Chapter Text
As long as she could keep making Kyoko look at her with what seemed like a sliver of trust, then there was nothing to lose.
The reaction had been unexpected, surprisingly easy to get, even. Because of that, it didn’t fill Celestia with the same sense of accomplishment that other such victories had in the best.
Well, either that, or her resentment came from the fact that for once that result had been achieved with the truth and not one of her many lies.
A huge commotion followed the fact that Makoto didn’t return to them after going to check on Sayaka. It was only after Ishimaru, Hifumi and Mondo decided to check on them together (running the risk of interrupting something… else) that the body discovery announcement rang and their lingering suspicions were settled once and for all.
The shrill sound, along with Monokuma’s excited voice and the call for an investigation paralyzed them for a second. From her place in the breakfast table Celestia froze, hands tensing around the teacup that remained suspended in midair. That took a few heartbeats, the rational part of the girl’s mind deeming that it was an appropriate response to what they were going through, before she managed to shake her head and glance at the remaining students around her.
Similar expressions of disbelief, uncertainty and fear were stamped in their faces. The one exception being that girl Kirigiri, who simply frowned and glanced down in silence.
“Wh-what does t-t-that mean?!”
It was Toko who spoke first, hands gripping the edges of her long hair. Although the question was purely rhetorical or so Celeste hoped, it was what they needed in order to move again. To remember they were short a few members, and there was no way to know what had happened and whose body had been found.
“I suppose we should join the others. Unless they—”
Kyoko’s even voice was cut short by the sound of running footsteps a few seconds before the cafeteria doors were pushed open. A look on Hifumi’s and Ishimaru’s pale faces was enough of a confirmation for those who had remained behind: horror had been found in that room. The only one who managed to speak was a distressed Mondo, mouth twisted in an angry look that was completely scary per se.
“Place’s a mess. Slash marks everywhere, things turned around… Then the blood… WHO THE HECK DID THAT?!”
“W-what? Slow down, we don’t understand! Monokuma just said… and now that..?” Aoi jumped to her feet, eyes wide with terror. Her gaze swept left to right, trying to find any answers or reassurances within the others.
It was Sakura who came to her rescue, also rising from her seat and standing beside the Ultimate Swimmer.
“Blood? What exactly did you see? And where is Naegi?”
“Oh no. He wasn’t the one to…?” Celeste queried, letting her question hang in the air. She had a very good idea of what had transpired, but somehow dreaded saying the words.
After all, although both her and Kirigiri had literally spoken of the matter the day before, it was still hard to believe that they had been that correct. That it had been right to assume the videos would be enough to spur someone into motion so fast.
This isn’t happening. I didn’t leave behind the life I knew in exchange of… whatever this is, she thought, curling her fingers into the palm. It stung, the brief pain enough to make her blink and regain control over herself, over her mind. It wasn’t the time to despair, not in a situation like that.
When it seemed that she had lost control over everything else, the one thing she could still have power over was her own self.
“No, no. Not him. Mister Naegi is just unconscious.” Hifumi shook his head, downcast. “I don’t blame him.”
“I believe it’s easier if you all just follow us and see what we’re talking about.” Ishimaru added, trying to remain calm. His face was contorted, however, his real emotions showing in the tense way that he stood. “Just a warning: it is bad. Really, really bad.”
“So someone was… killed?” Junko’s voice was small, as if she didn’t want to believe the last few minutes. “Someone actually listened to that damn bear and did it? And now you want me to see it? No, no. I-I’m not fit for that kind of stuff.”
Lie .
It wasn’t a mystery that good liars knew when they were being lied to. Due to how high stakes her gambles were, Celestia had developed a fine tuned sense over the years, one that allowed her to pinpoint when the words that came out of one’s mouth were not what they meant. It was hard to explain how she knew it—sometimes it was a change in posture, a slight alteration in their voice. Or maybe some sort of fidgeting, no matter how small and calculated. Those who thought of themselves as the best liars went very far to sound and look natural, remaining calm and trying to hide each and every sight that what they were saying wasn’t honest.
The real trick in Celeste’s eyes wasn’t to attempt to pass a lie as a truth. It was to believe in that lie so profoundly, that there was no way a line would be delivered any differently at all.
She hadn’t even been looking in Junko’s direction when her mind registered how false that sentence sounded. That did draw her attention away from everyone else, of course, even if no more words came out of the fashionista’s mouth. While the students decided on what the best course of action would be, and if it was okay to leave one or more people behind, the gambler studied the pink-haired girl and tried to determine just why her response to her had been so intense.
Like everyone else, Junko seemed tense. Although she had yet to show somewhat of a domineering presence, something Celestia would expect from a world-famous model, at that moment it felt like she was trying very hard to remain unseen. She hadn’t moved from her chair, rather hugging both knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. Whereas others were glancing to and fro, talking to others in smaller groups until Ishimaru took over and started shouting orders, her eyes were downcast focused on the table instead of participating in the chaos erupting all around her.
To the unpracticed eye it would be fitting to say that Junko had never seen something so tragic in her life, hence she might not have the particular skills to deal with it. Why, maybe her mind was running around in circles, not quite wrapping itself around the fact that someone was most likely dead—and someone else around them had been responsible.
But something about her words, about how she had said it and even how forced her body posture was—
“Are you coming?”
A gloved hand gently landed on the table beside Celestia, the motion and words waking her up from her reverie. Blinking once to shake herself from what was possibly a useless trail of thoughts, the Ultimate Gambler forced herself to look away from the model and towards the source of that voice, already knowing who it was.
Who had lingered behind, while most of the group was already at the door and moving towards the dorms.
Lilac eyes studied her in silence, something about them puzzling Celeste once more. Now it was her time to be surprised anew due to the many different stimuli her mind wanted to decode—questions that pulled at her and deserved answers, both due to mere curiosity and the need to be in control of that weird school life in some way or the other.
Still, it wasn’t as if she could just sit down and do nothing, allow herself to think things through with what little information she had. Which meant that the best course of action was to… get involved with whatever the rest of the group wanted to do.
“Hmmm, I suppose there is no use staying back anyways.” She sighed, wincing as if the mere thought of what they would find was painful to her. Which was a lie in itself, given how much death and despair she had already seen and sentenced her opponents to by winning game after game in underworld gambling.
Funny how the nagging feeling that remained with her as she and Kyoko left behind Junko, Chihiro and Toko, was that the fashionista’s lie wasn’t so different from her very own.
The walk towards the dorms was silent, filled with apprehension. A few students looked everywhere around them, unsure about what to expect or perhaps trying to escape the tense, heavy atmosphere. Others, like Kyoko, Celeste herself, Sakura and Byakuya had rigid expressions, their gaze never wavering from what was right in front of them. Lost in thoughts, no one voiced the many questions that were certainly running through their minds nor described the scenarios that their imagination was already toying with.
After the weird video they had watched just the day before, there were indeed a lot of possibilities to be explored. Which of course became worse by the fact that by that point in time they had many variables and not enough certainties to go with.
The hallway seemed to stretch on, longer than Celeste herself remembered from her brief walk from her room to the cafeteria not even an hour ago. To tell the truth, she had had no idea where Maizono’s dorm was located, uninterested as she had been about the Ultimate idol, to the point that she just stopped when Hifumi and Ishimaru did so.
“Now, if anyone would like to turn back or remain outside, that is your last chance to do so,” the Kiyotaka announced, eyes grave. “Nobody will judge you for that.”
“I-it’s pretty nasty in here, after… after all.” Hifumi added, looking nervous. His eyes fell on Celeste and Kirigiri, standing side by side, and he went on, “especially for you ladies, it’s not as if you should be forced to witness such—”
“Hmpf! The nerve of you, to judge me as inferior.”
His words had riled Celestia so much that any lingering tension over what waited for them on the other side of the door completely vanished. After briefly glancing at Kyoko in order to gauge her reaction and seeing nothing but that nonchalant indifference, the Ultimate Gambler paraded to the front of the group, faced Yamada and leaned in his direction.
“It seems to me that mayhaps you should be the one to stand outside. After all, between the two of us, I am not the one trembling all over. Learn your place!”
As his eyes widened, Celestia’s hand closed around the doorknob and she turned it without a second thought. It was easy to lie to herself right then and there; to recall every single moment in which she had been faced with death in the past. All the people who had fallen to the ground in front of her after losing a match in which both sides had bet with their lives…
It’s not that different , Celeste told herself, even though her heart lurched in her chest for some reason or the other. The sound of soft, approaching steps made her even more resolute in what she had to do next. And if I show any sort of weakness right in the beginning, under the wrong circumstances no less, I’ll give the others an advantage that might cost me something in the future .
The first thing the gambler saw while walking into the room was how out of place everything was. The simple round table had been overturned and at some points the wallpaper was peeling under slash marks. There were more of those everywhere she looked, especially after she came closer to the bed in order to better analyze the situation. It wasn’t a stretch to say a fight had taken place in that room—that two teenagers had fought for life and death, with one of them succumbing to it.
Naegi’s body was lying prone next to the bathroom door, still unconscious. That didn’t take too much of her thoughts, however, not with how the crime scene was already shocking to her for some reason or another. A few heartbeats ago she had been fine, more than willing to let others see her as strong, reasonable, someone who wouldn’t cower in the face of danger.
Yet the sight of that place, of how… how much it resembled the video she had watched yesterday just to know that her cat was missing… was indeed enough to make her freeze.
Sounds of surprise came from behind her, though they weren’t loud or important enough to jolt Celeste into action. Instead her mind revolved around the signs of struggle—her cat’s and whoever else had fighted in that room. Had they suffered, been injured in some way or the other? Had death come easily, or had they despaired at the mercy of their killer?
Had Grand Bois Chéri—
“Careful, you will contaminate the crime scene if you all come trampling in here.”
Funny enough, it was Kyoko’s voice that called to her, that made Celestia’s mind return to the present moment. No, she wasn’t home and trying to determine what exactly had happened to her beloved feline. Far from it, really: she was imprisoned in a very weird school, with no access to the outside world.
And someone had been murdered just because another person had wanted out.
Still in shock, it took her a moment to register the fact that a gloved hand enclosed hers, gently leading her towards the door without a word being said. It was only when she took a first step back that she flinched, her eyesight eventually clearing as the world came into focus.
As Kirigiri’s gaze met hers, bright and even, she dared say, a bit concerned.
“The fewer people here as we investigate, the better.” Kyoko stated the moment that Celestia refused to bulge. “And you don’t have to put yourself in that position if that isn’t something you are comfortable with.”
Although she had heard pretty much the same thing from Hifumi, it felt different when Kirigiri was the one saying it. There was definitely some care in those words, in her voice. In the hand that didn’t leave hers, even when Celestia gave a small, sad smile and shook her head.
Even when her heart and not her mind decided something for her and she went with it, unquestioningly.
“No, I would like to stay.” She squeezed Kirigiri’s hand, the gesture so familiar that it was eerie to think of it as such. Something she would analyze later, once that whole mess was dealt with. “Albeit this is not my area of expertise, perhaps some of my skills might come in handy in some way or the other. If you allow me to remain, of course.”
“I…” Kirigiri hesitated, lost in Celestia’s eyes. Or so the gambler would like to believe, anyway. “Maybe it’s best if—”
Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by a loud, high pitched sound. Being the closest to a monitor, both turned in time to see Monokuma’s face appear once more, his body language completely at ease. Almost as if he was amused with such chaos, though it wasn’t that much of a farfetched conclusion anyway.
“Now now now! It’s nice to see that most of you’ve charged headfirst into danger. Ah, the confidence of the young… didn’t you once stop to think that maybe the killer would be waiting for you in there? Heeheehee.” He took a long sip from a glass cup, then spoke again. “Aaaaaanyway, not to rain on your parade or anything, but y’all need to assemble at the gym chop chop. Gotta explain the rest of the rules before anyone accuses me of being unfair. See yaaa!”
It was only when the others started commenting on that last announcement that Kirigiri and Celeste realized they were still holding hands for no reason whatsoever. Almost as if the thought hit them at once, they both withdrew and turned to face the rest of the students in order to decide how to proceed next.
There wasn’t much to do but follow orders; they still were pretty much in the dark about how their lives would function from then on, truthfully. No matter how weird and sad it was to have to listen to a talking teddy bear, it was all there was to do in such circumstances. After a few of them decided to carry Makoto themselves, the group marched towards the gym with a feeling that looked very much like dread hanging around them.