Chapter 2: Part 8

The game of poker had been proceeding well. Well, well for Celestia. For Gundham and Peko, not so much. In front of the confident gambler was a mountain of poker chips of varying colors and values. If she wanted to, she could easily make a miniature castle of her pieces. However, she knew she couldn't be cocky. Showing off could give her away. Gundham barely had poker chips on him, only having three stacks of chips and only one of them being five chips tall. Peko had faired better, with at least five stacks of chips and one being ten chips tall. Celeste took note of both of her opponents' postures. Peko was still, normally that would be a sign that she would be hard to read, but that wasn't it. The swordswoman's posture was stiff, ridged with her movements, and a single bead of sweat trailed down her neck. Gundham's frustrations with the game were quite visible. He was hunched over, clutching his cards tightly with a scowl across his face.

Celeste kept up a confident, yet friendly smile across her face. "You know, if you two leave with some dignity, you can give up," she said. "I'll even call off our wager if you do."

"No!" Gundham slammed his fist against the edge of the table, startling Peko. "I will not give in to you, witch. I swore to prove my dark powers are superior to your own, and I intend to keep that promise!" Gundham then pushed all of his chips towards the center of the table.

"Very well then," Celeste giggled lightly before looking at Peko. "And you, Peko?"

Peko readjusted her glasses. "I made my wager…and I intend to follow through with it."

Celeste giggled again. "To pet my beloved cat, correct?"

Peko blushed once more as she pushed all of her chips towards the center of the table.

"I humbly accept your wagers," Celeste said before gently picking up and placing down each of her poker chip towers at the center of the table. With each one she placed down, the less she could see Peko or Gundham's chips.

As soon as Celestia had placed her final chip down, Gundham slammed his cards onto the table. It was two pairs. Two 5's, two 2's, and a random 3.

"HAHA!" Gundham laughed. "I have two pairs! Most players could only wish to have received as good a hand as I! You might as well give in to the will of the Overlord of Ice!"

Peko sighed. "Gundham, you're celebrating too soon." At that moment, Peko gently put down her cards. It was a Full House. Three 7's and two 6's.

Gundham's smirk faded away before he buried his face in his hands. He let out a loud groan. His dark disciples popped out of his scarf to lick and pat his face in a vain attempt to cheer their master up. Peko almost had a smirk on her face until she realized Celestia still hadn't shown her cards.

"Not bad hands, you two," Celestia said with calm smile. "But unfortunately for you, I just have the better hand."

Celestia placed her hand down and spread her cards out. A 10. A Jack. A Queen. A King. An Ace. Celestia had just gotten a Royal Flush. Celestia smiled as she watched both Peko and Gundham's jaws drop open and stare in horror at Celestia's winning hand. Celestia neatly folded her hands togethers.

"I assume it's safe to say you two will accompany from now on, correct?" Celeste asked with a smile.

Peko sighed and nodded her head. "A deal's a deal. I shall be your bodyguard while we remain here."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "While we remain here? A far compromise. And you, Tanaka?"

Gundham rose from his chair and crossed his arms. "It seems I've failed to see past your illusions, Celeste. While I am saddened my skills weren't enough for this duel, I am a man of my word. I shall assist in expanding your knowledge on how to command your familiar! THIS IS THE WORD OF THE OVERLORD OF ICE, GUNDHAM TANAKA!"

'Still as delusional in defeat, I see,' Celeste thought to herself. 'I will have to condition him to act more…regal.'

"I will truly appreciate your advice, Gundham," Celestia said.

Just as Celestia finished her sentence, the door to the game room was kicked open, and in stepped Tenko. The group around the poker table reacted exactly how you'd expect them to. Celestia let out an exacerbated sigh, Gundham crossed his arms and scowled, and Kirumi politely bowed her head at the Aikido master. The only person that didn't seem to react was Peko.

"There you are, Peko," Tenko said as she pointed at the sword master. "And you found Kirumi and Celeste too!"

"I wouldn't say I found them," Peko said plainly.

"Oh?" Celestia rose from her seat. "You were looking for us?"

"Yes!" Tenko shouted as she dashed over to the group. "I need all of the girls together in my lab quick! And when I say girls, I mean girls only! NO GUYS! That means you, Gundham!"

"Hmph!" Gundham looked away from Tenko, trying to play the shunning off cool. "As if I even needed to take part in whatever gathering you had planned, monk. As long as I have my dark disciples, I don't need company. Solitude is all I need."

Gundham's pets once again popped out from his scarf to comfort him. Khan licked Gundham's scarred cheek, both Phoenix and Raijin sat on each of his respective shoulders, and Mephisto wrapped himself around Gundham's arm.

"Uh, sure," Tenko said a mixture of second-hand embarrassment and confusion. She turned to the rest of the group. "Well, no more standing around! Follow me!"

Tenko immediately sprinted out of the room with Peko walking close behind her. Celeste let out a puff of air through her nose.

'One thing is for sure, I'm never allowing Tenko to join my inner circle,' Celeste thought to herself before turning to Kirumi. "Shall we, Kirumi?"

Kirumi held her hand out. "After you, Miss Ludenberg."

A massive smile creeped across Celestia's face. She stepped out of the room with her maid at her side. She was going to enjoy having followers.

Tenko's Ultimate Lab was already filled with most of the girls in the student body. Sayaka, Chihiro, Mahiru, and Kaede were sat patiently in the center of mat while Chiaki and Sakura were sat in front of them towards the back end of the room. Mukuro was just off to the side of Sakura, her hands still cuffed together. Ibuki was also sitting with the group, but she was bored out of skull. She smacked her hands against her thighs, acting as if she was playing the drums. Also sitting on the mat, but at further corners were Mikan and Hiyoko. Mikan was sat alone, fidgeting with her fingers while making the occasional glance at Hiyoko, scared the small girl would make some rude comment. Luckily for Mikan, Hiyoko was dead silent with her arms crossed and a childish scowl across her face. Mahiru frowned as she watched her small friend suffer alone. Then there was Miu. Miu was not sitting down. She was wandering around the room with one of her mobile voyeurs in her hands. Her eyes darted around the room looking for the right angle to place her device down.

"Can't you just sit down already?" Mukuro asked with an irritated tone.

Miu rolled her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she said sarcastically, "I was just in the middle of doing actual important shit before Tencrotch had to drag me her for her…lesbian orgy I imagine."

"C-can you please not call it that?" Chihiro asked.

"Why should I?" Miu asked. "She didn't tell me what's up, so I can just assume anything until she says otherwise. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."

"Ibuki doesn't care what team people swing for," Ibuki cheered. "As long as people are happy, Ibuki is happy!"

Miu rolled her eyes. "Great. Got another lesbo here."

Sayaka tuned out of Miu and Ibuki's conversation before turning to Kaede. "Hey, this may be a dumb question, but I never thought about it until now. Is Tenko into girls?"

Kaede shrugged. "I mean, I still didn't get to spend as much time with her as the rest of the group, but I wouldn't be surprised."

"Are you two serious?" Miu inserted herself into their conversation. "She's tots a lesbian. How can you not notice that?"

"Well, she doesn't really act that different from most of my fans," Sayaka explained. "She could easily just be excited about meeting other girls. She did make it sound like she didn't get to do that a lot growing up."

"Oh yeah," Kaede spoke up. "She did mention growing up she was at a temple."

"So?" Miu asked. "That just means she was surrounded by other sexually repressed weirdos like her."

"It's not wise to mock someone with the skills to retaliate," Sakura said as she gave the inventor a stern leer.

"Oh, like she'd do anything if I did."

At that moment, the door to the Ultimate Lab opened and Tenko entered the room followed by Peko, Kirumi, and Celeste.

"Hey, guys!" Tenko said cheerfully as she waved to everyone in the room. "What are you guys talking about?"

Miu immediately went stiff. "Uh, nothing!"

Tenko raised an eyebrow while Sakura let out a little chuckle. Tenko moved on from the awkwardness and stepped to the front of the group. Sakura, Mukuro, and Peko soon stepped up next to her and all four of them faced the group,

"OK!" Tenko said in a loud, commanding tone. "So, I'm sure you're all wondering why I brought you all here."

"Duh!" Miu commented, but a quick look from Sakura got the inventor to shut up.

"Well, I know we've been under a lot of stress recently," Tenko continued. "We made to the second floor, we found a lot of clues, but…we are still stuck here. And I keep noticing how all of you are…well…scared. So, I came up with an idea, and with the help of Sakura and Peko and Chiaki's permission, this will work great!"

Tenko took a step forward and threw a punch out into the air. "This is the start to the Girls' Self-Defense Club!"

All the girls in the room, except for those already familiar with Tenko's idea, looked towards one another. It wasn't an awful idea, but since this was Tenko, the group had some questions.

"Just girls?" Kaede asked.

"Of course!" Tenko responded as she clutched her fist. "While Monokuma is the real enemy, we can't let our guards down near these degenerates. They're definitely those ones most easily affected by Monokuma's tricks."

"Tenko," Sayaka gave her friend a disappointed frown, "we talked about this-"

"Look, I know you and Kaede and everyone tells me that I'm too hard on males," Tenko interrupted, "but think about all the males we're with! Leon killed Sayaka in cold blood."

Sayaka's face went pale and she looked away.

"Mondo killed Chihiro in a blind rage."

Chihiro raised her hand up. "B-but it's more complicated than-"

Tenko interrupted the group once again. "Nagito set Chiaki up for murder, Gonta strangled Miu, and Kerokiyo is an actual serial killer! And even we talk about the guys who killed girls or anyone, we still know what they're capable of! Guys like Nekomaru, Kaito, Taka, and Gundham are all physically stronger than us. Not to mention the worst of them, Kokichi…So, we got to learn some moves to protect us!"

"But, but, but what about Twogami, Hifumi, and Ryoma?" Ibuki shot her hand up into the air. "They don't look that tough."

Mahiru looked over at Chiaki. "Are you really going along with this?"

Chiaki sighed. "I don't really agree with Chiaki's biases, but I think the idea of a self-defense class would help keep us safe."

Hiyoko had been sitting in a rage-filled silence for quite some time, but after listening for a few minutes, she finally raised her hand. "I have a question; why isn't Angie here?"

Tenko awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "W-well, Taka said she still needed to be under watch, so she's still with him."

A vein grew across Hiyoko's forehead as she growled. "OK, so you set up this whole bullcrap girls self-defense thing to stop guys, but you leave Angie alone with them. OK, great!"

"Hiyoko," Mahiru said with a look of concern.

Hiyoko immediately snapped at Mahiru. "Don't. Talk to me."

"As for me," Celeste spoke up, "I have no interest in taking part in any physical training."

"What?!" Tenko gasped. "Why not?! What if a degenerate male pulls a surprise attack on you?!"

Celeste smiled calmly. "Simple. I'll have Peko deal with them."

Tenko turned to Peko which the sword master sighed to.

"She requested I act as her personal bodyguard for the time being," Peko explained. "I will continue to assist you with teaching self-defense, but most of my time will be spent with Celestia."

Miu snickered. "Damn, Ludencunt. You got both a maid and a female bodyguard? I didn't know you were a lesbo too."

Celestia let out a light chuckle. "Peko, break Iruma's leg."

Peko unsheathed her sword and only had to take one step forward for Miu to immediately shift to her sniveling, submissive demeanor.

"That will be enough, Peko," Celestia basically commanded, which the swordswoman followed the order by sheathing her sword.

"U-um, e-excuse me," Mikan slowly raised her hand, "w-will we actually be h-hurting each other during these exercises?"

"No need to worry about that," Sakura said with a polite smile. "We will make sure to teach the steps of several techniques without requiring you to make physical contact."

"And if we do, we'll always make sure to practice throws and holds on the mat," Mukuro added on.

Miu snickered. "And we're supposed to take fighting advice with miss handcuffs over there?"

Mukuro's face remained as still as stone while she glared at the inventor with half opened eyes. She approached Miu, facing off against her. "Hit me."

Miu snorted out a laugh. "Seriously?"

"I'm dead seriously."

With one final laugh, Miu threw out a wild punch. Even with her hands cuffed together, Mukuro was able to block Miu's punch. Not only was this due to Mukuro's military training, it always didn't help that Miu pulled her arm back and swung it far too wide. She signaled her attack without realizing it. Of course, Miu would predictably try again, only to be met with another block from Mukuro. Mukuro followed up by pushing her hands against the center of Miu's chest while sweeping her legs off the ground. Miu crashed onto the mat, but Mukuro immediately pressed her knee against her head.

"OW! I GIVE UP, I GIVE UP!" Miu pleaded.

With a puff of air blown through her nose, Mukuro lifted herself up and stepped away from Miu.

"Now you all know why you need to be prepared," Mukuro said out loud.

Tenko smiled to the rest of the group. "And don't worry about having to find outwork clothes. Sakura, Peko, and I have plenty of spare gis for you guys to wear."

Sakura picked up a stack of neatly folded karate gis and began to hand them out to each of the girls. However, she paused for a moment when she stepped towards Chihiro. Sakura knelt down next to Chihiro and spoke in a soft whisper.

"I know you're already training with Nekomaru," Sakura said. "You don't have to train with us if you find it uncomfortable."

Chihiro's eyes widened as her cheeks went flush. Of course, she probably figured that her secret was known to the rest of her classmates, but that didn't mean she was still mortified that anyone had to learn it. Especially since she wasn't there to explain herself. Still, at least Sakura seemed understanding about her situation.

"Besides," Sakura continued, "I doubt you'd feel comfortable changing with the rest of us."

Chihiro's train of thought stopped. "Wait…what?"

"Hmmm?" Tenko stepped over to the two girls. "What's wrong, Chihiro? You're not going to change with us?"

"W-w-wait, what?!" Chihiro gasped. "U-um, can't we just change in our rooms?"

"Why? We're all girls here."

"Tenko, if she doesn't feel comfortable doing it here, then just let her change in her room," Sayaka responded.

Hiyoko snickered. "She's probably just upset she's flatter than the rest of you."

"Like you're one to talk, you surfboard bitch," Miu snorted out.

Ibuki smiled brightly and placed her hands on Chihiro's shoulders. "You gotta be free like the wind! Don't care what anyone else thinks! Watch, Ibuki will show you."

Ibuki began to lift up her own shirt, but that was enough for Chihiro. She let out a huge shriek and immediately sprinted out of the room. That little episode was enough to leave a bewildered silence in the room for a good ten seconds before Tenko spoke up.

"What's wrong with her?" Tenko asked.

Sayaka sighed and shook her head at her friend. 'I wonder if the guys are having as hard of a time as we are,' she thought to herself.

Unlike the girls who were holding at least a semi-professional group meeting in Tenko's lab, the boys weren't. Firstly, while only Angie was missing from Tenko's meeting, the boys only had half of the group. Taka and Kaito were in the cafeteria where they held the morning meetings and the only other people with them were Mondo, Nekomaru, Teruteru, Gundham, and Gonta. Even then, Teruteru was spending most of his time prepping meals in the kitchen. The rest were simply sitting around the table, boredom completely killing the mood of the room. Taka silently read through the Hope's Peak book while Kaito was dozing off while attempting to read the History of Danganronpa book. Mondo had his feet kicked up onto the table as he mumbled to lyrics to some hard rock song, Nekomaru was squeezing a handgrip strengthener in each of his hands, and Gundham watched Gundham comfort each of his pets. Katio tried his best to keep his head up as he read the book, but closing his eyes one final time caused him to doze off and drop his head onto the book. The impact snapped Kaito back to consciousness.

"You ok, man?" Mondo asked.

"Yeah," Kaito said as he rubbed his forehead. He groaned a bit before putting his hands onto the table. "You know what? Why don't we talk about something?"

"But we're supposed to be reading through these books," Taka proclaimed.

"I know that, but come on," Kaito said with a whine in his voice. "Everyone is clearly bored out of their minds here."

"Gonta not bored," Gonta said. "Gonta like watching Gundham's pets."

Gundham's eye twitched. "For the final time, they are not simple pets. They are my dark disciples! And if you dare to insult their title again, they shall curse you with their dark powers!"

Gonta scratched the back of his head as he listened to Gundham rant about the totally legit powers of his pets. Gonta glanced back at the dark disciples before asking.

"Do Gundham like bugs too?"

"Hmph," Gundham crossed his arms. "As if a mere insect could possess enough power to be worthy of joining my cause."

In a surprising change in tone, Gonta gritted his teeth and balled up his fists. "Bugs aren't weak! Bugs are strong! Spider make web! Beetles have horn!"

Kaito rose from his seat and gently placed his hand on Gonta's arm. "Easy, Gonta. Don't let him get to you."

Gonta three, long breaths before slowly sitting back down. Teruteru soon entered the room with three plates of appetizers consisting of rolls, shrimp and dip, and crackers with optional toppings of cheese, peanut butter, and ham.

"So, why don't we talk about something else, so we don't get into a fight?" Kaito asked before taking a cracker and biting into it.

"Like what?" Mondo asked.

Kaito looked away from the group and he stroked his goatee. "Uh…Did you know I was drilled through the Earth?"

The entire group paused. Mondo nearly fell out of his chair, Gonta tilted his head to the side, and Taka nearly dropped the book on his foot. Even Teruteru stopped on his path back to the kitchen to just stare at Kaito.

"What?" Gundham asked.

"Yeah," Kaito rubbed the back of his head. "When I got executed, Monokuma put me in like this rocket ship thing, but instead of shooting me up into space, it like flipped upside down and drilled through the Earth."

"Wait, wait," Teruteru stepped over to the table, "just how deep did you go? All the way to the core?"

"Oh, I went through the core," Kaito said, missing Teruteru's innuendo.

"B-but that's impossible," Gundham said. "The heat of the core should've melted you in seconds!"

"I know, and it was hot, I just…didn't melt."

"Wait, then how did you die then, Momota?" Taka asked.

"Well," Kaito coughed to prepare himself for what he was about to say, "I tunneled through the core of the Earth, came out the other side, then I just kept going. I eventually was launched into space."

Mondo raised an eyebrow. "You're fucking lying, man."

"Bro!" Taka shouted. "Language!"

"Sorry, bro, but you got to admit that sounds like bull…hocky," Mondo said. "It's crazy."

"Oh, yeah?" Kaito asked. "Well, how'd you die then?"

Mondo opened his mouth to respond but stopped. He looked away as he attempted to recall the event, but was left stumped. "I…don't know. For real, man. I'm drawing a blank."

"You don't recall anything?" Gundham asked.

"No, I know about the shi…stuff before," Mondo explained. "I was strapped to a bike, the damn bear was mocking my hairdo, then he drove me into this…electric bike cage."

"You mean circle cage?" Gonta asked.

"Yeah, one of those," Mondo responded. "I was rolling around in that cage, it started to shock me, then…I blacked out." Mondo turned to Taka. "Hey, bro. I know it's rough, but you remember what happened to me?"

Taka balled up his fist and placed it over his mouth as his eyes reddened. Even though Mondo wasn't there to see the full ramifications of his death on his friend, he could clearly see the pain across his face. After a few seconds of holding back tears, Taka finally forced out his words.

"You turned into butter," Taka said.

Another pause occurred. While everyone in the room was baffled by what they had just heard, Mondo's jaw was left ajar by the information. He leaned back in his chair to try and process the information, but leaned forward to asked a very simple question.

"What?"

Taka took another deep breath. "You were moving so fast and you were electrocuted so much that your body melted into butter…Monokuma even packaged you up into a box with your face on it."

Mondo leaned back in his seat once again. "Bro, you're fucking lyin."

"No, bro! I swear that's what happened!"

"Bro, seriously. You're telling me I turned into food?"

Teruteru raised his hand. "I was turned into food when I was executed."

Mondo and the rest of the group turned over to the chef.

"Wait, seriously?" Kaito asked.

"He is telling the truth," Gundham said. "Monokuma was particularly cruel with the chef's demise."

Teruteru nodded along. "I mean, I know I'm a snack, but he literally covered mean in bread and butter before frying me in a volcano."

"Wait, you dropped into a volcano?!" Mondo asked.

Teruteru nodded before looking over Gundham. "Now that we're on this subject, how did you meet your end, tall, dark, and handsome?"

Gundham smirked. "I faced my end without fear! I saved my beloved Dark Devas of Destruction from sharing my execution as Monokuma charged at me with a pack of wildebeests. I then created an alchemy circle to create a barrier to shield myself, but it was unfortunately unsuccessful."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you saved your pet- Dark Devas…and made an alchemy circle?"

"Indeed," Gundham said as he crossed his arms. "While I felt shame in that moment, I now know it was divine destiny to be brought here. Now, I have met my Dark Disciples! And soon, they will reunite me with the Dark Devas to conquer-"

"You weren't tied down?" Kaito interrupted.

Gundham paused. "No."

"You weren't stuck to nothing?" Mondo asked.

"No," Gundham answered.

"Wait, so you were free to move around," Nekomaru spoke, "and you chose to stay in the spot the animals were charging at you at?"

A bead of sweat trailed down his face. "Um…it was me facing my end!"

"Gonta don't think that smart," Gonta commented.

Gundham's cheeks turned a shade of red as he crossed his arms and looked from the rest of the group. "At least I wasn't turned into food," he muttered.

Kaito chuckled a bit. "I guess we all got rather silly executions."

Gonta tilted his head at Kaito. "Gonta didn't die silly."

Kaito's eyes widened. "Oh crap! Sorry, Gonta. I didn't mean to include you on that one."

"Wait, how did he die?" Taka asked.

Kaito waved his hands to silence Taka. "We don't need to go into that one."

"Hey, everyone else shared their story!" Nekomaru protested. "It's only fair."

Desperate to change the conversation away from Gonta's execution, Kaito shifted to tales about the sillier aspects of living in the Ultimate Academy.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEEEEEEEEEP!" the intercom rang out as Monokuma spoke. "It is now 10 pm! All water has been shut down and the kitchen will be inaccessible until morning. Until then, make sure you all have a wonderful goodnight's sleep. Ta-ta!"

Once again, this is a part that took too damn long to make. My work schedule has been a pain. But I've had a bit of fun with this chapter. Really tried my best to be funny with the guys portion of the chapter. I'm still a bit worried about my writing and detailing, but I got some chuckle out of some of it. Also, I got a lot more characters to use since they were in groups. Got to give Sakura and Mukuro sometime to shine. It has been a far bit since I got to them. I should do more with Kaede, Ryoma, and a lot of the others. God, how many plot lines have I set up?!

And on top of all of that, Sayaka has taken a bit of a backseat for the majority of the part of the story. Again, balancing the cast in important, but I do want it to feel like she has a reason to be the main character over the others. Who knows. Also, someone asked if more of the cast are going to get redesigns like Sayaka, Tenko, and the Ultimate Imposter got. The answer to that is yes, I'm just trying to find natural spots to do it with info dumping on all of you. Perhaps Celestia will get her group to change things up.

Speaking of Celestia, I both like and don't like that scene. I felt I characterized them well, but I also know very little about poker. So...yeah. Let me know if that read well.

I promise the next three chapters are going to be really damn good. A lot going on, and hopefully, they will be done quicker than the last few chapters.