"Say, don't you think you're special? That's not true. We are all the same. No one in this world can live honestly. Everyone has a secret or two; things they only let a few people know, and things they absolutely will never let anyone know..."
[3rd Person POV]
The Unknown Ultimate, Kirigiri Kyoko, had just finished her morning routine and would set about to continue finding whatever she can at the school.
Her past conversation with a certain Information Broker before the killing game had officially started--kickstarted by Maizono Sayaka, rang through her mind.
At the time, they simply "Weren't at that stage" of the game yet, but after the death of the Ultimate Idol, and the execution of the Ultimate Baseballer, Kirigiri thought that something would change, what? She doesn't know exactly, but she has an idea, all she knows for sure is that it cannot be good for any of them.
After adjusting her necktie and putting on her jacket, she beat Monokuma's morning announcement and exited her room.
Upon stepping out of her dorm, she was met with a voice just beside her, nearly putting her on the defensive stopping only because the voice was so familiar that she could perfectly replicate it inside her head.
"You're up early today."
The Ultimate Information Broker, Y/N L/N. Knowing him, he probably figured out she would attempt to scour the place while everyone is inside their dorms to avoid complications, something like this never bode well with Kirigiri, her next move being anticipated so much, but because she could never get him off her back, she had grown quite used to it.
"Same to you, having a lot of free time on your hands."
She could buy the fact that he anticipated she would do this, but the impeccable timing he had in waiting for her was something else, unless...
"Have you been just staying here, waiting for me to come out?"
"........"
"........"
"How long have you even been standing there...?"
"........"
"........"
Y/N didn't answer any of her questions and instead, walked past her.
"Come with me, I have something I think you'll be interested in."
Kirigiri sighed, he is weird for sure, but somehow, something like that wasn't out of character for him.
Waiting for god-knows how long just so he would look cool when she opens her door to see him. Only for her to figure out what he had been doing in order to achieve foolishness such as this.
The lavender-haired girl allowed herself to be guided by the Broker, leading her to the area where there was a huge gate blocking their passage to the second floor.
Y/N then leaned to the wall nearest to the gate, which prompted Kirigiri to question him.
"Why take me here?"
"Hmm... We've leveled up after yesterday's performance."
"Leveled up...?"
"I told you that whoever is behind this, they're making this play out like a game. Since 3 people had died, 2 leading to the actual bread-and-butter of this game, and 1 being a needless casualty, I think it's safe to say we're getting... I guess you can say, rewarded."
Kirigiri didn't really think twice of Y/N's statement. She thought of this too.
She heavily doubted that Monokuma would let them see the outside world as some form of reward, even if it is to cause them despair, as his purpose for that is to continue fueling their need to get out by showing them bits via videos or little trivias, while completely cutting them out of whatever is happening outside.
"Well, judging by that look on your face, I assume you arrived at the same conclusion?"
"Yes. So this is what you meant when you asked me to temporarily stop investigations."
"Yup! Now you can go look around when the new area opens up. But things are about to be much more dangerous..."
Kirigiri stared at the broker who had an amused smile on his face, his thumb touching his chin and his eyes darting around the area.
"We've got a taste of things to come with Leon Kuwata and Maizono Sayaka, all because of the motive Monokuma gave us. We've only wait for a few days before he does something like that again."
"Does he really have something else that would cause something like that...?"
Kirigiri asked, already knowing the answer, but she's always welcomed Y/N's input, as twisted as he is, Y/N's insight is quite helpful, and she welcomes that there's someone that arrives in the same conclusions as hers, even if their methodologies are different.
"Of course. I mean, he could go about using our loved ones again, but that'd just confirm they're alive and keeping them somewhere if he did, and I'm sure it'd bore him after a while. So I'm expecting that he has something new when the time comes."
"Loved ones..."
Kirigiri looked back on hers, and it was her grandfather, Fuhito Kirigiri.
She's sure that Y/N knows this, but she's curious as to who or what showed in his motive video.
Does he have a loved one? The only connection he has that she found out only recently was with Celestia Ludenburg, and even that, she isn't sure how long they knew each other and to what extent their relationship is.
Wait, why is that relevant...?
Kirigiri lightly shook her head as the pair were suddenly interrupted by the Monitor beside them suddenly turning on, and Monokuma's voice echoing from the PA System.
After the usual morning greeting, Monokuma has an announcement for the students, something both Kirigiri and Y/N had already deduced would happen.
"I've arranged it so that a whole new world opens every time you survive a Class Trial at Hope's Peak Academy! If I don't continue to moderately stimulate you, you guys will start whining just like your entire generation! As such, feel free to explore as you please!"
With that, the gates to the second floor slowly opened in front of Y/N and Kirigiri, the lavender-haired girl turned to see his reaction and the broker was giving her a smug smile since he was right.
It was very dangerous to have done that.
She nearly laughed at that.
One-by-one the students gathered by the entrance to the second floor, they made it a necessity that everyone was here first before continuing.
"Ara, you're already here."
Called out a certain gambler to the broker.
"And you're fabulously late as always."
Y/N greeted her back.
"Fufu, you know how meticulously long my routine is."
"Unfortunately..."
When everyone was gathered, it was instantly talked about.
"A whole new world, what did he mean by that?"
Hagakure Yasuhiro started, to which Naegi gave the answer to.
"Apparently, we can go to the second floor now."
"No sh*t, Sherlock. The gate's already opened."
Y/N piped in, startling the poor luckster.
"Our handbooks have been updated as well."
Kirigiri informed the class.
They all checked their handbooks to see her correct, and they examined each carefully before proceeding.
"Well, it's nice to know that the deaths of our classmates granted us all a pool."
Y/N joked, granting him very disgusted looks.
"Dude..."
Mondo Owada took a step back from this once again.
It's honestly a talent in and of itself to be this messed up despite their situation, and that statement from Y/N was enough to kill any excitement that arose due to a new place to explore.
Celeste could only facepalm. The fact that everyone knows she's acquainted with this idiot is something she'll never know whether or not it is an advantage or a liability socially.
While Asahina did her best to encourage everyone, namely Naegi, she was getting talked over by Togami and Celeste who were used to situations such as these, ending with Chihiro nearly crying, trying to deny the possibility of another killing.
Everyone either set into groups or stayed by themselves as they explored the place, Y/N was one of these people.
Though instead of exploring, he set out to bother people he can.
"Knocking on it three times won't get anyone to open it, y'know?"
Y/N approached Kirigiri who was indeed knocking at the huge metal plates covering the window, checking if it is of same material as the first floor.
Kirigiri mainly ignored Y/N as he followed her around.
Then the group entered the library.
Togami and Kirigiri found a laptop within that library as the others rummaged through the shelves for anything of significance.
And as Togami repeatedly tried to turn on the computer, it was unfortunately, broken.
"It won't turn on. I guess it's broken."
He said.
"Yes, it's a mystery that pressing the same button over-and-over isn't yielding any results."
Y/N chimed in from behind Kirigiri as he never left her side.
"If this were connected to the Internet, we might be able to find some information."
A disappointed tone was subtle in Kirigiri's voice, but it was there.
"The memes..."
Y/N said in such a serious tone that Kirigiri almost found it humorous again.
It was getting too dangerous to be close to Y/N, and she knows this.
Ignoring Y/N's remarks, Togami turned to Naegi Makoto, who was looking through the drawers.
"Any luck on your side?"
The heir asked the luckster.
That is when he found the letter, a letter that had the Hope's Peak Academy seal, and a sign from the Headmaster.
Upon saying this, Kirigiri and Y/N shared looks before the lavender-haired girl approached Naegi, obviously curious about the letter.
"It says that Hope's Peak Academy has been closed down."
Then he proceeded to continue with the rest of the letter.
""When we resolve all the problems within the school in the near future, we will start it back up again." What is this...?"
"Apparently, this academy ceased to be an actual school for a while already."
"But... It didn't seem that way when I first arrived here."
"So, the mastermind took over this deserted academy, and used it as a stage for this strange play, huh?"
Togami deduced, as if it wasn't already obvious.
Then the four-eyed heir rested his hand on a pile of books.
"Although, I don't read much obscene novels such as this, they could serve as good reference material."
"Reference...material...?"
Then Togami opened a door that would lead to more books filled with very classified information.
"You don't experience stressful games like this everyday. If we must play, might as well enjoy playing it."
As Naegi was left in disbelief by the heir's statements, this riled up a certain Biker Gang Leader.
"How is this game?! Stop screwing around, as*hole!"
"I'm just calling it as I see it."
"Basically, a zero-sum game, huh?"
When Y/N heard this voice, he had a horrified look on his face.
"Oh no, not my Celeste chan..."
But it was obvious he was kidding around.
"Be it entrance exams or a rat race for life, nearly every social activity falls under this category. However, in this case, we're all competing to be the one and only successful villain."
The gambler laid out her thoughts before confronting the heir.
"The possibility that you'd lose didn't even occur to you, did it?"
"Of course not."
"As expected of the sole heir of the Togami Enterprises, one of the world's leading conglomerates. The way you think is different. To you, the Ultimate Heir, these trials and games exist solely for you to beat, even if lives are at stake."
"You seem to understand how I think, don't you?"
"Can't just both of you get married at this point?"
The students turned to Y/N.
"Y'all just keep talking about terrifying things and relishing in everybody else's misery."
"Look who's talking!"
Yelled Owada at Y/N. The one time he tried to play the straight man was unfortunately, short-lived.
"But allow me to make one thing clear. All of you had better take this seriously. It'd be boring if my opponents weren't giving this game their all."
Togami pushed up his glasses
"You have a real boner for that word, huh?"
The heir clicked his tongue, it's honestly amazing how this guy can get under the skin of normally unbothered people.
Then Chihiro Fujisaki came to speak up about comrades and about how killing is wrong, and Togami, despite being an absolute jerk, made sense about how they are not and pointed out the hypocrisy in Fujisaki's statements.
Partaking in this "entertainment" by voting off Kuwata while opposing said "entertainment."
Of course this sparked up their self-justification, coming up with whatever excuse they have at their disposal to deny any responsibility.
Since Y/N was awfully quiet, Kirigiri took a glance at where he was standing to check up on him, and by the look on his face, he was enjoying the ongoing argument.
Then the monitor suddenly turned on.
"A young man's assertions!"
Came the voice of Monokuma
"Your statements are filled with shameless self-justification at a 4:1 ratio of "totally obvious" and "nicely hidden" respectively. That means your self-justification was pretty obvious!"
Then it turned off.
"He's messing with us..."
Said Hagakure before Fujisaki fell to the ground, crying.
"Oy... Don't let him get to you."
Owada tried to comfort the Programmer.
"Hah. So we're pretending to be friends again?"
Taunted Togami, to which Owada has had enough and wanted nothing more than to punch his face.
"Okay, I've had enough! I'll kill you!"
Owada ran to Togami, but was resisted by Ishimaru who came in front of the charging bull.
Although he did his best, he was thrown to the side by Owada who obviously overpowered the Hall Monitor.
"At any rate, I'm not going to waste my time doing pointless things with you lot."
Togami started to walk away from the group, which brought a whole lot of discourse, causing Fukawa to also run away.
The group took the time to calm down, and Asahina, being the mediator of said group, suggested a way to pass the time and to try and forget what just transpired.
"Ah... So like... Since we have more room to move around, want to go check out the pool? Maybe a swim will cheer us up!"
"You're right."
Ogami agreed, while Celeste smiled at the suggestion, obviously intending to go too, but not actually take a dip in the water since she dislikes getting her face wet.
"Let's take a look then."
Then Asahina went to invite Fujisaki as well, unaware of... A few things.
This caused Y/N to turn to Kirigiri.
"What...?"
The lavender-haired girl asked as she crossed her arms.
"You're not going?"
"No."
This caused the broker's shoulders to slump in disappointment, Kirigiri noticed this and sighed before walking past the broker, but not before flicking his forehead with her finger.
"Ow!"
Y/N rubbed his forehead as he watched Kirigiri slowly exit the room.
Then he felt someone tug on his arm.
"L/N kun, dear. Come with us?"
"Eh? he's a boy, Celeste san!"
Asahina protested
"Don't worry, we can trust him. Besides, it never hurts to have someone guard us."
Celeste defended the broker.
"We have Sakura chan here!"
"Yes, but what good will it be to have Ogami san guard us? She would be unable to enjoy the pool, no?"
"That is true..."
Hifumi Yamada continued to grit his teeth at Y/N being defended by Celeste, and the broker was quiet the majority of the time, watching the gambler do her magic.
And before they all set off for the pool room, Y/N was stopped by Ishimaru.
"L/N kun, I trust that you know that perversion is not welcome in a school environment!"
"Well, this school environment is already not welcome in a school environment, but hey-ho."
"L/N kun, take this seriously!"
"I am serious!"
"No, you're not!"
"Yes, I am!"
"You're not!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Y/N gave up rather quickly.
"But you're not invited, so can you really stop me?"
Y/N snickered as he was lead away by Celeste, rendering Ishimaru mute.
"Dude's all kinds of messed up."
Commented Mondo Owada.
"For once, I agree with you, Owada kun."
Ishimaru nodded.
[~at the pool entry room~]
"Looks like the changing room is beyond this door."
Asahina commented
"Yes, because bedrooms are quite common in pool rooms, huh?"
"...."
"......"
Celeste had to cover her mouth with her fingers and stifle a laugh due to Y/N's comment.
She can't risk being seen as anything but what she wanted them to see, but to her, some of Y/N's comments were unnaturally funny.
Asahina grabbed the handle to see the door opened.
"Huh? So the door is open?"
"Did you just suddenly grab the handle not expecting it to open?"
Y/N made a comment again, prompting Celeste to stifle yet another giggle.
This is one of the reasons why she wanted Y/N to come with her.
Asahina making blatantly obvious remarks, and knowing how he'll respond to it, is something she had already anticipated. And it's working out great, her hand never left her lips since she needed to be prepared in case she needed to stifle another laugh.
Then the monitor showing Monokuma turned on again.
"To open the changing room door, you can use your handbooks to gain access to it. Now, for perfect security, boys can only open the boy's changing room, while girls can only enter the girl's changing room."
The bear explained.
"Such a shame for you, L/N kun."
"Come on now, don't take me as some sort of pervert."
"Fufu, you never know."
Celeste teased the broker, due to how often she looked after him, she thought it was about time she had some fun of her own.
"What happens if someone sneaks in while the door is open?"
Asahina asked.
"Anyone who does something that obscene will be turned into honeycombs with a Gatling gun!"
Monokuma emphasized this by showing said guns.
"H-Hey! People might get hurt from that!"
"Bruh."
Y/N was giving off the most disappointed look he has ever pulled off.
Celeste was damn near close to giving a full-on laughter at this point as her shoulders trembled a little.
"Uh... I think it's more likely to kill them."
It seemed like Fujisaki had the same thoughts as the broker.
Wiping a small tear at the corner of her eyes, Celeste presented a question to Monokuma.
"What happens if someone lends or borrows a handbook?"
"Huh... I hadn't thought of that."
Monokuma said before adding a new rule. Prohibiting the borrowing of handbooks.
"Quite specific there."
Y/N commented.
"My brain's made of 100% quick-thinking cotton! I might just be a genius!"
"Thinking quickly doesn't necessarily mean it's correct."
"Whatever! Later!"
"Aaahhh... Thanks to that, it kinda killed my mood for the pool."
Asahina sighed.
"To be honest, you should probably stay away from it. Wouldn't want more water to get in the head of yours."
Y/N insulted, causing the swimmer to get riled up and start an argument with him as he plugged in his ears with his pointer fingers.
At this point Celeste had just about lost it, as she turned her back on the group, covered her mouth and tried to laugh as silently as possible, which worked. Only her trembling shoulders were telling, but it's a good thing that they weren't paying attention to her.
[~Nighttime~]
Naegi Makoto had just got done talking to Fukawa Toko after both of them had been commanded to leave the library by Byakuya Togami.
"Everyone here's pretty quirky, huh?"
"Girl's so thirsty she might've been the one who actually needed to go for a swim."
Turning to the source of the voice, Naegi came face-to-face with The Information Broker.
"L/N kun!"
"Hey there."
"What are you doing outside?"
"Surveying the area. Since a murder is a likely possible idea now thanks to porcupine(Leon), gotta check every nook and cranny for likely places to move and hide a body."
"I-I'm sure nobody's gonna do something that heinous and laborious."
"Saying something like that is just foreshadowing."
"What?"
"Nothing too concerning, don't worry."
Y/N cupped his own chin, laughed, and then walked away, waving goodbye to Naegi as he did.
This left the luckster fully confused before he sighed.
"I can never tell what L/N kun is thinking... Then again, I doubt anyone can."
Was his final words before leaving the area himself...
Wait... Wasn't the way to dorms the same way Naegi was going...?
Y/N was going to where the pool room was...
Is he planning to take a dip in the pool or work out...?
Naegi just rubbed the back of his head and stopped thinking about it as he went on his merry way.
Y/N did arrive at the pool room, where it was quiet as he was by himself.
He pulled out a handbook and smiled before he turned it on.
Then using it on the girl's changing room door as it slowly opened.
Luckily, nobody was inside the changing room, or he would've had to deal with the consequences.
The moment he confirmed he could open it the way he did, he immediately closed the door as his suspicions were confirmed.
"I wonder what will happen now..."
He said before his hand went to his face as he leaned on the walls.
"Hehehe... Ah-hahahahahaha!!"
He laughed his heart out as the camera panned and slowly focused on him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There ya go! I think I've been updating too much!
Anyway, has anyone noticed that Celeste and Y/N actually parallels Naegi and Kyoko in the actual games? I decided it to be that way since I thought it'd be fun.
Celeste inviting Y/N since she thought he's funny was only one of many reasons, can anyone guess what the other reasons are? I won't tell anyone the answer of course, I just wanna know what y'all think!
-Mod Ibuki