Naegi stared up at the monitor showing Byakuya and Kyoko, his boyfriend's words ringing so loudly in his head that they drowned out all other sounds. He hadn't expected the bitter accusation that Byakuya had flung at her — not those words, at least. After the dozens of dreadful crimes Byakuya had laid at Kyoko's feet, almost nothing else he could say would have come as a shock. Even hearing that he considered Kyoko herself responsible for the results of the last trial was more a disappointment to Naegi than a surprise… or it would have been. But that hadn't been what Byakuya had said.
Why did you tell me all about how you manipulated Naegi to his death?
The two accusations weren't the same. When it came to the parts that mattered, they weren't even close. Yes, during the last trial Byakuya had convinced himself that Kyoko had used Naegi to further some sort of evil agenda… but that wasn't the point. That wasn't what he'd said.
Why did you tell me?
He'd spoken as if they'd discussed his paranoid theories more seriously when they'd been out of reach of the cameras… as if she'd confirmed them. And Kyoko hadn't argued.
No, she just looked back at him with all the unflinching steel of her best poker face… the one that she used to conceal the turmoil of emotions too intense to let them have free rein. The one that she shouldn't have needed in a conversation with her friend. "You needed to know. If I hadn't said anything, Monokuma would have."
It wasn't an explicit confirmation — but it might as well have been. Kyoko had told Byakuya that her manipulations had led to Naegi's death. She was wrong, of course she was wrong — no matter what she might have done, the only one to blame was the girl watching the monitors with him. But even so… that meant Kyoko believed she was at fault. True or not, she blamed herself for what had happened.
"What does it matter who told me?" Byakuya shook his head slightly, as though it were too heavy for a more expansive gesture. "What does any of it matter anymore? Why can't you stop? That's all I want now — for everything to stop."
Naegi could only catch a brief glimpse of the look in his boyfriend's eyes before he turned to head away — but that was more than he'd ever wanted to see. He'd never, never wanted to see someone he loved with those eyes — eyes that had lost all hope that there could be any good left in the world.
"Don't." Kyoko stepped directly into his path. "I am not letting you walk off by yourself when you're obviously planning to do something stupid."
"And there it is." Byakuya's shoulders trembled with a breathless laugh. "You're afraid I'm going to try my hand at the killing game before you can get on with your own plans. Well, don't worry — I already told you that I don't plan to win."
It should have been a relief to hear… but the words twisted through Naegi's stomach with sour nausea. Winning had always been a part of Byakuya's worldview, even if his understanding of true victory had shifted over time. If he could dismiss the idea of winning the game so easily, rather than claiming he would defeat the mastermind or prove he was better than his opponents… then something was much wronger than Naegi had realized.
"I'm not worried about the game," Kyoko said sharply, looking rather impatient with his reaction. "I'm concerned for your wellbeing."
"Oh? Is that so?" Byakuya laughed again, the sound more whisper than vocalization. "Why — because we're friends now?"
Even though Naegi knew that she wouldn't say yes, he couldn't help the hope that rose in his throat during her brief pause before answering — only to feel it shatter to pieces when she shook her head.
"We needn't swear a vow of everlasting friendship for me to worry about you," she said instead. "Anything that one player in the game does will have an impact on the others — moreso than ever now that there are so few of us left. You aren't in this alone."
"You're going to say that? Now? After how many times you prioritized your precious investigation over everything else in this school?" Byakuya gave a single sharp shake of his head, mouth twisted into an ugly sneer. "Don't be stupid. We're not friends, and we don't care about each other. Neither of us cares about a single person left in this school, and you're deluding yourself if you think otherwise."
Icy tendrils of horror cut through Naegi's chest at the words, sheathing his heart in bitter cold. That couldn't be true. It couldn't. Byakuya was just exaggerating because of grief and stress and exhaustion. That had to be all that was driving his words. He couldn't really believe that he had no one left to care about… not really.
Kyoko must have thought the same, her eyes widening as though the words had been a direct threat. "That kind of thinking won't help anything."
"You mean it won't help you," Byakuya said flatly. "Which should hardly be a shock — I already told you I wouldn't."
"That isn't the problem —"
"I don't care!" The shout echoed through the empty hallway, sound blasting from speakers across the wall in an overwhelming wave. "Whatever problem you think you're trying to fix, it's yours — because none of mine have any solutions left. Find whatever victory you're looking for on your own — that's what you've been after from the start. At least someone should make it out of this mess with something they wanted."
He stepped around Kyoko to trudge on down the hall that led out of the dorms and back to the rest of the school. She turned to watch him go — but this time, she didn't stop him again, no matter how much Naegi wished for her to try. Seeing Byakuya's dark mood and empty eyes, a nameless terror began to curl through the back of his mind, dread that he didn't know how to identify. All he knew was that he didn't want to see what Byakuya would do while in the remorseless grip of what could only be called despair.
But what could Kyoko do to stop him that she hadn't just tried? Reason and logic were her best weapons… but Byakuya had barely heard them, fighting the words without allowing their meaning to reach him.
And of course, by the time Naegi reached that conclusion, Kyoko was already a step ahead. She'd turned in the opposite direction that Byakuya had gone, striding briskly back to the long hall of empty dorm rooms. She gave Jill's doorbell several sharp presses, and then went on to do the same to Sakura's without waiting to see if she'd gotten a response. She didn't even pause before repeating the cycle between the two doors again, this time jamming the doorbell even harder to break through all but the deepest of sleep.
That wasn't necessary, though. Naegi wasn't sure he ought to be looking at security feeds of girls' rooms without their permission… but even without looking directly at either screen, he could see that both Jill's room and Sakura's had light and movement where there had previously been only darkness.
But that was all the time he could stand before his eyes flew back to the other screens, zeroing in on the solitary figure wandering through the dark and empty halls of the abandoned school. Where was Byakuya going? Was he simply letting his feet carry him away from Kyoko and their fight, or did he have some destination in mind? With so much darkness swirling through his head, where would he want to go?
Naegi didn't know the answer, but he was sure that it couldn't be good. He looked back to the dormitory screens, hoping that somehow Kyoko had managed to conjure up a plan that could help this awful situation. There was nothing left that he could do but watch… so he had to believe in her.
Schedule note: I think normal posting schedule will tentatively resume now. New chapter next Sunday, July 1. See you then!
