{ Mastermind Chihiro. } [ON HIATUS]

One Minor Detail.

Celeste lay there, eyes half open, head feeling lighter than usual. The bright glare of the nurse's office hurt her vision, and she sat up slowly on the medical bed. She looked about the room, and found her slight light headedness to be the fault of her missing clip-on drills, as they sat over on a surface nearby.

Lifting herself off of the bed now, she walked over and grabbed them, attaching them on either side of her head. Placing a hand to her forehead, she found small stitches there, running along the left side. It hurt to touch them, and so she pulled her hand away, now looking to the camera.

She knew what she had seen. There was no doubt it had been Chihiro.. or had she been hallucinating? No. It was him, to doubt herself was foolish. Ludenberg looked up to the camera, where the boy must be watching. Does this make Chihiro the Mastermind? Of all people, she hadn't expected the shrimp boy. After all, they had seen his body.

She frowned. He had let her live, but for what reason? Walking over to the door of the office, she tried the handle, and to her surprise it swung open with a slight creak. Stepping out cautiously, she looked into the hallway. Nobody was around.

She hurried down the corridor, making her way quickly and quietly to the dorms. Still, she encountered nobody on her venture, which annoyed her slightly. What time was it? She brought out her Monopad, clicking the on button. To her annoyance, the screen did not light up. It must have been destroyed in the heat of the execution.

Passing various dorms, she stopped in front of the door of possibly the only other sane and smart person in the entirety of Hope's Peak Academy. Knocking twice, she awaited an answer to her call. And she was kept waiting for about five minutes, and when Kyoko Kirigiri did open her door, she was holding a metal pipe, as if she expected an attack.

And what she found instead was the walking dead at her doorstep. She dropped her pipe at her side, staring wide eyed at Celeste, who stood there smiling lightly in her usual refined fashion. A shocked silence fell between the two, promptly broken now by Ludenberg.

"Kirigiri, a pleasure to see you again," Celeste's calm voice felt like the stab of a knife to Kyoko, "I do believe we have a few matters to discuss."

Kyoko paused for a moment, but opened her door and stepped to the side, a wordless gesture to come inside. Celeste stepped in, and now turned to face the other as they closed the door. It seemed Kyoko had quickly recovered from seeing the other girl alive.

"Well? What happened?" She picked up a notebook from her desk.

And Ludenberg explained. Her execution, what she had seen, the nurse's office, everything. But she left out one minor detail. Chihiro Fujisaki.

Because she knew that if she did, she would most likely be killed by the boy, if he even had the guts to do it. For some stupid reason, she had been allowed to live, and though she wasn't a coward, she was not going to give up this second chance so easily. Not to this lot anyway.

Kyoko nodded now, looking up from her notebook. "I see, perhaps it is best you do not reveal yourself to the others just yet, Ludenberg. I can explain the situation when possible, but I do not doubt some will adopt a hostile attitude toward you."

Celeste laughed slightly. "That is quite alright, Kirigiri."

Kyoko walked over to the door, opening it once more for Celeste. "Go to your dorm, make sure to stay there. If I need you to stay there for a prolonged amount of time, I'll make sure to bring you food and water."

Ludenberg peeked out of Kyoko's dorm, making sure nobody was around, and then briskly walked over to her dorm. She fished about in the pocket of her jacket, and managed to find her dorm key. Unlocking it now, she stepped in and locked the door once more, starting her temporary house arrest.

~

Meanwhile, Chihiro had been watching the whole time, making sure Celeste said nothing too revealing. If, by chance, she had begun to explain who the Mastermind was, he would have opened up the floor and brought her back to his office. But thankfully, Ludenberg hadn't said anything that would lead to his exposure.

Monokuma stood next to Fujisaki, with a confused expression on his bear face.

"Hey, Fujisaki, why're we keeping drill-head alive?" He asked now, turning to the boy.

Chihiro looked down blankly. Why was he keeping her alive? Whatever reason it was, he should probably come up with it now before Monokuma killed Celeste himself. Suddenly, he had a bright idea. Though it was a little dark, he felt it might work.

"Well, I thought she might be good for a motive.." He trailed off, looking at Monokuma expectantly.

The bear paused for a moment, thinking this through. Suddenly, he leapt up grinning.

"God, why didn't I think of that?! Great job, half-pint! You're getting the hang of this!"

Getting the hang of this.. Chihiro let those words sit in his mind for a bit, as he turned back to his work. Getting the hang of being the Mastermind? I mean, he had sort of embraced the role by now. No wonder he was playing it well.

Fujisaki came to the conclusion that as long as he was doing the job, he should do it well. Isn't that true with any job? The others would understand. He knew they would.

Because if they didn't, he won't know what he might do.

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Ayeee, I'm back! Cool new chapter? I did say I had plans for Celeste, and since there's a new Mastermind and all, the story will change quite dramatically! Looking forward to writing the rest of it, farewell!

Also how do you guys feel about a little Celesgiri? 👀