Notes: I was hopped up on Japanese sweets and all ready to write about Kuzuryu and Andoh's first meeting in the main story, but I ended up writing this instead? Well ok. Here's some kinda-sorta-eventual Naegami, part 1 of 2(?).

Thanks to my youngest brother for helping me figure out some of the business-type stuff in this story!

The Death of Makoto Naegi
Part 1

Makoto Naegi had lived a fairly good life. It wasn't anything spectacular—in fact, it was pretty average and unremarkable—but he was reasonably satisfied with it. He was perpetually busy with multiple jobs, but he got to know so many good people because of it that he really didn't mind.

Yeah, his life had been pretty good. But no amount of optimistic thinking would convince him that said life wasn't about to come to a very abrupt and sudden end.

It wasn't the dented delivery box lying on the sidewalk that was the problem, nor the cracked bowls scattered about his feet. He'd dropped udon deliveries just often enough to know that his boss would (probably) forgive him; the cost would come out of his next paycheck is all. It sucked, but he'd manage.

The real problem—the reason for his impending doom—was the kakejiru broth slowly seeping into finely-pressed clothing, dripping down long, sleek pant legs onto the shiny leather shoes belonging to one Byakuya Togami.

The slotted lid fell completely off the wooden delivery box and clattered onto the sidewalk, the only sound to break the eerie silence between the two men.

Makoto Naegi was dead.

"Wait, are you serious?! Ahh, whiteout, whiteout...!"

Naegi sighed as he sat down on the edge of his bed the next morning with his phone cradled against his ear, listening to the familiar sounds of his sister scrambling to fix whatever mistake she had made on her manuscript. "Yeah, I can't believe I spilled that entire delivery on him..."

"Hmm? No, not that, that's so totally you." Naegi could practically hear Komaru's flippant hand wave over the phone line, and he grimaced. "But Oniichan, you really know Byakuya Togami? The Togami Corporation guy?!"

Naegi wouldn't exactly classify himself as "knowing" Togami after that encounter—in fact, Togami hadn't even spoken a single word to him. Naegi had tried to give the taller man a handkerchief, had offered to pay for the dry cleaning (despite not being entirely sure he could afford it), but Togami had said nothing in response. Instead, he had glared down his nose at Naegi, looking at him with little more regard than if he were pond scum, then scoffed and retreated back into the car he had just exited. The car had driven off before Naegi even had the chance to decide if he should feel insulted or relieved.

"I mean, I've seen him around from time to time, but we've never talked," he answered. "The Togami family owns the parent company for a bunch of local chains around here, like the convenience store where I work, so—"

"You work for Byakuya Togami?! Why did you never tell me this?!"

Naegi blinked at his phone, unsure if he was correctly comprehending the situation through the fatigue of working two full shifts. Komaru had a tendency to become excited over the strangest and most unpredictable of topics, but her interest in the local scion several wards away seemed particularly off-the-wall. He put his phone back up to his ear and asked, "What's with the interest in Togami?"

"Well," Komaru said, her voice once again accompanied by the scritch of pen on paper. "You remember my friend Touko?"

"The writer?"

"Yup! Well, she's had this huge celebrity crush on Byakuya Togami for years after seeing an article on him in the paper."

Naegi frowned. "Just because of a newspaper article?"

Komaru hummed thoughtfully. "I think she looked up a bunch of videos of him on the internet, too? Anyway, she really likes him, so I've been trying to convince her to write him a love letter or something—I mean, she writes romance, so I figured that's her thing, right? But that's getting nowhere, so I've been trying to think of other ways to help her out, and—"

"And now you know where you might run into him," Naegi concluded.

"Even better!" Komaru exclaimed. "Now I've got a connection!"

Through the haze of exhaustion, it took a moment longer than usual to piece together his sister's logic. "Wait a minute, you mean me?!"

"Well, yeah!" Komaru's tone suggested that it was the most obvious conclusion in the world.

"I told you, I don't actually know him," Naegi sighed. He was too tired for this. "The only form of interaction I've had with him has been to dump noodle soup all down his front."

"That's even better!"

Naegi groaned and laid down on his bed, drained of all energy to keep himself upright. "Explain," he said softly.

"You said he didn't accept any reimbursement for his ruined clothes, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So the next time you see him, offer to make it up to him by taking him out to dinner or something."

Naegi breathed a shallow laugh at the absurdity of the idea—him, treating Byakuya Togami to dinner. "First of all, I work during the dinner hour—"

"Then make it lunch or tea!"

"—and second of all, how does that help your friend?"

"Oh, riiiight." He could almost hear his sister grinning down the line. "You have to take me and Touko-chan with you, too."

"That's crazy, Komaru," he said, immediately shooting her down. "What would you accomplish by putting us all in an awkward situation like that?"

Komaru huffed. "It doesn't have to be awkward! Actually, it'll be beneficial for all of us!"

"How so?" Naegi prompted, skeptical.

"Look at it this way," she started, tone firm. "Togami-san will get some sort of compensation for your screw-up, and you'll be able to clear your conscience. Meanwhile, Touko-chan will be able to fulfill her dream of meeting him, and I'll be able to see something in my best friend's life go right for once."

Naegi was silent for a long moment as he processed her words. An emotional plea... Dammit. Nearly twenty-two years of experience had made Komaru Naegi a master at manipulating her brother. "I'll give it a try," Naegi sighed, surrendering. "But I'm not making any promises, all right? Like I said, I don't really know the guy."

"Thanks! You're the best, Oniichan!" Komaru gushed, high spirits completely renewed. "I'll let you get to bed now, then!"

"Yeah, thanks." Naegi paused for a moment, considering. "Hold on, didn't you just pull an all-nighter too? How are you so hyper?"

"You're probably just getting old," was his sister's matter-of-fact response. "I gotta get ready for class, so I'll talk to you later! Let me know when you make plans with Togami-san!"

Once he heard the disconnect tone signaling that the call had ended, he shut off his phone and placed it aside, burying his face into his pillow. His head was spinning from all that had transpired over the past twenty-four hours, and he was ready to sleep it all off.

At least, he thought, he had managed to survive it all. So far.

Notes: Happy birthday Togami, you weren't really in this chapter but welcome to this AU!