Chapter Text
I snuck out into the hall at midnight, well after the nighttime announcement. Nobody should be up at this time, but best to be quiet just in case. Creeping through the dorms, I scanned the nameplates, stopping once I found the one I was looking for. I crouched down and slid a note beneath Celeste’s door.
Now we wait.
Celeste
When Celeste awoke, she noticed a piece of paper in front of her door. Of course she was curious, so she got up and grabbed it. After carefully unfolding the paper she skimmed its contents. “Celeste, please come to the media room at midnight tonight. I need to discuss something important with you.” How odd, she thought, burying the note in one of the drawers.
She went about the day as usual, all the while thinking about the mysterious note she had found. Soon enough Monokuma’s voice rang through the school, announcing the arrival of nighttime. Only two more hours to go, she thought as she closed the door to her room for the first time that night.
As Celeste cracked open her door at 12:00 am on the dot, she was still weary about meeting whoever it was that wrote the note. Despite that, she crept through the hallway and found herself face to face with the media room door. Hesitantly, she grabbed the handle and slowly started to open the door, but once the door was cracked open, she quickly flung the door open. Celeste, still cautious, scanned the room for the person who had summoned her there, but her eyes only fell upon rows of screens. She finally stepped into the room, letting the door gently close behind her.
Still nothing. “Hello,” she called out, “you summoned me here for an important matter?” She sighed as she still received no response. Considering that the person looking for her was running late, she strode over to one of the screens and sat down at the desk, turning the chair to face the door.
Ten minutes later, the door cracked open again. Celeste snapped her head up to glare at the door, but once it had opened enough to reveal the person behind it, her face fell in shock. “How- what- what are you… doing here?” Celeste stuttered out. She stood up from the chair she was sat in. “Mondo, I thought you were dead?”
“Aha, yeah, about that,” he spoke, looking at the floor and scratching the back of his head. “Uhh, d’you remember the girl that got porcupined ‘cause she pissed off Monokuma?”
“Get to the point,” Celeste snapped.
Mondo crossed his arms. “Shut the fuck up and let me talk, will ya.”
Celeste sighed, “yes, I do.”
“Great, so she and her sister set up this whole big prank thing…”
“Prank?”
Mondo sighed and rubbed his face. “Yeah, they wanted to,” he put up his hands to make air quotes, “‘welcome in the first years with a fun surprise,’” he dropped his hands, “which is pretty fuckin’ stupid if you ask me, I mean they could have been at least a little nicer with it.”
Celeste stood there frozen in shock. “Wait, so…”
“Yeah, everyone’s still alive,” Mondo cut in.
“Really?!”
“Haha, yeah, I actually came here to tell you that you’re gonna be the next blackened.”
Celeste narrowed her eyes, confused. “And what exactly do you mean by that?”
“Basically, you’re gonna choose someone to be your victim, get them in on the prank, and then set up a crime scene with mannequins.” Mondo explained, counting the three steps with one hand.
“Huh,” Celeste replied, looking to the floor. “Why did you choose me?” She asked, lifting her head to look straight at Mondo.
Mondo dropped his head. “Well, you’re good at keeping cool and clearly you’re good at hiding things since you’re the ultimate gambler and all that.”
“Interesting, I’m flattered you think that highly of me,” Celeste said with a small smile.
Mondo started to fidget with his hands. “So, uh, how’s Taka doin’?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, is he… okay? After my ‘death’ and everything? He sounded terrified and heartbroken during the trial and I just… wanted to know…” Mondo choked out.
Celeste sighed and looked to the floor. “Well, he’s… doing better..? now, uhm, but yes he was devastated for a while.”
“Can you have him… be one of your victims? I don’t want him to have to hurt anymore. Fuck, he shouldn’t have had to hurt in the first place. Please, Celeste, I can’t live with myself knowing that he’s hurting because of me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Okay, so, uh, I’ll show you where the door to the basement is—that’s where we’re all staying by the way. It’s laid out pretty much like the first floor.” Mondo said, making his way over to the basement door. They stopped in front of it. “Here it is, I’ll go back and you go do the whole blackened thing. Bring your victims to the door, got it?”
“Yes, I will see you shortly, then?”
“Yeah, and… please bring Taka,” Mondo’s voice sounded almost pleading.
With that, Celeste strode off back to the dorms, already planning out her murder set up in her head.
Taka
Taka woke up in a cold sweat, still shaken from the nightmare, the same nightmare that he’d had for the past few days. He could never find it in him to go back to sleep after reliving Mondo’s trial for the umpteenth time. He’d just sit there, curled up in a ball. Sometimes he’d cry, sometimes he’d yell at the top of his lungs for Mondo to come back, and others he just sat there, defeated and lost. This time however, he got up and paced around his room, talking to himself. After all, Taka wasn’t quite Taka anymore, his purple hair had turned white and his red eyes now glowed with determination, and most notably his personality seemed to have combined with Mondo’s. As a last ditch effort to cope with losing his best friend—and perhaps blossoming crush—Taka had taken on Mondo’s personality and, in a way, fused with him.
After a bit of pacing, Taka noticed a note under his door. Following its instructions, Taka thoughtlessly strode out of his room and out to the gym’s entrance.
“Ah, I did not expect you to arrive this quickly,” Celeste said, straightening her posture and looking up at Taka.
Taka stood there confused for a second. “Celeste, why the fudge did you call me out here at nighttime?” he snapped.
“Well, I have a very important matter to discuss with you.” Celeste said calmly, giving Taka a small smile.
“Why couldn’t this have waited until morning?!?”
Celeste sighed, realizing that this may end up being a bit more difficult than she’d anticipated. “Look, just follow me and I’ll explain everything, alright?”
“What, no?! Are you crazy, you could kill me!” Taka spluttered.
Giving up on trying to reason with him, Celeste grabbed Taka’s wrist and started dragging him over to the basement door. Of course, this ship did not sail smoothly.
A loud chorus of, “let go of me?!”s and, “are you insane, I’m not gonna follow you,”s followed her all the way to the door. She knocked on what appeared to be one of the metal plates that covered the school from top to bottom, this managed to shut Taka up as he was overcome with confusion.
The door swung open, but nobody seemed to be behind it. Despite this, Celeste dragged Taka down the staircase and into an almost carbon-copy of the floor they had just been on, except it was lit in a dim blue and purple instead of the blinding white and red they had grown accustomed to and the big open hall was set up like a comfy living room. They both looked around in awe and confusion.
“Okay, Celeste… what the actual fudge is this?!” Taka shouted, looking around frantically.
There wasn’t anybody else to be seen. Mondo had probably warned them not to leave their rooms for the night so that the newcomers had a bit of adjustment time. Celeste thought this was a nice precaution.
Though, out of the corner of her eye she spotted Mondo hiding behind a corner.
“Alright, Taka,” Celeste starts, fidgeting with her hands, “you should know that this, uhm, murder game that we’ve been subjected to is just an elaborate prank.”
“The fudge you mean it’s a prank?” Taka snaps. “How?! We saw them, dead. They’re dead, Celeste, you don’t have to try to make me feel better about it,” his voice trailing off as he went on. His eyes ending up glued to the floor.
“No, Taka, I’m not lying, I promise,” she reached out a bit to try to comfort him.
“How? It all felt so real, so how can it be a friggin prank, huh?” His voice now sounded meek, defeated, almost.
Celeste made eye contact with Mondo, giving him an ‘I need you to help me prove to Taka that I’m telling the truth’ look. She sighed, crossing her arms, “I suppose I need some evidence to back up my claims, huh.” she gestured for Mondo to reveal himself, “alright then.”
Mondo slowly crept out from behind the corner, a concerned look on his face. “Uhh, T-Taka?”
Taka’s head immediately snapped up and his eyes met Mondo’s. He then swiveled his head to glare at Celeste. “This isn’t funny, stop freaking messing with me!” he shouted.
“Taka, I’m not messing with you, that’s actually Mondo.”
Mondo hesitantly walked towards Taka, stopping a few feet away from him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s me, I’m real, I promise,” he said, holding back tears.
Finally accepting the prank, Taka broke down. His eyes softened and the fire burning in them slowly fizzled out and his hair faded from white to lilac, to violet, and finally back to his signature dark purple. His lip trembled and he swiftly turned around and covered his face with one of his arms. He sniffed, “I’m glad you’re okay, bro.”
Mondo let out a wet chuckle, wiping at his eyes. “Hah, I’m glad I got to see you again.”
Celeste smiled, turning on her heel and heading back up the stairs to fulfill her duties as the blackened.