[3rd Person POV]
"AH-HAHAHAHA!!"
Hearty laughs plagued the cafeteria just in time for Naegi Makoto to enter said room and witness everything that's happening.
With the rest of the class present and watching, Mondo Owada and Ishimaru Kiyotaka have been overdoing it in their... Public Displays of Affection.
"What are you talking about, bro?!"
"You got to stop teasing me, bro!"
The former rivals had both of their arms around each other's shoulders as they flaunted their closeness so loudly, gaining almost everyone's attention.
"Yo, Naegi!"
The Biker noticed the luckster's entrance to the cafeteria and greeted him energetically.
"Thanks for your help yesterday!"
The Hall Monitor has much to thank Naegi for, considering that he was a factor at making the friendship possible, despite being forced into it.
Then the Lucky Student turned his attention to the Swimmer and Martial Artist, who were trying to enjoy their tea just beside him.
"What's this all about...?"
"Beats me, but they've been pretty disgusting all morning."
Asahina answered before taking a sip from her tea, then her remark was intercepted by both the Biker and Hall Monitor's hearty laughs and reply.
"Girls could never understand the passionate bonds that we men share. Male friendship is a bond that runs thicker than blood!"
Ishimaru proudly proclaimed.
"That's right, bro! Well said!"
While Naegi asked them who won the battles, and Ishimaru attempting to make him stop asking by doing a "Forget Beam" with Owada supporting him all the way,
Y/N and Kirigiri shared a table at a corner that was nearest to Celeste, but not that close.
It was actually quite rare for these two to share a table, but because they were one of the firsts to enter the cafeteria along with Owada and Ishimaru, they have the luxury of taking any seat they want.
"How much are you willing to bet that Owada chan's the bottom?"
Y/N pointed to the two before turning his attention to Kirigiri who was just watching everything that was happening.
She didn't really try to humor him, Y/N has enough fun by watching and talking to himself.
Instead, she got reminded of what happened earlier.
[Small Flashback]
Having woken up earlier than usual, Kirigiri finished her morning routine quite quickly and would set out to the cafeteria to enjoy some coffee.
Even though she's sure that some students would already be present, such as Ishimaru, who is always the first to be there, she's certain that she can enjoy some quiet time accompanied by her coffee.
Since it already happened two times, Kirigiri slowly opened the door and checked both her sides to see if a certain Information Broker would already be present, waiting for her. Luckily, nobody was there, and she was able to let out a sigh of relief.
That is until, the door to his room opened.
Letting out a yawn, Y/N closed his door before he turned, probably going to stand by Kirigiri's door, but was stopped when he saw the girl peeking out of said door.
The two exchanged stares, and both was just waiting for the other to say something.
"So, this is how early you've been waking up to pull something like this..."
Kirigiri was the first to say something.
"Nooo..... I could be staying up all night those past couple times, you never know."
Y/N sweatdropped and looked to the side, making intentionally weak attempts at denying Kirigiri's claims.
The lavender-haired girl responded by exiting her own room and putting a hand on her hip.
"I don't really get you. Why would you even do something like this?"
"You don't really need to get it. I'm just doing this because I want to."
"That's exactly what I don't get, what do you gain from doing this?"
"Absolutely nothing."
Y/N's smile never faded, and Kirigiri's blank stare didn't change, she simply acknowledged that trying to figure out why he does the things he does would not only take too long, but also be completely pointless, that's just how he is.
"Anyway, since we're both out, wanna head on to the cafeteria?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope!"
And as decided, they headed on to the cafeteria, but even before they entered the place, they were already hearing laughter from inside.
Cautiously entering showed Kiyotaka Ishimaru and Mondo Owada hugging each other, patting each other, and even complimenting each other.
Their rambunctious laughter may very well be louder than Monokuma's announcements.
Kirigiri sighed, so much for a quiet coffee time.
"Huh... Everyone is really free-spirited."
Ishimaru took notice of the two's arrival and cheerfully greeted them.
"Ah! Goodmorning, Kirigiri kun, L/N kun! What a pleasant morning, this is!"
"As expected of my bro! Capable of putting energy through his own greeting!"
The two hugged each other and laughed again.
The broker's companion walked past him and went straight to the kitchen where she'd brew her own coffee, and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Y/N followed her.
As far as Kirigiri knows him, Y/N doesn't like bitter things, so she didn't add another serving into the coffee maker.
And her decision was correct, as Y/N just pulled a milk carton from the fridge, as well as oreos from the cupboard.
'So he has a palette of a child...?'
Kyoko thought as she watched Y/N do his thing.
He was even humming contentedly.
Didn't grab a plate for his oreos, so he's intent on finishing the entire pack himself, but he only poured a glass for his milk, then another for water after he's finished everything.
"I'll be heading on ahead, Kirigiri chan!"
He exited the kitchen while the girl continued to wait for her coffee.
After the broker was gone, Kirigiri was left alone with her thoughts.
A few days of peace, she guesses that anytime now, Monokuma would stir up something in order to start another murder again.
But how long until then? This is an answer she'd find out sooner than anticipated.
After she finished making her cup of coffee, Kirigiri also exited the kitchen and went to look for a place to sit.
At the far corner, she saw Y/N eating his oreos happily after dunking it in milk, he was even sitting cross-legged due to his enjoyment.
It was quite endearing, as it is an uncommon sight to see him in.
Kirigiri headed over to Y/N's direction and placed her cup of coffee on the table and taking a seat across him.
She said nothing and simply took a sip of her coffee while Y/N smiled at her, even offering her an oreo, to which she declined.
"It's quite rare for you to sit on the same table as me."
said Y/N
"It is the furthest from the noise, so I simply took advantage of it."
"Then it seems that luck is on my side today!"
Kirigiri glanced at Y/N.
"What do you mean...?"
He didn't answer, opting to just continue enjoying his sweets.
Ignoring both Owada and Ishimaru, the pair were able to enjoy their snacks and beverages quietly, as their attention slowly shifted from themselves, to the room around them since the cafeteria slowly, but surely, piled with students.
[Flashback End]
Kirigiri's recounting of the events earlier was interrupted by the sound of a glass shattering on the ground.
The source of said sound was from the Ultimate Gambler, Celestia Ludenburg, the contents of what was in the shattered cup spilling all over both the ground and table she's at.
"Wh-What are you doing, Rabbit?"
asked Hifumi Yamada nervously
Celeste sighed at the attempted nickname, before replying.
"I hate this kind of milk tea."
Dropping the broken piece of the handle, Yamada continued to sweat as Celeste's stare penetrated his very soul.
"I drink only royal milk tea, in which milk is used to draw out the flavor of the black tea."
She further explained as Yamada gave an attempt to reason with her.
"D-Don't be so---"
"JUST BRING ME MY DAMN TEA ALREADY, SWINE!"
Her attitude turned a complete 180 as Yamada became scared for his life.
"Y-Your humble swine shall bring you your tea right away!"
Any hope for him to further reason with her had just been crushed, and the Fanfic Creator rushed to the kitchen to remake everything.
"I appreciate it."
Because of this, she gained quite the number of looks, even from Byakuya Togami.
Y/N simply gave a laugh at this.
"There she goes..."
He placed his chin on his hand, while that same arm rested it's elbows on the table.
Kirigiri somewhat became curious if the Gambler had done something similar to Y/N, but buried the thought since it didn't really help with anything.
Then the entire class suddenly heard the PA System go off. The screen opened to show Monokuma making an announcement.
"This is a PA broadcast, I repeat, PA Broadcast! All the students are to assemble in the gym immediately. Emergency, Emergency!!"
Y/N cupped his chin after this announcement, a gesture that brought curiousty to the person in front of him.
"What is it...?"
She asked, garnering the attention of the other students.
"Ah, no. I just thought that the Class Trials are a real-life interpretation of ratioing someone."
Said Y/N, laughing after he did.
"........"
"............"
"What the hell is wrong with you, man?"
asked Mondo Owada, taking a step back.
[~at the Gymnasium~]
"Without any ado, I'm going to cut straight to the point! You see, I'm really bored because nobody's been killing anyone! So I've decided to give you all a new motive!"
Monokume pulled a bunch of neatly folded papers from god-knows where, and elaborated on what it was.
"The theme of it is... Embarrassing memories and deep, dark secrets!"
The bear scattered the papers, which landed on the ground, the students immediately began to find their names and peek into what was inside.
Of course, the contents were accurate, evident by the fact that they reacted so strongly to this, wondering how the bear even knew.
Y/N peeked through his and raised an eyebrow at what was written.
His was right too.
"Every living person is bound to have embarrassing memories and things that they want to keep secret."
Monokuma laughed before giving his time limit.
"The time limit is 24 hours. If a murder hasn't occurred by then, I'll be revealing your embarrassing secrets to the whole world! Well, later!"
Then he fell off from behind the podium.
This left the students unsure of what to do.
"I don't think anyone would kill over something like this, right?"
"Then I propose something!"
This came from the Information Broker, who has already folded the paper he held into a, what resembled, a straw while twirling it in between his fingers.
"I know Kirigiri chan has stated that we avoid recklessly opposing the mastermind, but we're going to oppose him with this, just not recklessly."
"Let us hear it."
Said Ogami Sakura, curious as to what was in the broker's mind.
"Why don't we spill our secrets before he can?"
Several gasps were heard as Y/N sat nearest to Monokuma's podium.
"O-Oi! Don't mess around! It's not helping our situation!"
Owada yelled at Y/N who merely grinned at him
"I knew you'd say that, but think about it..."
The broker then raised two fingers.
"If we deny Monokuma the satisfaction of spilling these himself, then what purpose does this motive even have if we render it useless before he can use it?"
"I get your point, but the entire world..."
Ishimaru trailed off.
"Who cares what the entire world thinks? It's as if they have any right to judge, being already messed up to begin with. Besides, as it stands now, we are in an entirely separate world with only us as a population. What the other world thinks, is not our concern. To me, atleast, the “world” is just us. Don't you think we should protect it by any means necessary?"
This caused the class to become quiet as they considered Y/N's suggestions, after an ample amount of time had passed, the broker clasped his hands together.
"Great! So it's agreed then? We can start right now if everybody wants!"
"Count me out."
Said a voice from way behind the class.
It came from Togami Byakuya who had his arms crossed.
"I'm not so gullible as to share any information with a person as cunning as you, especially since you're an information broker. You're probably going to have us reveal our secrets while keeping yours a secret, right? Since that thing on your hand will be borderline unreadable."
Said Togami.
"I will also have to abstain. L/N kun, dear. As much as I see the purpose in your suggestion, I simply do not want to divulge any sensitive information."
Celeste agreed with Togami.
And since the two disagreed with Y/N's suggestion, so did a number of students. And soon enough they left the room, leaving only Naegi, Kirigiri, and Y/N himself.
"Aaaahh... Welp, I tried."
"I-It was a nice try. And if it's of any comfort, I'm willing to follow through your plan."
Naegi encouraged Y/N, who perked up.
"Really?! Then show me yours?"
"Ahahaha... I don't think there's any reason, now that we're divided like this."
"Tch~ and here I thought I'd still get juicy info."
Kirigiri turned and left the gymnasium quietly.
"It seems we're gonna go about this the old-fashioned way..."
"Wh-What do you mean?"
Naegi felt a pit in his stomach as he was met with Y/N's smile.
"Someone's either gonna die tonight or tomorrow morning."
The way he said it was so confident that Naegi felt as if it happened already.
"I-I'm sure nobody would be willing to commit murder over something like this!"
"You're too optimistic, Naegi chan. I've already said before that people are messed up. I mean, Hagakure chan scammed a Yakuza before coming to Hope's Peak. Now he's stuck in several millions in debt."
Y/N raised a finger to make a point, moving it around as he told Naegi information about Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Clairvoyant.
The luckster was in silence because of this, his optimism slowly dwindling out.
The broker then patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just trying to predict what's going to happen. Even if nobody murdered anyone by tomorrow, we'd still be hearing our secrets, it's just that someone's gonna be laughing at our face while it did."
Y/N also left the room, leaving Naegi to ponder his own thoughts and think if his hope has been misplaced or simply hasn't been realized yet.
And while he did this, Y/N quietly walked through the halls that would lead to his room, he stared at the ruined paper on his hand while he walked.
Just as when he was about to pass a certain door, it opened.
Celeste slowly peeked through her door and made eye contact with Y/N.
"Ah, I was about to go looking for you."
"Eh? Why---"
Y/N didn't get to finish his words as Celeste grabbed his arm and yanked him inside her room.
While inside the Gambler's room, Celeste locked her door.
Y/N raised an eyebrow at this before sitting on her bed.
"Are you gonna Sayaka-Maizono me or something? Since I'm the only one who knows what's written on your paper?"
Celeste giggled at Y/N's accusations, especially what he called those accusations as, and shook her head "no"
"Dear me, no. I'm actually here to..."
Then she slowly pulled out a measuring tape.
Y/N immediately understood what this meant.
"Oh. Why?"
"Simply because I could not stand your beautiful outfit be ruined by your horrible sleeping habits."
"You just like this because it makes me look like a butler."
"With that face of yours, you look more like a croupier from one of the places I used to frequent at."
"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"
"Take it however you want, dear."
Celeste then pulled on Y/N's arm again before she began taking his measurements.
"I've thought about this after I figured we're going to be staying inside this school for a while."
"Figured...?"
"That more casual clothes are in order."
"How about you?"
"Heavens no. I can only be satisfied with high quality materials, and this is going to be a test to see if they pass."
"So I'm just a guinea pig, huh? And here I thought you were concerned about me~"
Y/N whined playfully while clenching his chest and faking being hurt.
"I do hope you do not undermine the amount of work I put into such a task. I make it a point that everything I make will only be of top quality and fitting of a high price, simply because it is made with my love."
"Heeee, so I'll be wearing your love everyday, then?"
The broker leaned closer to the gambler, Celeste blinked a couple of times before pushing Y/N's face away.
"That's right, so you had better take care of it."
"Hai, Hai~"
Y/N glanced around the Gambler's room as she continued to write down his measurements. She didn't change much about her room, but there's surely this atmosphere of prestige that only Celeste can pull off.
"By the way, how are you gonna pull this off? I think this is gonna be quite taxing."
"The girls have been given sewing kits for use, and I plan to find materials from the warehouse if I ever run out of said materials. So you needn't worry."
"Still, it's gonna take long, right? Are you sure you're not gonna throw in the towel without even being halfway there?"
"Rude. I'm quite capable of handling such a task, it being taxing just means that every bit of my love is being received."
"Who knew that Tia's work ethic is much better than most people!"
Celeste sighed at this as she had finished writing down the broker's measurements.
"I don't mind being called that, but please refrain from doing so in front of other students."
"I've never done it though...?"
"Just... Make sure."
The two shared a moment of silence before...
"How are you holding up?"
Y/N asked the Gambler.
"Hm?"
"I'm sure you don't want them finding out."
"I'm doing quite alright, if worse comes to worse, then I simply need to adapt to it."
"By adapting, you mean forcing everyone to not say it at all?"
"Fufu~ My, that's quite barbaric. I'm sure everyone would decide to not mention it at all if I ask nicely."
"Huh. Big oof, if that ever happened."
"Now, run along. I think you have overstayed your welcome!"
Celeste pushed Y/N with a smile on her face.
"Wha- hey, Tia!"
"The sooner you leave, the sooner I can start, now off you go!"
Once Y/N was out the door, he began to complain.
"Hey, now. Can I see a sketch of it before I go?"
"You cannot, and you may not!"
"Can I atleast check on the progress later?"
"Nope!"
Celeste playfully stuck her tongue out at Y/N before closing the door on him.
"Haaaah, not even a day and she's acting like a motive hasn't been given out. Maybe she's looking for something to do to take her mind off it."
Muttered Y/N before he turned his head to the side and was met with Hifumi Yamada with a open-mouthed expression.
Didn't take too long for Y/N to realize he had seen him being kicked out from Celeste's room, and finding an opportunity to mess with him, Y/N gave a mischievous grin before walking away.
"Aaaahhh... Celeste chan really doesn't know how to press on the brakes. Dragging me inside like that and kicking me out once she's satisfied."
He exclaimed, knowing full-well how it would affect Yamada.
Y/N went and entered his dorm to get some rest, and while he's doing that, a certain gambler had begun what she wanted to do.
Having stared at two different papers, one for Y/N's measurements, and for the list of materials she needed.
She has no need for a sketch of the outfit, feeling that the image in her mind is satisfactory enough as a reference to what she wants to make, since she has done so multiple times already.
"Alright, shall I get started?"
The gambler muttered, unaware of the events that would transpire the day after.
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I feel like I'm updating too much lol.
Now Y/N's the only person within the class that can change outfits! Truly a protagonist, he is.
-Mod Ibuki