Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the first day of class, and Chihiro hurriedly walked inside the hall, looking back at the door he’d just gotten through as to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything behind. He didn’t realize there was someone standing right in front of him, looking at the schedules hanged on the wall. They both gasped at the collision and the shorter almost fell backwards, but the girl made sure to catch him by the blouse, looking down at him with wide eyes.

“Are you alright?” She asked, not blinking.

The position was enough to make the programmer’s cheeks heat up nervously; the first thing he noticed about her was how strikingly elegant her dressing style was as well as everything else about her, the second was how familiar her eyes looked, he wondered where he’d seen them before. He forced himself to snap out of his thoughts and hurried to properly stand and step back.

“Y-Yes! I’m sorry, um, do we know each other though?” He decided to ask after apologizing, the girl hummed and quickly scanned him with her eyes, the action made him shiver a little.

The girl looked back into his eyes with a doubtful expression.

“I do not think so, we might get to soon, however. You are from first year too, right? What is your class?” She asked, Chihiro was still a bit confused by the familiar presence the red eyed had, but he decided to shake the feeling off in order to answer.

“My class is…” The programmer quickly swallowed to avoid his usual stuttering. “Class 78, classroom A1 -I think.” He finished, looking up at the other student nervously, he found her very pretty after all, though a bit intimidating.

The girl immediately smiled slyly.

“That is indeed my class as well.” She said, placing the tip of her fingers on her lips, Chihiro’s attention was brought to a gunmetal plated ring covering her right index finger.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “That’s nice…” He murmured, lowering his head, the other girl chuckled.

“While we head to our classroom then, why don’t we introduce ourselves?” The taller offered, smiling down at the programmer.

Chihiro nodded happily as they started walking and the girl introduced herself.

They were seating together in a bench as they shared some cookies; now that they had become friends, they hanged out a lot more often, Celestia was definitely not complaining, it was nice to have Chihiro with her, the programmer was very kind and calm, and somehow made her feel strangely at ease, as if she was at home.

“I am not sure if I’ve ever told you.” Celestia started, deciding to bring it up. “But I…” Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a good idea and she felt embarrassed to say something so out of character.

“Yes...?” Chihiro asked, looking up at the gambler with those big eyes of hers.

Celestia had to clear her throat in order to keep her cool, she decided to finish her sentence now that she had started it, being herself was something that came naturally when she was with Chihiro.

“I feel… rather calm when I am with you, it’s… relaxing in a way, comforting.” The taller tried to explain, seeing the Chihiro’s eyes gleam.

The programmer blushed a lot but smiled blissfully, looking down at the floor.

“I’m glad I make you feel that way…” The programmer breathed in deeply, as if to gather courage, before looking back at the gambler. “Y-You’re very pretty, and I like spending time with you.” She admitted, Celestia felt her heart skip a beat.

“Thank you…” She murmured, barely resisting the urge to look away.

Before she could recompose herself enough to compliment back, Chihiro continued.

“I… Still feel like the first day we met, in a way… I just have the feeling that somewhere sometime we met before, your presence has always been so… familiar, like I’ve always known you.” The hazel eyed explained, Celestia thought about it a bit more in depth this time, but no matter how much as she tried to recall, she couldn’t remember a single time they had seen each other before.

It had only been a few months, but so much had happened that it felt like a year. Chihiro was cuddling with his girlfriend Celestia, he had told her about his identity and the girl had done the same. A few weeks after they started dating; he was glad to be just relaxing with her at the moment.

“Hm?” The gambler raised her head from his shoulder curiously, she had taken off her clip-ons to be more comfortable. “Is that a bruise?” She asked, arching a brow.

Chihiro got startled for a second but then he realized she was only looking at a birthmark on his left index finger.

“Oh!, It’s just a birthmark, don’t worry.” He assured with a loving smile, but Celestia remained curious.

“I have a birthmark on that finger too.” She noticed, straightening her posture as she took off her gunmetal plated ring, something he was only now realizing she had never done before.

In her perfect pale hand, there was a darker, pinkish spot on her index finger, almost a mirror of his. They moved their hands closer to compare the markings, and to their surprise, when placing the seemingly random spots together, they formed an almost perfect heart shape, Celestia giggled a little at the way Chihiro’s cheeks flushed.

“That’s actually a very cute coincidence.” She mentioned with a warm smile she only showed Chihiro, the programmer eagerly nodded.

“It is, what are the odds?” He giggled.

Celestia observed the heart between their fingers, thinking.

“Maybe it isn’t a coincidence.” She said, to which Chihiro raised his eyebrows curiously until he understood what she meant, he giggled once more, this time a bit more shyly.

“Soulmates or not, coincidence or not, I love you a lot.” He assured, hugging the girl tightly, she hugged back, making a happy sound of agreement.

“I love you too, Chi.” She replied, closing her eyes in bliss, basking in the feeling of peace and pure bliss, while Chihiro enjoyed the familiar scent in her neck and warmth of her body.

Chapter Text

“Alright everyone! Get in groups of four and make a line to enter the boats!” Their teacher exclaimed.

Chihiro swallowed nervously, looking down at the sand; he was wearing more comfortable clothes than usual, since they were going to visit a nearby island as their end of year trip. Right now they were in the shore, the island was visible ahead and four modern boats were aligned in front of them, Chihiro was a bit impressed that the school could afford them.

He approached the second boat, but it was already occupied by Byakuya, Touko, Kyoko and Makoto. Before he could turn around, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Shall we go on the third boat together?” He immediately recognized Celestia’s accent.

“U-Um, sure!” He beamed as he turned around, the taller was already smiling down at him with her eyes narrowed.

He felt luckier than Makoto when he followed the gambler to the boat, he had wanted to spend more time with her outside the classroom, and the only people sharing their boat, besides the sailor, were Sayaka and Leon, who were too focused on each other to pay any attention to them. His nervousness quickly came back when he felt the floor swaying gently along the waves and his heart shrunk when he reminded himself that soon he’d be in the middle of the water.

He gripped the white handrails tightly; the gambler seemed to realize, given how she slowly approached him and placed a hand on his arm.

“Are you scared of being in the water?” She asked, not a hint of mockery in her voice, it reassured the programmer a little.

“Y-Yes, a little bit.” He lowered his head with guilt.

“I have been in boats a few times before, I can assure you there is nothing to fear.” Celestia said with a confident smile. “Look down.” She prompted, Chihiro hesitantly complied. “The water is very calm and we have a beautiful weather.”

The shorter had to agree, his anxiousness was starting to disappear. The water looked very clear and had a pretty blue color.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right… Thank you.” He said, lifting his head to look up at her, Celestia only nodded, he noticed she was in a very good mood, she hadn’t stopped smiling the whole day.

The boats didn’t take long to sail, and to his relief Chihiro found that the boat was even more stable than when it wasn’t moving. He relaxed his tense muscles a little bit now that he felt safer and he even let go of the handrail.

“Dolphins!” He heard Sayaka yell from the other side of the boat, Leon was very close to her, looking at the animals swimming near the boats.

Chihiro hurried to the other side of the boat in order to see the cute mammals. In the other boats, all the students were looking at them as well, he could hear Aoi exclaiming from excitement even at the distance they were at. As the dolphins jumped up and sunk back down, the programmer took a moment to look at Celestia, her eyes were gleaming at the sight. Chihiro breathed in deeply, he had to tell her about his crush at some point, by now he was pretty sure that even if she didn’t like him back they could still be friends, so he wasn’t so scared about losing their friendship anymore, besides, this day seemed like the perfect moment, but he was still quite nervous.

Everyone was enjoying their time in the island, Aoi and Sakura were playing together in the water as well as Leon, Sayaka and Yasuhiro. Kiyotaka and Mondo were helping the teacher with the barbecue and Makoto was showing Kyoko some seashells he found.

Chihiro hesitantly approached the water, taking off his slippers before stepping on the wet sand, a soft wave soon covered his feet, it was a little cold, but a lot less than he imagined, he turned around to see what Celestia was doing and spot her talking with Hifumi, who nodded and gave her a thumbs up, the gambler arched a brow in disbelief, she sighed, then noticed the boy watching her and smiled. The programmer flinched a bit but smiled back.

“Do you want to come? The water is really nice.” Chihiro offered.

Celestia thought about it for a few seconds.

“I think I could enjoy refreshing myself a little before the meal.” The girl agreed, carefully taking off her sandals before approaching them.

Distracted by the waves reaching their knees, the sausages were made before they knew it, and the students worked together to put them inside the bread. While they ate, Makoto raised his voice to catch everyone’s attention.

“Look everyone, a flying squirrel!” He pointed to the dense forest, in one of the nearby palm trees a giant flying squirrel, with bright reddish fur looked at them curiously.

“There’s more over here.” Mukuro said with an uninterested voice, looking left, then continued eating.

“They’re so cute, aren’t they?” Chihiro asked Celestia, he had made sure to sit next to her while they ate, no one was stopping him anyways, by now at least a quarter of his classmates knew he had a crush on her, besides, Celestia was pleased to have him there.

The latter nodded, looking at the cat-sized animals.

“The ocean breeze is great too, isn’t it?” Celestia mentioned, Chihiro had to agree with a nod.

“It’s very nice, It’s been a while since I visited the sea, even more an island.” The programmer recalled, the girl hummed.

“It’s been a while for me as well…” She murmured, still looking at the squirrels.

Chihiro looked around and breathed in, most students had finished eating and were talking to each other or splashing around in the water, no one was near them.

“H-Hey Celes…” He called her, the gambler lowered her gaze to meet his eyes, Chihiro breathed in yet again. “I wanted to tell you something, is right now okay?” He finally said after a few seconds of silence.

Celestia arched a brow curiously, though he could barely notice how her breath got caught in her throat.

“Sure, go ahead.” She said, putting her hands on her lap, she started playing with them not long after.

Chihiro frowned slightly when he started feeling the nervousness and anxiety building up, but he decided he wasn’t stopping now, this was it.

“I-”

“Everyone please come here, the tour is starting!” Their teacher called out to them, almost making Chihiro faint from the surprise.

“What a terrible timing, was it something quick?” Celestia wondered as she got up from the folding chair, offering a hand to Chihiro, which he took to get up as well.

“N-No, but it’s okay, I’ll tell you later.” He stuttered, still a bit affected by all the tension and the surprise.

The group followed the guide to a fresh cove which dripped cold water from the roof, inside they saw a few crustaceans they recognized from a previous class; the guide taught them about the life and nutrition of the species, which was in danger of extinction and was rarely found in such big groups, which is why trips to the island were only allowed for research or educational purposes.

Although some students like Mondo and Junko found it boring, Chihiro mostly enjoyed himself and he was relieved to see that Celestia did as well. By the time the tour was over and they returned to the area where the ships were waiting, the sun had already started its way down, casting intense orange, yellow and reddish colors on the sky, which were all reflected by the water, it was a bit blinding, but beautiful nevertheless.

Chihiro was picking up a few seashells he found pretty while trying to gather some courage back before confessing. He stopped after he had six, deciding it was time, nothing he tried was going to prepare him in time, so he finally accepted that he’d have to be ready to hear any answer.

He looked around for Celestia and found her sitting on a rock, looking at the reflected sky in the clear water. The boy had to shake his head to focus when he thought of how pretty she looked, swallowing before trotting towards her. She quickly noticed him and shifted her position to face him slightly better.

“Such beautiful colors.” She mentioned, looking into his eyes.

Chihiro smiled softly.

“They’re very pretty.” He agreed, carefully sitting next to her, he was about to ask if it was okay, but he reminded himself that she appreciated his company, this fact reassured him a little. “I… Um, earlier today I told you I had to tell you something, do you remember…?” He started.

Celestia nodded, still smiling softly.

“Yes, I have been wondering what it was.” She replied, Chihiro breathed in deeply one last time.

“You see, the thing is… I-I like you a lot, as more than friends, I understand if you don’t feel the same way, s-sorry if that’s the case, but I really like you and… I thought I should tell you.” He finally managed to say, looking down.

He hesitantly lifted his gaze until he met Celestia’s red eyes, she had a surprised expression and an almost invisible blush on her cheeks, he was getting more and more anxious progressively when the girl didn’t answer, but he finally allowed himself to breathe once she smiled softly and looked away.

“That is a relief.” She admitted, making Chihiro’s eyes gleam hopefully. “I like you too.” Was all she said, but her expression showed a lot more. “I would love to go out with you on a date sometime, and we can see how it goes.” She offered, Chihiro’s cheeks immediately heated up at the idea of going on a date with her.

“Y-Yeah! I would love that too!” He said a bit more eagerly than he wanted to, Celestia didn’t seem to mind though, giggling blissfully in a way Chihiro had never heard before. “Can we hug?…” He asked after a few moments had gone by, Celestia didn’t take a second before answering.

“Of course.” She said, spreading her arms in an offer.

Chihiro carefully leaned in to hug her and though it was a bit awkward at first but in a few seconds they had both warmed up to it and had their eyes closed in bliss. Once they moved away from the embrace, Chihiro continued to look at the colors reflected in the waves.

“The colors are beautiful.” He remembered her words, then blushed a bit as a thought came to his mind. “And so are you.” He said.

Chapter Text

Celestia flapped her huge bat wings a few last times before skillfully landing in the familiar balcony. She looked at herself one last time to make sure her and her dress were presentable, then knocked on the glass of the window gently, feeling the cold wind on her skin as she waited.

It took a little longer than usual but at last the window-door was opened by the one she wanted to see the most; Chihiro Fujisaki, dressed in a night gown. The vampire smiled as soon as she saw her, but something immediately worried her, Chihiro had a very tired expression and her cheeks were flushed, still the lady made an effort to smile at her.

“Hi, Celes.” She greeted sweetly, then coughed and sobbed.

Celestia’s pupils constricted slightly in realization, Chihiro had a cold.

“Good night, Chihiro.” The vampire greeted back, making sure to step in quickly, the lady headed to the bed and slid under the bedsheets.

“I’m sorry, I am a little sick, so I don’t think I will be able to go with you to the castle tonight…” She apologized, Celestia quickly shook her head.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as she sat next to the sick girl. “Is it too bad?” She wondered, trying to not sound too worried as to not scare the noble lady.

To her relief, Chihiro shook her head.

“No, it’s only a cold.” She assured. “Everyone is being so careful though, father has not come visit once, though at least he sends messages through our maids, but they come once every five hours.” She whispered, not wanting to alert any guards, Celestia would assume that Lord Fujisaki had make sure there was always someone near her daughter’s bedroom to ensure she was okay. “Are you leaving…?” Chihiro asked after her silence, trying to hide the sadness in her voice, the vampire could still notice easily.

Sad or not, her answer wouldn’t have changed, but the way the lady asked it definitely made her more confident of her decision.

“No, I want to make sure you are alright, besides you must be quite bored; I will keep you company.” The black haired assured and Chihiro’s eyes gleamed in happiness.

“Thank you a lot, oh, but will you not get sick?” The lady soon asked, a worried expression on her face.

Celestia shook her head as she looked back at her wings.

“Since I became a vampire I have never caught any sort of sickness.” She mentioned, then smiled. “And if I am able to get sick, I do not think I will mind so long as I was able to stay for a moment with you.” She assured, Chihiro blushed even more, but Celestia assumed it was only her sickness.

“Um…” Chihiro looked down sheepishly, then back up at Celestia. “C-Can you close the window please? The cold air is making my throat a bit dry…” She asked.

“My, of course!” Celestia whispered, flapping her wings to get to the window quicker, then closed it. She walked back towards Chihiro’s bed and sat there once more. “I am so sorry I left it open.” She apologized, but the lady shook her head gently.

“It’s alright.” She assured, moving her body closer to where Celestia was sitting, until her belly was pressed to the vampire’s back, only divided by the bedsheets. “D-Do you want to… Um…” Chihiro murmured in a quiet voice, Celestia gently tilted her head and the lady’s eyes met hers. “Hug?”

“Oh.” Celestia’s pupils dilated as soon as the word left the lady’s lips.

She carefully lifted the sheets, waiting for Chihiro’s approval, then slid under them once the shorter nodded. After making sure to not accidentally get her hair or wings trapped under her body, she carefully wrapped her arms around the petite girl, immediately enjoying the feeling of warmth coming out of her, Chihiro shivered a little but snuggled closer.

“If it becomes too warm tell me, alright?” Celestia said, a strand of hair in Chihiro’s forehead was tempting her to brush it to the side, but she contained herself.

Chihiro chuckled.

“You are actually a bit refreshing.” She said, making Celestia giggle a little; it made sense, she had just flown for at least twenty minutes and outside was freezing cold, that plus her body not warming up on its own would make her quite cold to the touch. “It’s nice though.” The lady assured, taking the vampire out of her thoughts.

“It is.” She agreed, suddenly feeling an irresistible urge to kiss the petite girl’s forehead, she wondered where all of this was coming from.

“I do not want you to get bored, however…” The lady murmured, sitting on the bed, then hummed, Celestia also shifted her position to sit, covering Chihiro’s back with her wing now that it was exposed to the cold. “Do you want to play piquet?” The shorter offered, Celestia nodded happily.

“Do you want me to turn on the candles?” She asked, to which Chihiro gave her a thankful gaze.

“Yes, please, thank you.” The lady narrowed her eyes.

Celestia reluctantly got up from the warm and soft bed, but she didn’t mind as long as she could help Chihiro. She heard the petite girl sneezing while she turned on the candles on the bedroom, she went back to the lady as soon as she was done, now the room was illuminated by a dim yellowish glow.
Chihiro had already taken out the deck of cards and was placing them carefully, Celestia’s pupils had dilated a little over the minutes, excited at the idea to play piquet after so long, not only that but it was with Chihiro.

They played a round and Chihiro won, Celestia teasingly whispered that she was only rusty and it seemed to cheer up the lady; at some point during the second round, they heard talking outside the door and they both froze in place.

“Hide under the bed.” Chihiro hurriedly whispered, fear in her eyes.

Celestia carefully left her cards on the bed and went under the bed just before a maid opened the door.

“Lady Chihiro, what are you doing awake at this time? Your father told you to sleep in order to get some rest.” The woman sounded a bit old and though her voice was scolding there was a tint of affection in her words, Celestia remembered that the maids had traveled along the Fujisakis, meaning they had probably known Chihiro since she was a little girl.

“I-I know, I was only a little bored, so I thought I could play a game before going to sleep.” Chihiro stuttered, Celestia was a bit surprised at how fast the girl had come up with an excuse.

The woman stayed on the doorstep for a moment, Celestia guessed she didn’t want to come in to a room where there was someone sick.

“That is a game of two.” The maid realized, Celestia heard Chihiro moving anxiously on top of the bed.

“I-I am just playing for both players…” She quickly murmured before she started coughing, Celestia’s wings pressed to her back tightly in tension and she noticed the maid taking a single step back before quickly going into the room, she heard glass clinking and then the maid went back to the doorstep.

“There is some water for you there, I will be back in a few hours.” The maid said before leaving the room, closing the door, yet Celestia remained hidden for a few more minutes.

“I think you can come out now.” Chihiro whispered on top of the bed, and Celestia slowly moved away from her hiding spot, shaking her wings to get rid of any dust before joining Chihiro on the bed again to play.

The lady looked at her as she sipped some water from a silver glass, she looked down at it curiously once she had swallowed.

“Do you not need water either?” She finally asked in a whisper, Celestia met her gaze as she picked her cards up again.

“I do not.” The vampire replied, shaking her head softly.

They continued to play piquet for two hours, and once they had enough of it Celestia slid under the bedsheets once more to cuddle the lady, making sure she wasn’t lacking anything, handing her tissues or pouring her more water. But over anything she was giving comfort and company to Chihiro, and that already made the vampire feel relieved.

“Your hair is tickling me.” The petite girl giggled, Celestia moved away her head a little.

“Apologies.” She said, but Chihiro shook her head and sneezed (always careful to cover her nose with her elbow).

“I am so happy that you still decided to stay with me… Thank you.” The lady said, making Celestia’s pupils dilate in bliss, the taller then slowly moved her face closer, until she kissed Chihiro’s forehead, the lady didn’t make an effort to move away.

“I am happy to help.” The vampire assured, moving away to look into the other girl’s eyes, she was smiling blissfully.

They continued to lay in the bed for a couple of minutes mostly in silence, at some moments Celestia had to check if Chihiro had fallen asleep or was just specially quiet. However inevitably at some point the vampire would have to make her way back to her castle, and that moment had arrived.

“Should you not head back now?” Chihiro pondered, looking at a consumed candle, the others were still going. Celestia sighed and Chihiro chuckled. “I will be alright, you already took care of me the whole night.” She assured.

“Tomorrow night I will come visit to see how you are doing, alright?” Celestia said, moving her wings away from Chihiro’s body and folding them in her back instead. Chihiro nodded.

“I will be waiting, just make sure no one sees you, as always.” She whispered, the taller nodded and got up from the bed slowly.

“Good night, Chihiro, I know you napped through the day a couple of hours but try to get some rest for the remaining of the night.” The vampire said, a hint of worry in her voice, Chihiro made a gesture of strength with her arms, which stole a fangy smile from the black haired. “I will be back tomorrow.” She reminded before lifting herself off the balcony floor with a few flaps from her wings.

Chapter Text

Chihiro looked around nervously, there was no one else in the hall to his relief, he had been anxious through the whole trip from the cafeteria to Celestia’s dorm. He didn’t wait for long before knocking on the door, making sure none of the items he was holding fell to the floor. Right as he was about to give up, the door opened slowly, Celestia had her head low, something unusual for her, the programmer soon realized she had been crying.

“Oh, it is you.” She said when she recognized him, opening the door further. “Come in.”

Chihiro hurried inside and Celestia closed the door, then sat on her bed.

“I am so sorry I made you come here, I promise it is just for today.” She apologized, Chihiro put the food next to her with a worried expression, he didn’t want to push her into saying anything though, he was probably the only person she trusted enough to let in her room.

“It’s okay, I don’t blame you, sometimes I want to stay locked in my room all day.” He confessed, Celestia sighed heavily.

“I think all of us do.” She murmured. “Sit down, we can eat together.” She offered, but Chihiro quickly shook his head, feeling guilty.

“N-No, I brought this for you because I wanted to, don’t feel pressured.” He said, but Celestia insisted.

“Please, if I make you bring me food it’s only fair you have some.” She said, Chihiro could notice her accent shifting slightly.

He understood how the girl felt so he sat down next to her, placing the food between them, Celestia started opening the enveloped meal, Chihiro cleared his throat a bit nervously, he wasn’t expecting to be offered to eat with her, but maybe they could take the chance to relax a little, that only happened in rare occasions.

“I-I brought you some frozen gyoza I found, I microwaved it for a while so it should be warm… I think I heard you mention you liked it, s-sorry if I got it wrong.” He apologized in advance, but Celestia gently shook her head, or maybe tiredly was the right word.

“It is my favorite meal indeed.” She said, sniffing one of the buns before taking it in her mouth, she then passed the foam plast tray to him, with some relief he noticed there was enough for both.

After eating the first bun he opened the water bottle he’d brought, which was luckily relatively large as well. They ate in complete silence, and once the tray was empty they put it away. The way Celestia’s eyes looked, crystalline and reddish kept him worried throughout the whole time, so the programmer finally decided to ask her about it.

“Is there… What’s wrong?” He hesitantly asked, trying to not sound pushy, Celestia looked at him with an arched brow. “I mean, what in particular, I guess... I’m a little worried, and I’d like to know if there was anything I could do.” He confessed.

Celestia breathed in before answering.

“I just still feel terrible after Ogami’s trial.” She admitted, her voice cracking slightly. “And then Alter Ego got destroyed by whoever is behind Monokuma, and I cannot help but feel like everything could have been avoided. I-I could have done something, I could have tried to look for a better place to hide Alter Ego o-or talk to Ogami.” Celestia’s voice continued to crack but her expression only showed a slight pain.

Chihiro felt as if he was being stabbed in the chest, the death of not only Sakura but all of their other classmates still pained him, he never knew that Celestia actually cared so much, but she had been revealing more of her true personality after she had that breakdown in Junko’s trial.

“But… None of what happened was your fault, not more than any of us at least.” He tried to comfort, it didn’t work, but it made the gambler more confident to go on while tears built up in her eyes.

“It’s also about Yamada, I treated him terribly back then, I was so stressed but I know that isn’t an excuse, I was so vile to him and still he tried his best, only to then be killed by-by Enoshima! He probably died thinking I hated him.” She sobbed, no trace of her accent in her voice anymore, Chihiro had realized it was fake a few days prior, but he hadn’t expected to hear her real voice so soon; he decided to wait until she let it all out before speaking. “Not only Yamada, I was mean to everyone, a-and I don’t want that to happen again, I want to apologize to them but I… I just can’t, I’m not brave like all of you, it’s easier to just keep this mask on and pretend nothing affects me but even that keeps getting harder to do; everything about me is fake, I guess it was destined to break at some point.” She bawled out, Chihiro had a knot in his throat and his chest felt empty, he could only imagine how horrible it must’ve felt for Celestia to have to go through that on her own.

His eyes widened slightly, she wasn’t on her own, not anymore; he didn’t feel like he was enough to comfort someone in such a dark moment, but he could try and if it changed at least a little bit, then it would’ve been worth it.

“I know you’re not a bad person, that’s why I’m not afraid of being your friend, or being alone with you.” He decided to start with, Celestia continued to sob while looking at her thighs. “And I think the rest can also realize, you still have time to change, I know how hard it is to do it, it’s not supposed to be easy… I think you’re very brave already if you even want to and try. You still have time, and if you need me I’ll be here for you.” He finished, trying to speak in a soft and gentle voice, his voice wasn’t usually threatening in any case, but he wanted Celestia to understand he really meant it.

Celestia slowly lifted her head; she had stopped crying, but she was still sobbing sometimes and her expression was still devastated, by her silence Chihiro assumed she was thinking about his words. After a couple of minutes, the taller finally spoke.

“Can you just… Stay with me for a while?” She asked, Chihiro was a bit surprised at the request, but he nodded.

“S-Sure, of course.” He said, sitting closer to her, the gambler sighed and leaned towards him, resting her cheek on his hair.

She was still sobbing, so Chihiro carefully wrapped his arms around her in a hug, which she returned not too long after. Seeking a more comfortable position they ended up laying on the bed, still hugging each other. The programmer closed his eyes and decided to just enjoy the moment of relative peace while also company to her, it provided some sort of comfort feeling Celestia’s warmth, it reminded him that they were both still alive.

Even if he didn’t fall asleep at any point, the flow of time had become blurry and he didn’t know how much time had gone by, it could’ve been two minutes or twenty. He instinctively leaned in to nuzzle the gambler’s neck, then his eyes were quickly opened at the realization of how close they were and that they had been borderline cuddling for who-knows how long.

He carefully moved away to give her some space; she didn’t complain, but she didn’t thank him either, only remained looking at the roof tiredly as she lost herself to her thoughts.

“I don’t think I deserve your sympathy with how I treated everyone.” She confessed, rarely blinking. “Why do you even care about me…?” She asked, a few silent tears streaming down her face as she finally turned to look at him.

“Because you’re still human, we’re all under a lot of stress, but we can still try to change and be better.” He answered. “And you’re my friend.”

Celestia sobbed once, looking away once more. After a few minutes, she spoke.

“I’m going to tell them about my real identity tomorrow.” She declared with a determined expression, Chihiro worried a little that maybe he had ended up making her feel pressured.

“Y-You don’t need to hurry yourself, you can tell them when you’re ready.” He assured.

“No; in reality I had already decided it since before you came.” Celestia said, though it sounded much more like Taeko than like Celestia, she went back to a sitting position, looking at her lap before straightening her back, she looked very determined. “In fact… I’ve been thinking about it ever since you told everyone you weren’t a girl, your braveness inspired me a lot.” She confessed, looking right into his eyes.

Chihiro’s cheeks immediately felt tingly and his chest was filled with pride from being called brave by her out of all people; but he cleared his throat and tried to focus, this wasn’t about him.

“I-If yo-” He made a short pause to try and not stutter. “If you think it’s the right moment then I’m happy for you, I’ll make sure to be with you when you tell them.” He assured, Celestia smiled for the first time in the night and that made Chihiro instinctively beam at her, his chest felt strangely warm.

They both looked at the monitor for a moment, then Celestia turned to Chihiro with a worried expression.

“You should probably head back to your room before it gets too late.” She said, the programmer nodded and got up from the bed, he headed to the door but a thought stopped him, Celestia seemed very hurt by Alter Ego’s destruction, and only he knew that the AI not only had a backup but was probably currently roaming all of the school’s software.

“There’s something I want to tell you before that, though.” He said, thinking about a way to say it without the mastermind understanding it, Celestia looked at him curiously and Chihiro bit his lip anxiously. “It’s kind of a dumb question, but do you have a backup plan when you’re gambling? You know, in case the card you want doesn’t come…?” He asked.

Celestia seemed confused but she shook her head.

“Not very often, unless it’s a very serious game.” She said, Chihiro hummed.

“Well…” He positioned himself in a way that the camera couldn’t see his face, then quickly gesticulated 'Alter Ego is alright!’, but Celestia didn’t seem to fully understand. He spun over his feet to make the pause appear less suspicious before continuing. “I try to always have a backup plan when I play that kind of games, maybe I should change my strategy.” He said, that seemed to do the trick.

Celestia’s eyes widened and gleamed for merely a second before she looked away.

“Maybe, I guess everyone has a different way of playing after all.” Chihiro was impressed by how good she was at hiding her happiness. “When we get out of this place we can play together.” Celestia said, smiling a little.

Chihiro nodded quickly, smiling back. They were both happy to know that neither of them would give up anytime soon.

Chapter Text

Celestia was looking out the window out of boredom, even though her classmate’s hair was blocking some of the view, Chihiro was quite petite, so it didn’t bother much.

Finally the teacher arrived to the classroom and she could focus once more in the class.

“Hi everyone! Sorry it took me a couple more minutes to come, I was discussing something with the headmaster.” Their teacher apologized, smiling sheepishly. “But I have good news; the school will be holding an invisible friend event in every class, so please cut a small piece of paper and write your names down in them, then we’ll shuffle them and everyone will come pick up one of them, the person written in your paper will be who you’ll be giving a gift to, just make sure no one knows until the day of the exchange!” They explained.

Celestia raised her brows slightly with curiosity, she wasn’t very excited about the idea, she would have to waste money on one of her classmates? She sighed and decided that it was okay, after all she was receiving a gift too and there were a couple of other wealthy students in the classroom, and in any case if she didn’t like the giftee she could just buy them something cheap and be done with it.

“How big should the paper be?” Kiyotaka immediately wanted to know, he already had a ruler out.

“Oh, any size, Ishimaru, just make sure that it’s relatively small.” The teacher said, not expecting the question but by now they were used to pretty much anything.

Celestia decided to not pay attention to Kiyotaka and started writing her name very carefully, she saw Chihiro doing the same with the corner of her eye, the programmer looked a lot more excited than she was.

She got up and gave her paper to the teacher, after a few minutes all of the papers with their names were gathered.

“Alright, we’ll go by order of seats, um, Asahina?” The teacher called out, immediately after the Ultimate Swimmer got up almost jumping from excitement, Celestia started feeling a little uncomfortable, was everyone going to be this excited?

She looked attentively as Aoi took a paper and unfolded it, it wasn’t hard to guess who she’d gotten from the look in her face and the way she almost jumped before going back to her seat.

“Alright, next is Togami, please come here.” Byakuya stood up and walked to the teacher desk with a bored expression, he took a paper, read it, then looked at the teacher.

“I got myself.” He said, to which the teacher quickly took the paper from his hands.

“Try again.” Byakuya complied, taking another paper and reading it, he then sighed, rolling his eyes before going back to his seat.

‘Well that could be anyone.’ Thought Celestia, looking back at the teacher.

The first line (which was also the shortest) was soon over and the teacher began calling students of the second row.

“Fujisaki, please come.” The teacher asked with a smile, Chihiro nodded and carefully got up, Celestia left her space to walk through.

She watched the girl stop in front of the desk and take out a paper, she hummed thoughtfully, then sat down next to Celestia once again.

“Celestia.” The teacher called next, taking the girl out of her thoughts, she got up, making sure her dress didn’t get caught on anything, then approached the table and looked at the multiple pieces of folded paper shuffled on top, she grabbed one and unfolded it. It read ‘Fujisaki Chihiro’. “It’s not you?” The teacher asked, she shook her head and went to sit back at her chair, she glanced at the girl next to her for a moment.

Only now she was realizing she barely knew anything about the student that sat next to her everyday at school. Chihiro wasn’t someone who disgusted her, in fact she was above D-rank, but she had never talked much to her outside of ‘Would you lend me your eraser, dear? I have sadly forgotten mine.’. She decided she’d at least put some effort on the girl’s gift, so she started thinking of how to approach her without being obvious, she had some time until the exchange day so there was no need to hurry. The gambler already knew some basics, Chihiro was a programmer, she was very shy and she liked bunnies and dandelions, aside from the obvious coding, she couldn’t really think of anything in the programming-side, a living thing was out of discussion and giving her an actual dandelion was too simple.

She sighed, hoping it wouldn’t be too difficult to settle on something. Given how they were already seated next to each other, Celestia discretely looked at the girl’s phone and notebook, trying to see if she could notice anything new about the programmer, she had a couple of stickers in the objects, some were of bunnies and hamsters, she also had some of computers and techy stuff. A particular sticker caught her eye, it was a branch with five flowers, light blue, pink and white, she narrowed her eyes as she tried to recall where she’d seen that combination of colors before.

A little over half a week had gone by and Celestia was holding her tray at the cafeteria, the meal of the day was spaghetti, which she really enjoyed, so she wasn’t about to let it get cold. She tried to look for an empty table but all were full, she noticed Chihiro using her laptop in one of the smaller ones, alone; the gambler inside her immediately recognized the perfect chance, she could sit quickly and enjoy her warm meal without anyone bothersome around and learn more about Chihiro at the same time.

“May I sit here?” She asked once she arrived next to the programmer, Chihiro seemed slightly nervous, but nodded.

Celestia carefully put her tray down before sitting and then started to eat, it was delicious and she had to make an effort as to not show it.

“I assume you have already eaten?” The gambler asked after swallowing, trying to start a conversation, she noticed the same branch sticker in the programmer’s laptop.

“Y-Yeah, now I’m doing the history homework.” The shorter answered, a little shyly.

“Do you enjoy history?” Celestia asked with a casual voice before continuing to eat.

“Not that much, I-I mean it’s interesting and all, but it’s just not very fun…” Chihiro answered, now looking at her, by that reaction she was open to having a conversation, Celestia smiled.

“What kind of subjects do you like then?” She asked, Chihiro hummed before answering.

“Well, I’m good at math and those areas, but the scientific side is also fun too.” She replied, then blushed slightly. “What about you?” She asked, closing the laptop slightly.

“I like history and most of the language-related ones, I’d say the math side is my second interest, but nothing captivates me too much.” She confessed, straightening her posture. “None of it really applies to my talent.” She explained.

“I still like coming to class, I like to learn new stuff, even if I can’t really apply it.” Chihiro admitted with a friendly smile. “I also like that this school lets us dress however we want, pretty much.” She added, Celestia hummed as she nodded, finishing the last of her spaghetti.

“It is great indeed, I would not want the dresses I put so much effort in to be kept in a wardrobe.” She mentioned, Chihiro's eyes widened slightly.

“You made them yourself? That’s amazing! I thought you would have ordered them.” She exclaimed in amazement, Celestia couldn’t help feeling a little proud of her skills.

“Indeed, I started making dresses some years ago.” She thought for a moment. “Do you like dresses, Fujisaki? Some girls in our school wear them, but I have never seen you in one.” She noticed, Chihiro blushed a little and looked down shyly.

“I d-do like dresses, but I don’t have any, at least just yet.” She admitted, still not meeting the gambler’s gaze.

Celestia hummed softly, not thinking too much about the programmer’s answer. Now that the conversation had started, she decided to start asking questions to try and figure out what to get her; she had gotten a few ideas with the days, but she wasn’t sure if Chihiro would actually like them.

“You smell rather nice, what perfume do you use?” She asked, seemingly casually.

Chihiro blushed a little bit more at the compliment, but this time she returned her gaze to the taller.

“Oh, it’s just a peach perfume.” She answered, Celestia narrowed her eyes, that seemed like a good option.

She continued to develop a seemingly casual conversation with Chihiro, although she couldn’t deny she was also enjoying herself, the programmer turned out to be both more lovely and interesting than she expected; finally, an opportunity appeared to ask about her sticker, the thing that had been bothering her for a while, even though by now it was only to satiate her curiosity.

“Yes indeed, I actually was a little curious about that sticker.” She pointed carefully, Chihiro got a bit tense, but didn’t say anything. “I am quite certain I have seen those colors somewhere before, but I cannot recall where, do they mean anything?” She asked.

She knew she had done something wrong when Chihiro looked down with a slight frown, her cheeks flushed.

“I-I don’t know, it’s just some flowers, I t-thought they looked cute.” She quickly stuttered, but the tension started growing as she teared up and started sobbing, soon starting to cry. “S-Sorry, s-so sorry, I don’t feel well, I-I’ll go back to my dorm.”

“D-” Celestia could only start her sentence before Chihiro left the room, hugging her laptop, she looked at the entrance of the cafeteria with worry, she hadn’t done anything wrong that she could realize, but something must’ve made the girl really upset for her to react like that and she felt terribly guilty for it.

That same night after class, Celestia gently knocked on Chihiro's room, she was planning to apologize for making her uncomfortable and explain she didn’t mean to do so, she was also carrying a small box of her favorite tea to give her, hoping maybe it would make the girl feel better. The petite programmer opened the door slowly, her face got a bit pained when she recognized the gambler. Celestia bit the inside of her cheeks for a second, maybe she had already ruined it.

“Good night, Chihiro, I… just came by to apologize in case I was too pushy or if I said anything that upset you.” The gambler said, her voice soft.

Chihiro's eyes widened slightly and she shook her head.

“N-No, it’s alright, I know you didn’t mean anything bad, I was just a bit oversensitive, sorry for making you go through that.” She apologized, with her head low, there was a hint of curiosity in her eyes when she noticed the box Celestia was holding.

“Oh- I brought you some tea, I thought it could cheer you up.” Celestia explained, gently handing the box to the other girl.

“O-Oh, you shouldn’t have bothered… Thanks a lot though.” Chihiro said as she took the box, looking up at the gambler. “Do you want to have some together right now?”

Celestia was a bit surprised by the offer, but she quickly nodded.

“Of course, that sounds lovely, I will bring some hot water.” She said, she never offered herself to do things of the sort, but it sounded even worse to let Chihiro do all the work.

After a couple of minutes, their respective teas were made and both girls were calmly taking sips. Celestia looked at the shorter for a moment, she could notice from experience that there was something the petite programmer wanted to say, but she didn’t want to push her by any means, so instead she decided to talk about something else.

“That plush is very cute.” She said, looking at a small Dedenne plush resting on Chihiro’s bed.

The programmer turned around to see what the taller was talking about and she blushed a little before smiling shyly.

“Thank you, it’s one of my favorite Pokémon.” She said, Celestia raised her brows curiously, she didn’t know Chihiro liked the games but she was not surprised in the slightest.

She refused to admit she enjoyed them as well, it would contradict her persona, so she tried to act as if she didn’t have much knowledge on it.

“I have heard they’re good games, the new one is very popular.” She mentioned, Chihiro nodded happily.

“I’m loving it so far.” She said, sipping some more of the tea, quickly reminding Celestia of how tasty it was and thanking her. “Um, actually, do you want to see my team?” She offered then, surprising Celestia a little bit.

“Oh, yes, that could be fun.” She agreed, sipping from her cup afterwards.

Chihiro quickly took out her 3DS from a drawer next to her bed and opened the game, Celestia moved her chair in order to sit closer to the programmer, genuinely curious to see what the girl had caught.

“Here.” She moved the screen closer, deactivating the 3D feature for both of them to see.

In a quick glance Celestia recognized all the Pokémon, Chihiro had chosen Chespin as a starter so he had a Quilladin level 26, a Vivillion level 25, a Charmeleon also level 25, a Pelipper with the same level, then a Sylveon level 24 and Dedenne, level 21. Chihiro carefully clicked on the Sylveon, showing the female Pokémon proudly to Celestia.

“I love this one, she’s so cute! It took me really long to find a female Eevee.” Celestia found that sentence to be extremely relatable, for her Umbreon she also specifically wanted a female Eevee, which were quite hard to find.

“You have a very nice team, they are all adorable.” The gambler agreed with a gentle voice, Chihiro turned to beam at her, Celestia wondered if Chihiro had always looked this pretty.

“Have you played any of the games?” The programmer asked tilting her head with curiosity.

Celestia hesitated to answer, she really wanted to talk about the games with Chihiro and compare their teams, maybe they could even do some trades, but she didn’t want to let down her persona. She bit her lip but ultimately decided she could probably tell Chihiro about it, a game wouldn’t ruin her entire reputation.

“Yes I… I played some.” She admitted, deciding it had been worth it when Chihiro's eyes started gleaming excitedly.

“Which ones?” She asked.

They talked about the games for longer than either of them expected but it ended up being a lot of fun and Celestia didn’t feel uncomfortable being more like her true self with Chihiro. They ended up settling on playing together the Friday after class and doing some trades. When Celestia was about to leave, Chihiro stopped her.

“Um, actually, I want to tell you something else.” She said as she got up from the bed, not meeting the gambler’s gaze for a moment before looking back up at her.

Celestia turned around curiously, she remembered the sensation that Chihiro had something she wanted to say but she had assumed it wouldn’t happen after the first ten minutes.
Chihiro breathed in deeply, it seemed like she was struggling to get it out.

“There’s no need if it’s too-” Celestia started but Chihiro shook her head.

“No, I w-want to tell you, I think you deserve a better explanation for what happened today.” She said, then continued. “Well, I… Some months ago I figured out I was transgender, I-I don’t have a girl’s body, but I feel like one.” She paused for a moment, looking at Celestia’s expression, the taller was a bit surprised but not in a bad way, Chihiro relaxed her posture a little, feeling more comfortable. “B-but some people have been really mean about it, so when you asked about the sticker in my laptop I started feeling scared that you’d be one of those people, s-sorry for assuming stuff like that.” She apologized, but Celestia shook her head.

“It is alright, I understand why you felt like that. But do not fret, I think you should be whatever feels best for you.” She assured, smiling softly so Chihiro knew she meant it. “I am… rather surprised I did not realize though, you are very naturally feminine.” She complimented, making the shorted blush a little with a happy smile. “So the colors were…?”

Chihiro nodded.

“Y-Yeah they’re the trans flag colors.” She clarified, then her expression became a bit more worried. “Um, I’d like to tell the rest of our classmates myself, but I’m not ready yet, so please don’t tell anyone about this, okay...?” Chihiro murmured, looking away nervously.

“Oh, of course not, it did not cross my mind.” Celestia quickly assured, Chihiro seemed to relax. “Well chérie, it is about time I go, but if you need me for anything do not hesitate to come by.” She gave Chihiro a last smile, the girl smiled back widely.

A few weeks had gone by, Celestia now had three weeks left before the day where the exchange of gifts would happen. She was thinking about what to do for Chihiro, since she changed her plan to do something handmade instead of just buying her something. A dress seemed like the perfect option, Chihiro mentioned she liked them but hadn’t bought any yet, and Celestia wanted to give her something made with actual effort now that they were friends. The girl was a B tier, or perhaps even more than that, considering the way she made Celestia feel so comfortable and genuinely happy.

The red eyed shook her head, she’d leave those thoughts for later, right now she needed to focus on how to make Chihiro's first dress the prettiest the programmer had ever seen. Celestia sighed and looked at the roof for a moment, she wanted to use the colors pink, light blue and white as a way to support her identity but she wasn’t sure about how to make the colors work together in something like a dress while keeping it subtle, given how Chihiro hadn’t told the rest of students yet.

She gasped and straightened her posture when a sudden perfect idea hit her mind. Sylveon; it was one of Chihiro's favorite Pokémon, like Dedenne, except Sylveon was likely the favorite Pokémon of Chihiro, and it conveniently happened to have those colors nicely incorporated in the design. The idea of a Sylveon-inspired inspired dress was adorable like Chihiro and probably the best one Celestia had had in a while. She decided to start working on it as soon as possible, dresses took a long while to make and this one would be very detailed. The first step was to get access to some of Chihiro's clothing so she could measure it without her knowing.

Finally, the day had arrived, everyone was sitting in their respective spots and the teacher standing in front of them. Celestia was a lot more nervous than she initially expected, she didn’t want to disappoint Chihiro but she also couldn’t wait to show her the dress she had put so much effort in.

“Well, now all of you can get up and give your gift to your giftee! Hope everyone likes what they got!” The teacher happily exclaimed.

In the blink of an eye Aoi was already giving Sakura her gift, Kiyotaka also giving Mukuro hers. Swallowing, Celestia turned to face Chihiro and started looking in her bag, the programmer immediately noticed what was happening.

“No way!” She exclaimed, putting her hands on top of her mouth, she seemed happily surprised.

Celestia smiled while doing her best to hide her nervousness and gently placed the enveloped dress on Chihiro's desk, the petite girl took it out carefully.

“I-Is it…?” She carefully unfolded the fabric, revealing the dress to its splendor.

It was a mostly white cute dress, it had lots of ribbons and bows, but it wasn’t too overwhelming. I also had lace and a very soft light texture, it had long flowy sleeves and the details in the bows, ribbons and edges of the dress were all pink and light blue. It perfectly encapsulated the essence of the Pokémon.

“It-It’s so pretty…” Chihiro said, not taking her eyes off the dress, her eyes were gleaming and crystalline, she sobbed and it looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I-I love it so much! Thank you!” She said before throwing herself to hug Celestia, the taller didn’t know how to react for a moment, but she gently hugged back, happy that Chihiro had liked her gift so much, it was very rewarding after all the effort she had put in it. “I really like it, Celes, I can’t wait to wear it.” She added as she moved away, looking at the dress once more, she seemed enthralled by it.

“Um, Celestia…” A voice called from behind, the gambler turned curiously, it was Makoto. “Here is your gift, I found this keychain and I thought you’d like it, hope you enjoy it.”

“Thank you Naegi, it is nice.” Celestia said with a smile, taking her gift in her hands, it was a keychain with four cards, the aces of poker, it was pretty, she liked it.

She turned to look at Chihiro once more, who was quickly giving Touko her gift, a small but cute brown notebook.

“I am glad you liked it, Fujisaki, I wanted to give you something made with effort.” She said with a smile, Chihiro quickly turned to her and nodded happily.

“I can’t wait to wear it!” She exclaimed, beaming at the taller.

Celestia breathed in deeply, playing with her hair and looking away.

“Well, perhaps you could wear it while we go out together one of these days?” She invited, swallowing any shyness, but a slight blush still managed to set in her cheeks.

When she looked back at Chihiro, the girl also had her cheeks flushed, but she eagerly nodded.

“I’d love to!”

Chapter Text

“I thought it was just a story, but no, I heard it too!” Aoi assured, Sayaka hummed with a spooked expression.

“What do you think it is?” The pop star asked. “Do you think the school is actually haunted?”

“There is not such thing as ghosts, someone must be doing some sort of prank, they’ll be caught soon.” Kiyotaka shrugged, something he’d definitely learned from Mondo.

“But- Who could it be?” Sayaka asked, worried.

“S-Someone h-has to find out, it’s getting a-annoying.” Touko said.

Chihiro heard his classmates’ conversation thoughtfully, he was getting a little scared as well, even if he hadn’t heard anything himself yet; but other classmates had reported to hear weird noises near the gym area at night, only Tuesdays and Fridays. Today was a Thursday.

“I’m not going near there again! The toilets were as close as I managed to get. I don’t want to get cursed or something!” Aoi said.

“I don’t think anyone would get too close just to investigate.” Mondo pointed out, standing near Chihiro.

“Guys, Kirigiri is a detect-” Makoto couldn’t finish his sentence.

“I will.” Celestia said, to Chihiro's surprise. “Tomorrow night I will go to the gym and see who or what is bothering.”

“And y-you’ll go alone…?” Touko frowned, Celestia nodded, Chihiro quickly grew worried, he didn’t think it was a good idea for anyone to go on their own.

“No you can’t!” Leon exclaimed, Celestia gave him a killer gaze.

“What is stopping me?” She asked, Leon lowered his head slightly, then his eyes widened and he looked at Chihiro, who arched a brow in confusion, then quickly shook his head when he realized what was happening.

Leon carefully climbed down the chair he was standing on and approached the petite programmer, pulling him away from the conversation.

“You gotta go with her!” The red-haired whispered, Mondo also approached them when he noticed them walk away.

“N-No way! I’m too scared.” Chihiro whispered back, still shaking his head.

“Didn’t you have a crush on her? If you show her how brave you are you’ll have won.” Mondo said, Chihiro looked down uncomfortably.

“I-I don’t want her to go alone… But I don’t think I could be any help, m-maybe Sakura could go…?” The shorter murmured.

Leon clicked his tongue.

“It’s your best chance, you shouldn’t waste it.” He said, Chihiro looked at the crowd, he breathed in and swallowed.

Maybe he wouldn’t be of any help at the end, but at least Celestia wouldn’t be investigating on her own and she could have some comfort in not being alone, even if he wasn’t the bravest person in the class. He slowly approached the gambler.

“I’ll go with her, I need to know who is bothering the institution with these silly pranks.” Kiyotaka said, flinching when he noticed Mondo and Leon’s enraged frowns. “Oh, oooh, apologies, Celestia, I forgot I am scared of- loud noises.” The tall boy quickly made up.

The gambler arched a brow in confusion but she seemed relieved to know she wouldn’t have to be alone with Kiyotaka.

“U-Um, in that case… I could go along you?” Chihiro offered himself, walking towards the taller girl slowly.

She nodded and then looked around.

“No one else, I assume?” She said, everyone shook their head, though Leon and Ishimaru were exaggerating the gesture a lot. “It is you and me then, cher.” The gambler looked down at Chihiro, who felt his heartbeat fastening at the closeness.

Chihiro was starting to regret his decision as he came out of his dorm, only armed with a flashlight. He saw Celestia coming out of her own less than a minute after and he quickly walked next to her.

“H-Hi.” He greeted, Celestia turned to look at him once she finished locking the door of her room.

“Good night, darling.” She greeted back, giving him a quick smile before starting to advance through the hall, both of them turned their flashlights on. “Are you excited?” She asked as they arrived to a more open space.

“I- Hm… I’m a little scared, to be honest…” He murmured, biting his lower lip, he was supposed to be acting bravely but he had just confessed to be afraid.

“And you still decided to come?” She asked, Chihiro swallowed, alert for any sound.

“Y-Yes, I thought it wasn’t okay for only one of us to come.” He explained.

Celestia checked the doors with her flashlight as they advanced towards the gym area. All of them had been locked by the workers that same night earlier. Chihiro found it weird to see the usually lively area so dark and empty. Out of nowhere, they heard a scream and something fall on the floor and smash itself into pieces. Celestia flinched, while Chihiro yelped and hugged the girl’s arm, he quickly let go.

“S-Sorry, that s-scared me.” He stuttered with his heart going seven times faster than it usually did.

Celestia smiled down at him and to his surprise it wasn’t a mocking smile but a genuine one.

“It is alright, darling, you can hold on to me if it makes you feel safer.” She offered, then continued. “It would actually make me feel a bit more at ease as well.” She confessed.

Chihiro was a little embarrassed of his behavior, but he carefully wrapped his right arm around Celestia’s left, both of them using the flashlights with their respective free arms. They reached the toilets, which was were Aoi had stopped her investigation. The noises of heavy breathing, footsteps and some sort of… liquid dripping started becoming louder the more they approached the gym, Chihiro was containing his fear as to not run away and leave Celestia on her own, they were both going back or neither of them, he decided.

“Are you okay?” Celestia asked, Chihiro opened his eyes, they were at the entrance of the trophy room, the noises had stopped for a moment.

The programmer hesitated on what to say, after a moment he decided to be honest and shook his head with guilt.

“I’m still scared, sorry for offering myself to come when I’m only pulling you back.” He apologized, feeling disappointed in himself.

Celestia gently pat his back, which somehow managed to reassure the shorter a lot.

“You are not pulling me back.” She assured. “Perhaps I would not have made it this far without you.” She admitted, Chihiro looked at her with surprise, not expecting to hear that from her, but she didn’t elaborate. “Do you want to come back a different day? I would not mind.” She offered, and Chihiro knew she meant it.

He looked back then at the door, he breathed in deeply then swallowed with a slight frown.

“We’ve gotten this far, I-I can make it.” He said, for some reason after admitting his fears he felt a lot more confident continuing the investigation. “Let’s find out what’s in the gym room.”

Celestia nodded with an adventurous glint in her eyes, smiling down at the programmer. They advanced with their arms still locked together into the trophy room, the noises had started again, even louder. They finally reached the door to the gym, a heavy breathing could be heard from the other side, as well as the sound of a liquid flowing slowly.

Right as they opened the door, before they could see anything they heard a loud scream and by the time they gained control back over their bodies they had already screamed themselves and were hugging tightly with their eyes closed.

Chihiro slowly opened them once he felt the grip around his body start to relax; five students were looking at them without blinking, with their eyes widened but their mouths closed, one of them had a slice of pizza dangling from her mouth.

“Ch-Chiaki?” Chihiro recognized one of them, who started nodding off soon after the initial surprise.

A movie in black and white was playing in a small TV, where a girl was running from a werewolf.

“Wh-What’s going on here!?” Celestia demanded to know, stopping to hug Chihiro.

“We are watching a series, wanna join?” A tall girl offered, Chihiro recognized her from the same class as Chiaki.

Celestia lowered her shoulders.

“So there is not a ghost?” She asked with some disappointment that made Chihiro confused.

The students gave them an inquisitive look, so the programmer stepped ahead to try and explain, even if the noise was a little too loud for his ears.

“Some of our classmates heard weird noises coming from here, so we thought…”

“Goodness, is the volume so loud?” A tall student asked, Chihiro didn’t recognize him, but he seemed a bit older.

“Well we could hear the glass smashing from the cafeteria.” Celestia answered with a frown, the girl with the slice of pizza dangling from her mouth looked away.

“Oh, that… wasn’t the movie, that was Yumeno, she accidentally broke the plate we were using for the pizza.” The girl from Chiaki’s class said with an apologetic voice. “It was empty though!” She beamed.

Celestia sighed in exhaustion.

“Can we grab a slice?” She finally asked, too tired to say anything else.

They ate a slice of pizza along with the students as they explained the situation a bit better; it seemed like the school had allowed them to build some sort of unofficial club where they met at the gym to watch a series of speechless horror movies and sometimes have a snack too, so long as they cleaned the place and made sure to leave it as they found it for the next day, and the most convenient days for all of them to meet up were Tuesdays and Fridays.

Once Chihiro and Celestia made sure the students lowered the volume a little, they left the gym and started their way back to their dorms.

“I might be slightly disappointed.” Celestia admitted, Chihiro giggled a little, though he could not relate in the slightest, he enjoyed the taste of pizza lingering in her tongue for a moment.

“I’m actually glad there wasn’t a ghost or any other spooky thing!” He disagreed afterwards with a smile, Celestia chuckled.

“In any case, it was fun to spend some time with you.” She admitted, Chihiro was glad it was dark when his cheeks heated up.

“M-Me too.” He replied, he felt very happy that Celestia still liked being with him, even when he didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t, it made him feel proud of himself.

“Fujisaki!” Celestia called out for him, Chihiro quickly raised his head curiously.

Celestia sat next to him and placed a picture on his desk, it had been taken in the school backyard.

“Koizumi took this picture two days ago, but look at this person.” She pointed at a specific boy in the picture. “No one from their class recognizes them.” She explained then smiled at him.

Chihiro licked his lips and nodded at Celestia, sharing her adventurous smile. He could already taste their next snack after they solved this.

Chapter Text

Taeko excitedly knocked on her boyfriend’s door, he opened it a little after, looking groggy, he’d probably stayed up late working on one of his programs.

“Good morning my ray of sunshine.” Taeko greeted, kissing Chihiro's cheek, he blushed a little but smiled back.

“Morning…” He murmured. “Come in.” He said before yawning, giving her some space to go inside the room, which she did soon after.

Taeko happily held a pamphlet in her hands, Chihiro tilted his head in curiosity when he saw it.

“What is that?” He asked before yawning once again, rubbing his eyes lazily.

Taeko approached him and gently gave the pamphlet to him.

“It’s a cosplay event for books, mangas and videogames. It starts in two weeks.” She said. “If you’re cosplaying, even if you’re not competing, you can go in free; they’ll sell official and fan merch.” She continued, Chihiro seemed a lot less sleepy. “I thought maybe you’d like to go?” She asked, Chihiro happily nodded.

“It could be fun!” He said. “I’d like to buy some Pokémon stuff…” He murmured to himself.

“And I would like to buy some books.” Taeko agreed, Chihiro tilted his head curiously.

“Will we cosplay?” He asked.

Taeko nodded and Chihiro begun thinking.

“Hm… I wonder what I could wear…” He murmured. “I’ve never cosplayed in public before…” He murmured, lowering his head with a bit of embarrassment.

“You don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable.” Taeko quickly assured, but Chihiro gently shook his head.

“I-I’d like to try it out..” He admitted, playing with his fingers, then took one of his hands to his chin as he thought of a character he could cosplay as.

Taeko also tried to come up with a character, but a different kind of idea hit her.

“What if we cosplay as a character the other likes?” She offered, Chihiro’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t seem to dislike the idea.

“It sounds like fun… What character do you have in mind for me?” He asked then, looking up at Taeko, who looked at the roof for a moment before answering.

“There is a character from my favorite vampire novel… Her name is Claire, I think she’s kind of similar to you, and her outfit is very cute.” She started listing, Chihiro giggled a little and she tilted her head in confusion.

“It’s cute seeing you so invested in something, I like it a lot.” He explained.

Taeko playfully pouted a little, but she wasn’t actually mad. She cleared her throat and continued.

“Anyhow, I thought she would be a good choice for you.” She finished with a smile.

On the other hand, Chihiro continued to think for a couple of minutes while Taeko took her time looking for a place to buy a similar dress that she could add and change some things herself once it arrived.

“Oh, do you know Fire Emblem?” The programmer asked, Taeko shook her head, she wanted to try the games but hadn’t had the time, she had even bought one of the older ones. “There’s a character in one of the games called Edelgard, she’s an empress.” Chihiro said, trying to impress her.

Taeko raised her brows with some curiosity, dressing like an empress sounded fun.

“I think I’ll go for that.” He decided with a nod, sitting on his bed with a smile. “Do you wanna cuddle?” He offered then, Taeko immediately turned off her phone and pinned Chihiro down to the bed.

“Always.” She answered with a smile.

They had decided to not see each other in their costume until the day where they’d visit the event. Now Taeko was getting the last details ready, aiding herself with an image of the character, the white wig was less realistic than her drills, but the clothes were of a better quality. She spun around in front of a mirror, almost not recognizing herself. The lavender eyes looked surprisingly good on her, she realized. She jumped slightly in surprise when she heard someone knocking on the door, her body momentarily tensing. By the softness and rhythm she knew it was Chihiro, she swallowed, a bit nervous to show herself but very excited to see how he looked cosplaying as Claire.
She opened the door and they both stood still for a moment, analyzing the other.

“You look just like her!” Taeko exclaimed once she took in the sight of Chihiro in the pale-green historical dress, he’d even straightened his hair a little to match the character’s appearance, she hadn’t bought a wig because his natural hair was already a lot like they described it in the book.

“I almost couldn’t recognize you.” Chihiro admitted as they both continued to look at each other in amazement for a little longer, waiting until the event day had been a good idea. “You look great though!” He assured.

“Well…” Taeko smiled, happy with the results of their decisions. “Shall we go?” Chihiro happily nodded and took her hand as they begun to walk through the dorms hall.

As soon as they arrived to the place, they started looking around with excited gazes; Taeko bought some books and mangas she was interested in, as well as some character-inspired accessories to wear with her outfits. Meanwhile, Chihiro bought a couple of comics, official game merch and a pendrive with a Pokédex design. Some fans wanted to take pictures with them and while Chihiro wasn’t really comfortable on his own, he agreed to take some pictures so long as they were along with Taeko.
When their trip was coming to an end, they split for a moment and then reunited in a specific stall, both had their hands almost full with bags and the sun was coming down, the event would close soon until the next day, where it would open again.

Taeko smiled as she approached Chihiro, carefully brushing some of the white hair of the wig off her face.

“I bought something for you.” She said with a smile, making the programmer’s eyes widen.

“M-Me too!” He exclaimed, Taeko’s eyes also widened with surprise.

“Should we exchange at the same time, then?” She asked, Chihiro nodded excitedly. “One… Two… Three.”

They revealed their bags, Taeko’s looked heavier and Chihiro's was thinner. They carefully exchanged their gifts, and started taking the object out of the bag. Taeko quickly recognized what she had on her hands, a copy of the game the character she was cosplaying as was from, ‘Fire Emblem: Three Houses’.

She looked ahead to see Chihiro's reaction to his gift, it was a copy of the book Claire was from, it seemed they’d had the same idea.

“I… I don’t know what to say Chi, thank you a lot for this, I’ll make sure to play it when I have time.” Taeko assured, feeling a bit overwhelmed, Chihiro seemed very excited to read the book.

“Thank you too! I can’t wait to read about Claire and Selene.” He said, already reading the back of the book.

“And I’m very curious to try this game out.” Taeko nodded, both smiling happily.

The idea had ended up being more fun than either of them expected.