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My dearest Kirigiri,
It saddens me to know that the situation has lead to this outcome. Ideally we would have both left this killing game alive, however recent events forced my hand and I was forced to take more drastic measures. If you’re reading this, then I have failed and for that I apologise. While I did not particularly enjoy the company of Hifumi or even Taka, they did not deserve to die, especially as it seems their deaths were all for nought.
I’m sure that Monokuma has seen fit to give me some suitably horrible execution. I’m sorry that you will have to see that, however I promise that I will not be in much pain for I will be thinking of you and the time we spent together. It is bittersweet, I suppose: my life became truly liveable when you entered it and yet one cannot truly live in this hellscape. The animal that accepts its life in a cage is never truly living.
And so, I had to try. I was dead before you met me and I died within this killing game, far before my plan was put into motion. If you escape this torturous game, please don’t forget me, my poor heart would not be able to bear it, and if you ever find my darling kitten please feed him and tell him how much I loved him. I still remember when you first met him, do you? I was wandering around trying to find a vet and you guided me there like a dazzling star. His name is Sir Grand Bois Cheri and I told him all about you. I don’t know what it’s like outside, but I still hope that he is safe, and I hope that you are safe and that the two of you, my two favourite things in the world will someday meet.
That’s the only hope I have left now.
I suppose Monokuma has revealed all my darkest secrets to you and all of the others but even if he has not, I think you deserve to know by now:
Celestia Ludenberg does not exist. Not really at least. She’s a fake name, a pseudonym, a way of avoiding the ugly life of Taeko Yasuhiro. She suffered a great deal.
And then one day, Celestia Ludenberg just happened, and everything started to lock into place quite nicely. I left my old life behind and suddenly the world was better. Taeko Yasuhiro was a loser and Celestia Ludenberg was a winner. It was quite simple really. Out with the old and in with the new. Celestia Ludenberg was such a beautiful name and that lie helped me become the gambler I am today, it was the only reason I even met you my love.
And so I cannot find it in myself to feel sad for the loss of my old life, because my new life lead me to you. I’d do it all again just to play one last game against you. Who knows, maybe the trial will feel like a match of wits between the two of us, though probably not. As much as I love games, I was never especially clever, but you, you were brilliant. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have written this parting letter, but I knew there was a possibility the trial would go poorly for me because I know how amazing you are.
My ultimate detective.
I’ll miss you my dear. I don’t know where I’m going but I know that we may never see one another again, but I find hope within me that we may be reincarnated as a princess and her knight, so that I can see you again and feel your protection once more.
Alas, my time is limited so I shall leave you with these parting words:
I have loved you from the moment I set my eyes upon you and I will continue to love you until the ends of time. Centuries will pass and I will still be thinking of you. You made my life worth living and I wish you good luck in your endeavour to escape this school of nightmares and once again apologise that we could not do it together. I know that I’m in no position to ask favours of you, but I hope that you’ll allow me this one. Think of me when you see the stars in all their splendour and forgive me for my mistakes, great as they are.
Eternally yours,
Celestia Ludenberg.
The letter had been folded neatly, placed into Kirigiri’s palm along with the key to Celeste’s locker. Kirigiri had barely registered its presence, her eyes trained on Celeste as she strolled up to the door, showing no remorse just mild disappointment at having lost. Was this really the girl she’d fallen for? A callous, cruel monster, who didn’t value human life?
No, she couldn’t be. Celeste was kind and sweet and, and –
What if all that had been a lie?
What if Celeste had just wanted her to think that?
She looked around at her fellow classmates to see all their faces morph into one of singular disgust. No shock, no confusion, just disgust. They all knew that Celeste was capable of killing. Even Naegi didn’t seem surprised. Had love made Kirigiri an idiot? No, Celeste was talking to them now, and she sounded sad. She smiled at them all before leaving and yet the smile fell flat, as though it was being pulled into place by strings.
Celeste didn’t want them to pity her, she realised. The villain was easier to play than the tragic fool and Celeste’s last act was ultimately unselfish.
Watching the execution was making her sick, and yet Kirigiri couldn’t look away. She was drinking in the picture of Celeste, the last time she would see ever see her in person. She couldn’t afford to waste a single second, no matter how torturous the sight was.
Celeste was sweating and the tips of her skirt were singed and yet she still smiled as though enjoying her execution. The sirens seemed to wake her from a daze though, because she suddenly stopped smiling and her eyes seemed to widen with fear as the truck came raging down to smash her into the ground. It was horrible and the worst part was that she couldn’t comfort her. It was irrational and illogical but she just wanted to hold Celeste’s hand and to tell her that everything was going to be okay, to hug her and kiss her and feel how undeniably alive she was.
But Celeste was undoubtedly buried in a heap of stones, bones shattered and skin singed and bruised, undeniably dead.
She went through the motions of walking back inside with the group, opening the locker for them and returning to her room, the paper she found under the key tucked into her shirt pocket safely.
It took an hour of staring at the folded scrap of paper before she mustered up the courage to open it. It was the last remaining piece of Celeste and she refused to squander it.
Delicately unfolding the paper, she read the first line and immediately had to hold back tears. The paper even smelled like the perfume Celeste wore, the swirling looping handwriting unmistakably hers.
She read the letter over and over that night, desperately trying to preserve her memory of Celeste as accurately as possible.
The night air was soothing against her tear-stained face as she sat alone on the roof of the Future Foundation building, letter still in hand. The stars were beautiful that night, perfect pinpricks that speckled the sky. Kirigiri wished that she could’ve looked up at the stars with Celeste instead of the memory of her.