Chapter Text
Kyouko Kirigiri knew how to hide her emotions well. Every day, she’d have the same straight face, aside from a few smiles or frowns. She saw displaying her emotions as a weakness; emotions showed people what could possibly hinder her. They would know what to do to make her happy, sad, afraid, and angry. Kyouko Kirigiri knew exactly how to hide these emotions, and was prepared for almost any moment regarding emotions.
However, all her knowledge wouldn’t prepare her for the complex feeling of jealousy. Kirigiri never experienced jealousy before, mainly because she never was in a situation where she was jealous over another person. She didn’t find herself wishing she had something that another person had.
Except now, during a girl’s night in the Hope’s Peak dormitories, which Kirigiri was reluctant to go to anyway, Sayaka Maizono had admitted to having a crush on Makoto Naegi.
“What can I say?” Maizono giggled. “We went to the same middle school together, and he caught my attention one day when he nursed this crane back to health.” She stared off into the distance, thinking about that moment. “I wanted to get close to him, but I was starting my career as a pop idol, and before I knew it, we graduated.”
“That’s so sad!” Aoi Asahina cried as she leaned forward towards Maizono. “But now that you’re in Hope’s Peak together, you’ve talked to him more, right?”
“Yeah!” Maizono answered. “He’s everything I thought he’d be. He’s such a sweet boy, and looks like he wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly. I love guys like that, to be honest.”
Touko Fukawa sneered. “Y-you’d think you’d be into those s-strong jock-type men. L-like Kuwata.”
Maizono blushed. “Well, yeah, Kuwata is a nice guy, but I don’t know him as much as Naegi.”
“You’re gonna ask Naegi out, right?” Asahina asked. Her face inching closer and closer to Maizono. “Right? Right? Right?”
“Asahina, you shouldn’t pressure her like that,” Sakura Oogami, Asahina’s best friend said from the other side of the dorm room.
“It’s okay!” Maizono claimed. “I’ve been meaning to tell all of you since we decided on this girl’s night!” She started bouncing where she sat. “Of course I’m going to ask him out! I’m pretty sure he likes me back. The poor boy, he’s just been too shy to ask me out. I’ll just have to take the first step. I’m gonna ask him out tomorrow after class.
In the back of the room, Kirigiri lowered her head and clenched her fists. She was lucky the rest of the girls, minus Fukawa being her reserved self, were cheering Maizono on. Kirigiri didn’t understand the jealousy that flowed through her body. It wasn’t as if Makoto Naegi was her best friend. She barely knew the guy. Yet, there was just something about him that Kirigiri was drawn to.
She was first interested when he heard about his title, the Super-High-School-Level Lucky Student. Was luck really a talent that could be compared to being a detective, pop star, writer, or baseball star? All he did was win a raffle. The first day she laid eyes on him, she saw him as an ordinary high school student. He also was rather cute, though she’d never admit that. Kirigiri couldn’t see anything about him that made him lucky. Even on their first day of class, Naegi managed to trip in the middle of the hallway, and knocked Kirigiri down. How in the world was that lucky?
Unless that encounter was meant to be lucky. As if they never would have interacted if it weren’t for Naegi embarrassingly on top of her for the school to see.
The memory made Kirigiri’s pale face flush a small amount of pink. Unfortunately, it went away when she was thrown back into reality from the girls talking about how cute Maizono and Naegi would be as a couple. She felt jealousy flood her mind again, and yet she still couldn’t figure out why.
Kirigiri continued to think about Naegi and all the possible things that made her jealous that he would become Maizono’s boyfriend in less than 24 hours. She was able to read Naegi’s emotions like a book; he made it too easy for her with how expressive he is. Kirigiri saw the flushed color of Naegi’s cheeks whenever Maizono would talk to him. She noticed the stutter when he would try to speak to her in everyday conversation. Most importantly, she saw his smile. That wide, and adorable smile he had. Just seeing him smile wanted her to do the same. Never had she thought a smile would be contagious.
One day, Naegi had caught Kirigiri smiling at him. She blushed and turned away, but Naegi walked over to her desk, still smiling. She wondered if it were possible for him to ever frown.
“You should smile more,” Kirigiri remembered him saying. “You have a really cute smile.”
Kirigiri’s heart pounded when Naegi told her that. She couldn’t look at him at all, or he’d see just how red her face was. “I’ll consider it,” was all she could tell him. She was sure Naegi had planned on talking to her more, but she got up from her seat and walked out of the classroom, so she could freshen herself up in the bathroom.
It had to have been that moment that Kyouko Kirigiri developed a small crush on Makoto Naegi. Since that day, she had focused on the details of Naegi’s personality. She noticed how optimistic he always was in situations. He always tried to make friends with all of his classmates, and successfully was able to do so. He even managed everyone to become friends. Kirigiri wondered if it weren’t for Naegi, would she even be participating in this girl’s night? She thought about the times where he would try and talk to her, and due to her reserved nature, she would barely say anything to him. The boy tried to pour his heart out to her it seemed, and she’d continuously reject him. Perhaps if she wasn’t so stiff and reluctant to trust anyone, she would have had a chance with Naegi.
Much like her newfound incapability to hide jealousy, she wasn’t able to figure out infatuation. For her, it was as if two parts of her were fighting against one another. There was one part that wanted to allow herself to open up to Naegi, and be able to trust him. However, the other side told her to keep to herself, and the burns and scars under her gloves were the reason behind that.
Kirigiri sighed. She should have given Naegi a chance. Perhaps if she had, then she wouldn’t feel this horrible, horrible anger and jealousy she was feeling right now. Maybe then, she wouldn’t have to feel upset with Maizono. After all, it wasn’t anyone’s fault that Maizono liked Naegi as well. Kirigiri also knew once Maizono would ask Naegi out the next day, that he would agree. She knew he liked Maizono back, and who wouldn’t say no to dating a pop sensation?
“Kyouko!” Asahina called from the other side of the room. Kirigiri looked up in surprise. “You’ve been sitting there all night! Come over here with us!”
“I’m fine here, thank you,” Kirigiri replied.
Asahina whined. “Aw come on, this is a happy occasion! Us girls are having a night together, and Sayaka is going to ask Naegi out!”
Kirigiri managed to keep a straight face for the most part. “Congrats,” she said to Maizono quickly.
A laugh escaped from the crowd of girls. “Can’t you see what’s going on here?” said the girl none other than Junko Enoshima. A mischievous grin curved on Enoshima’s face. “I bet she doesn’t want Maizono to ask Naegi out.”
“You’re wrong,” Kirigiri replied.
Enoshima strutted over to Kirigiri. She knelt down so the two were eye level. Kirigiri could see Enoshima’s eyes scanning every part of her body. “You’re good at hiding your feelings,” Enoshima said. “But you leave little hints. Your fists are clenched up and have been since Maizono mentioned liking Naegi. You’ve also had your head down, and can’t seem to look at Maizono as well.” She laughed wickedly.
Kirigiri took a deep breath before speaking. “I am not jealous,” she said calmly. “I congratulated Maizono now and will congratulate her again when she and Naegi become a couple.”
Enoshima stopped laughing, but her smile remained. “If you say so, Kirigiri,” she said smoothly. Enoshima returned to the rest of the girls. “What a killjoy,” she said in regards to Kirigiri.
Kirigiri remained where she sat in silence. She was sure she had been able to keep herself from showing any signs of jealousy during this topic. Yet, Enoshima could see what was going on. Thankfully, Kirigiri was able to keep her cool. She feared that if she stayed with the rest of the girls, that her calm manner wouldn’t last long. She excused herself by saying she was tired, said goodnight to the group, and left to her dorm.
While walking to her own dorm room, she passed the room belonging to Makoto Naegi. She stopped in front of the door, and it felt like her heart stopped as well. Considering how late it was, she was sure he would be in his room. She could probably talk to him if she wanted to. However, Kirigiri didn’t know what she would even want to talk to him about. There was no way she’d tell him that she possibly liked him. Kirigiri bit her lip. Naegi had a bad habit of keeping his door unlocked. She had known this for a while, and had developed a habit of always checking his door whenever she would pass by it in the night. Kirigiri wondered if Naegi ever noticed the doorknob turning when she did.
She decided that she would try to play this like Celeste would. She’d gamble. If Naegi left his door unlocked, she’d talk to him. If he remembered to lock it, she’d leave him be. Carefully, she reached for the doorknob, and turned it a bit.
Locked. At least he remembered this time. Kirigiri turned back to go to her room. It was already late, and if anybody saw her trying to talk to Naegi, especially Enoshima, she’d never hear the end of it.
“Ah! Kirigiri!” a voice called out that rang through Kirigiri’s ears. “Wait up!” Kirigiri turned around to find Naegi jogging towards her. “You’re up late.”
“I was just going to my room,” she told Naegi.
“I saw you turning my doorknob,” Naegi laughed. Kirigiri jumped a little in shock. “I’ve been making sure to lock my door, like you suggested.” Kirigiri couldn’t help but budge a smile from her lips. “Did you want something, or were you checking my door?”
“I didn’t-” Kirigiri stopped herself. She was going to turn him away, just like every other moment. How else was she to ever be able to trust him if she kept pushing him away? “I mean, I was wondering if you were in your room or not.” She tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and avoided eye contact with Naegi.
Naegi’s face lit up like a summer sunrise. Kirigiri finally wanted to talk to him! That face of his made Kirigiri feel a little weak in her knees. Yet, she managed to stand tall. “So what is it you wanted to see me for?”
Honestly, Kirigiri didn’t think she’d get this far. She didn’t know where to start, with this encounter being last-minute. She needed more time to collect her thoughts, otherwise she was sure she’d just turn her back to him for what seemed like the hundredth time.
“I was just wondering if you wanted to go get tea with me after class tomorrow.”
After class. That was the same time Maizono had planned to ask Naegi out. Kirigiri knew she would be walking on thin ice. Sure, she was starting to possibly consider her classmates as friends, but she looked out for herself first. Kirigiri knew deep in her heart, no matter what happened, she wanted to get to know the Naegi behind that contagious smile.
“Yeah! Of course!” Naegi agreed without hesitation. He couldn’t believe it. Kirigiri was finally starting to open up. She wanted to spend time with him! This was a dream come true for the boy, so of course he couldn’t refuse.
“Sorry, Maizono, but I already have plans with Kirigiri.” Naegi didn’t like refusing an invitation from Maizono. “You know I’ve been trying real hard to get to know her. I feel like now is my chance.”
Maizono pouted, but wasn’t going to argue with Naegi. Not like this. “That’s okay,” she said with a fake, but convincing smile. “We can always talk later. Have fun with Kirigiri!”
“I knew you’d understand,” Naegi said happily. “Thank you, Maizono.”
“You’re welcome, Naegi.” Maizono was really good at faking the happiness in her voice. “Though, this is a rather sudden plan. When did she ask you to go with her?”
“Last night,” he admitted. “Just as she was heading to her room for the night.”
Kirigiri walked over to Naegi just then. She looked over at Maizono, and could see the bitterness in Maizono’s eyes. Kirigiri didn’t want things to be like this between her and any of her classmates. In all honesty, she didn’t think she’d win Naegi over. If anything, she just wanted a friend out of him, but if she could buy some time with him, perhaps there was a chance.
“I’ll see you later, Maizono,” Naegi said with glee as he walked alongside Kirigiri.
He’d admit, Naegi was nervous walking next to Kirigiri. She really was an intimidating person. She stood up straight and tall, and her heels made her even taller. Yet, there was something about walking side-by-side with Kirigiri that felt natural, as if this was meant to be. As they walked, they accidentally brushed their hands up against one another. Both Naegi and Kirigiri yanked their hands away, their faces blushing.
Kirigiri had to wonder though. Was that another accident like when they met, or was it another act of luck?