"You have to know who to keep near you and those you should be far away from."
Israelmore Ayivor, Become a Better You

Chapter 5

Togami should have honestly expected this; but the warm pressure of Naegi's hand in his had distracted him. After years of pining after the girl, it seemed all his hard work had paid off. Perhaps he should have just kissed her senseless ages ago and they could have been dating already.

He was so distracted by his thoughts he hadn't noticed they'd made it into the classroom until he bumped into Naegi at the doorway. He frowned at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Naegi gestured inside the classroom. Her eyes had widened and she looked pale.

His frown growing deeper, Togami turned to look inside the classroom and felt all the blood drain from his face. Half of their classmates were looking at them in shock. Or more accurately, they were looking at their clasped hands.

For a minute there was absolute silence. Then chaos broke out as everyone started shouting at once.

"Ha! I knew it! I so knew it!" that was Asahina the Ultimate Swimmer.

"Aww man, there goes my twenty-bucks!" Hagakure the Ultimate Clairvoyant muttered.

"Hmm it was quite obvious if you looked at them closely." Kirigiri calmly said.

"All right kiddies, pay up." Celeste the Ultimate Gambler said with a smile. Junko Enoshima the Ultimate Fashionista had collapsed into her chair, laughing wildly at the expressions of both Togami and Naegi. Sakura Ogami the Ultimate Martial artist was nodding at them both with approval and sent them both congratulations.

Sayako the Ultimate Idol actually came up to Naegi and hugged her fiercely. Ishimaru the Ultimate Moral Compass was yelling his congratulations at his two classmates and shouting about how great youth is.

"Jesus Fuck man! I'm so fuckin happy right now I can't even stand it! You two fuckers look fucking amazing! It's about damn time!" Owada the Ultimate Biker bellowed from the other side of the classroom. If one looked closely, you could see manly tears springing up. By his side, Fujisaki the Ultimate Programmer was telling him to stop cursing so much while her other hand took pictures of Naegi and Togami with her phone.

"What the fucks with all the noise?!" Kuzuryu, the Ultimate Yakuza barged into the classroom, pushing Togami and Naegi out of the way. Pekoyama, the Ultimate Swordswoman walked in behind him. In answer to his question, the 78th class pointed at the two stunned teens and yelled their answers. Kuzuryu blinked at them all confused. After a while, Pekoyama bent down and whispered into his ear. A minute later, Kuzuryu angrily turned towards Naegi.

"You picked this fucker over that Hope freak Komaeda?! Well, I don't blame ya, but fuck! Now I'm out fifty bucks." He muttered angrily.

"Pay up now." Celeste gestured sweetly. Kuzuryu all but shoved the money into Celeste's waiting hand.

After that, more students from the 78th class appeared and chaos ensued once more. Togami looked at Naegi. Naegi looked back at him. They both nodded and Togami promptly closed the door.

"Guess we're eating off campus today." Naegi said holding onto Togamis' hand once more.


Classes were certainly interesting after that. All throughout the rest of the day, people kept stealing glances at the new couple. Naegi swore she could hear the snap of a camera close by. Togami glared at everyone who made eye contact with him and Naegi tried to act as normal as she could but every now and then she'd steal a glance at Togami and end up a blushing mess. When the final bell of the day rang, Naegi was all too happy to leave school but blocking her way was Junko Enoshima grinning at her.

"So…you and Togami huh." Junko said with a smile. "Did you guys.." She pressed her elbow into Naegi's arm and winked at her. "Well? Did you? Was he good?" Naegi flushed furiously and was trying to look anywhere but at his friend.

"That's-that's not any of your business Junko! But no, no we didn't." Naegi all but screamed.

"Aww, well that sucks. I wanted to know if he was any good." Junko sighed heavily, and leaned back on one of the desks. "He always looks so serious so I was wondering if he actually livened up in bed."

"That's not any of your business Enoshima. Some of us actually like to wait before we sleep with someone." Junko rolled her eyes and turned towards Togami who had walked up to Naegi's desk. Naegi smiled at him gratefully.

"Well, whatever. Let me know when you guys do it! Give me all the details ok Naegi." And with that Junko left the classroom. It seemed most of their classmates had left for the day. Naegi was just grateful that they hadn't pestered her too much.

"Yo." Hinata said as he pulled up a chair next to Naegi, Chiaki and Komaeda following behind. "What's up?"

Togami looked at Hinata warily. Hinata, noticing his stare, introduced himself briefly. Togami still looked at him warily, but at least he didn't ignore him completely like he'd done to Komaeda.

Chiaki looked at Naegi first, then at Togami, silently putting the pieces together and said, "So it's true. You two are a couple now." Komaeda's smile wavered for a bit.

Naegi played with her headphones cable and mumbled a quiet yes. Chiaki clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Well, that's good. I didn't lose any money then." The others gaped at her. She looked back at them innocently.

"Ah, I can't wait to see what kind of Hope you two will bring in the future!" Komaeda said happily.

"I'm just as happy for the both of you but we should probably get down to business." Hinata turned towards Naegi. "Did you tell Togami about your stalker?" everyone sobered up at that.

"Yes. I told him during lunch." Naegi confirmed.

"Should have told me sooner." Togami muttered. He looked up at Komaeda. "However," he hesitated and looked at Chiaki and Hinata as well. "You all have my gratitude for keeping her safe." Komaeda flashed him a smile and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"We should probably let the head of security know of this as well. And one of us should be with Naegi at all times." Hinata suggested. The others nodded.

"Agreed." Togami said pushing up glasses. "We can do that tomorrow then."

"Well, it seems we're all in agreement then. Now that that's been settled, should we talk about our plans for summer break?" Komaeda asked.

"Oh that's right. We're hallway through June. So another two weeks of school and then we'll have vacations till August." Naegi confirmed.

"The beach!" Naegi and Hinata exclaimed. Komaeda and Togami frowned.

"I'm ok wherever, I'll just be playing games anyway." Chiaki said looking up from her PS Vita. When had she pulled that out Naegi thought.

"Or we can have a sleepover at my house." Naegi suggested. "We can go home during summer break, and my house is only thirty minutes away. There are four empty rooms since my parents went with my sister when she got accepted to a school abroad. There's a beach about an hour away too."

"A sleepover at Naegi's house?" Komaeda turned red. "I'm not worthy of such a gift!" he exclaimed. Togami scowled at him.

"Yeah, I'll go. I'm cool either way." Hinata chimed in. "By the way, is he always like this?" he pointed at Komaeda who was muttering to himself about lucky he was.

"You get used to it." Everyone else said.


It had been a week since the news of Naegi and Togami being a couple spread to the rest of the school and Naegi was still getting congratulations from random students. Junko still asked her for the "juicy" details to which Naegi would abruptly leave the room. Even weirder was Touko asking her how Togami was in bed though. Seems the girl had given up on her infatuation with Togami.

Nobody went up to Togami for fear of for their life though. Lucky him Naegi thought. There had also been no further incidents of Naegi being stalked either. They had informed the head of security, Sakakura the Ultimate boxer, and he said that he was on it.

Something else that Naegi had learned in that week was that her boyfriend was a pervert. Whenever they found themselves alone, Togami would use the opportunity to initiate a kiss or pin her to a wall. Not that Naegi was complaining. If she was totally honest, she might admit that she rather liked it. Hinata however, might disagree with that. It seems that whenever the two started making out pretty heavily, Hinata would round up a corner or something and find them both. Komaeda had told him that he was so lucky to had witnessed their hope and had tried to coerce him into taking a picture of the two next time.

The first time Hinata had walked in on them, he had jumped a mile high and frantically covered his eyes.

"Jesus Christ! Get a room or something!" the brunette said walking back where he'd come from. "You guys better not be like this when we have that sleepover." Naegi had apologized profusely while Togami muttered something about doing whatever he damn well pleased which earned him a smack upside the head from Naegi.

After that, Hinata walked in on them at least three more times before deciding that he was just cursed. Overall it had been a pretty good week Naegi thought.


It was during class a week after that Naegi found herself alone in the hallway for the first time in a while. Over the past week, she'd either be with Togami or any of her other three friends. I'll be fine Naegi thought to herself. Just have to deliver these papers to the classroom upstairs. She didn't notice the janitor coming out of the restroom with his equipment until she crashed into him.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" Naegi asked scrambling up to her feet. The man rubbed his jaw and took Naegi's offered hand. What very blue eyes Naegi noticed.

"Yes, I'm alright. How about you miss…?"

"Naegi. Naegi Makoto, and you are?" she inquired.

"You may call me Tazuna." He said with a smile. He didn't look much older than her, with his smooth, unblemished skin. He had shaggy black hair that was parted to the side and fell into eyes and he had a lean build but Naegi noticed he had a few muscles on him. "I believe these are yours?" he said handing her a set of papers.

"Oh yes. Thank you very much Mr. Tazuna. And are you sure you're alright?" Tazuna waved away her concern.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Let me guess; lost in your own thoughts?" he asked. Surprised that he had guessed right, Naegi apologized again. Tazuna laughed.

"Hey, its ok. I remember when I was a teenager; most of the time I was in my own world too, I get it. It's cool. You might want to be more careful though." He lightly scolded her.

"Right. Sorry. And I will. I hope we're not making too much work for you, you look a bit tired." Naegi said.

"Ah no its ok. The more work I get, the more I get paid." Tazuna said nonchalantly. "By the way," he said suddenly serious. "I've heard from some of the security guards that some students have been getting stalked lately. Be careful."

"I will. Thank you for your concern." Naegi smiled.

"Well, id better be on my way. I hope to see you around Miss Naegi." And with a last wave Tazuna disappeared around the corner. He seems nice Naegi thought. Oh right, I better deliver these papers. With a skip in her step, Naegi headed upstairs.