"Ugh... You've had your fun... so cut this out already!"

"If you had some clue as to what fun this is, Detective... you wouldn't stop either."

Kyouko Kirigiri owed her current predicament to a game of her own making, with a gamble she'd planned to win and a penalty she'd agreed upon. Of all the painful and unlikely things that had led to this absurdity, that fact may very well have been the thing which stung the most.

It started in a room put aside for games, where the predicament's mastermind so-often occupied her time...

"I've come to challenge you, Celes-san."

The young woman in gothic frills looked up from her black tea in surprise towards the Rec Room doorway where a certain rival of hers stood; of all things she'd expected to hear that day, those words weren't among them. "Oh my... a challenge from the so-very placid Kirigiri? May I ask where this came from so suddenly?"

Kyouko walked up closer as she spoke. "The Super Highschool Level Gambler never turns down a challenge, correct? Then surely this will be no different." The sharpened gaze she gave made it clear she was here purely on business and that explaining herself wouldn't be a part of that agenda.

Celestia smiled that well-practiced smile of hers as she saw the chance for some entertainment.

"Very well; I'm sure the Super Highschool Level Detective would provide a... satisfying diversion." The condescension in her words clashed fiercely with the face giving them.

Celestia gracefully placed the porcelain tea cup down and stood up from the table with the same grace before her eyes wandered nonchalantly around the room, cycling through a gallery of favorite games and an armory of mind-games to play with someone she considered worthy of both. Taking one's time was a matter of course in taking an opponent off-guard, and everything she did in front of said opponent had to look perfectly casual.

"Decisions, decisions..." she said too softly, either not caring if she was heard or trying to force Kyouko to listen closer; either worked.

Those eyes soon landed in the corner and the smile became a smirk. "If any challenge will do, how about... a round of darts?" It was an unkind smirk that waited for the answer.

Kyouko glared reflexively for just a second. "You know that I can't..." she said as she indicated her leather gloves with five fingers spread. It was true; she had no real throwing precision wearing these gloves, and taking them off wasn't an option.

That was just one of the many ploys a seasoned gambler like her would use to unnerve opponents.

Celestia's eyes fell upon the center of the room next. "Then perhaps... a rousing game of pool?" she proposed with no sarcasm. She was serious enough to know she'd probably win, but whimsical enough to know her opponent would never agree.

Kyouko sighed. "I'm not going to be lulled into a false sense of security just because you suggest a game testing kinetic ability." She'd made it clear that she wanted to cut to the chase; to play a game of mental prowess that they could both enjoy. "I'd prefer something less confined to this room, anyway."

"I see..."

Her smile went unchanged, but inside she felt a twinge of disappointment in her opening volley falling flat. But maybe the chance to launch the second or the third was why she so enjoyed her time with the school's premier sleuth. "Then Othello? At the very least, it's portable."

Kyouko smirked. "Tempting... but I've got something else in mind... just as tempting and just as portable." Celestia saw her soon-to-be opponent eyeing the chess board down on the table where her tea rested, with all its pieces nicely arranged. There was no need to communicate; it suited both their talents perfectly.

Celestia, who had arranged the pieces that way to pass the time while contemplating what strategies they might hide, held her hand to her mouth in mock-politeness as she quietly laughed. "If that's your choice, Detective."

Kyouko saw the glint in her eyes: it was the predatory look she wore when ready to weave fresh prey into her web so she could bleed them dry. But the Super Highschool Level Detective wouldn't be snared in that web so easily.

The room was exactly what Kyouko was expecting. Lace and silk in gothic black and spotless white on every doily-adorned corner; faux-Victorian era furniture in an elegant-yet efficient arrangement; roses -both fake and real- immaculately spread all about (their placement looking obsessive in their attempt at looking effortless). How, exactly, had she ended up in the sanctuary of her foe, Celestia Ludenberg's room?

Put plainly, the conditions of her victory lie in giving her hostess whatever whims or home-field advantages (real or imagined) she desired. No blow to the gambler's pride would be quite as potent as her would-be prey willingly falling into every trap she could concoct only to escape unharmed, in victory.

Kyouko remembered how quickly she'd gotten to work concocting it.

"You did request an arena less... dreary than this one. What's say we take this somewhere more private?" Kyouko raised an eyebrow.

"May my room suffice? Don't worry... I won't force any house rules on you."

Kyouko appeared to think for a moment, when she already knew her answer. "If that's what you want... it's perfectly alright with me." Like Celestia, she too let all her confidence radiate through her every word as she stepped out the Rec Room door first.

Now here she was sitting across from the room's occupant with the board she herself had selected in front of her (her taking the white side and Celestia on the black). The lace of the tablecloth reminded her of a spider's web.

Celestia steepled her fingers. "I'm impressed, Kirigiri: I don't receive challenges every day, you know. But what is a game without a wager, hmm?"

Kyouko turned away; being careful not to give away any tells that could be read. "You certainly do love to make wagers... not that it's all that surprising."

After those words were given time to stew, she looked forward into the deep-crimson eyes before her with her own piercing gaze. "But that's fine... because I came here with the same thing in mind."

Many people called her gaze icy, but right now it had more in common with fire. She could definitely pull this off: she was easily one of the best chess players in the school, even without the game being a part of her Super Highschool Level talent.

Just like finding the break-through solution that cracks a hard case, she could think of no satisfaction right now quite like taking the challenge of defeating the one who had never lost a game in her life head on. After all, no one -not even her- could possibly be a genius at every game.

Of course, that satisfaction may have had something to do with being promised a lucrative reward upon her success.

Celestia caught every subtle change in Kyouko's usually-stony expression; she loved nothing more than to shatter expressions like that.

"Then how about this: if you win, you may have me do anything." Her playful gaze narrowed. "And I do mean anything... I could even..." she paused as she tapped her index finger to her chin, "run through the halls of Hope's Peak in the nude... if that's what you wanted."

Kyouko gave a rare chuckle; things were falling into place. "Hmmhmm... I wouldn't mind seeing that to be honest."

Celestia held a pale hand to her mouth in scandalous amusement. "Oh my... is this Kirigiri's rarely-seen naughty side?" She knew it wasn't, but gentle ribbing was another piece to her routine that she so-enjoyed.

"Or, perhaps... is the side being shown today by the ever-impartial private eye a competitive one? I never thought I'd see the day."

Kyouko's expression became serious again. "Make no mistake, Celes-san: I don't enjoy trouncing or humiliating my opponents the way you do. I'm simply not a fan of losing... any more than you are."

Celestia felt a profound sense of amusement right then; people that think they can beat her are so cute. "Well, I should warn you... the same goes for you. If this is a deal, I too could have you do anything." She held out her hand; the silver piece covering her index finger seemed to point out like the paralyzing stinger of a scorpion. "I do hope you're prepared."

Kyouko looked down at the dainty fingers before her and took them in her own. "Deal."

The stage was set for her victory. That thought was shared by both.

"Your move, Detective."

Kyouko sent out her first pawn, two spaces ahead. Her opponent was a master of predicting the statistics of play, and the first move traditionally came with an advantage; had she chosen the black side in a show of power? Ultimately, it didn't matter: it was an advantage she would exploit maliciously.

She thought she could hear the words 'predictable' being spoken from under said master's breath.

With every piece she sent out, Celestia was always there with her own, ready to match her move-for-move. Maybe playing a similar strategy was her way of saying 'this is how it's done.'

If true, she was managing to prove that point. Like a bona fide master, she had a skill for poking tiny holes in Kyouko's defence that she'd never considered (and she'd observed many strategies over the years).

But the pieces she had lost hadn't been lost in vain. With every offensive she weathered and every piece she'd sacrificed, Kyouko made sure to execute the one that had done it. As the last pawn went down on both sides, Celestia held more pieces than her.

"Tell me, Kirigiri... what brought this on, exactly?" Kyouko eyed her with some caution as she watched her take a sip of tea (another show of control). "I know you aren't a betting woman... and you aren't so lackadaisical as to casually issue a challenge like this either." She sent her bishop across the board as she said that, threatening Kyouko's rook.

"Does it matter?" Kyouko dodged as she pushed the rook from harm's way.

"Very much so: I want to know the motive my victim had as I crush them." She sent out a knight, establishing an aggressive stance at the center.

Kyouko looked down at the board as she spoke. "Hmm... well if you must know... that attitude is exactly why." She sent her own knight out in threat to its black counterpart.

Celestia stifled a laugh. "Oh? Do tell." She sent her own rook across the board to bait the white bishop.

Kyouko was silent for a moment as her fingers hovered over the pieces before deciding that her opponent deserved to know why she was being taken down a peg. "I won't name names, but I guess you could say... a few other students have put what you might call a 'hit' out on you..."

Her bishop took out the black rook. "And I'm the hitman."

Celestia steepled her fingers again as her smile seemed to lengthen. "A hit on moi? How flattering."

She took the black knight she'd sent out earlier in her index and thumb. "Let me guess...Togami-kun?"

Kyouko shrugged as she allowed her white knight to fall. "Yeah."

The two kept trading pieces back and forth like that for most of the match. Celestia was forcing an offensive that Kyouko wasn't used to; her approach was usually far more methodical than this. It made the game go by that much faster, but this likely wasn't good in the long run with her smaller stock of standing pieces. Despite all that, her overarching strategy hadn't been compromised, and so neither had her confidence.

"I'm surprised you took the deal. I didn't think you were so easily sent on the attack."

Kyouko paused to come up with a reply as she concentrated on the black pieces, trying to learn what formation they were taking. Maybe she wanted to spare her 'mark's feelings in not telling her how many of the 78th class' other students had put her up to this, and so she gave a white lie of her own. "You know what they say: money is the gold standard among motivations... so to speak."

Honestly, for the most part she held no ill-will towards Celestia's ego: after all, in a school set aside for the most elite among elite, a massive ego was hardly something unique to her. She actually had quite a bit of respect for the gambler's keen understanding of psychology and mathematics.

No, it was her compulsive need to lie at every turn and every opportunity, whenever she thought she could get away with it that got under Kyouko's skin (even if she never made that fact obvious).

Deducing lie from fact was just second nature to her and both of them knew that; there was simply no pulling the wool over eyes as wide-open as hers.

They'd played that game many times, and still the self-styled Queen of Liars felt the need to keep on playing. It was almost as if she was testing, prodding and poking away at Kyouko's perceptiveness for her own amusement, spinning strings upon strings of lies only to then play coy whenever she was caught; like a mischievous child with a paw in the cookie jar.

She wasn't a spiteful person by any means, and as far as she could tell her frequent challenger wasn't doing it in spite either; more likely she just didn't know any other way to interact with others. But even then, Celestia had challenged her so many times and in so many ways without repercussion, no different from allowing that same mischievous child to run loose.

Now seemed like too good an opportunity to beat the haughty girl in her own territory, and maybe to finally see that playfully deceptive smile of hers crack just a bit; because truth-be-told, she wasn't the only one with a playful side.

The smile never so much as budged from her face as she paused to inspect if all the pieces were in place. "Not that I mind having you as my opponent... but I'd have thought Togami-kun himself would jump at the chance to prove his intellectual mettle."

Kyouko smirked in remembering one of the odd times she'd found the gambling girl's antics genuinely amusing. "After that time you made off with his prized pocket watch? I doubt he's the type to relive his humiliations." She failed to mention that the Super High School Level Scion didn't get it back for a month, after paying a hefty ransom for its safe return.

Celestia giggled with a somewhat impish grin as she unleashed her Queen. "Point taken."

...

...

...

"I believe... that this is checkmate, Detective."