“...Like your daughter.” Swallowing hard, Naegi felt like he had crossed a line. But he had to talk to someone about it.
Thankfully, Jin did not berate him for it. He just looked ahead again, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Tell me, were you able to determine who the second person who voted to censure me was?”
He had thought about that, but how could he know? Then Naegi's eyes widened. If the Headmaster was asking that at a time like this... “It was you. You voted for yourself.” He said in breathy disbelief.
Jin nodded. “I wanted to send her a message. To let her know that I knew I had wronged her. I suspected she'd realize right away what I did and why. Judging by her haste in leaving, I'd say I was right. She just wasn't ready to hear it.”
“...Why did you do it?” It was something Naegi had always wondered, but it seemed way too personal to ask.
The man gazed blankly ahead. “I was still in college when Kyouko was born. My father pressured me to produce a successor early, promising to play an equal part in raising her. And I was grateful that he did, even though I loved my wife and daughter very much. Maybe he had already realized that the family talent for detective work hadn't developed very strongly in me. Instead, while pursuing my degree I discovered my true passion for teaching. Immediately, I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life, but my father would not hear a word of it, even after I acquired my teaching license. When my wife died, I decided I was simply done with it all. So I left them behind, believing that my father would raise Kyouko right, the way he always wanted. I thought of her often, but I was so busy rising meteorically through the ranks of the country's educators, until I became the Headmaster here. Only then did I think to really check up on her, and by that time it was far too late. I never even considered how bitter my abandonment would make her. I'm... a terrible father.”
“You've got that wrong.” Naegi interrupted softly, making Jin turn to him in surprise. “You may have made mistakes, but you've obviously learned from them. I'm sure if you had a kid today... you'd make a great dad.” He tried to give a reassuring smile, but it was hard. For heavy matters like this he was out of his depth, and he knew it. He just wanted the Headmaster to know that he still believed in him.
Jin's smile was slight as he lowered his head. “You are so kind. So giving, and so forgiving. It's a big part of what makes you who you are, with the talent that you have. But I worry about you often because of that, and wish you'd take more care, or else people might take advantage of you far too much. Yet, I also use that for my own purposes as well. I feel like I have burdened you greatly, and I will continue to do so far more in the future. For that, I am very sorry.”
Naegi's hands clenched on his sheets. This was the most important question of all. “Your purposes.... Headmaster... I know there has to be more to Hope than just making friends and helping them solve their problems. Please tell me, what is it that you really want from me?”
“You're forgetting that you are also a beacon of truth and clear thought.” Jin said. “But you are correct. There is much more to this than you know. But I'm sorry. I won't tell you what that is.” When Naegi immediately started to protest, the Headmaster cut him off. “There are some lessons, Naegi-kun, that cannot be taught. They are harder to fully internalize if someone simply tells you, or you would rebel against them if you did not come to the conclusion yourself. That's just how it goes. But don't worry. I doubt it will take you too much longer to understand. This may be something that everyone knows except you.”
Naegi's jaw clenched in frustration. “Can't you at least tell me what my goal is supposed to be?”
Putting a hand on the bed, Jin leaned in and fixed Naegi with his eyes. “To save the world. No less.”
----------
“Ohoho... Aaah, that was so great! Did you see how strong his Hope was!?”
“...”
“That passion. That certainty. And the moment he finally figured out what that girl was after. He burned so brightly!”
“...”
“He's like a master craftsman. I didn't think it would be this good! I mean, he doesn't have all that many chances to really push himself. Just one trip through the simulator and then this, that's not nearly enough!”
“...”
“Yes, I got it! Yeah, that would be perfect. A family squabble is too lighthearted for him. He'd do so much better with a real murder mystery to solve!”
“Just watch yourself, Nagito. You don't want that strength turned against you.”
“Oh, you couldn't be more wrong. It would be amazing to be struck down by him. Who else but one of my most supreme idols!”
----------
Episode 1: The Second Day Transfer Student, End