Notes: Pre-Tragedy, Naegami.

Day 4: On a date

"Well? Get on with it."

"Uh, right!" Naegi winced at the way his voice cracked under pressure. He stared down at his sneakers and tried not to fidget, acutely aware of not only Togami's icy glare, but also of Maizono, Asahina, and Kirigiri watching from around the corner of the gym building.

This was not how Naegi had wanted this to go.

Maizono had been prodding Naegi to confess to Togami ever since she had "guessed" his crush a month prior. Which was fine, it was all in good, friendly fun, but then Asahina had gotten involved as well, adding more force behind their suggestions, and Kirigiri...

He honestly wasn't sure why Kirigiri joined in. Maybe she found it amusing to get involved in his love life; Naegi still hadn't managed to figure her out completely.

Whatever the reason, the girls had made it their mission to coach Naegi on confessing to Byakuya Togami, and that was what ultimately led to him calling the other boy out that day— "To a cherry tree by the gym!" Asahina had insisted, even though it was still only February. "Love confessions have to happen under a cherry tree near a school gym!"

If it had been anyone else besides Asahina, Naegi might have thought that watching him confess underneath dead, barren branches was part of some sick joke.

Kirigiri had suggested leaving a letter in Togami's shoe locker. Naegi had preferred that; he had actually rather liked it, but Asahina was a force to be reckoned with when she got an idea in her head.

"Do you plan on standing here all day, then?"

Naegi's head jerked up. "What? Oh, no, um..." He felt his cheeks burning. "Sorry! I just... was thinking about something..."

Raising a thin, blond eyebrow, Togami began tapping a foot impatiently. "Whatever it is, finish your thinking and tell me what you want from me."

Oh, jeez. Naegi really couldn't put this off any longer; at this rate, even if he did manage to spill his guts, he'd be outright rejected simply for wasting the Togami heir's time. But the thought of telling Togami—and with the girls watching, too... That wasn't...

"Do..." Naegi gulped. "Do you want to walk home together, maybe?"

Embarrassed, Naegi stared determinedly at his shoelaces—oh, they had come undone at some point. Now they were brown and gross from being dragged through the dead grass and mud. Great.

Togami scoffed. "Surely you know your way back to the dorms by now?"

"I— well, yeah..." Naegi's ears burned. "I just thought it might be nice to... go together?"

"It's hardly a five-minute walk to the south quarter."

Naegi grimaced. "If you don't want to, you can just say so..."

He peeked up again to see Togami pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose before sighing. "I suppose I can allow you to accompany me, if you insist," he said, as if nothing could pain him more. "I expect you to keep pace, though. No dawdling."

Naegi blinked up at him incredulously, warmth blooming in his chest. "Uh, yeah! Of course!" He grinned—there really wasn't any reason to feel that giddy about the situation, because like Togami said, it was only a few minutes' walk to the neighboring section of campus. But still... well, he had managed to invite Togami somewhere, and he had said yes.

That was progress. Right?

As Togami stalked away from the tree, Naegi spared a glance toward the gym building—he didn't see the girls there anymore. He was sort of expecting to get a thumbs-up from Asahina, a pleased flush on Maizono's face, a slight encouraging smirk from Kirigiri, but they were nowhere to be found.

Maybe they had given decided to give them some space. Shrugging, Naegi dutifully followed after Togami.

The walk to the dorms was short, and silent—the boys shared no conversation, and Naegi could barely even look at Togami, and before he knew it they had arrived at the dormitory.

"Oh," Naegi said, as if surprised to end up in the front hall of the building. "Well, here we are, then."

"Yes..." Togami peered at him curiously. "So what was the point of all that?"

"Oh, uh..." Naegi waved his hands in front of himself dismissively. "No-nothing, really! I just... it was kind of nice walking together, don't you think? Maybe we can do it again sometime!"

Togami gave him a withering look before turning with an a noncommittal huff and walking down the hall to his dorm room.

Unsure what to make of that entire exchange—was that a good sign? bad? Had Naegi even managed to accomplish anything?—he stood silently in the hall, staring after him.

"Whoa," came a voice, and Naegi jumped, turning on his heel to see Enoshima leaning against the wall, a Cheshire cat grin spreading across her face. "What was that just now?"

Naegi fidgeted with the hem of his jacket. "Oh, uh..."

"That was a date," came Maizono's voice as she entered the dorm building, smiling triumphantly.

"A da—?!" Naegi squawked, his face heating up.

"Oh really?" Enoshima eyed up Maizomo, her gaze flitting over Asahina and Kirigiri behind her. "Because I was watching them from the window, and I'd have to say that was the least date-like date I've ever seen."

"It counts!" Asahina protested. "Naegi invited Togami, and Togami said yes! That counts as a date!"

"I'm not sure it does, really."

"Quiet, Kirigiri-chan, you're not helping our side!"

Naegi stumbled backwards a bit, feeling like his head was spinning as he tried to process the girls' argument. Their "side"? What was going on?

"Did I hear that Naegi and Togami went on a date?"

Naegi spun around to see Ogami arriving from the other wing of the dorms, followed by Celeste and a rather sour-looking Fukawa.

"It wasn't a date!" Naegi insisted. "We just walked home together!"

"No, no, Naegi-kun," Maizono whispered in his ear as she came over and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Just say that it was a date. Do it for me, please?"

"For you?!"

"Oh, my, Maizono-san," Celeste said, steepling her fingers together with a pleasant smile. "Do you mean to tell me that you're not confident enough to let the chips fall as they may?"

Maizono's grip tightened almost imperceptibly, and Naegi gaped at the group surrounding them—Ikusaba had joined at her sister's shoulder, making the entirety of class 78's female population present and accounted for. And they were all looking at Naegi curiously, expectantly.

"Can... can I ask what's going on?" he said meekly.

The group was silent for a short moment before finally, Ogami sighed. "They've all been... expecting you and Togami to start... dating."

"Oh, Sakura-chan," Asahina laughed, bounding over to her friend. "You know you're as much a part of this as the rest of us!"

"No, I—"

"They were betting on your success with Byakuya-sama," Fukawa spat.

"Fukawa-chan!"

Naegi's eyes grew wide. "Wh— betting?! On us?!"

"Yes," Kirigiri admitted with a sigh. "On who would confess to whom, and when, and where..."

Naegi gaped openly at the girls. "But— wait, how did you all even know that I felt that way for—"

"Oh, honey," Enoshima cut in, her eyes shining with amusement. She didn't elaborate any further.

Her brow furrowed, Celeste gave an irritated sigh. "Yes, well, I suppose it's no longer a secret, is it? We were supposed to simply watch and see what happened, but..." Her scarlet gaze raked over Asahina, to Maizono, and then to Kirigiri. "As I recall, the ones who thought that it would be Naegi-kun confessing sometime before Valentine's Day..."

Naegi whipped his head around to gawk at Maizono, scandalized. "You were just trying to win?!"

"Of course not, Naegi-kun!" The pop star folded her hands under her chin, the very picture of innocence. "I was trying to help you out! I mean, it's true that it benefited me a little too, but..."

"Seriously, Naegi," Asahina added. "It's for your own good!"

Frustrated and not a little embarrassed, Naegi shook his head and backed away from the crowd. "I... look, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but... I'd prefer if you just let me handle this on my own from now on." With that, he walked down the hall towards his room, rubbing at his reddened cheeks.

He sighed as he reached for his doorknob, ready to just collapse in bed and forget about the entire afternoon.

"Naegi-kun."

He jumped, surprised to see Kirigiri leaning against the wall opposite his door. How did she get there so fast?! "Yes?!"

She studied him carefully, tugging at her braid in thought. "I hope you know that they didn't mean any harm. Of course, placing bets on your love life wasn't the most... tactful decision, but..."

Naegi shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'm not mad about that, it's just... embarrassing."

Kirigiri nodded, then pushed herself off from the wall to head back. "Good. Ah, but one more thing..."

He blinked at her curiously. "Yeah?"

She gave him a playful smirk. "It's not too late to leave that note in his shoe locker, you know."

Notes: it occurs to me that I'm not doing a terribly good job sticking to the prompts THIS WASN'T A DATE YOU SILLY BOYS LOL. And you can't really say that the movie yesterday was actually being watched, and there was minimal cuddling and hand-holding the days previous...

Tomorrow's prompt is kissing. Will there ACTUALLY be kissing? Who knows! It's a mystery!