A.N: Hello again, everyone! I'm so sorry this story wasn't updated for so long, but the fourth chapter is finally here! I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter Four: Group Project
Classes were not mandatory for the Ultimate students of Hope's Peak Academy, much to their initial surprise. However, that did not mean they could not be summoned to class by their homeroom teacher from time to time.
Today was one of those times.
"Alright, students, I called you all here to discuss something I want you to be doing for me, alright?" Yuki Yoshida stated, sitting at her desk. She pointed at a small bag next to her. "I have a bag here with small papers inside."
She took one out of the bag to show an example. The paper read 'Sakura Ogami,' and the young teacher explained how every little piece of paper had a different name written on it.
"Of course – and I hope you trust me – each of your names is only written once, and there are no tricks to the bag." She rolled her eyes. "I have better things to do with my life than to rig my own classes, believe me."
Some students giggled at that, although Byakuya remained completely uninterested, keeping only one ear to listen to what Yuki was saying, just in case.
"Anyway, I'm gonna be making one group of four and four groups of three," she explained. "But you're probably wondering what these groups are going to be for, am I right?"
"Would it be fair to assume that these group members will be working on something together?" Celeste inquired and received a nod from the teacher.
"Yes, that's right," Yuki confirmed. "You're gonna be working on a group project, which will be due next month."
The Ultimate Affluent Progeny sighed. Of course… The thought of having to work with these idiots would make me cry if a Togami was allowed to…
"What do you want us to work on, Ms. Yoshida?" Sayaka asked the question they were all wondering about. "I mean, whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be nice to work on it as a group… depending on the group, I guess."
A good dozen pairs of eyes turned towards the Togami heir at that moment, who merely kept his arms crossed and didn't say a word.
Yuki sweatdropped. "About that… I guess I should explain it before I do the draw, yes. Quite simply, you'll have to do a presentation to explain how the combination of your Ultimate talents could help bring something positive to society."
This seemed to catch the attention of the entire class, although not everybody reacted the same way. Byakuya rolled his eyes, having his own opinion about this.
As if any of these plebians could bring anything positive to society… The boy thought amusingly.
"You can do your presentation in any form you like; I don't really mind as long as it's good," the teacher added. "Are there any questions, or can I start the draw?"
The students looked around to see if one of their peers would raise their hands, but no one did.
"Alrighty, then." Yuki put her hand inside the bag again. "Let's start with the group of four, shall we?" Taking out four pieces of paper, she read the names on them aloud. "Sayaka Maizono, Junko Enoshima, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, and Yasuhiro Hagakure."
"Oh, I have to work with the idiot… Neat." They heard Junko take a shot at Hiro, who mumbled a complaint.
"No need for any comments of this kind, Junko," Yuki told her, preparing to continue the draw. "Moving on to the second group, which will be a group of three." This time, she drew three pieces of paper. "We have Hifumi Yamada, Mondo Owada, and Mukuro Ikusaba."
"And I have to work with the pervert?!" the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader complained. "Teach, if Junko doesn't mind, I wanna change groups. It's not against ya, Mukuro. I'm sure you'd prefer to be with your sis, anyway."
"I'm sorry, Mondo, but you all need to learn to work with everyone," the young woman told him. "Besides, calling your classmate a pervert without evidence is not acceptable, you know."
Everyone save for Hifumi himself stared at the teacher, who scratched her temple. It seemed she didn't want to admit it, but they all knew Mondo was stating the truth about the Ultimate Fanfiction Writer.
"Moving on…" she said, trying to change the subject quickly. "Group three will be composed of… Toko Fukawa, Sakura Ogami, and Leon Kuwata."
Byakuya heard the Ultimate Writing Prodigy mumble something under her breath, although he couldn't decipher it.
Well, I at least dodge the stinking commoner… With some luck, I could end up with Fujisaki, Kirigiri, or Ludenberg… The Togami heir thought. If I have to work with plebians, they might as well have some sort of brain…
"And for the fourth group, which will also determine the final group as a result…!" She put her hand inside the bag again, drawing out three of the six remaining names. "Makoto Naegi, Aoi Asahina, and… Byakuya Togami!"
The Ultimate Affluent Progeny's eyes widened in horror as the teacher finished speaking. This was the worse possible outcome. Makoto… he didn't mind too much, but there was no way he was working with the Ultimate Swimming Pro!
"I refuse to work with this idiot of a donut enjoyer," he simply said, his voice showing how much he would argue to have his way. "There are limits to how much pain even a Togami can endure."
"Ha, for once, I have to agree with this prick!" Hina added, her voice much louder than his. "Under no circumstances am I working with this self-righteous jerk!"
"Watch your mouth, girl," he warned with a cold stare. "Ms. Yoshida! I'd rather work alone than with her. Besides, someone like me doesn't need any help with such triviality."
"Then work alone, you arrogant jerkface!" the swimmer exclaimed, standing up from her chair and pointing at him accusingly. "Let's work as a duo, Makoto! We'll do just fine without him!"
"H-Hey, don't bring me into this!" the Luckster protested, waving his hands around.
Yuki sighed. "Alright, you two, that's enough," she said. "You will work together, whether you like that or not. Sometimes in life, you don't get the co-workers you want, and that's that. If you're not happy, you're free to whine, but not inside my classroom, understood?"
Hina's shoulders slumped as she sat back down. "S-Sorry, ma'am…" she apologized, although she glanced at the tall boy with a dark look inside her eyes.
"Hmph." Byakuya didn't add anything, although that didn't mean he agreed. These two commoners would only get in my way… I cannot believe that I got such a poor draw…
"Now that our two unhappy customers have calmed down," Yuki deadpanned, giving the two disagreeing students a disapproving stare. "You guessed it, the final group will be composed of Chihiro Fujisaki, Kyoko Kirigiri, and Celestia Ludenberg."
"My, this is most satisfying," the Ultimate Gambler said. "It seems I was dealt a good hand."
"At least someone's happy about her group partners…" the teacher muttered and sweatdropped. "Anyway, you're free to come ask me for details of what you're supposed to do, although no asking me to change groups. Also… I suggest you actually prepare something as not doing so would invalidate your passing at the end of the year."
This woman can be a real annoyance. Byakuya decided. I am not looking forward to working with these two commoners one bit… but I suppose it can't be helped, unfortunately. But I will have to make them understand something first…
"I've been forced to work with you two plebians, so listen well: I won't accept anything less than absolute perfection in everything you do. Am I clear?"
Hina raised an eyebrow. "Don't give me orders!" she told the Togami heir. "I'm not your little servant, you know? We'll do what we have to do!"
"P-Please calm it down, guys," Makoto pleaded, shoulders slumping. "We need to work together, or we won't make anything good!"
"I don't need your help to make something of the highest quality, you commoner!" Byakuya told him, suddenly offended. "And I don't need this stupid girl either!"
"Hey, watch out who you're calling stupid, you jerk!" the Ultimate Swimming Pro protested. "Your talent is just you being born with a silver spoon, so I'd watch my mouth if I were you!"
"Hmph. You can talk to me when you've successfully run a business, girl," the blonde said with contempt. "For now, you're nothing more than a pathetic swimmer who's happy because she swam a hundred meters under fifty seconds."
With this comment, Hina literally saw red. "S-Shut it, you-!"
"W-Woah, don't start a fight, you two!" the Luckster asked, stepping in-between. "Byakuya, apologize to Hina for that comment! It's not cool of you to say that! Hina, apologize to Byakuya for what you said about his talent. You can't say that either."
"Hmph, if this prick thinks I'm going to apologize, he can stick it!"
"Hmph, she's not even worth breathing the same oxygen as me."
The Ultimate Lucky Student sighed and sat down on his chair. The group was supposed to prepare their project in his room. However, so far, it had only been bickering, much to his dismay.
"Very well, then." Makoto stood up again in a rare moment of frustration. "If the two of you won't stop fighting, then you leave me no choice but to go see Ms. Yoshida and tell her that you're not willing to work together. I bet she'll have a fun time with you two!"
"H-Hey, hold on!" Hina quickly interjected. "Y-You don't need to do that, Makoto!"
Byakuya let out a long sigh. "That is something we can agree on. I'd rather not involve this commoner."
"Alright, then." The Ultimate Lucky Student's glare didn't really disappear, but his voice softened a bit. "Then let's begin, shall we? We have a lot of work to do, after all."
Seeing they didn't have a way out of this one, the two rivaling Ultimates sighed and sat down on the chairs Makoto offered them, even if it was begrudgingly.
"Okay, so we need to decide what angle we approach it from," the Luckster stated, adopting a thinking pose. "Unfortunately, my talent isn't really one, so it won't be easy to work around with."
"It doesn't have to be the case." They turned towards Byakuya, who had his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Seeing they weren't catching on, he sighed. "Must I explain everything to you…? What I meant to say is that Makoto's alleged luck is an interesting talent, especially in our case."
"Oh, really?" the shorter boy wondered, hope filling his eyes.
"Yes, indeed. Now, please pay attention. I won't repeat it twice." Upon seeing the two others nod, the Ultimate Affluent Progeny began with his explanations.
Two hours later, Hina and Makoto looked at each other and sweatdropped. They realized that the one-month deadline would be way more than needed for their group.
And all of that was thanks to the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, who was still standing and pointing his finger at posters they had pasted on Makoto's wall to take notes.
Damn, I hate to admit it, but Byakuya knows what he's doing… The Ultimate Swimming Pro thought, even if she almost wished it wasn't the case. He found so many good ideas in such a short time… I guess he does have a talent, after all…
"Are you listening, Hina…?" the Togami heir asked, although it was more the rhetorical question type. "I should have known that a commoner like you couldn't focus for more than a couple of hours straight."
"S-Sorry… I was just lost in thought," the young athlete apologized. "Please go on."
Makoto looked at her and smiled while Byakuya only raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Alright, then. As I was saying, the only way for us to link my talent to Makoto's is through the stock market. Indeed, while it requires some techniques you commoners couldn't even understand, some luck is involved."
"Guess I'll go put my money on the stock market, then," Makoto said ironically.
The Ultimate Affluent Progeny rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You can't even imagine the number of hopeful plebians I've seen break down in tears after they lost what little money they had." The hazel-eyed boy gulped. "Anyway. If we want to involve my talent in this presentation, we'll need to involve a company. And since Hina's talent revolves around swimming, this company must be linked to that field."
"Hey, I have an idea!" the girl said, a lightbulb appearing over her head. "What about a company specializing in selling swimming equipment? Like, it could go from swimsuits to actual swimming pools!"
"That… is a surprisingly good idea, coming from a commoner," Byakuya admitted with surprise. "Very well, then. Now, we need to figure out how to link your talent with Makoto's. I'll make sure to figure this out. Now, your homework for next time is to list some ideas related to your talent, alright?"
"I'll… do my best," Makoto said. "I don't know how many ideas I can come up with since my talent isn't really usual, but I'll try."
"When it comes to all things swimming, no one knows as much as I do!" Hina proclaimed with a beaming smile. "You can count on me!"
Byakuya shook his head. "Well, it seems you can be of some use when you decide to… How surprising."
"H-Hey, don't get the wrong idea!" the tan-skinned girl warned him. "I still don't like you, and I still think that you're a prick! I'm doing this for Makoto, not you!"
The Luckster suddenly blushed in embarrassment. "D-Don't say that-"
"Irrelevant. I don't care who you're doing it for. I don't want you to have a negative influence on my abilities, that is all," the Togami heir explained. "Well, too negative an influence, I suppose. Commoners like you are bound to have a negative influence on a man like me."
"Yeah, well… I'm still not doing it for you!" she repeated, pouting with her arms crossed. "And I hope I'll never have to work with you again!"
"That we can agree on," Byakuya shot right back. "Well, I've wasted enough of my time with you for the day." He looked at Makoto. "You can keep my notes. We will meet again here in two weeks. I expect you to be fully ready for us to gather our ideas."
"A-Alright! I-I'll make sure to be done by then!" Makoto stammered.
"Fine… But I'm still not doing it for you-!"
"Oh, will you shut it, for goodness's sake?!"
To be continued…
A.N: I hope you liked this chapter! I'm glad I got back to writing these two. I mean, their dynamic is really fun for me to write about, and they work very well with Makoto getting involved against his will in their bickering. I hope you think the same thing! Anyway, please leave a review and I hope you have a nice day!