"Unbelievable," Heiwajima gasped as the game concluded.

"Y-yes, quite the game."

"It really is fascinating: you wouldn't happen to have copies of any of the games these kids have played before, would you?"

"Er, unfortunately, they're not so easy to obtain. It is illegal gambling, after all."

Heiwajime sighed, "True. Such a shame really. I can't say I was rooting for her, but I'll have to look into Celes a bit in particular. She has potential to be Hope's Peak material. Perhaps I can get someone to interview her..."

"I'm sure she would be elated to hear it," Urquhart suggested.

Grabbing his coat, Heiwajima headed for the door, concluding, "Thank you for the accommodations. And, er, those other two, what were their names again?"

"Akiyama Shinichi and Kanzaki Nao?"

"Yes, them. Though Akiyama's an adult now...still, it's a good lesson for her. Plenty of Talents still have a ways to go." Opening the door, he finished, "Stay out of the heat."

"Y-you as well," Urquhart replied a bit awkwardly, before being left alone in the monitor room.

"..."

Nails scraping her pale knees, Celestia finally snapped back to reality to the worst possible sound.

"Yoooo. Earth to Celes. Celes? Celes!? ...Taeko-chan."

Celestia's hand whipped out, smacking him across the face, a smack of metal being heard. "OW FUCK. That was your stupid finger guard!" Osamu roared.

Celestia clenched her hands, teeth bared, ready to shout out regarding how everything was his fault, but she had no ammo to fire. There was no excuse but her own tunnel vision. A beginner would not have made that mistake...

Nao offered, "Er, it's fine! We'll clear your debts! You don't need to worry about the Liar Game, Celes-san. You can go back to Europe without-"

"Pfffffft," Osamu blurted. As he bit his lip, a hand gripped the edge of the table before he burst out, "About time someone believed it, huh, Tae-"

"One more word and I will end you!" Osamu only laughed harder. Nao was merely flustered, but Celestia knew her own face was a bit warm.

The door opened, Urquhart loudly declaring, "Congratulations, Akiyama-san! You will be moving on to-"

"Cut the crap," Akiyama demanded, silencing the revelry. "I played along, so tell me what's going on here. I thought it was a scam, but you guys can't be that stupid."

"Eh? Eh?" Nao mumbled.

Urquhart stammered, "Er, I-"

"That's enough...it's over anyway," Celestia moaned. Sitting up, she concluded, "It is as you guessed: the Liar Game Tournament Office has zero involvement in this game."

"Ehhhhhh!?" Nao gasped. At the very least she was more endearing than Osamu...

Nao turned to Akiyama, asking, "When did you figure it out?"

Akiyama admitted, "I was suspecting things were weird when I got the invite by mail instead of the usual representative. What confirmed it was the fact that we were up against complete strangers this late in the game. Tribute Poker just sealed the deal."

Celestia frowned, bitter. "I designed it, but I fits what I do know about the Liar Game's various escapades. Pray tell, where did I make a fault?"

Akiyama explained, "It was too random. So far, every game I've seen played so far except one had no randomness at all. The other one was 17 Card Poker, but I won that one by removing the random elements." Nao nodded, glowing a bit as she likely recalled those events. Akiyama added, "This time though, I figured that I had to rely on luck, just not mine."

Celestia felt her eye twitch as she muttered, "So the Liar Game has already done Poker..."

"Still, you were pretty close for someone who probably hasn't even played a round of the Liar Game. How do you even know about it?"

Osamu spoke, "That was me. There's this scrawny little...Magi...Makizono? Wears dumb looking big glasses and a cap all the time."

"Wah!" Nao gasped, recalling, "From the last two games."

"Yeah, I knew him. He was looking like shit the last few months until a while ago, so I bugged him about it. He was glad to talk about you two, even though all the Liar Game stuff didn't even sound real, but when I told Celes..."

"I saw an opportunity," she admitted.

Akiyama gave her a hard look, before asking, "And? If this was a scam, you wouldn't have given up so easily. You'd probably have gotten these two to help you cheat more two, but you didn't, like you had something to prove."

Nao wondered, "Wait, if they're not LGT Office staff..."

Urquhart explained, "We...are parents." Celestia cringed, but she was helpless as the two removed their masks, the dealer showing some rather pronounced front teeth and freckles while Urquhart had that annoying smile and those plain, boring brown eyes.

"You can call me Yasuhiro-san! Though playing Urquhart was kinda fun."

Nao noted, "N-not Ludenburg-san?" Celestia rumbled in anger, making Nao glance back at her sheepishly.

Yasuhiro laughed, "Nope! I still don't fully understand it, but the...what's the word..? I liked not being myself for a little bit."

"A-a-an-nonimity," the dealer stuttered.

"Sure! I liked it," Yasuhiro said, before adding, "Oh, and he's Osamu's dad. We've been friends since High School. Those two have been friends since they were kids though!"

Celestia scoffed, "'Friends' is quite a loose term in this context." Osamu's frown was full of displeasure but Celestia couldn't say she cared.

"Oh, you're like a family!" Nao said happily.

"NO!" Celestia and Osamu roared at once, glancing at each other before turning away in unison, prompting Yasuhiro to laugh again. Celestia wished that the building would collapse so she could climb to the top and watch the destruction as it fell out from under her.

Akiyama grumbled, "I still don't see the point of all this."

"Hmm, have you heard of Hope's Peak Academy?" Yasuhiro asked.

As Akiyama had a flash of recognition, Nao gasped, "Oh! That really good High School that only takes a few students a year?"

Celestia elaborated, "Yes, the very same. They are not hard to contact, so along with the invitations I sent to you, I requested a Hope's Peak representative from the school come to observe." Her situation sinking in, she muttered, "Yet it was all for nothing..."

"So that's what this was about," Akiyama stated.

Yasuhiro began, "Tae-er, Celestia-ch-"

"If he didn't fall for it, the game probably would have been stopped, right? I'd say you have a chance," Akiyama said. Celestia blinked, confused. "Maybe."

Yasuhiro said, "Well-"

Celestia scoffed, "I lost. Does Hope's Peak have room for losers?"

"You set this up, didn't you? And you're still only a teenager!" Nao added.

Osamu shrugged. "You've done plenty of other crap too. It's all you freakin' talk about."

Yasuhiro sputtered, "You see-"

Celestia huffed, "As if I would enroll myself in a school that excepts anything less than the best of the-"

"He told me!" Yasuhiro exclaimed, stopping Celestia. The room quiet, he continued, "Thank you. He, er, the Hope's Peak representative, told me that he's going to look into you. He might also shoot for an interview."

Celes felt her heart skip before the chill of defeat was overcome by a tender warmth. After realizing her eyes had been wide open and sparkling for far too long above her gaping mouth, she recomposed herself, turning her head aside as she stated, "Then...perhaps I should do my own evaluation of their past students to see if the institution is truly right for me..."

Letting out a sigh, Osamu stated, "I'm just glad this wasn't a big fucking waste of time." Celestia felt her eye twitch involuntarily.

Nao clapped, "Congratulations!" Akiyama seemed to give Nao a look, but she didn't seem to notice.

Clapping his hands together Yasuhiro suggested, "Who wants to go get some drinks?" As Osamu sat up, Yasuhiro snapped, "Not you."

"Pass," Akiyama said, standing up.

Yasuhiro thought for a moment, before stating, "Tell you what, I'll mail you when we get word of Celes' acceptance into Hope's Peak! Then I'll invite you two along: my treat! Seriously, I insist! We owe you!"

The usually composed Akiyama seemed a but put off as Yasuhiro drilled into him. Dodging around him, he grumbled, "Maybe," before slipping out the door, Nao giving Celes a quick wave before they went out of sight.

As the room quieted down, the sun starting the slip to orange, Yasuhiro asked, "Well, Celes, shouldn't you thank them?" Arms crossed over her chest, Celestia fully planned on being stubborn, but something stirred her on. Standing from her seat, she gracefully walked from the room after the pair.

Heeled shoes struggling against the cracked ground, Nao followed after Akiyama as they left the old, run down. Getting to his side, she puffed out a cheek, unleashing her toughest pout.

"What?" Akiyama asked. He was definitely crabby...

"You didn't tell me it wasn't really the Liar Game!" Nao whined.

Akiyama answered, "If you knew, you might not have played seriously."

"So?" Nao wondered. Akiyama paused. Trying to figure him out, Nao suggested, "Maybe you wanted to beat her fair and square?"

Akiyama kept quiet, before suggesting, "Maybe."

Changing subjects, Nao wondered, "Do you think you could have gone to Hope's Peak?"

Akiyama replied, "I wasn't a very special High School student. College helped me a lot."

Nao nodded. After a moment, she swallowed, before noting, "Celes is kind of scary then. If she wants a rematch after she graduates Hope's Peak..."

"I'm not sure if I'd bother. Besides, I might be swimming in debt: lets deal with the Liar Game for real first."

"Ah!" Nao gasped, the fact that they still had a real Revival Round to deal with sinking in. "Ahhhhhh! I forgot!" she whined.

As Nao whimpered, she was cut off by her growling stomach, which was probably asking for something more filling than tea. Akiyama sighed, offering, "Let's get something to eat."

Her previous pouty mood gone, Nao cheered, "Yay!" Before she skipped after Akiyama, she looked back down at her hand, where she grasped the Queen of Hearts from their last hand. Celes swore she'd win it back in the future, and while Akiyama was being a grump over the whole thing, part of Nao wanted to give the younger girl another chance.

August, 2010

Taking a breath, Celestia stood still, looking through the gates and up at Hope's Peak Academy. She felt her heart flutter: she could not say for certain exactly what had led to this, but her tireless effort in trumping Yakuza in mahjong or earning every yen she could from any gambling parlor that would let the underaged girl in may have held some part in it.

Still, a part of her was a bit ill at ease: Celestia had checked the message boards discussing the makeup of the 78th Class, and it was believed that Celestia had become the Liar Queen of a certain underground Tournament. This may or may not have been the cause of several different posters with distinct typing voices and IP addresses potentially coordinating to corroborate a question in an interview that Celestia may or may not have been entirely truthful on, but even so, if Hope's Peak caught wind of any potential deceptions...

No, they would not. It's far more likely that it was why she was here. Heiwajima was none the wiser, and now they seemed to have a source claiming something contradicting his experience. Deception was the art of the gambler after all, and as long as they made no official statement, at the very least her classmates would believe her.

As she stepped forwards, she knew that she was going to graduate from here: there was no chance of anything otherwise.