Kyoko Kirigiri

Kyoko Kirigiri (霧切 響子 Kirigiri Kyōko) is one of the characters featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Kyoko was an amnesiac and was titled as '''Ultimate ??? ''' at first. Later, it was revealed that her true identity is the Ultimate Detective (超高校級の「探偵」chō kōkō kyū no “tantei”). She is also the daughter of Jin Kirigiri, the deceased Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.

In Chapter 5, the mastermind attempts to have her executed for the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba, a crime she didn't commit, due to her interference in the masterminds plans. However Makoto Naegi sees through this, but is almost executed himself, which was stopped due to the interference of Alter Ego. However she is executed in the bad ending.

Kyoko survives the final trial and escapes Hope's Peak Academy with the other survivors.

Kyoko also appears in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as a member of the Future Foundation, along with Makoto and Byakuya Togami. She's also seen in Danganronpa/Zero.

A light novel series based on Kyoko's past with Yui Samidare has been published, titled Danganronpa Kirigiri.

Kyoko will reappear in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy's Future Volume and is the leader of the 14th Division.

Appearance
Kyoko is a relatively tall young woman, with purple eyes and a pale complexion. She wears her lavender hair down and with a braid on the side, tied with a black ribbon. Her outfit consists of a dark purple collared jacket over a white blouse and brown tie, along with a short skirt and heeled knee-high boots. She always wears her custom-made black gloves to conceal the scars on her hands that she received back when she was an amateur.

Personality
Kyoko is a stoic and mysterious girl who tends to hide her feelings. She has a calm demeanor and tends to be completely unfazed by most of the events that occur, even at the sight of a dead body. Kyoko is also one of very few students that see things objectively and doesn't jump to conclusions in the trial, making her a valuable ally to Makoto.

During the beginning of the game, Kyoko often keeps her distance from the other students while investigating. Prior to the investigation to find the way out with no casualties, Kyoko doesn't seem to cooperate with the other students and does most of the investigating by herself. She plays major roles in solving mysteries of the culprits in class trials.

Kyoko is very sensitive regarding the subject about the Hope's Peak Academy Headmaster (who later is revealed to be her own father), going as far as to even lose her cool when Alter Ego mentioned the possibility of him being the mastermind. She also doesn't like it when people keep secrets from her, as Makoto finds out.

Kyoko can be seen as able to find the good in people's motives: for example, after the first trial (Sayaka Maizono's death), she goes to Makoto's room to tell him that she thinks that in the end, Sayaka actually wanted to make sure he didn't get the blame for her death, which is why she wrote "11037" on the wall. Another example is in the second school trial, where she points out that the broken ID card is actually Chihiro Fujisaki's. Kyoko says that Mondo Owada broke it to protect Chihiro's secret.

Behind Kyoko's stone cold personality, she seems to easily get emotionally upset, which is masked by her strong will. Even under calm situations, she sometimes lets her emotions get the best of her as shown when Alter Ego mentions her father, the former headmaster, and when Makoto refuses to tell her about Sakura Ogami's odd rivalry with Monokuma (assumed that Makoto suspected Sakura's betrayal).

History
[Warning: Several spoilers follow this section!]

Childhood
Kyoko comes from a family of famous detectives. Her father, Jin Kirigiri, wasn't interested in succeeding his family of detectives and left them after Kyoko's mother died when Kyoko was still a little girl. He eventually became the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.

Kyoko became very close with her grandfather, Fuhito Kirigiri, who taught her all she currently knows in the detective business, and he protected her from anything he deemed a threat.

Danganronpa Kirigiri
Kyoko, along with Yui Samidare, is the protagonist of the light novel Danganronpa Kirigiri.

In the novel, a 13-year-old Kyoko and 16-year-old Yui solve a case called "The Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case". Her DSC number is 919.

Prior to the Tragedy
Even though her family kept their talent out of the spotlight, Kyoko publicly touted her abilities so that the Hope's Peak recruiters would notice her. In 2010, she attended Hope's Peak Academy's 78th Class as the Ultimate Detective.

Danganronpa/Zero
While attending Hope's Peak Kyoko did investigations for her father and the Hope's Peak Academy Steering Committee. She tried to investigate Izuru Kamukura and The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, but eventually Jin told her to give up for her own safety.

During the Tragedy
Kyoko lived in the Academy for around one year until The Tragedy occurred. During The Tragedy, Jin planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. His plan was agreed by Kyoko and the rest of the class, and they sealed the building together and lived peacefully inside it for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst.

The true Ultimate Despair took away the 78th Class' school memories so they could participate in the school life of mutual killing. Unlike the others, Kyoko forgot her talent.

Prologue - Welcome to Despair
Upon Makoto meeting Kyoko, she is very secretive. She doesn't reveal her talent, questioning why she should tell him. After Makoto states she doesn't have to reveal anything about herself, she states she won't, thus ending the conversation.

Chapter 1 - To Survive
During the school life of mutual killing, Kyoko is the only student who believes that Makoto is not responsible of Sayaka's murder while trying to give the others cause for reasonable doubt, as well direct then to the true perpetrator, Leon Kuwata.

Chapter 2 - Boy's Life of Despair
After the first trial, Monokuma allowed the groups to explore the second floor after he removed the shelters. Kyoko and the others discovered a letter regarding what happening before the High School Life of Mutual Killing began. She also discovered a broken laptop, which was later repaired by Chihiro.

Upon the trial, she was the second person who discovered that Chihiro is actually a male. Knowing this, Kyoko attempted to lure the killer to misspeak. Kyoko's plan succeeded, and finally the groups were able to deduce the killer.

Chapter 3 - A Next Generation Legend!
On the next day after explored the third floor, Aoi Asahina confessed that she discovered a Chihiro's ghost- who later revealed as Alter Ego. Kyoko was the person who told the students to kept Alter Ego's presence as a secret, since Alter Ego was left by his master, Chihiro in the bathroom which has no surveillance camera in it. She also forbid anyone to use Alter Ego for their personal gain.

The next morning after Monokuma revealed his third incentive to give a 10 billion yen cash to whoever manages to graduate, there was only Sakura, Hina, Makoto and Kyoko herself who attend the usual breakfast in the cafeteria. Feel strange due to Celestia Ludenberg and Yasuhiro Hagakure's absence, they decided to split up to search the others to avoid something bad that might be happened.

During their search, Kyoko suddenly disappeared when the groups manage to found all the students, including Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Hifumi Yamada's corpse. Later, Kyoko revealed herself that during her search, she found Hiro in "Justice Robo" suit inside a locker in the pool, a costume that the groups believe as the culprit behind Taka and Hifumi's murder.

Much later after the third trial, Kyoko is the person who trusted by the killer to kept the Alter Ego locker key. After the trial ended and the culprit execution, Makoto ask her where she disappeared during the search of the missing students. And it's revealed that Kyoko found a secret room in the men's rooms in the second floor which aren't have any surveillance camera inside it.

Chapter 4 - All●Star●Apologies
Kyoko, along with Makoto and Hina didn't receive any letter from Sakura to met with her. Later, she and Makoto found Hina screamed and reported that she saw Sakura sitting in silent inside the locked rec room at the third floor. With Makoto help, they three were able to break inside the rec room.

But it was too late, Kyoko confirmed that Sakura has already lost her life. Hina who shocked by the fact that her bestfriend was died and murdered decided to called up the others to came to the rec room, left Kyoko and Makoto who already started their investigation. During the investigation, Kyoko found that the shattered Monokuma bottle behind Sakura's death site was heavier than a Monokuma bottle figure. Kyoko believed that Sakura was struck twice in the head based on her wounds, but strangely she and Makoto only found one Monokuma bottle figure.

During the trial, Kyoko and Makoto can deduce that Sakura has committed her suicide to avoid the fight that clashed between Hina and the others. Kyoko then used Sakura's payback (Breaking the Headmaster room which is prohibited by Monokuma) and sneak inside the Headmaster room to stole Monokuma's key that can unlock every room in Hope's Peak Academy. From there, she was the first person of the survivor who knew about Mukuro Ikusaba, the sixteenth student of the groups.

Chapter 6 - Ultimate Pain, Ultimate Suffering, Ultimate Despair, Ultimate Execution, Ultimate Death
Prior to Makoto's miraculous survival and return, Kyoko would begin her retaliation by demanding that Monokuma to reopen the trial, to which the talking bear reluctantly agreed. She is then reunited with the other students (who still think that Makoto was responsible for killing Mukuro) while explaining on his behalf that the trial was restarted due to some circumstances (basically thanks to Kyoko's sharp retaliation over Monokuma's taunts).

Throughout the course of the investigation, Kyoko learned that her father is no longer alive in the academy: his remains were put in a gift box by Monokuma in the secret room of the principal's bedroom. Even though she looked unaffected by this revelation, she was clearly shocked by the fact that her father, in fact, never forgot about her and that she was really dear to him, to the point that the password to access the secret room was Kyoko's name and that in that room there was a photo of a smiling Kyoko as a child with her father. Even though she is still upset with her father, she was shocked to the point where she asked Makoto to leave the room, since she needed to be alone for a while to 'collect' her feelings.

As the true perpetrator was revealed as the real Junko Enoshima, Kyoko is shocked by her father's primary reason to cut his ties with her big family and his true motive to build the academy which made her remain silent for the first time.

As Kyoko motivated by Makoto's words that hope is still alive, Kyoko would rethink about the case which seemingly involved her late father's meaning, indicating that even though their hearts disconnected, she added that if she knew her father well, he would never allow her to survive if it meant sacrificing Makoto. With her support to Makoto, Byakuya Togami witnessed him force Junko onto her knees and executed herself in a special punishment (The Ultimate Punishment) in the progress; which finally resulted in her 'death' and the survivors are finally free from the strings of the sadistic game.

Epilogue - Goodbye Despair High School
Considered their torments have finally over, Kyoko would wonder if Makoto's faith about hope would maintain pure after the gruesome journey while anticipating to. Before she bid her friends farewell, Kyoko would wonder if leaving the school would be for better or worst, which she wouldn't be miss. With that, Kyoko is among the 6 survivors who survived the incident.

Joining the Future Foundation
Kyoko and the others survived together in the apocalyptic world until they were found by the Future Foundation. They decided to join Future Foundation to fight against despair and Future Foundation helped them to recover their school memories.

Chapter 6 - This is the End Goodbye Academy of Despair
Kyoko, Makoto and Byakuya arrived into the Neo World Program to save the remaining students by activating the Forced Shutdown.

Epilogue - The Day Before the Future
After defeating AI Junko and exiting the Neo World, Kyoko leaves Jabberwock Island with Makoto and Byakuya while Hajime Hinata watches from the island.



Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy
Kyoko will appear in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair's anime sequel, Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy, along with Makoto, Hina and Hiro.

Execution

 * Main Article: After School Lesson 

Makoto Naegi
Ever since the first murder, Kyoko became closer to Makoto, evident from her later interactions with him, hinting some sort of mutual attraction. Kyoko also helps Makoto solve each Class Trial whenever he was out of clues.

Both are on good terms with each other, Kyoko trusts Makoto (although just for her plans against Monokuma) but Makoto puts his trust in her completely as he hopes that she would trust him as much as he trusts her. Regardless, Kyoko seems to care more for Makoto as time goes on, eventually reaching the point of having romantic feelings for him towards the end of the game.

Evidence was shown when Kyoko entered his room and told Makoto to beware of Mukuro. She also saved him from Junko (though thought to be Mukuro) who was about to kill him when he was asleep. When Makoto allows himself to be found guilty in Chapter 5 (though he's saved at the last minute by Alter Ego), Kyoko realizes that she's been putting her own desires ahead of his safety. When she discovers that Makoto ends up at the garbage disposal room, she risks her life to save him.

During the last Class Trial, Makoto was the one who told the remaining students (including her) to not give in to despair, helping her overcoming her state of shock over the intense pressure of the situation they were in. Kyoko told Makoto that even though she didn't know her dad, he would never tell her to stay in the school if it meant betraying and getting him murdered by Junko, thus showing their bonds and trust to each other.

At their "Graduation," Kyoko told Makoto she was actually kind of looking forward to face whatever is out there if it's with someone like him, this hints out that she possibly has romantic feelings for him.

Jin Kirigiri
Little is known about their relationship, she only stated that they were just family and nothing more. Jin left her when she was a little girl and Kyoko stated that he only used her mother's death as an excuse so that he could leave the house and that she didn't really knew him as a father because they never really spoke to each other much during their days together.

When Kyoko found out that her father died in the school and found his skeleton, she didn't show any feelings towards his death. But Makoto, who was looking at the remains of her father instead, noticed that she didn't even look in the box. Makoto thinking, that somewhere in her heart she must have thought she was wrong about her father's death.

Yui Samidare
Kyoko and Yui get along together throughout the events of Danganronpa Kirigiri. Kyoko even calls Yui "Yui Onee-sama" (Meaning older sister) because Yui insists on Kyoko calling her "onee-chan".

Presents
Obtained from the MonoMono Machine.
 * Luwak Coffee
 * Blueberry Perfume
 * Rose In Vitro
 * Cherry Blossom Bouquet
 * Bojobo Dolls

Choices
During free time conversations, the player will occasionally be given a choice on how to respond to something that is said. These are the 'right' choices.
 * Swimming
 * Gloves

Skills
These will aid you, usually during Class Trials.
 * Observing Eye - Press the △ button to highlight objects that can be inspected or interacted with. Player starts with it in English and PSP The Best Version in Japan.
 * Neural Liberation - The Focus Gauge decreases more slowly during concentration and Fever time. Effective during the Nonstop Debate, the Hangman's Gambit, and the Bullet Time Battle. Costs 5 SP.

Quotes

 * “... My name is... Kyoko Kirigiri.”
 * “If I don't have to, I think I won't.”
 * “They're just underpants. It's not like I put my hands inside his socks...”
 * “For the time being, let's go over what we know once more.”
 * “You won't find anything just by staring at it.”
 * “I... have come in contact with dead bodies for quite some time now...”
 * “When you see something strange, don't you think It's a good idea to check it in detail?”
 * “A hint is one thing, but simply sharing the answer it leads to is dangerous.”
 * “I don’t want to push too many preconceptions into your head before the school trial begins. You should come up with satisfying answers by yourself...”
 * “I do trust you, to a certain extent. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t even tell you this much.”
 * “Nothing will change if we stay here. Let's go.”
 * “Your conclusion is not wrong, in all likelihood.”
 * “I didn't know my father, therefore I do not know of his arrival.”
 * “To solve a mystery, you sometimes need to take risks. Isn't that right?”
 * “Could any of you really kill me? I don't think I'll die that easily.”
 * “I suppose a change of pace is necessary sometimes... Fine then, why don't we take a little break?”
 * “You could certainly make the argument that forming friendships may help prevent killings.”
 * “Well, I *am* human. I *do* have emotions. I simply keep it to myself. I don't show it in my face or in my voice.”
 * “If you get too involved with someone, you're apt to lose any sense of good judgement. I learned that lesson myself all too well. Personal experience is a ruthless teacher.”
 * “Simply put, there was a time when I grew attached to someone, and I made a bad decision. I was forced to learn a very powerful lesson, and these gloves are a daily reminder of that. So on these gloves, I swore to never make the same mistake again.”
 * “Fear is proof that your imagination is functioning. Frankly, I feel bad for anyone who can't feel fear. Without imagination, you can never deduce which action to take next.”
 * “I'm scared too, of course... I simply hide my emotions. There's no advantage to be gained from letting others see how you feel. What I mean is, I'm not as foolishly open as you are.” (to Makoto Naegi)
 * “Also, the "fear" experience is a little different from yours, I imagine. You're afraid of what you might lose, right? But I'm afraid of what I've already lost.”
 * “... Anyway, don't get too depressed over all this. The reason I'm not willing to talk about it isn't because I don't trust you. In fact, I *do* have faith in you. Which is why I decided to tell you what I have. I want you to understand *why* I can't tell you. I can't show you myself, just like I can't show you what's beneath these gloves. I can't imagine a point where I would show them over again. Only someone I could call family would be worthy. Would you like to sign up?”(to Makoto)
 * “Such a foolishly open person as you could never lie. Everyone would know right away.” (to Makoto)
 * “Well, you should consider trying. Your naive honesty makes you an easy target.” (to Makoto)
 * “I don't believe this...! To use word "cute" to deceive someone...! That's just too cruel!” (to Makoto)
 * “You would never just came out and call someone cute like that. Completely out of character. You thought I wouldn't pick up on such an obvious play?” (to Makoto)
 * “Watch yourself, Makoto. You're honest to a fault.” (to Makoto)
 * “Didn't I tell you? If you make light of other people's emotions, it will surely come back to bite you.” (to Byakuya Togami)
 * “... That's just gross.” (in reply to Yasuhiro Hagakure)
 * “I know I always tell you to be careful and protect yourself, but... to be honest, I hope you don't change. I prefer you this way. This is... you.” (to Makoto)
 * “Whether they know it or not... The fact that they're already clinging to that feeling shows that they're no longer who they were in the past.” (talking about the Remnants of Despair)
 * “Besides the Future Foundation, the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history is not finished... We must end this once and for all, for the sake of the future.”

Creation and development
Among the female characters, Kyoko was one of the most difficult to create.

She was planned to be a mysterious girl from the very beginning. The character designer, Rui Komatsuzaki, decided to give her pale coloring and dark, monotone clothing to fit this idea. However, after the game's design concept changed to "Psycho Pop", Rui was asked to avoid monotone and use bright colors instead.

Rui then decided to base Kyoko's entire design on purple tones. At first, he thought that her clothes should be vastly different from the other characters, so for a while they were based on a salopette skirt design. Kyoko's gloves were there from the planning stages, and her double jacket was added to highlight her role as a detective.

Rui had a hard time deciding between Kyoko's current hairstyle and a short one. Since the producer thought both styles looked nice, he suggested a hair cutting scene in the middle of the game. However, this idea was left unused.

Because she's set up as a double heroine with Sayaka, Kyoko's long hair also serves as a shared feature between the two. Since she's the heroine who survives to the end, her design took time and Rui grew to like it quite a bit.

"She's always cold towards Makoto, though, so I'm not sure how good a heroine she is", Rui adds.

Trivia

 * The name "Kyoko" (響子) is composed of 響 - "echo" or "ringing" and 子 - meaning "child". Her name fits her composed, quiet speech and how, during the trials, she more than once guides Makoto to conclusions she has already reached herself and lets him be the one to voice them.
 * Kyoko's blood type is A.
 * Kyoko's chest size is 32 in.
 * "Kirigiri" in kanji (霧切) means "fog cutter", referring to her detective background.
 * In the beta version of Danganronpa, Kyoko is the first victim.
 * The very first trailer for Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (the original release), which begins teasingly by saying that the upcoming installment of the Danganronpa series is a sports game, shows Kyoko playing basketball. The reason Kyoko was assigned this particular sport is probably because her Japanese voice actress, Yōko Hikasa, is known for her role in the basketball-themed series Ro-Kyu-Bu! as Saki Nagatsuka. Hikasa is also part of a five-girl pop group of the same name along with four of her fellow voice actress who also portray part of the series' main cast.