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“Akechi-kun!” A perky girl Goro doesn't recognize walks up to him like she knows him.
Not that he wasn’t used to this a a celebrity, but Maruki’s reality makes it all the more confusing as to whether it’s a fan or someone he actually does know in this reality.
She looks around college age, which doesn’t exactly narrow it down.
“Have you seen Yusuke?” The girl asks.
Ah, knowing he’s friends acquaintances with Kitagawa DOES narrow it down a bit.
“I think he’s at the church,” Goro says. It’s as likely as any other place Kitagawa would hang out.
“Thanks,” the girl says. “By the way… has he said anything?”
Oh for the love of– “I don’t know what you mean,” he says, grinning.
“He’s been distant lately.”
“I haven’t noticed anything different, perhaps you’re overthinking it?”
“O-oh, ok, well if you say so.” She leaves, and who should appear after her but Kitagawa.
“Thank you,” Kitagawa says.
“Don’t thank me, I was actually trying to help her find you.”
“Nonetheless, you got her to leave, so thank you.”
“Who is she?”
Kitagawa frowns. “I know who she is in this reality,” he finally decides on.
“Well?”
“Iris Madarame,” Kitagawa explains.
Oh, well that’s unexpected. “I didn’t realize he had a child.”
“Are you surprised? You’ve seen his Palace.”
“Fair point.”
“Maybe you could help,” Yusuke says. “I suspect she’s rather similar to yourself.”
“If her heart’s desire is to play house with Madarame, then being bastards doesn’t mean anything.”
“Who’s to say it’s her heart’s desire?” Yusuke says, “Maruki’s grants what he thinks people want. You didn’t want your crimes easily forgiven, did you?”
“Touché.”
“His imagination leaves much to be desired in that way,” Kitagawa says. “She may simply have wished for a normal childhood or to have two parents like her classmates, and he decided that meant Madarame being completely different and actually marrying her mother.” There’s a bitter tinge to his voice that Goro doesn’t hear often.
“So, what did you want to ask?”
“If I were to find her in our reality, and introduced myself, how do you think she’d react?”
“Don’t,” Goro says without missing a beat. “If I were her, seeing the adoptive child Madarame showered with attention and recognition after spending my entire life going unacknowledged, I would probably bash your head in with the nearest heavy object.”
Kitagawa chuckles. “That was exactly my thoughts as well,” he says. “Glad to have a second opinion.”
The conversation lulls and Goro is about to leave, when Kitagawa says something out of the blue.
“Have you seen Shido recently?”
Goro resists the urge to laugh in his face. “No.”
“Ah, I was wondering if he was different.”
Goro shrugs. “I’d doubt it, since he was arrested thanks to my testimony. It seems Maruki isn’t as magnanimous to people who he has grudges against specifically. Although, given this is what Maruki does with knowledge of the Metaverse, closing his lab might have been the one good thing Shido ever did.”
“Ah, I was wondering if… you might have had thoughts on whether someone whose personality is completely different can be considered the same.”
“I wouldn’t consider anyone who’s had the misfortune of being changed that completely by Maruki the same, no. Nor do I consider anyone he supposedly brought back the same people.”
“Why not?”
“Simple: he hasn’t brought back your mother, has he?”
Kitagawa’s taken aback.
“You’ve seen cognitions of others within Palaces. If you removed the distorted desires, they’d probably be more accurate to the real person,” Akechi explains. “If you had more accounts you could get the picture more accurate, but people are made up of every single choice they make every second of their life, and no one else is there for that. So no matter how well you know someone, your cognition of them will be a shadow of the true person. I suspect Maruki not choosing to revive your mother is because there aren’t enough people with memories of them to create something that could easily fool the people around them.”
“Oh,” Kitagawa says. “And here I thought I was simply lucky to not have to lose her again.”
It’s impossible for the people Maruki “brought back” to be exactly the same as the ones that lived. He’s certain of it, or he’d be able to remember his mother’s name, he’d be able to remember specific details and memories of why he’s angry at the world, instead of just vaguely knowing he is.
He told Joker a lot, but he never told him everything.
“I should be going,” Kitagawa says.
Huh, Goro might have upset him. “I hope you’re not having second thoughts,” he says.
Kitagawa glares at him. “Of course not. I’ve made my decision, and the more I stay here, the more I hate seeing Madarame like that. It’s a reminder that he could have treated me and the other students well. He could have acknowledged Iris, he simply chose not to for his own selfish reasons. It’s not fair that he’s free of the burden of the pain he caused.”
“Good,” Goro says. “You’re not a fool then, remember that anger. Don’t waste too much time getting caught up in philosophical sophistry, and do your job.”
“I’d say the same to you,” Kitagawa says. “Until next time, Akechi.”