2025-09-18: The Luxury of Being Honest
- Log: The Luxury of Being Honest
- Cast: Yukari Takeba, Niko Kirisaki
- Where: Gekkoukan High School, Tatsumi Port Island
- OOC Date: September 18, 2025
- IC Date: July 13, 2012
- Summary: Niko ambushes Yukari right as she exits the school gates, her motivations vague as usual. In a mood to talk, Niko freely answers Yukari's questions... but Yukari, too, ends up divulging some sensitive information in the process.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"See you later!"
Archery Club wasn't meeting today, for the reason that nobody wants to go to club on a Friday! Who even would? Not even to mention Finals are coming up, so clubs were meeting less often to just give people time to study.
Yukari Takeba was thus headed back early to get on that. Studying. She wasn't the most academically gifted student in her class, but she did put in the effort! Right now she's wearing her summer uniform, and perhaps unusually to some, her pink cardigan is tied around her waist.
(The train gets cold sometimes!)
"Maybe I'll swing by Azuki Arai on the way home. Make that my reward after I put in at least three hours... wait let's make that at least four."
Fishing out her flip phone, she considers it for a moment, couldn't she spend a little time socializing on the way home? Maybe Beniho is available.
>hey i know there isn't club today but if you wanted to meet up at the station we could
She's so caught up in typing her old school flip phone mail to invite her friend out with her that she's not even looking up.
Fortunately there's no chance in the world that someone would ambush her as she's coming out the gates of her school, right?
There's just, no way!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Of course there's no way THAT would happen! The likes of Niko Kirasaki don't have any business at Gekkoukan High, why would she even be around?
Indeed, Niko Kirasaki doesn't have any history with Gekkoukan at all. But she could have. She would have, had things gone according to plan. But, things happened, and despite her having been on the enrollment roster, she never actually showed up for her first day. Or any days after that.
She would have been a second year now. In another world, she might have been in the same class as certain people she could name, such as, say, Yukari Takeba. In another world, they could have been friends.
One might not think Niko of all people to think about What Might Have Been at all for even a second. But the way she's been gazing at the school building from a distance... well, her expression probably didn't appear somewhat wistful for no reason.
All that is quickly forgotten once she spots someone she knows pass through the school gates. She didn't have any plans when she came here - when does she ever? - but seeing a familiar face has a way of making her shift gears. A smile easily comes to her lips.
Emerging from the shrubbery - she wasn't lurking, honest! - she quickly notes Yukari's distracted state, which means that obviously, she's going to stay quiet and follow closely behind for a short while, because that would be funniest. To just get riiiight up close behind her before announcing her presence.
"Hiii, Yuka-chan~"
Said with all the cheer and familiarity of someone who might be a school friend. But this isn't that other world. She's not wearing a Gekkoukan uniform in this one, instead she's wearing, well, what she always wears. No Gekkoukan student would breach the dress code THAT badly, showing THAT much skin. So naturally, the next thing out of her mouth would never be--
"Wanna walk home together?"
Ah yes, that's right, Niko has her own script, it would be foolish to expect hers to match anyone else's. And she's just waving cheerfully to go along with it, like she's doing the most sensible thing in the world. Because she is. In her version of the script.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
You know the funny thing about 'no chance in the world' is that it's a moving goal post. It's been moving ever since she woke up during the Dark Hour. What seems impossible, quite so!
Niko emerges from the shrubbery! And Yukari doesn't feel her approach, she's just tapping it out when...
'Hiii, Yuka-chan~'
"Oh, Hi?" You can feel the shift in her tone as she looks up, responding mostly reflexively, but the tone just changes into confusion. Is that someone she knows? They're greeting her so casually? Wait, it is someone she knows, but who-
By the time she turns around, Niko's greeted by the startled look of someone caught wholly flat-footed by this turn of events. Eyes wide, mouth agape just a touch. Bag being held nervously near her.
It's not visible from the outside, but her hand is over where the Evoker is sown into the bag on the inside. Not that, she could even use it right now. Unless they were at the station, which might be bad.
However, once the surprise and fear of that initial reaction wears off, her expression becomes pensive, tense. Just because she can't use her Evoker doesn't mean Niko doesn't have ways to hurt people - if she doesn't do what she wants.
"Sure." She says a little tersely, "Just don't make a scene." As she looks from side to side. No one in range of hearing, but unfortunately - no one from SEES nearby either.
"And which way would we be going to walk to your home?" She asks, a little more casually, though with that nervous tension still in her voice. "Niko-san... soooo I can start walking... that way?"
Not exactly playing along with the casualness, now is she? But at least she is playing along, right?
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
This world sure is funny like that, isn't it? Things that any normal person would think could never happen are just happening, all the time. Makes you wonder where it all started going wrong.
But Niko wouldn't be wondering about that, surely. She just kinda does things. That no one else in their right mind would do, perhaps, but she'd gladly tell you all about how little she cares about that.
No, it's far more gratifying to see people's reactions. Shock and confusion never get old. And the sense of anticipation, how are they going to handle it? Will it be fight or flight? She'd be fine with either - because either would be a terrible idea. She can handle herself in a brawl, and she'd likely manage to keep pace even with a star athlete. N-O E-S-C-A-P-E.
But ah, looks like it's Option C this time. Giving her what she wants. A perfectly fine choice, which doesn't dampen her mood in the slightest.
"A scene? Why would I make a scene? I'm just saying hi!"
Said with the same apparent sincerity that's usually present in her voice when conversing casually. Either it's the truth, or lies have become so second nature that the difference has become exceptionally difficult to spot.
She looks kind of confused at the question, though. "My home?" She lets out a giggle, reaching out to poke Yukari's shoulder with a single finger. "Silly. I don't have a home."
She says that perfectly casually too. Doesn't look like she thinks that's particularly sad. But if that's true, that leaves...
"I thought I'd walk you home to yours! You know, the dorms? So you can just walk the way you normally do. That's fine, right?"
That's fine... right?
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Right." Is Yukari's response to her saying she's 'just saying Hi.' Whereas when she notes she doesn't have a home...
... is there a flicker of sympathy in her eyes? It's hard to say.
"I wouldn't call it my home, but... sure."
These are the moments in one's life when one makes certain 'decisions'. The easy way, or the hard way home. The easy way is full of people.
The harder way is longer - but there are fewer people. "Let's head this way then." Upon which, Yukari shoulders her bag more firmly, hand still upon it, and turns towards the bridge from one side of Tatsumi Port Island, to the commercial district on the other end. Of course, she's not planning on going straight down it.
Assuming Niko doesn't prevent her from choosing the long way, she starts walking in that direction. (If Niko does, she'll go along with it)
Then waits for them to get further away from the school gates. "What exactly are you doing?" Is Yukari's question, "Are you trying to imply you can just... show up and threaten me- us any time?"
Well at least she's not too scared to prevent her from confronting her at all. She was waiting to get mostly out of range of other people if confrontation went badly.
"Or... what?"
Yukari assumes at least some underlying threatening motive, no matter how casually Niko acted before. After all... she can't really fathom people who would take the lives of others 'just because'.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
It's hard to tell what Niko thinks of Yukari's responses, since... she just keeps smiling. Like she doesn't have a care in the world. You'd think she'd have at least one, if she has to worry about where to sleep every night, but if so, it doesn't show in her expression. That only changes a little bit when she seems confused, which happens again when Yukari says the dorm isn't her home.
"Oh, really? It doesn't feel like that? I always thought that where people stay while going to school would become 'home' to them. Not that I'd know!"
Not seeming any more concerned about never attending high school, either. Nor about the route they're doing, to which she only comments 'lead the way' with that cheerful sing-song of hers. Looks like she's having a perfectly good time with this. Whatever 'this' is, exactly.
Yukari quite reasonably asks that very question. And again Niko just looks completely perplexed about being asked reasonable questions. "I haven't threatened you, though? I wasn't gonna, dunno why you'd assume I would." Her grin soon returns. "Unless that's what you want. Is that something you like, being threatened? Just asking, not judging."
What if YOU were the weirdo, and not Niko? Really makes you think. Well, probably not, but Niko is somehow still being completely serious about it. What is she up to?
Placing her hands on the back of her head, she just keeps casually walking along, suggesting, "Just wanted to talk a bit. Gotta be something interesting that happened lately, right? Like, oh I don't know... some ex-SEES dude suddenly deciding to rejoin? What's up with that?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Indeed, likewise, it's hard for Yukari to tell what Niko is thinking. She doesn't know how a girl so young as to be in her same grade could just be killing for fun... just because...? She's not sure even which it is, perhaps it's both.
The smile doesn't help matters much. She can't force herself to smile when she's not feeling it. It's never been her strong point, and she wouldn't want to live like that anyway.
That Niko is feeling it, gives her the shivers.
"Anddd why don't you know?" Yukari asks, as if making small talk that's also a little probing, "High School isn't so bad you know, you could always start attending." Reform, live a more normal life. That's what she's suggesting perhaps. Then again, would the police let her? Would the Kirijo group let her if she's killed?
Would she let her? It feels like someone who has, doesn't deserve it, but she still asks, if only to try to get that insight.
"I mean... weren't you all hired to kill us in there?" Is Yukari's response before, it twists somewhat into a stammer, "Uh! Wh-What? No- of course I'm not into that!" She says, only mildly flustered, more weirded out by it. "Who wouldn't see you doing this as a little threatening?"
There's this sigh, as if exasperated and not certain if Niko is serious. Yukari at least knows she's not normal. After all, people move on... and forget. And she doesn't. But she does know she's trying to live normally. It's just if someone told her she was the weird one, she'd be flabbergasted.
"Just talk? Well... alright." Yukari at least keeps walking, as they get to the footbridge across the ocean, the afternoon sun glittering on the waves as Niko follows with her hands on her head, Yukari idly answers her about Shinjiro, "I dunno much about him, really. Sanada-senpai is his friend but..." There's her trailing off, didn't he join right after...?
Nah, how would that be connected? "... I kind of thought there was some bad blood between all of them or something, but I guess that's just not the case." Yukari shakes her head, before deciding, if she wanted to talk, why not ask questions?
Yeah that could work.
"Soooo how'd you get involved in a group like Strega in the first place?"
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
So close to the answer, which is really very simple, if you asked Niko. 'Shit happens'. Suddenly your life changes completely, against your own will, and you can't ever go back. Not a wholly unfamiliar story, is it?
Niko just deals with it in her own way. An eternal unconcerned smile doesn't happen without a reason. But there's no need to talk about reasons. Reasons don't matter. Which is why the response she gives to the suggestion that she could go back to school is on the vague side.
"It's not that simple, Yuka-chan. They wouldn't want me there. Not as I am now."
Given Yukari's own suspicions, that might seem like a reasonable assessment, even if Niko doesn't confirm any of them outright. Although... what may be less expected is that Niko's tone changed somewhat, as she spoke those words. Was there some remorse in there?
She's not going to dwell on it, if so - nor leave much of an opening for others to do so. In no time, she's back to being all bright smiles. That doesn't change when the topic turns to the reason she was hired, because she can simply correct that little misunderstanding.
"Oh Yuka-chan, weren't you paying attention? I said it back there, we weren't told to kill you. Just had to make you go away, that's all. All we had to do was knock you around a bit, make you too tired to keep going, and our job's done, easy money."
She doesn't at all mind spilling all of the beans on that, not like it matters anymore. It was just a job, they got the money, no skin off her back what happened with Kaneshiro after that. It's far more amusing to poke fun at Yukari's flustered reaction. "Hmmm... well I wouldn't have assumed someone just showing up to say hi was going to threaten me, but whatever you say~"
Being exasperated with Niko is, at least, proof of still being normal in some way. Unconcerned though she may appear, she does seem genuinely interested in the topic of Shinjiro. And is quick to latch onto, "...Right after what? C'mon, you gotta finish your sentences. First thing you think is probably right, y'know." She's a big believer in instinct.
Trading questions, though? That doesn't seem to be a problem. Nothing in Niko's bearing changes as she plainly states, "Oh, that just kinda happened. Ojisan introduced me."
Well that doesn't answer much. Ojisan could be anyone. Although... back in the Palace, wasn't 'Ojisan' the way she addressed the Joker Killer? Surely that's just coincidence.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Definitely not an unfamiliar story. But Yukari Takeba has no idea how one goes from 'normal' to 'this'. Only how she got from there... to here. In the end, she doesn't know how to live her life, so ordinarily she tries not to judge how others live theirs.
Niko though? That's different.
Her answer resonates, and she knows why.
"Well, why not?" She asks, "You'd have to tone it down some, sure - but, isn't it the same way everywhere?"
It's not exactly the truth, but not precisely a lie either. It's more a middle ground to try and elicit more information on... who this girl is.
To try and understand her.
But when she denies it? "Right... but you're also part of a group that kinda hit some guy with a mine at Cuss High to help a guy try to kill somebody, aren't you? And that whole 'Do whatever you like, to whoever you like' part."
Yukari says, as she works through the logic of it, "Even if you said otherwise, wouldn't someone think all of you showing up for a job means you're going to kill someone?"
It's like she does pay attention, but she's prescribing a logic that makes sense to her - for someone like Niko.
Like she can't fathom just taking her at her word given the rest of the context. "Why wouldn't I? You all attacked a school after all." Yukari says, still seeming just not to connect how sort of weirdly literal Niko can be, like she expects her to take her at face value.
"Huh!? I- Oh-ah. It's nothing really. I just thought he was helping Sanada-senpai move some stuff around, but I dunno, maybe he was already thinking about it."
Best not to involve a kid in this. Ken shouldn't be caught in the middle of this by putting his name out there.
"Ojisan? You mean the Joker Killer?" She actually stops in her tracks briefly over shock from that one, as she looks at her, "How'd you hook up with a guy like that in the first place?" She blinks, before giving her a suspicious look because he's much older than her.
"He doesn't like... come onto you or anything, right?"
After all, Ojisan can just sometimes have lecherous connotations when referred to someone who's not family. An older man, an uncle. Everyone knows the idea of a creepy uncle from media.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
'Why not', Yukari asks. Why indeed can't Niko just choose to lead a normal life? If only it was that easy. She couldn't accurately explain why without going into territory that she doesn't want to go into. So she does what she always does in those situations. Smile, deflect, and turn it around.
"Yeah? Are you saying that's how you do it, pretend to be someone you're not? Now you're making me curious. What could the real you be like, I wonder, I wonder?"
Niko doesn't want to be understood. Not to that great a degree. It's better that way. For everyone.
Niko briefly lowers a hand to raise a protesting finger, but... it returns to the back of her head. Yukari got it right that time - not accusing her of the land mine, but 'the group'. Fair enough she supposes, though Jin might be annoyed he isn't given personal credit. Dude works hard on his explosives game, you know?
Instead, she just calmly responds, "So? You're gonna get on my case for speaking the truth? That's what these powers let you do. Doesn't mean you gotta kill everyone all the time. Personally I think it's more fun not to, but y'know."
...y'know. As if she isn't saying anything that isn't obvious. As if the way she thinks is the way that just makes the most sense, and it's strange to assume otherwise. That's been the thread running through this entire conversation. As much as Yukari can't fathom certain things, Niko seems completely unable to fathom the opposite of those things.
Thinking it might help, she asides, "I'm not on the job now, so relax. You've got nothing to fear from me." Though she can't help herself, chuckling before adding, "Unless you give me a reason. Or it's a special request. I can be scary if you want." Did you think we moved on from that? Heavens, no.
The only actual outward sign that might cause some worry is the frown when Yukari makes up an excuse. Niko highly suspects that wasn't the truth. But... she lets it go, the frown not remaining for long.
"Yeah!" she far too cheerfully confirms the identity of 'Ojisan'. "He's pretty funny, smart too. Knows a lot of things nobody else does. We're not actually related or anything, I just..." There's something different about her smile, though it's hard to say what. "...I owe him. Big time."
And then she just, entirely loses it at that last comment, laughing out loud, actually stopping in her tracks for a moment just to recover. "Holy shit Yuka-chan, how do you just, ask someone that, to their face?" She wipes away the tears in her eyes, smudging her makeup a bit. "What would you have done if I said 'yes'? If I started talking about what he does to me? Or is that what you hoped would happen?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
There's a flinch at that idea of pretending to be someone she's not. Enough that she has to clarify to her, "... No It's more like I'm saying..." She trails off, then finally finishes her sentence, "...what else is there? The Dark Hour? Mementos? Weirdos in Sumaru City? Thanks but, no thanks."
There, that's more direct at least! "All of us have gotta figure out a way to live our lives... and the last thing I want, is for my life to become just..." She waves a hand, fingers outspread in the air vaguely back towards the way they came at Gekkoukan, "... all about this."
It's not special in her eyes. It's not fun. She hates it, the whole idea of the Supernatural.
"I don't know what waits for me three years down the road - but... I hope there is a three years down the road, is what I'm saying, I guess? And I want to live my life like, one day I'm going to get there."
Certainly she's oblivious to the condition of others. She's seen Shinjiro's death-seeking but...
... get on her case for speaking the truth? Yukari looks at Niko like she just sprouted a fourth head, "Just because they let you doesn't mean you should want that. Who does?" She says, sounding uncomfortable about the idea, "Like, even if you say that... it means you're still killing sometimes? Or going along with the others if they kill somebody?"
She just spells it out, "I can't get on board with that."
It's likewise calm, but also just... uncomfortable, like the concept of killing just bothers her that much.
But it's another in this strange contrast of opposites that the two are, like there's just a failure to communicate on all levels. Yukari's logic - and Niko's are just like oil and water.
She's told to Relax, because she's not on the job? But also... scary if you want? "I'll pass." She says that one actually really casually, like she's comprehending somewhat that the threat isn't gone but that she's not under threat from Niko right now.
Probably.
It's just that Niko herself is a threat, by her own way of living.
"Uh-huh..." She trails off as she's effusive about the Joker Killer like one might interpret her next words as just being 'but he's a serial killer', but she's stopped short by Niko bursting out laughing...!
And Yukari stops and faces her, expression full of frustration at the intensity of laughter, "I mean, duh!? Who wouldn't suspect a guy who wears a bag on his head and kills people is like that!"
But what would she have done? Yukari looks away, as if equal parts embarrassed intermingling with the frustration.
"I mean... I guess I would have at least understood how... you got into all this." If what? If it can be blamed on some older guy being a sexual predator?
Her hand cards through the side of her hair, "It's not like I'm hoping for it. I just don't get how someone... ends up living like you do."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
After all this, perhaps the last thing Yukari would have expected to see from Niko ends up happening, when expounding on plans for the future. She's stopped smiling, actually wearing a serious expression for a moment. Could it be that in spite of everything, there's a level of understanding there...?
"...Heh." Niko smiles again at that final determined statement. One day she's going to get there, huh? "Makes sense. It'd be for the best if that were possible."
No argument at all, just a bit of an enigmatic response. It's not because she can't think of what to say. It's because she doesn't want to say what she can think of. As few as they were, she stands by her words. Whether Yukari would believe that or not, she thinks not saying anything more on that is a kindness. One she freely allows others, as she knows what it's like to not be allowed it herself.
She has no such qualms about going into the matter of ways their powers can be used, though. Perhaps her mood has changed due to what was said earlier, as she suddenly sounds very different from the casually callous way she was speaking earlier.
"So, it's fine as long as you're using your powers according to what others tell you to? Bet you don't know everything that's happening behind the scenes. Which means you can't be sure of your own group's true objectives. You don't have any idea what the consequences of your actions are even going to be - no one can."
There was the implication of things possibly getting heated, but, in the end, Niko bearing returns to normal, with a casual shrug. "I think it's better to be honest, where it comes to what you're about." If that makes her a threat, she's okay with that.
After all that, she needed that laugh. But, there too, the smile ultimately remaining on Niko's lips has a level of understanding. "You're pretty judgmental, aren't you, Yuka-chan? If you don't get it, maybe that's fine, maybe you don't have to get it. Maybe there's nothing to get. Is that really so bad? There's plenty I don't get about you, too."
Yes, Niko is a weirdo. But she is a perceptive weirdo, who remembers what she learns about people. And if she takes everything she's learned about Yukari at face value, there's a missing piece in that puzzle.
"Having a Persona is one thing. Doesn't mean you have to go out and use it. Let alone go into the Palace of a yakuza dude to... do what, exactly? Why were you even there? You sure were eager to deny it was fun for you. So why bother then? What do you get out of any of this?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It'd be for the best if that were possible? Yukari takes perhaps a different meaning than intended, "I know how dangerous this can be."
As if she at least accepts the risk that she could die tomorrow, to that enigmatic response. But was that what Niko meant?
Even Yukari doubts it as she says the words, but she still committed to them.
But as Niko asks if it's fine so long as she's using her powers according to what others tell you to...
Yukari actually looks upset at that one, borderline even a little angry, "It's not like that... I'm not in SEES because of what we're trying to accomplish. You think I actually trust the Kirijo Group? I'm a part of this because it's my choice. And I say that knowing full well the circumstances usually take that choice away from everyone!"
But she feels self-conscious about the idea that she doesn't know what the consequences will be. She doesn't... but would she just follow along if she thought it would actually harm the world?
... No, she can at least say she wouldn't.
"I don't have the luxury of being honest." She replies, a little more tersely at the casual tone shift. If the Kirijo Group knew what she was there to do... they might just kick her out.
Then she'd never do what she came here to do.
"I don't think it's wrong to be judgmental of someone who sometimes kills people for fun." She eventually comes up with, because that much at least she believes easily, "It's just... look. I don't buy that there's nothing to get. I guess it'd just bother me if I didn't even try."
After all, if they face each other, one day Niko could kill her. Or... despite her best efforts, Niko might get killed. And she cannot live her life where murder is casual. Where the people who die mean nothing.
She just can't. It's just an acknowledgement that no matter how little she understands her, she needs to know who this opponent is.
"... Not that it's any of your business, but it's because I don't want to take the Kirijo Group's word on how things are." It's at least more honest in that regard, "They focus a lot on the Dark Hour, but there's so much more out there. And if I understand more than what they're telling me..."
She closes her eyes, then opens them again, "Forget it. ... I don't know why I'm talking about it anyway."
But that implies there is something she's after, once again, doesn't it? And she's not trusting... basically anyone with it. Weird that she's spoken more about it to Niko maybe than anyone.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
It was absolutely not what Niko meant. The danger doesn't even cross her mind, likely another thing that Yukari would find hard to understand. Their perceptions are just too different, and there's a limit to how far other people's perceptions should be corrected, for their own good. So Niko believes, anyway. It's for that reason that she doesn't respond to that any further.
Besides, something far more interesting has come up. Niko's eyebrows go up at Yukari's assertions regarding the Kirijo Group, even if she doesn't initially say anything else but, "Oh?" That was a genuine surprise to hear. Not an unwelcome one, but all appearances.
She always seems to pick a provocative path in her responses, as evidenced by her only replying once Yukari claims not to have the luxury of being honest. "That's funny. You don't seem to have any problems with that right now." Her hands go to her cheeks as if in sudden realization. "You must trust me a lot, Yuka-chan! I'm so flattered!"
Obviously she knows Yukari doesn't trust her at all, and yet... that still happened, didn't it? She really does think that's pretty funny.
That protesting finger does end up seeing some action after all, in regards to the notion of killing people for fun. "Never said I do that for fun, I said that I think it's more fun not to." She's still not outright denying the killing part. Apparently to her, that's not the important part of setting the record straight.
She glances down at the nails of her right hand, musing, "Well, since you care so much about li'l ol' me, tell you what... I won't tell you to stop digging. You seem to have made your mind up on that, anyway. Maybe you didn't mean to tell me as much as you did, but having heard all that, I think I can tell you one thing."
There's a sudden, brief moment of fire in her eyes when she meets Yukari's gaze. "You're right not to trust Kirijo."
And back to the back of her head her hands go. "Welp, it's been fun, but my place is this way. See ya~" And with that, she just... turns to start sauntering back in the opposite direction.
She wasn't lying when she said that she didn't have a home. That's not what she meant by 'her place'.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari considers it perhaps a 'point scored' on seeing Niko surprised on her not trusting Kirijo either, "It's not like I trust you either-! ... Obviously."
But Niko already knows she doesn't. "Just... I guess I wanted to set the record straight too, a little."
In the end though, Niko tells her not to stop digging, and while she wouldn't just because Niko told her to...
'You're right not to trust Kirijo.'
Something clams up in her throat as she says that, as if her skin feels like ice. She almost asks after her... almost asks...
'What do you know!?'
Because... because, if she knows anything, it might put her closer to her goal. But even if she did say it, could she trust her?
And... what would the cost be?
"... Later." She says softly, dispirited... it's only after Niko's left, that she takes her phone out to stare at the charm on it.
The charm her father gave her.
I'm sorry Dad.
Unfortunately... she has a line when it comes to her goals, and today tested what that line is.