Why did Riku ignore Kairi between CoM and KH2?

[Ginalea00]

It was about a year between Chain of Memories and KH2. Kairi and Selphie both said in KH2 that Riku had been gone for a long time, so I assume Riku never visited Kairi during that time.

Why is that?

What exactly was Riku doing during that time? Was he just living at Twilight Town’s mansion for months? What did he eat? Where did he shower? Ansem the Wise and Namine don’t seem like the most fun people to hang out with so what did he do for all those months?

So he couldn’t be bothered taking a corridor of darkness (which would take him like 1 minute) to Destiny Islands just to fill everyone in on where he is? In fact, why doesn’t he just stay at home and then make the occasional trip to check on Sora or follow the Organization?

And what about Mickey? According to Minnie in KH2, he was also missing for a very long time. Was Mickey that busy that he couldn’t spend a few minutes going back to Disney CastLe so his wife wasn’t worried sick?

I understand Riku not returning when he looked like Ansem, but that happened just a few days before the KH2 cutscene with Kairi and Selphie.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

From your questions, I’m under the assumption you haven’t played or watched 358/2 Days. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Riku had been keeping tabs on the Organization during that year, even having a run-in with a few of its members, including Xion, a replica who had inadvertently been absorbing Sora’s memories, which is why it took a whole year for him to wake up.

He does stop by home once, but we don’t know if he does visit Kairi. Given at the time, he had that blindfold on and every time he took it off he would look like Ansem SoD, he probably didn’t want anybody to see him looking like that. He was probably also hanging on to a little bit of guilt for what happened in the past.

As for Mickey, he and Riku were travelling together for a time but they split up at some point, since the next time they meet up in 358, Riku looks like Ansem and Mickey doesn’t recognise him until he puts the blindfold back on. It’s also possible Yen Sid asked Mickey to do his own investigation of the Organisation but we don’t know for sure. And while he doesn’t come back to Disney Castle during this time, Minnie did say she got letters from him, so there was at least some form of contact between the two.

 

[Ginalea00]

Riku is a 15 year old boy. He should be at home, not chasing Organization members around! Let Mickey, or Leon, or Hercules lol handle that nonsense.

But seriously, for Riku and Mickey to not visit their loved ones seems ridiculous when they can easily create corridors of darkness to get there.

I can’t wait to see Riku explaining everything to his parents!!

 

[Zettaflare]

Riku is a 15 year old boy. He should be at home, not chasing Organization members around! Let Mickey, or Leon, or Hercules lol handle that nonsense.

But seriously, for Riku and Mickey to not visit their loved ones seems ridiculous when they can easily create corridors of darkness to get there.

I can’t wait to see Riku explaining everything to his parents!!

Riku would never choose to stay home doing nothing while Sora was stuck in a coma. Neither would Kairi if she knew what had happened to him and had the ability to leave the Islands

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Riku would never choose to stay home doing nothing while Sora was stuck in a coma. Neither would Kairi if she knew what had happened to him and had the ability to leave the Islands

Pretty much this. And Sora made a promise to Kairi that he’d come back with Riku. So if Riku came back with no Sora, Kairi would want to help if she knew what happened.

 

[Dandelion]

Riku was fighting the Darkness in his heart and was slowly turning into Ansem. He didn't want anyone to see him while he was still dealing with that.

This is pretty clearly explained in the game.

 

[Absent]

He realized it was just a phase.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

He explicitly says in KH 2 that he didn't want anyone, especially from his home islands, to see him.

Apart from the whole watching over Sora, helping Naminé and DiZ and keeping tabs on what the Organisation was up to Riku also still felt a whole lot of guilt and shame about what he did in KH 1.

Not just to Sora, but to Kairi and everyone else on the Islands too.
When Zexion in Chain of Memories accused Riku of being responsible for the destruction of the Destiny Islands (he opened the door to the world's heart allowing the Heartless to enter) and in the process also having "thrown away" the hearts and existences of his friends (other than Sora & Kairi), his parents and everyone else living in the world he wasn't lying and the guilty feelings around everything he did there continued to haunt Riku throughout the entirety of Days and even much of KH 2's story until he regains his normal form in the last third.

As such, "ignoring" everyone close to him including Kairi was very much deliberate on his part. During a conversation in KH 2 he even outright says that he has no idea how to face everyone after all he did.

It was all part of his ongoing redemption arc and the struggles connected to it since his remorse was genuine and unlike some of the ten-second "redemptions" that suddenly happened over the course of KH III his arc was actually properly developed and given time to make it more believable.

 

[The Transcendent Key]

Considering the damage Riku had done when he was under the influence of darkness, he really couldn't be blamed for not being able to face his friends. That, and he was keeping an eye on the Organization and making sure no one would find Sora, Namine or Diz. He had to keep en eye on the tides of darkness to ensure that Sora could regain his memories. So in a situation like that, that's pretty much all he could do.

And plus, he wouldn't want to put Kairi in harm's way after he and Sora had gone to so much trouble to get her heart back in KH1.

 

[Soldier]

Considering the damage Riku had done when he was under the influence of darkness, he really couldn't be blamed for not being able to face his friends. That, and he was keeping an eye on the Organization and making sure no one would find Sora, Namine or Diz. He had to keep en eye on the tides of darkness to ensure that Sora could regain his memories. So in a situation like that, that's pretty much all he could do.

And plus, he wouldn't want to put Kairi in harm's way after he and Sora had gone to so much trouble to get her heart back in KH1.

Pretty much this, It all boils down to a matter of would he/should he.

Would he visit the islands during his self imposed year long exile? Probably not often as he might run into someone who'd recognize him.

Should he?
Absolutely not, Remember, at the end of KH COM Riku and Mickey have drawn the attention of the organization who are actively searching for them to eliminate them. Days makes this a point in having many missions revolve around hunting Riku down, who is on the defensive most of the time. Even though the organization is effectively halved at this point due to his and Sora's efforts, Riku visiting Kairi on the islands would do more harm than good, as it'd give them a potential hostage to use as leverage.
(Though ultimately most of KH 2 revolved around her being used in that exact situation, but it can't be blamed on Riku as it was Axel who pulled her from the islands in the first place.)